sleepytimejunction | ❧ open rp

[Belmont.

For a moment, his fingers twitch, but he can't wait based on any worries or fears. Behind him, the fire crackles, livening too much that he can't put off Lisa's rescue.]

Then you will all die.

[Adrian holds up his sheathed sword, then pulls away the sheath. It hovers in the air before he commands it to fly at one of the other men, as if to make his point -- the man's head is gone, and the sword proceeds to fly through the air, prepared to begin its onslaught.

Turning away, Adrian breaches the flames with a wince. It won't do lasting damaged, but he can tolerate the pain and heal later. He imagines it should hurt more, being in a place of worship, but perhaps that says something about the cathedral.

Extending his nails into claws, he shreds his mother's bonds, wrapping her into his coat. Adrian pauses, looking over her features. Beaten, her beautiful hair having been cut, who knows what else.]

Mother. [The word is whispered, soft, gathering her into his arms.]

[ When the sword flies at another of the men, Trevor's blade catches it and knocks it away. The congregation begins to stampede from the cathedral as the first man's head topples to the ground, and the sound of people trampling each other fills the air. Suddenly, Trevor has a thousand different, conflicting priorities - keep the faithful from trampling each other to death, keep the blade away from his fellows, keep the witch from dying in a way other than the way she's meant to be executed, so as to make sure that her soul isn't endangered, keep the vampire-

-the vampire. ]

Vampire! [ He calls out, and there's a certainty in his voice that hasn't been there in years. For a moment, a horrible, overwhelmed moment, he knows everything. He doesn't need to doubt himself. The knowledge is in his bones. He blocks the sword again, shouting to the men behind him. ] The whip! Fetch the whip-

There is no such thing! [ The bishop interrupts, and Trevor instantly falls silent, only just avoiding missing a block. ] This is the witch's familiar! Kill him, now!

This is who you serve, Belmont?

[The flames lick off of Adrian's body, but he walks through them anyway, protecting Lisa's body with his own. His golden eyes turn red, his gaze glaring down at the Bishop and hunter alike.]

A man drowning in such denial that he would claim a woman of medicine and science is a witch? To declare me nonexistent?

Perhaps I see the true problem here.

[Adrian steps forward, his sword drawing back from Trevor, swinging around to wait by Adrian's side, point out.]

I am Adrian Fahrenheit Ţepeş, son of Vlad Dracula Ţepeş. Many of your people also call me Alucard.

Step forward and take responsibility of your transgressions, Bishop. You might as well make it an honorable death.

[ The sword leaves him, and Trevor watches in horror as it returns to Adrian's side. As its point turns to face not him, but the Bishop. A stern man. A man who has not always been as kind as the book says that men ought to be. But still the man who took him away from a family of witches and taught him how to cut the sins of his fathers out of his body, who saved his soul and kept him all of these years.

The bishop, to his credit (there are few things, perhaps, that could be said to his credit in the eyes of anyone but his followers), does not cower. He steps back, but he remains standing tall. ]

Dracula. Another of your family's lies, Belmont. You see? This witch was working with them.

[ Trevor hears the words - he's right, he's right. His family's dark magic is to blame for putting this woman's soul in danger, and it is his responsibility to make it right, to burn away the sin so that she might have a chance at seeing heaven.

It's his responsibility, but he is selfish enough to ignore that duty. The Bishop's life has to come first. The people of the church have to come first. He steps forward, putting himself between Adrian and the Bishop, sword lowered, and does not look up when he speaks. ]

I will take responsibility. Please, allow the children of God to leave in safety.

You would give your life in place of his.

[It baffles Adrian, with the clear lies that the Bishop is saying right now but Belmont abiding by them. A strange thing, but more importantly this Belmont is the only noble person here at all.

Adrian steps forward, his eyes fading back to gold, expression softening somewhat. Less angry, but he is looking at the Belmont.]

Release yourself to me. Then the children of God shall live. Can you comply with those terms?

[ The bishop is shouting. Something about treating with devils. Something about resisting temptation. Orders to kill both of them, now. He ignores it. It's selfish and short-sighted, he knows, to assume that he knows better, but he can't allow him to die, nor allow more harm to be done to the congregation than they have done to themselves in their attempts to escape. The bishop still has so much good to do. So many other boys like him to rescue from the grasp of witches.

(Wallachia could be God's own country, he had said, had he only the time to make it so. He can be good for that much. He can give him more time.) ]

I can.

[ He drops his sword. ]

You are better than the man you serve.

[Carefully, he cradles Lisa in one arm, picking up the Belmont's sword with the other. His own hovers nearby at his command, just by his shoulder. If he were cruel and a man ready to break his own promise, he would kill the Bishop.

Despite all of his anger, Adrian is neither of those things. Instead, he glares over the Belmont's shoulder at the Bishop, then relents.]

Come with me, Belmont. Your people will live another day.

[His sword resheathes itself at Adrian's side, and he approaches with no intent for death.]

[ Trevor nods, falling into step. Outside of the church, the crowd is quickly turning into a mob. Some of those who ran have returned with things that make them feel braver. Weapons. Friends. Fire. Trevor's pace increases to overtake Adrian, and for a moment it looks like he's going to bolt after all. ]

Drop your weapons. You won't be harmed.

[ He doesn't run, only moves to stand between Adrian and the crowd. He has to trust what-may-or-may-not-be-a-vampire to keep his word in order for that to be true, and that leaves him uneasy. But there's little alternative. It's difficult to trust the vampire not to attack the people of the crowd. It's impossible to trust him not to attack someone who attempts to make the first blow. His voice sounds detached again. Rehearsed, almost, as if this situation could ever have happened before. But there's enough authority in it, enough understanding among the crowd that he is one of the bishop's men, that most of the crowd comply. Most.

Rocks are being thrown from somewhere. None hit, but one comes uncomfortably close to striking Lisa. ]

[It is a difficult thing to be patient with these people. There's anger still burning in Adrian's heart, a part of him that wants nothing more than to slice these people down for daring to show their vile underbellies in such a way -- but there's also the mercy he has. They can't truly harm Adrian; the only ones at risk are the Belmont and Lisa alike.

The stone that's thrown is too close for his liking. Though Adrian does not attack, he turns his head sharply in the direction of its origin, his eyes glowing and a beastly hiss coming past fangs that are bared.

He'd made a promise. He will keep his word, so long as the Belmont does.]

Such a grateful crowd, Belmont. I can see why you'd give up your life for them.

[Adrian's tone is flat. They should be more thankful, he thinks. It's because of this man that they live. It would have been too easy to kill them all.]

Do you know where I intend to take you?

They want her to be safe. [ He's not even sure he has himself convinced that that's entirely the crowd's aim, no matter how completely he believes the bishop's words. He falls into line closer, so to cover Lisa as much as possible. If any of those stones strike her, he gets the feeling that none of this will end well. ] We're risking her soul, doing this.

[ He's afraid, if he were going to be honest with himself. But every other way that this could end scares him more. ]

Given the talk of giving up my life, I think I can imagine.

Ah yes. The crowd that was just ready to cheer at burning an innocent woman alive is clearly concerned for her well-being and her soul. I can see it now.

[There's a pause, then he gazes at Belmont as they go.]

You will not die by my hand. Though I question why you devote yourself to the Church when your senses are clearly better than theirs, I've no desire to end your life, complicit as you were in this entire affair.

I imagine she would call you confused, if she were awake.

It's why they gather. To see her on her way, so that they can know that her soul is safe. [ It probably is not the best time to be churchsplaining why murdering Adrian's mother is a good thing, actually. But it's something he's spent a lot of time understanding. It's why the mob came to his home, after all.

As they go, the crowd gains and loses people. It loses faster than it gains, and Trevor falls back enough that he can watch where Adrian goes and follow, trying to stay between Lisa and the remaining crowd. The guard will be alerted soon, no doubt, and Adrian's promise only extended to the church's congregation. ]

By your hand. [ He repeats. That's leaving a lot of options open. And then, fear almost starting to reach his voice- ] You are taking me to Dracula.

[ That is a terrifying prospect for all kinds of reasons, not least of which that his entire worldview is based on Dracula not really existing and just being a thing his family made up to justify their use of dark magic. ]

You really believe that. [Adrian raises a brow at him.] No. Of course you do. The Bishop held your leash. For how long, I wonder.

[The less there are people, the more like a person Adrian becomes, his expression softening to looking almost bored with their circumstances. For so long as he doesn't have to deal with these fools, the more reasonable he feels.]

Oh, so you believe that he exists now? [Adrian speaks wryly.] I wonder what he'll want of you. The last of the Belmonts, the Church's dog.

[For all that he mocks, there was a reason that he'd let him have his life. Truly, he doesn't know what Father may want, but Adrian isn't inclined to really let him die, but giving him back to the Church seemed a poor decision as well.]

His castle will be here soon.

He's a good man. He saved me. He saved my family.

[ It's soft and low, with a note of desperation to it now, as if convincing Adrian of that isn't half as important as convincing himself.

And then Adrian asks what he believes, and in truth, he can't answer that. ]

I believe that there is a man using his name, perhaps. [ That's the closest he can come to reconciling what is happening with the world he knows. A man using the name of a legend to strike fear into other men. He looks out into the empty space before them. The crowd is gone, now, but they haven't long before others give chase. If that castle is to appear, and half of him prays that it won't, not because he fears what awaits him there but because the implications of his family being correct about something so impossible are bone-chilling, it would be best that it appear soon, before the guard comes and initiates bloodshed. ] My deal was with you, and not with him. Will he harm the people here?

Saved them with fire, wasn't it? [Adrian isn't holding back on what he thinks. Which is, basically, the Church is shit and this Belmont is delusional after a healthy dose of brainwashing, probably.] Honestly, I wasn't even aware there were any Belmonts left.

[He snorts softly.]

Not a very good Belmont, are you. [Though good enough to want to protect others, even if they wouldn't really deserve it.] ...I don't know. But I will do everything to convince him not to. And I know Mother will do the same, when she is awake. He'll have no choice but to listen to her, that I do know.

[The night sky lights up, clouds parting as a bolt of magic sears through the air, sending waves of aftershocks as Dracula's castle appears on the outskirts of Targoviste. Adrian passes a look to the Belmont, then holds out his sword to him.]

Do me a favor and hold this. I don't think we should go at your pace anymore.

[Should Trevor take it, Adrian is wordlessly throwing the Belmont over his shoulder before moving at inhuman speeds to make his way toward the castle.]

[ He's silent in response to that. In truth, he didn't think there were Belmonts left, either. But then his first response to a vampire had been not his mentor's belief that such things were not real but his family's - to find the whip that had been confiscated when he first came into the bishop's care. Some sins are, apparently, buried too deep for the lash to dig them out. Small wonder that the burning is necessary.

Carefully, he takes the sword back from Adrian, returning it to his hip. ]

I don't expect to need it. [ It's solemn, careful. He tries to avoid giving any indication that he means to break his side of the bargain and leave, not when the vampire's side of it is so important.

...it would be significantly more dignified, probably, if it was not immediately followed by being carried around like a particularly religious sack of potatoes at a very high speed. ]

[It takes them remarkably little time this way to reach the castle on the outskirts, even if it's not the most elegant method. But Adrian does want to abide by his word as much as he can, and if that means giving Dracula the time to focus on his wife's health, then so be it.

They're outside the steps now, and Adrian deposits Trevor to the ground, letting him figure out his feet. Without waiting, Adrian shoves the doors open with a shoulder.]

Come here.

[He's instructing Trevor, careful to not use his family name. Not yet.

Adrian. The voice comes from the shadows, Dracula emerging as if he were part of them. His eyes flit to Trevor, but then focus on his son and wife alike.]

She lives, Father. Though she's injured. We should leave Targoviste and tend to her.

[Delicately, Dracula takes his wife, the care he takes include love and tenderness. He pauses at his son's words, then he glares at Trevor. And this man?]

He surrendered himself to me, allowing me to walk out with Mother so long as I did not harm his people.

[Dracula scoffs, retreating further into the castle, toward his laboratory. Who is to say they deserve their lives for this hypocrisy?]

She wouldn't agree, and you know this. At least grant them their mercy until you and Mother speak.

[And this boy?]

I will... let me determine a fate for him. If nothing else, he showed more heart than is people.

[Dracula looks at both of them for a moment. There is untold rage in his eyes, not unlike Adrian's, but a quiet simmer and disgust toward the people who attempted to execute his wife. But in the end, she is alive and needs his care. That, at least, seems to matter more to him than revenge.

The castle will be moved after I care for your mother. Keep out any intruders in the meanwhile. At your discretion.]

[ That is Dracula. That is the pale shadow of Mathias Cronqvist, the truest ally of Death, the king who reigns between dusk and dawn. That is the thing his family fought for four centuries. He is real. He wants to pretend otherwise, but every part of him screams with the certainty. And Trevor is terrified. Not of the fact that there is a very angry, very large vampire in the same room as him, but of the implications.

If Dracula is real, perhaps his family's word could be trusted. Perhaps he can trust nothing he knows to be true. And perhaps there are no witches in Lupu. Perhaps he almost put the torch to an innocent woman.

Perhaps the ones who came before were innocent, as well.

To his credit, he succeeds in not collapsing to the ground until after Dracula dismisses them and attends to the work of tending his wife's injuries. The strength leaves his legs the moment the door to the laboratory closes and he falls forward, knees slamming against the stone of the castle's floor, pale and trembling. ]

He is real.

[For a moment, Adrian watches the Belmont. It would be easy to look down on him, growl at his naivete and despise him for it, but at the end of it all, this man did indeed save lives even if perhaps it didn't go quite as intended.

So, instead, his voice becomes softer, a fraction more compassionate.]

He is. Not all legends are true, but your family was more accurate than the Church's cold denial.

[He kneels down at the Belmont's side.]

What is your first name?

[ For all of his other weaknesses, he has always considered himself to be of sound mind. So far as he can trust anything, he is certain that he can trust what he sees. He wants this to be a delusion of some sort, but it's hard to believe that it might be. ]

He is real. [ He repeats, softer, before the question gives him a blessed distraction. It takes him a moment to answer, and his face shifts in concentration before he does. ]Trey- [ No. That was a nickname. ] -Trevor.

[ It comes out uncertain, as if he's testing the feel of the name as it leaves his lips. That sounds right. ] It was Trevor.

Trevor.

When you saw me, you knew what I was. Rather, what was mostly true. Your old instincts can be trusted in that regard.

[Whatever small comfort can be offered in that regard.]

The Church took you in after what they did to your family?

[ He knows the name is his, on some level, but there's no automatic response to it. He's just been 'Belmont' for a long time. ]

You're real. [ Shit. He's real. All of this is real. The horror is still sinking in. The fact that some of those burned may have had no sin in them to burn away, the fact that things he's sworn over and over to know to be false are true. And slowly, slowly, an understanding of the force that might have been (might yet be) unleashed upon the people of Targoviste.

He nods in answer, trying to struggle to his feet. Perhaps normally he might be a little more cagey about questions about his family and his life before he came into the bishop's care. ]

The sin wasn't so deep yet that it needed to be burned out.

Your family was a lot of things. Witches and practitioners of black magic, they were not.

[Simply just saying it won't be enough. He doesn't quite recall how long ago the estate was burned by the Church, but that's still many years that Trevor's been with the Bishop. Years enough to convince him that it was necessary.

That will take more than a simple conversation.]

I will not force you to stay, Trevor Belmont. However, I did indeed feel it was not to our best interests to leave you to the Church.

But I would ask that you stay, at least for a time. Bargain or no bargain, I am not of the habit of taking prisoners.

[ He should go back. He should go back, and face his punishment, and he won't have to know that Dracula is real. He will burn for following Adrian and Lisa to leave, surely, but it will be comfortable. Safe. The right thing to do.

Being given a choice is new and frightening in itself. It's uncomfortable, knowing that anything he chooses could be wrong. And it means that he can't give responsibility for what he decides to someone else. ]

Let me stay. [ It means that when he chooses not to go back, there's nothing forcing him to stay here. Just him, deciding not to do as he should. Because some part of him wants to be here. Wants to know more. Wants to at least see what his family fought. Curiosity is a vice that the bishop despises, one of the few that Trevor has managed to avoid indulging before, but now it burns in him. ] A little while.

[Quietly, he is pleased by Trevor's decision. The entire affair with the Church nearly burning Lisa could have ended all the worse, but all things considered, there'd only been one casualty, something he himself will own up to whenever Mother wakes.

Despite his circumstances, Trevor did a tremendous service for his people.]

I don't know that I should tell Father who you are, precisely. [Which is why he'd been careful about not really mentioning Belmont.] So I leave that option in your hands.

But I welcome you to stay. It would serve you better than returning to the Bishop. For now, I suppose I should keep an eye out to ensure there won't be a mob deciding to try to come to the castle. You're welcome to join if you so wish.

And I will continue to keep my word, so long as we are here. Mob or no mob.

❧ open rp - adrian/alucard

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