cryptsleeper | 20s AU Post

20s AU Post

Current Carmilla plot outline
--Post-fire, Carmilla and Mr. Peanut team up mostly to use each other. Carmilla's spent the past several months (since November, it is now February 1925) networking, and it's clear to her that Alucard's not suited for the position and that the other two are the obvious weakness. Mr Peanut needs something back, so this is perfect on her end. Mr Peanut can only imagine the joys of vampire blood in his work, and he'd like an army of vampires for his own ends.
--Shit stirring from Mr Peanut (all of March?)
--Mr Peanut also begins to sell mis Miracle Serum, which has vampire blood in it.
--Gang is very much trying to murder Mr Peanut during this.
--Start of April, vampire gets a call from one of the blood bank contacts that 3 patients have come in and are displaying some bizarre signs. Investigation yields the fact that they're in process of turning, and they've all taken the same serum.
--Additional investigation reveals O FUCK IT MR PEANUT
--Meanwhile Carmilla's been made aware of a familiar she didn't sire, so she knows something's up. Big fight with Mr. Peanut and thus Mr. Peanut is left depowered
--Gang commits a murder
--Carmilla's well sured up on her contacts now, and it's time for open rebellion (mid-April)
--In a more subtle attempt to let Alucard just step aside, she cuts the breaks on demon car and shows up to gloat/suggest he not pull a dad and go to deal with his grief quietly while she runs the city. The how he wants to do it is up to him (black widow joke goes here.) Treffy and Sypha walk in.
--1 week of straight up rebellion; feedings, no help from allies, need to do damage control instead of fight carmilla, every dracula rule is
--MEANWHILE IN GRAVITY FALLS, triangle shows Vlad what's up to try and psyche him out, somehow this finalyl snaps Vlad out of his depression and he heads home
--Just in time for Alucard and Carmilla to be tearing each other to bits in one of the bayous, it's not going well
--Vlad coming in means the king of vampires is accosted by a belmont with a pair of blessed knitting needles and a speaker with a fucking gun and he's just like what the shit happened to the world while i was gone
--Wards around the fight means that only demon car can break the wards, everyone has to pile in.
--Carmilla gets her ass kicked AND SENT TO THE JUSTICE DIMENSION

THEN THERE WERE FAERIES.
--Prior to all of this the vampire and Sypha have done a shit ton of research on how to get their Belmont back
--Sypha has also been practicing debating with dad, which leaves everyone Very Tired.
--When Trevor is actually snatched up (1 year after marriage, it takes fae effort. Taking Arn's shape fails, so it's a lot more kidnapping by force), Sypha and Alucard go into Faerie
--But they're playing this as politics, not as heroes rescuing their damsel, so that means the faeries are just "wait what now excuse u?"
--There are 3 gates and 3 trials (the particulars we're still bullshitting.) Each is asked to sacrifice 3 things. (Alucard: voice, his titles as bestowed upon by his father and his people, i forget the third; Sypha: her human form (she's a birb), fuck what were the other two)
--They enter the court at the end of the third trial. After LITERALLY ALL THE TITLES Sypha declares she Speaks for Trevor Belmont
--Claim debate over Trevor, turns out that the rules are in Sypha's favor.
--But that means debating to leave Fae without giving up what they've chosen.
--Sypha lawyers it all out, Alucard is a safety deposit and hangs out with Fae!Trevor
--In the end, safe passage out of Faerie consists of Sypha giving up her memory of the necromancer (billed as a great mage she studied under), the vampire gives up his immortality, and Trevor is replaced with Carmilla (dad was aware of this option and OK with it), but Trevor has his ability to swear taken. He now soundslike a rubber ducky when he tries
--Everyone gets home okay, except for the AU of this AU where the gang fails, but Trevor's on their doorstep like a bat out of Hell because time doesn't work right and he's been in Hell for a WHILE.

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[By the time Alucard puts down the phone ten minutes later, there is an agreement in place. Sypha will drive to two blocks away from the address Carmilla has indicated. Alucard and Trevor will meet her there, and all will pile in the demon car for the rest of the way, because the car has proven that it too would like to run over the necromancer very much. It also means that Sypha's the one driving, which neither Trevor or Alucard are happy about, but it is simply how it shall be. What to do with the necromancer after that shall be dictated by the state of the man in question, and how much Dracula's Laws override a far more private and personal matter which Sypha gets the final say in.

It all leads to a small warehouse complex, all sturdily built things near the train tracks so that shipments can be sent and recieved. Deep, deep in the center is where the necromancer's operation is, and there's even a little tin sign on the main entrance that proudly annouces that the building is home to Facilier's Ruby Tonic: A Miracle Draught for All Ills! That pride is tarnished by distinct claw marks over the tin, and the door that is now very much open.

(Somehow, it is still on it's hinges.)

There's an order for entering. Trevor first. Then Alucard. Sypha last, because even if the necromancer is subdued, there is no denying the extreme paranoia of the other two in letting Sypha (theirs) get too close to the thing again.

The demon car is right next to the door. (They did not park it there.) Who knew a demon could be such a comfort?]

Of course.

[ He'd be there anyway. He's been there before. But now, now it's a little more important that he be there. He belongs between Alucard and the world. Belongs at his side. At both of their sides.

For once in his life, he can know he's doing the right thing.

Softly, he lowers Sypha down onto the bed, leaning down to kiss her forehead. ]

Sweet dreams, Alouette.

[He says of course, but they all know that those two words have new meanings now. Alucard smiles at those two words all the same, stupid and smitten in a way that he doesn't let anyone else see. That no one's seen aside from Sypha, and keen eyed vampires who catch a fleeting glance of the expression during a party when the vampire thinks he can get away with it.

(He knows he can't. But some nights he can't make himself care. He loves her, and they should know it. Just like that's true of Trevor now as well.)

Once Sypha's down on the bed, Alucard sinks onto the edge of it. Nominally it's to start untying his shoes, but there's a much more important purpose: so his hand can reach out, catching Trevor's elbow.]

Stay?

[A word he could so easily make into a command. Asking is the point.]

I-

[ The adoring on his face fades into confusion (adoring still, but- just a little lost, like there's a puzzle he doesn't quite understand). He looks down at Alucard's hand on his arm, then up at Alucard, and blinks in confusion. ]

-I don't sleep here, though.

[ It's partly tiredness, partly genuine confusion and also entirely there still being a part of this that he considers himself to be outside of. Like he's not supposed to be here. ]

You didn't.

[Past tense is important. Alucard's hand doesn't falter from where it is, but there's a change in the tension. It's softer, and there's a gentle tug to invite Trevor to at least sit down on the bed beside him.]

But I think you should. We'd....both of would like that.

[ He's still shaken. The entire car journey has been spent trying to banish the horrified chill from himself, keep his trembling hands still.

He owes Alucard an apology. Being puppeted around is a horrible, horrible feeling. He can still feel the ghost of Carmilla's presence inside him somehow, hands pressing against the inside of his ribcage, and he wants to try uselessly to vomit her out.

By the time they arrive, he's largely managed to steel himself and calm down. His hand is on the whip's handle as he heads in, and the first thing that hits him is the smell of it. The incense is thick, enough for the smoke of it to bring on the beginnings of a headache even in him, unaffected by the stuff. Alucard had been rendered incapable of persuing back at the circus with even a little of it. With so much, and used on a new fledgling-

-there may still be risk, but it's unlikely to come from their target. ]

Sypha, you stay close to Alucard. Put him between you and anything that attacks. [ Even if he can't fight in this place, he can still function as a wall of vampire between Sypha and danger. ] Be ready to drag him around if you need to. Alucard, wolf until we can be certain this isn't a trap. You'll breathe less of this shit in closer to the ground.

[There's an irony, somehow, to the fact that they've been brought back so close to the train tracks — or maybe it's not really an irony at all, but a horrible recognition that comes creeping slowly the longer it's dwelt upon. Speakers travel by train, and not in the passenger cars but in empty cargo containers, small knots of them packed in where no one will see and no one will account for one that goes missing, save the Speakers themselves.

It's a hunting ground for a necromancer with aims like this one, to have a facility of his own near the train tracks. That much isn't lost on her. The basement had been bad enough; who knows what they might find when they enter the warehouse here, in the place that might well be the first stop for a kidnapped prize?

Still, she's ready. She has to be, because they have to see an end to this.

Even so, listening to Trevor's assessment of their battle plan makes her skin crawl with apprehension — half because of what they might find within, and half because the enemy that lies within (or may lie within, at least) will have to know that the easiest way to make any plan of theirs fall apart in an instant is to target her, and simply watch Trevor and Alucard go mad from trying to keep her from harm.

She grits her teeth, fingers curling in on her palms and leaving crescent-shaped marks from her nails in the skin.]

Be careful of the walls, the both of you, and watch the floor. It is one of his favorite defenses, to hide traps where you walk.

Understood.

[The smell is the first thing that hits. There has never been any denying that the incense renders the vampire almost useless in a fight, and here it is so thick he chokes on it. How Carmilla powered through any of it, he doesn't know. He doesn't want to think about her right now. Alucard chokes from the first wave of the smell, and pulls his shirt up and over his nose in a feeble attempt to block the stuff.]

Can we at least dispel a cloud of it from where we walk? I...

[He doesn't need to finish the rest. They both know, and Alucard presses closer to Sypha to the point that he's nearly up against her. He knows better than to do that too, but every nerve of his is on edge, terrified, wanting to claw at the walls.

There's a mercy in all of this, and that's the incense doesn't dull his hearing.]

He's towards your right, Trevor.

[ He sits, at the very least. He understands what Alucard is saying, now, and he wants to stay, but-

-that he wants it is the problem, really. It sends him searching for the catch, searching for the way in which this must be the wrong thing to do. It's something good, for him, and that must mean that there's some horrible price to pay. ]

Look, you don't have to do this. [ He says finally with a sigh. The adoring's gone, along with the confusion, replaced with resignation. ] The two of you are already [ more than he deserves ] the least shit thing in my life. I'm not such a selfish fuck that I'd ask for more.

[ He isn't prepared for this.

In truth, there is very little he could do to be prepared for this. Seeing a trap in this smoke would be a challenge, but he has one flask of holy water at least. He can sprinkle it on the ground below him, listen for the sound of the droplets hitting the floor, be ready to move if there's hissing when they do.

(A Simon Belmont, it was, who first documented this trick. He used it to find places where Dracula's magic hid false floors that led into traps or the jaws of monsters.)

It's a slow process, but they make progress nonetheless. One step at a time, until even Trevor's non-vampire hearing can pick up a low gurgling. Only visible almost too late through the smoke, a three fingered hand launches toward the three of them, and Trevor puts himself between it and the other two before it falters and breaks apart and sinks into the ground, like a wave crashing against the shore.

And beyond it, he's there. Bound to a chair that's fallen to the ground, beaten half to death. His mouth is still filled with that red tonic and he can't seem to turn his head fully enough to let it spill out. He breathes through his nose, but occasionally with a horrible gurgle he swallows more of his terrible medicine. And just as the tonic bubbles in his mouth, so his shadows bubble on the ground like tar, lashing out but breaking apart too early to do any damage.

Forgemastery is human magic, after all. ]

You're not asking. We're wanting.

[Alucard recognizes the thread of self loathing in Trevor's words. Have to do. Selfish. He doesn't bristle at it anywhere but in the space of his own mind, because it doesn't help anyone for him to do so.]

We want to give.

I-

[ It's stupid, really. One of the first real conversations that he had with Alucard was complaining about how loud he and his girlfriend were in bed. And now here he is balking at the idea of just sleeping next to them. But then it isn't any sort of shyness that's at work here. It's a keen idea of his place. He likes being on the periphery, or at least he doesn't dislike it. He likes being a distant second in importance to the both of them. On some level, he likes going back to his own bed and sleeping secure in the knowledge that to the both of them, he means less than the other.

Everything he was ever raised to do was sacrifice, why should love be any different?

The problem is, of course, that his instinct is to not do this. But then if they want him to stay, then not doing this is putting himself above the both of them. It's an unwinnable situation. ]

-let me get my pajamas, at least? Going to sweat myself to death next to her if I stay here in these clothes.

Well, that's going to happen no matter what.

[Alucard can only imagine what's going on in Trevor's head, and what he's debating himself about. All he knows is that it is objectively wrong on every level, and so the best thing that he can do is to try and gently anchor the Belmont in the reminder that all of the affection given is real and that there's no good reason to fight against it.

It's why his response is warm with a hint towards the comedic, rather than something that sends the vampire scowling and fussing about why won't you.]

Go. We'll be here waiting.

[ He practically bolts out of the door.

But he does return, eventually, after longer than simply changing clothes would account for. Carefully, in case they're both asleep by now (he hopes they are, almost, and then he can just go to his own bed under the pretense of not wanting to wake them), he opens the door and peeks around it. ]

You still awake?

[Most nights, Alucard stays up later than Sypha does. Tonight is no different. The vampire is lounging as he does when he's on the sofa and the armrest is providing back support - half up, half down, a book in hand and in this case, Sypha using Alucard's chest as a pillow. She's on her stomach, two thirds of her using the vampire as a bed and her one arm hanging low around and beyond his waist.]

I am. And don't worry about having to move her around. Once she's like this, it's hard to rouse her.

[It's him. There he is, the same man whose shadows had pulled her through a mirror while the gouges in her arms leftover from Alucard's nails were just beginning to bleed. There he is, the one who chained her over a sigil that would eat away at her magic, who sang to her and used Speaker tricks to burn his horrors into her mind. There he is, the man whose bone saw took others of her people before her, who hunted them and saw them not even as animals, not even as prey, but as ingredients for his next machination, and nothing more.

There he is, tied and fallen and beaten, subjected to the same awful fate he'd been peddling to unsuspecting others before him.

She stays close to Alucard, hands on him, unwilling and unable to let him go. It's better if Trevor has all the room he needs to work, in this smoke. It's going to stupor Alucard, breathing it, and no matter what else might happen, she's got to at least protect him. She's got to.

It startles her, the visceral flood of terror that still crashes over her when she looks at him, even when he's reduced to as pitiful a state as this.]

No...

[Her fingers tighten on Alucard, less holding and more clutching now.]

His...his magic...

[There is a tiny part of Alucard, the part of him that is well and truly the son of Dracula, that takes some level of delight in seeing the necromancer like this. He is not humbled, he is brought down low into the mud and his face has been rubbed into it time and again, breaking him of any falsely earned pride. Oh, he could still be a threat, but to witness this, there's a thrill in Alucard that he has such a deep shame of even as the feeling glows warmly in the pit of his stomach.

Focusing on the other two means he can ignore the feeling. Alucard is hyper aware of how Trevor moves. He has to force himself to be through the thick smoke, and it's right to assume that there are other traps present. The spell's caster may be without magic now, but that doesn't mean his spells can't be fueled.

When the necromancer tries to reach out, Alucard still tries to move in front of Sypha. It's allowed under the smoke's say so because the urge is not to harm, but to protect. Protect even though that was part of the problem in the first place.

He can still do that. The way Sypha's hands are on him say everything. His hands go over hers, gentle as they can be in this moment.]

Forgemastery isn't extended to vampires. There's no need, given what vampires are capable of.

[He speaks lowly, not willing to move without Trevor's say so.]

Sypha. [He says her name to try and ground her.] What would you have us do, and what would you have Us do?

[The capital letter can be heard. He has to ask, because this is so very much the matter of two different parts of their lives.]

Don't want to move her around, she's perfect like this.

[ Not that she isn't always perfect, of course. In truth, Trevor's strategy here was to do as little moving around of people as possible, take up as little space as possible, just try not to fuck up.

This is foiled somewhat by the size of him, the size of the bed, and his immense capacity for fucking up. As it turns out, he has to be very, very close to the others in order to fit into the bed. It isn't really made for three people (he doesn't belong here. He's intruding).

He hands up with his head next to Alucard's, close enough for his long hair to tickle just a little, and the rest of him curled around Sypha as much as is possible to avoid moving her. The only real place to comfortably put his arm is over them, and so he uncomfortably tucks it up against his chest, in the same space occupied by Sypha's back. And it's nice. Too warm, and made far less comfortable than it ought to be by his own need to make is far less comfortable than it ought to be, but nice. ]

's this okay?

That she is.

[Sypha is cute in many ways, and being curled up asleep is one of her cutest forms. He doesn't use the word in regard to her much outside his own head, but that's because it always feels...not wrong exactly, but like it devalues all of her other wonderful aspects, reducing her to just cute. Or just his girlfriend. Or anything that's just because Sypha is beyond.

Alucard remains still as Trevor gets himself settled. There's another reason Alucard's asked for this, and Trevor's struggle to fit in the bed properly is exactly why. The vampire has to know how much bigger the bed needs to be.

Once Trevor's settled, Alucard shifts. It's just enough to kiss the top of Trevor's head, albeit at a weird angle.]

It's perfect.

[ At the kiss, his body relaxes just a little. It's hard to remain so tightly wound and- himself right now. Parts of him are simply incompatibe with warmth and affection, and in their presence they either rebel or shut down completely.

They were doing the former, up until now. But now Sypha's back is warm against his chest and Alucard's hair keeps brushing against his nose and - they don't have it in them to keep it up for much longer. ]

This is- it's been a long time. Didn't think it would fuck me up this much. [ And then, as an awkward afterthought- ] Sorry.

It's fine. You're more than fine.

[He doesn't understand. Not really, not in a way that would make him well and truly understand. But he cares. Anything that makes his Belmont miserable demands the vampire's attention.

Alucard moves the book aside for now, placing it on the beside table. One hand, that migrates to Sypha's back. The other rests atop Trevor's, careful and considering.]

Don't apologize. You're here now.

[ The tarlike shadows bubble more frantically as they approach, three-fingered hands flying out to grab at them. He's not vampire enough yet to be as affected by the smoke as even Alucard. Not enough to have entirely lost his powers. But almost. One hand almost reaches Trevor before breaking apart, only to be lanced through by a thin needle of ice. ]

Shit, thanks. [ Trevor murmurs back to Sypha. ] Fucker's still dangerous. We killing him here, or bringing him for execution? Say the word and I'll do either.

[ Except that that ice wasn't Sypha's. Somewhere deeper in the smoke, there's the sound of rustling cloth, so quiet that only Alucard's hearing will be able to pick it up. They aren't alone here. ]

[Alucard's question weighs more heavily than perhaps even he realizes, posed to her the way that it's framed. There's a reason she's not often involved in this aspect of Alucard's business, why her role chases after similar goals but in different directions. Trevor is a Belmont, born and bred to be an executioner of things like these. Speakers are made to heal, to help, to preserve, not to destroy.

But they won't act without her, not this time. And maybe on some level that's for the best, when paradoxically enough she's the one best equipped to be objective, even despite also being the one wounded most directly by what the necromancer had done. Alucard's need for vengeance has its roots in the losses of others he's loved before her, and the outrage that this man had nearly taken her from him, too. And Trevor — Trevor was so badly shaken by what was done that he'd begged her to carry his gun because of it, knowing full well what it meant and what making that choice would mean for her.

And yet deep down, she wishes this didn't fall to her. If she had her way, what she wants, what she would want, really, is —]

I want to have never met him.

[At first blush, it sounds almost like a regret — a little burst of melancholy whimsy, pining for a road not taken.

But she is a Speaker, whatever else she might be. And they've known her long enough that they might just recognize a Speaker's curse when they hear it.]

I want no one to remember him. Every bit of him, forgotten. Forever.

[Those words ache to hear. Alucard's fury has always been reserved for the man and what he did to Sypha, well beyond the physical hurt. It's the way she reacts that pains him most, because nothing should ever break her as this thing has done.

Alucard's understanding of the world of Speakers has only ever been through the lens of Sypha. But oh, he understands what her words mean. He can make them happen.]

That can be done.

[It is in his power to make that happen among the vampires. But right now there's something else. Something moving.

Alucard's sword can't come out, he's still too affected by the smoke. But he lets out an alarmed noise, something close to a wolf's snarl, and he immediately faces the direction the noise is coming from.]

Belmont.

[There's so much alarm in a single word.]

[ There are parts that don't sell. Tongues, eyes, brains, hair, fingernails, hands, teeth - those are worth more than their weight in gold. But then there are the torsos and legs. The organ meat. The upper arms, in most cases. They sell, still. Flesh laced with magic always sells. But prices are cheaper, and good help, good help that still has magic in its bones, can be harder to come by than coin.

Hard to come by. Harder still to keep without his powers.

Another hand launches out, this one at Sypha. Magic. He needs magic. Human magic. Something that can take control of his twisting, roiling powers and use them to defend him. If he can get one of those hands into her, use her as a puppet...

Another icy dart flies into the hand. The sound of rustling cloth is clearer now, audible even to human ears. And then, then they are close enough to see.

There are three of them. Each carries - or 'carries', none have complete hands - a censer, filling the room with that blinding smoke. The first is the easiest to make out the details of. The lower jaw is gone, and the teeth torn out of the gums of the upper one. The eye sockets are hollow, the head shaven with very little care for the risk of catching chunks of flesh in the blade. It has one arm to the wrist, ending in a stump, and one to the forearm, and then two more limbs sprouting from its hips. They're legs, technically, and the colours of the skin match neither each other nor the skin of the speaker attached to them.

And it is a speaker. An amalgam of flesh in long, blue robes stained with old blood, with holes torn into them to make space for the extra limbs. Its companions, perhaps thankfully, are still too obscured by the smoke to see in their entirity. One looks to possess three of those jawless heads and one arm ending in a palm with no fingers. Another is short, its torso horizontal to the ground and suspended between four pairs of legs like a spider.

A sound comes from the first one, a horrible moist rasping noise, as it addresses Sypha, pushing past both her and Adrian to move between her and the dying necromancer. ]

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20s AU Post

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