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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Marry both of us. Otherwise correct.

[Alucard's own voice is so very tired. It has been a long day. A long night, and there's still so much more of it to go. The vampire rests his chin on the top of the steering wheel as they come to a stop light, and he just looks off into the distance.]

Pretty sure I'm obliged to get angry with you for making her cry, too. But I'll save that for if you survive.

[ While the red light lasts, he reaches over to put a hand on top of Alucard's. ]

I love both of you. More than anything. You do know that?

It's very daring of you to think I haven't guilted myself stupid about everything that's happened since I got home today ten times over.

[Alucard's hand is steady only because he's driving. He still has a tremor or two left in him that will have to be let out when no one else can see.]

Of course I know that. I love you both too, selflessly and selfishly.

Oh, I'm sure you have. But I've only given you hell for making me cry so far. Can't leave a task unfinished.

[ He squeezes Alucard's hand and then lets go before the light changes. Not far now. ]

We'll survive, without you. We'll be able to be happy, without you. It can be done. If the worst happens, don't think you've broken us somehow. We'll live.

[ It's easier to say, now that he's not working on shock and a vague, familiar feeling of betrayal. ]

I don't promise that the Vampire Killer won't find its way to Carmilla's neck before we leave, though.

I appreciate you waiting.

[The light does change, but that's not what Alucard focuses on. Don't think you've broken us.

And that's the fear right there, isn't it? That he's done to them what was done to his father. Forcing that kind of horrible grief upon them, demanding they cope.]

I'll be too dead to stop you. If I can claw my way back as a spirit, I'll help.

[The city will still be in chaos, but guess how many fucks the vampire gives about the city.]

You won't have to, of course.

And I can't promise that we won't be doing something stupid when you come back. Your fault for leaving us alone.

[ He's found warmth again. Gradually, gradually, he's getting his entire set of emotions back. ]

Let me go over your battle plan properly, once we're back?

I'd rather come home to you two doing something stupid than anything else.

[They're on the backroads now. The one where the headlights are important and Alucard is leaning a little more over the wheel to see.]

There's a set of index cards with different movements and responses so they can be rearranged into different sequences. They're yours to review.

[He leaves in the sunlight.

A personal decision. No oncoming darkness, no threat of it. Alucard leaves for the fight that will bring the city’s nightmare to an end half an hour before sunset, wrapped in a cloak of lightning. The good-byes are painful, but he mentally cannot label them as good-bye forever. Defeat begins with that thought.

The lightning envelops him. He arrives at the only place this fight could happen a moment later, no worse for wear. It is a short distance after all, and that means the spell has no effect upon his person. Agatha is there waiting for him, dressed in black and looking every inch the overseer she has agreed to be. There is a stool beside her, as they both know the matter could drag on, and Agatha’s legs are not as young as they used to be. Alucard only nods to her, then focuses on unlocking the front door.

They stand in that open front door, the two of them, aware that those passing by see the Gardette-LePrete Mansion as nothing more than an architectural marvel in the city. Alucard isn’t sure that those going by even see them - an old Hungarian woman in black, a young man in a dark blue suit and tie, sword at his side and long blonde hair swept up and off his neck in a single braid, pinned in place by his mother’s hairpins. Waiting.

Silence sweeps in at sunset. Alucard’s posture stiffens, and Carmilla’s presence is announced before she appears with thick rolling fog that smells of death. An old vampire skill, one not used in the city these days because fog is too uncommon. The vampire doesn’t react. Agatha simply looks bored. Then the other vampire is before them both, her own hair long and hanging, her choice of clothes not dissimilar to Alucard’s. A suit, black with maroon accents, and at her side a morningstar. It’s a detail that she smiles thinly at as Agatha begins the act of inspecting both party’s weapons. She brokers no reaction, and Agatha moves onto inspecting the two of them. Claws are tested for poisons. Pockets are cleaned out, suit jackets are told to be removed and remain as such now, placed down beside the front door.

There is a small crowd watching it all. Vampires, mostly, and Alucard stares at them each in turn as Agatha completes the final inspections. When she is completed, his words are brief.]

Whoever wins controls this city until Dracula returns. No rest or quarter is given. The rebellion against my father’s laws ends with this fight, and the results are not to be questioned.

[And that is all. Alucard walks into the mansion first. Carmilla follows. Agatha is last, and she closes the door behind them all. Locks it, leaving the crowd to wait.

Once in the basement (cleared of everything), Agatha sets her stool down, a spell is placed around her for her safety, and it begins.

Alucard’s prediction of an even match turns out to be correct. Carmilla’s choice of a morning start was to grab at his weapon at all available opportunities, but it shows ignorance of how Alucard relies upon his own mind to control the thing. For the first hour, it is the vampire wielding both sword and morningstar together, Carmilla given no rest or even an opportunity to shift form. Her defenses, unfortunately, serve her well, and there is no chance to get as close as Alucard needs to in order to end the fight.

The second hour sees the tables turn. There is a moment where Alucard’s sword goes into the wall, and he cannot rely on his mind alone to retrieve it. Using his hands means finding a way to not turn his back on Carmilla, and there is failure. She regains the morning star. She picks Alucard up throws him into a wall badly enough that there’s a concussion to slow him down.

Hour three sees the worst of the concussion clear, and the vampire retains enough of his calm to attack her without giving into a fury that might cloud is vision. The fourth means they are both showing signs of weariness, for four hours is a long time for anyone to fight, man or vampire. It is also at the fourth hour that weapons are abandoned in favor of claws, and there Alucard’s healing skills falter.

No one among New Orleans’ vampires knew of the great scar on Alucard’s chest and the source of it. None knew that it took time to heal because of the great age of the elder who inflicted it. So when Carmilla sees blood, sees it still running, sees red flesh refusing to heal, she is invigorated. Alucard’s defenses don’t falter, but it’s bad. He only thanks Trevor’s thinking that rosewater and salt was something applied not just to his sword, but to his own claws.

So neither of them heal. Things remain even.

As the fourth hour becomes the fifth, they are both worn. Their attacks are slower. There is blood on the floor, and they must be careful not to slip. Carmilla is ready to leap upon a crouched over Alucard when the entire mansion begins to rattle, and all three freeze.

Is that either of-- Carmilla starts, and soon the room’s lights begin to flicker. Alucard rises to his feet, one hand pressed against a deep gash in his side, and shakes his head no.]

Neither of us have had a chance to cast a spell, everyone else knows interfering would be death...

[Darkness starts to gather at the edge of the room. There is a weight to it, a presence, and the darkness begins to move inward, inward, inward, engulfing them all. Alucard goes still, not for fear of the dark, but for fear of the dark’s presence. There’s a single, terrified noise from him, and he names the source plainly.]

Father.

Careful what you wish for. We'll find something really stupid.

[ ...everything's still tender. Everything hurts. He still resents all of this. If either of them were going to get sleep tonight, it still probably shouldn't be in the same bed. But things are a little more normal now. They can talk like this.

He's furious, still. Hurt, still. But it's not going to be forever. ]

I'll go through them, then. Won't let anything happen to you.

[ Those kisses are all he has ever wanted, it feels like. The only thing he can think of, and he whines loudly in protest when they're given to Sypha and not to him, squirming desperately against Alucard. ]

Please, please.

[ But then he gets what he's asking for and more and it's perfect, absolutely perfect and he shudders as Alucard's fingers move down his spine, coiling back around the touch, every muscle there tensing the they always do when this happens. He kisses back and the order is probably no longer in effect but that doesn't make him want those kisses any less, returning them as fiercely as he can manage with Alucard's fingers on his back reducing him to a useless boneless mess.

He gives the offer some consideration, taking the opportunity to brush his lips against Alucard's neck while it's there and convenient. ]

Do I get more kisses if I rebel?

...Hold on, what is this about rebellion?

[Alucard had been quiet enough that she hadn't overheard his murmured little conspiracy taking form, but luckily (luckily?), Trevor hasn't been quite so careful about maintaining the secrecy, and so now the cat is out of the bag, perhaps.

Not that she really minds, of course, unless this rebellion involves the two of them leaving her out, which she doubts it will. Perhaps it's just the next turn of the wheel in this little game of theirs — first Alucard at their mercy, and now Trevor, and then her.

She looks at them both, the way they're twined together and fervent and so much in love, and shivers a little at the thought of being the one drowning in it, instead of holding the reins of it in her hands.]

I am your dark mistress, and I will not be overthrown —

[Unless they try, that is.]

[Absolutely no one was surprised by the depression nap after it was clear the vampire was going to be fine. Being in depression nap mode meant that the scratches and deeper cuts from Carmilla's hands were healing far faster than the scar on Alucard's chest ever did, and the few scars that would remain there could still heal rapidly.

The question of how long the depression nap might last for was another matter entirely, because with the general state of things before Dracula's return, the option of a while was absolutely on the table. It meant a lot of hovering over the vampire, a lot of awkwardness, and dealing the fact that Alucard's frozen meal cache ran out and so who's to do the cooking had to be addressed. The only answer known was "not Sypha."

Alucard answers the question of duration a week later, opening his eyes somewhere around 1 in the afternoon. He is aware that the room he is in isn't his own - he moves a hand and it falls over the side of the bed. He moves the other and it does the same. The sheets only smell fleetingly of Trevor and Sypha, and that is all without opening his eyes.

The first thought after collapsing from exhaustion and fear of one's father should not be well they fought about where to attend to my depression napping body but here Alucard is. Having that thought. Opening his eyes and looking up at a stone ceiling that isn't their stone ceiling. Just. Just a ceiling.

There's a quiet whine as he tries to sit himself up. Stupid first thing to do, but Alucard's a selfish dick. He wants to know who's sitting with him right now.]

[Alucard hisses a yes into Trevor's ear, and he is so careful as he lets go of the Belmont. There has to be all the bones in Trevor's body for this to work, not just one that's taking up the bulk of the attention and thinking right now.

Then, then the vampire turns to Sypha with a smile so devious that it should never be on the vampire's face at all. But oh, it is. It is and he places an arm low around Sypha's waist, bringing her to him so tightly that squirming and bidding for freedom will only see the embrace tighten.]

You will not?

[His eyes meet Trevor's for a moment, Go high, I'll go low.]

It seems that you've forgotten that you are outnumbered, and we will never hesitate to hold you.

[Like this, obviously. But Alucard hedges his bet, and rather than go for Sypha's lips or her neck, his head ducks down to kiss at her breast, aware of the fabric in the way and caring not one inch about it.]

Have you wrapped up between us so you can't move.

[ This has been an extremely weird, upsetting day.

Twenty four hours ago, just after midnight, he got shot in the head and tied to a sink. Then he had to have an awkward conversation with his boyfriend. And then only a half hour after said boyfriend ran off to participate in a fight to the death, his father-in-law attempted to murder him. Then there was some extremely irresponsible driving.

And now he's trying to bring a fading demon back to life with garden supplies while his father-in-law uses his blood to break into his own weird torture house. The Demon Car is exhausted - in the literal sense, the way a candle is exhausted when it is entirely gone - from breaking through the wards made to keep anything from intruding on the fight. Sypha using her own magic to force the demon car's engine to keep running, to keep it alive and connected to the car as he waves a container of sulphur powder around, trying to figure out- ]

Sypha, which part of the car counts as this thing's fucking mouth?!

[ There's that telltale clicking to answer his question, even before he starts to get up. Knitting. It's another Potarmilla. It stops when it sits up, and Trevor hurriedly puts the needles and yarn down to put an arm behind Alucard's back. ]

Back down, back down. I'll fetch more pillows if you want to sit up.

[ It's one of the castle's guest rooms. One of the windowless ones, to allow his father to attend to him during the day if necessary. They fought over it, the windowless part, but that was a compromise - in return, Vlad is attempting not to be too offended by the idea of the two of them washing his son and changing his clothes and bandages.

All parties agreed 'not their own room', though. If only because they couldn't dissuade Vlad from going wherever Alucard was sleeping, and making sure their own room wasn't disturbed seemed like the lesser evil. ]

[Knitting needles.

Good to be back home.

The vampire doesn't say anything about wanting more pillows, he just wanted to the world to know that he was still in it. He lets himself be guided back down, but only just so. His right hand reaches for whatever he can grab of Trevor, because touch, touch is important. There's going to be a lot to deal with if he's remembering everything correctly.

His...ugh. Alucard's question, raspy due to dry throat, is brought upon by starting to realize that his father came home to a Belmont in the house.]

Are either of you hurt?

She's fine. Despite driving very irresponsibly without a seatbelt.

[ Of course Alucard is reaching to grab on to him. Their ridiculous clingy vampire. He pulls Alucard's hand away from him, kisses the knuckles of it and then lays his arm back on the bed. ]

Can you move up, just a little?

[ It's not a large bed, but if they stay as close as he assumes Alucard wants to be, they'll both just about fit. ]

That doesn't account for you, unless no news is good news.

[He didn't try to go after either of them in any meaningful way. Good. That's...that's good, because that means Alucard doesn't have that as a reason to yell at his father on top of everything else. The question of how either of them got through what was doubtlessly a furious Dracula is an easy one, that's all Sypha, and he'll ask after the details in time.]

Yes

[He does as asked, moving carefully. The question of where the injuries are falls mostly to Alucard's arms, and then right against his sides. All from defense, although there is a pain in his inner thigh from a vein that was clearly targeted.]

Depression nap. How long did this one go for?

'm fine.

[ Scrapes and bruises, all but the worst of them healed over the week. He's quick, and Sypha spared him the worst of it by being a speaker with a fucking gun and just confusing Dracula into submission.

He sits on the side of the bed when Alucard moves up and then lies down next to him, pulling him close, legs wrapped around his. They just about fit, like this. ]

Just over a week. Her show just started. Chased your father out of the living room and into the library because he called it 'drivel'.

Gas tank!

[The gas tank is empty. The gas tank has been empty since approximately a week and a half after she'd first put the demon into the car, which was also the amount of time it had taken to run down what had remained of the gas in the tank to total empty. The demon moves the car without the necessity of gasoline — a homunculus in a bottle, a little god in a machine — in exchange for a nice vehicle to reside in and a steady diet of...

...Well, she's never really asked, honestly.

That part of it doesn't really matter. What matters is that the Demon Car is a Good Car, a Good Car Like She Wanted, and right now she's standing between the headlights, hands out while she chants words of power in Enochian, blue power crackling from her fingertips and rebounding in black fire as she physically, forcibly holds her demon in its place when the blood seal is doing everything it can to crack and splinter apart into dust.]

Oh. Good. We're high minded enough for literary criticism.

[Alucard settles quickly against Trevor, his one arm wrapping around Trevor's waist immediately and the other balling up in the fabric of Trevor's shirt. Things ache right now, but it's low and dull. He can lay like this for a long time before pain kicks in.

(He suspects that there's also painkiller involved here.)]

Sorry you've been stuck with him for a week.

Worth it to have you back.

[ There is absolutely painkiller involved here. Trevor couldn't say for sure what it is, it's nothing of Florence's, but Dracula's been providing medicine and aside from the two of them making a point of checking it for poison (they don't suspect it, but Vlad was so very offended the first time that they did it that they just had to keep doing it out of spite) they havn't asked too many questions. And Alucard is attached to him now, firmly, so neither of them are in danger of falling out of the bed. It means he's free to remove his own hand from Alucard's back for a moment, using it to stroke his hair again. ]

You've gone and lost your fucking throne, I'm afraid.

Thank God. I think I've firmly demonstrated that I'm bad at the job.

[There's a happier noise from the vampire at both the news and Trevor's hand in his hair that he hasn't made in a very, very long time. In the back of the vampire's head he has joked about what a vampire miracle would look like, how it would be his father returning. He...didn't expect it, but even dealing with Dracula is better than ruling in his place.

Alucard's also a shit enough to hope that his father walks in to see this. Son curled up and being held by a Belmont, and happy for it.]

I can be the wastrel lounging around with two fiances and ignoring the world that I've always wanted to be.

And I- probably ought to start looking for work. I doubt your father wants a Belmont for a shield.

[ He pulls Alucard in tighter at that happy noise. Has he made that noise at all since before Sypha was taken? Trevor doesn't think he remembers it. ]

And you're okay, with being around him? [ His voice is lower now. He remembers how terrified Alucard was at Halloween. He remembers the nightmares and the long days of difficult quiet after them. He wasn't here for the injuries, but Sypha was, and they've spent many a long night discussing what exactly to do should Dracula return. ] I swore an oath not to stake him, but he didn't ask Sypha to-

[ He's a half-decent mechanic and a half-decent Belmont and if there was ever a point at which those two things would overlap it's here. Demon medical care isn't exactly a family skill, but demon murder is. So probably he just has to do the opposite. He pours the sulphur powder into the gas tank, checking off a list of 'things used to tempt demons' in his head. ]

Do you think you count as enough of a heretic? Or do I have to get a lock of hair from-

[ IS HE GOING TO HAVE TO SNEAK UP ON DRACULA WITH A PAIR OF SCISSORS WHILE HE'S WORKING. ]

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Page 82 of 141

20s AU Post

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