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.]
no subject
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.