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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only | Expand All

[The wolf considers the moment carefully. As a wolf, he can run easier. As a wolf, it is harder to undo the chain that is Vampire Killer. As a man, he is easier to notice. As a man, he has his sword and can slice through the sacred whip without a problem.

He and Sypha have been studying the legends as the first step of many to prepare to make sure their Trevor remains theirs. Sypha needs details on the contract's exact words, Alucard has been pouring over accounts for what to do when arguing doesn't work and they have to do something drastic.

(It would help if he wasn't Regent, wouldn't it? Doing something like this is an act of war...)

To hell with everything but the Belmont. The past year has been nothing but horrible things taking those he loves the most from his fingers. (He sees the bishop in the distance. The vampire growls, even as bile tries to come up his throat.) In a moment his sword is out, and he lunges not for Trevor, not for the horse, but for Vampire Killer itself, Alucard's deft swordsmanship cutting the bindings as if they were nothing at all.]

[ The thin silver thread at the core of Vampire Killer catches the moonlight, the leather around the cut becoming unbraided. The cut ends of the whip burn the ground where they fall as surely as if it were demon flesh. The queen stops and all of her knights stop with her, the necromancer and the bishop and Damien and every other thing that would serve her in taking away the things that he loves, from the horrible things of the vampire world they inhabit to the horrible things of the human one. Monsters as great as his father and as small and pathetic as a man who had jeered at Sypha once as she told fortunes and told her that her people should not be in this city.

They watch him and turn to circle him as Trevor, no longer supported by the whip binding him, topples from the white horse. ]

[Alucard doesn't have any time to acknowledge the sea of staring eyes. If he stops, he dies and Trevor is taken away with greater haste, and that's not allowed. Only the vampire can decide what's allowed, he's sick of other people making that choice for him.

His sword isn't even in it's sheath. He only rushes forward, forward, forward with his arms outstretched so he can catch the Belmont in the same kind of embrace that Alucard adores being carted around in when the situation is vice versa.

There will be a tightly circle around him when Trevor's in his arms. Alucard knows that. They'll eat his blade. They can have his flesh for all he cares, but not their Trevor.]

Mine first.

[ The voice is calm and even. It's small, but it's the kind of small voice that silences all other sound. Its owner rides the Queen's horse, and the queen herself is nowhere to be seem. They look a little like Sypha, in the dark like this, but a second glance shows that their hair and skin are darker. Their robes are similar to the ones she wears sometimes, a design that never changed much over the years, but they are white, waterlogged and stained with mud and blood at the bottom. ]

He was mine first.

[ And Trevor, Trevor who can only look up at Alucard in confusion, looks up in recognition. But the figure on the queen's horse looks only at Alucard. ]

Would you take him from me?

Not by choice.

[Alucard has Trevor in his arms, and he holds so tight and so fast that he has to remind himself air is important. That relaxes his grip only slightly, because Alucard remembers stories like this. (The particulars are not with him right now.) His right hand still clings to his sword.

When he meets the Queen's eyes it is not full of the fury the necromancer saw. It is with a deadly calm, the kind of thing that's probably worse. It means that Alucard's not acting on instinct. On this there has been calm and careful thought, and his anger is fueled by certainty.

She's not Sypha. That's easy enough to bear in mind.]

In a heartbeat. He chose us.

[ The current Queen looks down, eyes settling on Trevor. ]

He chose me first. I was the one to eat his heart of flesh and leave in its place a heart of stone.

[ There is a long pause. And then the speaker's horse is white and spotted, and the black of its coat and the colours of its mane flow over the ground and up through the bony legs of Damien's horse. And Damien, the current queen, fine nobleman's clothes all bloody and chest hollow, throws his head back and laughs. ]

But then, my Young Lord, you have had your share of Hearts of Flesh too, have you not? Take him, then. As Tribute. For as long as you can bear to keep him.

[ Trevor does not look at the new queen in recognition. He only looks at Alucard, staring, as if he is a puzzle to solve. And then there is a crack, and he screams.

No matter how light Alucard's touch, the bone cracks audibly beneath it. Splinters of bone poke out from skin, and blood wells up around them. ]

Go to Hell in his place. You've put it off long enough.

[It's all he can manage. He says it in the split second between Damien's face reminding the vampire of the things that a ruler must do from time to time to the sudden snap of agony that sounds from Trevor.

Alucard remembers this part. It's an old story. One that demands touch, one that demands clinging, and as deep and furious as Alucard's snarl is at Not-Damien, he keeps his grip on Trevor. Keeps it there as he runs through the circle around them both, runs into the woods to try and at least get space.

He can't let go. He remembers that part. Trevor is in such horrible pain, but the vampire must keep Trevor in his arms.]

I have you. I have you, you'll have to ride this out.

[ The screaming stops, replaced by desperate gasps. He tries to gulp down air long enough to think through the pain, long enough to try to figure out how he knows the man who is doing this to him. It's a losing battle, and all he can do is fall still, choked sobs leaving him as more and more fragments of bone peirce their way through his skin, dark stains forming on the shroud.

Too dark to be blood.

Stains in the shape of hands.

The horse is there, coming into view as Alucard runs past it. It's the necromancer atop it now, blunt teeth bright white in a way nothing in the woods is. ]

For as long as you can bear to keep him, young lad!

[ And the hands rush at Alucard, tearing through the fine clothing and into flesh. ]

[Alucard hates this. He doesn't know if he's recognized, he doesn't care, he just knows his purpose right now is to keep moving forward and to keep their Trevor theirs. Everything else is pointless. There's whispered apologies to Trevor, every I'm sorry mixes with you can bare this, I promise and other little promises that it'll be over soon, they'll be home soon, back to their Sypha in just a few minutes more.

The bone is horrifying. It's threatening to pierce the vampire too, and the darkness is no better. Worse when they're hands, because Alucard nearly howls for that horror and the sight they conjure up.]

You're not here. I banish you, go

[He doesn't know if it'll work. But as the hands tear into him, Alucard can only manage a muted snarl. Let the hands bind the two of them together then. He keeps moving forward.]

Well. There should be a well...

[ There is a well. It's a distance, still, but maybe only thirty seconds at Alucard's pace. But the Queen stands between Alucard and it, and the body she wears now is the bishop's, twice-dead, one eye glowing blue. ]

For as long as you can bear to keep him, demon.

[ And the flames begin at Alucard's hands, consuming first the shroud and then Trevor. ]

[It's on purpose, the bishop and the flames. Alucard knows it, he knows it because it'd be the dirtiest, shittiest trick for anyone to do. There's enough of him that isn't consumed by rage at the sight of the man to keep the vampire grounded. To not even respond. To keep pace, to get to the well.

His Belmont is on fire. Alucard can't look, even as the flames lick at his face. He remembers that burnt corpse, his mother, and remembers touching charred flesh and having to walk over to the sink to heave everything out of himself. The smell of the flesh brings that memory to the surface, and it's agony to keep holding on.

You can shoulder this. He lies to himself. He's at the well.

Shit.

Does he keep holding on until there's nothing or does he put the body in now...]

Adrian.

[ Lisa is sitting on the edge of the well, hands folded in her lap, gentle and calming even in air thick with the smell of burning flesh. She looks at the body in Alucard's arms with concern, and the flames and the clawing and the breaking all stop dead in her comforting presence. There is only Trevor, lost and broken and gasping for air, and she stands and places a hand against him, burned flesh becoming whole again as she does. ]

He's hurt, isn't he? Give him to me - just lay him down on the ground. Let me see to him.

[It's a trick.

He knows it. He has to, because even as his brain reminds himself that if his father ever got whiff of the fae trying to actually do something along these lines, there'd be an honest to God war. Alucard has to because he feels his arms already trying to release Trevor. There's care that he can't provide, he hasn't been able to do everything he should have done because he's a regent and not a medical student, but...

His mother's never been able to do magic. So Trevor is pulled back against the vampire with a speed that qualifies as unsafe.

There is a low, feral snarl from Alucard. He knows he's still looking at the same person.]

She never used magic in her work. My mother was a woman of science.

[ And Lisa's face pales, the colour fates from her hair and her features grow sharper, crueler. The last form that the queen takes is Carmilla's, and she has no game, no trick, no test.

She is simply a very sore loser. She takes Alucard by the neck, lifting him effortlessly, claws extending into him-

-Trevor is already awake when Alucard wakes, panting and staring at him wide-eyed, Sypha asleep between them and contented as anything to be there. ]

[He's still holding onto Trevor, even as claws extend into him. They're not done, this isn't done, he still has their Trevor in his arms.

Alucard takes a few more moments to wake up. True enough to form, he barely reacts as he wakes from the nightmare. There's only golden eyes staring out from the dark and a tired huff.]

...That was new.

[ They don’t usually have faces. Certainly not those ones. Usually nobody comes for him. He just stares for a moment longer, because he doesn’t know where he is or who these people are. Because he can still feel phantom pain from bones that are entirely intact, Because he can still smell his own flesh burning, and he knows that smell too well.

Alucard is speaking, and that gets his attention. ]

You- you’re Adrian.

[ It’s not a question, but nor does he sound certain that he’s right. ]

Yes?

[The vampire still has his face buried in Sypha's hair. He finally picks his face up, and when he looks at Trevor, his face is uncertain. Scared, just a little, which isn't normal either. Usually the vampire just looks annoyed by his bad dreams.]

Trevor?

[ The pain was normal. Horrific, but normal. But he saw Arn again. Arn wanted him and this man took him away. Said that he was theirs, as if yet another fucking thing had any right to lay claim to him.

No. This is Adrian. And he is theirs. He has said so himself so, so many times. And the person between them, hair worn like a speaker's- ]

They're not- [ Shit. He knows this, he knows this. They're not Arn. They're someone else. Someone just as important. Fae dreams always do this to him, fuck with his head like this. ] -who are they?

[It's a bad dream hangover. That's how Alucard lies to himself that Trevor's sudden memory loss is completely normal and explainable. He's fine. Just disoriented. It was a terrible fucking dream after all, why shouldn't he be allowed to have this?]

Sypha. Our Sypha. [He's soft spoken, making sure not to wake her. The last thing she needs is this.]

You were asleep.

Right. Sypha. And-

[ This one is easy, because her chest is pressed against his. ]

-a woman, then.

[ Look just because he can't remember a fucking thing doesn't mean he can't lower the tone of the conversation entirely accidentally. But it does return to him. This is Adrian, and this is Sypha, and this is their room, half a world away from the place where he was born and sold. ]

I- sorry. Usually-[ what happens usually? he knows this one. ] -the two of you are asleep, and I can figure this shit out on my own.

[It's the usually that has the vampire's attention. Hell, he's trying to find a way to sit up without disturbing Sypha at that, which really just means he's propping his head up with one free arm while the other is still wrapped around Sypha's middle. Still protective. Maybe a little bit more on edge thanks to what feels like the combined powers of their shitty, shitty imaginations.]

How...frequent is that sequence of events?

[He doesn't like this not one bit nope!]

...got weird this time.

[ Which isn't much of an answer, is it? But it makes sense as one to him. This exact sequence of events is new and strange. ]

Once a month or so, I suppose?

Why haven't you ever--

[No, the vampire knows why. No point in sharing something like that as far as the Belmont's concerned. Alucard breathes out softly.]

Weird because I was there?

Weird because-

[ Because he passed the tests. Because he didn't let go at the first one. Because the tests were different this time, crueler and more personal. Because-

-wait. ]

You were-? [ Shit. That fucking spell. He sighs, half burying his face in the pillow. It's all he can really do without letting go of or waking Sypha. ] Shit, I'm- sorry.

....Unless I also had an extremely specific dream involving the fae, Belmont, I believe so.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject