cryptsleeper | Catch All

[ The panther misses Alucard narrowly, stalking about the cave below him and the other bats. They can keep track of it, trying to remain as high as possible and as far from the animal as they can. There is a flurry of activity as the panther lunges again. This time, it catches something. Not the quarry is came here for, and it expresses its disappointment with a sout crunch of the bat in its mouth. ]

[Decision made then. One loss is enough, and Alucard squeaks out something - an apology and his gratitude - before he takes flight, his wings beating as fast as his tiny little bat heart can manage.

Air is not better than the ground. Alucard knows that, knows that there will be birds of prey mixed in with the hunt. All the same, a panther will struggle to track a scent of a thing in the air. Be it this or wolf form, Alucard knows which one the situation calls for.

Going home cannot happen. The castle has been warded to be unfindable, but his scent may yet lead pursuers much too close for comfort. He's already going to be dealing with the fall out of this when he returns home. There are no good options of what to do for his own safety.

He keeps flying, ears keen for threats above and below, but truly seeking the sound of thundering hooves. This is a terrible option, but it is the safest of the ones available to him. Once home, he'll probably be barred for leaving anyway.

So there's a tiny little zip of a thing that passes over the great procession of thundering hooves, proud wolves, prouder fae who run riot over the land tonight. And in it all, there's a small bat now huddled into the fluff of one of their cloaks, sour and furious.]

[ The panther gives chase only so far, because it isn’t long before Alucard crosses the path of one particular hunting party. Led by a golden-haired man in blue and gold ridingon the back of a massive white lion. A party betternot crossed by anything, least of all whatever the panther is.

Sure enough, toward the back of the group a group of black hounds runs at the side of a larger dog, one carrying a woman in a long cloak, hood awkwardly pulled over her own antlers. Amoung them, Trevor rides upon a grey hart. He twists his head about, having caught the scent of his husband, as his sister plucks the bat from her collar by a tiny leg, determines it to not be a dog, and tosses it aside. It’s about as dignified as it sounds.

The bat falls into Trevor’s hands and he looks down at Alucard, beaming. ]

One kiss. [ He whispers. ] For my protection. Unless you have something else you’d sooner trade.

[Dignity is the very, very least of Alucard's worries right now. He's lost it a few times, and tonight it was taken by that panther. He'll return to the cave with daylight and apologize properly. Bury the poor thing the panther took instead, then continue along home.

He needs to speak to his father about how to travel not only as a man.

For now though, there is a series of soft squeaks and chirrups after being tossed into Trevor's hands, and somehow even they manage to convey the absolute level of done and having a terrible night that the vampire is having.]

Fine. Location is at my discretion, you take nothing of me. Hair, spit, even slivers of my skin that contain my cells. Nothing.

[Bats are very good at scowling it seems, if the look on Alucard's face is anything to go by.]

Very well. Hold on to me.

[ He places Alucard on his shoulder. There us fur aplenty there, to hide him, but he’s also close to Trevor’s wings. Beneath them, there is space to transform back and still remain hidden, if Alucard wishes. The woman on the dog looks at him quizically, and he grins, gesturing to the bat. ]

My husband. I told you I would find one.

[Alucard's staying as a bat. He had made that decision the minute that he took the form, but there's a probable advantage for Trevor here too. It means what would have been a completely well earned, Dracula channeling, thundering WHAT is just endless disapproving squeaking.

It still translates to WHAT?! but in a way that doesn't bring too much attention to the vampire. Or Trevor. Or whatever is about to happen.

This is bad.

This is immensely bad, and Alucard cannot even begin to fathom what the reaction is going to be when he gets home.]

My husband.

[ He repeats it softer now, just for Alucard, stroking the bat softly. It would be nice, maybe, to kiss the little bat. But deals are deals. Not until Alucard chooses the place. ]

We're hunting the plague. [ He whispers, continuing to stroke the bat. ] Ride with us until we're done, and then I'll take you wherever you please.

[ Their hunting party is nearing a city. Trevor's arm, the stabbed one, dissolves into hundreds of moths as they pass by houses and a horde of insects and birds and small animals flood into the houses through whatever entrances they can find, chasing out a thick, green-white smoke. It coalesces into a group of cloaked figures as more and more of it is expelled from houses.

Enid, whose hounds are all too large to enter homes and drive out the smoke, takes action once the figures form, her dogs rushing forward and giving chase.

Trevor grips the antlers of his hart more tightly as his arm reforms, riding faster as the hunt begins proper. Fairy Belmont medicine is happening, they're going to actually beat the shit out of a plague. ]

Most certainly not!

[Again: bat squeaking doesn't help any dignity in the moment. Alucard scowls, the little bat's face scrunched up in absolute fury. Whatever that panther was, he hates that it forced a hand like this.

He's going to be in the castle for some time when he gets back, isn't he?

All the same, Alucard manages to stay well attached to the fluff of Trevor's cloak, little bat limbs far stronger than they have any right to be. But when Trevor says plague Alucard tries to fight back on principle. Germs can't be hunted. Not in a way that makes sense and...

...and none of this makes sense. There is miasma taking human form as whatever this personification of plague is, and it flies in the face of everything Alucard had been taught. Everything he understands about medicine and science, and maybe there's a logic in it in it's own way. These are old, ancient things. Why would they behave according to modernity?

He stays where he is. Doesn't move, doesn't make a sound, tries to focus on his own problems instead. It's a long night, isn't it? He has much to think about.]

Nobody ever did tell you why not to stab an unarmed man, did they?

[ There's another of those grins as he says it, a little too wide, a little too toothy even by the standards of things that go hunting in the night. A few of the moths land close to Alucard, snuggling close to him as Trevor turns his attention to the hunt itself. Leon leads the party, his great lion tearing flesh from one of the figures as his glowing whip coils around another's waist. His nephews fall from the sky as a pair of owls, squabbling over one of the figures and taking turns snatching them out of each others' talons, only to be reprimanded by a screech from their mother, a griffin. ]

We hunt monsters. [ He says, either because he's taken notice of Alucard's annoyance with Belmont medicine or because he just wants to show off to his husband. ] Things that hurt people.

[ Plague is just as much a monster as a vampire or a priest lying to his congregation or a human who hurts his children. By fairy logic, it's only the hurting people that matters. ]

[There's a very discomforted squeak from the bat as the moths snuggle close. He doesn't like any of this, not one bit, and the way his bat form tenses communicates that all too clearly. He wants to be in his own home but now, away from a situation that is likely to get worse.

Watching the death of the Plague, such as it is, is less bothersome but only by a hair. Alucard ends up closing his eyes and breathing out, trying to exude a calm he doesn't feel.]

Not how medicine works, but whatever gets rid of the disease in the end, I suppose.

[ The hunt is over before long, animals twisting into slightly more human shapes. A woman with dark, curly hair and long rabbit ears drains blood into bottles and crushes bones into a thick, grainy paste to collect in jars while the owl children snatch chunks of meat from each others' hands. The griffin woman licks ichor from her claws. Leon, the only one of the group to appear truly human, looks over his children with pride. They'll head out again soon, there are other monsters to kill.

Trevor offers a chunk of meat that literally came from a personification of plague to Alucard. Probably it's even less of a good idea to eat that than normal food offered by a fairy. ]

You could meet my sisters, if you wanted. [ He offers. The moths snuggle closer. His husband is upset and he cannot tell why??? ] Or- you can name your place. For the kiss. And then somewhere you can be safe.

[There's a hiss at the offered plague meat, disgusted and absolutely refusing the offer. Fae food? Bad. Plague flesh? Worst idea he's ever heard. The little bat tries to make itself so very small, tries to withdraw from the moths entirely.

This hunt is over. That does not fix the whole night. That does not fix the vampire's intense discomfort at the scene as it has played out before him, and he says that as something that understands and has seen the horrors of night things. This discomforts in a way that Alucard didn't know he could be rattled before, and he knows it's from the old magic and from the nature of departure from humanity that he hasn't witnessed. Vampires make sense. Night things make sense.

The logic here doesn't.]

You know about night things. So you must know that vampires are territorial things, especially with regards to their kin, yes? That they demand exacting permissions?

[It's the easiest, politest way to tell the fae that to keep saying the word husband is a bad choice.]

[ He considers this, looking at the meat before tossing it to one of the hounds. Best not to eat it, if his husband dislikes it so much. It would make kissing uncomfortable. The moths finally, finally leave Alucard be, crawling back into Trevor's injured arm as he pets Alucard softly with the whole one. ]

A dowry, then. [ He says, thoughtfully, as he slowly leads his hart away from the group. Alucard doesn't really seem like he wants to meet his sisters. Which is sad, because he very much wants to show off his new husband. But it would hardly be worth showing off a husband that he couldn't make happy. ] My sisters were never asked for dowries for their wives and husbands, but you are more handsome than any of theirs. That seems fair.

(It is scant relief when the moths retret. The little bat remains as tense as ever, still curled up and wishing to be elsewhere.)

Thoe only come after one asks permission.

(Alucard knows hi father. It would never be o.)

[ He tilts his head, because why would he ever ask permission? Alucard stabbed him, he has the right to demand whatever he pleases in return. And asking permission isn't exactly something that vampires are known for either, in his own experience. After a little thought, he shrugs. Vampires are strange. It probably isn't important. ]

I will pay. All will be well, all will be well.

[ As if this was Alucard's actual concern and he's done a good job of fixing it, he pulls the bat from his collar and holds cups him in his hands, bringing him up to softly press his forehead against Alucard's tiny fluffy one in this continuing unsuccessful efforts to make his husband calmer. ]

Leon said I was too young to take a husband when we first met, so I waited until I could find you again. I can wait a little longer, until I can pay your kin.

[No, you won't, the vampire thinks, because my father will not allow it.

He can't say that. It will make the situatuon worse, and for now the fae understands that Alucard is another's. That will have to do for now.

He flinches as Trevor's forehead presses against his.)

How much longer until day?

A few hours.

[ He does, actually, pull back when Alucard flinches. He'll try something else before long, but he just puts Alucard back onto his collar for now. ]

Where should I take you? [ He asks again, maybe a little impatient for kissing now. Maybe that will help? Surely kissing will make his husband happy! ]

Hn.

(He settles back onto the collar content enough, latching on as tightly as he can.)

Wherever would be safest in this world and in the immediate area.

(So that when Trevor departs, the vampire is safe.)

[ Trevor does have to give this some thought. It's hard to say where would be safe without knowing where the vampire's home is, which he's stubbornly refusing to tell him. He knows only one place, and- suffice to say that his own definition of 'immediate area' is different from Alucard's. He places both hands on the antlers of his hart, and after far too short a ride they're at the old, now abandoned building of the clinic in Lupu.

It's overgrown, wildly so, and nobody seems to have claimed it in the time since the Tepes family left it. Nobody seems to have even come close to it, the door and windows still intact and everything inside as it was left. Exactly as it was left, free of dust or decay, the windows clean and the flowers on the table still fresh.

(Not all cages, Dracula will inform him later, are made of metal.) ]

You shouldn't need to go inside. [ He says, before anything else. There. A non-cage option. He's doing so good at providing for his husband's bizarre needs. ] The garden was yours, before. It ought to be safe.

[ An awkward pause. ]

I can't go into the garden if you don't let me. So-

[ He rubs the back of his neck. Alucard has to either do kissing before he enters the garden, or invite Trevor into it with him. ]

[Lupu is not the immediate area. It is the extreme opposite of that and it is even farther than where the castle is right now. But there is a good part of all of this, and that is the fact that the home of Lupu is alarmed. Crossing any part of the threshold means his father will be alerted to his son’s presence, and is more than likely to come rushing. It is a scant comfort, as there will be great fury as a result, but it’s worth it. He’ll be safe. Away from all of this. Curled up and warm.

Alucard breathes out in relief to see the place though, and within a blink he’s human again. He dusts himself off, and reminds himself that among other things, he will most certaintly be asking his parents to ensure he hasn’t caught plague by accident.

But he has at least one thing to do before all of that, and that is this stupid debt. He’s sour as he turns to face Trevor, all tension and warriness as his eyes meet that of the fae.]

I appreciate your assistance tonight. That much is a truth.

[He resents it, yes, but cannot deny that it has seen the vampire through. So for that, there is a very quick press of lips of Trevor’s left cheek (deliberate), and then the vampire withdraws, standing up to his full height and expression cold and impassive.]

[ It is not, perhaps, everything he hoped for. He wants to pull Alucard into an embrace, wrap his wings around him, hold onto his husband for a little longer.

But it is still more than enough. Trevor beams when Alucard abruptly withdraws, catching his hands to hold them for only a few seconds, overjoyed. ]

Of course. [ He sounds awestruck, almost, as he lets go of Alucard's hands. ] My dearest love.

[ And he does back away a few steps after that. He got his kissu, he's happy now. ]

[Alucard’s face is still stone faced when Trevor speaks. The endearment bounces off him, because of course it does. He has both of his hands available to him, and the one closest to the door knob moves there. The lock clicks open, recognizing one of the few people allowed to step foot within the house itself.]

Resume your hunt then.

[He isn’t sure what else to do. How to go about getting his space back.]

[ He nods, and then remembers one last thing before he goes. Alucard was upset about the lock of hair, wasn't he?

He fumbles about for a moment (there can't be pockets on the inside of his wings, and yet that's where he's searching) before producing it, the lock of golden hair, tied with a blade of grass. And he puts it on the ground. There. Returned. Even though he liked it very much. He's pleased with himself for being such a good husband. ]

Until we next meet.

[ And then he is gone, along with the hart, still giddy about the kiss. ]

[Alucard picks up the lock of his own hair and pockets it immediately. That feels like a hard won victory of sorts, and one that really does surprise him if the look he gives Trevor is anything to go by. There’s a real surprise there, and maybe he’s touched that a part of his discomfort got through.

But that expression fades, and soon enough Alucard returns to the interior of his childhood home. That? That is safe. Safe as a dark smoke fills up the place as the door clicks shut, and as some sort of rattling begins from within. There’s a far darker voice that begins an intonation then...stops.

Like that, the smoke is gone. Alucard is gone, dragged by his father’s own magic back to the castle where it is safe. Beyond safe, for only one person has ever made it to the doors of the castle on purpose, such is the miracle of the ever moving castle.

Dracula is not happy when his son explains the events of the night. Of the Hunt, the fae, and the panther that tried to drag his son into its jaws. (The panther is of a different worry than the fae.) And so when all is said and done, there is an agreement. Alucard will retrieve the books tomorrow night with his father, learning to travel not as men do. After that though, it may be best to stay in the castle for a time. Until the New Year, perhaps, giving the fae time to forget and for Dracula to create new defenses. It is a price Alucard dislikes, but he doesn’t doubt the intentions of his father. The fae? The fae he doubts very much.]

[ The next night, the cave is not as Alucard left it. The books are there, yes, but so are a selection of other things. Products of hunts, mostly, furs and bottles of blood and jars of bonemeal.

The next attempt to pay the dowry comes a few weeks later, and the bats of the cave fly to alert Alucard and his father that the horned hunter returned to their cave. This time, when Dracula investigates, there are more books. Or attempts at book-like things. There are shopping lists, letters, a few actual books, a rectangular piece of wood that maybe kind of looks like a book if one squints and a wooden carved printing block. The cave is warded against the fairy, using the blood he left on Alucard's coat, after that, and the next set of gifts comes around yule and is left at the very edge of the wards, more desperate this time. More furs, from larger and fiercer creatures. Bottles of things that should not be in bottles, one containing one of those clumps of memory and another letting out birdsong when opened. Medicinal plants. Antlers that, if Alucard sees them, look uncomfortably similar to Trevor's own.

And then the gifts stop, and they do not resume. It's spring by the time a speaker comes to Lisa's clinic by cover of darkness. Their caravan is unwelcome even on the outskirts of the village proper, so they cannot bring their injured member to the clinic. They ask that medicine be brought to them and promise to pay as best they can. ]

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