cryptsleeper | Catch All

I don't need either.

[A lie. Obviously. That Trevor can't fight, because Alucard's not looking at him and now he's moved the blankets over his head too.]

[ Well that’s bullshit.

But Alucard’s also closed himself off. More than before. He sighs, reaching to put a hand on his shoulder. ]

I’ll bring breakfast in the morning. Same rules as before, otherwise. I’ll only bother you at dusk unless you come looking for us.

[Moving away takes too much effort. So he stays still with the hand on his shoulder.]

All right.

[After a few days, they'll get sick of it and leave. Alucard's sure of it. But until then, he can be quiet and stay put.

He sleeps at least. Coiled up in his blankets and the fort. It is safe. It is soft. No one's coming to look for him for hours, and he can relax just an inch.

Tonight he doesn't dream. He's too tired. He's too tired to do anything. Weak. Wilting.

But that means come morning, he doesn't move when Trevor walks in with breakfast. His eyes just flicker open, and he manages a greeting in the form of a tired mmmmmph.]

[ Breakfast comes mostly from their own supplies. They've not had time to poke around the castle yet, much less to hunt and forage. Hard bread with a cup of broth to soften it in. Dried meat, cheese and preserved cabbage and mushrooms.

And a small amount of red liquid, about a thimble's worth, in a bottle wrapped with a cloth soaked in water and frozen. ]

Same to you.

He puts the tray down by the blankets, but doesn't come closer.

I'll be hunting, today. She won't leave the castle. [ That's the plan. One of them is there at all times. ] I'll be back at sunset with dinner.

[Alucard doesn't look at the food. Or at Treevor. Just at the floor, where the blankets and all the soft things meet the edge. His little boundary.]

Go northwest, the older deer are there.

[Or at least they were last he checked]

Thanks. I'll try to bring back something better than this.

[ He leaves without saying anything more. Sypha's presence can be felt throughout the day. Never coming to the door of the room, but footsteps outside, trying to go undetected. A soft 'be well', spoken as if she doesn't expect it to be heard.

Just as he said, it's dusk before he returns with another tray. This meal is still not extravagant, but it's at least something made in an actual kitchen. Venison, with boiled dark green leafy vegetables and roast carrots. No blood, this time. ]

The kitchen gardens seem to have enjoyed the last decade without anyone to bother them. Good news for us, give or take a mountain of fucking nettles.

[Alucard goes back to his fort. His little safe spot in the world, where nothing can touch him. He knows that he is safe here if nothing else, and that does bring some comfort.

He dozes on and off the day. Ears flicking when he hears Sypha, but never much moving. That requires too great an effort.

When Trevor arrives with dinner, much of the breakfast tray is well, half eaten. Alucard's grazed when he has stirred, but then gone right back to resting and avoiding everything and every one.]

Nettles can be used for soup.

[He offers the suggestion sleepily. He lifts his head, tired eyes meeting Trevor's.]

How many deer did you see today?

Sounds good. Revenge.

[ He's mad at the nettles, okay?

He's tried to eat, at least. That's a relief. He was half ready to return and find the food entirely untouched. Trevor pushes the breakfast tray away with his foot, setting the dinner one down instead and moving into the little space inside the blankets. ]

Spotted three, including this one. But I shouldn't need to hunt for more meat for a little while. This'll keep us fed at least the next week.

Should be a recipe book in the kitchen somewhere just for soups.

[Because of course there is. Alucard's nothing if not himself in all things.]

That's good. Nothing else predatory has gotten them.

[He pays attention to that. The wildlife and how much there is at any given time.

What he doesn't do is move towards food.]

No problems with the kitchen and how it works?

Well, I figured out the knives. The oven- had parts attached to it that we couldn't recognise. It seemed like a bad idea for Sypha to start a fire in it.

[ He grabs one of Alucard's carrots, shoving it into his mouth. ]

We just cooked the way we do on the road. Found a nice flat stone, scrubbed it clean and then had Sypha heat it up. Works better than you'd think.

--Yes, that would be a bad idea. The center knob is for the oven - that's the large box underneath and--

[Ugh.]

I'll write instructions for you tomorrow. It isn't hard but it does take a little getting used to.

[Surprise, Alucard isn't touching the food.]

-Just explain it to us when you're feeling well enough to leave the room. We'll manage until then.

[ He sighs, looking at the tray. ]

You need to eat. I'm not going to act like I know how your whole situation works, but I'm pretty sure it involves eating something. We drained the deer, if that's- better.

Just bring paper and pen tomorrow.

[It's something to occupy himself, at least.]

I don't need blood. [He says it with a sigh, curling up a little more on himself.]

There's really no remains of them?

[Very good dinner conversation, bodies.]

You really want us following written instructions while trying to get that thing to work?

[ He takes another carrot, waving it at Alucard briefly before eating it. Bodies aren't going to deter him from food. ]

None. [ It's not entirely true. A bow lies at the foot of a guest bed. A sword that wasn't there before hangs in a training room in the lower levels of the castle. There are clothes, folded on chairs that they havn't gone looking for. Little things that they'll have to find and exorcise later, because he and Sypha don't know what to look for. ] She didn't burn them like- [ Like the church burns bodies. ] -it was a blue flame. There was nothing left but ash.

If there's an emergency, it'll force me out of the room?

[Alucard ignores the carrot. Food is his least favorite thing.]

Blue flame.

[He understands what that means. The color burns hotter and brighter. There'd be no bones with sustained flame of that color, and that? That means an awful lot.]

Thank you. I shouldn't have made you do that, but...[He breathes out, body shuddering with the breath.] Thank you.

Burning bodies is- kind of what we do, these days. Another two won't hurt.

[ He reaches for Alucard's hand and catches himself. And then he keeps going, intentionally this time. Because it seems like the right thing to do right now, rather than just because he's got too used to what Sypha needs. ]

Whatever the fuck happened, we're here. It's over.

It's only begun.

[He doesn't register that Trevor's taken his hand. Only that he himself is starting to shake more than just a little. There's no sobs. Just fear.]

They were never the first to do this. They won't be the last. It's why the castle moved.

Why the castle moved.

[ He repeats that carefully. He knows why the castle moved. Because Leon. Because of the Belmonts.

Oh.

He's the problem, isn't he?

He lets go of Alucard's hand. ]

We'll go when the burns are healed. I'll bring you meals at morning and evening until then. Tell one of us if they get worse.

Hunters. Always.

[Not just Belmonts.

But he chases that after the hand. Latches onto it.]

The fuck do you expect me to say to that?

[ There's an edge to his voice. He knows better. He knows not to rise to Alucard's jobs about his family. He knows that this isn't one of those anyway. He doesn't even know what happened, what he's being accused of-

-but his fingers close around Alucard's hand, even as his voice goes cold. ]

This- whatever the fuck this is- this isn't what we did. Don't you fucking dare-

[Alucard doesn't actually rise to the anger. He stares into the blankets instead.]

You never lied in the hunt.

We never hunted something that didn't need hunting.

[ He doesn't know why he's still holding Alucard's hand. He doesn't know why Alucard isn't letting him go. Distantly, this feels like an attempt to drive him away. He's not even sure Alucard has it in him to try that right now. ]

I'm not going to talk shit about your father. But he wasn't a deer. And he wasn't you. And we never-

[ They lied. Of course they lied. The easist way to find a vampire is to get yourself kidnapped by one. They used every tool they had, because the alternative was just dying. ]

-I let you call us witches. I'm not letting you call us this.

I'm not calling anything.

[He's not. At least not from the precarious place where he sits, which is closer to a ledge than it's ever been before.]

You wouldn't have done it like this.

[That's all. Whatever this is, and surely, surely they must have figured it out.]

[ They havn't. Not all of it, anyway. They've figured out fragments, and he's been trying not to assume the worst. ]

We wouldn't have.

[ He looks down at his hand. ]

Do you want me here or not? Because all of that sounded like an instruction to go away.

You haven't asked what happened.

[He manages that much as a matter of fact rather than something obvious.]

I was trying....

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