[Sometime later, when the tension of this encounter has long passed and there has been ample time to process what was said and done, Dracula will reflect back on this moment, and this thing that was confessed to him by his son. It's always so easy to see him as his mother's child, from the gold of his hair to the weaknesses his half-human nature adds to the purity of his vampire blood. But in this one thing, perhaps, the parallels between father and son are easy to see. Neither one is very good at integrating with the world that the humans occupy. Hearing Alucard shed light on his own struggles might, perhaps, lend some clarity to those of Dracula as well.
For now, however, he makes no move to brush Alucard's hand away. He remains still, and steady, and his voice keeps that quieter tone, for the moment.
She won't speak of what was done to her. Not to me, he observes, in a voice that sounds eerily thin. Even as she weeps from the memory of their actions, she protects those who tormented her from my temper.
Guilt, again. This time, with the addition of frustration. Lisa's instincts, it seems, have been the same as Alucard's: both of them knew better, when recounting the events of that night, to elaborate on the parts that would surely infuriate Dracula the most.
And yet, to what practical effect? He's left to wonder, with the blanks filled in solely by the ugliness of his own imagination.
She wants to return to them. She won't stay. A doctor's place is among the ill, she says. Yet if I stay my hand and my wrath, then I am left with no means to keep her safe, among these men who have already sought to slaughter her once.]
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For now, however, he makes no move to brush Alucard's hand away. He remains still, and steady, and his voice keeps that quieter tone, for the moment.
She won't speak of what was done to her. Not to me, he observes, in a voice that sounds eerily thin. Even as she weeps from the memory of their actions, she protects those who tormented her from my temper.
Guilt, again. This time, with the addition of frustration. Lisa's instincts, it seems, have been the same as Alucard's: both of them knew better, when recounting the events of that night, to elaborate on the parts that would surely infuriate Dracula the most.
And yet, to what practical effect? He's left to wonder, with the blanks filled in solely by the ugliness of his own imagination.
She wants to return to them. She won't stay. A doctor's place is among the ill, she says. Yet if I stay my hand and my wrath, then I am left with no means to keep her safe, among these men who have already sought to slaughter her once.]