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Fandom Castlevania: Night's Dirge [Closed]

" I'll help with resupplying too," Aveline offered as she pushed herself away from the table, groaning softly as she stood after such a long time of just sitting around and talking. She would be back in the carriage sitting around soon enough, so she might as well stretch her legs while she could.

Aveline and Alucard parted ways to prepare themselves for the day. Aveline moved quietly around in her shared room, though right now it only housed a sleeping Sypha who hadn't bothered to do much more than fall asleep on top of the covers in her speakers robes. Aveline got a small basin of warm water from the inn keepers and used that to give herself a small quick bath, but she wished she had used a bit of her time while they were here to take a real bath. She had gotten used to taking quick dips in rivers or waterfalls so she would most likely do that if the group came across one, for now she was content with washing her face and hair.

After quickly toweling off her hair and braiding it up into a hair bun she left the room with her things, just as quietly as she had entered. She would wake up Sypha, and most likely Johann, at the last minute. The two deserved to sleep as much as possible, so she wouldn't make them sleep walk to the carriage until they were ready to leave.

Taking her minimal luggage back outside and to the carriage Aveline found Trevor and Danica already working to prepare the carriage for the day, though Trevor was more of less put helping pack since he was a bit wary of the nightmares.

" Good morning, you guys." Aveline waved at everyone as she walked over to Marius and Sulla.

" Good morning to you two as well." she let them smell her hand first, like she did every animal she came across, but did wonder for a moment if they thought she was offering them her hand to eat. Before she would test that theory she petted their snouts and giggled softly at the way they shook out their manes and huffed through their noses.

" You two are so beautiful, maybe I can bully Johann into showing me how to handle you two." she said, but Trevor snorted as he walked over to take her bags from her. He gave the nightmares a side look, just to make sure neither of them looked like they were going to take a bite at them. They hadn't proven themselves to be distrustful but the hunter in him had a hard time just ignoring their nature. He needed more time to warm up to them, like he needed more time to warm up to Alucard.

" They're cute in that glowing nightmare causing flesh eater way." he purposely kept his hands to himself after he said that. If these horses were more intelligent than they looked then he wasn't going to risk a finger. he headed towards the back of the carriage before he could say something to really piss them off.

" You won't need to bully Johann to show you, but today Its my turn to drive. I don't mind showing you." Danica assured Aveline, " Alucard caught on quickly, i'm sure you will as well."

" Ok but it's really important I find this out right now, can I kiss their noses or will they try to take a taste?" Aveline asked, and from the back of the carriage trevor laughed. " Well that depends on how well you get along with them, and if you're bleeding that's probably not the best idea." Danica asked, then pulled some paper from one of her pockets.

" I wrote down some supplies that we need, you and Alucard can go and get them if you're not too tired."

" I can stay awake until we leave, and even then I was thinking about napping on top of the carriage in the sun." Aveline assured Danica, her eyes scanning the list curiously.

" You two have fun with that," Trevor said as he closed the back of the carriage, it was full and everything else left should be small enough to fit under the main body. " I've got a few things in mind that aren't on the list that we need."

" Did I forget something?" Danica asked with a frown, she wasn't the type to miss things and she had checked over everything just a second ago.

" No, i'm just going to stock up on some hunting supplies. From here on out we'll be coming across towns and people less and less, it's best to be prepared for what ever we run into in the forests." yesterday had proven to him that they weren't as prepared as they should be. They fought creatures that he hadn't thought about in years, but now it was like the family Bestiary was right there in the front of his head. He wanted to prepare by buying some basic supplies while they were here, this town was one of the larger ones and it seemed to be doing well so hopefully it would be well stocked.

Trevor left the others behind with a lazy wave behind him, then disappeared into the town as the sounds of market stalls opening up reached their ears.
 
Alucard made sure to comb his hair out, and while he considered letting it lay flat, he ended up tying what he could back. At least while it was wet, it was heavier, and didn’t slip out so easily. Once it was pulled back, he moved on out, catching the conversation between Danica, Aveline, and Trevor. He couldn’t help but shake his head a bit as he turned the corner while Aveline was asking if she could kiss the nightmares.

Definitely not something he’d recommend. Or ever consider doing.

He stepped to her side as Danica offered up the list to Aveline, glancing over it quickly. It was mostly foodstuff they’d lost, though he noted some fabrics and leather in there, as well as more clean water – or as clean as they could get. A barrel. He wondered briefly if there was room for that, but wouldn’t question Danica’s list. Perhaps they were removing the old barrel. Had they already gone through so much water? Probably not.

Unless it was damaged and leaked the water out….

“Well, we should get started,” Alucard was of the opinion that it would be good to leave that town soon, given the presence of Carmilla’s soldiers. Another night would not be a good idea. “Let’s see what the market has to offer us,” he gestured on ahead for Aveline, though he would fall in step after her, and after Trevor, though he doubted they would be frequenting many of the same stalls.

Danica would take a moment, “Lucia? You gonna be okay in there?”

“If you’re asking for permission to leave the carriage without supervision, it’s granted. Marius owes me.”

There was a snort from the horse.

“You know why, demon.”

Danica wasn’t going to ask, she just accepted Lucia probably had a fairly rough night. Perhaps that explained what she and Trevor were doing outside so early. That was the downside of those wonderful horses – one they’d willingly taken on in Chernihiv when their attentions seemed to divide and not everyone was tormented at once, or so closely together. “All right, I’m just going to see if I can rustle up some of the red fabric.”

‘Doubt it.’ But Lucia didn’t say that. They’d need to make a special trip or order it. At least the vampire in Rome usually was good at cutting her a deal for it. Hopefully he wasn’t joining Dracula’s cause. Or the Egyptian. She liked to think even the so-called Pharaoh was a bit smarter than that.

Or just egotistical enough.

She was going to have to wonder if she could call them in as allies when it all went to hell…well, decisions for later.

With that, Danica was quick to leave the carriage, and Lucia let her head fall back, before she looked at the book. She didn’t want to read anymore of Cicero’s letters. Or anything Latin. She shifted off her seat and pulled her luggage out from under the seat to go through it for another book.
 
" I could take care of these fruits and vegetables," Aveline hummed to herself as she looked over the list. She and Alucard were already on their way to the market so she wasn't worried about anyone over hearing her, but she was seriously thinking about how she could help out the trip. She would save the group a bit of money if she grew everything as they needed it, but it would be a bit suspicious to return without any food and there was no promise that she would always be able to summon what they needed. " Well I could as long as I'm not too tired, so best to still buy everything Danica listed."

Like everything else if she was too tired or hurt then it would be difficult to do anything. Growing or controlling plants was like second nature to her, she could do it as easily as she breathed, but with the journey in front of them it would probably be best if she tried to reserve her energy when she could. There was no need to drain herself or push herself before things got serious. She'd just have to settle for growing something special for the group every now and then, or for being the back up in case they ran out of food while on the road.

Fabric was also good to see on the list, they were probably going to rip their clothes a lot. " Oh and we need to make sure to pick up more bandages and salves, I know we could make our own salves but it's always good to have something on hand." New bandages would let her wrap up her pants again, though she could also just make pants since it would be getting cold soon.

Aveline signed as she tried to figure out the best thing to do, she liked the freedom that her loose slit sided pants gave her but real pants were probably the best thing given the fact they were traveling up north where it really got cold. She decided that if she really needed pants she'd just make some when it got really cold, for now the bandages would more than work for her.

Making it to the market place Aveline and Alucard looked the most awake compared to many of the people opening up their stalls, but that was a sign that things were going well here. Other towns and cities were normally filled with tired and terrified people who had been unable to sleep at night, too afraid that the demons would come and they'd never wake up again.

They stopped by a few food stalls first for some dried meats, long lasting vegetables, and fruits to balance things out. They were also able to get some fresh meat, but that would need to be cooked by the end of today or at least tomorrow. Any other fresh meat would have to be something they hunted for themselves once they left the town but given the people who made up their group that wouldn't be too hard.

" It's nice to see young people awake this early in the morning," the older baker they were buying some bread from said, she had clearly been awake for a while since her bread was still warm, " So many young people want to sleep in and leave the hard work to the adults who really know the value of hard work." she nodded passionately as she handed over two large loafs of bread to Aveline, who then put It in a bag with the other foods they had bought so far.

" Though i can't say I approve of a young woman walking around without a parent or some type of chaperone, especially this early in the morning. Men are wolves you know, if you're not carefully they'll drag you down into sin with them! Next thing you know you're pregnant and you have to marry the fool, then 30-40 years go by and you're stuck working hard while they're off doing gods know what."

Aveline blinked kind of shocked by womans out burst, but maybe when you were older and not happy you didn't care who you were talking to and just complained to anyone that would listen. She couldn't even open her mouth and tell the woman Alucard wasn't a wolf, because he was sometimes. Literally.

" I'll keep that in mind miss, thank you for the bread."

She and Alucard walked away and she waited until they were a few stalls away to laugh into her hand. " She was right you know, you're a real wolf you. I better be careful or you'll drag me down into sin." but Aveline had a hard time keeping back her laughter as she playfully nudged Alucards side.

Towards the back of the market place Trevor slipped out of sight, remembering the last time he had been in this village and a specific shop that had stocked the herbs that he was looking for. Now a days the people thought it was an old folk shop where superstitious grandparents would buy this or that to keep away bad luck. Too many people had forgotten, because of the church he thought with a grimace on his face, that many of the things they called myths or superstitions had at one time really saved lives. They still did, when in the hands of a hunter like him.

He left the shady little shop with less coin in his pocket but a bag of mixed herbs and powers that made him feel better. His whip was of course useful but sometimes it wasn't enough, plus it was mostly for killing demons and vampires. some things couldn't be ran off without something specific.
 
Alucard saw no reason not to buy it all, even if Aveline could contribute with food. That might be a skill best reserved for later, as she seemed to think. Right now, money was a frivolity. Perhaps not to Lucia, later – but given that the fate of the entire world was on the line, he could imagine it wasn’t a major concern.

That salve and bandages wasn’t on the list did cause Alucard to arch a brow. Did Danica think they had enough? It was possible – even after their night in the forest, Danica was used to working with a smaller crew, and one that didn’t exactly require bandages. He could see how she wouldn’t think they would need more if they still had more than the usual amount she was used to carrying. “Agreed; those are small enough that it shouldn’t cause any problems to add them to the supplies.”

They moved around the market, Alucard taking on bags of food as they went, eventually reaching a baker who decided to make commentary on the state of the world. Oh, if only she knew…at her casual insult, Alucard did wonder if he ought to speak to defend himself. He quickly determined it was not worth his breath, but he didn’t bid her farewell, either.

Perhaps that was proving some point about men.

Or the youth.

Aveline began to laugh when they were some distance away, and it took him a moment to understand how literally she meant wolf. “It’s too late for you,” he said, “You’re already consorting with the worst kinds of people – young, wolfish men, who know how to get up early and feign productivity to fool young maidens – you’ve already been dragged down.” He tried to say it with a deadpan.

He figured he managed it well enough before he allowed a bit of laughter to escape as well, “It must have happened to her,” for why else would she be so bitter?

He took the turn towards some stalls that had fabrics, eventually finding one with leather. He turned to examine it.

A meaty hand slapped itself down in front of him, “Weeelll, lookie here! You interested in these, boy?” The strange gave Alucard a once over, before chuckling, “You don’t need to be looking at these, they won’t give ya any shine. These are the ones you want to be looking at. Could get yourself a nice belt, or maybe some shoes.”

Alucard glanced at the stack the merchant indicated, “No, I need leather that would be good for armor.” That being shown off, was not. It wasn’t nearly thick enough.

The man seemed briefly puzzled. “You?” He gave him another once over. He saw the sword, but…, “Huh. Well, all right then. You’ll definitely want some of these, hardier, not as pretty, but quality all the same. Given the situation out in the world right now, they’re a bit pricey, but I’m sure that won’t concern you much.” He looked rich.



Not far from that stall, but not close enough to hear, Danica had been…surprised to find the exact clothe she was looking for. Apparently, it came in a recent shipment, and Danica couldn’t help but feel her hackles rise with the thought of just why that might be. The thin wool was rare, and the shade was expensive. Try as Lucia might, after playing with the fabric enough, Danica had realized it hadn’t been any ordinary legionnaire who so casually handed off a thing.

Still, Danica didn’t look the gift-horse in the mouth. She bought the fabric – as much as she needed only – and bundled it up to return to the carriage. She would drive for part of the day, but after that she would find some time to finish restoring the cloak.
 
Aveline had a hard time keeping her laughter down after hearing Alucard deadpan delivery, and ended up wiping away a few tears by the end of everything. When she had first met Alucard she hadn't expected him to be so funny, but she certainly wasn't upset to see him opening up and having fun every now and then. She was pretty confident that when Alucard wasn't on a life threatening mission with the end goal being patricide that he was a more relaxed and humorous person.

They separated for a little bit, just because he wanted to catch out leather and she wanted to get medical supplies, but the sun was close to coming up so they needed to hurry up. They didn't want to leave Lucia sitting around in the carriage for too long, but both of them were eager to leave since the chance Carmilla was still here was very high. Of course Carmilla wouldn't be able to come out in the sun, but just the fact that she was near by was something that left a lot of the group on edge.

Aveline left the herbal and medical stall waving goodbye to the kind man running the shop, his herbs had been good, his knowledge decent, and he had given her a discount because she knew what she was talking about.

In the crowds of people that were starting to enter the market place it was still easy to find Alucard, He was much taller than the average person and his golden hair made him a beacon where ever they went. Aveline made her way through the crowd, easily slipping and maneuvering between people. It was a skill you learned quickly when you were small, but being even half fae helped to a certain degree. Being light but quick was in her blood.

Aveline found Alucard at a leather stall, and he was either bargaining with the man or just tolerating him. She couldn't really tell there seemed to be a bit of tension, but venders normally tried to get the most they could out of who ever came by, and Alucard did look well off. Poor guy was probably being hounded by the merchant.

" Alucard, have you found any good leather yet?" She asked as she appeared by his side, curious green eyes staring intensely at the Merchant from under her veil of her black bangs.

" You two have found the best leather in town," The man said proudly. " But as I said, good armor leather costs a lot during troubled times like these."

" If times are truly as bad as you say, then you must be selling a lot of good leather for armor," Aveline pointed out. Selling alot meant the man wasn't hurting for profit, he just wanted to get as much money as he could from people who were suffering or in need. That was how more merchants operated but that didn't mean she was a fan of it.

" Aye, I am. But this batch-" The man slapped a large hand down on the thicker leather, " is particularly good. It's going for 7 gold per yard."

Aveline made a show of leaning forward to look closer at the leather, squinting like she was trying to see what made this batch so good compared to others leathers, but feeling the mans eyes on her she pulled her cloak a bit tighter around her body to protect her modesty.

" The leather we got from Gresit yesterday was much nicer and cost half as much," She lied as she steped back to the safety of Alucards side. " the Duchess wouldn't be pleased if we brought back subpar leather that cost more than it was worth."

" Duchess?" The man repeated, his eyes bulging slightly.

" Oh yes," Aveline hummed. " We're gathering leather samples from all the major cities, our Duchess is foreign but aware of the quality leather that comes from Wallachia. She's looking to purchase alot in the future, though I don't know what she intends to do with it. Probably outfit her men." she shrugged slightly. " But compared to the other leather we've seen so far we couldn't possibly pay top dollar for what you have."

" Well If you're looking at future deals and a lot more leather I could come down on the price a wee-bit."


Trevor actually ran Danica on his way back to the carriage, but she was easy to spot now that they had been traveling for a bit. He knew the figure she cut in a crowd, and in general she gave off a presence that was hard to miss. It was maternal, in that way that you knew she could as easily wrap up in a blanket as she could beat you with a spoon. His own mother had been his own way.

" Would you like me to carry that?" he asked her as he appeared by her side and easily fell into step with her.

" Oh Trevor, I didn't think i'd see you again so soon." Danica said, a bit surprised to see him on his way back. " And no thank you, I have it. It's just a bit of fabric."

" I knew where I was going, I have a good idea of where to find the kinds of shops i'm looking for any place I go. Just go to the bad side of town and find a shabby building, or ask a grandmother where she goes to get her good luck rabbits foot," He joked, though all the same that is what he did. It wasn't hard to find an older person who looked like they still believed in the older ways, even in large cities with a lot of church influence. With the witch hunts the church had been on lately those shops were a little bit more well hidden now a days.

" Just what did you end up getting?" Danica asked curiously as she noticed the small satchel trevor had with him.

Trevor held up the bag and shook it a bit, the sounds of things rustling filled the air. It was clear there was some metal things in the bag, a few glass jars with something or another, and maybe some roots or herbs.

" Some silver, some iron, some herbs that can effect any of the number of things we run across. I realized we might come across more magical creatures than usual, i'm more of a monster hunter myself so I thought getting the specifics would help make up for any short comings." As a creature hunter he was used to needing to kill a creature a certain way. Creatures made from evil or malice were things he could repel with holy water, salt, and his whip, but magical creatures were another thing. Some had their own special weaknesses, so he made sure to stock up on white oak tree wood, Rowan wood, and Rowan ash among other things. But Avelines clearly magical natural hadn't escaped him, just in case she was some type of fae like he thought she was he made sure that all the things that could harm her were in jars, but just because she was a fae didn't mean they couldn't run into others.

" That's very thoughtful of you, makes me happy to have you on our side." Danica said with a smile.

" Someone being happy to have me around?" He said with a small chuckle, " That'll be a first in almost 20 years."
 
7 gold was a ridiculous price, and Alucard visibly recoiled. They didn’t need leather that badly, no matter what Danica’s list said. Thankfully, Aveline’s haggling skills were as good as her information gathering ones. Perhaps Alucard wouldn’t have scoffed he had more change, it wasn’t like he knew what price leather should go for. The thought that he was spoiled again came to mind – but he didn’t have that much gold to just throw at this.

Aveline claimed they’d gotten better in Gresit for half that. For a Duchess.

Well, it was true – Duchess Lucia was in their party. “She is,” Alucard agreed with the man’s statement, “and even subpar leather has its place, for a good price.”

The man scoffed, “I don’t know what you got in Gresit, but this leather will be sure to show any of it up in practice, if she’s looking to outfit her men. Where is it she’s from?”

“Chernihiv – a rather cold place, where boiled leather does not do so well,” Alucard noted. The place name was likely too strange of one for him to have just come up with it, and he saw the flash in the man’s eyes.

“Ah, well – if the Duchess is trying to garner samples, she’ll soon why she ought to buy from me,” and the promise of future business, or the hope of it, was enough for him to consider he could do less. “If you paid half as much in Gresit, pay the same here. She’ll soon see this is better.”

Alucard managed to keep a smirk back, “We will do that. Five yards should be sufficient,” for now, anyways. Not all of them needed it, he didn’t wear anything leather, but he knew Lucia’s armor had it, and like Johann’s. Bits of Trevor’s seemed to, as well. Five yards seemed like it would last a while. Alucard dug out the funds, while the man sorted out the five yards, and Alucard hefted them over his shoulder, before stepping back with a grateful nod to the man, and then moving some paces away.

He gave Aveline a sly smile, “Perhaps we should let you handle all the shopping,” he noted, “did you get a good deal on the medical supplies, as well?”

~***~

Danica couldn’t help but add, as she chuckled, “Second – but I’ll take it. Maybe third,” Johann seemed to have grown fond of Trevor. She imagined the others were much the same, or would be soon, but she thought she could speak reasonably well for those she traveled with. Perhaps she hadn’t known Johann as long as Lucia, but he was fairly easy to read.

“Though maybe next time you should take advantage of the availability of baths. We do all have to share a confined space.” Although she knew there was still soap, and there would be rivers and the like along the way. Still, she couldn’t help the small tease, which might stop being a tease if he didn’t actually find a moment. Then she might just have to take the matter into her hands for the sake of all of them.

“You know quite a bit more than Johann,” not that it was a surprise, and she knew it wasn’t just an age thing. “Do the Belmonts not specialize? Is specialization abnormal in the world of hunters?” She did not engage in it beyond the knowledge that stupid hunters tried to kill Lucia. She didn’t know if they specialized or not.

If they did, they weren’t very good at it.
 
" I did get a good deal on the medical supplies, but that was just because the man running the stand was impressed by my knowledge of herbs," Aveline said with a small wave of her hand, haggling was a bit part of shopping but probably something Alucard never had to deal with before coming from money like he had. " I also told him a good spot near by to pick some Blue Curls, which is a wonderful medicinal plant." That information itself had been worth some coin, so the man had cut her a good deal.

All merchants liked to start their prices way too high and it was up to the customer to work their way down to something both were content with, but she hadn't been fond of the merchant they had just dealt with. That man had to of known his leather wasn't worth 7 gold per yard, he was just trying to milk as much money as he could from travelers who really needed leather in these times.

" I think we have everything on the list, I also got a barrel of water like Danica asked but I was able to talk the stall owner into delivering it to the carriage for me. I overheard his pregnant wife complaining about her morning sickness and told him I had some ginger back at the carriage I could trade him," Ginger was wonderful for nausea and an upset stomach, pregnant women were large fans of it but it wasn't something a peasant woman could really get her hands on. The nugget of ginger might as well be a nugget of gold and was more than worth taking a barrel of water to the Inn for the merchant.

So the pair returned to the carriage with their spoils from the market just as the sun finally started to rise and cast shadows. It bathed everything in a crisp red color, that left Aveline staring into the sky with a frown.

" A friend of my fathers was a sailor, and he told me that days that started with a red sunrise were bad luck," she said idly as she unloaded the vegetables into their proper boxes in the back of the carriage. For a small space Danica had it wonderfully organized, this felt more like a friendly trip between friends than a journey to kill a vampire who planned to destroy humanity.

" Maybe because it's a sailors superstition it doesn't count," she mumbled more to herself. As long as they weren't near the ocean or any water then maybe they would still have a safe day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

" You're going to hound me too?" Trevor asked Danica with a scoff, but the slight smile on his face showed he wasn't upset. " I was busy last night making bread and cookies, that didn't leave much time for bathing." He didn't think he smelt that bad did he? He almost wanted to sniff his coat but stopped himself, that would be a little bit rude.

" I'm sure we'll run across a river or something, i'll take a hop in if everyone is really that offended by me. Though i'll have you know its hard to sneak up or hide from a creature if they smell your soap." A more natural musk helped him hide in the forest better, but he knew that a good dunk in a river was good for him every now and then and even he didn't want to be coated in mud or blood. Maybe to keep the others off his back for a bit the next body of water they found he'd take a dunk in.

He slung his satchel over his shoulder hearing Danicas question and rubbed at his stubbly chin while trying to figure out the best way to phrase it. " Specializing isn't that abnormal and normally isn't by choice. All hunter families only start out knowing one or two little signs that indicate a specific creature, but when your family has been hunting monsters as long as mine you learn a lot." His families hold was testament to that. They had hunted creatures for so long they were always on the look out for anything and everything, which was why they had been the national protectors of Wallachia, they were always the people with answers.

" Like Johann told me his family specifically hunted Werewolves, but i'm sure if his family keeps up the trade they'll branch out and hunt other monsters in a few generations. My family was the same way, we started out only hunting vampires and after 6 or 7 generations we had dabbled in so much there wasn't a lot we didn't know." His family would always be associated with hunting and killing vampires, but he was raised to be able to hunt anything that went bump in the night. " So I guess at some point our specialization became specializing a bit in everything. But some creatures are very picky about how to kill them or ward them off so I kind of grabbed a bag of universal stuff that I hope works if we do run across anything that my whip can't take care of."

" Well lets hope we don't run into anything like that." Danica said, and Trevor was quick to agree. Anything he couldn't kill with his whip would be concerning, but it wasn't like he was useless without his whip. It was just his preferred.

Making it back to the Carriage Trevor saw that the sun was raising and both Aveline and Alucard had returned as well.

" I think it's almost time to head out," Danica said as she found a place for the fabric in the back, but doubled checked their supplies. " We just need to grab Sypha and Johann."

" yeah probably shouldn't leave them behind," Aveline laughed.
 
Alucard couldn’t help but be a bit in awe by the woman’s skills of haggling. She wasn’t being manipulative, really. She was offering people what they needed or wanted, just not gold. Still, these things were just as valuable, like the garlic or the other medicinal plant. He quite approved of these methods, over trying to scam someone out of their gold…even if they had just did that.

There was likely no way either would be sharing much about that merchant with Lucia. “I’m glad you have helped the others while here,” he cast his own eyes up. He didn’t think much of red skies. Perhaps it was a bit eerie, but he’d seen them before, and nothing terrible had happened.

“It must just effect sailors,” he noted, adding, “I’ve never had any trouble with them – though given what we’re doing, I would not be surprised if more troubles met us tonight,” they would be out of the town, after all, at the mercy of the demons again. It was unlikely they would just be passed over, though they could hope. Still, he didn’t want to add to the thought that a red sky meant anything more than what was, unfortunately, likely to become the norm.

He assisted in loading things up as well, and helped heft the barrel of water into the carriage when it arrived, surprised that there was enough room for a tight fit. The carriage really was larger than he gave it credit for.

Just as that was put in, Danica and Trevor returned with their own goods – a red fabric, and a bag of who knew what. Alucard stepped aside to allow Danica time to find room to put the fabric up, eying Trevor’s bag with some obvious suspicion.

“I’ll be right back,” Danica dismissed herself to go get Johann and Sypha, wondering if either of them would be even a little bit awake right now.

Alucard asked, as she was leaving, “Hunting supplies, hm?” There were strange scents in the air now from whatever Trevor had chosen to pick up while in the market. “Where did you pick all of that up from?”

Alucard hadn’t noticed Trevor moving about in the market, and it seemed he’d found a lot of things. Was it all in one place? It seemed unlikely, somehow, that he’d have such luck here, though Alucard didn’t really know how the hunting network worked. He presumed they just picked up things from a mixture of stalls like anyone else. He wouldn’t have guessed there was one that actually specialized in that sort of thing.

The Church didn’t seem like they’d allow it – and if not the Church, definitely not Carmilla.
 
It didn't feel like Aveline was helping people when she offered them information or something she could grow easily enough, but trade was a good way to get things when you didn't really have money. When she had first started traveling she didn't have more than a small bag of coin her father had gotten from venturing into town every once in a while to sell pelts or anything else that would bring in some money, but she didn't need a lot anyway.

" Well lets hope that's true, though you're right. We're always sure to run into trouble," Alucards words settled her worries a little bit, but Aveline still felt a bit off even after the merchant came and went. It wasn't until Trevor arrived with a mysterious bag of who knows what that she could place the nerves in her.

" Yeah they're some hunting supplies, we ran into some weird shit the other day that made me realize we were unprepared for anything that isn't vampires and demons," Trevor said with a shrug, unsure if he wanted to toss the bag into the back or keep it somewhere that he could reach for at a moments notice.

" and you'd be surprised what you can find on the shady side of town," He said with a grin, and Aveline laughed a bit despite her nerves. " Just what is in there?"

" Some wood from sacred trees that can help run off any number of supernatural creatures, some silver for werewolves, Rue leaves are good for keeping away witch magic, and other odd things. Some creatures can only be killed with weird specific things that I don't have enough pockets for," His outfit didn't have pockets so anything that he carried around had to be strapped to his belt or person, and he chose those things careful. He wasn't always going to run around with chicken bones or something like that strapped to his chest.

" You got all that from one store?" Aveline asked curiously, but was too nervous to actually reach out and grab the bag. It sounded like Trevor had gotten a number of things that could kill her in that bag, and she was a bit nervous about it. He had found out yesterday from Carmilla she wasn't human and then suddenly he was shopping around for almost random monster killing supplies. She kind of felt like he was trying to make sure he was prepared to run her off if need be.

" Yes, this stuff Is all for old folklore that the church has branded as superstitions or plain heresy , but a number of things the church dismissed do have practical uses. Most towns or cities have some hidden shops that sell wards and other things that the older generations still believe in." Trevor explained as he finally just found an open spot in the back of the carriage and tossed the bag in.

" No wonder your family was excommunicated," Syphas sleepy voice cut in, and her large yawn hide the frown that crossed Trevors face. " Going to shops that your church banned."

" They're not my church anymore than they're yours," He insisted. He hadn't thought of the church as his church in 20 years, and even before his family was excommunicated he hadn't been very devout. " Most church officials ignore me unless they're trying to blame me for what ever bad shit is happening in town, and besides what are they going to do if they see me in one of those shops? Double excommunicate me?" He snorted out a laugh.

" Just don't try to use any of those witch herbs on me, the only thing they'll do is make me angry." Like Sypha had said, she was no witch she was a scholar of magic, there was no demon she drew her power from.

" Don't tempt me," Trevor chuckled as Johann and Danica rejoined them with the last of everyones bags.

" Everyone load up, we're heading out," Danica said as she closed the back of the carriage with a small thump.

Johann and Sypha didn't need to be told twice, both of them were still just sleepy enough that they could easily go back to sleep once they got comfortable in the carriage, and even Trevor was feeling kind of tired despite all his banter.

" Not heading in?" Danica asked when Aveline climbed up onto the bench with her and Alucard, and Aveline shook her head slightly as she quietly made her way onto the roof of the carriage. Her movements were light and graceful, no one other than maybe Lucia would of heard her.

" I've missed the sun, i'm going to nap up here for a bit. Wake me up if it looks like i'm going to fall off please." She requested as she pulled her cloak over her head and got comfortable in the sun, reminding Danica alot of a cat on a midsummers day.
 
Alucard could detect the nerves in Aveline’s laugh. He’d been hearing it too much just a few hours ago not to recognize that something was amiss. Whatever Trevor had in that bag would likely be able to harm her. He must have guessed as much – she talked enough about living near fae, and while Trevor might not be the brightest bulb, Alucard did not imagine that kind of hint would go completely over his head.

Alucard did roll his eyes a bit as Sypha joined and mentioned the witches thing. If only the church had tried that on his mother and believed it – they would have known she was not a witch. “Let’s not use the bag of a thousand horrors against each other,” Alucard said, as he moved to take his place on the bench.

He felt fairly comfortable with the Nightmares, but he knew exposure could only do him more good when it actually came time for him to take the reins on his own. Literally.

So he was up in the bench shortly after Danica, as the others piled into the carriage. Aveline didn’t – he didn’t blame her, after the bag. He wouldn’t have been so keen on it if Trevor came back with a bag of things that worked on dhampirs. He didn’t need to; Trevor was already a vampire hunter. His whip would hurt, and much else besides. He probably knew how to stake.

It wasn’t a pleasant thought. He didn’t quite know how Lucia dealt with him beyond just being civil.

“You know I’m not going to be looking back much,” Alucard noted, though that might be a lie with Aveline up there. He might be paranoid enough to glance back fairly often, “falling might even teach you how unsafe this decision is.” He would not be sleeping atop the carriage. Riding, maybe, but not sleeping.

Danica chuckled, “We’ll tell you! And if you fall I’m sure Alucard would catch you in time.” Vampire speed. With everyone piled in, she started the nightmares moving…though, admittedly, at a bit of a slower pace. Part because they were in a town, and part because of Aveline. She would need to figure out the sleeping thing, best to do it slowly and build their speed to the normal pacing.

~***~

Lucia knew her peace was going to be interrupted. She’d finally found an old book of poems she hadn’t finished, and settled in, humming a bit. To her, poetry was still something that needed a spoken cadence and melody with it. Reading was meant to be a quiet activity.

That poetry could be written and read silent was still baffling to her. Who would dare to read the Ode to Aphrodite without song? And yet…she knew it was so, in a world becoming more and more literate, and so, in a way, more and more silent, people were forgetting that the language of poetry was one meant to be spoken.

The humming had to stop as the others piled in, sans Aveline and Alucard. She likely wouldn’t be doing much reading until they were all asleep. She presumed, at some point, they would be. Then she could read in peace.

Without Aveline and Alucard, it allowed a bit more space for all of them. The two intent to sleep seemed to come to some silent agreement to share the bench and each take a side to nestle up against, so that no one had to bother Lucia, or Trevor, while they were trying to sleep.

Lucia just chuckled a bit at the pair of them, but offered no comment to it as they settled in. ‘Another long trip.’

Confinement to carriages was definitely something she hated about travel, no matter how used to it she was. It was a necessary evil. “Find everything?” She’d heard the discussion outside, of course, and she heard the sounds of someone moving up on the roof of the carriage, but it was of little concern. It didn’t so much as disturb the light within as they set off.
 
" Just don't hit any turns going too fast and i should be fine," Aveline hummed as she found a good spot right in the middle of the roof to get settled. it wasn't too close to the edge, but the carriage was shockingly big so she didn't have to worry about falling off unless something went really wrong. using her cloak as a blanket and as a sort of cushion for her head she curled up, one arm prospering up her head.

Her fingers found the smooth metal of some railings on top of the carriage, either for decoration or to tether anything on the roof down and while she didn't think she needed to be tied down up top having something to hold onto ( even if it wouldn't save her if she really did start to fall) helped relax her. Between the warmth of the sun on her body and the steady clop of the nightmares hoofs she was lulled off to sleep.

Danica looked back a little bit into their trip, the gates of the city getting more distant, to check on Aveline and smiled seeing her curled up. Since Alucard was the one driving she had decided she would look back every now and then to make sure Aveline was still there, though she was pretty sure that if their wanderer did fall off they'd all know and hear it.

" Look at her, asleep like a kitten in the sun." It was shockingly similar, like how cats found the weirdest places to nap but curled up when they did. " This is an interesting group that we've put together."

Danica hadn't expected this when she had set off with Johann and Lucia for Gresit where Alucard was rumored to be, getting roped into a prophesy and suddenly traveled with 3 more people than originally planned was something that took getting used to, but it wasn't bad. She had enjoyed getting to know everyone, and they had found a good bunch of people.

Sypha was helpful and knowledgeable, Aveline was kind and cheerful, and Trevor reminded her a bit of a boy that just missed his family. He was rough around the edges and used to being on his own, but she could see his thoughtfulness and the heart of gold under all that sass and fur.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Trevor was a little unsure of what to do for a moment when he first stepped inside the carriage and saw the seat arrangement, but he couldn't just stand around with the door open and the sun finally rising, so he shut the door and sat down on the same bench as Lucia. He hadn't expected this, Johann and Sypha sharing a bench because they were both planning on laying out as much as they could, but it made sense. Without Alucard and Aveline here there was extra room, and he was able to give Lucia some space but it was still a bit weird. This felt a bit more intimate than sitting across from her.

" I found enough," Trevor said with a small shrug. " Some creatures can only be ran off with really weird or hard to get things, so i had to settle for what was there. Though if we run across something proper tools or not i'm sure we'd find a way to kill it."

Sometimes monster hunting meant having to be creative, and that had saved his life more than once. Not all myths or folklore was true, so attacking a creature without a second or third option had killed many a man. The fact Trevor was alive was only partly due to his skills, the rest was due to him always having a back up plan somewhere.

" Though I noticed Aveline shy away from my bag a bit, I think what ever she is I stumbled across a thing or two that left her a bit weary. Means I can narrow the list of things she could possibly be, and I can take into account the things to keep away from her." He hadn't been able to get that many unique things, some things were universal hunting tools, but he felt better knowing that Aveline had a weakness.

It was horrible considering she was on their side but he felt better when he had an idea of what he was up against and what was in his corner. He knew how to kill Lucia and Alucard, Vampires and Dhampirs were his specialty, and he could kill Danica, Sypha, and Johann if need be because they were humans. he had no plans to kill anyone in the group but he needed to know he could handle himself, because a part of him was waiting for the other shoe to drop. People had only ever let him down, things had only ever tried to kill him, kindness and friendship was something he was just warming up to again and old habits died hard. So knowing If Aveline turned for any reason he could fight back was a weight off his shoulders.

But now he also knew what to look out for to protect her. He could take into consideration for her sake just like he could for Lucia and Alucard, like no sunlight for example in Lucias case.
 
As the reins were handed over, Alucard took them and led the horses on at a gentle pace once they were out of the town. He would gradually begin to urge the nightmares a bit faster, as Danica glanced back to Aveline while they got on their way. He spared a couple glances as well, a smile spreading to his lips after Danica’s comment.

He couldn’t help but agree, “It’s not who I would have picked – though I’m not disappointed,” he added. They all fit their roles, as Aveline had pointed out. Except Danica and Johann. He did find himself worrying, then, what that would mean for them given they were present. Would their party lose them? If they had a role to play, certainly they would have been included. “Are you worried?”

“Hm?” Danica’s expression shifted, “About Aveline? No, I think she’ll be fine up there.”

“No…about the prophecy, and the fact you and Johann are not among its numbers.”

“Oh!” Danica laughed rather suddenly at the question, and shook her head, “No, no, I know any time I go out with Lucia there’s going to be danger. Maybe it only means I shouldn’t come along to help face down Dracula, but I’m not worried. I’ve always known the risks of being in her service.” It had been a long enough time, after all.

She hadn’t exactly started as a knife-thrower, unlike Johann who came with his skills.

Alucard nodded, “Why did you join her?”

Danica looked down a moment, then up, “I was 16 at the time. I…had nowhere else to go,” she still remembered showing up there, wide-eyed and bloodied, terrified she’d be punished instead, but rumors were rumors…Lucia was rumored to help women like her. Women who didn’t want to marry, or wanted out of a marriage – or in her case, women who had murdered their husbands in self-defense.

It was so long ago that her family thought it wise to marry her off to the rich bastard. “The world hasn’t changed so much since her days, when it comes to women. If she weren’t a vampire, I don’t think she’d hold any power here…but she does. And she uses it to help those like me. I didn’t know if it’d be true,” she chuckled a bit, reflecting on the way Lucia had ushered her in and just thrown her into a warm bath, not even making her talk just then.

The roles had reversed over time, but back then, Lucia had been the more mothering one. Then Danica saw through her more and more, and realized she needed a bit of help, too. It was only natural to pick up the slack then.

Alucard was silent a few moments, then managed a nod. “It is a sorry state of affairs for the world,” his mother was a genius. Sypha was their Scholar. “Perhaps it will change one day.”

“Well…I’m not holding my breath for my lifetime,” Danica said, but did keep a smile on her face, “but I believe so. The more people realize it, the better the odds.” The more women who broke the mold, to have good sons, and better husbands, the better the odds that there would be change.

~***~

“I’m assuming fae of some sort, due to her stories. Obviously not a fairy,” though for all the stories of them being tiny, Lucia knew better. They were tall and regal creatures, at least, behind their glamor. When that fell, they were almost too angular to be beautiful in most cases, and seemed almost aged.

They weren’t all just mischievous in the easy prank way, either. Fae, and perhaps, immortal ideas of pranks sometimes involved horrible atrocities. “But something we would group in that class. I assume you have iron in there?” That was the thing known to be universal with all fae as a thing they detested and had to stay away from, the way silver was to a werewolf – even outside of wolf form.

Such a pity – though Lucia considered they still got the better end of the deal, given sunlight and running water were things that needed to be avoided by vampires, and those were exceedingly more common. “I’ve never met a half-fae before, though even in my life, I rarely meet halves.” Alucard was still the first dhampir she’d met. They were…exceedingly rare, given the general opinion of an actual romance with humans in the vampire world.

The human should either be turned, as in Carmilla’s case, or be a mere plaything. Even then, it was weird to play with one’s food, and considered the territory of younger vampires. Lucia didn’t quite ascribe to either side, given she actually saw worth in humans, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t unaware or considered them, now and then. Long life gave too long to reconsider stances she’d taken.

“Do you consider halves just as bad, even with their human blood?” It was something that seemed like it ought to redeem them, rather than further damn them. She didn’t know Johann’s opinion, though he’d never seemed to mind Alucard in the least.

It was only after it was said she realized she hadn't asked about the Belmont opinion, but his...which might already be departing from that view.
 
" I got iron ingots and even a horse shoe or two," Trevor assured Lucia, though he hoped they would never need the things in that bag. Demons and any hellish creature that could be run off with his whip were easy to handle, they very rarely had magic or played mind games unless they were something like vampires, but anything that started to deal with magic was a pain in the neck.

They had only been in that enchanted forest for a few hours but in that time they ran into enough magical creatures to know he didn't want to run into anymore, especially nothing like the strix, but he felt like he needed to be prepared for the whole group and Avelines clearly half Fae heritage reminded him that magic was very alive around them. It wasn't his strongest area and he was relying on older superstitions that he hoped held some truth to them, but in his experience when you weren't totally sure on something the folklore was a good place to start.

" Yeah, half creatures aren't that common even in my line of work." Trevor agreed. He had been a bit curious if Lucia had more experience with them, he would of thought given her age she had run into more than a handful, but that didn't seem to be the case. " Though to be fair most of the things I hunt like to eat humans, not fuck them." When a creature liked to rip humans in half and eat their flesh that normally didn't leave any room for mating with them.

" Though I've heard enough about Dhampirs to know they exist, I remember learning about them as a kid," When you got into that area where the creatures looked even a bit human then there was always a person or two that wanted to get down with them, and vampires certainly fell into that group. Though Alucards situation seemed unique, he certainly talked about his parents like they were really in love, but the average vampire-human relation normally ended with the human being changed or eventually eaten.

" Ironically I remember my father telling me a few stories about Dhampirs being vampire hunters," Trevor chuckled at that. Dhampirs didn't seem that common, but they would make good hunters since their would be able to actually keep up with what they were hunting. " and if becoming a vampire hunter when you're half vampire doesn't scream 'issues' then I don't know what does."

He leaned back against the seat, enjoying what it felt like to be off his feet for a bit. He was only running off a few hours sleep and should probably try to get a few more in before night came, that was when things would get tough and being more energetic would save his life. He shifted his cloak a bit, trying to find a position that kept his whip from digging into his side, but stopped hearing Lucias question.

What did he think about halves? He knew the Belmont answer, anything that wasn't human was bad. His father had stressed the importance of killing anything causing trouble, and he had focused on the demon side of things, but he remembered wondering if being half human changed anything. He had been out hunting now for 20 plus years, and he had time to form his own opinions.

" My father is probably shouting at me from wherever he ended up, but I don't particularly care about if you're half this or whole that," He finally said with a small shrug. " If you're causing trouble then I give a shit." That wasn't how he was raised, but the world was different now wasn't it? He had fought evil man and monster alike, and was at the point where if he wanted to actually save this country then he needed to put his foot down regardless of who ever he was fighting.

" I-" he started, did he really want to say this? He looked at Sypha and Johann, they were both asleep, and despite knowing Alucard could probably hear him even from where he was riding the carriage he continued, " I wish I could take back killing some of the creatures I have."

" When I was younger I tried to stick to what I was taught, killing anything that wasn't human. But I've been killing things for a long time, and maybe i'm a shitty hunter but at some point I started letting things go. Things that were more animal than monster, their actions made more sense then. A creature protecting it's children against encroaching humans or something like that I could understand. " Creatures like that he couldn't blame, he normally let those go unless their diet was well known for being human flesh then he had no choice really. " and I started to look back and wonder how many creatures I killed because my father told me to," that part he said softly. He didn't have many good memories with his father, and while hunting with his father wasn't normally a good memory it also wasn't a bad one.

" The bright side about my old man being dead though, is that I don't have to listen to him tell me i'm going soft or dragging the Belmont name through the mud," Trevor said with a soft but sad chuckle.
 
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It was no surprise, given Trevor specialized in vampires, that halves weren’t common. Lucia knew dhampirs existed, but Alucard was still the first she’d met. The vampire parents of dhampirs were…usually not good parents. They’d usually just ravished a woman and left them – usually with consent, at least. It was no wonder that dhampirs so often turned into hunters, especially in the cases where it wasn’t consensual.

It was almost always the male vampire parent, too. Though Lucia knew it was technically possible for a female vampire to give birth, it was exceedingly more difficult.

She didn’t know if that would make it any better for the dhampir or not, and when Trevor said it screamed issues, she couldn’t help but gesture casually towards the direction of Alucard outside the carriage, quiet agreement of ‘Obviously’.

Alucard would overcome…but he was definitely going to have issues. He might even become a vampire hunter after all of this – or at least for a while as others tried to fill that power void. Lucia knew she wasn’t getting out of this without putting a stake in someone.

Or being staked.

Trevor’s answer though – his opinion – was satisfying. It was unexpected. She had thought he might still have some lingering issues, but he claimed that half or whole, it didn’t matter. He only cared if they were causing problems, and it brought a gentle smile back to her lips as he elaborated, sharing regret for things he’d done in the past – things he’d killed. “We’ve all made our mistakes,” Lucia certainly understood that. She’d lived long enough to go through enough perspective changes.

She wouldn’t claim Trevor’s father evil, or even ignorant. Lucia knew what it was to have a…difficult relationship with a father, that did not turn towards hatred. Instead, she said, “I imagine Leon Belmont, and any other ancestors, were also upset with their descendants. I doubt things remain the same as they began – that is simply how things are.” A truth some humans understood, but not all. Some did get stuck in their ways, unwilling to change. “And perhaps he would have come around. We’ll never know, but…I find it better to imagine acceptance if I feel confident in what I am doing,” she said, wondering if he might ever find the ability to think he could reason with an imagined father, or sisters, or mother.

She didn’t know if his sisters were brought up with similar biases and hatred, given it sounded like they weren’t meant to be hunters.

“He may not get the chance to grow as you have…but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have been capable of it, you know.” All he would ever have would be the past, but he didn’t have to let that rule every depiction of his father. “It helps me, but my father was a power-hungry maniac, so...it's not too hard to imagine he'd be all right with me as a Duchess,” she offered with a small shrug, before leaning into her side of the carriage, “But what might help you more is remembering you can put the whip under the bench. I won’t take up much room, either,” she’d seen him trying to get comfy. This time she’d give him the easy out from the difficult subject.
 
" People in the 1000s were a bit too prudish for my tastes, Leon and everyone else would probably take one look at things happening today and lose their shit," Trevor said, then laughed a bit thinking about his so many great-grandfathers seeing women's collar bones and freaking out. Leon Belmont had been a knight during the times of the first Crusade, so the man was probably very pious. He could only imagine how the founder of the Belmont monster hunting family would react to his family being excommunicated by the church.

But Lucias comment did make him feel a bit better, times changed and so did people. If you lived worried about what ancestors or other people long dead would think then you'd never progress and things would never get better. And maybe he could lie to himself a bit, try to see a better side to his father and make himself believe that his father would of changed his mind over time. The father he remembered didn't seem capable of change, but he only ever knew the man as his father. His father was certainly more complex than he gave him credit for, and he did want to think him a better man than his memories made him out to be.

" My father was a hard ass," Trevor commented, he could remember the mans harsh strikes and harsher words, " My sisters on the other hand, I think they would of been much more understanding." Just thinking about his sisters brought a smile to his face, god he missed them.

" They were raised as ladies, but they were Belmont women regardless. That made them harder than other women but they were strong," His sisters were so complex, women with the knowledge that things went bump in the night and needed to be kept in line, but they still smiled and went about their tasks. "they might not of wielded a weapon but they had a knowledge other people didn't." He couldn't imagine any other noble women growing up like his sisters had.

His mother had wanted to shelter his sisters because she knew her daughters would be married off, it would be Trevors line that carried on the Belmont name and the vampire hunting business, but they were still Belmont women. They got their fair share of lessons about monsters, mostly so that once they were spread out all over the country or even multiple countries they would keep their eyes and ears open to report back to the family.

He rested his hand on his whip, feeling a weight in this simple decision. Would he disarm himself in this carriage with a vampire right next to him? Would a Belmont that his father would be proud of do that?

Trevor pulled his whip from his hip and looked It over. " When I was younger and training with a practice whip I remember my sister Elise, she was the closest to my age, braided one of her favorite ribbons, a beautiful silky red thing, around the handle so i'd remember her when I went off on my first hunt with our father. When he caught sight of it after the hunt was said and done he tore the ribbon off, threatened to beat me within an inch of my life with my own whip. ' Belmont men rely on their own strength, not the strength of others' he told me."

Trevor looked at his whip and wished it still had that strip of red around the hand, " my father was a hard bastard, and he's not here now," then he tossed it under the bench. He could feel it with the edge of his boot, it was close enough that he could grab it if he needed it, but here in this carriage he didn't need it. No one would hurt him.

He knew the type of Belmont his father had raised wouldn't of sat his whip aside, but the kind of Belmont his father had been had brought the wrath of the church down on them. The old ways of the Belmont had died in that fire, and as the only surviving heir of the Belmont family Trevor felt like he was within his right to start a new era of Belmont.


A couple of hours into the trip, with any signs of civilization far behind them, that Aveline woke up. The sun beating down on her was a little bit too hot now, and she started to stir. It was slow at first, she stretched out a bit so she tried to remember just where she was, but the cool smooth feeling of the carriages roof reminded her of where she had taken her nap.

" You waking up back there?" Danica asked, having heard Aveline shift around behind her.

Aveline hummed softly as she lifted her head up, sleeping with her hood on had left her hair a mess and a few strands had fallen into her face. " Sleeping in the sun is great until the sun gets too hot," She complained as she rolled onto her stomach, fully stretched out, and rested her head on folded arms.

" Did I miss anything?"

" Nothing interesting, just idly conversation about this and that," Danica assured her.

Aveline hummed, happy to hear she hadn't missed something cool, and pushed her hood off her head to fix her hair. She pulled her hair out of its braid and comb everything out with her fingers, her hair almost overflowing with waves at this point, but she stopped after a second when she heard something in the brush around them.

She paused like a cat listening for where the sound had come from. " Did you hear that?" She asked them both, but knew that if anyone picked up the sound it would be Alucard. " Hear what?" Danica asked, looking around for signs of trouble.

" Something in the bushes."

" It's too early for the demons, Unless these are ones who got left behind and are waiting for night again," Danica began to reach for her knives, but before she could the figure of a man stumbled out of the brush.

" Excuse me!" he called out with an accent of some type, " I don't mean you any harm, but I would love some help if you're so inclined." He held his hands up slightly, showing that he wasn't armed. " My name is Wald Jager and my caravan was attacked by monsters the other night, i'm the only survivor and I've been lost In these woods for some time. You're the first travelers I've stumbled upon, and i'd be very grateful if you could help me get out of here."

Wald reached up to the hood of his cloak then pulled it back, revealing a handsome blond man in his mid 30s. He had a scar that ran from his cheek bone to his ear, which left Aveline wondering just how he had gotten that, and something just felt off about the man to her. But if someone really did need help she wasn't one to turn them away, especially since telling the man to walk would leave him trapped in the forest for yet another night.

In the shade of the trees Aveline missed the metal ring of his finger.
 
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Lucia would have easily guessed that Trevor’s father was a hardass. It seemed to come with the territory in raising heirs in such a family. While she did not think Johann’s quite so bad, his comments reminded her that it was likely much the same in his family, too. No doubt, his sisters would be more accepting – and perhaps even his mother, even if she was the pious one. Yet, his sisters had influences from his father, too.

It was likely he’d been nicer to them, but perhaps it was also some indication he had it in him to change, too?

They’d never know, of course, but it was a better thought than imagining he would forever resent Trevor. Forever dislike that he was working with this group – but he wasn’t there. And Trevor didn’t need the whip. Lucia’s smile remained gentle as he tossed it aside to sleep better, and when she was certain all around her were asleep, she went back to her book, humming again as she went through each poem, each deserving of their own cadence and melody.

It wasn’t until a few hours later that she heard some talk outside, and felt the carriage stop. She paused, lifting her head to pay more attention, and caught the name. ‘Jager.’ That was a name she knew – German, if she recalled right. A name that Johann knew, which almost always meant hunter. It wasn’t a name that registered in her mind, so she didn’t immediately associate it with vampires, but that didn’t mean much.

With a moment’s thought, she leaned forward and dropped her voice, “Johann,” she took his shoulder and squeezed it lightly, before shaking him a little.

“Muh? Mrr….” He blinked open his eyes, feeling the pressure on his shoulder intensify. He met Lucia’s gaze and she withdrew.

“Jager.”

“Uh? Some other hunting family, didn’t really work with’em much,” he murmured, “Why?”

She gestured towards the door, “One is out there. Wald Jager.”

Johann squinted. He’d heard the name, he knew he’d heard the name, but he really couldn’t pin it. They weren’t like the Belmonts, and they apparently didn’t deal with werewolves. “I’ll check it out,” he finally said, pulling his fingers through his short hair, apparently now concerned about it. He brushed his hands down his clothes to try and straighten them out, before carefully moving to the door of the carriage and opening it to step out, but not without strapping his crossbow to his back, and tucking a thin knife into a strap on his arm, under his sleeve.

~***~

Alucard glanced back as he heard Aveline beginning to wake, smiling up as she sat up and seemed to shake the sleep off. It didn’t last long. While Alucard had heard something, he hadn’t been overly concerned about it. There were plenty of sounds out in the woods, and if the Nightmares didn’t get fussy, he wasn’t about to.

Alucard started to bring them to a slow, though, but when someone came out, he brought them to a stop – to harshly, he realized, as Sulla stamped a foot and Marius tossed his head, nearly pulling the reins with him before the horse seemed to glare back at Alucard for the pull. “Sorry,” he said, just loud enough. Marius didn’t seem satisfied.

His look all but said he was going to eat hands that night.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Danica said, but even she knew better than to trust immediately. Still, she did prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt. “We just left a town a couple hours back that way, but if you like, you can join us. Just—”

“You’ll have to deal with me on the bench,” Johann interrupted, stepping out into the sun and briefly pausing to shake off the brightness, before he offered his hand to the newcomer, “Johann Abelwerth. I heard your name – Wald Jager?”

‘Oh.’ Though Danica didn’t know the name, she understood if Johann was kicked out of the carriage that Lucia did, and that meant this one was a hunter, given Johann’s response to come out. The carriage interior wouldn’t have been shared, anyway. A stranger, and a vampire, at day, wasn’t about to happen.

Especially not a hunter. Not till they knew he meant them no harm. It was possible hunters were out in the area to try and deal with the demons.

“I didn’t realize it had gotten so late,” Danica chuckled easily, and dismounted herself from the bench while Alucard held the reins. “It may be a couple days before we get to another town, but you’re welcome to stay with us until then,” she noted. Besides, she had some sewing to do and she’d rather be awake for that.
 
" I'd be more than grateful to sit on the bench with you, if it really is no trouble. A nice bench would be better than the rocks and logs I've been sitting on since getting stranded out here. " Wald said with a smile as he stepped out of the bush and onto the road near the carriage. He wore an ankle length cloak, the mossy green color blending in very well with the bushes he had just stepped out of. The cloak hid most of his outfit, it only showed a brief glimpse of leather armor and some type of dark metal being used as fasteners.

Aveline looked at him curiously, something kind of drew her to him but there was a small feeling in the back of her gut that told her to be careful. She could sense a few things on his person that could hurt her, but who didn't just at least a little iron in their outfits? Good armor was needed to survive these days and iron was a go to metal, plus just because a person had some iron on their person that didn't mean she avoided them completely, she just had to be careful. Not everyone was trying to hurt her, many people didn't think about irons affect on the fae, because many didn't expect to be dealing with one.

Wald smelt good to her, something spicy like that ginger Trevor had used and she really liked, but also something sweet. Maybe honey, and the fae did love honey.

" But yes i'm Wald Jager, it's very nice to meet you Johann," Wald looked away from Johann then nodded to Aveline and Alucard, hoping to catch their names as well. He didn't act like the name Abelwerth rang any bells, but that didn't mean much. Hunters needed to be skilled in more than monster hunting to be good at what they did, almost every hunter had to lie during their hunters, Though it was also possible that this Wald Jager just shared a name with the Jager family that Johann knew.

" Aveline," She introduced herself, then watched as Wald joined Alucard and Johann on the bench.

" Are you going to come into the carriage with me now that you're nap is done, Aveline?" Danica asked curiously, giving her way out if she needed it, but Aveline shook her head. " I've got too good a view to waste it going inside."

Aveline was sitting comfortably on the roof of the carriage with three handsome blond men in front of her, no way was she going to turn this down just because of a little unnecessary nagging in the back of her head. Danica nodded then slipped inside the carriage, ready to update Lucia on the situation though she was sure that she already had an idea of what was going on.

" I really do appreciate this, I know it'd be easier to turn back but after what happened to my caravan I feel like I need to keep going, turning back would make everything that happened pointless," Wald explained.

" What happened to your caravan if you don't mind me asking," Johann said as Alucard started the carriage once again, he needed information on the man. Looking to the side Johann locked eyes with Alucard, a silent message that the Dhampir most likely didn't need. They needed to be on their guard around any strangers, especially ones that just walked out of the worst.

" I'm a traveler myself, times are dangerous and my own home was overrun with monsters so I left. I was picked up by my caravan almost two months ago, but last night we were overtaken by those flying demons. There were so many, I thought they'd fly over us and attack a town, but I guess we were such a big target that they couldn't ignore us." Wald frowned a bit, " the wagon was destroyed. I was driving and the wagon was knocked over, I was thrown off and the caravan rolled down the cliff side we were traveling along. I've been wandering the woods ever since, though I didn't realize how far I had gone until I found this main path and the rest of you."

" You were traveling along a cliff side?" Johann asked, there was no cliff near by.

" yes, when we left the last city instead of going forwards we took a right, we wanted to cut time from our trip by cutting through the mountain pass. It's pointless to reflect on now but we should of stuck to the main road, the cliffs alone made it more dangerous than it was worth."

" I'm sorry to hear about your caravan," Aveline spoke up, and Wald turned to look back at her. Even with that scar he was a handsome man, or maybe it was that his scar made him more handsome.

" Ah thank you, condolences from a beautiful woman are always nice." Wald said with a chuckle. " May I have your full name, for a more proper introduction." He offered his hand for a handshake. " I'm Wald Jager,"

" Aveline Varor," Aveline reached out to shake his hand without thinking, and her hand flinched slightly when she touched the iron ring on his hand. This wasn't her first time being burned by iron, so she was able to soldier through the hand shake without coming off as too rude.

" Are you ok?" Wald asked and Aveline nodded quickly as she hide her hands inside her cloak despite the fact her hand burned like it was on fire. " Your ring was just cold, I didn't expect it." she chuckled sheepishly.

Wald stared at her a moment longer then nodded and turned back to look at the road.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

" I think it was a good call to send Johann out side," Danica said the moment she entered the carriage. " Men walking out of the forest normally spell trouble, though it is possible that he really did fall on hard times," Danica didn't want to rush to any conclusions, but they had only encountered trouble since they had started this journey so it paid to be on guard.

" Johann was sent where?" Trevor grumbled as he started to wake up, the stop and go of the carriage coupled with the talking had woken him but it didn't take much to wake him now that he wasn't always in a drunken stupor. Ale had been a wonderful way to turn off his hunter instincts, but now that he was as sober as the day he was born he found it harder to sleep through everything going on around him.

" A stranger walked out of the forest asking for a ride, Johann was sent out to make sure he wasn't a threat," Danica explained as she settled on the seat next to a still sleeping Sypha.

" Anyone and everything are a threat," Trevor countered as he sat up and patted down his bed head.

" Was the name he gave familiar, Lucia?' Danica asked with a frown, that had to be the reason why Johann had been sent out. The name hadn't set off any flags for Danica, so the man probably wasn't a vampire hunter.

" What was the name?" Trevor asked and Danica realized Trevor would be just as good a person to ask, a fellow hunter needed allies and the Belmonts were such a big name they had probably been asked by many families for help.

" Wald Jager,"

Trevor closed his eyes and rubbed at his head, the name was familiar for sure but it had been years since he had really dealt with other hunters. He ran into a few on his travels, but he didn't think he had dealt with a Jager in years.

" I know of a Jager family, they normally stick to the large forests and mountains of the Northeast, but without seeing a crest I couldn't tell you for sure." Hunters came and went, they died or had large families to bolster their numbers, a crest was the only sure fire way to tell if this was a Jager from the family he was thinking of. " Though if Johann comes back with nothing solid a few minutes around the man should make it easy to find out if he's a hunter," Hunters had a way of carrying themselves, they had their quirks and there were universal tools of the trade that would single them out to other hunters.

" If Johann and Alucard don't kick him off the carriage by the time we camp i'll make sure to get an answer for us," Trevor promised.
 
There was no recognition, but then, Johann did not expect it. They were not greeting each other under necessarily friendly or familiar terms, and though Johann did know he may not be related, his instincts were present. His instincts were sending out alarms just by the armor the other man wore, and indeed, the way he held himself. Not to mention Johann had met more than one vampire hunter who tried to play it cool so he’d be unaware of their actual intentions.

He knew better than to apply pressure right then, though. It could be nothing. In this kind of world, hunters were likely out in more force, even if they didn’t want to be. The demons were forcing many hands to action.

When Alucard met his gaze, it said enough – and when Alucard tensed on seeing Aveline’s shift in expression, Johann made note of it. She hid her hands quickly, and Johann’s gaze went over the man’s hands. Nothing notable, except a ring – but he knew now that Aveline wasn’t human, and she’d said an awful lot about fae, hadn’t she? If the ring was iron…well, no reason to draw attention to it.

He had a silver ring, after all, that held the Abelwerth crest on it. He still wore it, though the crest was often pointed towards his palm, nowadays.

“We’re all fairly new to each other, as well,” Johann noted as he started the nightmares moving again, taking the reins from Alucard as he shifted over so he wouldn’t have to sit by the stranger. “Well, some of us. I just met Aveline a few days ago, and I don’t know him too well, or a couple others, but they’re sleeping now,” he chuckled, “The woman was Danica Kryvonis, and this is Alucard….”

He trailed off. He wasn’t sure if adding ‘Tepes’ was proper or not.

“Just Alucard,” he confirmed. Alucard was not Alucard Tepes, as Adrian had been. He’d never considered adding a surname, and likely wouldn’t. He supposed if he ever did, he might call himself Alucard Lupu, though he knew someone was going to make a crack about his lupine form if he did so.

Johann gave a slight shrug. Introductions were done for now, so far as he was concerned. “Where were you heading?” Johann asked. They apparently had a goal to go along by the cliffs to cut time.

~***~

Lucia gave a nod to Danica’s question – the name was familiar enough. “Hunter or not, I do not care. If he is a hunter and means us no harm, he can go on his way when we reach the next town,” it was rarely the case, but Lucia would not lash out at him just being a hunter. She’d certainly shown that wasn’t her nature. “Johann can play the dumb blond thing well enough…if he hasn’t actually a dumb blond.”

“Lucia!” Danica’s tone was both half-scandalized, half-amused, “I’m telling him you said that.”

“Go ahead,” Lucia chuckled a bit, “Either way, I suspect he’ll learn whether or not we should be on guard.” Johann was fairly good at that, though he’d been outsmarted before. He was never happy about that – those were also, usually, the hunters he ended up killing himself since he wasn’t able to get a warning out in time. They didn’t tend to expect the bolt from another human hunter. “I’ll still appreciate your interrogation. Johann can’t play off intimidating so well,” she said to Trevor.

Different methods worked better. Johann’s cute face worked its own wonders as people didn’t take him so seriously, or see him as a threat. A battle-scarred Trevor? He might get answers Johann couldn’t, because they would take Trevor seriously. “The last thing I need is some companion breaking the carriage in the daylight.”

“Oh…oh I didn’t think—I’m sorry!”

Lucia rolled her eyes but shook her head at Danica’s sudden panic. It was fine. Alucard would be fast enough to stop anything. Probably. “Well, since I’m here, let me see that armor. We were able to pick up some leather, so I can fix up the sleeve.” She’d work on the cloak after. Armor was more important. Lucia nodded, and shifted a bit to pull it out from under the bench, as Danica gathered up her own supplies. Leather was a bit trickier to work with, but she made sure to store some in the carriage from their earlier supplies.

The cloak fabric she’d left out in the main storage space, but when they made camp she could work on it.
 
Hidden under the folds of her cloak Aveline pressed down on her hands, the burning searing pan from the iron was intense, more intense than normal if she was being honest but iron just hurt in general there was no reason to focus on it right now. Right now she was trying to keep her face neutral as she tried to dull the pain in her hand. Pressure on the burning feeling felt better than letting it throb and it kept a shaking to a minimal. She noticed the glances Alucard and Johann shot her but ignored them, with a stranger here she wasn't going to complain.

" I remember being in similar shoes, it takes a while to get used to traveling with new people," Wald hummed " but in these times its good to have people you can rely on during your travels."

" Do you travel a lot?" Aveline asked curiously, hoping conversation would keep her from focusing on the burn. " I noticed you have an accent," She added.

" Aye I do, and I've noticed you have a slightly one as well. I was born and raised in the Northwest, mother was a nord and father was a german so its impossible to speak Romanian and not have an accent," Wald chuckled. " are you from the Nortwest?" He asked Aveline, who shook her head.

" No, but my mother was before she moved out this way. the accent she had when speaking Romanian rubbed off on me a bit," she explained, and Wald hummed as he took in the information.

" But to answer you're question Johann, my caravan and I were heading to Giurgen about a two weeks ride from here. They had business there,"

" 'they had business'," Johann repeated, " What about yourself?"

" I'm more of the wanderer type, when you're home get destroyed you end up traveling the roads looking for a way to make a living, and I haven't found one yet. I was traveling to Giurgen hoping to find some work, since my caravan was heading there I figured it was as good a place as any to head off to. " Wald said with a small sign. " Though i'm in the same situation still, just looking for work. Only difference is now i'm on my own again."

Aveliens heart felt for the man, he had clearly lost a lot.

" Guess i'm backing to wandering now, but i'll probably continue on to Giurgen to tell anyone waiting there what happened. Then it's back to the open road for me."

" Traveling alone can be hard if you're not used to it, I wish you luck." Aveline said, and Wald shifted on the bench, turning his back to Johann so he could talk to Aveline more easily.

" Oh i'm pretty used to it, I just like to change it up with caravans every now and then. traveling on wheels make the trips faster that's for certain."

" What kind of work do you do?" Johann asked, and Wald looked over his shoulder at him for a second. " I'm a jack of many trades. I've helped villages clear forests for expansion, helped towns suffering from illness, anything really. Mostly people look at me and hire me to be a guard though, I think it's the scar that makes them think i'd be good at it." Wald chuckled. " Well that and Spatha I carry around." Wald patted at his side through his thick cloak, where sure enough the outline of a sword was made clear.

" With the world the way it is now a days though," Wald continued, " Everyone needs a way to protect themselves, you'd be crazy not to walk around with a weapon. Demons from the skys, magical creatures that lead people astray, and of course thieves in every village you go. But maybe it's just my old age making me think the world has gone to shit,"

" You're not old," Aveline assured him, he didn't look any older than Trevor and Trevor was in his 30s at the most.

" Another kind word from you Miss Aveline, i'll need to find a way to repay your kindness and the kindness of this whole group." Wald said as he looked up to the sky and saw that night wasn't that far away. " You all picked me up, saved me from getting ambushed by the demons you all did. Not many would do that for a stranger. I'll have to make it up somehow, maybe I can help with dinner. I've been told I make a mean soup."
 
‘Looking for work but planning to leave Giurgen when you get there?’ It didn’t add up in Johann’s head. He hadn’t been attached to the caravan, just heading up there to look for work. He made a mental note of the discrepancy as Aveline stole attention, but didn’t speak to it. He had already worried he’d asked a bit much in clarifying what the man was doing – but at least he hadn’t seemed to mind.

He was quick enough, anyway, with his answers. And sweet on Aveline, which Alucard was also taking note of. Not that either could blame him. Aveline was, after all, a bright spot in their group of otherwise not very shining personalities. Good people – but not exactly cheerful.

“Given some of the people we’re traveling with, I’d say you even out the ages in our group,” Alucard added to Aveline’s statement.

“Mm,” Johann hummed the sound, and at the offer of food, he shook his head, “I appreciate it, but I’d rather you help out with cleaning. We have enough cooks as it is, and few willing to clean,” not true, but he knew he didn’t want the man touching their food. Perhaps they’d all be monitoring it, but regardless, he wasn’t keen on the idea of the stranger making food. “And our cooks are quite good,” he added, “I’m sure you’ll fall in love with Trevor’s baking – if he does any tonight.”

It was getting closer to night, thankfully. Johann would feel better when it was, when Lucia could take a look at the situation for herself. He generally trusted her feel of things more than his own, given how she spared his brother and taught him a bit about the werewolves. The incident with Carmilla hadn’t shaken his faith in her.

“And someone needs to draw water for Trevor,” Alucard said, as a bit of a joke, “He never seems to draw enough to take a bath. Eventually it's going to impact the food he makes.”

Johann couldn’t help the slight laugh that slipped, even if he wanted to be a little bit more somber right then. He couldn’t. The façade slipped. “Trevor’s cool. You’ll like him. He even has a wicked scar like yours,” Johann noted, since they were talking a lot about him. “Trevor Belmont,” he offered the introduction, even if Trevor might not have agreed to it. Too late now.
 
" Drawing water I can handle," Wald assured Alucard and Johann with a chuckle. " and I can say the same with dishes, my old caravan had some older women in it who clearly knew what they were doing when it came to cooking, and for them I didn't mind cleaning the dishes. If the food is good then I don't mind doing dishes at all." Wald wasn't going to turn away free food, not when this group was kind enough to offer that was for sure.

" this scar of mine isn't that cool," Wald insisted, " have you ever tried to shoot an apple off someones head?" He asked. " Because I haven't, but my older sister did. She was a master with the bow and arrow, but not always. When we were young she wanted to shoot an apple off my head, and like a fool I agreed. Clearly she missed." he said as he motioned to the scar that went all the way to his ear.

" Could of been worse," Aveline hummed as Wald pushed back his hair to show that the arrow had also taken off the tip of his ear.

" That's what my sister said to my mother afterwards, she still got a right thrashing though," Wald chuckled. " but I bet this Trevor has a much better story for his scar than mine."

" I don't think he's told us how he's gotten his scar, but hes a traveler too. I wouldn't be surprised if he got it in a bar fight or something," Aveline mused, not wanting to say that Trevors scar was most likely actually from a hunting trip. She didn't know for sure but Trevor was always very proud to say he had never lost a fight, she couldn't see anything but something supernatural getting that close to taking his eye or his life.

" You said his last name was Belmont right?" Wald asked. " No offense to him or any of you for being his companion but is it smart to travel with a Belmont? Heard the church excommunicated them for practicing black magic. "

" Oh no it's pretty clear Trevor doesn't understand magic let alone use it," Aveline said with a chuckle, Trevor was more than honest with the fact he didn't know how magic worked. He wasn't very curious about the how or why, he just wanted to know that things were going to work out when they needed them to. He easily left magic and the sciences to Lucia, Sypha, and Alucard.

" Still I'd have a hard time trusting a Belmont to watch my back, the church is pretty important so you'd really have to do something to piss them off. I can only imagine the fall from grace that comes with being excommunicated." Wald continued, he was frowning but also didn't seem to be a fan of Trevors despite not knowing him.

" He's a good man," Aveline insisted. " You'll realize that when you meet him." She was actually a bit shocked to see how protective she felt for Trevor. Just this morning she had been worried that he was going to turn on her, what with that bag of magical items he bought, but right now she realized how important this group had become to her. She wanted to protect them, all of them because she knew in her heart that even the hunters in the group wouldn't hurt her. Johann and Trevor had accepted the others and they were all united in their cause, they meant one another no harm.

" You can form your own opinions of him when we set up camp for the night," Johann said.

" I didn't think you'd be so protective over him, sorry for bringing it up." Wald apologized to the three as Johann started to pull the carriage off to the side for the night.

" the sun is still out, we should use the chance to set up camp before it gets too dark to see anything. We don't want to be trying to start a fire in the dark," Johann said as everyone got off the carriage.

Aveline was quick to knock on the door to the carriage, then quietly spoke through it. " We're going to set up camp, if Syphas awake tell her we probably should start the fire by hand tonight." a common person would probably see Syphas magic as something demonic and she was sure they all wanted to avoid that.
 
Johann felt his guard lower, just a bit, at Wald’s reaction to Trevor’s name. To him it was strange that there was such a huge fuss over excommunication, but then he wasn’t a practicing Catholic, nor was Danica. In fact, Danica had grown up in the Orthodox traditions that permeated Chernihiv and most of the surrounding areas. They didn’t accept the Pope, nor the Church with the capital ‘C’. Excommunication was a bit of a lighter thing – anathema was worse.

Excommunication was fairly light there, though he was getting the hint it wasn’t so here.

Still, to react to that, and not to his life as a hunter? Somehow, Johann didn’t imagine another hunter would act that way.

As the carriage came to a stop, he briefly wondered if the other had realized the horses were strange, or Alucard. Well, he’d notice the former at night, certainly. Alucard might continue to slip under the radar, and Aveline – no one had really seemed to notice anything off with Aveline, anyways. At least not him or Trevor.

Lucia? Well…Wald might have to adjust quick if he thought magic was such a bad thing. He knew Lucia wasn’t about to disguise herself in a camp.

Even if he almost felt the need to mention it, he wouldn’t. He did notice that Aveline went to the door and whispered something through it. “I’ll start unpacking the things we’ll need – you can go with Trevor to get water, Aveline, you and Alucard can get wood again. I’m sure Danica and Sypha can start setting up for food,” cutting things up, and then no doubt Danica was going to continue mending things. “I’ll see the horses unhooked and taken care of.” Might be good to feed them while Wald was away from the camp.

“All right,” Alucard didn’t mind the task of going to get wood, they’d done it last time, and he had slipped off the bench. He caught what Aveline said into the cabin, and gave a short, approving nod.

Even if any sense of normality was likely going to vanish at night, maybe they could at least make things seem a bit more comfortable before all that happened. “When you’re ready,” he said.




Within the carriage, Lucia had tried not to roll her eyes at Aveline’s statement. “Thanks, I’ll let her know,” they had stopped, so although Sypha wasn’t awake yet, it was certainly time. To those awake in the carriage, she muttered, “This is going to be a bad night.” If he was going to freak out over a little magic, what was he going to do about a full blown vampire?

Nonetheless, Lucia nodded to Danica, who reached over to Sypha. “Sypha…Sypha dear,” she brushed a hand by the woman’s forehead, moving some hair and also disturbing her a bit with a graze at her ear, which caused Sypha to lift her hand and attempt to bat it away, “Sypha, we’ve stopped for camp.”

Sypha stirred further, and sat up, “Oh…I did not mean to sleep so long!” She had been really tired, though. She hadn’t slept nearly long enough on the bed. She smiled sheepishly as she realized Danica was there, not Johann.

“When you set up camp, set the fire normally. We have a guest by the name of Wald Jager,” Lucia cautioned.

Sypha frowned, “Why should that matter?”

Lucia gave a shrug, “I don’t know, but Aveline’s asked it of us. You can, of course, do as you please. If our guest cares, he can leave.”
 
" It matters-" Trevor said as he fished his whip out from under the seat, tonight there would most likely be demons but even if somehow the demons skipped over them his whip could be just as deadly to humans " because this man could be a hunter, and witch hunts are still very much a thing." Trevor couldn't be sure what kind of hunter this man was, he didn't even know if he was yet because he hadn't laid eyes on him, but until they knew for sure he wasn't a witch hunter it was better for Sypha to be safe rather than sorry.

In general very few people reacted well to magic these days, Alucards mother was a prime example. She wasn't even a witch, just as educated woman ahead of her time, and yet here they were trying to kill her husband for avenging his wifes murder at the pyre.

" And before you start I," Trevor added as he held up his hand, stopping any rebuttal Sypha had planned, " I remember your little speech in Gresit, I know you're not a witch but 9 times out of 10 a hunter will see a magic and think witch,"

"What if this Jager is the 10th hunter?" Sypha asked.

" You definitely wouldn't want the 10th hunter, they wouldn't even think before they tried to kill you."

Sypha huffed slightly but stepped out of the carriage after Danica and Trevor, all of them being careful to keep the sunlight from getting inside the carriage as they left.

Stepping outside Trevor was able to spot the newcomer easily, and immediately Trevor knew the apple story he had heard him give through the carriage walls was bullshit. He knew Arrow scars, knew they looked a particular was, and that was not the scar an arrow caused. It was probably a short sword or spear of some type, and it left Trevor wondering just how much more this Wald was lying about.

" You must be Trevor, Johann told me you had a cool scar. He was right," Wald chuckled as he walked over and held out his hand for a hand shake. Trevor looked down at the hand, noticing the iron ring on his middle finger was inverted and what ever was on the other side was hidden. " I'm Wald Jager, I hope taking me on doesn't cause trouble for you're group,"

" You and me both, Jager." Trevor said, he shook the mans hand quickly and noticed it was rough, but that also didn't say much. Not everyone had the soft hands of a noble who got to sit around all day, in this world finding someone with warriors hands was not hard.

Grabbing some buckets from the back Trevor motioned for Wald to follow him, he could hear the river from here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aveline quickly joined Alucards side and followed him into the forest to get wood, happy to have a moment away from the others so she could look over her head. She didn't know what it was but that ring had really hurt her, more than iron normally would. She didn't want to worry Alucard, so she let him step ahead of them a bit before finally stopping and looking at her hand.

There was a circular burned red spot near where her middle finger and palm met, and she frowned as she tried to figure out how that had happened from just a second or two of contact. Normal iron hurt, and the longer she touched it the worse it got, but this looked like she'd been touched by a poker fresh from the fireplace. Something was weird about that ring.

But she pushed that aside and slipped her hand back inside her cloak, her hand would feel better after she put some water on it and some salve from the back of the carriage. She could lie easily enough after coming back from getting wood with Alucard, that would be a good enough reason to bandage her hand up without causing suspicion. She knew she had promised to tell the others the truth but Wald seemed like a kind and normal man, she didn't want to go around telling everyone they ran into her heritage.

As far as she was concerned if they could hide the truth about who they really were from wald then they should, no reason to scare the man so badly he ran into the woods or sent the church after them.

" For a man who lost his caravan no more than a few days ago Wald seems very put together," Aveline commented as she grabbed some small branches that had fallen to the ground. " That's good!" Wald was all charming smiles and laughter when she had spoken to him during the ride, though she had noticed Alucard and Johann were oddly silent.

" Do you and Johann not like him for some reason?" She didn't think Wald had said anything terribly wrong, other than the fact he seemed to think Trevor might be into black magic but Alucard and Trevor were on rocky ground so she didn't think that would upset him or Johann too much.
 
Aveline spoke positively of the stranger as they began the process of gathering wood up once more, leaving behind Johann to feed the Nightmares, and Danica and Sypha to prepare the campsite. Alucard couldn’t help but wonder if he was overthinking things or not, but when Aveline threw in the question about why he didn’t like him, he answered.

“You don’t…really think Johann conveniently stepped out of the carriage at the same time as Wald joined us, do you?” Alucard was fairly certain that hadn’t just been coincidence, which meant something had struck either him, or Lucia, about Wald within the first seconds of meeting him. “Not to mention he is rather put together.”

The detail that Johann noticed, of him not having in plans in the next town, hadn’t struck him then, but as he said that bit, he realized it, “And for someone not particularly attached to the caravan, the loss of his group does seem to have soured him to the thought of seeking work in Giurgen.”

He bent to pick up a few of the larger branches then, adding, “I may be overthinking it. His appearance just seems…strange.” He lifted his gaze back to her as he righted himself after picking up the branches, “Nothing seems off to you?”

Then again, perhaps anything could be off nowadays, given the strange situation humanity found itself in. They were now being assaulted by demons, perhaps it wasn’t that odd to find men who quickly recovered from such attacks, and were wearing well-kept armor. Surviving in this world did require those things now for protection.

~***~

It was after Johann had fished out some meat for the Nightmares, and unhooked them from the carriage, that he went back around to the carriage door and stepped in, finding Lucia waiting, patiently. He noticed she’d changed back into her armor, sans cloak – but he had seen Danica taking out the fabric from the back of the carriage. He had a feeling that would be changing this time around, given what happened the last time Lucia left it in the carriage at night.

“I’m not sure,” Johann said to start with. “He didn’t seem to react to me or Trevor as hunters, but I still think something’s off with this guy.”

Lucia cocked a brow. “Off how?”

“His stories don’t quite line up. Maybe he’s still in some sort of shock after the attack, but…I don’t know.”

Lucia nodded. Johann being uncertain was worrisome enough. It meant the individual hadn’t completely fooled him, so something was off. Whether that meant he intended to harm the group, or had his own reasons to lie that didn’t involve them, was to be seen. Plenty of people had secrets that they didn’t need to tell passing strangers, and it left them paranoid, or ‘off’.

“I suppose we’ll see how the night goes.” She determined, and Johann gave a nod. “Let me know when it’s dark.”
 
" Oh well I just woke up, I thought Johann was stepping out to take over for Danica because it was getting late," Aveline said with a small shrug, she had just woken up when Wald had appeared for as far as she was concerned he just came at an odd time. Maybe Johann had been in the carriage preparing to take over and hearing a stranger step up he had revealed himself.

But she wasn't used to being suspicious of other people, she normally traveled on her own and the people that appeared and wanted to harm her never pretended to be nice to her. If a thief or a gang appeared wanting to capture her or steal from her then it was clear from the moment they met, but the idea of anyone pretending to need help just to get close to them didn't really dawn on her until Alucard brought it up. It made the weird burn mark on her hard a bit more concerning, but she wasn't going to damn the man just because of a circumstance. Wald hadn't done anything wrong yet.

" I don't really know," She finally said. She couldn't think up any reason why Wald had changed his mind about Giurgen, she didn't know him well enough to understand his motivations. "But if you don't trust him then you should try and get to know him, maybe he'll tell us the truth once he feels more comfortable around us. I know we're all a bit on edge but he's literally out numbered by us, and when Lucia leaves the carriage tonight he'll probably realize she's a vampire. That alone will probably make him think we're a traveling cult or something." she joked.

But Alucards concerns were reminding her of her nagging feeling in her gut, and the burn on her hand felt a bit more painful now, still she blamed it on gathering wood and not because she was suddenly a bit more concerned about having Walf among them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

" Are you're really a Belmont?" Wald asked Trevor as they reached the river shore.

" Sure hope I am, or else the church has been nipping at my ass for years for no reason."

" I just wanted to make sure that you were really a Belmont from the vampire slaying Belmont family is all. I thought you were all dead,"

" Well the church missed a spot when they were encouraging the local folk to kill me and my family," Trevor was getting a bit annoyed, not sure why this man was trying to jab at him like this. He had started bar fights for people saying less insulting things than Wald had, but this wasn't a bar and he was trying to keep the peace with this guy encase they did travel together to the next city.

" Forgive me, you just didn't strike me as a Belmont. The stories talk about you guys like you're some type of monster slaying gods among men. Belmonts that never needed any allies to fight monsters or save villages, Belmonts that thought they were so strong they took on the church and lost."

" We never took on the church, they were threatened by us but we were only ever loyal," Trevor felt his blood boil. " and if the stories made us out that way then they're wrong, we had plenty of allies. Other hunters who helped us or extended their reach where ours couldn't."

" I'm sorry, I didn't mean to talk ill of the dead." Wald said as he stepped towards Trevor. " I just get nervous when people mention magic, and your family was accused of black magic. here let me try and make it up to you, i'll carry the water back to the group for you and if we need more water tonight i'll fetch it." Wald took the bucket from Trevors hands and filled it up, and despite trevor wanting to argue he honestly needed to put some distance between the two of them before he stared a fight.

" Have it your way, just don't get lost at night and slip in. Can't have you drowning." Trevor grumbled as he started to walk back to the others.

Wald checked over his shoulder slightly before dropping two small stones into each bucket close to the sides so they'd go unnoticed, One stone disappeared while the other was so small no one would think it was anything other than a river pebble if they did see it, then quickly picked up the buckets and followed Trevor back to camp.
 
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