Fandom Castlevania: Night's Dirge [Closed]

[Lucyfer]

Lucia both wished Danica had come forward, and was grateful that Trevor did. She wouldn’t have to hold as much of her own weight on her own in fear of toppling him; but she found herself wishing more and more for an extra bit of distance to stop those pestering thoughts that came to the forefront again.

She still managed an agreeing smile, perhaps it was more of a grimace, “Yeah – shouldn’t take too long,” she said. It was more painful in this stage, but it would fade, become more pink, before returning to her natural hue. Her fingers would return. It would all be fine.

She moved at the pace set, knowing it was slow, but not struggling to move quicker, to try and prove she could. She was helped into the carriage, and into a corner, before the two cloaks were handed off. She didn’t get to arrange them herself, Trevor took it upon himself, and right then she was suddenly grateful for the burns. She could feel the rush of blood to her face, the flush of a blush as he seemed to be tucking her in and settling the pelt as a pillow.

She’d already learned it was more comfy that way on the ground, and would have arranged it as so herself, but she appreciated it all the same. And being tucked in. Wholly unnecessary, but she wasn’t going to say as much or plead for practicality right then. “Thank you.”

She narrowed her eyes a bit as he teased about leaving and being missed, though she still felt that heat that had nothing to do with the burn. “I’d like to get to the missing part.” She stated right back, “You know what they say about absence and the heart.” Danica just chuckled a bit.

“We won’t leave without you, Trevor,” Danica reassured him, “Good luck on the hunt,” she added. “Stay warm.” Might be a bit more difficult without his cloak but she hoped that he would manage it.

~***~

Alucard gave a nod as he heard Aveline’s statement, “That is what I’ve heard,” he hadn’t actually visited himself, though he would have to in the future after all of this. He certainly owed Lucia that much in their long lives, to go and see her out in the frozen wastes. He did chuckle a bit as Aveline vanished and Sypha made a show of it, rolling his eyes a bit as he set the heavier things aside to begin to reorganize and set what they’d need closer to the top of the pile.

There were definitely far too many books, though given the owner of the carriage, he wasn’t surprised at all.

The chill came on as if on cue, though Alucard didn’t shiver much, he still felt the bite of it and knew he wouldn’t want to be outside in it for long. “Whoever is driving will likely need a blanket up there until we get actual cloaks made,” he noted, motioning to have one of the blankets set aside.

He would be driving the carriage.

He would want the blanket.

He helped start to put some of the supplies back, leaving one of the barrels out for when Trevor would return from hunting, as Sypha asked about sleeping outside. “Well, I suspect at least three can fit into the carriage to sleep,” one on each bench, one on the floor, “Lucia doesn’t mind the weather, nor do I, so we can stay out during those times. Danica and Johann should stay within, but the third could change,” Danica and Johann were too human to forget.

Sypha had magic.

Aveline was half-fae.

Trevor was a bear.

Sypha could likely keep a good fire going for those who had to suffer outside. He imagined that Sypha, Trevor, and Aveline could shift between sleeping within the carriage, or else whoever wanted to lay claim to that spot could have it so long as they had a good fire going.

It was only then he realized she was referring to Aveline sleeping on the roof when Sypha stared at him for a while. He shifted his attention to Aveline then, “I’m not sure the blanket will stay in place, Aveline….” He wasn’t exactly sure how she stayed in place, but he was worried the blanket might fly off her if the winds got heavy. Not to mention snow and rain. “I don’t think you should sleep on the roof of the carriage.”

“Thank you,” Sypha sighed, “Though this will pose a problem when we stop, too,” she hadn’t gotten that far in her thoughts. “Not that we haven’t all slept in the carriage before, but it does get painful to sleep that way.” She cracked her back for the dramatic effect of it.

 

[AnxietyandSparklingWater]

Trevor let out a playful scoff hearing Lucias comment, then pressed a hand over his heart. " You're killing me. I might as well go slink off into the woods to die. I'm taking that damned dog with me, I might never return you know." he said with a cheeky grin.

Still he moved back to let Danica get inside the carriage, he knew she'd take good care of Lucia and in the least Danica was much more honest than most of the people they traveled with, they wouldn't leave without him. Though if they did then they'd probably be struggling for food for a bit and they'd be down one hero of prophesy but he kept that sass to himself.

" I'd appreciate you all waiting for me, try and keep Alucard for leaving my ass behind. The little shit," Trevor grumbled the last part to himself before slipping out of the carriage. With his whip and throwing knifes he knew he could hunt easily enough, even If the whip wasn't a traditional tool for it. He wasn't the best with a bow and arrow so even if they did have one he wouldn't reach for it. If Johann was in better shape he would of grabbed him for his crossbow, but then he remembered Johanns destroyed crossbow. They would need to get that taken care of, but where they'd get a cross bow he wasn't sure. Though maybe they carried spares in the carriages big trunk.

Walking over to the fire pit, where the flames were dying out because of the growing wind and minimal firewood he grabbed his berry potion and threw it back. It actually tasted really good and by the time the cup was empty he kind of wished he had savored it, but Aveline had promised to make more some other time so he was sure this wasn't the last time he'd taste it.

Trevor paused by the mouth of the forest then locked eyes with Veidr," Come on, lets get this over with." He said then nodded back towards the forest. Despite the protest Veidr had put up easier he didn't complain as he got up and followed Trevor into the woods. He had adapted to his smaller size to help with the hunt and not give them away, but he wasn't going to actually hinder this when he understood the group would need food for the future.

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The crack Syphas neck made startled Aveline slightly, she hadn't realized that sleeping in the carriage had that effect on her though she suppose despite the dangers of falling off the roof she had it pretty well sleeping outside. On the roof she could spread out and lay down so her neck hadn't taken quiet the beating.

" Well-" she began, this would be an issue they needed to figure out, " if Lucia has no problems with animals that aren't veidr in the carriage that could help a bit wouldn't it? Alucard is pretty big as a wolf but on the days its my turn to sleep in the carriage I could turn into a fox, that would free up enough room for someone else to sleep inside as long as they don't mind a fox on their chest."

She had no problems being one of the people always outside the carriage, it would be cold and it would suck but the elements didn't affect her as harshly when compared to a normal human. Johann and Danica should always be inside the carriage honestly, and while Trevor was inhuman sometimes he was still a normal man and should probably be inside when ever possible as well. Syphas magic would probably protect her, she controlled ice so Aveline hoped the cold wouldn't affect her too harshly, but the whole situation was a mess. " This just goes to show traveling during the winter is horrible." she signed softly.

There was a reason why people stayed in their houses all winter, It was because the snow and harsh weather made travel basically impossible or deadly. Lucias carriage was better than having a normal covered wagon but travel during this time of year still came with it's own difficulties.

" Actually-" Aveline said as an idea hit her, " Take me out of the rotation, I don't need to sleep in the carriage. If I turn into a fox I can sleep on the bench of the carriage with whoever is driving." That person would almost certainly be Alucard and he'd also have a blanket. She'd save space, allow Trevor and Sypha to easily rotation out of the cold, and she'd still be able to sleep no problem.

Sypha hummed, thinking it over. They had all seen how small Avelines fox form was, it was possible. " Part of me wants to argue, you deserve to be inside away from the elements after all," she could only imagine how horrible it would be to constantly be in the snow, rain, and cold, " but you're so cute when you're like that." it wasn't a totally fair trade off, but who could pass up a cute lap animal?

" Then it's settled. If i'm supernatural enough to have a hunter almost kill me then i'm supernatural enough to stay outside with the vampires." Aveline chuckled as she went back to rearranging the trunk. Mostly it was moving books around but since they still wanted them to be easy for Lucia to get to it was a bit of a struggle. Still the most important things, the blankets and the food, were easy to reach so it felt like a job well done.

 

[Lucyfer]

Lucia just rolled her eyes at Trevor’s playful wounding, before he left them and told Danica to keep Alucard in line. Honestly it would be more about keeping the nightmares in line, and Lucia wouldn’t let them leave Trevor behind, even if they might want to. Though, the nightmares would probably be content to leave all of them behind.

Trevor left them, and they heard him summon the dog along with him. Danica’s smile remained, though she couldn’t help but note, “We talked a lot last night.”

Lucia arched a brow at that, wondering what relevance it had. Lucia would hope the group continued to talk and grow closer, “Seems Johann now knows Trevor’s going to teach him – and even Aveline has some mercenary training from her father,” she said, sighing, “It’s almost sad how this world requires so much violence.” Danica had never wanted to be a fighter in her youth, but life had not allowed for that path.

“One day….”

“I know,” Lucia always said that. “But you may want to rethink those plans of yours about the Belmonts.” She said, and that was when Lucia knew what relevancy this had, “Trevor doesn’t seem like he’d be too happy hitched to some woman for the sake of reproduction.”

Lucia rolled her eyes again and turned her head away, “I never said he’d get hitched just for that,” though she supposed she had thought he’d return to the thoughts of duty they lived and died by, “He can find someone he likes.”

‘I swear….’ Danica could only be exasperated by her. “I’m going to go help Johann in.” She said, but not without adding, “Try not to miss Trevor too much.” Which earned an exasperated groan from Lucia that was good enough for Danica, as Lucia shifted to try and go to sleep to escape all of this.

~***~

Sypha doubted anyone would have any troubles with a tiny fox, and she shook her head at the thought. Lucia was just stubborn about Veidr because of that ‘guest’ thing. And probably to keep her nightmares happy. It wouldn’t be good if those creatures just up and left them one day because of their irritation with Veidr.

Sypha pursed her lips and nodded in sympathy. She had traveled in the winter before, though it was usually not this bad. Given, they had more in their caravans and could make makeshift tents. They didn’t have those kinds of supplies in the carriage.

But then Aveline came up with a genius idea, though Alucard rolled his eyes at the ending comment, “I’m not a vampire,” he reminded, noting the plural used. Perhaps it was wrong to want to put some distance between himself and them, especially after advising Aveline otherwise, but he wasn’t a vampire. It would be like calling him a human. He was as much either, even if the vampirism was more obvious to this group.

Among vampires, his humanity was more obvious. His ability to stay out in the sun made plenty jealous.

“However that should work. I wasn’t even thinking about day rotations, though I suppose at night things will be easier to figure out,” given most didn’t sleep at night, and could easily move into the carriage if they got too cold. “Though I imagine then Danica will be staying out,” at least for a bit, until they were certain he could be trusted. “And she may want to finally teach someone else how to guide the nightmares.”

Aveline and Sypha had expressed interest previously. With Johann out of rotation and the seasons shifting, one of them might finally have to step up into that role.

“I can do it!” Sypha figured that would help to protect the others from the elements, and the nightmares didn’t seem all that bad. Not to her. She hadn’t yet received Marius’s death glare. “I suppose I should stay out today then and learn,” a pout started to cross her face then. She was really tired. She’d stayed up with all of them, too. Then, she quickly wiped it off. No! She would do this! She had to do this!

 

[AnxietyandSparklingWater]

Aveline blushed a bit, embarrassed when she realized she had grouped Alucard in with vampires. " Sorry Alucard," Constantly saying 'dhampir and vampire' were a bit of a mouthful but if it meant addressing Alucard as what he preferred then she would make sure to do that in the future. She could understand his desire to be labeled correctly, calling him a vampire was the same as calling her a Haltija, and given the struggles both of them faced because of their halfling nature they deserved the distinction.

But the issue was resolved and now they had other things to worry about, mostly preparing Sypha for her driving lessons. " If you're tired Sypha i can make you some berry juice too," Aveline offered. The bushes she had grown earlier were still around, none of her plants just magically vanished when she was done with them they were real living things after all. Whether or not the plants would survive after she was done with them was up in the air, some plants just weren't made to be in this climate. She already had a strong suspicion that the lime tree she had grown wouldn't survive the winter, but maybe the berry bushes had a chance.

Sypha perked up at the offer, but reminded herself she didn't want Aveline to invest too much energy right now. They need to be ready encase something happened since two of their members were down and Trevor was off hunting, " I won't trouble you for that Aveline, you've already grown so much today." She had grown vegetables for dinner because she was worried for everyone and then those berries as well.

Aveline waved off Syphas concern though and started walking back to the bushes, " The hard part is already done, growing plants from scratch is much harder and more energy consuming than making them produce fruit or vegetables." The drink didn't require too many berries, the bushes were just looking a bit empty because the others had been helping themselves. " There are probably enough berries left that I can make the drink for everyone. I can make one big batch." She had felt pressed for time when making Trevors but she could easily get a whole pot of the drink going.

Johann groaned slightly from where Danica was helping him to his feet, the pain in his knee stronger now that he was limping on it. " That's an energy drink right? I won't be able to sleep if I have any of it," he signed. He was so tired he wasn't going to risk not sleeping but he was a bit sad to know he'd miss out of the drink, he was always the one missing the good food and drinks.

" The drink is honestly best cold Johann. We'll save some of it for when you wake up, it should be chilled by then." Aveline assured him, " You'll probably get the best glass of it out of everyone."

Grabbing the same bowl from earlier Aveline began to pick berries from the bushes again, she had grown multiple types of berries for depth of flavor but she was also a fan of elderberries and couldn't pass up the chance to eat a few fresh like this.

With any concerns about exhausting Aveline put to bed Sypha was almost bouncing in place, excited to try the berry potion. " I'll grab you a bigger pot!" she said with an eager clap of her hands before digging through all their hard work to find the perfect pot.

Hearing the sound of a bigger pot being put over the fire Aveline looked away from gathering berries and arched an eyebrow at Syphas choice. " You think you're funny don't you?" she asked as she stared blankly at the cauldron innocently waiting to be used.

Sypha tried to keep an innocent expression on her face but the smile on her lips was giving her away, " I don't know what you're talking about, this is simply the perfect pot for making so much of something."

" It's not a potion," Aveline whined, they had just seen her make the drink a few minutes ago there was no magic chanting involved in this. Just berries and honey!

Sypha rolled her eyes slightly, " You literally just grew the ingredients with magic, it's a potion." There was no arguing with Sypha, as far as she was concerned anything Aveline did likely imbedded things with her fae magic, so with a sign Aveline just went back to picking berries.

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

Kneeling down on one leg Trevor checked some tracks he had noticed not too long after setting out with the group. It was a bit concerning to see fresh tracks like this so close to the group, and if they were a group of normal humans just traveling through he would insist on night shifts and anything else to ward away animals, but some fresh wolf tracks weren't anything for them to worry about. He just hoped the wolfs hadn't driven away any game.

Veidr leaned down to smell the tracks, his ears flickering from side to side taking in his surrounding, then looked off in the direction the scent headed. " Best head the other way then," Trevor said, " Wolf doesn't really taste that good, not worth hunting, though the pelts might be good." He wasn't quite sure what he was looking for out here, but anything multipurpose was always welcome.

" Hang on," He said when he remembered something, Veidr was a hell hound and those weren't really known for being vegetarian. " I'd feel bad killing wolfs just for the pelt, but if I did kill some you'd get something out of it right?" If Veidr was like Marius and Sulla then maybe killing the wolfs would be worth it. Veidr would get a meal out of it, and maybe fattening up the fae dog would keep him from turning on them.

Veidr didn't say anything, he just stared at Trevor with his too expressive eyes, so with a huff Trevor threw his hands up in the air. He had no idea how Aveline liked this thing so much, he was more unnerving than anything in his opinion. " If I kill anything for the pelt just know you're on clean up duty." he said before walking off in the direction of some deer tracks he had been following before finding the wolf tracks.

He continued on in the woods, stopping every now and then when he heard something in the brush. He knew something was watching him, but as long as what ever it was didn't act on anything then he didn't particularly care though he had a feeling Veidr was keeping what ever was around at bay, animals had a good sense for the supernatural. Even if Veidr just looked like a large dog night now the animals had to sense something was off.

" How about you go on a little hunt of your own, if you kill anything try not to ruin the pelt." Trevor said before waving Veidr off. This probably wasn't what Danica and Aveline expected when they insisted he take Veidr with him, but if the thing was scaring off game then it wouldn't do him any good. Veidr stayed put for a moment, cocking its head as it looked at Trevor like he was trying to figure out what Trevor was planning, but eventually it walked off into the woods on its own.

Trevor didn't have to walk far after splitting up with Veidr to know the animal life around him was back, and he ended up catching 4 rabbits before finally taking down a deer. As the deer hit the ground it was like a spell was broken, the movement in the bushes around him was back. " Finally going to show yourself?" He chuckled as he tossed the rabbits down on the ground near the deer.

 

[Lucyfer]

Alucard shook his head a bit at the apology, but his smile showed he appreciated it all the same. He knew it may be easy to lump him in with the vampire, given the makeup of this group, but he still wanted it to stay clear that he wasn’t a vampire. Otherwise, things would be quite a bit different. Lucia wouldn’t be planning her takeover of the vampire world, for one. He would have been able to step up into that.

He was prepared to close up the carriage’s back when the topic shifted back to the berry juice, which he supposed could help them all, given they neglected sleep that night. Sypha was clearly eager, and he imagined that Danica would be as well, given she would have to help teach Sypha that day. Aveline seemed to think it would be best to treat them all, which he wouldn’t discourage.

He was curious about it, even if he hadn’t been stealing berries like Trevor or Sypha.

He walked back with the others to where the fire had died and Johann was being helped to the carriage. He started to move to help Danica, but she just made a gesture and he paused. Johann had perked on hearing he would get a bit later that day, “Thank you!” He would enjoy the berry drink in the evening, then, but for right then, he was helped into the carriage, and put on the same bench as Lucia. The injured people could share.

As Danica came back out of the carriage, she heard the little whine from Aveline about it not being a potion and she gave Sypha a slight glare, though it was more playful than accusing, as she saw the large cauldron. It faded, “Oh we know it’s not a potion, dear, Sypha’s just letting you borrow her pot,” it definitely hadn’t been among the things they brought, but Danica wasn’t asking who brought which things. They could sort it all out when they split up.

It was most likely something bought in a town, or from the Speakers, though. They probably used such large pots to make meals for all those in their group. Given it had just been her and Johann, they hadn’t required such a large thing. “Which she’ll thoroughly clean and pack away when you’re done,” Danica volunteered just after Sypha’s mouth fell open at the comment that it was her pot and the subtle implications.

She folded her arms over her chest, “Yes, I suppose I will.” She could just flood it with a rush of water to make it clean quickly.

Alucard smirked a bit to himself, but then asked, “What kinds of berries are those?” He kept expecting to see mulberries on the bush, but he was fairly certain those were not, in fact, mulberries that Aveline was picking and mixing with the honey.

He did draw a bit closer to finally pick one for himself to try it, though. If Sypha and Trevor could get away with it earlier, it seemed only fair…though he saw the look Danica was giving him, he still snatched one and popped it into his mouth.

Danica just shook her head, clearly thinking something along the lines of that ever-familiar phrase ‘children’. She was more curious to watch how it was made this time, so she could remember it for the future. Johann may like his coffee, but they needed other ways to get boosts, and sometimes berries were easier to find.

 

[AnxietyandSparklingWater]

Aveline stuck her tongue out at Sypha playfully after hearing how Danica turned everything around on her, then returned to her berry mashing. With so many berries going into this batch it was taking a bit longer to break everything down, but it was nice to prepare food for such a large group. She had only ever cooked for herself and her father, sometimes her mother, then on the road by herself she hadn't cooked much. Most of her meals these past two years on her own had been what ever fruits or vegetables she had grown while she was resting. In hindsight a good hunter probably would of noticed the trail of nonregional or out of season plants and followed them straight to her, she had been lucky apparently.

She looked away from her mashing at Alucards question, then looked over to see just what bush he was talking about. " Oh those one are nannyberries, they're really delicious and make great syrup for breads and cakes, but they're also really good in this." Aveline reached over to pluck a few more off the bush and tossed them into her bowl. She was hoping that by adding the berries gradually it would make it easier to keep everything smooth, she didn't want to get any chunks in this.

Danica walked over to Aveline and peered down into the bowl, if she wanted to recreate this in the future she wanted to get a good idea of what was going on. " There's more than one type of berry in there, does it matter what berries you use?" She asked curiously, but Aveline shook her head.

" No all that matters if that you use berries you like or have on hand, but flavor and properties of the berries should be kept in mind. Some berries just don't taste well together, and other berries are poisonous or don't have the health benefits you'd hope for." Aveline had done this many times and experimented with every type of berry she had ever seen so far, so while she believed she had a good recipe she knew this was a matter of personal preference.

Aveline reached over to a third bush and then a forth and added handfuls of more berries until the bowl easily held four cups worth of the berry mush, " I've found that raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, mulberries, strawberries, nannyberries, and elderberries are really good in this. But that's just my flavor preference, anyone can make this. Witch or not," she joked.

Aveline caught Alucards hand reaching for another bush of berries but she quickly reached out and grabbed his hand with her own, stopping it. " You souldn't eat those ones raw," She said with a sheepishly chuckle. " Those are elderberries, they're great berries and are really good for you, but they should be cooked first. They can make people sick like they have food poisoning if eaten uncooked, Though-" she mused when the thought came to mind, " I can eat them raw just fine, and so can other Haltija. I wonder if they'd make you sick or if you're Dhampir nature would protect you."

" Maybe we shouldn't figure that out right now," Danica said, it was almost mind boggling that she had to step forward and tell the children not to eat the poison berries. Alucard could deny all he wanted but she had seen the curious shine in his eyes, he was always so eager for knowledge that it would be his downfall one day.

Aveline laughed sheepishly, she had kind of wanted to find out the answer herself but since she wouldn't be the one risking getting sick she wouldn't push it. Sypha caught her eye then motioned slightly to Avelines hand, which was still holding Alucards. Realizing that she had been touching Alucard for way longer than acceptable she pulling her hand away and busied herself with her pouring the berry and honey mixture into the pot. She added a little more than an equal amount of water to the pot and stirred away at it, it needed to come to a boil before anyone could drink it.

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Whip unleashed from his hip Trevor stood in the clearing, listening for any sounds of movement. To his left a bush rustled before a wolf jumped out at him, he wasn't surprised to see it had been wolfs following him. Veidr must of been keeping them back, but since the idea of hunting the wolfs had already come to mind a few times this worked out pretty well. He'd be able to bring back to camp more than he expected.

Rolling to the side while pulling a knife from his boot Trevor dodged the wolf, then dipped down just in time to dodge another wolf that had come at him from behind. He stabbed his knife upwards and used the force of the wolfs jump to slit its belly open. The wolf landed on the ground with a whined whimper before quickly dying at his feet. " Already next one," he said as he flicked the blood off his knife.

Trevor threw his knife at the wolf in front of him, forcing it back towards the bushes more where two more wolfs stepped out to aid their pack mate. Whip in hand Trevor struck at the wolves, it was able to make them keep their distance as long as his whip was free but he could already see the wolves trying to grab the whip to stop it. One of the wolves got a hold of the whip but with strong jerk of the whip upward the Wolfs head was forced to look up, and Trevor threw a knife through its skull killing it.

With his whip free Trevor whipped it free with more force than normal, the bits of leather at the end of the lash called 'the fall' hit a near by wolf in the face blinding it. In its confusion and pain it ran into its buddy wolf and toppled both of them. With a few expert moves of his wrist his whip pulled the knife from the skull of the nearby wolf and ran across the neck the necks of both wolfs. There was a sudden but shot squirt of blood from the two, but the bodies slide down to the floor easily enough.

His panting filled the small clearing but Trevor turned to take in his handy work, " Just four?" He asked himself, that didn't seem right. Wolves normally hunted in packs of at least 6, " So where are the other two?" A deep growl had him turning on his heel but it was too late, he was knocked to his back with only the lash of his whip keeping the snapping jaw of a large wolf from eating his face. " Bad breath doesn't even begin to describe you," He grumbled, as he tried to find the strength to push the wolf back a bit, but it was hard and he was tired despite Avelines juice. The energy it had given him was most likely gone after fighting 4 wolves on his own.

A quick flash of darkness covered his eyes, and the wolf was gone. He rolled his head to the side, following the sounds of the crying wolf, and watched as Veidr tore the throat out of his attacker. " Came back just in time," He panted softly as he pushed himself up, " What brought you back so soon? You catch something?" He asked curiously, then his eyes landed on the body of 6th and probably final wolf from his pack.

" Well shit," he said softly. He didn't want to give the dog too much credit but if Veidr really had realized the single wolf he found on his own was part of a larger pack and came back to help him then Trevor owed the dog a bit of slack. The clearing was silent for a moment, " Thanks, you mutt." he chuckled fondly.

Veidr tilted his head to the side, but realized that was progress and accepted it.

" Now lets skin all these animals and bring them back, wolf meat isn't the best but it's better than nothing. Plus the rabbits and deer are nice." He was internally grateful that he hadn't brought back a bear, the jokes would be endless.

He skinned all the animals there so the guts wouldn't attract any animals towards the camp, then piled all the bodies he couldn't carry onto Veidr who would definitely need a bath after this and started his trip back. " You one of those wolves is a bit too damaged to do much with, and we got plenty of meat. Maybe you should share it with Marius and Sulla," He commented idly.

Veidrs ears flicked with agitation and Trevor laughed, " Fine fine be that way, i'm just saying if you want to make friends then maybe you should be nice. Though i'm not an expert on friend making, I still consider everyone in the group my friend. You only have what? Aveline, Danica, and Sypha? And none of them are animals like you, you could make two new flesh eating animals friends." The hellhounds ears pressed against his head, like he was trying to drown out Trevor, and with another laugh Trevor dropped the topic.

 

[Lucyfer]

The nannyberry he tried wasn’t so bad, though the seed was apparent, and Alucard turned his head to the side to spit it out, wondering if they got separated out in the mashing process or if he would still find a few in the drink itself. He would agree, though – they were tasty, and it made him curious about the other berries that Aveline had grown around them. He reached for another, but just as he did, his hand was stopped, wrist caught.

His golden gaze shifted to Aveline, as she explained that the elderberries weren’t good raw. At least, for humans, and his eyes did avert back to them with the consideration in mind that he may still want to try them.

Danica was probably right though – best not to. At least, right now. He wouldn’t want to get sick in the middle of their quest to go kill Dracula. He chuckled a bit, “All right. I’ll try them at another point,” he agreed with Danica, and realized just then he hadn’t withdrawn his hand. It seemed that Aveline realized it as well, for she let his hand go then, and he was able to bring his back to his side.

Still…he hadn’t quite thought to move it until then. Or rather, he wouldn’t have moved it. He didn’t at all mind the slight pressure of her hand upon his, at all, and it reminded him that he likely should try to talk to her more about…well, her plans to stay longer. They knew each other better now, of course, but it still seemed almost too forward to ask for more clarity on it, or to ask if she wanted more.

Then again, they would be living together. He wasn’t sure if it was a conversation that should wait so long or not. It seemed almost like it would be inappropriate to discuss anything before, just given the nature of the mission…and yet….

Alucard shook the thought off for now, and let Aveline make her brew in peace by not reaching out to any of the other berries, even if he knew he could eat a few of them with no repercussions.

As Aveline made up more berry juice, the sound of Trevor’s steps soon alerted them all that the hunter was back, and with a few skinned wolf pelts, and other smaller creatures gathered together. Sypha gasped a moment at the sight of the six pelts, but then scowled and shook her head. “You didn’t have to go hunting wolves, Trevor!”

She was prepared to freeze the meat, though. Once they got it off Veidr, and once she’d at least made sure it was clean of fae-dog hair. “Though the rest looks good,” the rabbits and the deer would all be enjoyed, though likely the rabbits wouldn’t last too long. It would still be longer than nothing, and when it ran out, they’d just hunt again and hopefully find enough to freeze some, too. They might yet make it to the Belmont estate without dying of starvation in this way.

 

[AnxietyandSparklingWater]

The sight of all the animals was a bit stomach churning for Aveline, she knew that this was how things were done and that every hunk of meat the others had eaten on the journey so far had looked like this at one point or another but it was hard to see it up close like this when it still looked so much like an animal. She turned her focus on her juice instead, she didn't want it to burn to the bottom of the pot or boil over.

" Hey," Trevor complained when the first thing he heard when walked back into camp was Sypha admonishing him. " These things hunted me first, I didn't seek them out. When everything was said and done meat is meat and their pelts will keep us a lot warmer than the deer or rabbit." Even the handful of rabbit pelts he had skinned wouldn't make much, probably a couple of hats for anyone that needed them or maybe one short shawl but that wasn't too bad, he had skinned them well enough in the future they could sell it for money in a town, but since they wouldn't be running into any of those for a while he wasn't that concerned about it.

Danica quickly set to work with Sypha, helping her divide the meat into more manageable portions for freezing and storing, and Trevor dealt with the pelts. He knew more than a thing or two about tanning hides so he knew it was better to be quick than wait around for flies to lay eggs in the remaining flesh on the furs.

" Trevor, why is this wolf not skinned?" Sypha asked curiously as she motioned to a lone wolf that hadn't been prepared for storage or pelts at all. " I messed up killing that one, pelts ruined and i thought we had enough wolf meat on our hands, but I didn't want to waste it." Trevor explained.

He walked towards the wolf body, ready to drag it over to Marius and Sulla who were eyeing it, moreso Marius than Sulla, but Veidr stepped in his way and grabbed the wolf body in his jaws. Trevor stopped an gave Veidr a dried look with a perfectly arched eyebrow, for a second he wondered if the fae was really going to be that petty.

Veidr had returned to his large true form so the wolf body looked like a parent carrying its child around, but at the same time Trevor knew that wasn't the case and he wasn't about to try and pull food out of his mouth. Marius whined and stomped his foot to the ground thinking that Veidr had stolen his meal, but instead it was Veidr that carried the body over to the two nightmares and sat it at their feet. Well he actually kind of tossed it their way, not willing to bow his head to them or offer them a chance to bite him, but the gesture was still sweet.

Aveline gave an approving hum, despite this whole situation taking her out of her comfort zone seeing Veidr try to make friends made her proud. " You're so nice Veidr, I would kiss you but you're a bit....bloody." The blood on his back and mouth were a bit too much for her honestly. " But after you take a dip in the river i'll kiss you."

Sypha looked at the proud expression of Avelines face and then at Danica, who also seemed to think the gesture was sweet, then took a moment to wonder when this had become her life. But she didn't dwell on it long, it was nice to see even the animals trying to build bridges.

 

[Lucyfer]

Danica certainly knew the Nightmares could be won over with food. She’d watched Johann do it, gradually, his curiosity overcoming his sense in those early days. Well, that, and the fact he’d entered into this all by seeing a werewolf captured and released, rather than killed. It always made him give the supernatural a second look, rather than just kill on sight.

Marius did not seem so certain of the gesture, but Sulla came forward and nudged him, seeming to want to remove that rigid tension. Veidr could have left the beast well enough alone and allowed Trevor to bring it over, of course – but he’d shown instead he was handing it over. Willing it to them the way Trevor intended, too.

Given neither Nightmare had slept, it was a fairly generous offer. They didn’t need to sleep every night, but it did drain them not to be within the astral plain for a bit.

Still, Marius did eventually step closer to the meal and he bit into the wolf’s neck and dragged it a few steps away. Wary, but not ungrateful, just uncertain if this supposed gift came with some sort of cost he wasn’t yet aware of. He knew the cost of Lucia’s continued friendship and protection – being the carriage puller. He didn’t know the cost of this.

Sulla came up next to help sever the creature and take half for himself, and Danica definitely averted her eyes at that point, resuming her duties of assisting Sypha with sorting out the meat so they could store it easier in the barrel. “I know Johann won’t be willing to eat any wolf, so we’ll have to make sure we know which is which,” though Danica had a feeling it wouldn’t get confused with rabbit, some of it might get confused with deer.

Sypha arched a brow at that, “No? Didn’t he hunt werewolves?” She’d started to learn more about Johann, as it started to be spoken of as common knowledge.

“That’s more or less why,” Johann wouldn’t eat any predator. He’d made that clear before on their travels. He had plenty of theories on why werewolves came into existence, some of which involved eating humans, from an old Greek myth that Lucia had told her. On the off chance a predator ate a human, he didn’t want to eat it second-hand and end up cursed. Not that Danica minded – she simply didn’t prefer to eat predator. “He won’t eat any predators. It’s a bit superstitious…he’s afraid of eating human inadvertently.”

Sypha suddenly lost a bit of her pallor, and she looked down at the meat, recalling that the wolves had been hunting Trevor. Did they eat human before him, or were they just particularly desperate that day? She swallowed back the thought. She wasn’t sure of any superstitions – though she heard of a few from Speakers that had been in frigid lands of what cannibalism could do, she didn’t think such a thing would count.

Besides, the stomach and all of that wouldn’t be eaten….

With the meat packed away, Danica went to go wash her own hands off with the remnants of their water supply.

Alucard, meanwhile, had started to help pour out the concoction now that it was finished into cups for everyone – and a reserve one for Johann to enjoy later, which he made sure would be well-sealed so that it wouldn’t spill anywhere. He would take his own cup last, but he was definitely looking forward to seeing how the flavor of all those berries mixed. It certainly smelled good, quite a bit more sweet after the honey had been added.

Danica was only mildly disappointed she let herself get distracted with meats.

 

[AnxietyandSparklingWater]

Veidr was shooed off towards the direction of the river where the group had gotten their water earlier, he was much too dirty and bloody to be just walking around camp and he needed to be cleaned up before everything on him was dried. He didn't need too much probing though, which Aveline chalked up to him not wanting to be dirty either. There were some fae known for using blood in decoration or dyes but the Cwn Annwn was not one of them.

With that handled Aveline returned to the drinks, happy to see taking her eyes off of everything had ruined it. She moved the pot away from the fire so it would not boil, it would condense and become a paste if left to simmer for too long and no one wanted that. She and Alucard handled handing out the drinks, and with the task of handling the meat done and over with Sypha and Danica both happily took their cups.

" You said that after the elderberries are cooked we can drink this safely right?" Sypha asked just to make sure before she took a sip. " Yes, Elderberries are perfectly safe once you cook them. You can make pies, syrups and tons of other things once they've been cooked." Aveline reassured her before taking a drink from her own cup to prove a point, but Sypha remembered that Aveline said the berries had no effect on her anyways so the point was mute.

Trevor looked away from where he had dropped the pelts hearing all the commotion, he was already gathering the large sticks he would need to tie into a box frame for stretching everything, and peered into the pot curiously. " hey you made more of this stuff, I can have some right?" he asked, his had been finished much too early.

Sypha opened her mouth to sass Trevor and give him a hard time but Aveline cut in before she could. " I made everyone for everyone, so yes. Though let me pour your cup so you don't touch anything." Until Trevor was done with the pelts and all washed up she didn't want him touching too much. " Mind getting me some rope from the carriage then? I need something to tension the pelts with."

He knew the proper way to make pelts would take days, lots of soaking, slow drying, and peeling but they didn't really have the time or space for that. They would be mobile, but luckily he knew some tanning tricks that he had learned on the road that would serve them well enough.

Trevor continued to put the stretching posts together even after Danica had returned with the rope and Aveline had given him his drink with a pleading, " please don't get any of that stuff on your hands in your mouth," she was pretty sure all this raw blood and bits of meat would make him sick.

" This is some good berry potion, Aveline." Trevor complimented her as he finished his cup, this one had lasted a lot longer since he had taken sips of it between removing the left over flesh and fat on the pelts, poking holes around the edges of them, and hauling them down to the river to clean off any dirt or blood left on them " I'm glad to see it's giving you the energy you need for...this." She looked away from the pelts.

Sypha walked over to check on Trevors job since she also knew the process of tanning pelts to a certain degree, speaker caravans had to be masters of many skills since they provided for themselves more often than not. " You did a good job Trevor. Now for the long part, tying them up and letting them dry naturally." They would need to dry the pelts slowly and check every day to see if there was anything else that needed removing. " After they're totally dry are you going to brain them?" She asked curiously. Braining the hide was when the animals brain and a cup of water was turned into a type of soup, the oils in the brain would soften the pelt so the mixture was made to soak the skins in.

Aveline didn't know what Braining even was but she looked a bit pale just hearing it thrown around.

" No, don't got the time or space for that, plus didn't think Aveline would be a fan of that method," He said as he motioned back to Aveline. She didn't look like she could handle watching them crack open skulls to dig out brains." Learned some tricks on road though, salt is a good alternative and will let us actually keep the fur on the pelts instead of having to skin them."

Sypha had been nodding along until that point, but at the mention of salt she frowned a bit. Not way they had enough salt to cover all those pelts. " Trevor that won't work," They just might have to push Aveline outside her comfort zone for this if the winters here were as bad as Trevor said.

" See I was thinking the same thing, but then I remembered something when I was out in the woods," Trevor said with a grin, " Theres are Belmont emergency supply dugouts all around here. They get more frequent the closer we get to the estate but there are two i remember being near by, and those will have bags of salt in them." After all salt had demon fighting abilities so his family always kept a lot on hand.

Sypha was a bit surprised to near that, It made the Belmonts sound really paranoid actually but it looked like it was coming in handy now. " Once we tie these somewhere on the carriage i can lead the carriage to the hidden stores, and then we'll be back on the roads towards the estate in a few hours."

 

[Lucyfer]

Alucard and Danica certainly did not know as much about tanning a hide as either Trevor or Sypha. Danica knew a bit more, given the company she kept and her own hobby of sewing – she talked with those who brought in pelts often enough – but she’d never gone through that process. She dealt with things after they’d been tended to. She had no idea it was such a long process.

Alucard was equally surprised, though grateful they’d be able to hit one of the Belmont stores to get more salt, while he sipped at his ‘berry potion’. It was quite tasty, and at least now it shouldn’t cause him or any of the others any harm. Though, the conversation might cause Aveline harm. He did sit a hand on her shoulder when they started talking about ‘braining’ and he recognized how pale she became.

It wasn’t a pleasant image. Alucard wasn’t certain what ‘braining’ was, but the wording just made him think of cracking someone’s skull open.

“Sypha, you’re ignoring your job of cleaning up the pot,” Danica called to her as she tried to talk on with Trevor, perhaps trying to avoid the duty, or perhaps forgetting. It would help to interrupt that line of chatter.

“Oh!” It seemed forgetfulness was more to blame, and she quickly turned right back around to go and wash out the pot that had been used for the drink, now that it was all spread out between the party. She clasped her hands together briefly, before pointing them downwards and breaking them apart, sending a torrent of water into the pot to push out some of the juice and cleanse the pot – before she’d go and grab some of the soap and a washcloth to make sure it was actually cleaned and not just well-rinsed.

Alucard went on to question, “How close are we to one of those dugouts, Trevor?” He couldn’t imagine there was one so near they’d be there today, but the way Trevor spoke, it would only be a minor detour when they did come near it, “We’ll need you on the bench when we get near it – otherwise we’ll pass it.”

That was certain. No one else but Trevor would know where to go. If they were near enough to it that day, Trevor would need to sit on the bench then.

It would be nice to restock so early, too, given the town had run them out, though he knew they’d make it a while yet. Even their salt supply, so long as Trevor didn’t have to use that right then to tend to the pelts he’d cleaned off.

Danica nodded, “Whenever we get near it – I won’t make you drive,” she chuckled a bit, imagining Trevor might not want to. She knew Marius and Sulla would heed him well enough – they were behaving for the sake of the journey so far – but that didn’t mean he wanted to deal with any more attitude from either of those creatures. Even if they might like him a bit more for bringing a disfigured wolf for them to eat from.

Danica chanced a glanced back and did see that the wolf was gone. “Are we going to be here a while longer?” Trevor had mentioned tricks, but, “if not, I’ll leave the Nightmares free,” if so, she could start to get them hitched up. She hadn’t thought they would be lingering long after Trevor hunted, but if he needed time to prepare the pelts further, he would have it. They would be necessary to survival in their own way, after all.

 

[AnxietyandSparklingWater]

The eating of animals Aveline could understand, she been raised eating meat for years until she got to see the process first hand. If Alucard was spoiled then she was certainly babied until a certain point. She had never asked her mother where their meals came from, she just knew that when she was hungry and it was meal time there was always food, hell she didn't even think she knew meat came from living breathing animals for years. Then when she did find out it came from dead animals she was certainly disgusted, but on her plate it didn't look like the deer she had seen outside or the rabbit that hoped along side her favorite stream every day.

She discovered the truth a few days after moving in with her father official, he had dragged home a dead deer and set out cleaning it and skinning it beside the house. It had mentally scarred her, seeing all that blood and the glassy eyes of a sweet deer. She had sworn off meat right there, running away until hours later when her father had cleaned everything up and called her for dinner. That had been an awkward dinner for them, she couldn't even look at meat without crying for weeks after, but she understood not everyone was as empathic as she was. She never pressed her beliefs on others, but she never tried to learn more about hunting or pelt making so the little bits and pieces she was getting from Trevor and Sypha were getting to her.

A gentle weight on her shoulder pulled her out of her thought, and following the hand up she smiled seeing it was Alucards hand. " Sorry, i'm so grossed out I got lost in my thoughts." That was putting it lightly, but the disgust wasn't heavy at the back of her throat anymore. Alucard had noticed something was wrong with her, and even without saying anything she felt comforted by him. She patted the hand on her shoulder fondly, expressing her thanks for his thoughtfulness before she got up to wash her empty berry cup. Maybe some distance from the pelts would make her feel better.

Trevor started to gather up the pelts in their stretchers, the stretches were made so it was easy to stack them but keep the air flowing between them, a few more pieces of rope and he could tie them all together and onto the carriage easily enough. He was also pretty certain that the air flowing by the carriage as they went along would speed up the process as well, which was what they needed.

Hearing Alucard question Trevor looked away from his work with the pelts, " The nearest dugout shouldn't be too far. We went by landmarks for the most part, so we need to drive until we reach a fork in the road then drive due east until we find a large tree in a clearing. Trust me you'll know the tree when you see it." As a child he remembered the way the tree had looked like a monster to him, half growing up on a large rock with roots raining down on either side but still looking healthy enough that it could last a thousand winters and storms.

" I'll load all these on the caravan then when you get to the fork in the road you can get me out of the caravan if you want, but like I said this tree is a beast. It's pushed out of the ground and sitting on a road, but was still as healthy as could be last time i saw that, though that was 'bout 20 years ago." Trevor returned to putting away the pelts, where he easily tied them up to the roof with the ropes but made sure not to accidentally die the carriage doors shut in the process.

With the carriage fully loaded, all the kitchen supplies put away along with everything else important, the group loaded up. Though Aveline wasn't happy to lose her spot on the roof, " I'll never be able to sleep there and have good dreams ever again!" she complained, " You've tainted it Trevor!" she hit his arm, but it clearly wasn't very hard because he just laughed it off. " they won't be up there too long, maybe 2 or 3 days at most."

But that was still 2 or 3 days Aveline would either be on the bench with Alucard or in the carriage with the others, and since Trevor was joining Danica and Alucard on the bench until they reached the dugouts she wasn't totally happy with this turn of events. Still she wasn't going to put up a fuss just because she couldn't hang out with Alucard, that would be too bratty of her.

Still Sypha put a comforting hand on her shoulder, " I know i'm not cutie-card but it won't be horrible in the carriage with the rest of us."

Aveline groaned slightly, this was what she had to look forward to inside the carriage? " You're the worst, Sypha."

 

[Lucyfer]

“It’s too cold to sleep on the roof, remember?” Alucard shook his head a bit, almost glad Trevor had tainted the roof. He didn’t want Aveline freezing to death up there, he’d prefer she stick to the plan of curling up as an animal or staying in the carriage. Things were going to get real cold, real fast.

Though, it seemed this time she would be picking the carriage, as Sypha seemed to invite her with the nickname. Alucard pretended not to hear it as he went to the bench, Danica dragging a blanket along with her to it, as well. The trio would eventually be covered in the blanket on the bench, once the others were in the carriage and they were able to get on their way.

Trevor was right, thankfully. Reaching the fork took only a few hours, and then from that fork, no more than an hour, if that, before the large tree was before. Danica could hardly hide her awe at the sight of it, “That must be ancient,” she murmured as she tilted her head back as far as she could to try and see the top of the tree.

She was almost thrown as Marius came to an abrupt stop, followed by Sulla, the suddenness not at all expected, and certainly not encouraged by Alucard. The dhampir reached quickly to wrap an arm around Danica’s shoulders and hold her on the bench, even if she seemed to gain her bearings fairly quickly. “Mari? Sulla?”

Marius just stamped his foot and tossed his head, as clear a sign that he wasn’t going any further as they’d ever get.

Alucard couldn’t quite feel what the pair of Nightmares felt, though he would have if he hopped off the bench and moved forward. What he did notice, though, was a distinct lack of sense. He could smell the forest and trees around them, of course, but there seemed to be a strange gap, something that smelt almost too clean and untainted by even the frost in the air. “This place is protected, isn’t it?” He glanced over to Trevor, assuming that was precisely why the Nightmares had stopped.

Just as he asked it, the door of the carriage opened, and Sypha hopped out, intending to close it after quickly if she wasn’t followed. She could feel the magic tingling in the air, and definitely wanted to figure the source and take a closer look at it. However, she paused in her forward strides when she saw the tree, “Woah,” the word parted her lips almost unconsciously, “So this is the great Belmont dugout!” They were here.

That had to be the magic, then!

Her brows knit together and she pointed an accusing finger at Trevor, “I thought you Belmonts didn’t use magic?”

“He has an enchanted whip, Sypha,” Alucard reminded, “I don’t think they’re opposed.” The fact Trevor’s whip was holy and he was excommunicated definitely indicated he wasn’t opposed to making use of whatever worked. The Belmonts were all opportunists, no doubt. If they could protect their dugouts with some sort of magic, no doubt they would.

 

[AnxietyandSparklingWater]

The nightmare sudden stop jerked Trevor forward, but the dashboard of the carriage was easy to grab onto so he didn't go ass over tits into the ground. Still he got off the carriage with a bit of a grumble, he probably could of gotten whip lash and with his shitty luck he was surprised he didn't.

He looked at Alucard hearing his question then shrugged, " Hell if I know. My father didn't explain a lot of things to me, he just showed me the dugouts and told me they were protected." He suppose he should know what was what when it came to anything related to his family but there was a lot he didn't know. " I was, what-" He stopped trying to remember just when he had been told about the dugouts," I think I was 8 when he showed me the first one? He gave me a map to memorize, told me one of the jobs of the head of the family was to keep them stocked, then shoved me out of his study."

The sudden stop had drawn Sypha and Aveline out of the carriage, both curious about what was going on. " We'll be quick," Aveline promised Johann, who had woke up with the sudden stop, through the door.

Avelines breath was taken away when she saw the large tree, it was big and beautiful and she was in awe. " This tree has probably seen so much," If this dugout had been in the Belmont family since they arrived in Wallachia that was still about 500 years of watching people come and go, oh the stories this tree could tell. But she couldn't get closer to it, like Marius and Sulla at a certain point she just knew she couldn't pass. Part of her was tempted to keep trying, but if this was something set up by the Belmont family she was pretty sure it wasn't supernatural friendly.

Trevor glared slightly at Sypha hearing her accusation, " We don't use magic, or at least my parents didn't. Magic died out in the Belmont line hundreds of years ago." He didn't appreciate being accused of using magic. " We weren't black magicians, or evil sorcerers. And my whip isn't magical or enchanted, it's consecrated." There was a difference, one that most people seemed to ignore but this misunderstanding was what led to his family being lit up in flames, so it was a difference he would continue to insist on.

" Can we get through to the dugout?" Aveline spoke up, it would of been a waste of time otherwise. " Yes, i'm sure of it. I was able to get into this very dugout years ago." Trevor insisted as he walked forward, what ever had the horses spooked and both Alucard and Aveline rooted in place wasn't stopping him. He strode constantly forwards the dugout, and after about a yard he turned out to show the others it was just fine.

Aveline shared a look with Alucard, Sypha, and Danica before curiously reaching out with a hand. The pain was immediate, like she had touched a wall made of lightening. She pulled her hand back with a small jump and cradled her hand close to examine it, she wasn't burnt but her skin was red and stung slightly. " There's definately something there Trevor."

Sypha reached her hand out as well but didn't try to cross the thresh hold, she was examining it and feeling the invisible wall with her magic. " This probably some type of ward specific to your family Trevor. No one without Belmont blood in their veins can cross and survive. Look around, do you see any odd symbols anywhere?" She asked curiously, and immediately something came to mind.

" On the back of the door to the dugout there is a weird symbol carved into the door, I didn't think it was magic or anything." He remembered staring at the symbol on the door for what felt like days after his families death, he had gone into shock with only that outline in front of him. Picking up a stick Trevor walked over to the others and quickly drew out the symbol from memory.

Syphas eyes widened seeing the symbol, " That is an Enochian ward," she didn't think the Belmonts would be involved in Enochian symbols even if they were involved in magic, though Trevor seemed to be confident that his family was magic free. " I know how it works though, luckily. Since you have Belmont blood Trevor, you need to invite us inside the space with you."

Trevor quirked an eyebrow, " Ok? Come on in you guys?"

" No!" Sypha huffed as she put her hands on her hips, " Have you ever known magic to take something so half hearted? You have to say our full names and invite us in."

Trevor didn't think it would make that big of a difference, but never the less he did a dramatic bow and recited everyones full names, " You have my permission to enter my humble dugout." When he stood up straight against the others were still a bit weary about crossing, Aveline had literally just been stung by the door after all, but with a cautious hand out Sypha inched forward until she had crossed the invisible barrier in front of them. " I'm still alive! Thank goodness that actually worked." she laughed like she was surprised.

Trevor signed a bit but turned on his heel and headed into the dugout a few yards away, it was underground with some stone steps leading down to the heavy carved door, but there was no ward on this to keep the others out. He pushed the door open and felt relieved by all the supplies inside. Of course everything had been sitting here for years so there wasn't any food they could use but there was lots of salt, a crossbow that Johann would be happy to see, a few ratty blankets that could probably be used to make one or two decent ones, some throwing knives, and other miscellaneous supplies that aged well.

Trevor whistled as he picked up a dark bottle of something that was clearly liquor from a hiding place behind some books, " I didn't notice this last time i was here, doesn't surprise me though. My old man liked his brandy." he turned the bottle over in his hands, looking for a label or something with a year on it. This had to be at least 20 years old, but he didn't even need to feel the eyes of the others on his back to know he shouldn't be holding this.

This wouldn't be coming with them, he had a few weeks of clean living under his belt and he wanted to keep it, and not just because of his deal with Lucia. She would be disappointed if he went back on it now, and that was the real season he sat the bottle down off to the side where he didn't have to look at it. It was bitter sweet though, to have to put down a bottle of brandy that reminded him of his father so much. Really said something about his old man that it was boose, the same personal demon he was fighting, that made him think of the man.

 

[Lucyfer]

‘Enochian.’ Alucard’s brows raised as he heard that, and witnessed the symbol. Well, no wonder the whip was consecrated, and why the Belmonts would have wanted to insist on such a difference. Enochian was supposedly the language of the angels. To think, the excommunicated Belmonts used that, of all things.

The Church would likely be pissed. “And you said the Belmonts didn’t use magic,” Alucard teased a bit, deciding not to make the differences obvious. Just because it was ‘divine’ didn’t mean it was any less magical.

Apparently the ward allowed any with a particular blood – in this case, Belmont – to enter. They could invite others, but they had to know their names. Alucard couldn’t help but tense a bit as he heard ‘Tepes’ leave Trevor’s lips. Alucard Tepes.

He didn’t think much of it until he tried to step through the barrier, and felt it burn him. He jolted back, Danica resting a hand on his back, and his arm, as he did so. His startled expression faded after only a moment, realization dawning. ‘Oh.’ The barrier wanted another name, one he hadn’t told Trevor in full – Adrian Fahrenheit Tepes. He frowned, “Go on ahead.” He waved them off.

Danica didn’t dare to venture forth, either. With her luck, it would want her married name, and not her maiden name, and she wasn’t so inclined to give that to anyone. Technically speaking, the law had changed it, but she didn’t know what ‘laws’ Enochian magic worked with. Apparently, it knew enough to knock back Alucard.

Marius and Sulla also opted not to test it. Those weren’t exactly their real names, after all, just conveniences for the material plane. And they knew too well that ‘Lucia Belune’ was not the true name of the one in the carriage, and they did not need to get her wounded any further.

Sypha did hesitate a moment, but as Alucard waved them ahead, she gave a single nod and strode on ahead, “We’ll be back soon!” Might be good to have some people out by the carriage anyways. Not that anything was likely to happen with the sun still up, but then again, who could miss this tree? Others might like to use it to get around, too.

Sypha was able to follow Trevor in, and as they came to the door, she couldn’t help but pause to further examine the warding of the seal, impressed with the fact the Belmonts had once been able to use Enochian wards. Of course, now that she thought about it, “Aveline, are fae runes connected to the Enochian wards?” It would likely upset the Church if those wards were similar, or human-corrupted versions of fae runes.

Not that Sypha thought this ward looked anything like what Aveline had shown her thus far.

As she asked, her gaze averted to things within, too.

It wasn’t so magical within.

Scrappy blankets, some barrels, evidence of decayed foodstuff, old paper, plenty of dust and cobwebs…though at least there was a crossbow. She did let her eyes alight on that and had a similar thought to Trevor. After Johann’s had been broken, he’d likely be pleased to have a replacement, even if it bore the wrong House symbol on it. She hadn’t seen any Abelwerth symbol on his own.

Though of course, Trevor’s attention went right to the bottle, and Sypha couldn’t help the disgusted noise she made when it did. “You didn’t leave that here 20 years ago?” Though, just as she asked, he sat it down.

She felt a brief pang of guilt for asking, then. “I’m sorry…,” didn’t fix it, but seeing him resolute in his change did take the edge off of her for wanting to chastise or even tease on the subject. “I suppose everyone has their poisons,” and his father’s had been brandy. Trevor seemed to like ale, though perhaps that was just because it was cheap and readily available. “We should take that crossbow – I think Johann will like it,” she shifted the subject, “doesn’t seem like there’s much else besides the salt.” She wasn’t even considering grabbing the ratty blankets.

 

[AnxietyandSparklingWater]

Not eager to get shocked against Aveline was slow going forward, until she was certain that she had gotten through what ever barrier existed around the dugout. " You two aren't coming?" She asked Danica and Alucard with a frown. She had seen the barrier still keep Alucard out, though why she wasn't sure why at first until Trevors invitation came back to mind. Trevor had invited Alucard Tepes, not the Adrian Tepes they had been formally introduced to when they had first met under Gresit. " I'm sure Trevor can reinvite you properly." she added, but Danica shook her head.

" No need to go through all the trouble, it's probably better if we stay with the carriage anyway," With Johann and Lucia unable to defend themselves the carriage shouldn't be left behind. So with a nod Aveline carried on after Sypha and Trevor, just as interested in everything as they were. She had never seen a hidden dugout like this before, and it was interesting to see what Hunters considered valuable enough to keep stashed away. It was mostly weapons though, this was most likely a restock point for hunters and after seeing all the weapons laying around she got the feeling weapons were the most important thing to hunters.

Hearing Syphas question about the Enochian ward on the door Aveline stopped to examine it, but she could already tell this wasn't fae. " This doesn't look similar to any fae runes i've ever seen, if this is a human corrupted version of our runes then it very different." The Enochian wards had too much of a fluid curve to them, where as Fae runes were very stiff and focused on sharp corners .

" Enochian is supposedly the language of angels, if that is true then maybe that's why it lacks Fae roots." Sypha mused, the understanding behind all this very interesting to her. She did love knowledge after all, and It certainly added to the belief that these wards truly were the language of angels if they held magic but were not fae.

From deeper inside the dugout Trevor grunted as he shifted around bags of salt, " You two mind saving your discussion until after we've grabbed everything we need?" He asked as he hoisted three bags of salt up, two on one shoulder and another run his other arm. " Oh sorry!" Aveline apologized as she grabbed an additional bag of salt.

" Is there anything specific we should grab?" She asked Trevor, the dugout looked like it had seen better days but if anyone could see the potential within it was probably Trevor. " The crossbow for Johann for sure, there are also some throwing knifes Danica would most likely like to get her hands on." Trevor listed off. " there's also a set of tanning tools in a roll on one of the shelfs and some mink oil that the pelts would benefit from."

The dugout mostly had small little random things, but they would certain be useful so they weren't worth leaving behind. " Wait mink oil?" Aveline asked with a crinkled nose as she grabbed a dark jar of something. " Yeah it's made the mink fat and boiled pelts, makes leathers soft and weather proof." Aveline made a face and handed the jar to Sypha to carry instead.

It took a few trips to get all the salt they needed for curing the pelts out to the carriage but everyone else took less than a trip for the three of them. Danica had been handed the set of throwing gifts by Trevor, " Thought you'd like these," He said before also tossed a few books over to Alucard, " Those are some texts written by my family, thought you'd get a kick out of reading some old theories about your father. They're nothing like the bestiary we'll find in the Belmont hold but there are some helpful sections that talk about regional creatures we could run into on the way." He had never commented on it but he had seen the curious nature in Alucard, he thought some informative books would help keep him from going crazy with boredom.

" Is that a crossbow?" Danica asked curiously, it didn't need to be said but they all knew who it was for.

" Yup," Trevor said with a grin. He was a bit excited to hand it over to Johann later, he could already imagine the way the younger hunters face would light up. Despite the fact the crossbow was old it was clearly a good one, finely crafted and made well, it was only left behind because Trevor wasn't a fan or master of crossbows.

 

[Lucyfer]

Danica and Alucard lingered outside the carriage, and Danica could not help but pose the query in that time between, “Do you think you will ever be called Adrian again?” For that was how she had known him, though calling him Alucard came easily enough. “I do not think Lisa would enjoy hearing you changed your name to Alucard.” As if guilting him with that would help.

“Heh…no, I very much doubt she would be pleased with me,” he agreed, pressing his back against the carriage and looking to the ground. “But it is what her people have always called me, even when they knew my name was Adrian. They wanted to mark me as a foil of Dracula even then.” Had they known, somehow, that he would be the Sleeping Soldier?

Danica leaned back against the carriage besides him, “At least you got lucky.” She noted, and when he arched a brow, “Imagine if your name was Aveline. Try saying that backwards.”

Alucard frowned a moment, “Nyllevah?” Though, as he finished saying it, he did start to laugh a bit, realizing, “Yes, I suppose Dracula backwards is a bit easier than some names.” Plenty of vowels, all pronounced, and the ‘ard’ sound was well known. “Though her name does at least have enough vowels,” perhaps with practice he’d create a fitting backwards variant. “It’s not like Godbrand.”

“We’d just have to pretend the ‘d’ was silent.” Danica suggested, “Narb…no,” she shook her head, chuckling a bit to herself. She had never met Godbrand, thankfully, but heard enough to know she didn’t ever want to, either.

“Did you ever meet him?” Alucard did ask, and Danica shook her head.

“No, though I imagine I’ve met some that Dracula has gathered to his side,” she said, sighing a bit, “I can’t imagine…they were all human before.” She didn’t understand this. Changed willingly or not, did they forget their roots so quickly? Some were younger than Lucia, some older, but all the same…it was boggling. “Of course I don’t truly know how it changes you, or what even two centuries would do to a person,” so far as how they thought, “but it seems difficult to imagine that they’d be willing to destroy all of humanity.”

Alucard’s smile was there, touched by sorrow, to hear how Danica just couldn’t grasp it. He couldn’t either, in truth, but he reminded, “They’ve been hunted by humanity for just as long as any one has been alive. For some, that’s enough reason,” and they’d still have animals to feed on.

Eventually the others stirred from the depths of the dugout with their supplies, and as they passed the invisible barrier, Danica and Alucard moved to help with loading up the supplies, until gifts were handed out – books and knives. Alucard arched a brow, but did look down at the writings, a smile arcing his lips, “I’m sure this will be fascinating,” he knew his father as that – but Dracula had a history.

He hadn’t become ‘king’ of the vampires because he was a peaceful man, after all. Reading how his father had been viewed before he seemed to rest within his walls, before he met Lisa, would help to paint the picture of the man who was now…this.

Perhaps he had always been this. The Belmonts wanted to destroy him for centuries.

Danica was tucking away her knives before she took note of the crossbow, and she gave a nod, “Well, we should wait until he’s properly awake to get that to him. I can find a nice place for it in the carriage until then,” where he wouldn’t stumble upon it. Johann would likely be up when they finally camped that night, though he might have woken during the stop.

If so, he’d apparently decided not to come out – so that meant he probably tried to go back to sleep. “Thank you – I know he’ll like it,” and it gave him a way to contribute again in combat, which he’d be grateful for. He could use a sword, but even Danica knew it wasn’t exactly his forte. He was better with throwing daggers.

 

[AnxietyandSparklingWater]

Loading up the back of the carriage didn't take long since it had cleaned out and rearranged just a few hours ago. " Are we going to the next dugout?" Aveline asked, she wasn't sure if this dugout had everything Trevor had hoped for but he said there was still one more near by, though she imagined the supplies they found inside would be similar to what they had found in this one.

Trevor took a step back from the carriage to look up at all the pelts on top of the carriage, doing the mental math but also going mostly off of what was in front of him to figure out if they had enough salt for them, and they did have 5 wolf pelts to deal with after all. " A few more bags of salt should do us, and the next dugout will be quicker to get to." He assured them. This dugout had taken them an hour to get to, but he knew that this next one was much closer to the main road. " Plus the next dugout should still have some coin in it."

Sypha gave Trevor a confused look, " Coin? You mean there is money in the dugouts?" They certainly hadn't brought any money back from this dugout. " Yeah, like I said my father kept them well stocked with pretty much anything you could need. Money, weapons, suppliesto last a cold winter. Had the estate not been destroyed then these dugouts would of been restocked with dried or jarred food every month or so." His father had always complained about the big process of checking on every dugout and the food normally seemed a waste to let it sit around for a month, but dried food kept last a month normally so that was food he gave to the less well off villagers.

" This one didn't have any money in it because this was the dugout i stumbled on years ago after-" he cut himself off, " I found this one when I was 10 and had nothing to my name but the clothes on my back. So I took the money, some fresh clothes, as much food as i could carry, and the weapons I knew I could use." Since his family was dead there was no one left to restock the dugouts anymore, so this ones lack of quality items was pretty understanding.

Returning to this dugout didn't have the fondest memories for him, so the fact they were going to leave it behind and continue on was actually a relief. " It's on the way again, we just have to get back to that fork in the road and take a left. We travel down that until we come to a mountain pass, at the beginning of the pass we take a right off the road until we find a shack in a field."

Danica, Trevor, and Alucard returned to the bench of the carriage while Sypha turned to return to the inside, but noticed Aveline wasn't following her. " Are you tired of my company already?" She teased with a chuckle. " I'm not blond enough for you, is that it?"

Aveline stuck her tongue out at Sypha for her teasing, " It's not you, it's me Sypha. Plus I know Johann needs to sleep to regain his strength but it's really hard to not mess with him." She confessed with a chuckle. Johann was fun to work up, he gave off protective vibes but at the same time he didn't feel much older than her despite their 3 year gap. She imagined that if they had grown up together as children they would of been easy friends, that is if his hunter background and her own fae one didn't come into the picture. Regardless he was someone she liked to tease and mess with, but since he needed to heal she was holding herself back.

Sypha rolled her eyes with a chuckle but understood and slipped into the back of the carriage by herself, while Aveline walked to the front with the others. " Danica, would you mind?" She asked curiously, and Danica nodded. She thought Aveline was asking her to swap seats with her, she didn't mind trusting Alucard with the reins for a while, this would be his first time driving without her or Johann there to help if need be but things seemed peaceful for now so she wouldn't mind riding in the back for a bit.

" What-? Oh!" Danica called out in understanding as Aveline shifted into a fox and easily climbed the side of the carriage, she bounced off the wheel and the step up until finally settling on Danicas lap. " Guess this is what you meant." Danica chuckled softly as she curiously stroked a hand down the lush silver-white fur that covered Aveline. The last time she had seen Aveline like this she had been too focused on her wounds to realize the beautiful white fur tipped with a silvery sheen that covered her. She also hadn't realized Avelines size like this, foxes were normally the size of a small dog but like this Aveline seemed to still be getting the short end of the stick because she was on the smaller size. On the bright side though it didn't hurt to have her sitting on her like it would if she was bigger or heavier.

" All settled?' Trevor chuckled, there was something kind of weird about looking into the face of a fox and knowing it was Aveline just like it was weird to see wolf Alucard and know it was Alucard, but he had to admit she was kind of cute like this. Alucards wolf form was threatening, he was a large white wolf anyone would be scared by that, but foxes weren't known for attacking people let alone sitting around like a lap dog.

With that though They were off once more, returning to the main road and following Trevors instructions though they were hardly needed. It was easy to spot where the mountain pass started and a clearing with a single shack in it kind of stood out as odd.

 

[Lucyfer]

With Aveline nestled in Danica’s lap on the bench, they were able to continue back to the main road, and then get on their way towards the next dugout. Danica didn’t pry about how Trevor got to this dugout, and not the other, first.

She already knew what it was like to run headlong from something. The senses weren’t all there, and one’s stops on the way to finding something didn’t always make sense. Not to mention, sense of direction could end up shot. Though, given they still had a bit of a ways to the actual Estate, she wondered if there were many that were actually closer to it, or if this was where they started to put them, some distance away from home.

The trip remained peaceful, following the road until the mountain path, where they turned off it until they came to a shack in the middle of nowhere. “We may want to plan to stay here, and get back on the main road tomorrow,” Danica noted, seeing as it would be evening soon. Of course, that’s what they got for taking up time in the morning hunting and starting to tan hides. It was all well worth it, and at least they would be closer.

Though, Danica did wonder if they’d even need the coin from this one. She didn’t know how far the next village was, but something told her it would be quite near the estate. They might need to grab a few things, though. The estate probably didn’t have any more food than these dugouts did.

Neither Marius or Sulla stopped short – they were able to get right near the door, though as they stopped, Sypha again popped her head out, and then hopped out of the carriage, surprised by how close they were to the shack this time around. “This doesn’t look very well protected, Trevor,” Sypha noted, seeing the wooden structure that was not at all impressive. Though, she still felt magic, it hadn’t kept them from approaching.

In fact, she didn’t wait for Trevor to invite her in, but went right to the door and pulled it open, seeing the rather mundane lock and chain fall loose and hit the floor. “This place looks like it’s already been ransacked.”

Alucard shifted off the bench carefully and followed after Sypha as she lit a flame over her hand to use as a torch of sorts in the darker areas of the cabin, as there weren’t any windows, but he was thinking much the same. It looked like thieves had been through here more than once. Even the mattress had been cut open and torn apart. Yet, he noticed one rather undisturbed shelf, and he couldn’t help but approach it.

There was nothing on it, but as he looked it over, his eyes fell upon markings on the ground, “Sypha, you may want to have a look at this,” he stepped back, as Sypha hurried over, her light causing the wards that were visible to glow.

“Oh!” A devious grin lit on her face, as her brows knit together, “Interesting…I think I can work with this.” She was able to figure out the other Enochian, after all. She could read it.

Alucard took a cautious step back. That grin just…did not inspire much trust, oddly enough. He could imagine the whole shack suddenly catching fire.

Thankfully, that wasn’t what happened, as Sypha read out the words, her voice hard to hear when she spoke the language – it seemed almost too airy.

Then, the shelf shuddered, and the floor where the wards had been simply vanished.

The shelf fell into the hole, but became a ladder down, instead of just falling through.

Alucard blinked.

“Impressive.” He couldn’t help but state. “It is a good thing you Speakers don’t ignore the written language….”

 

[AnxietyandSparklingWater]

The shack didn't look like Trevor remembered it looking, but it actually was too far off. " We didn't make it look that nice to start with, we didn't want to draw attention to it." he defended. If the shack had looked nice then people would of been more inclined to try to break into it, though it was certainly worse off than it was last time he was here. When his father had brought him here years ago the wood hadn't looked so dark and weathered, and the inside was at least slightly furnished with a few books, a bed, a chair, and other things to make it look like a real abandoned home and not the entrance to a secret hide out.

Looks like the façade they had put up still hadn't kept thieves away, everything was bare and about as stripped down as it could get. " At least no ones living here, that would of been awkward to deal with." He preferred finding the shack in this state of disrepair instead of having to explain to someone that their home at on top of a excommunicated family of monster hunters secret stash.

Aveline shifted back to her normal form before stepping into the shack and followed the others in looking around curiously, but found nothing interesting until Syphas magic revealed a hole in the ground. " This is so interesting, Trevor." She laughed as she leaned over the hole, trying to look down into it. " I can't believe your family has hidden store rooms like this all over, it's like something from a book."

" Written languages do have their uses." Sypha said, puffing up with pride at Alucards comment. She might refuse to write down her own peoples oral histories but that didn't mean she didn't appreciate a good book or occult language when it presented itself to her. Summoning a flame in her hands Sypha led the way down the stairs and into the dark underground of the bunker, where she noticed a candle fixture on the wall. Lighting the first candle seemed to have lit something because the flame traveled along side the wall until it found another candle holder, and another, and another until the whole room was lit.

The group stood stunned for a second, the room was bigger than the last dugout they had been in and the odd light display hadn't been anything they had expected. " Don't say anything." Trevor groaned, but a coy look came to Syphas face. " That seemed pretty advanced, reminded me of magic." "

" It wasn't magic, probably just some oil connecting everything." He insisted and moved deeper inside the bunker so he could leave the conversation behind him, literally.

This Bunker was clearly better off than the last and it was more like Trevor remembered them being, and he paused for a second thinking that the last time anyone had been in this bunker it had been him and his father almost 20 years ago. He looked to the side where he remembered his father telling him where to set down supplies, then back to the door where he could almost see his father lighting those same candles all those years ago.

The others had spread out, their eyes all caught by something different. Aveline was drawn over to the bags of salt first but then some whetstones for sharpening blades pulled her over to a shelf, her own whetstones were much smaller and lower quality than these ones. She could only imagine how these would improve her spearheads. Danica found more throwing blades, but there were also some medical supplies that would be nice. Clean bandages were nothing to ever turn your head up at, and there were few medicines that went bad. There were even medicines for things like sore throats and pain, not just for fighting infection.

Sypha was drawn to a shelf of books, but more important the large axes that hung over the shelf. " Are these real axes for fighting?" She asked as she looked back at everyone and gestured to what she was talking about. The axes were huge, they were something she was sure she would need to double hand to pick up and she didn't think her hand could wrap all the way around handle. " These are too much, there no way someone really fought with these." She was convinced these were just for decoration, they had to be.

" Those are-" he cut himself off,"- were my fathers axes," Trevor spoke up, his trance broken for the moment as he walked over to the wall. It had been years since he had seen these axes, his father had a specific preference and had always indulged himself when it came to spending on his axes. " The man never saw a problem with importing foreign woods for the handles or spending a small fortunes on steel for the blades."

Iron was the go to metal, but steel was created and used it just wasn't very universal. It cost a lot to get made, let alone for a set of battle axes but still they were his fathers choice of weapon and he had a pair or two of axes stashed in almost all of the hidden dugouts and bunkers. The only reason a pair hadn't been in the last dugout was because when Trevor found them all those years ago he dragged them back to the shell of his house, dug up the make shift grave he made for his family, and buried those axes as well. They hadn't even been his fathers favorite axes, but they were HIS axes and that was as close to burying him as he'd ever get.

" There is no way your father actually used those," Sypha insisted, " He would of had to of been massive!" to prove her point Sypha stood up on her tippy toes and grabbed just one of the axes off the wall, and was almost immediately brought to the floor beside using both hands. " Look at this, I can't even wrap my hands around the handle!"

Trevor laughed and took the axe from Sypha, unlike her he was able to move it around one handedly, and he felt a bit of pride knowing that he could fight with this. His grip didn't extent all the way around the handle, but like Sypha was raving about his father had been a large man. " You guys joke about me being a bear, but I was the family runt. My father was massive." The group seemed to enjoy comparing him to a bear, most likely because of how broad he was and the furry pelt he wore but he knew he didn't compare to his father. " If my father was alive he'd stand at about Alucards height, maybe an inch or two taller, and he was bigger than I was. Much more broad shouldered."

Trevor used his hands to estimate his fathers height then stretched his arms to the side to show the berth of his shoulders. " He would carry one of these in each hand when he fought. The way he used these one hit was all it took sometimes." He admired the axe in his hand. " When I was younger I used to think he could chop down a tree in a single strike, and I wished I could do the same one day. Instead I got a whip."

It was still a sore subject for him, the way his father looked at him and was never happy with what he saw. No amount of hard work or hours spent training changed the fact his son was smaller than the peasant children in the village. Where a boy his age in the village was stocky and carried weight Trevor had been lean and almost stringy for years. His speed and reflexes didn't redeem him in his fathers eyes, not when his meager strength left him unable to train with real swords until he was 8, which was well past the Belmont standards. The day he was handed a whip willingly by his father was basically the day he gave up his high hopes for his son.

Trevor returned the axe to its place, he'd never use the thing honestly and he also didn't think he could deal with having one around as a reminded of his father. " I hope your family hold has a picture of your family in it, I wish I see this 'massive' father of yours." Sypha chuckled before turning her attention so some of the books in the bunker, maybe these would prove useful.

Trevor didn't say anything, but he struggled with the idea. What if there was a picture of his family in the hold? Could he handle looking at it? Would he be happy or angry if he saw it? He turned his head, trying to urge the thoughts away, when he noticed something thick and padded on a near by shelf. Grabbing what ever it was he unfolded it to find a lightly padded armor shirt, it was similar to what he was wearing right now though it was a lighter cream color and the ends of the sleeves were too big but maybe Danica could fit those to him a bit better. Regardless he rubbed the fabric between his fingers and was happy to see it was thicker and only slightly heavier than the shirt he was wearing now.

He had been reluctant to get rid of this shirt despite the changing weather because only this shirt had his family crest on the breast, but there proudly stretched into the breast pocket of this new thicker shirt was that same crest. There was also some thicker pants that he can probably ask Danica or Aveline to take in for him but they were loads better than what he had now that was for sure.

 

[Lucyfer]

While Sypha was drawn to the axes by the books, Alucard was looking at the actual books. Two-handing axes wasn’t as impressive to him, given it was a feat some vampires did as an intimidation tactic. He half-expected they were trophies from one such stupid vampire, until his attention was drawn from the books by the actual conversation, and hearing that the axes were actually wielded by a human. By Trevor’s father.

Even he looked a bit dubious, lifting his gaze again to the axes, before back to Trevor as he offered his description of his father. A man who would have been taller than Alucard himself, or at least fairly close in height – closer than Trevor had grown to be. “You must favor your mother’s side. Somehow I think that’s a good thing,” he hadn’t seen images of them, but he wasn’t picturing anyone friendly or pleasant for Trevor’s father.

Then again, people would probably say the same of Dracula just from rumor.

Still, he laughed as Sypha tried to explain how it couldn’t be used. He wanted to tell her of the hammer one vampire favored, which had no right being called a hammer, or used, period. He decided not to – vampires using ridiculous weapons was probably something Sypha would expect. Alucard’s blade was quite tame.

Though, Sypha’s comment about a picture did cause even Alucard’s humor to die.

It was unlikely – unless it was down in the library. He expected there would probably be a picture of Leon Belmont there, but he doubted the other Belmonts had kept their portraits – unless it was a sort of tradition for each generation to move such portraits down there. He wondered if Leon Belmont would look a waif compared to Trevor’s father, given he favored the whip, too.

Still, he let his attention shift back to the books as Sypha let out a surprised gasp at one of them. “Hm?”

“It’s runes! Or, well, probably corrupted runes, but its runes! Aveline, come see this!” She waved to her, “The Belmonts seemed to have collected information on runes,” as she opened the book, there was no preface whatsoever, just images of runes, a phonetic pronunciation, and what they theorized the runes were used for besides language. It seemed they didn’t have a huge understanding of how to put the runes together, but they knew they could be combined, and there were notes on runes they had ‘commonly seen’ alongside others.

Besides it was another book on the Wild Hunt in Wallachia, locations and timing, which likely explained why there was a book of runes there. Perhaps one Belmont had used this place to gear up before going on a hunt themselves against one of the creatures that would occasionally move freely through the area, and then left their things within.

Alucard, meanwhile, went to go grab some of the salt bags, though he was keeping an ear to the conversation. He was still curious about runes, after all – they just needed a good time to sit down and actually learn.

This running around didn’t provide much time for that, nor did nightfall. ‘After.’ He reminded himself, as he saw Danica picking up clothe bandages and medicine, “Do you need any help?” He had shouldered a couple of bags, and planned to grab a couple more, but he figured he could spare his hands.

Danica nodded, but gestured him down. He knelt, and she began to pile the medicine atop the salt bags, and wrap bandages around him, so his hands wouldn’t be used up. He gave her a bemused look as it began, and she just chuckled a big, “You can carry more this way – I’ve done it with Lucia!” She was quite a bit stronger than she looked, after all. She knew Alucard was much the same. “Hold on, there’s a few more things I think you can balance.”

“Right….” He stayed knelt as Danica went to go fetch more things to throw around, or on, him, humming a bit to herself as she went through the hold.

“You should definitely bring those clothes, Trevor!” He heard her call out from somewhere, clearly seeing Trevor examining the attire, “Maybe an axe if we need to start chopping wood….” Though that might be blasphemy. "I'm sure you could get one down in four swings!"

 

[AnxietyandSparklingWater]

The supplies in this bunker were more impressive and Aveline was grateful that Trevor had brought them this way. The down side was there was no food in here, or at least none they were going to risk eating. There were tons of jarred things, and even though she didn't know how long preserves could last she wasn't going to gamble anything which was unfortunate since some of these things didn't look half bad. Aveline pushed the preserves Sypha would be sad to know went to waste to the back of the shelf, they didn't need their speaker risking food poisoning over some jarred sweet peaches.

The whetstone and some fabric strips she could use to change out the grips went into her side bag so she could help the others move supplies, but Sypha caught her attention and her ear with talk of runes. " There are books on runes here?" She asked curiously before hurrying to her side. She wasn't that surprised, the Belmonts did hunt the supernatural so they had to of run into runes, but the books were unexpected. Sypha handed the book over to her, but leaned in to see as much as possible as Aveline flipped through.

To think the Belmonts had found a books worth of runes was shocking, she had expected some scrolls or a mostly empty diary, but every page was more impressive than the last. "Most of these are corrupt runes but this is still amazing. It like a chart of progression. Who ever wrote this started with everyday runes and was working their way backwards towards the true Fae runes first given to man." Which ever Belmont put this together saw the connection between the past and the present. There were runes from all sorts of languages and occult groups in the pages, each with a circle highlighting what ever similarities the author had found, and sometimes this working backwards led them to a true rune.

The book on the Wild Hunt was equally amazing. The date in the corner of the pages showed the Wild Hunt book had happened first, the second book with all the runes had to come second. " I think who ever wrote this observed the wild hunt and saw the Fae symbols on them, maybe they thought they looked similar and started to look into runes more." She mused. The Wild Hunt book actually had some sketches of the wild hunt figures, which was impressive given the fact the Wild Hunt was literally a group of hunters charging around. This Belmont must of had a good memory and amazing artistry skills. In the corner of the pages were some true Fae runes, sketched out with jotted notes around them. Most of the notes said things like ' saw this on the shield of one of them. Don't know what it means.' or ' this looks familiar, whats it got to do with the wild hunt thought?'

" I didn't think the Belmonts would concern themselves with the fae," Sypha hummed, taking the book on runes that Aveline had sat aside for the moment. " The Wild Hunt is commonly seen as a omen of war or plague, but they're also know for stealing people that they come across." Aveline explained, " It wouldn't surprise me if a Belmont wanted to stop the hunt or try to save someone who was taken."

Aveline closed the book on the hunt and handed it over to Sypha who added it to the first book for them to take with them, " Some of the runes in there are true Fae runes, it's probably a good idea to take with us." She didn't want the runes to fall into the wrong hands, but it would also be a good teaching aid to use later.

Moving on from the book shelf Aveline caught sight of Alucard wrapped in bandages and totally loaded up with stuff to carry, he looked like a sad mummy or something. " You've got a good mule there, Danica." She laughed, but walked over to offer her services as well.

The bucker was proving to be good for something after all, though Trevor had yet to find the coin box anywhere the clothes he found would be pretty valuable. Coin wouldn't keep him warm in the winter after all.

Trevor looked up from the clothes at Danicas voice, " Danica do you think you could take these in for me a bit? I think these might of been made with my father in mind and I can say with some certainly that his clothes are too big for me." As Broad as Trevor was he would never compare to his father, but the style of the shirt alone just wasn't practical in his mind.

Danica waved off Trevors concern easily, " I might not know how to tan hides but I can take in clothes with my eyes closed." She promised, and so Trevor folded the clothes back up and draped them over his arm. Towards the back of the same shelf he noticed something, the corner of a box maybe? He pulled out a small box about the length of his hand but with some depth to it and the family sigil on the lid.

" Now that's what I'm talking about," he chuckled as he pulled a bag of coin from the box, it jingled in his hand and a quick peak inside made him whistle. His father hadn't messed around back then it looked like. " Not like we'll be coming across a town for a while, but hey better than nothing." Lucia had been the one paying for pretty much everything so far, though Trevor did have his own coin with him that supply was getting low with no jobs to take. This whole 'saving Wallachia' thing wasn't a paying job after all even if it was the best thing to do. Still maybe he could feel like less of a freeloader next time they stopped to buy something.

With the supplies carried back up through the floor and to the carriage it was clear they would be staying here tonight, evening was basically upon them and they were running out of time to start a fire if they wanted to do it before it got dark. Still the progress today felt better than expected after the shit show yesterday had been, and now he'd have time to salt the hides so Trevor wasn't complaining.

 

[Lucyfer]

The Belmonts concerned themselves with anything concerning – Trevor had made it clear before they did more than hunt vampires, even if that was what they were known for. Alucard was a bit amused that Sypha seemed the most surprised over it, as he heard bits of the conversation about fae runes and the Wild Hunt. Thankfully, they would be bringing the books along with them, so Alucard would get to see them.

He sighed a bit on hearing the laughter, but was more than happy to let Aveline take some things and assist, too. Danica came back with a few more tins of medicines, and she let the pair sort it out, before she went to get one bag of salt, while Alucard managed to balance a couple others under his arm, before making his way to the stairs and carefully climbing up them without spilling anything.

Though, as he came out of the shack, he was startled to see Johann on the bench, clutching a few throwing knives. He nearly threw one right at Alucard, too, but paused in time to recognize who it was, just as Alucard tensed at the sight of him on the bench. “Oh it’s just you,” Johann let out a relieved sigh.

“Yes…what are you doing?”

“Well I woke up and saw we stopped…then saw everyone was gone…so I decided to wait out here.” Johann said with a shrug. No need to mention he’d struggled to get onto the bench and that his leg still hurt a bit. He was going to be dealing with that for a while, and for that reason he didn’t offer his help with Alucard’s heavy load.

He couldn’t help, not when he couldn’t balance his weight evenly.

Alucard gave a slight nod to that. Understandable, anyway.

Then Danica popped up, “Johann! What are you doing up there?” Johann sighed, “Let me help you down – we’re going to set up camp, we can get you comfortably situated. Is Lucia awake?”

“Pretty sure she’s dead to the world,” Johann stated, as Danica dropped her things and came to help him get back down so he wouldn’t have to endure the drop without some stabilizer, “She’s looking better, though,” in an eerie way, the red had nearly faded to pink, an almost human tone. If she were breathing, she would have seemed human. The blood she’d had clearly helped speed the process.

She probably wouldn’t be happy to hear that getting burnt could make her look more human, though.

Alucard let Danica help Johann as he went around to the back to load up supplies, “I think we should try to stay in. It’ll keep us out of the wind tonight.” Alucard noted. “Was there a fireplace in there?” He hadn’t noticed, and he looked back for confirmation from one of the others.

Either way, the walls would be nice against the chill wind. He’d been out in it all day, he’d prefer some respite.

Maybe the demons would even continue to overlook them that way. They didn’t need to hunt – they could just take what meat was frozen and eat that. They might need to gather wood, though, or get more fresh water. Probably try to find some plants so Aveline wouldn’t have to grow everything.

 

[AnxietyandSparklingWater]

" Oh Johann, i'm so sorry!" Seeing Johann injured but sitting on the bench of the carriage ready to fight and defend Lucia made her heart ache. " We shouldn't of all gone inside." She was cursing herself for it really. Johann must of freaked out for a second realizing that night was coming and neither he or Lucia were able to protect themselves. But he seemed to have handled things well and the way he handled his responsibilities even when hurt impressed her, though he was already pretty impressive to her.

Johann shrugged it off at first, taking Danicas help down from the bench with a grateful nod of his head, " Maybe in the future just wake me up and tell me you're going to do something?" He suggested. He didn't want them feeling too bad for making him worry, though Aveline still looked a bit upset at least she eagerly agreed.

After dropping supplies off in the carriage it was pretty clear Alucards suggestion was a good one, sleeping inside a building would be pretty nice so the group started to make preparations to sleep there for the night.. " Laying down would do my neck some good." Sypha hummed as she rolled her head from side to side, making small popping noises the whole time.

" That hole in the floor will come back right?" Trevor asked as he motioned to the door to the bunker, it would be pretty dangerous if one of them stumbling into it during the night. " Oh," Sypha said before chanting softly once more, her Enochian wasn't the best but she was able to cover the door back up again. " That should keep out intruders." She said happily with her work, the fact no one would break their necks in the night was a bonus.

Aveline clasped her hands together and gently blew on them, the cold was setting in and her hands were getting kind of chilly. " I can go and get firewood," She offered, if it meant getting a fire started then she didn't mind braving the cold to make that happen.

Heading outside Aveline stopped by the back of the carriage first to take in their vegetable supply, she wasn't sure what they were going to make for dinner tonight but the more vegetables they had the better. If she was lucky she would find someone out in the forest, but stumbling on wild potatoes or onions wasn't something she was going to really gamble on so it was good to have an idea of stuff she might need to grow.

" I'll get water then," Trevor offered, water just seemed to be his job now since Alucard and Lucia didn't want to risk being around running water so he might as well get it out of the way. "Oh but Danica are we going to leave Lucia to sleep in the carriage?" he asked.

It made sense that if Lucia was healing in her sleep they should just let her sleep, but since all of them would be inside the shack he didn't really want to leave her outside. He was sure Marius and Sulla would protect her but leaving her out in the carriage when everyone was inside around the fire didn't sit right with him.

 

[Lucyfer]

The group was already splitting up for tasks, and Danica led Johann into the house, calling back to Alucard, “There’s a fireplace in here,” so they wouldn’t have to worry about that. Admittedly, she thought it was of questionable construction, but given the structure of this place had held, and it was meant to resemble a real home someone could live in, she figured the fireplace would work. “Oh, I should mention, Johann…some of the meat we have is wolf. But I’ll make sure you don’t get any of that.”

She saw the way he paled a bit, “Don’t worry, I know which ones are rabbits,” she promised.

“Okay….” He really wasn’t sure he’d know by taste. Or by looking at them when they were just a mess of meat.

Danica let him get situated and she promised to bring in some blankets so he could use them for warmth and also to situate his leg a bit better. She went back out to first release the Nightmares, figuring they deserved the freedom now. Then she’d grab the blankets and such.

She heard Alucard say, “I’ll go with you,” as he moved to follow after Aveline to get firewood. It should have been expected by now, he tended to go with her, as Johann tended to go with Trevor to get water.

That wouldn’t be happening now, “Sypha, would you go with Trevor?” Danica asked her, to make sure both parties had at least someone with them. “I think I can handle camp. Marius and Sulla won’t go hunting until you all get back, will you?” She fixed Marius with a look.

Marius just let out a huff, but then, strangely enough, put his muzzle into Danica’s shoulder as a promise that he’d stick around until there were more fighters in the camp. At the mention of Lucia, Danica hummed. She was against waking her, but she was against Lucia being moved while asleep, just as well. It wasn’t in their interest for them to lose sight of Lucia, and if they were all ducking inside for warmth, their watch would be slim.

Danica didn’t think anything would happen but…, “I’ll wake her,” she volunteered. Marius couldn’t quite do it from outside in a fashion she’d approve of. “We shouldn’t leave her out here, even if she’d be just fine,” she wouldn’t even know unless she woke on her own. Given vampires could sleep for months, if not years, on end – sometimes Danica wondered. Marius and Sulla seemed to help with that waking thing, usually.

“You all go get water and firewood,” she shooed then, smiling as she loaded up her arms with blankets.

Alucard hesitated a moment, thinking to offer to wake Lucia himself. He’d seen her nearly strike Marius, though she came back to her senses. He opted not to at the last moment – Danica knew what she was doing, or he assumed so. She’d held things together well through all of this, and clearly had an understanding. So, he would instead leave camp with Aveline on their usual walk to get firewood.

He would ask, though, “Do you think you’ll have enough to eat?” Vegetable-wise. He hadn’t taken a peek.