Ballad of the Huntress: Prelude to Castlevania Legends

The forest was still, unusually so, the huntress thought. The high peaks of the Baljhet mountains, thickly wooded with trees, were usually alive with the song of birds and wolves, filled with the speech of noisy creatures.

 

But no. Tonight it was still.

 

The young woman had keen senses for when something odd was about, something that earned her distrust from her peers in the mountain village, and a deep respect from her grandfather Stefan. She knew very well that this was a foreboding sign.

 

She would tell grandfather, she decided, as she returned with a slain doe, the only animal she had seen the whole night- apart from a bat who flew over the trees- struck dead by her arrow, dragging behind her. It had been acting strangely, pacing in circles, which made it an easy kill... But a disconcerting one.

 

Her family was not rich, but they were once well-off enough to procure a fairly large mansion. It was an old place, old and dilapidated, but it was her home, where she had lived ever since her parents had died when she was very young. Her grandfather took her under his wing, and had been training the young woman ever since. In his old age, hunting became a very taxing task, and she took up the role readily, often bringing home kills to share with the rest of the remote village.

 

The well-trodden path home was one she knew well, but the trees seemed to cast darker shadows tonight, towering threateningly above her and obscuring the moon and stars. The huntress could hardly see in front of her, and the silence of the woods had become suffocating. The night felt like a void, eternal and suffocating- but void implied a more complete absence, and despite all the silence and nothingness, she could detect the sharp gaze of threatening, hungry eyes.

 

Must be a wolf. I know how to fight off a wolf. But that didn't feel quite right. She could visualize those eyes, had a vivid image of them in her mind- that keen ability her grandfather praised- and that meant their origin was something beyond natural.

 

Besides... Wolves don't have eyes the bright color of freshly-spilled blood . Their eyes could be yellow, orange, maybe brown, or even silver, though that was uncommon... But never red.

 

Her hand gripped the bow more tightly, ready at a moment's notice to draw it, to kill whatever tried to attack. But she stayed on the path, her pace stayed brisk, she looked down, and...

 

She had strayed from it in the confusion of the abyssal darkness. She felt sudden horror as she realized the few surroundings she could see were unfamiliar. Worse still, she could feel a shadowy presence approaching, one she could only half make out.

 

The eyes! It must be those eyes!

 

She drew her bow, ready to loose an arrow, brows narrowing over her sharp green eyes. She heard footsteps, a shuffling of leaves-

 

"Show yourself!" She commanded, perhaps foolishly. How could she forget- that the wisest thing to do in the woods is to stay quiet? She felt a rush of adrenaline as she tried to recall her grandfather's training.

 

Her arrow was pointed at a young man, about her age, who stepped out of the darkness.

 

The hackles on the back of her neck lowered.

 

"Don't strike me down, please." His voice was a smooth, deep baritone, and his eyes gleamed in the dark, a bright, wolf-like amber color. Relief flooded her. Unnatural color, but... Not red.

 

"What ever are you doing, so deep in the woods at night?" She asked.

 

"I could ask the same of you," He replied, with a slight smile that exposed teeth that seemed longer than a typical human's. "But I suppose there's no harm in telling you: I am looking for my father. I heard he dwelled near these forests."

 

"I could help you find him. Perhaps he lives in my village. What does he look like?"

 

"I've never met the man. My mother raised me, but she forbade me to ask about him. But what else do I have left to pursue," His voice went quiet. "When my mother was killed? I have no other family."

 

"Killed?" The young woman asked, in shock.

 

"Tried as a witch. She was a healer of sorts, but..." The young man shook his head, violet-colored tresses of hair cascading down his shoulders.

 

"My God! How awful!" This was why she kept her gift of detecting supernatural beings a secret: the world was not kind. "I'm sure your father will have mercy on you. What is his name?"

 

"Mother didn't even tell me that before she died... Just that I must never take vengeance on humanity for her death... And to find my father, and tell him that she would always love him."

 

"Locating your father will be difficult, I expect..." The huntress mused. “No matter. I’m sure grandfather will be willing to let you stay with us for the time being.” For a brief moment she detected a resigned sadness lingering beside her, but it was gone as soon as she noticed it.

 

"Very well, then. Shall I escort you back home?" He asked.

 

She frowned. "I know these woods, sir... sir, er... I don't believe I got your name."

 

"Alucard. My name is Alucard Fahrenheit. And to me, you seem a bit lost." The strange man extended his hand. "You may know the woods in the light, but I can see in the darkness. I will help you find the path, my lady."

 

"Thank you. Your skill will prove useful," She took his hand and shook it. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Alucard. My name is Sonia Belmont."

 

~

 

Once Alucard had helped her locate the path, the journey had been short and the shadows seemed to recede, seeping back into the endless rows of trees. He was like a lantern in the darkness.

 

"There's the Belmont estate," Sonia said, pointing at the old house.

 

"Ask your grandfather to invite me inside," Alucard muttered.

 

"Of course." Sonia said, and Alucard waited dutifully outside.

 

"You'll watch my kill, right?" Sonia said as she opened the door.

 

"The deer? Of course."

 

Sonia lifted the slain doe's heft with some effort, and Alucard stumbled somewhat as he lay the dead animal over his shoulder.

 

"You're stronger than I am," he said, sounding a bit impressed.

 

"I'd say. You look as thin as an old twig." Sonia pulled the arrow from the deer's flank, and drops of blood spilled out on the beast's pelt. Alucard's eyes went wide as the deer's fur was stained dark red, and Sonia thought for a frightened moment that she could sense those gleaming red eyes again. The feeling was fleeting, however.

 

Does blood make him squeamish? Or was that look in his eyes... something else?

 

"I won't be long," Sonia promised, heading inside.

 

Within the Belmont mansion, a hearth was roaring with warmth, and various animal pelts and hides decorated the halls. The family had always been some of the most adept hunters in Wallachia, and the old house was filled with the spoils of countless generations of hunting parties and excursions into the woods. By the hearth sat Stefan Belmont, a pensive look on his aged, wrinkled visage.

 

"I brought home a deer," Sonia started.

 

"It's quite late at night... Nearly the witching hour." Stefan responded. "You worry me sometimes, my dear granddaughter."

 

"I got a little bit turned around, but a friend was able to help me find the path again. You should see the doe, it's ever so huge!" Sonia explained excitedly, but her tone turned more serious. "But... I think you were right to be worried. Something in the forest didn't feel right. It was quiet, and full of fear... And dark, unnaturally so."

 

"That is concerning news," Grandfather rasped. "I trust your judgment, my little seer, but I see no course of action."

 

"My friend- Alucard, who guided me home- doesn't have a place to stay. His mother died recently and he's looking for the whereabouts of his father. May he stay here tonight?" Sonia asked.

 

"I've never heard of anyone named Alucard around these mountains... Or anywhere, for that matter." He rubbed his chin, lost in thought. "He must have come far."

 

"Please, Grandfather, he was so kind to me." Sonia said.

 

"You sound like a child asking to bring home a stray hound." Grandfather chuckled. "Very well. Invite him inside."

 

"Oh, thank you, grandfather!" Sonia grinned.

 

Alucard was still waiting outside with the dead doe as promised, and his expression lit up as Sonia opened the door.

 

"You can come in."

 

"Thank you," Alucard bowed, and stepped into the entrance hallway. As he came into the light, Sonia noticed how unnaturally pallid his skin was.

 

How odd.

 

Despite that, she felt no feeling of dread in his presence, and thus she trusted him.

 

"You must be Sir Belmont." The young man greeted Grandfather politely. "I am pleased to make your acquaintance."

 

Stefan eyed the boy up and down with some suspicion. "And you must be Alucard," he spoke finally, then turned to his granddaughter. "You were right, that doe could probably keep us well fed."

 

"Thank you." Sonia smiled. "I'll take him to see the guest rooms."

 

Sonia led her companion to a well-furnished, cozy little room, one across the hall from the room she slept in every night. Alucard ran a hand against one of the rich, dark, wooden walls, his body language relaxed.

 

"This will do nicely." He said. "I haven't seen such a comfortable looking bed since I left my old town."

 

"After your mother...?" Sonia trailed off.

 

"Yes. They wanted her dead... It stands to reason that they'd want me dead too." Alucard's eyes turned sharp and narrowed. "Of course I couldn't stay in a place full of murderers. I'd never wish death upon them, but I just couldn't stay."

 

"I understand," Sonia said, softly. "What was your mother like?"

 

"She was kind and intelligent, and generous to a fault." Alucard's eyes welled with tears. "Strong-willed. She always said I inherited that trait from her... That, and my father's nose."

 

Sonia chuckled. "Well, that'll be a start. You do have a distinctive-looking nose."

 

Alucard smiled, though a hint of sadness still remained. "How shall we start the search? Does this place have any libraries or records?"

 

"No. Hardly any of us are literate," Sonia explained. She didn't know how to read either, of course, which wasn't any sort of failing of hers; literacy was still uncommon in this era. Despite that, she still possessed a keen intellect and a strategic mind. "So it wouldn't do us much good."

 

"Damn it all!" Alucard cursed under his breath.

 

"Maybe we could ask if anyone here knew your mother. Most of the village has been living in the area for years. If she lived here, maybe someone would have known her, and her husband. What was your mother's name...?" Sonia said.

 

"Her name was Lisa Fahrenheit."

 

"Perfect. It's an uncommon name, but a memorable one." Sonia said. "We could ask around town tomorrow, and maybe buy some food from the merchants. There's so much I'd love to show you, Alucard."

 

"That sounds delightful."

 

"Dinner is ready," Her grandfather called from across the hall.

 

"What a relief to have warm food," Alucard said gratefully, as the two eagerly sat down in the large dining hall. The Belmont estate hadn’t had guests in quite some time. They sat on either side of the long table, and Sonia snickered as she noticed the antlers mounted on the wall behind the boy. From her perspective, they looked a bit like they were coming out of his head. She stabbed her fork into the warm, roast venison, and it was delicious.

 

“Your grandfather is a good cook,” Alucard said once he finished chewing. “I am grateful for your hospitality.”

 

“Stay as long as you need.” Stefan said, preparing his own plate of food and sitting down beside them.

 

“You’d trust a stranger...?” Alucard asked.

 

“Sonia has... abilities. Premonitions. If there was reason to not trust you... Sonia wouldn’t, either.” He spoke gravely.

 

Sonia thought that he perhaps overestimated her visions- detecting supernatural entities was much different from knowing the intent of her fellow man.

 

"And besides, you brought my dear little girl home. I'm ever so thankful," Grandfather Stefan elaborated.

 

"I'm not that young!" Sonia furrowed her brow, slicing her meat with frustrated fervor.

 

"You'll always be my granddaughter, Sonia." Stefan's eyes shone with familial love, and despite her embarrassment she felt affection for the man who had raised her since she was orphaned.

 

"Excuse me if this is a sensitive question, Sonia, but why do you live together? Are your parents perhaps..." Alucard trailed off, but the implication was clear.

 

"They're dead. Not murder, thank God, but the reality is even more forboding." Sonia said pensively.

 

"Why could that be?" Alucard enquired.

 

"It's said they were set upon by supernatural creatures. The bodies were mauled with teeth, almost beyond recognition. My daughter had the same gift Sonia does now, but even that wasn't enough to save her... though Sonia's abilities have proved much more potent." Stefan's face contorted in pain, recalling his daughter's death. "It was a tragedy. Sonia was but a tiny infant, the night it happened."

 

"Then you understand my grief, Sonia," Alucard said sadly.

 

"Your mother..." Sonia looked down at her own hands.

 

"Indeed."

 

They spent the rest of the dinner in silence.

 

When Alucard and Sonia had finished, they both walked together to Sonia's room. Sonia let her hair down from the long golden braid she usually kept it in, and offered Alucard his pick of her nightgowns, as it would certainly be more comfortable than the rather fancy outfit he donned now.

 

"Sonia," Alucard spoke softly. "Would you join me tonight? It's been too long since I've slept beside a friend."

 

Sonia clasped his hand. "Certainly. I'm glad I met you, Alucard."

 

She yawned, exhausted by the night's adventure, and the two retired to the guest's room.

 

He called me a friend.

 

She realized then, as she watched Alucard drift to sleep, that she had never had a true friend before. The thought thrilled her; she snuggled close into the blankets, hoping to get a good sleep in preparation for the morrow.

 

~

 

Sonia woke up in a cold, horrified sweat. She could have sworn she saw the eyes, the same red eyes that appeared in her visions the previous night, their crimson glow reflected on rows upon rows of razor sharp fangs.

 

It was clearer this time, than when she was in the woods.

 

Alucard yawned and stretched as sunlight streamed into the room.

 

"Good morning, Sonia. You look as though you've seen a ghost." He frowned.

 

"I had a strange dream, that's all." Sonia shook her head, trying to shake the image of those horrible teeth from her imagination.

 

They set out onto the town soon after. It was a pleasant morning, though the usual sound of birdsong was still vexingly missing. The thrum of the peoples' hustle and bustle was more than enough to make up for it.

 

"We should ask the baker first. He knows everyone , and is friendlier than most." Sonia explained, pointing across a muddy street.

 

"That implies that most aren't quite so welcoming," Alucard commented, his gaze narrowing.

 

"Let's just say that you shouldn't say too much about my premonitions, and leave it at that." Sonia shivered.

 

"They think you a witch?" His eyes widened.

 

"They could, if I'm not careful."

 

They continued in solemn silence. Alucard walked around the muddy puddle in the street, making a wide girth around the stagnant water.

 

“I don’t like getting my coat wet. It’s unseemly,” he explained as they huddled inside the warm, inviting bakery.

 

“Sonia, dear! I wasn’t expecting you to stop by this morning,” The baker greeted her. He was on the cusp of becoming middle aged, but his eyes still shone with the joy of youth.

 

“Oh, but I come visit every day, Marcus.” Sonia said with a good-natured smile.

 

“And who have you brought with you... An object of your affection, perhaps?” The baker said with a wink.

 

“Please. It isn’t like that.” Alucard said coldly. “I’ve come to ask if you recall the name Lisa Fahrenheit. Have you ever met her? She was my mother.”

 

“I can’t say I have, I’m so sorry.” Marcus shook his head.

 

“I heard that she lived around here when I was an infant. I’m seventeen, maybe that will give you an idea of a timeframe...?” Alucard continued hopefully.

 

“I’m not who you’re looking for, then. I only started living here fourteen years back.” Marcus said thoughtfully.

 

“Oh. Thank you anyway,” Sonia turned to leave, but Marcus stopped her.

 

“Surely you two want some of my famous apple fritters?”

 

“I haven’t brought any money today. It must have slipped my mind.” Sonia let out a disappointed sigh.

 

“It’s on the house today. I’m certain your search will be hungry work.” Marcus said with a smile, and Sonia and Alucard happily took the pastries from him.

 

Sonia gave him a fond farewell, then the two friends rushed out onto the dirt path through town.

 

“This is very good,” Alucard said, chewing thoughtfully. “I love sweet things. It’s like the food my mother used to make for me.” Sonia could hear the emotion in his voice.

 

“Now, maybe we should ask Sara next...” Sonia mused. “Yes, she might know.”

 

The result was disappointing, when they tracked down the woman, who was hanging up her family’s laundry.

 

“I can’t say I’ve heard of a Lisa Fahrenheit, though I don’t doubt there are people who lived around this region who didn’t visit the village.” The brunette muttered.

 

“Who were they?” Sonia urged.

 

“Some nobleman and his family. There’s an old castle on the other side of the woods. They’d hardly bother with rabble like us.” She shrugged absentmindedly.

 

“Oh! That castle... I’ve seen it across the horizon.” Sonia muttered. “I thought it was abandoned, but...”

 

“I don’t think mother was a noblewoman, but I’m not certain.” Alucard said as they walked away. “Is it truly inhabited, or...?”

 

“Indeed.” Sara said. “Not sure who, but it is.”

 

“I’ve never been that far from home. The forest is astonishingly vast. But I’d believe it,” Sonia said with a spark of excitement. “My God, what if you’re a long-lost prince?! How incredible would that be... Just like a fairy tale! You’d let me visit your castle, right?”

 

“It is an interesting idea,” Alucard admitted. “But mother and I lived like peasants. I do not think that she’d relinquish all of her wealth if that was the case.”

 

“...Unless she had to run away! Do you know why your father wasn’t in your life...?” Sonia wondered.

 

“Mother never said. But she always spoke of him with such love. It can’t be true.” The young man said with conviction.

 

“You children want to know about the castle...?” An elderly woman’s voice called from a short distance away. The old crone, a woman Sonia recognized as being named Dorothea, sat outside her cottage, tending to some flowers.

 

“Oh, yes please!” Sonia said excitedly. “Do you know if anyone named Lisa-”

 

“The Count lives there. Don’t go bothering him. He doesn’t take well to visitors,” Dorothea pulled her sleeve up her arm, revealing a long scar, possibly a slash wound, though it didn’t match any sword that Sonia had ever seen. “I learned quite the lesson when I was but a girl.” The old woman laughed.

 

Sonia shivered. Suddenly her optimism regarding their mission had drained away. However, Alucard was steadfast.

 

“What is this Count named?” Alucard asked hurriedly. “Please, I must know!”

 

“You’d better not be planning a visit to old Count Dracula.” She shook her head. "Foolish children..."

 

Alucard's yellow eyes went suddenly very wide, his pupils narrowing to slits, and the apple fritter slipped from his hand onto the ground.

 

"My God, Alucard, are you alright?" Sonia rushed to his side.

 

"His name is Dracula." He echoed.

 

"What? Do you recognize him?"

 

"Of course, you wouldn't know, since you aren't literate, but... 'Dracula' is Alucard, written backwards," Alucard spoke. "The Count is my father."

 

~

 

"I don't care what that old woman told you, you are forbidden to visit the castle!" Grandfather Stefan said, shaken with concern.

 

"I need to see the Count. I promised my mother that I'd tell him her last words." Alucard protested. "Sonia may listen to you, but you are not my guardian. If I want to go to the castle-"

 

"You're as young as she is! You'll get yourself killed, travelling that far, and to such an accursed place."

 

The evening was dark, and rain pelted down outside relentlessly.

 

"I know you are trying to protect me, grandfather," Sonia's fists clenched. "But my friend's come all this way- he can't just give up on his duty now."

 

"You know not what you ask; what dwells within those woods... What killed your parents." He shook his head. "This is why I ask you to stay on the path, Sonia. It's far too dangerous."

 

"It always is to you, isn't it? First I must keep my powers a secret, then I must stay on the path, and now this poor boy can't even meet his own father!" Sonia protested; her expression was furious. "I didn't even get to know mine, before he died! I'm growing up, grandfather. You won't be here to protect me forever."

 

Thunder shook outside.

 

"Very well! Tell the world about your visions, get mauled by bears in the woods, do whatever you'd like. But never, ever go to that castle." His expression was tight with worry and fear. "Promise me, Sonia."

 

"...I promise." Sonia said reluctantly, though she had no intention of keeping it.

 

"I won't go either, then," Alucard said, with surprising sincerity. "Sonia and I share this quest now. I daren't leave her."

 

A tense silence settled over the old mansion, interrupted only by the crackle of the fire.

 

"Come, my lady," Alucard grasped her hand. "Let's go to bed."

 

Before they could retire to their bedrooms, a frantic knocking was heard at the door to the entrance hallway. Thunder rumbled again, and Stefan rose to answer it, his old, aged bones creaking with effort. 

 

A middle aged woman with soaked clothing stood outside, her voice shaking with fear. "Oh, hunter, you have to help me! I've heard stories about your knowledge of the woods- my son Gabriel went out today and he hasn't come back. He went into the woods, I just know it!"

 

"It's been a long while since I have set foot in the forest," he rasped.

 

"Please, I don't know what I'll do!" She was on the verge of tears. "If the wolves got him-"

 

"I'll help." Sonia declared. "Gabriel's the stablehand, yes? I'll find him."

 

"You're sure, Sonia...?" Stefan asked.

 

"Please. A boy's life is on the line. Let me save him. If not me, then who?"

 

"Very well."

 

"Oh, thank you, thank you, you absolute saint!" The woman started weeping. "I just know you'll bring him home safely."

 

When the excitement had died down; when the woman had left and Alucard and Sonia headed to bed; that was when the young woman spoke her true intent.

 

"Just think, Alucard, when we're out searching in the woods we could go to the castle! And we could return as heroes, when we bring Gabriel back."

 

"Are you sure this is wise?" Alucard asked. "You shouldn't have offered to save him just for my personal gain."

 

"I know. Grandfather always told me to fight for others, and not just myself. This is just... mutually beneficial."

 

"I see..." Alucard muttered.

 

"Be prepared for tomorrow. If things go awry I may need your guidance..."

 

~

 

Sonia had woken up from another dream about the scarlet red eyes. It hadn't become any less horrifying and visceral; it simply felt evil. She found this quite vexing, but did not let it deter her from their quest, as the two young adventurers treaded through the underbrush, deep in the silent woods.

 

“Step lighter, Alucard,” Sonia murmured. “Something might hear us.” Despite her concern, it was extremely unlikely that anything would find them this morning. The forest was silent as death, and if any animals once dwelled there, there was no sign of them. “We should try to head to a mountain peak, and get an idea of our surroundings.”

 

“I trust your judgment,” Alucard replied. “It won’t be too far...? Gabriel can’t have wandered too far off, I expect.”

 

“He’s probably just lost. Not everyone knows the woods as well as a Belmont, especially not a fifteen year old.” Sonia said. “He wouldn’t be on the trail, since he would be able to find his way back...”

 

“So we should look off the beaten path.” Alucard finished.

 

“Exactly. Look for signs of disturbed bushes and plants, footsteps... Anything.” Sonia said authoritatively. “That’s how you track down wounded animals that wander off to die.”

 

“I certainly hope that boy isn’t dying.” Alucard said coldly.

 

“Of course not.” Sonia shuddered. “I just mean... That’s just what hunters do. We track down animals. People are animals too.”

 

“Do you think animals love...?” Alucard asked absentmindedly. “I mean... Do you think it’s out of love, when a wolf defends its pups, or simply out of a need for the pack’s survival?”

 

“I wouldn’t know. I’m no wolf.” Sonia shook her head.

 

There was something unreadable in Alucard’s eyes, she thought.

 

It was a fairly unremarkable day, she thought, despite the absence of life. The colorful yellow wildflowers that dotted the landscape were the only comfort in the woods, that became more and more claustrophobic as they submerged themselves into the endless sea of trees.

 

“The flowers are beautiful, aren’t they?” She asked absentmindedly.

 

“I know now is probably the worst time to suggest this,” Alucard said with a slight sheepish smile. “But my mother taught me how to make flower crowns. Would you like one...?”

 

Despite the stress of the situation, Sonia felt a beaming smile form on her face. “Oh, would I!”

 

With deft, efficient gloved hands, Alucard weaved the thin verdant stems together. Sonia bowed her head like an elegant princess, and the strange man crowned her in goldenrod. The huntress smiled happily at her friend.

 

“It suits you, Sonia,” His teeth flashed white as he spoke.

 

“Onwards, my knight.” Sonia said with mock-haughtiness.

 

“As you say, my liege.” Alucard chuckled. "But I thought I was the 'long-lost prince'... Thus you, my dear hunter, would be my knight."

 

"We can both be knights," the hunter said decidedly.

 

The friendship fostered between the two urged Sonia to be braver, as they sunk further into the woods, and she got the feeling that they were close to making a discovery of some kind.

 

“Gabriel? Answer us!” Alucard called into the mist, cupping his hands around his mouth.

 

“Wait! Oh, Alucard, look!” She said, suddenly, pointing to some trampled bushes. “That must be where Gabriel went.”

 

“He left a trail of disarray,” The young man observed. “And thus we shall follow it.”

 

They did so, with a determined focus shared between them. Ominously, the trampled bushes and snapped twigs were growing more numerous, as though there was some kind of a struggle. A chase.

 

Perhaps it is an animal, she thought. Running from a predator. Not Gabriel. Please, not Gabriel.

 

The trail of destroyed underbrush seemed to twist wildly, leading deeper into a more shadowy part of the wood. It seems he had gone farther than the two had expected.

 

“Gabriel!” Sonia called. “Are you here?” There was no response.

 

“Let’s keep going,” Alucard said solemnly.

 

As they headed deeper into the enveloping shadows, Alucard's eyes went wide. He sniffed the air, his eyes dancing frantically around the towering trees.

 

"It smells... wrong , somehow. The smell of death surrounds me. Oh, Sonia, I'm frightened of what we may find." He sounded panicked.

 

Sonia sniffed the air, mirroring his actions. "Are you sure? I don't smell anything unusual." Still, she couldn't shake a sudden feeling of dread, a feeling less akin to nerves and more like intuition.

 

That feeling of dread increased tenfold as she noticed specks of blood dotting the plants, converging into a sticky red trail, leading the two adventurers to its tragic source.

 

Alucard's eyes went very wide with pure, cold dread, and they went dull, all the lively light within now extinguished. They had found Gabriel.

 

The young stablehand was but fifteen, but he would never live another day more; never draw another breath with that mauled, bloody throat, from which flies now rose in a swarm like a thick, buzzing fog. That sort of mortal wound could have only been inflicted by an animal, a beast, something with teeth...

 

Teeth...?

 

Sonia's blood ran cold.

 

Teeth!

 

The red eyes were staring her down, somehow everywhere and nowhere at all, red as the gored mess of the boy’s neck, such an intense, glowing red! Sonia could feel how close they were, how close the teeth were, closing around her neck as her surroundings grew dark, the haunting silence paradoxically deafening and loud, and everything was pitch black and bloody and dead!

 

~

 

“Sonia! Wake up! Sonia, please, you must wake up!”

 

The huntress awoke to vigorous shaking, and briefly assumed her vision had been another dream... But no, the corpse still lay there, and the dread still gnawed at her heart like slavering jaws.

 

“You fainted when you saw Gabriel. He’s been killed.”

 

"That's the most vivid my visions have been, ever in my short life." She shuddered with horror.

 

"We have to take him back to the village." Alucard's voice betrayed no emotion, but his expression was pained. His horrified gaze was fixed on the bloody, irreparable wound. "I remember where the path is. We merely have to go back, and tell that woman that he had been slain by an animal." He seemed to be talking more to himself than to his companion.

 

"What about the castle?" Sonia asked, hurriedly.

 

"We cannot go, not now. My family affairs are insignificant compared to this tragedy." Alucard spoke with a wisdom that Sonia thought sounded older than his bones.

 

They began the journey back home, walking in silence. Sonia held the body; Alucard's seeming distaste for the sight of blood was what motivated her to take on the macabre task.

 

She stopped mid-step. She thought she heard howling.

 

"Do you hear that?"

 

"I do not."

 

The howling was growing louder, and Sonia could hear loud panting.

 

Wolves?

 

"Alucard, I think something's coming." She couldn't tell if what she heard was real, or another vision, but she knew she had to get out of the woods, now.

 

"Are you trying to frighten me?" Alucard asked sharply. "Now isn't the time for foolishness."

 

As soon as he spoke, a huge wolf, the hugest Sonia had ever seen, raced to block the path forward with a snarl. It was nearly double the size of a normal specimen, and, terrifyingly, it reared up on its powerful haunches like a bear. It stood on two paws, and its orange eyes were hungry.

 

"What the hell is that thing?!" Sonia shrieked as it raced forward with the stride of a man, an unnatural amount of fangs bared. It swung its head wildly, trying to snap at anything in its path.

 

"The scent of blood must have attracted it." Alucard's brow furrowed.

 

The wolf-thing dropped to all fours again, and tried to clasp its jaws around Alucard's leg. The strange man was too fast, however, and in lieu of a weapon he grabbed a large stick from the ground. With the grace of a swordsman he whipped it across the beast's face. It growled in pain, its jaws continuing to snap with immense force. It made a low, guttural sound of rage before biting down hard on the stick, shattering it into splinters. It reared upwards again, grabbing the young man in its powerful, hand-like paws and slammed him against a nearby tree.

 

"I can't fight it like this! Shoot it, Sonia! Shoot it!" 

 

Sonia froze, unsure what to do. She had never faced anything like this.

 

It's a wolf. I know how to fight wolves.

 

She repeated that to herself ad nauseam as she drew the bow, aiming as its slobbering, massive jaws got nearer and nearer to tearing her companion's head off.

 

She let loose an arrow squarely through the back of its head, and despite the thickness of its hide, the arrow went straight through, piercing through its forehead with a spurt of hot blood. The beast bellowed in pain, sputtering up blood and spit as it wobbled backwards on its two paws, and fell over, dead.

 

"You didn't tell me the forest had werewolves."

 

"I've never seen anything like that before... This does not bode well."

 

Alucard picked up the remains of his stick, and poked at its drooping jowls, exposing its teeth.

 

"Do you think...?" Sonia started.

 

"There's dried blood on its jaw," Alucard pointed out. "I believe we have avenged poor Gabriel."

 

"What? No. That cannot be right. This blood, on its muzzle, looks at least a few days old. Gabriel's was fresher." Sonia protested. "I don't think this is over."

 

"The werewolf killed him." Alucard repeated. "Yes, that must be why the forest is so silent, too. It was feeding on the animals."

 

As much as Sonia would have liked him to be right, she couldn't ignore the discrepancy. Furthermore, the werewolf's appearance had not been heralded by visions of those all-too-familiar eyes; nay, she heard its panting instead. And could one predator really kill a whole forest...? The real answer wouldn't be so simple.

 

They returned to the Belmonts’ refuge in silence.

 

~

 

They did not return as heroes.

 

The air in the mansion felt suffocating. Having to help a woman come to terms with her son’s death was a devastating task, and Sonia still felt like something was off about Alucard’s hypothesis. As Sonia glumly headed to bed, Stefan called her over beside the fire.

 

“Should I come too?” Alucard asked.

 

“No. This is a family matter.” Stefan shook his head.

 

Sonia sat down beside him in a large wooden chair, made generations ago.

 

“Sonia, I feel as though you may believe what that boy told you. But I don’t think the werewolf was responsible.”

 

“I think so too... This feels like something much larger than it appears, something strangling the mountains from within.”

 

“...I’ve only seen a throat wound like that once before.”

 

“You don’t think the werewolf could have done it? I thought it looked like a mauling.”

 

“Humor me, granddaughter. What did the werewolf target when it tried to attack your friend? What parts of the body?”

 

“Legs, I think. It tried to bite his head, too.”

 

“Not the throat. Werewolves are strange- they never go for the throat. They value a thrilling chase more than an easy kill.”

 

Sonia shivered. “So my intuition was right. I think the werewolf was just a single agent of whatever... Whatever this is.”

 

“Have you had any visions?” Stefan asked.

 

“Sometimes when I’m in the woods, I see big, hungry red eyes, and fangs too. I dream about them sometimes, too. It started only a few days ago.” Sonia explained. “They’re the most clear premonitions I’ve ever had.”

 

“A few days ago, huh... When you found Alucard...?”

 

“Well, yes... What are you getting at?”

 

Stefan’s expression was pained.

 

“I think it’s time I told you what killed your parents.”

 

Shock pulsed through her mind, thoughts racing. “You mean, you knew?! And you never told me?”

 

“They were killed by a vampire, Sonia. I didn’t want to make you think about something so bleak and hopeless!” Her grandfather said, his voice raising.

 

“What do you mean, ‘hopeless’?”

 

“Vampires are death incarnate. They cannot be killed, and they hide among the living! No one has ever faced a vampire and emerged victorious. Never!” His voice trembled with fear. “And now there’s been another attack after seventeen years of peace, and you’re seeing those omens- omens that you didn’t tell me about! Oh, we must flee!”

 

“I should warn the village.” Sonia said with conviction.

 

“No.” Stefan shook his head. “They won’t believe you- they’ll think you a witch. No, I think the answer to this riddle is among us- within these very mansion walls.”

 

“You can’t mean...?” Sonia’s hands shook with confusion.

 

“When you took Alucard here, did he specifically ask to be invited in...?”

 

Horror crept up Sonia’s spine as she realized what this meant. He acted strange around blood, he could smell what she couldn’t, he had unnatural yellow eyes and pale skin... And, with a cry of anguish, she realized that her visions of the eyes and teeth began right before they met- the same night the forest fell dead.

 

“No! This cannot be! He can’t be a vampire! He’s my friend!” The visions were rushing around her once more, taunting her; the teeth were laughing at her.

 

Oh God, how could I have been so blind? I’ve let a murderer cross the threshold into my own home!

 

She didn’t want to believe it. She didn’t want to believe the time she spent with Alucard had been for nothing, that the sweet boy who loved flower crowns and apple fritters was a bloodthirsty creature. But the evidence... Oh, God, it was undeniable.

 

"I'll talk to him." Sonia said, her voice breaking. "I don't believe it's true, I just don't!"

 

"Please, if things go awry... Take this." Stefan handed her a vial of holy water. "It will fend him off, if he truly is... undead."

 

Sonia took careful steps and opened the door to Alucard's quarters. The old wooden door creaked loudly, and Sonia just about jumped out of her skin.

 

"Sonia," Alucard said. "I heard you cry out."

 

How much had he heard?

 

"I... I want to talk to you. Everything's just so much, today."

 

"Gabriel," he whispered.

 

"I thought that this would all be a merry adventure, like in all the stories grandfather used to tell me. But it's all wrong now. A boy is dead." Sonia averted his gaze and reached gingerly into her satchel for the holy water. "I want you to be completely truthful to me. Please, if you ever were my friend!"

 

"Of course I'm your friend. What's this about?" He snapped.

 

"I know you're a vampire, Alucard. And I know you killed Gabriel."

 

Alucard's expression turned furious.

 

"You'd believe such a thing?! I would never...!"

 

"And I know you tried to convince me the werewolf killed him, to cover your tracks... But a hunter can always follow covered tracks." She snarled.

 

"Sonia," his voice was but a whimper. "You have to believe me. I did not kill Gabriel."

 

"Why should I believe you?!" Sonia snapped.

 

"Trust me. Trust your intuition." He took her hand, and though she reeled back at the sudden movement, she let him guide her hand to his chest. He had the same heartbeat as a mortal man, and despite everything, her visions lay dormant. "I didn't kill him. I'm not a liar." His voice was firmer now, and it felt true.

 

"And you're not a vampire... Right?"

 

The look he gave her was heartbreaking.

 

"Right...?"

 

"I am a dhampir," He admitted, looking down at his hands. "A half-breed."

 

"Your mother...?"

 

"She was human. My nose wasn't the only thing I inherited from my father," His voice was resigned. "But I have no thirst. It's a great mercy in my uncanny existence."

 

"But if there are vampire attacks... And your father lives in a castle in these woods..." Sonia shuddered.

 

"Do not accuse my father." Alucard said sternly. "My mother would never have loved a murderer. Never!"

 

So that's why he clung to the werewolf hypothesis- denial.

 

Things were starting to make sense. If Count Dracula truly was a vampire, he must be a very powerful one, and powerful vampires could amass armies of hellish creatures- perhaps enough to strangle a forest till it died.

 

"I think Dracula was behind all this... The forest, the werewolf, Gabriel... Everything."

 

"I trust him. I trust mother!" Alucard shook his head vigorously. "She wouldn't. She wouldn't have loved him if he were evil."

 

"Don't you trust me...?" Sonia asked, her voice wavering.

 

“I do! But your visions must be wrong about Dracula. They were wrong about me, after all.”

“You have an awful lot of faith in a man you’ve never met.”

 

“He’s my father, Sonia.” Alucard shook his head. “I’ve trusted your intuition, now you must trust mine.”

 

Sonia couldn’t shake the feeling that Alucard was still in denial, but she acquiesced. “I suppose we’ll find out when we finally reach the castle... But, grandfather suspects you. I doubt he’d let you stay in the manor much longer, seeing as he thinks you're a murderer.”

 

“I understand. Meet me at Marcus’s bakery tomorrow, then.”

 

~

Stefan indeed didn’t allow Alucard to stay another night, but he was not cruel to the dhampir, merely sent him on his way with a cold authority. Sonia made sure to slip him a few coins for use at the local inn.

 

As she headed down the familiar dirt road to the bakery, she got the sense that something very, very wrong was about to happen. A haze of blood was clouding her vision, thick and red and dripping. She looked over at the familiar cottage, noticing a large crowd around the place- almost everyone in the whole village.

 

At first she smiled to herself. It was good to see Marcus getting some business. However, it slipped from her face when she heard a woman shriek in terror.

 

“Murderer! There is a murderer among us!”

 

Sonia shoved her way to the front of the throng, and felt herself go very pale as she looked down at the mangled, bloodied throat of the kindly baker, drained dry by relentless fangs.

 

Gabriel had not been the end of things, and neither had that werewolf.

 

Alucard was nowhere to be seen.

 

Her senses were pulsing, pulsing with fear and the sickly smell of rot.

 

Warn them, a woman’s voice whispered in her ear, one that was hauntingly familiar, though she couldn’t place its name. She turned, but no one stood so close. Warn them of the beast. The meaning was clear.

 

“Everyone,” Sonia said, projecting her voice with an authoritative tone. “This was no mere murder.”

 

Whispers murmured through the crowd as Sonia stepped into the center.

 

“Marcus has been killed by no mortal hand, but the fangs of a bloodthirsty vampire! One who may walk among us now!” The huntress said gravely.

 

“Don’t joke about that,” a middle aged woman said tearfully. “He is dead.”

 

“I know I’m right. I have visions- an ability to detect supernatural beings, and I’ve been having dreams. I just know, intuitively.” Sonia furrowed her brow. “You have to believe me.”

 

"This isn't one of your games or stories.” An older man said, voice choked with grief.

 

“I know it isn’t!” Sonia yelled. “You have to listen! You have to flee! This village is not safe!”

 

More murmurs reverberated through the crowd. Somehow. the disbelieving was worse than being labelled a witch or heretic. She looked around wildly, and realized in horror that she could see red, gleaming in the angry eyes all around her- another vision.

 

“You’re all going to die!” She shrieked in terror. Thunder rumbled above, the overcast clouds beginning to weep countless ice-cold drops of rain.

 

"She's gone mad!" The woman from before screamed.

 

With a feeling of deep fear, Sonia realized that there was no convincing them- they were as good as dead, in the vampire's clutches.

 

She couldn't stay here, looking into the faces of those who would soon be killed.

 

She ran.

 

~

 

"Oh, grandfather, I'm so sorry. You were right."

 

"This is why I told you to keep it hidden, Sonia." Stefan wheezed. He seemed to have gotten ill recently, though he was never quite in good health due to his age.

 

Sonia shivered, freezing cold due to the rain. "I just wanted to protect them. I j-just..." She sniffed. "I don't know where Alucard is. Oh, God, what if you were right? He said he had no bloodlust, but... He asked me to meet him at the bakery, and I found the body there."

 

"Out in the street? Not in the woods...? Then this is worse than I thought." Stefan said pensively. "We aren't safe in the village... I should hang up the garlic flowers outside."

 

"Garlic flowers?"

 

"They smell awful to vampires, and ward off evil." He rose to his feet, but doubled over in a coughing fit.

 

"You shouldn't go outside in this weather, grandfather, not with your ailing health." Sonia helped him back to his chair, and gave him a hug. "I'll put them up for you."

 

She walked outside into the icy rain with a shiver, hanging the flower garlands around every window methodically. Oh, how she wished she didn't have any reason to suspect her friend of the murders! Alucard had been missing all day, even when she checked the inn she found that he had never booked a room. It was an absence, one as eerie as the silent woods.

 

As she hung the seventh wreath of garlic, she jumped; a voice shook her out of her concentration from some distance away.

 

"Sonia."

 

It was Alucard. He didn't dare move closer. It seems the garlic was effective.

 

"Why would you kill him, after he was so kind to you?!" Sonia demanded. "Why, Alucard? I trusted you."

 

"I didn't kill him. I came to say that you were right. I cannot deny that my father must be behind this." His voice was firm.

 

"Why didn't you stay for our meeting? I thought you left the body for me to find..." Sonia wept.

 

"Think you I would do such a thing? I couldn't stay. I can't imagine what these people would do if they found a half-breed standing over a mangled corpse." Alucard said resignedly. "I'd die like my mother."

 

"Oh, Alucard..." She felt awful for suspecting him.

 

"I've come to say farewell. After tonight I expect we won't meet again." Alucard's warm yellow gaze was clouded with sorrow. "I understand now. I understand why my mother begged me to be merciful."

 

"What ever do you mean?"

 

"I'm going to the castle. That is the source of all this."

 

"I'll go with you!" Sonia insisted.

 

"I cannot allow you to risk your life for what is purely a family matter." Alucard shook his head, his violet-colored hair rippling over his shoulders like a running stream.

 

"We did everything together, Alucard." Her voice broke.

 

"We are not children, Sonia. Not anymore. We've been changed by this... And now I must face him, for all humanity's sake. He has an army, worse than anything you've ever seen. Even that werewolf. That's why the forest is dead!" His sharp fangs flashed in the moonlight.

 

"How do I know you're not lying?" Sonia asked.

 

"I wouldn't lie to you, my dearest friend... And I would never disobey my mother's wishes for me to leave humanity in peace. If only my father could have done the same! Regardless... I promise you, just as I promised her." Sonia could hear the quiet sincerity in his vow. "I want to protect the innocent just as badly as you do."

 

"I trust your word, but... How do you know all this?"

 

"You are not the only one keeping your powers a secret." Alucard said gravely, and with a pulse of dark magic, he was transformed into a bat, flapping wildly through the air, then with some effort returned to humanoid form. She recognized this bat, the same one she had seen in the woods, the night they met. "I encountered him when he was leaving the scene of the crime. He... He abandoned me as an infant because of status. Because the other vampires of the world wouldn't think well of him fornicating with a human woman." He spoke wretchedly. "I'm a bastard."

 

"I'm so sorry, Alucard," Sonia sighed. "I'm sorry that your quest ended this way."

 

"Once he heard that mother had been killed, he swore to destroy everything. Even when he heard her last pleas for mercy on humanity... He didn't trust my account of events."

 

Sonia's eyes went wide with horror. "You mean...?"

 

"Yes. He plans to attack very soon. I shouldn't have had faith in him." Alucard's voice was cold with regret. "I made a mistake. I should have trusted your instincts."

 

"I'll come with you. We can defeat him together!" Sonia ran to his side.

 

"This isn't another fairy tale adventure. We aren't children anymore." Alucard echoed, and shook his head. "You're not strong enough; he will kill you. This is my duty, and mine alone. He is my father, and he is my opposite. That's the meaning of my name: I was born to oppose his wrath."

 

I trust him. Why won't he trust in my own strength? We could do this together.

 

"Please, Alucard. You don't need to face this by yourself." Sonia pleaded.

 

"I need you to stay here. The village needs you... Your grandfather needs you. If I fail..." Alucard stared into her eyes imploringly. "It will be worth the fight regardless. I can't just do nothing. It's against my principles. The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

 

"I understand," Sonia said, finally, and her head hung low with sadness at the thought of Alucard, dead at his father's hands. "Farewell, my sweet wolf."

 

"And you, my dear shepherd."

 

~

 

It was strange, Sonia thought, waiting for the world to end.

 

Her dreams that night were downright traumatic, nothing but blood and viscera and screaming and the eyes . However, she didn't need any prophetic visions to tell her that the end was nigh. Evil clouded around her, thick and suffocating. She could feel it on the air; could smell the warm rot coming in repugnant clouds from the woods; could feel her world preparing to die all around her.

 

Like a struck, whimpering animal wandering off to bleed out...

 

The woods were noisy that morning. It was almost worse than the silence.

 

Sonia was not optimistic. She woke up feeling a bit sick, she assumed due to the time she spent in the rain. All her efforts to convince the village to evacuate had been quite fruitless, too. To them she was mad- the shepherd who cried wolf.

 

She told her grandfather everything- about Alucard’s ominous exit; the warning; Dracula’s vow of revenge. She was relieved that he believed her, after everyone in the village refused to.

 

The rain from the previous day didn’t let up while the evening set in, putting a damper on Sonia’s already defeatist attitude. It would all end tonight. Sonia was a skilled hunter, but she could not fend off an army of monsters. She could hear them now, hear them trampling forward across the woods, filled with hate and hunger. There were so, so many of them... And there truly was no hope.

 

But by God, she would try.

 

The house was surrounded with plenty of garlic, and a thin circle of salt. Stefan had told Sonia that it was apparently effective in warding off demons. It was an old superstition, but there was little else they could cling to.

 

So they waited.

 

Sonia just about jumped out of her skin when she heard a frantic knock at the door, and for a brief moment she believed she was going to die.

 

It was Sara, the girl who told her about the castle. Oh, how long ago those days had been, when she and Alucard had not a care in the world but his father’s identity!

 

“Hello, Sonia. I wanted to stop by to tell you... I’m leaving the village. I’m not sure if I believe in your visions, but I trust your fear. If you say that something awful will happen... I believe it.” Sara murmured.

 

“Thank you. I’ll be glad to know I saved at least one life tonight.” Sonia looked down sorrowfully. “Maybe we could have been friends, if we got to know each other.”

 

“Maybe so. Farewell, Sonia Belmont.” Sara bowed, and turned to leave.

 

“Farewell.”

 

Though the hunter was relieved that someone had heeded the dark warning, she did not notice Sara’s shoes accidentally scuffing against the circle of salt. The consequences of that small error would be tragic, but entirely unforeseen, even with her abilities.

 

And so, still she waited, instincts on alert.

 

“You’re not going to,” Stefan paused to cough. “You’re not going out there to fight, are you?”

 

“I have to. Alucard told me... The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. I believe he’s right.” Sonia declared, with a determined look in her eyes. "Dracula may choose to use his dark powers for evil, but I have powers too, and the potential for great good. That must be why I have these visions: they’re calling me to my destiny."

 

"You sound like your mother... You've grown up, Sonia. You're not that scared little orphan girl anymore." Stefan's voice was warm. "Yes... Use your powers for others. I know I can't keep protecting you."

 

"Oh, grandfather..."

 

There was a sudden, loud boom outside, followed by screams. Sonia rushed to look- lightning had stricken the middle of the town square, and fire spread from where it had struck. It was like no fire Sonia had ever seen before, wicked tongues of green.

 

It had begun.

 

"It's hellfire! God help us all!" Sonia could hear the panic-stricken voice of Gabriel's mother. Thinking of her failure to rescue him from Dracula's clutches chilled Sonia to the bone.

 

She had to fight for these people. She could not fail again.

 

But what about her grandfather...?

 

"Go, Sonia! Don't linger any longer. Don't worry about your old man." Stefan wheezed.

 

Sonia nodded, silently, and walked outside, clutching her bow and quiver. The wild wind played with her tightly braided blonde hair, swinging it wildly like a whip.

 

As she stood outside, in the center of the storm, all manner of horrid beasts crawled out from between the distant trees, their malicious eyes glimmering in the darkness. Skeletons, zombies, gargoyles, demons, werebeasts, Arachnes, and yet countless more the huntress couldn't name.

 

She didn't expect, in all her worried thoughts and premonitions, for there to be so many of them!

 

They were still some distance from the outskirts of the village, where the Belmont mansion stood. If she could take them out before they reached the burning town... She climbed on top of a nearby cottage roof to give her a better vantage point.

 

Sonia drew her bow and let loose an arrow. In the distance she could see a gargoyle’s head struck, and the winged beast made an awful gurgling noise before falling to the ground. This was a catalyst of sorts, as the sudden death caused the rest of the monsters to charge forward at full speed, rather than the slow, methodical march they had been paced at before.

 

Oh, curses! I’ve got their attention!

 

It was like a flood, pouring forth from the woods, an onslaught, and though Sonia kept shooting arrow after arrow, every downed monster was replaced by another near instantly. It didn’t help that it wasn’t a quick, easy kill. Her aim was good, but she obviously couldn’t hit the head every single time... She wasn’t certain some of them even had heads!

 

This wasn't working. Arrows of mere wood and carved stone seemed to leave the demons undeterred, and picking them off one-by-one from a distance wasn't a tactic a single fighter could use and expect to emerge victorious. And what if she ran out of arrows? Worse still, with her ranged weapon, she didn't have a plan for if they got closer...

 

Suddenly, she remembered the forgotten vial of holy water in her satchel. In a moment of wit, she took the sizable jar out and dipped the arrows into its crystal-clear contents. Yes, blessed arrows would do nicely.

 

Her hypothesis was correct- the holy water-tipped arrows caused the demons to explode when struck, taking out several at the same time. It seems Stefan had the right idea, giving her the blessed liquid. Now, if she could just take them all out before they reached the town square... Then, there may be hope!

 

Wave after wave, countless monsters ran forward and met their demise. The devastating explosions of holy magic would take out five to ten of them at a time, and the poor beasts were too stupid to realize that they should split up to mitigate the damage to their army.

 

They truly are like animals, the huntress thought.

 

Sonia heard something alight behind her, and the vision in her mind’s eye went wild with wingbeats.

 

She turned around, face to face with a massive wyvern. It roared in fury. Sonia shot a few arrows, but the short range, as well as its scaly armor, made the efforts fruitless. And it was distracting her from the rest of the monsters...

 

In a split second, impulsive decision, she doused herself with holy water.

 

And then, she was burning.

 

Make no mistake, it was not painful, nor did it hurt her. But she felt something flare inside her, like a deeply-buried need to kill and fight.

 

She went for a punch, and the dragon let out a screech of pain and she cracked through its armored scales and started ripping and tearing with her hands through its soft, now-unprotected flesh. It flapped its wings wildly, trying desperately to get away to no avail. Blue holy fire spread all over its body, between every scale, and though its powerful jaws tried to snap at Sonia, nothing could touch her. The dragon screamed as the inside of its mouth was set ablaze. Nothing could hurt her!

 

She was burning!

 

However, during the fight with the wyvern, she had been distracted long enough that several waves of the monster army had flooded into the town, heralded by shrieks of terror, pain and death. A werewolf was chewing on the leg of its still-living victim, who was writhing in agony, and there were bodies everywhere.

 

"Run, all of you! Leave this place!" Sonia yelled, hoping anyone still surviving could escape.

 

She jumped down from the roof onto the city streets, shooting a few arrows at any monsters she could see, nailing them right in the head. All too late, she realized the cost: the arrows’ enchantments caused collateral damage, blowing houses to smithereens in the magical explosions. However, it wasn’t like there was much use for houses that were already burning, though they could have made for nice ground cover...

 

She’d have to remain fighting close range, she decided. With arcane speed, accelerated by the holy magic pulsing in her, she tore through demon after demon, setting them alight with mere touch and ripping their burning flesh apart with her gloved hands. Blood showered unto her, a rain of crimson, leaving a trail behind her with the rain that still pounded onto the apocalyptic scene.

 

She killed, killed so much that she lost track of how many demons she had slain, and when she looked behind some burning wreckage for more to fight, she found three little children huddled together in fear. When they saw her, they cowered in fear, which Sonia didn’t understand until she realized how utterly covered in blood she was- from head to toe, she was dripping with thick scarlet.

 

She must have been like a vision of death.

 

“I’m not going to hurt you,” she said softly. “I want you to run as far away as you can. Please be careful. Just run.”

 

“O-Okay.” A little boy sniffled, and wobbled to his feet alongside the other two, two young girls.

 

“Thank you for trying to save us, miss Belmont.” One of them said, voice trembling. “A big wolf thing got my papa.”

 

“How dreadful...” Sonia shook her head. “He would want you to run, and to stay safe.”

 

“Yes, miss Belmont.” The other girl said, with a bow. After that, they took off, with the frantic speed that can only be gained with pure adrenaline and fear.

 

She watched them run, til they were out of sight, over the horizon, as the next wave of monsters closed in. That wave was subsiding, less in number than the previous ones, and Sonia let herself breathe a bit easier as she resumed her gruesome task.

 

One after another, she killed them; grabbed a gargoyle's face and slammed it to the ground as it burned, tore zombies asunder, ripped bone from bone and set every last one of them ablaze.

 

She looked around frantically for her next target, and saw only corpses, both of the monsters she had slaughtered and the friends she once knew. It was an endless sea of death.

 

She saw a large bat flying overhead, and in a brief, naive moment, she thought it was Alucard, come to tell her it was over, and take her away from this hell. Alas, it was not.

 

She attempted to wipe some blood off her face, but it was a fruitless effort. Her instincts told her that tonight's attack was over, but the cost was great. Nearly everyone had perished.

 

She had failed.

 

At least the mansion would still stand, she told herself. At least she could gather some supplies and keep fighting. At least, at least, at least.

 

Every optimistic thought was banished when she turned to see the splintered wreckage of the manor, antlers and pelts- those old, once-anointed trophies of the clan- strewn across the ground. The garlic flowers had been ripped to shreds, as though by angry claws. It was only then she noticed the breach of the salt barrier, scuffed aside by uncareful feet.

 

Something had got in.

 

"Grandfather!" Sonia rushed inside, panic and grief edging her voice. It couldn't be true.

 

In the shadows and dim candle-light of the dining room, the elder hunter had been pinned against the long table, moonlight streaming down onto the ghastly scene from the hole in the ceilings and walls. Above the helpless man stood something Sonia had only conceptualized as a distant threat, a looming shadow, a castle on the horizon. She had only thought of him in the abstract, but here he was, him and his gleaming blood red eyes and dripping, evil fangs, all too real.

 

It was Dracula.

 

Alucard really did inherit his nose.

 

Thinking quickly, Sonia grabbed two of the large, splintered remains of the wall. Though she was not a woman of spiritual faith, the potency of the holy water had convinced her of light magic's potential. She held the sharpened, uneven wood in the shape of a cross.

 

"Damn it all!" The vampire lord hissed in disgust, backing away from her as she approached where he drank.

 

"Get away from him," Sonia snarled. Stefan's breaths were coming shallow, and had the trademark gored neck of a biting victim. Had she come too late...?

 

"He will die regardless," Dracula's eyes glimmered with malice. "Or worse."

 

"I don't care! Get away from here, you fiend!" The huntress spat. "The village is destroyed. There's nothing left for you to kill."

 

"And there's nothing left for you to fight for," Dracula said haughtily. "You have lost everything, just as I have."

 

"I'd never become like you. Never!"

 

"Look at the blood that stains your skin, girl. Look at how much you've killed tonight. You have great powers, great powers indeed... And the seed of evil already dwells within you." The Count's gaze was enigmatic, as though he knew something she didn't. "Those people you fought so hard for... They distrusted you and your words. Why don't you hate them?! You, too, are like me. We could rule together."

 

"You may choose to use your powers for a path of vengeance, but I choose to wield them for protection. Your silver tongue won't sway me, o lord of darkness." Sonia held the makeshift crucifix up higher. "This I choose to do."

 

"You sound like my bastard son." Dracula laughed, an icy sound. "You'd fight this hard for burning wreckage and corpses?"

 

"Always."

 

"Very well... I needn't bother killing a puny insect." The vampire scoffed. "It's not like I can get any closer, with you waving that holy symbol around."

 

"I'll hunt you down, monster. And when I do, I'll kill you, for all mankind." Sonia's fists shook. She wanted to rip him apart, but the adrenaline rush from her burning mode was wearing off. She was exhausted.

 

"It will be most amusing to watch you try." Dracula turned towards the platinum moonlight with a flourish of his ebony-black cape. He leapt into the air, morphing into a huge, screeching bat, and flew away into the sky, streaked with the colors of dawn.

 

The town lay dead silent, dead as the forest.

 

Sonia rushed to her grandfather's side, dropping one of the splintered chunks of wood. The wound on his neck was awful, but he was not dead, and though his breath was uneven, he could still speak.

 

"Sonia," he gasped, in shuddery breaths. "Granddaughter... You were so brave. I couldn't have been prouder of my sweet girl."

 

"You're going to live," Sonia insisted tearfully. "You won't die. I won't let you! I can't fail you!"

 

"I can feel my blood going cold as we speak. He didn't bite to kill... He bit to infect."

 

"No! This cannot be!" Fresh horror dawned on Sonia as she realized the cruel fate the Count had orchestrated. Her own grandfather, who had raised her, protected her and taught her all she knew, would become the very monster she sought to destroy. She began weeping inconsolably.

 

"Don't fret. We still have time, and I'll face my death graciously." He struggled to his feet. "Follow me. I think it's time I give you a gift from your mother."

 

He walked slowly, leaning on anything he could, leading his granddaughter to his sleeping quarters. A large chest sat at the end of the bed, one Sonia had always been forbidden to touch. Now, Stefan opened it with a loud creak.

 

Within the chest sat nothing but a whip.

 

"Take this, child." Stefan sputtered, coughing up some blood. Talking was taking its toll on him. "Your mother was a true genius... She wanted to create a weapon, enchanted with light magic- one that could kill even the lord of darkness. I hope that her efforts will help you now."

 

As Sonia brandished the whip, she felt a surge of power within her, as though she were being recognized by something.

 

"Then it shall be my faithful Vampire Killer." Sonia declared.

 

"That's good, Sonia. The name gives it power." Stefan said warmly, with a sad, bloodied smile. "Listen to me, granddaughter. You're powerful, but you must always use these powers for others, not just yourself. You may have failed to save the village, but you can still save humanity. You don't need me anymore."

 

"Grandfather, no..."

 

The wound on his neck seemed to be closing up, as though time was being reversed on the bite. The flesh was coming back together, remaking itself into something horrible. The old man collapsed on the floor in agony. "Our time is at an end! You must stake my heart!"

 

"No! I can't, I can't!" Sonia sobbed. "I can't do it! I can't kill you, I just can't!"

 

"You must! End my misery, before the curse takes hold. I've taught you all I know- now use that for the good of the world." He smiled, a bittersweet gesture.

 

Sonia's hands shook with sorrow as she raised one of the wood pieces she had used for the makeshift cross to his chest.

 

I have to. I have to. I have to.

 

She plunged the stake into his chest. He did not scream, or cry out in pain. Blood spurted forth endlessly, frigid in temperature as though long-dead, red on red on red.

 

Her grandfather fell still.

 

It was over.

 

You’ve slain your first vampire, hunter. How does it feel? A jeering voice within her asked.

 

It feels awful.

 

She crawled out of the wooden wreckage, devastated, and looked up at the pale sunlight. The rain had subsided. Not even the earth itself had any tears left to weep.

 

She turned to look across the woods, at the darkness swarming around that old distant castle on the horizon, the one she now knew held death incarnate, Dracula himself.

 

I'm going to the castle. That is the source of all this. Alucard’s voice echoed in her mind.

 

Of course! Giving minor wounds to an animal would only slightly deter it, but to shoot its head... Killing Dracula would end things, forever.

 

She would not fail again.

 

Sonia gripped her Vampire Killer with a newfound intensity as she began her journey to Castlevania. She would fight, for Alucard who she loved and lost, for every life that Dracula had extinguished, and for Lisa’s memory too, though she had never met the woman.

 

And for grandfather, too.

 

From this day forth, the Belmont clan would hunt the night.