Heat.

Burn.

Pain!

Alucard woke with a gasp, expecting to find himself in that small space that his father had rescued him from a few nights before, but no, under the agony of the ropes that still bound him, and the burning of his thirst, he could feel that the hard surface under him was wood, not stone, and he could hear the creaking of wagon wheels, accompanied by clopping hooves. He could see no light, either from the sun or any other source, but he could still tell that he was in a plain wooden box -

A coffin.

- and that said box was in the back of a wagon, being taken somewhere.

Father... He still couldn't detect Father's presence, nor could he sense the castle itself, and he felt oddly exposed without its thick, sheltering walls. As much as his heart wanted to, his mind could not deny what he'd seen with his own eyes.

Father was dead.

His father was dead!

And it was all his fault!

He had let Simon go without finding some way to make the boy keep quiet. He had led the attackers to the throne room. He had stood there and made no attempt to protect the father that had protected him. He had stupidly allowed himself to be taken hostage so his father would be reluctant to defend himself.

He felt his heart constrict with pain, and another sob slipped out from behind the gag.

A hand banged down on the coffin lid. "Be quiet! I don't want to hear your whining!"

But he couldn't. Grief welled up in his chest, and he couldn't stop the soft cries that came out of him. Father was gone, and he had helped his killers.

Yes, you are my son.

If you call for me, I will come.

Come sit with me, son.

No one will harm you here, Alucard.

He saw Father's face, giving him a gentle smile, remembered his arms around him, holding him close, keeping him safe -

I want you to be safe.

- and Alucard began to sob like a heartbroken child.

"Damn it!" The coffin lid was suddenly wrenched open, and Alucard was blinded by the bright light that flooded the small space then. Smoke instantly began to billow off of him, and he screamed as he burst into flame. The coffin lid was then slammed shut, and the flames quickly went out, leaving him with more burns that could not heal.

"That's enough out of you! Be silent!"

Alucard managed a few more dry, hiccuping cries, and then he fell silent, too thirsty, too weak, and too injured to cry anymore.

OOOOOO

The ride in the coffin in the back of the wagon lasted eight days and seven nights. After that warning to be quiet, the coffin was not opened during the rest of the journey, nor was he offered anything to ease his thirst. The ropes around him were never loosened, and his burns from them as well as from the sun were unable to heal, leaving him in constant agony. He could not sleep while in such pain, and he had nothing for company but it, his grief, and his guilt.

The wagon rolled to a stop, and his weakened senses were able to detect more men approaching it, but he didn't have the energy to try and listen into their conversation as the coffin was slid out of the back and carried somewhere. The movement jostled his injuries, but all he managed was a strangled gurgle through the gag. The coffin was then dropped to the floor and shoved down a flight of stairs.

He would have screamed if he'd had the strength. As it was, he teetered on the edge of unconsciousness as a new voice spoke.

"Is this him?"

"T'is my lord. Trevor Belmont, just as Simon Belmont said, turned into a vampire."

Simon... Why?

"And he made no attempt to do as he'd been prophesied to do?"

"No, he just stared at him, and then he threw a right fit when we killed Dracula for him."

"Very well then. Let's get him sealed away in case he's needed later."

"Right away, my lord."

The coffin was pried open, and Alucard found himself blinded once again, not by sunlight this time, but by lantern lights suspended from the low ceiling above. He tried to escape, really he did, but between the ropes, his burns, and the fact that he hadn't fed in fourteen days made him too weak to do more than wiggle a bit as hands grabbed him under his arms and by his ankles and lifted him out of the coffin.

"I see the blessed ropes worked."

"Indeed they did, my lord. Had him contained right quick."

New air touched Alucard's seared nose, but it wasn't fresh. The smell of mold, mildew, water, and rotting flesh let him know clearly that he was in a crypt of some kind, likely one that was underground, and he realized suddenly what they were intending to do with him.

"No," he moaned weakly around the gag as he was carried over to the side, and he managed a faint scream as he was dropped down into a deep, narrow hole. The top of his head was wedged tightly against slick, slime encrusted stone, his neck was twisted at an odd angle, his waist was bend over, and his feet were pressed against the opposite end with his legs bent at the knees. "Don't do this. Please, I'm begging you. Don't leave me down here."

"Don't worry, Trevor." came the voice that was addressed as "my lord". "I'm sure that your father passed much on to you, so I doubt that this will kill you. It will, however, keep you neatly contained until we need you, if we need you that is. Seal it up, boys!"

"No," Alucard moaned again as the grating of stone against stone and the clinking of chains fell on his ears. Slowly the light from above began to fade, dust sifted down to land on him, and he could faintly see a large, dark shape blocking out the light. A large stone slab was pushed into the hole, where it fell down and wedged against the sides and blocked out all light. A second later, he heard more stone moving, more chains clinking, and another stone was pushed onto the first, sealing him in the darkness of the small vault.

Don't leave me here!

The heartbeats of the men began to move away, and then they vanished entirely, leaving Alucard alone in the darkness and silence of the crypt. The ropes still cut into him, his burns still screeched with pain, and his thirst kept his veins on fire, but he had no room to move and no strength to get free and get out. He was trapped until they decided to let him out.

Trapped in the darkness, too weak to even cry out his grief and misery, Alucard could only lie where they had left him and wait.

OOOOOO

That first night in the crypt, he thought about his father. His faint smiles that spoke of so much. His voice. The way his eyes glowed red when he was angry and turned gray when he was worried or saddened. He thought about the castle, of his own comfortable bed, his small library, and the way the candlelight filled the rooms and hallways with a warm glow.

On the second night, he thought of his own actions, of the things he could have done differently. He should have asked Father what he had planned for Simon. After all, Father had ordered his servants to leave him unharmed, and he had known that Simon was his grandchild, so he had likely not been planning to kill him. He should have told Father the truth about the voices he had been hearing. He should have done as he'd been told and waited for Father to deal with the attacking army. He shouldn't have led them to the throne room. He shouldn't have just stood there when Father was demanding his own death. He should have refused. He should have... He should have...

On the third night, he thought back on his human life and realized how everything had been leading up to him killing his own father. The training he had received, the weapon he had been granted, the lies and half-truths he had been told. All of it had served one single purpose; to make him hate his father enough to want him dead. They wanted him to clean up their own mess. Father had become a monster certainly, but he was a monster of the Brotherhood's making, and they had intended to sit back and keep their hands clean while Trevor went out like a good little soldier and committed patricide.

On the fourth night, he thought of Sypha and Simon. Where was Sypha? Was she still alive? No, Simon had said that she had died because of Father. Had she perished in one of his many attacks? Who then, had raised his son? Had Simon set the Brotherhood on his father? Had he told him that he was alive within the castle walls? Had they come there just for him? Had Simon intended for that to happen? Did he even know that the vampire that had rescued him from the dungeons was his father?

On the fifth night, he thought of Father again, and his heart hurt worse than his injuries as he thought of what he had had, and what he had lost by letting his anger get ahead of his rational mind. As a boy growing up without parents, he'd often asked about them. His elders had at first refused to answer his questions, and then they had told him that his mother was dead and it was not known who his father was. He had longed for a mother or father so badly that it had pained him, and then they had told him that his father was the celebrated hero, Gabriel Belmont, the man that had saved them all just after Trevor's birth. When he had asked, they had told him that his father had not been seen or heard from since his defeat of Satan in the year 1047, and that had spawned years of hoping. Hoping that one day, a green eyed warrior with the famed Vampire Killer hanging at his hip would ride through the gates and claim his son. Of course, that all had been a foolish hope, since the elders had known where his father could be found the entire time and didn't deign to tell him until they needed a weapon to point at the living example of their hubris and stupidity. Finally though, that years old hope that he had secretly nursed even after he had grown from a boy to a man had come true. And he had thrown it all away in an instant.

He was a little glad then that he was too weak and starved to shed any more tears.

On the sixth night, he found it difficult to form a coherent thought. His mind wandered where it willed, and he couldn't focus on a single thing for more than a few seconds.

On the seventh night, he was too weak to move at all, and his mind seemed to constantly drift in a haze that he couldn't lift.

On the eighth night, he felt the pain from his injuries fade, and he welcomed it as a sign of his impending death from blood starvation. He would see Sypha again. He would meet his mother. He would be with Father once more.

On the ninth night, time slipped away from him.

OOOOOO

A heartbeat.

Grating stone.

Muffled voices.

Light.

Someone near him.

Arms scooping him up. Father? No, no, Father is dead.

Something soft and warm wrapping around him.

Being carried somewhere.

Fresh air.

Something soft under him.

A hand resting on his forehead.

A muffled voice. "I've got you, Papa. You're safe."

Alucard drifted away.

OOOOOO

Someone near him again.

Something soft under him again.

A heartbeat, one he had heard before.

A familiar scent.

Loosening of the ties around him.

Something cold against his lips.

Blood.

Blood trickled into his mouth, and his thirst seemed to burn hotter than ever, hotter even than the flames that he had felt twice in his unlife. His muscles twitched and spasmed, but they were unable to swallow. The trickling then stopped, and he drifted away again.

OOOOOO

More blood.

A scratchy whisper escaped Alucard's parched throat as more blood trickled into his mouth. Somewhere, a voice admonished him to hush. He tried to open his eyes to see the owner of said voice, but his lids were too heavy to move. The blood then stopped again, and Alucard managed a frustrated whimper as he drifted once more.

OOOOOO

He was warm. Alucard shifted weakly as he woke up from the haze that held onto him, but he could barely move. There was something on top of him that covered him from toes to chin, and it seemed to weight him down.

"Easy," came a familiar voice, and an arm came around his shoulders and pulled him upright as something cold was pressed against his lips. Alucard managed a faint moan as blood flowed from the cold thing – a cup, he realized – into his mouth. His thirst seemed to be quieter, and it did not burn with the intensity that it had been before. Had this person been feeding him while he was ill? He managed to swallow the offered blood, and then he was laid back down. The warm, heavy thing – a fur blanket – was then pulled back up to his chin, and the owner of the voice settled down beside him. That person's voice and heartbeat then slowed as they went to sleep, and Alucard just barely was able to force one eye to peep open for a brief moment.

He couldn't see much, as he was still so weak, but he could faintly make out the shape of red hair only a few feet away, and that, coupled with a scent he knew well, told him clearly who was caring for him.

"Simon," he rasped, and the man so named stirred.

"Go back to sleep, Papa." he said. "We're miles from the Brotherhood, and they have no idea that I took you right out from under them. You're safe here while you get better." Simon's hand came down to rest over his eyes, and Alucard sighed at the gentle touch as he drifted off.

OOOOOO

The sun had just set when Alucard woke next. He opened his eyes to find himself alone, and he was able to see his surroundings for the first time. He was in a small stone house with a thatched roof. A fire pit was in the center of the floor, and he was lying in a corner, on a bed of furs and blankets on the floor. His body ached where the ropes had been, and his thirst was quieter, more of an ache than the burn it had been before. He shakily sat up as he heard Simon's heartbeat approaching the door from outside.

The door opened on creaky leather hinges, and fading red light spilled into the small room as Simon walked in, carrying a dead rabbit in one hand, and a tankard in the other. He dropped the rabbit by the fire pit, and then he turned to face Alucard. A slight widening of his eyes told Alucard that his son was surprised. Not expecting him to be awake and sitting up, perhaps?

"I see you're feeling better." he said quietly as he walked over to him and knelt down beside him. He then offered him the tankard. "Here."

Alucard raised a shaky arm to take it but realized that it would be a bad idea for him to try and grab it. Simon apparently realized the same thing, for his held it up to Alucard's lips and tilted it back so he could drink down the blood – likely the rabbit's – within it. The aching that was his thirst went quiet then, and he let out a little sigh as the empty tankard was taken away.

"Thank you." he said in a scratchy whisper. Simon simply nodded and moved over to the fire pit as the last rays of light shining through the hole in the room above it vanished. Stars could be seen, a breeze could be heard -

Father's arm around his shoulders, the breeze blowing back their hair as the torches around them ran out of fuel.

- and Alucard turned away from it as his heart twisted in pain.

The room went silent as Simon built a fire, and Alucard watched his son expertly skin and butcher the rabbit, and toss hunks of meat into a pot along with a few cut up potatoes and carrots. A few spices went in as well: parsley, thyme, and marjoram, and the Simon hung the pot from the tripod over the fire and gave it all a quick stir.

"What happened to your mother, Simon?" Alucard asked silently, and Simon jumped and dropped the wooden spoon he'd been holding. Alucard looked up at his son through the hair hanging in his face as Simon stared back at him with his mouth hanging open for a moment. He then shook his head, picked up the spoon, and stirred the pot again.

"She died when Dracula's monsters attacked the town." he said in a low voice. "She fell, so she told me to run and not look back. She... allowed me to get away."

Alucard nodded slowly. "I was a fool to think that I ever had a chance against your grandfather."

Simon dropped the spoon again. "Grandfather!"

Alucard winced as his son's booming voice echoed loudly in the small hut. "Yes, your grandfather. They never told me, when I was a boy. They only told me that Gabriel Belmont hadn't been heard from since his battle with Satan. They waited until they needed a weapon to point at him to tell me, and even then they didn't tell me everything. They told me that he had killed my mother and that he had become a powerful vampire intent on destroying everything, but they did not tell me why."

"What reason would he need?"

"He was under mind control when he killed your grandmother, Simon, and he became a vampire because it was the only hope he had of saving us all."

Simon shrugged. "If you say so."

"I know so. I saw it all in the mirror." Alucard shivered, and they lapsed into silence once more.

Once the stew was finished, Simon offered him a bowl, but Alucard only shook his head. He honestly didn't know if he could still eat regular food, but even if he could it wasn't the right time to try. He still felt weak from days of starving while suffering from severe burns, so attempting to eat probably wouldn't end well. Simon merely shrugged again, and then he devoured three bowls worth of the stew. Alucard smiled; his son had always been a big eater.

"Why did you come back for me?" he asked after Simon had eaten and was in the process of readying for bed. The fire in the pit had burned down to coals which cast a faint glow on the walls. Simon didn't answer at first. He went outside to take care of business (And Alucard was suddenly glad that he didn't have to deal with that anymore.) and when he came back in, he helped Alucard lie down. The blanket was pulled up to his chin, and he had to repress a smile at the role reversal. Simon then moved over to his own bed nearby and made himself comfortable, and only then did he answer.

"I wasn't going to leave my father to rot in a crypt."

"How did you know who I was?"

"I think I knew from the instant I saw you in the dungeons. Your face structure, your voice, the way you move, are all the same as they were before, but it wasn't until you called my by name and told me to run there in the entrance hall that I realized it." Simon paused. "I never intended for the Brotherhood to do what they did. You didn't seem to be afraid of Dracula at all, so I wasn't worried about your safety. I only mentioned to a few men that I grew up with that I had finally found my father, and then next thing I heard is that the Brotherhood attacked the castle, killed Dracula -"

Alucard winced.

"- took a younger vampire out of the castle, and that the castle had collapsed in on itself. I assume I was overheard by someone and then that someone told the Brotherhood. I knew that had to be you, so my friends and I went looking for you. It was them that helped me get you out of there, but even they had no idea where I took you."

"And the Brotherhood had no idea you were in the crypt?"

"None at all."

Alucard managed a quiet laugh. "Things have gone downhill since I was with them."

Even Simon managed a quiet chuckle. "It looks like it." Simon settled down into his fur bed. "Goodnight, Papa."

Alucard smiled faintly. "Goodnight, Simon."

OOOOOO

Despite the lingering weakness he felt, Alucard was surprised when he learned that he had slept through the night and the passing day. When he opened his eyes next, the sun was completely down, the light from crackling flames in the fire pit were dancing across the walls, and Simon was cooking supper again.

Alucard sat up and ran his hand down his face and stopped when he felt something that hadn't been there before. There was a line running across his cheeks and the corners of his mouth, and the skin there was hard and rough. A scar of some kind, and it wasn't hard to guess what had caused it. He ran his hand down under the blanket (He was still naked, he realized.) and found more scars, all where the ropes had dug into his skin and muscle, and all of them were aching.

"I got the ropes off of you as soon as I felt we were safe." Simon said, and Alucard looked up at him. "But the damage was done. It took quite a while for them to close too. I didn't know vampires could scar."

"I didn't either." Alucard said faintly. If he'd had access to his father's blood, he probably wouldn't have, but there was no point in thinking about that. "What happens now, Simon?"

"I don't know. I don't want to return the village where I grew up after you and Mother... I have no wife or children there, and the few friends I made left when I did. What about you? Do you have somewhere to go?"

"No."

"Then I guess we'd best stay together then."

Alucard felt one corner of his scarred mouth curl up into a smile. "I suppose so." He pushed the fur blanket back and began to stand.

"Are you sure you should be doing that?" Simon asked.

"I am fine, Simon. I just need to stretch and see the sky for a little while." Truth be told, his legs were a little shaky, but he was tired of lying down.

"You don't have any clothes."

"Is there anyone around that will care?"

No one in this castle will care if you show what you have.

"No, there is no one else around for miles."

"Then it is fine." He could make his own clothes later, once he'd had a good feeding, but for now, he just needed to get outside for a little while. The door swung open easily on its leather hinges, and he stepped out into the soothing darkness of the night and shut the door behind him. A breeze caressed his skin and ruffled his hair, and he looked up at the stars scattered across the dark sky as he walked slowly away from the small cabin. It was a beautiful night, just like that night he and Father had spent outside the theater. How long had it been since then? How long since Father had fallen? He closed his eyes and reached out with his senses, but there was nothing where Father used to be. Alucard felt his heart sink, and he lowered his head to stare at the tall grass around his bare legs as his heart constricted. Grief flooded his soul again, and he swallowed the tears that threatened to spill forth. Crying would not bring his father back, nor would it undo his own mistakes.

And Sypha. Here he was grieving over the monster that had fathered him when he should be crying over his wife. His beautiful Sypha, who could light up his world with a smile and soothe his feelings with a touch. It was Father's fault that she was dead.

Because you never told him you were married, idiot. If he had known you had a wife and child, he probably would have spared them from his wrath after your supposed death.

Alucard sank to his knees and hid his face in his hands. If only I had been honest with him from the beginning. If I had discovered that I had accidentally killed the son that had been kept hidden from me, after everything else the Brotherhood had done to me, I would have reacted the same way.

A heartbeat fell upon his ears, and he looked up to see a deer carefully looking out from behind a tree nearby. His fangs began to ache, and his mouth watered as the breeze carried the scent of its blood over to him. He rose to his feet, and before the animal had time to realize he was there, he had seized it by its head and bit deeply into the side of its neck. The spray of hot blood hit the back of his mouth, and he drank as his shakes melted away. When he raised his head a few seconds later, the deer had become a dried husk like the humans he had fed on before had, and he pushed it away from him. He then summoned his blood and willed it to form into the gold trimmed black coat, gray trousers, and black boots that his father had dressed him in on that night that seemed like a lifetime ago.

Father's amused smile. "Very well, Alucard. We shall spare my servants from having to view your... attributes."

Sypha's teasing smile on their wedding night. "Oh, I like what I see indeed, Trevor Belmont."

He smiled faintly at the memories, but the memory of Sypha was fainter, dimmer, as it had taken place 38 years before, and he had forgotten it once. The memory of Father was crystal clear as though it had just happened, and he wondered if his memories of those days would ever fade. Would they always serve as a painful reminder of what he had lost, what he had thrown away?

With the full return of his senses, he could hear Simon's heartbeat behind him in the cabin slowing, so evidently the boy – no the man – was going to sleep for the night.

Alucard sat down in the tall grass. Simon... Simon had said he had no wife or children and few friends and no home to return to.

"It appears that I'm not the only one who needs to find a way to move on from here." Alucard said quietly. Simon needed to find himself, to find someone to spend the rest of the life with, to find a place to settle down, and he wouldn't be able to do it with a vampire following him around, even if said vampire was his father. And he, Alucard also needed to figure out where he was going to go from here. It wouldn't be safe to stay around Simon as no doubt the Brotherhood would come sniffing around once they noticed that no one was in that vault down in the crypt. He wouldn't see his son used against him like he had been used against his own father. But where was he going to go? From the sounds of it, the small house that he had Sypha had called home had been destroyed, and he wouldn't be able to return there anyway if it did still stand. The Brotherhood was certainly out, and the castle that his father had called home had fallen, so he had no real place to go.

His rope scars ached and pulled as he stood up and slowly made his way back through the grass that whispered in the breeze to the cabin. Inside the fire was down to embers, and Simon was asleep. He walked over to his sleeping son and knelt down beside him and watched him for a few seconds.

"I'm sorry, Simon." he said softly. "We just found each other, but I can't stay here. It's not safe for you to be associated with me. Maybe without me around, you can go find for yourself what I had with your mother." He gently ran his claws through Simon's wild red hair, and then he stood up and forced himself to walk out of the cabin and through the tall grass. His heart ached with every step he took away from his sleeping son, and he felt a few tears run down his face as he went, but he forced himself to keep walking away. Simon would be better off without him.

OOOOOO

Alucard stayed hidden in the mountains and forests for the next few years. He used the time and solitude to learn what powers his father had given him, and stories began to circulate of a lone white wolf that could sometimes be seen walking around at night. He occasionally aided the lost traveler or helped rescue a missing child, but he avoided human contact unless he had to feed. It took several tries and months of practice, but he did find a way to tame his bloodlust so he could feed from people without draining them dry, and he often preyed on people that were asleep, that would not remember seeing him, and if they did, they would pass it off as a dream. As the nights passed, he also learned how to send his spirit forward in the form of a spectral wolf and use it to get into places he normally couldn't. His body would seemingly teleport to wherever the wolf was when he released it. He had a mist form too, but he preferred the spectral wolf, as it gave him more option. He learned to turn into a large white bat that could fly freely, or he could turn into a cloud of bats to move quickly from place to place. As far as he knew, he did not have a true form, or at least not one that he could find, and he wondered what it would be, with his father's being a dragon formed from smoke and embers.

He tried to avoid thinking of his wife or father during this time, as remembering them only caused him pain, but thoughts of them seemed to lie in wait for him at random moments. The slightest thing: a beautiful night, a gentle rain, a woman with red hair, and man with black hair, someone in red, or someone in green, could all make him remember the ones he had lost, and it did nothing to help the constant twist of grief and guilt in his heart.

Simon he did see on occasion, though he kept himself hidden from his son's sight. Four years after he had left him in the cabin, he watched in wolf form from the shade of several large trees up on a hillside as Simon got married. His son certainly seemed happy, and he was all smiles as he led his new bride out of the small church they had married in. Alucard watched as the party lasted through the day and into the night, and he stayed even after the party had ended and his son and daughter-in-law had retired to their wedding bed.

Still he was surprised when he heard a door open and shut in the early hours of the morning and heard someone approaching. A quick peek around a bush revealed that it was Simon coming closer, and Alucard froze. Did he run off? Did he stay and hide? Did Simon even know he was here? Too late though, as Simon walked right up to him.

"I know that's you, Papa."

Alucard looked up at him, let out a wolfish sigh, reared up on his hind legs, and changed back into his normal form.

"I was wondering if you would still be here when I finally got a chance to slip away."

"You knew it was me?"

"You leave, and then not long after I start hearing of a white wolf roaming around, and then I just happen to start seeing a white wolf that likes to watch me."

Alucard laughed quietly; he should have known better. "I just needed to see you."

"Why did you leave?"

"Because we needed to move on; we couldn't have done that if we'd stayed together. You never would have found a wife with your vampiric father following you around, and I needed to learn what I was capable of and find out what to do with myself."

"Any luck with that?"

"Some."

"Will I see you again?"

"I don't know, Simon. It's dangerous for me to be near you. If the Brotherhood gets into a situation, they'll notice that I'm not in the crypt where they left me, and they'll come looking for you in the hopes that you'll either know where I am or that you'll be able to pull them out of whatever fire they've gotten themselves into." He sighed. "I don't want you to be used against me like I was used against your grandfather." He reached out, gently squeezed Simon's shoulder, and then he streaked off into the night before Simon could see him move.

OOOOOO

It would be another two years before he saw his son again, and he huddled down under the trees on the hill outside the small village that Simon and his wife lived in, and soon enough, hours after the village had settled down for the night, Simon made the trek up the hill to speak with him.

"Your son is beautiful." he said as Simon came to stand in front of him. "What have you named him?"

Simon smiled. "Leon."

"Leon? Lion?"

"If you had heard his first cry..."

Alucard laughed.

"Have you... have you heard?"

Alucard's laughter ended abruptly; he had an idea what his son was going to say. "Have I heard what?"

"The castle resurrected, and he has been spotted."

"Yes," Alucard sighed, "I've heard."

"Are you going to go to him?"

"No. Why would I do that?"

"Because even I can tell that you miss him, and that you grieved over him."

"He does not need me, and I do not need him." Lies.

"I still think you should. At least then you'll have a place to call home."

"These forests and mountains are my home now, Simon."

"Maybe he could help you with those scars from that damned rope."

"They don't bother me anymore, Simon, so it is not important." They ache constantly. "I doubt he would want to see my anyway, seeing as I was responsible for his defeat."

"You know that's not true. Were you still happy to see me after I had led the Brotherhood right to you?"

Alucard ignored the question. Instead he pulled a crumpled scroll out of his pocket and handed it over. "That scroll contains everything the Brotherhood did you to your grandfather and myself. With him back, I have no doubt they will come looking for you, so read it, learn it, burn it, and tell them to go the hell away when they approach."

"You know, some of his minions were out this way not too long ago." Simon said as he tucked the scroll in his belt.

Alucard felt his heart stop. "You need to leave then! If he's been out here once, he'll come back again and destroy everything!"

Simon continued like Alucard hadn't said anything. "I went out to face them, and the leader took one look at me, said something like 'The prince does not want these harmed.' and they all left. They haven't been back since. If he's willing to leave me and mine unharmed, I doubt he would be angry at you, so why don't you go see him?"

Alucard turned his back to his son. "I can't, Simon. It's more complicated than that." It's my fault. I have no right to ask him to welcome me back.

"You keep telling yourself that, but I think we know the real reason you stay away. Anyway, it is late, and I should get back. Will you be back later on?"

"We shall see. Take care of my grandson, Simon."

"I will."

Alucard smiled, nodded once, and then he morphed into a bat and flew off into the night.

OOOOOO

Sure enough, the Brotherhood did come around looking for Simon and himself, and Alucard watched from his favored spot (As a bat instead of a wolf, as it was easier to hide.) as Simon ordered the Brotherhood to leave him and his family alone and slammed the door in their face. When they shouted questions about Alucard's whereabouts, he simply yelled back through the door that he had always assumed his father had died when the castle was destroyed. Did they know something that they weren't telling him?

The Brotherhood fled quickly after that, and though they appeared off and on as Leon grew (Leon was joined by a sister, Kalina, a few years later.) Simon always angrily turned them away, and eventually, they gave up. Simon saw to it that his son was well trained in the art of combat, and Leon did the same when he married and had his own children.

As the years went by, the ravages of time caught up to Simon, and he grew old and slow. Alucard hung close to the village, so close in fact that local children often brought him treats and told their parents about the nice wolf that lived in the forest. They petted him and tugged at his ears, and he allowed it, not wanting to give them any reason to chase him off.

Thirty years after he'd seen Simon in his father's throne room, the night that Alucard dreaded arrived. Simon's heartbeat was slow and irregular when he made the slow climb up the hill to the trees. Alucard had to catch him and carry him the rest of the way up, and he sat the now old man at the base of a tree and knelt down beside him.

"You should have stayed in your bed, Simon." he scolded lightly as Simon leaned his head with its gray hair against the tree trunk.

"I knew you were here." Simon said between breaths. "I wanted to see you again."

"Foolish child."

"Little old to be that."

"Not by my standards."

Simon laughed, but the laughter ended in a cough. "Ugh, I'm getting too old for this."

Alucard contained his wince at those words. "Have his forces been out this way since?" His father was running rampant, and no one it seemed could stop him. Alucard felt a little guilty when he thought of the innocent lives his father was taking; he probably could bring his father down, but he had no desire to. The Brotherhood had created the mess they were in, so they could fix it without Alucard's help this time.

Simon shook his head in the negative. "I've seen them a few times, but they always pass this village by. I think that's part of why it's grown so quickly." He looked down at the village below, which was easily four times the size it had been years before. "People are hearing it's safe here and moving here to get away from him." He looked back up at Alucard. "Now enough of that. Sit with me, Papa, one last time. Let us talk the night away as we have done."

Alucard smiled weakly and sat down beside his son, and he felt Simon's son come to rest against his shoulder.

His head resting against his father's shoulder as the night went on around them.

"Papa?"

"Hmmm?"

"After I'm gone, can you do something for me?"

"What is it?"

"Go to him."

"What?"

"Go to your father. You say otherwise, but I know you miss him, and I know you blame yourself over what happened years ago. You need to see him."

"I don't want to see him, Simon." Lies. "I cannot do what you ask."

"You can; you just don't want to."

"Let it go, Simon. I don't want anything to do with Dracula."

"Liar." Simon said, but he fell silent and said no more on the subject.

Alucard slipped his right arm around his son's shoulders, while ignoring the pull on his skin from the scarring on his arms and sides, and leaned his head down to rest on Simon's. As the dawn approached, Simon grew still, and when the sun broke over the horizon, the children from the village found him, propped against the tree, cold and still, with a faint smile on his face.

The white wolf was never seen in the area again.

OOOOOO

Alucard roamed the countryside for the next 414 years. He traveled all over Europe, sometimes in wolf form, sometimes in bat form, rarely in his normal form. Still no matter where he went, he heard stories of The Dragon's rampage, of the towns and villages razed to the ground, of the countless innocents slaughtered. Anyone foolish enough to belong to the Brotherhood died horribly as their compounds were wiped from the face of the earth. No one knew exactly why Dracul was so enraged at the Brotherhood.

No one but Alucard, who had a good idea why his father was so angry. Maybe he should go talk to him? No, he couldn't do that. His father wouldn't want to see him; he wouldn't be able to bear it if he was rejected. It was better to just stay away.

Which is why he made no attempt to warn his father when, in the year 1547, 444 years after he had last seen him, he heard rumors of a massive army being gathered by the tattered remains of the Brotherhood. All available men and boys were being gathered, and any and all that were willing to join were welcome. They would march on Dracula's castle and finish the vampire off, once and for all!

Alucard nearly broke into hysterical laughter at that. What did they think they could do? Did they honestly believed that they had a chance? If multiple swords through his body couldn't kill The Dragon, what else could they try? He remained in the shadows, out of sight, as the army marched towards the castle, towards their certain death, and then he morphed into a wolf and ran through the cover of the trees, in the opposite direction. He would put as much distance between him and his father's castle as he could. He did not want to be anywhere near when his father's temper exploded to cover the countryside once again.

The sun sank behind him as he moved east, and the stars and moon wheeled over head. Just after midnight though, he felt something behind him that made him slow. There was power building behind him, and it was immense. He stopped where he was between two trees and looked behind him as he pricked his lupine ears. He recognized the power. He'd felt it when Father had gotten angry at him for letting Simon go, and after he had rescued him from the prison and gone after the demon that had attacked him. Oh yes, Father was doing something, and Alucard was torn between curiosity and the desire to get even further away.

Then as Alucard stood and watched, the horizon began to brighten, and his ears detected a low roar that slowly became louder as the horizon brightened. He could still feel Father's power, but he felt something else with it, something that he had not felt since he had left to challenge his father that night so many years ago. He howled then as the combination of Father's power, and the power of God himself blew him backwards off of his feet. The sky lit up with light that outshone the sun, and this wave roared over him, flattening him to the ground. All around him he heard trees snapping and breaking, though strangely enough, he was not harmed aside from more intense aching of his old scars.

When it passed, Alucard shakily got to his feet, shook himself off, and turned back into his normal form to look around. The landscape was flattened. Trees were down, bushes were smashed as though a giant had stepped on them, and he could detect no heartbeats, so either the animals were all dead or they had fled ahead of the wave that had rolled through. Everything was completely still and quiet.

What was that? What had Father done? Was he even alive?

Alucard reached out with his senses and felt for his father's power and presence, but he couldn't detect anything. That was no surprise though, as they were several miles apart. Maybe he should go check? he thought, but he realized his feet were already moving towards where the castle was. He dropped back into his wolf form and started to run. He kept his senses extended ahead of him as he went, but as he closed in on the castle, he did not sense his father's presence.

He came across a village, or rather what was left of one. The houses were destroyed, and the wreckage was strewn about. He could see bodies poking here and there out of the rubble, and he could sense no one alive. The forest around it was complete devastated, with trees stripped of their leaves, and the trunks lying on the ground, snapped off just above their bases. Had this been caused by some kind of spell or ritual to kill his father? Had it gone wrong? Had it gone.. right?

Alucard shivered, and left the ruins of the village behind as he ran on, pushing himself as fast as he could. He had to get to Father. He wasn't worried about being rejected or blamed for events past. He was only worried about finding him alive. He needed to see him again! He ran on, past destroyed homes and farms, passed incinerated forests, until he reached what could only be described as a wasteland. There was nothing but shattered debris and bodies scattered about on the burnt ground inside a crater that stretched as far as he could see. There were no structures, no trees, nothing to show that this area had once been vibrant with life.

And he still couldn't sense his father.

He changed back into human form. "Father!" he shouted, and the sound carried through the still, smoke choked air, but there was no answering call, no powerful presence to tell him he was alive in what had once been a battlefield. Forgoing his wolf form, Alucard ran on through the area, stepping over bodies, jumping over bits of debris. He should have been able to see the castle by now, he thought crazily as he ran. Where was it? Had the explosion destroyed it? Where was Father!

"Father!"

No answer. Where was he!

"Father!"

Nothing. Alucard climbed over a large piece of debris, and he was startled to realize that he recognized it; it was a large piece of one of the pillars that supported the ceiling in the throne room. He stared at it for a second as the implications of that sank in, and then he raised his head and screamed -

"FATHER!"

- but again there was no answer.

He shook his head in denial as he started moving again. "No..." He ran down the sloping ground, unmindful of what – or who – he might step on.

"Father! Are you there! Father!" He stumbled over someone, but it barely slowed him. "Father!"

And... there! Alucard nearly sobbed in relief when he felt that familiar, welcoming presence. "Father, I'm here!" He ran through the smoke as he felt Father's presence shift and sharpen, like it had centuries ago in the throne room. "Father!"

Ahead of him, he saw a faint glow through the haze, and then he saw what he had been hoping to see: that familiar figure, clothed in a gold trimmed armored red coat, black trousers, and boots, standing amid the ruins of the devastated battlefield, holding a deformed, glowing, metal cross in his hand.

"Father!" Alucard threw himself at his father and wound his arms around him, unmindful of how his scars protested the movement. "Father, you're here!" He felt tears sliding down his face as he held onto his father with all of his strength. "I'm so glad... I thought you were... Father." He raised his head and looked into his father's eyes, and felt his body chill at what he saw.

Father's red eyes held none of the warmth they once held. They were cold and distant as they regarded him, and Father's arms did not come up to hold him like they would have years ago. He simply stared at his son as Alucard hung onto him, until Alucard meekly dropped his arms and backed up a few steps.

"Why are you here?" Father asked, and his voice was as cold as his gaze.

"I needed to see if you were all right." Alucard said as he tried not to flinch back from that look.

"After four and a half centuries? After decades of not even telling me that you were alive, now you come!" Father snarled as his eyes glowed and his power pressed down on Alucard like a heavy weight.

Alucard flinched. "You thought I was dead?"

"My last sight of you was you screaming for me while they dragged you out of the throne room! Of course, I thought you were dead! I spent years slaughtering every single member of the Brotherhood I could because I thought they had killed my son, and the entire time you were alive and just couldn't be bothered to come see me!"

"I thought you wouldn't want to see me."

"You. Are. My. Son! Of course, I would want to see you! I would have loved to known that you were alive, but you decided to stay away! Care to explain why you let me spend nearly 450 years thinking you dead!"

"Because..." Alucard looked down at the ground beneath his feet. "Because I thought you would be angry that I had caused the attack on the castle. I thought you wouldn't want anything to do with me anymore after that. Because it was all my fault."

"Yes, Alucard," Father said, "it was your fault. You allowed Simon to leave the castle, which allowed him to tell the Brotherhood that you still lived, which in turned, caused them to raise up an army when it became clear to them that their plan to use you to destroy me had failed!" Alucard felt each word like a physical blow, and his flinched back from his father's anger as the elder continued. "It was your fault that they reached the throne room by leading them straight to it! If was your fault that they were able to use you as a hostage against me! We lost everything that night because of you! What do you have to say for yourself!"

"Simon did not mean for them to attack us. He said he just mentioned to a friend that he had found his father again, and that someone must have overheard him."

"And that just makes everything better!" Father said in a voice dripping with sarcasm as he tossed the ruined cross to the ground. "We still lost it all because you did not do as I had told you!"

Alucard swallowed thickly and wiped at his eyes, and he said nothing.

"Nothing to say then." Father said. "I should have expected that. Why did you even come here, Alucard?"

"I'm sorry, Father. I never... I never wanted things to go so wrong."

"Well they did, son, and you can never fix that. Now again, why are you here?"

"I just needed to see if you were alive after..." Alucard waved his hand vaguely at the ruin around them.

"You have done that, so why are you still here? Tell me the truth, son."

"I..." He hesitated. "Because... I missed you. Because I wanted to see you." His voice dropped to a whisper. "Because I love you."

Father didn't say anything, and Alucard felt his heart break at the silence. He turned and began to walk away. He shouldn't have come. Father didn't want him and hadn't forgiven him. He should just...

Armored arms wrapped around him from behind and stopped him. "Where are you going, son?" came Father's voice in his ear.

"You don't want me." Alucard whispered. "I should just leave."

"I never said that I didn't want you."

"But you're so angry."

"If your son had vanished on you for hundreds of years and left you to think him dead, wouldn't you?"

Alucard twisted around in his father's arms and buried his face in the man's shoulder. He wound his arms around him, and felt one of Father's hands come down on the back of his head and begin to run through his hair. "I'm sorry!" he wailed as tears started to pour down his face. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I never meant for things to go wrong! I'm sorry, Father, I'm sorry!"

Father's arms tightened around him. "I'm sorry too, son. I shouldn't be blaming you alone for what happened. Both of us were at fault. I spent hundreds of years grieving for you and when you finally appear, I yell and thrown blame at you instead of welcoming you with open arms as a father should."

Alucard sobbed into his father's shoulder in his father's comforting embrace. "I'm here now, son. I forgive you for what happened long ago and only hope that you will do the same for me. I should have told you everything from the start instead of hiding it."

Alucard nodded without raising his head. "You never lied to me, not once."

"I never told you the full truth either."

"You didn't want to chase me away. You were afraid I would leave if I knew everything, and I did. I never gave you a chance, even though I knew how badly we had both been manipulated." He raised his head and looked into his father's eyes, which had turned gray again. "There's nothing to forgive, Father. Had our roles been reversed, I would have done the same as you did."

Father looked at him, wearing the same expression that he had worn years ago after rescuing him from the dungeon -

Because you called to me.

- and he held Alucard tight against him. "I never want to lose you again, son."

Alucard laid his head back down. "I don't want that to happen either. I tried to convince myself that you wouldn't want me after everything that had happened, and I only hurt us more. I don't ever want to feel that way again." He gave his father a tight squeeze and let go of him, and Father slowly, reluctantly released him.

Father looked at him for a second, and then he frowned as the red returned to his eyes. He then reached up and gently touched the tips of his claws to one of the scars that marred Alucard's cheek. "The ropes?" he asked.

Alucard nodded. "Nothing has worked on them."

Father looked down at Alucard's bare chest under his coat, at the scars that crisscrossed his gray skin. "You have them everywhere? How long were you bound?"

"I am not sure. I lost track of time in the crypt -"

"Crypt!"

"- and I don't know how long I was ill after Simon rescued me."

Father's eyes flashed. "Tell me everything, son. What did they do to you?"

"It is not important, Father. They are all dead now, and I have learned to live with the scarring."

Father growled low in his throat, and then he shrugged off his coat and let it drop to the ground. Alucard looked at him in confusion, even as his father's arms reached out for him and tugged him forward so he was pressed against the elder vampire's chest. Father then tilted his head to the side and pushed his hair back away from my neck. "My son will not be left scarred. Drink."

"Father?"

"Drink, Trevor. Those have to be bothering you, and I will now allow that to continue." Father's hand pressed against the back of his head, and Alucard eyed the large blue vein he could see running under Father's skin. He bared his fangs, and then he lunged his head down and bit deeply into the vein. Father stiffened and let out a little gasp, but then he relaxed and began to stroke his son's hair as Alucard drank.

Alucard nearly moaned as his father's blood touched his tongue. It seemed to burn with power, and it tingled and filled him with warmth as it had centuries ago after he was burned by the daemon lord. It filled his stomach and then raced outward to the rest of him, and the scars heated up themselves, until they felt nearly as hot as the ropes that inflicted them. He kept drinking, and the constant ache and pull that had been his companion for over 400 years began to slowly fade and melt away. The heat faded with it, and Alucard yanked his head away from his father's neck, wiped at his mouth, and the back of his hand only touched smooth, unblemished skin. He looked down at his chest and saw no marks, and the lack of any persistent ache informed him that they were all gone.

He smiled widely and threw himself into Father's arms again. "Thank you, Father!"

Father's arms came around him, and Father chuckled quietly. "You're welcome, my son." He placed a gentle kiss to Alucard's forehead. "Come now, Trevor. The sun will rise in a few hours, and we must find shelter first. Tomorrow night, we can decide where to go from here."

Alucard smiled at him. "As long as I'm with you, then I don't care where we go. We could even stay here, and I would be happy."

"Humans will be swarming this area soon, so we cannot stay, even though this place has been my home for many centuries." Father turned and began to lead him away. "Perhaps it would be good for both of us if people were to think me dead and gone. I grow weary of being attacked."

"I've been to many places; I'm sure I couldn't come up with places for us to visit."

"Then we shall do so, Trevor."

Alucard stopped. "Father?"

Father stopped as well and looked at him. "What is it?"

"My name is Alucard."

Father smiled again. "Come then, Alucard." They began to walk again. "We must rest, and then we have much to do tomorrow."

"As long as I am with you, Father." Alucard smiled at the feel of his father's arm around him as they walked off and were swallowed by the haze and gloom.

OOOOOO

Alucard stood at the top of the ruined staircase and listened. After a few seconds, he smiled when he heard what he had been waiting for.

"He is coming." he said quietly.

"Then you know what you must do, son." Father said behind him, and Alucard smiled again and turned to face him.

"I am ready, Father."

Father gave him a searching look. "Are you sure about this, Alucard? There is no telling how Zobek will react if he learns of your charade."

"You're not worried about the battle I'm about to enter into?"

Father waved that away. "I have faith in you, son. I'm sure Zobek's Lieutenant will be no difficulty for you."

"Then I must be away." Alucard turned and wrapped his arms around his father for a moment. The embrace was returned, and then he stepped back. "I will see you soon, Father."

"Be careful, Alucard. If you get into trouble, you need only to call for me."

"Yes, Father." Alucard gave his father a faint smile, which was returned, and then he turned away and lightly dropped down to the floor three stories below. The long, single edged sword that he had forged from a piece of the Vampire Killer that they had stumbled across while leaving the ruins of the castle five centuries before hung from his left hip, and he rested a hand on it as he walked down a narrow passage and came out through a hole in the wall into the chancel of the cathedral. With a wave of his hand, the hole sealed up, and he stepped out just in time to see a figure in blue armor coming from the other direction.

Alucard slowed his walk as he watched the other. "Right on time."

The other person, Zobek's Lieutenant, looked at him and then began to pace. "Well, well. So it was your presence we felt. We thought it was your father. My master is going to be so disappointed." He went into his attack stance and pulled a long bladed sword seemingly out of thin air.

Alucard did the same, and as they stood there for a second, he ran his eyes up and down the armor the other was wearing as the first part of the plan he and his father had come up with ran through his mind.

He perked his eyebrows. "Nice armor."

The battle was on.

A/N 2: In case you're wondering about Alucard having the Crissegrim, the way I imagined it here is that Alucard creates the sword because he and Dracula figure that Dracula faking his death would be great for luring out Zobek and Satan, but because they don't want to be separated again, they decide not to go through with that. Instead, they just constantly move and keep themselves hidden until the night of the apocalypse, which is when they want to be found. The events of LoS2 then play out, including its ending, but Dracula is at full power and he knows everything that is happening. I like to think of them turning the hidden area in the cathedral into a nice little place for them to live once Satan and Zobek are dealt with.