Chapter Six -- The Crush of Destiny

D kicked the last gory chunk of broken spider bits away, and gave the room a final searching glare, scanning for any signs that any giant crawlers were still alive, before kneeling next to the unconscious child.

His hand was gentle as he smoothed the hair from her face. He was relieved to sense the even beat of her heart, though he was worried that she hadn't yet regained consciousness.

"She's okay, D. Nothing's broken, she just hit the wall a little too hard," Left Hand offered.

"Children shouldn't have to fear me," D stated. "I should have been more careful."

"Well, yeah, duh. You get the Mister Obvious Award for today. Still, she's okay. You didn't hurt her in any lasting way."

"How is it your attempts at offering comfort are anything but comforting?" D muttered to Left Hand.

"Oh, yeah. Like with a mug like this I'm supposed to be all sunshine, roses and lollipops? Get real, D. What are we going to do now?"

"Wait for her to regain consciousness, I suppose."

"Not here, I hope. Those dead spiders are starting to reek already!"

"Are they? I hadn't noticed."

"HAH! If I believed that, I'd buy a bridge from ya, too. Come on, D. Grab the kid and let's get outta here!"

It galled D to admit it, but the parasite did have a point. The dead spiders did smell dreadful. He wondered that the stench hadn't woken Olivia up yet. He gathered her into his arms as gently as he could, finally settling her against his left side with her head cradled against his shoulder. He used his left arm to brace and steady her, so that his right hand was free to go for his sword to defend them against whatever monster his father's castle decided to throw at them next.

He was totally unprepared for the high-pitched shriek that sounded an inch from his ear a few minutes later.

"HE'S SO CUTE!"

"There's nothing wrong with her lungs," D thought wryly as he lifted Olivia to the ground. Maybe a bit of distance between her nearly supersonic exuberance and his ears would preserve some of his highly sensitive hearing -- though he rather doubted it.

"Who is so cute?" D cringed that the word 'cute' passed his lips.

"YOUR HAND! HE'S GOT SUCH AN ADORABLE FACE! CAN I SEE HIM? PLEASE? PRETTY PLEASE?"

"Stop shouting, Olivia!" D nearly shouted at her. Immediately she shut her mouth and looked up at him with huge, stunned eyes.

"You were hurting my ears. Please stop shouting," D asked more reasonably.

"Uhm, okay. Why does everyone tell me to be quiet and that I hurt their ears? I don't get it. I don't hurt MY ears at all," Olivia prattled brightly, presumably to D.

Meanwhile, D turned up his Left Hand and looked at the face trapped within his palm. He got the distinct impression of a shrug from his hand.

"Maybe she hit the wall harder than we thought," Left Hand reasoned.

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D looked up at his father reprovingly when a sound suspiciously like a snerk passed through those cruelly smiling lips.

"I suppose I shall have to deal with the child," Dracula finally noted once he regained his composure. "She's not the Belmont who's supposed to confront me this rising, though. She has no chance of defeating me. Pity. She would have grown up into a rather winsome woman if not for her impetuous act of entering my castle."

"You would kill her, Father?" D asked in a deceptively soft voice.

Dracula shrugged. "It is merely the way of things. She's a Belmont, one of the only bloodline of humans capable of defeating me -- even if only temporarily -- but she is not the Belmont who was destined to defeat me this rising. That would have been Basil's son, if Basil had lived to produce a child. Of course, he, too, tried to confront me before his appointed time, and paid the ultimate price. These untimely risings of Castlevania are creating problems with the various prophecies, I'm afraid. Still, I can hardly let Olivia live. I might regret the necessity, but the only way for a Belmont to leave Castlevania alive is for me to be defeated. Do you honestly believe Olivia can take me?"

D sighed. He'd already had this very discussion with Olivia.

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"You should go," D suggested, yet again.

"No!" Olivia balled up her fists and yelled up at him. "I'm a Belmont, my Dad's too scared to come, and my brother is too little! It has to be me!"

D stared down into the child's upturned face. Tears clung to her eyelashes, though D admired the willpower she displayed in not permitting them to fall. He wasn't entirely certain if her tears were of frustration at him for repeatedly telling her to leave, or at her dangerous situation, or fear that she had indeed undertaken a task so far beyond her abilities that she had no way to fulfill it.

"You do realize that at the end of the trials of the castle there is a final fight with Dracula, the Lord of All Vampires?" he asked softly. "Only then will Castlevania rest."

"I -- I KNOW!" Olivia shrieked up at him. "But, I'm a Belmont. If my Dad doesn't do this, and my brother can't..." She sniffled, to avoid crying. "Someone has to stand up to Dracula and Castlevania, or else... The people around here have no way to defend themselves from the monsters. We Belmonts have fought Castlevania and Lord Dracula for so long, they don't know how."

"Your ancestress, Lady Maria, was she the Belmont who was supposed to face Dracula all those years ago?" Fairy asked. "Wasn't it Master Alucard who defeated Dracula that rising?"

"No... Well, yes, but that wasn't a true rising..." Olivia's face twisted up in thought. "Okay, it was a true rising, but it wasn't at the right time. Shaft forced Castlevania to rise early. That's how Alucard was the one to defeat Dracula -- instead of a Belmont. Lady Maria really wasn't a Belmont then, even. This is a rising at the proper time, so it should be a Belmont that -- that..."

D knew that Alucard felt a direct responsibility to protect people from Castlevania, and their Father, now. He wondered how that played in with what seemed to be the destined task of this Belmont family. Perhaps Alucard was merely the failsafe in case the Belmonts failed?

"Look, chickie, if ya can't even say it, how're you gonna do it?" Left Hand demanded. "You came into his castle of horrors with the idea that you could face off against Dracula, kill him, and force the castle dormant again, didn't ya?"

"Y--Yes..."

"What legendary weapon do you have to defeat the 'lord of the castle'?" Left Hand sneered over the title.

"Dad keeps the ancestral weapons locked up. I couldn't get one of them. Besides, he never did teach me how to use the whip," Olivia admitted.

"Do you even have a weapon?" D asked.

"Of course I do! It's just ordinary. Not legendary, but it's all I have." Olivia reached around to pull something from its hiding place in the waistband at the small of her back and deposited it into D's waiting hand.

"Ye gods!" Left Hand exclaimed. "The witless chickie thinks to fell the Lord of All Vampires with a slingshot?!"

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Author's notes:

Not dead yet -- or maybe rising from the grave. Between various computer crashes (and losing chunks of writing each time) and persistent muses from other fandoms (I'm glaring at you, Seto Kaiba), it's been hard to work my way back to my favorite dhampirs. Hopefully, I can focus on this story for a while and finally get it finished.

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get!