Stitched Up Hearts (Alucard X Fem! reader)

The Drunken Goat

"You're getting rather good at that." I say, peering over Alucard's shoulder at his drawings in the dust. He's talking to himself again, it worries me when he does that. As long as I could remember he'd used his own words to fill up the silence around him. We both liked our peace, but peace in the presence of another is entirely different from the all consuming loneliness of silence. It's his way of processing his thoughts in an organized way, as if speaking them into the world makes them have meaning, and allows him to make sense of them. I suppose it was a habit picked up from growing up with no friends or siblings. I've always encouraged him to speak to me, but I suppose it isn't the same when I'm not the person he wishes he could speak to. I knew how much he must miss his father, despite the current rift between them. I wish I could say I understand, the need to talk to your parents even if they weren't there with you physically, but I can't.

"You're crying, my love." I notice the tear streaming down his chin and dripping into the dirt. I crouch down to his level, lifting his head with my hand. He leans his face into my touch, eyes still closed. "I'm sorry things have to be this way, Alucard. I wish- I wish that things were better for you. I want you to be happy."

"My mother always said you would be good for me. I'm glad I realized how right she was." he whispers. I hear footsteps, the Belmont probably. I help to wipe the tears from Alucard's face, wiping them away with my thumb. Belmont doesn't seem the type to understand proper human emotions. There will be more, a river of tears will flow from my husband's eyes, and my heart aches with the very thought of it. The best I can do is be there, and allow him to cry for what he's lost.

"So, how do we proceed?" Sypha asks.

"Have the speakers left?" I question, still sitting on the floor in front of Alucard, his cold hand in mine.

"Yeah." Belmont answers.

"I'm sorry, Sypha. Hopefully you will be able to see your family again soon. Under better circumstances."

"See? She knows how to be nice." she gestures to me. "Is it true, then? The castle can travel somehow? We know the stories but sometimes it's hard to separate myth from truth."

"Tell her about Dracula's castle, Alucard." Belmont says, trying to pry open a crate, presumably with alcohol in it. "Her day can't get any more ruined."

"Dracula's castle moves. How to describe it?" Alucard ponders. I myself cannot think of a way to prevay the nature of its movements. "It travels without moving. It appears in locations as if..."

"As if by magic of some kind. Like a flash of lightning." I finish, finally coming up with a descriptor.

"There has to be some way to trap it. How do we start?" Sypha asks, while Belmont holds up a broken wine bottle with a look of annoyed disappointment.

"I want to go home." Belmont complains.

"Drinking again already Belmont? Is there ever a time too early for you?" I laugh.

"Some chance, but no. I want to go home. the old Belmont estate."

"I was under the impression it was destroyed." Alucard chimes in, his hand now leaving mine."Villagers, pitchforks, and torches, that sort of thing."

"It was. But the value of the old house wasn't the house itself. It was what was underneath it. The Belmont hold. Our family library and trove."

"The collective knowledge and material from generations of Belmonts who fought creatures like me. How interesting- presuming they aren't all like you that is. There had to have been at least a few smart Belmonts, it's only logical right?" I play with my wedding band, feeling the silver move along my finger. Teasing Belmont was too easy, he made it so fun. Alucard enjoyed it also, though unsurprisingly, Trevor didn't find our little jokes so amusing. I relished in the smile Alucard would give me when I made a particular jab against the man, and the look we shared when he did the same. Making fun of the vampire hunter was a bonding activity, in its own way.