Little Boy Belmont (Richter x Olrox)

Chapter Twenty: The Horror

The five nights it takes to travel back are probably the most stressful of Richter's entire life. The wind screams in their ears as Quetzalcoatl/Olrox flies them back to France as fast as he can.
Belmont felt a pang of sadness when they left the Belmont Hold. He wonders if they'll ever return there.

Tears sting his eyes as he forces himself to look ahead. On the fourth day of travel, they look up in alarm as the moon slowly but gradually begins to cover the sun. Olrox stares up, wide eyed. Richter remembers the Five Suns legend and shivers in alarm.
"Huitzilopochtli," Olrox trembles, genuinely looking terrified.
Richter feels Tēzcatlipōca almost breathing down his neck. The elder son of Ometeotl is angry, Belmont can feel it.

Both Richter and Edouard are alarmed when Olrox suddenly doubles over and screams, covering his ears.
"What is it? What's wrong?!" Belmont asks in alarm.
"I can hear Huitzilopochtli screaming!" Olrox grunts, staring up at the sun getting covered by a solar eclipse, the shadows around them growing darker.

Richter swears he can hear Tēzcatlipōca roaring in rage, the scream bouncing around in his skull. While Belmont is trying to process this, Olrox is trembling, tiny red and purple feathers appearing across his skin. Small green scales appear around his eyes, the slim golden antler-like horns on his head.

Without warning, Olrox screams again and turns into Quetzalcoatl, wings and tail lashing as he screeches. Both Richter and Edouard have to duck as Olrox's tail lashes above them and uproots a tree.
"Olrox!" Belmont shouts, trying to calm him down. The Aztec vampire can't hear him, he's too distracted, feeling Quetzalcoatl's fear and anxiety.

Screeching and hissing, feathers puffed up, Olrox flies towards Machecoul without them, probably in vain to stop Báthory hurting Huitzilopochtli. The sun is completely covered by the moon now. Richter and Edouard look at one another and start running towards the city. They're close enough to Machecoul that they can make it to the church if they're fast enough.

The city is in chaos, vampires are everywhere. The sky darkens ominously above them. Rushing through the maze of streets, Richter hears Quetzalcoatl still screeching somewhere. He scans the sky hopelessly, terrified.
Bloody corpses of people litter the streets as other people flee screaming.

Richter cracks the Morning Star hard enough that the explosion obliterates the group of Bàthory's followers to ash and sends Belmont flying back into an alley.
"Richter!" He hardly hears Edouard's panicked voice as his head rings in pain.
"Go, Edouard!" His shout sounds muffled, feeling blood run down his temple. He coughs at smoke and debris from the explosion getting in his lungs.

He feels Edouard guiding him through the smoke and back out into the main streets. His head still rings, the screams of people and hissing of vampires sounding like a horrible cacophony in his head. Richter can't tell if he's screaming with them as he lashes the Morning Star to keep the vampires away as they continue running. 

Edouard looks up in alarm when he sees Annette, Tera, Maria, and Mizrak rushing through the streets as well.
"Annette!" He shouts, making them stop abruptly.
Richter feels his stomach flip when he sees them all. They look just as shocked to see them both.

"Richter?" Maria looks hopeful seeing him again. Before Belmont can respond, he hears wings flapping and is yanked into the air by Drolta. They all look up in horror when Richter drops the Morning Star in the struggle.
"Go!" He shouts down, grabbing the Abbott's book from his belt and tossing it down to them.
"Destroy the machine under the church!"

He sees Annette having to physically hold Edouard back from flying up to save him. She knows he can't take on Drolta. Richter is left with only the Vampire Killer whip at his disposal. He barely sees Maria picking up the Morning Star whip as they rush after him and Drolta. The female Vampire's nails dig into his skin.

Richter has to refrain from looking down or else he'll get sick. Wind screaming in his ears, he realizes Drolta is taking him to the church.
"You're not going to kill me?" He demands, knowing if he twists out of her grip, he'll fall to his death.
"No, the Messiah has other plans for you. Getting the Abbott's daughter would have been a decent plan, but offering up the last Belmont will prove to be better. Especially since you ran off with Olrox, even though we can't find the Aztec."

Belmont feels hopeful, realizing they still haven't found Olrox. He feels Tēzcatlipōca rushing after him in the streets, the obsidian mirror still humming with life at his side. Drolta flies down into the church and all but tosses Richter to the stone floor inside. Belmont gasps in pain, rolling a little on the floor.

She grins and slams the doors shut before Richter can even get to his feet, trapping him inside.
He looks up, wheezing, seeing Bàthory for the first time face to face. She looks different than how he remembers her in that golden chariot, what feels like so long ago. Erzsebet looks more cat-like, and she looks very mad, probably having realized Richter ran off with her one way ticket to America through Olrox.

They're the only ones in the church. He shakily stands to his feet, gripping the Vampire Killer so hard the leather creaks.
"Do you know how much you've ruined for me?" she asks, her voice oddly calm despite the clear rage on her face. "You Belmonts have always been stubborn, but you? You've been a thorn in my side, stealing away the Aztec and that singing night creature. And now you show up again after murdering my scouts in Romania."

She looms over him. Heart pounding, he cracks the leather whip, only for it to strike some sort of invisible barrier protecting her.
"Pathetic," she snarls, easily grabbing the whip in her hand and yanking Richter forward.
"You should have stayed hiding, Belmont," she whispers, grabbing him by the throat with one hand and holding him in the air.

Richter chokes, legs kicking. He helplessly forms the fire and ice Speaker movements with his free hand out of habit, but nothing happens.
"Your line ends here. Goodbye, Belmont."
Her clawed hand easily slashes into his stomach, four deep claw marks that start dripping blood immediately.

He doesn't even have time to scream before she tosses him into a pillar, his spine cracking horribly at the impact. He crumples to the floor, the feeling in his legs gone. His body twitches as he goes into shock. Richter's vision starts to fade. He sees Bàthory exit the church, leaving him on the floor to die.

Sensing Richter is on the verge of death, Olrox slips in through one of the broken windows in his mist form. The vampire's clothes are covered in blood, definitely from fighting in the streets.
The look of genuine terror on Olrox's face is something he'll never forget.
"No, no, no, no," The Aztec rushes over and kneels down at Belmont's broken form.

The feeling of Olrox's fangs sinking into his neck hardly registers in his mind, it's nothing compared to the throbbing pain in his abdomen and paralyzed legs.
"You aren't leaving me, Richter!" Olrox shouts, anger mixed in with his grief. He uses one of his fangs to slash his wrist open, forcing the blood in Belmont's mouth.

"Do you understand me?!" He wails, tears from his green eyes splashing on Richter's pale face. He's losing a lot of blood very fast. Blood soaks down his legs, soaking his pants. He chokes on Olrox's blood, gagging at the taste. Grief twists Olrox's features and he screams, cradling Belmont's upper body and rocking back and forth.

"Will you fight?"
Gasping, Richter opens his eyes. He's in the field again, his clothing in tatters and bloody, but he doesn't feel any pain. He looks up at Tēzcatlipōca cradling him like Olrox is. He feels more of Olrox's blood going down his throat, he hears Olrox crying and saying something in Nahuatl. But he looks around and Olrox isn't there.

This is in his mind, then. He's hallucinating as he dies.
"Will you fight to protect your loved ones?"
The Aztec God of Darkness looks down at him sadly.
"You can't leave me!" Olrox's voice echoes around the field like a wailing ghost. "I don't want to be alone again!"
"Olrox..." Richter weeps, tears flowing down. "We should have never left that tree..."
He knows he has to make a decision fast. Even with Olrox's blood healing him and buying him more time, it won't be enough to save him. He thinks back to the daisy the Aztec tucked behind his ear, the purple and red feathers, all the little things Olrox did to show his love.

So he looks up at Tēzcatlipōca and grabs his hand tightly, smearing the darker skin with his own blood.
"I let you in."