Castlevaina

Chapter 10

   Alucard climbed up passed the door that he had entered from, and despite thinking the blasted ledges would go on forever, he reached the top quickly. He wouldn't fool himself in thinking this was the ceiling of the castle. Making his way in the only direction he could go, he was met with walls of colored marble. Gray was split by green encased amber columns. Cobalt blue armor stalked toward him, and he tsked before cutting it into pieces with two slashes.

   He continued, hacking all who stood in his way to unrecognizable pieces. He came to another door and  pushed it open. There was a way up, but that isn't what made him pause. A skeleton of a man with a cloth of green had hung himself on the ledge above. Table and chair sat innocently next to it, books piled neatly under a layer of dust. Someone enjoyed watching the poor man struggle for breath. Alucard sneered, anger turning his silver eyes a dark crimson. He climbed up the small set of ledges to face torn bars of iron. He cautiously stepped over of the mauled iron and made his way into a chamber. 

   A circular set of doors on the walls groaned, dark, royal blues hiding behind the stone of the castle. A circular dome of vibrant colors flashed,  momentarily blinding Alucard. When his vision returned, he was shocked still. Before him was himself, a mirror image that he could touch and feel. 

   'A doppelganger,' Alucard thought, staring at the shape-shifter who had a smug smile that didn't belong on Alucard's face. 

   "Ah, the young prince has returned," it mockingly bowed, "it is so nice to see you home."

   "Save your pleasantries, beast," Alucard growled, hand tightening on the grip of his sword. "Will you move aside or must I cut you down?"

   "Such big words, Prince. To think," they started to circle each other like jungle cats, graceful and deadly, "you couldn't even save your own mother, yet you think you can stop me." Alucard growled low in his throat, rage seeping into silver orbs as he looked at his double. 

   "You have no right to such words, devil! You keep such a sacred name off your lips!" Alucard snapped, slashing at the doppelganger. It dodged as Alucard broke their circle, a smug grin turning into a cruel smirk. 

   "Is it such a sin, Prince? That you couldn't save her from the humans that burned her?" he taunted, almost able to taste Alucard's rage. He loved it. "How did her burning flesh smell?"

   "Silence!" Alucard demanded, parrying and spinning into another strike. He caught it's arm, black blood oozing out of it like tar. The grin on it's face only widened as he caught Alucard across his chest. Alucard stumbled back, but the doppelganger didn't follow, only laughed. 

   "'Befriend them, Alucard, for they know not what they do.' Oh, how saintly of Lisa Tepes," he sneered, watching Alucard rise again.  

   "I told you to keep that name off your lips, demon! You will pay in blood!" Alucard vowed, coming at his reflection. 

   "Do the scars run that deep?" it smirked, but it fell quickly. Having angered the vampiric prince, his wrath was only fueling his ferocity. Soon, he force on the defensive, Alucard's strikes coming quicker and stronger. The prince now had a mask of stone, pale, golden strands swaying with his rapid movements. Silver eyes burned, melted by flames of anger and loss. 

0oo00oo0

   "Alucard, don't touch that," his mother warned, making the seven year old pout. 

   "But Mother," he started, "what is it?"

   "Something you cant touch," she chuckled, blonde strands tied to the side in a pony tail, resting on her shoulder. Her midnight dress flowed around her with the grace no human should posses. Alucard pouted a bit more, his cheeks puffing out to show his irritation. 

   "Mother," he whined. 

   "It heals the wounded, helps stop the flow of blood," she answered, laughing  when her son wrinkled his nose and looked back at the vial in distaste. "Do you see why sometimes it's better not to know?"

   He nodded, but then looked sadly at his mother. "Is this why they call you a witch?"

  "Now, young man, where did you hear that?" Lisa asked sternly, her blue-steel eyes narrowing. 

  "I-I," Alucard stammered, tears welling in his eyes, thinking he was in trouble. "I heard some humans talking! I didn't mean to, but I heard while I was on a balcony. They were a little farther away than the wall," he hurriedly explained, whimpering when she swiftly walked over to him. He shied away, not wanting punishment. 

  "Your not in trouble, Adrian," she smiled softly, his middle name making him peek at her. She rarely called him that, only when they went to the village on those oh, so rare occasions. "But I don't want you to repeat those words, especially in the presence of your father." Alucard nodded, hugging his mother. 

0oo00oo0

   Alucard's eyes were glazed, but his strikes were no less precise and deadly, beating back the demon who stole his face. His heart hurt more than the bleeding wounds the other's sword had dug. Where it had torn his flesh with the fangs of regret and sadness. Anger. 

0oo00oo0

   Flames engulfed her, her white white dress blowing in the wind that was only fanning her doom. He almost cried out, but her words rung in his head. 

   "Don't speak," she had mouthed. "I love you."

   Her corpse was staked and buried in the dirt, where she would never rise again. As soon as the humans had left, Alucard had sat there for hours and wept, hoping foolishly that she would come back to him. 

0oo00oo0

   The short sword dug into the doppelganger's black, twisted heart. It looked at Alucard in shock, locking reflective silver orbs. 

   "You will fail, Adrian. Your father will slay you where you stand," it spat, blood as black as its soul running down its chin. It fell to dust, leaving as elixir like the last general he had fought.

   "I have been told that," Alucard whispered, knowing the castle would listen and cling to his words, "but I will not fail. I vowed to my mother; I vowed to myself. I wont fail." Drinking the vial dry and summoning his coffin, he slept away the emotional pain that the fight had erected. 

   He would be alright. All he needed was sleep.