Cursed Bonds

House Blackwood

Taking a step back, Nero looked over at his brother. His glowing red eyes pierced through the shadows of his hood, shadows concealed the other features of his face.

"Nothing as trivial as that dear brother, when I refer to family, I'm speaking of my sons. I believe it's time they come back home. I dearly wish to see them, it's been what twenty years? " Nero replied, giving his brother his best fatherly smile." Oh, and House Blackwood will be needing them for some of our more, how shall I put it, clandestine ventures." His smile slowly turned into his more familiar crooked grin.

"Absolutely not! They despise you and House Blackwood! Perhaps if you would have spent any time with them, instead of traveling throughout Koruo, they might be willing!" Alucard exploded as he stood from his desk.

" Calm down brother, sure I was gone a few years, but they'll come. I'm sure of it. If it was from dear uncle Alucard's request." Nero responded, keeping his composure as his brother angrily glared at him from across the room.

" And what makes you think I'd be willing to send for them to return?" Alucard growled as he continued to glare at Nero.

"Well brother, let's just say I have what they've been looking for all this time," Nero responded, his crooked grin growing farther across his face as he reached into his pocket.

"Don't tell me, YOU'VE HAD THE AMULET OF BLOOD THIS WHOLE TIME!" Alucard practically seething with rage yelled.

"Again brother, calm down. And no it hasn't been in my possession the whole time. I quite recently acquired it on one of my expeditions to the nation of Runeholm. By random chance, a friend of mine had it in his possession, you remember Dread King Gygax don't you?" Nero said as he pulled the ruby amulet out of his pocket, letting it dangle from his fingers.

The Amulet of Blood was both beautiful and extremely rare. A dazzling fang-shaped ruby clasped in gold, glowed softly as it swung from Nero's fingers. The thin gold chain it hung up on wrapped twice upon his index and forefinger as he swung it into his palm.

Alucard was nearly ready to tackle his brother, after all these years, he had raised the Twins on Nero's behalf, kept castle Blackwood in order while he was away, and now he wanted to extort his sons into doing his bidding. On top of all of that, he wanted Alucard to be the one to do it!

"If you can get them here and make them agree to my plans, I'll let them have the amulet. Hell! I'll even let them keep the boat you so rudely let them steal," Nero said as he placed the amulet back in his pocket.

"And what if I don't?" Alucard replied.

" You know very well what will happen, dear brother," Nero stiffly responded, his grin disappearing quickly, suddenly replaced with a malicious leer, making it quite clear it wasn't a hollow threat.

Alucard battled with his inner turmoil. He is a bastard! Ever since that damned witch of his died, nothing but the desire for power had consumed him. If I don't do this Wayne and Devyn might never find another amulet. On the other hand, I'd be leading them into his twisted machinations. I can't face him head-on, he's too powerful even for me. On top of that if he goes through with his threat he's got Perseus, our younger brother, thoroughly under his command, along with the rest of House Blackwood.

" Fine, what is this scheme of yours anyway?" Alucard grumbled as he silently added to himself, I'll play along...for now.

"Don't worry yourself about the finer details just yet, perhaps your focus would be better suited on finding my dear sweet sons," Nero replied, his glare quickly evaporating and his twisted smile immediately replacing it. "I'll leave you to do just that."

Nero casually walked towards the door, he could almost feel Alucard glaring at his back as he left. As he climbed down the stairs, Nero envisioned his chess board in his mind. His imaginary hand moved two pawns onto the board. Now, what pieces do I need to move next? He pondered as he stared at the imaginary enemy across the board.

Alucard was seething with rage. He had to drink blood from his flask, a habit his nephew Devyn had picked up from him, in fact, Alucard had given Devyn the flask he carried when Devyn was a small child. Remembering this, brought a slight smile to his face as he downed the flask's contents. I'll play along with Nero's schemes for the time being until I find a way to get the amulet from him, but first, he's right I need to find out where the Twins are. Alucard thought to himself as his mind began to clear.

Pulling an old tattered map of Koruo from its scroll case, Alucard unraveled the map onto his desk. He quickly rummaged through his collection of jars containing certain rare spell components, finding the eye of a griffon, he plucked it from its jar. Quickly he went to his dissecting table grabbing a small scalpel, with the eye in his hand he cut his hand and allowed the blood to drip onto the eye, while doing this he placed his bleeding hand and the eyeball above the map's surface.

As the blood dripped onto the map, carefully aimed to fall on Bloodheim, he began to chant a spell, droplets of blood trickled from his hand and the eyeball onto the parchment below. As he continued reciting the enchantment, the blood began to move along the parchment, slowly trailing its way through the nation of Thrallheim, passing through Valoria, then cutting its way across the Sanguine seas. Nearly finished, Alucard squeezed the Gryphon's eye, feeling it pop in his hand. The last words of the enchantment flowed from his lips. The blood-streaked it's way across the Sanguine Sea, pooling and absorbing into the parchment. Alucard looked down at the map, throwing the remnants of the squished eye out of the window. They're in FrostHold. Good that gives me time to think of a plan while I travel.

Alucard knew he could cast a complex spell that could get him there in an instant, though it was quite costly and he only had one of the ingredients left to do it. He thought to himself, but Nero doesn't know that. He'd simply tell his brother they were on the other side of the world and it would take a few weeks to get to them. Afterward, he'd use the spell to get them back to Bloodheim quickly, and secretly investigate what Nero's plans were.

All things considered, I should be able to reach FrostHold in 2 months. Alucard planned on using a bit of magic to speed his journey along, he didn't want to arrive there and the Twins already have left. He checked in on them from time to time, they usually stayed in large cities like FrostHold for at least three months searching for the Amulet of Blood.

He quickly began to pack his thing as he shuffled around the room, grabbing various spell components he might find useful or need. After a quick visit to his room, he left with a hefty, backpack full of supplies. After explaining to Nero the whereabouts of his sons, Alucard left castle Blackwood, just as the sun set upon the city of Bloodheim.

Don't worry Nero, I'll bring them home, and when I do, I have a feeling the family reunion will be truly one to remember.