With the winds outside playing their spectral tune, Ravenna sat nestled into the divan and listened. She listened to her host speak of his parents, of how his human mother had brought about a change in the great previously lonesome and disillusioned vampire. How she had convinced him to see another side of humanity and dwell on its worth. How he had accepted to journey as one of them, to know her kind better and appreciate the nuances of their fleeting existence. How Lisa his mother had been unfairly accused of witchcraft in the absence of her husband and burned at the stake. How his father lay a curse upon humanity and driven by his deep harrowing grief, decided to be rid of it.
The woman listened and asked a question here or there, but mostly she let him speak his mind. His words were quiet and pouring slowly, as though from an endless pool of grief. She heard Adrian speak of how he, along with a hunter and a Speaker magician, ended his father to prevent his plans from coming to fruition. It was quite unbelievable if one were to consider his story in its entirety. Ravenna felt an unruly pang of sorrow for this being, who now she realized had lost both his parents in such a short amount of time. Just as I have, the thought came. But he... he was forced to kill his own father. For the greater good, her thoughts flew to their previous conversation on the topic, and his words gained a different meaning altogether. But so it went. The past could not be changed, merely accepted. And as his words offered a different facet to his behavior and thoughts, a new perspective was revealed to her. The pity and brimming care the woman felt grew in magnitude until her chest felt full and raw, seeking release. Ravenna shook it all away. It was not her story, not her place. Her goal was another.
"And so, your friends... left, when it was done?" her eyes were closing.
"They went their own way, yes," Adrian replied.
"Then you are alone here," the woman concluded, but never heard his reply as her body softened completely into the divan, and sleep took her.
When Ravenna reopened her eyes the sun was streaming through the windows, and all the signs showed that it was noon. She rose and looked about the room, finding it empty. Well, today is the day. Ravenna gathered her meager belongings and left in search of the owner of the castle. She found him in the kitchen space, where Adrian was busying himself with parsing a piece of game. It must have been a rabbit. His hands moved with swift efficiency as the knife cut through bone and flesh. Her eyes were briefly caught by the sight before she spoke. "I am ready."
His gaze locked with hers shortly before turning back to his task. He placed the game into a container filled with cold water to rinse. "Let us go, then," the blond said after he washed and wiped his hands.
They returned to the study where he retrieved his coat and sword. They then crossed the castle in silence until they came upon the great stairway leading to the main corridor. They walked ahead onto the red winding carpet lining the floors as the wide gates opened before them, Ravenna quickening her steps to get past the impaled bodies as fast as her legs took her. They walked farther into the clearing before the woman faced him. "Well, here we are," she said, staring into the most peculiar irises of gold.
"This is yours," Alucard produced what the woman saw to be her lost dagger.
She gratefully took it from his hands. His face was blank, but Ravenna saw he was preoccupied with a hidden notion or other.
"All in all," she braved, "Considering what happened and the darkness of the times we live in, I was fortunate it was your home that I stumbled into," Ravenna tried a jest.
His unnatural silence held, and she wondered what it was that so suddenly garnered all of his awareness. His gaze had shifted to look through her, an occurrence Ravenna found utterly unnerving in the little time she had spent in his presence. She felt a trace of regret at the true meaning of loneliness which was this place. And if she were honest, it was mainly towards the self-imposed seclusion weighing so heavily down upon its master. "Farewell, Adrian," she said either way, "I hope you find the redemption you seek." When he said nothing Ravenna turned to the path she had previously taken to the castle. "Which way?"
YOU ARE READING
Prickly thorns, tender roses
Fanfiction[An Alucard fan fiction] Set after the events in the Castlevania animated series, Season III. After the betrayal of his young apprentices, Alucard feels barely alive in his lonesome castle. Days wear on, chipping away at his mind and sanity. And wha...
