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Chapter Text

It was dark when Trevor reached the border of the town. All he wanted to do was grab a mug or two of ale and some food before collapsing into a bed at the tavern. Trevor was getting sick, he could feel a cold coming on and knew it would be in full swing by the morning. He just needed a couple of days of warmth and a proper bed then he'd be well enough to keep moving and fend off anyone or anything that wanted to fight. 

Trevor started slowly searching the main street for a tavern to stay the night. 

Something caught his eye, smoke in the distance. That wasn't unusual in itself, it was cold as it was still winter. Lots of homes had smoke drifting from their chimneys. But this smoke in the distance, it was bigger, much too big to be from a chimney. 

Shit.

Shit.

There was a fire.

Shit!

Trever took off in a sprint, running through the muddy empty streets using the smoke as a landmark. Trevor ran like Dracula himself was on his trail. 

That wasn't a small fire, that had to be a house fire. Were they ok? Did anyone get out? Shit. Trevor needed to make sure they were ok. Trevor hoped, he silently prayed to any god listening that there was no one in that house. 

Trevor ran the whole way through the town to the outskirts. He could see the glow now. The sight threatened to take away his breath. But Trevor kept breathing, he had to keep breathing if he wanted to get there. If he wanted to help. Large breaths went into and out of his lungs. 

Trevor could see figures now. There were six of them, five standing and one kneeling. It looked as though the kneeling person was a woman with braided blonde hair. The others looked like men in robes. 

Trevor slowed down as he neared the burning home. Trevor was quiet as he approached, despite the moderate speed. 

The men looked like they were priests or members of the church. 

This didn't look good.

             "Hello, do you need help? Is everyone out? Is anyone hurt?" Trevor called out. 

Everyone spun around to face Trevor. Except for the woman and the two men that held her, they just turned their heads. Trevor had stopped a few metres away from the stone path that led to the house. He was out of immediate reach in case things got ugly but well within range for his whip. 

Trevor could see faces in the stark burning light. One man stood at the foot of the home. He didn't look like a kind old man, he looked harsh, strict and, honestly, like a prick. He was wearing white and gold. He must be an important prick then. 

             "There is nothing to see here, go back to your home," said the important prick. 

             “Look, I’d love to but I need to know if everyone’s alright. Was there anyone inside? I know how to patch a burn if anyone has any,” Trever wasn’t sure if he would actually help the church, but he wasn’t going to make assumptions. They could be helping. 

             “Fear not, only the woman was home,” responded the prick. 

Trevor looked straight at the woman and managed to lock eyes with her, “Are you alright? Do you have any family nearby you can stay with?” 

              “I’m-” started the woman.

The prick cut her off, “This is business of the church, there is no need for you to be here.”

              “Business of the church? How is a burning home business of the church?” inquired Trevor with a little bite in his voice as he gestured to said home. 

              “It was the den of a witch, the land needed to be cleansed.”

Trevor stilled, fortunately, no one seemed to notice. 

              “I am not a witch! I am a doctor! It’s all science!” pleaded the woman. She was on her knees and looked visibly distressed. 

              “Doctor, did the church burn your home?” asked Trevor very slowly glaring hard at the prick and his goons. 

              “Yes, they think I’m a witch, I promise I’m not, I’m a doctor!”

              “Lies!” sneered the prick. 

Trevor believed the doctor. She said it with such conviction. Besides, Trevor would rather trust the word of a woman being restrained than the word of the church who was clearly holding her against her will. 

No more. 

Trevor stood tall and opened his cloak, showing the hilt of his short sword, “I recommend you let the doctor go.” 

              “You dare? You are addressing the Bishop of-”

              “Oh, a bishop? What is a bishop doing in a backwater village like this?” interrupted Trevor, he didn’t really give a shit about church politics, or regular politics for that matter. 

              “You will come back with us to the cathedral at Targoviste. If you repent and change your ways then I might be convinced to let you go,” said the bishop with a sneer. 

Trevor winced, “Ooh, sorry fellas, no can do. Perks of being excommunicated I’m afraid,” shrugged Trevor. 

The bishop’s eyes burn in anger which was made harsher by the firelight reflecting in his eyes, “Then you will burn with the witch for your interference. Men seize him!” 

Two men, a beefy fellow and a bald man who were closest to the bishop ran at Trevor. They didn’t get much of a chance to close the gap. The two priests just past their companions holding the doctor when a whip lashed out and wrapped around the neck of the beefy one before flinging the man into the bald priest. The two priests tumbled to the ground in a tangle of limbs. 

The two holding the doctor let go and moved towards Trevor. One didn’t get very far and had the back of his knee kicked out by the good doctor before getting kicked in the groin from behind. Trevor almost let out a sympathetic wince, but he had his own problems to deal with. The other priest reached Trevor and the man lashed out with a punch. Trevor dodged, elbowed the man across the face, then grabbed the man behind the head and brought the priest's nose to Trevor’s waiting knee. Trevor was satisfied with the crunch and choke of pain he heard. 

The doctor was kicking her priest in the ribs, while another priest, the beefy one who rushed Trevor, tried to sneak up on her. Trevor tossed his priest aside just in time to whip the beefy priest across the ear. A cry of agony and the man went down. 

The bald priest had just gotten to his hands and knees groaning as he did. Trevor rushed over and gave him a solid kick to the head. The man went down without a sound. 

Trevor turned to the bishop and started to slowly walk closer, footsteps that should have been heavy were almost silent. Trevor wasn’t sure what the bishop saw, maybe it was burning firelight flickering in his eyes, or his scowl, maybe his scar, maybe it was the whip. It didn’t matter, the bishop’s eyes still widened in fear. 

              “Stop! In the name of God, I say stop!” the bishop was backing up the steps of the house, slowly getting closer to the flames licking out of the doorway. 

              “Now why would I do that? I’m excommunicated, remember? I don’t listen to your God,” responded Trevor. 

              “I am a loyal disciple of God, you cannot touch me, for the mighty Lord will strike you down!” 

              “You lie and use your Lord’s name in vain? Well, now aren’t you a heretic,” smirked Trevor as he walked up a step. 

The bishop glanced back to see that he was only just out of reach of the fire. 

              “You can either deal with me or be cleansed by fire,” stated Trevor as he tucked away his whip and pulled out his short sword. 

The bishop looked like he was almost considering it, even though he was shuddering in fear. 

              “No! Don’t!” called the doctor from behind. 

Trevor moved swiftly before the bishop could react. Trevor cracked the hilt of his short sword against the man’s head, knocking him out instantly. The bishop hit the stone steps with a thud. 

Trevor turned to the woman, “Sorry, I needed to knock him out at least, and I wasn’t sure if I could do it in one punch. Hilts tend to be more effective,” explained Trevor as he held up the sword before sheathing it, “Though I would have rather he jumped in the fire,” muttered Trevor under his breath, wishing the prick had. But that wasn’t for the doctor to hear.  

The doctor looked at Trevor for a few moments looking somewhat surprised. 

Trevor walked up to the doctor, “I’m sorry but we need to go. They won’t stay down for long. Is there anywhere safe you can go?” Trevor asked the woman gently. 

              “Yes. My husband has a place. It’s about three days from here, in the mountains. The church won’t find me there,” 

Trevor gave the doctor a small smile. Thank god for small mercies. Trevor knew that he would be at the height of his cold around then, especially since it seems that he wouldn’t be stopping to rest until after that. Trevor could feel it now, it was quickening his breaths, speeding up his heart and giving him the beginnings of a headache. But the doctor had a place to stay. The mountains sounded good. Trevor’s first priority was to get the doctor safe, then he could rest for a little. “Great, then I’ll take you there. That is, if you don’t mind?” 

The doctor studied Trevor’s’s face for a long few moments before replying, “Yes thank you. The company would be nice and you seem like a well mannered young man,” said the doctor with a smile, “I’m sure you at least have better manners than my husband had.”

              “Then let’s go. We need to leave before they wake up,” said Trevor shifting to start the walk. Trevor paused, he didn’t know where he was going. The doctor was the one that knew the way. Trevor looked at the doctor and opened his mouth to get her to move, but Trevor closed his mouth. The woman was staring sadly at her home which was still burning brightly. Trevor’s heart twisted in empathy. 

              “I’m sorry about your home,” said Trevor softly as he gently laid a hand on the doctor’s shoulder. 

The doctor took in a shuddering breath, “It’s quite alright. It was just stuff. It can all be replaced.” 

              “That doesn’t change the fact that your home is in flames,” said Trevor. 

The doctor let out a sigh, “No, you’re right it doesn’t,” said the doctor softly, “Fortunately it’s not my only home, and it’s not the only place to hold important memories. We shall go to my husband’s home, I have plenty of fond memories there too.”

Trevor nodded and let his hand fall as the doctor walked away. 

They had just walked off the doctor’s property when Trevor asked, “Where exactly is your husband's home? What’s the nearest town?”

              “The nearest town is Montish, my husband lives in the mountains to the south-west of that,” replied the doctor. 

Trevor hummed, “I think I can get us to Montish without using the main roads. We can trek through the forest, it might even save us some time,” explained Trevor as he started heading south-west, the direction of Montish. Trevor was leading them through the fields rather than the streets. Who knows if anyone was watching.  Trevor and the doctor couldn’t take the chance of being seen. 

              “Isn’t it dangerous to walk in the woods. We could get lost. I would rather take the longer route,” responded the doctor keeping pace with Trevor surprisingly well. 

“This isn’t about it taking less time, this is about not being seen. I can navigate through the woods. Montish is south-west of Lupu and has two roads running through the middle. One from east to west the other from north to south. We can travel through the forest and as long as we’re travelling consistently south or west then we’re bound to hit a road that will lead to Montish. But I think I can get us more or less straight there through the forest. There’s no cliffs or large rivers in this area and the terrain is relatively flat until Montish. It’s very much achievable,”  

“You sound like you know your way around a forest. Might I ask where you learnt it?” asked the doctor with a tilt of her head. 

“I’m a hunter,” said Trevor tugging on the fur over his cloak, “It’s my job to go into the woods and come back out,” the lie was easy enough, especially since it was based on truth. 

The doctor hummed, “Well then, I believe we should head into the woods. Although we will need water and food for this trip,”

Trevor patted a waterskin on his belt, “Got some water. I need more, but it should be just enough to last us until we come across a stream. I know there’s one in there, and if we’re heading in the right direction we should come across it on the second day. Food won’t be much of a problem. I’m a hunter after all.” 

Trevor and the doctor walked past a garden with the washing still hanging out. It was cold tonight and it probably would be the next night. If they were to stay hidden during their journey it would also be in their best interest to avoid lighting many fires. The doctor was only in a red dress, and while that could be fine for day travel it wouldn’t be for night. Trevor eyed the clothing on the lines. There were shirts, pants, a couple of cloaks and a shawl. That would probably do. 

Trevor silently jumped the stone fence and snuck up to the line. He heard a soft ‘hey’ from the doctor but elected to ignore it. The lights to the house were out so it was unlikely anyone would be looking. Trevor felt the cloaks and found a dry one. Trevor took that then felt the shawl, it was dry. Trevor grabbed that as well. Trevor lept back over the short stone wall and handed the clothes to the doctor. 

              “You can’t just steal these! They’re someone’s clothes!” she hissed. 

              “All of your clothes are burning in your house and we’re going to be travelling in a forest at night, in winter. You won’t last the night let alone make it to your husbands home dressed like that,” 

The doctor looked at the clothes then back at Trevor with a pointed glare that reminded Trevor of his mother, “Yes, but we can’t just steal them,”

Groaning quietly Trevor ran a hand down his face, “Fine. Just put them on.”

Trevor heard the doctor start to speak again but he had already jumped back over the stone fence. Trevor went up to the back door and dug around in his pouch. Trevor pulled out two coins, held them up for the doctor to see, then placed them stone step in front of the doorway. 

When Trevor got back to the doctor she had tied the shawl around herself and was putting on the cloak. 

              “You should have done that in the first place,” said the doctor, sounding very much like a mother. Trevor wondered if she was a mother. She had only mentioned a husband. “I’ll reimburse you for the costs once we get to my husband’s,” said the Doctor as they continued on their way. 

              “Oh no, you don’t need to doctor,” said Trevor, shaking his hands. Trevor really did need money for a place to stay and rest, but he didn’t want to take this woman’s money. She’d been through enough. 

              “Lisa. Please call me Lisa. And reimbursing you is the least I can do.”

              “Uh, Treff. My name’s Treff,” lied Trevor, “But really, there’s no need Doctor Lisa.” 

              “Please, I insist. You helped me. I honestly think you saved my life.”  

Trevor scratched the back of his neck, “It’s no problem, really.” 

They had just reached the last house around the outskirts of town. Once past this house, they would slip into the forest that was only twenty metres away. The lights were on in this house so Trevor kept low and encouraged Doctor Lisa to do the same. 

A shape appeared at the window and Trevor grabbed the doctor bringing her to a halt. After almost a minute the shape disappeared. Trevor held still for another few moments before he started to move again. 

There was a scraping of metal and wood which drew attention to the door of the home. The door was now open with light spilling out. Trevor started to reach for his whip, trying to keep the doctor out of sight behind him. 

              “Doctor, is that you?” called out an elderly woman from the door. 

Doctor Lisa hesitated, “Yes.” 

              “I thought the church was going to take you away,” said the woman standing just outside the door. After a moment of thought, the woman pulled the door mostly closed and the surroundings were almost dark again. 

              “They tried Mrs Djuvara. But I got away. I’m sorry but you won’t see me again,” said Doctor Lisa, she patted Trevor’s arm that was itching for his weapon.  

Trevor stifled a twitch from Doctor Lisa touching his forearm and moved his hand away from his weapon. 

              “That is not right. You have been nothing but good to this town,” said Mrs Djuvava, sounding genuine and very much worried for the doctor. 

              “Look, I’m sorry but we can’t talk to you. If the church finds out you and your family will suffer for it. We need to go,” Trevor urged as he put a hand behind Lisa’s shoulder and started to gently pull her along. 

              “No wait,” said Lisa. 

Trevor paused, and raised a brow, “We need to go, every second we waste is a second they’re closer to finding us.”

              “I know,” Lisa hissed before turning to Mrs Djuvara, “Mrs Djuvara, if you see my husband, if it’s safe, can you tell him that I’m going to his home?” 

              “Yes, doctor. I will. Thank you for all you’ve done.” 

              “Farewell Mrs Djuvara,” said doctor Lisa with a wave.  

              “Please, don’t let anyone else know you saw us,” said Trevor basically begging the woman to keep herself safe. 

              “Why, I was making a new shawl tonight, I never even looked out my window,” said Mrs Djuvava with a sly smile before quietly heading back inside. 

They entered the forest with no more troubles, and the moonlight was bright enough to light their way, even filtered through the trees. 

              “Why did you ask the old woman to tell your husband where you were going? Isn’t he at his mountain home?” asked Trevor. 

              “No. Unfortunately, my husband is travelling. I hope Mrs Djuvara can give him the message if he arrives at Lupu before I get to his home. I don’t want him to worry,” answered Doctor Lisa, clearly anxiousness and concerned. 

              “Don’t worry, I’ll get you there safe and sound,” said Trevor with an open honest look, trying to calm the doctor down, “Is there a chance you can contact him once you reach his home?”

              “Oh yes, and if I can’t I’m sure my son can. He’s due to travel soon, but that shouldn't be for another week. Besides, he said he would visit his mother before he left,” said Lisa with a gentle smile. 

              “You have a son?” asked Trevor. Might as well make conversation, they would be travelling till dawn at least. 

              “Yes, he is about your age.”

Trevor huffed, “No wonder you scolded me like a mother when I tried to steal those clothes.”

              “Yes, as is the power of a mother’s glare. Even my husband fails to overcome it,” said Lisa with a straightened back and the edges of a smirk. 

Trevor let out a laugh, “Then I'd say that you have a good husband.” 

              “I do,” said Lisa, “A lot of the time he’s misunderstood. But he can be a good man. I’m teaching him to be.” 

              “If you don’t mind me asking, why is he misunderstood?”

              “He taught me a lot of what I know.”
Trevor tried to remember what Doctor Lisa had said, “The science stuff?” 

              “Yes. It’s not magic, as much as the church wants to think that. It’s, well it’s an understanding of the world and how it works. As a doctor I specialise in how the human body works. My husband, on the other hand, is more of a generalist. He knows a lot about everything.” 

              “Sounds like he might get in trouble with the church too if he’s not careful. You and your family might want to watch out,” said Trevor, giving her a gentle warning.  

Doctor Lisa sighed, “My husband has little love for the church. But fear not, we’re careful enough. I thought I was making progress at Lupu. I thought people understood that it wasn’t magic.” Lisa’s shoulders slumped. 

Trevor let out a grunt, “Sometimes people are just idiots. They think they’re justified when really they’re just being shits.” 

Lisa let out a huff of a laugh, “That’s certainly one way of putting it.” 

Trevor tried to change the topic. No need for her to dwell on the past, “Are there any particular reasons your husband and son are travelling? Is it for business?”

Doctor Lisa smiled a warm wonderful smile, “No, my husband is just travelling to see the world, he hasn’t travelled in a while and I asked him to see how much the world had changed,” answered Lisa, “My son is making a trip to see if he can find his soulmates. He’s very eager to find them.” 

              “I wish him luck,” said Trevor genuinely. 

              “He’ll meet them both when it’s time, but searching is something he can do. My husband and I encourage it.”

Trevor immediately had two questions, “Please stop me if I overstep, but your son had two soulmates?” 

              “Yes, he’s very fortunate,”

Trevor hummed in agreement, his thoughts flicking to what he remembers of his own marks. 

              “Why do you and your husband encourage it?”

Doctor Lisa’s eyes were a little harder in their look so Trevor hurried to add, “I just mean that wealthy people don’t usually encourage their children to find their soulmates despite the whole ‘gift from god’ thing. And, well I assume your family is well off if you hold two homes between you,” Trevor rushed to explain. 

The Belmont’s didn’t care if soulmates were found or not which was rare for a noble family. However, hunting was a dangerous occupation, so if you met a soulmate, then good on you. The Belmonts had little care for who the soulmate was in background or otherwise.
Unless they were a monster. 

              “My husband and I are soulmates, so we want him to find his. My husband is especially adamant. I think he just wants Adrian to be as happy as we both are.” 

              “Your son is very fortunate to have supportive parents,” said Trevor with a light smile, “I’m sorry if I was overstepping.” 

Lisa waved him off, “You’re curious, it is understandable. My husband and I, as you may have guessed are not an average couple.”

              “Really? Between the science and being a fancy doctor I would never have guessed,” said Trevor sarcasm dripping from his voice. 

Lisa gave Trevor a warm smile. 

              “What about you? Do you have any soulmates?”

Trevor swallowed, he knew he had some, but he didn’t know if he still did. 

              You are excommunicated, and as such you are not fit to have these blessings bestowed by God. 

Trevor didn’t have his marks anymore, there were only burn scars on his inner forearms where they both had been. 

              “I, haven’t found them yet,” Trevor shrugged, trying to rid himself of the tension and the memory of his own screams, “I haven’t really been looking. A hunter isn’t exactly a risk free career,” 

Lisa studied him for a moment before smiling, “You’ll find them or they’ll find you. Regardless I’m sure you’ll meet them.” 

Trevor returned the smile and if it was a bittersweet smile Doctor Lisa didn’t say. 

Chapter Text

They walked till the rays of dawn started to lighten the sky. They finally stopped in a part of the forest that wasn't as dense. Trevor instructed Doctor Lisa to clear the ground and prepare for a fire, while Trevor himself wandered off a little to find something to eat. 

Trevor felt a dull headache coming on, but he was still silent as he walked through the undergrowth. It didn't take Trevor too long before he spotted a couple of rabbits. Quietly Trevor pulled out a pair of throwing knives and took aim. With a small thunk, each knife went through the rabbit skulls and embedded themselves into the ground. Trevor collected the rabbits and walked back to where Doctor Lisa was. 

Trevor saw a faint glow of a fire burning and made sure that he was loud enough for the doctor to hear as he approached. 

            “Got a couple of rabbits,” said Trevor once he saw Doctor Lisa glance his way, “Anything we don’t eat now we can save for later. We can look for other edible foods while travelling during the day,”

Lisa nodded as she stocked the fire, “How long will be we stopping for?” 

Trevor sat near the fire with a grunt before pulling out a knife to skin the rabbits, “We’ll head off again just before midday. After food, we’ll each take watch in shifts and both get some sleep,” explained Trevor. 

Doctor Lisa frowned, “Surely we won’t be walking all the way until dawn again?” 

            “No, we’ll stop around dusk for a couple of hours and eat some food then we’ll walk until dawn with a few short stops,” 

            “That’s not a lot of time for sleep,” said the doctor and her gaze said it all, she was worried for his health. 

            “The best times to stop are dusk and dawn. We can have a fire for a little during these times. Otherwise, a fire could be too easily spotted. We need to keep moving at night, it’s too cold to sit around outside without a fire,” Trevor staked the first rabbit next to the fire and started to skin the second. 

            “Then we sleep more during the day, I have no problems sleeping during the day,” 

            “It’s easier to cover ground during daylight. Besides, it’s only a few days. We’ll be fine taking naps and we’ll get you to your husband’s quicker. Not to mention we’ll lose the church, who are bound to be on a witch hunt for you at least, if not me as well,” Trevor staked the second rabbit next to the first, then sat back against a tree. 

Doctor Lisa pursed her lips, “I don’t like the lack of sleep, however, I understand that we are on the run. I ask that we have more time to rest and sleep at dusk. We can stop a little earlier and start moving a little later. We both need at least a couple of hours of sleep at each stop,” Doctor Lisa was giving Trevor a firm look. 

            “Fine. But I’m taking the second sleep at dusk and if I wake up because it’s too cold then we’re moving. It doesn’t matter if I got five minutes of sleep or an hour,” 

            “I agree to your terms,” said Doctor Lisa as she held eye contact. 

Trevor nodded, “You might as well get some sleep while these cook,” said Trevor as he waved a hand at the roasting rabbits. 

Trevor woke Lisa up once the rabbits were cooked and they ate in relative silence and shared some water. Once Doctor Lisa was finished she went back to sleep while Trevor smothered the fire and took watch, paying special attention to the direction they came from. 

After what Trevor guessed to be about three hours he woke Lisa up and she took watch while Trevor slept. God did Trevor need to sleep, his head was pounding against his skull and his headache was now in full effect. Trevor knew from experience that the only thing that would really cure the headache was a long sleep, but he wasn’t going to get that for a while. Trevor hoped that he might be able to impose a little at Lisa’s husband’s home for a day or so while he recovered. If not then he’d ask for directions to the closest inn or tavern. 

Lisa lightly shook Trevor awake. Trevor gave a groan, his muscles were protesting at sleeping against a tree and also telling him that he was very much sick. 

            “It’s almost noon,” said Lisa gently. 

Trevor waved her off as he pushed up from the tree groaning the whole way, “I’ve got to stop sleeping against trees,” Trevor muttered, “I’m up, let’s go.” 

Trevor stopped for a moment to orientate himself with where they had come in and the direction of the sun. Trevor turned and continued to travel south-west with Doctor Lisa just behind him. 

It was much easier to travel in daylight. The moon was bright enough last night, but it was still only moonlight and it had been harder for the Doctor to navigate the underbrush. Now the doctor seemed more sure footed and they covered far more ground. Trevor was handling himself as well as he could with his cold properly settling in. He wanted to reach the stream before nightfall, it would be a good place to stop for a short rest as well as essential for their water supplies. Trevor also didn’t want to cross a stream in the dark. He knew that there were no large rivers, but that didn’t mean that this stream wasn’t deep. Trevor had passed through this area before and crossed this stream, however, it was much further upstream, which was no more than three metres across. This part of the stream would be wider and there was a chance for deeper. 

Trevor and Doctor Lisa had small conversations with Lisa doing most of the talking. She talked about her patients mostly, with a little about her husband and son thrown in. 

Trevor felt a tickle in this throat and let out a small cough, making sure to cover it and angle it away from the doctor.  

Doctor Lisa immediately stopped what she was saying and spun on him. 

            “Treff, are you alright?” 

Trevor waved her off as he let out another couple of small coughs, “I’m fine, just a little cough.” 

Doctor Lisa frowned, “Let me have a look at you.”

Trevor ducked away from the doctor’s hands, “I’m fine Doctor really.”

Doctor Lisa scowled at Trevor, “I’ll be the judge of that, now come here.”

            “We really need to keep moving,” said Trevor, walking forward a little, but he stopped when he realised that Lisa wasn’t following. 

Trevor looked back at the doctor and she pointed to the ground in front of her with her ‘mother glare’ directed at him. Trevor’s shoulders sagged as he walked over to Doctor Lisa. 

As soon as Trevor stopped in front of Doctor Lisa she put her hand on his forehead and held it there. 

            “You’re hot. You have a fever,” said Doctor Lisa, “You need to rest.” 

Trevor shook her hand off, “Can’t. We need to keep moving. We can’t let the church catch up. Besides, it’s only a couple of days. I’ll be fine.”

Doctor Lisa looked sceptical at the last statement, “You need to rest,” insisted Doctor Lisa. 

Trevor straightened his back and gave the doctor a hard look, “We can’t stop. We might have avoided the church by travelling into the forest or we might have just slowed them down. I don’t know which. So we have to assume that it isn’t safe.”

            “You still need to rest,” said Doctor Lisa, her eyes were soft.

            “I will, at dawn,” stated Trevor firmly. 

Lisa frowned, “Treff, you’re sick. You need rest.” 

            “We can’t ,” stressed Trevor looking directly into her eyes and begging her to understand. He couldn’t let the church catch him again. He wouldn’t let them. He definitely couldn’t let the church catch Lisa. They might- it doesn’t matter what they might do they’ll definitely kill her in the end. 

            “You will get worse if you don’t rest,” explained Doctor Lisa with a tender tone.

Trevor slumped, “I know. But that doesn’t matter. I can recover once we’re safe,” 

            “We should rest more-”

            “No, Doctor Lisa, we can’t stop . Not until we’re safe. We’re already stopping for longer than I’d like. We can’t let them catch up,” said Trevor cutting off the doctor. He knew he needed to rest, but he couldn’t. Not with Doctor Lisa’s life on the line. Not with the god damn church after them. 

Trevor let out a breath and turned to keep walking. 

The Doctor hesitated but after a few moments started to follow him. 

Finally, in the late afternoon, they reached the stream, it had a bank of pebbles and was about six meters across, flowing at an easy pace. Lisa hadn’t talked much since the argument, but she had picked a few herbs during their walk and given them to Trevor to eat. The herbs were bitter but they dulled his headache. 

Trevor approached the water and tried to eyeball the depth. Trevor grumbled, he couldn’t tell how deep it was. Trevor turned around and spotted a tree with a good branch on it. Trevor hacked at the branch a few times with his short sword and snapped it once it was weak enough. Trevor cleaned up the branch, turning it into a potential walking stick. 

            “Stay here,” said Trevor as he took off his cloak, dumping it on the ground.  

            “Alright. Tell me if you need help,” said Lisa as she followed him to the edge of the stream. 

Trevor slowly started walking out and poked ahead with the stick. He continued to walk deeper into the water and Trevor could feel the cold temperature of the water that his boots were keeping out. The stream had a steady decline most of the way across, and it was looking like it might come just above Trevor’s knees. Then Trevor hit a drop in the stream in the centre. The drop was probably a foot and the undercurrent was stronger if the tug on Trevor’s stick was any indication. 

Trevor sighed then walked back to the edge of the stream and sat on a rock next to Doctor Lisa. Trevor quickly took his boots and socks off then stuffed them between his belt. Trevor rolled up his pants as much as he could then he stood up and put his cloak on. 

            “Get on,” said Trevor as he lowered himself so Lisa could be carried on his back. 

Lisa raised a brow, “I can walk.”

            “It’s deeper in the middle,” replied Trevor looking back at the doctor. 

            “But it’s not treacherous for me to walk.”

            “You’ll get drenched, it’ll be waist-deep on you,” informed Trevor, “Come on, there’s no point in two of us getting wet,”

            “You’re sick, you shouldn’t be walking through freezing water. I have no such issue.” 

Trevor turned to face Lisa with a brow raised, “So you’re going to carry me?”

Lisa seemed to realise that no, she probably could not carry Trevor, but she stuck her chin out and held her head high. 

Trevor sighed, “Please Doctor Lisa, my feet are cold and I just want to get my socks back on,”

            “What if I overbalance you?” asked Lisa, sounding genuinely worried. 

Trevor sighed and gave Lisa an exasperated scowl, “Unless you weigh twice what you look then I’m sure I can manage.” 

            “Take it easy,” was the only agreement Trevor got. 

Trevor turned back around and let Lisa climb on. Trevor grabbed his cloak in one hand and held the stick in the other then he walked forward. Fortunately, Lisa was about the weight that Trevor had expected so it only took Trevor a few moments to become accustomed to the additional weight he was carrying. Trevor breathed out and tried to ignore the temperature of the frigid water. Trevor slowly walked across the stream, using the stick for balance and to find the drop again. Trevor found the drop. Trevor planted the stick in a solid position in the middle of the drop and braced himself. Trevor took the plunge and the water that previously was lapping just above his knees was now just below his crotch. Trevor straightened as much as he could and stopped walking for a moment. 

Trevor took a sharp breath in, “Cold! Fuck that’s cold!”

            “The sooner you get out of it the sooner you can warm up,” said Lisa as she gently patted Trevor’s shoulder. 

Trevor soldiered on, trying to keep his balance in the water and reach the other side as quickly as possible. After about two metres in the deep section of the stream, Trevor stepped up out of the drop. Now Trevor had the gentle cold air against his drenched pants, which was not in any way, shape or form better than being in the water. Finally, Trevor made it to the other side and Lisa slid down onto the riverbank. Trevor found a rock to sit on and started to ring out his pants the best he could while wearing them. Trevor also patted down his feet with the edge of his cloak then put his socks and boots on. 

Lisa dropped a pile of sticks in front of Trevor then proceeded to start constructing a small fire. 

            “We can’t have a fire,”

Lisa continued to build a fire, “Too bad, we are. We need to make sure that you’re warm and dry enough before we keep moving. You are sick, but there is no need to be cold and wet as well.” 

Trevor sighed, “Fine, I’ll make the fire, can you fill up the waterskin?” asked Trevor as he held the waterskin out to Lisa. 

Lisa took the waterskin and went to the edge of the river. Strangely she pulled her cloak around, dunked it in the water then wrung it out over the waterskin.

            “Uh, what are you doing?” asked Trevor as he stopped arranging the sticks. 

            “I’m filtering our water, what does it look like?” asked Lisa, not bothering to look at Trevor. 

Trevor blinked, “Alright,” was all he could think to say, “You’re getting your cloak wet.”

            “So? We’ll have a fire soon.”

            “Yeah, I guess,” responded Trevor, still confused as to what the doctor was actually doing.

By the time Lisa had finished ‘filtering the water’ Trevor had the fire going steady and was warming his feet by it. Lisa sat down and held out the edge of her cloak to the fire trying to dry it. 

            “Is our water to your standards now?” asked Trevor with an amused smile. Honestly all of this effort for water. It had looked fine to him. 

            “I’d prefer to boil it but we don’t have a pot so this will have to do,” responded Doctor Lisa as she handed Trevor the waterskin and pulled out some spare rabbit from last night. 

Trevor accepted the waterskin and took a large swing, it was cold, but it was nice to have some freshwater. 

            “You have some strange rituals for drinking water,” commented Trevor as he offered the skin back to Lisa. Lisa declined with a shake of her head and Trevor tied the skin back to his belt. 

            “It’s important to consume clean water. Diseases can travel through water too,” informed Lisa after swallowing a bite of rabbit. 

Trevor raised a brow as he took a bite of the remains of his own rabbit and spoke around it, “Never heard that before,”

            “I wish more people did. It would greatly reduce sickness if people cleaned their water. Even water from wells can become contaminated,” said Doctor Lisa with the sound of dismay in her voice.  

            “Guess you better teach me when we get to your husband’s,” said Trevor. 

            “It would be my pleasure,” replied Lisa with a large warm smile. 

They stayed and rested at the stream, both getting a few hours of sleep. It was dark when Trevor woke, probably an hour or so past dusk. Trevor quietly groaned and rubbed his face and tried to ease the pounding headache he had. What little sleep he had either made it worse or the herbs that the Doctor gave him must have worn off. 

Trevor stood and slowly stretched as Lisa walked over to make sure that the dead fire was properly smothered. Together they continued on their trek to Lisa’s husbands home. 

Trevor tried to aim for the edge of Montish, so he and Lisa could avoid being seen by too many people in the town. Giving the town a wide berth would have been ideal, however, Lisa was guiding them from this point onwards, and she needed to use the town as a landmark. 

Fortunately, when they stopped at dawn on the second day they stopped at the top of a tall hill, where they had a good view of the town. It would take them the rest of the day to pass the town, then the rest of the night to reach the Doctor’s husband’s home. But they were getting close now, which was good because Trevor’s cold was getting worse. He was feeling sluggish, his throat constantly tickled with a cough and his headache was so much worse. But Trevor would make it through, he had to. He needed to get the Doctor to safety. 

At mid-afternoon they both reached the town walking along Montish’s eastern road, and walked west along it towards town. The town looked busier than the last time Trevor had been here. But that was years ago. The town had grown larger and probably housed four hundred people now. Previously the town had just over three hundred the last time Trevor passed through. 

            “There’s a lot of people out today,” said Lisa quietly as she walked right next to Trevor. 

            “Is it market day or something?”

Lisa shook her head, “No, that’s not for another couple of days.”

Trevor’s face hardened, “Let’s hope it's a festival or something,” said Trevor, and even as he did so his gaze flicked through the crowd noticing the number of church robes. It was far too many for his liking. 

Lisa’s mouth was drawn into a thin line, she clearly came to the same conclusion that he did. 

            “Can we go around the town? Where do you need to go to get your bearings?” 

            “I need to get to the southern side of the town. I just need to see the outskirts and I can get us to my husband’s home from there,” explained Lisa. 

            “Great then let’s go around,” said Trevor as he started to turn south. 

Lisa grabbed his upper arm, “We can’t,” said Lisa looking straight past him, “They’re watching.” 

Trevor slowly turned his head to see where Lisa was looking, and sure enough, there were a pair of priests at the eastern entrance to the town who were looking at the people approaching. It wasn’t just Lisa and Trevor, there was an old man with a cart too and another couple in the distance. But with only a small amount of people on the road they would be noticed if they tried to slip away. 

            “Shit,” muttered Trevor under his breath, “We need to avoid them.”

            “I know,” said Lisa as she slipped an arm into his as they slowly walked closer to the priests, “But we can’t walk away now, they’ll probably follow us.”

            “I can use my whip and you can make a run for it,” suggested Trevor. 

Lisa turned a hard glare towards him, “You know very well that they will be after you as well. I will not leave you to them,” said Lisa with a tone that meant there was no room for any arguments. 

That didn’t stop Trevor from trying, “There’s no point in them getting both of us,” said Trevor before he broke out in a small cough. 

            “They won’t get us. I have an idea,” said Lisa with a slight smile and mischief in her eyes. 

The priests were looking at them now, one was studying them intensely. 

            “Well you better tell me what it is fast,” said Trevor as he discreetly eyed the priests. 

            “When we get close, cough on them. You’re sick, act like it. You are my son and you fell ill on the road, we are stopping in town for a few days so you can rest and see a healer. Play it up, hopefully, they will hurry us through so they don’t catch it as well.” 

            “I don’t know if that will work,” said Trevor glancing at Lisa. 

            “Do you have a better plan,” asked Doctor Lisa. 

Trevor dropped his head and let out a groan, “No.”

            “Halt, we need to-” started the priest on Trevor’s right as he stepped up to Trevor. 

Trevor wasted no time and let out the cough he’d been suppressing all day. It was a ragged barking cough and he aimed it in the direction of the priest. 

            “Fuck!” exclaimed the priest as he backed away. 

The other priest on Lisa’s left also backed away. 

            “I am so sorry! My son is sick, he fell ill a short while into a journey. We’re heading to Chilia, but we can’t continue unless he rests and the illness passes,” lied Lisa as she supported Trevor and guided him back slightly from the priests. 

            “Where are you from?” asked the priest on the left. 

            “Targoviste,” replied Lisa instantly. 

            “Why are you travelling?” the priest on the left questioned. 

            “We are going to see family. My niece was recently married and we are travelling to see her new home and soulmate.” 

Trevor was very impressed at Doctor Lisa’s quick thinking and smooth-talking.

The priest on the right huffed as he and the other priest exchanged glances. 

Trevor let out a fake groan and leaned more on Lisa, making it look like she was taking more weight than she actually was. 

            “May we please enter the town, my son is very sick. Could you also direct us to a healer? Please,” Lisa begged. 

The two priests shuffled closer to each other and talked in hushed tones, though not quite soft enough to stop Trevor from hearing. 

            “We’re not supposed to be letting a man with dark hair and a woman with blonde hair into town. We’re supposed to take them to head priest and let him investigate them,” whispered the priest on the right. 

            “There’s no need to waste his time. Do you really think this idiot could take out Mihai? He can barely see straight, he’s sicker than the old archbishop.” said the priest on the left. 

            “We need to take them in,” insisted the priest on the right.  

            “What’s the holdup?” called a voice from behind Trevor and Lisa.

Lisa’s grip tightened on Trevor’s upper arm and Trevor almost grabbed his whip and used it right then. Trevor glanced behind them to see the old man with his cart who had come to a stop not too far behind them. 

            “Just a moment sir!” called the priest on the left. 

            “Let me pass! I have crops that I need to deliver before they wither. Before I wither!”

The priest on the right lent towards the other, “Too late for that.” 

The priest on the left sniggered, “Hold on a moment sir we need to check your cart before you can go through.” 

            “Why? What’s wrong with my crops?”

            “Nothing, we just need to check it. The church is only trying to keep you safe.”

Trevor could hear the bullshit in the priest’s voice, not to mention he could see the outline of two knives under the man’s robes. Trevor felt the tickle in his throat again and let out another sharp cough before shifting the weight that Lisa was supporting. 

The priest on the left looked at the one on the right, quirking an eyebrow. 

The priest on the right groaned, “Fine, you can go. I think the healer is on the north side.” 

Lisa helped to pull Trevor along, “Thank you both so much.” 

Lisa guided Trevor further into the town through the crowd until they lost sight of the two priests. Lisa instantly turned and headed south through the town. They’d gone down a few moderately busy streets when Trevor yanked Lisa to a stop and turned them back around. 

Before Lisa could ask anything Trevor whispered, “Priests,” and guided them to a quiet vendor. After a few moments when Trevor was sure the priests weren’t looking he led them further away from the priests and into a quiet side street. 

Lisa let out a soft frustrated sigh. 

            “Where is the church in this town? That is where most of them will be,” asked Trevor. 

            “It’s in the centre of town. We’ve already avoided it,” explained Lisa. 

Trevor let out a breath, “Well that’s something. Now we just need to get out of this town.” 

            “You keep an eye out for the church and I’ll guide us. I know these streets well enough,” said Lisa. 

            “Yes, Doctor.” 

Lisa put them back on the correct path towards the edge of town and used a few of the smaller and less populated streets to get around. Dodging the church was hard, they were spread out all over town and there were most likely priests posted at every main entrance to the town. Fortunately, there wasn’t a wall around this town so they could sneak out once they reached the edge. They just had to get there undetected first. 

Lisa had let go of Trevor’s arm and they were walking side by side in a narrow alley. Trevor heard fast footsteps but reacted too late. A priest turned the corner and collided with Lisa. 

Lisa recovered quickly and held out her hand to help the priest, “I’m so sorry I didn’t see you there.”

Then the priest looked up. 

            “Oh fuck,” said Trevor. 

It was one of the priests that had tried to kidnap Lisa the other night. The skinny bald guy. The priest had a dark bruise on his face from Trevor’s kick.

            “I agree,” said Lisa, her eyes a little wide. 

The priest opened his mouth to shout as he started to pull a knife. Trevor wasted no time, grabbing the man and slamming him into a wall. The priest was out in a second. 

Trevor took a few hard breaths as his lungs tried to catch up with the fast movement. 

They needed to hide the priest. Trevor looked around and saw some barrels. He would have crushed the priest into the barrels, size be damned, but the Doctor was with him and Trevor didn’t want to cram this guy into a space not designed for humans while she watched. So Trevor grabbed a barrel and shifted it out before dumping the priest in between the cluster of barrels. 

Trevor coughed again, his head was spinning and all he wanted to do was curl up and sleep, “We need to go.”

            “Then let's leave,” responded Lisa walking ahead. 

They’d gotten to the end of the street when a pair of priests rounded the corner the other priest came from. 

Apparently, Trevor’s half-arse hiding wasn’t good enough because they heard shouts of, “Hey! You two! Did you do this?!” from one of the priests. 

Trevor glanced back at the same time as Lisa. 

            “Run,” said Trevor as he moved in front of Lisa, 

            “What?” said Lisa, clearly not wanting to leave Trevor.

            “Run!” Trevor said again with more force.

And Lisa ran. 

As soon as Lisa bolted the two priests came at Trevor. 

            “Stay where you are!” yelled the smaller one with a braided beard. 

Trevor quickly silenced him, snapping out with his whip and catching the man in the throat before flinging him into a wall. The bearded man hit the wall and dropped like a sack of potatoes. 

The second priest, a large man with dark short hair charged at Trevor and caught him around the waist. The priest picked up Trevor and smashed him into the ground. 

Too much air left Trevor’s lungs and he was left scrambling to move. The priest threw punch after punch at Trevor and his hasty guard. Every hit was like a rock against his forearms, one punch even clipped his head. 

Trevor shifted and managed to get his feet between the two of them and shoved the large priest off. The priest stumbled and Trevor pushed himself up and at the priest. Trevor slipped by when the priest made a grab for him then looped his whip around the priest's neck and pulled from behind. The priest struggled and gasped, but Trevor didn’t let up till the man’s struggle died and the priest slowly collapsed to the ground. 

Trevor let go breathing heavy gasping breaths. Trevor gave himself till the count of five before he ran after Lisa. 

Trevor followed the alley then turned right, using the corner of the building to swing around. Trevor instantly skidded to a stop. Bad news, there were two priests in front of him. Good news, he found Lisa. More bad news, she was hiding on the wooden roof of a stall, just above the priests. Lisa was lying down and not moving as she seemingly tracked the movement of the priests by sound. Trevor crouched in the shadows of the alley and watched the priests. They were walking slowly and chatting so they hadn’t seen Lisa yet. 

There wasn’t much Trevor could do, he could lure them away but it would be better if they left on their own. So Trevor tried to calm his breathing as he crouched out of their immediate sightlines. 

The priests it seems, were slacking off and stopped walking to chat under the stall. It was quiet enough that Trevor could hear their conversation from his hiding spot. Honestly, Trevor would rather they shut up and left. 

            “Do you really think they’ll be here in this backwater town?” asked a sturdy looking priest with a heavy scar curling around his right eye. This priest was leaning against the stall’s table lazily looking around. 

            “Hell if I know,” shrugged the taller lanky priest with a monk’s hairstyle. He was leaning against the alley wall looking at the other priest. 

            “Why would a witch and her brute come here? It’s a shit hole this town,” continued the sturdy priest. 

            “We’re looking for them everywhere. They sent our brothers out on horses all around the country to make sure they don’t escape. The bishop wants to put this witch and her brute on a pyre to burn. And I mean really wants her on this pyre. He’s convinced that she’s the devil’s whore. I mean the top bitch if you will.” 

The sturdy priest raises an eyebrow, “That’s one hell of a witch then. No wonder we’re all searching for her.” 

            “Speaking of searching,” started the lanky priest pushing off the wall and standing straight, “We should get back to it.” 

The sturdy priest groaned. 

            “Do you really want to be caught standing around?” asked the lanky priest. 

            “Fine, let’s move. But we’re going back to the markets, it’s more interesting there,” said the sturdy priest as he stepped out from under the stall. 

            “Yeah whatever,” replied the lanky priest as they walked off. 

Trevor counted to ten once they were out of sight, then he edged himself past the mouth way of the alley and looked up at the doctor,  who was looking at the way the priests left. 

            “Doctor!” Trevor whispered loudly. 

Instantly Lisa’s eyes snapped to him and the worry and fear faded to relief. 

            “I really want to know how you even got up there,” said Trevor. 

            “I climbed, with a little help from the crates,” said Lisa. 

Trevor looked down at the crates next to the stall, then up at Lisa. The crates would have only given her enough height to grab the roof, she still would have had to heave herself up. 

            “Consider me impressed,” said Trevor as he climbed the crates himself and reached his arms out to Lisa, “Let me help you down.” 

When both Trevor and Lisa had their feet back on the ground again they continued their walk at a hurried pace. This town was not safe. 

Trevor and Lisa finally managed to slip out of the town and started their way up the mountains to the south of the town. 

Trevor was trying to keep up but he was getting more exhausted by the minute. The fight in the town didn’t help, he had a bruise on his temple and he knew he’d have quite a few on his forearms. But Trevor pushed on. The doctor had to get somewhere safe. Somewhere the church wouldn’t find her. 

Lisa was leading them up the mountain on a small trail. After a short while, Doctor Lisa turned off the path. Trevor would have questioned it, but Lisa looked surefooted, and when Trevor looked down he could see a faint impression of a downtrodden path. They walked slowly through the woods and up the mountain until they came to a steep cliff face of the mountain. 

Lisa gestured Trevor forward as she walked along the cliff face, “There is a shortcut through the mountains to my husbands. It will get us there much quicker and no one will find us. It’s something even the locals don’t know about.” 

Trevor’s eyebrows rose but he didn’t say anything. 

Suddenly Lisa slid into the cliff face. Trevor lurched forward to see where she went only to notice what looked like a fisher in the cliff. Lisa was looking back at Trevor in the shadows of the cave. She handed him a lantern and Trevor stepped into the cave to see a chest and a wooden table hidden to the side of the cave’s mouth. 

Lisa struck flint and stone, the sparks showered into a bowl that held thin sticks. A stick caught a spark and smoked to life glowing softly. Lisa picked it up and gently blew on it turning the glow into a small flame. Doctor Lisa quickly lit her lantern’s candle with the small flame and did the same for Trevors then placed the stick back in the bowl. 

            “This way. It goes all the way through the mountains. It takes days off the trip. We should reach my husband’s home after midnight,” explained Lisa as she led the way further into the cavern. 

            “I’m glad we don’t have to travel up the mountains,” said Trevor with a smile. 

Lisa laughed, “It’s very convenient, it turns a four day round trip to the village into just a day trip. My husband is the only one who lives in these mountains so there are no other roads that lead to my husbands. The first time I came here I took the long way round.”  

            “Did your husband want to take the scenic route?” joked Trevor, but the further they walked the more unnerved Trevor became. The cave, it didn’t look natural. It looked made . The entrance may have looked natural, but the further in they walked the more the cave rounded out into a tunnel-like shape. Almost as if something had carved or melted its way through solid rock.

            “Hardly, I hadn’t met him yet,” replied Lisa.

            “You didn’t meet your husband before you went to his home?”

Lisa laughed, “No. I heard there was a great scholar who lived in the mountains, so I journeyed there in hopes that they would teach me how to be a doctor. And he did.” 

            “So you went and bullied your future husband into teaching you how to be a doctor?” asked Trevor with his eyebrows close to his hairline. 

Lisa grinned over her shoulder, “I most certainly did, but I was well mannered about it.” 

Trevor grinned back, but he still felt uneasy in the tunnel. Lisa’s husband could have had the tunnel commissioned, but that didn’t sit right with Trevor, something was off about this tunnel. The feeling got worse when the tunnel started into a gentle consistent slope upwards. 

Trevor’s unsettled feeling didn’t leave even when they exited the tunnel, and he knew it wasn't his cold making him feel like this. 

It was well into the night when they exited the tunnel, and the cool mountain air smelt crisp and clear. The exit on this side of the mountain looked remarkably similar to the entrance. They were quite high up now, close to the top of the mountains with the inner valleys well below them. This whole place was surrounded by mountains. It looked very peaceful with the moonlight giving soft shapes to the forests and mountains. 

Trevor stood there admiring the view and trying to breathe in the thinner air while his cold pressed on his lungs. Trevor’s head spun as soon as he stopped moving and Trevor closed his eyes for a few moments willing it to settle. They were close, they were so close to getting the Doctor to safely. 

Lisa eyed Trevor with worry etched into her expression. Trevor waved it off before gesturing her to continue. 

They took the lanterns with them as they continued onwards. It was dark tonight and Trevor doubted that the church would find them now. Hardly anyone went into these mountains from what Trevor had heard, and according to Lisa, no one knew about the tunnel. 

That was part of the reason Trevor was so surprised when Lisa led to a wooden and rope bridge that connected the outer mountain they stood on to one of the inner mountains in this valley of mountains. From the light of his lantern, Trevor could see that it wasn’t particularly old, maybe a decade or two, and it was well maintained. 

            “This way,” Lisa urged before she stepped onto the bridge. 

It was a long bridge and it swayed slightly under Lisa’s step but Lisa didn’t even pause, she just continued to walk across one easy step at a time. 

Trevor hesitated then followed, keeping a strong grip on the rope, “You sure this is safe?” called Trevor. There was nothing but rock below and Trevor didn’t exactly want to break his fall on rocks.  

            “Yes, My husband makes sure it’s safe. He built it himself, and I wouldn’t be walking on it unless it could hold at least twenty times my weight,” Lisa chuckled, “My husband wouldn’t let me touch it till he thoroughly tested it.” 

Trevor looked at the long drop, “Well if we fall at least we’ll have plenty of time to think of all our sins that the church wants to kill us for.” 

Lisa let out a soft scoff that was almost dragged away in the wind, “If only they understood that I was just trying to help them.” 

            “Ah, but then it would be too easy. I don’t know about you but God sure does like to throw me into a shit situation pretty often.” 

Lisa was quiet for a moment, “If you don’t mind me asking, why are you excommunicated?” 

            “Apparently my family dealt in black magic,” said Trevor knowing it would be vague enough. The church had accused a number of families, the most prominent and well known was the Belmonts, they were also the most deceased, but they were also one of a hundred or so who had been accused over they years. Trevor shrugged his arm that held the lantern, “It was news to me.” 

            “I’m sorry to hear that. I wish people wouldn’t turn on their neighbours for things they simply do not understand,” said Lisa solemnly. 

Trevor just grunted. They were close to halfway across, and the rest of the journey remained silent. Trevor was glad, he was slowing down and putting all his effort into trying to match Lisa’s speed and not fall off the bridge. His breaths were raspy and he tried to keep moving even though his coughs made him feel so lightheaded that the wind would only need to be a bit stronger to push him over. 

At the end of the bridge, Trevor leaned against one of the supporting posts and counted to five before he pushed himself forwards. 

Lisa seemed to notice Trevor’s slowed pace because she slowed hers till she was walking leisurely next to him. 

            “We’ll be there soon, it’s just at the top of this mountain,” informed Lisa.

            “Great,” Trevor huffed, his muscles were screaming at him, begging him to stop and sleep. 

Lisa switched the lantern to her other hand and slipped herself under Trevor’s shoulder supporting some weight. 

Trevor tried not to lean on her too much, but he was tired, his head was pounding and he wanted nothing more than a meal and a good sleep. He didn’t even need his meal to be warm or a bed. 

Together with Lisa and Trevor slowly trudged up the mountain. Trevor could see the crest and with every step, they managed to get closer. It was a slow pace, but Lisa didn’t complain. 

            “Not far now. We should see it soon,” said Lisa gently. 

The Doctor was right, within a few steps Trevor could see something peeking over the rise. A few more steps and Trevor could see what it was, a castle spire. 

            “There it is,” said Doctor Lisa softly with a small smile. 

Trevor felt the air leave his lungs, but not because of his cold, no, he was breathless in relief. They were here. They made it to the Doctor’s other home. Trevor could breathe again, and it was such a delight to feel the weight of worry leave him. 

            “Oh thank god,” said Trevor. His knees chose that moment to fail to cooperate anymore and all of Trevor’s weight sunk onto Lisa as he said, “You’re safe now.” 

            “Treff!” was just a fading voice as Trevor embraced the dark swallowing his vision. 

Chapter Text

It was ash. The home they built. Adrian, Lisa and himself had built the small home in Lupu together and now it was ash.

Cold terror shook Vlad to his core. 

Lisa, where was Lisa?!

Vlad could hear shuffled walking behind him, but he did not turn, he continued to stare at the remains of Lisa's home. 

            "Are you Mr Tepes?" asked the person from behind. 

Vlad glances over his shoulder at the old woman who held a basket of food and flowers. 

Vlad felt his cold terror boil into anger, "What happened here?" his voice was low and threatening. 

             "The church came to burn Lisa Tepes as a witch," responded the woman, she opened her mouth to say something else but Vlad cut her off.

             "Where is she?" Vlad practically hissed as the old woman. Lisa was supposed to be here. Her locket was here, Vlad could sense its magic. Vlad couldn’t smell burnt flesh, but if Lisa was burnt entirely to ash then Vlad wouldn’t be able to smell her even if he stood right next to her burnt bones. But she couldn’t be dead. Vlad would know. He would feel it . She had to be alive. 

The old woman narrowed her eyes at Vlad, "Are you her husband?"

             "I am," said Vlad, “Where is my wife?”

             "She's heading to your home. She told me to tell you that she was heading there," replied the woman. 

Some of Vlad’s anger died, "Is she unharmed?"

             "Last I saw of her she was alive and seemed well. It was dark so I couldn’t see too much. She was leaving in the dead of night after I saw the church go to her home. She was with a young man too."

Was Adrian with Lisa? He was due to leave soon, maybe he visited Lisa early. 

             "The young man, what did he look like?"

             "Tall, dark hair, scruffy-looking. I don't know who he is. I've never seen him before. But I heard rumours in town, they're calling him 'the witch's brute'. I heard he attacked some of the church's men who visited Lisa last night. They're setting a stake up in Targoviste for him too," said the woman.

That was definitely not Adrian and Vlad didn't recognise the description. Who else would help Lisa?

             "Did Lisa seem distressed while with this man?" asked Vlad.

             "No, he seemed like a kind young man. I think he was escorting her. I don't think he's on good terms with the church. He warned me to be careful of them." 

Vlad was uncertain how he felt about that last comment. He had no love for the church, but he wanted to know what the man had done that would get him on bad terms with the church. Not that it had to be much since apparently healing people meant the church considered you a witch. 

             “Where did you last see them?” asked Vlad. 

             “Near the outskirts on the south side of town,” replied the woman. 

             “For you, I will do one act of kindness. A warning,” said Dracula as he stepped closer to the women, rising up to his full height, “If I do not find my wife alive I will bring Hell to Wallachia. I will bring Hell to this Earth and I will tear it apart. No more will I be a man, not while my wife is in danger. If the church has harmed her they will know my fury,” Vlad looked directly into the old woman’s eyes and saw her recall in fear. 

His eyes were completely red as smoke drifted off his shoulders. In a flash Vlad was gone, racing to the edge of town hoping to catch his wife’s scent. He needed to find her. He needed to make sure she was safe. 

Vlad searched the entirety of the south side of town but he couldn’t catch Lisa’s scent. Between the many hours, it had been since she left, the morning dew and the light rain that Vlad had followed into town he wasn’t able to track her. This is why Vlad gave Lisa the enchanted locket, so he could find her when she was in danger. 

Vlad let out a snarl of frustration. 

There were other ways to find Lisa though. For one there was Adrian, who was a better tracker than Vlad. If Adrian wasn’t with Lisa then there was a chance he was still at the castle. 

Vlad rightened his posture and prepared to transport himself back to the castle. 

             “Hey, you! We saw you skulking around over there! What do you think you’re doing?” asked some insignificant ignorant man in robes. Church robes. 

Vlad’s eyes glanced at the insignificant man and his companions, all men of God it seemed. 

Vlad saw that there were a few priests in town when he passed through to his wife’s home. It all made sense why they were here now. 

             “You better answer me right now!” the insignificant man spoke up again after all Vlad did was glance at them. 

             “You are looking for Lisa Tepes correct?”

             “Yes, we’re looking for that witch. Did you see where she went? Or did you see her brute?” 

Vlad’s eyes narrowed, “And when you find her, what exactly will you do to her?” 

The insignificant, foolish, pathetic man spoke up with a large grin, “She’ll be brought to Targoviste to stand trial and burn for her crimes as a witch.” 

In a flash Vlad inches from the man looming over him, “That is my wife you speak of. She cures your ills, and cares for your pathetic lives. Yet you intend to kill her for it,” said Vlad as he slowly reached out his hands and brushed his knife-sharp nails under the man’s jaw. The man was frozen in place but shook like a fragile autumn leaf, “Maybe I should burn you instead and put you on stakes outside my castle. Lisa would hate it, but then you would not harm her, and any who live will know better.” 

The other three men finally did something. One crumpled to the ground cowering in fear, one pulled out a gleaming short sword, and the other screamed, “Satan!” 

Vlad tightened his grip on the first man, holding him by his throat, “I am not Satan, I am Vlad Dracula Tepes, and you tried to kill my wife .”

Vlad only killed one of the pathetic priests, the one who was already in his grasp. Vlad scared the others till they shit themselves. One was also missing an eye, and another was missing a hand, but so long as they got proper medical attention then they would live. 

However, the foolish priests had just run their best doctor out of town. They would likely die of their injuries. Vlad made sure to leave one unmarked, aside from thin shallow scratches from Vlad gently scraping his nails down the man’s face. Then Vlad left in a surge of fire while the living priests watched in horror. 

Vlad was pacing the entrance to his castle. He wanted to head out to find Lisa. It had been a full day since he found that she was missing, but he had to wait. She was on her way. Or at least that is what the old woman told him. The woman could have been lying. Vlad growled. If the woman lied he would track her down and make her life living hell while she begged for him to end it. But Lisa was alive, Vlad knew it. His soulmark wasn’t greyed out, which meant that Lisa was at least alive. 

Vlad stopped and tried to centre himself, he had to trust Lisa. She wasn’t dead yet. Vlad had sent Adrian out to Lupu to track whatever remained of her scent while Vlad had gone to Targoviste just to be sure that Lisa wasn’t there. He stayed quiet while he was there and left quickly when he found no trace of her. He would go back to deal with the church at a later date for what they tried to do to his wife. 

Vlad now had to wait. He could look for her, but he didn’t know where she would be. Vlad did laps around the castle. Vlad had tried to look for her with his distance mirrors but he was a fool and didn’t exempt his own mirror from the obscuring spell he put on Lisa to protect her from other vampires. Vlad would have to rectify his mistake as soon as Lisa was home. As soon as he was sure she was safe. After he’d held her. 

As soon as the sun had set Vlad was outside scouting around the castle. He paid extra attention to the direction Lisa would be coming from if she came from Lupu. 

After a few laps Vlad would go back inside the castle and make sure Lisa didn’t slip past him and into the castle. Then Vlad would nervously pace in the castle foyer. He repeated this process a few times until a few hours after midnight. That’s when he heard it. 

             “-e should see it soon.”

The voice, it sounded like Lisa. 

There was the sound of slow dragging steps and Lisa’s own lighter steps. 

Vlad felt the tension leave his chest and he let out a breath that he didn’t need, and that he didn’t even know he was holding. 

             “There it is,” said Lisa softly.

 Vlad raced down the stairs. 

             “Oh thank god,” said an unknown voice, “You’re safe now.” 

The strange voice caused Vlad to hesitate for half a second before he realised Lisa was out there with an unknown, who for some reason sounded like they truly wanted Lisa safe. 

             “Treff!” called Lisa just after Vlad heard a thump of something heavy hitting dirt. 

Vlad pushed the great doors open and flew all the way to Lisa. 

             “Lisa!”

Lisa had only a moment to see Vlad before he scooped her up and held her close. 

Vlad glanced at the man on the ground and recognised he was no threat, he smelt of sickness and dirt, not to mention he was definitely unconscious. Vlad buried his nose in Lisa’s hair just taking in her unique smell. It was a soft smell of lilies and sterile medical equipment. It was her. 

Lisa’s hand brushed just above his heart, where his soulmark was. It was a soothing gesture that Lisa had done so many times to calm Vlad down. 

             “Vlad,” Lisa breathed and Vlad could hear the smile in her voice, “I’m alright Vlad. Please let me down.”

Vlad just clutched Lisa a little tighter to him. 

             “Vlad please, I am perfectly fine, you can assess me yourself if you let go enough to make it possible.” 

Lisa’s other hand gently brushed against his cheek and caressed it.  

That got Vlad to loosen his grip a little. 

             “Put me down please, I have to help him. He’s sick,” said Lisa gently. 

             “I don’t care,” said Vlad with a slight growl in his voice. No humans mattered. Only Lisa. 

             “Vlad,” her voice was stronger this time, “He risked his life for mine. He saved me. If Treff hadn’t come along I would have been taken and burnt at the stake.” 

At the mention of Lisa’s possible death, Vlad clutched to her tighter. But he looked over her head at the man lying on his back in the dirt. 

Vlad took in another deep breath of Lisa’s scent then slowly released her and gently let her feet touch the ground once again. 

Lisa looked up at Vlad with a soft look that made his heart melt. Lisa leaned up on her tiptoes and Vlad bent down knowing what she was doing. Lisa planted a small kiss on his cheek. 

             “Thank you,” she said, “Can you help me get him inside, please? I’m afraid as Treff pointed out yesterday he is in fact too heavy for me to carry.” 

Vlad gave Lisa a kiss on the crown of her head, “Of course, my dear,” he said before he moved over to scoop up the foul-smelling man.

After depositing the man in a guest bedroom not far from Lisa’s lab Vlad was tasked with collecting Lisa’s equipment, hot water and towels. By the time Vlad had gotten back Lisa had stripped the man of everything except his pants, which was in a messy pile on one of the chairs. Lisa was checking the man’s pulse and Vlad saw a glimpse of a large burn that stretched from elbow to wrist on the man’s inner arm. 

             “Good, you’re back. Please put the water and towels on the bedside table and please pass me my bag,” said Lisa not looking up. 

Vlad put his wife’s medical bag next to her on the bed before clearing the bedside table near Lisa and placing the large bowl of hot water and the towels on it. 

             “Is there anything else you would like me to do?” asked Vlad as he looked over Lisa’s shoulder while she pulled out her stethoscope and listened to the man's lungs and heart. 

             “No thank you. I will be fine from here. But if you would be so kind as to tell Adrian that I am fine and inform him that we have a guest I would be grateful.” 

             “Adrian is not here,” Vlad informed. 

Lisa suddenly stopped and turned sharply to face her husband, “Where is Adrian?”

Vlad looked away from Lisa’s intense gaze, “I sent him to find you. An old woman told me that you were coming home, but I couldn’t trust her and I couldn’t track you. So I sent Adrian to track you. He should be home soon. By tomorrow evening I expect.” 

Lisa held still for a few moments before she sighed, “Well I’m glad you at least got my message, and I am sure Adrian can handle himself.”

             “He will be fine,” assured Vlad as he placed a hand on Lisa’s shoulder. 

Lisa leaned into him, resting her head against his side, “It was close Vlad, it was far too close. I wish they would simply understand. Then they wouldn’t be so afraid, and I wouldn’t have to be so worried. About any of us.” 

Trevor woke up groaning. Everything ached. Why did he let his cold get this bad? 

Wait, the doctor. Right. 

Trevor slowly opened his eyes and sat up. He was shirtless and without his leather bracers. Immediately Trevor was self-conscious about it. He had scars that he didn’t want anyone to see. 

Pushing that thought aside Trevor realised that he was in a large bedroom and on a soft bed. The room was well furnished in reds and golds. Trevor spotted his belongings in a messy pile on a chair to his right, currently out of reach. There was someone else in the room, a tall man with black hair standing by the window near the chair. 

Trevor didn’t get a good chance to look at the person because his lungs suddenly decided they wanted to be outside of his body. Trevor was doubled over with the force of his coughing fit. 

             “It's best to sit back,” suggested the man and Trevor felt cold fingers brush his shoulder.

Trevor immediately twisted away out of a potential grip. With that move, Trevor came face to face with red eyes, pale skin, fangs and pointed ears. Trevor’s heart lurched.

             “Here, I have something that will soothe your throat,” said the vampire holding out a porcelain mug. 

Trevor scrambled back, “No! I don’t want anything from you!” Trevor snarled. Trevor scanned the room for anything that could be used to defend himself. His belongings were behind the vampire, he’d need to find something else. If he could delay the vampire long enough then he might be able to get his short sword or whip. Suddenly Trevor realised that the room wasn’t lit by candles but glowing lights. 

Shit.

Shit!

Fuck!

The vampire’s gaze hardened, “Very well, I will get Lisa.” said the vampire as he started to move around the bed towards the door with superhuman grace. 

The name was a jolt through Trevor’s system. Trevor stepped in front of the vampire. In front who could only be fucking Dracula. 

             “No! Leave her alone!” Trevor roared. But any intimidation he gained was immediately ruined by another coughing fit racking his entire chest. Trevor clutched his chest, not being able to breathe. 

Shit, this was it. Dracula was going to kill him right here right now. 

Trevor’s coughing fit passed and Dracula was still standing exactly where he was before. Trevor started to righten himself when the doors to the bedroom were pushed open. Lisa stepped inside wearing different clothes, holding a tray of hot water and a pile of cloth. 

Trevor stepped straight in front of Lisa with his back to her while he tried to stare Dracula down. Just his fucking luck. 

             “Doctor, stay back. Get out of here now. Go!” Trevor shouted the last part when she didn’t move. 

Doctor Lisa put the tray down on the ground and gently put a hand on Trevor’s bare shoulder, “Treff, it’s alright.”

             “No, it’s not. You need to leave now. It’s not safe here.” said Trevor then he glanced over his shoulder at Lisa, “Please, go. You need to get to your husband's, you need to get somewhere safe.” 

             “You brought me here Treff. Or as close as you could manage before you passed out.”

Trevor’s eyes widened, “No,” he croaked, “I, I’d never lead someone here. I’d never bring someone here to die,”

             “It's ok Treff,” said Lisa as she looked him in the eyes with so much reassurance, “This place is safe. You brought me here to my husband. Thank you,” said Lisa with such a gentle smile. 

             “Your husband?” Trevor repeated. 

             “Yes, this-” started Lisa as she walked around Trevor towards the vampire who was just standing there. 

Trevor quickly grabbed her sleeve and stopped her from getting close. He was desperate, this was a vampire, this was Dracula . And Trevor could barely do anything, he was struggling to stand, he couldn’t fight like this. 

Dracula narrowed his eyes and leaned closer to Trevor. 

Lisa gently pried Trevor’s fingers away and squeezed them in her hand before she dropped them and closed the distance between her and Dracula, wrapping her hand around his waist, “This is my husband, Vlad.”

Her husband? A vampire? He was her soulmate?

Trevor couldn’t think, he couldn’t process that sweet, kind, gentle Doctor Lisa was married to Dracula. She was Dracula’s wife. She was Dracula's soulmate. 

What the fuck kind of messed up shit had Trevor walked into this time?

Trevor backed up until he reached a wall, his legs didn’t want to hold him anymore, but they were nice enough to let him slide down the wall rather than completely collapse to the ground. Trevor let the back of his head hit the wall and looked up at the ceiling. 

             “You’re Dracula’s wife,” Trevor whispered. It wasn’t quite enough because both Dracula and Lisa looked at him. 

             “What makes you say that?” asked Dracula coldly as he put a seemingly protective arm around his wife. 

             “With my luck, why the fuck not. God’s shat in my dinner so many times I barely know what anything else is like anymore.” 

Dracula let out a soft snort. 

             “Does he hurt you?” Trevor asked quietly. If he was going to die here then he wanted to know.

Trevor felt Dracula’s sharp glare. 

             “No,” said Lisa softy, “Vlad never has and never will,” 

Trevor let out a huff, “Then he is a good husband, and a hell of a lot better than some.” 

Lisa smiled softly at her husband, whose scowl had died. “I know,” said Lisa.  

             “Knowing what you do now would you still have saved my wife?” asked Dracula. 

             “Vlad!” Lisa hissed as she tugged at her husband. Dracula was so much taller than her, but he bent to her as a flower bent for the sun. 

             “I need to know Lisa,” replied Dracula. 

Trevor let out a breath, “I-,” Trevor's voice cracked so he cleared his throat and tried again, “I don’t know,” Trevor looked at Lisa, “Do you really just want to help people? You don’t steal people away in the night or leach them dry for your husband?”

Lisa looked appalled and offended, “Of course not!” said Doctor Lisa with righteous fury. 

Trevor let out a soft chuckle as his head hit the wall again, “Then yes, I guess I would. You were trying to help people. You don’t deserve to burn.” 

             “Then you have my thanks for saving my wife from the corrupt church,” said Dracula with a sincerity that Trevor did not expect. 

             “Hey, all it takes for the rise of corruption and evil is for ordinary people to do nothing,” said Trevor, “I could never be one of those people who stand and watch.”

Dracula looked at Lisa, but Trevor missed the look. God, he was so tired. Dracula thanked him, so he probably wasn’t going to kill him. Right? Then again it was Dracula so who knew. 

Trevor couldn’t stay awake anymore, his eyes slipped shut and the sounds of a muted conversation drained away.  

             “I like this human, he understands what should be done,” said Vlad looking a little satisfied. 

Lisa sighed, “Now is not the time for this conversation Vlad.” 

             “Now is the perfect time for this conversation. He is unconscious again,” said Vlad as he gestured to the man slumped against the wall. 

Lisa turned her disapproving glare on him, “And you are just going to let a guest in your home sleep on the floor?”

Vlad avoided Lisa’s gaze, “No.” 

Lisa raised an eyebrow at her husband when he glanced back at her. 

Vlad stepped forward and scooped up Treff before laying him down gently in the bed. 

             "Thank you, my dear," said Lisa with her soft loving smile.

Vlad stepped away and let Lisa check Treff again.

             "I am glad that he woke up, but he needs to stop pushing himself so much. We were travelling through the woods when he should have been resting. And even then he barely let himself have any rest during our journey,” explained Lisa.  

             "And yet, he managed to get you here," responded Vlad.

Lisa scoffed, "Only just. He passed out practically on your doorstep, remember."

Vlad hummed as he walked around the bed to the chair with the Treff’s belongings on, "I do. Still, I am grateful to him, and there are no better hands than yours for his recovery."

Lisa blushed a little at the praise from her husband before she cleared her throat, “Still he will need to be monitored. His cold is so much worse now that has pushed himself to the point of exhaustion too.” 

Vlad started picking at Treff’s belongings while Lisa once again checked Treff’s heart and lungs. 

Suddenly Vlad flinched back holding a hand close to his chest. It was the hand he was picking at Treff’s belonging with. 

Lisa immediately looked up, “Vlad, what is it?” she asked with concern in her voice. It was unlike her husband to flinch back for anything. She had seen him spill boiling water on his hands and merely frown at it. 

             "The man's whip is consecrated," said Vlad in a low tone.  

             "His whip is consecrated?" Lisa repeated, the surprise in her voice was obvious. 

             “I was wondering how he was able to identify me. Not as a vampire, but as Dracula. His consecrated whip shows that he has some knowledge of the creatures of the night. You said he was a hunter correct?" inquired Vlad. 

             "Yes," said Lisa feeling a little uneasy knowing what consecrated weapons could do to her husband and her son, “But I thought he was just a regular hunter. He certainly implied himself to be, not to mention he caught us some rabbits.”

             “It seems that he may have left out a few of the creatures he hunts,” said Vlad as he continued to pick through Treff’s belongings, lifting his tunic to look at the weapons underneath. 

Lisa saw a flash of gold on the back of the tunic, “Vlad, there’s something on the back of his shirt.”

Vlad turned the back of the tunic to Lisa while he peered over the top. 

Lisa took in a sharp breath. 

It was the Belmont crest that was stitched into the back of his tunic. 

Lisa looked over at the young man who had been raised to kill her husband, son and other beings like them. His breath was laboured, his skin was pale and sweat formed on his brow. 

This man clearly had no idea who Lisa was when they first met, but he knew who her husband was, and even then he confessed that he would still save her even once he knew who she was. 

A Belmont had saved her life. It was a far different meeting that she thought she’d have with a Belmont. 

Lisa looked at her husband, who clearly had a similar thought process. 

             “A Belmont,” he hissed, “Of course a fucking Belmont would be the one to help you. Of course, a Belmont would happen to be the only human decent enough to actually provide help.” 

             “I’m glad he did, otherwise I don’t think I’d be here,” Lisa tried to soothe her husband, whose brow had furrowed slightly. 

Vlad closed his eyes and tightened his grip on the shirt, “We need to tell Adrian.”

             “No,” said Lisa instantly. 

             “Lisa,” said Vlad firmly. 

             “No Vlad, we don’t know that he’s the right one,” said Lisa. 

Vlad locked eyes with Lisa, “Lisa, you’ve seen his scars, it’s too much of a coincidence. He is a Belmont and his scars are in the correct spot.”

             “Yes, but we don’t know, ” insisted Lisa. 

             “I doubt there is another Belmont out there,” said Vlad, “I only ever heard a couple of rumours that there was a Belmont alive after the family was wiped out, and I haven’t heard any more for years. We only know that one is still alive because of Adrian’s soulmark.” 

Lisa let out a soft sigh, “It’s not our business Vlad. Adrian will figure it out himself and find them both. Even if this is the Belmont he still needs to meet a Speaker.”

Lisa saw the look in Vlad’s eye and cut him off before he could speak, “And no you will not bring every Speaker on the continent to him. You will let it happen naturally. They are all meant to find each other, so they will.”  

Vlad sensed the exact moment Adrian crossed the threshold of the castle. 

             “Adrian’s here,” said Vlad, and not even a minute later the door to the guest bedroom was flung open. 

             “Mother!” said Adrian, his hair was wilder than normal and his eyes were wide. 

Lisa sat smiling on the bedside, “Hello Adrian.” 

There was no time for more words as Adrian flung himself at Lisa, and folded himself around her in a tight hug. Lisa rubbed Adrian’s back making soothing sounds. 

             “I was so worried about you,” Adrian whispered. 

Lisa gently hushed him, patting his hair, “Fear not, I am perfectly fine. I could use a shower, but that’s hardly a concern,” Lisa said with a light chuckle.  

Adrian huffed out a small laugh. 

Vlad came up behind Adrian and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. Adrian didn’t look up, but a hand snuck up and laid itself on top of Vlad’s. 

They all stood like that for a while and Vlad could hear the soft breathing of Lisa and Adrian. The Belmont was also breathing, which ruined the moment, but Vlad was somewhat glad that he was still breathing. 

             “Who’s this fucking half dead piece of shit?” asked Adrian looking over his mother’s shoulder at the Belmont. 

             “Adrian!” Lisa scolded immediately. 

Adrian averted his gaze, “Sorry but he does smell like shit,” 

Lisa’s glare was firm but Adrian wasn’t looking at her, “He saved my life.”

Adrian’s eyes snapped to his mother, “He did?”

             “Yes, and you will be polite to him. He has done nothing but help me and shown me kindness,” explained Lisa. 

             “Of course mother,” said Adrian like a proper gentleman. 

Lisa let out a sigh, “I swear you and your father are so alike sometimes.” 

Vlad and Adrian exchanged a glance. 

             “I will be caring for him with your fathers help over the next few days till he is well enough to leave the room. Please don’t bother him till I say that he can have visitors.”

             “I’ll only enter if he needs help or at your request,” said Adrian. 

             “Thank you,” said Lisa before she stood up and offered a hand and a smile to Adrian, “Come, let’s get you something to eat.”

Slowly Trevor started to drift into consciousness. Trevor was just debating whether to open his eyes or roll over and go back to sleep when someone gently grabbed Trevor’s left wrist, fingers brushing his burn scar. 

Trevor shot up and snatched his hand away from the attacker. His wrist was tucked in close to his chest as Trevor reached for the knife he always kept on his belt. But his belt wasn’t there. Trevor blinked and realised he was practically snarling at Doctor Lisa who had backed up from the bed and held up her hands. Her non-threatening demeanour was offset by Dracula who was lurking just over her shoulder and glaring sharply at Trevor. 

             “I, I’m sorry. You startled me,” confessed Trevor. 

Doctor Lisa gave a gentle smile, “No, I apologize, that was my fault, I thought you were asleep. I just wanted to test your resting pulse,” said Doctor Lisa as she pointed to her wrist with one hand, “I mean you no harm.”

             “I know,” said Trevor quietly. 

Doctor Lisa gestured to the side of the bed silently asking if she could sit. 

Trevor nodded and Lisa approached and sat down slowly along the middle of the edge of the bed. Dracula stood near the foot of the bed looking over the top of his wife to watch Trevor. 

             “Has your heart rate settled?” 

             “Yes,” said Trevor cycling through another deep breath, “I think so.” 

Lisa smiled her gentle smile, “May I take your pulse?” asked Doctor Lisa as she held out a hand, the other strangely, held what looked like a small clock. 

Trevor looked at her waiting hand. It was a gentle caring hand, and Trevor knew that. Trevor gripped his left wrist. 

             “No.” 

Doctor Lisa tilted her head, “It won’t hurt I promise. I am just measuring your heartbeat. The wrist is the least invasive and one of the most effective ways to do so,” explained the good doctor.  

Trevor took in a shaky breath and gripped his wrist even tighter, deliberately not looking at Lisa or Dracula. 

             “I’m sorry but no. I, I can’t.” Trevor barely tolerated it when people touched his forearms while he was wearing his leather braces. No one would ever touch his forearms or wrists again. No one was touching the scars that destroyed Trevor’s soulmarks. 

Doctor Lisa dropped her waiting hand, her gaze filled with sympathy, while Dracula’s lost its hard edge. 

             “Is there another way?” asked Trevor quietly. 

             “Yes, there is another pulse point under the jaw, if that is alright with you.”

Trevor grunted, “Better than the wrist,” before tilting his head to the side to allow Doctor Lisa to gain easy access. Trevor was very much aware of the fact that he was baring his neck while a vampire was only a couple of metres away. Trevor looked at Dracula while his wife felt the pulse point under his jaw. 

             “I am just measuring this for a minute,” explained Doctor Lisa. 

Trevor gave another small grunt not wanting to move in case he messed it up for the doctor. 

While waiting Trevor looked at Dracula. Dracula’s gaze seemed to have lost all of its hostility, which surprised Trevor. Both men just looked at each other without any hostility. A Belmont and Dracula sort of getting along? Bloody Hell God really did like to mess with Trevor. 

It wasn’t long before Doctor Lisa pulled away. 

             “You’re making good progress. Another day of bed rest and I think you will be well enough to walk around and get some fresh air.” 

             “Then I’m good enough to keep moving,” said Trevor as he sat back against the bedrest. He felt well enough now but definitely needed another day to be well enough for a fight. 

Doctor Lisa put on her scowl, “Absolutely not! You passed out because you strained yourself too much. As your doctor, I am telling you that you will stay here for another week at least . Then if I deem you fit to leave, you may.” 

Trevor straightened, “Yes ma’am.” 

Lisa’s gaze softened. 

             “May I ask how you got them?” she asked so gently as she gestured to Trevor’s forearms. 

Trevor snorted, “The perks of being excommunicated,” said Trevor with a slightly bitter tone, folding his arms to hide the large burn scars. 

Lisa’s eyes widened while Dracula’s eyes flashed red. 

             “When?” asked Lisa quietly. 

             “Fifteen. Some people of the church found me and figured out I was excommunicated. And since marks are considered a gift from God I was deemed unworthy to have them,” Trevor wasn’t sure why he was spilling his secrets to Dracula. Trevor understood Lisa, she was a mother and reminded him of his own with the feeling of comfort and care she gave off. Besides, she asked nicely.  

             “Animals!” Dracula snarled. 

Trevor tensed and prepared for anything. His whip and sword were still sitting on the chair. Could he reach them in time? Dracula was on the opposite side of the bed this time, there might be a chance. 

             “They’re all animals!” Dracula snarled as he started pacing the end of the bed. 

             “Vlad,” Lisa snapped, looking at her husband. 

Dracula turned to his wife, “Look at what they did to a child!”

Trevor’s face twitched, “I’m not a child.” 

             “But at the time you were,” said Dracula, his furious gaze landing on Trevor for a few moments. 

Trevor’s face scrunched up but he didn’t deny it. It was the truth after all.  

             “They are animals! All of them!” 

Lisa stared down her husband's fury, “No, they’re not,” she responded cooly. 

Dracula stared at Lisa, anger still in his eyes and holding his shoulders taunt. 

Lisa gestured to Trevor and, surprisingly, Dracula's temper seemed to fade a little. 

             “You have given me an example of the exception, not the rule,” said Dracula. 

             “Oh, so you’ve met every person in the world then? Did this happen during your travels? You have given each and every one an opportunity for kindness?” 

Dracula’s eyes narrowed, “No, however, I have seen plenty of examples of cruelty.” 

             “What about kindness? A person that said ‘hello’ on the streets or smiled at you?”

             “Not many people smile at me, dear,” sneered Dracula with his fangs on display. 

Trevor felt like he shouldn’t be here, this seemed to be a domestic affair that most certainly should not involve the last Belmont. 

             “What about Mrs Gjuvara?”

Dracula frowned, “Who?”

             “The woman who told you where I was going. She didn’t have to, in fact, it was a risk to herself and her family for her to mention anything to do with me. However, she did it for me, and by extension you.” 

             “That is still the exception.” 

             “Look, this is wonderful listening to this all, but, uh, I don’t think you really want a guest listening to your, uh, marriage debates,” said Trevor feeling extremely awkward watching the argument unfold.  

Lisa blinked, “Of course, I apologise,” said Lisa to Trevor before she turned to Dracula, “We will be continuing this outside once I’ve given Treff a full checkup.” 

             “Yes, dear,” said Dracula with a look Trevor couldn’t place, maybe fondness? 

Lisa finished her checkup, listening to his lungs with a strange device the doctor called a stethoscope and Trevor answering any questions Doctor Lisa had. It didn’t take long, which Trevor was glad for because he was feeling drained. As soon as Lisa and Dracula left Trevor lay down and listened to the muffled conversation through the door. The conversation got quieter and quieter as Lisa and Dracula moved away from the door. 

Trevor slowly closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep thinking, I’m sleeping in Dracula’s fucking home and I probably won’t be drained in my sleep. What the Hell was God even thinking? 

With the door to the Belmont’s room firmly closed and Adrian out on a daylight stroll, Vlad spoke freely. 

             "His scars cover his soulmarks," said Valid, "He has two and they are in the same spot as Adrian's, "He is the Belmont."

             "You have a theory, you don't know ," Lisa stressed as she walked alongside her husband into her lab.

             "But the facts match up," said Vlad as he helped Lisa put her equipment away. 

             "Yes, but we still don't know who's soulmarks he had. And we can hardly ask him if he had the symbol of a speaker, and I'd don't know, one of our sons favourite toys or something."

             "The likelihood of another Belmont being alive out there is slim to none," said Vlad as he and Lisa strolled back into the hallway. 

             "But not zero. And we can't ask him if there's other Belmont's alive out there either. You're Dracula, he's not going to tell you, and I doubt he will tell me since you're my husband. Vlad, we can't say anything. I don't want to give false hope to Adrian. But if I'm wrong, and I am very likely to be wrong, and Treff is Adrian’s soulmate, then they'll have some time to spend together while Treff is here. They can get to know each other without ‘destiny pressuring them into anything."

             “Fine, I will not say anything,” said Vlad, “But only so they can spend time together. He better not hurt Adrian.”

Lisa stopped and tugged at Vlad’s collar. He bent down and Lisa gave him a soft kiss on the corner of his mouth, “Thank you, my dear. I’m sure Treff will be lovely,” Lisa had a glint in her eye that suggested the Belmont might be something other than ‘lovely’. 

             “I will be in my study,” said Vlad as he started moving in the direction of the room, “I have maps I must learn.”

             “Oh do you? And what are these maps of?” asked Lisa with a curious smile as she followed. 

             “The church.”

Lisa’s eyes narrowed and she spoke with a note of warning, “Vlad.”

             “Yes, my dear,” said Vlad with a knowing smile. 

             “Why are you studying those maps?” 

Vlad’s hand rose as he spoke, “Well, the church has offended me,” said Vlad casually. 

             “Vlad I’m fine,” said Lisa strongly. 

             “But you almost weren't. They tried to kill you, Lisa. They almost succeeded. If not for a Belmont, of all people, you would be dead,” said Vlad with a more serious tone to his voice. 

             “The church are a bunch of old people stuck in their ways. They simply need to learn,” explained Lisa. 

             “How can you teach them when they will not listen? You came to me because you wanted to learn. Those humans out there do not want to. They would rather roll in the mud and call it a safe happy home.” 

             “I know Vlad,” said Lisa with a sigh, and before she could add anything else to the remark Vlad barreled on. 

             “And you are the unsuccessful attempt of the church dealing out their righteous glory. I am sure you are not the only person they wished to falsely burn as a witch. They killed the Belmonts because they were accused of practising dark magic, and removed this Belmont’s soulmarks,” Vlad’s temper was rising, “If they did such a thing to you I would tear them limb from limb and leave them alive enough to watch. If that Belmont is who we think he is, then they did that to Adrian’s soulmate. It is not something I will tolerate, or leave unpunished.”

Lisa put a hand on Vlad’s shoulder and he stopped, “Vlad,” said Lisa with a gentle voice. 

             “No Lisa I will not let this go, I cannot let this go. They almost killed you. If you had died then I, I don’t know how I’d continue on,” said Vlad, “They tried to put judgment on you when there was no judgment to be had. Now, they will be judged in return.”

             “If you wish to judge them then wait. Until we find out if Treff is truly Adrian’s soulmate,” Lisa looked saddened, “If he is and if you still wish to judge the church then you should include them, especially Treff. The church has caused him the most harm.” 

Vlad cupped Lisa’s face, “Lisa.”

             “I do not like this. I do not want it and I do not condone it, but if you wish to seek retribution then I cannot stop you.” 

             “I would rather do it with your approval,” said Vlad.

             “You will not get my approval for this and you know it. I will never agree to let other humans be harmed so violently, as I know you wish to do.” 

Vlad pressed his forehead to Lisa’s, “For you, I will look into other ways of punishing them for their offence.” 

Lisa hugged Vlad around the waist, “Thank you.”

Chapter Text

Trevor had spent another day in bed recovering and sleeping. He still felt very lethargic, but at the same time itched to be out of this bed. Or have something to do at least. Trevor heaved himself out of the bed and lumbered over to the chair which held his belongings. Grabbing his weapons and cleaning supplies Trevor collapsed back onto the bed and started the soothing action of cleaning his weapons. Trevor fell back asleep partway through cleaning his arsenal. 

Which was how Lisa found him, lying against the headboard with a short sword in one hand and a rag in the other. Lisa gathered up the weapons and put them back on the chair before she checked Treff over again. He was getting better, but it was slow going. 

The next morning Lisa entered Trevor’s room to him sitting on the bed cleaning his short sword. Trevor had frozen like a rabbit in the vegetable patch staring at Lisa with the wide eyes of a person who knew they had been caught. 

            “Good morning Treff. I wonder how you managed to get that sword while staying in bed?”

Trevor averted his eyes and slowly laid down the sword, “I was bored and I was only up for a moment.” 

Lisa raised an eyebrow. 

            “I, uh, it relaxes me? I can’t sit still for long, but if I’m cleaning my weapons then I can stay in one place for a bit. And I know I should be staying here, so I’m trying to stay here,” rambled Trevor. 

Lisa let out a sigh, “Please don’t do it too much, you should be resting and sleeping.”

Trevor scratched the back of his scalp, “Yeah I know, but I wasn’t tired, so I did something easy and relaxing.” 

            “I suppose that is fine,” said Lisa, putting aside the tray of food and setting down her medical bag on the bed, “You are sleeping a lot more than I expected. I believe you will need another day or so to recover enough to be off bed rest.”

Trevor opened his mouth to speak but Lisa held up her hand. 

            “You were exhausted enough yesterday that you fell asleep in the middle of cleaning a weapon. Clearly, the trip has taken more of a toll on you than I originally thought. You need to recover some of your strength before you can even set foot outside this bedroom.”

            “Doctor, I really don’t think I can handle being cooped up much more,” said Trevor just before a coughing fit started and brought on a fresh wave of intensity for his headache. 

            “Treff, you saved my life and it is something that I am truly thankful for. So, please listen to me when I say that I am only trying to do what is best for you. I want you to recover quickly too, however, things like this do take time.”

Slumping back into the headboard Trevor let out a small sigh, “I hear you, Doctor. Thanks for looking after me.” 

A warm soft smile lit up Lisa’s face, “Your welcome Treff. It is the least I could do.” 

Trevor gave Lisa a nod. 

            “I have these for you,” said Lisa as she pulled a pile of clothes out of her bag and handed them to Trevor, “These are some clean clothes for you to wear. My husband had them lying around. I think they were from a guest he had here at least a few hundred years ago judging by the style.” 

Trevor looked down at the shirt, which was very aristocratic in its aesthetic, and definitely very much out of date, Trevor looked back to Lisa with a raised brow, “You think I know or care about fashion?” 

            “One can never be too careful,” said Lisa with a smug smile and a shrug. 

Trevor scoffed but slid the shirt on. It fit him relatively well. It was probably designed for someone a little larger than he was but it fit across the shoulders and he found that was always the hardest part. Trevor scowled down at the ruffled cuffs that slipped down past his wrist when he put his hand up. 

            “I’ll perform a check up then you can have some food.” 

            “Sounds good, I’m starving,” said Trevor as he shuffled under the bedding, turning his attention away from the shirt. 

            “Make sure to drink all of the tea, it will help soothe your symptoms,” instructed Lisa firmly. 

            “Yes, Doctor.”

The next day Lisa walked into Trevor’s room with a tall young man in a white shirt with black pants, carrying a tray of food and a cup of tea. The man looked very much like Lisa and Trevor could see hints of Dracula in his face. This was probably Lisa’s son. 

Trevor was sitting up in bed again, however, he’d only just woken up, so he wasn’t doing anything. 

            “Good morning Treff,”

            “Morning,” greeted Trevor, nodding to Lisa. 

Lisa placed down her medical bag and gestured to the man, “This is Adrian, my son. Adrian, this is Treff.” 

            “Pleasure to meet you,” said Adrian oh so politely. Trevor could see a hint of fangs when he spoke. Potentially a dhampir then. That was rare. 

            “You too,” grunted Trevor trying to use some manners in front of Lisa. 

Lisa nodded approvingly and Trevor was relieved that he wouldn’t receive her ‘mother glare’. 

Lisa ran through her checks quickly and efficiently while Adrian opened the curtains to let some sunlight in. He was definitely a dhampir if he could stand in the sun. There weren’t many records on dhampirs and Trevor’s knowledge of them was even more limited. 

Trevor kept half an eye on Adrian while Lisa did the medical examination. 

            “You are recovering nicely,” said Lisa, “If you want you should be able to walk around the castle soon. But only a small walk. Adrian or I can take you. If you are a stranger to the castle you can easily get lost.” 

            “Hey, if it means I can leave this bed for a bit then I’m happy for a guided walk.” 

Trevor would be happy for Lisa to do it, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to walk around this castle with Dracula’s son. Though Trevor wanted to walk through the castle with Dracula even less. But he would take it with Adrian so long as he could get out of this room. He was pretty sure this room was burned into his memory by now, even though it had only been a few days. 

            “I will keep giving you daily check ups. But you are recovering well,” said Lisa, “We’ll see if you are well enough for a small walk tomorrow morning. Adrian’s going to be bringing your meals from now on if that’s alright?” 

Trevor shrugged, “I don’t have a problem with that.”

He did, but he wasn’t going to say anything to Lisa. Trevor was not comfortable around any creatures of the night while he was sick. Not when he couldn’t do much to defend himself. 

But if he was Lisa’s son then he knew how to at least live with a human without eating them. And it was not like Lisa would let her son eat her guest anyway. Otherwise, Trevor would likely already be dead. It raked on him to be this close to a creature of the night while being civil. It was against everything he was taught and Trevor knew the dhampir was dangerous just by the way he moved.  

Though Lisa had been nothing but kind. Trevor just had to try and reassure his paranoia that it would be fine. 

Lisa collected her belongings and put them back into her bag, “I must leave now, but Adrian will stay to collect your tray, and if you have any book requests give them to my son, we have a large collection of books here that you may read, with a large variety of topics.”

            “Thank you, doctor,” said Trevor just before Lisa slipped through the door. 

Lisa smiled at both of the men before she closed the door. 

There was a beat of silence where Trevor looked straight at Adrian and Adrian unblinkingly looked back. 

            “You smell like shit,” said Adrian a few moments into their stare and only a few after Lisa had left. 

Trevor scoffed, it seemed like Adrian was only polite when he wanted to be, “I’d like to see you trek through the forest for two days and smell of more than piss, smoke and mud, your Highness.”

            “Your Highness?” asked Adrian with a raised brow. 

            “Yeah, Dracula is basically the king of vampires. So obviously you are a snobby prince.” 

Adrian didn’t look very impressed with that comment, “And you're a half-dead tramp,”

Trevor shrugged, “At least I’m not a bloody vampire,” 

            “I am a vampire. One who could easily drain you dry,” said Adrian standing up a little bit taller. 

            “I’d like to see you try it,” responded Trevor with a sharp grin. 

In a flash, Adrian was over Trevor, his fangs hovering near Trevor’s throat. 

            “Oh no, now I’ll smell of blood and guts too,” said Trevor with a smirk. 

Adrian glanced down to see a dagger held just below his ribcage, “You realise I could still rip your throat out.”

            “Yeah, you could. But you wouldn’t live to tell the tale,” replied Trevor, his smirk growing a little wider. 

Adrian slowly leaned away and stood by the bed gently brushing his long hair over his shoulder, “You’re not as shit as you look, but considering you look like death warmed over it’s not difficult to accomplish.” 

Trevor scoffed putting the dagger back under his pillow, “You remember that I am sick, right?” 

Adrian hummed, “With the way you moved your dagger you’re hardly as sick as you pretend to be.” 

            “What, don’t you trust your mother’s assessment?” asked Trevor, his grin was back in place. 

Adrian turned a sharp golden gaze to Trevor, “I trust her, I don’t trust you.” 

            “Then as much as I hate to say it, we’ve just found something we have in common.” 

Lisa walked into Vlad’s study with a small smile and a gleam in her eyes. 

Vlad paused in his studies of his map of Targovishte and narrowed his eyes slightly. 

            “I know that look, what did you do?” asked Vlad. 

            “I formally introduced Treff and Adrian,” said Lisa still with a smirk. 

Vlad raised an eyebrow, “It must be more than that for you to have that look.” 

Lisa walked up to his desk one hand skimming the edge as she continued to walk around it, “I may or may not have left them both alone with Adrian in charge of returning Treff’s plates to the kitchen. I have also said that tomorrow Treff can go on walks around the castle with either Adrian or me as an escort.”

Vlad leaned back in his chair as Lisa came around to his side of the desk, studying her expression, “You don’t intend on being available to escort the Belmont,” said Vlad giving an educated guess. 

            “I don’t intend on being available to escort him,” confirmed Lisa as she leaned against his desk next to where he sat, her smirk growing just that little bit wider.

            “I thought you said that we should let Adrian figure it out on his own?”

            “Yes we should, but to do that the two of them actually need to talk. We will not be telling Adrian about Treff or Treff about Adrian, but we can encourage them to talk,” said Lisa, the little smile back on her face. 

Vlad pushed his chair away from his desk and opened up his arms, immediately Lisa sat on his lap and he wrapped his arms around her, “But you said that he may not be the Belmont.” 

            “I also said I was likely to be wrong. Adrian will never find out if he is the right one if he never spends time with him.” 

Vlad hummed, “So we cannot tell them directly who they may or may not be, but we can engineer ways for them to spend time together?” 

            “Yes,” said Lisa as she settled further into his hold. 

            “Then let’s invite the Belmont to our family dinner. He is able to leave his room as of tomorrow, correct?” 

Lisa raised her eyebrows, “That is a very good suggestion. It will be good for him to not be cooped up much more. Treff is getting very restless. I will make sure Adrian brings him to dinner tomorrow night.” 

Vlad nodded, already planning ahead for tomorrow night’s dinner. Humans enjoyed having food presented to them, right? At least Lisa did, and fortunately, Adrian was the one in their family who had a small passion for cooking. Lisa knew how but often stuck to simple meals. Vlad made the meals until Adrian took over. Vlad was a good enough cook and put a decent amount of time into cooking, but he didn’t really eat food. He only really did it to join in with his family. As such Adrian was the one who primarily cooked their meals these days. Which would be a good way to win over the Belmont’s hearts. At least Vlad believed. He was sure he heard a human say ‘The way to a man's heart is through his stomach’ somewhere in his travels. Hopefully, this applied to the Belmont. 

A soft tap on his arm brought his attention back to his wife. 

            “And Vlad, regardless of if Treff is or is not the Belmont Adrian is looking for, he will always be welcome in this castle won’t he?” said Lisa though her tone indicated that it wasn’t a point to question or argue. Not that Vlad would. 

            “Because of what he did for you Lisa, always,” said Vlad as he gently brushed aside a lock of her hair.  

At lunchtime, Adrian came back, gave Trevor his lunch and literally dropped a book onto his bed. 

            “You didn’t give me any requests before so I took the liberty of picking one out for you. Enjoy,” Adrian said with a smirk, then he turned and swept out of Trevor’s room before another word could be said. 

Trevor ate a mouthful of food and then picked up the book. It was titled ‘Le Roman de Tristan’ by Béroul. Trevor’s French was rusty as fuck. He’d been taught it as a kid since some of Leon Belmont’s journals and handwritten bestiaries were in French, but Trevor hadn’t used the language since his family died. However, he knew enough to realise that this was the story of Tristan and Iseult.

            “That fucking vampire gave me a romance novel in French,” Trevor muttered as he looked over the book with a frown.  

Adrian made another appearance at dinner and Trevor only glanced up at him before he put the book down. Trevor was frustratingly only halfway through it. He could usually read much faster than this. He used to be able to read French faster than this but his lack of practice for about a decade made the words swim and Trevor doubted his understanding of the words. But he was getting it, it was just painfully slow. It was also the only thing to do in this room. He’d already cleaned all of his weapons, cleaned his leather bracers before immediately putting them back on, and folded all his clothes in an effort to hide the crest on the back of his shirt. There was bugger all to do since Trevor wasn’t allowed out of the room yet. If working his way through this book stopped him from pacing the room and getting scolded by Lisa then so be it. 

Adrian paused at the door and tilted his head, “Are you actually reading that or just pretending to? You know there are no pictures in there.”

            “Je parle français,” Trevor snapped back, his pronunciation was horrible and his grandmother would have rapped his knuckles for it, “Just not well.” 

Adrian’s eyebrow rose, “That was unexpected and mildly impressive. Your pronunciation is awful though.” 

Trevor flipped him the bird as he stood up and snatched the tray of food from Adrian, “Fuck you, I haven’t spoken it in ten years.” 

Trevor sat back down on the edge of the bed as a realisation came to him, “Wait did you give me a book in a language you thought I didn’t know?” 

Adrian smirked and shrugged. 

Trevor closed his eyes for a moment. No, it was not in his best interest to throw a dagger at Doctor Lisa’s son. Trevor let out a sharp breath and his eyes snapped to Adrian. 

            “You, are a fucking bastard.” 

Adrian let out a warm chuckle and for some reason, Trevor’s stupid cold decided to twist his insides at the exact moment he heard it. 

Adrian took a step towards Trevor and his long hair spilt forward over his shoulder, “And you are a little more interesting than this morning.” 

Christ, why did that man have such long hair?

            “When you’re finished you’ll have to tell me what you think of it,” said Adrian. 

            “I already know about it. It was my sister’s favourite story. A forbidden romance between Tristan and Iseult, a knight and a princess. Iseult is set to marry Tristan’s uncle but they find out that they’re soulmates on the journey over to Tristan’s Uncle’s. So they keep their romance a secret.” 

Mathia would rave about this story all the time. She’d read every version available, even the ones that were mixed in with the legends of King Arthur. 

            “Your sister has good tastes,” commented Adrian. 

            “She always wanted me to read it, I guess she finally got her wish,” said Trevor his voice becoming quieter as he looked over at the book, “She always was the best reader in our family and she wasn’t humble about it,” said Trevor trying to bring his thoughts away from the last memory of his sister. 

            “Is she humble now?” asked Adrian with an interested look. 

            “She bloody well wouldn’t be if she was alive. That I know. She’d be harping on about the fact that I’m finally reading this book.” 

Adrian’s expression fell from its interested look to something softer and sorrowful before it switched to a more neutral expression, “If you’re interested in other books that she has recommended we likely have them in one of the libraries.” 

Trevor appreciated Adrian not lingering on his sister’s passing or spouting the ‘sorry for your loss’ nonsense. Trevor didn’t want that. Not from a guy he hardly knew. It wouldn’t hold any real meaning behind it. 

            “Half of the books she read were in French and I don’t think I can handle more than one at a time. You got anything on local legends or battle strategies? I find that a little more interesting than romances.”

            “We have a few books on myths and legends from Wallacia and many from other countries. We also have several accounts on Roman, Chinese, English and Wallacian battles.” 

Trevor turned a half-surprised expression on Adrian, “Huh, yeah any of those would be good thanks.” 

            “I’ll bring some of those next time, or I’ll point them out if you visit the main library tomorrow,” said Adrian with a nod. He then scooped up the tray from lunch and walked to the door, “See you tomorrow Treff.” 

The door clicked softly closed after Adrian left. Trevor found himself watching the door for a few seconds after the man left before he brought his attention back to the food on his lap and the book at his side. Trevor would finish that book tonight. 

Lisa came in again the next morning and did another checkup. About halfway through that, Adrian came in with a tray of food and tea. He was wearing a black coat today. 

Lisa finished up her checkup with a soft pat on Trevor’s knee, “Congratulations, you are cleared to walk around the castle. Just walking though, nothing too physical. At the rate you’re recovering, you should be able to do some lighter physical activities in a couple of days.” 

Trevor tried not to look hopeful as he tentatively asked, “So I can do some training?” 

Lisa’s eyes narrowed the slightest bit but Trevor felt like she was staring into his soul, “What kind of training?”

            “Just some forms. They’re not too intensive,” said Trevor, trying to sound casual about it. 

Lisa’s eyebrow rose, “I don’t know Treff, that doesn't sound like light exercise.”

            “Please doctor, I need to get up and do something, I’ve got an itch and I need to move.”

Adrian scoffed, “That might be whatever insects you’ve dragged into the castle with you.” he said quietly, but not quietly enough to not be overheard. 

In an instant, Lisa’s glare was on Adrian and he sheepishly averted his gaze to the patterned wallpaper. 

            “You can walk around today,” said Lisa as she turned her attention back to Trevor. 

            “Doctor Lisa please I am a man of action, I don’t take well to being cooped up.” 

After a few moments of silence Lisa spoke up, “We’ll see how you are in a couple of days.” 

Trevor let out a loud groan and slid down into the bed, his hands covering his face, “I didn’t even keep this still when I broke my wrist and this is just a stupid bloody cold.” 

As if to punctuate that point the tickle in Trevor’s throat built up into a cough that he tried to keep covered and angled away from the good doctor. 

            “You broke your wrist?” asked Lisa, her voice neutral. 

Trevor quickly took his hands off his face and wiggled his left wrist around. God help him if the doctor wanted to check that too. 

            “It’s fine now, my parents wouldn’t let me train with it till it was good as new.” 

            “When was this?” asked Lisa looking less at Trevor’s wrist and more at him. 

            “I was ten I think? I got too cocky and fell out of a fucking tree,” answered Trevor. 

A little huff of laughter came from Adrian, it was so quiet Trevor almost didn’t hear it. But he did hear it and Trevor shot Adrian a sneer and silently dared him to actually say something. And he did. 

            “Of course, it was your cockiness that outdid you.” 

            “What? As if you’ve never done something stupid as a kid and gotten yourself hurt,” bit back Trevor, but they’re wasn’t as much bite as there could have been. 

Adrian grinned, showing just a hint of fang, “I can fly,” in a way of explanation. 

            “Well whoop-de-doo your Highness but most of us can’t fly,” Trevor snarked back.  

            “Well that’s your problem,” said Adrian with a slight shrug, the corners of his lips quirked upwards as he pushed some of his long hair behind his shoulder. 

            “I do know a few stories from Adrian’s childhood where he-”

            “Mother! Please, not in front of Treff,” said Adrian, his eyes wide and imploring.  

Lisa smiled and hummed, “Alright then, another time,” said Lisa as she packed her instruments up. 

            “Mother,” said Adrian, his voice a mix of warning and imploring. 

            “Adrian,” Lisa responded with a smug smile and closed her medical bag with a snap, “I have other things to tend to. Adrian, make sure you show Treff the main library and the baths, there will be clothes in there. Have fun you two,” she called over her shoulder as she got up and just fucking left the room. 

Adrian stared after his mother for a few moments before Trevor stood up and once again took the tray from the man’s hands. 

With a sigh Adrian moved to open up the curtains, tying them up neatly, and checking the view outside. Trevor half watched him move around the room, spotting him glancing at the closed book on the side table and then up at Trevor. Adrian then looked at Trevor’s pile of clothes, with the cloak sitting on top. In one fluent movement, Adrian snatched up the cloak and threw it directly at Trevor’s face as he was shovelling down porridge. Acting quickly Trevor grabbed it inches before his face, then lowered it to glare at the vampire. 

            “It’s cold outside and we don’t want you getting worse. You’ve lazed around enough.” 

            “Trust me I’ve had enough lying around too. If it were up to me I would have already left,” said Trevor scoffing down the last of his food and catching the boots that Adrian threw at him.  

            “Don’t eat so fast you’ll make yourself sick,” said Adrian with a scowl. 

Trevor just drained his tea in one go while shoving on a boot and staring straight back at Adrian.

Rolling his eyes Adrian took the tray off Trevor and held the door open for him.   

            “What did you think of the book?” asked Adrian when they were halfway down the hall. 

            “Eh, not really my thing. They got pulled together by God, destiny or whatever you want to call it and they got fucked over because of it.”

            “I thought it was a tragic story about two people who followed their hearts and destiny and went against the whole world to do so,” replied Adrian. 

Trevor snorted, “Yeah still not for me. I have the world against me already. I don’t need to read about people who have it good and still have people turn on them for who they’re bound to. It doesn't inspire confidence for when I meet mine, if I ever do,” the last part was only a little above a whisper. He probably wouldn’t meet them. Both of them were probably long dead knowing his luck. Trevor would never know if the Speaker and the Longsword were alive because of the stupid God damn burns. 

            “You have a soulmate?”

            “Most people do.” 

            “I wish you luck in finding them. I was about to set out to find mine when my father told me that my mother was missing.” 

Trevor hummed, “Oh yeah, Doctor Lisa told me about that. Said that you were preparing to set out and that you were going to drop by her place before you left.” 

            “Yes, well my trip has been delayed now. I’ll be heading off when you are gone and I am sure my mother is ok. And maybe once I ensure that my father won’t slaughter the entire church. But my mother should have that part well in hand.” 

Trevor’s worried eyes snapped to Adrian. 

            “Don’t look at me like that, you know he’s Dracula. My parents informed me of your knowledge on that matter. You are aware of the fact that the church tried to kill his wife. He will want vengeance. My mother should be able to stay his hand, or at least enough that only the person responsible will be punished.” 

Trevor’s nose wrinkled in disgust, the memory of that man made his skin crawl. The look he had in his eyes when Trevor first arrived, that wasn’t the look of a good priest of the church, “The fucking bishop.” 

            “Bishop? Which bishop?” questioned Adrian, fixing all his focus on Trevor with his golden eyes. 

            “I don’t give a rat’s arse about which bishop he is and we didn’t exactly stick around to chat,” replied Trevor. 

            “That is understandable,” said Adrian, “We are quickly dropping by the kitchen first but where would you like to go next? To the main library, the baths or outside?

            “Outside. I need to actually step outside or I am going to go batshit crazy,” said Trevor with his hands making a firm chopping motion at the end. 

What could have been the beginnings of a smile graced Adrian’s face, “Outside it is then. We can use the kitchen door.”

            “Lead the way,” Trevor said with a mock bow. Then he quickly straightened up as a barking cough shook through his chest. 

He was getting better, the tea helped, but he still felt the cold in his throat and his limbs. He should have more energy than this, he felt like he was running on half rather than full. But he could move well enough and his head wasn’t killing him anymore. The coughs though, they were keeping him up at night. It was better when he was sitting up, but lying down, no, God said ‘fuck you, you die’. Jokes on him though, Trevor Belmont wasn’t about to listen to God, not after all the shit he’d thrown Trevor’s way. He wasn’t going to be taken down like this, not from a fucking cold. 

Trevor looked at the paintings and the tall ceilings of the halls they walked through. It was strange to know that Castlevania was decorated with art and not just covered in the skins of Dracula’s enemies. 

            “Where is Dracula? I haven’t seen him in a few days.”

            “I believe he is studying maps of the church’s main cathedrals and Targovishte.” 

Trevor’s heart sped up, “Studying? For an attack? I thought you said that Doctor Lisa would have a handle on it?” he hated the church on the best of days but he couldn’t just let Dracula attack an entire city. 

            “It's just theoretical, I don’t believe he will attack, at least not yet. It is most likely just to prepare in case they try to take my mother again. She won’t live in this castle forever, no matter how much my father would like that. She will always try to help people. So she will leave and try again. I know she will,” said Adrian and his voice had a distinct note of worry and sadness. 

            “As long as there’s no little shits who think her work is witchcraft she’ll be fine. Just, maybe have her live a little closer to home or, I don’t know, maybe magically guard the house against priests?”

With a raised brow Adrian glanced at Trevor out of the corner of his eyes, “And how would one go about that?” 

Trevor shrugged, “If you’re looking for magical solutions you’re talking to the wrong person. But maybe make sure she starts slow with her weird science stuff. These priests are going crazy looking for us. The hype will die down soon I’m sure, but villagers will still be on the lookout for a while for people who use ‘dark magic’. As fucking weird as it is for me to think of Dracula being homely, he should probably move in with Doctor Lisa and stay with her for a while. People are going to be more suspicious of a lone woman who's old enough to have kids rather than a husband and wife duo.”

Adrian hummed, “So you're saying they should have a joint practice, at least until the townsfolk are used to them.”

            “Yeah, something like that. And if shit goes South then Dracula’s there to get her out.”

Adrian’s sharp eyes looked Trevor over, “You're smarter than you look.”

            “Thanks,” said Trevor with a grin.

            “It's not a high bar,” retorted Adrian with a smirk as he looked forward. 

            “Prick,” Trevor scoffed. 

At that point, Adrian led them through an open doorway into a cosy kitchen flooded with daylight. The ground outside had a light smattering of snow and sparse patches of grass. Quickly Adrian placed the tray beside the kitchen and piled up the dishes in the sink. He turned something and suddenly water was spewing out of the small water pump and into the sink. Trevor tried not to stare at the oddities of the kitchen, but it was hard when Adrian used them all so casually as if they were a normal part of everyday life. Adrian quickly washed Trevor’s dishes and Trevor snatched them off him when he was done and started drying them with the tea towel next to the sink. Adrian raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing. There were only a few things so together they finished quickly. They left the bowl, cup and utensils on the drying rack and Adrian opened the kitchen door to the outside world. 

Trevor could smell the cool fresh air of an open mountainside and he quickly stepped out, revelling in the open air. In the light breeze, Trevor stood just outside the doorway and took in a deep breath, closing his eyes for just a second. Something in him unwound under the fresh air and the sun. 

Trevor opened his eyes to the bright sun-touched land before glancing to the side at Adrian who was looking at him with an unreadable expression on his face. 

            “What?” asked Trevor, turning to face Adrian more. 

            “Nothing,” replied Adrian as he looked away from Trevor and started to walk away from the kitchen, “This way, Treff the Tramp.” 

Chapter Text

The might and size of Castlevania was something to behold. It looked almost like it was a number of different castles cobbled together but somehow almost balancing each other out. Trevor was gaping just a bit he knew. But he was also the first Belmont in a century to see Castlevania. The descriptions he'd be told couldn't hold a candle to the real thing. 

             "Are you going to pick your jaw off the ground?" asked Adrian. 

Trevor sent him back a half-hearted sneer before looking back at fucking Dracula's castle.

             "From the way you're looking at it, one would assume you've never seen it before."

             "It was dark," Trevor grunted back, looking at Adrian. 

Adrian's eyes widened just a fraction, "Oh you didn't see it. You passed out," he said with the slightest of smiles as the realisation came to him. 

             "Fuck you. I was sick and exhausted. And I fought priests to get here, and they weren't frail old men," Trevor snapped back.

Trevor saw the way that Adrian's face changed from a small shit-eating grin to a more sombre expression. 

             "You truly went out of your way to help my mother didn't you?" said Adrian softly. 

Trevor grunted and shrugged, looking away.

             "Thank you," said Adrian's soft voice, bringing his attention back to the man, "sincerely, thank you for helping my mother. You have my utmost gratitude. If you ever need my help then just ask." 

             "It's what anyone would have done," Trevor said quietly. 

Adrian let out a scoff, "As much as I want to believe in the good of humanity I know that's not true. And I know that you also know that."

Trevor stayed silent at that. He knew all too well what the 'good of humanity' could look like. 

             "Mother hasn't told me much about what happened. But I saw her home in Lupu."

             "There's not much to tell, some people of the church burnt her home because they thought she was a witch. It's not the first time they've done that and it won't be the last time. Then we cut through the forest to get to Montish before we took the fancy mountain pass that your dad had made." 

             "And you fought priests?"

             "In Montish and Lupu. Montish was swarming with them." 

Adrian hummed, "I followed your trail from Lupu when my father told me mother was missing. Your trail did get a little more complicated in the nearby town. But I am more curious how and why you navigated through the forest." 

             "If we took the road the priests would have caught us. They had to have horses. There was a bishop travelling with them and I doubt that pompous arsehole would have travelled by foot," explained Trevor. "I'd also be a pretty piss poor hunter if I couldn't navigate through a forest."

             "You're a hunter? What do you hunt?"

             “Rabbit, squirrels and pigeons mostly. But it's always a good day when I get a fox, a quail or a deer, and an even better one when I bag a wolf or a boar. “

             “Do you use traps?” 

             “Sometimes. Mostly I track them and use my throwing daggers,” admitted Trevor. He was pretty good at hunting game animals. It’s how he kept himself fed and a few coins in his pocket. He’d often end up taking out a monster that had been bothering the local village while he was out there, though not often because he intentionally went after it. 

             “I thought a bow and arrow would be cleaner to kill them with.” 

             “It is, unless you can hit them through the eye,” said Trevor miming throwing a dagger. 

One of Adrian’s eyebrows rose, “I don’t imagine that would work well for a boar or a wolf.”

             “Nah, that’s what the short sword is for.”

The second eyebrow joined the first, “I think you might actually be crazy. I’m not a hunter and even I know not to get close to a boar.” 

             “That’s part of the fun,” replied Trevor with a wide grin. 

Adrian looked at him like he was insane.

             “It’s not something I do often and I usually set up a trap if I know I’m fighting a boar. They also can’t climb trees, and I’m very good at it.” 

             “You’re acting like you didn’t tell me about the time you fell out of a tree and broke your wrist.” 

             “I was ten! I’m not ten anymore, Adrian,” said Trevor, throwing his arms out to the side. 

             “I have yet to see any proof that you could.”

Trevor pointed a finger and scowled at Adrian, “If I didn’t have orders from Doctor Lisa I’d show you otherwise.”

             “Yes I’m sure that’s all it is,” said Adrian with a hint of a smile. 

             “As soon as I’m allowed to climb trees I’ll show you, you vampire bastard.” 

             “And I will join you without even having to try,” said Adrian as he took a step forward, spinning on his heels then proceeding to glide in the air and float backwards openly giving Trevor a small smile. 

And damn maybe there was something in that porridge that upset his stomach because it almost flipped at the same moment Adrian smiled back at him. 

It took a good forty-five minutes to do an entire lap around the castle. They walked at an easy casual pace. Trevor would usually walk faster, but if he could prolong his time outside then he would. Adrian wasn’t all that bad to talk to. Trevor found out that he enjoyed cooking, and that the lunch he had yesterday was Adrian’s doing. Which explained why it was some cooked meat and vegetables in some sauce rather than more than porridge. Adrian also had a passion for science and an avid interest in magic. He talked about some magical weapons he had heard of or come across and Trevor shared a few back. He mentioned the Morning Star and almost slipped up that it was a Belmont weapon. Thankfully he tripped at that exact moment but rightened himself before he face-planted into the dirt. Adrian’s hand brushed his bicep in what would have been a steading grip if Trevor hadn’t caught his footing in time. 

             “Ah yes I see, this is the grace that can climb trees,” remarked Adrian. 

             “Fuck off,” replied Trevor flipping Adrian the bird, as he instinctively tightened his cloak around his shoulders, in what usually would have hidden Trevor’s shoddy patchwork that covered the front Belmont crest. But he wasn’t wearing his usual shirt so it was all for nothing. 

Once they went back inside Adrian led the way through the castle and opened the door to a large room with tall ceilings. The room had a tiled floor while the walls were covered in detailed mosaics creating pictures of people bathing. The ceiling was sculpted in intricate patterns and had star-shaped holes that the steam from the large hot baths disappeared into. The floor tiles held a simple and relatively plain pattern when compared to the mosaics, but had blue tiles lining the edges of the multiple baths that sunk into the floor. 

             “A fresh set of clothes are next to the towels by the wall, and there’s a selection of soaps and hair ointments you can choose from over there,” said Adrian pointing to well-made tables that held baskets of soap and other products like dried flower petals. The next table had towels of different sizes stacked on it. There were also privacy screens stacked next to the tables. 

             “And we’re here because?”

             “Don’t you remember? I said we were going to the baths.” 

             “I thought that was a choice,” replied Trevor. He was not stripping in front of a vampire.  

Adrian raised a brow, “Bathing is not a choice when you reek of sickness, sweat, piss, smoke and mud.” 

Trevor scowled but silently agreed. He wanted to scrub the sweat off at least. 

             “My mother insisted that you needed to wash.” 

             “And are you going to stand there and watch?”

             “Of course not. I’ll be bathing over there, you can bathe there. I don’t want to be in whatever water you’re in. I suspect the water will be black by the time you’re done,” said Adrian pointing to two separate baths next to each other.  

Adrian picked up folded clothes, a bar of soap, a bottle of something, a towel and finally a privacy screen. Trevor was ready to watch him drag the wooden screen across the floor, instead, he picked it up like it weighed nothing. Trevor’s eyebrow rose in surprise as he watched the man take his items to the other side of the room and open up the screen between the two baths. The screen only covered half the bath from view but that was more than enough. The towel was flung over the screen not even a second later. 

Trevor turned back to the tables with a frown. He pulled out a towel then grabbed one of the bars of soap and gave it a sniff. It was fragrant and smelt like lavender. It also didn’t feel as though it was the soap used to wash clothes. Trevor glanced back at the screen that hid Adrian just in time to see a shirt join the towel slung over the top. He must have taken it to wash with. Strange, but it smelt nice enough. Next Trevor inspected one of the bottles. He uncorked it and took another sniff. Lye? With cloves? That was some expensive hair care shit. Trevor took the bottle too. Why the fuck not. He grabbed the clothes left on the table that looked a lot like the ones he was currently wearing. The shirt had the same stupid ruffles. 

Trevor threw his towel over the screen, which joined all of Adrian’s clothes and checked that the man couldn’t see him through the screen before starting to undo the ties on his leather bracers. Trevor put them on halfway through the night when he got the shirt after feeling the ruffled cuffs slip down past his wrists for the second time. He put them down near the edge of the bath, and then he started to strip and throw his clothes up on the privacy screen too. He put his knife on the edge of the bath next to his bracers and eased his way in. Soon Trevor was fully submerged aside from his head, sitting on the ledge of the bath and soaking up the heat of the perfectly hot bath that warmed him all the way to his bones. Trevor let himself sigh and leaned his head back against the lip of the bath with closed eyes. Every muscle in his body started to unwind and he took in a deep slow breath. 

             “Are you still there or did you dissolve as soon as you touched clean water?” asked Adrian from behind the screen. 

             “Fuck off, it’s been a hard week for me. Not all of us have our own personal bathhouses.”  

Adrian was silent for a moment, “What were you planning on doing before you met my mother?” 

             “Getting a room at the nearest tavern and crashing for a couple of days until the worst of this cold wore off.”

             “Were you heading anywhere in particular?” 

             “No, just wandering,” said Trevor. Which was true, but he was also trying to stay as far away from the Belmont estate as he could for the next month. It was far too close to that time of year. He’d found over the years that if he was further away in smaller towns then the nightmares that came about with that time of year lessened. He’d also made a habit of avoiding anything over a medium-sized town unless necessary. Since medium-sized towns were where there were enough people for him to be ganged up on and caught.

             “You’re welcome here as long as you need to recover.” 

             “And will I be able to leave?” asked Trevor. The thought had been plaguing him the past few nights. Even though he’d tried to put it out of his mind. 

             “What do you mean?” asked Adrian, his voice holding confusion and hiding anything else. 

             “I’ve seen the inside of Dracula’s castle. Are you going to let me go?” 

             “I doubt you would tell anyone, and if you did, who do you think will believe you? The church? You can’t go to them, you're a wanted man. The Belmonts? No one’s seen any of them in years. No other vampires will step foot near this place unless they are invited. You’ll just sound like a drunken town fool,” said Adrian pointing out all the logic.

             “So I can leave?” 

             “Once you have passed my mother’s tests. My father will not disobey her, not for this. You’re one man, you’re hardly a threat to Dracula. Not to mention you have already proven that you are a good person. We aren’t hurting anyone here. There’s no need to bring judgement down on us.”   

             “You’ve got me all figured out don’t you?” Trevor said sarcastically. 

             “It’s not like it was hard,” replied Adrian. 

Water splashed violently as Trevor spun around one arm out of the bath as he faced the screen scowling at where Adrian would be if the screen wasn’t hiding him, “You don’t know shit about me you bloody bastard,” Trevor snapped. 

             “I don’t know everything, but I know enough, and so do my mother and father. Believe me, if you weren’t the kind of person you are you would have been kicked out as soon as you could walk. My mother would insist on treating you since that’s just the person she is and my father wouldn’t kill you out of respect for my mother. He would have just given you a talk so frightening that you would never speak of this place,” said Adrian, “But you saved my mother, something that not many people would do despite how much they worship a god and say they’re good people. That act in itself showed a lot about who you are.”  

Trevor scowled at the tiles underneath his hand. He turned his gaze to the knife next to him. 

             “Whatever you say your highness,” said Trevor as he turned and slowly sunk back into the bath. 

After both of them were clean, dry and dressed Adrian put the folding screen away and dropped their dirty clothes in a basket. 

Trevor was scrubbing his hair dry and refusing to look at how dirty the water had gotten. It was a large bath so the water overall didn’t look particularly dirty, but the fact that it looked noticeably dirtier meant that Trevor definitely did need that wash. Trevor finished scrubbing his hair and he was sure it stood up at all angles. His hair had got several different names from his sisters, but once his hair dried it’d be what Elizabeth would refer to as ‘fluffy duck hair’. Trevor dug his fingers in his hair to work out any major tangles then left the rest be. 

Adrian sat down on one of the benches with a comb and meticulously ran it through his hair from the bottom working his way up in layers slowly detangling all of the knots. 

Trevor just went over and put his towel in the basket he saw Adrian place his into. He went back over and dropped onto the seat next to Adrian, wrapping himself in his cloak, reluctant to lose any of the warmth left from the bath. 

             “I’m not letting you use my comb,” said Adrian, glancing over at Trevor. 

             “Don’t need it.” 

Adrian raised an eyebrow that expressed all the doubt in the world. 

             “My hair’s straight and short enough that I don’t need one.” 

             “It’ll look like a rat’s nest if you don’t brush it.”

For half a second Trevor’s world stopped and his eldest sister Leona was saying almost the exact thing after he’d dried off from being thrown in the lake by her after a training session. He could remember the feeling of the warm towel starving away the lingering cold of the lake. 

             “Well I know where to find one if I need it,” said Trevor looking at Adrian’s comb as it slid through his long hair.

             “Don’t you fucking dare,” said Adrian as he lent away from Trevor. 

Trevor leaned closer, “It looks like a good quality comb.” 

             “It is. Get your own. We have spares in the box on the table,” Adrian said with narrowed eyes. 

Trevor leaned back against the wall and tucked his hands behind his head with a grin.

Adrian glanced at the rest of the space on both sides of the bench then scowled at Trevor before turning away to pick at a stubborn knot. Trevor sat in silence content to half watch Adrian, half take in the details of the room while stretching out and soaking up the warm air of the room. 

Adrian’s hair routine reminded Trevor of his sister’s meticulous hair care. Brush twice a day, braid before bed and braid for the day in the morning. Sometimes if he was lucky his sisters would ask him to help. But that was usually when they got a particularly stubborn knot, something sticky in their hair or when they’d hurt an arm and couldn’t do it on their own. He’d picked up enough to do the braids how they wanted them. 

Adrian had worked out most of the tangles by now. He was attempting to separate a knot at the base of his neck. It looked like a messy one at that. After a good couple of minutes of Adrian trying to work it loose and Trevor watching fuck all happen to the knot he lent forward and reached out. 

             “Pass it here, you’re doing nothing.” 

Adrian shot a withering glare over his shoulder. 

             “It’ll be faster. I can see the knot.” 

             “You wouldn’t know where to start,” retorted Adrian. 

Trevor rolled his eyes, “I’ve used a bloody comb before,” he said as he snatched the comb out of Adrian’s hand before he could react. 

Adrian spun around to face Trevor, his eyes almost glowing and his gaze intently locked onto Trevor as he tried to take the comb back that was held just out of reach. Trevor pointed a finger in Adrian’s face, taking that strong gaze away for just a moment. Enough for his stomach to stop the little flip it was doing, “I had sisters with hair your length. Now turn around you pompous prick and let me help.” 

Slowly Adrian eased back down from where he was almost on top of Trevor in his effort to get his comb back. 

             “If you cut my hair with that knife you have hidden in your boot I will slit your throat,” Adrian said and Trevor knew he meant it. 

Within a minute Trevor had reduced the knot by a third. He kept slowly working at it, careful to not tug too hard. Using one of the teeth of the comb to work his way towards the centre of the knot, tugging out a few strands at a time. They sat quietly while Trevor worked. Trevor focused entirely on taking apart the tangle of hair as gently as possible. Soon there was next to nothing left except three strands tangled together so tight that Trevor couldn’t seem to undo them no matter what he tried with the comb. 

Trevor scowled at the strands and placed the comb down only to try and pick at the knotted strands with his fingers, leaning forward so far to analyse it that he could smell Adrian’s hair. He tried to ignore it and focus on his task. 

After a couple of minutes of fruitless work, Trevor sighed and sat back enough that he wasn’t practically buried in Adrian’s hair. 

             “I’m going to need to cut it.” 

             “Try it if you have the guts, but I guarantee you won’t have any once you’re done,” said Adrian with just the hint of a snarl. 

             “It’s just three strands of hair, you won’t even notice!” cried Trevor, “Here, it’s nothing I promise,” he said with the slightest tug on the strands. 

Adrian’s hand snaked around and his fingers brushed Trevors, working their way up till they got to the strands of hair he was holding.

Without his say so Trevor’s heart skipped a beat and suddenly his face felt hotter. It must have been his cold or the steam from the baths.

After a few seconds of still holding Adrian’s hair, Trevor let it go like he’d been slashed. Adrian still held the hair and felt around with his fingertips, running over the minuscule knot. 

Adrian hummed, “It seems that you are right,” and with that, the nail on Adrian’s middle finger grew and sharpened into a true vampire nail and sliced through the strands of hair like they were cobwebs. The nail returned to its more human appearance as Adrian pulled the hair away and looked at it, “You continue to surprise me Treff.” 

Trevor turned his head away, “I told you there was a lot you don’t know about me.” 

Adrian hummed, “We’ll have to change that.”

Chapter Text

After the last of Adrian’s hair was combed they left the bathroom and started walking down the halls. This place was a maze. How anyone navigated it he didn't know. How his great-grandfather managed to find his way in and find his way out was nothing short of a miracle. 

             “How are you feeling?” asked Adrian. 

             “Sick.”

Adrian levelled him with an unimpressed glare, “Are you tired? Would you like to go back to your room?”

Trevor wanted to immediately say ‘no’ but he took a second, he was feeling worn out but not much. It was to be expected for being sick. He’d walked with worse, hell he’d fought on with worse. But the bath had been a good stopping point after the walk and it had given him some energy back. 

             “Nah, I rested in the bath. I can keep going,” replied Trevor. 

             “Don’t push yourself,” said Adrian. 

             “If I go back to that room now I will end up pacing it.”

Adrian studied him for a moment before coming to a decision, “Then would you like to go to the library?” 

             “Seeing stuffy books is better than going back to that stuffy room.” 

Adrian turned right down a hall, “This way.” 

They wound around the castle, travelled up multiple staircases and walked past a large terrace before they reached a set of large double doors that almost reached the tall ceiling. Adrian pushed one open and held it while Trevor followed him through. As Adrian closed the door Trevor felt his eyebrow rise at the sheer size of the space. 

The room towered up, with bookshelves so tall there were ladders attached to them. Rows upon rows of shelves travelled back, the space becoming more expansive as the strange torches flickered to life illuminating the scale of the space. The walls of the room were lined with shelves and walkways travelling up five levels. The arching windows were so tall they almost matched the height of the bookshelves on the walls and were covered in thick, heavy forest green curtains. The ceiling consisted of a series of white domes covering the space with round windows covered by the same kind of curtains as the other windows. Sunlight caused the edges of the curtains to glow but the light reached no further than that. 

Trevor craned his neck to look up at all the books. It was a very impressive library and he could practically smell all the old dusty books, but it didn’t match the size of the Belmont Hold. The Hold was dug so deep into the earth that Trevor wasn’t sure how Leon Belmont managed to have it constructed in a way that kept it standing. 

             “It’s extraordinary isn’t it?" said Adrian. 

Trevor had to bite back, ‘I’ve seen bigger’ and just hummed in agreement. 

             “This is the main library, we have several other smaller ones. One was built for my mother and holds all of the medical knowledge my father has accumulated. If you have any interest in that then we will need to go to the other library. But I believe you said you wanted myths, legends and previous battles?” 

             “Yeah, I did. I don’t think I have what it takes to be a doctor. I know how to do a few things, but nothing beyond how to look after what you get in a fight,” replied Trevor, his eyes still roaming the library. 

Adrian hummed and started to move through the shelves, “Can you read any languages other than Wallachian and French?” 

             “English, but I’m rusty,” his English was just as rusty as his French. He hadn’t spoken it since he last saw his mother. She was the one who insisted on learning it, saying that she would take them all to see her family in England one day. 

Trevor would have gone to them after the fire if he could, but he had no idea how to get to Yorkshire, not as a twelve-year-old boy who had nothing but the clothes on his back. Then he heard how they called the fire ‘The Purge’ and how the rumours that the Belmonts used black magic had spread. He didn’t know his mother's family and if they believed the rumours and stuck by the church then little him knew he would have been fucked. So he stuck to Wallachia, at least he knew this country. 

             “You know a few languages,” commented Adrian, eyeing Trevor. 

And oh fuck, Trevor didn’t think about what that  information gave away about him. Most people in this country couldn’t read Wallachian let alone another language. Fuck. 

             “My family’s from all over the place,” Trevor tried. 

Adrian glanced back as he continued to wade through the towering shelves, “Really? Where are they from?”

             “My mother was from England,” said Trevor not lying, “She’s how I know English. She insisted we use it when speaking one-on-one to her at home.” 

             “Do you still do it with her?” Adrian asked slowly as he looked back at Trevor. It looked like he knew what the answer would be. 

             “She died when the rest of my family did. I’m the last of my family.” 

Adrian stopped and locked eyes with Trevor, “I’m sorry. That must-”

Trevor cut him off with a raised hand, “Don’t get all sappy on me. It happened years ago.” 

Adrian looked away and  was quiet for a few moments, “Can I ask what happened?”

Trevor snorted and brushed past Adrian, heading roughly in the direction he’d been heading, “The Church, what else.” 

             “The Church?” Adrian asked his surprise clear, even though Trevor wasn’t facing him. 

Trevor stopped at an intersection and spun to face Adrian, pointing a finger to each side. 

Adrian pointed straight ahead and Trevor spun around and continued forwards. 

             “It’s what the church does, burn out magic users.” 

             “Your family used magic?” 

             “Not just magic, but black magic, according to the church,” said Trevor, the bite of sarcasm heavy in his voice. 

             “It seems like your history with the church goes back further than the recent encounter with my mother.”

Trevor let out a huff of a laugh, “Oh the church doesn’t like me and I don’t like them. I’m excommunicated so at least I don’t have to attend church on Sundays anymore.” 

Adrian gave a small disbelieving laugh, "I suppose that’s one good thing.” 

             “God I hated going to church when I was a kid, the priest was so fucking boring. He had a voice that’d make you want to fall asleep and he’d use the same scriptures and just rotate them every two months. I’ve read the bible, I know there are more interesting scriptures than that!”

             “You don’t strike me as the type to read the bible,” said Adrian with a slight smile. 

             “I’m not. My grandmother made us. We had our own bible studies. I learnt more from her than I ever did from that crusty old priest.”

             “I can’t say I relate. We’re not exactly a religious family,” said Adrian, still smiling. 

Trevor turned to Adrian, “With a doctor and Dracula for parents I’d be surprised if you were.” 

That got a chuckle out of Adrian and Trevor’s lips curled into the beginnings of a smile. 

             “I suppose that would be odd,” said Adrian, “Left at the end.”  

Trevor followed the instructions and continued to walk ahead.

             “My mother is likely excommunicated now too. I heard the people talking, they think she’s married to the devil.” 

             “They don’t know their heads from their arses where the church is concerned and they know fuck all about Dracula.”

             “But you did,” said Adrian and Trevor could feel the man’s gaze burning into the back of his head.  

             “I keep my ears open. I’ve come across enough strange shit to know that a pack of wolves aren’t the only thing you worry about in the night,” he replied with a shrug, 

             “Most people tend to think my father is a myth,” said Adrian, slipping past Trevor into an aisle, his fingers skimming the spines. 

             “Myths come from somewhere don’t they?” replied Trevor. 

Adrian passed Trevor a book, ‘Myths and Legends of Wallachia’. Trevor had seen this book in the Belmont hold before. He’d read some of it. Some of the information was incorrect but most of it was accurate and it gave a good general overview of what lived in Wallachia. 

             “Usually they do, but at times it gets hard to parse out what’s fact and what’s fiction,” said Adrian, his fingers brushing a few more spines before pulling out another two books and passing them to Trevor. 

Trevor waved a dismissive hand as he turned to look at some of the books, “I cross that bridge when I get to it. If I get to it. Can’t say I ever thought I’d meet Dracula.” 

Then Adrian said the most outlandish thing he had ever heard, “You’ll be having dinner with him tonight.”

             “What?” said Trevor, spinning around fast enough that Adrian seemed surprised. 

             “He suggested you eat dinner with all of us since you’re well enough to leave your room today.” 

Trevor tugged his cloak closer around him, “Dinner, with Dracula? ” 

Fuck, fuuuuck. 

He couldn’t have dinner with Dracula. He was a Belmont. 

Adrian rolled his eyes, “You don’t need to worry, if my father wanted you dead then you would be.” 

             “I know,” said Trevor, his voice was quiet but sure. 

Dracula could have struck him down easily when they first met and he had no doubt that he still could. But Dracula didn’t know who he was at the moment. Trevor knew that as soon as Dracula found out who he was that would change. Why would he leave someone alive from the family that had been hunting him down for generations? Especially when Trevor was the only one left. It would be so easy to end all the trouble that any Belmonts could cause. 

Adrian seemed to catch something, whether it was in his voice or expression Trevor wasn’t sure, “You won’t be harmed Treff, at the very least my mother wouldn't allow it,” said Adrian, “I wouldn’t either.” 

Trevor locked eyes with Adrian confused to high heaven about that last part, “You’ve known me for what, two days? And you’d defend me?” 

             “You’re a good person Treff and you saved my mother. I may be half vampire but I am half human too. I will never stand for needless killing.” 

Trevor stood still for a moment, his mind taking that in, then slowly he asked, “What if it’s not needless?”

             “I won’t take joy in it, I will not lie. I want to find the man who sentenced my mother to death and put a stop to him. They tried to kill my mother . The church almost made an irreversible mistake. And while my fury is nothing compared to my father's, I would still like to see justice taken.” 

He sounded honest. Trevor knows vampires could lie, hell he knows humans can lie. But Adrian sounded honest and Trevor found that he wanted to believe him. 

             “The church never gets justice, they hold too much power.”

Adrian put another book in Trevor’s arms and turned to walk further into the library, “I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing that change. Or even making it change. The burnings need to stop. I’ve heard of many families that suffered the same fate that yours did and my mother almost shared the same fate as so many other individuals.”  

             “And what the fuck can I do about it? I’m an excommunicated heretic, I don’t hold any power over the church or any of the public and definitely not any of the nobility.”

             “I’m sure there’s a way. It may take a while, but I have many years ahead of me,” said Adrian with a full smile, teeth and all. 

             “If we meet again then update me on your progress.” 

             “Gladly.” 

The bookshelves almost looked like they parted to make a sitting space that had six tables with four chairs each while the rest of the space had several armchairs and sofas with coffee tables and side tables next to them. All the items of furniture were wooden oak with golden details. The chairs, sofas and armchairs all had plush cushioning in the same forest green as the curtains. 

             “Make yourself comfortable, I’m going to grab a few books. I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Adrian didn’t even wait and literally flew off to the second-level walkway along the wall and skimmed along the books there. 

Trevor watched him go for a second watching how his hair and coat whipped around behind him. He ripped his gaze away from Adrian and looked over the seating options. After some careful deliberation, Trevor flopped down on one of the sofas and almost put his feet up on the coffee table before he pictured Lisa scolding him and slowly lowered his feet down. Trevor looked down at the pile of books he had. All were about myths and legends. Two of them were specific to Wallachia, one was for Europe and another was specific to Japan. 

Trevor put three on the table in front of him and opened up ‘Myths and Legends of Wallachia’. He hadn’t read it in years and it would be good to refresh his memory on it. This book did have pictures and diagrams. One was a relatively accurate study of a basilisk's heart. 

Trevor was only three or so pages in when Adrian descended to the floor with a stack of ten books in hand. He came over to where Trevor was sitting and put another three in Trevor’s pile. He glanced up and saw one of the covers said ‘The Battle for the Dynasty’. Battle strategies then. Trevor gave Adrian a nod and the man nodded back. He put his books down on the table and gracefully sat down on the sofa across from Trevor opening one of the books and getting stuck into it. Trevor snuck a glance at the book Adrian was reading but he couldn’t understand the language the title was in. 

Trevor tried to return to the book but his thoughts drifted and he found himself reading a sentence for the third time in a row. The way that Adrian grabbed his hand in the bathing room spun in his mind. The way his hand brushed Trevors wouldn’t leave his mind. It was such a soft touch. Trevor hadn’t been touched like that in a while. The only other people who he’d made contact with recently were Lisa and Dracula. Each one of them had been gentle in their touches. Which was a shock. People were never gentle with Trevor. He knew that Adrian hadn’t meant to touch him, he was trying to grab the strands of hair. But knowing that didn’t banish the feeling of slightly cool fingers brushing his own. 

Shit. 

God.

He needed to get laid. 

If he was so desperate for touch that he was thinking about the brush of hands with a half vampire then he clearly needed it. 

Once he got out of here and a few towns away from the angry church masses then he’d do something about that. With something of a plan, Trevor tried to get back to the book. He had a few false starts but slowly he started to absorb the words and think less about hands touching. 

Trevor let himself get lost in reading the book, it was coming back to him bit by bit and it was easy to identify the incorrect information. He’d been taught well when it came to monsters but refreshers were always good. His father had reminded him of that often enough that it’d stuck. Before he knew it an hour had likely passed with only the soft sounds of turning pages and the occasional shift in position, more from Trevor than Adrian. The weight of the walk and being up and about started to slowly wear on Trevor and he felt his breaths deepen and his eyes start to drift closed. 

A light touch on his forearm and a soft voice had Trevor’s eyes snapping open and pushing the person away. A glimpse of fangs and golden eyes and Trevor had his knife out before anything had fully registered. He had the vampire beneath him pinned, his knife pressed against their throat, but not hard enough to draw blood. Trevor blinked and his brain finally caught up with his body. Adrian was beneath him staying perfectly still, hair spilled out over the floor, looking somewhere between concerned and annoyed. Trevor had never moved so fast as when he shot up off Adrian and stood back. 

             “Shit,” said Trevor putting his hands up in surrender, “I’m sorry. Are you ok?”

Adrian physically looked fine, there were no marks on his skin and Trevor knew he hadn’t pressed down with the knife. 

             “I’m perfectly fine, aside from being shoved to the floor just for waking you up.” 

             “Shit,” said Trevor again, quickly shoving his knife away and holding out a hand for Adrian, “I didn’t-” he started but he cut himself off. 

Adrian accepted the hand up, “I don’t think I’ve seen you move so fast, it was almost impressive.” 

             “I, don’t touch me when I’m sleeping. Usually when people do they’re trying to kill me or rob me,” said Trevor, settling for the majority of the truth. He tugged his cloak closed trying to ignore the buzzing feeling of his forearm being touched. 

             “I’ll be more mindful next time,” said Adrian as he smoothed a hand down his right arm and tugged on the cuff. 

             “How long was I asleep for?” 

             “Half an hour maybe? I was going to ask if you would like to go back to your room to sleep?”

Trevor scrubbed a hand over his face, “Yeah.” 

Adrian walked past Trevor and picked up the book that Trevor had been reading and a couple of others from the pile, “Let's get you back then.”

Trevor quietly followed Adrian out of the library and all the way to his room. He was trying to remember the path but couldn’t keep his focus. He really was a fucking Belmont wasn’t he? Trying to take down a half vampire before he’d even woken up. He needed to leave as soon as he could. He didn’t belong here. He didn’t belong anywhere. Here he was, a Belmont, someone who was supposed to hunt people like Dracula and Adrian. It was dangerous for him to be here. He’d either hurt Adrian or try to hurt Dracula and he’d be dead or he’d be found out and then be dead. Either way, it ended with him dead. And while he wasn’t scared of death, currently Dracula wasn’t doing anything and likely wouldn’t as long as his wife was alive, or still human. Adrian seemed to have learnt a few things from his mother and definitely wasn’t your standard bloodthirsty vampire. Adrian was right before, that they hadn’t done anything that deserved judgement. Well, Dracula had, but he hadn’t since Trevor’s great-grandfather and he wasn’t an evil that needed to be dealt with at this point in time. Trevor hasn’t seen much of Dracula since he first arrived, but if being invited to dinner was any indication then the King of Vampires was content to play loving husband. Lisa was his soulmate and Dracula seemed to hang on her every word. Trevor knew that Lisa was a kind woman and she wouldn’t allow her husband to kill the entire church in her name. Not that Trevor would complain too hard if he did, but actively wanting them dead was pushing Trevor’s hate for the church too far. 

Trevor looked at Adrian’s back as he walked ahead and felt something in his heart twist. It had been so long since he had just talked to someone about something other than what he needed to do to get his next meal, or ordering ale. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to leave that behind. Which must mean that he was insane, wanting to chat with a half vampire that he’d only know for two days? A drink would settle this problem. Getting black-out drunk would really solve this problem. 

Trevor willed, wished and prayed to God that his recovery would be faster. He really couldn’t stay here. 

Adrian opened the door to Trevor’s room and held it open for him. Trevor beelined straight for the bed and flopped back on it. 

             “Who knew a walk, a bath and reading a book could be so tiring?” 

Adrian placed the books on the bedside table, “You are still sick. I’ll get you some lunch and some more tea. See if you can stay awake till I get back.”

Trevor hummed as he closed his eyes. This bed was very comfortable. It was soft but not too soft. Much better than a tree that was for sure. 

The sound of footsteps walking around the bed had Trevor cracking an eye open. Adrian was walking around the bed over to the chair with Trevor’s belongings in.

             “What are you doing?” 

             “Seeing if you have any clothes that will be suitable for dinner,” replied Adrian as he looked down at Trevor’s stuff. 

Trevor’s heart lurched, his shirt was in that pile. He twisted so his hands were under him and he could lunge off the bed if need be. 

             “I’ve just got travelling clothes. This shirt is the fanciest thing I’ve worn in years,” said Trevor gesturing to the ruffled shirt he was currently wearing, trying to draw the half vampire’s attention away from his belongings. 

Adrian raised an unimpressed eyebrow, “It looks like I’ll need to find you something. A nice vest perhaps?” 

Trevor shifted so he was sitting cross-legged on the bed and slouched forward, putting his head in his hand, “You’re talking to the wrong person about this.” 

Adrian looked Trevor up and down, “I really am aren’t I?”

Trevor grinned up at him. 

Adrian sighed, “I’ll find you something and bring it to you at lunch.”

With that, Adrian turned and left. Trevor watched him go and flopped back onto the bed in relief. He needed to get out of here or hide that shirt. It was a miracle he hadn’t been found out before now. Rolling off the bed Trevor snatched up the shirt and looked around the room. There weren’t many hiding places. There was a fireplace. He could burn it. Trevor clutched his tunic closer at the thought. No. He could never do that. This was one of the few things he had left from his family, this and his whip. Trevor breathed out and looked for another place to hide it. Under the bed perhaps? Under the mattress? That would make it hard to find even if they looked under the bed or the sheets were changed. Trevor lifted the mattress and shoved the shirt in the middle of the bed frame, letting the mattress drop over the top of it. Dropping to his hands and knees he checked it from underneath. It didn’t stick out and it wasn’t obvious it was there unless you were looking for something. That would have to do. 

Trevor sat down on the floor, tugged off his boots and cloak, tossing them aside before he crawled into bed, tucking his knife under his pillow. A yawn pried his jaws open and soon Trevor closed his eyes and the world was forgotten to him. 

The sound of the door creaking open had Trevor sluggishly looking over at the door. The blond head of hair that he saw was vaguely familiar to him. Doctor Lisa? No, Adrian walked through the door. 

             “Did you fall asleep?” 

Trevor grumbled and tucked his head further under the blankets. His headache was back and so was his half blocked nose. His throat felt scratchy and he could feel the beginnings of a cough forming. He ignored it all to hide under the blankets. 

             “I have food and more tea which should help.” 

That got Trevor’s attention. He wanted the tea and his stomach wanted the lunch. Trevor looked at Adrian, peering over the top of the blankets. 

             “I also have a vest for dinner if you feel up to it. If you don’t it’s no issue. You are still recovering after all.”

Trevor wasn’t a coward, “I’ll go. Just give me more of that tea before I do.” 

Adrian gave him a small smile, “I’ll bring one up when I come to collect you.”

Trevor hummed. He was tired. He wanted to go back to sleep but he needed the tea otherwise he’d end up in a coughing fit half an hour into his nap and he’d never get back to sleep. Trevor pushed himself up just as Adrian set the tray down on the bedside table within easy reach. Trevor took the tray into his lap and let out the cough that was building up. He then sculled the tea. 

Adrian stood at the foot of his bed and held up a vest. It was a dark red with gold detailing. It looked almost like something he’d wear to one of the balls he attended when he was younger. 

             “How many fancy clothes do you have hiding around here?” 

             “Enough,” he replied, “Wear it. You’ll look less like a tramp.” 

             “Both of your parents have already seen me without a shirt on, I don’t think wearing something else will change their opinion of me.” 

             “You can show them that you’re more than a sick, smelly man they picked up out of a gutter,”

Trevor sighed, “Leave it on the chair.” 

It would probably be a good idea to look less like he had just rolled out of bed when having dinner with Dracula and if that vest helped then fuck, he was going to wearing a vest. And he had a feeling Doctor Lisa would appreciate it too. 

Trevor had his lunch and then went straight back to sleep. He slept until early evening and by that point, he was feeling well enough to stay awake. Trevor got out of bed and picked up the vest. He wasn’t sure when dinner would be but if he had to guess based on the last of the light dying in the sky it would likely be soon. He tried to smooth out his shirt, it was wrinkled and crushed up from him sleeping in it. It would be fine. He then slipped the vest on. When he looked down he sighed and started to button it up. If there was one thing he didn’t miss from when his family was alive it was going to balls and social gatherings with snobby nobles. That and the clothes. They were always too restrictive. Though somehow Adrian had managed to find a vest that fit relatively well. It was a surprise. The vest was still restrictive and Trevor couldn’t bend his back or twist his shoulders. 

Trevor moved to the mirror in the corner and looked over himself. He needed to put on his shoes, but otherwise, he looked nice? The red and gold vest worked well with his dark pants and white shirt. His hair on the other hand was what his mother would call a bird's nest. Something cold curled in his chest at the thought. He couldn’t remember her face clearly but he could remember the way she would fondly say ‘birds nest’ as she’d brush the hair out of his face. He could remember the warmth of her fingers and how she’d kiss him on the forehead with a smile. She’d done it the morning of the fire. That was one of the last memories he had of her. 

Trevor closed his eyes and let out a breath. Maybe there’d be alcohol at dinner. God knows he needed some. 

When Trevor opened his eyes he looked at his reflection determined and for the second time today used his fingers to brush through his hair. He used his reflection to fix it so it didn’t look like such a mess and flattened down some of it. His hair didn’t stay down but it looked better than before. 

There was a soft knock at the door, probably trying to avoid waking him up if he was asleep. It wouldn’t have worked either way. Trevor was usually a light sleeper. He only ever stayed asleep when he was really out of it. Like when he passed out on the doorstep of Castlevania. 

             “Yeah?” Trevor called out to whoever was behind the door. 

The door creaked open and Adrian walked in with a cup of tea, “Oh good you’re up and dressed.” 

Trevor made a beeline for the tea, “I woke up not too long ago, I figured dinner would be soon.”  

Taking the tea from Adrian, Trevor blew on it once before downing it in one go. 

Adrian looked Trevor up and down, “Remove the bracers.” 

             “No,” replied Trevor with the hint of a smirk. 

Adrian rolled his eyes, “Suit yourself.” 

Trevor put the teacup down and pulled on his boots, “Are we going now?”

Adrian took the teacup and held the door open, “It’s not quite ready yet but mother and father are both there.” 

             “Great,” said Trevor. He just wanted to get this thing started and over with. 

They made their way down to the kitchen and Trevor could hear some light chatter coming from inside drifting down the hall. 

             “You really must see the results of my tests. I believe this mould could be something truly wonderful. It could greatly reduce the chance of infection!” said Lisa who sounded delighted with whatever topic she was talking about. 

             “That sounds wonderful Lisa, may I see it after dinner?” said Dracula like he meant it, and considering how he interacted with Lisa he absolutely did. 

             “Yes, you can. I could use your opinion too. One is working more effectively but it doesn't maintain that same effectiveness while another is working less effectively but consistently and the third starts off slow and gets more effective as time goes on and I haven’t quite figured out why. There’s also other variations but those three show the most promise.”

             “I’ll take a look and see what I can find.” 

Adrian led the way into the room. All the curtains were drawn tightly, with only the faintest edge of light illuminating the curtains to show that there was still a little light out. A number of lanterns and candles illuminated the small homey space. In the centre of the room, Lisa was sitting at the set table in a purple dress. When they entered the room she looked over and smiled. Next to the stove Dracula, in all his hulking height stirred a pot. He was wearing a black vest and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He nodded to Trevor then his eyes flicked to his son who was putting the teacup and saucer in the sink. 

             “Is that a vest, Treff?” asked Lisa with an amused smile. 

Trevor felt his cheeks start to heat up, “Yes. Adrian found one for me. I hope it’s alright if I borrow it.” 

             “Of course it is,” said Lisa as she looked him over, “You clean up well and you are looking much better” 

Trevor looked away and cleared his throat, “Thank you. The walk outside helped, I think.” 

Lisa gestured to the chair across from her, “Come, take a seat.” 

Trevor did as he was told and sat in the seat Lisa pointed too, glancing over at Adrian and Dracula who were both leaning over the pot. 

             “Did I stir it right?” asked Dracula looking at his son. 

Adrian gave a hum, “You did. Can you pass me the bowls? I believe it’s just about done.” 

Dracula turned and started collecting the bowls. Trevor picked up the one in front of him and passed it to the vampire. This was so fucking weird, but he was still a guest here and he knew Lisa appreciated manners. 

A couple of minutes later, steaming food was placed in front of him. Adrian sat next to Trevor and Dracula sat next to Lisa. Trevor looked down at the food and up at Lisa as she began to dig in and so did Dracula and Adrian. 

Trevor’s ancestors had been trying to take down Dracula for centuries, and here Trevor was eating dinner diagonally across from him. And not the blood of the innocents and chunks of their flesh for dinner. No, it was stew with mutton and chunks of freshly baked bread. Trevor had been getting regular easy to eat meals this whole time. He knew that they had food humans could eat, Doctor Lisa did live here after all and Adrian had told him how he likes to cook. But seeing Dracula, King of Vampires sitting and eating the same kind of food with them, albeit in smaller portions, was something that Trevor never thought he would see, or even hear stories about. Though most of his week had this trend. Honestly, Trevor just needed to roll with whatever shit God threw his way. He should have already known that by now, but Trevor was always slow to learn his lesson. 

Looking down at his food again Trevor took a bite. It was hot, well seasoned and the meat was tender. Trevor hummed and took another bite. 

He pointed his spoon at Adrian, his mouth still half full, “Did you make this?” 

Adrian slowly pushed the spoon aside with two fingers and a raised eyebrow, “Yes, I did.” 

Trevor swallowed, “It’s good. Probably the best stew I’ve ever had.”

             “Was that a compliment?” Adrian’s eyebrow raised a little higher. 

             “Don’t get used to it.”  

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Lisa smiling into her spoonful of food. 

Adrian smiled, “I’m surprised you can even give one.” 

Trevor opened his mouth to bite back with a ‘eat shit and die’ but didn’t manage to get it out. 

             “Adrian,” said Lisa with a lightly scolding tone. 

Adrian looked away and took a bite of food. 

With a wide grin, Trevor leaned over closer to Adrian. He didn’t say a word but he saw Adrian send a sideways glare at him. 

             “What do you think of the castle, Treff?” asked Lisa. 

Trevor sat back properly in his chair and tore off a chunk of bread, “I didn’t realise how big it was till we did a lap around it. When you said we were going to your husband’s home Doctor Lisa I thought it might be about the same size as the one I saw in Lupu or double that at most. This isn’t what I imagined when you said ‘home’.” 

Lisa let out a chuckle, “I suppose that word is rather deceiving. It’s not the typical home, but it’s my home nonetheless and will always hold a special place in my heart.” 

Dracula did what Trevo could only describe as melt, his posture became even more relaxed and he gave a smile of utter adoration as he put a hand over Lisa’s on the table. It was love, it had to be. Trevor knew what it looked like and Lisa and Dracula had it. He didn’t think he’d seen anyone so in love since his parents and his eldest sister and her fiance. They were all soulmates and truly loved each other so deeply. 

Lisa smiled back at her husband and it was such a soft love filled smile that Trevor felt like he was intruding on a moment. 

After a moment Dracula looked at Trevor and he felt something cold spill down his spine. Trevor knew no matter how domestic Dracula may act he was still incredibly dangerous. There was a reason his family hunted the vampire down. 

             “You visited the main library I hear,” said fucking Dracula . 

For just a second Trevor’s mind flashed back to Adrian splayed out on the floor beneath him. 

Trevor tried not to choke the food he had in his mouth and swallowed before speaking, “Yeah, it’s big. Just like the rest of the damn place.” 

             “Did you read any books?” 

             “I started a book about Wallacian myths,” replied Trevor. 

This was normal. Talking about books was normal. Talking about books with Dracula wasn’t normal but if it wasn’t bloody Dracula it would have been normal. 

             “Ah yes because you’re a hunter?” 

Trevor felt himself freeze. Did he know? No, he couldn’t. If he did Trevor wouldn’t be alive. 

He heard Lisa kick her husband under the table, who didn’t move a muscle, and saw Adrian raise a confused eyebrow.  

             “Yes. If you go out in the woods in the middle of bloody nowhere you’re bound to come across something and it’s better to be prepared,” said Trevor. Denying would be bad. That would dig himself a grave. He was just a regular hunter who’d occasionally come across some strange things. He knew nothing, that’s why he was learning. Absolutely nothing else. That was the full extent of it. It wasn’t practically the opposite. 

Fucking hell he hoped this didn’t get him killed. He did actually want to finish this dinner. 

             “Have you ever seen a wyvern?” asked Trevor. 

Lisa and Adrian shook their heads but most surprisingly Dracula said, “No.” 

             “Don’t,” said Trevor, his voice firm. 

             “Now you’ve made me curious,” said Dracula. 

             “How did you run into one?” asked Adrian. 

             “I was cutting through a forest near the north and one found me. I had to jump into the river to escape,” what Trevor didn’t mention was that he crawled out of the river and circled back around to kill the wyvern. And that he was looking for it in the first place, before it decided that the sheep from the small local village weren’t enough and that the kids playing oina in the fields would make a good snack. 

             “I’m surprised you didn’t climb a tree,” remarked Adrian with a smirk. 

Trevor turned a pointed glare towards Adrian, “That would be stupid, wyverns can fly.” 

             “I assumed so since in the illustrations I’ve seen of them they have wings. I'm just surprised you didn’t use the same tactic you used with boars.” 

             “You little-” started Trevor but he stopped and glanced over at Lisa, who looked amused, and Dracula, who somehow looked both unimpressed and mildly interested, before he turned back to Adrian, “Boars can’t fly.”

             “How do you know for sure? There could be one hidden away in the book you’re reading.” 

Trevor glared. He had in fact read about flying demon pigs, but he wasn’t going to give Adrian the satisfaction of knowing that. He was also pretty sure the only copy of the only book that had any mention of them was tucked away in the Belmont hold, “Yeah? Then use that brain of yours and find a written record of someone seeing one.” 

             “Is that a bet, Treff?” asked Adrian with a smile and a raised eyebrow. 

             “It is. I bet you can’t find one record about flying boars. Not a fable, a fact.” 

             “And what do I get in return?” 

             “Bragging rights,” said Trevor. 

             “Tempting, but not enough,” said Adrian, his eyes lit up in amusement and a small smile on his face. For a second Trevor’s heart skipped a beat.    

Trevor sighed, “What do you want?”

Adrian put a hand on his chin and tapped it, “I’m unsure at the moment. How about you do something for me in the future?”

             “Uh uh, no way. I’m not agreeing to some unnamed task. Name it or lose it.” 

After a few more moments Adrian seemed to have come to a decision, “When you’re well,” he said looking over at his mother, “and before you leave, you will collect an item from the clocktower.”

             “An item?” asked Trevor, raising an eyebrow. 

             “I’ll tell you when you collect it for me,” replied Adrian with a smirk. 

             “You mean if ,” said Trevor. 

             “I mean when ,” said Adrian looking far too triumphant for someone who hadn’t even started looking. 

Trevor sat back in his chair, an arm slung over the back and popped another chunk of bread in his mouth, “That’s a lot of confidence, are you going to be able to back it up?”

             “Absolutely,” he was grinning now, sharp teeth and all and excitement in his eye. Adrian truly did look like a mix between human and vampire at the moment, he looked almost bewitching in the light of the candles, “The clocktower will give you a chance to show off your climbing skills.” 

             “Fuck you,” said Trevor before he processed it.

             “Treff,” said Lisa and Trevor immediately knew he fucked up, “We don’t use that language at the dinner table please.”

Trevor hunched in on himself, “Sorry,” he said quietly while he saw Adrian’s grin widen out of the corner of his eye. Without looking he flipped Adrian off under the table. 

Adrian huffed out a laugh, “Very mature.” 

Trevor ignored him and ate more of his stew even as something in his stomach fluttered at the sound.  

The chatter at dinner continued with Lisa asking what he was doing in Lupu and when he planned to go. Trevor told her the same thing he’d told Adrian. Trevor managed to turn it around and ask where Dracula had been travelling and he’s gotten a list of cities and other countries. After dinner, Trevor helped dry the plates and was taken back to his room by Adrian. 

As soon as Trevor got into his room he chucked his boots to the side and threw the vest off. He flopped onto the soft bed and looked up at the red canopy above. For all of a second, his mind was blank before the thoughts came flooding in. 

             “What the fuck even was that?”