RPG Castlevania: Serenade of Illusion

[Talon]

RPG Members:[b]

Raquel

The Harlequin

Orien_Xel

DuoMax[/b]
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[color=teal][i]Alucard sighed on the steam engine, staring into the sunlight. The powers of the dhampile gave him blessings that the novel character LeStat would be envious of. The son of Dracula sighed again, prepared to meet the Belmont in the next city. He looked to his left, at the young, black-haired passenger. She looked oddly familiar, as if she were somehow related to someone he knew. He shook it off until he saw her luggage case. "DaNasty", in plain english. She was related to Grant, who had fought alongside Alucard centuries ago in the second successful sealing of Dracula's evil. Alucard decided to begin a conversation with the young woman.[/i]

[b]Alucard:[/b]Hell, my dear. What would your name be, aside from DaNasty, the pirate thief

[b]Rayne:[/b]Rayne, and what does my name mean to you?

[b]Alucard:[/b]Does the name "Alucard" ring a bell?

[b]Rayne:[/b]Not particularly. Grant knew the son of the demon-lord, but it's not any concern of mine.

[b]Alucard:[/b]Oh, but it is.

[b]Rayne:[/b]Look, creep, I don't know, and frankly don't care, what you want, but leave me the hell alone.

[b]Alucard:[/b]Your great-great-grandfather.....he said the same thing to Trevor.

[i]Alucard gripped a lily from the ceiling awning, enfolding it gently into his hand. He sighed, looking out again. Too many bitter memories surrounded him. Especially of Sonia and Maria. He realized he was crying, but too late, Rayne had noticed the red bloodstains of his tears.[/i]

[b]Rayne:[/b]Bloody tears? Then you're the one they named the famous orchestra after. But, the only person with Bloody Tears is Alucard Tepes....

[b]Alucard:[/b]I am him, and he is me. Unfortunately, my name and illness follow me everywhere.[/i]

[b]Rayne:[/b]You speak as if being a dhampile is a bad thing.

[b]Alucard:[/b]Possibly. It does have perks, when I'm in a pleasant mood. I hate killing the living, though. It is lucky that a dhampile can eat and drink other consumables besides blood. Off the depressing subject, where are you headed?

[b]Rayne:[/b]Venice, to lay a lily on my parents' grave.

[b]Alucard:[/b]Ah, Venice. I, too, am headed to Venice, but merely to exchange trains and head for Warakiya.

[b]Rayne:[/b]You mean Wallachia?

[b]Alucard:[/b]I guess you'll tell me that even Yugoslavia has been renamed.

[b]Rayne:[/b]Yugoslavia? That was disbanded decades ago.

[b]Alucard:[/b]Now I remember why I made up my mind to sleep until I died. Everything changes too rapidly.


[i]At that moment, the train began to slow, pulling to a stop near the station.[/i]

[b]Rayne:[/b]Alucard? You don't suppose....could you turn me into a dhampile?

[b]Alucard:[/b]A dhampile's bite turns mortal blood to dhampile spawn, yes. I could.

[b]Rayne:[/b]Will you?[/color]

[The Harlequin]

[font=gothic][color=crimson][I]Bahamut, alone, solitary, defiant. Going under the name Aleksandr Kalwolski, stalked through the streets of Venice, muttering under his breath for the duplicity, the idiocy, inherent in these pathetic, mortal, humans. He swore under his breath, an oath that would be recognised by only a handful of people alive today. And none of those people were ones he was inclined to talk to.

Some random drunk tried to push him, and found it as futile as pushing stone. Bahamut turned, looking down at him, before looking at the alley the man had tried to push him into.[/I]

Bahamut: You wish me to go down there?

[I]The man shook his head slightly, confused. Given no other options, he nodded foolishly. Bahamut turned, striding into the alley. He felt movement behind him, and the man struck him in the back of the neck. Bahamut sighed, and turned. He smiled, and let his mouth slip back into draconic form. Suddenly confronted by a demon jawed person who took a hit to the back of the neck without flinching, sobriety came crashing down around the man. He turned and ran.

Bahamut seriously doubted he would ever drink again.[/font][/color][/I]

[DuoMax]

[i]John walked down the aisle in the train, keeping an out for any potential threats. He spotted Alucard and sat next to him[/i]

[b]John:[/b]Hey, whats goin' on.

[Orien_Xel]

[color=blue]The darkness was spreading....IT had already destroyed half of his family. But now he was ready. Ready and waiting...He heard a howl of in the distance as he walked through the forest, his armor clinking slightly. He turned and listened. Suddenly a gray shape burst from the forest. Vincent turned and drew his sword, barely dodged the charging werewolf.
He ducked as a razor sharp claw zipped just over his head. He lunged with his sword, wounding the horrendous beast. IT roared in pain and attacked again. Its jaw closed on his armored shoulder. It did not pierce it. It realized it was beaten and turned to flee.
"You're not getting away thart easy..."
Vincent pulled his whip and trippd the monster with a crak. He raised his sword. It fell once. The dead body twitched on the ground, its blood leaking into the snow. Vincent grimaced as he wiped the blood from his sword. There would be others...[/color]

[Raquel]

Rayne looked down.

Rayne: I suppose I'm being too forward, But subility has never been my greatest trait...

She looked up as the man sat down beside Alucard. She raised an eyebrow, then sent a glare his way that would scorch the hair form a person. She glowered as he refused to take the hint. Leaning back, Rayne sighed an looked out the window at the decelerating landscape. She brushed a strand of ebon hair from her face and it settled defiantly back into place. She bit her lip quietly.

Rayne: I'm... Sorry if I was.. Presumptious... I'm not always that blunt...

A garnet drop of blood welled from the spot on her lip that her teeth had snagged.

[Talon]

[color=teal][i]It was too much for Alucard. He swept down, licking the crimson fluid from Rayne's lip. The Thirst drove through him, as it had on that day.....[/i]

[u][center][b]Flashback[/b][/center]

[i]Adrian Fahrenheit Tepes sat silently in his mother's lap, hating with all of his power the hated cage of his half-vampirism. His mother, Lisa Tepes, was rocking him gently. She set him down and began to collect her herbs for healing when the mob came.[/i]

[b]Mobster 1:[/b]Adrian, stand back! Your mother is a witch!

[b]Lisa:[/b]I am no witch, I am simply an herbal healer.

[b]Mobster 2:[/b]Tell that to the fire, you demon!

[i]Adrian was grabbed and forced down, watched as his mother screamed and twisted against the scarring flames. There was nothing he could do. His mother was dead. An uninterable rage came upon him as his mother's last words bubbled through his mind.[/i]

[b]Lisa:[/b]Do not hate humans, my family, instead let them be, for theirs is already a hard lot....

[i]The rage, a rage of bloodthirst, took him. He killed the entire mob, draining their waiting necks. The sudden drinking of the scarlet restorative pulled Adrian into a new body, a more adult version of himself. He cried for what he had done, cried out for his mother, and trudged home to watch his father's rage.....[/i]

[center][b]End Flashback[/b][/u][/center]

[i]Alucard snapped awake, his canines retracting back from Rayne's neck. In his unknowing state, he had bitten her. He shook himself, paying no attention to the terrified, pale man in the corner. He instead sat back, waiting for the train to slow and stop at Venice Station while Rayne's body shook in the throes of the Dark Gift. Somehow, unconsciously, he had set her Gift so that she would not thirst, but would instead be immortal, stronger, and flawless, as all dhampiles were. The man fainted, and Alucard touched his head.[/i]

[b]Alucard:[/b]Sleep, my friend. What you have seen is nothing more than a dream of overintimate lovers, a dream and nothing more...

[b]Rayne:[/b]Thank you, Alucard.

[b]Alucard:[/b]My real name is Adrian, but call me what you wish. I travel with you, as far as my father's castle. Then, if you feel strong enough, if you wish, can you continue with me. In Venice, i have a friend to speak with. I hope Bahamut remembers the favor he owes me, after I gave him the location of his sister's lair and her..... "contact" with my father.

[b]Rayne:[/b]Let us go, then.[/color]

[Raquel]

Rayne alighted on the stone platform, her head still spinning from the recent events. She smiled back at Alucard as he stepped off the train behind her.

Rayne: I must return to my mothers grave, to complete my promise. If you wish to come with me, I will gladly accept your company. But, it seems more logical to me, to meet you at the small inn just down the road from the cemetary. I belive that it is the Two Forests Inn. I'll wait for you there.

She turned and made her way down the street, pausing to buy two white lilys from a vendor on the roadside. A sudden gust of wind whipped her hair out of it's makeshift knot and her long black coat billowed in the breeze. She gently touched the black iron cast bars of the cemetary and they swung silently open. Her hand trembled, as the memorys of the night of their murder swept through her and chilled her to the marrow of her bones. She had never told anyone. She stepped tenativly forward, and the colors of the memory became vibrant and real.

[I] Rayne pushed the door wider. The room had been ransaked. Blood sprayed the far wall. Rayne's eyes opened and she moved tenitivly into the room.

Rayne: H.. Hello? Momma? Pappa? Where are you?

She moved to the stair well and looked up it. A man lay mangled and sprawled across the stairs, a dark flower blossemed from the severed stump of his arm onto the carpet. Rayne's eyes went wide and she fell to her knees, retching. She finished and wiped her mouth on the back of her hand. Standing shakily, Rayne braced herself aginst the stair well wall, and inched up the stairs past the unknown man, the smell of fresh blood, spilt bowels and vomit, making her fight to hold whatever was left in her stomach down. Once she passed the multilated body, she ran the last seven steps into her parents bedroom. Two more men lay dead in the hall outside, but she diden't pause to look. Bursting into the room, Rayne ran to her parents side... Her mother winced as she came closer, severly wounded and bleeding from a large gash in her stomache. It was all she could do to keep her organs from spilling out onto the floor. She opened her mouth feebly but no sound came out. She swallowed and tried again, the words cracking like old bricks.

Rayne's Mother: Your.... Father.. Dead...

Rayne's head came up, tears streaking down her face. Her mother put a weak restraining hand on her shoulder.

Mother: Don't look...

Rayne: Shhh, Momma... Don't speak...

Rayne's mother smiled weakly and took Rayne's hand in hers.

Mother: I'm dying, dear heart... I need you to leave Italy... The ones who did this to us will come after-

She coughed and blood splattered Rayne's hand.

Mother: You... I don't want you to get hur-....

She relaxed and slipped to the side, her grip on Rayne coming loose and her hand thunking to the floor. Rayne stood silently and moved out of the room. She paused as a low moan came from her room. She walked towards it, her face emotionless. She threw open the door to see another unfamilliar man holding a bloody sheet around the stump of his hand. She strode to him and picked him up, throwing him bodily across the room. He hit the wall and slid to the floor. Rayne hauled him up. Clentching her teeth, she shook him like a dog worrying a rope toy.

Rayne: Who authorized this attack?

She shook him again when he diden't respond fast enough.

Rayne: TELL ME!

The man sputtered a name. Rayne glared at him.

Man: I... I don't know!! I took my orders from Malachie. You already found him if you came up the stairs.

He smirked.

Man: I don't know anymore than that. You won't get your precious revenge.

He laughed madly.

Man: Although your mother was a good sport in bed!

He tipped his head back and roared with laughter. Rayne's eyes narrowed and sher flung him through the window, to his death, seven stories below. She turned from the broken window and collapsed, crying herself to sleep.[/I]

Rayne stood before the grave, a black stone angel, wings and arms spread wide, as if to welcome their souls. Tears coursed down her face, and she gently tossed the lilys infront of the marble pedastal on which the angel stood.

Rayne: I miss you...

She turned and stuck her hands in her pockets, making for the inn across the street.

[Orien_Xel]

[color=blue]Vincent walked slowly into down. People avoided him. Probably because of the sword and armor, but who knows? He entered a small inn and sat down.
"Water. Now."
The bartender silently handed him a mug of water. He sipped at it, looking around at the epeople inside.[/color]

[Talon]

[color=teal][i]Alucard walked into the Two Forests Inn, spying someone sitting at the table dressed in heavy armor, wearing a sword at his side. Alucard passed him by, grinning maniacally as the patrons stared at the odd, white hair and the long, slender katana that stood apart from Alucard's otherwise black wardrobe. One patron stood, flexing huge muscles, with oddly scale-like markings on his skin. Bahamut strode forward, clasping Alucard's hand.[/i]

[b]Bahamut:[/b]Hello, old friend. What have we to do now?

[b]Alucard:[/b]Hold, my brother. I sense another Vampire Hunter in our midst. A Baldwin....

[b]Vincent:[/b]I'm the one you sense, dhampile. I recognize your Rune Sword, the blade of Alucard Fahrenheit Tepes.

[b]Alucard:[/b]You've done your studying, my friend. Hold, we wait for one more....

[i]Rayne walked in, a stale tear sliding down her cheek. She wiped it away and sat beside Alucard, staring at her "creator" and his new friends.[/i]

[b]Alucard:[/b]There should be one more, but we must find him later. Alexandra Belmont is on her way to my father's caslte as we speak. John, another friend, was put to sleep on the train. He shall be following Alexandra. The plan is to catch up with them, for we are suited to night travel.

[b]Vincent:[/b]Hold on, you plan on killing Draculka yourself, right? How? Only a Belmont can whip the final blow.

[b]Alucard:[/b]Because the Belmonts of today.......are descended from me. The first Belmont, a girl named Sonia, was my lover. Our child, Trevor, fought beside myself, Grant DaNasty, and Sypha Belnades to defeat my father. After that came Simon, then Juste, then Richter, another who fought beside me, then Reinhart Schneider, then John Morris, then Alexandra. All descended from me. I, through all means, am the oldest Belmont.[/color]

[Raquel]

Rayne pushed open the door, the wind swirling in behind her. With out looking up, she evaded the tables and groping hands, her raven hair veiling her face. She slipped into a seat at the bar.

Rayne: Long time no see, huh Keith...

The bartender looked up.

Keith: Oh... Hullo, Ray. How are you?

Rayne: Dead!

She laughed and he joined her.

Keith: Still the same sense of humor. Would you like anything?

Rayne: Anything strong...

Keith: Alright... Hang on a moment will you?

Rayne nods and brushes a strand of hair from her face. She tips back in her chair and stares at the rafters. Keith set a mug down in front of her.

Keith: You seem diffrent... Changed.

Rayne: Yea... A lot can happen in one year...

She sighed and drank deeply from the mug. Her eyes opened wide and she coughed, coming forward and steing the mug down quickly.

Rayne: Whoa... What is that?

Keith smiled and held up a finger.

Keith: Familly secret. Uh oh... You've got company. It looks mean...

Rayne turned to face the "threat"

[Talon]

[color=teal][i]Alucard turned, sensing the blood of a lycanthrope behind him. He turned, sighing with heavy resignation. it was Ortega, his father's most recently turned servant.[/i]

[b]Alucard:[/b]Ortega.

[b]Ortega:[/b]Alucard.

[b]Alucard:[/b]Tell me, has being my father's messenger and shoeshine boy garnered you any respect?

[b]Alucard:[/b]Tell me, Alucard, has being a rebel gotten you any success in your love life?

[i]He'd hit a wound in Alucard's heart that still stung with Maria's death. Even though standing by Rayne alleviated it, even made it better than ever, it was the thought that counts.[/i]

[b]Alucard:[/b]I'd watch your words, lackey, or no amount of Chimera in your blood will stop me from shredding you limb from limb. It'll only give me the pleasure of beheading you four times!

[i]At Alucard's recent outburst, it became evident that they were a few strangers in the pub. Very good for publicity. Especially in the case of a bar fight. In the confusion, Ortega slipped out, probably through the rear door. Alucard, Vincent, Bahamut, and Rayne were trying their best to control the crowd without killing, but with little success. Alucard sighed.[/i]

[b]Alucard:[/b]What must be done, must be done.

[i]Alucard summoned forth his power, seemingly growing to twice his size. He glared at the patrons of the inn, reaching down and grabbing their "leader" by the neck. he tossed him lightly onto a table.[/i]

[b]Alucard:[/b]Stop this insanity! I do not wish to harm any of you!

[i]The fighting ceased, the people cowered. The realized that it was Alucard, the son of Dracula. They cheered, silently, as the dhampile and his friends went to their rooms. Vincent and Bahamut together, Rayne and Alucard together. It was a dispute over which pair got the two-bed room and the one-bed room, but eventually, Alucard sighed and decided he and Rayne would share the one-bed room. Alucard was amazed to even sleep in a bed, let alone with anyone. He'd slept in coffins for all of his life. While Rayne prepared for bed, Alucard simply sat on the floor, wondering if he should sleep on that, instead....[/i][/color]

[Raquel]

Rayne moved to his side and extended a hand.

Rayne: C'mon... Up you come... You'll freeze if you sleep on the floor.

She pulled him to his feet and smiled. Rayne lay back on the bed, pillowing her head on her hands. She watched the roof suspiciously, just waiting for water to drip on her forehead. She commented absently, not looking down from the roof.

Rayne: It's going to rain tonight and I'm going to get wet. In all my years of coming to this inn, not one has been spent dry.