[ The last man, the one dressed in the armour of Dracula's armies even three years after his fall, is the only one to refuse to leave. His arms fall limp to his sides when he is unchained. He doesn't look up. Trevor calls in a soldier to lift him, but they refuse.
He is the forgemaster, they say. And Trevor feels his hand reaching for his sword.
Sypha's hand falls upon his, and he stops. Instead he steps forward, lifting the man's chin so that their eyes meet.
How many? He trusts that the question will be understood without further elaboration. How many of his family members were pulled from thier graves?
The man doesn't speak, but he blinks once. ]
-
[ The girl from the mirror sits upon the bed, still, a bony dog on her lap. The similarities between her and Trevor are still many. Her cheeks are rounder, what remains of her hands are smaller and more delicate. She would probably be scarless, were it not for the great parts of her that have been burned away. Two arrow holes in her dress, one at the shoulder and one at the heart.
Her hair has been changed since - not cut, but tied up into a neat bun. Her face has been painted a little - red on the cheeks and lips, to make her look a little more like she must have in life. A choker around her neck. Two things are clear - that this corpse is a doll for Carmilla to play with in the absence of the first plaything she found here and that this was meant for Trevor to see, not Alucard.
The room has not been destroyed. Rather each thing has been ruined in some small, precise way. The windows are boarded. Books have been soaked in what could be either ink or blood, in the low light. The papers hanging from the walls - Sypha's list of things that Alucard ought to remember to do while they're away, the old sketches they found hidden in one of Lisa's books and hung on the wall as a joke but ended up keeping, the long tally of days since Trevor had a drink and the short one of days since he last swore - they're burned, but only about halfway. Enough left to be recognized and missed, enough gone to be destroyed. The cloth covering Alucard's claw marks in the table has been pulled away.
But mostly, there is a corpse here. She only pets her dog, staring at Alucard. ]
Oh. Are you the one who is keeping little Trey away from us? Are you hurting him? [ She sounds calm, for asking such things. ] What must we give, for you to return him home?
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He is the forgemaster, they say. And Trevor feels his hand reaching for his sword.
Sypha's hand falls upon his, and he stops. Instead he steps forward, lifting the man's chin so that their eyes meet.
How many? He trusts that the question will be understood without further elaboration. How many of his family members were pulled from thier graves?
The man doesn't speak, but he blinks once. ]
-
[ The girl from the mirror sits upon the bed, still, a bony dog on her lap. The similarities between her and Trevor are still many. Her cheeks are rounder, what remains of her hands are smaller and more delicate. She would probably be scarless, were it not for the great parts of her that have been burned away. Two arrow holes in her dress, one at the shoulder and one at the heart.
Her hair has been changed since - not cut, but tied up into a neat bun. Her face has been painted a little - red on the cheeks and lips, to make her look a little more like she must have in life. A choker around her neck. Two things are clear - that this corpse is a doll for Carmilla to play with in the absence of the first plaything she found here and that this was meant for Trevor to see, not Alucard.
The room has not been destroyed. Rather each thing has been ruined in some small, precise way. The windows are boarded. Books have been soaked in what could be either ink or blood, in the low light. The papers hanging from the walls - Sypha's list of things that Alucard ought to remember to do while they're away, the old sketches they found hidden in one of Lisa's books and hung on the wall as a joke but ended up keeping, the long tally of days since Trevor had a drink and the short one of days since he last swore - they're burned, but only about halfway. Enough left to be recognized and missed, enough gone to be destroyed. The cloth covering Alucard's claw marks in the table has been pulled away.
But mostly, there is a corpse here. She only pets her dog, staring at Alucard. ]
Oh. Are you the one who is keeping little Trey away from us? Are you hurting him? [ She sounds calm, for asking such things. ] What must we give, for you to return him home?