Music To My Soul

Ch. 23

Tim: 

Today was the day that all of this was going to end. I was told to stay here with his parents in Scotland, because it was the one place Alucard couldn't find me. Alex and his Pa were getting dressed out in the shed, which was also apparently where they hid everything from their old lives. Alex came back in, and he was in leather armor, and I couldn't help but say the first thing on my mind. 

" Listen, just cause you are going to go kill a monster, doesn't mean you need to look like a Witcher, Alex." 

" I'm ten times the fighter Geralt wishes he could be and twice as handsome. Now, enough jokes, I need you to come here." 

I chuckle and move closer, and I notice a sadness in his eyes.

" Tim, I need you to understand something very important. When that seal gets broke, I will have zero control over myself and what I do for the first few moments. I need you to understand that if I come home grouchy and angry, it's not at you, its just the vampirism, ok? I'll be in isolation until I get a grip, Pa told me it would be necessary. Now, I had Flint and Maria place a barrier around the house, one that not even they can cross once they leave with me." 

" But the plan was to have me break the seal." 

" Pa said it would be better if he did it, since he has battle prowess and he is my father. I need you here with Maria and Ma, safe and protected. If all else fails, I need to know you'll be taken care of, and Ma loves you too much to let you get hurt, I can tell. I love you, Tim, and I'll make that bastard pay for all his crimes. I promise." 

" Why does this feel like goodbye?" 

" I promise it's not, but I do like to have my bases covered. Oh, Tim, please don't cry, love." 

Alex pulled me in, and I broke down sobbing, and I could tell he was trying to fight the urge too from the shaking breaths he had.

" You come back to me, you hear? If you don't, then I'm going to make him pay. I don't care the costs. I'll finish him myself." 

" I know, dear, I know. I'll be back, don't you worry. I love you with all my heart, Timothy Anderson." 

I blushed a bit and smirked a small bit. " What was that?" 

Alex picked up my hand, and placed his cross into it. " I don't like rings, they can get lost or broken in a fight, but this cross has been by my side since I was a lad. Wear it, and know that when I come back, I'll be glad to marry you and call you my husband and Mate."

I tried to keep myself together as I placed the chain around my neck and kissed my paladin. 

" I love you, my Paladin." 

" And I love you, my Prince." 

Alex got up and left, his Pa and Flint on his heels, with his Ma and Maria staying with me. 

" My son was never one for words, so take those attached to the cross to heart, my boy. He means it." 

" Do you actually think he's going to come home?" 

" Three men will leave for battle, knowing the dragon they face is a menace, but only two will come back in one piece, and the third will not rise again at all. I am fully aware that if my husband is seen by Dracula, he'll be killed. Flint might live it out, might not, but I do know one thing, is that Alex will come home. He's built the same as his father, and he refuses to quit until the job is done." 

" I think his Pa will be fine. He outlived his punishments before, and he can do it again. You just have to have faith." 

" Oh, Xandru is a stubborn man, just like his son. I just pray you are right, Tim. Now, how about you and I bake up a storm to pass the time, huh? I don't like being alone without Xandru by my side, and need a pleasant distraction."

" I'd love to Ma'am." 

" Oh please. Call me Ma."

Alexander: 

Me, Pa, and Flint warped to the outer edge of the town where the castle laid, still under repairs  from my last siege on it. I was meeting more Iscariot soldiers who had been at the first raid, and they were pumped to go in again. I saw Heinkel and Yumi waiting for me, and when I explained the plan to all of them, they all nodded somberly. 

" Does this mean when today is done, you'll be leaving Iscariot?" 

" Aye, Heinkel, it does. You'll be taking my place when I leave. Just know that I do plan on still working with Iscariot, just not as I have been. When this is all said and done, I'll be something much stronger than Dracula ever could be, and so I'll not be allowed into Rome. This is a day to remember, to mark as an Iscariot holiday. The day we slay the Dragon, and a Lion takes the throne. Now who's with me!" 

The entire battalion roared, and my Pa looked at me with pride I could feel. A chant had seemed to crawl across them all, and it filled me with a passion and pride for my team that it felt right.

"Down with the Dragon! Long Live The Lion!"

I could hear it thundering in my heart, and with this renewed fire in my blood, we charged onward. I looked up to find Dracula sitting on the castle wall, along with several thralls. He came prepared. 

" I'll give you one last chance, Anderson! Give me Timothy and leave, and this mindless slaughter doesn't need to happen." 

" The only way he'd do that is if he lost his mind, you bloodthirsty fool!" 

Dracula's eyes shot open, and a very ugly grimace plastered onto his face. 

" Well, I see ghosts do haunt these walls. Alexandru, How have the centuries treated you?"

" Far kinder with your wife by my side, you gutless beater."

" I see, so she does still thrive. The Rose Queen still lives, and no doubt she's keeping guard over Timothy, huh?" 

" You'll never find them. Here we stand Alexander and Alexandru Popescu, father and son, to take you down, foul dragon. For our loves that you hurt, for the innocent lives you ruined, and in the name of the catholic church, we claim your head!"

Dracula looked extremely enraged. " I will gut you both like the pigs you are! Thralls, attack!" 

And with the first orders raised, we went to war.