Music To My Soul

Ch. 24

Alexander: 

As the first wave of thralls came rushing out, the frontlines of Iscariot were quick to gun them down. They fought tooth and nail, while we were armed with swords, guns, and top of the line armor. Pa and I carefully warped into the courtyard, and started taking them out, Pa using his powers in ways I didn't think were possible, while I used my blades to keep them back. I saw Dracula go into the castle, and I noticed Pa was quick to follow him, as did I. It was just the three of us in the main area, his throne had been moved back to allow space. 

" So, you are the son of a Queen and a Knight, how cute. And what, you think you get to claim my crown? You are human! They adopted you!" 

" No, that's where you are wrong. We found a way. He's my blood, you bastard. He is the rightful king." 

Drac's eyes became pinpricks, the fear now very prevalent, as he pulled out his Jackal, and aimed it at me. 

" No, I forbade any purebloods to be born, it is illegal!" 

" The Vampiric Law states that a Pureblood will rule the vampiric race into a golden age of peace and harmony, that the leader before must submit and fall! You cannot fight the Laws, Vlad!" 

" Shut up! I have lost too many Mates to you and your kind! First I lost my rose to a knight, then I lost Mina to Hellsing, and now I've lost my desert rose to a fucking knight, yet again! I am so fucking done with losing people!" 

" Maybe if you didn't abuse them or steal married women you wouldn't be in this mess. I saw the marks you left on Timothy. If you call that love then you are delusional."

" I panicked! I saw history rewriting itself! I didn't know what else to do! A lover of mine with a holy man under a fucking tree, do you not understand how fucked up it is to see history unfold again in front of you?! And what makes it worse is the fact it seems stealing my brides is a family trait! It is something you never forget! And now, I'm going to kill you both, take back both of my roses, and make you wish that you had just stayed hidden and away."

The gun fired, and I was able to dodge it, Pa was trying to get close enough to rip the gun from him, and finally had Vlad pinned to the floor, grabbed the Jackal, and shot right where the brand was. I felt this knot in my chest break, and I could feel a raw, gnawing hunger underneath it all. Vlad shoved my father off, and his fear was now caked on his face.

" No, no no no no no NO!"

" That's right Dragon! Meet your Gabriel!" 

I felt stronger, and I could see perfectly without my glasses now, my mind swirling and bubbling with desires I had never known. I wanted to kill, and I knew just who to do it to. I pulled out the Nail, Heinkel having given it to me when we had met up, and marched over to the now cowering Vlad Dracula, my hand sizzling from the divinity. 

" Please, Alex, don't do this! You are better than this! You are a pious man of God!" 

" And I became a monster in His name. I am the son of Her Majesty Queen Roza Marie Antonia Dracula and Sir Alexandru Popescu, holy soldier of Iscariot! In their name I claim my crown and in the name of God I banish you to hell, you foul demon!" 

I grabbed his collar and plunged the holy relic into his heart, dropping him as barbed vines started to encase him, cocooning him, until his screams fell silent. Pa and I barricaded the door, and waited to see just what the Nail would do. It wasn't until sunrise, when the screaming and fighting outside had died down, that we finally opened the door, and in came most of the Iscariots, and a few thralls, but they were with Flint. 

" A few of them felt the power shift, and so I said if you followed the lion and not the dragon, fight for the true king. These are the few left from such a shift." 

" Is he dead?" 

" We don't know." 

I saw the throne, and part of me knew just what I had to do. I walked over to it, grabbing it and moving back to where it had been, set it down, and I sat in the damnable thing, the vampires left in the room bowed, even my father did. 

" Pa, you don't bow to me. Get up." 

" Of course, my son." 

He grabbed a seat and sat net to me, just as he should. We all watched and waited in anticipated breath for something to happen to the vampire king in the cocoon, and when I heard the grandfather clock chime for sunset, the cocoon cracked open, and out crawled a very human looking Alucard. He looked no different from before, except his eyes were a earthy hazel, not the scarlet we knew. He looked at me, and defeat coated his skin like a blanket. 

" I lost, I truly lost, didn't I?" 

" You did. Any last words, human, before I give you your sentence?"

" I saw all the wrongs I had done, all the hurt I caused and everything I had done over the centuries. I was horrible, violent, and cruel, only because that is what I had been raised by. I was a mindless warlord. I didn't think things through. I know of all people, I don't deserve it, but please, grant me a second chance at life. I want to do good this time around. I don't want my hands to be that red again." 

He crawled on his knees to my feet and looked to be begging. " Please grant me a second chance at humanity." 

I looked into his eyes, and saw he had indeed been blessed and sanctified, the Nail having cured him of all his sins and crimes. He was a pure human once more. I stood and gave him my punishment.

" You will go to England, you will go back to Hellsing, and you will stay there, living out your days as a human. You will go to church, as a good Catholic should, you will follow tenants, like a good Catholic should, and you will be a better man than you were before. I find out you even missed one Mass, I will personally remind you why you go. I never want to see or hear from you again. You will never bother me or my family again. And just know if God ever brings you to my door, it isn't out of mercy he did. Heinkel, come and cuff him, bring him to the Iscariot holding cells and have Maxwell call Fletcher to come pick him up. I have a family to go home to, and a husband to marry. To the thralls left, Flint will supervise it, but I want this place demolished, no stone is to be left, you will start with that fucking tower. I want you to move this castle, stone by stone, to the location Flint tells you to. You get out of line, he has my express permission to put a bullet in your head. Dismissed." 

" Alright, you heard the King, let's move it, people!" 

I sat back down, my father beaming at me. 

" I have long awaited this day. I'm not going to lie, I missed Romania. I was born here and I died here. To know I will live forever at your side, my son, brings me such pride and joy." 

" Well, every kingdom needs a military, and who better than you to lead it?" 

" You don't mean-" 

" A Knight in life and a Knight in death, remember? I don't have many I can trust, so I'm leaving you to lead the military part of all this. I want a meeting of all the vampiric leaders to happen, but I want to do it once the castle is done being rebuilt." 

" Of course, my son. Consider it done." 

We walked outside, and I saw them trying to remove a plum tree. 

" Oi! Leave that alone! If you do intend on moving it, then do so gently! That Plum tree is important, and it will be treated as such! 

" Yes, Your Majesty!" 

I shook my head, chuckling a bit. " I'll never get used to that." 

" You will in due time. By the way, when you get a chance, you might wanna look in a mirror." 

I pulled out a blade, and saw my eyes for the first time since the seal broke. My eyes were scarlet, yes, but they weren't the same shade as a normal one. They were almost golden, a metallic red. It was as if a sunset had come to call my eyes home. 

" Your eyes hold all of Hell's worsts. Hellfire red is only befit a king. Vlad had them, now you do."

" No, not hellfire, just a scarlet sunset. One crown has died, and another is born."