Castlevania: Reunions

17: The hunters

Leon and Stella grew up as one would expect from a Belmont "You sure?" Sypha asks the two "Yeah, besides, we'd love to surprise aunt Ruby" "I suppose I'll recheck what you're bringing along then. Does Trevor agree with this?" "Dad's spending all his time in the hold" "And why do you want to go now of all times?" "It's almost her birthday" Stella says and Sypha can't really argue with that "Alright, but be careful".

Trevor knows something is wrong. but he doesn't know what it is, until he finds a half burned letter in the fireplace and he kneels down "Not Adrian or Lisa's handwriting, Vlad doesn't send letters and Ruby's the type to visit" he mumbles seeing the obviously handwritten letter, what he reads however makes him pale, well paler then he already is "Sypha where are Stella and Leon?!" he asks "They went to visit Ruby" Sypha says "Shit, they got the letter before us, what weapons did they take?" "Everything they needed, according to Leon anyway".

Ruby roughly closes the doors of the castle with Carmilla's help and the two continue running up the stairs "I swear, where did he get so many?" Ruby says leaning against the wall of the study "Do you know how many hunters lost their chance to kill my father when we supposedly killed him?" Adrian asks "So why are we all a target?" Hector asks dragging some dead hunters into the room where he turns them into creatures of the night "Adrian's his son, Lisa's his thought dead, now suddenly a vampire wife, Carmilla is well Carmilla and I'm her daughter, not to mention I'm dating Dracula's son" "And you are the forge master" Adrian adds to Ruby's explanation "In their eyes I'm not a Belmont anymore, just the daughter of a vampire and lover of Dracula's son" Ruby says before her leg gives out "I'm fine" she says "Fine?" Lisa asks "Compared to Vlad I'm fine" Ruby answers getting up "I hope the castle door and walls hold out" Adrian says, the first one they had gone for had been Vlad, with good reason, but the two dhampir's quickly interrupted when they smelled the blood, but they were late, Ruby had gotten the others and made their way to the castle instead of the house as the castle is safer, she had to go back to get Carmilla and an arrow hit her leg.

Leon and Stella take as few breaks as possible to reach the mountain village, but even then it takes a while "We don't have time for this" Stella says seeing the clergymen "Through the forest" Leon says so the two take a shortcut "Dad will kill us if he finds out" he adds "I know" Stella comments dryly, but she doesn't seem to care. It takes a little more then a week to reach the village and they have no choice but to spend the night there "We have the worst luck" Leon says sitting on the bed "We'll leave after breakfast tomorrow norning" he adds "Agreed" Stella says.

Ruby is making the best of their situation while scouting the castle for hunters, her footsteps quiet as she readies her crossbow "Be glad we lost only two people since we entered" a hunter says, a female hunter "I guess, but those doors close quickly" this time it's a male "True", another female hunter. When they walk passed her hiding place she grabs the last one of the group, covering her mouth to prevent the others from hearing her scream as she bites down, with the constant fighting they needed blood more regually then usual, especially since anti vampire weapons are used by everyone "Lisa" she says tossing her the sword she stole "I'll be honest" Carmilla says entering the room and closing, locking and blocking the door "We won't last another night, not like this" "Agreed" Hector says making two more creatures from the hunters the two brought.

"I can't believe this" Leon says when the two reach the castle the next day "This is no place for kids" a hunter says "We are Leon and Stella Belmont, I think this is where we're supposed to be" Leon says dismounting his horse as his sister does the same "Boss we can't open the doors again", any further attempt is useless because the door opens anyway "You ready Adrian, Lisa?" Ruby asks "No" Lisa says "Neither of us is" Adrian adds "Fair point" Ruby says, they're standing on top of the stairs, Carmilla finishes her last sweep before joining them "I see we're largely outnumbered" she points out seeing the hunters enter carefully "Hector can protect Vlad" Lisa says. The two dhampirs shift into a wolf before beginning their attack, scaring quite a lot of the hunters who yell things like 'Watch out, he has hellhounds' or something alone those lines, but even greatly weakened they manage to take out quite a few before Adrian hits a pillar, goes through it and stops moving, Lisa, more weakened then the other two doesn't last much longer then her son, out of those four Carmilla's the least injured one so when Ruby spots several throwing dagger she quickly finishes the hunter in front of her before running towards her mother, pushing her to the side.

Leon and Stella see Ruby fall down and roll down the stairs "Should we interrupt?" Stella asks "Yeah" Leon says before rushing forwards and taking down the first hunter he gets close to, his twin sister following his example. Things go to literal hell for the hunters when Sypha kills three at once "You guys are late" Carmilla says looking at the family of four "Sorry, the kids tried to burn the letter" Trevor says.

When the hunters are all take care off Carmilla starts pulling the daggers out of Ruby "Gather the injured" Sypha says "And Trevor, bring these dead guys to Hector" "Wait, he's still alive" Trevor says lightly kicking a hunter "I cannot believe I'm about to say this" Carmilla says "Get him to Vlad, he needs it the most".