Encore

Stomach

As Trevor really should've been able to predict, nothing happens because since when is Alucard good for interesting, or smart, or helpful. Alucard just trails behind them with his gait subtly dragging in the manner of someone tired, either doing a stunning impression of not wanting to bite anyone or actually not being interested.

Possibly this was what he was getting at about vampires being limited by their stomachs, it's like how getting stabbed doesn't make people immediately want to stuff roast goose in their mouths.

And sometimes they don't at all and you have to shove goose between their teeth before they take the hint.

Trevor says, "You said your keep didn't connect to this. How about your giant fuckup of gears, is there a secret passageway between the two?"

"...yes..." Alucard says.

And there's that big hole in the ceiling between that area and his one with the coffin and the blood. "You should probably check on all that too," Trevor declares. "What with it all breaking because you're only good at lecturing other people on how things go."

"...yes..."

Does Alucard want that secret passageway, the one that would let someone bypass whatever traps his stair maze has, to remain secret? Well, he's shown them the others, and asking like Trevor thinks Alucard has a reason to want Trevor not to know is going to sound suspicious. If Alucard isn't already worried Trevor is planning on sneaking back down here to murder him when this is all done, Trevor sure as fuck isn't going to plant the idea. Bad enough Trevor has to jump at every shadow, he's not going to do that to somebody else.

Though. Would Alucard care if he thought Trevor was going to do that? Ugh, that sure puts showing off the ways down in a different light.

But no, he said he believes Trevor now about them not coming back here. That's why he's not hiding anything.

Alucard pauses and reaches for one of the sconces on the wall. Trevor expects him to pull the whole thing like it's a lever - that's how these kind of secret passages are supposed to work, you know? But instead Alucard presses against one of the small bits of iron at the back that looks like it's attaching the sconce to the stone but apparently not because it's just slid away with a click. Vampires! Nothing the right size, everything tiny fiddly bits or a dozen castles piled together. And indeed, an unnecessarily massive chunk of the wall glides aside to reveal more fucking stairs.

"More fucking stairs!" Trevor announces. "Well, that is great. Unfortunately, I'm beat. I plan on actually sleeping this night, and doing it above ground because, full offense, I fucking hate underground Gresit even more than I hate regular Gresit. I must reluctantly pass on going with you and hearing your excuses every time something collapses explosively that it was meant to collapse explosively."

Sypha looks at him curiously. "Will things be fine tonight, really?"

"Yeah, we either got all the demons or whatever's left flew home with tails tucked between their legs. Even on the road out, we only run across some heading for Argo, and that's not for days because you won't fucking leave."

She glances back to Alucard, who makes no argument. Probably just because Trevor's very right.

Back to the point he's trying to make. "Sypha, since she's a human who also sleeps unlike you, should do the same. If any evil owl shows up she can burn my tongue out before I tell whoever you're worried about that as it can plainly see we're still in Gresit," Trevor continues. "And the Speakers are going to be busy with everyone tomorrow and since that's why Sypha insists we stay, she'll be busy with that."

"And what a good decision that was," Sypha says. Trevor's stomach lurches and then his thoughts jump to her off the cuff lie earlier about contagious curses, because it can't happen the same way since he knows but it can't not happen because it's Hell and so then will it be her fingers blackening and the red climbing up her arms like strangling vines and. But would that be worse. There wouldn't be anything he could do. Anything she could demand of him. So. Barely bad at all. "They would have died if we'd just left!" Sypha insists.