Fractured Reality

A Little Truth

Chapter 8

Alucard didn't speak for long enough that Eva began to feel even worse for speaking up. Especially when she remembered how she had responded to his questions about her mother. She had just opened her mouth to tell him to forget she asked when he finally started to speak. "You seem to be insatiably curious. However, in this case, I will agree that you deserve the answers to at least some of those questions. Most you would have found out in time from the others anyway."

Eva still felt incredibly uncomfortable. She regretted her curiosity already as she caught sight of the sadness in his eyes. She didn't need to have that explained. It was something she saw in the mirror often enough. Still, he was already talking again before she could tell him to stop.

"I am sure that the stories of my father have been warped over the centuries, but the name Impaler was earned at one point. Before he met my mother." Alucard paused at that point, and a sad smile graced his face as he looked at her. "My mother was named Lisa. She was a human woman that approached my father and demanded that he teach her to be a doctor."

Eva gasped and put a hand over mouth. She wasn't given a chance to say anything else before he continued. "I am aware that it is hard for people to believe, but my father loved my mother very much. A little more than a year ago, the bishops took her in for being a witch, and she was burned. My father had come so far, but that act proved to him all the worst things he believed about humanity. It drove him into insanity, and he has decided to wipe them from the earth. I cannot allow it in my mother's memory."

Alucard had been so lost in his thoughts as he retold his painful past that he had not realized Eva had started to tremble. It wasn't until she fell to her knees that his attention was jerked back to her. His eyes widened in shock as he saw both her hands over her mouth and tears streaming down her cheeks. He took a step toward her and called her name. When she didn't respond at all, he began to understand that she didn't see the room around her.

It wasn't until he knelt in front of her and called her name again that her eyes finally locked on his. He was shocked to find enough pain to drown in, yet she still managed to wipe away the tears and speak. "I'm so sorry. Please forgive me for even asking. How could I tell you to not ask about my mother and then make you tell me about yours? God, I'm a monster."

He frowned as he helped her to her feet. She was still trembling, and he had the urge to try and comfort her, despite the fact that he felt despair just as strongly as she apparently did. Or perhaps because of that reason. He settled for putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You could not have known what the reason was. I agreed to tell you, so do not blame yourself."

Eva shook her head. "Still, I understand better than most how that feels." She looked away, and he felt her shoulders tense and watched her jaw clench before she finally spoke again. "The reason I asked you not to ask about my mother, she volunteered to help in a country that isn't known for being friendly to Christians. There were a lot of people that were dying, though, and she couldn't stand to see it. She ended up being caught in the middle of a battle. The men that captured her held her along with several other people for months. They raped and tortured all the women before they beheaded them for being what they called infidels. They filmed it all, so I was forced to watch it. I had to verify it was her for the authorities."

Alucard felt like she had just punched him. His instinct that they had more in common than he first thought had been correct. Horribly, vilely correct. This was more than he could process. He took several steps back and stood there stiffly for several seconds before he could find the words to speak again. "Perhaps we should go see if there is something else Sypha needs us to look into."