Belmont Twins (OC x Alucard)

24

She snuck back into the room, staying silent as she observed Sypha who carried an expression of sheer awe at the treasure trove before her. She did worry that Sypha may faint on the spot upon seeing the masses of books and possibilities of stories that may hide between damp pages of musty books.

"Is it organised? Is there a way to find things?" she asked with giddy glee. Trevor paused, unsure of how to answer. Trevor has never really paid any attention to this part of their training, he'd always found ways to sneak off to play with knives and other toys. Elizabeth huffed, knowing damn well that their Father had everything categorised by a numerical code.

She went to speak when Alucard interrupted her, "I imagine one sacrifices a chicken and divines the location of the book you want from its intestines" Elizabeth's face twitched. He looked around, mocking them further, "Maybe the Belmont's has a crystal ball in here you could ask,".

Trevor's shoulder tensed, Elizabeth took a cautious step forward, "Just shut up," he growled at the vampire who sweetly slid past him and further into the stacks of books.

"It's an impressive tip, Belmonts. But it is, nonetheless a tip," he huffed, rubbing a gloved finger over the wood and looking disgusted at the muck and dirt that clung to it. Elizabeth wanted to hurl one of the books at him, she even picked out a heavy hardback that might have done the trick but chose not to aggravate him further. She couldn't understand how he went from gentle with her to cruel with her brother.

"Your ancestors were apparently mentally ill hoarders. I fully expect to find family cats mummified under some of these shelves," He continued, prodding at Trevor with each dig. Elizabeth gritted her teeth, biting back the need to explain that they were never allowed to keep pets. "...Unless your family preferred to eat them," he smirked, looking back at Elizabeth with his blazing eyes.

Elizabeth had had enough of his jabs and shoved past him, making sure to barge him with her good shoulder, "There's an index on the lectern at the bottom," She didn't look back to him as she moved towards the impressive pile of chests and lock boxes ahead.

Sypha wanted the awkwardness to end, desperately, so that she could explore without feeling like she needed to babysit the vampire and the twins. "So...this really is a managed collection?" she asked, placing a hand on Trevor's shoulder. The act incensed the vampire as he snorted and looked away from them.

"It's the work of generations, " Trevor explained, "an archive of everything we've found and learned since the days of Leon Belmont," He placed a rough hand on top of hers and led her towards the index plaque. Alucard separated from them, moving towards a large glass case.

Elizabeth realised where he was going and cursed at herself under her breath, "I meant to cover that when we came down," she began, looking at the growing grimace across his face. The case was filled to the brim with skulls, trophies and specimens collected by over 10 generations of Belmonts. Some were as small as her fist whilst others were twice the size of her sword.

"What, so this big bad vampire wouldn't get upset at the trophies you keep?" she was taken back by his tone. She edged forward, keeping her palms outstretched to him.

"Yes actually," she said. She tried to place a hand on his shoulder but he shrugged it off. She could see his face in the glass, but wasn't able to read the expression plastered across it.

"It's fine, soon you'll have Dracula's to display with them, or perhaps you'll give it a shelf of its own, maybe you'll save a space for mine next to it," he laughed darkly. Elizabeth felt embarrassed and hurt.

She went to walk away from him, to not encourage whatever mood he was in. But she couldn't.

"What is your problem?" she asked with a little more aggression than she wanted to.

"My problem?" he choked, as though he couldn't understand the audacity she had to ask.

He turned to face her, fangs barred and loomed over her. Her instincts were going wild, searching for the nearest makeshift weapon, searching for a way to fight, searching for a way out but she didn't balk, she stood firm. She stared down the vampire, not giving in to his intimidation tactic.

"My problem is that I have thrown my lot in with a bunch of murderers who would sooner kill me than allow me to help. My problem as you so wonderfully put it, is that I am inside the lion's den with every torture device and weapon ever designed to kill me and I am being treated as if I'm unreasonable. I have been nothing but kind and calm with you both yet still you recoil at my touch," he blushed. He hadn't meant to let that last part slip out. His menacing pose soon shrunk as he felt embarrassed at his own words.

Elizabeth was speechless, she wasn't sure what to say. He wasn't wrong, Trevor and herself hadn't given him the benefit of the doubt once since finding out about the prophecy. The pair of them had watched him like a hawk, sizing him up to see whether they could take him on. They had been rude, worse, they had been murderers in his eyes. To top it all off, Elizabeth had been fickle with him. She couldn't decide whether to trust him, despite him being nothing but courteous and kind with his actions.

She thought for a moment, twiddling her hair between her fingers, "You're right," she said finally.

"Yes, well...what?" he said, confused that she was agreeing with him.

"We-I haven't treated you fairly since we left Greshit. You carried my sword when I couldn't, helped bind my hand, spared Trevor and myself the embarrassment of nudity and you have been kind to me," she tried to find the words without it sounding like excuses, "...you have to understand, I wasn't raised on fantastical stories like Sypha. At 10, Trevor and I were thrown into a nest of vampires and told to fight our way out in order to earn breakfast. I have only known monst- beings like you to attack on sight, I have only seen the cruelty they enact on innocent people," she stopped herself, really wishing he would interrupt or have some remark or quip ready so she could stop talking, "I also have only really known blame and cruelty from regular people so I guess it's not an excuse..." she was faltering, watching those amber eyes study her.

He smiled, not like his usual wicked smile, this was different. This was kinder, sweeter, more inviting.

"What I mean to say is-"

"Yes?"

"What I mean to say is-" he moved closer and listened intently, "-I'm sorry for the way I've treated you, we're allies and probably the only people insane enough to believe we can stop Dracula. I will do better," she said, a bead of sweat trailing down her forehead and along her face. Her throat bobbed nervously as the vampire's, no, Alucard's eyes looked to her lips.

She felt herself leaning in towards him. Her mind screamed at her to stop, to flee but she didn't, she knew he wasn't going to hurt her. Alucard's eyes fluttered closed as he leaned in to meet her. Her mouth salivated and something deep within her swirled.

"Ahem," Sypha cleared her throat, making her presence known to them. The woman looked at them with wide eyes, her hands on her hips. Elizabeth shrunk back, cheeks blazing. Alucard cleared his throat and walked over to Sypha, engaging in some awkward conversation that allowed Elizabeth to bury herself between the crates, looking aimlessly for something, anything to do.