Alucard P.O.V.
It wasn't long after our respite that night when everyone decided to go their own ways. Mother and Father had left in the early dawn light and left a note behind:
Dearest Adrian and Y/N,
Lisa and I have decided to start our tour of the world now before you two decide to go back to Y/N's time. We realized that if we had stayed we would have wanted to go with you, and, no matter how appealing that idea is, you both need to start your lives together now without the interference of parents. At least us. For now.
Remember that we will see you soon, we will find you where you are and we will miss you terribly until we meet again. Besides, it will only be a blink of an eye to you and merely 600 years for us.
We will see you soon. We love you both.
Yours,
D
I smiled to myself knowing he signed the letter the same as the movie Dracula did just to get Y/N to laugh. He knew she'd be sad about parting without saying goodbye and tried to leave things open for her, especially in light of everything that'd happened over the course of the last month and a half.
When I started my way down the stairs I could hear the others in the kitchen already, Y/N talking about the things she would make sure Sypha would have for her pregnancy, a few copied pages from some herbology books to aid with her sickness and pointing out safe pain medication should she need it. Mother had also left something for Sypha to get in touch with her when the baby comes due, so she could be here to help her with the birth and any other issues that may come up afterwards.
When I walked through the door Trevor was putting plates on the table, Sypha was pouring some tea for each of us and Y/N was plating up eggs, seared salt pork and bread. It seemed so long ago that we sat in this room for a meal, the memory leaving it's evidence with the smile that crossed my lips.
"Where are Dracula and Lisa's plates?" Sypha asked. She genuinely looked confused while Belmont and Y/N seemed almost sullen in their response.
"They aren't here," I said as I sat down. "They left here before dawn this morning to begin their travels, but promised to be back to help you with your baby."
"It seems strange not to see them here," Belmont said, "but I also understand why they took off when they did. It isn't as if they're gone forever, but it has become so normal for me to see them at the table now."
"Strange for you to say that," Y/N said. "To think just a year ago you were trying to kill him and now you're reacting to him being missing like someone just hid your comfort blankie. You need a hug, Cave Dork?" As Sypha and I started laughing, Y/N walked around the table to engulf Belmont in a bear hug that he fought against even as he laughed.
"I'll show you Cave Dork, wench!" he chuckled out while she squeezed one last time and resumed her seat. "But you're right. It is strange. We all know how things have changed, how our views on things have changed over the last few months."
"No kidding," Sypha said. "I've found that some humans are more evil than some of the night creatures we've hunted, salted pork soaked in water and fried tastes absolutely wonderful, vampires aren't all bloodthirsty pieces of shit and me and wagons do not get along as long as I've got this baby cave dork growing in me." I nearly spit my tea across the room when she mentioned the baby cave dork, only barely managing to turn my head to the side to regain composure enough to swallow what was in my mouth. And that would have been the end of it if Y/N hadn't been shouting at me:
"SWALLOW, BITCH! SWALLOW!"
This kicked off yet another round of laughter where Belmont wasn't as fortunate as I and ended up spitting his tea on the floor. His hand reached over to the table and grabbed the napkin that sat next to his plate to wipe his face as some had managed to leak out of his nose. Sypha, on the other hand, was holding her stomach as she laughed, her eyes sprouting tears from her mirth.
"I knew you were a spitter, Belmont!" Y/N shouted with glee. "Its ok, though. We still love you."
"Oh would you shut the fuck up?" Belmont said as he finished cleaning up, his chuckles still rumbling throughout his body. "You just had to shout that, didn't you?"
"Of course I did," Y/N answered with a laugh. "If I didn't say that you guys would think something's wrong, and I simply can't have that." I hadn't realized it until she'd said something, but we'd been treating her like she's made of glass since we'd left Braila. Granted, we were all worried about Sypha on her way here, but we had acted as if whatever we said would break her once again. And that wasn't fair.
"You're right," Sypha admitted. "We probably would wonder if you're alright, but you have to understand it isn't because we.."
"I understand," Y/N said with a smile. "I'll admit I was a bit more broken than the Mirror ever was, what with everything I'd seen recently, but I also know that I couldn't have changed it, everyone knew it was possible and there's no use continuing to dwell on it because I have more to think about now."
"Like what?" Belmont questioned. I stood up and moved around behind her. I placed my hand on her shoulder and gave her a gentle squeeze and her hand reached up to caress mine.
"I have a family of my own to think about," she said with a smile. "I have a wedding to plan, a father to see, a college course to finish and a house to claim. And eventually I'll want a baby of my own."
"I can already hear Mother nagging me to get a move on," I said with a laugh. "Top that off with the fact that they've been working on their own children and will have a 600 year head start -"
"Oh shit," Belmont chuckled out, "you'll never hear the end of it."
"And I thought I had it bad," Sypha laughed. "At least I don't have many expectations.You have a whole family to please while I just have the rebuilding of an entire family line and a bunch of Speakers that will want to be in on everything."
"Hey," Y/N said, "have you thought about sending out word to the rest of the Speakers and see if they may want to come here? You can start spreading the word on the death of Dracula with them, how he saved Braila before his demise and let them know the difference between him and evil vampires."
"That's a good idea!" she shouted happily. "Trevor will have to go to the next town to get a messenger to them. I wouldn't have the slightest clue where they are, but when I was with them, this time of year we'd be in Budapest."
"Then tomorrow I will go to the next town, find a messenger to deliver a message to the Speakers in Budapest. There might be one or two of them around if you've been going there all this time."
"Yes. We've been going to Budapest as long as I can remember for the winter months. The people there are most welcoming to Speakers and we'd have our own small house there." Sypha seemed to be lost in her memories for a moment as a saddened frown crossed her features for a moment and a smile took its place.
"Will you two stay here until Trevor comes back?" she asked plaintively. "I just don't want to be alone while he's gone. Not because I'd be lonely, but rather so someone's here in case something happens with the baby."
I laughed. "Of course we'll stay here! We have to get you two set up for the winter here. While we all know Trevor can hunt fairly well, I'll have to show you the cold storage and the pantry, help you stock up on vegetables and whatever herbs we can find, and I'm sure Y/N will help you with somethings from her time as well."
"Oh hell yes!" Y/N crowed happily. "I'll get you some more of that medicine for nausea, some dried herbs, butter, milk and a few of those steaks you guys like so much." Trevor started cheering, Sypha laughed and I hugged my lovely mate to my side. Y/N smiled and snuggled closer, her arm snaking around my waist and a contented sigh rose from her chest.
"Just remember," Sypha said, "you have to make sure not to spoil us too much."
"And you have to remember to come back from time to time," Belmont added. "It would be a shame for our children to miss knowing you."
"Children?" Sypha said with surprise.
"Of course," Trevor said with a chuckle. "You really think another child won't happen? Have you seen how often I chase after you? Did you miss how many times I made lo-" His question suddenly cut off by Sypha's hand slapping over his mouth.
"That's enough out of you, Belmont," she said, a very prominent blush riding high on her cheeks. "I don't think these two need to know about our sex life."
"Why not?" that fuckhead said. "We've had to sit and listen to those two fucking like rabbits, so I don't think they'd really care too much about us." I laughed hard as Y/N buried her face in my chest and squealed in embarrassment.
"And we can't forget the trip to the sex shop Y/N took us on. You have to know she's a bit...what was the phrase again? Oh! 'A freak in the sheets'!"
"Except now I can float above them," Y/N said sassily, a smirk appearing on her lips while wiggling her eyebrows. Everyone burst out laughing, Sypha the worst as she pointed at Y/N while tears poured from her eyes. She'd just managed to get her gasping under control before she blurted.
"That was the Belmont Look!" Again, Y/N, Sypha and I lost ourselves to laughter only to have it get worse when Belmont asked what the fuck we were talking about. Many different explanations later, he was pissed and laughing at the same time.
Over the course of five hours we'd discussed how we'd set things up to make things easier for Sypha to navigate through her pregnancy, such as setting up a bedroom on the first floor and constructing a nursery there as well. Y/N and I made a list of things we'd bring back for them to help with the child and to make sure they made it through the winter with little or no true effort on their part. Y/N and I went through the Mirror to get a few things to put in the nursery, making certain that it was all handmade items so they wouldn't be questioned later, food items and the like to get them started.
Belmont, as he promised, left the next morning to leave word for the Speakers in Budapest of the expected birth while Y/N and I figured out a few things with the Mirror. Y/N's idea was for Sypha and Belmont to contact us when it was nearing the time of her expected birth, thus ensuring that Sypha would have some help should Mother fail to make it in time. I knew my parents would be there in a heartbeat when the time came, but I could also see Sypha's point of view on the situation. Especially now that my parents were traveling in areas where they may not be reachable. It wasn't intended as an insult to my mother, but rather insurance should something come up that they couldn't handle.
For the next few hours, the three of us spent time getting some things settled for dinner, at first intending to wait for Belmont to show up later, but realizing the time of night deciding to just set his place at the table. Meanwhile, I had thoughts on Sypha's pregnancy still wandering through my mind. I knew that if everything was left up to Belmont to handle that child would be dropped on it's head within 20 seconds and he'd be passed out on the floor after peering in between Sypha's legs. As hard as I tried, I found myself chuckling from time to time while trying to get the image out of my mind.
"Adrian, my love?" Y/N called to me. "If you don't stop thinking that, I'm going to end up peeing myself, so would you be a dear and stop?" She and I both started laughing uncontrollably as neither of us could stop the vision of Belmont passed out on the floor from popping into our heads.
"What are you two laughing about?" Sypha asked.
"Just the idea that Y/N had better come back when its time for you to give birth," I admitted. "Neither of us can believe Blockhead over there would be much use when the time comes."
"What the fuck are you three talking about?" the idiot burst in and questioned.
"You're back!" Sypha said and launched herself into his arms. He spun her around happily and kissed her lips before backing off.
"Yes, I'm back. Now what the fuck were you three laughing about when I came in?" He took his place next to Sypha at the table and grabbed a goblet of water while trying to stare us down. It sort of lost the intended intensity with his eyes only appearing over the rim of the goblet.
"Just that I'm fairly certain the moment you see a stretched out vagina, you're going to pass out just from trying to figure out how it stretched that far." Y/N smirked at Trevor who instantly paled when he thought about it.
"Yeah, that's not going to happen," he said with conviction, "because you're going to bring your ass and your ass back here to help if we need it."
"Why..never mind," she quickly said and rolled her eyes. "At least I don't have to haul you around. That's way too much ass for me." It was then I took the opportunity to grab a full handful of her ass and squeeze it just to hear that squeal she makes when I do. And she did.
"I have all the ass I need right here," I said with a smirk.
"Oh don't you start with that shit now," Trevor grumped loudly. "I don't need to hear that nightmare fuel of you two flirting right now, or I may end up vomiting just as much as Sypha does."
We sat and joked with each other through the rest of the meal, all of us well aware the time we'd have to say goodbye to each other was rapidly approaching.Instead each of us did our best to keep those thoughts from coming up and just continued to enjoy each other's company.
Reader P.O.V.
The morning seems to have come too soon as the sunlight that dappled through the fir trees outside pierced through the pane of glass and cast it's beam across my face to wake me. I groaned in protest and attempted to turn from it toward Adrian and was met with my mate covering his eyes with his forearm and groaning as well. I chuckled at the sight and saw his full lips curve in a small smile at the sound.
"You don't want to get up either, I take it?" he said in his sleep-laden voice. His sentence was immediately followed by a rather loud yawn that looked and sounded more like a lion roaring over the plains, his fangs grown back to their original length for some reason. His mane of golden locks spread over the pillow and tickled my nose as he turned his face toward me.
"Nope," I said with a smile, albeit a somewhat sad smile. "But, no matter my feelings on this, we still need to get the rest of the things Sypha will need."
"I'm sad too, my love," Adrian said, his feelings showing in his eyes and thrumming through my veins, "but you already said we need to start our family, too."
"Yes," I sighed while rolling over to lay on my back. "That alone is something to look forward to because it means seeing all my crazy ass family, trying to talk Dad out of doing something stupid for the wedding we have to plan and you getting to witness just how bad Reggie dances." Adrian slid his arm under me and pulled me into his side, the scent of his skin invading my nose and taking up residence in my collection of things I love about this man in my brain.
I rolled up onto my side and draped myself over his chest, pressing lazy open mouth kisses across his chest and up to his chin. His fingers wound their way into my hair and a growling moan rumbled up to my lips. I smirked into the kisses as I came back down to his chest, stopping to flick my tongue over his nipple and receiving a gasp for my reward.
"Don't start something you can't finish," Adrian gruffly said, his eyes looking into mine flashing with lust. "And before you say you could finish it, remember how long I prefer to make love to you, how long we've not been able to make love and remember it is your intention to get things for Sypha today." I soon found myself groaning as I threw myself back over on my side of the bed. Rolling my eyes before snapping them shut, I began chuckling.
"Yeah, I know. Dammit," I muttered. "And I also know I should probably get up off my ass and get breakfast made or I'll be trapped here by you and your little crotch monster there." When he looked down to see what I was talking about, I jumped up from the bed, dressed quickly and ran out the door with laughter ringing through the halls.
"Minx!" Adrian shouted only to hear his laughter follow right behind it.
Sypha P.O.V.
I could hear Y/N and Alucard making their way from their room to the kitchen, the sounds of their laughter bouncing from wall to wall as they progressed through the castle. I found it difficult not to laugh along with them even though I had no idea of the joke. It would indeed be a bit lonely around here once they left for good, but I wouldn't be completely alone with Trevor at my side. Plus there were the other Speakers that would be here when the message finally reached them.
In some ways, I was less than happy about the idea of being surrounded by Speakers once again. The constraints that came with being with the group would be a bit of a problem. I cringed at the idea of the Speakers being in the same room with Belmont for too long, especially with his tendency to explode with anger when someone said or did something that annoyed him. But there was also reuniting with the man I thought of as a father figure once again, the one man who was a bit more open-minded than most other Speakers. My hopes for his arrival boosted my mood for the coming day.
I slid out of bed and completed my morning toilet before picking through and choosing some warmer leggings and my cloak for the day. As much as I'd love to wear the more modern clothing that Y/N had for me, I knew that would be far too much to have to explain to the Speakers once they actually make it here. So, with heavy heart I resumed the donning of the itchy, ugly, torn and repaired on multiple occasions cloak over the leggings. I put on my soft shoes and walked out of the room toward the kitchen, just getting around the corner before hearing Trevor groaning his way awake. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself as the sounds of confusion and acceptance were all expressed through groans, grunts and yawns that I could easily hear echoed in the hall even as I made my way down the stairs.
"Perhaps the downstairs bedroom isn't a bad idea," I said as I made my way down the seemingly endless amount of stairs. I was showing the evidence of my pregnancy a lot more than I'd realized and the fatigue was starting to kick in, my usual walk around the castle becoming more and more strenuous as the days passed. The morning sickness hasn't been as bad over the past few days, which was a blessing, and I'm starting to wake up hungry in the middle of the night for some reason or another. So strange how the body works while trying to aid in the creation of another life.
"Come this way, Sypha," Y/N called out to me before I turned into the kitchen. Instead, she led me to a laid out table with breads, meats, fresh eggs, cool water and hot tea. "I hope you're hungry because I actually made some cinnamon rolls and they're baking right now."
"Oh, you're going to spoil me!" I laughed.
"No, I'm going to help you out," she said as she took a seat next to me. She pulled out a small tome wrapped in leather and tied with a bit of string and handed it to me.
"These are some of the recipes that I've been cooking around here," she said with a smile. "I figure you're about 4 months along, so your food cravings and what you wouldn't like have already made themselves known. Hence the hatred of bananas. This has the herbs written down, what spices work with what meats and vegetables, how much salt to use, sauces, gravies and everything else I've seen that you've liked. I even put in a section on how to butcher and cure the meat cuts you like so you can have some of the same things you've had in modern times."
"But how would we get some of these things?" I asked. "It isn't like I can hop in a wagon and ride there, especially in the winter."
"I talked to the people of Braila before we left," she said with a smile. "I told them the location of the castle and they've already decided which two families will handle shipping things directly here to the castle by boat. You're sitting right next to the Dambovita River here, which connects to the Danube River that runs through Braila. You won't have to worry about that wagon trip again."
"I can get us a small boat to take trips to Braila from time to time as well," Trevor said as he descended the stairs toward us. "Shouldn't take you too long to get your bearings on a boat once you have the baby."
"In the meantime, though," Y/N said, "we can get you enough to make sure you make it through the winter. Adrian made sure the larder for the meats and things have snow pack on the outer walls and that the root cellar where the vegetables will be held is dry. I also want to go by this antique shop that has this greenhouse so you'll be able to grow your own vegetables even through the winter."
"We do have a small hothouse," Alucard said. "Its already set up with irrigation and a brazier to keep it warm."
"Thank you both," I said. "I can't tell you just how happy I am right now, what with all the preparations being made for this baby and the winter here. Trevor and I, couldn't possibly thank you enough for everything you've done." As I spoke I could feel the tears prickling my eyes and causing that twinge in my nose. No matter how I tried, the tears would not stop as they rolled down my cheeks in fat dribbles that splashed on my cloak. Y/N hurried over and gave me a hug, rubbing my back in small circles and making soothing noises.
"I know you have no control over your emotions, so I won't get on your butt about the waterworks," she said softly. "And don't you dare thank me for this. It is the least I could do for a friend in need, and you are definitely in need."
"Also," Alucard added, "what makes you think we won't come back from time to time?"
"How would we work that one out?" Belmont asked, the question being one that I'd had before as well.
"Messages," Y/N said. "What you can do is write a message and leave it with Dracula and Lisa. They will be coming round every now and again, too, so there's no reason why they couldn't figure out a way to get them to us."
"Then you tell your children and their children how to contact us," Alucard said. "We'll come to see you and them when we're able to."
"Alright," I said. "We'll work all that out with Dracula because I'm certain he will have some way of figuring this out." After that statement, Y/N and Alucard grabbed the list of things to pick up for us and made their way through the Mirror while Trevor and I relaxed in the sitting room. The fireplace was alight with the warm glow from the newly added logs, a soft blanket laid out in front and a small platter of bread and dates sitting next to a small pile of pillows.
"Thank you for this," I said. "I guess I've been so troubled by everything I've worried you, huh?"
"Not so much that," Trevor said as he pulled me closer. "More like I don't like the idea that they're leaving either and I thought we could use a little together time to get used to it before they actually go." I sighed in understanding and cuddled closer to him. His scent wafted into my nose and instantly comforted me. It was also comforting to know he was just as upset with them leaving as I was. Maybe deep down he wanted me to know he doesn't want them to leave because he wanted comfort from me as well, to ease his mind about the sudden separation from the two couples. He never had a real family, so to speak, so it would stand to reason that he decided to mentally adopt Y/N and everyone else as a sort of surrogate for the one he never had. I could relate to him in some ways.
"I don't want them to leave, but I understand why they are." I admitted sadly. "Its as Y/N said. She isn't suited to our time and needs to go back to what she knows, but I also know she wishes she didn't have to."
"Oh, I know with certainty she doesn't want to go back," Trevor said as he chewed on a date. "But even I would have trouble staying away from her father, in her case. The man just found out that his little girl is getting married, and with everything that I know about weddings here in this time, there's no way she'd want to leave him out of that event regardless of who could crash it."
"I wish I could be there to watch Alucard rip off her brother-in-law's head and slap the hell out of her sister with her own tongue if they crashed the wedding," I said with a laugh. It would be incredible to see if those situations would come true and I wish we could be at the wedding, but I don't believe we could. Either way, I hoped for the best for Alucard and Y/N. No matter what happens.