stressbakingelf:

Good Company

POV Alucard. There’s an undead cat, memories to process, and only One Bed in the whole castle.

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Repairing the ruins of an old life was much easier with superhuman strength and agility. Alucard found his heritage more a blessing than a curse for once, mending what was to be his new home with relative ease. Manual labor was a vital distraction, Alucard finally able to process his grief as his hands remained busy. The magnificence of the castle slowly returned, as memories surfaced and slowly faded. Images of his mother, his father, and himself rose in his mind like waves, building an ache in his chest that as soon as he could move on, another would crest and break over him.

He reshelved books and swept the main library, collecting debris and dust from the scuffed floorboards. He could still feel himself running around happily, giggling as a small child as Dracula picked him up and set him on a table beside an open book he’d been reading.

“Libraries are meant to be quiet, Adrian.” Dracula’s voice was soft, almost teasing. Adrian obviously could sense he wasn’t in trouble, just grinning and holding his mouth open.

“I’m getting baby fangs! Look look!”

Adrian swung his legs excitedly as Dracula looked inside his mouth for the tenth time that week, amused at his son’s excitement. “You’re only half vampire. They won’t be true fangs until you’re an adult.”

“Woof!”

“Vampires do not woof, child.”

“I’m gonna learn how to turn into a wolf!”

Dracula chuckled. “Much better. I expect you’ll be able to transform into a bat too.”

Adrian happily picked up a book too heavy for a normal child and hugged it to his chest, slipping off the table to go somewhere else to read. “I’m gonna go tell Mom I’m working on trigonometry! Bye!”

Alucard sighed deeply. He missed the excitement of every new day, of piles of books he couldn’t wait to read for pleasure. He yearned for his projections to be real, to see his mother and father again. New knowledge was hardly exciting without another to share it with. His heart clenched painfully and he rubbed his eyes, wincing at the soreness from crying.

If he was honest, he missed Sypha and Trevor just as much. His newly found family who gave him the precious gifts of their friendship were gone to adventure in the outside world. Dracula’s, or rather, his castle and the Belmont vault were just as much their homes as his, but the emptiness still stung. It felt as if they’d never come back. In Alucard’s heart, he’d already tried to make peace with it, telling himself he’d be fine alone.

A couple weeks passed, and the repairs to the structure were going well. Alucard found himself sleeping in one of the very few guest rooms with any furnishing to speak of. His childhood bedroom was too much to look at, from the broken bedpost, to the toys and belongings from a past life, to the scorched rug he hadn’t the heart to move. He woke up one morning and stopped dead in the kitchen at a creature lounging on the counter as if it owned the place.

Only one thing could be so arrogant. A cat.

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