Chapter Text
The world was frozen around him.
Trevor could faintly hear the dim shouts of his mother and Ann beside him, but he couldn’t pay them any mind.
His heart stuttered. Trevor could feel its uneven beat climbing up his throat.
He felt heavy. Nauseous. Like a slug seeing the world race by and unable to do anything but crawl.
They took him.
He was shaking now.
They took Zach.
Again. He hysterically recalled to himself. How can this be happening again?
There was a push at his side, and Trevor snapped back to attention, the world coming into focus around him.
Adrian’s hand was curled around his waist. His mouth closed, the end of a sentence falling from his lips.
“What?” He could only say.
His brows furrowed. “Are you alright?”
It was a stupid question. Trevor was not. How could he be?
Anyone. They could have taken anyone but—
He pulled himself out of the thoughts like a dog performing a familiar trick. But he stayed pressed to Adrian, his hand an anchor at sea, even when his mother’s eyes lingered at the sight.
“We… I need— what happened?” He demanded. “How did the spell around the manor fail?”
“It didn’t fail.” Ann shifted. “Zach left.”
“What?”
“He was throwing a tantrum,” Ann cowered at his mother’s look. “A justified one. When he disappeared for the rest of the day, I assumed he was just hiding in the hol—” Her teeth clacked with the force she closed her mouth with.
The Hold. Right.
He was suddenly, consciously, aware he hadn’t told the Tepes’ about it. He wasn’t supposed to. Was told over and over that the existence of the Hold could not be known by Dracula in any capacity whatsoever.
But he remembered the labs he was welcomed into.
He had once asked Lisa if Adrian would ever like it, working with his family to counteract the effects of the supernatural. He remembered the satisfaction in his eyes as they worked on the gorgon venom.
He wanted…
But he couldn't have it. Not now.
Ann finished quickly, the words faster and faster until they almost jumbled. “But then he didn’t come to bed, and then we got a letter and then—” she broke off.
“The Guard took him.”
The Guard.
A furious wave coursed through his body, and he felt Adrian’s hand squeeze, but it didn’t lift the haze of anger that filtered through his bloodstream and covered his eyes.
The Guard.
Trevor hated them.
They took his father. His father. They started this whole fucking mess with the Church, and they took Zach, and they just took and took, and Trevor hated them and he wished he could just kill them all—
His mother’s expression was blank. Trevor stared at her, reminded of her familiar expression when he was a young child, pulling at her skirts for attention as she stared out a window, unresponsive and unseeing.
He wondered how much she ached inside. Her youngest son, gone. Taken. By the same group that killed her husband and injured him.
“Where’s the letter?”
“At the manor.”
His eyes closed briefly. “What did it say?”
A shadow covered her face. “They… they know about the pact. And if we don’t give them you both,” her eyes flicked to Adrian and back to him, “they’re going to kill Zach.”
Adrian inhaled sharply, hand tightening on Trevor’s waist, but this time, Trevor could barely feel it. Something terrible expanded in his chest, ripping its vines through arteries and binding his heart in grief.
How can this be happening again?
Zach’s small voice, uncertain and scared, suddenly ripped through his mind.
‘We’re gonna see you again, right? You’ll come to visit?’
Around him, the sight of flowers turned to ash.
I may never see him again.
The thought was unbearable, unbelievable, because hadn’t Trevor told himself that it would never be Zach? His brother would never have to face the same grief and madness that Trevor had to endure because he’d never allow it, but now– Now—
Trevor stormed into the castle, his mother, Ann and Adrian at his heels.
“Trevor,” Ann tried to reason as he pushed past her grasping hands. “Wait!”
Wait? How could he wait?
Lisa was waiting at the doors, troubled and pale, and it was a small, passing thought that he’d previously seen her full of love and laughter, but now– Now—
“Trevor.” This was not Lisa’s voice.
Dracula stood at the end of the hall, where the reach of sunlight just ended. His eyes were bleeding red.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to get him back.” He snapped.
“Trevor,” his mother warned. He saw her look warily towards their immortal enemy. But Dracula didn’t care for his tone. Why would he? What threat was Trevor to him?
“And how do you propose to do that?”
He scoffed. “I’ll find him using your mirror, grab him and be back before the sun fucking sets.”
But Dracula only tilted his head. “If it were that simple, I assure you I’d have brought you to my mirror already.”
Trevor sighed, a dark coil of frustration pressing up against the back of his head. Could Dracula just stop talking in fucking wayarounds and just say what he means?
He said that, ignoring his mother’s warning. Dracula’s expression didn’t change.
“I have already attempted to use it. I was shown nothing.” He tacked on at Trevor's furious expression, “It was blank.”
“How the fuck—” Trevor began, about to storm over to him when his mother interrupted.
“It’s a spell. We assume.” Her fingers rubbed at her temple, and a bitter smile coated her lips. “It’s most likely they took inspiration from our spell surrounding the manor and decided to use it to shield Zach.”
Trevor froze.
That— that was—
Exactly what they would do.
He exhaled. “Okay.” He pressed the bottom of his palms against his eyes, pushing back a familiar sting. “Okay.” He lowered his hands and turned to his family. “Where’s Henry?”
“He’s searching the surrounding towns and villages.”
Trevor was baffled. “Why would he do that? They’d never stay somewhere close.”
Ann shifted, avoiding his gaze, but said nothing.
His eyes narrowed.
“Bring him here,” he told Dracula. “Sypha, too. I need to see the fucking letter, and Sypha was training him. Maybe she saw something or…”
It was unlikely. But he had to try it…And he had to stop judging Henry for doing something useless rather than doing nothing.
“We’ll still need her.” He said.
Dracula, for all accounts, didn’t disagree.
“We will need more than your brother and the Speaker magician. They want you and Adrian.”
“No shit. That’s why—”
“They were strategic. With whom they kidnapped and who they want to exchange him with. They know about the pact.” His eyes bore into his. “Why do you think they’re so confident?”
“Because they have my fucking brother!”
The castle doors swung shut behind him, the golden light of the sun disappearing in a clear thud.
Dracula was next to him in a blink.
“Is it a coincidence then, that they took the family member that would spur you into action the most? The one that, you may not like me saying, seems to be holding your immediate family together like glue after your father's death?”
“What are you implying?” Trevor said with gritted teeth. “A traitor?”
Dracula stepped back. “I don’t know. Maybe. Who do we know was at the wedding that may have… lingered to witness the affections between you and Zacharias?”
He stopped, the memory suddenly flooding him like a wave.
“Michael.”
Dracula nodded.
Adrian stepped beside him, grabbing his wrist. “Michael?” His voice was low. Furious. “How could he have stayed?”
“I don’t know,” Dracula said lightly. “Perhaps, if he were alive, I might have questioned him.”
A wild sound ripped out of Adrian’s throat, and Trevor froze as he looked at him, at the struggling emotions covering his expression. His gaze met Trevor’s, guilty and horrified, and when he flinched, Trevor surged forward, quickly holding his hands in his.
He pressed his forehead against his. “No.” He whispered hotly. “It’s not your fault. Adrian,” he repeated his name, pressing harder against him. “It’s alright. You saved us. You saved my life.”
He knew they were being watched. That his family was likely horrified. But in this small bubble where their warm breaths touched, Trevor wanted to indulge in them so badly.
But he couldn’t. Not as he wished to. He focused on Adrian entirely, not wanting to miss a single micro-expression, anything that could have made him worse.
He waited until his hands stopped shaking, until his breath levelled, and for a small, interceptable nod before whirling back to Dracula, who watched them carefully. “Don’t.” He warned. “Not fucking now.”
Dracula said nothing, staring at their joined hands when a small gasp made Trevor turn to where his mother and Ann stood.
Ann looked shocked, eyes wide as she stared at their joined hands. Trevor simply tightened his grip, vowing to explain it all to her soon.
But would she understand?
She’d read his letters. But would she understand—
He looked at his mother instead. She wasn’t looking at their hands. No. She was staring at Adrian, something searching in his expression. He couldn’t pinpoint the emotion on her. She didn’t seem angry, but she also wasn’t fucking happy.
And there was something in Trevor, a part of him that—
“Who is Michael?” His mother looked away from them to Dracula. She didn’t falter under his stare.
Lisa spoke up. “He was a vampire who… attacked Trevor and I. He was killed by Adrian.”
Ann stared, enlightenment rising in her eyes. “You think he’s the one who gave the Guard information. How—”
“You don’t seem very surprised to hear about the attack,” Dracula cut in smoothly. Trevor winced when Dracula glared at him. “A rockfall, was it?”
“...It may have been caused by a vampire,” Trevor mumbled.
Dracula glared harder.
“It really happened. The rockfall,” Trevor insisted. “Ann got hurt. I carried her back. And we weren’t supposed to be there, so... I couldn’t exactly tell our parents it was because something with fangs came after us.”
“So you blamed the rocks.”
“I didn’t blame them. They did fall . The vampire knocked them down, trying to get to us. It was the best cover I had.”
Dracula stared at him.
Trevor sighed. “I didn’t know how else to say it in the letter. I figured if she remembered, she’d know I was trying to tell her something was off.”
“I did,” Ann said, voice high when Dracula turned to stare at her.
“Just call Henry and Sypha here first.” He demanded. “We’ll figure the rest out once I see this fucking letter.”
And for once, Dracula did as Trevor told, gesturing for him to follow.
There was a set of footsteps immediately following him when Dracula spoke again.
“Not you, Adrian.”
Trevor froze. Adrian did too beside him.
“Stay with your mother and keep our guests comfortable. This will not take long.” He didn’t wait for his disagreement and began to be swallowed up by the castle’s darkness as he walked deeper.
Trevor shared a hopeless look with him. Adrian gritted his teeth and nodded. “Go,” he whispered, and Trevor inhaled, rushing off to keep up with Dracula’s stride.
He was already up the staircase when Trevor saw him. He quickly ran beside him.
“Where are Hector and Isaac?”
“I’ve sent Hector ahead to Hungary.”
Trevor blinked. “The fuck for?”
“It’s where Michael had been residing. I hope for there to be some clues left over of his involvement.”
Trevor stared. “How did you know? That it might have been him?”
“By following the few leads we had.”
That was entirely unhelpful but Trevor would figure it out himself—
“You do remember that Michael attacked specifically when he knew I wasn’t at the castle.”
Trevor stopped. “Fuck. Yeah, he did.”
“And why wasn’t I at the castle?”
Trevor closed his eyes. “Because there was a sighting of the Guard."
“Yes.” Dracula’s cape moved smoothly as he whirled into another hallway. “It was all planned. Before, I couldn’t be sure why he had attacked, but now I know it was at least in connection with the Guard.”
“But he only wanted to kill me and Lisa. He called Adrian his prince.”
“I don’t have all the answers, Trevor.”
He stopped in his tracks. Dracula had just called him by his name. And there was no one around for him to do it for.
“Hurry up.” He blinked as Dracula was almost out of sight and quickly sped up as they continued to his office.
Trevor couldn’t focus on anything as they moved. His mind was nothing but panic and anger and deep, echoing grief.
Again? How can this be happening again?
His family would cite the Guard, the Guard would cite the Church, and the Church would cite God. And over and over, it would go.
Trevor wondered if there was a curse on his family, just as they believed vampires were damned.
If there was, could he break it?
In a blur, they were at Dracula’s office. When Trevor stood in front of the mirror, he exhaled.
“Are you ready?”
He nodded and stepped aside.
This time, when Dracula formed the transmission mirror, Trevor felt nothing. He watched as the mirror blurred and went black, then quickly fell onto the sight of a small town, surrounded by greenery. Trevor watched it speed through wooden homes and pubs, quickly falling on his brother who was tending to his horse.
Even through the mirror, Henry looked tired.
Dark circles stretched under his eyes, almost falling to his cheeks, and his hair was mussed and messier than Trevor’s.
Henry blinked at the sight of them in front of him.
It made Trevor angry. He should’ve been spurred into action, not standing around like—
Trevor beckoned him forward with his hand.
Henry looked around him and back at Trevor with a hesitant expression.
Trevor shook his hand harder. “Come on!”
Another blink and Henry came forward, moving through the mirror smoothly.
Trevor stared as he came into view, solid and real, and Henry stared back with dark eyes.
When Henry’s arms came around him, Trevor embraced him just as quickly.
Fuck.
Trevor breathed him in, the familiar scent of leather and ink that he had begun to forget. Henry squeezed him tighter, and Trevor felt something prick at his eyes.
He was finally seeing them again. His family. He’d wished for it, hadn’t he? Had looked at Isaac and Hector, their embraces in this same office and ached.
He’d just never thought he’d feel so sad.
Trevor realised Henry was saying his name, over and over, murmuring it between them.
He thought about Henry's perspective. A brother gone, one retained. A brother reunited with, one taken.
Henry was still clutching onto him. And he’d always been the one to pull back since this all started.
As the anger at his idling faded, Trevor wished Henry had absorbed it instead. It was different to see him now. And in these circumstances, anything unfamiliar made him wary.
A distinct cough made Trevor finally pull apart.
Dracula stood before them, expression blank.
“Belmont.” He greeted with a drawl. “Your mother and sister are downstairs.”
Henry looked at him. “So you know.”
Trevor stared. “Of course, I fucking know.” He stepped back. “What? Were you just going to keep this from me?”
“Of course not.” He sighed. “I’d just hope to tell you when I have a more concrete lead to tell you rather than just make you worry unnecessarily.”
“Well, too bad.” He snapped. “Mother and Ann thought I should know. And I agree.”
“We need to retrieve the Speaker Magician,” Dracula told Henry. “I will drop you outside the border of the Belmont grounds. You will retrieve her and return quickly.”
For a moment, Henry said nothing. One hand was running through his messy hair and the other was gripping—
Trevor’s breath left him at the sight of the Morningstar latched to his hip.
Henry didn’t notice his struggle, still mulling over Dracula’s instructions. “Alright.” He sighed. “Let’s go.”
Trevor watched Henry fidget as Dracula moved his hands again. He almost reached out to him when the sight of a familiar forest came into view. Trevor stared at it. To the naked eye, to anyone else, it would be nothing but an ordinary forest. But Trevor knew these trees, had played amongst them from dawn to dusk, and the night after it.
It was the woods surrounding the Belmont manor. If they hadn’t used a spell after the attack to cloak the manor’s location, they would’ve seen it too.
If merely seeing the woods made Trevor unsteady, he wasn’t sure what effect his home would have on him.
Dracula peered at Henry. “Try not to take long.”
He glared. “Don’t think you can command me, vampire.”
“Bring the letter!” Trevor quickly said before he disappeared.
Henry nodded, not looking at him, and he strode through the mirror without a second glance.
A second of silence fell over them. A second.
“Always so welcoming, your family.”
“This really isn’t the time.” Trevor sighed, leaning back against the plush, high-backed chair that Trevor had sat on last time.
He felt so tired. Tired, but nothing had happened. He leaned into his hands.
“He’s different.”
Trevor froze.
“You see it. Don’t you?”
He raised his head from his hands.
Dracula stood in front of him, large and imposing. His eyes were like pits of fire.
“Yeah,” he admitted quietly. “I do.”
But why wouldn’t he be? Zach was taken. Wouldn’t anyone change?
Dracula turned away from him, standing in front of the mirror silently.
Trevor pressed his head back to his hands and waited.
And waited.
It had to have been over twenty minutes when he heard Sypha’s gasp, and he quickly looked up, catching the tail end of her coming through the mirror, eyes wide and mouth agape. Henry appeared a second later, a folded paper in his hands.
“Trevor!”
And Sypha was the bravest of them all as she passed Dracula like he wasn’t even there and squeezed him tightly.
“Oh,” she murmured into his hair. “Trevor, are you alright? How are you feeling?” In a quieter voice that Dracula would still be able to hear, she said, “Are you safe?”
Trevor leaned back, smiling softly. She was exactly as he remembered. “Fine, a little bit angry and yeah.”
Her expression softened. Trevor noticed the freckles on her skin, a touch of sunlight over her skin.
He selfishly hoped it had been from her training with Zach. That the two of them had spent hours outside. That she’d distracted him enough from this shit. That he’d been happy.
“Where’s mother?” Henry asked.
Trevor actually didn’t know where Adrian and Lisa had taken his family and looked at Dracula.
“The sitting room near the library.” He answered.
Trevor moved off the chair. “I’ll take you to her.”
Sypha looked back at Dracula and nodded hesitantly in greeting.
Dracula inclined his head.
“Let’s go.” He grabbed Henry’s elbow, who was currently looking intently around the office, probably documenting everything he could for later.
It probably wasn’t the best look in front of Dracula but he, surprisingly, didn't comment.
“I’ll bring Isaac,” is all he said as he closed the office door behind them and disappeared.
They all blinked.
He had literally disappeared.
Henry immediately tried the door.
It was locked.
He snarled in frustration, but Trevor pulled him back. “This isn’t the time.” He warned and shoved him away. “Let’s go.”
Henry gave him a look as he silently started down the hall, Sypha and Trevor just behind him.
“This… is a nice castle.” Sypha looked around admiringly.
“You’ve been here before,” Henry muttered.
“We were only allowed in certain areas.” She said, craning her head up.
Henry turned his head over his shoulder to see her looking around. “Don’t bother trying to map it. It changes.”
But the sheepish look on Sypha’s face told Trevor that it hadn’t even been her first thought.
In fact… Trevor himself hadn’t even thought to do anything similar during his time here. Unless he told his family what the Tepes’ ate, their astronomy tower and telescope and what he’d been able to see from Dracula’s lab… Trevor realised he didn’t have much damning information to give them at all.
He made sure to avoid Henry’s gaze as he led them through the hallways, watching lights flicker on at their arrival. Sypha exclaimed over the technology but Henry peered around suspiciously.
It hit him then, watching their expressions, how much time had passed.
They were walking down a staircase now, almost to the sitting room.
Trevor gestured to Henry’s hands. “Let me see it.”
But Henry stopped walking entirely.
Trevor stopped too.
Sypha watched them warily.
“Henry–” he started, only to stop when he pulled away from him.
Trevor watched him with gritted teeth.
“Sypha,” he caught her attention. “Finish walking down the staircase and take two lefts and then a right. You’ll come out right in front of the sitting room.”
She looked between them. “Maybe I should—”
“No one else is in the castle,” Trevor spoke over her. “It’s perfectly safe.”
And when she didn’t move, Trevor looked away from Henry’s tense expression and gave her a pleading look.
She was obviously hesitant to leave him, them, alone. But Trevor needed her to.
Sypha sighed, fixing her blue robes. It was a nervous gesture, Trevor knew.
“...Okay,” she squeezed both their arms as she passed between them. “Two lefts and right.” She murmured to herself and they watched her disappear from view silently.
Trevor turned back to Henry.
He wasn’t looking at him. The letter was almost scrunched in his hands.
He suddenly remembered Ann’s letter, crumpled into a ball and thrown over the castle in anger and grief and—
“Henry,” he said softly. “Please. Give it to me.”
But he shook his head, looking at the letter.
The crinkle of paper was loud between them.
“Henry—”
“It’s my fault.”
Trevor froze.
Henry looked up at him then, his blue eyes a darker shade than his.
“I got mad. Snapped at him.”
Trevor took a shuddering breath. “Why?”
Henry’s breaths came harder, harsher and Trevor wasn’t sure what to do.
“He was complaining about the pact. He wanted… to see you.”
Everything in him was cold and warm and Zach— Zach wanted to see him.
“He missed you. Everyday. I thought that training with Sypha would keep his mind off you but… I was wrong.” He sighed. “Of course, I was.” He muttered to himself.
Trevor frowned.
“He was complaining,” he repeated, “and I’d just come back from a hunt and there was an impromptu meeting with a Churchman and then Cecelia and Christoper wouldn’t stop and when Zach came to me—” He broke off, staring at the paper.
“I snapped. Said some things.”
Something aching rose in him. Not just for Zach but Henry, too. “What did you—”
“He said he wanted to visit you. That he could help. That he wasn’t afraid of Dracula.” Henry’s laugh was twisted and tortured. “Do you know what I said to that?” He didn’t wait for his response. “I called him young and useless. A liability in the field. That he was too young to understand anything and that he’d probably be the reason you die.”
Trevor locked up in horror.
Henry’s hands were trembling around the letter. “I told him everything I had been telling myself. ”
Trevor’s voice was hollow. “Henry…”
“And then he didn’t return and then I got this fucking letter, and I– I’ve ruined it! All of it!”
“Henry!” He didn’t wait as he hugged him, tighter than he ever had in his life. There was something wet pressing onto his skin and Trevor pulled back, wiping the tears from Henry’s face carefully.
“It’s not your fault.”
Henry was already shaking his head.
“It’s not—”
“I wish you didn’t have to leave.”
Trevor froze.
“Maybe if you were with me…”
And when Trevor looked at him, it wasn’t the Head of the Belmont clan he saw.
It was his brother. His brother, who had shown him monsters in clouds, who had looked after him when his mother couldn’t. His brother, who had buried his father and had tended to him as he was covered in burns.
His brother, who had no choice but to barter him away and hold his family together when no one thought to do the same for him.
“I’m sorry.” Trevor gasped.
Henry looked at him with shining eyes.
“I left.” He had only ever sent Ann letters. Henry shook his head. “I’m sorry—”
Trevor wasn’t sure how long they were there, sprawled over the stairs and holding each other tightly, apologies and tears filling the space between them.
It was only when the lights flickered over them did he remember they were supposed to be in the sitting room. That the others were waiting.
Henry only moved once Trevor did.
They stood unsteadily, and Henry snorted at his hair. “It’s a mess.”
“You’re one to talk.” He stared at the nest. “Fuck is living in it?”
He shook his head, a smile tugging at his lips.
The lights flickered again.
Henry’s expression steadied. He picked up the letter, smoothing it over his thigh.
Trevor blinked when he passed it to him.
“What—”
“Two lefts and a right?”
“Yeah…”
He nodded. “I’ll see you there.”
He didn’t wait for his reply as he rushed down the stairs, disappearing from view.
Fuck.
Trevor wiped the drying tears from his cheeks.
He opened the letter with unsteady hands. Stared at the writing.
Henry Belmont,
It’s a shame you’ve disappeared. Some would say it is the coward’s way out, but I understand. War only necessitates survival, not honour.
Trevor skipped over the taunting, knuckles white as he imagined Henry, already suffering, reading it.
My men brought me a gift today. Zacharias Belmont.
It seems he did not heed your instruction to never leave the grounds. A crafty spell, I will admit.
But I have him now.
Trevor’s breathing went harsher.
I know about your pact. I won’t bore you with unnecessary details, but I will say that I find it surprising. Has the Belmont clan truly been brought so low as to ally themselves with their enemy?
I suppose after your father’s death, it was your only option. He was a smart man. But it seems he didn’t teach you enough.
Trevor snarled.
This blasphemous plan will not work. You know it. As do I.
You have delivered your family to sin and have now paid the price. God had delivered to me your brother. He has assured me as the victor. With His blessing on myself and my men, you will lose.
However, out of respect for who your clan used to be, I will offer you a deal.
Give me your brother and Dracula’s son, and I will return Zacharias to you. Unharmed.
I will be waiting in one week, when the moon is at its fullest, at the Targoviste Church.
Do not, and I will return the boy to you the same way I did your father.
Bishop of Targoviste.