Grand Magicians

A quiet moment of introspection, he could certainly understand it a little: it was a race against time inside the real Dracula’s castle as it slowly eroded Mina’s fortitude and Soma was also greatly distressed when Graham stabbed Yoko. And months later, it took Soma a hot minute to recall that Genya-san’s men were watching over Mina as Celia crucified the doppelganger – and the fact that he had fought succubi disguised both as Yoko and Mina before. ❝I see… ❞ he finally muttered. Was it wrong to feel a certain degree of sympathy? ❝ No matter the pain it still —…Feels so wrong to have other people go through the same thing as you when you are hurting. ❞ There was another small pause. ❝ You have told me that my powers are dark, but not necessarily evil. Did it affect him, in some sort of vicious circle? ❞

"That’s right. And I still believe that.” Yoko paused a little, tilting her head to the side. “I’m not sure. Perhaps, over the course of the hundreds of years that Dracula existed. You’re still a human, and you’re going to have a human lifespan. That’s nothing for you to be concerned about.”

“...But, you know, you’re not the only guy I know with dark powers. Arikado has them too. He told you that himself, didn’t he? He’s had them for most of his life and he’s a bit older than you.” A small chuckle leaves her lips. “Do you think that Arikado is evil? I’d be offended on his behalf if you did.”

❝ Uh… I wonder that my biggest question would be why. Why all of this? What makes someone go out of their way to become the Dark Lord and do all these horrible things? It is hard to wrap my head about this. Why come back throughout the centuries to cause so much suffering?❞  Soma wanted to know more, but he was also scared about what he could learn: what he has in common with Dracula? He was afraid to gaze into the proverbial abyss and see a dark reflection of himself.

“Soma, the fact that you can’t wrap your head around it is a good thing. You don’t want to understand something like that.” It made her happy to hear, to be honest. Her smile was gentle and empathetic. 

“A long, long time ago, the human who Dracula used to be lost someone very important to him. It turned him angry. So angry, that he decided the only thing he could do was get revenge on God Himself for the loss by refusing to die, no matter how many people he had to hurt to do it. He turned himself into a monster to achieve that.”

❝ I doubted it would be, but I’m curious. It’s not like I can ask anyone what kind of person he used to be, all I know is that he was evil and all the stereotypical vampire stuff. ❞ He can’t even tell fact from fiction when it comes to vampires: do they really hate garlic? Do vampires sparkle?

“I don’t think it matters much what sort of person he used to be. He’s gone.” Though, as strange as it was to think that Soma would be interested in his predecessor, Yoko figured that it was probably natural. If she’d had a previous life, she’d want to know about it too.

❝ I like his movies just fine, my dad got me hooked in the John Wick series when I was younger. I was curious to watch something about Dracula because…Well, you know. I should have read the book instead.❞

   “’Stannie’?”

❝ The scariest and most unsettling thing in Coppola’s Dracula is Keanu Reeve’s accent.❞ Horror movies and thrillers aren’t scary anymore.

“Heehee, don’t let Julius hear you talk like that. Or any other Keanu Reeve stannie, for that matter.”

♰▐░▒ When did this go all so wrong? It would have seemed things were going perfectly accordingly to the plan….Only for it to FALL APART NOW. What did he overlook to let this happen? Nonetheless, it is best he and the Belnades Mage retreat….For now.

❝ —It will not do for us to get arrested for trespassing. Let us go, ❞

“We weren’t trespassing, we were conducting quasi-legal investigations,” Yoko nearly snapped back at him. She didn’t mean to be harsh with the dhampir, but she was cold and wet. She gave him a muted look before turning and starting to stalk back to the car. “I’m driving.”

Yoko slid into the driver’s seat and quickly closed the door. She pushed thick, wet hair behind her shoulder and started the vehicle up…and made sure that she hit the seat warmer button.

Rushing into the car went by in a blur, and as soon as their two doors were slammed shut, they were safe. 

Julius dumped his soaked coat onto the floor of the back seat, wiping his face with his hands and slicking his hair back as best he could. “Hoo!” He was still smiling, itching his nose and shoving the keys in the ignition, “Let’s just hope it goes as quick as it came, huh? I’ve got stuff to do!” With a quiet mutter and curse, he turned to Yoko to see the damage done. He might’ve poked fun at her if he didn’t think it’d get him a punch in the arm. 

   “Well shit, where’re we off to now, boss?”

It definitely would have earned him a punch in the arm. Yoko reached forward to press the button for the seat warmers, careless the fact that things were about to get very, very humid. But who cared? She’d spent the past few years skulking about Japan with their favorite dhampir. At this point, she could walk into a sauna and not even bat an eye.

   “Yeah.” The rain picked-up real fast. Julius was alright with weathering the rain out as it had been before, but all hopes of taking a leisurely stroll back to the vehicle fled him when the downpour became a torrent. He pulled his coat off hastily, holding it above his and Yoko’s heads as he started to jog, urging her to keep up. 

   “Let’s go, Belnades, let’s go!” He couldn’t keep the cheery whoop out of his voice, even with the dreary weather. 

“Yikes, yikes, yikes!” She is definitely not as happy as Julius with development, stepping closer to him when he started to shield them with his jacket. Her shoulders were drawn up and her mouth was screwed into a deep frown.

   For a few seconds, Joachim stays in the doorway, watching the rain beat down on the earth and obscure the view, but Yoko’s voice breaks through the weak daze that had washed over him.  He pulls off his jacket, moving it to put it over his head, giving Yoko a smile while he rushes over to her side. “ I suppose this is what we get for forgetting our umbrellas. ” He laughs a little, hurrying over to the car, and thankfully, it takes a very small amount of time to get there. As hard as he tries to pretend to be human, his jog is still on the unusually fast side. 

Joachim keeps his jacket over his head while he opens the passenger door, wasting no time getting in. He watches Yoko come around, moving his jacket to his lap, while he listens to the rain drumming on the car.  When Yoko makes it in, Joachim leans back in his seat and grins. “ You look like you jumped into a river. ”

“Ack!” Yoko can’t help but squeak out as she’s pelted with water. She’d been a few steps ahead of him heading out the door and she already felt like a drowning rat. Her blonde hair was plastered to the sides of her head and she was chilled to the bone. Then, finally, sanctuary as her companion lifted the jacket over her head and they rushed towards the car. 

She broke away from him as they split up and hurried to get into the driver’s seat. She sits back against the leather upholstery and catches her breath. Though, Joachim’s comment earns him a half-hearted glare from the Belnades. “Haha. Good thing the rain didn’t melt you or something, huh?”

   “I wasn’t paying attention!”

“Obviously.” A giggle.

   “Yoko calls me peashooter because she offered her drink to me one time and I, foolishly, didn’t realize it was bubble tea and choked and shot a pearl out of my nose.”

Julius lowered the wine bottle, focusing on Yoko from the corner of his eye. 

She was good at talking. She was charismatic and sweet, so she was able to divert the topic away. Julius was quick, though, he could tell she was trying to steer clear of history. He couldn’t blame her, what with the sour mood he’s in, but he doubted it would’ve affected him much.

Maybe with another few sips of this wine…

He couldn’t down too much more before he was being asked for the marshmallows, and like any good camper, they had packed some. He set the drink down near Yoko and pushed himself up off the chair, dusting his t-shirt off before trekking towards the car. 

He’d return from behind Yoko’s seat, plopping the bag of sweets into her lap while he was holding two of his own. “I’ve roasted some. It’s been years, though.” 

With that, he settled back down into his seat and began affixing the marshmallows onto his now-vacant metal rod. “By all means, feel free to show off.” 

Yoko’s smile was almost a grin when she took the delicious marshmallow treats and gave Julius a ‘thank you.’ She tried to ignore that Julius had said he’d roasted them before (and probably around a campfire) to psych herself up. Who was she? She was Yoko Belnades: master of witchcraft, having a good time, and roasting marshmallows.

She could already sense Alucard shaking his head somewhere. It was a pity he hadn’t been able to come out with them, but between Julius’ already soured mood and Alucard’s general…aloofness, perhaps it was a good thing after all. Yoko wouldn’t have been able to stand the silence.

As much as she wanted to get to the marshmallow-ing right away, she needed to have a sausage-less rod first. She dropped the sealed bag down by her feet and got to chowing down. She hummed happily, gladdened by the meaty flavor. “These are good…”

But peace could only last for so long. Now that she was done, Yoko stuck a few marshmallows onto her metal rod and presented it to the flames. She watched them intently, turning the rod carefully. “Watch and learn, Belmont. Watch and learn.”