Title: Coming Around Again
Author: bnomiko
Rating: R
Pairing(s): Trevor x Alucard, Trevor x Sypha x Alucard, Richter x Alucard, Alucard x Maria, minor Soma + Mina
Spoilers: post S4 animation + "best endings" for the referenced games
Disclaimer: "Coming Around Again" is performed and recorded by Carly Simon. Castlevania is the creation and property of Konami. Castlevania (animated series) is the creation and property of Netflix. This is a not-for-profit fanwork and I do not own any of these characters.
Summary: During the events of Grimoire of Souls, Alucard learns that Elgos' catalogues are not the only way to bring back those loved and lost from the distant past. An immortal heart, an eidetic memory, vows of love and friendship, can call forth beloved, brave souls all the same. But once crisis is averted, what happens to those same heroes who have been forgotten even by the annuls of history? A reunion tale combining aspects of various game canons including Symphony of the Night, Aria of Sorrow, Grimoire of Souls, Judgment, plus the original Castlevania animation. May include some minor referencing of other games / source material. Trevor, Sypha and Alucard's relationship based off "Under the Milky Way," my post S4 animation canon based series, but this story can be read as a standalone. Maria and Richter based off Symphony of the Night and Nocturne of Recollection.
Archived at: http://www.phenixsol.com/Miko/FF/

* * *

Coming Around Again

Ch. 4: Trevor & Alucard vs. The 9-to-5 Grind (Part II)

* * *

Two local detectives were sent to pick up Agents Genya Arikado and Delilah Yang from the train station. The policemen wore matching displeased expressions, no doubt unhappy that this disturbing case was being torn from their hands without explanation, and that the two black-suited government agents were completely tight lipped, refusing to answer even the most basic questions as to why they were there.

"Well, here we are," the younger detective said as they pulled into the parking area of a warehouse complex and stopped in front of the easternmost building. From a cursory glance it appeared the same as any typical storage building: gray concrete and steel and nondescript as could be, just one amongst several against the backdrop of planes constantly arriving and departing from Narita airport. "So do we..."

"We thank you for your cooperation. We ask that you remain outside and in the vehicle while we conduct our investigation," Yang said crisply as she got out and shut the car door. Arikado had already strode off to glance at the sun-faded "for sale or lease" sign in the window of the building, then to peer at the broken door lock by which entry had likely been gained.

"Don't bother. Just don't bother, they won't say a thing," the older detective sighed at his partner as they sat back and watched the other pair as they began circling the perimeter of the structure. He'd only dealt with special agents like this once before, but that had been enough to teach him that they'd take whatever they needed and offer nothing in return.

Nothing outside of the building set off alarms for Arikado. There were two weathered security cameras but they appeared to be offline, so unfortunately of no help at all. With a nod to his partner, they peeled back the security tape and gained entry.

As soon as the door was open the dhampir immediately wrinkled his nose. The scent of charred flesh was unmistakable and very hard to ignore, even with the body gone.

As the warehouse had lain unused for a couple of months there wasn't much beyond a few abandoned racks and unidentifiable pieces of mechanical debris and general dirt. The pair strolled through the empty expanse, shoes clicking rhythmically on the concrete as they passed equally empty side rooms and a long, rust stained washbasin, until they reached the far end of the space, where they were greeted by a burnt wall and a painted symbol on the ground approximately six meters long.

While Yang kept watch, Arikado levitated momentarily to check on the fire alarms and sprinklers and to snap a few quick photos from a higher vantage point, then came back down and floated over the markings on the ground to approach the wall where the victim had met their demise. Even without crime scene photos of the body as it was originally discovered, the marks left behind told the tale: the blackened, humanoid shaped outline and the obvious holes where some form of restraint had been driven into the walls, indicated that they'd essentially been crucified and burned. The pattern of blood spatter still present and the volume of it implied a strong amount of force had torn through the body, though it seemed like needless overkill to bludgeon a restrained individual like that before immolation.

"Too early to expect an ID yet, I suppose," he commented as he stretched out his own arm. The victim had been twenty centimeters shorter than him, maybe more. Most likely a woman then, or someone young. "Power's dead in the whole place as well, but the fire seemed very much contained despite the sprinklers not going off."

"So far what we know is that the victim was female and a vampire. Approximately 1.62 meters in height. Initial genetic tests indicate African, Hispanic and European tags. We already have the American branches working on it as it is likely the individual is of North, Central or South American descent," Yang reported.

Arikado glanced through the photos they'd already collected from the police, then peered more closely at the holes in the concrete wall. He carefully ran a fingertip over the rim of one of them, then quickly withdrew his finger with a soft hiss. "There's traces of blessed silver. Certainly the culprit knew what they were dealing with." He turned towards the dark brownish-red mark on the ground, which resembled the harvest "h" with an infinity sign attached to the middle of the vertical like a giant bow tie, and two angled lines above it that reminded him of fletching on an arrow's shaft. Crouching down near the crux of the infinity sign, he took a cursory sniff - blood, certainly. He scraped up a tiny bit with a nail and took another sniff. Mammalian, but not human.

"I believe the police already took a sample, but I can take another if you'd like?" Yang offered. Of course it wasn't paint; cultists always did everything with blood.

"No need. Most likely its pig's blood. Definitely not human."

She didn't question it. "Any other initial thoughts?"

Arikado made sure to wipe his hands off on a handkerchief, then slowly looked back over at the blood spatter. It bothered him. Setting a vampire on fire was an obvious way to kill one, but what had hit her hard enough to splash blood like that, and why? What had caused her to burn hot and fast and then peter out enough that there were still body parts left to analyze? Running the spatter pattern through computer analysis would hopefully yield more information, but his gut reaction was that the body had exploded, from the sudden influx of heat, perhaps?

"I don't think the fire killed her, at least not in the way most people would assume. By that I mean I don't believe she was simply set on fire. Rather, it's more like... she erupted into flames."

"So magic is at work here, then."

He nodded. "I'll touch base with Yoko Belnades and see what input she can provide." He hesitated slightly, then added, "In addition... I do believe it is possible that she bled out before the fire consumed her, based on sheer volume of blood."

"Tch. I knew we should've had lunch first! Argh, how can I enjoy a wagyu tataki don now?" Yang groused. Death via simultaneous internal combustion and exsanguination wasn't how she'd want to go.

"Apologies. Perhaps salad would be a better choice than seared meat."

She scowled, annoyed at how nonplussed he seemed to be. "Mondays sure are a bitch."

He couldn't disagree with that. It was like his blissfully quiet weekend with Trevor had been nothing more than a fantasy.

* * *

Before they'd even stepped inside the restaurant, Trevor had to admit, the scent of sizzling meat had his mouth watering. There was a short wait, then they were shown to a small table with a round grill set in the center. The two established Agency hunters quickly began perusing the menu on their phones.

"Anything you don't eat, Trevor?" Julius asked, figuring he'd need to help the other man order. "I can get an assortment of stuff, if you're all right with that."

"I'm good with almost anything," Trevor replied. Julius nodded and made a few selections, then asked Ives what he wanted. Trevor waited until the orders were placed, then turned to the dhampir and said, "So I heard you're Yoko's partner?"

"The recommendation is for a hunter and a mage to be paired in the field," Ives said at a near whisper, barely loud enough for the others at the table to catch his words. "From my understanding, that came about due to how your clan operates."

"Oh." Trevor scratched his stubble, then tried again. "Then the word I meant was suitor."

Ives blinked at him, one eyebrow slowly rising up. Julius began laughing. "Where'd you get that from?"

"Adri... Alucard said Yoko has a suitor?"

Julius' grin was tempered with understanding. "Ah... gotcha. You have it confused - Ives is her work partner. Alucard was probably referring to Hammer Ericson. He doesn't work with us, officially... he's, uh, in 'procurement.'"

Trevor had no idea what that meant, so he let it drop. "But you are also a hunter. I would think a Belmont and a Belnades would be an obvious pairing in combat."

Julius lost some of his mirth. His fingers traced the lip of his teacup. "It sounds like Alucard didn't explain it to you," he began in Romanian, his voice low. "I had amnesia for over thirty years; it was the price paid for sealing away the demon castle in 1999. As I couldn't be relied on to serve as the hunter at the Agency here, Ives was sent to fill in."

Shocked into momentary silence, Trevor mulled that over before carefully asking, "And you have not fully recovered, even now?" He glanced at Ives, then back at the other Belmont.

"I have, sufficiently. You must be wondering why Ives is still here?" Julius quirked a smile, though there was a touch of bitterness in it. He switched back to English, his tone even more hushed than before. "It's my age, Trevor. I should have already retired, but I've delayed it, to give myself time to finish Curtis' training when he comes over next year. So Ives is stuck here a little longer."

Trevor nodded. "I see." He dipped his head again in the dhampir's direction, earning a look of surprise. "Thank you. Now this makes much more sense. And Julius, don't think poorly of yourself. You are still in excellent condition. I would have thought you were much younger than your actual years."

The server came by just then to drop off a few platters of raw meats and vegetables. Julius pointed out what was in the selection and told Trevor to help himself to whatever he wanted. As the trio began placing food on the grill, Trevor had to ask Julius, "So you spend most of your days in the office?"

"Not like Alucard, no - well, it depends. Work comes and goes. Current policy is if there's no trouble, we don't go looking to find it."

"I've never known..." Trevor struggled for a good substitute for 'vampire' since he didn't want to blurt it out publicly in English, then settled for, "folks like that to go long without causing problems."

Julius grunted. "It's different nowadays. Too easy to track if they cause issues, and we have kin and kind all over the world, so the smart ones know to keep themselves out of trouble. Enclaves are still common, but mostly cooperative and democratic now. Hmm... like one fella came up with the idea of working at a hospital, and part of his job was to see to the disposal of expired blood products - pretty creative, right? Now all hospitals in this country and several others utilize a similar disposal service. It's a good solution for both sides."

Trevor was slightly lost about what the latter half of that meant, but after Julius explained in Romanian, he had to admit, he was impressed that humans and vampires had found a way to coexist in such a fashion, especially since most vampires thought of themselves as being far above lowly creatures like humans.

"There's also other ways to find donors, whether it's paying for the service, or attending underground gatherings specifically for the purpose of introducing willing participants to one another." Ives murmured around a sliver of chicken before sighing. "Some humans have a... fetish for anything vampire related. Things like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Twilight don't help."

That was quite the title for a hunter. "What clan is this Buffy from?"

Julius suddenly burst into laughter, almost choking on his grilled eggplant. He understood Trevor's confusion, but he couldn't help it. "It's a movie and television show... uh, a form of fictional entertainment," he clarified in Romanian as the other Belmont looked even more befuddled.

"There's fictional stories about hunters? Why?"

"It's..." Julius began, then he glanced at Ives who was trying his best to hide a toothy grin behind his hand. The old hunter groaned. "I guess it's pretty stupid. Like Ives said, humans have started idealizing vampires and turning them into the subject of romantic fantasies. They think they're beautiful and sparkly and shit."

"I have never seen a vampire sparkle..." Trevor commented, though Adrian came pretty close when the light caught his hair just so, or when he smiled. Or when he flushed with desire while Trevor worked his way down between his thighs. Although maybe that was his own biased point of view...

"You must be explaining about Twilight," Ives said with a snort, slapping more meat on the grill.

"It's your damn fault," Julius complained good-naturedly, switching back to English.

They spent the next few minutes grilling and eating - and as bellies filled and eating slowed down to a crawl, Trevor finally had to satisfy his curiosity and ask, "How did you end up a hunter, Ives?"

"I was raised by the Demon Hunter's Association. They'd sent hunters to deal with opposing clans causing havoc in the countryside... you know, territory disputes, philosophical differences on feeding, that sort of thing... By the time they'd arrived, all that remained of my father's faction was a scattering of ashes in the sun, and my newly turned - and dying - mother. Rumors have existed for centuries that dhampir's blood is a powerful elixir - or a deadly poison - to vampires. She lost that bet."

Trevor growled, barely managing to keep his volume in check. He knew humans would be cruel to a half-breed child, but to think vampires could be even more twisted... as if dhampirs weren't already rare enough!

Ives continued on as if he was simply reporting on the weather. "A knight, Sir Henry Oldrey, led the group. As I did not know my family name, his was bestowed upon me when I completed my hunter training upon Alucard's recommendation..."

"... Because there's no safer place for a dhampir than the company of hunters," Trevor finished. He'd heard Adrian say something similar to that before, that a monster could only find safety amongst hunters of its kind, as they were both knowledgeable about and capable of fending off both monsters and humans, though he'd never thought that would apply to anyone else. But he knew better than to try and offer sympathy if the other man wasn't asking for any. Certainly he wouldn't want to hear it if he'd been the one relaying his family's tale to the other hunter.

Ives nodded and polished off what remained of his tea as Julius pulled out his phone to settle the bill.

* * *

The dhampir left straight from the restaurant, needing to rendezvous with Yoko to deal with a case that had popped up. Trevor wished he could offer his help, but he knew without a proper weapon and a lot more acclimation to this era, he'd only be a distraction at best. So boring as it was, Julius ended up taking him back to the office and showing Trevor a little of what he did on a typical slow day - paperwork, mostly.

"It's been a surprisingly quiet couple of weeks. I mean, since I didn't know about what was happening with the grimoires," Julius said as he kicked back in his seat. "I don't trust 'quiet' though, especially since it looks like Alucard's new case has the potential of being something big."

Trevor grunted, unsure if Julius knew anything about the tie-in to the harvest. "What about whatever Yoko and Ives are poking their noses into? I'm surprised you didn't go with them," he said instead, thinking of how Adrian had mentioned that Julius usually worked in the field.

"Normally I would..." Julius exhaled slowly, leaving unsaid the fact that Alucard had entrusted Trevor to him for the day, and Agency policy precluded him from leaving the other hunter unattended since he wasn't authorized personnel.

Trevor nodded, easily picking up on the implication. He wasn't offended by it - in the same way, they hadn't let people wander the Hold or the castle libraries back in the day without permission given what had happened with Adrian's "trainees" and Saint Germain. "If it would make it easier on you, I can probably find my way back to his apartment, so I wouldn't be in your way."

"Like hell I'd let you go - Alucard would absolutely gut me if anything happened to you," Julius snarled. Granted, what was the worst that could happen, Trevor getting off at the wrong station?

"Oh please." Trevor snorted. "I'm still a combat experienced hunter. At most, I'd be a little lost."

"Yes, but..." Guns were rare in Japan. Even things like tasers and pepper spray were more or less illegal. But anything could be obtained if someone truly wanted to smuggle it in, and vampires had adapted as humans had; Trevor was completely unaware of just how much weapon technology had changed. Not that anyone should recognize him, but...

With a sigh, Julius turned to his computer and started digging up videos about modern weapons and suppression devices. And for good measure, a clip of the rebooted Buffy the Vampire Slayer, figuring it'd be amusing to see Trevor's reaction to that. Then he slapped the other man on the back and told him to come find him in the training room once he was done watching those. The old hunter wasn't sure if Alucard would kill him for tasing his beloved, but better for him to learn about it in a controlled environment rather than getting hit by one out of the blue someday.

* * *

Arikado came by in the evening to pick up Trevor. He and Julius, Ives and Yoko were sitting around Julius' beat up laptop watching - and mocking - some sort of stupid vampire movie, if the cheesy scripted combat scene was anything to go by. Trevor looked a bit more mussed up than he'd been in the morning but since he was also in high spirits, laughing the loudest, Arikado didn't do anything more than shoot the other three a mild glare. Julius added that Trevor was welcome to join them again the following day, as he was hoping Hammer could convince an army buddy to let them on base so they could play around in the paintball arena. He even pushed one of the leather practice whips at Trevor, telling him to keep it on the down low. It was nowhere near as good as a blessed weapon, but even Trevor couldn't help but smile at how much more complete he felt with a whip in his possession.

Just as in the morning the train was packed with commuters on the way back, so Trevor insisted on being the one protecting Adrian just as Adrian had done for him that morning. They dropped by the market on the walk home, giving Trevor plenty of time to talk about his day. He offered his thoughts about Julius' whip techniques, how Adrian and Ives' abilities differed, and the wide variety of weapons that existed now. Adrian hung onto every word, glad that Trevor had found something to occupy himself with and grateful for anything that would take his mind off of exploding vampires, though he felt a little guilty for serving yakisoba out of a refrigerated package for dinner, even though Trevor was happily chowing down. Not that Adrian had the know-how to make noodles by hand. Maybe there was a class he could take? Though he didn't really have the time...

For a brief spell he fantasized about quitting the Agency - Julius could keep an eye on Soma, right? And Adrian didn't need the money. He and Trevor could move out to the countryside, to a small cottage like the one he lived in with Maria... Trevor could hunt game and chop wood to feed their hearth; Adrian could learn to grow vegetables and make various noodles and put out pies twice a week on the sill. Except... Adrian liked central heating at the touch of a screen and conveyor belt sushi and having a bespoke tailor who could always source the latest Italian wool fabrics. He even had to admit he didn't mind going with Yoko to pop up cafés under the shadow of Tokyo Skytree to try and get some limited edition keychain for whatever her latest shoujo manga obsession was. At least the parfaits and pancakes were decent, and it wasn't like he got embarrassed if teenaged girls stared at him, a smudge of black in their ocean of pink and frills.

Most of all, he liked the relative anonymity of being a single spark amongst millions of lives. Living in a small village had its charms of course - people were closer, like a giant extended family. But everyone was in everybody else's business, well meaning or not, and there was no hiding the fact that he simply didn't age. Here, he didn't have to explain that to co-workers that had been carefully vetted and trained to recognize that magical creatures existed and were mingling amongst humans. Here, people came and went from apartments easily enough that no one questioned how long another had been residing there.

"... rian? Adrian!"

The dhampir couldn't hide his twitch of surprise. "What?"

"Are you okay? You've been staring off into nowhere, and you've barely touched your food."

"Ah, sorry. My mind wandered. Is dinner all right?" Adrian asked, looking down, though he felt a little silly for asking when Trevor's plate was nearly empty even though he'd given him a serving and a half, and his own plate was indeed still three-quarters full. "Never mind," he mumbled as he resumed tucking into his meal.

Trevor still looked concerned. "Was your work difficult today?"

Adrian nodded slowly. It was an easy thing to blame, rather than admit that he'd thought, even for a fanciful second, of walking away from his duties all so he could pander to Trevor like a rich retired matron pampering her pet poodle. Except in this case the toy poodle was actually a well-trained hunting hound, and he didn't want to lie around the house on a silk cushion. "Difficult, hmm... a bit tiring I suppose. And a little disturbing, too." He rested his chin on his hand a moment. "Actually, I might as well ask you for your input, though we'll save it for after dinner. The imagery is... not appetizing. It certainly put Delilah off meat for the day."

"Is this related to the harvest?"

Adrian made an affirmative sound. Trevor didn't press further and waited patiently for his partner to finish eating, and then cleaned up the table as Adrian went and got his laptop.

With a sigh, the blond flipped open the device, logged in, pulled up a set of images, and then spun it towards Trevor. "Have you seen anything like this before?"

The hunter frowned, his eyes carefully taking in every detail as his husband slowly swiped between images. "... Yes, I have. In Lindenfeld, below the desecrated priory." He took in a careful breath. "That's where the crazy monks were trying to appease their 'Visitor'; they burned down half the town to feed murdered souls into it. Which apparently caused the Infinite Corridor to open a gateway to hell."

Adrian looked at the photos again, especially the one of the symbol on the ground from overhead that he'd taken. "You're certain, this is the same mark?"

"I won't swear on it - we were distracted at the time, mind you! - but I'm fairly certain. Hmm, though these lines..." and he pointed at the angled lines at the top of the symbol, "I think they might have been straight across, not slanted. And I don't remember if it was two or three lines."

Adrian nodded, then took a breath and swiped to the police provided image showing the burned corpse tethered to the wall. "And this matches what you recall as well?"

Trevor's expression hardened very slightly, but he did not hesitate to zoom in on the body, or to answer. "No. The Visitor was crucified to the support pillars, yes, but it did not burn. It swelled and contorted, rippling with what looked like a hundred screaming faces, and then broke free - fucker was damn hard to kill too, with all those souls empowering it. But this is clearly a hu... no, vampire?"

Adrian hemmed over whether he should confirm that or not, but went ahead. "Correct. The victim was a vampire, nailed and bound to the wall with silver and, in Yoko's opinion, infused with such a sudden influx of souls that she exploded and bled out."

Trevor rolled that information around for a few moments. "So someone sacrificed the lives of those on that plane crash thing and fed them into a vampire, but ended up killing the vampire too... Does that mean the Corridor wasn't opened?"

"I saw no evidence of such. But I only have the one experience to go off of."

Trevor crossed his arms. He couldn't claim to be an expert either. "This is just a theory, mind you, but I don't think it was successful. As I understand it, the portal is only active if a many-souled creature channels enough power into it." Adrian nodded along; that was also his understanding. Trevor continued, "Maybe this was too many souls, or not enough... Maybe a vampire isn't a suitable vessel for such a purpose, or maybe this one was too weak, like a fledgling. But assuming this ritual was similar to the one I saw before, she would've had to absorb them, and then actively use the absorbed souls as the power source, for the Corridor to open and remain stable enough for use."

"We're still trying to identify the vampire that was destroyed. She wasn't native to this country. If we can figure out how she got here, regardless of whether someone brought her here or nabbed her at random, maybe we can find the perpetrator. But so far that's all we've got. The location of the ceremony seems opportunistically chosen - an abandoned building with no electricity running, so the incident wasn't discovered until days after the plane crash. And so far we can't find any footage of anyone tampering with the aircraft in question, nor any reports of trespass between the time the plane landed and the time it took off."

"The harvest mark can be placed days in advance, maybe even longer. It doesn't just activate by itself, you know."

Adrian didn't know. It was helpful information, and he told Trevor as much. The hunter puffed up, pleased to have contributed, and promised to think on it some more.

At least that took some of the edge off Adrian. In the end they pushed it aside and relaxed a little before bed - it could wait until tomorrow, or such was the hope.

* * *

"You know who else would know more about the Corridor..." Trevor began as Adrian was buttoning up his dress shirt. The brunet was sitting on the bed, already dressed in jeans and a slightly stretched out white turtleneck sweater that had belonged to Adrian... which meant it was distractingly snug across his broad shoulders. The whip he'd wrapped diagonally across his chest only added to the effect; Adrian reminded himself to take Trevor shopping for a longer coat over the weekend. There was a reason hunters favored those, especially in a country that had a strict ban on weapons.

"Sypha, I assume." Adrian wondered if he could use that to help convince Lucy to give bringing her back a go, since it could be a matter of national security.

"Oh - yes. Very likely! But actually the person I was thinking of was... Saint Germain."

Adrian made a displeased sound, his fingers freezing on his tie. Even now he hadn't quite forgiven the man for all the death and destruction he'd caused, even if he had possibly helped Trevor out in the end. "Are you suggesting I try to bring back Saint Germain to question? I don't think that would be possible; I knew the man for what, two days?"

Trevor laughed. "No! God, no. But he wrote things in a strange book, didn't he?"

"Ah... yes? If I recall, Sypha found it on his body."

Trevor nodded. "It went into the Hold's collection, did it not? If you know who currently has it, if we could find it..."

Adrian had already explained to him that the Hold, as Trevor remembered it, was no more... it had been difficult to maintain and impossible to move with the sheer volume of books and tools and such, so eventually the Belmonts consolidated what they determined to be of actual importance into a new Hold near the current manor just outside of the village of Wygol, and distributed the rest into the hands of various stewards. The Agency held the bulk of it; other groups, including Elgos quite obviously, had the rest. The Belmonts and Belnades - represented by Julius' cousin, Natalya Riktor, Jasmine Morris-Gandolfi, and Nolan Lecarde, Hermina's uncle - remained as overseers of the collection.

But that didn't mean the entirety of the archive was out of reach. Adrian pulled out his phone, did a quick search, and chuckled. "Oh, well that was simple enough. It's readily available online."

"What do you mean?"

The dhampir held up his phone. "The entire thing is publicly available. Anyone with internet and a connected device can view it."

"What? That... that's extremely dangerous!" Trevor snapped, agitated. "What if the person responsible for that plane thing read it and copied his instructions? What if someone else does the same?"

"It's in cipher. I don't know if..." A little more searching, and Adrian frowned slightly. "There's been a few translations done but it would seem accuracy has continued to elude even the best attempts. So the odds that a random person browsing their phone could somehow replicate his alchemy is not very likely. Also, I doubt he simply wrote down step by step instructions for someone to decode someday. I'd imagine most of his writing was philosophical musings... or crazy delusions, who is to say?" He sighed softly, and willed himself to put down the phone and resume knotting his tie. "That said, I do agree that we should look into this. I'll have someone see about getting copies of the translations."

Arikado did just that once he got into the office after dropping Trevor off with Julius, putting Martin on the task as it was becoming more and more obvious that this case was going to need all available hands on board. He had Ueda checking underground message boards to see if anyone was talking about missing a member of their enclave, and Matsunaga reviewing all the confiscated files and footage the local authorities had put together before they'd taken the case out of their hands.

The dhampir then stepped out to meet with their medical examiner, who'd been tasked with performing a full forensic analysis of the victim. There really wasn't much new information to report, given the overall state of the corpse: a nearly skeletal torso and skull, with limbs slightly more intact. There weren't any obvious pre-immolation wounds other than the punctures through each hand and wrist, between the radius and ulna. No drugs or other chemicals were found in the body; no accelerants were found on the outside of it. Small fragments of fabric had burned into the flesh of her legs with deeper charring around the ankles where thick silver wire had bound her to the wall, but there wasn't enough left of the upper body to determine if any additional restraints were used.

All of that was slightly interesting; none of it was helpful in identifying her. The only extra tidbit they were able to get was her approximate age. With vampires it was difficult to ascertain age since they did not visibly grow older the way humans did, but an analysis could be done of the fangs to get a rough estimate. In this case their mystery vampire was somewhere around one hundred fifty to two hundred years of age.

Arikado added that information to the case file and returned to the office, though his day brightened considerably when Lucy Westenra called on the way back and said they were on for Friday or Saturday if he wanted to give bringing back Sypha a try. She and Hermina were working on redoing the ritual area to hopefully maximize the chance of success, and furthermore, Hermina wanted to dig through Elgos' archives to look for any volumes that had mention of Sypha, no matter how brief, in case that would help.

He got even more good news when minutes after he sat down at his desk, there was a quick knock on his door and Yang burst in.

"We have a possible hit," Yang immediately reported as she invaded her boss' office. "Marisol Luz Castillo. A registered vampire born in the 19th century in Cuba, last living in Florida in an artist's commune before she abruptly gave away most of her possessions and left. She flew in on the previous Thursday to Narita with a one-way ticket, then left the next day from Shizuoka to Kagoshima with a return flight back to Shizuoka on Saturday. And get this - her flight to and from Kagoshima was 3412..."

"The plane that crashed," Arikado observed. He met Yang's gaze; she was thinking the same as him. Assuming the person who'd taken the flight was in fact Ms. Castillo, that would explain how the markers got left in the interior, since Trevor had noted they could've been made in advance.

"I already have Matsunaga working on getting any footage we can from inside the plane during her flight as well as the airports," she reported, confirming his thoughts.

He nodded, then stood up and headed for the door. First things first, they needed to confirm her identity. Vampires who wanted to stay in the good graces of hunters registered themselves in a database maintained by the Agency branches worldwide. It also allowed them to track their genealogy as a sort of vampire family tree, and contained their DNA profiles in case the information was needed, as accurate samples could not be obtained through the usual avenue of blood tests.

"You mentioned she's registered, so let's have the medical examiner get a match. For now we'll work with the assumption that she's our victim, as we can't afford to waste time. Delilah, let's begin the process of getting phone and text records, and a credit card trace," Arikado ordered. Yang quickly peeled off to comply as the remaining three agents looked up for further instruction, with Matsunaga pushing back one side of his headset so he could hear what was going on while remaining on the phone.

Arikado made it brief. "Ueda, focus on Castillo's commune; see if we can shake out more information about her or anyone that might be working with her. Martin, stay on task for now. Matsunaga, continue with what Yang has given you." He took a quick peek at his phone and swallowed a sigh. "Team meeting at eleven-thirty... Yasuda, if you could set a reminder on calendar. Also request a meeting with the director at one or thereabouts. And Nagamine... order lunch in, if you would."

The dhampir had hoped to have lunch with Trevor but that wasn't going to happen. Lunch with Sypha would've been even better - if only she were available. Trevor had been helpful, but he wasn't a magician, and he certainly wasn't well-versed in ancient languages.

He headed back into his office, too busy to be disappointed. The fact that their victim was also possibly an accomplice bothered him, as did Trevor's earlier question about the possibility of copying the instructions straight out of Saint Germain's book. Had this been a play for power gone wrong? Or had someone trafficked her here and tricked her into doing it? Were Soma or Mina in danger? Arikado hated the thought of putting security detail back in place around them, but he would if he had to.

What if this had just been a test run for something bigger and more destructive?

* * *

Author's Notes:

- Yang is acting as the senior agent at the start of the chapter because Arikado can't help the fact that he has the face of a guy barely in his twenties ^_^

- The Triangular Book of St. Germain is a real thing (Castlevania loves sourcing from Dracula lore and real life lore as well). Two copies exist at the Getty Research Institute; as Alucard mentioned, anyone with an internet connection can view a copy online.

Other game references and notes:

- Re: Hammer's surname. He doesn't have one in canon, but as I'm aiming to namedrop every possible Belmont family branch or affiliate in this story (this chapter alone has Riktor (from the graphic novel Castlevania: The Belmont Legacy) and Gandolfi (from Lament of Innocence (LoI)) I'm 100% onboard with the idea of him being an Ericson (which was a canon branch of the Belmonts that was never used), thanks to a fan theory on the Castlevania Wiki.

- Thanks to Nenya85 for beta work. Reviews are appreciated!

April 13, 2025