Eu Sunt Dracul (Action)

[notquitedracula]

[Waking up somewhere strange is not precisely a new experience for Soma, though this time at least he isn't lying on cobblestones. Still, this is only the second time this has ever happened to him, and he's really starting to hope it'll be the last. The introduction packet and its contents have been dutifully looked through, then stored in his seemingly bottomless coat pockets.]

[Blinking away a brief moment of sun-dazzle, he exits the bay and enters what, for all intents and purposes, looks like a perfectly normal city to him. Even the hologram greeting isn't all that bizarre, though he's never heard of the Schnee family or anything to do with this place.]

[Come meet the new arrival, folks! He's liable to give some of you quite the shock - there's a new Dracula in town.]

Comments

[notquitedracula]

I know it as I know all the names you've worn. Your soul, your memories, reside in me. We have both come a long way since those days - but they shaped what we have become just as surely as a potter shapes clay.

I'm not asking you to give up your anger. I know just how well-earned it was. I merely ask that you set it aside for a time. The people of this world have done nothing to earn your ire. You do not exist in their history - neither you, nor your wife, nor your son. This world is a blank canvas, an empty sheet of bars. How you choose to fill it now is on your head, not theirs. Before you became a monster, you were a man - and a protector of other men.

[Soma stares squarely into Vlad's eyes, searching for some faint sign that his words have gotten through. If it is a vain hope, then so be it - he has tried. Whatever happens next, the ball's in Dracula's court.]

[what_is_a_man]

If this place is a blank canvas then I will paint it crimson with their blood. Anger and hatred are all I have and I will not set it aside. Being not of our world, not knowing the same hatreds that fuel those of ours, yet still they turn on each other. They are no more innocent than the humans of our world and they will suffer the same fate.

[notquitedracula]

[Briefly, Soma has to fight a laugh. Does Dracula not understand WHY people are fighting each other here? Despair tends to do that. But, after a moment, he realizes that no, he has to understand that - he's visited that selfsame emotion upon countless souls before now.]

Then so be it. I will not join you, and I will oppose you with all of my strength until you are defeated or put aside your sword.

[what_is_a_man]

[He sighs for a moment before chuckling.]

Then you will walk through a hell you have never dreamed of in your wildest imagination. You will find me - as always - at the throne of Castlevania, but I warn you. I've made allies far more powerful than any of the beasts that are native to the halls of my estate.

[notquitedracula]

[Soma shakes his head at that. Ever a creature of habit, aren't we, Dracula?] You? Allies? The only allies you've had these many centuries are a personification of Death and some of the craziest cultists on the planet - I wouldn't mind meeting someone who could make even you stop and think before trying to subjugate them.

[He sighs, folding his arms and leaning against the nearest wall - not really worried about his coat getting dirty. It can take care of itself.] Despite all the platitudes and threats, I really don't want to have to fight you. Remember that, when the time comes. Go thy way in peace, old monster. We'll meet again soon enough. [Is that... a hint of pity?]