| Alucard |

After a few hours and a small stop at his house, Alucard made his way to the docks below the cliff that held up his castle. The vast, black-bricked fortress overlooked the ocean, its shadow stretching across the slanted land which led up to it, and a swarm of crows circled the tallest tower.

The place was almost deserted; a single black ship was moored there. On the ship's quarterdeck, a casually dressed man leaned against the fence. When he spotted Alucard, he watched as he and Elvin made their way on board. His eyes shone bright green in the afternoon sunlight, and his hair was greyed and platted behind his head.

"Aleksei," the man called with a smirk.

"Rodney," Alucard greeted.

"Elvin," Rodney said, shaking the bard's hand.

"Rodney," Elvin sang.

Rodney then let go of the bard's hand and looked at Alucard. "I came, as requested. What do you need of me?" he asked, leading the way back up onto the quarterdeck.

"I have to pick some vampires up from an island in an hour or so," Alucard said, leaning back against the quarterdeck fence.

Nodding, Rodney said, "And you need me to transport them from there to here?"

Alucard handed him a piece of paper. "These are the coordinates."

He looked at the paper and frowned. "You want me there in what? An hour from now?"

"Da."

"Well, the sun is setting; it'll take me at least an hour to get there, assuming Drac isn't being fussy today," he said, glancing at the ocean.

Alucard sighed irritably. "Just get there. If you are late, I'm sure the people I'm meeting won't get off my ass about it."

Rodney laughed slightly. "Who are you meeting?"

"People," Alucard muttered as he turned around and made his way down off the quarterdeck. "Do not be late."

"Yeah, I'll leave right away," Rodney called.

"How is Drac?" Elvin asked as he followed Alucard off the ship.

"Fine," the vampire mumbled, making his way along the docks.

Elvin frowned as he hurried alongside Alucard onto the beach. "What's wrong?" he asked with a concerned tone, staring at Alucard's stubborn face.

"Nothing," he grumbled, stopping in the middle of the beach.

"Something's clearly up." The bard frowned, crossing his arms as he looked up at Alucard. "You don't wanna help this demon, do you?"

Looking down at him, Alucard rolled his eyes. "No, I don't. I have enough to deal with here; I don't have time to look after more vampires."

The bard shrugged. "At least it's vampires you're being made to help, not demons."

He had a point—the exact point Alucard had made to himself last night. He sighed and glared at the ocean. "Go home, Elvin. I will see you tomorrow."

"You'll give me all the details, right?" he asked excitedly.

"Sure," he muttered, turning his back on the bard.

"I want character descriptions; I want details regarding how they talk, act—everything!" he demanded.

"I said yes!" Alucard snarled, glaring back at him.

Silenced, the bard held up his hands. "All right, sheesh. Don't stay out too late, and don't accept drinks from strangers—bye!" he called, running off towards the cobblestone path.

With an aggravated huff, Alucard glared at the water. He had the ship ready; he found out when the human and vampire cohabitation treaty would be in place, and he also prepared his castle last night for the new vampires. All he had to do now was go and get them.

He wasn't looking forward to any part of his task, least of all working alongside that demon. As Damien always did, he made Alucard look incompetent, and his new work partner now obviously thought he was a useless idiot. But he wasn't going to dwell on it. He'd prove them wrong without even trying.

With an irritated sigh, Alucard dematerialized into vermillion smoke and swiftly made his way across the ocean, reaching the rainy island in ten minutes. He landed on the edge of a black cliff, causing a large school of colourful fish to disperse and bolt for the cover of far-away rocks. Alucard set his eyes on the portal. The last time he entered Eltaria, he felt such strange tiredness, and he was sure that he was going to feel it again.

Alucard didn't know too much about portals, but he did know that there were kinds that used a person's energy in order for them to travel. This seemed to be one such portal. The vampire was confident of his power, though, and he knew that a silly little portal couldn't affect him too significantly. But bringing vampires back with him was a different story. They would be using his ethos to mask theirs, and he was sure that wasn't going to make him feel great. But what choice did he have?

The vampire stood in front of the portal. He wasn't sure what might be waiting on the other side, but he knew it wasn't going to be a comfortable night.

Sighing, Alucard stepped through the portal and emerged into the same eroded castle as last night. The tiredness hit, but it wasn't unbearable. He made his way down the hallway but walked past the stairs that led up to the tower, detecting a mass congregated elsewhere in the ruins. He could hear that demon's voice echoing through the corridors, nattering on about rules, plans, and the new world they were going to.

Alucard approached an open archway and stepped through and into what looked to be the ruin's entrance hall. Zalith, dressed in an all-black suit, was standing in front of the one hundred and fifteen vampires, who were all staring at him while he spoke sternly.

"...You are being relocated to another world outside of this one—it is called Alvenguard," Zalith explained tonelessly. "An associate of mine will be taking care of everything you will need. You will be travelling with him through the portal and to where he plans to have you reside. You must understand that once you leave this world, there is no coming back, so make sure you have everything you need because if you remain here, you will inevitably die."

One of the vampires frowned. "What about Guillaume—my son?"

Zalith replied, "He is an adult; he made his own decision, and I am not responsible for what may happen to him. You should also remember that there are rules in the other world, and I advise you to follow them. There—"

"Why have you brought all of them here?" Alucard asked irritably, abruptly appearing behind him.

Zalith slowly closed his eyes and exhaled quietly as an angered look appeared on his face. He then glanced at Alucard. "I am explaining the plan to them all at once as I prefer not to repeat myself."

Alucard took his eyes off the demon and looked at the crowd of vampires. "Fine; I'll take this time to sort them all into groups, then."

Stolen story; please report.

With a disinterested look on his face, Zalith watched Alucard make his way towards the vampires. As they eyed the red-haired stranger, Zalith called, "This is Alucard, my associate. Let him do what he must."

Scowling, Alucard looked back over his shoulder at Zalith. "You don't call me that. You call me Aleksei," he snarled.

Zalith rolled his eyes.

Alucard walked around the huddle of vampires, eyeing them closely. To his relief, not too many of them were older than two hundred and fifty. He knew that he couldn't take a group of vampires that exceeded his age by more than half; if he did that, it would use up a whole lot of his energy, and he wasn't interested in becoming weak to help strangers—vampires or not. So, he had to sort them into groups whose combined age wouldn't exceed more than six hundred years.

These vampires weren't going to attack, nor would they refuse his orders. They may not be from Alvenguard, but every vampire in existence was sired by him, which gave them a natural instinct to obey him. His only concern was that demon; he was the one that was going to question his tactics, but Alucard didn't care. He had come to do a job, and whether Zalith liked it or not, he was going to do it his way.

Alucard grabbed the shoulder of one of the first vampires and pulled them from the crowd. "Go over there," he muttered, making his way through the crowd, "and you," he snarled, pulling another vampire from the group. He eyed each one of them closely, determining their ages, sending them out of the crowd as he did. Once the first group of twelve vampires was formed, he grabbed the collar of another man and pushed him out of the crowd, sending several others to join him a few moments later.

But as he then watched a tall, overly muscular brown-haired vampire leave his group, Alucard scowled irritably. He followed the man with his eyes, observing as he and three other vampires—who also left their groups—went over to Zalith.

With a frustrated snarl, Alucard headed back to Zalith. "What is this?" he asked, glancing at the four vampires who joined Zalith.

"They will be going first, and I will also be accompanying you this first time," the demon answered.

The vampire scoffed. "No, they are not. I am the one taking them, so you abide by my rules, those being that I take one of these organized groups a month."

"These groups, I assume, are organized to collectively tally to your own...power," Zalith said, glancing at the groups Alucard put together. "You believe you can only transport so many vampires at once so long as they do not exceed your limits."

"No," Alucard lied.

The demon frowned impatiently. "Are you not capable of taking the five of us at once? Will it kill you to do so?" he asked with a condescending tone.

Alucard scowled evilly at him. "Don't test my patience; do this my way or find someone else to help."

Zalith smiled amusedly. "Do you think Damien would have asked you to do this if he thought you incapable? I am certain the Daegelus knows how powerful and how old each of these vampires is; he would not have asked you here if you could not do it. These people are also in danger, Aleksei; they need you. You are their sire; after all; you are the only person in either world they can rely on."

Glaring at him, Alucard thought to himself for a few moments. He knew that the demon was trying his best to get him to back down, and his current method was an attempt to motivate him with fake assurance.

But Alucard knew his own limitations. If he wanted to come out of this unharmed, then he couldn't take a group that exceeded double his age. If he didn't have responsibilities back home, he wouldn't care; he'd do it to get away from this insufferable demon. However, he had to remain as well as he could in order to keep up his end of the deal that he made with the humans. He couldn't efficiently fight werewolves if he had to spend days resting after transporting vampires.

He snarled and glowered at the demon. "I said no. There are rules; accept them or fuck off."

Zalith laughed slightly with an almost astonished look on his face. "Might I suggest we meet somewhere in the middle, then? But I must insist that Ben comes, no matter the compromise," he said, placing his hand on the shoulder of the scruffy-faced vampire he first called over.

With a smirk, glad of his victory in getting him to back down, Alucard eyed the vampires standing at Zalith's side. His limit was six hundred or so years, but Ben was three hundred and twenty, and this demon was older than Alucard. He wasn't sure what to do, but if he couldn't lose the eldest of the vampires, then he'd have to try and remove the second eldest to give himself some relief.

He pointed to the dirty blonde man that stood beside Ben. "You have to stay."

The selected vampire looked at Zalith, who nodded tiredly. Then, the vampire left them and returned to the group he had earlier been put into by Alucard. But the four of them were still past triple Alucard's age. He didn't have the strength to argue further, though. He wanted to get it over and done with.

Alucard turned around and mumbled, "We will go now." He made his way over to the archway and glanced behind him as Ben scurried over to a brown-eyed, auburn-haired woman, who he embraced and kissed.

Zalith took his eyes off Alucard to look at everyone else. "Remember the groups you have been sorted into. We will all meet here at the same time as we did tonight next month," he called to them and then walked to where Alucard was. He set his sights on the vampire who Alucard told to stay behind. "I will be in touch."

Then, Zalith, Ben, and the two other vampires followed Alucard through the castle ruins in silence until they reached the portal.

Along the way, Alucard did his best to ignore his anger. He hated Zalith already. He was rude and insufferable, and he clearly thought he was smarter than everyone else. One thing that Alucard despised was being looked down on, and Zalith did it the same way Damien did. If the Daegelus wasn't the one to have put him on this task, then he would have walked away from that tower. But Damien had initiated this mission, so he had to keep his opinions to himself and get on with it.

At least he'd only have to deal with this demon once a month, though.

When he reached the portal, Alucard stopped and looked back at them. "You all need to be linked to me somehow so that when we go through, Letholdus does not detect any of you."

Ben and the other vampires glanced at Zalith, waiting for his instruction.

Zalith sighed, rolled his eyes, and looked over at Ben with an irritable look on his face.

Then, Ben set his eyes on Alucard. "I can do it," he said, stepping closer to him. "What do you want me to do?"

Alucard snatched his wrist. "Take your friend's hand—all of you," he instructed.

As Alucard instructed, the vampires took one another's hands. Zalith took Ben's, one of the other vampires took Zalith's, and the last vampire took his. Then, Alucard stared at the portal, preparing to walk through. He didn't know how he'd feel once he reached the other side, but bringing these people with him was undoubtedly going to exhaust him.

He stepped forward, leading the way into the portal.

When he emerged on the other side, the vampire frowned uncomfortably. He could feel his ethos waning the instant Ben stepped out behind him. His head started spinning, and an unrelenting dizziness gripped hold of him as Zalith followed Ben out. That was when Alucard began to feel as though he was moments from passing out, and he very nearly did as the other two vampires walked through. He suspected he would feel awful, but he wasn't aware that it would be this severe.

Alucard snarled, denying the disorientation to grip him. He let go of Ben's wrist and pulled his flask from his blazer as he leaned back against the closest rock. What he felt in response to the portal travel was familiar; it was something he sorely hated—dreaded. With his ethos suffering, he sipped from his flask, and the blood inside relieved him of his headache.

Then, as he tucked his flask away, he glanced at Zalith and the vampires. He wasn't interested in engaging in conversation with them, so he looked at the island's edge and set his eyes on Rodney, who was standing on the ship's quarterdeck. Alucard made his way over, sure that Zalith and his vampires would follow, and as he stepped up onto the deck, Rodney pounced down and greeted him.

"Drac's being a pain in my ass," Rodney said.

"Is that a surprise?" Alucard mumbled while peering into the ocean.

As Zalith and his vampires walked up onto the ship, Rodney glanced over at them and frowned. "Hey, uh...I ain't gonna be someone's snack, am I?" he asked quietly, leaning into Alucard's ear.

"What?" Alucard questioned with a frown, but when he glanced at Zalith, he rolled his eyes and looked back down into the ocean. "No."

Rodney took his eyes off the strangers and asked Alucard, "We heading back home?"

"Da," Alucard answered, tapping the side of the ship.

"How long is this going to take?" Zalith then called.

Ignoring him, Alucard stepped back. A colossal beast burst up from the ocean, sending water crashing down on the ship. With a ferocious snarl, the huge, teal, and cyan-scaled serpent lowered its head towards Alucard. Its face looked like a crocodile with sail fins in place of its ears, and its head adorned three pairs of sapphire-blue horns, which stretched out above its four yellow eyes, two on each side of its head.

The vampire held out his hand, and as the beast rested the end of its snout on his palm, he smiled. "Rodney tells me you have been giving him a hard time, Drac," he said with a smirk.

Looking at him, blinking slowly, the creature whined quietly.

Alucard then frowned and shifted his sights to Zalith and his vampires. While the vampires had impressed looks on their faces, Zalith tried—and failed—to don a look of disinterest.

The vampire then looked back up at Drac. "No, they are not for you this time."

"He ain't eating the shit I get for him," Rodney mumbled.

"I believe he misses haunting the oceans and praying on unsuspecting ships, don't you?" he asked, speaking to the beast as if it were a puppy, and the beast reacted as such. Alucard then sighed and took his hand off the scaled beast's face. "Take us home, hmm?" he requested, staring into the beast's eyes, and as it snarled quietly, he frowned. "Good."

Drac descended back into the ocean; Rodney made his way past Zalith and pulled the bridge onto the deck. He closed the gate, hurried up onto the quarterdeck, and prepared to set out.

The vampire faced Zalith. "We will arrive in Dor-Sanguis in half an hour or so," he said before turning away from them.

He then headed towards the cabin under the quarterdeck, hoping he'd not have to spend this entire trip in the company of that demon. He didn't like him, and he never would. He just had to put up with him until this mission was over.