"Help me gather some wood for the campfire?" Trevor asks Stela as they were setting up camp for the night. Darkness had fallen quickly when Gresit was a few miles behind them and Alucard had suggested they rested their horses to not wear them out.

"Sure, Adrien stay with Sypha." Stela said as she handed her brother the blankets she was carrying. Much to her surprise (and a bit of relief), her brother didn't protest about her going into the woods alone with Trevor.

"You know, I do hope we find your family library alright. It'd be a shame that we came all this way just to find it destroyed by the elements." Stela said as she began to gather large sticks.

"I'm sure it's alright." Trevor assured her. "I think you and Sypha would like it, it's filled with lots of books."

"We'll see, the most books I've ever seen in one place were in my father's library."

"Well I'm sure your father doesn't have books on how to slay gorgons, or a more correct way to kill demons."

Stela laughed. "My father's library was filled with books of medical research on both humans, vampires, and I think some on creatures of the night. I remember finding books on astrology too, he introduced them to me since I loved trying to climb onto the roof of one of the towers with my little brother to stargaze."

"Hard to imagine that sulky brother of yours actually having fun." Trevor comments as he collected his sticks, tucking them under one arm and making sure he didn't accidentally snap them.

"And I find it hard to imagine a man like you was once an innocent and cute child who thought the most important thing in the world was trying to find lizards in the gardens." Stela retorts, a small smirk on her lips as Trevor makes a face. "Really, it's hard to imagine you were cute and a baby."

"I don't know whether to laugh at your remark or poke fun back at you." The hunter admits as his companion starts to walk back to the camp and followed. "And I was downright adorable as a child."

"I'll need proof of that."

The two soon arrived back at their camp, Alucard setting up a circle of stones to make their fire pit and Sypha unhitching their horses to let them graze and rest.

"Good to have you back!" Sypha greeted as they entered their little camp. "No problems finding wood?"

"Nah, lots of twigs out here." Trevor responds as he drops his pile of sticks in front of Alucard. "Need help setting a fire?"

"Let me do it, I've made camp fires before." Stela said, dropping to her knees and began placing her sticks in a tent-like shape inside the stones. Sypha aided her in lighting the fire, just using a bit of her magic to ignite the sticks.

"So, who's hungry?" Sypha asked with a grin.

The three ate a mix of roasted meat with some roasted apple pieces, passing around a water skin to drink from. They were mostly quiet while they ate, Stela, Alucard and Sypha quietly commenting on something while Trevor just remained quiet and chewed on his food.

"I'm still not completely clear on why you don't catch fire in the daylight." Sypha said to Alucard after they finished their meal.

"I'm half human, my mother's name was Lisa and she was mortal." Alucard explained.

"I would very much like to hear the story of how that happened." Sypha said with a small smile and Alucard chuckled. "Along with how she probably managed to convince your father to adopt Stela into your family."

"She convinced the Lord of darkness to let a starving human child stay with them simply convincing him the same way she convinced him to teach her medicine." Stela laughs

"She sounds interesting." Sypha comments.

"She was remarkable." Alucard said with a smile. "She beat on the door until let her in, and when he did she demanded he teach her how to be a doctor."

"Wait, Dracula taught a human woman how to be a doctor?" Trevor asks, immediately sitting up. "What was first, bloodletting?" He adds with a snort.

"You think you're so funny." Stela mutters. "Our father-"

"Dracula."

"Is a man of science." Alucard finishes, ignoring Trevor's remark. "A philosopher and a scholar, and knows things our society has forgotten three times over. Do you still not understand the enormity of what we're doing? He's gone mad."

"And from that, there's no recovering him." Stela adds quietly.

"Shame." Trevor comments with a shrug.

"No really, it is a shame. He could have changed the world." Stela says shaking her head.

"He probably would have if mother hadn't died." Alucard adds. "She had sent him out into the world, and that's why he wasn't there when the bishop took her."

"She sent him away?" Sypha asks.

"She sent him to travel, to learn the true state of the world, the nature of humans and how they lived." Alucard explains.

"She was turning him."

"Imagine if he could have used that knowledge, improving lives."

"If the religious inquisition hadn't proved true his worst instincts about humans." Stela says with a frown.

"And now he's using her death as an excuse to destroy the world." Trevor points out.

"Oh the world will still be here Belmont." Alucard says glancing at his sister and taking her hand, which she hadn't noticed she was gripping tightly. "Trees will still grow, birds will still sing, animals will still hump away in the undergrowth. But you won't be here, none of you."

"The sun will still set, but we won't see it rise. It will only be Dracula and his war council of the night." Stela adds as she relaxes her grip.

She leans back against the wheel of the wagon as she listens to her brother talk more of her father's plans of what he was going to do once he wiped out everyone in Romania. Assuming her father even succeeded, Stela knew he or one of his generals would probably kill her. Probably Godbrand, the old prick who still creeped her out after all these years ever since she first met him. As she was gazing at the fire, Stela heard a soft growling sound that made the hair on her neck stand on end

"What was that?" Sypha asks in panic.

"Animals humping in the undergrowth." Alucard responds before the noise is sounded again, this time a little louder. "Wait, no."

"Put it out!" Stela hisses frantically as she and Trevor kick snow and dirt onto the fire to smother it.

"What's the closest town to here, is it Gresit?" Trevor asks once their fire is extinguished.

"Argesh is closer to us." Sypha responds as the growling sounds again.

Alucard moves towards the road, his hand on the handle of his sword as Trevor runs for the trees and expertly scales up one, leaving the two women alone at the wagon.

"Yes I think I'm going to die tonight." Stela mutters as she and Sypha yank their hoods over their heads. "I don't have a long range weapon or have magic fireballs to throw from a safe distance, or incredible speed and agility, I'm probably going to die tonight before we can even reach the Belmont household at the hands of some stupid low level demons."

"Well at least you have a weapon to protect yourself if it gets close to either of us, if Trevor and Alucard can't keep them from getting close." Sypha assures her before they hear loud roaring and earsplitting screeches. "You helped defeat the demons of Gresit, you can defeat these too-"

"Oh my god they're breathing fire!" Stela exclaims when she hears the sound of flames being fired. Sypha jumps to her feet and rushes in the direction that Alucard went with Stela right behind her.

The two found both Trevor and Alucard dodging balls of fire being thrown at them. Sypha muttered something under her breath before she stopped the fire from hitting the men's faces and started flinging them back at the demons. One demon, the biggest one of the group, blasted a column of fire at the Speaker, but she managed to deflect it.

"Move!" Trevor yells as he grabs Stela and Alucard, yanking them both to the ground as Sypha causes the demon to explode.

"Wow... wasn't expecting this." Stela mutters when she raises her head to see the mess of demon bodies.

"I don't think we're going to Argesh tonight." Alucard comments as he helps his sister up. "Anyone hurt?"

"Little bruised when Trevor grabbed me and threw me to the floor, but other than that I'm alright." Stela responds and Trevor mumbles an apology. "The horses haven't run off, so we should probably hitch them up and get moving to find somewhere else to sleep."

"One mile from here and we rest, take turns keeping watch for anymore demons." Sypha suggests with a nod as she approaches them. "You know, if the Belmont trove is still intact and has any helpful books of magic we can use, I can teach you some magic so you can help figure out how to trap the castle."

"Guess it's worth a shot then."