SEASON 3 STUFF LETS GOOOOOOOOO

---

It had been a month since...that day. Stela was able to heal quite quickly thanks to her brother caring for her and making sure her wound didn't reopen when helping him try to clean up the castle or practicing their fighting skills. During the month the two managed to clear out most of the debris in the castle along with the mess in the underground library, Alucard creating a lift to let them get down safely while bringing plenty of buckets of water to clear out the blood staining the floors and the shelves.

One thing that had been bugging Stela for a month was why Trevor suddenly kissed her out of nowhere before he and Sypha left, leaving no explanation. She was sure he had a reason, though Adrian wasn't telling her what it may be.

"I swear Lazarus, when he comes back I'm going to make him explain." She mutters as she is pulling weeds out of the garden patch she had set up. Lazarus, a small black dog with a single blue eye and missing fur and skin on one foot, gave a small bark from where he was digging, wagging his small tail happily. Her brother had been so wary of the little fellow since they found him on their first night back in the castle, giving them both a fright with his loud howls somewhere in their eerily empty home until they found him the next morning in a locked room with a cart of rotting bodies. Luckily, she was able to convince her brother that the dog was harmless and to let her keep him as a companion.

Stela laughs as the little dog grabs a root out of the ground and carries it back to her, being careful not to step on the carrots she had planted earlier that month before dropping them into the basket she was placing them in. Once their task of weeding and watering the little garden was done, they walked back into the castle. Stela could already smell dinner being cooked and she felt her mouth water at the thought of what Adrian was cooking. She found him in the kitchen, quietly cutting tomatoes as something was boiling in a pot near him.

"I see you've gotten a jump on the dinner, what did you manage to whip up this time?" Stela asks as she walks over to her brother to see what was in the pot before he smacks her hand when she touches the lid. "Ow! Hey, no fair!"

"Hands." Her brother scolds as he points to her dirt stained hands and her dirty clothes. "And change into something clean. Actually, take a bath and then come back to eat. This isn't done yet so you'll have plenty of time to wash up."

Stela stuck her tongue out at Adrien but did as he told her, making her way back to her room to gather a clean dress and take a thorough hot bath. Despite it being a month since she didn't have to wander like a hermit, she still couldn't get over how weird it felt to bathe in an actual tub and sleep in a real warm bed instead of bathing as quickly as possible in a cold lake or sleep on the hard ground with just her cloak and a single bla key to warm her. Her brother had assured her that it would take time to get used to the comforts of what she was used to, but she still wasn't so sure and often found herself sleeping on the floor with Lazarus or forgetting to get her bath water heated up.

Once bathed and dried, Stela towered off her hair as best as possible and combed it out before heading back to the kitchen. Adrian already had two plates out with cooked fish and vegetables and two glasses of wine on the table, along with a small bowl on the floor for Lazarus. Her brother was seated at the table and waiting patiently for them before Stela sat next to him.

"This looks tasty, caught two fish this time so we don't have to split?" She jokes before clasping her hands together and murmurs a small prayer of thanks and grabs a fork. "So, how are you feeling?"

"Fine, and you?" Adrian responds as he takes a bite of his dinner and chews thoughtfully. "Hmm, I think I over seasoned the fish this time."

"Nonsense, it's perfectly fine. Though maybe next time I should cook."

"We're not having your potato soup again, that gave me a stomach ache."

"You only got that because you ate more than one helping, that was supposed to last us for a while!"

Both siblings laugh at the memory from a few weeks prior before going back to eating in silence. Stela wasn't sure now what to say to lighten the mood, lately it had been getting harder to make her brother smile and laugh while they ate.

"I think I'm going mad, from being alone in this old place." Adrian admits quietly, breaking the silence. Stela frowns in worry before reaching across the table and grasps her brother's hand.

"You aren't alone little brother, I'm still here aren't I?"

Adrian gives her a smile and gives her hand a squeeze. "You're right, I've got you and our friends right here, and the stinky dog."

"By friends, you mean the weird dolls you made with spoons for arms?" Stela asks, glancing at the said dolls sitting on the shelf nearby. Why her brother even made them was beyond her, some days she would find him talking to them and even trying to mimic Trevor and Sypha's voices for more lively conversations. One of these days she was going to burn them, but for now, maybe not. Adrian would probably murder her if she even tried to hide them. "Look, I miss them too but I'm not going to converse with those ugly things."

"Maybe if you did, you could find out the reason why our dear hunter kissed you before leaving us." Adrian suggests with a shrug and his sister cringes. "What, you think I've forgotten that he literally kissed you in front of me and you still don't know why? God you are just as dense as him."

"For the last time, I don't think Trevor was in love with me to have done that. A man and woman can kiss for platonic reasons too, you know." Stela groans and tossed her fork onto the table. "Besides, he doesn't seem to be the type to settle with a girl he's only known for about less than two weeks."

"You'd be surprised." The dhampire responds. "Now, eat your dinner before I feed it to your reanimated pet."

At the mention of him, Lazarus looks up from his bowl and barks excitedly, to which Stela chuckles and picks off a piece of her fish to give to him to eat. "I spoil you too much, I think you're going to get quite fat at this rate."

"The one who needs a bit of fattening is your stupid brother." A gruff voice states and Stela makes a face. Oh god he was starting now.

"Adrian I swear I'm going to burn those dolls of yours." SHe mutters as her brother gives her an innocent look.

"Why would you burn us, we are your friends, and friends don't burn friends." Adrian says in a high pitched voice trying to mimic Sypha and her accent (a horrible impression of it).

"Fine, I'll make them Lazarus' new chew toys."

"You would throw this handsome face to a dog? I'm offended." Adrian says in his Trevor voice. "I thought we had something Stela."

"I've lost my appetite," Stela mutters as she puts her fork down and pushes her chair back.

"Oh come on, I'm just teasing." Her brother chuckles as he goes back to his normal voice. "You've only eaten part of the fish and most of the vegetables."

"Your stupid dolls made me lose my appetite."

"Fine, your loss."

Stela stuck her tongue out at her brother before exiting from the kitchens and briskly made her way to the library. There was still enough light shining through the windows, so she still had plenty of light left until the electrical ones would turn on to read a little something before going to her room to write in her journals. The book she had left alone was still in her favorite spot located near the telescope and Stela eagerly opens it to the bookmark she had left in it, a long dark green ribbon she once used to tie her hair back when it was long. The book was an odd one she had found when cleaning up the library that she couldn't recall seeing before but after reading a few pages out of curiosity, she had been obsessed with trying to finish it when she had the time to.

The book was a collection of stories focused on a king and his knights, something she was sure her mother would have read to her and her brother at their bedtime if she hadn't insisted on reading them scientific journals. She really liked the stories so far, each was quite interesting though she wondered how come there was only one spellcaster in the court. This sort of book probably would have been banned and destroyed by the church for the contents. By the time she had decided to put the book down and tuck the ribbon back into the book to hold it's place, it was already dark outside.

When was the last time I read a book for that long? Stela wonders as she hurries back to her room. Possibly when I was little, and even then I'd try reading under the covers by the candlelight. Of course, father or mother would find out and confiscate my candles and books for the evening after a scolding that I'm going to ruin my sleep schedule and strain my eyes.

Lazarus was asleep in her bed, curled up on one of her pillows and snoring loudly as Stela slipped inside. She quickly stripped off the clothes she was wearing and quickly slips into her nightgown before plucking the dog off the bed. She quietly tiptoes down the hallway to her brother's room where he's laying in bed staring up at the ceiling, not even noticing she had entered.

"Lost in thought again, oh great Alucard?" She asks loudly, causing him to sit up. "You have super hearing and couldn't even hear me enter, you must have been very distracted tonight."

"Dear god don't do that again." The dhampire groans as he flopped back down onto his pillows. "Also I don't want the dog in my bed, last time he drooled on my blankets."

"Too bad, Lazarus is sleeping with us." Stela huffed before climbing into the bed with him and set the dog down between them. "What's keeping you from sleeping?"

"I don't even know, perhaps this is a side effect from sleeping for an entire year." Adrien sighs as he turns onto his side to look at his sister. "Also, I was wondering if we made the right choice in staying here. It's gotten a bit boring since our friends left."

"Yeah it has, but we're protecting this place, Trevor gave us his childhood home and the Belmont trove of knowledge to share with the world."

"We can't even share it with anyone, you said so yourself that the folks in the closest town thought this place was haunted and after the castle showed up they had another reason to not come."

"Well if we had left, you would have been dead asleep and very alone if I left to travel with Trevor or Sypha."

"Or with the both of them, I'm sure they are having plenty of fun without us to tag along."

"I could lure night creatures here if you want, so we could have some fun and relive the adrenaline rush we get when we fought those fuckers."

The two were quiet now, both just staring at the ceiling in silence, the only noise was just the frogs and crickets outside and Lazarus' snoring before Stela decided to break the silence.

"I still don't get why Trevor would kiss me before he left." She sighs and her brother gives a frustrated groan.

"Not this again...are you that dense or did fighting that bull man make you lose some sense in your brain?" Adrien mutters before sitting up. "It's obvious he fancied you, that's why he kissed you. Even Sypha knew, that's why she dragged me away so you two could have some privacy to talk and maybe confess to you before he left. Of course the idiot didn't even have the nerve to tell you to your face."

"He only knew me for less than a week, how could he develop feelings for me so quickly?!"

"Father developed feelings for mother in less than a month, some humans develop feelings for others at the drop of a hat. I suppose he just grew attached to you quite quickly and that just sparked a romantic feeling in him. You two did fight together in that bar where you got knocked someone out with your elbow, maybe he just fell for you there after seeing you get punched in the face."

"If you weren't my brother and had the ability to float, I'd shove you off the bed for that."

"Go to sleep then, you can ignore me until morning and then I'll pester and mess with you then."

Stela makes a face before she stuck her tongue out at her brother and turns over so her back is to him. Once under the blankets she hears him blow out the candle by his bed before the room goes dark. Ugh, she hated it when her brother was often right about some things neither of them were familiar with. Trevor did look like he wanted to tell her something that day when they were seated on the stairs outside just admiring the sight before them. At one point she was sure he tried to place his hand on hers, but quickly pulled it away while looking a bit embarrassed. Assuming he and Sypha returned, she was going to have a long talk with him.

But...do I even hold feelings for him? She wonders to herself. He's a bit rough around the edges, but he's kind in his own way. And the way he freaked out over my stab wound, he was even more worried than my own brother.

Stela sighs before turning over to stare up at the ceiling, now wondering what he was even doing. Possibly having a better time than she was in fighting monsters and criminals he and Sypha came across, enjoying the freedom of getting to travel everywhere they wanted. Did he think of her while trying to fall asleep like she did with him? Probably not.

Well wherever he's doing, I just hope he and Sypha are safe. Just wish they'd come back and see us soon.