This story is dedicated to a woman I love, even though I have yet to meet her in person. I love you, my love. I always will. Mahal na mahal kita, always and forever.
He had been in this cursed castle for more days than he could remember. Alucard was getting tired of running around the different chambers, only to have to fight one creature after another.
Thanks to his vow, Alucard relied on his wolf form to feed off the monsters he was killing. After every battle, he would transform into the wolf and devour some of the dead. And since this was his fatherâs home, there were coffins everywhere for him to rest.
Time was coming up again for him to close another lid over his vampiric body. He found a large door with ancient words scribed into the mason work of the archway.
âBeware, all ye who enter this chamber,â he read aloud. âWell, that sounds like a challenge I will just have to take.â
Alucard grabbed the ancient handle and turned it. No noise met his ears, meaning that no rust had taken hold of the metal. He slowly inched the door open, expecting an attack as soon as there was room for a weapon to make itâs way through the crack. None came.
When he finally stepped into the chamber, he was surprised to find nothing that posed any threat. As a matter of fact, all he faced was the most ornate coffin he had ever seen.
The box sat on top of a concrete altar and was covered with many different pictures. Each picture was a brilliantly colored and stood out against the silver coated surface. Alucard was still weary of the warning above the door he had just entered and scanned the dark room and its corners.
There were two 6-foot tall candelabras that cast little light around the room, leaving all four corners pitch black. Alucardâs eyes, however, were able to focus and pierce the blackness that seemed to close around him.
He stood perfectly still for several minutes, watching for any movement, but found none. Even though this was a good thing, it was a little disturbing. Throughout the entire castle, he had seen spider webs and rats. Why werenât any of them hiding in this chamber?
Alucard finally relaxed a little and cautiously stepped closer to the altar before him. He watched his step, constantly on the look out for trick stones or trip wires. He saw none, but he didnât trust anything in this castle.
Alucard and his father had an understanding of pure hatred toward each other, and his father would stop at nothing to destroy his son. Alucard knew this, and felt the same way toward his father.
When he had finally reached the coffin and altar, he stood still again, reaching out with his senses to make sure that nothing was inside this chamber that could cause him any harm. Again, no sound reached his ears, no smell of death entered his nose, and no movement drew his attention.
Finally believing that he was in no danger, Alucard waved his hand toward the door, a dozen feet from where he stood. The door slowly glided back to the position he had found it, and an audible click let him know that it had shut completely.
âWell, I guess I wonât be disturbed while I sleep here,â Alucard thought to himself.
He reached for his bed for the evening and pulled his hand back quickly. There was warmth coming from the ornate coffin. Worried that it was a trap to burn him alive from inside the coffin, Alucard lifted the heavy box off the altar and placed it on the floor.
Alucard looked all over the altar, letting his fingers roam the surface for any cracks or any thing that was causing the coffin to be warm. There was nothing there. Even the smooth marble altar was cool to the touch, almost as cold as his skin.
He stepped over to the coffin and found that it was till warm to the touch. It wasnât hot or burning to the touch, just a comfortable warmth emanating from it. Alucard thought about some of the warming spells that he had heard of and figured that one must have been cast on this coffin.
âThatâs a nice touch and would make sense considering all the hard work that went into making this beautiful bed,â Alucard spoke.
He picked up the coffin and placed it back on the altar because he was tired of sleeping in wooden boxes on the floor. This morning, he will climb up into his coffin.
When he opened the lid, Alucard jumped back and prepared for an attack from the decaying body lying inside. When it didnât move after several minutes, he stepped up to the coffin and examined the corpse laying in what he already considered his bed.
The face seemed to be frozen into a smile, and the skin being pulled back by decomposition didnât cause it. This man had died during a wonderful moment in his life, was Alucardâs guess. He reached in and started to raise the body out.
âWell, looks like youâve slept long enough,â he said to the grinning face. âThis is my bed for the night, and I donât think you really need it anymore.â
As he pulled the body out, Alucard then noticed a very important bit of information he didnât notice before. The dead man was nude, and not a stitch of clothing was to be found in the room.
Alucard carried the body over to a corner and set it down on the floor. He returned to the coffin and looked around the inside for the manâs clothes. They were piled at the end where the manâs feet had been. He grabbed the old dusty rags and tossed them into the corner with the dead body.
He now was prepared to climb into his home for the day and he did just that. As he lay sat down on the satin lining, he found that he had been wrong. The soft lining was really silk. As a matter of fact, it was the softest silk he had ever touched in his existence, Alucard thought.
Looking over at the corpse, he now thought he knew what the body was nude. The old man had decided the same thing Alucard had thought, climbed in the coffin for a short rest. After feeling the silk on his exposed skin, the man must have decided to sleep nude and enjoy the feelings.
As for how the man had died, Alucard figured he must have died in his sleep, because the corpse looked like it was very old before dying. Considering the feel of the silk, Alucard wanted to find out what the old man had felt before his final sleep took him beyond the grave.
He climbed out of the coffin and removed his clothing. His body seemed to glow because of how pale his skin was. His entire body was as fit as possible and his muscles were very tight from the constant fighting.
Alucard climbed into coffin and lay down, letting his body sink into the silk surroundings. As he closed the lid, he closed his eyes and began to enter his dreamless slumber.