Chapter 43: Ashes and Blood

The entire area had been leveled and the night creatures roared and growled. Erza scoffed and got on her guard, she gripped her sword tightly as she got ready to fight. Scarlet looked down at her and smirked, but instead of going straight for the kill, she did something completely unexpected.

Scarlet held her hand flat out, a small orb formed in her palm and had it aimed down at the ground below. She then fired the beam of magic at the night creatures, taking them all out one by one. Erza blinked with a puzzled look on her face and then smirked, she rushed towards the ones Scarlet had missed and sliced them in half with her sword.

"I know you can hear me Dracula. Come out of hiding!" Scarlet barked loudly and aimed the magic beam towards what buildings were left standing, upon doing so the area began to spark with flames and fire had started to spread, the fire began to heat up as the smoke had rose into the air. Which soon clouded the entire sky, ash snow downed onto the ground.

"Trying to lure him out of hiding? What makes you so sure it'll work?" Erza asked curiously as she looked up at Scarlet. "Sure the night is usually when he comes out, as well as the other vampires. I just want to know what makes you certain he will."

Scarlet snickered and sniffed the air for a moment before descending down to the ground below. "Oh trust me, it will" Scarlet glanced around while her wings folded behind her. "What good will it do for him, if he can't hide anywhere that's already up in flames? Aside from his castle that is."

Erza looked a little uneasy at Scarlet's method of luring Dracula out of hiding, but she just sighed and nodded her head, she crossed her arms and started to glance around the area all while the fire burned and the smoke raised into the air, smog was slowly formed as ash started to fall from the sky. Scarlet flew into the air as she took in the sights of what was ahead of them, her eyes met with the distant structure of Dracula's castle. 

"Well hello, looks like his castle is off in the distance. But why bring the party to him when we can cause so much chaos?" Scarlet snickered and held her arm out in front of her, the ball of magic formed in her palm as she shot the magic towards the next area they might need to go. The spiral beam of magic hit different buildings and vegetation. The trees caught fire as more fire began to spread, of course over in that area was Belmont, Sypha and Alucard. All three of them were busy looking for Carmilla while also dealing with what bodyguards and creatures Carmilla had brought with her. 

"What the hell?" Belmont asked feeling the ground shake from each explosion. "It feels like the Earth is shaking."

Sypha nodded her head lightly at what Belmont had said. "Indeed it feels like it is, but it could be something else." She looked out of the window of the building they were currently in after taking out the small group of vampires. The sight of fire and smoke rising into the air. "Bloody hell."

~~~

Scarlet snickered as she flew into the air, with Carmilla on her horn. Her horn had stabbed through the vampire's stomach and was sticking out from her back, she gritted her teeth as blood trickled down her the sides of her mouth.

"Oh come now, you call yourself a vampire... why sell yourself short and hide how to lure Dracula out?" Scarlet asked as she stabbed her horn deeper into Carmilla's body. "Surely you can tell me." She grinned widely as she felt the blood trickling down her horn and onto her face, she licked the blood from her face. "Hmm..." She hummed a little and laughed. "You have very bitter tasting blood with a hint of red wine flavoring, how fascinating."

Carmilla coughed up blood and reached her hands up to Scarlet's horn, she was going to pull herself off of her but the higher they got into the sky the more her skin started to burn. The sun was starting to rise over the horizon. "What the hell are you...?" She managed to speak those words while trying to tolerate the burning sensation of the sun against her skin. "...You're no vampire.... you're a-"

"A monster? A devil? A sinner?" Scarlet asked in a mocking tone, her crimson red eyes looked up at Carmilla. "A nightmare? All you can think of... labels me as your doom." Once they both were high enough in the atmosphere. Scarlet reached up and grabbed Carmilla's legs. "Seeing as you won't tell me how to lure Dracula out of hiding.... I'll just have to kill you."

Carmilla let out a weak laugh, her body still burning. "You can't kill what's already being killed by the sun..." She was stalling for time, she wanted Scarlet to lose this chance to kill her, but she was wrong. She felt Scarlet's hands grab onto her legs, her eyes widened as she then felt Scarlet pulling on her legs, ripping them off her body.

"Ah, a snack for the road." Scarlet purred with a sadistic tone, she stuffed Carmilla's legs into her mouth and slurped them up like noodles, she swallowed the vampires legs and then reached up for Carmilla again. She grabbed onto her once more this time, pulling her down onto her horn. The vampire's body was being torn apart and burning more and more, Scarlet ripped her body in half and tossed her body down. Right after she ripped her head off. "This is the way your world ends."

Scarlet descended down towards Earth's, she scanned around as she watched as Dracula's castle teleported from where it was at before now appearing much closer to where she was going to. The Grimm girl smirked and put two fingers into her mouth and whistled loudly, Erza looked up as she heard the whistle and seeing Dracula's castle much much closer than it was before. Belmont, Sypha and Alucard were also in the area as they heard the whistle too. Once Dracula's castle had appeared in the general area, ash was blown through the air almost like a tornado had formed. 

"Looks like your daddy is here." Belmont spoke as he looked towards Alucard, he sighed and grabbed his chained whip. "That must mean the other followers of his are inside."

Erza clinched her fists tightly, ready for a fight. She watched as Scarlet descended down towards the ground, but then she just stopped. She watched her carefully for a brief moment, trying to figure out what she was doing. Scarlet smirked and flew straight into the castle walls, breaking into the building. Once she was inside the other creatures and vampires waiting for them were all stunned and shocked, The Grimm girl grins widely before firing her magic directly at the interior of the castle. 

"Ladies and gentlemen....boys and ghouls, step right up for the greatest show unearthed! For I am your entertainment for this lovely day." Scarlet spoke with a sadistic tone and a wicked grin. "Come one come all, step right up and take your chances with making a deal with the devil.." She snickered and looked around for a moment. "No? Well then, more fun for me I guess."

Before Scarlet could do anything, Dracula was right in front of her. He hissed as he didn't give Scarlet time to attack, he grabbed her by the throat just like before and had a tight grip on her. "Demon, you should be taught a lesson in messing with me people!"

Scarlet hissed back and held her palm against his torso and shot her beam of magic through him. "I'm not the same as I was before...." She smirked but then felt how Dracula flew downwards with her crashing through the floor and down to the lower levels of the castle.

Erza jumped through the hole in the side of the castle as she got into her combat stance, following behind her was Belmont, Sypha and Alucard. Erza scanned around as she noticed the hole in the floor. "He must've taken her down a few levels, to avoid the sun." 

"Yes, it seems like it." Alucard said and held his sword tightly. "We can leave father to her. Right now we have how you say... a party to crash."

Belmont chuckled a bit. "Sounds fine by me, the less of a hassle we have to worry about, the less we'll have to worry about clearing out the castle... but that begs the question... where are Lenore, Hector and the others?"

Sypha lightly shrugged her shoulders a little bit, she got herself prepared for battle. "I honestly don't know. But isn't Lenore more of a gentle soul? Despite being a vampire."

"Gentle or not, we can't let our guard down. Especially around Scarlet." Erza spoke with an angered look on her face. "Get ready, here they come!"