Skylar and Alucard made their way to the group, hand in hand, and found Greta. Skylar held onto Alucard's waist and rested her head against Alucard's body as the castle came into view.
"Dracula's castle," Saint Germain said, his tone breathless with awe.
"Don't be too excited, tramp," Skylar told him, pulling away from Alucard, but took hold of his hand. "You aren't staying. There are many there currently that would throw you out in just one word."
"Regardless," Saint Germain said. "It's astonishing. It's really quite--"
"Ugly as sin," Greta said. A vein in Skylar's neck bulged in that moment.
"Hah?" Skylar looked at Greta.
"It's not ugly," Alucard said as Dracule came up beside him and stood with him.
"It's ugly," Greta said again. "And it's sad."
"It's beautiful," Dracule snapped. "Alucard and I grew up here, thank you very much."
"And it's cold," Greta continued. Skylar had had enough and swung her sword, catching mud on her sword, flinging it into Greta's face. She let out a grunt as it hit her face. Skylar sheathed her sword.
"Anyway," Skylar said, glaring at Greta. "We should head in now. Tara, Sara, Tanya and the others will help you get settled. Now, Alucard, you are coming with me."
"What--" Alucard didn't have time to stop Skylar when she started dragging him by the hand. Skylar left the others behind and headed the entire way towards the house Alucard built. Skylar stopped when she spotted a cocoon wrapped in a bundle of trees.
"Alucard," Skylar turned to him. "You head inside first. I'll be in after a moment. I need to get something done."
"Nothing I should be worried about?" Alucard asked.
"No," Skylar said, pressing a kiss to Alucard's cheek. "I just need to send a friend to get a favour finished, it's overdue."
"Just be careful," Alucard asked of her, pressing a kiss to Skylar's forehead.
"Promise, love," Skylar promised as Alucard pulled away and headed inside.
Skylar waited until Alucard was inside and wasn't looking out the window. The grin on Skylar's face faded away almost immediately. Skylar made her way to the cocoon in the bundle of trees. Almost as if the bundle could sense her coming, it crept open, and blade legs pried it open from the inside out.
"Cindey," Skylar said, standing before the cocoon as a creature came out, with ten bladed legs like a centipede, but the body and head of a wolf. Around its neck was a thick string with skulls of humanlike skulls. The creature let out a low growl in its chest. "I need an old favour, Cindy."
"Of course," the creature Skylar called Cindy said, its blade leg tacked against the skulls. "A favour of yours means a traitor must die."
"There is one," Skylar said. "Her name is Carmilla."
"One of Dracula's generals?" Cindy asked.
"She betrayed him," Skylar said. "She is scheming to take the entire world for herself."
"So Tara and I must go kill her?" Cindy asked, a grin carved its way into her face.
"She will come after everything and everyone in the world to get the entire world for her to be satisfied," Skylar told Cindy.
"..." Cindy looked towards the noise nearby. Skylar followed her eyes. Cindy was looking at the half snake creature while it played with the small dog and the children running around.
"You have someone to protect," Skylar said as she turned back to Cindy.
"How soon do you want this done?" Cindy asked.
"As soon as possible," Skylar told her. "Tell no one."
"Understood," Cinder said as she headed off to find Tara. Skylar headed back to the house, her lips turning into a grin as she went inside to find Alucard.
"Alucard," Skylar called while looking for him as she closed the door.
"In here," Alucard called from upstairs. Skylar made her way up, a grin on her face. She climbed the stairs quickly until she reached Alucard's room, his cloak left on the floor, his upper half exposed. Skylar shut the door behind her and ran to him, tackling him onto the bed. Both laughing and smiling.
"You are trouble," Alucard laughed.
"And you love me," Skylar said with a smile.
"True," Alucard said. Skylar leaned down and pressed her arm over his head against the pillows, caging him in.
"Besides that," Skylar said, pressing a kiss to his nose. "You enjoy getting dominated by me."
"Can't argue there," Alucard said, his hands sliding up Skylar's hips, under her shirt. Skylar slid one hand up to Alucard's neck to hold, no pressure or angle without Alucard asking for it. Alucard groaned. "Skylar, we need to talk, though, about your jealousy— Ah!
"Hah," Skylar bit Alucard's chest. "After, because right now you are mine."
As Skylar began to mark up Alucard's skin, just out the window, a short distance away, Cindy and Tara were walking together; their body language was stiff. Tara had her staff in a tight grip, her knuckles turning white.
"You can still make those portals?" Tara asked, her face dark with a storm brewing inside her.
"Of course," Cindy said, her blade legs silently sinking into the dirt under her bodyweight with every step.
"Good," Tara said. "Let's get this done, now."
"Gladly," Cindy said, then roared, creating a portal in sunlight under the two, taking them in, and closing quickly behind them both before others could follow. The world around them was a mess of bright sunlight spinning around. Before much else could happen, the light vanished. They were free-falling in a winter tundra, and over a castle.
"Get me to Carmilla," Tara said as she grabbed onto Cindy's back. "She nearly cost Tanya her life. We have unfinished business."
"As long as I get her skull, that is fine by me," Cindy said as her front blade legs caught into the castle wall, cracking through the stone loudly until it stopped.
"Keep us alive until then," Tara said.
"I can try," Cindy said, launching herself through the mess of night creatures killing each other.