The truck hums through the dark Detroit roads, the cabin lit by dashboard glow and passing streetlamps. Elias keeps the Holy Cross in both hands like it might slip away. Elizabeth watches it, then lets her gaze soften.
Elizabeth Bathory
It carries history. Heavy history.
Elias
Heavy is right. Trevor trusted me with this, and I still feel like I am borrowing it.
Thadeus drives steady, letting the silence stretch instead of forcing it. The road bends, and the cab settles into a quieter rhythm.
Elias
I keep thinking I am going to fail it, fail him, fail whatever the Belmont name is supposed to mean.
Elizabeth Bathory
A name is only a path. You still choose how to walk it.
Thadeus Jovanović
The Cross looks small in his hands, but he is holding it like a vow.
Elias looks down at the relic, then up toward the windshield as if the night itself might answer him. Elizabeth folds her hands in her lap, thoughtful and calm.
Elias
Then maybe I do not need to be perfect. Maybe I just need to show up.
The truck rolls on, quieter now, and the three of them sit with that for a moment.
“Elizabeth and Elias continue their conversation regarding the Holy Cross. During their discussion, Thadeus looks over to Elizabeth, who returns his look with a warm, genuine smile. Thadeus thinks, "She has become so much stronger since her leaving the Revenant cult. Hard to believe someone so caring could've been a figure head for such an evil group. I'm glad she's changed from that person."”
Thadeus glances over at Elizabeth, and she meets his look with a warm, steady smile. The cab feels smaller for it, but safer too.
Thadeus Jovanović
She has come a long way from the Revenant days. It is hard to square that past with the woman beside him now.
Elizabeth Bathory
Whatever I was before, I am here now.
Elias
Then maybe that is enough for all of us, just showing up and holding on.
“Thadeus looks to Elias, "Reach into my pocket here," pointing to his trench coat, " There are a few more bottles of holy water. You should take these, just in case." Elias agrees, adding three bottles of holy water to his belt”
Thadeus eases one hand off the wheel and reaches into his coat as the truck hums through the dark. Elias takes the hint, nods once, and clips three more holy water bottles onto his belt without fuss.
Elias
That helps. A lot. Better to have it and never need it, right?
Elizabeth Bathory
Exactly. We keep showing up, and we keep each other stocked.
The cab settles into an easier rhythm, three allies facing the road together while the windshield reflections slide over their steady hands.