Castlevania Nocturne: A Guardian's Tale (Part 1)

Lioness and Cubs

EDITED 4/5/24

Two years later

1785

......

Emma watched her two young pupils training in the clearing. She sat leisurely against the trunk of a thick tree , her legs stretched out on the grass with her sword at her feet. Her blond hair flowed freely and her eyes were golden in the sunlight  like a lioness watching her cubs.

In the middle of the clearing stood a series of targets on wooden posts, each varying in height. She instructed her pupils to hit the targets with their weapons. When they began their training over a year ago, Richter could barely hold his smaller training whip, let alone lash it at a target, and Maria's birds bit her hand instead of the targets above. Much had changed since, and they had significantly improved thanks to Emma's tutelage.

Richter's getting better at aiming his whip. He nicked the bullseye a few times this evening, and Maria will make a fine mage one day. She's already formed a bond with her familiars. She was pleased.

A fledgling phoenix darted at the highest target post, pecking the bullseye and raking it with its little claws. Emma's ear twitched at the near silent footfalls in the grass, her sharp eyes caught a shadow creeping at the edge of the woods, drawing ever closer to the children in the clearing.

Maria's phoenix cawed an alert. The children turned from their targets. Richter clutching his training whip, and Maria summoned two more fledglings and a small white feline cub growling at her side.

When the vampire stepped into the sunset clearing, they didn't hold back. The vampire hissed at the sting of Richter's whip, flash stepping its lash only to be clawed at by the phoenix fledglings. He swatted away the birds like an angry cat, only to be pounced on by the white cub. The vampire picked it up by the scruff and hissed in its face, only to get a feisty hiss back.

The vampire turned and snarled when the whip coiled around his leg. Richter pulled, effectively unbalancing him and dropping the kitten. The vampire pounced and cuffed him, knocking him over and pinning him to the ground. He bared his teeth and hissed. Richter punched him in the face.

"Ow!" The vampire cried. Richter sprung up and tackled him to the ground, pressing his knife at his adversary's throat. He gasped when Maria tackled him along with her cub and the fledglings. "All right you got me! You win! Ahhh Emma help!! I'm under attack! I'm dying! 800 years only to be ended by a BELMONT and a MAGE!! Ohhhhhh what a world what a world!!!"

"Ease up kids . You have him." Emma stood up approaching the clearing. "Well done." The children released and scrambled off of Vance. Emma offered her hand and helped him up. "What's with the hissing? If you're going to sink your teeth into someone, get on with it. I never understood that with vampires."

"For a matter of fact it is a way of stirring fear into the hearts of our prey." Vance gave her a toothy grin. "Makes the blood run faster."

"And it allows your prey to punch you in the face."Emma laughed. "You okay Vance? That was quite a hit." She winked at Richter.