The Rondo Of Blood: A Rewrite of Castlevania Nocturne

A Matter of Chances

"We were following a man named Comte de Vaublanc." Edouard told the group from the living room. "He's a vampire slaver who's committed grave atrocities in Saint Dominique. From what we've gathered of his letters, he was sailing to France to meet with a mysterious sorceress whom we can assume is Sabrina le Fay."

"Comte de Vaublanc?" Annette recounted. "Well, a stranger came by into the Marquis's chateau not long ago. He wore a thick cloak under the sun that covered him head to toe. Sounds familiar?"

"That's probably him. Most vampires wouldn't even set out of into the sun, but he would without a doubt." Layla replied, seemingly repulsed having said so.

"Why exactly is he sought after by someone like Ruthven?" Richter asked. "What is so special about Vaublanc that he would need his services?"

"Vaublanc is a master swordsman who's lived for nearly three hundred years." Layla answered. "There was no one that could survive a duel with him. He's fought and killed countless warriors from the East. That alone would at least gain some recognition from the Lord of Blood himself."

Annette carefully listened to each of their claims. "So it boils down to the conclusion that Vaublanc is invited as an esteemed guest for the Marquis le Guin, who's in cohorts with Sabrina le Fay in an attempt to convince him to side with Ruthven."

"Then all we have to do is sneak into the Chateau and extract information from their meeting," Richter deduced. "Which is next to impossible since the Marquis has his henchmen on high alert in preparation for his party."

"Now we know why he's squeezing money from the poor town, eh?" Maria remarked, playing catch with the turtle she summoned. "Sebastian will not like this at all."

"Who's Sebastian?" Edouard asked.

"That would be our dear friend who lives at the town." Richter answered. "He's been rallying the citizens to raid the Chateau in two days as defiance against the Marquis's recent taxations."

Annette sighed in disappointment. "Is he now? Well, it's pointless anyway. If those are the kind of vampires lounging about at the Chateau, it'll be a massacre. Richter, do write him a letter to call off their attack. I may not like him, but I won't send him and a few others to their deaths."

"Will do." Richter simply replied.

"Maybe if we sneak in at night, we can go in undetected." Maria suggested. "We'll have the element of surprise and-"

"Not a chance!" Annette snapped. "What a preposterous idea would be to simply wander into enemy territory at night when vampires could chase after you without the protection of the sun or a plan. The element of surprise is void at that point. You couldn't possibly be any dumber, Maria."

Maria pouted, clutching her turtle. "I just wanted to be useful... What would you suggest?"

"We need to have a proper understanding of the place before we can infiltrate it." Annette sighed and quickly stood up from her seat. "Wait here. I have to grab something important from the library."

Everyone was silent before Annette left the room, to which Maria crawled a little closer to Richter. "How is it that the both of you know a little too much about this Vaublanc?" He asked. "Was he acquainted with one of you?"

"Well..." Edouard smacked his lips and looked at Layla uncomfortably. "... I would say it's far personal than that."

Layla leaned closer to him. "It's okay," she whispered. "They deserve to know, don't they?" She then turned to Richter and Maria with eyes that seen horrific nightmares in the past. "You see, Vaublanc was my former master. He slaughtered my parents and claimed me as an infant when it was clear that I inherited their magical powers. Since then, he molded me into his assassin and was forced to commit unspeakable crimes in his name.