Cloak and Dagger (Castlevania Nocturne x fem oc)

The Château (edited)

The sun had risen: the pure, light blue vastness of the sky stretched over Tera's cottage, indifferent to them and what they were doing.  The only sounds were the babble of the nearby stream & the chirps of the birds.  Tera didn't have a particularly big cottage, but it was big enough to accommodate four people (well, six now, considering Annette and Edouard's arrival) and it was isolated from the bustle of the town.  Mélanie was in the kitchen, pitching in to help make breakfast on Tera's request while the woman had gone out to grab Maria as well.  The blonde, pink-clad girl was sat outside on the grass underneath the overhanging greenery of one of the trees.  In her lap was the bird that had been killed during the night creature attack the previous night.  Richter was occupied with a very different task: burning the night creature's corpse in a ditch he had just dug.  Breakfast was the usual bread and cheese, both of which were scarce these days.  It wasn't the high quality cuisines that Mélanie was used to back in the aristocracy, but she wasn't complaining.  Maria brought out the plates and the basket of loafs of bread to their new guests that had been waiting patiently at the table & benches in the front garden. 
"I've heard out the revolution in Saint-Domingue, or course," said Maria, placing the basket on the table, "but the Paris papers only reach here sometimes, and then about six months late.  So I know the slaves rose up, burned all the sugar plantations, and killed all the bastard slave owners." 
Mélanie occupied herself with quietly sipping her cup of tea which Tera had just poured for her. 
"Not quite all.  One escaped," said Annette darkly.  "Many white colonists were vampires.  The island was teeming with all kinds of evil.  And it's not over yet, our revolution.  We're still fighting." 
"I'll call a meeting," said Maria eagerly.  "It will be so inspiring.  Representatives from another revolution." 

"You were slaves then, were you?" asked Richter. 
"Annette was.  I was an opera singer," replied Edouard, taking a hearty bite out of the freshly baked bread. "Oh my God. This bread." He gave an appreciative glance to Tera, who smiled while blissfully pouring tea. 
"We've been living off ship rations for weeks," he said.  "If I never eat another strip of dried meat for as long as I live...."
"Yeah, and fuck knows what kind of meat it even is," Richter chuckled sympathetically as he grabbed his own loaf from the basket. 
"You've spent time on a ship?" said Edouard.
Richter took a large mouthful of bread. "I sailed here from Boston when I was a boy.  Worst few weeks of my life." 
"I didn't think it was humanely possible to vomit so often," said Edouard incredulously. 
"Nor did I," Annette agreed. 
"Annette found my suffering hilarious." 
"Everything's an opera, even puking over the side of a ship!" 
Everyone — bar Mélanie — to burst into a cacophony of laughter at Annette's amusing remark.  Taking another sip of her tea, Mélanie placed the cup down and interlaced her fingers in front of her on the table.  It was time to get down to business. 
"Tell us what you know about this Vampire Messiah," she politely requested.  Behind her, she could hear the metallic clinks of Richter's throwing knives, which were very different from the ones Mélanie carried under her maroon robes.  He must have been doing some throwing knife exercises hoping to, one day, finally outclass Mélanie.  He was very jealous of the fact that she was better with knives than him.  Whenever they'd had a competition, Mélanie always won.

"In Saint-Domingue, there's a mambo, a priestess, my teacher," said Annette.  "She's a powerful sorcerer and seer.  It was she who told me to find you." 
"And she knows about this Messiah?" asked Richter.  Mélanie could now hear the cracks of his whip.  She had to admit, Richter wasn't without his own tricks. 
"She said, 'Something is changing out here in the Old World'," Annette continued.  "For centuries, vampires have lived coiled around the old houses of Europe, like vines.  Close allies of the dukes and barons, the principalities, even the royal courts themselves." 
Mélanie already knew that very well — and it disgusted her.  Several of the other peers and bourgeois that appeared at Versailles were vampires, so she'd heard.  It wouldn't surprise her if the Marquis was vampire himself, considering he was letting them into his home. 
"That's amazing," Edouard exclaimed at Richter's display with his throwing knives. 
"I still haven't beaten Mel yet, though. And she's self-taught," Richter pouted, pointing down at Mélanie long, black hair. 
Mélanie just gave a halfhearted shrug. 
"But many vampires resented their reliance on human kings and princes," Annette pressed on.  "This Messiah promises to make them unquestioned masters of the world." 
"Won't that be fun," said Mélanie in a voice that was positively sagging with sarcasm. 
"They'll leave the kings and princes in place, but with vampires pulling the strings, which means, first, they need to crush the revolution," Annette explained grimly. 
"Oh, what a surprise.  The evil Messiah is on the side of the old regime," scoffed Maria.