Castlevania Nocturne: A Guardian's Tale (Part 2)

The Reluctant Prince

For the first time in his immortal life, Shaft feared the sunlight.

He stumbled into the day, blinded in  the eyes and shielding his sight with his palm. When he adjusted, his hand trembled from the sun's kiss on his skin. It embraced him with its warmth, instead of burning him alive like every other vampire in the world. A gift he boasted with pride he now questioned with every fiber of his conflicted mind.

A gift from his mother.

No! Shaft grimaced bearing his fangs. He ran down the streets desperate to get away from the Abbey and its terrible revelations. I am the Son of the Lioness. The  Scion of the Night, The Messiah's Chosen!  For over two hundred years Shaft never doubted his identity and purpose, he wouldn't start now! He would not let this half-bred bitch sew doubt in his mind!

The half bred bitch with eyes like his. Their gentleness stirred familiarity. He remembered them, he'd seen them a long time ago....

Frightened cries brought him out of his doubting stupor. Shaft had stumbled in the center of town where the merchants and citizens of Machecoul gawked in horror at the vampire standing  in the daylight.

"A vampire in the sunlight!"

"How is that possible!?"

"What new abomination is this!?"

"God help us!"

Voices clamored around him. Bleating sheep, Shaft would have considered them once, but he shared a fraction of their disbelief. The humans shrunk back when he neared them. Mothers clutched their children closely, men and women thrust out their crosses, knowledgeable youths flashed their pouches of salt.

The man behind you is about to pull out a silver knife. Watch out. 

Shaft jolted from the unfamiliar voice, but reacted quicker at the man thrusting his knife at his neck, whirling  around  disarming him by twisting his arm and biting into his throat. He savored the blood until a gunshot rang throughout the square emphasized by panic screams and disarray of  scattering humans.

Another shot rang out, whizzing dangerously past his ear. Shaft bared his teeth at the revolutionary aiming his rifle between the eyes.

Run!

"Monsieur wait!"

Shaft snarled dispersing into bats, swarming the hell out of town and landing on the road leading to Amalie and Tera's.  He rasped heavily, his hunger and prey drive surged from the taste of blood on his lips. Ferocity exacerbated from an interrupted meal.  "I could have killed that man!" He hissed frustrated.

You could....but you would have died. More armed men were coming to his aid. Emma trained the revolutionaries skilled in firearms to effectively kill vampires. A bullet would have ended your life when the sun didn't.

"Who are you?" Shaft growled, gazing around for the source. Obviously another vampire contacted him, but he'd never heard his voice before.

Someone you once knew.  The low gravely voice responded.

Shaft felt a presence latched to his mind like a tick on a dog. He bristled, wanting to shake this presence off, but a persistent instinct told him to leave it. "Show yourself!" He called out. "You have saved the Messiah's son and proved yourself a friend."

You are not the Messiah's son. The voice growled lividly.

"Say that to my face!" Shaft spat. "Though maybe you're only brave enough to spout such ilk because you cower out of sight."

No.  Chuffed the voice. I will not reveal myself while you deny the truth of who you are.

" I know who I am!" Shaft bellowed.