Castlevania Nocturne: A Sneak Peak

Sneak Peak: The Reluctant Prince

*Spoiler alert! Do not read unless you've finished "A Nightmare Come Alive' chapter*

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 once embraced he now questioned with every fiber of his conflicted mind.

A gift from his mother.

No! He 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 he 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 his eyes. 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 once considered them, 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, 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!

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 surging 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 have....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 you're another vampire, but I've never heard your 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 perhaps 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.

Do you? The voice questioned. Or do you cling to the lies Erzsebet has long fed you? The voice softened its tone to a low velvet hum, ringing familiar to Shaft. You are far better than what you believe yourself to be, Lyudmil. In time you will come to understand that....I should hope."

Shaft twitched his ear at a twig snapping,someone was coming down the road behind him. Shaft quickly sprung off the road, hiding behind a tree.

Cowering out of sight hmm?

"Shut up!" Shaft eyed the road and saw something quite surprising.