Until April, I knew next to nothing about Castlevania. The games had slipped past my radar, so nostalgia didn't draw me to the animated series. But while preparing to write the fifth book in my series, I realized my readers would meet a rather influential vampire. For a girl who writes epic fantasy, I knew little about vampires, and thought I'd go the "easy" route and start my research by binge watching Castlevania.
I had NO idea what I was getting myself into.
If you've read my work, you have a pretty good idea what stories I like, and it's fair to say Castlevania fits that mold. And I'm not going to lie... the last scene of season two wrecked me in the best way. So, in a bout of concern for a character I'd only just met, I was struck with the overwhelming urge to "fix things," and unintentionally invited a vampire through my creativity threshold where he chattered about all sorts of things I hadn't expected to hear. And I ran with it. In two days, I had the plot for what is the first fan fiction I've taken on in over a decade... and I'm okay with it.
My Castlevania knowledge is currently limited to the animated series and about 98% of Symphony of the Night, but I've got a great team of beta readers watching my back so I can deliver the most accurate story possible. That said, I'm taking a few liberties with this tale, most notably the time frame. I write epic fantasy. Technology sort of scares me. The characters are stuck in the Middle Ages, and that's just how it is.
Last, but possibly the most important thing for me to publicly announce:
DISCLAIMER: I own no part of Castlevania (characters, world, lore, and all else affiliated with it) nor any works supporting the franchise. I'm even reluctant to claim ownership over the non-canon Belmonts who appear in this story. This is a work of my imagination, based on run-away head-canon, and is intended solely for entertainment purposes outside the official storyline(s) within the franchise, and without profit to me.
What if our knight in shining Armani fell for a plebe? The last thing Ella Vazquez wanted when she pursued a career in journalism was to be one of those writers churning out crappy Lifestyle articles about the lives of the socially elite. But this is the real world and sometime the last things we wanted lead us... maybe... to the things we really need. Set a few years after the show's finale, mostly in-keeping with canon.*
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Gossip Girl! I also make reference to a few real life people/ other fictional works and I don't own them either. I would also like to credit Dr Holland over on Fanfiction.net, because her Clair de Lune series is what inspired me to finish this story. The cover photo is from the following link: simplicity&sincerity on tumblr.
*I tried a writing style that I haven't seen used in a lot of fanfiction. Usually, you get first person (writing from the main character's perspective, e.g. "I walked my dog...") Or you get third person limited (there's a narrator but the perspective is limited to a specific character for the entire story or chapter). My last story, Bartender in Charming was in third person limited, for example, with some sections in first person because I was awful about consistency. This story is written in third person omniscient, which basically means I'm going to be jumping around between characters perspectives at will and without labeling. If at any point it becomes unclear or hard to read, please leave me comments and I'll try to fix it!