Castlevania Nocturne: A Guardian's Tale (Part 1)

Eyes Unclouded

"Vance is different! He spared you when any other vampire would have killed you!" Emma defended.

"Only because he knows I'm close to you!" Richter debated. "If it weren't for whatever mysterious oath he has to protect you, he would've taken any chance to kill me. Just because he's your protector and he's bound not to hurt you, doesn't mean he'll extend his care and kindness to everyone else. I'm lucky I know you."

"Of course not, but you are my family, and Vance is mine. Vampires never allow harm to anyone of their kin and those they love."

"Not everyone else." Richter sighed exasperated. "I know he means a lot to you, Em, and he's been with you for years, but that doesn't change the fact of what he is. He's a monster."

Emma's glyphs burned like magma. "Just because he is a vampire doesn't make him a monster."

"Emma are you kidding me!?" Richter exploded. "Every single vampire is a monster!"

"You're wrong!!" Emma snarled. "You weren't in the war, there were vampires on both sides of the revolution. One of my greatest allies was a indigenous vampire who believed in the same freedoms the humans were willing to fight and die for."

"And you didn't watch a vampire kill your own mother in cold blood!"

Richter's anger turned to anguish and grief. Emma froze. "You weren't there.." Richter's voice cracked. "You don't know what it is like. To see someone you love...brutally murdered in front of you by one of them. To see one standing over you, gloating about killing them and how one day they'll kill you...." His body shook as he sobbed.. "They're monsters...." His words were lost in crying.

Emma stood, the anger raging in her heart quelled by pity and grief. She immediately stepped over and embraced Richter, soothing him with her aura. "Breathe..I'm right here." Her chest rocked against Richter's sobs, and she gently rubbed his back. "I'm right here." Guilt resurfaced not being in that darkened Boston alley eight years ago, that Richter's pain came from her inability to save Julia, and her unable to comprehend how the cruel memory influenced his belief. "I'm sorry...."

It's my fault. It's all my fault you're hurt.

Richter shuddered from the wave of calming aura, his arms wrapped around her, holding onto her as if he were a child.

"They are not all monsters. Some are cruel, very cruel' like the bastard that took your mother, but not all. I swear to you."

"How could you know?" Richter murmured, regaining his voice.

Emma smiled, looking brightly into the heartbroken boy's eyes. "I wouldn't be here otherwise."

Richter wiped his tears, blinking. "But didn't that come along because..."

"A vampire had a heart." Emma said. "You don't believe I'm here because of seduction or worse, do you?"

Richter mumbled, scratching his head. "How then?"

"My grandfather was a fearsome vampire lord." Emma told the story. "A monster in the eyes of humanity, and rightfully so. He did many monstrous things in the past, but secluded himself a long time later on. One day, a brave human woman journeyed to his castle seeking the knowledge of medicine and demanded the vampire teach her everything he knew. He could've killed her right there and then, drained her for her impertinence, but no. He liked her spunk, and he welcomed her. He taught her everything he knew and they fell in love. A vampire welcomed a human into his home and mentored her. A vampire fell in love, and from their love came my father."

"Your father was half-vampire..." Richter never heard this story from Emma before, and assumed her existence came from unfortunate means. He certainly never heard of a vampire falling in love, let alone with a human. There was only one story his mother told her of such an instance, and that was a myth.