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

Striga and Morana

It's not like the vampires who raised him in his new life would hurt him, certainly not Striga who turned him.

Vance bravely strode up the hill, the knot clenching ever tighter until he found himself within the circle of standing stones, where his sires waited.

To Vance's eyes, neither Striga nor Morana had changed in the past five centuries. Save for clothes, but even vampires kept up with the fashion. (At least relatively, they wore traveling clothes, and Vance wondered who Morana had to torture to get a coat and dress Striga's size.) Nobody spoke when they saw each other. Eyes locked on one other until Vance steadily approached, bowing his head low in respectful greeting to his elders.

"Rise, it is unbecoming of you." Striga lifted his chin with her sharpened claw.  Vance straightened and looked upon the one who turned him on the brink of death. His maker, his vampiric sire. Emotions flooded him he believed would never feel again. Awe, endearment towards a parent,  even a little bashfulness. 

"You are home,my child." Striga wrapped her burly arms around him and pulled her progeny into an iron embrace. She nuzzled his forehead, emitting deep thrums within her chest. Morana joined in, wrapping her arms around him and nuzzling his cheek while thrumming. Vance felt like a lost child finally returned home. He blinked, startled by the tears blinding his own eyes.

"Demons below, you stink!"  Striga wrinkled her lips stepping back from him. "What have you been up to since we've parted ways?"

Morana snarled in agreement, cupping Vance's cheek like a small boy. "Why do you reek of angel? Has that vulture harmed you? We shall rip her wings out of her sockets and wrench her mortal heart from her chest if she so much as frayed a hair on your head!"

"Whoa whoa, back it up a bit !!" Vance exclaimed, undead heart racing as he stepped back. "Nice to see you too! Missed you all these centuries! Mother." He glanced at Striga. "Mum." At Morana. "Relieved to say I am well. I have been well. I never expected to see you here."

"Neither have we, my son." Striga thrummed, taking her lover's hand. "We feared you vanished off the face of the continent."

"In a way I did." Vance admitted. "I was overseas for a century and a half. America was quite nice but it's good to be on the home continent again. I've been in France for eight years now."

"Eight years." Striga growled. "And you did not bother to find us? Why?"

"It's been....." Vance sighed. "Busy. I have my own obligations in this commune. Honestly I didn't think you'd be desperate to see me again, ever since I decided to leave on my own. I never felt welcomed in Styria, and Carmilla always gave me disgusted looks while I was around."

"No." Striga assured him. "You were wise to leave, every vampire leaves their brood to forge their own path, and Carmilla made it easier for you."

"That bitch." Morana growled. "Treating our son like an outcast yet cherishing us as a sister. We should have spoken words with her."

"We should have, but that is past." Striga comforted her mate. "Carmilla is centuries dead and our child has returned." She thrummed, gazing on Vance with endearment. "The reassurance was knowing you weren't killed, I would have sensed your dying breath in my lungs."

"Nope." Vance chuckled. "Still breathing. Say? How about a good hunt, the three of us just like old times? The moon is new and the darkness blinds our prey."

"What a perfect idea, my child." Striga thrummed in approval, staring hungrily at Machecoul. "We shall wash that purified stench off you with fresh blood."

"Ah no! You can't eat the humans there!" Vance quickly intervened. "You said something about an angel? Well she protects the people in that town, and she is very powerful. Perhaps the most powerful angel I've ever seen, and I've only seen few!"