Castlevania: Untested (9/27)

[patriciatepes]

Title: Untested
By: PatriciaTepes (AKA Patricia de Lioncourt @ fanfiction.net; PatriciaLouise @ TTH)
Chapter Title: Firsts
Links to Other Chapters: Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven
Fandom: Castlevania
Rating: Pg-13
Disclaimer: I don't own Castlevania, any related characters, or the images used below.  Yes, Aly (of Aly & AJ fame) is my model for my main OC.  But please, don't let my inability to draw hinder your imagination, as Ria really doesn't look exactly like that. :)
Summary: Adriana Smith is just a normal girl...or so she thinks. However, as her mother and she move into a house known as Belmont Manor and a strange storm and decoration enter her life, she will find that her mother has not told her the truth of her family...
Author's Notes: I promise, the writing gets better as it goes.  I swear.  Chapter 10 is really where my writing improves, in my opinion.





Chapter 8: Firsts

Adriana mopped her face with the white hand towel she had snatched from the bathroom, disgusted with the feeling of sweat rolling down her it. Once again, Sophy was out shopping, which left Ria with her otherworldly friend. Ria tossed the towel to the side, put her hands on her knees, and groaned. Her entire body ached. She would have never guessed that learning to use a whip properly would be such a workout. Pulling in much needed oxygen even seemed to hurt. She pulled her hands from her knees and pushed them into her sore sides.

"Can we break, Sara? Please? We've been at this for hours!" she begged.

Sara crossed her arms, turned her head to the side, and sighed.

"Fine. Go out into the world unprepared to fight the evils of the night. See if I care," she said, the sarcasm dripping like acid from her words.

Sparing only the smallest of smiles, Ria nodded and ran past her, winding the whip as she went.

"Thanks!"

"Ria! I was being sarcastic! I know you caught it, child!" Sara yelled, following after her as she bounded into the manor's rear door, through the kitchen, up the stairs, and into her room.

Ria jumped when she saw that Sara had followed her so closely. Sighing, she tossed the whip onto her bed. Turning to her closet, she threw it open and began to rumage through her clothing. Occasionally, she would cringe as the sound of the rare metal hanger scrapping across the closet's metal poll. Sara sat down beside the whip.

"You're getting ready to go to the café again, aren't you?" she asked.

Ria had already found a tight-fitting, predominantly black screen tee-reading "Too Cool to Rule" in multi-colored letters digonally across the shirt-and a pair of stylishly ragged denim jeans. She was pulling on the shirt as she answered, "Yes. Why do you ask?"

"Adriana, I'm not sure you should go back there," Sara answered after a moment.

Ria looked up from buttoning her jeans to arch an eyebrow at her companion. Turning her back on her to look in her drawer for socks, she put forth another question.

"And why do you think that?"

She found a pair of multi-colored stripped socks and sat on the floor to pull them on. This was followed by slipping her feet into simple white sneakers.

"I can't explain it. You're not ready."

"To drink coffee and play on my laptop?" Ria said as she pulled out the notebook computer's case.

She reached past Sara to grab the whip and shove it into a spare compartment in the case. Turning back around, she snatched up her large purse and slung it over one shoulder. On the other, she slung the laptop case.

"You stay out too late. You don't understand. All those horrible things that Castlevania comes with can smell a person of Belmont descent from miles away. You're not ready to fight those things." Sara explained. Sighing, the ghost-like figure stood. "But you're going out anyway, aren't you?"

Ria nodded, and exited her bedroom.

#

"Why are you looking so worried?" Ria typed on a Word document, turning the laptop ever-so-slightly so Sara could read the words.

This had occurred to Ria only recently as a more efficent way to communicate with Sara in public. This way, if she sat at a table that had only the wall behind her, she could type and no one would think she was talking to herself. Or think that she was crazy enough to believe that there was someone in the chair next to her…of which the standard café patron would see as empty.

Sara shook her head, and-since she was able to answer aloud, said, "You're waiting for him, aren't you?"

Ria was sure that the heat forming in her face was the only answer Sara would need. It had been two nights since they had first attended the café, and the blond-haired man with the mesmerizing eyes had captured her attention. For the following nights, Ria, dragging a reluctant Sara along, had returned to the café, presumably hoping to see him again. So far, it had been to no avail.

Sara sighed. "You should forget about him. He looks too old for you, anyway."

Ria "harumphed." Turning towards her laptap, she typed, "What's your problem? Why does it bother you that I want to run into this guy again?"

Once again, Sara shook her head. "I can't put my finger on it. He's…too familiar to me. It's like I should know who he is, but I don't."

"And is that so bad, that you know him?" Ria typed in reply.

Sara scoffed in annoyance.

"I've been dead for an umpteenth number of centuries, Ria! Of course it's bad if I know him!"

Ria blushed again, but this time it was not from girlish thought.

"Sorry," she typed.

Sara waved her hand to dismiss her apology. "Never mind. Ria, once again, it's dark. We should go. Now."

Ria agreed, unwilling to argue with her again. The spector had never snapped at her like that before. Apparently, her interest in the strange man unnerved Sara more than Ria had imagined. She quickly packed up her laptop and rushed out the door of the café-the ding of the tiny shop bell ringing behind her as she began her trek home.

The streets were mostly empty, with only an occasional passerby, so Ria felt more comfortable with addressing Sara aloud.

"I really am sorry," she said.

"Never mind. I didn't mean to snap. I just…There is just something terribly unnerving about that man. I'm just worried for you. For the legacy of the Belmont family," Sara answered, watching the sidewalk as she moved alongside Ria.

They were slient for a moment. However, a curious thought that had been nagging at the back of Ria's thoughts slipped through her lips.

"Speaking of Belmont legacies…I wanted to ask…if it isn't too personal…" she began.

Sara smiled and nodded her permission.

"You were engaged to Leon Belmont, right?"

"That's right."

"Did he…have any brothers?"

Sara arched an ebony eyebrow. "No."

"Oh. Well, then…he must have married, right? Since the Belmont bloodline has endured for so long?"

"Yes. He married a young woman from this village, in fact. Many, many, many years ago."

"And you were with him…in the whip? But he couldn't see you?"

"He could feel me. The spell was much stronger then. But yes, I was, and no, he couldn't."

"Didn't that…bother you? To see the man you loved, married and happy with another? Didn't you ever find yourself wishing that you could gain freedom from the whip so you could move on? So you didn't have to watch it all?"

Sara smiled an indulgent smile. It was as if she knew of some important fact that Ria didn't understand. She gave a small laugh at the look of confusion on Ria's face.

"No, Adriana. It didn't bother me to see him with another woman, not really. Yes, I wished that I could have been the one he had married, but in truth, you can't wish for freedom when you don't feel trapped. I volunteered for this. True, I didn't know that I would be attached to the whip in this way, but Leon died a happy man. Married to a woman he loved with children he loved. I couldn't have asked for more, given all the circumstances."

Ria seemed satisfied with Sara's answer. The two fell silent once more and walked on. Finally, they approached the darken figure of Belmont Manor. However, as they neared even further, a different figure drew the ladies' attention. A man with bright red hair and dressed all in black leaned against the front gate to the manor.

He looked up as they neared even closer, pushing himself into a standing position. Ria stopped a few feet from him, glancing up at the lights on in the living room windows of the manor. Looking back at the man, she could see black tattoos that edged into his face, seemingly rising from his lower body. He crossed his chest with his right arm and bowed forward.

"Lady Belmont, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Isaac Laforeze, and I've come all this way just to meet with you," he said, turning his head upwards toward Ria.

Ria's eyes drifted again from the lights on in the manor back to Isaac, who grinned a cheshire grin.

"Yes, your mother is within the manor. Oblivious to our prescence," Isaac said, straightening himself.

This man's-Isaac-voice seeming to silther lazily from him. As if the act of speaking was too much to be bothered with. However, it also held a note of mocking within it.

"What do you want?" Ria asked.

"I've come to test you out, my dear. Please, ready your whip," he said.

Isaac dropped his right arm stiff to his side. With a slight shake, out from his black, loose shirt's sleeve slipped what looked like only the hilt of a sword. With another shake, extended form the hilt was a fuscha colored beam, reminding Ria vaguely of the lightsabers from Star Wars. She shot a side look at Sara, who stood with a sort of frozen mix of horror and worry on her face.

"Should I?" Ria muttered from the corner of her mouth, eyeing her laptop case-which she had unknowingly set upon the ground.

"Ria, this is one of those rare times when listening to the bad guy is exactly what you ought to do!"

With a few quick motions, Ria had removed the Vampire Killer from her laptop case. She held tightly to the heel knot of it, allowing the rest of the whip to unfurl onto the ground.

"Ria…" Sara began worriedly.

But Ria shook her head once, signaling Sara not to even think about the rest of her sentence. To Isaac, Ria said, "You want to fight me? Here I am!"

Isaac laughed. "Gutsy. How trained are you, little girl?"

He rushed forward, bringing his laser sword up to slash straight down at her. She whirled, bringing her arm up slightly to crack the whip at his back. It connected, causing Isaac to gasp in pain. He turned, a wicked smile positioned on his face. Ria's eyes widened. Was he enjoying this?

"Very nice. Not going to happen again," he said, his voice losing some its laziness.

He came at her again. This time, he appeared to be ready to slash her horizontally. Ria ducked and rolled, feeling the blade slice shallowly into the left side of her back. Isaac laughed as she gasped, turning to face him.

I'm not ready! she thought frantically.

"Ria!" Sara yelled.

Isaac came at her with another vertical slash. With a grim determination to live-aware that her mother was only feet away, defenseless save for her daughter-Ria leapt to her feet and lashed out with the whip as she had when she had caught the treebranch in training. The whip wrapped tightly around Isaac's sword-wielding arm. He stopped and yanked his arm towards himself, trying to shake the whip loose. Having not firmly set her footing, Ria was pulled right up against Isaac-who had moved his sword out of her way-so close that she needed to only wrap her arms around him to hug him. She looked up into his face just as he looked down into hers. Suddenly, inexplicitly, a shock not unlike she imagined a bolt of lightning would feel jetted throughout her body. She exhaled sharply, unaware that she had been holding her breath. Isaac must have felt this jolt too, for he looked just like Ria felt. He recovered faster, however. Bringing his sword arm back further, he brought his fist, tightly secured around the hilt, up hard against the side of Ria's head. The whip loosened, and she felt to the ground, ears ringing and eyesight blurry.

This is it. I'm dead, she thought hazily. And so is Mom.

The world was spinning as she tried to look up and focus on Isaac. To her great surprise, he deactivated his sword.

"Until next time," he said, running off into the night.

"Ria!" Sara cried, running up to kneel beside the girl. "Ria, are you all right?"

"Dizzy…ow," she muttered.

"Ria, you've got to get up. If your mother comes out here…it's a miracle she hasn't already with all that noise…he could still be out there, Adriana!"

With a tremendous effort, Ria pushed herself to her feet. Stumbling, she found the manor's gate to support herself on.

"What happened? Were we hit with some sort of electricity?" Ria mumbled.

"What? No. He must have hit you harder than I thought. We've got to get in. You've got to treat your wound. You're bleeding, and your shirt is cut," Sara said urgently.

In the haze of her mind, the memory of having past up a class in first aid came to Ria's mind.

"I dunno how," she mumbled. "I don't know how to treat my wound."

"Just tell your mother you fell. That you fell onto something and that you managed to pull it out. She can take it from there. Come on! Move!"

The dizziness was fading from Ria's mind. The world seemed clearer to her now. She looked at Sara.

"Are you sure? Are you sure we weren't hit by something? When Isaac and I were pressed up against one another?"

"Positive. Why?"

"Never mind," Ria said, lurching forth into the front lawn. "Let's get in the house."