Hello, everyone! Lilith here!
So, you've found this, and you're wondering what this is. Well, allow me to enlighten you: this is a whole different KH fanfic...In fact, this is a spin-off vampire fic. This storyline has nothing to do with the Hearts series I am doing.
Honestly, out of all the supernatural things often brought up in media, my personal favorite is the vampire. And I thought that writing this kind of fic can let me show how much I enjoy such things, especially the buildup to meeting the alluring creatures of the night.
That being said, I hope this thing can keep your literary hunger at bay until I can get further with my main stories. I hope you like.
I own nothing that comes from Kingdom Hearts except for my OCs.
Read, leave a review, but no flames allowed here.
Chapter 1: Stranded
Along a barren and empty road trailing through a wide open, eerily twisted forest, only a single travelling coach raced along the path with its driver urging the horses on with the utmost pressure to deliver the passengers to the intended destination before things became far too dark in such an isolated and potentially dangerous region. Inside the coach, four young women could easily detect that their ride has been moving much faster than the usual vehicle as though the driver out there was trying to make haste with the job. It didn't help that they kept feeling bumps and heard repeated rattling along the way, and would occasionally slam into each other unintentionally. Sure, they would try to occupy themselves with whatever amusement they have on them, but what good is it going to do when the bumpy ride gets the best of the passenger?
Finally, the eldest of the women became sick of it and banged her hands against the top of the coach while shouting, "For goodness' sake, slow down this wretched coach!"
The third woman peeked up from her book and scolded, "Caroline Chastain, really! There's nothing we can do about it. Besides, this is the only coach that we could find to reach Twilight Town."
"When we get to Twilight Town, we'll be better off than we were before," the second young woman agreed, "And we have relatives there who can help us along the way."
"It would be most delightful to see them after so long," the fourth and youngest woman added, "Wouldn't it, Mary, Jane?"
"Of course it will, Mina," the third woman agreed while the second answered, "Yes, indeed."
The eldest woman – Caroline Chastain by name – huffed with impatience and turned to face the window.
Caroline is a young woman in her early twenties with short and stringy gold-blond hair with icy blue eyes, decently light skin, and a single beauty mark under her left eye, giving off an impression of a cold and selfish witch. She was dressed in a high-waisted, short sleeved bright red dress with many frills and flounces that showed off her once glorious status in society, along with a dark blue headdress, gold earrings, bracelets and rings adorning her womanly arms, and light blue shoes that were made for the sake of femininity. Sadly, for all the young adult beauty she bears, she wasn't the best in terms of her nature, and it didn't help that she would always fuss over herself whenever she gets the chance.
The second woman – Jane Chastain – is a proper young lady about two years younger than Caroline with curled gold-blond hair and dark blue eyes, as well as gently kissed light skin that make her look like a noble queen in contrast to her sister. She wore a high-waisted, long sleeved green dress with a bright green hat, complemented by pink gloves covering her hands and a beaded rosary around her neck at all times. An introvert by nature, Jane always does her best to keep to herself and avoid getting pulled into conflict because she wanted to live in peace with her sisters as much as she possibly could, even though there was no hope to ease Caroline's rude behavior.
The fourth young woman – Mina Chastain – is the youngest of the sisters at eighteen and much more innocent with dark brown hair set in a braided bun and emerald green eyes, with lightly pale skin and dark freckles across her nose that would give off the first impression of a sheltered princess. She wore a high-waisted, short sleeved light purple dress with few small flounces with a royal purple silk hat and plain black shoes, pearl earrings, and a crystal heart pendant decorated carefully in gold. Being the youngest, Mina is the biggest responsibility what with her naively romantic mindset and being prone to curiosity that needed some work on exercising.
The third young woman – Mary Chastain – is the third of the sisters (and quite oddly, the more mature of them) at nineteen and an almost ordinary individual with shoulder-length dark brown hair, green eyes, and not too pale light skin which made her not too special. She wore a high-waisted, long sleeved plain black dress with a black silk bonnet and blue gloves to compensate; to help her eyesight, she wore wide-rimmed glasses, and around her neck is a beaded rosary that she always carries on her person. Along with her uncanny maturity, she is a very studious woman who is not afraid to show how intelligent she is, but is also not shy about being cautious around anyone she meets – especially concerning her own sisters.
"It's such a tragedy that we had to leave our old beloved home in Traverse Town, especially since our parents passed on so suddenly," Jane said with a hint of melancholy, "It almost feels as though we lost all that we used to know."
"I know you missed Mother and Father, Jane. But their passing wasn't completely in vain," Mary reassured her sister, "Remember what Father told us before that unfortunate accident? He was able to secure enough of a fortune for us to get by in Twilight Town until we can settle down with the right man. Given what trade our father used to be involved in and how wealthy and prosperous it made him, we should consider ourselves lucky that he did leave something for us, even if it is kept somewhere else."
"But did that really mean selling the house as well? Tell me that," Caroline scowled, "He never said anything about giving up our old home. And besides, we were just fine the way we were. Why couldn't we just stay there?"
"And not have any means to support ourselves?" Mary retorted, "There's nothing we can do about it, Caroline. And remember, we do have relatives who can help us out until we can each settle down in a comfortable home with our own supports."
Mina, sensing the tension, quickly asked a question to change the subject, "When we do get to Twilight Town, where do you think we'll be able to stay?"
"Well, if we're lucky on our arrival, we might be able to get some help from our cousin Terra on the matter," Jane replied, "Perhaps we might either stay with him or with cousins Kairi and Xion."
But then their conversations were cut short when they suddenly felt the coach tilt in a completely different direction and serious rattling noises going on outside, followed by the spooked neighs of the horses going out of control while the driver was trying to command the beasts to calm down. Though the sudden impact made their hearts skip a beat, the women had the urge to investigate what had happened.
After a slight struggle to move anywhere, Mary was able to reach for the door to her right, open it, and stepped outside; the other sisters followed suit with caution. Sure enough, they discovered that one of the wheels had tipped into a dirt hole in the middle of the road and nearly broke apart, and the vehicle won't move since it got stuck.
"Oh, that can't be good," Jane worried.
"How can this be? What is the meaning of this?" Caroline fussed irritably.
As the frightened neighs kept crying out, Mina turned her attention to the driver's side of the coach and peeked around to find out what was the matter.
"Driver, is everything alright? Are we trapped?" she asked.
The driver, struggling to keep the horses under control, tried to steady the sensitive beasts as he replied, "Not really, miss. We just got ourselves stuck is what happened. And these poor fellers are getting spooked out for some reason."
As she backed away from the front so as to avoid harm, Mina looked beyond the scenery on the left side of the road to notice that the darkness was starting to creep into the sky and silhouettes of winged creatures were fluttering everywhere. Though she couldn't tell what those flying creatures were, she did know that there was something looming beyond the trees that she had trouble seeing from afar; what it was, she hadn't the faintest idea.
Then, Mary came over to inspect the problem when she spotted her younger sister staring towards the horizon. Wondering what she could be looking at, she shielded her eyes from the light of twilight and tried to observe what was there.
"I never thought we would be in this situation," Mary admitted, "Now I'm starting to wonder where on earth we are…"
"If we're lost, that's a fright. But now we're stranded and we can't go any farther," Mina agreed nervously, "What do we do from here?"
"We'll think of something, I'm sure…" Mary was about to answer.
But all of a sudden, the neighs immediately caught their attention and a sickening kicking sound was heard. In a panic, the two girls instantly rushed over to find out what happened – only to find their coach driver dead on the ground with a nasty, bloody imprint on his forehead and the horses galloping away in sheer terror. With the driver dead and no horses to pull their vehicle, it became clear that they were trapped in a dangerous dilemma: they were indefinitely stranded in the middle of nowhere and there's no village or cabin nearby to help them. What were they going to do now?
"This is certainly not going well for us," Mary sighed in shocked disbelief, "First, our coach gets stuck, and now we have no horses and the driver is dead."
"What are we going to do now, Mary?" Mina asked with concern.
In mere moments, Jane and Caroline arrived at the scene, and the instant they saw the poor driver on the ground, they also reacted in horror at what they were seeing before their eyes.
"What is this?! What happened to our driver?" Caroline cried in shock.
"Mary, is he…is the driver dead?" Jane asked shakily as she backed away from the horrific scene.
Mary nodded with tightened lips. "I'm afraid so, sisters. That also means we're trapped out here, and we have no means to help us. All we can do now is either walk down the path and search for shelter or stay and wait for someone to come down this road and rescue us."
"Well, I don't want to stay out in the middle of nowhere," Caroline fussed in frustration, "and if you think for one minute I'm going to walk this road, I'll be telling you that I am not moving an inch in these shoes…"
"Wait! I think I see something coming out of the woods!" Jane interrupted as she pointed behind them.
Upon hearing that, the sisters turned toward where Jane was pointing and – sure enough – they could faintly make out the silhouette of a stagecoach being pulled along by its own set of horses, and the shape of someone driving the coach. Then, the silhouette became clearer until the four could see that the coach was for real: driven by four black stallions, a grand stagecoach arrived out of the shadows in a noble grandeur unlike anything ever seen; at the driver's seat was a man with long hair in a ponytail, an eyepatch and scars on his face, dressed completely in black attire that seemed reminiscent of the bygone medieval age.
To the surprise of the four sisters, rather than passing by them and deliberately ignoring them, the driver with the eyepatch suddenly pulled on the reins and forced the horses to stop in their tracks as he took a good look at the stranded travelers.
"Well, now, what do we have here? Am I seeing a quartet of unlucky ladies in distress?" the strange driver asked with intrigue in his cocky voice, "What can I do for ya?"
"As much as we don't want to bother you, we had an accident moments ago, and what's worse is that our driver is no more and the horses ran off," Mary replied first.
"You wouldn't happen to know someplace we can stay until we can find another ride to Twilight Town, would you?" Jane asked.
"Sure I do. Why wouldn't I?" the man with the eyepatch replied eagerly. Then, he pointed a finger out towards the hilltops behind the trees. "You see that castle sitting atop that hill over there?"
Curious as to where he was pointing, the four turned their heads past the stranded coach and looked past the woods to see a few hilltops with a grand castle sitting alone and isolated from the rest of the world. With the looming twilight stretching across the sky, the castle gave off an air of loneliness, but also a foreboding atmosphere as numerous silhouettes of bats fluttered all around the neglected towers. The castle itself was as beautiful as it was eerie with its imposing walls of stone supported by iron and steel to give it an intimidating sophistication, and clusters of ivy branching around sections of the protective stone barrier surrounding the castle. If anybody looked closer, a few pipes could be spotted peeking out in certain places, which was quite odd, to say the least; and did it need to be mentioned that the outer parts of the hill surrounding the castle was somewhat barren and deprived of vigor, like someone or something had taken away the jovial colors of nature's beauty.
"That castle up there is Hollow Bastion. That's where my master lives, all by his lonesome," the man with the eyepatch explained, "Plus, that's where I live and work."
"Who on earth would have a castle out in the middle of nowhere?" Caroline questioned with skepticism. "You'd think they'd have a town or village nearby if you're going to have a castle or mansion."
"Perhaps whoever owns that castle prefers to live a reasonable distance from society to enjoy nature's bounty," Jane speculated.
"What do you think about this, Mary?" Mina asked her sister, "Should we visit the castle and see if anyone can help us?"
But Mary, detecting a bad vibe within her psyche, had her doubts. "I'm not sure if we should. We don't even know where we are now, and – quite frankly – I'm not so certain if that driver can be trusted that easily…"
However, the strange driver happened to hear her and responded with, "What, are you thinking I'm some kind of predator of women? As if. I mean, I have standards with the opposite gender, for crying out loud. And besides, it's starting to get dark, and you don't want to get stuck out here with the night predators…wouldn't you?"
The instant the idea of night creatures came out of his mouth; the poor girls immediately went wide-eyed and gulped in horror at the notion of being prey to whatever might be lurking out in the woods at night. It became pretty clear that none of them wanted to stick around in a trapped coach, much less for shelter since the vehicle could only do so much – and protection from predators is by far not one of those uses. In fact, just hearing about the predators alone almost completely convinced them that visiting a stranger's castle would be a much better idea than being easy picking for wild animals.
"Umm…Mary…Are you starting to have any thoughts running your mind?" Jane asked fearfully.
"I will admit that I do not want us to be food for the wild beasts," Mary replied with a shaky breath. "But something about this invitation still makes me uneasy…"
"Oh, come now, what other options do we have?" Caroline interrupted, urgent on taking the invite, "Surely a stay at a castle couldn't be harmful to us. It's probably close by, and it's maybe connected to our intended destination. Besides, I'd like to see if the owner of the castle – Hollow Bastion, is it? – is worth our attention."
You just want to see if you can snare a wealthy man around your selfish finger, Mary thought as she scowled in frustration.
"Regardless, it was very kind of you to extend an invitation to the castle, Sir…we didn't catch your name," Mina trailed off when she realized a name was not brought up.
The man with the eyepatch smirked with glee. "The name's Xigbar, Hollow Bastion's best coach driver. And dare I say, it'd be my profound honor to assist all of you from escaping the dire predicament you all got yourselves in. What say you that I take the four of you to the ever hospitable Hollow Bastion?"
"Well, since you highly insisted on aiding us in our compromising situation…" Jane began to reply politely.
"Of course we'll come to Hollow Bastion," Caroline interrupted eagerly.
"I don't see any other options but to comply with the offer," Mary agreed cautiously.
"Yes, we accept your offer," Mina finished with a heartfelt tone in her voice.
Unbeknownst to them, Xigbar appeared to give off a momentary triumphant smirk before quickly changing it into a polite smile that wouldn't frighten them off.
"Okay, now we're talkin'!" Xigbar said eagerly as he hopped off the driver's seat, "Since you've graciously accepted, just hop inside the vehicle and I'll see to your luggage personally." As he was saying this, he opened the stagecoach door and motioned the women to step inside. "I promise you that you will have quite the night."
Caroline laughed him off and said, "That is just cheeky! To think that we'd be staying at a castle, of all places…"
Once the eldest sister was in, Jane was next to step in. "It was most generous of you to offer a ride for us, Sir Xigbar."
Next, Mary stepped into the coach. "It is quite unusual to accept something like this, considering what we've gone through for a while."
Mina was the last to enter the coach, but not without saying, "Thank you."
However, unbeknownst to these four supposedly rescued travelers, they don't even realize that what they are about to get is not just unexpected hospitality; they were about to be delivered to a sinister castle that will change their lives and never let them forget…