Family Secrets

Chapter: 1

New Home

Here's a new idea that I'm going to try and keep with...I hope that I can get back into writing normally again now that work is becoming less stressful. Note: Most of the inspiration for this fic came from listening to Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.

Lina yawned as the train's brakes began to squeal signaling the end of her long journey. Lina normally was not one for long travels but after getting a letter from her family's lawyer her life was flipped upside down. It seemed that she had been named to inherit everything left by a member of the family she did not even know existed until the day she had gotten the letter. Now here she was about a week later on a train heading into the heart of Romania for her to claim what rightfully belonged to her. She looked out the window as the train slowly pulled into the station and notice the castle on the mountain above. 'Wonderful...after all this traveling I have to climb that,' she mentally complained.

From the distance the castle looked like it was the staging ground of many a folk tale and myth. Its tall battlements reaching towards the sky in the hazy distance. Just looking at it reminded her of Bram Stoker's Dracula and she could not help but shudder slightly at that thought. 'Calm down Lina it's just an old castle nothing to be worried about. There is no one there but the two servants that were mentioned in the letter that is all,' she thought trying to reassure herself as the train came to a complete halt.

The doors to the cars opened and people began to file out in an orderly fashion. Lina stood and stretched for a moment before she gathered her bags and began to walk towards the nearest door. She reached the outside just as the sun was lowering in the sky and signaled that only a few hours of daylight were left. She walked to the end of the station and through a turnstile to the street on the other side. She looked around for a moment trying to decide what she should do next. 'Well, it's a long walk to the castle and there isn't much light left. Also I can't speak Romanian so getting a room is going to be hard as well.'

Just as Lina was about to step out onto the dirt street she stopped as something came to a halt in front of her. It was a carriage from a long gone era that had been kept in perfect condition by a loving hand. The wood seem to be in fine condition, the reins seemed to be new, and even the seats on the inside looked like they were brand new. She was about to keep walking when she heard a cheerfully male voice call out, "Lady Inverse I presume?"

Lina looked up to the driver's seat to see a tall and somewhat lanky man with long blonde hair. His blue eyes sparkled in the fading light and his dress was that of what looked to be upper class. His trousers and overcoat were finely pressed and clean as if he had just pulled them out of the wash. His inner shirt was the standard white with ruffles at the neck and to top it all off a stove pipe hat rested on the top of his head. Lina then looked directly into his eyes and asked, "How did you know who I am?"

"Well you arrived on the right train and because you look like an Inverse...or should I say you look like a Von Inverse," he smiled as he climbed down and opened the door to the carriage for Lina.

Lina blinked but did not protest the idea that she would not have to walk and that she could speak english as well. 'Speaking of which,' she thought before she asked, "How is it you can speak english so fluently?"

The man just smiled and replied, "Well the last master saw it fit that I know the foreign tongue so I could communicate with his American relative should they ever decide to come calling."

Lina shrugged at the answer, a little too exhausted to care, and climbed into the carriage with her bags in hand. She sat down as the man closed the door and then climbed back up to the driver's seat. After a second she heard his voice and a crack of the reins before the carriage began to move down the street. It turned down another dirt road and began towards the castle in the mountains above the small town.

She yawned again before she looked out the window and watched the small town go by. After about fourty minutes the castle came into better view and Lina's attention was fully diverted on the place. It was quite large for an area like this and was in very good shape for something so old. Again the look that a loving hand had poured blood, sweat, and tears into its upkeep was evident in every part she could see. The stone walls showed patches were the stone had crumbled with age just to be replace with an expertise no longer seen in the modern world. The roof had patches of new and old shingles that ran across the battlements and spires of the towers. As the sun dipped lower it reflected many colors from the windows signaling that the stained glass was in as good a shape as the rest of the castle. It was a beautiful sight in the sunset that was beginning to take dominion on the land. Lina sighed as she looked at what was to be her new home before saying, "It will take some getting used to by they say no place is like home."

It was night by the time that the carriage pulled up to the old castle and the stop knock Lina awake. She had dosed off half way through the trip and was now awake as the door to the carriage was opened. She was about to grab up her bags when the man interjected saying, "I'll carry those."

Before Lina could turn his offer down he had already lifted all of her bags and began to carry them into the old castle. Lina stretched for a second before hopping out of the carriage and following the man towards the large front door. As they approached the door swung open to reveal the other servant the letter had discussed. She was about Lina's height if not a little taller with dark purple hair. Her green eyes held all the joy in the world as she smiled to greet them. Her outfit was just as dated as the man's outfit. She wore an old Victorian dress with the many petticoats and corsets that came with it. She left the door and quickly moved towards them; her dress swaying side to side as she approached, and said, "Welcome home Lady Inverse and Gourry dear."

Lina blinked and asked, "Gourry dear? Are you two a couple or something?"

The girl blushed as bright as Lina's hair before she stuttered, "No..No not really that's just what I call him."

The blonde man smiled before saying, "Hey Sylphiel I hope that dinner is ready I'm starving."

Lina glanced at the man for a moment. All the properness and high class had drained away from his voice and he now sounded like anyone else. 'Was what I heard in the village just an act,' She thought before saying, "I agree food sounds wonderful after my travels."

The green eyed girl named Sylphiel smiled and replied, "Yes the table is set come this way."

Both Lina and the man known as Gourry smiled as they came into the castle for a meal that both had long awaited for.

Disclaimer: Any characters or ideas from The Slayers do not belong to me. I am not selling this material, just writing for the heck of it as I go.

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