"As you are, I was. As I am, you will be." - Latin tombstone inscription.

Far from her usual haunts in Styia Keep, Lenore walked down a stone hallway few traveled anymore. Nobody accompanied her on this trip. Elansa had finished the "short version" of her doomsday book and wanted to show Hector for a human's opinion. Hector, bless his naïve heart, agreed. Well, what he saw was going to be his problem, Lenore thought to herself.

In any case, this was a personal matter best attended to alone.

After a few more turns, she reached her destination: A small courtyard, near Striga and Morana's former quarters. It was an open secret that this was one of their main areas to sit privately, enjoy each other's company, and perhaps occasionally enjoy more than that. Lenore found this out the hard way, back when she was still Morana's subordinate. Now it stood empty, deserted, and unkempt. Watching from the shade, Lenore wondered whatever happened to those two. They were away when Isaac attacked, so they would have been safe. Unless, some humans later –

No. Impossible. Striga would have cut down even the most formidable vampire hunter. Only one of the legendary Belmonts of yore might have stood a chance against her wrath. And yet, why was this matter suddenly bothering her?

With a sigh, Lenore turned around and left. She was wasting her time. Far more pressing matters awaited her. Austria's ambitions, Venice, the fallout of her incident with the bishop. Perhaps she put him in her place, but such actions never went unanswered. Not too long ago, Lenore had yearned for new tasks to give her existence meaning, sharing with her sisters the delusion that having a forgemaster made a nation militarily invincible and above the trifles of diplomacy. Well, that turned out to be false, but in any case, her wish had been granted. All too much so.

As the former junior-most queen trekked through the halls in what was now her usurper's castle, she heard footsteps behind her. She glanced backwards, scowled to herself, and pressed forward. The man following her continued.

"Lady Lenore," minister Codintero's gruff voice called out behind her. She ignored him and picked up her pace.

"Lady Lenore!", his voice repeated crossly. Again, Lenore ignored him.

Just then Codintero grabbed her shoulder from behind. She spun around and shoved him away onto the stone wall. "What do you want?" Lenore snarled.

"What did you do to Bishop Jerome?" demanded Codintero, regaining his balance.

Lenore glared at the old mercenary captain. "I did nothing to him! We met, we talked, we worked out differences. Now stop bothering me!"

"Is that so? They say you left him trembling in fear!"

"He made some stupid assumptions I proved false. He's fine now. Leave me alone, damnit!"

"I swear, Lady Lenore. Every time I go to confession, the fact that I must work with you comes up without fail."

"Have I offended your sensibilities? Bah! That's your problem."

Just then, a messenger ran up to Codintero. "There you are. Minister Codintero," he said, "The king wishes to see you. There are strange reports of a gigantic knight or bird man terrorizing the countryside of Styria's neighbors"

Knight… Birdman… Lenore's eyes widened. "Excuse me!" she exclaimed, almost losing her composure, "I need to come too. I might –"

"That will be unnecessary, my lady," Codintero cut her off with a smug look. "You have your sphere, I have mine. And now, I grant your request not to be bothered." He and the messenger walked off as Lenore looked on. Lenore struggled against her instinct to follow the men as requesting any audience with Isaac would be futile. However she wasn't as successful in trying to curtail the growing alarm at the description of the being terrorizing the countryside. She hoped against reason that it wasn't... her.

"What did you think?" Elansa asked as Hector finished the last page of her draft. "I know it isn't very long. I'm writing more comprehensive version as well. I wrote this one in case…" Elansa shuddered slightly. "Something happens soon."

Hector hesitated a moment. "No, it's quite good. Everything is factually spot on… But you write as if humans are single minded killing machines. Is that fair?" Hector had always been a misanthrope. He still stood by his darker views of human nature. Yet all of it paled beside this vampire's brutal vision of her kin's extermination at the hands of his fellow men.

"Why would you think humans would react any differently?" asked Elansa in a matter-of-fact tone. "Even against each other, the same scene plays out again and again. Troy, Carthage, Jerusalem, the Mongols. It's already playing out against us in Burgundy, in France, the inquisition's expanded mission in Spain."

"Well what about myself? Here I am, talking with you, and I'm not trying to drive a stake through your heart. King Isaac isn't preparing you for slaughter. Give us some credit!"

"You're among the good ones. I don't know how long Styria can delay the inevitable though, and outside Styria? Practically all I hear are reports of mobs with stakes and priests with holy water."

"I'm one of the 'good humans?'" Hector asked incredulously. "With due respect, I don't think vampires are in a place right now to judge human morals. After all the destruction your recent wars caused?"

Elansa bristled, slightly worked up. "Look, I get it. Humans aren't cattle. Shame on us, whatever, fine!" She clenched her fist, as if still wrestling with the matter herself. Like all natural-born vampires, she had always been taught to see humans as food. Violent, self-aware food to be specific. "Your partner's a vampire! You must understand the whiplash we're dealing with."

"It's a learning process for her too," Hector unwittingly muttered under his breath. Nonetheless, he nodded. "Okay. Sorry. I'm not trying to hurt your feelings. I'm just saying, humans can't be any worse than vampires. In any case, you are writing for a human audience."

Elansa sighed, "Fine, point taken… However, if anything, the need for revenge makes our fate all the more certain… All we can do is delay it until our story is safe."

"You can't imagine any world or scenario where humans and vampires could coexist peacefully?" asked Hector with a raised eyebrow. The strangest idea percolated in his head for his own writing project.

Before Elansa could answer, Lenore abruptly let herself in. She wore the calm expression that Hector knew she used to hide deep distress.

Striga… What was Striga doing by herself? Was Striga by herself? Was that even Striga at all?

Unwanted thoughts forced their way through Lenore's mind as she sat at her desk, trying to ponder her more immediate business. Before her lay a letter to the bishop, trying to smooth over any hard feelings with kind words and perhaps some coin too. Other matters demanded attention too. Austria would eventually would be back. Lenore knew that even under human rule, Styria still remained a barrier to any future attempts Austria and the Holy Roman Empire may make to reassert control over Italy. This then brought matters to Venice, Styria's neighbor to the south. Might they thus be amenable to a pact? That would also shield Styria from the Papal States. But of course, there was still the underlying problem of vampirism in a Christian world.

Her mind drifted again. What about Mora –

Lenore mentally slapped herself. There were enough problems in the present without worrying about the past. Her thoughts turned to the baron to Styria's east. Baron Bakonyi was a scoundrel, but could he still be of any use in this situation? Doubtful. Lenore recalled from an earlier meeting how Codintero tried to impress upon Isaac the importance of replacing Styria's aging ballistae with modern field guns. Isaac, a man unfamiliar with the power of artillery, had proven indifferent. After seeing the Hungarian Baron's arsenal, Lenore had a feeling that Codintero's warnings should be heeded… but not urgently enough to make her inclined to help him in this little predicament. Besides, Lenore heard rumors of Bakonyi's refusal to share his guns with the Hungarian Crown itself.

Things once again circled back to Venice. The more she thought about it, the more firmly she felt that reaching out to Venice would be Styria's best move. If and when the gunpowder matter came to a head, the Venetians were supposedly enthusiasts of this weaponry. But how to reach out to them? The fallout of the marriages of Countess Kerala and Baroness Sylvine had quashed earlier talks of treaties, and Striga had even begun drawing up plans to move against them once Lenore, foolishly, thought her treaties had the Austrians at bay… Striga.

Damnit! Why did her thoughts keep drifting to those two? They left her to die, Lenore inwardly yelled at herself. They had a portable distance mirror. Did they not bother to use it to check on her? Did they do so but abandoned her anyway? It didn't matter. So why couldn't she accept that and ignore their purely hypothetical plight!? Her half-coagulated blood began to boil in frustration.

Hector stepped in. "Lenore –?"

"What!?" she snapped.

"Jesus fucking Christ! What killed your mood today!?"

Lenore looked at her lover and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. "Look, sorry. Just… leave me alone right now?"

True to form, Hector did not leave her alone. "You've really been on edge lately. Even Elansa is noticing."

"So why doesn't she say something herself?"

"She's too intimidated. Seriously, you aren't yourself. Something's bothering you."

Lenore snorted with exasperation and turned towards her desk. "Well, Styria remains in crisis, that's what's bothering me. Our most powerful neighbor hates us. Our second most powerful one doesn't give a damn, and now the church probably wants me dead after my stupid little stunt."

"Almost none of that is new though… Are you going to make me pry the answer out of you, dear?"

The deposed vampire queen looked at Hector's piercing blue eyes and sighed, "It's Striga and Morana… I overheard Isaac summoning Codintero to discuss reports of someone who matches Striga's appearance wreaking havoc in neighboring countries."

Hector sat down. "Well, Striga was the warrior in your quartet."

"She was… but she'd never just engaged in random rampages… unless something enraged her."

"Did you hear anything suggesting Morana is nearby?"

"No," slowly said Lenore.

"Is there a way you can access the distance mirror?"

"To check on them?" Lenore scoffed. "Highly doubtful. Your forgemaster friend Isaac is protective enough of them, and he seems to have entrusted this particular matter to that Italian mercenary of a minister Codintero. I don't think he's keen on granting me any favors."

"After all the ways you've snubbed him, probably not," said Hector under her breath. Lenore looked up as if she heard but said nothing as if she didn't care. "Any favors you could do him to make him more agreeable?" Hector asked.

Lenore thought, and then nodded to herself. "Yes… there is." A smile almost – almost appeared on her face. She might be able to kill two birds, no, three birds with one stone.

"Your Highness, I must be blunt. Night Creatures or not, Styria Keep is not well fortified enough to withstand a determined attacker," Codintero implored King Isaac as the two of them, Lenore, and Minister Burginus sat before a map of the region. Abel stood nearby, silent by nature, as did FlysEyes, silent by choice. "You know this first hand, and you did not even have modern bombards to breach the walls. Additional fortifications are needed, and those require defensive artillery better than those antiquated ballista."

The forgemaster turned king raised an eyebrow. "By the time those defenses are ready, so too will our actual army. Our advantage is our night creatures, and I'd rather use them to their full effect on the field, than sit and wait for the Austrians or whoever to come to our doorstep. Let them invade with their bombards and cannons. We'll kill the operators before they can fire." He then turned to his finance minister. "Minister Burginus," asked Isaac, "How large a network of fortifications can we quickly fund the construction of before it drags on all other matters?"

Burginus replied, "A few forts, but nothing massive. The previous regime's mercenary buyout, combined with the cost of feeding your strictly carnivorous night creatures, is starting to take its toll on our balance sheets. Any large project on the scale Codintero has previously proposed on the border of Austria would either use up a third of our accumulated treasure or necessitate a loan, assuming you want it to take less than a decade."

Lenore sat and listened to the ongoing back and forth in silence. Military strategy was, to put it bluntly, not her strong point. Indeed, at one point she even convinced herself that war and diplomacy were opposites, rather than complimentary. Perhaps Hector was better versed in the ways of war, but he, for once, insisted on not accompanying her. Apparently, he suddenly had his own project, something apparently sparked by reading Elansa's scribbles. No matter though. Lenore paid attention. When the moment was right, she would speak her part, shift the court alliances, and get what she needed.

Codintero shook his head. "I'm not sure your night creatures will be as effective as they were before. Warfare is changing. Bit by bit, longbows are giving way to matchlock arquebuses. Your enemies rebuild and grow more sophisticated by the day. There's no denying your monsters' use, but with all due respect, Your Majesty, we must not mistake their power for invincibility"

"They performed quite splendidly up until now. Resistance crumbled before them, and we encountered handgunners in Hungary. I don't see why it should change."

"That was before they started consecrating their ammunition, and Your Highness had the element of absolute surprise, here and in Wallachia," Isaac's military advisor retorted. "Moreover, your chief human adversaries were occupied. If I recall correctly, Wallachia and Hungary were already at war with the Ottomans. Furthermore, the defenders you did face never saw such monsters before. The terror they must have felt would've aided you immensely. Now, they are prepared in mind, and they know how to effectively fight back."

Seeing that Isaac remained unswayed, Lenore made her move. "Your Highness," she said in an unassuming voice, "your esteemed advisor makes an excellent point. Even a small field gun could likely tear through a night creature. It might be good to at least invest a little in the new military technology, even if just to better defend Styria Keep itself."

Both Codintero and Isaac turned towards Lenore, somewhat surprised to hear her voice a position at all on tactical matters. "What suddenly gives you an opinion here, Lady Lenore?" inquired Isaac.

Lenore forced her lingering fear about Striga and Morana to the side and conveyed as much confidence as expectations of a lady would allow. "Vampires previously didn't believe in the necessity of advancing military technology, but recent events prove otherwise. Dracula's westernmost forays halted at the defenses of a baron particularly enthused about gunpowder, the same Baron Bakonyi we've done business with before. I went to buy the pigs. I heard his boasts. I saw the guns that backed those boasts up. Times are changing."

"Your diplomatic advisor is right. Even she knows enough about military matters to see the need." Despite his gruff rhetoric, Codintero's face betrayed a surprised delight to have the vampire lady suddenly on his side.

Isaac sighed, looked at his finance minister, and then stated, "I'll agree to modernize the defenses of the keep, fine… but where are you going to get the guns and expertise? Lady Lenore, earlier you indicated that your Hungarian friend has no interest in sharing."

"Hungary isn't the only local place playing with the new weaponry." Lenore answered. She leaned over and pointed to the area beneath Styria on the map. "The Republic of Venice to our south has also been dabbling in gunpowder warfare, mostly for naval and defensive purposes, I believe. With enough coin, we might convince them to part ways with some of their spare toys." She then added, "Working with Venice would have additional benefits. Compared to Austria, relations between Styria and Venice have been less violent. They may be amenable to a more durable pact which would secure our southern border. This is valuable unto itself, but there is more still." Her finger moved further down the Italian Peninsula, "To Venice's south lay the so-called Papal States. As their name suggests, they are literally ruled by the Vatican. Any religious war against us sanctioned by the pope will almost certainly have their support, but to reach us, they must march through Venice, and keeping Venice neutral makes that a lot more… complicated of a process." Looking at Isaac directly, Lenore wrapped up her thoughts. "I request Your Highness permit me to reach out to our Southern neighbor and try and obtain cannons, and perhaps concord too."

Isaac thought for a moment as both Lenore and Codintero looked with interest. "Very well, I give my permission," the king affirmed. "Stick to your word this time, though. No prisoners."

"Understood. What happened last time will not happen again, Your Highness," Lenore agreed. She then looked back up expectantly, not at King Isaac, but at Codintero. "One more thing, Your Majesty. I heard your concerns earlier about reports of a bird-like knight terrorizing our neighbors. I think I know who it is, and I think I can contact her via a distance mirror. May I?" She winked at Codintero, hoping he understood the subtle transaction in favors that was taking place.

"Distance mirror?" responded Codintero, perplexed.

"A magic mirror that allows you to see and possibly communicate with a person far away," Isaac dispassionately explained. "Lady Lenore, the answer remains no. I've told you my thoughts about trusting you with the mirror, and this matter is Codintero's anyway."

The former mercenary captain put together Lenore's unspoken trade. "Actually, your Highness, I would appreciate it greatly. It sounds like Lady Lenore knows something I don't."

"I believe this was a fellow lieutenant of Carmilla, to be specific. Her lover was also a useful figure in the old regime, and I think I can win them over to your service, Your Highness." Lenore added sweetly, "Would you permit me this?"

"Very well. Abel, bring us the distance mirror." The night creature wordlessly left the room. Isaac and his miniature court waited. In truth, Lenore doubted that Striga and Morana would ever submit to Styria's human usurper, but her real goal was simply to know what happened to them.

Abel returned with the box holding the mirror shards and set it down.. Codintero watched as Lenore clapped twice and said "Striga and Morana,"

To her surprise and alarm, nothing happened. A palpable sense of apprehension descended upon the room, centered around the increasingly alarmed vampire before the distance mirror. After several seconds, Lenore said "Morana."

This time, the mirror's shards responded. They rose up to form an image, but instead of showing the ancient vampire, they only displayed near pitch-black darkness. Lenore squinted, struggling to make sense of any of this before her. After a few seconds, she could make out the cramped interior walls of a tiny chamber, and a figure sitting inside it. Just then, something bumped, and the faintest sliver of light illuminated the scene for a split second. There, sitting in a solid iron chamber, was Morana. It seemed she was in some sort of mobile prison cell.

Lenore's atrophied muscle of a heart dropped into her stomach. The brief spec of light had confirmed her worst fears. Slowly and hesitantly, she finally said "Striga."

The mirror's reflection suddenly changed to a horrific scene. A being fully clad in armor tore her way through a group of militia-men and peasants. Blood curdling screams filled the room as the warrior swung her massive sword towards a villager holding up a scythe. The blade snapped the farm tool's handle like a twig and cleaved its wielder's body in two. Another man charged into the scene, but the warrior grabbed him by the collar and slammed him into the ground with an audible crunch.

"Striga? Striga! Come in!" Lenore pleaded. It was to no avail. Although the vampire warrior had her own portable distance mirror, it simply sat on the ground, close enough to pick up the gruesome scene but not close enough for its perpetrator to notice, or care. Over in Styria Keep, the room's occupants watched as the fully armored warrior turned her attention towards a cowering mother and child. She raised her sword and–

"Enough!" declared Isaac. "I am not going to waste the lives of several couriers to try and bring such a vampire under my control. Everyone in the room, you may take your leave."

The rest of the day passed in a blurred haze. Lenore couldn't concentrate. Preemptive grief eclipsed any thoughts about gunpowder or Venice. The hours passed as her mind raced helplessly for a way to intervene. Before she knew it, twilight arrived. As the sun dipped behind Styria's mountainous horizon, Lenore came to one of the castle's many balconies and somberly gazed upon the darkening landscape. She was alone, and she preferred it this way. Elansa had definitely reawakened Hector's interest in writing his own book or something, an interest he expressed on and off since those dark days of Lenore's imprisonment in the tower. Leaving those thoughts aside, she pushed back her day veil when she was sure it was safe. The view failed to comfort her, not that she expected it to anyway.

Lenore's thoughts turned to Morana. In her early days as a Styrian diplomat, Lenore had served under Morana's authority, and as a queen she regarded her, like all the others, as a sister. And now, that sister was in the hands of some unknown captor, separated from Striga, most likely headed to a grim fate. She found herself scanning the landscape below, as if trying to spot them herself.

No use. Lenore shook her head. Here she was, alive but for a stated mission to help her fellow vampire, yet unable to save her own adoptive sibling. A failure, as always, when it mattered most. What starker display of her own impotency did she need to accept the futility of it all? The sun had already set, but if she, purely by speculation, were to fling herself over the edge, would her absence make one iota of difference to her people's ultimate fate?

No. Lenore refused to entertain these musings further. That way lay the abyss behind the sun. She had to resist. The fight was not over.

She heard footsteps behind. "Lady Lenore?" It was Codintero.

Lenore turned around. "Oh. It's you."

"What suddenly inspired you to help me?" the human man asked with a hint of incredulous caution.

"You heard my reasons. And, you understood my bargain," Lenore coolly replied.

"So it was about those Striga and Morana vampires."

Lenore nodded silently. Silence descended on the balcony. Then, Lenore asked, "Tell me, Minister Codintero. Do you believe I have a soul?"

Codintero hesitated briefly and then bluntly answered, "No, Lady Lenore, I don't."

"What do you think happened to it? Did it get destroyed upon my turning? Is it waiting for me in Purgatory or Hell?"

"I'd need to ask one of the church's demonologists. If you insist, I speculate, my guess is that it is destroyed."

"I see." Lenore turned back towards the view. "I can only pity what would happen to the most pious, God-fearing Christian who one day finds himself transformed. All that prayer, communion, confession rendered pointless." She then added, "What about a natural born vampire? Some vampires are not former humans but were rather conceived by vampire parents the same carnal way humans do," she asked disinterestedly.

"Lady Lenore, are you trying to undermine my faith?"

"No, but I'd assume you wrestle with these questions, working with night creatures and what not." Lenore inwardly grimaced at the realization that Codintero probably saw little difference between her and, say, FlysEyes.

"Indeed," Codintero grimaced to himself. On that note, he said goodbye and exited, perhaps off to bed. Lenore lingered at the balcony, thinking.

"Hang in there, Morana," she whispered to herself.

Sorry this one took a while. I had to deal with some of my own personal troubles that delayed things a bit. It may have also affected the writing quality... Anyway, from a tactical perspective, a lot of what we saw on Castlevania was, well, more unrealistic than the whole vampire settings. As such, sorry if I unintentionally nerfed or downplayed some of your favs in the name of realism.

One historical oddity on my end is that Hungary, which was in Dracula's zone of devastation, was actually an unusually enthusiastic early adopter of handheld firearms, making the idea of gunpowder warfare as a new, unaccounted for threat to vampires and night creatures a little odd. I'm toying with some potential explanations... or just letting myself take the stupid historical liberty.