Castlevania: Untested (8/27)

[patriciatepes]

Title: Untested
By: PatriciaTepes (AKA Patricia de Lioncourt @ fanfiction.net; PatriciaLouise @ TTH)
Chapter Title: Out on the Town
Links to Other Chapters: Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six
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.  Also, a note on the usage of the terms "ghost" and "soul" in this fic: In all reality, both would be acceptable to use in my opinion. It all depends on your point of view. I would also use "essence" and may have a character use it later on. It's just that these two have got so much to do, they aren't really thinking about spiritual implications.

Chapter 7: Out on the Town

"Focus!!" Sara said, walking in a circle around Adriana.

If Sara had been corporeal, it would have had to be a wide circle, given that Ria was working on her basic whip movements. Sophy had gone out, shopping again, leaving Ria alone with Sara--of whom her mother was still blissfully unaware--to train. Ria's arms ached as this whip session had just followed a grueling workout and run. The working out and running Ria had not tried to hide from her mother. She had simply told Sophy that she had wanted to fix up her physique. However, Ria had no doubt that her mother thought that all the attention her daughter was recently putting on physical fitness was just a way to distract the pain of the loss of her father. In truth, Ria had made her peace some time ago, feeling that her father would not have wanted his daughter's life to stop. She felt that she honored his memory this way. It was Sophy that couldn't let go.

"Good. Again!" Sara commanded, watching as Adriana successfully got a good hold on a tree branch with the whip.

Ria repeated the action, once again successfully. She turned proudly to Sara, who had her eyebrow raised.

"Good, but don't get overconfident. It'll take a lot more to defeat the forces of evil than trapping a tree branch."

Ria's smile disappeared as she turned back to her task. However, her attention was changed again as the sound of a car door shutting on the other side of the manor floated back to the ghost and the girl in the backyard.

"Mom's home!" Ria said, starting to quickly roll up the whip.

"Quick, up to your room!" Sara said.

With the whip rolled up, the two zoomed back inside the house and up the stairs. Ria had no idea why Sara was running. It wasn't like Sophy could see her holding an ancient whip in her hands. Ria's feet had just hit the second floor landing when she heard the front door open and close. She quickly hid the whip and when back downstairs, telling Sara before she left to stay in her room.

"You're a bit distracting when I'm trying to play it cool around Mom. I'll be back in a bit," Ria had said, starting to close the door.

"Don't worry. I'm a ghost. I'll be fine," Sara smiled at her as the door shut.

Both women knew that "ghost" was not proper enough to truly describe what Sara was, but they also knew "soul" was too strong. "Ghost" was just the simpler term.

Ria entered the kitchen to find her mother putting away groceries. She walked up behind her and picked up a cereal box.

"We ran out of this already? I swear we didn't eat that much," she commented lightly.

Sophy smiled over her shoulder as she placed a bag of instant rice in a cabinet.

"You'd be surprised. You know, we don't always eat it with milk. Maybe that's what is throwing us off," she said.

Ria helped her mother finish putting the groceries away, light conversation exchanging between the two. Finally, when all was said and done, Sophy turned to her daughter and sighed.

"I didn't want to ask this before because I wanted the help, but…what do you want? You never help with this type of stuff unless you want something. You get that from your father. Both of you are very conniving," she said, leaning on the counter and crossing her arms.

"We didn't always want something! Sometimes we're just being nice. What makes you think that that isn't the case here, Mom?" Ria said, outrage in her voice.

Sophy's eyebrow raised ever so slightly. Ria sighed.

"Can I have a few dollars? I want to go and hang out at the café in town," she admitted, defeated.

Her mother smiled, reaching into her purse and withdrawing the money.

"Sure. It's nice to see you getting out. I hope you are meeting people your age," she said, handing over the money.

"Sure, whatever. Thanks, Mom," Ria said, darting out of the kitchen before Sophy could change her mind.

She found her way back to her and back to Sara, who was sitting on her bed, looking up on at the multi-postered walls. She smiled when Ria entered.

Ria smiled back and immediate began to switch from her workout sweats into clothing more suitable for public appearances.

"Going somewhere, are you?" Sara asked.

"We are," Adriana amended, shoving the whip into one of her larger purses once she was dressed.

"We are? Where? And why?"

"Well, we're going to the café in town. You've had a rather fuzzy view of the modern world for the last few years. I mean, sure, you've got the language right, but I think you should learn as much as possible. And…I've got to have some coffee!"

Sara stood and shook her head. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Yes."

"That's what I was afraid of."

#

They were seated in a far corner of the modernized café twenty minutes later. Ria had her laptop with her, messing around on a place she had told Sara that was called the internet. She seemed to be very immersed in it, so Sara was left to stare about at others who could not stare at her. Every so often, Ria would look up and apologize for the lack of conversation--whispering so others would not hear and think that she was talking to an empty chair. Finally, on the fourth time this had happened--and five coffees later--Ria closed down her laptop and turned her attention to Sara. It was getting late. The sun's last rays were dying on the horizon, casting beautiful colors on the ground and across the sky. Most looked at this beauty with awe and appreciation. Sara was looking on it in apprehension.

"Ria, the sun is setting," she said when Ria had pulled a magazine over to her--using it to hide her moving lips when she talked to her.

"And?" she asked.

"And you are no where trained enough to deal with the dangers of the night! We need to get back before dark!"

But even as the argument brimmed up over the ghost's lips, the sun sunk away, and the electric streetlamps were lit. Night had fallen. And with the night came what Ria called the "night owls." Teenagers and the odd adult that preferred to conduct their business in the evening hours. Sara watched them closely, worried that any one of them could be minions of evil. She was relieved to see them pleasantly human, but dismayed to see that Ria seemed so aloof about a possible, impending death by vampire, or demon, or whatever. It was only when the bell to the café ringed next that Ria's attention turned from her magazine. A tall, handsome man entered the building. His skin was pale, but not sickly looking. His white-blond hair pulled back in a low ponytail, and his clean shaven face young and beautiful.

He seemed to feel Ria's eyes on him because as he took his seat, his gray, dazzling eyes twinkled further at her. Sara knew that the rosy tinge on Adriana's cheeks was probably against the girl's better judgment. The man denied the coffee the waitress tried to offer and simply sat, reading the same magazine title that Ria was.

"I don't like this," Sara couldn't help but voice aloud.

Ria jumped and looked at Sara as if she had forgotten she was there.

"Why?" she asked.

It seemed to take a great power to tear her eyes from the man.

"He seems…familiar…but I can't place from where. Ria, it's dark. I don't like the looks of that man--he's watching us!--and you're not fully trained. We ought to head back to the manor," Sara protested.

"Us?"

"You know what I mean!"

Ria smiled. "All right. Let's go."

The two stood, leaving a tip for the waitress. Sara was happy enough to be leading Ria home, but it was fleeting as the man winked at Ria on the way out.