NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
Well, what started as a game idea I just had to convert to a fanfic as well. I'm trying my hand at game ideas, but I'm a novelist at heart. And due to the incompatibilities of stories and game ideas, there are some changes to the story. And if you have a problem then just shoot me...or is that drive a stake in my heart? And, BTW, the all CAPITAL words are emphasized words that would normally be italicized.

Chapter One
It begins

  "Come back here you little..." Sarah screamed at the youth running from her. She attempted to grab him by his long brown hair in back, but he was a few inches further than her reach. Her final attempt was a tackle...but she met with ground. Her eyes scanned in front, nothing; the sides, nothing.
  "What's wrong? Lose something?" a voice mocked from above. 
  She looked up and saw him sitting on a branch in the tree to her right. "Damn you!" Her face turned fierce, then soft as she laughed uncontrollably. "Kyle, why do you make me chase you like that?"
  "'Cause you'd just sit around and watch MTV if I didn't." He hopped down and then helped her up. "Besides, you said you wanted to become a Vampire Hunter like your ancestor Sonia. But you don't have the drive to practice without me pushing your buttons."
  "Hey! I work hard! School, work, homework, you. Don't I deserve a break?" She fell back down and pulled him with her and he fell with a grunt. "I deserve my breaks."
  He laid down on the cool grass and watched the sky. "I have school, work, homework, as well as practice in Hunting, acrobatics, and scaling, but I don't sit around as much as you."
  "You're so mean!" She playfully wrestled with him until he was pinned, a sucker for her tickle attack. "Uncle?"
  He stopped laughing long enough to speak, "Uncle." 
  She got up then helped him up, this time no one tried a 180. "What time do you have?"
  "Um...two o'clock."
  "Up for some late lunch?"
  "Can't. I've got more Hunting lessons at three. Don't wanna cramp my muscles."
  "Do I have to come this time?" she asked in a melancholy tone.
  "It's up to you, but if you ever want to be like Sonia you've got to start practicing with more passion."
  Five minutes alone, buddy, then I'll show you passion. She sighed heavily then spoke, "All right. I'll go."
  "Fine, then. How about some hoops?" 

  Sarah returned home to both her parents flak and chores she neglected to do. Already ready to fall of the pace, she made a valiant and ultimately successful attempt to do her laundry and clean her toxic waste dump...er, room. Then her weary skeleton collapsed in bed and she slept like the dead.
  Kyle returned home to an empty home, yet still filled with energy. But the air about him seemed chill, almost draining. Outside clouds were gathering about the sky like a mass of thick liquid spilled in a glass container. 
  The sky...the air...no! Not now!! Already he could hear the laughter of a distant creature celebrating the return of its dark Master.
  He ran to a small drawer on a cherry wood corner table and fumbled with a small key. Once it finally inserted itself and unlocked the lock, he grabbed a single key of ancient origin, pearl on the end and made of aged brass. Time had tarnished its appearance, but the things it unlocked had yet to taste the sting of time.
  He took a single deep breath, then went up a small set of stairs and grabbed a cord to the attic. A stale smell suddenly bombarded him, but he paid it no heed. Up the ladder was a treasure throve of antiques and dust. Naught but a single chest was blanketed in sheets or dust. 
  His hand guided the key to the chest's lock and it snapped open. An unearthly glow of power emanated as the ancient Liens gear was brought up.                                                 (The characters get their final gear in the beginning, as they're right there for the love of...)
  The full body armor of green, blue, and gold crest and magic sword were first to come up, but the rest soon followed. I've got to get Sarah! He carried all the things down and placed them on his bed. He had to from his house to Sarah's. 
  "C'mon in, Kyle," her parents said calmly. "She's upstairs, and perhaps you can talk some sense into her? I mean, Vampire Hunting...we're not Belmonts anymore!"
  But you carry the Belmont bloodline. Look at your ancestors John and Quincy. "I'll do what I can." He trudged upstairs sluggishly, trying to think of what to say and worrying about her reaction. But he let the worry go when he entered. She was lying on her bed, fast asleep and corpse-like. "Wake up, Sarah!"
  She stirred slightly before going back to sleep. 
  "Come on! Do I have to turn on a certain show?"
  Again, she seemed too far-gone to care.
  "Okay..." He took the remote to her TV and went to a certain station.
  "Okay people, let's MOVE those legs!!" She jumped awake and dove for the plug. "For the love of...what the f..." She stood up and faced him. "What the hell are you doing," she asked with an eerie calm.
  "It's time," he said with a dry tone.
  Something invisible smacked her across the face and in the stomach. She collapsed to the ground struggled to speak. She failed miserably and babbled for countless seconds before she shut up and realized what a fool she was being.
  "Get the key to your attic and grab the gear. We've got to hurry to Romania."
  "But I don't even speak Romanian!" she whined.
  "Neither do I, and that's Slavic...I think. But we've got to do this. We'll have to hone our skills while we battle. No better teacher than experience...right?" He finished with a worried yelping tone.
  She offered a disheartened grin, eyes closed and looking worried. "Well, I did say I wanted to be like Sonia..." 
  "Got the key?" 
  She reached underneath her bed and extracted an old skeleton key. "Got it."
  "Keep it ready, in fact, get the items down here and be ready to don them at sunset. After your parents go to bed, sneak out and meet me at the corner of the street. We'll work out our plan from there."
  He turned to leave, but Sarah called him back. She grabbed him by the arms and kissed him. "Good luck." He walked out of there and home in a daze. Not even noticing the ominous profile of Death in the distance.

  The time passed slowly. Kyle's own parents seemed to notice the strange weather, but not much else. Soon they were in bed, asleep, and he found himself underneath the sign at the corner, the moonlight glistening off his armor, the cloak on his back being pressed by the shield, and the cold night air keeping him from suffocating in the armor. His getting there had been dull and uneventful. But Sarah's was less than easy.
  She slept late, and when she woke up it was sunset. 'Ah shi...' She hurried into the armor, noticing for the first time how it exaggerated her body. 'Damn, I wish all my wardrobe had this perfect a fit...' But her mind quickly got past vanity and more towards the need at hand. In her mind, her parents would catch her going out the front door, so she went out the window.
  CRACK-CRASH-CRACK-CRACK!
  She fell from a rotted branch on the old oak outside her window and fell all thirty feet. She rubbed her rump gently. "Ow! I have got to a ladder hidden back here." She ran off, limping from the pain of moving her bruised legs. Her yard was fenced, so she jumped the fence on the west side and into her neighbor's yard...right into the territory of a pit bull.
  "GrrrrrrrOW!" The angry dog leapt for her, and all she could do was block it with her arm. It bit into the emel and yelped as a tooth broke. The dog ran away while his victim got to her feet and exited the gate nearby. 'Why me?!' 

  Eventually she made it, after the tree, the dog, and then a run-in with a strange man in tattered clothes who merely sauntered past when she stepped aside.
  She at last saw Kyle and felt her spirits rise. At least now she was past all that crap...she thought. 
  "All right, we know He is coming back, and his generals will try to stop us. So we've got to get to Romania while either avoiding or fighting those fiends."
  Strange, raspy laughter filled the sky. "Ah, the two Hunters are here." The sudden apparition of Death appeared above them. "If you think you can make it to the castle, then I invite you. But I cannot allow you easy passage!"
  The world seemed to shift around them and soon things all seemed alight with an unearthly glow. "Fight your way to the city, there you will find a surprise." The apparition disappeared. 
  "The graveyard!" Kyle said at last.
  "What?" 
  "The undead soldiers of Dracula, the graveyard would supply prime troops for him!" He grabbed her by the wrist and ran, trying to get to the graveyard as fast as his legs would carry him. But that proved a mistake.
  "(Puff) (pant) (wheeze) We...we need...a ri...ride," Kyle gasped. 
  Sarah, who was still with breath, finally spotted something. "That bus goes past the graveyard! C'mon!" This time, she grabbed him and soon they were hitched to the back of a bus, riding on the edge of the bumper. Kyle was thankful for the ride, but his feet still hurt.
  "See?" Sarah said with a tone of pride. "Where would you be without me?"
  'Asleep and not worrying about killing some creature on the other side of the world.' "Worse off than I am now," he said with a sheepish grin.
  A giant tear drop formed on the side of Sarah's head. "You're so welcome for my company."
  "Hey!" He laughed and shook her shoulder gently. "I think we'd both be worse off if not for one another." 
  "How?" she asked rhetorically.
  "For one we wouldn't be riding past this graveyard...! Here's our stop!" He leapt off and grappled a tree. She stayed behind and waited until the bus stopped at the nearby corner. 
  "You are such a-" she started. She saw he wasn't there anymore, but in the tree and scouting the area. "What do you see?"
  "Oh......about three generations of people coming out for a breath of fresh air." Indeed, several zombies were rising from their graves and looking hungry. "Remember how I said we'll hone our skills on the way?"
  She closed her eyes and growled. "You mean WE have to take these things out!?"
  "Unless you want to just quit, yes. But, after all these years, you think they're gonna be THAT strong?" He jumped down, his sword drawn and ready, and cleaved a crawling cadaver. The body burned with magic fire until all that was left was ash. "Whoa!"
  Sarah impaled another zombie on the end of her whip and watched it disintegrate as the strong Holy power struck it. "What the...!?"
  "Looks like we've got some magic on our side!" Kyle yelled from the distance, taking down more zombies as they rose from the grave.
  "Speak for yourself!" She twirled the whip around, trying to make a circle of death for the dead. Instead she got herself tangled after it got out of control. "Kyle! Get me outta this thing!"
  He saw her and the tear formed on HIS head. "What did you do?" he asked as he undid the tangle. 
  "I was...trying that 360 degree twirl thing you told me about."
  He shook his head and helped her get back up, punching a zombie away with the back of his hand. "Never try anything in a battle situation you haven't practiced and mastered."
  "Well I didn't know that!" she retorted. "Besides, I'm new at this."
  He shoved the blade into the belly of a zombie behind him, still facing her. "How long have we been training to be Hunters? Five? Six years?"
  "Oh shut up! Thanks to you I'm out here battling the undead and going to a country I know nothing about!" She kicked her heel back and knocked away a zombie of her own.
  "Me!? Who's the one who volunteered to became a Hunter!?" He twirled around and brutally attacked another walking corpse. 
  "...Look, let's just get to the airport and take things from there!" 
  Both went back to their killing and finally seemed to route all the enemies. 
  "Let's go..." Sarah said, still frustrated and angry with him.
  The pair began out and headed for the city. But as they passed the grave of his grandfather, the site undisturbed, he noticed a small charm on a chain, and book, on top of the headstone. "Wait!" he said. He took the charm and eyed it. It was a circle, with a nymph webbed into it. The book was one of old spells in strange runes.
  "What are those?" Sarah asked after seeing them for herself.
  "I don't know...but, nothing ventured, nothing gained." He donned the charm and placed it under his tunic. The world swirled for him a minute, then evened again. He stumbled a little, then regained balance. "Wow! What was that?" He took another glance at the book and saw he could read the runes. 'Perhaps this is how my ancestors read these runes.' "It's the Book of Nymph Summoning. My ancestors have used this for generations, having used the powers of nature to help them. But...can I call them?"
  "Well, like you said. Nothing ventured, nothing ga-" 
  He cut her off. "I know what I said! But...I haven't even been initiated."
  "Well, try this first spell." She pointed to a set of runes that anyone could recognize as a master spell.
  "Okay...keloran, jotia, lis." A circle of green light suddenly appeared behind them and a beautiful woman with green skin and hair, and pointed ears, suddenly arose. 
  "Master Liens! You've returned at last!" she said with a voice of silver bells. 
  "Master!?" Sarah yelled, pangs of jealousy in her.
  "Me? Master?" Kyle asked, staring at the nymph with a frowning grin and eyes like a dead man.
  "Yes, Master Liens, I am called Ethala," she said with a smile. "Why are you so surprised, Master?"
  "What's with this 'Master Liens' stuff?" Kyle asked at last. "My name is Kyle. And...I've never met a real creature of magic before." 
  "Master Kyle, I am the servant of your family. I am in your service."
  "No, no! Just 'Kyle'. ...Well, it will be nice to have some extra help."
  "Yeah, real nice," Sarah said sarcastically.
  Ethala made herself into the size of a small fairy and perched on Kyle's right shoulder. "It is best I travel close to you, Ma...I mean, Kyle. Your blood is what gives me the ability to stay on this plane."
  "Don't get too comfortable," Sarah said. "I'll get my fly swatter."
  "Fly swatter?" she said with a laugh. "Why don't you just give me a bath in his blood if you're going to do nothing that will hurt me?" She pulled the lower eyelid of her right eye down and gave Sarah a raspberry.
  "Why you little-!"
  "Knock it off! Both of you!" Kyle said at last. He turned his shoulder away and faced Sarah. "You, stop threatening Ethala. And you...!" He turned and looked at his new servant. "Stop teasing Sarah like that. We're all under a lot of stress, but we need to remain focused! Now, let's get to town and work from there."
  With the encounter done and over with, he was glad to go on and put it behind him. But they still had much to do, namely fighting off more zombies and Kyle learning more spells. 'With the master spell invoked, you can summon the elemental nymphs to deal damage, or heal your wounds or poison. To do so, simply speak their incantation and let the magic do the work.' 
  'Yeah, they can do the easy part, we have to take the bulk.' 
  A sign said "Welcome to Downtown Lansville." But the scene behind them was anything but a "welcome" site. Buildings ablaze, cars burning and exploding, and a giant dog of rotten flesh and fire ahead of them.
  "Oh shi...shoot!" Sarah exclaimed. "What the hell happened?"
  "I told you I wouldn't allow easy passage," a familiar voice said. Death appeared above them and laughed darkly. "So, you found that pixy of your family's. Well done, and I can see you two are a little more fortified from your battles with my little minions. But, can you take out Cerebrus, Jr.?"
  The dog lunged forward and Death disappeared, laughing. 
  Both Hunters took a side prepared to attack. Cerebrus looked from side to side and seemed indecisive about his victim. Kyle drew his shield from his back and attacked. The mutt glowed blue from magic Ice attacking it. It screamed in pain, and then fired a stream of fire at him. He held the shield aloft and blocked the stream of crispy death. 
  "Damn! Sarah! Keep this thing occupied! I'll try a spell from the book!"
  "Got it! Hey, mutt!" Cerebrus turned around and eyed her. She taunted him by patting her rump and giving him a raspberry. He growled angrily and began to chase her. "Yaah!" she yelped, stumbling as she ran. "Whatever you're doing hurry it up!" She jumped, narrowly escaping a stream of fire.
  "Uh...yeah! No...um...here! Korana, skilras, shentax!"
  The same circle of light appeared as with Ethala, only blue this time, and an Ice Nymph appeared. Cerebrus stopped and eyed the new foe. She only pointed a finger and he began to howl, yelp, and whine in agony. The beast writhed in pain as it froze into a giant block of ice.
  "Sarah!" Kyle yelled. "Now! Attack!"
  She did as told, and the block shattered into nothing. "Yes!" She began to jump and howl with delight. Kyle, on the other hand, collapsed to the ground.
  Death appeared, and began cursing at them in spades before speaking. "Well, I underestimated you. If you can beat that beast, then maybe you have a chance. But you will need to become much stronger than you are, good luck...and if you dare, find the source of the fire and all shall be returned as it once was." He disappeared and Sarah ran towards Kyle.
  "What happened?" she asked sympathetically.
  "Summoning takes a lot out of me, I can't do it more than twice." He stood up, shaking enough to mix a martini. 
  "And with Death just now?"
  "He wants you strong," Ethala said, rubbing Kyle's cheek with her tiny hand. "The stronger the person, the stronger the soul, and the more he loves to torture it. You have to surpass his ideas of your ideal strength and defeat him."
  "Now," Kyle stated, watching the distance. "What do we do about the fire?"
  "We go and find its source. Our fate, right?" Sarah asked. 
  "Some fate. I get stuck with two people who will undoubtedly argue at any chance and I get to fight the Reaper of Souls."
  And thus began the latest chapter in the Castlevania Series. 

End of Chapter One