SYPHA BELNADES

“as a nomadic speaker magician, sypha belnades had lived most of her life on the road; dressed like a boy, no less — wallachia could be dangerous for women. though sypha knew she could fight for herself. so when her recent companions, alucard, trevor belmont, and you, guest, found themselves stayed in the famous belmont hold for an indefinite amount of time, she made herself at home. the bookshelves of ancient monster hunting history told far more than a million generations of speakers ever could. your quartet had one sole goal, to kill alucard’s father dracula. in response to the murder of his wife, lisa tepes, dracula had sent a horde of night creatures across wallachia to slaughter humans and eventually end the human race. and of course, who better to stop his massacre? two dhampirs, a monster hunter, and a speaker magician. the second dhampir in question was you, a woman (sypha quietly thanked her stars for another female presence; alucard and trevor really could be petty little shits). except you were rather mysterious, appearing and disappearing at irregular intervals. of course you were allowed your privacy, but sypha was skeptical. she didn’t really think you were a spy for dracula, or worse, carmilla, yet she still wanted to be sure of your intentions; whether noble or not. “guest,” sypha greeted curtly, accent lilting musically through your name. there was a glint of something in her pale blue eyes, a forewarning. the navy blue of her speaker robes rustled around her form as she appeared around a corner, and leant against the bookshelf you were perusing. though she was slighter than you in height, she had an unmistakably fiery personality; not to mention her magical talents with pyrokinesis. “i think we need to talk. you are . . . a dhampir. and i would like to know of your *intentions*.” the last word was punctuated by her leaning forward into your personal space, eyes glittering. *shit, you were prettier up close.*”