Alright, so for this theme, me and my mate Sage Bellemare and Mistress ) , we've created this lovely story together both collaborating to make this. cx

So without further interuptions, heres the story cx

May contain mature content/Triggering Junk so read with caution e.e

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  It was just a normal evening in the town of Moongold , the sky was tar-black and the large clouds were moving towards the west side. The sounds of tapping on the window goes on and on, turning into a pitter-patter sound. People ran for cover outside and umbrellas were opened as the clouds spat out their beads of water. Puddles began plinking as the rainfall became heavier. The roofs of the cars danced with spray and the murmuring of the rain through the window can be heard. It sounded like the buzzing of angry bees. Cross sat in the den enjoying the peaceful sounds of the rain while reading a book in his hands. Sage stood upstairs in her attic room momentarily adjusting the oil lamps and their little glass containers, making sure they were placed away from anywhere that seemed quite flammable. Once she was done doing this, she made her way downstairs, going to the kitchen to fix herself a small herbal tea. Like Cross, Sage also enjoyed the unique sounds of the rain, making it quite peaceful to hear.

    Mistress, their feline companion, hated the sight of this dreadful rain. Oh how she yearned for the clouds to drift away so she can wander around the streets, looking for something entertaining to do. She groans loudly, pawing at the window with her paws as she spoke out loud to Sage. "How long will this damn weather go by? I want to go outside. " Sage pours water into her kettle, chuckling at Mistress's anxiousness to go outside. She isn't really that much of an inside cat. She preferred to wander the streets at night, but only is allowed to do so if she promises to return back here with Sage and Cross, which she's done ever since Sage has gotten her. Sage starts to boil the water in the kettle on the stove as she replies to mistress in her calm, yet assertive tone. "Patience is key Dear, you'll be in a whole lot of trouble without that.." she paused for a bit, having a thought in her mind. "..or at least that's what i was told by my mother.." Sage decides to drop the conversation when she mentioned her mother, going back to fixing the tea.

    Cross overhears Sage, pondering for a bit to himself while grasping the book in his hands. He closed the book, setting it to the side as he clears his throat, speaking to Sage. "You know Sage, we've solved various cases here and there.. some a piece of cake whilebthe rest of them were tedious... " He gets up and walks over to the kitchen, watching her make the tea. Sage nods in agreement to his statement, smiling softly. "Despite them being tedious we did have some fun in the midst of it."

Cross rolls his eyes. "Feeding off of the convicted criminals does not count as fun my dear"

   Sage turns around folding her arms, being a tad bit annoyed at his response. "I did no such thing!" she paused for a minute, licking her lips a bit. "Well...maybe a few times... but that's not what I meant!" She grumbles to herself as Cross stays right there laughing at her "Kidding hun, no need to get so worked up over it. " he walks past her to grab two saucers and two cups for them, setting them down on the counter. "Nonetheless.... despite us solving all of those cases... theres still one I haven't figured out yet."

Sage turns back to the kettle, attending to it again. "What would that be? "

He places a hand on her shoulder, looking down to her. "What is your past like?"

   She glances up to him, hearing his question as she blinks, gulping a bit afterwards. "I... don't ." She replies sheepishly, looking back down as sighs. "Care for some tea..? " She asks, trying to change the subject. He frowns a bit at her body gestures, knowing that she lying. But then again.. she never like to talk about her past for some reason.. so getting asked this was nothing new to her. He gives off a soft grin as he rubs her shoulder, releasing her afterwards once she's calmed down. "Love some. Be sure to make it how I like it." He smiles at her before making his way back to the den, plopping himself down on his seat.

   Sage softly smiles at him back, preparing the tea for both of them and brings them over, handing Cross his and Sage sits down in a seat across from him, drinking her own tea. Cross locks eyes with Sage, smiling a bit trying to hide his sarcastic tone "Well since you don't , we'll make this a case then. We'll return back to where you used to live and investigate, digging up your past. "

Sage chokes a bit on her tea, setting the cup down as gets some air, then sucks on a sugar cube to calm down. "I-i suppose we can do that.."

"Excellent, its settled then." Cross smiles at her, finishing his tea setting the glass down on the saucer and gets up. "I'll have a carriage arranged for us." He nods, walking off to his bedroom before Sage could say anything.

   Sage sits back sighing as Mistress comes over, laying in her lap as she purrs. She pets her as Cross comes back moments later. "A carriage will come early in the morning to pick us up, you can tell the driver where exactly is your hometown." He grins at her, yawning afterwards. "I'll pack some stuff to bring on our little trip, you should do the same. Night Sage." He returns to his bedroom, getting his stuff ready and going to sleep afterwards. "Night Cross" Sage walks up to the attic with mistress, setting her down to get some of her stuff ready. "Listen mistress...."

She purrs as she smiles happily. "Yes Sage?"

Sage organizes her stuff as she glances over to her. "We're going to my hometown. Whatever you do... don't do anything out the ordinary. " Mistress frowns, twitching her ears a bit. "Why not?"

Sage hesitates to answer, being dazed off in her own thought before looking over to her once again. "You'll see... lets just get some sleep..." Sage lays down in her little coffin bed, cuddling her pillow as she yawns. Mistress watches her with a bit of worry, laying beside her as nuzzles her back gently. "Night Sage..." Mistress yawns before falling asleep. Sage acts like she already fell asleep, but just remains silent throughout the night, staring at the small necklace around her neck. She mouths out a good night, only to stay awake with her haunting thoughts throughout the night...

The bright morning started to rise, lurking through the darkest corners, letting out its nice little glow. Sage sits in the balcony, looking over some documents while she's drinking a hot dragonfruit tea, or as she likes to call it.. a dragonbreath tea. The documents would contain a few crime reports she's gotten from her previous cases with Cross as well as some little personal side notes she did. Mistress wakes up moments later, coming over and lays in Sage's lap, watching her work as she purrs softly. "You know you could be doing something more fun than reading over past memories.... like feeding me." Mistress spoke telepathically to Sage, purring softly as her tummy grumbled.

Sage chuckles a bit, setting down her tea on the saucer and pets Mistress. "I suppose... but it's nice to take a nice glimpse of the past... it makes you all the good times you had in your little adventures and what not.." Sage smiles a bit as she says that, soon dropping her little grin as she sees some little kids spying on her and mistress from a few branches up in the Sakura tree planted in front of the manor, watching her speak to her feline friend.

Despite the distance being close and their attempt to try and be sneaky, the noisy kids don't have the slightest idea as to how to whisper correctly. They'd hear the kids talking back and forth with the same ol things again and again like "oh the crazy lady talking to the cat again" or "The witch is speaking to her furry minion". Most of the townspeople view Sage as a witch due to her high intelligence and 'weird' behavior with her pet, or just a little mindless puppy that follows her 'owner' (Rumor has it being Cross)around, just standing there waiting for a command to be given to her... However this is not the case. Sage keeps herself reserved as a sassy little vampire, but doesn't reveal this form to anyone excluding Cross and a few close friends she made only to protect herself from the hunters that lurk about like complete idiots, not knowing how to do their job. But once in a while its fun to potray a submissive type of person just to watch people's ego grow quite big, then it crumbles down once she reveals her true self.

Sage nudges mistress, having her go close to the tree. Mistress rolls her eyes groaning a bit, then sits on the ledge of the balcony watching the kids closely. The kids exchanged 'whispers' questioning what mistress is going to do. Mistress focuses on the childrens eyes, soon linking into their minds as she's able to talk to them for a bit. Instead of talking normally, mistress decides to speak backwards as if she's reciting a demonic chant. She raises her paws up nonchalantly speaking random words backwords, sending chills down the children's spines as they begin to back away and move to another part of the tree. Mistress pounces on a tree branch, getting closer to them to frighten them even more when a hairball interrupts her little fun.. or so she thought. The minute she coughed up the hair ball the children jumped out of the tree and ran for their lives, thinking the hairball would come alive into some flesh eating demon and slaughter their innocent bodies.

"Still got it :joy_cat: " Mistress snickers softly as she wipes her mouth, climbing back over and stretches before returning to Sage. She lays back in her lap purring softly as she lets Sage daydream in her little memories. At least she seemed happy right there compared to last night... why mistress asked herself... she couldn't find an answer to that.

Sage seems dazed off in her thoughts when a knock on the attic door snapped her out of her little zone. Cross stood by the door wearing his normal dark attire, folding his arms as he raises a brow to Mistress and Sage . "Morning ladies, as much as it feels nice to sit back and relax our ride is awaiting us down on the ground floor." Sage gets up, nodding to him as she smiles softly. "Yeah... we should get going I'll bring my bags down come along Mistress ." She lifts up her luggage, taking it downstairs as Mistress follows. She goes out to the carriage, loading the stuff in as she takes out a small map, conversating with the driver and telling him the exact directions as to where to go. "Ay lass if thats where you and your master aiming to go I be taking yer there." The driver nods to Sage, smiling at her as she gets in the carriage, waiting for Cross.

Sage groans at the mere stereotype again, sighing softly as she mutters under her breath. 'The next time i get called a damn slave I swear to god I'll...'

Cross enters inside the carriage, already having his luggage loaded. It seemed he took quite a long time before returning to the carriage after he went to go retrieve Sage and Mistress, but eh.. no one really paid any attention to that. "You'll be doing what?"

Sage dips her head down, tapping her fingers a bit together. "Oh nothing.." Cross rolls his eyes and told the driver they're ready, and in an instant the sound of the black stallions neighing fiercely but obediently can be heard as they ride off through the morning light.

Along the trip to Sage's hometown, the ride would be quite smooth, but rather quiet. Sage would be quietly staring out the window, not speaking while Cross watches her, trying to study her unusual body language. It was quite weird for Sage to be like this he thought.. wonder whats on her mind..

He clears his throat, trying to get her attention.

Silence...

He does it again.

Silence...

He sets his palm on her knee, slowly rubbing it, knowing its one of her ticklish spots. Sage jumps up hissing as she hugs her knees, glaring at him. "You know damn well not to touch me there." Cross sighs, folding his arms. "You've been acting different and moody ever since last night, what's going on? "

Sage puts her legs down, sitting the way she was before as she shakes her head. "There's nothing wrong." Cross watches her in denial as he raises a brow, reaching into his trench coat and taking out a small paper, tossing itnto her afterwards. "I suppose there's nothing wrong with this either."

Mistress, laying in Sage's lap, catches the paper he tossed to Sage, reading it out loud. "Dear diary, its been day 29 of this bloody cat and mouse game. Can't hide anywhere... can't trust no one.. damn hunters ever"

Sage snatches the paper from mistress, frowning at Cross. "Where in gods name did you get this? This was put away. "

Cross shakes his head a bit as he glances over to her. "Not in the slightest... these were in those documents you were reading. " Sage remains silent as she hears this, frowning afterwards knowing that he read through her stuff, but who was she to blame? She was supposed to put the stuff away before she left and even if he read it.. he allowed her to stay in his manor, so anything he says goes.

"You were worrying me... now explain to me what's going with you."

   Sage hesitates a bit before staring at him. Taking a deep breath letting out her anxiety. As shes talking the carriage enters the town, letting them see the lovely sights all around.

"As you know.. I was born in this large town of Ashbourne... quite lively if I do say so myself."

     Mistress glances around at the tall buildings, purring in awe at the view. "Pretty place..."

  Sage nods as lips slowly curls up a smile as she nods. "Indeed.. these buildings are some of most memorial and recognizable things around here. That, the various markets scattered all across town and the lovely artwork and perfomances thats around here... anyway." She nods as she continues. "This being one of the grand places around here... this place has its little cons."

  Cross raises a brow, being a tad bit curious as to why would a lovely place would have cons. "Like what? "

    Sage bites her lips a bit. "This is one of the most religious places around here as well... so they really don't take quite a liking to supernatural creatures..."

    Mistress frowns as she nuzzles her stomach, trying to comfort her. Cross nods as he listens to her. "I see...go on"

   Sage continues, "I lived in a huge manor with the rest of of my family, spending my time playing chess with some of the servants, some of the children that lived around here, or perhaps my annoying brother, or just stay in my room playing my violin. It was quite fun if I do say so myself..." She sighs a bit as she looks up to the buildings ing by them. " Good times..."

   Mistress paws her belly as she smiles a bit, asking out of curiosity. "Was you a good girl in school, did you mate with anyone in the alleyways? "Before she can continue Cross clears his throat, interrupting her. "I don't think she'd wish to share her sexual life with us Mistress, Sage continue if you please. ". Being cheered up by Mistress's little weird questions, Sage giggles softly, slowly foming a smile across her face. "I was a sociable type in school, people adored me, hated me, and even some feared me. Why i may ask...? I honestly don't even know that myself..." Sage chuckles a bit as she goes on a bit about her little travels around her school life and what not, being a bit more cheerful as she told them, brightening up the mood for herself. Mistress decides to keep blabbing her little mouth, asking various questions about her such as "You ever dropped out of school?" Or just to watch Cross's flustered face when she asks if she ever had a boyfriend as nice as Cross, only for Sage to reply with a soft smile. "Me and Cross are only partners in crime when it comes to solving mysteries, and nothing more."

   Mistress snickers. "Perhaps you two be solving hard mysteries in bed too" Both Sage and Cross widened their eyes, embarrassed as they shout as Mistress in unison. "Good grief no Mistress.." they both stopped talking, only to notice they spoke at the same time as they stare at each other. There would be a good moment of silence between them two, excluding Mistress's laughter as Sage breaks the silence, scoffing a bit. "Like I said... Only partners on the job and nothing more."

    Before Cross can try and ask Sage to go on about her life the carriage stopped, and the driver speaks to them loudly, "Aye is this where you two wanted to go lass? It seems quite abandoned if i do say so myself.. " he ask Sage as he gestures to the place they stopped at. She looks out the window first as she replies "Yes it is." She steps out of the carriage, leaving Mistress and Cross there to conversate a bit as she pays the driver and he chuckles, taking the money and helping her unload the luggage from the carriage. Once they finish Cross steps out of the carriage with Mistress, holding her in his arms as he waves to the driver. "Much thanks." The driver nods as he gets back on top of the carriage, cracking the whip in the air as the stallion neighs, storming off away from them.

Sage smiles at them. "Lets get these stuff inside shall we?" Sage takes some of the luggage, walking off.

Cross sets mistress down on the ground and grabs the rest of the luggage, following Sage as he looks at the manor, being quite amazed at the lovely architecture as he smiles. "This.. this is quite lovely... you rented it out or something..? "

Sage shakes her head as she walks inside, taking out a small rusted key as she opens the door with it, stepping inside. "This my intelligent yet creepy friend of mine... used to be the Bellemare Manor.." she holds the door for him as she sets the luggage down. "Otherwise known as my old home.." the interior design would have a nice royal and elegant victorian look, giving off a nice and classy style. Cross and Mistress walks in, setting the stuff down as they smile widely. "This is beautiful Sage... but how is all this furniture still here..? Shouldn't it be gone or something..? "

Sage chuckles a bit, "Well... I'll explain later... go and have a seat in the den in the meantime" she takes all the stuff upstairs to the vacant rooms, filling them up with their stuff but of course, puts it all in a neat, organized manner.

Cross walks to the den, sitting back in a lounge chair as he sets his feet up on a foot stool. "This is quite nice, don't you think so Mistress? " she nods in agreement as she lays in his lap, purring softly.

Sage comes back down moments later to set up the fireplace, and she closes the doors as she takes a seat across from Cross and Mistress, stretching as looks out the window, watching the sun set.

The sun looked rather darker than usual when it setted, with its darkish gray clouds swirling around the now full moon that rised into the night sky. It was quite a lovely sight to see... but now that the day turned into night, Sage can speak of her little back story in the comfort of the dark. She sets up a few oil lamps to illuminate the room, then she sits back down to explain the rest.

"Despite my easy going life cause of the high wealth my family owned here... things were highly expected from me to be around the manor, such as acting all ladylike and not wearing stuff like.... this.." Sage says hesitantly as she refers to her black clothing. Mistress frowned, hearing that but smilied a bit to try and brighten the room . "Well... it still looks nice on you regardless Sage." Sage giggles softly as she continues. "Thanks hun... now where was I... oh right.. We were considered as wealthy nobles, even though we didnt have no type of crown. We considered this manor as our own little palace. We kept the place up to par, dressed elegantly all the time, had a few formal balls, owned some of the most vicious guards, and people treated us as if we were royalty. Quite fun at first but gotten real boring.. but eh.. "

Mistress purrs. "So how you let out your vampire powers, they ran in the family right?" Sage shakes her head. "No, i was born a human... i was turned into a vampire around my teenage years.." She clears her throat before continuing, talking about her family. "As much as i hate to explain my past.. I'll do it.." Cross smiles as her softly reassuring that its okay, and She returns the smile, continuing after. "So I was the eldest out of me and younger brother, so I had to take care of the 'royal' duties more than him.. he let this royalty corrupt his innocent young mind, thinking that he had the world right at his hand. But aside from his obnoxious, silly behavior around me, he was still a good kid to me... and played with me when there was no one else to conversate with... I never saw my father unfortunately... he was out and about doing business trips untill the poor lad got himself caught in some devils lies alongside a prostitute that seduced him, thus taking his life in the midst of it.." Before she goes on about her mother... she stops out of no where, letting the soft sounds of the flames crackling in the fireplace fill the room, having Cross break the silence. "Are you alright...?"

"Never better..." Sage nods to him as she takes a deep breath, huffing out afterwards. "Now then... my mother.... she was the towns 'Queen' around here. They respected her, did her every command, and some even feared her. They known her as a lovely and caring woman... but even those innocent looks can deceive you... she attacks like a scorpion... blending herself in with the innocence of being a respected individual... then picks out certain targets and have them suffer.." Sage chuckles in a bit of a awkward tone. "Ever since Father ed... she's been highly aggressive... she's been more strict on us, to the servants.. and even to the townspeople, having them rule under her command... her blinded rage over her beloved loss kept everyone in a strict monarchy... quite terrible to witness it... I tried to speak with my mother about softening up to the people but all i got was a rather rude comments thrown back to me or perhaps when she'd get real angry... abuse me.."

Cross frowns. "Im sorry to hear that..." Sage only nods in response. "Its fine...I'll finish. Me and my brother decided to play outside in the night to avoid my mothers constant nagging about wandering off to play. So while we played... we had a rather unexpected guest us..."

Mistress tilts her head. "What did you see? " Sage scratches the back of her head. "A vampire stalked us and when we were in our secluded playing spot... right when we were vulnerable... he captured us both and took us hostage as he examined our little frightened bodies... dear lord it was awful.. here i am thinking that'll he'll make up into blood sucking demons in one little bite. But this wasn't the case.. he had a syringe of his blood contained in there, wanting to experiment on the both of us to see if mere children can experience the full transformation of a vampire...."

Mistress gasps. "Oh my... what happened.."

"He inserted both into us, just sitting back and watching. Minute it was inserted it felt like a cold and slimy parasite slithering into you, transforming you..... ugh..." Sage pauses for a bit, then continues. "After moments of jittering.... I actually survived the dose... my brother however... didn't. The vampire saw that it was successful in one of us, soon feeding on his corpse. I didn't want to leave... but i had to go tell my mother... so I ran... when I got back home my mother saw my new form.. instantly thinking that I killed my own brother, and im now worshipping the devil with my demonic ways... she saw me as a disgrace and wanted to execute me... but i fled from there as well... to watch the people you once loved tear away from you... it was awful..."

Cross raises a brow. "How did you live up to now..?"

"I tried working in a few cafes and tried living with friends... but because of my new hunger... I accidentally killed them as well... "

He nods his head. "The life of a vampire is always a lonely one, or thats what they say.."

She nods." Quite... if only I could turn back time when I wasn't like this...."

A womans voice interrupted her as she stood in the door, she looked much like Sage but the makeup gave her a more attractive look. "Back when you wasn't a disgrace to the damn family..... you deserve to die deary..." she takes out a revolver as she aims it towards Sage. "And thats whats going to be done.... "

Sage widens her eyes as she sees her mother standing at the door unexpectedly, then aiming the weapon at her. "Mother for Christ's Sake no! "

The gun was shot... but as to if it hit Sageor not.... no one truely knows...

#TeamTheme

(Sorry for fucked up cliffhanger but nailed it xD)