Princess Sophia Strongshield regarded the gates of Pinefold Manor with a mix of apprehension and excitement. The manor had stood abandoned for a century - as long as she could remember, really - after the dreadful events of what had come to be known as the Day of Wrath. A conclave of Hunters and Huntresses, heads filled with anti-vampire rhetoric, had swarmed the manor, staking all who stood in their path. They had been brought to justice, of course - every power neighboring Lord Pinefold’s lands had brought the hammer down upon them - but what was done was done, and the grand old building had been left to rot, with none able to claim it for their own.

And then, a few months ago, another Huntress had shown up. Lady Charlotte Pinefold, as she was now known, had entered the manor, attempting to make amends for her violent precursors, and had against all odds been claimed by the building as its new mistress. She’d had to spend some time re-establishing her claim to the lands, as well as acquiring new servants and fixing up the decaying structure, but now she was ready to forge relations with the local monarchs. Which was why Sophia was here, on her first diplomatic mission. She was dressed as the princess she was - a deep purple dress, with sky-blue highlights, the colours of her house, a simple silver tiara atop her light brown curls. Her guard had announced her presence to the staff - she couldn’t really call them “soldiers”, as they were barely trained, not that such a highly magically-imbued property would really need a military presence for its defence anyway - at the gate, and now they were waiting for someone to admit them.

After not too intolerable of a wait, Sophia spotted the door to the building itself being pushed open, and a pair of figures emerged. As they made their way towards the gate, she realised that this was Lady Charlotte herself, along with an aide. The Lady cut a striking figure. The former human’s skin was pale white, stark against her dark red hair - despite the cliché, Sophia mentally compared it to the colour of blood. Intriguingly, Lady Charlotte was wearing men’s clothes: a dark green jacket over a white shirt, and brown pants. The clothes were just tight enough that the princess could make out the form of her muscles beneath them, well developed after many years “hunting out evil, wherever it may lie,” as the Hunters’ motto went. Sophia went slightly weak at the knees beholding her - she cut a very striking figure. She had generously agreed to meet the delegation just after lunch-time, and so the Sun was out in full force. As such, she was sheltering under a parasol carried by the woman accompanying her. While sunlight wasn’t as directly fatal to vampires as some believed, it was certainly not conducive to their functioning, weakening their magic and their bodies, and then setting them aflame as the stereotype went after prolonged exposure. As the pair drew closer, Sophia realised that the lady’s aide was an elf - a slight one, with dark skin and close-cropped hair. They were exchanging quiet words, although Sophia was fairly sure this was technically unnecessary: the elf was almost certainly one of Lady Charlotte’s thralls, and thus would have a direct telepathic link to her.

When they reached the gate, Lady Charlotte took the parasol from the elf, gesturing for her to unlock the gates. Once they were open, Sophia was beckoned forward, and she proffered a hand in greeting. The vampire took it, bowing to her as the princess dipped into a slight curtsey.

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady Pinefold,” she said, trying to quell the fluttering in her heart. If the vampire noticed, she gave no indication of it.

“And yours, Your Majesty,” she murmured. “May I introduce Nala, the head of my household. She will see to it that you and your guards are brought to your rooms. My apologies for the slightly shabby state of the mansion - we have had more pressing issues to attend to than absolute cleanliness, but I trust Your Majesty would rather a less-than-perfectly clean room than one which is threatening to collapse in on itself.” From the tone of her voice when she said “we”, it seemed as though she genuinely meant it - like she had actually been pitching in, rather than letting her staff do all the work.

Sophia smiled at her. “I am sure it will be fine, Lady Pinefold. Please - lead on.”

The small party proceeded up the path, the vampire turning to the princess. “If Your Majesty is willing, I have no need for formalities. Please - call me Charlotte.”

“Only if you are willing to call me Sophia.”

“Very well.” She allowed some of the façade to drop, revealing a more genuinely pleasant demeanour. “Genuinely, I am very pleased that you were willing to meet with me so soon. I am rather in need of allies, and as I understand it, your father was always a steadfast supporter of the late Lord. I am glad he is willing to extend the same allowance to me.”

“Of course. I will admit, this meeting is just as much about assessing you as it is about renegotiating treaties. However, both my father and I are confident that, if the mansion itself chose you as you claim, that you will be a worthy successor to Lord Edgar.”

The vampire smiled in response to the compliment. “I will take that as high praise. I shall do my best, I promise.”

They reached the house itself, and Charlotte split off from the party, confirming with Sophia that she was still ready to meet for discussions after an hour. Nala directed them to their rooms, where they would be spending the night - it had taken them more than half a day to travel from the elven capital of Great Falls, and the negotiations would likely take some time. As was always the case when someone apologised for the state of their house, the rooms were far less messy than Charlotte had worried - if she hadn’t brought it up, Sophia would not have thought anything of it. As it was, she could perhaps see more dust and wear-and-tear than usual, but certainly nothing to complain about, especially given the circumstances. Sophia ran over the plans as she waited. This was her chance to prove herself as a diplomat, and she was not about to screw it up, no matter how beautiful the Lady was. Even if thoughts of what she could do to her had consumed her each night for the past week…

The actual diplomatic meeting, when it came round to it, went smoothly. Sophia managed to avoid stress-eating all the provided refreshments, and generally conducted herself with the deportment expected of someone of her station. She didn’t go so far as to think her performance perfect, but she believed she had done her father proud. Charlotte, for her part, seemed more overtly nervous, but handled the negotiations well - certainly far better than Sophia would have expected for someone who had only become a Lady this past winter. She made an off-handed comment to this effect, and the vampire attributed it to having to make peace between different squabbling factions in her former capacity as a Huntress. Both were also likely helped by the fact that really, all they had to do was re-sign the old treaties that had previously existed between the polities during Edgar’s undeath, but which had lapsed in the interim or could do with being reaffirmed: boring but crucial stuff like trade, law enforcement, military protection, and so on, as well as making clear the expectation of how Charlotte would conduct herself as a vampire.

Once the final treaty was signed, the pair of women shook hands, both feeling as though they had come out of the negotiations well. Charlotte allowed herself to smile fully, showing off her gleaming fangs.

“Well, I am glad that that’s over with. I hope we can maintain this cordial relationship for as long as I am Lady of this house.”

“In- indeed,” Sophia stammered, struck once more by the vampire’s beauty.

“So, if there are no other matters to attend to, I believe I shall see you at dinner.”

Struck by a sudden wave of impulsiveness, Sophia blurted out, “A-actually, there is one- one other thing I wanted to discuss.”

“Really? What is it? I don’t believe I’ve missed any papers to sign…”

“N-no, it’s nothing like that… I want you to bite me.”