Soulless Men and Vanities: Chapter 3 – Hunting the Dead

Chapter 3 – Hunting the Dead

Two vampires and their serfs pick over the remains of a small settlement that most except for the few people that live near it know about.

“You thought you could escape without paying your just dues to us. You thought wrong,” one vampire says.

They decapitate their prey and make the heads of their prey into necklaces that they put around their necks and the necks of their serfs as if they were medals of honor and use the leftover body parts as decorations and warnings to those who chose to act like these people. The sound of horses coming to the town stops the vampires and their serfs from doing anything else as they eagerly await more prey, however, they are disappointed to see two horses without their riders entering the town. Being distracted by the horses costs them their lives as Rinaldo and Raven kill them from behind.

“The allure of prey is too much for them to resist. This is also the fate of faithless places and the places that are losing faith in God,” Rinaldo says.

“Is the Church’s army still the largest and strongest in the land?” Raven asks.

“The vampires wouldn’t be in control if it was. In fact, the Church’s army can only defend Rome, their supply convoys, and their small scale attacks on vampire controlled towns, and force isn’t the vampires’ primary way of taking over. It’s through their influence. This is why they were able to take over most of the world in five years.”

“Then to get rid of them all will take multiple faithful generations, which sounds impossible.”

“That seems to be so.”

“Perhaps, this is why you’ve been given the temporary immortality of a vampire. Maybe you’re going to be the leader of these future generations. You were a great father after all.”

“Were is the keyword there. I still feel guilty for not being able to save my family.”

“You still have your son, me, and the other members of the Church to look after. There are still people on this earth who are worth protecting.”

“You’re right.”

“We should go. It doesn’t look like there’s anyone left here that would know about the Corpus.”

Rinaldo and Raven leave the ruined town and make their way to another one. This one appears to be abandoned with signs that people are definitely here.

“Hello!” Raven calls out, “Is anyone here? You have nothing to be afraid of. We are holy men and I am not your typical vampire.”

“And we are not your typical villagers. Leave now. This village is cursed by the vampires,” a voice says from the dark.

“Let us help you then. In return, we only ask for information to find the Corpus.”

Men with the bodies of snakes, apes, wolves, other animals step out of the dark. Other men and women step out as well. These more normal looking people have the crests of their former vampire masters on them and scars of abuse and experimentation.

“You people are serfs?” Rinaldo asks.

“We are no longer serfs. We either managed to escape our slavers or managed to survive them throwing us away and ending up here. We aren’t welcome anywhere else because of our past.”

“You can go to Horizon. Serfs are welcome there as long as you are repentant.”

“Horizon? That city is under the control of powerful vampire lords.”

“It was but we freed it. Now it is a sanctuary for the faithful including serfs like you. Tell them that Rinaldo and Raven sent you for extra insurance if you don’t think they’ll accept you.”

“Raven and Rinaldo. Ah, I see. I knew you too looked familiar. You two are also the talk of the local vampires who are planning to take your heads to gain more wealth and power than they already have. You best leave this area for your own safety.”

“That’s not going to happen. You said that this place is cursed and I plan to help you purify it,” Raven says.

“I was speaking figuratively. We are cursed with these appearances and the area has a few resting checkpoints for the vampires that force us to hide while they pillage the surrounding area and our homes if they come across here.”

“Resting checkpoints?”

“The vampires sustain themselves with sin because their rotten souls are slaves to it. In addition, if they go too long without blood, their skin begins to rot and fall off their bodies. This is why they have many checkpoints across the land where they can indulge in whatever sin they find themselves unable to resist. I said they are pitiable creatures if they weren’t the reason for their soul’s enslavement.”

“We’ll eliminate whatever checkpoints they have and draw their attention to us so you can live in peace here or join Horizon. In exchange, we only ask for more information about the Corpus.”

“That sounds like a fair trade, but are you sure you can handle such large numbers one after the other? The Corpus are rumored to be able to handle entire bands of vampires singlehandedly and win without even being fazed by being injured. I say rumored because I've never seen one in battle.”

“We can handle it, but if you want to join, you’re free to join the assault.”

“Hmm. We’ll consider it after watching your abilities in battle.”

“That’s fair. Let’s show them what the knights of the Church can do, Rinaldo.”

After being told by the serfs the locations of the checkpoints, Rinaldo and Raven scout them out before attacking. The checkpoints are more lavish than they originally thought. These spots are mini-vacation spots as well as a place where the vampires can partake in the blasphemous sacraments. Here women who are forced to bear children for the vampire’s baptism are raped by serfs since vampires aren’t able to conceive children and priests are forced to baptize the infants for the sacrifice. The children that grow up before they can be sacrificed are either turned into serfs, become sacrifices for a different sacrament, or turned into blood slaves for the vampire’s nourishment.

Seeing this alone sets off something in Raven causing him to immediately attack the vampires and their serfs and tear them to shreds. Rinaldo only manages to pick off those who are fleeing the fight since most of the attention is on Raven who has no problem fighting on his own. Soon, the checkpoint is empty of sinners and freed of its slaves.

“You work as fast as always,” Rinaldo says.

“I have a purpose and my targets. There's nothing more than a reaper of the Lord needs to know,” Raven says.

“Reaper of the Lord? I’m surprised you remember that title we had for our squad.”

“I remember more of my life than I expect. Perhaps, it’s a benefit or curse of being dead. I remember every happy memory and sin that I’ve committed as if it all happened yesterday. Anyways, we should get rid of the next checkpoint. Knowing what is happening in them is making my blood boil like a sinner in the depths of Hell.”

The two head to the next checkpoint and scout it out again before attacking, but while scouting, Raven overhears the slaves how they love this life of pleasure and slavery. What especially gets Raven mad is the women that don’t mind being used as baby factories nor do the men mind being used by both the female and male vampires as long as they get paid in pleasure and money. This pushes Raven into action as he begins to kill not only the vampires and their serfs but also the willing slaves who have subjected themselves to evil. He even kills a pregnant woman by slamming the face of one man into hers so both are crushed into the ground together. Seeing this in the distance, Rinaldo quickly ends his fight so he can run over to the woman and cuts open her pregnant belly to find that the baby is miraculously alive.

“What’s wrong with you? Do you not realize that some of these women are still pregnant?” Rinaldo says.

“I…I…can’t control…” Raven struggles to say as he is still shaking from his anger.

Several serfs that have feigned repentance ambush the two with their dead masters’ weapons, which forces Rinaldo and Raven to fight back.

“Why are you doing this? Your masters are dead and you are free!” Rinaldo asks.

“They gave us the life we wanted! They gave us riches and pleasures beyond our imagination while God only gave us pain and misery! I’ll kill you for killing them and find another master to serve!” the delusional serf responds.

Rinaldo is then forced to either kill the serfs who refuse to be taken prisoner or run away. Raven has no problem killing the serfs even the pregnant women. Again, Rinaldo tries to save the infants and finds that he is unable to save some of them and has to baptize the dead ones to save their souls from Limbo.

“Raven! Have you lost your sense?” Rinaldo says.

“I…I don’t feel like I’m always in control of myself,” Raven admits before saying, “Why should I have mercy on this scum anyway? The infants will go to Limbo then Heaven anyway if they die, which is a fate better than living in this vampire infested world.”

“You should know that you should still give them a chance at life. God only knows what purpose He has for them. Why are you even saying these things? I know you know to do better than this.”

“I’m sorry. I…I don’t know.”

“He’s a vampire. He doesn’t have any control of his actions,” one of the repentant serfs that Raven and Rinaldo are helping says as they come in, “Or at least that’s what the Corpus told us.”

“We haven’t cleared out all the checkpoints around your home yet. You don’t need to reward us with information about them yet,” Rinaldo says.

“You have done enough to show us your conviction. Raven, the Corpus that we’ve met had the same problems that you have. Currently, they reside in a cave in the largest mountain in this region, which is not too far from where you met us. The only conclusion they came to about their condition was that they were dead and they were subject to the current state of their soul and the will of God. Concern yourself solely with finding them and your purpose afterward if you can. As for us beastmen and sinners, we will do our penance by bringing the infants, repentant serfs, and slaves you saved to Horizon and helping where we can there. Farewell, knights of the Church.”

The beastmen and serfs head off in the direction of Horizon as Raven heads in the direction of the Corpus.

“Wait,” Rinaldo says.

“What? I want to find out the reason why I’m like this and I can’t stop myself from moving forward. Please, Rinaldo, you must believe me,” Raven says.

“I guess it makes sense that you can’t control yourself like how the other vampires can’t help but indulge in sin and you’re still my brother, so I’ll believe you. Let’s confirm this truth with the Corpus and find out what the Lord has in store for you.”

“Thank you, brother.”

Rinaldo and Raven take their horses to the mountains while spies for the vampires head back with this information for their masters in the hopes that something will be done about them.