Venatores Noctis: Adoption Through Blood: Chapter 1 – Oil and Water

Chapter 1 – Oil and Water

“The fall of the Aurora family is at hand!” the vampire gods say as they lead their forces into the last Aurora stronghold.

Siege weapons and sheer numbers overwhelm those loyal to the Aurora family until the gates of the castle are breached.

“Remember, children of God, that no matter what happens, God has the final victory!” the leader of the Aurora family says with the family’s whip held high.

The soldiers are stirred by these mere words and fight to the death against the forces of sin. None are left standing save for the last two Auroras one of which being the leader and the next being his daughter who are both held up in the chapel of the castle. Injured and knowing that his death is near, the leader gives his daughter the family’s whip.

“What are you giving me this for?” the daughter asks.

“You will uphold the Aurora family legacy. I, on the other hand, will see God face to face soon. I’m sure your mother and my parents are eager to see me,” the father says.

“What are you talking about? We’re both going together.”

“No, I can already see God’s plan for you. Don’t get yourself killed and uphold Aurora’s family legacy and led mankind to Heaven.” At this moment, the doors of the chapel are broken. “For the glory of God!”

With a blessed greatsword in hand, the father takes as many serfs and vampires down before he is killed. His daughter is unable to prevent his death even with her skill and the family’s whip. One of the serfs then enters the room and gets the others to back off. This serf has a mask on his mouth, pale skin like that of a vampire with brown and black spots, scars all over his body, and hairy arms and legs like that of a wolfman.

Seeing his want to fight her one on one, she says, “It doesn’t matter who wants to die first. You’ll all die the same.”

The last Aurora attacks the serf only for him to catch the whip and take it from her hands. With no other blessed weapons available, she whispers a short prayer to God to make her His weapon before resuming the fight with her fists, however, she is soon defeated and restrained by the serf.

“Don’t resist anymore and I’ll get you out of this,” the serf quickly whispers in her ear before throwing her over his shoulders.

All the serfs and vampires cheer for the serf who defeated the last Aurora. In celebration, they take whatever valuables they can find and destroy the rest. Outside, the vampire gods congratulate the serf on his accomplishment.

“Another great accomplishment, Evan. Now, what do you want as your reward?” a vampire god asks.

“I’ll have her and her weapon as my reward,” Evan answers.

“You’ll never have me be anything for you! I’ll make sure you all feel the fear of God-”

The serf knocks out the last Aurora. When she wakes up, she finds herself in a dark castle and strapped to a bed. Fearing the worse, she struggles and tries biting her restraints off.

“Stop it. You aren’t going to get out of this without my help,” the serf says as he stops her from moving.

“I’m not helping anyone who is a willing serf of the vampires, especially since you killed my family!” the Aurora says.

“You have no other choice if you want to live up to your family’s legacy, Loretta Aurora. My serfs and I will make sure the vampires pay for everything that they’ve done. We’ll do our penance for what we did to your family and you later.”

“Who even are you?”

“Evan Meridies.”

“And why should I trust that your plan is going to work when you do evil for good?”

“You have no other choice and God has given you over to me just as I had hoped.”

“What does a vampire serving slave like you know about God?”

“I know that God doesn’t always answer our prayers in the way that we want. For example, my children were used as sacrifices for the vampires’ blasphemous baptisms, but even then, my wife and I didn’t give in to despair. We prayed for justice as the vampires tried to break us with back breaking work and by experimenting on us. My wife then offered herself up to the vampires when the work got to me so I wouldn’t be punished. They had their way with her in such disgusting ways that eventually made her not want to suffer anymore for my sake.”

As Evan tells the story, he backs off of Loretta who, in turn, begins to relax while also keeping her guard up.

He continues while looking out the window and trying to control his emotions, “They then killed her, cut off her face to show me her horrified expression, then laughed. They thought they made me give in to despair, but I didn’t. I prayed for justice again and was compelled to rip out the throat of the vampire in front of me with my bare teeth, and believe it or not, I succeeded. That’s why I have this mask on me.”

“I find it extremely hard to believe. The only thing that can kill vampires are blessed weapons, and on rarer occasions, people’s bodies who are blessed by God like my ancestors and the Corpus who still have souls free from mortal sin before they became a vampire. From what I’m seeing, you seem to be none of the above.”

“And yet, here I am in this exquisite room that no normal serf would be given. You must trust me with my plan and follow everything that I say. That display of defiance that you showed the gods would’ve been reason enough for them to take you from me. They prefer if their toys put up a fight.”

“Then put up a fight I shall until my dying breath.”

“What will that accomplish?”

“It doesn’t have to accomplish anything. I don’t care even if I’m remembered for my deeds. All that matters is that I do what’s right.”

“That’s very brave of you to say. Many people like you have been broken, become slaves to the vampires, and went on suicide missions for nothing. Their deaths only made people fear the vampires more and your death will be used to instill a deeper fear into the world with the last Aurora dying. Actually, you’d probably be hung from this castle like a trophy while you’re still alive. If you know so much about serving God, then you should be thinking of the right decision to make rather than the one that sounds most heroic.”

Loretta considers what Evan says plus what her father told her.

“Tch, I hate to admit it, but you’re probably right.”

“Thank you.”

“But you have to tell me your plan before I completely commit to it.”

“Understandable. I want you to fight alongside my serfs and also be our go between with the Church.”

Evan frees Loretta from her restraints.

“What makes you think the Church will help us? They didn’t send us any aid during our time of need. Instead, only the most faithful to God came to help.”

“That’s the real Church we’re aiming to have you help us with.”

“Still, we aren’t on the best terms with them because of what my ancestor, Saint Ivy, did generations ago.”

“It’s true that they’re afraid of your family. They don’t know if you’ll burn the world to ash like Saint Ivy did and restart generations of civilizations to square one, but those who know that the burning was something holy are who we’re after however small of a group they are. We need as much help as we can get.”

“They’ll still be wary of you serfs and what you did and still doing.”

“With you, our chances will increase. Plus, we’ll have plenty of time to do penance in their presence to prove that we’re honest about our repentance.”

“How will you do that here? You’re still under the vampires’ service.”

“Not for long. We’ll be killing a particular group of gods that will put us in the favor of another group that wants them dead. This will allow us the freedom to leave.”

“They’ll just let you leave and not want you in their service?”

“Of course. It’s a free world to them after all. They’ll especially like it if we play hard to get, which I told you they like the most.”

“They’ll come after us then.”

“But they’ll give us enough time to escape before they come after us. It’s all a game to them. The Church is hardly any competition to them with the meager amount of the world they control. It wouldn’t surprise me if they let the Church have any sort of territory so they have something else to fight when they aren’t fighting each other.”

“Okay, I’ll help you, but if you make me do anything sinful, I won’t.”

“Trust me. You’ll do nothing sinful and if you think you will, then you are free to not participate, but you cannot get in the way of our plans. So, we have a deal?”

“Fine.” Evan then hands Loretta her family’s whip and puts a few blessed daggers on his belt. “I’m surprised they let you keep my whip.”

“It’s not as powerful ever since it was destroyed.”

“But it still holds a lot of power being the whip that whipped the back of Christ combined with pieces of his cross and a whip used by an order of blind penitential priests.”

“That’s why I’m giving it to you. Now, let’s get to work.”

Loretta and Evan leave his room. Outside of the room are several serfs. Some are standing guard while others are doing chores such as carrying goods to and from places and cleaning everything from the floors to the table and crystal decorations of the castle. Evan nods towards the serfs who whisper and nod to each other to enact their plan. As they go through the castle, certain vampires and other serfs are killed, without a sound, and prisoners both in cells and the ones used as decorations are freed. Seeing this elaborate plan play out impresses Loretta who sees this as if it was a bunch of dominos falling down leading to a part where a group of serfs attack and kill three vampire gods with their blessed weapons leaving the last two to Loretta and Evan who quickly dispose of the distracted gods.

“Well done. It looks like you didn’t need my help at all,” Loretta compliments.

“Killing two vampire gods is easier with multiple people rather than fewer. Wouldn’t want them using their abilities to weaken my mind to the things that tempt me the most,” Evan says.

“That was good work. I can see that your reputation doesn’t do you justice, Evan,” a vampire god says while clapping and entering the room.

This vampire god is led by a few serfs along with other vampire lords with them.

“Now that you’ve witnessed our strength, you know to honor our wish to be left alone,” Evan says.

“I’ll let you have your freedom. You serfs have proven yourselves to be as good as any vampire god or lord that I know, however, there is one thing that I wished-”

“I already know what it is. Bring them out.”

Evan motions towards the serfs in the back who bring the limbless yet still alive bodies of vampire gods to the ones they’re talking to.

“Like I said. Your reputation doesn’t do you justice. If you ever get the thought to serve or ally yourself with us, do not hesitate to reach out at any moment. We will be waiting with luxuries and open arms,” the god says while poisoning his words with temptations that cloud the minds of the serfs and Evan.

In response, Evan and the serfs cross themselves to subdue the power of the gods.

“We respectfully decline your offer,” Evan says before leaving the room with everyone else.

After getting some distance from the vampires, Loretta asks Evan, “Did you really have to give those wretched creatures the armless and legless bodies of their peers?”

“I did to both get on their good side and show them what would happen to them if they chose to attack us. Besides, the vampires are all hellbound anyway so there’s no such thing as being too cruel to the damned fools.”

Loretta can’t help but silently agree with Evan. Together, with the other serfs allied with Evan, they pack up whatever they can take. Several wagons leave the castle, however, Evan chooses to stay to do one last thing.

Evan tells Loretta, “We’re going to hurt their production of sacrificial baptized infants before we go.”

“We are? Won’t that get them mad at us?” Loretta asks.

“Yes, but sometimes the right thing to do doesn’t always seem like the smartest.”

“This is a pleasant surprise coming from you.”

“I know better than most the horrors of the blasphemous baptisms since I witnessed it happening with my own children.”

“I’m sorry that it happened to you.”

“There’s no need to dwell on it. The constant reminders of it in my head are enough. Let’s go.”

Loretta and Evan then approach the facility where the infants are produced for the blasphemous baptisms. Several serfs guard the area from the ground and higher floors. Even the area around the facility is watched from the buildings surrounding it, however, these defenses are being slowly picked at by Evan’s serfs.

“You planned this out as well? Who am I kidding? Of course you did,” Loretta says.

“This has been one of my main targets ever since I got here,” Evan says.

“So, what have you planned for us to do? Are we doing the same thing as your serfs are?”

“No, they have their own goals. We’ll break through the entrance with force and tear through the guards.”

“It’s a simple plan. I like it.”

“I knew you would. Well? Let’s get to it.”

Together, Loretta and Evan assault the facility. They back each other up in a way that almost makes them seem as if they were a team since their youth. Evan uses his blessed daggers to eliminate enemies from far away while his fists blow massive holes into the ones he gets close to and his beast-like speed allows him to quickly close distances and silence all who try to raise the alarm. Loretta may not have Evan’s inhuman speed, but her experience in killing the forces of sin and her family’s whip allows her to take out many of her enemies as well.

“And here I was expecting to do most of the work,” Evan says.

“What made you think that? I am an Aurora after all,” Loretta says.

“Nothing made me think anything. You met my expectations. Even exceeded them a bit. Did your guardian angel help you?”

“Yes, as the guardian angels do for my family in combat.”

“Good. Maybe yours can teach mine how to fight to help me.”

“The most important thing that our guardian angels do is help us be faithful to God. Helping my family in combat is secondary. Anyways, how are we going to get all the infants out of here?”

“We’re destroying this facility.”

“Yes, but what getting the infants out of here?”

“I said how. The facility’s destruction will grant them a quick death.”

“What?! You can’t do that!”

“Why not? It’s the most merciful fate for them.”

“But it’s not the right one. It’s never the right choice to kill an innocent.”

“Then what would you have us do? Take them with us out of the city? If we do that, the vampires will be after us since we have something of incredible value to them since there are very few Catholic priests who can validly baptize. In addition, the few priests there are will be in more danger since they would be sought after more. They’ll also try invalidly baptizing and killing children to make more vampires to no avail. You don’t know people’s desperation to become a vampire. You don’t know the true horrors of witnessing an innocent infant’s throat being cut and their still beating heart being torn out of their bodies and their blood being spilled on a wretch who embraces it all. Trust me when I say that I don’t like this as much as you do and that this is for the best.”

“This isn’t for the best. It’s not even the best option for our safety.”

“They already know that we’re strong and destroying this highly guarded and important facility is going the extra mile to solidify it.”

“You’re valuing the vampire’s perception about us over the lives of the innocent. How can you not see that doing this is an inexcusably evil deed?”

“Because I’m thinking of this logically while you’re thinking about this on what’s the most heroic option.”

“I can’t let you do this.”

“I didn’t say you had to help me with it or had a choice in its destruction.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“I just needed your help in clearing out the serfs and vampires who wouldn’t be killed by the destruction of the facility.”

Explosions rock the facility and begin to make the ceiling fall on them.

“You made your serfs do this didn’t you?!”

“Yes, now, we have to leave.”

“No! I’m saving as many infants as I can!”

Loretta leaps and climbs her way down to where the infants are.

“Stop! You won’t be able to make it out in time!”

“I don’t care as long as I save at least one child. Just leave me be. I’m only a pawn in your scheme after all.”

Despite what Loretta says, Evan does his best to save her from the falling debris by swatting it away with his extreme strength and helping her save a few of the infants. The debris then almost falls on them, but a golden light saves them, which Loretta sees to be her guardian angel. Her angel’s body is made of swords, daggers, and axes with wings made of bows and arms made of spears, and at this moment, is visible to Evan. In the aftermath, the same golden light protects the other infants in the facility much to Evan’s amazement.

“What? How? What’s this golden light?” Evan says.

“It’s the light of their guardian angels that protect them and that protect us. If it wasn’t obvious before, it is obvious now that we should be saving these infants,” Loretta says.

Evan takes a look at and picks up one of the infants who begins crying. This reminds him of what happened to his children with a voice in his head accusing him of being like those who killed his children. He is visibly distressed as he puts the infant back down so I can hold his head and squeeze it as if that’ll get rid of his conscience. His serfs then come to him seeing that the plan went wrong.

One of them asks, “Sir, what should we do?”

“What do you think we should do?” Evan snaps at the serf before regaining his composure, “Grab whatever wagons we have and put the children on them.”

“Sir, we might not be able to fit all of them.”

“Then I’ll follow you from behind. Get Loretta on the wagon too. She proved me wrong and will protect you if any trouble comes our way, which it should be soon.”

Seeing that something has changed in Evan, causes Loretta to see him differently and stand motionless before helping the serfs get the infants from the rubble. Several wagons full of infants manage to leave the area with no trouble, however, the last three are caught by an incoming group of bloodthirsty group of vampires and their beastmen serfs.

“Get out of here! I’ll keep them occupied and catch up with you!” Evan says.

“But sir-”

“I must do this penance for my sins now go!”

Evan’s willingness to delay the enemy makes him appear to be a different man in the eyes of Loretta.

“You heard him! Let’s hurry!” Loretta says to the hesitant serfs.

Loretta keeps her eyes on Evan who fights off the hordes of beasts and vampires until she has to pay attention to the threats approaching her. She swings her whip around to tear through many of her enemies some of which leap from the rooftops to try to get the drop on her but are caught up in her attack instead. Many more approach from all directions until Loretta cannot fight alone. This is when her guardian angel and the other serfs lend a hand until the corpses of their enemies lay around them and they manage to make their way out of the city. Loretta looks out into the distance hoping to see Evan. At first, she thinks that her imagination is playing with her. That is until she more clearly sees him in the distance quickly approaching.

Weirdly elated by this, Loretta smiles before rubbing it off her face. Evan jumps onto the wagon in a way that doesn’t make it sway or disturb the now sleeping infants.

“You’re back-!” Loretta says before seeing his injuries, “You’re-”

“I’m fine. The experiments that were done on me allows me to heal quickly. There’s no need to worry about me. Besides, this will do in paying for some of my sins.”

“Still…You need to be alive and able to continue your penance and you still have your fellow serfs to worry about. I can’t lead them myself.”

“You’re right. Thank you for your concern. Allow me a moment to rest.”

“Yes, of course.”

Loretta sits near Evan as they two rest from the hectic events of the night despite knowing that the vampires and their slaves are planning to go after them.