Chapter
2 – Master Slaves
Unbeknownst to Loretta and Evan,
they have fallen asleep on one another. The other serfs who see this leave them
alone and either assume that this was by mistake or a hint by God of their
future together. It isn’t until they wake up do they separate and apologize to
each other at the same time. They look into each other’s eyes for an awkward
amount of time before apologizing again and looking away. Their heads then
begin to feel light as they hear silent tempting whispers. Evan knows what this
is while Loretta is less familiar.
“The vampire devils are near,” Evan
says to a serf.
“Vampire devils?” Loretta asks.
“Sinners who tried becoming vampire
gods by sinning as much as they could, but they were struck down by God before
the blasphemous baptism could be completed on them.”
“So they’re scummier than the
typical trash. They’ll die and go to Hell all the same.”
“But you must be careful with these
ones. They attack you mentally and spiritually, and the way they fight physically
is unnatural.”
“Unnatural how?”
“Like that of a demon. We need to
hold these things off.” Evan turns to his serfs. “Loretta and I will meet up
with you in the Church’s territory.”
“You can’t keep sacrificing yourself
for us, sir. Let us help you.”
“I have Loretta with me and we’re
not that far from the border. Besides, I need you all to protect the infants.
Even if the Church is put off by you being serfs, they’ll have to accept you in
because of the infants. Trust me with this.”
“Sir, we trust you with our lives.
Send those demons back to Hell.”
“Gladly.”
Evan and Loretta jump off the wagon and then stand back to back while peering into the dark on high alert. They feel and
hear the dark whispers from the demons getting louder and more oppressive as
the creatures near them until a deafening silence tempts them with what weakens
them the most.
“You’re a failure of a father for
what you’ve done. You’ve completely lost yourself,” a voice says to Evan.
“You let your entire family down.
The Church and the world will be lost because of you,” another voice whispers
to Loretta.
“Don’t listen to them, Loretta! Watch
out for them!” Evan says.
“I know, I know,” Loretta says.
Images of what happened to her
father, her family, and their supporters enter Loretta’s head. At the same
time, Evan sees images of his dead family and reminders of morally questionable
decisions. Managing to snap out of his delusion before Loretta, Evan swats away
the incoming devils and wakes Loretta up by shaking her. It is then that Loretta
sees what a vampire devil looks like. They appear to be the mangled and somehow
living bodies of people with bones jutting out of their bodies in unnatural ways
with two bones jutting out at their shoulders as if they were a demon’s horns. There
is also a face in the chest or the lower areas of their bodies that smile
and stretch in ways that tear the flesh from its own body. Their heads hang
uselessly from the back of the devil while having horrified expressions on
them, and if listened to closely, the screams of a soul burning in Hell can be
heard.
Loretta snaps to attention and uses
her whip quickly to defeat more devils that throw themselves at them. If she was
honest with herself, Loretta would say that she was acting out of fear, but
this time, it works out in her favor since the devils move faster than the
vampires she’s used to. Having a moment to rest, the two, collect themselves
before running after the wagon while also keeping an eye out for more enemies.
“That was something else. Those
really were devils.”
“I know. They’re the most dangerous
kind of vampire to fight to my knowledge second only to the vampire gods.”
“I thought the gods and devils were
one and the same because of their abilities?”
“It’s probably true that the
vampire gods are just demons pretending to be the person in the body they are
now in, but the vampire devils make no attempt to hide their true identity and
ruin humanity openly with their temptations and non-stop attacks when given the
chance.”
“But why haven’t I seen many
before?”
“Because the devils hide in the shadows
and only come out when the gods need them to and the devils don’t want to intimidate
those who want to become vampires or vampire gods with the consequences of
their sins. They want the rewards to be the most visible and the evils to be
hidden or mitigated to the point where the sinner is fooled into thinking that
the cost of becoming a vampire is reasonable.”
“Their appearances are ugly all the
same no matter how they try to dress it up.”
“Still, people will commit horrible
deeds if they think the cost is reasonable or the logic sound. I should know
this the most.”
“But you’ve changed now. I think
you’re-”
Temptations begin to fill their
heads again causing Loretta and Evan to hold their heads in pain. Both pray and
use the pain of the temptations against it so that they’re slightly lessened.
Even so, the devils increase their temptations until both Evan and Loretta
begin seeing their temptations manifest through a dark fog that separates them.
“Hardheaded and reckless as always.
When will you learn to be a true Aurora?” a voice says to Loretta.
“What would you know about that?
You’re nothing but an illusion!” Loretta says.
She defends herself from the false
versions of the people she loves while Evan does much of the same where he is.
He runs from the attacks of his temptation until he calms his heart. The
attacks of his temptations go through him and quiet down despite being loud as
Evan pays more attention to the noises outside of the fog. Noticing that he isn’t
letting the temptations get to him, the devils increase his temptations and go
after him instead of Loretta who was their original target. Once the devils get
in range, Evan finally moves and kills them, which dispels the dark fog around
him and Loretta. The two runs to each other to check on each other before
heading back out to rendezvous with the other serfs, however, it begins to rain
and storm so hard that they don’t think it safe to continue forward, so they
seek shelter in an abandoned town and rest in a small house for the time being.
Seeking something to talk about, so
that they don’t sit in silence, Loretta says, “It’s a shame that the residents
of this town are no longer here. I hate to think about what happened to them.”
“I know what did. A few of them
were blessed enough to survive and become serfs who work for me.”
“If that’s a blessed fate, then the
others must have suffered something truly…I’m sorry to have implied that being a serf
is-”
“No, it can feel like a curse, and
some of us do get what we deserve since some become serfs because they’d rather
not be vampires or face a painful death or lose something or someone valuable
to them.”
“Even so, your serfs are different
and so are you. Something about you changed after you realized you were wrong
for trying to “mercy” kill those baptized infants.”
“Maybe it was God’s grace. Still, I
don’t know if my confession was done perfectly so I’ll have to visit a priest
and do a proper confession to know for sure that I’ve been restored to a state
of grace.”
“Despite all that, your mouth,
arms, and legs are blessed by God and can be used as weapons against
the vampires.”
“So?”
“God doesn’t take away an artist’s
ability to draw nor a warrior’s ability to fight just because they’re sinners. I’m
trying to say that I’m beginning to see what God gave you that certain blessing.”
“Thank you for saying that. It’s comforting
to hear you say that despite what I did to you and your family. That was a
mistake as well.”
“I…to be honest. I don’t feel like
I forgive you for that, but I will because I’ve seen your change of heart, and
you have lots of time to make it up to me.”
“What are you asking for?”
“That you let me lead with you as
well. It’s obvious that I can pick up for where you fail.”
“Understandable. I accept this.”
“Also, if we ever take over a
vampire’s castle, I have to get the best room and it has to be decorated to my specifications.”
“So, my serfs will act as serfs for
you as well as if you were a princess?”
“Not entirely. I don’t ask for much.”
“I’ve seen your room and know how
you like to decorate. You like to have every single kind of weapon and piece of
armor there is along with tons of statues and paintings of saints, angels, and
the Blessed Mother triumphing over evil.”
“Okay, and?”
“That’s a bit more than much.”
“I grew up with an admiration for
battle and I was allowed to have all these things by my father and everyone
else didn’t complain about it.”
“He spoiled you.”
“He did not! He just treated me
like how a daughter of a royal bloodline should be treated.”
“So, he did spoil you. Thank you
for resting my case.”
The two then argue in circles for a
bit while kidding around and laughing.
Being curious, Loretta asks, “Do
you always wear that mask on your mouth?”
“Yes, it’s useful in intimidation
and fits my image of myself.”
“Can you take it off?”
“Why?”
“I want to see your face with you
it off, and uh, you don’t want to intimidate the Church when we see them.”
“Okay, I see.” Evan takes off his
mask, and without it, he seems much less monstrous. “How’s this? Do I look less
scary?”
“Yes, but I think we can make it better.” Loretta takes a band off the back of her head that’s keeping her
long hair together and uses it to put Evan’s hair into a ponytail while also
fixing up his hair. “There we go. Now, you look less like a beast and more like
a man.”
With her arms around his head, Loretta
and Evan look intently at each other for a few seconds before backing off and
apologizing to each other at the same time.
“Thank you. I forgot that I have to
clean up my appearance and that having an intimidating appearance isn’t always
the best one to have.”
“Y-you’re welcome.”
Soon after, the two make small talk
about the rain and their plans before falling asleep on each other as they
did on the carriage.
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