Venatores Noctis: Adoption Through Blood: Chapter 3 – Wolves in Human Clothing

Chapter 3 – Wolves in Human Clothing

In the dreams of Loretta and Evan, they see the ones they love and call out to them. All their loved ones smile at them before saying the exact same thing.

“I entrust you in the arms of another.”

Loretta and Evan wake up in each other’s arms. They distance themselves from one another before apologizing and shaking off their weariness.

“It’s still night outside?” Loretta asks.

“It’s a result of a weaker version of the Eternal Night spell that the vampires once had over the world. It allows them to tempt people easier and give themselves more power in the regions they control, however, it doesn’t affect any place that is holy or blessed, and the spell only extends the night rather than making it eternal and creating another moon,” Evan explains.

“That’s a problem then. We’ll have to eliminate the vampires who cast the spell so the world doesn’t completely fall underneath their control again.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much. The vampires like to play with their food and it took generations before they were able to take over with this spell. Besides, the storm has subsided so we should rejoin my serfs. They shouldn’t be too far.”

The two rejoin Evan’s serfs and find them strangely outside the walls of the border city between the territory of the vampires and the Church. They’re injured and hiding among the trees until they see Evan and Loretta approaching so that they can take them to where they’ve set up camp.

“What happened? Did the Church kick you out because you are serfs? Were the infants and our actions not enough to be accepted by them?” Evan asks.

“No, that’s not it. The people behind those walls are vampire wolves,” a serf says.

“Vampire wolves? Is there seriously another kind of vampire that I don’t know about?” Loretta asks.

“The vampire wolves are those who say they worship God and seek the truth but do so in the most sinful and corrupt ways. These people are blasphemously baptized with the so called intention of doing good with the worldly immortality of a vampire. I don’t blame you for not knowing about them. They don’t have pale skin and the outward appearance of a vampire. Instead, they show their true skin when they sin, and I mean this in a literal way as their human skin peels back to reveal the wolf within.”

“If that’s true, then I should’ve known about them since I’ve known many hypocrites within the Church.”

“There’s more to it. They show their true skin for a period of time before their human skin goes back over their bodies, so it can be difficult to pick them out from the faithful. It’s not like we can force them to sin to show their true colors since that is a sin. Anyways, tell me what happened.”

Continuing his story, the serf explains that, “The wolves took us in until we figured out who they truly were when one of us witnessed them sin. After this, we confirmed it and did our best to get the infants out of the city so they wouldn’t be sacrificed. Quite a number of us were injured as a result but-”

“But we’re still ready to fight,” another serf says with another trying to get him to rest. This serf is cut in half up to his hip with their organs showing, and yet, he still lives. “Give us your orders, sir. We cannot allow these traitors to God to go unpunished any longer.”

“You should get your rest. You are in no condition to fight.”

“I’m still standing and talking to you despite my condition. I’ll regenerate soon enough and turn this curse of a condition against the forces of sin that did this to me.”

“You’ll get your opportunity after you put yourself back together, but you’ll have to sit this one out. Trust me when I say that I’ll make these traitors pay.”

The serf looks at Evan in silence for a bit before falling to his knees as a result of his pain. He is soon helped up and is forced to admit that he is in no condition to fight and trusts Evan to make sure justice is served. Witnessing this serf’s willingness to fight against his own pain to see justice motivates both Loretta and Evan to act. At a table, a map of the city with marked points of interest is put down and Loretta and Evan are told about where there are guards and where the leaders of the city reside. They then formulate a plan to scout out the city for any possible prisoners and innocent people that may be among the wolves.

Becoming impatient because of what the vampire wolves are and what they do, Loretta slams her hand down and says, “These heretics will not live to see tomorrow so why do we stall on such a simple battle?”

“What do you suppose we do? This planning that we’re doing is important,” Evan says.

“I know looking at key areas is important, but we’ve been through all we need to know. Scouting isn’t going to help us much when the enemy hides amongst the innocent.”

“What plan do you have in mind? Since you were right about saving the infants, I’ll let you take the lead on this one.”

“The vampire wolves die only to blessed weapons just like the rest of the scum of the Earth, correct?”

“They do.”

“Then I propose this. We set up our ambushes in all the key areas since it’s a small city. After this, we state our intentions in public and tell everyone to expose the wolves among them or we will be giving everyone a small cut from a blessed dagger since the smallest of cuts from a blessed weapon will make a vampire profusely bleed.”

“They won’t expose themselves. Even if some do, they’ll just use it as a way to get close to us to kill us. We had pretty much the entire city after us after we found out their dirty secret,” a serf says.

“Then that makes it easier for us to separate the wolves from the sheep. Execute those who fight against us and spare those that don’t. This is my plan in a nutshell. I know it’s risky, but it’s also the best way I can think of to separate the innocent from the guilty.”

Because of the simplicity and reasonableness of Loretta’s plan and their want for justice, the serfs and Evan agree with this plan and move to see it fulfilled. Evan’s serfs set themselves up in key locations while others stay behind to protect and care for the infants. Once everything is in place, Loretta, Evan, and their supporting serfs go out of the shadows to make their presence known to the public.

“Hear me, wolves, I know you’re out there! I am Loretta Aurora and I am here to deliver justice unto you! Your crimes against God will no longer go unpunished,” Loretta says. The attention of the public centers on Loretta and the wolves among them spread the word to the others. “We will be giving everyone a small cut from a blessed dagger if none comply to draw out the wolves. To those who are innocent, hide yourselves, drive out the guilty from among you, or present yourselves to us so that we may confirm your innocence.”

“You have no authority to command anything, and who are you to talk about the guilty and crimes against God because of what your family did to the world, Aurora?” a civilian says.

“It is my family that freed humanity from the control of the vampires and protected it for generations even as humanity gave itself over to the powers of Hell because it would rather be comfortable and enjoy the luxuries of worldly power than suffer for the sake of truth and love. This authority to invoke these kinds of orders to expose the vampires among the faithful has been given to my family from the Church for many years. Follow my command or you will soon suffer the consequences.”

An explosion goes off at one of the key points in the city, which signals the start of the battle.

“What was that?” a civilian asks as many around them become nervous.

“That’s the sound of God’s judgment quickly approaching.”

“You planned that didn’t you?!” a civilian says.

“The Auroras have shown their true nature and this is their declaration of war against the Church! Get her and those with her!” a vampire wolf in the crowd says.

This rallies many in the crowd to fight either in a false sense of justice or out of fear of Loretta. Meanwhile, the vampire wolves rally more of their servants to distract Loretta and Evan’s serfs so they may escape. A group of wolves sins so they can transform and take advantage of their wolf form’s strength and speed and escape the city.

“We’ll need to inform the rest of the Church of what happened here,” one of the wolves says.

“This is a grand opportunity,” another says, “Turning the Church against the last of the Auroras and playing victim to this event will grant us greater influence and power within the Church. It’s no loss to us if our servants and serfs die to the Aurora’s forces. In fact, it will grant us greater pity.”

“We may have to appear injured to them to not look like cowards who ran off without fighting.”

“It’ll be a small price to pay for a great reward.”

Caught up in the potential of their greater rewards blinds the wolves as Evan’s serfs ambush them quickly ending their ambitions. More key locations are blown up and attacked along with the escape areas of the city being covered. Meanwhile, Loretta, Evan, and his serfs fight off the many inhabitants of the small city. Their forces join up then go from building to building and corner to corner of the city to clear it of wolves and their servants. Despite being outnumbered, the skills and planning of Loretta, Evan, and Evan’s serfs allow them to claim victory. During this battle, Loretta’s guardian angel even helps a few times to clear out crowds of wolves and the ones that tried to ambush them from the shadows. In the end, the entire city is covered in blood and corpses since no one surrendered and everyone attacked them, which doesn’t concern Loretta much though Evan is concerned about this.

“Did you confirm that no one surrendered nor kept themselves out of the fight?” Evan asks one of his serfs.

“Of course we have,” the serf answers.

“What about those who tried to leave the city?”

“They were all cowardice wolves. The entire city seems to have been under their control since they all fought against us.”

“Hmm, then it’s possible that…”

“I know what you’re thinking, sir. If that was the case, then at least-”

“Sir!” another serf says as they run to Evan, “Someone on horseback is approaching the city.”

“Let them see the corpses of the wolves and enter the city first before we do anything. Tell Loretta of this as well.”

“Yes, sir.”

The stranger on horseback heads into the city despite the carnage around him until Loretta, Evan, and Evan’s serfs confront him.

“Who are you?” Loretta asks the man.

“My name is Rufus, a servant of God’s Holy Catholic Church. You’re Loretta Aurora, aren’t you?” he says.

“I am.”

“Did you do this with your allies?”

“We have. God’s justice has visited this city and left none alive.”

Pacing back and forth, the man appears to be at a loss for words with his hand on his mouth as if holding back something, which concerns Loretta and Evan.

“Let me guess. They weren’t all guilty sinners,” Evan says.

“That’s right,” the man answers with a sigh.

“What?! But they all attacked us!” Loretta points out.

“Even though many of the people here were wolves and their devout servants, there were also many who were ignorant of this. There were also serfs who were forced to serve them and others were faithful servants of God. It doesn’t help that people are afraid of your family and that you were aggressive in your approach to them,” the man says.

This realization causes Loretta to collapse in tears and pray in penance.

Evan’s serfs try to comfort Loretta by saying how they share her guilt and how they should’ve known better.

“I’m sorry, Loretta. This is my fault just as much as yours especially since I know all too well about killing the innocent for a supposed greater good,” Evan confesses.

“Thank you, everyone, but the heaviest part of the burden belongs with me because of how recklessly I acted. I’ll face whatever punishment I must from the Church for what I did.”

“There’s not much they can do to you since the Church isn’t the superpower it once was. What are you and your serfs doing here anyway?”

“We’re on our way to the Church to join forces so that we may take back the world from the vampires.”

“Your forces will be appreciated even if they are former serfs. Still, beastmen aren’t looked favorably upon these days despite those who truly repent and faithfully serve God.”

“We’ve saved carriages full of baptized infants that we’re bringing to the Church. That must give us some leverage.”

“It will, but I’m not sure how much you’ll have after what happened here. Regardless, there’s nothing more to be done here and at least the traitors are dead. Let’s see what the Church determines to be your punishment.”

“Okay. I’ll accept whatever punishment they give me.”

Evan gathers his serfs together and the carriages with the baptized infants in them to follow the man as he leads them back to the Church’s territory. In the carriage, Loretta grabs Evan’s arm and holds it.

“What’s wrong?” Evan asks.

“N-nothing. Being in your arms has recently been the only comfort for me for whatever reason and I’m nervous,” Loretta admits.

“You don’t need to be. We’ll try to alleviate as much as the punishment as possible.”

“No, I’m more nervous about what I did. It’ll haunt me for the rest of my life.”

“I understand. Everything that I have done has haunted me. Thanks to you, I further saw the error of my ways, but I also saw the endless mercy of God. We have today, the grace of God, and everyone around us to help us make up for the mistakes of yesterday and I promise to help you with this penance and ease your mind of guilt.”

“Thank you.”

Loretta holds tightly onto Evan’s arm and puts her head down on his shoulder. Far in the distance, the sun begins to rise, and with it, Loretta’s hopes that she’ll move beyond what she did.