Venatores Noctis: Adoption Through Blood: Chapter 4 – Victory at Noon

*the crest for Evan and his serfs

Chapter 4 – Victory at Noon

With a Church controlled city in the distance, Loretta grips Evan’s arms more tightly. The city itself contains gothic buildings typical of cities controlled by the Church though a notable difference is that the holy statues, images, and buildings themselves are damaged by recent attacks and are being repaired. Many people come out of their homes as the morning sun rises just in time to be in shock at the small army of serfs approaching them, which makes some retreat back into their homes. There are even some that are scared or start praying to God for help when they see Loretta in one of the carriages. Curiosity gets some of them to follow the carriages to their destination.

Rufus leads Loretta, Evan, and Evan’s serfs to a courthouse where he explains what happened and the infants are transferred to an orphanage for safe keeping. The leaders of the Church decide to hold the decision for Loretta at the courthouse and have it done immediately since her and the presence of the serfs are causing a commotion in the public. Guards and soldiers keep the public outside of the courthouse and the serfs who cannot fit in the courthouse are put under the supervision of soldiers and temporarily kept in a jail, which the serfs begrudgingly comply with. Loretta, Evan, and the serfs stand in the center of the court while the guards surround them and the Church leaders and Rufus sit outside of the circle of guards. The many statues of saints, the Blessed Mother, and angels staring down the center of the room in a judging manner and the deafening silence doesn’t help Loretta’s feelings of anxiety, but Evan holds her hand and then nods at her to communicate his understanding of her feelings.

“Let us commence with the trial,” one of the judges says, “First, we must state what Sir Rufus had told us while somewhat condemning it at the same time. You attacked a Church held city that was actually held by traitors and killed everyone in it. What we didn’t know was that a majority of the city was controlled by vampire wolves and their traitors and that Sir Rufus had agents in the city that were slowly trying to remove them from power. Now, no one knows why they attacked you. Maybe they wanted to keep up their cover, take you alive, and rescue you later or they genuinely think that you’re a threat to the Church.”

“Or maybe they were compromised and only pretended to be on our side,” another judge interjects, “It would make sense since we’ve suffered many surprise attacks from the vampires.”

Rufus holds back his retort especially since the first judge who spoke says, “That’s enough. We don’t know why what they did and we’ll have to deal with Sir Rufus and his band of vampire hunters at a different date. Regardless of their reasoning, there was some merit in it that would’ve possibly saved the lives of the innocents you killed. Since your family does have special privileges in Church, I’ll allow you to make your case.”

Loretta stands up and says, “I’m guilty of taking the lives of the innocent. This I confess without excuse. The only thing I ask is that you let these serfs and I serve together in the Church’s army to take it back from the vampires.”

“So, you want to pay blood with blood?” a judge asks.

“Those who live by the sword die by it and my family has died by it for the sake of God and His Holy Church. Please allow us to lend us your aid.”

“They have proven to be an effective fighting force for such a small size,” a judge says to another.

“They are led by Evan Meridies. Do you know what that beast horrors that beast has done when he served the vampires?” another judge counters.

“These beasts think they can serve us as their penance? They’re trying to lessen it by offering us baptized infants. How disgusting,” yet another judge comments.

Evan and the other serfs bite their tongues so that a fight doesn’t ensue. Loretta also feels this way and is about to stand up and start a fight, but she stops herself in the act and pretends that she’s adjusting herself in her seat.

“The infants aren’t an offering to lessen our penance. Instead, we rescued them because it was the right thing to do. If you lessen our penance because of it, fine, but if you don’t, that’s also fine,” Loretta says to the surprise of the judges, “We aren’t asking to be rewarded. We are only asking to be in your service. Evan and his serfs have invaluable experience in fighting against and resisting the vampire gods. Evan is also the reason why I’m here. He’s a good man and someone that I trust my life with.”

The judges are unsure what to say about this until Rufus says, “I’m convinced of Loretta’s willingness to do what’s right. I say that we have her and Evan’s serfs join the army.”

“You’ll so easily forgive them for killing your friends?” a judge asks.

“Forgiveness is an important part of being a servant of God. Besides, they did take back a small city for us.”

“Tch, giving them the honor of joining the army and so easily forgiving them. It makes sense you’d like them since you seem to both like acting outside of the Church’s authority.”

“I was well within my authority to do what I did.”

“Then why didn’t you share what you know with the council leaders?”

“Because we had our suspicions that there were more wolves among the sheep, so I kept this information to my trusted inner circle. There are wolves out there in a less literal sense among us that have traded their integrity for power and wealth, which I’m sure goes without saying.”

“Are you implying that these wolves are among even this council?”

“I can’t say for certain, but I’m sure we’ll know soon. Now, enough with being off topic. What are your decisions?”

Five out of seven judges accept Loretta’s terms while one denies it and another stays neutral resulting in her winning this case. After going to confession and waiting a long time for each of Evan’s serfs to complete their penance, Loretta, Evan, and his serfs go out to celebrate for the day. During the next day, they show off their combat skills to the army and knowledge of vampire tactics and what certain vampires are able to do such as the gods, devils, wolves, and ones that were once serfs. Some days later after proving themselves in combat and cleaning the small city they killed the innocent and the traitorous wolves in, they are allowed to be in the operation to take the city where Evan and Loretta met. Outside of the city, Loretta looks upon it eagerly awaiting the battle.

Evan joins her and says, “I know that look in your eyes. Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

“I won’t. I’ve learned from my mistakes,” Loretta confidently says.

“Then why are you out here ahead of time with your whip already drawn when you should be resting with everyone else?”

“Oh, shut up. The anticipation was killing me. Besides, as an Aurora, I have to be at the front of the battle lines anyway. Don’t you have some grand strategy to plan?”

“I already have. We’re just waiting for the serfs to come back from planting the makeshift bombs in the city, some of which are filled with blessed salts and holy water. They should be giving us the signal to attack soon.”

“Good because I can’t wait for the battle.”

“Don’t get too ahead of yourself. I trust that your guardian angel will lend its assistance?”

“Yes, but I wish that it would actually give me some advice rather than just protect me, silently point in directions, and appear more often.”

“If you need advice, you can always ask me for it.”

“Heh, this is something secret and I need someone else’s advice.”

“Can’t you give me a hint?”

“Okay, okay. Here’s one.”

Loretta holds onto Evan’s arm and rests her head on it, which gives him a significant enough hint.

“You’re not exactly subtle.”

“Hey, I can’t make elaborate plans like you can. I just go in and hit things.”

“I’m glad you said it and not me.”

“What that’s supposed to mean?!” Before Loretta can argue further, an explosion goes off in the city. “Finally!”

She then gets on her horse and begins to join the front lines.

“Remember to follow the plan and that I won’t be far behind!”

“Try to keep up then and there may be scraps of the enemy for to fight!”

When she joins up with her squad, they lead the Church’s army into the already burning city. Because of the explosives, many of the guard towers, barracks, and other important buildings are heavily damaged. Holes in the walls made by other explosives allow the Church’s army to pour in and overtake the surprised vampires and willing serfs who don’t have a chance to react. Some of the lesser vampires seek the guidance of their superiors only to find their throats slit by Evan’s serfs who take them out from the darkness as well. Meanwhile, other cowardly vampires and serfs flee the city in the hopes of getting reinforcements, but these cowards are taken out by Rufus’ forces who make sure that none escape.

Further in the city, Loretta has cut her way all the way to the capital castle where the vampire gods reside, however, she finds her head hurting as a squad of vampire devils are sent after her and her squad. Thanks to their recent mass, prayers, confessions, and blessings from the bishops and pope, the temptations of the devils hardly affect Loretta and her squad. Still, the erratic and suicidal demons are a handful to deal with to the point where Loretta’s horse is killed in the fight. The devil is about to get the better of her until her guardian angel intervenes and saves her and her group.

“Thank you!” she says to her angel before heading into the castle.

This was the same castle where Evan and Loretta first met, but the nostalgia of it quickly fades away as she fights her way through it. More serfs and vampires lie within the capital and Loretta seems outnumbered until Evan’s serfs come in from behind them to even the odds. Eventually, the fight gets so hectic that people lose track of one another and Loretta finds herself up against many vampires and serfs by herself.

“The one who takes her head will take a seat among the gods!” a vampire says before charging at her.

It is then that Loretta’s guardian angel aids her in this fight. The entire fight so far has been a non-stop rush of excitement as her thirst for justice is being quenched. She offers up every kill to God hoping also that her father is proud of her. Her one woman rampage ends in a room where she is surrounded by both vampire gods and devils who have hostages with them. These hostages are held by the devils with their jagged bones on the necks and chests of the hostages. At this moment, Loretta’s rush comes to a halt as she silently prays that someone comes to help her.

Before she moves, a vampire god says, “One move, and the hostages die. Allow us to leave and they will live.”

The smirks and looks on the faces of the vampires make it evident that they’re lying or at least have plans that they’re confident will work. It also doesn’t help that the gods and devils are using their powers to tempt Loretta to act so they have an excuse to kill those hostages and cause significant psychological damage to her since they know this bothers her, especially because of what happened in the past. She is tempted to think that God has abandoned her since her guardian angel disappeared before she entered the room, but despite all the temptations, she stands strong and continues to wait for a solution to enter her head and one eventually does. Loretta remembers what Evan said and soon after, Evan does enter the room with his serfs to save the hostages before they can be killed.

“Evan!” Loretta says before hugging him.

“I told you that I wouldn’t be far behind, but you still should’ve slowed down,” Evan says.

The two don’t have time to celebrate as the corpses begin moving on their own as something is pulling them towards it as if they were puppets on a string. Following this leads everyone in the Church’s army to the huge courtyard in the middle of the capital where all the bodies are forming into a singular vampire with many heads, limbs, and wings.

“Despair and bow before us for we are the Legion of the Damned,” the monstrosity says before tearing about the Church’s army, its own, and the city itself with its larger limbs that are the size of a house.

In response, the Church’s army charges forward and tears through Legion’s body, but they don’t get anywhere since the bodies go back into the massive one as it regenerates.

Taking cover from the battle, Evan asks one of his serfs, “Do we have any info on this?”

“The only thing we know is that it’s a result of their experimentation on vampire gods and devils to create something similar to the vampires that combined themselves with the still living bodies of others before their blasphemous baptism. For what particular purpose and how they were able to gravitate the bodies of their dead together, we don’t know. It’s mostly the result of demonic magic and rituals.”

“They probably planned to use it against us,” Loretta points out.

“That’s doubtful since they’ve been more annoyed with each other than us,” the serf says.

“Do we know if it has any weaknesses?” Evan asks.

“The center of it should have a singular vampire god that’s controlling it all. Kill it and the rest of the corpses should fall from the body.”

“How are we going to get to the center of that massive thing?”

“I think it’s unintentionally giving us a way. Look at all the destruction is causing. We’ll use the destruction around it to get to the center of the body and cut our way through. Looks like my serfs already share the same idea.”

“Then let’s help them out.”

Evan and Loretta leap into battle along with the rest of the serfs and attack the center of Legion. It tries to swipe them away from it; however, they keep leaping back as if they aren’t hurt because of the experiments done on them. In comparison, the normal human soldiers of the Church struggle to even get Legion and are nearly crippled after enduring one of its attacks. Loretta’s guardian angel comes out to shred through Legion’s body as if it were nothing to create an opening. Evan leaps into the opening, but Legion quickly heals itself in desperation and violently shakes and juts out every bone in its body to force everyone off its body. This comes at the cost of Legion falling down to rest for a second while its many bones act as a shield.

With her hands together in prayer, Loretta prays and hopes that Evan will be fine and end the battle. Meanwhile, Evan finds himself in a maze of flesh and corpses with no clear way to the center. He prays also for help and a blinding light manifests in front of him, which turns into an angel. This angel has an empty cloak for a body with proverbs from scripture written within it while psalms are written on its paper-like wings. Four of its arms hold books containing the philosophies of war. In contrast to the books, its two arms in the center of its body hold a dagger in one hand and a crossbow in the other.

“What kind of angel are you?” Evan asks.

“I am your guardian angel. Here, to protect you and lead the way,” it says.

“My guardian angel? Why do you now manifest yourself to me?”

“Do you see the situation you are in? Did you not ask for help?”

“I do see the situation and I did ask for help.”

“Then let’s be on our way.”

As Evan’s guardian angel leads the way, it cuts apart Legion’s body with its knife and keeps away the still living bodies with its crossbow. Evan helps out his angel cut through the body and keep away the corpses until they reach the core of Legion where a single vampire god resides. This vampire god’s face and body don’t stand out from the other corpses around it and writhe in place as it struggles to control the whole body. To defend itself, the bones on the outside of the body go back in an attempt to cut Evan to pieces while the corpses within leap at him to try to hold him in place so this happens. Countering this, Evan’s guardian angel cuts into Legion stopping the bones and bodies in place. On closer inspection, it appears that the angel has cut a major nerve in Legion and the light from the attack is spreading throughout the body like a poison except to the center body.

Knowing that its end is at hand, the vampire god says, “No, I am Legion! I am a god! A true god that will bring all vampires together!”

“No, you’re just scum like the rest”, Evan says before punching the center body which completely destroys it.

With the destruction of the body, it begins to collapse on itself. Evan’s guardian angel and Evan destroy the bodies around them while his serfs and Loretta try to free him as well. Despite its core being destroyed, the corpses that comprise the outside of the body try dragging others in so those who are trying to free Evan have to deal with this as well. In the process of trying to free Evan, Loretta’s whip is caught by the corpses and tries to drag her with it. She begrudgingly lets it go and gets another blessed weapon to cut apart the corpses until the body is a large pile of mush on the ground. Everyone begins to fear the worse until Evan leaps out of Legion with his guardian angel at his side and Loretta’s broken whip in his hands, which can only be seen by Loretta. Legion’s body then completely collapses on itself until nothing is left by blood and shrinking pieces of flesh. The Church’s army cheers in victory as Loretta runs to hug Evan but then backs off since they’re both covered in blood. The noon sun rises as time shifts forward since the spell that was extending the night has been broken with the death of Legion.

“Sorry, I couldn’t save your whip. It was crushed before I could save it,” Evan says.

“There’s no need to worry about that. It broke long ago and has been in pieces ever since. I was more worried about you,” Loretta says.

“You shouldn’t have. Everything went according to plan.”

“That thing and you killing it from within was part of your plan.”

“It was part of my spontaneous plan.”

Loretta rolls her eyes at this before the two go to clean up with the rest of the army.

One of Evan’s serfs runs to him and says, “The threat from within has been dealt with, sir.”

“What threat?” Loretta asks.

“Another thing you didn’t have to worry about. I had my serfs give small cuts from a blessed knife to the leaders and some of the soldiers back at the temporary base just in case we had any wolves in our camp and it looks like I was right.”

“You’ll have to let me in on your secret plans one day.”

“If I did that, then you might just charge in and ruin it.”

“Tch, you’re probably right.”

After they get cleaned up, care for the dead, and Loretta, Evan, and the serfs who fought in the battle are honored by the Church. They then celebrate their accomplishments back in the Church’s territory while the new city is reconstructed and watched over by the army. During the party, Evan and Loretta look out at the noon sun together.

Evan looks at Loretta and says, “I think we should-”

“I do,” Loretta says before kissing him on the lips.

“I…I was going to ask you if-”

“If I was going to marry you? I said yes! Where’s the ring?”

“That’s the thing. I was just going to ask if we could be together. Marriage was going to come soon after.”

“Well, marriage is now so get a ring and get the ceremony ready. I’ll get my dress and you’ll have to clean yourself up though not too much. I find your beast-like appearance somewhat appealing.”

“I knew you rushed into battle, but I didn’t think you would rush into marriage.”

“Deal with it. There’s no taking it back or else I’ll cry until you marry me.” Evan gives Loretta a look of disbelief while she smugly grins. “There’s no strategy that you can use around this.”

“I’m at a loss then. I’ll start getting everything together then.”

“Yes!”

Some days later, Evan and Loretta are married to the joy of many. The last Aurora is now a Meridies as she takes Evan’s last name to be her own. Even though the view of serfs by those in the Church isn’t improved much and the vampires still control much of the world, Loretta, Evan, and their serf army have shaken the world by proving how faithful they are, which inspires other serfs to be like them and join them. This marks the beginning of a brighter future despite the darkness the world is still cursed by, the sinful people that rule it, and the noon sun marking it rather than the morning.

 

The End