Aftermath

Enid made it to her horse, and then to the village. As she approached, she saw flames on the horizon as she got closer, she could make out the church burning.

Good, that bit is done too.

She rode to the gates of Odocar’s estate and the guards let her through without issue. After tying the horse in the stables she scooped the girl into her arms and went inside. She placed her on a couch. And went into see Odocar. He sat looking triumphant in a smaller chair the remnants of his throne having been piled to the side.

“We destroyed the church killed all with in as you demanded.”

“Good, the templar garrison has been dealt with as well and a witness selected to tell the story we want. I need three more things from you: two hundred pounds, the location of the wealthiest merchant in the area and your spawn.”

Odocar waved to one of his blood slaves who dragged in a youngish looking man with the pallor of a vampire.

“This is your spawn?”

Enid stared at Odocar with a piercing gaze.

“Yes.”

Lying sack of shit.

Okay the location of the merchant and the two hundred pounds please. Odocar waved the blood slave away, and relaxed back into his chair. The blood slave returned with written directions and a pouch of coins. Enid took them, folded the parchment sliding it into a pouch, and attached the coin pouch to her belt. And with a fluid blood fueled strike she beheaded the blood slave. She approached Odocar with Bloodseeker drawn.

“You are more stupid than I predicted, I’m a seer I know this poor soul you had one of your idiot vassals create tonight isn’t your spawn. I told the consequences of not producing him, his crimes are now your crimes and I pronounce you guilty of interfering with the enforcement of the Covenant, creating a child vampire and allowing the existence of vampires to become known to the church. Your sentence is death.”

Odocar tried to get out of his seat but he lacked the speed that Enid’s imperial blood provided and his head rolled down the stairs of his dais. She calmly walked through the front doors of the keep and killed both of the gate guards before they could draw their blades. She tossed all four bodies in the cellar and pulled the stake for the poor soul they used as a patsy. He screamed and grasped his chest.

“Hello, you’re dead, but you’re now a vampire and you can live forever, or you can die again tonight, who turned you?”

He crawled away from her screaming. Enid rolled her eyes.

Pathetic.

She moved swiftly and man-handled him flipping him on his back. She straddled his chest put her hands on his cheeks and forced him to look in her eyes.

“Tell me who turned you tonight.”

“It was Richard he told me I’d be able to save my wife Marnie if I were to do what he asked, he said we could live forever together. But then he bit me and when I woke up she were dead and her throat torn out. Then he said I had to die cause I was rabid and he hit me with the stake, then ye killed the big man in the throne. Please I ner’ wanted this!”

“Where does Richard live? I need to punish him for what was done here. Then you will wait here for two nights and I will come and get you and we will leave this shithole village together. If you manage to not fuck up you will be able to live forever, or if you can’t live with your wife’s death I can end it. But Richard must be punished first.”

“He’s by the north edge of town, red door, can’t miss it.”

“Real subtle isn’t he. There is a child in the next room if you feed on her, or harm her I swear I will do things to you that will make you regret ever being born.”

Enid stood and left the room. She sheathed Bloodseeker and made her way to the north edge of town, and as described there was a house with a red door. She kicked it in sword drawn. She cut down the blood slave that came running at her without loosing her stride. When she rounded the corner she was met by a pair of vampires embracing in a kiss. She recognized one from Odocar’s court the other she hadn’t seen before.

Ah love, that’s why Richard protected Joiten, and Odocar abused it. Sad.

The pair stopped as she strode into the room.

“Oh don’t quit on my account, feel free to enjoy your last kiss.”

“I won’t let you hurt Joiten you’ll have to get through me first.”

“Fine.”

Enid cut off Richard’s head in one fluid strike. It was the quickest way to end vampires. Joiten stumbled back. Blood tears rolling down his cheeks.

“You monster!”

“You slaughtered a family, husband and children in front of their mother, turned a six year old girl into a mindless blood-sucking strix, had your boyfriend turn a random innocent man who then murdered his wife, let your creator suffer for your crimes and I’m the monster?”

I hate young vampires, so full of power and lack of restraint.

“I…I… Please it was an accident, mercy!”

“At least a hundred mortals have died because of your antics, there will be no mercy, I just wish I could make this more lengthy and painful.”

Joiten tripped over a stool stumbling backwards into the lit hearth. He started to scream as his body lit up like tinder. Enid stepped back, sheathing Bloodseeker. And listened to him scream and burn for a few minutes before only ashes remained. She tossed Richard’s remains into the fire was well.

Pugmentia sure do burn well.

Enid turned and left.

Just the girl to deliver now.

Enid made her way back to Odocar’s estate. She found Katherine still asleep where she’d left her. Enid scooped her up in her arms holding her close. She hopped onto the horse and tugged the reins it was a short ride to the merchant’s home. She pounded on the door and when the man answered she looked into his half-asleep eyes.

“You will take this girl in and treat her as your own. The money is for her and her alone. You will ensure she is safe, happy and loved. Go get your wife.”

Enid waited as the man walked back into the home and came back with a woman.

“Bloody hell! Why are you waking me in the dead of night? Oh.”

Enid met her gaze.

“This girl witnessed a terrible attack and will need your help to recover from it. You will take her in and treat her as your own, the money is for her and her alone. You will ensure she is safe, happy and loved. Take her.”

Enid offered up the girl and the merchant’s wife took her.

“If harm ever comes to her I will return, and make you regret it. She is under my protection.”

Enid touched the top of Katherine’s head and leaned into whisper.

“I will not forget you child, I am sorry.”

Enid stood and looked at the husband and wife who stood staring at her.

“She stumbled into your doorway tonight. You have no idea where she came from but she had money and was scared she was so scared in fact she couldn’t speak. You knew she needed to be kept safe. Now put her to bed and go to sleep. You will wake well rested in the morning, it will be a new day for the three of you. And you will not remember I was here, but you will remember there are consequences if harm comes to the girl. Go now.”

The merchant closed the door and Enid could hear their foot steps and then silence as the laid in their beds. Enid turned and mounted her horse.

“Well, I guess since Lord Idiot-thinks-he-can-screw-over-a-seer is dead you’re mine now.”

Enid patted the war horse’s side. The horse neighed in response.

“Don’t worry I’ll keep the blood coming, mine tastes better, now lets get back to the newling before he does something stupid.”

Enid rode to Odocar’s estate and set the horse up in the stable. She had barely beat the dawn. She had smoke rising from her as she closed the door behind her. The newling was already in a dead sleep on the floor of the court room. Enid sat down in Odocar’s chair heavily, she looked down at her blood covered clothing and hands and sighed.

Need a bath, no way I can walk around like this and keep a low profile.

She leaned forward and put her face in her hands. She’d lost the ability to get any amount of sleep when she passed the millennia old mark.

So many dead in one night. So many innocents, even if they were mortals. Maybe one day I’ll get used to the ceaseless killing.

She leaned back and looked at the blood on the floor. Today would be a long day, only her conscience and memories for company.

I should get moving, search the house.

Enid spent the day search through the house and disposing of the remains of Odocar and his ilk. She managed to find clothing fit for a more noble pursuit then hers, but they would have to do, her cloak and tunic and breaches were ruined with blood. She had burned those too. She cleaned and oiled her fine black mail, fine enough it would easily be hidden under the silk dress she’d found. It was a rich silver, obviously from the far east, such fabrics were rare on the isles. Unfortunately, dresses being what they were getting it fastened at the back would be difficult without assistance. She longed for the simple Roman dresses. But she’d get further as a nobleman’s daughter then as a peasant girl. The emerald jewelry she found would accent it nicely. She also found a large amount of currency. Some of it Roman gold. She secreted that away in her pack, it was easily a king’s ransom. She also placed the rest of the clothing she found in the pack as well. It was a miraculous thing, Sextus had described in terms she hadn’t quite understood beyond it’s bigger on the inside.

No point in letting it go to waste.

By evening she had cleaned the house out of anything valuable and portable. And was sitting naked, cross legged by the newling, whose name she hadn’t bothered to ask. He woke with a hiss and a got on all fours, fangs out snarling at her. It was always the same with new vampires, the Children of Lilith were the most feral to begin with once their mind woke they reverted to a human-like demeanor. Imperials never had such a waking, though they were still territorial. He lunged at her and she back-handed him sending him flying into a wall. He started shaking his head and rubbing his eyes.

That snapped him out of it.

“What’s your name newling?”

“William Smith, Smithy by trade. Why’d ye hit me like that?”

“You were going to attack me and try and drink my blood, had I let you, you would have been enslaved to me, I figured hitting you was the lesser of the two evils. Now William the Smithy. I know this is probably something you consider beneath you but go draw water for a bath I need to get this blood off of me before we go out and hunt the strix.”

“If ye promise not to hit me again, I will do what ye ask, milady.”

“Excellent, I’ll go wait by the bath.”

“But the water will be cold.”

“Yes and we’re dead, does it matter? Fill the bath.”

“Ye need to put cloths on milady, it isn’t decent for me ta see you such. I’m a married…”

He paused and she could see the reality of last night crash down on him. He fell to the floor blood tears rolling down his cheeks.

“What’s done is done, she was a mortal and while you’re still trash as far as I’m concerned you’re still better then food. Mortals are no better than cows to us, think of them like a fresh steak, makes things easier.”

Enid stood up.

“But ye don’t understand I killed her, she begged me not te, but I did anyway I couldn’t stop I just drank and drank.”

He sobbed into his hands, as if her needed to breath he was gasping for air. Enid sighed and put her hands on her hips.

“You’re dead man, have some dignity, you don’t need to breath, and crying just wastes blood so you have to drink sooner, you want to hurt someone because you were crying?”

He wiped his face and looked at his blood covered hands wide-eyed. He scrambled backwards into a wall as if trying to run away from what he was.

Fucking pathetic.

Enid slapped him hard sending him crashing to the ground then she kicked him in the chest. He clutched it and kept gasping like he needed to breath.

“Idiot, you’re a vampire, you’re dead, you don’t need to breath, you drink blood, you cry blood get over it and make yourself useful get me my bath water before I lose my patience and put an end to our misery by beheading you.”

He kept holding his chest and stumbled out of the house coming back with bucket after bucket of water. Enid bathed herself. As he brought the last bucket Enid looked up at him, he looked like a boy that had just watched his puppy get kicked to death in the street. He was covered in grime and mud.

“By the gods you are a pathetic specimen of a man. Come here.”

She helped him bathe, he sat still and kept looking at his hands.

“Does this mean I am cursed, am I damned, is there a cure, milady?”

“No, to all three, well maybe yes to the first. Lilith’s gift is more a curse I suppose then my father’s. Look, I understand this is fucked up, you killed your wife, now you’re hungry and it’s a hunger you can’t ever satiate. You have a monster in you, that is true, but you also are stronger, faster, have better senses, everything feels better, except for eating, you lot will vomit up human food as soon as you swallow it, but still, you will never be poisoned, you will never suffer from a disease, you’ll be able to see empires rise and fall. I’ve was born before Rome fell. I met Julius Caesar, I fought beside Augustus, watched as my father chastised Caligula for being a fool, and fled Rome as Nero burned it to destroy our kind. I met Charlemange, I watched Rome’s slow decline and I helped build Prague. It may seem like a curse but it is not, you can see things mortals only dream of. The only cost is you take some blood now and then and follow the Covenants my father set out. So long as you do, you’re under his watchful eye and that of the Imperial council and Seer’s like myself, though others might call us Reapers. I am here to kill a strix that has been hunting vampire and human alike.”

“But ye butchered that man last night.”

“He broke the Covenant, I didn’t want to harm him, it leaves a power vacuum in the town, and it’s a problem, power vacuums mean battles for power and influence and then I end up having to clean up those messes too.”

“Ye mean to say that should I break the rules you will kill me.”

He shifted away from Enid as she was picking the lice from his head.

“Yes, if you break the Covenants, I will kill you and I won’t hesitate. So don’t break the rules and stop moving, you don’t want lice to keep eating from you, vampire blood does strange things to non-vampires. We can do it like this or I can use a poison that smells bad for weeks, you’re choice.”

William laid back into the tub.

“What are the Covenants?”

“Now you’re asking the right questions newling. Think of them as the commandments of vampire-life. Thou shalt not allow the existence of vampires to be known to mortals or church at large, failure brings their wrath upon us as in Rome. Thou shalt not kill another vampire. Thou shalt grant shelter to any vampire in need at dawn, though a favor shall be given in return. Thou shalt accept the rule of the Emperor and the Council. Thou shalt take responsibility for your creations, their crimes will be your crimes until such time as a Seer deems them their own vampire. Thou shalt not create vampires younger then an adult. Thou shalt not hinder a Seer in her enforcement of the Covenants. Thou shalt aid a Seer as she demands it, her word is the word of the Emperor and should be heeded as such. Failure to follow the letter and spirit of the covenant makes your second life forfeit, you may surrender your self for judgment to the Seer that is sent to investigate, and she may choose the punishment up to and including death or eternal imprisonment. If you request an imperial council trial, she must oblige so long as you surrendered yourself and provided no resistance in the course of her investigation.”

“So, what rule did the Lord break?”

“Several, he hindered my investigation, he helped his spawn, which means he didn’t consider him a free vampire, so we can add, creating a child vampire, allowing the existence of vampires to be found out by the church and mortals at large, and finally deaths of three vampires that were killed by the strix his spawn created. Your creator hindered the investigation, created you and all around was an asshole, so I killed him as well.”

“You could be merciful your laws allow it.”

“Yes, our laws allow it and I consider all aspects of a crime before I impose punishment. Because of the mess created by Odocar’s spawn, several mortals and vampires died to a monster. I had to wipe out a templar garrison and the town’s church was burned down. Now I despise Christianity, but that church is the center of a community and there will be investigations by the Church and the King I have done my best to create an alternate truth, but it remains the town will suffer for some time to come. And I’m going to have a to make a large donation to the clergy that come to town to ensure they don’t look close and just rebuild the church. In other words I’m stuck in this shit hole town for at least a month. To clean up the mess. And I still have to hunt down the Strix hopefully it won’t kill anyone else in the meantime.”

“What is a strix?”

“It’s a term Imperials use to describe a child vampire that has no control. An adult mind it can handle the transformation, think logically, some children though, they can’t process and the hunger for blood overwhelms them and they become like feral animals tearing the throats of anything that has blood. Without a logical human mind to control the animal they aren’t limited to normal strength and speed like you would be and can-do things far beyond their age. You know how fast and strong I am, and I will admit freely that a strix is probably almost my match. Especially if its been feeding regularly which this one has. They are a cursed creation, like someone’s punishing us for creating them, they devour everything in their path and eagerly seek out the one who turned them to feed on their blood as well.”

“That monster killed my son! His head was ripped clear off!”

“I am sorry for your loss, losing a child is never easy, I’m a parent myself, or was a long time ago. But now you see why Seer’s exist. Strix’s have the same vulnerabilities as you, sun, fire, silver. So I have an advantage with Bloodseeker.”

“Who’s that you said?”

“My sword, hard to believe but it has a intellect of its own, feral and hungry, but it’s silver and will make short work of the strix.”

“You said I’m vulnerable to the sun, fire and silver?”

“Yes, you’re very flammable and it gets worse with age. The sun, should you spend more then a few minutes in it you will burst into flames and then fall to ash and silver well it leaves lasting wounds. Normally vampires can heal fast, quite fast, you use blood you repair yourself. If you don’t it will happen over the course of the day while you sleep. Wounds from those three sources they’ll take months to heal and many human’s worth of blood. In other words, avoid them all. And of course if you get your head cut off, that’s instant death, doesn’t need to be silver, just a normal axe will do, so keep your head on your shoulders.”

“Ye keep saying imperial, and ye, and ye said Children of Lilith, can ye tell me what they mean?”

“There are a few different types of vampires, imperials like me, you can tell us by our flush skin, the fact we can eat skin, and some of the ones created directly the emperor can still have children, not women though, we’re not able to carry a child in our womb. Your kind, we call them the Children of Lilith, which there is a story behind but I’m not going to go into it. You can tell other cursed by scent, skin tone, always pale. Finally there are the cursed. They can be cursed by someone, or call it upon themselves. They are an odd lot and most of the time cannot create spawn, those that do can only go two or three generations before the curse is too weak to propagate. They’re a weird bunch some can walk in the sun, some cause plants to wilt, they’re all pale but it is difficult to tell them apart from mortals. You won’t meet many of them, they’re a reclusive and sad lot and generally don’t find acceptance in vampire society. There are orders of strength, for example a cursed who is old might have a few tricks but their nowhere near as powerful as even a newling Child of Lilith like yourself, and same goes for the Imperials. Even if you reach a thousand years old, you’ll never reach the potential of a newly created Imperial.”

“So, your maker was the Emperor of all vampires?”

“Yes, he was my father in more than one respect.”

“So, you’re a princess, like vampire royalty?”

“Yes, in more then one way, my husband is the blood son of my father, and also his creator. When Sextus goes to his final rest, I am supposed to go sit at his side as Empress.”

Why am I telling him so much, he’s just Pugmentia. Maybe I just feel sorry for him, lost kid, killed his wife.

“Should, I be calling you your highness?”

“No, my name is Enid, my title is Seer, but for the next month while we’re stuck here you’ll call me milady, with the death of your wife and child you have become overcome with grief and can no longer work the smithy and I, being a kind and generous nobleman’s daughter hired you on as help while I cleaned out my uncle Odocar’s estate after his terrible death from a swift illness. When asked what really happened you will say he died from a disease on his bits. You heard he was a pervert and goddless and got what he deserved. We’ll need to know if any ladies are upset by the last part because we may need to silence them, in case he was doing pillow talk. They’re likely going to be my size because I found some dresses that fit me. And there, you look presentable William Smith. I give you my word if you help me deal with the situation in Narfordshire I can get you a place at the Imperial Court or somewhere else safe and far away from here, where you can start a new as Sir William Smith, or Lord William Smith, or Lord Dinglebarry of Ballsack whatever you want, but I suggest giving up smithing, all that fire and heat probably not good for your health.”

“By silence them you mean kill ‘em?”

“Yes, or by erasing their memories, or if you have a soft heart they can go with you when you leave as your servant girls and portable blood supply I care not, so long as they do not speak of vampires to anyone but you.”

“I prefer the latter, if it pleases you milady, it don’t feel right killing them cause Lord Odocar couldn’t keep his mouth shut.”

“As you wish. Now help me into my dress.”

Enid pulled on thin silk padding for her armor then pulled the fine chain links over top and a slip over that. William helped pulled the string on her dress taut. She’d picked a dress that was more conservative then the current style, but it concealed her armor well. She attached a leather strap to her armor just behind her neck and had William stitch her sheath to the left side of her back keeping the hilt low and the bottom of the sword and scabbard through a while in her dress’s skirt. She pulled a blue cloak over her shoulders and left the hood down.

“Please go saddle my horse, it’s the black stallion, he’s a war horse so watch yourself.”

Then she put on the emerald necklace and earrings to complete the outfit. William returned from outside dusting his hands off.

“I know it seems like I’m treating you like servant and I am, but clean up any traces of the blood and vampires from this house. Once you’re done try and find out who Odocar was sticking his dick and fangs in so we can work on neutralizing them. And don’t bite anyone, you don’t know how to control your feeding yet and you’ll kill them and then I’ll have to clean up the mess.”

“I know yer treat’n me like a servant but that is the story isn’t it? And ye could kill me by yer laws and ye didn’t. I owe ye my life and I am yours until ye release me. Ye have my word on it.”

“Good, I will ensure you are rewarded for your services, I don’t keep slaves, didn’t in Rome, won’t start now.”