“____” speaking

‘____’ thoughts

*____* telepathy

translated from Eldritch

---------------------

The eerily familiar feeling of deja vu washed over me as the incense and mix of candle light and colored light from stained glass windows that lit the interior of the church’s main hall reached my senses. It didn’t matter that the space inside was large and had a high ceiling, it felt confining and like it was choking the small amount of freedom I had out of me.

This church was no different that the one I knew and I was sure that I could make my way around the building with my faded mental map. The rows of pews that lead to the podium were sporadically filled with people and the occasional person in priest’s garb could be seen talking to them. A small line was standing before a priest in gold and white robes getting alms and blessings while others, some heavily armed and armored, were to the side talking to more official looking members of the church.

The occasional glance was sent in our direction and even though we were ignored for the most part it was enough to kick my mind into high gear. I didn’t want to be seen and closed my eyes as tightly as I could in hope of blocking out the stares; I wanted to hide and wait until everything that needed to be done here was over. I head Cecil’s voice but I didn’t dare to move to look him in the face.

“Vio, are you ok?”

“Sure. Fine. Just peachy. Can we go yet?”

“We just got here and haven’t even talked to anyone. Wait a little longer I promise it won’t take that long.”

“I’m holding you to that promise.”

“I’m sure I can manage that but if you keep holding onto my leg we won’t be going anywhere very quickly.”

I opened my eyes and pulled my head back while blinked a few times only to be greeted by the sight of the back of Cecil’s knee. At some point during our entrance into the church I had grabbed onto the leg of his pants and was holding onto it with a death grip.

“Oh. Sorry.”

After a failed attempt to get my hands to let go I was able to release Cecil from my grip and watched as my hands started to shake ever so slightly. I wasn’t off to a good start and it was only going to go downhill from here.

‘Calm down it’ll be fine. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Deep breath in. Deep bre- What was that?’

Movement in the corner of my eye caused me to turn fast enough to pull the muscles in my neck. Another person who had entered some time after us had walked passed us without so much as a glance in our direction. There was nothing here out of the ordinary, just people coming and going about their business; no need to panic. I continued to control my breathing and it returned to normal and the shaking subsided to unperceivable levels.

Seeing I had calmed down and was now capable of moving again, Cecil led us around the outskirts of the pews and looked for an area that wasn’t in use by many people. Instead of going and seeking out someone to answer our questions we just sat and watched the people go by. It only took a few minutes for someone to approach us and start talking.

“Hello. I’m Brother Iman. I noticed that you’ve been here for a while and that no one had come to greet you yet. Is there anything I can help you with today while you visit our glorious church?”

The tall plump priest looked unassuming enough in his white garb that I almost let my guard down but there was something in his eyes that made me feel uneasy. Cecil stood while taking Ormonde with him so that they could talk and move out of the way of those who would use the pews for their intended purposes. I stayed seated but moved myself closer to where the three now stood so I could listen to their conversation and join it if need be.

“We were thinking of possibly joining the church and were curious as to what the beliefs and practices you followed are.”

A glowing smile adorned the man’s face once Cecil said they were thinking of joining. I could almost see the energy coming off the man who seemed to bubble with the idea of spreading his beliefs.

“I can certainly help you. Though if you’d like a tour of our esteemed church I’m afraid you’d have to wait for someone higher than myself within our faith.”

“Just an explanation of your faith for now will suffice but thank you for the offer.”

“No problem at all I assure you; now where should I begin? We can start with the holy text I suppose.”

The priest walked over to where I was and I felt myself almost jump back reflexively. The closer he got the louder the pounding in my ears became. Then he started to reach out and his face began to blur and become shrouded in darkness. The rest of the world around me followed suit and faded into darkness leaving his hand, the inconsistent thump in my ears, and the constriction in my throat that was slowly shutting off my access to air the only things in existence. I wanted to compress my body and get as far away as I could but the pew stopped me from doing anything other than scooting away from him.

“Sorry to get in your way little miss; I just need to grab this.”

The hand passed me, taking a book from the back of the pew and the priest turned and walked back to Cecil while I adjusted to the world returning to normal with the soft murmur of hushed conversations and the din from outside slowly becoming audible again. I was going to be an absolute mess if this kept happening every time someone got close to me while I was inside the church.

“This is the book of Heiliges Licht, our holy text, inside is the history of our church including our origins and the psalms that we use during worship. I’ll give you a small synopsis of what’s in here but I highly suggest reading it for yourself as enlightenment only comes to those who work for it.”

He patted the book like it was a small child and continued.

“The god we follow is Narangerel and he is the holy being that gives us the power of light and fire with which we use to fight off those who would do us and those of our faith harm. Those who pledge to be one of his warriors is given enough strength to fight for any of our righteous causes. Our church was founded with the idea that as a group humans would be stronger than all of those that would seek to do us harm and thus community is a major part of our sermons.”

My mind started to drift. There was nothing I could use here to show the true face of the church to Cecil and Ormonde so there was no point in paying attention.

“Our main mission, other than the spread of our illustrious faith, is to provide humans with the protection that they need and to give them jobs when we can. I’m sure you saw the large gathering outside when you arrived here yes?”

“Of course. We spent a good deal of time trying to get through them to get here.”

“Many of those people are Schreckensjägers, horror hunters, and though they are not part of our church we offer them jobs and the tools with which to complete them.”

This was a good point with which to insert myself into the conversation. All I needed to do was add a little bit of faked excitement and readied myself as I hopped off the pew and walked to Cecil side.

“What sort of tools?”

“Ah little miss. Thinking about becoming an Schreckensjägers are we? It’s a dangerous and hard job that has claimed the lives of many who pursue it with little in the way of true comforts. Definitely not for someone of your make though there is always the option of becoming a priestess of our heavenly faith.”

“My make? And you still haven’t answered the question about the tools you can give them.”

“I mean nothing bad by my comment I assure you. It’s just that you’re a woman and most like yourself find the job above what they are capable of regardless of the effort they put into it. As I said, it is a hard and dangerous job.”

“That doesn’t mean I still can’t try and you’re dodging my other question. What tools?”

Iman let out an exasperated sigh while shifting the book he was holding to his other hand. Cecil seemed to be rather perturbed by the casual way the man had dismissed me because of my gender and I shared that sentiment.

“Weapons mainly. Any type of blade one could need our smiths can forge and if they can’t forge it we know others who can. Of course there are also other tools of the trade such as potions and poultices that can help healing and lessen the severity injuries while still in the field. We also provide a very small selection of blood for imbibers or Blutkämpfers as they prefer to be called, disgusting bunch.”

The priest seemed to have realized his remark and an apologetic smile appeared on his face.

“Sorry about that, I let my own view taint the information that I’m spreading. If they seek to help the church, they are welcome regardless of their vocation or lifestyle that is something that we adhere to.”

“Even witches?”

I could feel the smirk trying to form on my face and it took every fiber of my being not to let it show. Iman had tensed up realizing that the fairly innocent question had opened up a hole in his claim.

“As a member of the Church of the Radiant Sun I would do what I could for a human witch but as per law I would have to report them to the proper authorities and they would be dealt with accordingly. Why do you ask? You wouldn’t happen to be a witch would you?”

‘Clever bastard walked on thin ice and survived.’

“No.”

I stuck out my tongue at him; it felt good to do and help make my faked role seem more believable, or at least I hoped it did.

“Now where was I? Ah right. As I was saying, we supply the Schreckensjäger with everything they need and in return they give us a portion of the money that they make from outside demands for their help. They are but a small part of what our faith offers and it is the warriors of the church who should be praised.”

A faraway look entered the priest’s eyes while he talked; the adoration was present in his voice as well.

“Using the power given to us by our almighty god the warriors of our church go to many places that others cannot or will not go to such as the corrupted continent of Sunnon. As I mentioned our god blesses us with the ability to use fire and light as we see fit to and it is our main weapon against those that stand against us.”

“What about all the objects that they have on their waist?”

“You have very perceptive eyes little miss but they may be wandering too much for your own good. Those are holy relics that our church has collected and they give us the ability to control Arcane like spirits do.”

“What about spirits? Do you work with them?”

“Spirit? Yes we do work with them? They are tools for the church to use as we see fit. If one was to come in here we would be quick to enlist its help to have them assist in battle.”

“What if it didn’t want to fight?”

“Then they wouldn’t have to. There are other things that can be done aside from fighting that can assist humans when we need their help.”

“If that’s the case then why bind them to vessels.”

The priest continued to prattle on without realizing I had segued to another topic.

“Spirits are bound because most of the time they seek to remain isolated from the world and refuse to get involved with it. Birthed spirits are easy enough to get the help of but a nature spirit will almost never help on its own accord.”

“And how are those bound spirits treated?”

“That’s not really a question for me to answer or you to ask as it is none of your business how we treat the spirits within our service. You’ve side tracked me and I’ve talked about things I shouldn’t have. Now shoo and let me continue with these people who waited their turn to talk with someone instead of interrupting an ongoing conversation.”

Iman motioned for me to leave and turned to Cecil and bowed slightly.

“I apologize for getting distracted by a child when I had those who seek to learn about the true faith waiting for my explanation.”

“Think nothing of it Brother Iman children will be children and she showed enthusiasm so I can forgive her.”

“Very well then. As I’m sure you know, our church is one of the three main churches that you will find in every town or city across the continent. Out of those three ours is both the largest and most prosperous.”

Iman continued talking and I tuned him out. Having already tripped him up once he would be more wary of any further attempt I made. In an effort to relieve myself of the suffocating feeling that surrounded me I changed my eyesight to let me look at both the people and spirits in the area.

‘Oh no. Not here too.’

As quickly as I turn my sight on I turned it off. There was an area underneath the church that had an abnormally large amount of souls of every type gathered in it and it didn’t take a genius to know what was happening; the Church of the Radiant Sun was human exclusive. All I wanted now was to leave the building and the town and never look back.

Absolute horror filled me as I turned to see one of the church’s warriors talking to Cecil and Ormonde alongside the priest. If there was anything about the church that I fear, it could be summed up in two words; portable binding. Even from where I was sitting I could see the small folded cloth on the man’s belt that would have the required runes on it in order to bind an unwilling spirit to a vessel.

I fidgeted in my seat as my eyes made their way along the man’s belt and only stopped when my gaze reached a small ornamental dagger that would be used in ceremonies or as decoration. I could feel a spirit inside the dagger; when had they figured out how to bind spirits to weapons? The question was quickly discarded as a weak call for help tugged on the very fiber of my being; the spirit trapped in the dagger was trying to get my attention.

If I made a move to do anything there was no way for me to get out without causing a massive disturbance so my only option, no matter how much I hated it, was to ignore the spirit. Shutting out the call for help had the opposite effect I had wanted and I felt the tug get stronger and more forceful like someone was speaking normally instead of whispering.

My abnormal behavior, mainly the fidgeting and erratic breathing, hadn’t caught anyone’s attention yet but it was only a matter of time; I needed to leave. Sliding off the pew proved to be the hardest thing I had done all day as my chest cramped hard enough to take the breath from my lungs. The spirit’s call had turned into full blown shouting and the tugging felt like it would either cause my chest to cave in or free itself of my body if I didn’t do anything.

Raw instincts kicked in before the part of my brain that would have shut them down could do anything and I found myself tackling the warrior with as much force as I could manage. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to unbalance the man and that was all I needed to grab that dagger and run.

The shouting behind me was drowned out by my heart beat and pained breathing as I made my way further into the church to the back of the Podium where I knew through some sick twist of fate a binding altar would be. Something tried to hold me back and I abandon my corporeality in order to continue moving forward. The shouting got louder but it still remained quiet compared to the voice in the dagger.

I scanned the area behind the podium only to find it empty; I couldn’t see the altar but I could feel it that was all that mattered. My vision faded momentarily as I concentrated and then the altar was there; whatever illusion had been placed on it was now gone.

Each symbol on the altar was foreign yet familiar at the same time and even though I didn’t understand what any of it did I knew what needed to be changed. My eyes locked onto the symbols that needed to be reversed and they glowed white momentarily before reorienting.

With as much speed as I could manage I unsheathed the dagger and stabbed it into the center of the diagram on the altar and nearly collapsed as the tug and voice stopped. Red light emanated from the runes on the table and began to slowly solidify before working its way up to the ceiling in intertwining motions.

I felt incredibly satisfied watching the gleam on the dagger vanish and be replaced by rust as the now empty vessel eroded before my eyes. My menial celebration was interrupted by a gruff voice behind me telling me to stand up and turn around.

Standing was a chore but it didn’t matter; all that mattered was facing the people behind me. My eyes would be solid red; I knew that and I couldn’t care less. I was angry and I wasn’t going to hide it anymore.

“What?”

The word was slow, methodical, cold, and filled with enough malice to kill.

Standing at the head of a ten-man formation was a helmeted soldier dressed in full white yellow armor with a red sun on each shoulder; the traditional colors of the higher ranking warriors of the church. It was easy to tell he was strong; he was loose, flexible in the way he stood while the others that stood behind him had locked their joints and become immobile like statues.

Looking past the armed people in front of me I was able to see that the civilians in the church had been pushed to the back of the room away from any conflict that may occur. Ignoring those before me in favor of those behind them must have annoyed the main figure standing at the ready.

“Do you have any idea what you just did?”

The voice was aged and bitter but a slight bit of fear was there and that small part of me that I tried to keep in the dark recesses of my mind was ecstatic knowing that fact.

“I released a spirit that was asking me from help from slavery.”

“No. You took property that wasn’t your and destroyed it.”

I felt my anger flair and the temperature of the air around me do so as well.

“Since when have spirits ever been your property?”

“We are the Church of the Radiant Sun. It is within our right to-”

“To enslave others to do your bidding?! You have no more right over the life of another than I do.”

I spat my retort back with enough force to cause everyone but the man I was conversing with to flinch.

“Then what right do you have to stand there and accuse us of such a thing?”

“What right do I have?!”

I felt my body ripple as I entered my battle form lantern and all. With as much force as I could muster I slammed the lantern onto the altar behind me shattering the rusted knife embedded in it and part of the table in the process.

“I’m one of those! That you claimed to have a right to control! Like property!”

“That alone doesn’t seem like enough of a-”

“Not enough?! You want more than that?! How about my being forced to hunt down other spirit against my will and having each and every one of them blame me for something I couldn’t control?! How about being used as a test subject for the decrepit experiments of your church?! How about the fact that I’m a nature spirit and your ‘glorious’ do no wrong church destroyed my home?!”

“Surely the destruction of your home wasn’t intentional?”

“Not intentional!? It was done over the course of months!”

I had been shouting at the top of my lungs since halfway through my rant and every reply I got was met with the same calm tone; it was infuriating.

“I know you.”

The voice came from a spirit that had pulled itself from one of the many vessels in the room. I recognized the spirit as the one I had seen after I visited the area where the spirit cult had killed me. The same haggard and worn looked applied but the fire that had hidden itself until it sprung its trap was still there.

“And I know you. What could you possibly add to this conversation except more proof for me?”

“I could mention the fact that many people got hurt when they tried to bind you so the same must be true for the first time it happened.”

The area around me was filled with small embers that hug in the air threatening to ignite the area around me and the spirits comment was the last straw needed to ignite the conflagration.

“So my fighting to keep my freedom is condemnable but you get to enslave me and use me for whatever you want without repercussion?”

The front most soldier started to speak again.

“Our god gives us th-”

I move myself so close to the man that the heat around my body started to singe him. To the man’s credit he didn’t flinch or back away in order to reduce the damage.

“Your god means nothing to me and gives you jack shit when it comes to moral superiority! You fuckers! Filled in! My! Lake! I can’t even use the correct type of Arcane anymore! How do you think it you would feel if I removed the ability for you to use your hands but left them there so you could see them and feel them but never use them?! Hmm?!”

“Men stand down we’re done here.”

The fire around me calmed but the damage had been done and I could smell the burnt wood and charred cloth. The man removed his helmet revealing an aged and scarred face beneath.

“You’re right. I don’t know how that would feel nor do I know what it is like to experience all the other things you said. If what you’ve stated is true the I must sincerely apologize for what we have done to you.”

“So now you’re willing to admit you’re in the wrong? That doesn’t change the past nor does it help any of the spirits that are still imprisoned by you or those that will be imprisoned in the future.”

The man stared back at me for a moment before shutting his eyes and taking a deep breath.

“I can try and push for change within our practices but I hold little power in the grand scheme of things and I think I need some time to think about your little . . . revelation here.”

“Then take it. I’m not going anywhere just yet from the looks of it.”

I waved a hand to the large gathering of priests and warriors that had slowly filed the edges of the room; every single one of them was armed and poised to fight. The room was silent except for the hushed murmurs of information being passed back and forth between those in the front and those in the back. My ear twitched as I hear someone mention what I had just said.

“All of this over a stupid lake?”

The fire around me rekindled with renewed force sending the man who had been standing passively in front of me back a step.

“Don’t you even get me started! How would you like me to rip a part of your soul out and see how you feel after it?”

I walked to the person who spoke and made sure I was eye level with them when I spoke. The priest was young, arrogant, and brave; brave enough to scoff at a very real threat that I could easily carry through with.

“You can’t really do that.”

“Are you willing to risk it and let me prove you wrong?”

The spirit that had emerged earlier came over to the man and whispered something that caused the man to pale and shrink in front of me. After imparting its words of wisdom turned and locked eyes with me; an obvious show of feigned strength.

“I think it’s best you leave.”

“Already on my way out.”

With a snap of my fingers the lantern I had left on the altar vaporized into ash and returned itself to my side. I returned to my corporeal form and walked towards the door with the few people that had gathered parting to let me through. Once I was at the door I turned back to look at the contents of the church.

“Remember this. I’m not the only one with a grudge and spirits live for a very, very long time.”

I let my feet take me where they wanted to and found myself looking around a trash filled alley. There was no one else but me here and a quick spurt of flame later I had cleaned an area of trash and given myself a place to sit. I was going to be waiting for a while.

Two distinct sets of footsteps approached me after a considerable duration of time. The first to reach me was light and unsure, mostly hidden by the stomps that drowned it out. Cecil was here and Ormonde was leading him since he knew where I was. The footsteps got closer until they were close to me before stopping.

My eyes stayed shut even though they were standing right next to me and I remained on the ground. Ormonde tried to get closer and I simply held out a hand to convey to him to stay back. He retreated but Cecil advanced in his stead.

“What were you thinking? It was one thing to ask pointed questions but tackling one of the churches warriors? Stealing from them? Running away from them and then unbinding a spirit and destroying what you took in the process? What was going through your head because I really want to know.”

Cecil anger was rightly placed and for good reasons but any energy I had for arguments was gone. I was spent; it was tiring and painful having to justify myself by bringing up things I wanted to forget and it showed on my face and in my sullen words.

“Nothing.”

“What do you mean nothing?”

“There was no thought going through my head. I wasn’t thinking. It was just instinct and I reacted before I could even think about what I was doing.”

“I can’t accept that as a good enough reason for you almost getting into a one man war with the Church of the Radiant Sun.”

“Then don’t accept it.”

I lifted my body off the ground and started to reduce myself into the small flame that helped me recover when I needed to heal massive amounts of damage.

“Vio, the minute you left the church the priests started to look at what you did to the altar to prevent it from happening again. The one thing you had as an advantage you just gave up and the warrior you talked to was issuing orders to map out where you might go so they could try and catch you. So if you decide to hide inside Ormonde don’t come out until we leave Fantin. Okay?”

There was a small amount of concern hidden underneath the vitriol his voice carried with it. I deserved it even if I felt I was in the right.

“I can’t promise to remain hidden our entire trip but I’ll stay hidden for now. You take care of yourself and Ormonde and I’ll take care of myself.”

Anything Cecil said or did was lost to me as I entered Ormonde’s soul and tapped into his senses. Once I was able to register everything, I caught the back half of Ormonde talking.

“-gonna do now?”

“Head to the next church just like we had planned. Tanzi did anyone follow us?”

“No sir. We are fine to move about as we like without having to worry about others looking for us.”

“Good. Ormonde stay close so you don’t get lost. You remember what to do if we get separated?”

“Go back to the inn?”

“Correct.”

While they had been talking Ormonde and Cecil had started to leave the alley and make their way through the main street we had come from.

*Ormonde ask you dad how long it’ll take to get to the next church.*

To his credit, Ormonde only freaked out a tiny bit from having someone talk in his head. Cecil and Tanzi explained to him what I had done and he tried unsuccessfully to do the same before asking my question to Cecil. From where we had started it was going to take us ten minutes to get to the next church, though most of that time had been spent calming Ormonde down and explaining telepathy to him.

Just like the Church of the Radiant Sun had banners outside the building depicting their emblem, so to did the next church we had arrived at. The banner themselves were completely black with a simple white circle in the center of the flag. Aside from black lines the spidered from the lower left hand side of the circle making the circle look like a cracked plate, there was nothing else on the banner. I had only seen this banner once or twice and had never taken the time to find out what church actually backed it.

Cecil and Ormonde filtered into the church with a few other patrons and I noticed that most of those exiting had red bandages wrapped around different parts of them while some of those who entered sported only the red. Injured people where coming to this church to get help, something that the Church of the Radiant Sun didn’t do to the best of my knowledge.

Almost immediately after crossing the threshold of inside and outside made by the doors Cecil and Ormonde were addressed by a person robed in black and white. A black hood with a red stripe running horizontally around it covered the head and face leaving only the voice to determine the gender; in this case male.

“Welcome to the Church of the Dark Sun. Are you in need of any healing?”

“No thank you. We came to see about possibly joining your church and wish to know more about it before making our choice.”

“That’s great, we are always looking for others who wish to join us. Follow me and for a moment so we can get you out of the way of those who need medical attention and I’ll find someone who can help you.”

The priest gestured for Cecil and Ormonde to follow him with a gloved hand and meandered over to the side before telling them to wait and walking off. Before either of them had the chance to sit the priest had returned with another in tow; this one lacked a hood and was dressed in all black.

“This is Manyara, she will answer any questions you may have. For now I must excuse myself as there are others that require my help at this time.”

The other priest looked like a normal human with a slim face and most likely a lithe build if the face was anything to go by. I couldn’t pinpoint anything out of the ordinary until something on the side of the woman’s face flicked out before disappearing into her long straight hair. My attention hadn’t been drawn in that direction and I had failed to see that her hair was not a singular color and instead was a mix of a vibrant yellow and light brown.

“Nice to meet you. I was told you had some questions about the church?”

“That’s correct.”

“In that case feel free to ask anything on your mind.”

“Can you give us the basic run down? The god or gods you worship, what your church does, the church’s ideology, things like that?”

“Of course. The Church of the Dark Sun was originally founded as a place to honor Senka. Senka lives in shadows and darkness and the church was created to emulate this by those that also live their lives in the dark such as vampires and werepeople. We don’t have a text like other churches and each person is free to worship as they wish as long as Senka and the wish for the good health of others are in their prayers. Are you privy to the differences between a wereperson and a Blutkämpfer?”

“I am but my son here is not and he’s the one we’re here for.”

Manyara turned her body so she was directly facing Ormonde before she resumed speaking.

“A Blutkämpfer is someone who fights using blood to empower themselves. Certain humans and animals have abilities within their blood and Blutkämpfers inject themselves with it or drink it in order to temporarily gain those abilities. However, the powers are borrowed and will fade with time unless one type of blood it consumed in excess. That can lead to permanent changes to diet, mood, and in rare cases physical alteration but it’s usually nothing that we can’t fix. A wereperson is someone whose blood has the trait of a certain species of animal. I myself am a werecat. We werecats have a heightened sense of smell and hearing but we have bad vision when it isn’t night. We physically are more nimble and flexible than a human but even the males of our people pale in terms of the natural raw strength a human has.”

Ormonde seemed to stall for a moment as he took in everything he had just been told. Manyara looked like she was about to continue when Ormonde beat her to the punch and asked a question that would have had me hitting my head against a wall if I wasn’t inside him.

“So does that mean you have a tail and cat ears?”

“Yes and no. I do have a tail that is similar in fashion to a cat’s hidden under my robe but my ears are closer to a human’s. They’re on the side of my head instead of the top and are close to the same size. I don’t have earlobes though and my ears are much longer in the upward direction to make up for that. And yes the are furry but no you can't pet them.”

Ormonde deflated for a moment and then perked up to his normal posture after a brief moment of disappointment. I could tell that Cecil and the priestess were holding back laughter by their overly large grins.

“Anyway, werepeople come in many different varieties just like there are many different types of animals and we give our blood to Blutkämpfers in order to lend them our abilities. That is but a part of what we do here.”

She stopped talking to turn and point towards the small line of people that were being led into another room and coming out bandaged or, from what I could tell, fully healed.

“Our main goal is to heal people using blood. Some types of blood, like a werelizards, grant the user better regeneration but we are lucky to have a few half-vampires in our church. Vampires, half or full, are a special people and no, they don’t drink blood to live though they do eat a lot of iron rich foods. The blood of a vampire is different than anyone else and they have the ability to control it and make it do what they wish. In terms of healing injuries quickly and killing disease or infections a half-vampire’s blood is second best falling short only to a pureblood. The half-vampires we have on hand are weak boned and fall ill from malnutrition often since their bodies produce blood nonstop. I don’t know if the same can be said for pure blood vampires though as there are only a handful of them and they never show themselves unless they have no other options. And I’m rambling. Sorry about that. What other questions do you have?”

“The Church of the Radiant Sun has their own fighters; do you have something like that as well?”

The woman cringed at the mention of the Church of the Radiant Sun but began to answer the question nevertheless.

“This is another question that skirts the yes and no line. We have a group that could be use for combat, they’re called the night hunters and despite their name they do very little hunting. Their actual purpose, however, is scouting and information gathering as those jobs fit us much better than face to face confrontations.”

Towards the end of her explanation another person dressed in a tri colored robe made their way towards us. The person stopped next to Manyara before placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Is everything going alright here Manyara? You’ve been with these guests for quite some time and they still have a injured party among them. Were they offered healing?”

“Everything is fine sir, they just wished to know about the church in order to decide on whether or not the child here will join us. I know they were greeted like anyone else who enters the church and I don’t smell any blood on them.”

“Oh it’s not any of these three here that need healing. It’s the one that’s hiding that needs the help. If, of course, she’ll accept it.”

I left Ormonde’s body and studied the man for a moment while floating up to what I though was the newcomer’s eye level. The man’s stance was loose and relaxed like he couldn’t be hurt even of he was attacked by someone. He also had Edin inside him but it seemed different from what I had inside me. Mine was pure and his seemed almost diluted or like something had changed the fundamental nature of what was circulating through him. The last thing I noticed was the unmistakable smell of blood surrounding this person. It had the same effect as Mark’s did and I could feel my desire to taste blood increase.

“How did you know I was here?”

“Part of knowing if someone is injured is knowing how to see the life within them and I have a sixth sense for finding injured things.”

“And what’s this about needing healing? I’m perfectly fine as far as I can tell.”

“That may be the case but you are still injured even if it isn’t fully physical and there is still the possibility of helping even if only a little.”

“What if I don’t want help?”

“Then I will push no further on the matter.”

“Vio let him check. If there is something wrong with you that he can fix then decide what you want to do then and if he finds nothing then there was no harm done. What’s the worst that can happen by letting him do that?”

‘You’d be surprised.’

My opinion only swung because of Ormonde and how much worry he was emitting; he would continue to be like that and I didn’t think I could handle his worries on top of my own.

“I’ll let you check but the results don’t leave those who are here; got it?”

“Patient confidentiality is always respected so have no fear about that. Now if you would become physical for me please.”

“How do you-”

“Everyone has their secrets and I won’t share mine if you don’t share yours.”

‘Smartass.’

“Fine. Let’s get this over with.”

I lower myself to the ground and became corporeal after making sure nothing was going to happen once I did so. The man knelt before seating himself on the ground cross-legged and seemed to be observing me for something.

“Could you hold your arm out for me palm up? Thank you. Not you’re going to feel a slight prick.”

The man held my hand in his own and held his other just over it and it started to leak blood through the leather glove that hid his skin. As he said ‘prick’, I felt something small and needle like poke my wrist. My arm pulled back instinctively ripping it out of his grip and I had to grab my wrist with my other now shaking hand to stop my arm from pushing into my chest. Resisting the urge to run was just as hard as breathing with my suddenly uncooperative lungs.

“Bad experience with needles?”

“You have no idea.”

The words were forced and took concentrated effort in order to keep them steady. I was trembling like a leaf in the wind and sat down before curling in on myself.

“I have some inkling if it’s turned into aichmophobia that powerful.”

“I have no clue what that word means. Is there another way to do this because I don’t think I’m going to take a second poke without reacting out even worse than this.”

“You’d have to ingest some of my blood though most don-”

“That’ll work. The taste of blood is nothing new to me.”

A shallow nod signified that he would go through with it and a small red crystal formed in his upturned and open palm. He waited a few seconds allowing the crystal to turn into a small pill before holding out his hand for me to take it from him.

“Here you go.”

With transparent hesitation I took the pill from his hand and looked it over before putting it in my mouth and swallowing. He was right; the taste of blood was there and very prominent but as I had said it was something I was used to and it somewhat satiated the thirst that had been growing since this man joined us.

“How long will this take?”

“Not too long but I can speed the process up a little if you want me to.”

“Could you?”

“Sure but you’re going to need to come here and let me touch your back so I can better control the blood.”

I stood, walked three steps, turned and sat myself in front of the man with my back to him. Showing my back to an enemy was something I avoided as much as possible and showing it to someone who I didn’t fully trust had me on edge. A small squeak escaped me as two hands pressed onto my back and startled slightly even knowing it was coming.

“Relax; try not to be so tense. I’m not going to hurt you, it would be against what both my own personal beliefs and the church’s stand for.”

Instead of replying I just sighed and tried to get the muscle in my shoulders and back to release the tension they were holding. Any release I had managed to obtain was lost once the hands on my back started to move. There was no pattern to the movements that I could figure out from the brief span of time that the hands moved before stopping again. It was infrequent and small but there was the occasional sensation of something squirming inside of me and it was unpleasant.

The back and forth of the hands on my back continued for a minute before my back was left empty and free of any external presences. I could hear the man behind me shift as if standing and stood up while turning around to face him.

“That it?”

“Yes. I’m done checking.”

“And?”

“Sadly there is nothing I can do that your own blood hasn’t done. It’s not just a small thing either. It’s mental and physical and, while I hoped to at least help with the one that doesn’t require extensive counseling, there was nothing I could do.”

“But you tried right?”

“I did.”

“And it’s not going to kill me is it?”

“No. It’s not that type of injury.”

“Then that’s all I need to know.”

“You don’t want to know what the injury is?”

“What’s the point if it can’t be fixed? I’ve been fine up until now so there’s no point in thinking about it.”

“Very well then but let me tell you something; it’s my own personal motto that I live by. ‘Darkness is another side of light and everyone has a bit of darkness in them. Whether they accept that darkness for what it is; is up to each individual.’ Remember that and it will help you in the future. If you ever want to talk again in the future go to the House of Volden and ask for Ruaidhri. Chances are I’ll be there. Manyara they’re all yours again.”

The man who had finally named himself as Ruaidhri walked away leaving us in silence. Manyara was staring wide eyes and open mouthed at the retreating figure disbelief written on her face.

“What’s with the look?”

“Remember how I said there are only a handful of pureblood vampires?”

“Yeah.”

“All of them belong to the House of Volden.”

My mouth formed an ‘o’ shape but no sound came out. One of the best healers in the world had just told me that I had an injury they couldn’t fix. The star struck priestess shook herself out of the daze he was in and tried to return to the conversation that she had been holding beforehand.

“Um. How about a tour of our facilities?”

“Sure. Vio you going to stay out?”

I shook my head.

“Nope I need a nap after all of this.”

The world faded once again and I didn’t bother to tune in to the tour and instead focused on trying to relieve some of the insurmountable tiredness that had swept over me after our visit to the Church of the Radiant Sun. Sleep wasn’t going to be easy but at this point I would take what I could get; it had been a long day so far.

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AN: Hello readers! Good news and bad news.Good news: college is starting again. Bad news: college is starting again. Chapters will still be written and put up but I'm going to have to stick to one a week in order to give school the attention it needs/deserves. Following that; I went back and was reading a few of the already posted chapters and noticed I had some errors that could hinder the readability of the story such as incorrect gender pronoun usage. If you see something that you think breaks the feel of the story let me know and I'll fix it (or try).Also if anyone wants to correct me on my use of German please do so. Now that I have all of this wall of text out of the way I'll bid you adieu until next time.

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