The Temple was the most important place of worship in Korotsk and was located in the central square, near the Yahontov Castle. With its marble bricks, the white building had four spires on the facade and, until midday, the sun in the square was obscured by its majestic height. Even the non-cult could not help but recognize the importance that the Temple represented for the city, becoming over the years a symbol on a par with the royal house.
Aria and Liza were watching it grow bigger and bigger as they walked along the main street. The streets were crowded and the police seemed to have doubled in number from the day before. The mounted policemen patrolled the streets and stopped the occasional thief with their speed, while the ones on foot, instead, patrolled neighborhoods and also had the function of collecting taxes in the shops and asking for documents from passersby for a routine check.
“What do we do when we get there?” Aria asked, “I mean, if the temple is full of police, they’ll never let two girls like us in to investigate.”
“That’s why we have Lieutenant Golubev,” Liza replied firmly, “he’s been working with the hunters for years and he lets us stick our noses in when things like this happen. And before you ask, don’t worry, the lieutenant is the one who handles our cases and this is one of them.”
“I imagine the hunters rely on these people a lot.”
“Yes, we call them infiltrators.”
Liza stopped for a few seconds to look around and choose which side of the sidewalk to continue her journey on, “They’re our only source of information. We have the lieutenant in the local police, but we also rely on the shopkeepers and merchants, the latter in particular are great eyes and ears in exchange for protection.”
This time it was Aria who stopped when she noticed that a little further ahead was one of the nobles who had attended the reception on the day of the attack. So they changed sides again.
“What about politics?”
“It’s the most important field… but we don’t have any infiltrators.” Liza said, “But now that you’re here, maybe the cards could be in our favor.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean… it’s likely that Sonia will come to talk to you to ask if you can get information from your father. We know that he sometimes interfaces with the King, and this could be a great thing for us.”
Aria thought about it for a while.
“I don’t know… I mean, I don’t talk to my father much and he doesn’t talk much about his work… though less about the King. He’s an architect, nothing more. He’s on the council but sometimes he doesn’t even attend meetings.”
“But it would be perfect for us, Aria, you know? Even the most banal information can hide great mysteries.”
Aria was reluctant but managed to keep her face neutral. While she understood the hunters’ motivations, she didn’t want to do any real wrong to her father. Acting as a spy for him didn’t seem like the best idea.
“I have to think about it.” she told her in a thin voice that was lost in the freezing cold of winter.
“You have plenty of time, besides, we have to take care of the temple now. Look, we’re arrived.”
They stopped in front of the spires. The square was full of citizens protesting to be able to enter. The police were trying to maintain public order and repelled every attempt to get through the cordon.
Aria and Lizza walked several swords before arriving at a wooden door that was guarded by two policemen. From there, given the internal layout of the temple, one would have entered directly into the private rooms of the priests.
A gentleman came out shortly after, a little bent over and with a cigar in his mouth. Clean, civilian clothes, a stern look and hair that was now white. As soon as his gaze met that of the huntress, the man moved towards the girl, keeping his hands in his pockets and puffing smoke from his mouth.
“Not a bad sight.” he began with a hoarse and particularly nasal voice.
“I brought a friend with me today.” the huntress said, turning to Aria.
“Aria Zotova, nice to meet you.”
The man looked down at her and puffed smoke upwards again.
“Girl, there are two important things in life,” and he held up his index and middle fingers, keeping them together, “the first is that you should never say your name, the second… well, I forgot the second one.”
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“I’ll remember.” a half bow from Aria, only to be met with a stern look from both of them.
“We need to examine the scene.” Liza said, remaining focused on the mission.
“Oh, sure, sure, the scene. Well, I hope you’re not faint-hearted, last time my assistant started throwing up. But I say, how is it possible that you start throwing up at a crime scene?”
Lieutenant Golubev opened the door for the two girls, who entered, having to duck their heads so as not to hit them on the door.
The interior was spacious and there were several beds and a few odds and ends scattered around. Near the wall that divided the bedrooms from the rest of the temple, the priests had created a kitchen area complete with pots, an electric stove and lanterns.
What fascinated Aria the most were the frescoes and paintings, they depicted the guardian spirits and one of them glorified the King with his crown in his hand.
But the good things ended there, because when the lieutenant brought them to the nave the sight was anything but decorous. Blood was splashed everywhere, on the paintings as well as on the benches. On the floor were the corpses of the priests where the white of their clothes was now just a memory. The stench was frightening, so much so that Aria felt dizzy and had to sit down and drink a drop of water.
“Is this the first time you’ve seen a dead person?” the lieutenant asked her, offering her a glass.
“No, the vampire was the first.”
“But he didn’t have that effect on you,” Liza pointed out.
Aria wanted to nod, but if she had, she would have thrown up the entire dinner from the day before. She stood aside for a few more minutes to regain her strength, while the other two went around the room to count the bodies.
The lieutenant, still with the cigar in his mouth, unlit, took a notebook out of his left pocket and a pencil out of his right. He began to write something down, muttering sentences.
“We have thirteen priests who have been killed, but murdered would be more correct. The murderer is definitely a vampire.”
“Only one?” Liza asked.
“I already checked the claw marks and they were killed in the same way. Plus, the depths match on all the bodies.”
He raised his index finger and smiled, “On all but one. Follow me.”
The lieutenant led them into an adjacent room where they followed a trail of blood that was growing thicker and thicker. What they saw would shock even the best soldier forged by the freezing cold of winter. A priest had been impaled on the wall and his albino skin suggested that all the blood had been drained from his body. Next to him, painted on the tiles, was a strange symbol. It was a tree, drawn in blood, surrounded by a circle and a star just above it.
“And this… does this mean anything to you?” Aria asked the huntress.
“No, I’ve never seen it.”
They took a few seconds to think. Even the lieutenant seemed shocked at the sight of such horror.
“In my entire career I’ve never seen anything like this. Vampires kill and suck blood. They certainly don’t put on shows with corpses… I’m going to smoke a cigar outside… now it’s your turn.”
“What do you think?” Liza asked once they were alone.
“I-I don’t know what to think… it’s all so weird… I mean, the lieutenant is right, vampires don’t draw symbols, right?”
“You’re right. But I’m afraid we’re dealing with a vampire who’s different from the others. And then… this symbol, maybe a message?”
“Could it be a secret code? Maybe for other vampires?”
Liza shook her head.
“No… it wouldn’t make sense now that I think about it. The police would have come right away, as it was, so no one else could have read it.”
She shook her head again, then took a sip of water and examined the blood on the wall.
“No,” she repeated, “it can’t be a message.”
“What if the vampire drew it for us instead? I mean, a message for us hunters.” she felt proud of her question, which made her sound like a detective.
“It could. It could not.”
“But what if it really was? If it was a message for us… we’d have to decipher it.”
“In that case I know who to ask.”
A sudden noise came from the confessional. Liza immediately lunged at it and, putting her arm inside, grabbed what was hidden.
A priest appeared from behind the curtain and was thrown to the ground.
“NO! Don’t hurt me, please!” his voice was shaking, as was his body.
“We won’t hurt you, but you have to tell us what you know or what you saw of the attack.”
“I saw—I-I saw… a monster!”
“What did it look like?”
“I-I don’t remember… yes, he was pale, very pale, he grabbed Father Jonas and killed him… then… then…”
“Did he say anything as he killed him?”
“NO!” the priest shouted, “Don’t hurt me! Please!”
“Liza,” Aria said, “he’s pretty nervous, I think it’s best to leave him to the police.”
“He has to answer to us!” the huntress exclaimed. It was the first time she had raised her voice to Aria.
“He stole- he stole the chalice.” the priest spoke again.
“What chalice?”
“The blessed chalice. We kept it in the case.”
Time stopped. Liza began to pace to gather her thoughts and Aria went to help the priest. She gave him a towel to protect him from the cold and sat him down to give him some water, just like the lieutenant had done with her a few minutes before.
“You’re safe now, we’re here.” she smiled at him to give him comfort. She was absolutely no good at this.
She thought back to the blessed chalice that had been stolen. She had never heard of anything like it and asking the priest didn’t seem like a valid option at that moment. Liza continued to walk those few swords that were wearing out her boots.
“A blessed chalice…” Aria thought, “Why? What use would the vampire have for it?”
Blurred by her thoughts, she didn’t notice that Liza had just changed route.
“Come on Aria, we have to go.”
“I’ll call the lieutenant who will help you.” Aria said getting up from the bench. With one last glance she checked which way the huntress had gone.
“There’s water over there, then I also brought a piece of bread from the kitchen, it’s the only thing I found. I hope you’re not cold, maybe we needed a blanket. The lieutenant will be here shortly.” she bowed to the priest, then took her leave.
She was so nervous that she didn’t notice that she had stepped on the still fresh pools of blood. She had never felt such a sensation, that of being able to help another person just like Liza had done with her during the attack.
“I hope we’ll meet again on better occasions!” she said goodbye one last time and then left definitively, not knowing if the priest had appreciated her gestures or not.
She, however, was happy.