Blood Attraction

The next morning, my aunt and I got up very hungry and terribly sleepy, yet our senses were alert. As we changed clothes to go down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast, we kept looking at the door in fear of seeing it broken down by Priest Dominick, due to the umpteenth tragedy or another unexpected escape. When we were ready to go downstairs, my aunt opened the door and found in front of her one of those two men who were dressed in black, who had accompanied us to Dublin. When we arrived at the hotel restaurant for breakfast, my aunt explained to me that those two men were chosen to defend me from their attacks. "They who?". «They are people devoted to evil and obscurity, ready to sacrifice the lives of others for theirs» explained my aunt quickly, adding her bacon to the plate. "Isn"t that survival instinct?" I asked, disoriented. «No, not in their case... anyway, now eat» my aunt ordered me. I ate a big breakfast, but before I was done, Priest Dominick arrived, his face strained and exhausted. He hadn"t closed his eyes all night. “ Good morning” we greet him. "Good morning. How are you?". "Tired" whispered my aunt. "Me too. I"m on my knees. Also, I just got a call from Cardinal Siringer. We have an appointment around three o"clock at the old St. George Abbey, on the outskirts of Dublin». It was the longest three hours of my life. Me, Auntie and Priest Dominick were confined to our room, with the two henchmen at the door, until the appointed time. There wasn"t even a television in the room to distract myself and Auntie and Dominick only mentioned people I"d never heard of who might be present at that meeting. Finally, I lay in bed thinking, but my mind was too tired and affected by all these events to be able to reason clearly. I fell asleep slightly and when I reopened my eyes, it was raining in torrents outside. I loved rain, but at that moment it only served to make the thought of the encounter that I would soon have and that would certainly change my destiny forever more depressing. I dragged myself reluctantly to the door, where two men were waiting for us. They escorted us to the black BMW that would take us to St George Abbey. It was humid air and I felt the cold penetrate me to the bone. I couldn"t calm the shivering even inside the heated cabin of the car. Half an hour later we were in front of a very old stone building. They accompanied me to a secondary door that led to a staircase. I was curious about the lower floor, immersed in darkness, from which the sound of running water could be heard. I tried to get closer, but Priest Dominick pushed me up to the top floor. I looked at him suspiciously and he explained to me briefly: «Old crypt in disuse». We walked down a long corridor before reaching a door. The two men stopped. “ This is the office of Abbot Kirk, member of the Order. Come in. We"ll stay here on guard» said the taller one, laying his hand on the holster of his g*n, which I hadn"t even noticed before. Instead of reassuring me, that gesture made me panic. I hadn"t realized until then how much danger I might be in. I entered that majestic room with my heart beating fiercely in my chest. Inside were five men. From the clothes, I immediately realized that the one sitting at the large desk, which took up most of the room, was Cardinal Siringer. To his left was Priest August, who only nodded to me in greeting, and next to him was the huge figure of a gray-haired man, who was looking at him more than insistently. Later it was explained to me that it was Abbot Kirk. To the cardinal"s right were two other men, muscular and robust, identical to those who had accompanied us there. After the various formalities, the cardinal turned his serpentine gray gaze on me and in a voice that was acidic and cold, like the temperature of that room, he said to me: “And so, you are the famous Vera Campbell in flesh and blood... I hope you understand the situation”. "Actually, I...". I had no idea what was going on, but the cardinal had already turned to my aunt and Priest Dominick to explain the current situation. “ Cardinal Montagnard was killed with a pistol blow to throw us off track, but it is obvious that they did it. There must be a spy among us... one of the new members of the Order, I suppose. Whoever it must be told Blake"s group that we were in possession of a weapon to defeat him and his group of mercenaries. Once in possession of this information, they began to move to investigate. A few months ago, we found some members of the Order tortured and murdered, but none of us thought anything of the sort until Priest August"s secret sources told us what had happened. Apparently they were convinced that this weapon was an object and they began to search inside our headquarters, but without results, until someone mentioned the name of Cardinal Montagnard as the keeper of such secret. Only Blake would be able to enter consecrated land due to his great powers, but I never thought it would reach this point. He probably discovered that this weapon was intended primarily against him, so he tried to destroy it by all means. When he found the cardinal he must have discovered that this instrument was a person and not an object. Unfortunately, no one saw or heard anything other than the shot, his office and his private rooms were in order, so we assume that Cardinal Montagnard spoke». "I don"t believe it. Cardinal Montagnard would never put Vera"s life in danger,” my aunt interrupted him with the utmost indignation. "I am sorry to say it, but the cardinal must have confessed, as this night Blake and the others broke into the farm we had given you for this mission," revealed Cardinal Siringer in a booming voice that brooked no retorts. « Ahmed!» I screamed fearing the worst for the one I considered part of my family. "Do not worry. He is also in Dublin at the moment. This morning, my sources informed me that he booked the flight to Tunisia, scheduled for this afternoon. I put one of our men to protect him », he assured me without, however, softening his tone of voice. I thanked him. Then we return to the previous subject. Cardinal Siringer calmed down and told us the latest discovery. “ We don"t know how it happened, but all documentation about Vera and her origins has disappeared. A few days before, Cardinal Montagnard told me that he had made an extraordinary discovery that would put all the trumps on our side. We had made an appointment for the following week to talk about it in person. In any case, the cardinal, before dying, managed to write a note that is currently being analyzed. We believe it hides a coded message or a particular indication, but so far nothing has been discovered”. “ What did the message say?” asked my sad aunt. “ It was written exactly this: Love generates new love. Only this can save from condemnation”. We all look at each other a little stunned. With all the things he could write in the last moments of his life, he chose a very obvious sentence. It was a typical catechetical teaching. He reminded me so much of Priest Dominick"s teachings. He often told me. "Nothing more?" tried to ask my aunt. «No, with the exception of some papers related to family trees of families of humble origin who worked in the mine, which date back to four hundred years ago». Silence fell between them, but before the cardinal opened his mouth again, I wanted to take the opportunity to clarify his ideas once and for all. «Excuse me, but who are they? I can"t believe that all this is happening because of me” I timidly asked the cardinal. The latter turned all red and glared at my aunt and priest Dominick. “ Don"t you know anything? But how could you hide from her that there is a group of vampires who are tearing the city apart looking for her to kill her!». Vampires? Maybe I misunderstood, but I didn"t use to repeat that word so as not to be ridiculed. «A group of?» I asked again, looking for the look of my aunt, who insisted on staring at the tips of her feet with a guilty look. «Vampires! Do you have in mind those men who reject divine grace to rise and nourish themselves with human blood?” mocked the cardinal, seeing my expression mixed with disbelief and fear. At that moment, I tried to remember all the vampires I had seen in my life on television, but nothing came to mind except a cartoon that I watched when I was seven, in which the protagonist was a cowardly vampire puppet, but with a good heart. I doubted that the vampires that the cardinal spoke of were similar to the puppet. "I didn"t know they really existed," I stammered. «No one knows, because the Order of the b****y Cross has precisely the duty to keep this reality hidden. Yet, they exist! It is very difficult to find them because they can transform into other creatures and they have supernatural strength. It is impossible to kill or capture one of them without first weakening them with holy water or silver...». «But then what use do the weapons that the two men who accompanied us here have?» I asked. «Our guards have very special weapons, loaded with pure silver projectiles» he explained to me proudly. "And then?". "Then we burn them". «And this Blake, why is he considered so dangerous?». “ Because he is different from everyone else. He is the only vampire immune to silver or anything else, but Cardinal Montagnard has discovered that within you is the weapon capable of defeating him. He is the source of our problems, because for every vampire we burn, he turns two more into vampires... he is very good at this because he manages to control himself when he feeds, thus leaving his victims suspended between life and death, until they give in to vampirism and, many times, later decide to follow it, even though vampires are generally solitary creatures and do not like connections with others for more than brief periods». “ But why do you want me right away?” I insisted strongly. «This is the real secret that Cardinal Montagnard took to his grave. I only know that you are special because of your blood. Do you really believe that I would keep you on that monthly income for all these years if it weren"t for a very precise reason? Apparently, your anemia makes you unique, but I believe this is simply due to the fact that...” commented the ecclesiastic, but before finishing the sentence, shots were heard outside the door. We were all startled at the same time before the two men broke down the door, yelling at us to escape. “ How did they know you were here?” asked the maddened abbot, who had been silent until now. "It doesn"t matter. Hurry, Matt, take Vera down below. Go through the crypt. There you will find a small door, where you can enter. Follow the tunnel that leads to a staircase that will take you inside an abandoned building on Change Lane,” the cardinal ordered authoritatively to one of the two men on his right. Wasting no more time, Matt grabbed me by the arm and led me out of the room, but I had no intention of abandoning my aunt. She was my whole family and I didn"t want to leave her.