The legacy of the dark blood

Chapter 56

Anneliese's diary

Listening to the words of the witch's father cleared up several of Liz's doubts. Amelie and Anneliese were the typical representation of good and evil in two identical twins, she remembered the moment in which she found the statue of the nun destroyed in the ghost town of Henoth, and also the images of the frescoes in the courthouse in which the nun was bleeding forming a scarlet river. Liz discussed the situation with those present; especially agents Fritz and Berger were absorbed by the amount of information she had gathered.

"It makes sense," added Wolfgang, turning to another section of the book, "according to legend, it was in Henoth that Amelie started her order. That's why they built that statue in her honor, which was destroyed after the massacre, and maybe that's why Henoth was the only village that opposed Friedrich Holzmann many centuries later".

"Exactly," added agent Tobias Fritz receiving the parchment with the title "adversus anathemate sanguine", "the shelter we found belongs to some women who continued with Amelie's legacy, fortunately their order is still standing and they built the shelter, where we are all protected from the beasts".

"How is that even possible?" Liz asked curiously. Officer Andreas Berger extracted a bottle of perfume from his backpack, the moment he uncorked it, Liz could smell the scent of flowers that worked as a repellent of dark blood. To her alone, it was the most repulsive smell she had perhaps ever smelled.

"The sisters of the white flower have developed this perfume using the fragrance of the flowers as a base," said Berger, "It is a species of flowers that we do not recognize, but we know that the beasts do not tolerate it. We have used it to protect ourselves on our way here".

Liz was about to ask why they had not been warned before, until she remembered that due to her condition she could not tolerate the substance either.

Before proceeding with the inquiry about the sisters of Amelie's order, Nick abruptly took the Holzmann history book from Wolfgang's hands. Just as Liz was preparing to complain about the impolite action, Officer Fritz waved his finger at her and told her to leave it at that.

The officer began to sift through the writings, he found letters and diaries written by various members of the Holzmann family, especially Amelie, however, it was Anneliese's diaries that caught his attention the most, which he read superficially.

"I think this part might have some interesting information," said Nick who proceeded to read and translate the text.

Anneliese Holzmann's diary, written - 1628-1630

For years I was condemned to live under the shadow of what I once considered my sister. She within her order of the white flower tried to persuade me to abandon the practices of alchemy, magic and occultism. I would not give in, something in my heart told me that my studies would provide me with a gift that no mortal would ever attain; a gift that all those who so persecuted my sorcerer brethren would never understand.

I refused to listen to Amelie and her fanciful beliefs, my search for the true elixir of life was well underway and showing positive results. I researched the consumption of blood as a source of power, vampirism, it was for this practice that Walpurga Hausmännin was condemned by the Dillingen trials. Once the church discovered my connection to her, I might end up at the stake as well. For that reason I was forced to leave Freiburg, but as you see the persecution did not stop anywhere I went, thousands of sisters and brothers were burned to death; I was therefore forced to lead a nomad's life.

Along the way I met other villagers fleeing their regions for similar reasons. The worst thing is that even the followers of Luther persecuted us, those filthy hypocrites who so much questioned the authority of the pope as well as the followers of Henry VIII in England; all Christians were the same. With that, no place in the whole of the Holy Roman-Germanic Empire was safe for us; we therefore created our own independent state in the middle of the forest. It was years of hard work, but we succeeded.