The legacy of the dark blood

Chapter 72

The Holzmann Diaries, Part 1: Anneliese's Defeat

The group gathered at the same table where they had talked minutes before, not only the German officers had attended Judith's talk, but also some of Liz's colleagues, whom she recognized only by their uniforms.

Judith brought to the table the books they had rescued from the library of Henoth am Hausmännin, she reviewed their pages with meticulous caution in search of information she wanted to share with the agents.

"Well,2 the leader of the order asked for the attention of those present, they all took their seats, they were anxiously waiting for the moment that the whole truth behind the horrendous nightmare she was living would be revealed once and for all, "I thank you in advance for everything you have done for this town, also for the rescue of these poor souls and especially for the recovery of these documents, without them the elaboration of our products would not have been possible" she paused and opened the Holzmann family book to a page "the first and most important thing is to know what we are dealing with" without commenting further, she opened the Holzmann history book to a page and began to read its contents.

Letter of Anneliese Holzmann, written in December 1639

The domains of Reich der Finsternis have spread with great success thanks to the power of the dark blood, consecrating my flesh has allowed the souls of the spirits of evil to materialize in our tangible world and guard our territory from all those deluded ones who believe they can stand up to us, in each of the beasts, my blood and my flesh is present.

The consecration is done at night in the presence of the full moon, only then the minerals of the elixir of life have enough power for the beasts to acquire a fleshly body. Therefore, the sun's rays have a counterproductive effect on them. Nevertheless, transferring their blood, or my blood, to other living beings, allowed my reign to be present even during the day.

The fear that my army aroused in the poor mortals, together with the idea of eternal life, ended up convincing many of the inhabitants of my kingdom to receive the gift of my blood, the dark blood that comes from the beasts. As I expose in my works of alchemy, my blood rejects those who oppose its power and that is why it must be received voluntarily, however, more recent results show that as long as the recipient is unconscious, he or she cannot reject the gift and his or her body would end up assimilating it slowly. The process is called "transference ritual" and is described in more detail in my works; the only thing I mention here is that, the process is slow, because the amount of blood that can be received in such a state is less.

The news of my power spread throughout much of the continent, it is a pleasure that the unwary know what awaits them and acknowledge the mistake they have made in defying the power of darkness. Despite this, news has reached me from Amelie and the founding of her order against "the blood curse" as she calls my power. Apparently she did not understand how serious I was when I said that anyone who dared to challenge my power would face terrible consequences.

Unfortunately, Amelie and I share the same blood since birth, although we no longer bear any resemblance, either physically or spiritually, this remains the cruel reality. This prevents me from subjecting her to the transfer ritual, but this is not all, theoretically she also shares the dark blood base, this means that, without receiving my gift, my beasts have no power against her, rendering her totally immune to my power, somewhat as if she were invisible to the eyes of my fearsome army. Damned Amelie, I will find a way to completely wipe you out of my way, even if I have to deal with you personally.

The last part of Anneliese's letter perplexed everyone present, not only did they know the truth behind the dark blood principle and the sorceress's intentions, they also understood why people like Anika could not be detected by the infernal beasts and part of the Holzmann's interest in her.