Dawn of Vengeance

Chapter 15 - A Stark Tale

Father Matthew's POV:

~~63 Years Ago~~

"Proctor, hurry up the men are ready to move out." A heavily accented voice called out making Matthew turn his head to see Lars, the leader of this little expedition. He nodded to the elf man before waving him off so he could finish getting his things together.

Matthew had been assigned his first assignment over seas. His mission, to assist the Elven Knights in either the capture or slaying of an organized group of vampires that had been reeking havoc on small towns all throughout Germany and Switzerland. He was the only Saint that was requested to go but of course Matthew's wife Mary had wanted to go but wasn't allowed. The Knights would allow only one Saint and one Shinobi to aid them in their mission to stop these vampires.

Personally Matthew believed that the Shinobi wasn't needed and that the Knights should have allowed another Saint in their place instead. Elves though could be stubborn as mules when it came to these decisions. As the first of the human races they believed themselves to be above the dark elves and far above mankind. They've given a name to humans of course so as not to confuse them with the human races. Seps is what humans were called, Matthew supposed that it came from the term sapion, of course their preferred term for seps were mudborn. It was meant as an insult of course since elves believed themselves to be perfect beings, second only to god.

Matthew didn't view them as such. As far as he was concerned these elves couldn't even be considered human. Their eyes always sparkled in the light and their skin was never flawed or dirtied in the slightest, even when caked in mud they always emerged perfectly clean. Their ears were pointed like that of a werewolf in the middle of its transformation, and Matthew always thought that their eyes were too much like a vampire's for his liking. Despite the sparkle that was always their, the eyes of an elf were horribly lifeless. Never did they show much emotion always talking in a rather monotoned voice which just wasn't normal for a human.

In fact, Matthew always considered dark elves to be more human than their lighter counter parts. At least they showed emotion in everything they did, whether it be talking, battle, or just simply being they always radiated some form of emotion. Of course their appearence didn't appear human in the least, but at least they didn't think themselves above everything else in existance. Already on the second day since they'd left Zurich to go north into Germany, Matthew and Mokoto--the Shinobi from Japan--had become better aquainted than their elven hosts.

Matthew emerged from his makeshift tent to find that the elves had already packed up camp and were ready to move on into the twilight. Matthew told them go on without him and that he'd catch up with them after he broke camp. All the elves--Mokoto included--didn't have a problem with that as they turned to keep on going. Only one stayed, their guide an old vampire named Stark to help Matthew with his tent. Matthew, though slightly hesitant on accepting Stark's help eventually allowed the vampire to help him.

Stark seemed like a decent enough man, he spoke English well though that wouldn't have been a problem since Matthew was well versed in German as well. Stark was apparently once among the renagade band of vampires but left due to their senseless killing of humans rather than only taking enough to survive. Matthew couldn't say he quite agreed with the reasoning, he was still killing humans after all, but Stark had agreed to help them find his old nest as long as he be granted immunity for his past crimes. So far the vampire seemed sincere in his oath to aid them, even Matthew could tell that they were getting closer to the group of vampires. Every kill they came across was fresher and fresher, so Stark was keeping true to his word, for now at least.

"Thank you." Matthew said softly knowing that Stark could hear him just fine even if he whispered.

"Don't mention it." Stark said with a smile on his face. "I needed a break from all of them. The way they talk is even less human than a vampire."