Salvation

Chapter V

yes, it took me a hundred years to write a new chapter so I'm not sure if it'll be ok....I haven't written anything in ages

"No! Absolutely not!", I strongly protested.

"But Sophie..."

"I don't want to hear another word of it!", I got up to show him that I was ready to leave if he continued with his silly tries to convince me.

"You are so stubborn, my child. You should've listened to the end at least.", my father sighed, his expression clearly showing that he was ready to give up on the further talk.

"Did you clearly expect of me to say that I was absolutely thrilled by the fact that you captured some man in the basement in order to save your "precious" daughter's life? That man...he clearly showed signs of being tortured. How could you've done something like this to someone? Did you see his clothes? Haven't you noticed all those bruises and..." I stopped talking the moment I saw his expression. His eyes darkened with every sentence I said.

"That "man" down there, as you call him, is not human at all. He is a vampire. No, let me paraphrase that and come down to the level of those uneducated people and say that he is a monster. A blood-thirsty cursed creature that hasn't got even a slight sense of what human emotions are. It took seven of those people to capture him, seven! And I don't even have to mention that four of the others are in far worse condition than he is. I suppose you forgot all the other people who were killed and almost drained to death by this maniac? Do you still stand by your belief and claim that he is innocent?". His eyes stared at me sharply, patiently waiting for my answer.

I was completly dumb-founded by everything he just said. It took me a minute to even grasp the meaning of his words.

"Well, he is not innocent. But I still believe it is wrong.", I stubbornly said.

Father looked at me for another minute with the same expression on his face and then he suddenly broke into laughter. His deep voice echoed trough the room, making me feel intimidated and foolish, because it was clear that he was mocking me.

"This is just your childishness speaking. You're as stubborn as your mother.", he smiled. "But I think you realize that I am not the one in the wrong here.", he confidently added.

I kept quiet for a minute, thinking about what to say to him.

Yes, he did have a point. But he was wrong if he believed that I was ready to accept his proposal.

"I do admit that he may be dangerous. But as your daughter I do not approve of any of this. What right do you have to capture someone?"

"I did a favour to those people, can't you see? He would've continued with his cruel doings if it weren't for us."

Us? Right, I almost forgot.

"Who are they? Those big guys with the weird clothing? They looked like they belong to some strange cult.", I accused.

"I guess there's no harm in telling you the truth." He seemed amused for some reason.

"It seems like our neighbors are well informed of these things. No wonder Rick immediately knew the cause of all those doings in the village. As I mentioned, his older brother, the mature one, what was his name again...?"

"William." God, my father and names.

"Well, "the good son", he smiled, "and not the one who thinks he could travel the world and discover the new continent", he added, "is not only skilled in the mathematic field, but is also a skilled hunter. His father just recently told me that he is a member of a secret society called Carpe Noctem , which is basically a group of people that hunts down these things, mostly in order to keep safety of the people who had misfortune to encounter one of these creatures. Those people you saw down there are members of the mentioned group and a number of them are actually well known people, so it was essential for them to dress the way they did so they wouldn't be recognized.  They wouldn't want other people to pry into their affairs, or worse. Imagine if everybody knew that those things are lurking at night, it would lead to overall chaos. So have in mind that it is not supposed to be known and only a few people know of its existence, let alone the existence of the vampires. Keep it a secret. Do not tell anyone about it.", he warned.