Rebirth (Trinity Blood Fanfic)

Chapter 5: Broken Vow

Hugue approached a large inn on the border of the city, just past the city walls. It was a relatively secluded area with a lonely road running through it, used by many travelers simply passing by the city. But no one ever simply passed by the city as its beauty was too overwhelming to ignore. So again the road was rarely used. The solitude of the area made it the perfect place for a secret rendezvous in the middle of the night, which was exactly what the inn was placed there for.

Because of this, Hugue's presence in the inn resulted in many shocked looks from the men and countless flirtatious smiles from the women. Because of his status within the palace, everyone always assumed that he was incapable of ever putting a foot wrong. However, he had turned up alone after all. Hugue ignored the reactions he was receiving and headed straight to the bar.

"Never thought I would ever see you here Captain," said the bartender with a wink. He was a middle-aged man but looked almost the same age as Hugue, and Hugue was only 25.

With a chuckle, Hugue took a seat on a stool, but ordered nothing when he was offered. "No thank you, I shouldn't be too long. I am here on business on behalf of the Empress."

The bartender's face suddenly became very serious and the smile disappeared. The two leaned towards each other in secrecy as Hugue pushed three silver coins in the bartender's direction. "There are rumors going around about certain things..." the bartender hesitated for a moment, before checking his surroundings and leaning in even closer. "There's word going around that the vampires are getting... hungry."

Hugue was taken aback by these words, but he was hardly surprised. It was only a matter of time before... wait, then Gregory... Hugue became anxious.

"Do you remember if Gregory was here at all in the past couple of weeks?" Hugue asked, no longer leaning inward.

"Gregory? Ah, the Empress' head councilor. Yes, he was here about 2 weeks ago with his usual girl. However I haven't seen him since. Why?" the bartender asked mindlessly as he refilled a glass for a customer, who had just happened to take a seat beside Hugue. Hugue shook his head and paid the bartender a few more silver coins for his help, even if it wasn't much.

Just as Hugue was about to leave, the customer seated beside him stopped him, holding a strong grip on his hand. "A captain? Now there's a real man. I've never had one of those before," Hugue turned to find that his captor was a young, French beauty, judging by her accent. She was smiling at him seductively, her lips in a slight pout. In a long black hooded cape and long black dress, at first glance she would have seemed like a simple woman. However, given their location and the manner in which her fingers were stroking Hugue's, she was obviously far from that.

Hugue shook his head and went to leave but yet again, she held on to him. He looked down at his hand curiously. Her grip was incredibly strong for a woman. In fact, it seemed to exceed even that of a normal human. When she noticed his suspicions, she let go but persisted in seducing him. "I'll give you a discount," she said with a wink.

Hugue sighed and moved towards her. She stood from her seat and faced him, their bodies now within centimetres of each other. "Your name?" he whispered, staring into her eyes intently.

"Ruby," she said quietly with a smile.

"Your real name?" Hugue persisted, slowly moving even closer to her.

She smiled cheekily at him. "Only if you promise to be screaming it by the end of the night." Hugue did not reply to this. He reached into one of his back pockets and deliberately cut his finger on the edges of a knife he had hidden. He smiled at her before carefully taking her hand, a small trickle of blood visible. With this, she succumbed. "Saville. Saville De Roux," she whispered as she moved her face towards his, their lips almost touching. But before they did, Hugue moved away and slipped a few gold coins into her hand.

"I am sorry my dear, but maybe next time," he said before he swiftly walked away with a gentle bow of courtesy. Saville watched the captain intently with a wicked smile, one of her fangs slightly exposed.

"Oh dear Captain," she said to herself while she examined the coins in her hand. "There may not be a 'next time.'"

~*~*~*~*~*~

Hugue walked further down the path past the city gates. He took much more care this time, examining every inch of the road before him, searching for clues of his missing friend. Just when he felt that all hope was lost, he turned and strayed from the path and instead, found his way heading down the road towards Bethalza, the city of wolves, as it was known. Although this was not Hugue's intended route, his instincts were eating away at him, telling him that this was the path he must follow.

Empty fields and paddocks were all that surrounded him and soon, he began to wonder why he went out on this search alone. It was dark and eerie, but this feeling was not due to fear at all, it was more so the fact that he knew the search would have grim results.

As he continued along the road, Hugue felt as though his bladder was convulsing. He had already felt this feeling after he had met Saville but chose to ignore it due to his obligations. However, it seemed that his ignorance had now gotten the better of him and he knew that he would have to relieve himself eventually. It was becoming unbearable, so Hugue strayed from his path and stepped onto the empty field to his left.

Hugue took a few steps before undoing his belt, protected by the cover of a tall tree, and allowed the stream of urine to flow out of him. With the cover of darkness and the reassurance of isolation, he didn't hesitate to let out a sigh of relief as the last couple of drops trickled out of him.

But his feeling of relief soon turned to terror when he suddenly smelled a tiny but distinct scent of blood in the air. He looked down on the ground at where he'd left a small puddle and he didn't need the aid of a light to see it, the moon was enough. There, right under him, was a large puddle of blood, trailing even further into the open field.

Without a moment's hesitation, he followed the trail even further, where he was soon led into a small forestation grove of which he'd estimated was about 3 hours away from Bethalza on foot. But he needn't go any further. His quest was done.

Before him, he found 2 bodies. One was a woman, who seemed as though she was pierced multiple times in her chest. It looked as though the killer took much care in making sure that her body remained in tact, but by the looks of her, she had been completely drained of all life.

However, the other victim was not so lucky. He was a man, completely brutalized and massacred, prominent dislocation of what seemed to be every bone in his body. His limbs seemed as though they were torn right off, including his head, which was resting below Hugue's feet.

Hugue needed no further examination to know who it was, for staring up at him was a face without a body. The face of none other than Gregory Von Cordeaux.