There is Beauty in Darkness

Chapter 6: To change one's fate, you must fight back

"Look, if I enter the church and catch fire or something, it's your fault." Trevor says as he gets "strong-armed" by the priests to come to the church. Normally, he wouldn't have minded so much if they would stop shoving him and jadding him with their knives every time. They entered the church and, save for the men walking in, was completely silent and empty. Trevor didn't see the Bishop anywhere but figured he was around.

Once the priest left the former hunter at the steps to the pulpit, they proceeded to leave the room to give the Bishop a private chat with the filthy heretic. As soon as the left, the Bishop appears before Trevor and stands at the pulpit, staring down at him as if he were superior to that of a lowly hunter. Which the Bishop most likely believes that he is. "I am the Bishop of Gresit." He greets himself.

"You're not from around here." Trevor pointed out.

"No. I'm originally from Targoviste. I was an aide to the archbishop. How did you divine that?" The Bishop asks him.

"Well, you're not running away screaming like the rest of the locals, for one thing." Trevor says.

"From you?" The Bishop asked.

"From the baby-eating freaks of nature who apparently raid Gresit every night." Trevor said.

"I'm here to save Gresit." The Bishop told him.

"And how do you intend to do that?" Trevor questioned with a slight laugh.

"I brought you here to answer some questions, not ask them." The Bishop says with a stern, strict voice.

"Well, tough shit! How exactly do you intend to help these people by killing Speakers?" Trevor asked him.

"The Speakers brought these troubles upon themselves which they have made worse when they took in a horrid gipsy. One cannot live without God. Quite literally in these days." The Bishop told him in a matter-of-fact tone.

"You think the night hordes came because people weren't religious enough?" Trevor said though he said that with a laugh, he was still taken off-guard by how earnest The Bishop was. He can't seriously believe that, could he? "And you were at Targoviste?"

"The Archbishop had certain interests that I believe compromised his ability to protect the city and the country. I was sent away long before Dracula came to Targoviste. We disagreed on matters of clerical discipline." The Bishop told him.

"But you were there for the burning of Dracula's wife. I heard all about that." Trevor shot back at the older man.

"Oh, yes. I arranged it, in fact." Far from denying it, the Bishop takes full credit for Lisa's death. "The woman was a witch. And there can be no doubt now that she consorted with the devil. She even married him. But it wasn't just that woman, the gipsies also had a hand in bringing these devils to run amuck."

"You're referring to Miri's people." Trevor said. The Bishop nearly gave a look of grimace at that. "To think that those lowly heathens would be given names. But yes, they were servants of the devil so they needed to be dealt with. So I arranged for them to be cleansed away. But it seems I wasn't as meticulous as I believed I was since two remain. Along with the wench who cursed this land."

Trevor's eyes went wide as his blood started to boil in his veins. He was the one who murdered Miri's people. He was the one who ordered the death of an innocent girl..! He was the one who made an innocent child's life a living hell for five years! All because they were gipsies..?! People who had nothing to with any of this?! "I see..." Trevor said softly. "And I'm here to be disciplined?"

"Not as such. I have a gift for you." The Bishop tells him. "Your life, Belmont. Take it and go. Tonight, the Speakers and the remaining gipsies will be dealt with, and then Gresit will be secure. I refuse, however, to toil so hard for the soul of this city with an excommunicant heretic within its walls. You could undo everything by your very presence."