The Vampire & Her Witch

Ignatious watched as understanding and panic rippled through the crowd. Parents grabbed their children, shielding them with their bodies. Some clutched pendants of radiant or flaming suns, thrusting their sacred talismans toward him as if he would turn on them at any moment.

From the wings of the great cathedral, the Temple Guard pressed forward with maces held high and priests walking behind them.

”Heretic!”

”Blasphemy!”

”Get away from him, get back!”

”Demon!”

”Look, look at his teeth! He’s, he’s a vampire!”

”Everyone, stop and stand where you are!” High Priest Aubin bellowed, standing atop the dais and holding his arms out wide. ”Do not move! Do not fear,” he cried, desperate to stop people from trying to flee. If they ran, with this many people in the cathedral, they would quickly trample the young and the old alike, and the night would be truly tragic.

”Please, if you have any faith in the words of the Great Prophet, then take a knee and listen,” Aubin said. ”Just as the Prophet listened to the words of the Saint Teacher, you must open your ears to hear and your eyes to see. Only then may you open your hearts to judge the truth!”

”Stand back, Your Worship,” the leader of the Temple Guard commanded as he pushed his way forward. ”Let us protect you from this demon before he causes any more harm.”

”More harm?” Aubin snorted, blowing out the tails of his long white mustache as he shook his head at the guardsman. ”What harm has he done tonight? What harm have any of you seen him do?” Aubin said, refusing to move away from Ignatious, who sat patiently on the edge of the dais.

”He’s poisoning the minds of children,” Gaius spat, pointing a gnarled finger at the vampire. ”And he’s spreading lies about...”

”He saved your life,” Bosh interrupted from a few rows behind Gaius. ”You shouted at him, and he still rushed to perform a miracle and save your life,” the young man said, folding his arms across his chest and glaring at the old man.

”Gaius, please,” Kaja pleaded, taking hold of her husband’s arm. ”Please calm down. I don’t want you to fall like that again,” she said as tears formed in her eyes.

”I... Kaja, let go, I won’t...” Gaius sputtered, finding himself utterly helpless against his wife’s tears. ”Fine,” he said with a defeated sigh. ”Just don’t cry,” he added, wiping the tears from her eyes. ”You know I can’t bear to see you cry...”

”Thank you, my child,” Aubin said, nodding in acknowledgement to both Kaja and Bosh before he turned his gaze to everyone else. ”You can all put away your icons; they won’t harm him or protect you from him,” he said with a sigh. ”The Holy Lord of Light will not lend His strength to you if you wish to harm one of His chosen people, and Brother Ignatious is most certainly one of His most precious ones.”

”But he’s a demon!” the temple guardsman sputtered. ”A vampire!”

”So what?” Aubin asked. ”Does that change anything? Did you learn nothing from his tale?”

”How many of you transformed into monsters right now?” Aubin asked, glaring at the temple guard, the priests behind them, and several members of the congregation. ”A man who struggled in darkness longer than I have lived bared his heart for you tonight so that you might learn from his mistakes. But he comes from the other side of the line on the map,” Aubin huffed.

”For that alone, you’ve drawn weapons,” the High Priest continued. ”You pray that the Holy Lord of Light will protect you from a man who hasn’t even moved since you turned on him. You snatch your children away like he’s a threat to them,” Aubin said, blinking back hot tears that threatened to cloud his vision as he looked at the people who shrank back from Ignatious.

”The Holy Lord of Light gave us Light to see the truth,” Aubin reminded the congregation. ”The Great Prophet revealed the path to the Heavenly Shores, teaching us that it was a hard road filled with struggle. These past few days since Midwinter’s Night, I have struggled to accept truths I did not want to see, but Brother Ignatious lit the way for me...”

”I’ve seen him plead for mercy on behalf of those who were misled, witnessed his miracles when he helped rescue us from the dark sorcery of the Lothian throne,” Aubin said, clenching his fists so tightly that he trembled. ”I have never seen a man who sacrificed as much, endured as much, and gave as much...”

”Enough, Brother Aubin,” Ignatious said, shaking his head as he looked up at the fuming high priest. ”If you keep going, you’ll build me up like a saint. I’m just a woodcutter’s son, trying to do the right thing to atone,” he said with a sad smile. ”It may never be enough, but since I still draw breath, I will struggle to do all that I can.”

”You, you really are a priest...” the leader of the Temple Guard said, staring at Ignatious with wide-eyed bewilderment. ”You’re a demon, but you really believe...”

”Please, don’t use the word demon,” Ignatious said. ”The Great Prophet spoke of those who ’fought like demons’ to describe people who had given themselves over to their darkest desires. Rage, hatred, thirst for power and lust for wealth. People who would sacrifice all they held dear to obtain the things that they craved.”

”It was men of the Church who decided that the Eldritch were the ’demons’ the Great Prophet warned us about,” Ignatious said. ”It’s easier to decide that the people on the other side of the map that look different from us, speak differently than we do, and wield powers we don’t, are the demons we were raised to fear.”

”I’ve encountered demons among the Eldritch,” Ignatious admitted, shuddering as he recalled the years he spent as Hamdi’s prisoner in the Tangled Tower. ”But I’ve met many more in the Kingdom of Gaal. Men who were monsters, who preyed on women and children. Men who beat their wives and murdered their kin...”

”If we want to live in the light, we must accept what it reveals to us,” Ignatious said, looking around the room that had slowly started to relax. ”So, let me ask again. Will you pray with me?”