NIGHTS OF HALLOW

The weather since the break of dawn in the kingdom of Vamlone was cool with no sign of snow. The sun took this opportunity to slip out of the heavy and thick cloud hovering over the people and warmed their cold-bitten skin from the day before.

Though the sun was out and warm, it didn’t stop the unsettling feeling that hung on the shoulders of some people in the kingdom, especially about the exorcism that was about to be conducted in the village of Woodbridge.

The church being the action takers that never wasted a second in a situation or problem like this one immediately started the preparation and everything needed for the exorcism in the village of Woodbridge.

In the town of Wallington where the building of the church was located, the building stood strong and tall after passing through several seasons of the years since it was built. The sun, the rain, and the snow, that the building had experienced, all together joined hands to make the building look old where the white paint had started to fade.

This building was one of the oldest buildings in the kingdom of Vamlone. It was initially built and was also used as a place of worship by the higher society who had built it to suit their taste. They had done so to separate the locals from them as they believed they shouldn’t worship or be in the same space as the lower class.

The building which was formerly used as the place of worship was now turned into the building of the church organization after the massacre that happened ten years ago.

Though several analyses and reports were made as to where and how the massacre began, it was told that it all started from the church and the priest who once stayed in the same building where the organization called the church was now established.

It was told that the acting priest then had conspired with someone whom everyone, especially the church organization was looking for and had not seen since the massacre ended.

Through this conspiracy and with the help of this someone, the priest then had slowly and quietly brought in the system of body cleansing that required the drinking of holy water by anyone who came to confess their sins to him.

The priest had said that the holy water will cleanse their body and soul of all impurities once they pronounced their sins. However, little did people know that this holy water that the priest was talking about was mixed with a dangerous substance that changed the body system of anyone who drank it.

During the early time of the introduction of holy water, people of the higher society, especially the vampires did not believe the priest, saying their body did not need something as such.

One of the reasons for the vampires’ refusal to drink the holy water was that one, — holy water was dangerous to the system of a vampire, as it will cause severe damage to the lungs and kidneys of vampires. Sometimes, even their hearts ended up being damaged which can lead to death.

Their second reason was that the humans had devised a plan to eradicate vampires with the help of the priest. These were the reasons the vampires in the higher society gave as to why they will not take the holy water.

It was only some of the humans in the higher society and many who were the commoners that believed the priest’s tales and started drinking the holy water after confessing their sins as told by the priest.

But as the days passed into months, and months into years, the high society members slowly succumbed to the trick of the priest when the atrocities in the society, especially in several families became alarming in which the priest made them believe that it was the doing of the devil and that they could only stop it once they cleansed their body with holy water.

The humans in the high society started taking this holy water and were slowly followed by the vampires when it was told to them that this holy water was not dangerous to them as the other holy water did. The priest had said that this holy water was purer and had no effect on vampires, and this was how everyone in the kingdom started taking the holy water.

As they continually consumed this holy water, so did the body system of the humans and vampires started to slowly change.

It started from the vampire’s thirst increase for blood to the blood of the humans becoming more appealing to the vampires. While the thirst for blood in vampires increased, the blood of the humans became more nourishing and tasted sweeter to the vampires, and so came the part where the vampires couldn’t go a day without drinking from more than one human.

They didn’t notice that all these were caused by drinking the holy water. Every day, vampires killed humans in large numbers to quench their thirst as they slowly started to exhibit the characteristics of deranged vampires.

Things got out of hand when the vampires could no longer hold their thirst, and they started to kill humans which resulted in the massacre that happened ten years ago.

This led to the closure of the church which was now replaced by the organization also called the church that now took the building of the former church as their place of work.

What happened ten years was the reason why the church now, was very active whenever they heard that humans were abducted by vampires. They didn’t want what happened ten years ago to repeat itself when everything and everyone was returning to their normal lives.

They knew they cannot entirely stop humans from being killed by vampires even with the hundreds of rules they had created that were more in favor of humans. They knew they couldn’t stop the small deaths that happen once in a while. But they could also prevent the bigger death that might ensue if care was not taken.

Inside the building of the church, very few people were seen walking around as they attended to the various works that were assigned to them. Not many people worked here because one, — it was hard to get in because of the several tests one had to pass and unfortunately many failed. Some tests even resulted in the deaths of the candidates who wanted to work in the church.

And the second reason was that they wanted everything that was being discussed to be confidential and only known between the few people working in the church.

Everyone was busy as Donovan assigned people that will see that the exorcism in the village of Woodbridge was successful.

”We will all set out first thing tomorrow morning when the first bell rings. Am I clear?” Donovan spoke as he stared at the eleven church members he had assigned where Theodore, Mr. Welsh, and Martha, and then he made them fifteen.

”Yes, Headchurch Donovan,” The council members chorused before they dispersed from there.

Theodore stayed back after others had left, he said to Donovan, ”I don’t think we need this many people for the exorcism.”

Donovan turned to stare at Theodore and questioned, ”Why do you say so?”

”For the sake of confidentiality and also for a well-organized exorcism tomorrow, I’ll advise that some of them should stay back,” Theodore replied and walked away from there leaving Donovan to think about what he had said.

Earlier that day Headchurch Donovan had written a letter to head warden Humphrey immediately after they returned from the castle and went to the church building. In the letter, he informed head warden Humphrey about their decision and the exorcism.

As a safety precaution so that nobody will have the chance to escape the village, the church had stationed guards at the borders of Woodbridge village and every other place where one can pass through or leave the village.

Even the forest and alley were not left out from the protection by the guards stationed everywhere.

The village of Woodbridge and the people were experiencing something they had never seen before since they could remember. Several guards patrolling and guarding the village were enough to scare their fragile village hearts.

In the letter of Headchurch Donovan sent to head warden Humphrey, he had also mentioned that the villagers should stay indoors the following day still the exorcism was completed.

This information caused a lot of confusion and questions among the villagers when the head warden informed them about it in the market where almost all the villagers were in.

Several questions were thrown at the head warden who hurriedly left the market after giving the information while avoiding their questions. He was ordered not to let the people know the reason behind the sudden curfew that was placed on them.

Only Perdita knew the reason why the sudden curfew was made. It was because of the exorcism. But why was it suddenly announced today? She had thought it will happen the following week, but now this? This reminded her, that man that said he came from the king, had also said the exorcism will happen in the next two days, and that day was tomorrow.

Should she and Marco pretend to be the people that the king sent the carriage for and use it to escape? Or would they fall into the trap and ploy of someone to get them into trouble? Perdita questioned herself as she continued the day’s sales which left everyone in fear and confusion.

Time was ticking and everything was left till the following morning when either they would be discovered and captured or they would successfully escape.