The Church's power

She had that gut feeling that there was Something wrong about that man. Her years-long training had taught her one thing, to recognize an enemy, no matter how much he would be smiling.

That old man was smiling, and she could tell even without the mask that it was fake. Milena was standing between him and the trapped Blanche, glaring behind her mask. The white coat was one hell of a clue, but she wasn't sure. Why would someone from the Church attend a shady auction like this? What was his purpose?

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the very same question, my Lady," said the old man.

Milena felt her anger on the rise. She wasn't anyone's Lady when she didn't know whom she was speaking to, and certainly not in the mood to play some mind games now! Behind her, Blanche was growling, having reached the same conclusions, very likely. His question wasn't illegitimate, but Milena could tell he was simply toying with her. He had no right to be here with someone else's prize.

"That wolf is mine," she said. "I'm here to retrieve it, and I gave permission to no one to touch it."

"I did not touch it," he retorted with a very calm tone.

"Or approach it."

Milena was getting slowly more and more annoyed. Of course, someone had to make their appearance when Rayan wasn't by her side anymore. How calculated was that? She was now annoyed at the Marquess too. Even though he probably had nothing to do with the white-cloaked man, this was careless on his part to have not checked that room before leading Milena in there. 

The young Duchess, still on her guards, carefully moved to open the lock on Blanche's cage. It was a simple one, but it ought to be opened with human hands, not something Blanche could have undone herself without shape-shifting. As the wolf was finally freed, much to Milena's relief, she kept growling and put herself between her and the old man.

"What a magnificent creature..." whispered the old man.

"Once again, stay away from my wolf," hissed Milena.

"But this isn't a simple wolf, is it young Lady?"

Milena froze. How much did that man knew? She glanced towards Blanche, still growling. That heavy collar on her annoyed Milena, too, but it had a different kind of lock and she didn't want to get into this while in a room with some stranger. It was something she needed to solve first, especially with that sentence.

"Who the heck are you?"

The old man laughed loudly.

"I guess you wouldn't recognize me, young Lady. You're not a child of faith, are you?"

Milena felt a chill run down her spine. So it really was a man of the Church... Probably a high-ranked one, too, if Milena was supposed to recognize him. However, the House De Crescent was not in good terms with the main religion of that Kingdom and avoided any religious event. The Church wasn't fond of Vampires anyway, let alone Dhampirs, considered as abnormal creatures...

"My kind of Faith doesn't lie with the good words and empty promises of a few men in white cloaks," Milena hissed.

This time, the old man lost his smile. Milena had the spite of her family and wasn't afraid to bite back. She wasn't afraid of that man either: The Church was a separate power of Royalty and Nobility, but they were still not any higher than a future Princess was.

"You ought to be careful, young Lady. The Lord gives but he might as well take back," said the man, pointing out to Blanche.

What was that supposed to mean? Blanche stood forward, growling in warning, and by reflex, Milena tried to grab her necklace to stop her. She almost immediately cried in pain though and retrieved her hand.

"What the heck is this!" She yelled, looking at her burnt fingers.

"Holy water will condemn the damned, young Lady," whispered the man with an ugly smile.

Milena glared back. She knew there was no kind of water that would do something like this! Her hand was trembling, but this time, she was careful. This man had the guts to injured her, he couldn't possibly be a nobody; Or was he relying on the anonymity given by their masks? Perhaps he hadn't even realized who he was talking to... Although Milena doubted that.

"You'll pay for this..." She hissed.

Her hand was trembling, but she was doing her best to hide her pain. Milena was hurt, but she would have been even more furious to show her weakness to an enemy. As the man was still sitting there, she wasn't sure what to do. She knew he was an enemy, but he also seemed to know about Blanche's origins...

"Dear!"

Rayan barged in, grabbing the situation in a split second. The man sitting comfortably in a chair with his white cloak, and facing him, Milena and Blanche, both in a defensive position. The Prince ran to his fiancé's side, checking on Milena immediately. He could tell by her paler than usual complexion and twitching lips that something was wrong. He put a hand on her cheeks, regretting once to be unable to see her eyes. 

Milena didn't dare say anything, but she didn't need to. Rayan spotted the hand she was holding against her chest in pain, and gently grabbed her wrist to look at it. The burn was real. The inside of her fingers had gone white, some of the flesh exposed, and the way she was shaking translated the pain. The Prince's fangs appeared, and he turned towards the man.

"You bastard... What did you do?"

"Me? I didn't do anything," replied the man very innocently. "I would advise you to keep your partner under good watch, gentleman, some ladies just have a c***k for dangerous situations. If not careful enough, one could end up regretting it..."

"I'll happily make you regret injuring that hand," growled Rayan.

He was about to step forward, a hand on his belt as if to take out a weapon, but Milena held him back. He sent her a curious look, but despite her pain, Milena was the one with a clear mind.

"What do you know about those you call the Holy Ones?" She asked, her voice colder than usual.

Rayan frowned. How could she think about asking questions right now? She was obviously in pain! He could kill that old man right now, and no one would know who had done it. He could get them out of there in minutes with no witnesses and no regrets left. It would be quick and perfectly executed. Anyone who dared to injure her was lucky to still be allowed to breathe...

"They are creations of God, of course!" Said the old man with an ecstatic smile. "Those Holy Ones are only the beautiful manifestations of his mightiness, of the Holy Power!"

Rayan was about just as mad as his fiancé. He didn't believe in Holy Power more than she did, which meant not at all. He already had his own suspicions about Milena's pet, and the others, and he could at least tell right from wrong about them. That old man was lying through his teeth with annoying ease. This time, Milena was the one who got impatient, though.

"You are just a bunch of clowns playing with fire," said the Duchess with a haughty expression. "Holy Power? What kind of Holy Power creates such things as the wendigos, then?"

The mention of the wendigos was obviously not expected in that context. The old man lost his smile once again, his mask falling at the mention of the nightmarish creatures. He even looked a bit angry, much to the Prince's satisfaction. Putting his hands on his chair's arms, he leaned forward.

"How much do you know, child...?"

"I am the one asking questions," Milena retorted. "if the Church wants to take the credit for creating the Holy Ones, please be certain that you'll have to swallow the pills about the Wendigos, too. I know those are the failed ones. Maybe your so-called Holy mighty Power knows failure too... So, what is it going to be?"

With each word she uttered, the man went whiter and madder. From his expression, he hadn't expected for her to even utter the word "wendigo". Yet, Milena's determination was blinding. The young Duchess knew a lot, and she wasn't afraid to provoke that man to get the truth out of him.

She couldn't tell if the Church creating the Silver Ones, or Holy Ones as they called them, as a lie or not, but one thing was certain: they knew too much to not be involved. Milena had those suspicions for a while, but since the Saint had appeared by Philomenie's side, of all people, she was certain. The Church was involved in all the events that had occurred those past few weeks. She even suspected they were behind Queen Lyriana's death, and wouldn't hesitate to get rid of another annoying Queen if they needed to.

With Rayan by her side, the young Princess felt a bit more confident. The man in front of her had lost his stance, too, only making a sour expression that said all about his defeat. She had a white smile on.

"You know a bit too much," said Milena. "So, what is it? You've already proclaimed yourself a man of the Church. Should I go out and claim a man of the church knows about how to create wendigos? I bet His Majesty would love to take a closer look at the affairs of the Church, after what happened to his wife!"

Milena was half bluffing. She was talking in the King's name, which was already rather a dangerous thing to do, but she wasn't even sure of King Silverius' position towards them. Maybe even the King had his hands tied. The Church was a whole different kind of power after all. Yet, Rayan not intervening was a good sign.

"You won't do anything," retorted the Old Man. "No one has the power to question the Church's holy power!"

"Holy power my a*s," hissed Rayan. "You're using your holy power to create monsters and capture a wolf. No man of Church should even set foot in this kind of establishment in the first place. Does your beloved Church even knows you're here?"

Seeing that the man didn't flinch as much as they expected, the two of them reached the same conclusion at the same time: that elder was high-ranked enough within the Church to move without being worried of the consequences. They exchanged a look despite their masks. This at least gave them a big clue about his identity. Milena didn't care much, but Rayan was determined to make him pay for her injury sooner or later.

"Oh... It looks like you're in a bad position, Sir."

They all turned heads. To Milena's surprise, someone else had walked in, and this time, she knew for sure. It was the Oracle. Standing on her own two feet, she smiled at the old man, who suddenly got up.

"You!" He said.

"Do you have anything else to say?" She asked. "It looks like the Lady still has questions for you, though."

The tension in the room increased again, if possible. Milena was shocked to see the Oracle here, of all people. Was she even allowed to leave the Royal Castle? What was she doing here anyway? That man was even surprised to see her appear, didn't she come with him? Who was accompanying her then? Milena had so many questions now that the man of the Church had even left her mind completely, making that man irrelevant. 

The Oracle was standing still, very calm and quiet. She had somewhat changed again from how Milena remembered her. She still looked frail and sickly, but she was more of a woman now, with painted lips and a large black dress that didn't suit her body frame. It looked like she had borrowed it from someone. The old man grumbled something, and was about to leave, when Rayan suddenly took out a sword, pointing it to his throat.

"We still have questions," hissed the Prince.

"I won't say anymore! You can't harm a man of the Church!"

"Really? I think I missed that rule," chuckled Rayan.

As if to add to his threat, the tip of his blade touched the man's throat, letting a drop of blood fall down his neck. The old man probably hadn't expected the vampire Prince to be unafraid to harm him, because he suddenly went white and froze on the spot.

Milena still had her eyes on the Oracle. The two young women were still staring at each other. The Oracle was the one who had led her there in the first place. Through the maid, through that enigma, she had given her. There was no direct answer, but all the clues had led Milena and her fiancé to stand here, in that room. Moreover, Ora didn't show any sign she was about to intervene in favor of either side. Maybe her own hands had come untied with Lyriana's death... 

The purple eyes turned to the Old Man once again.

"If you don't answer my questions, my fiancé will stick to his words. Now, what do you know about the Holy Ones?"

"I don't...!"

Before he could finish that sentence, Rayan had pushed a bit more, making more blood flow on his neck. The man whimpered in pain. Since there was so much fat around his throat, the injury obviously wasn't big, but he could still feel the pain, and his blood running down.

"They were... created by... Holy power..."

"Spare me your crap," retorted Milena. "You tell me how they are created and why you have so many wendigos."

The man glanced towards Rayan, careful of that weapon held against him. He gulped down.

"It... They say it's the holy power... of the corrupted blood..."

"...Corrupted blood?" Repeated Rayan.

It matched what Blanche had said. So they were really feeding random vampires with vampire blood to create those. Milena frowned.

"You did not plan to create the wendigos, did you? So, how?"

"It's... because we lack the... medicine to stop the transformation," whispered the man. "I don't know... how but... We had... issues..."

"What about the Queen?" Asked Rayan. "Of all people, why risk to turn her into a wendigo?"

The man shook his head. Milena squinted her eyes, unhappy with that lack of answers. Of course. Although they could talk about the wendigos and Holy Ones, admitting to poisoning the late Queen was a different issue.

"It was a punishment," suddenly said The Oracle.

Milena turned to her, surprised.

"What?"

"Do you really think she had no idea?" Said Ora. "She wouldn't have allowed them to do this to her... This was most likely planned to get rid of her. In the worst way possible, too..."

Milena was disgusted. Of all things, to think they had dared to do such a thing to Lyriana! She glared back at the man, who was sweating bullets and shaking his head. Rayan wasn't releasing the pressure of his sword, either.

"You damn insects..." Hissed the Prince. "You're like coward rats, only facing people using underhanded means... I bet you didn't even have the guts to get rid of her by herself when she became an annoyance, did you? You were all shaking that the King would hunt you down like the vermin you are."

Of course. No matter how respected and loved the Church was, the faith people had in them would crumble like a castle of cards if the people had heard they had anything to do with Lyriana's death. She may not have been loved very much, but she was still the Queen of the Kingdom, a respected figure. The Church couldn't afford to be labeled had assassins, when they were supposedly neutrals. At least that was what they wanted people to believe...

"How about we send a message to them?" Suggested the Prince, raising the old man's chin with his sword.

Milena didn't care much for blood to be shed, but she didn't see how useful would that be. From where she stood, it sounded like more trouble, especially as they were here undercover. She sighed.

"Let's leave him be. A rat is always more useful when he crawls back to make the others shake too..."

The Prince sighed, but he did lower his sword. The man with the white cloak immediately covered his bleeding throat, upset.

"You shall be punished for this," he hissed. "There is no one who can escape the holy..."

"Go serve some of your holy bullshit to someone else before I change my mind," hissed Rayan. "You're only sometime before I make you pay for what you did to my Lady."

The man snorted.

"As if! You won't find me! The Church will have you pay for this! The Holy One shall protect me and hide me from the evil eyes!"

"I'll look for the idiot with a shaving issue," chuckled Rayan, pointing at the throat to remind him of the obvious injury.

The man went white and suddenly ran out of the room after one last glance towards Blanche, looking bitter. He had obviously planned to leave with her. Milena felt a little bit relieved, but not satisfied. If she could, she would have avoided getting more enemies. This man may have been only a pawn, but he still had the Church behind him. That was one power she hadn't been keen on provoking... 

She put her hand in the white fur, and Blanche's growling calmed down a little. The white wolf was still not over the whole bad experience, though, and she wasn't calming down. Milena was worried about that strange necklace, too. It didn't seem to hurt Blanche but she had to find how to take it out without losing more skin...

"Shall I help?" Suddenly asked the Oracle.

Milena glared at her. She was tired of the enigmas, and this whole situation had the Princess riled up.

"You free Blanche," she said. "And then you have some explaining to do, Oracle."