13. Anneliese
The French driver kept telling me on the way to the train station how interesting their town was, treating me like a countryman - that's what I said to him. So he talked about his capital with his eyebrows raised: 'Paris is a romantic place, with high consumption, and you come down from the country, you can't afford that kind of consumption, and you'll have to go back in a few days. However, wine is sold very cheaply there, and you should try Parisian wine. Maybe, a countryman only gets a few changes in his life, and the Eiffel Tower, just look at it from a distance, take a picture-oh, girl, do you have a camera?" He asks suddenly. I shook my head.
"That's awful, then use your brain to write it down and grow your knowledge." He smiled, revealing eight white teeth that contrasted with his thick black beard. He suddenly scanned my dress and asked with a surprised look on his face, "They sell Chanel in the country too?"
"No, the cottage industry." I smiled at him, but my heart tickled.
"A beautiful girl like you has no problem finding a boyfriend in the city for a relationship, it would be a big loss to stay in the country, it just so happens that my son doesn't have a girlfriend yet ..." He tried to go on but I interrupted: "Mr. Driver, I have a boyfriend. The train station is just up ahead, it's time for me to get off." With a stern face, I lifted my bags out of the trunk, paid the driver, and left without looking back. Hopefully, I won't encounter such drivers again in Paris.
The Daily Express
Multiple farmsteads attacked, victims' teeth marks prove the return of vampires?
Brasilia News Agency, Feb. 7
In recent days, wild animal attacks originating in the coffee-growing areas of São Paulo have expanded to Rio de Janeiro - Brazil's largest port city and the largest center of the shipbuilding industry has not been spared. The attackers have not only harmed farmers on multiple sugar cane and coffee plantations but have also turned their attacks on the city, causing no small amount of disruption.
"Kabal and I were coming out of the plantation when we came across some dark figures, and I'm 100 percent sure they were men and not beasts." So said a certain survivor, "Then I ran towards the back door of the plantation, but Kabal got caught by them and they rushed him and bit down on his neck, and wrists - oh, it was dark and I couldn't see very well, and they chased me and caught up to me at a very fast pace. They ripped my clothes off, but they ducked the next second. I reckon they were scared away by the cross around my neck, the heathens! I suspect they're demons or vampires!"
The victims had visible teeth marks on their thigh arteries, veins in their necks and wrists, and they had died of blood loss, which begged the question of whether the legendary vampires had come out of nowhere.
"It is quite evident that vampires are around, that they break the commandments and kill indiscriminately, that we must take extraordinary measures to preserve our safety, and that the first thing to do is to be convinced of their existence!" The Indians had believed so from the beginning.
Exactly what the extraordinary means were, however, the Indians did not specify.
"We should proceed and are already proceeding, wait." One of the old chiefs replied thus.
I am in Paris and at this time looking out from my hotel, Paris has not yet awakened.
The fog has not yet lifted and even the beggars on the street are still asleep. I like this quiet city, where romance is concentrated in the night, abandoning the remnants left after a night of partying and then falling back to sleep. Early the next morning, sleep continued in laziness. The whole of Paris is asleep before the sun rises.
Wondering if Daniel was here, I stroked the sapphire on my thumb. Was Daniel my boyfriend or not? I ruminated a bit, called the hotel to bring me breakfast, and then started thinking about the rest of my trip plans.
It was already clear to me that Mars had the Left Hand of Cain in his possession, which was bound to be my first target, and with no mention of exactly where they were in the sacred materials Mars had collected, some of which had even been missing for nearly a century, I didn't know how to proceed.
There is a sacred object called the Blood Lake Swan in the possession of a Chinese female Blood, so I had to make a trip to China. The picture of the artifacts on Mars' profile was a good sign, at least I would be able to recognize them quickly when I saw them.
Information on the sacrament compiled by Anneliese Jo
Giovanni's Sapphire of Doom
criminal ax
Rings of Clarity of Thought (Mordecai)
Breaking the key
Bloodstock Blood Cup
Blood Lake Swan
Aaron's Feeding Blade (Mordecai)
Magic Mirror of Phantom Silver
Confusing Crystal Ball of Tilting Lamp
Moonlight Necklace (Makuhariwi)
Dirty Parasitic Chrysoprase
Memory Box
Counterspell - Spirit Staff
Magic Soul Ring
Heretical Wand - Blood Key
Romar Illusion of the Gods Card (Duke of Revolver)
Cain's left hand
phantom dolls
Toreador Runestone (Toreador)
Divine Tears - Poison Bottle
Kaguya Chalice (Revolucian)
zither of bone
War Coat (Van Zuur)
Destruction - Ivory Bow
magic bracelet
The Holy Book of Immortal Blood (Blood, Elder of the Order of the Transported)
angelic spur
I began to regret not having captured the sacrament in time, and now that I was alone in Paris without a clue, I should walk around today and wonder if Paris was as fascinating as the book made it out to be.
Chancellor: If you shed tears for missing the sun, you will also be eclipsed by missing the stars. If Paris does not move, there is no more romance on earth.
Anneliese Jo: The fatal prosperity star has not arrived so far. Chancellor, do we know each other?
Chancellor: It is now recognized.
14. Anneliese
I woke up in bed in a hotel near Versailles, strangely enough, the clothes I had soiled last night had been washed and neatly folded on the pillow while I changed into a nightgown. Giovanni's sapphire ring of doom was also on the pillow.
I made a breakfast reservation, and while I waited for breakfast, I compiled information on the Blood Sacrament and then saw a reply to me from "The Chancellor" on the internet. He seemed to have been following me, and I didn't seem to remember this person. I convinced myself that he was just a stranger on the internet.
"If Paris is not moving, there is no more romance in the world", and his words made me so interested in Paris that I spent all day yesterday preparing for a tour of the city.
Instead, the plan changed as I was walking out of the hotel. Satan! The stars did appear. I saw Mars, and he was in Paris!
Several keywords flashed through my mind, "Mars", "Paris", "Blood", and "Cain's left hand ", obviously the last keyword stood out the most.
He came out of the hotel across the street, spotted me at a glance, and then turned hastily into an alley. I gave chase. The speed of the Bloods made it impossible for me to catch up with him, and my sprint caused the cheesecake I'd eaten for breakfast to lurch in my stomach. By the time I reached the end of the alley, Mars was out of sight. My heart went cold, not just because he was gone, but because of other terrible doubts.
I don't have anything to deter others, and even if I find him again, there's no way to force him to give up the Left Hand of Cain. And, other than the Left Hand of Cain and the Giovanni Doomsday Sapphire, how was I to find the other sacred artifacts? Once I had pondered these questions, but not with the clarity and naked acknowledgment of my helplessness that I have now.
I turned back to the hotel and lingered at the door for a long time, the receptionist came up to me several times and asked if I needed help, I shook my hand at him in denial and went to the hotel where Mars was staying.
The receptionist was a beautiful blonde, and when I suggested to her that I would like to see the video from the guest's room, she sternly refused me because "we respect the privacy of our guests". I had to give in and give her a sum of money and ask her to call me when Mars returned.
I thought the chances of that were slim, but Mars did return to the hotel to check out, and the blonde called me as promised, "He left with a backpack."
I learned to be a little smarter this time and changed out of the morning outfit, added a black trench coat, and waited for him to leave after a long look in front of the hotel before following him at an unhurried pace.
The trial was successful, Mars didn't notice, he checked into a small hotel, and while he was upstairs I went to the front desk and reserved a room across from Mars, then went back to the hotel to check out, everything went smoothly and I checked into that hotel as well.
Fortunately, there were cat eyes on every room door in the hotel, and I stared at them for a long time; none of the rooms across the hall were moving, and I was afraid to open the door for fear that someone was looking through the cat eyes on the other side of the door as well. Maybe I was being paranoid, but I always had that feeling.
There is no ordering service in this hotel, and after tossing and turning all morning, my stomach was empty and now I was very hungry, and as I worked up the courage to open the door to my room, the door to the room across the hall opened.
Both men who opened the door froze as they looked at each other.
The room across the hall was occupied by a girl, a Chinese girl. I saw her frown, then storm angrily towards the stairway. I followed her down the stairs and I heard her arguing with the receptionist about something.
"Where did the man go?"
"Which guy?"
"It's the guest who lives in A21!"
"The person who lives there is Miss Anneliese Jo Thomas."
"Where's the man in the black suit? He was carrying a dark blue sports backpack."
"Do you mean Mr. Mars Abel? He has checked out."
The words were like a bolt from the blue, exploding in my head in an instant. I also ran over and asked, "When was that?"
The receptionist looked at us with a confused look on her face and froze for a few seconds before answering the question.
It turned out that Mars had only gone upstairs to check out room A21 - I think he must have known he was being followed - and he hadn't booked A21. I booked "the room opposite the gentleman" at the front desk, who left me A20 opposite A21, and when I returned to the hotel to check out, Mars came downstairs to tell the front desk he wasn't happy with the room and left. The Chinese girl who was also following Mars booked the "room opposite the previous guest" after Mars came out of the hotel, which the receptionist interpreted as the room opposite the A20 room I had booked, which was A21.
I sat in my A20 room packing my things to move back to the hotel, the small hotel wasn't that pleasant, I prefer the rooms on the upper floors and the air would be better.
The Chinese girl came in through the hidden door of the room and sat herself down on the edge of the bed, and I ignored her.
"Why are you following him?" She asked me suddenly.
"What about you?" I asked her back, looking up and straightening up, without a smile. Maybe she's the one who spoiled it for me, he didn't notice anything when I followed Mars, well, at least he didn't turn around, she must have spooked him.
"His blood, you know? Vampire."
Her words startled me as I sized up the girl in front of me, she was wearing a tight black leather suit, which was considered ordinary in Paris, what wasn't ordinary was her face was as pale as a Blood, and the bruises were visibly exposed on her forehead and her nails were as clear as glass.
"You too?" My eyes widened in surprise.
"No, I'm not." She smiled and shook her head, "I'm a hunter."
Hunters are a species of Bloods who are tired of immortality and have been transformed by divine baptism; they are not friends of the Bloods, yet cannot be interpreted one-sidedly as enemies of the Bloods. They are the ones who oversee that the Bloods do not break the commandments, they demand that the Bloods obey the commandment to avoid the world and not to harm humans. This is as ridiculous as wishing for a "thief-free world".
"Mars killed someone?"
"No." She denied it immediately, her smile deepening a notch.
"Then why are you following him?" I had a sneaking suspicion that she was coming for the same reason I was, for the light of excitement shone in her eyes.
Cain left hand. The answer was unsurprising. "You're for that, too." Her smile was extremely gorgeous, like a blooming and fragile rose, a soap bubble that the wind touched and broke.
"Why do you want to get it?"
"You don't need to know that." She added, "Let's work together!"
"Collaborate on what?" I saw her gaze gather on my hand, my thumb to be exact.
"I'll grab Cain's left hand for you and you'll give me the ring."
"Why?"
"No reason."
I was disturbed, "Don't you want Cain left-handed?"
"Originally I was going to trade it to the Elders for the chance to be human again, now, trading it to you will suffice." She raised an eyebrow, "Do you know what the blue liquid does?"
I nodded, "But it means so much to me."
Seeing me hesitate, she got anxious and stood up, "There's no way you can get Cain's left hand with your ability, besides, with the sapphire and the figure, you can prove to the Prince that you got it even without the blue liquid."
"You know?" I said in shock.
"I can read minds."
I thought for a moment and asked her, "Do you know where he is?"
She raises a triumphant smile, knowing I've said yes.
She threw a monitor into the side pocket of Mars' backpack as he walked out of the hotel, and by GPS location, we soon knew Mars was near Versailles.
When we arrived at his location, we found it to be a coffee house. Milo (the huntress' name) settled for my lunch right there (she knew I was hungry), went to the pet store next door and bought herself a rabbit, returned to the coffee house and sat across from me, gracefully twisted the rabbit's head off when no one was looking and poured the blood into glass-like milk.
The blood shakes in the glass, shaking my mind.
She picked up the glass of red liquid and drank it down in one go, a satisfied smile curling the corners of her mouth.
I was surprised, "That's all? Aren't you hungry?"
"We need to learn to constrain." She drew lightly.
"You can't eat? Can't drink water?"
"What do you think the Bloods are? Is it a god? Don't be ridiculous, Bloods are dead bodies with no heartbeat and no breath! Types of blood are a species that feeds on blood and fears the light, it's not even funny. When we eat or dish - as we did when we were human - our digestive systems don't work and we are welcomed with regurgitation and vomiting." She seemed a little agitated, her eyebrows jumping as she said this.
"I've always wondered why some Bloods fear the light while others can operate in the sunlight?"
"Just like Darwin's theory of evolution, the blood race cannot remain unchanged either. The blood race has been bred from the first generation to the fifteenth or sixteenth generation now, and after a long time, some of them can touch the sunlight, and the recent blood race can even move around in the sunlight at will, but the sunlight at noon in high summer is still powerful and lethal."
"Recent Bloods, as in Mars? Nothing to threaten the Near Bloods?"
Miroku looked at me for a moment in confusion and narrowed his eyes, "Your father should have hired you a governess." But she paused for a moment and answered anyway, "Unfresh blood as food is like humans eating expired food, it makes the Bloods uncomfortable. The only way to cause death is to starve them alive. Oh, and silver bullets through the heart, which is life-threatening pain for Bloods. Or ..." she raised an eyebrow once more, "take them apart in large pieces as a way to make sure the bodies can't be polymerized into a human form again."
"How disgusting." I gave a disgusted look.
"Disgusting things you'll encounter more of, and tonight." She winked.
I didn't understand what she meant, and then she told me her plan.
Through mind-reading, Miroku knew that Mars was going to meet someone in a bar and then leave Paris early tomorrow morning, we had to do it tonight. Miroku will find a way to get Mars drunk (Bloods drink too) and drag him into the hotel room, she will control him and I will take care of cutting off his left hand with an ax.
"He must have used some method to attach Cain's left hand to his broken arm." After saying the plan Miroku muttered as he stared across the room at the coffee house at Mars.
I took pity on Mars instead, "Is he going to die?"
"He must die. Otherwise, your House Thomas will turn against House Abel, and though you are not a Blood, you will be sanctioned by the Prince when you become one."
"That's all the more reason not to kill!" I shouted.
"We killed it silently, and no one will be able to find evidence." Miroku smiled faintly and tossed the rabbit carcass she was holding back into the cage.
15. Anneliese
We stayed at the coffeehouse until 7 p.m., during which time I had a New Orleans roast chicken, Milo killed another rabbit, and Mars finished a book at the coffeehouse, not taking a bite of his meal or even a drink of water.
It was dark by seven and the whole of Paris was illuminated by lights as we followed Mars into a lively bar, my first time in one. Despite preparing my mind for everything, I was still shocked.
It was a small slice of gloom and chaos, with men and women dancing with fire, colored lights swaying before my eyes, and deafening rock music resonating throughout the bar. People sitting and drinking were laughing, and escorts were moving back and forth, carrying a few stacks of beer and leaning into the arms of one man after another with a smile that swept across their faces with ulterior motives.
I quickly lost my way, losing Mars and Miroku, and I looked around in the chaos of the crowd, but I saw her in a glimpse, and the next second she was gone behind the people jumping. I walked into the dancing crowd and managed to squeeze past a man with a big beer belly, only to have him turn around and run back into another man. "Hey girl, dance with me!" The man who had been bumped extended an invitation to me in fluent French and then tugged me along.
"Stop! Stop! Sorry! I'm going to get someone!" My voice was drowned out by the music as this man continued to take my hand and loop his other arm around my waist.
"Let go! I told you to let go!" I'm going to struggle and he thinks I'm going to dance, so he dances more himself.
I screamed at the top of my lungs, but my voice was drowned out by the stereo. Suddenly I saw the man in front of me turn pale, his eyes staring straight at the top of my head, his hand released, followed by another cold hand around my waist away from the man in front of me. I was flipped over like a doll, right in front of the man who had saved me, but I didn't get a good look at his face before he let go and left, coming and going like a ghost.
His hands were so cold, just like Daniel's.
I winced and reacted, trying to get to the man, but he was long gone.
After squeezing out of the dancing crowd, I saw Miroku and Mars at the bar, Miroku gave me a detour sign and I went to the other end of the bar and asked for a cocktail. I don't drink, it's just not nice to just sit at the bar without a drink, so I take a few small sips and put them down. After waiting there for two hours, Miroku managed to get Mars drunk. She's such a genius!
We carried him to the hotel and got a room, almost everything went well, what didn't go well was that Miroku said Mars was about to sober up (he threw up his drink on the way) and I didn't have the ax with me. Miroku needed to stay at the hotel and watch Mars, and the task of buying the ax was left to me.
I hesitated for a moment as I passed the fire hydrant. This wasn't Titanic, after all, and I didn't take the ax down to save Jack like Rose, the heroine, because I knew that by taking the ax down the alarm would go off and the Parisian police would take me away before I could cut off Mars' hand. I was doing something against the law, and whether it was human law or Blood law, it was best not to break it.
I bought the ax and when I got back to the hotel I hid it in the coat I had taken off, I felt it heavy and held it as if it were the corpse of Mars. As I dragged my heavy steps back to my room I heard an embarrassing noise.
I quickly found the source, a disheveled Miroku was pinned to the bed and Mars was kissing her neck, figuring out what they were doing. Miroku crossed to Mars' head and gestured to me to hurry up, I picked the ax up and showed it to her, pointing to Mars' left hand on Miroku's shoulder. She knew exactly what I was pointing at, and with one free hand she ripped the cross off her neck, shoved it into Mars' left hand, and whispered in his ear, "Honey, I know you hate it, put it on the counter, okay?" She gave me a quick wink and I approached the cabinet and raised the ax.
True to his word, Mars listened to Miroku and reached out with his rough, unowned hand to place the cross on the counter, and I took the opportunity to slash down at his elbow.
The red liquid stained everything.
Cain's hand held the greatest secret in the world, so his hand was cut off.
Mars' hand was the Blood Sacred Cain's left hand, so his hand was cut off by me.
I have the Left Hand of Cain, and Miroku wants to take it away. She wants both the gem on the ring and the Left Hand of Cain. I know this well.
Clutching Cain's left hand, which was wrapped tightly in my coat, I ran as if desperately out of the hotel and into an alley. The scene felt inexplicably familiar to me, except now, I was turning into Mars, Miroku was turning into me, and the alleyway was still long.
I knew I was bound to die if she caught up with me, and I understood her insatiable greed from the fierce look she gave me when I cut off Cain's left hand and she pushed Mars away. She would do anything for the Blood Sacrament.
I ran for my life, not as fast as Miroku the blood hunter of course, and she quickly picked up a stick from the side of the road and smacked me to the ground. I didn't have the battered physique that the filmmaker had, and as soon as I fell to the ground I felt dizzy, the coat in my hand falling to the ground and Cain's left hand rolling out of it.
Miroku grinned as he picked up Cain's left hand and took a step closer to me.
The part of me that fell to the floor was hot and sore, but I twisted around in pain and removed the ring from my thumb, and clutched it tightly in my hand as if that would keep her from taking it away.
"How lovely, an ignorant human who has no ability whatsoever to find a holy weapon, and yet you insist? How did you get this ring? You know best." Miroku's smile was like a blooming poisonous flower, "It was obtained by selling your body and trading it for a one-night stand!"
I saw a dark shadow coming slowly from behind her. Miroku's words felt like a slash to my heart. A one-night stand? I'd never thought of it that way, and it was like I was searching for an explanation and was slow to find one. But Miroku had hit the nail on the head. I chanted softly, feeling like my brain was about to explode, maybe the fall had just knocked me out.
"That's right, it was a one-night stand," I murmured.
But I heard no answer. All I heard was a scuffle, and the sound of rice falling several times in quick succession, and then nothing.
"No, it's not a one-night stand." Someone stopped me and hugged me, rambling in my ear like she was teaching a child, "Miroku is lying to you, she's looking for the Blood Sacrament just like you are, she wouldn't want to turn back into a human, she asked for the eternal life in the first place, she wants the gem to destroy it, it's the wish of many hunters."
"The Blood Sacred Weapon is the lifeblood of the entire Blood race. Someone is looking for them and using them to claim the throne; someone is trying to destroy them and that is the hunter. So you have to keep them safe and protect yourself as well ..." The man's voice was incredibly familiar, but I couldn't recall his name and his face was about to disappear, my eyelids closed, but my mind was still racing.
Who is it? Who is it? My head is starting to spin.
Oh, Satan, he's Daniel, Daniel Edson. I closed my eyes in peace at the thought of him.