After hearing the report from Natalia, Solomon sent her back home and sat in his tent with his thoughts.
He was glad that his plan had worked, as it had most certainly earned him more worshippers. However, he was taken aback by Svetlana’s death.
If the woman was truly King Calvin’s lover, then it showed what type of man he was. His temper was short, and in a sense, he was heartless.
Being a man who had already taken a life himself, such a thing did not affect him gravely. However, he would be lying if he said that it didn’t make him feel strange. After all, he had just met the woman recently, and due to the way she had acted towards him, her life had been taken.
"..."
Solomon sighed and made his way out of his tent. He stepped into the streets of Redsham and watched as everything returned to normal.
...
Over the past few days, Solomon had been meaning to pay a visit to his demon horse, Lavender.
When he had returned from Vodengaard after killing the Prince of the Valanian Kingdom, he had returned home on his horse and left the animal at the stables he had bought it from.
The stable master was not pleased with this, as he had originally sold it to Solomon in hopes of getting rid of it. However, when Solomon offered to pay extra, the man swallowed his tongue and accepted.
Since then, he had been so busy that he had not visited the horse yet. He did not know much about relationships between humans and animals, but his guess was that such infrequent visits could lead to problems.
...
As Solomon travelled through the night’s streets on foot, the streets were quiet and eerie.
After what Aurora had told him, he noticed that the few people he passed seemed more on edge than usual.
More people paid attention to the first curfew, and others locked themselves in their houses even earlier than was necessary.
Perhaps their feelings were warranted, as Solomon suddenly heard a cry echoing on the street that he was walking along.
His ears perked up, and he steadied his breathing while listening.
...
From above?
The more shouting he heard, the clearer it became that whatever commotion was taking place was happening on a rooftop.
Solomon didn’t hesitate to check it out. He navigated the streets until the sound was directly above him, then he entered the alleyway and climbed the piping.
After a difficult climb, he pushed himself over the edge onto the rooftop. The shouts had now died down and been replaced with the sound of bafflement.
Solomon swiftly examined the scene.
Lying with her back up against a chimney was a woman, bleeding from various wounds on her body. He knew not what she was doing up there, but standing over her were two men dressed in black robes.
These men didn’t look normal. Their skin was extremely pale, their nails were long and sharp, and their eyes were bloodshot.
Facing off against the two pale men were two other men, dressed in red and white leather armour. The sigil on the chest of the breastplate told Solomon that they were members of the Order of Restoration, the official military force of the city. However, they were clearly of the lowest rank, as they didn’t wear steel.
Their leather armour was scratched up, and numerous wounds were spread across their bodies. They both held shortswords, but their blades were dry of blood, which meant they had not landed a single attack on their foes.
One of the pale men had blood and skin in his nails. He sucked his fingers, and his eyes rolled back in his head.
"Your blood is delicious," he said. "Why don’t you heal yourself so that I might cut you open again and drink more of it?"
The other pale-skinned man looked at his ally and smiled. "Brother, have you forgotten? They don’t have their powers anymore! Their god has abandoned them."
The two men broke out into laughter, and the guards clenched their teeth in anger.
After assessing the scene, Solomon was able to get a grasp on what was going on.
The vampires had attacked this woman, and the guards tried to save her. However, without their powers, they were useless.
He palmed his face.
Has the Order really become so useless?
Before the battle could continue, Solomon stepped forward, and the eyes of those on the rooftop turned to him.
One of the guards’ eyes went wide.
"Civilian, can’t you see what they are? It’s not safe up here. Leave before you are killed!" he snarled.
As he spoke, Solomon tried his best to hide his face by positioning himself towards his foes. He would not want them to recognise him.
One of the vampires turned towards Solomon. A sick, bloody smile spread across his face.
"More food? My belly is incredibly full, but I’m not sure I can squeeze in some more blood."
Noticing that an unarmed man had stumbled into the scene, the two vampires silently agreed to ignore the armed guards.
They dashed towards Solomon, baring their fangs and teeth.
"Shit!" one of the guards cursed as they dashed in and tried to intercept. However, Solomon simply raised a hand, urging him not to get involved.
Solomon focused on the two vampires, outstretching both arms towards them.
He accessed the fifth vein, gifted to him by Juniper, the god who had left only him with the powers.
An assortment of flowers appeared from out of nowhere, floating from his palms and gradually travelling towards the vampires. When they struck the vampires’ faces, their eyes suddenly burst like grapes.
Their guards had been lowered, so they had hardly expected to face a man with powers.
Both vampires let out deafening shrieks that could be heard throughout the city. They fell to their knees and clutched their eyes, trying their best to ease the unbearable pain.
Lucky for them, they were put out of their misery, as the guards came over and swiftly finished them off with their swords.