The Vampire’s Templar

The trip back to Celrantis was just slightly longer than the time it would’ve for Camilla to cross the same distance normally. The whole way, two desires warred within Camilla: the desire to stay away and treasure the time she had left with Kagriss and to the make it up to her as much as she could, and the desire to put an end to the undead army through the method that would spell her end.

In the end, it was Kagriss that made her hurry along.

“Why are you hesitating now? Didn’t I say that I like it when you’re the proactive one?” Kagriss scolded as Camilla dragged her wings. 

Their current speed was just barely faster than Kagriss’s own cruising speed that struck a balance between mana expenditure and haste. Camilla was capable of so much more.

“Are you going to wait until the undead overruns the entire territory?” Kagriss demanded, finally getting a reaction from Camilla. “Think of it this way, if you’re going to sacrifice both of us, then at least trade it for as many lives as we can. Only then is it really worth it, right?”

Camilla nodded and picked up speed.

“...how are you right now?” Kagriss asked as Camilla still did not reply. Yes, Camilla now had a set goal again, but when she remained silent, it was hard to keep up a conversation. It made it difficult for Kagriss to not draw a connection between the current Camilla and the one that refused to confront reality and instead chose to run away.

Surely she’ll answer this time if she asks a question directly.

“...I’m okay.”

Not satisfied with such a generic answer, Kagriss tried to coax a bit more out. “In more detail, please?”

“I’m really okay…”

Perhaps if Kagriss could not feel the turmoil of emotions that warred in Camilla, she’d believe her, but as it was, there was nothing that Camilla could say that would convince Kagriss. Kagriss knew that if Camilla wasn’t willing to talk even after a little pushing, then pushing her any further will do more harm than good; she needed to give Camilla more space.

Having started flying in the afternoon and spending most of the time until night in the air, they now flew under the moonlight of a clear sky. In order to avoid prying eyes and to get away from the curious birds that sometimes came too close, Camilla flew above the clouds so they had a clear view of the moons in the sky.

It was always rare when the phases of all the moons synced up, and judging by the shapes and cycles of each disk in the sky, the moons will become full at almost the same time in just a few nights—not perfectly synced, but enough that the night of each full moon will only be a night apart at most.

When that happens, the night sky will be so bright as to almost seem like day.

“Aren’t the moons beautiful?”

“Which one?” Camilla asked, looking up with Kagriss. All of the moons were slightly different, each with their own unique traits from color to size to pattern. Many stories were told to explain all the differences, but since Camilla became an undead, the power of the moon was more important than the story.

“That one.” Kagriss pointed at the slightly reddish moon in the center of the sky, hanging directly above them. 

“Mhm.”

She thought back to some of the things that Camilla had told her in the past, and the things she read by herself about the moons—specifically the red moon. 

A romantic way to describe it would be that it’s “rosy” or “blushing,” while a more sinister description would be “bloodstained.” Each way was a common way to refer to the red moon, and all kinds of things were attributed to its phases. 

A waning red moon was said to represent a loss of love, but at the same time a coming of peace. Treaties between warring countries nearly always ended with a ceasefire followed by the signing of treaties on the night of a new red moon. However, at the same time, it was also a common day for divorces.

The waxing of the red moon meant the opposite, with more and more blood being spilled — warriors fought as if blessed by the spirits of war themselves on the night of the full moon. 

It was also a night for love when lovers exchanged gifts.

Like always, such beliefs were ultimately nonsense. If the times matched up just right, the undead and all conflict associated with it will be wiped out on the night of the full red moon, thus bringing peace. At the same time, it will be when she and Camilla parted, and what is that but a divorce? 

Those superstitions could not be trusted, but when Kagriss looked at the sky, she wished that for just the next few days, they were real.

While it was still dark, Celrantis became visible from the great height that they flew at, and from there it was only a few more minutes before Kagriss directed Camilla to land on the roof of the mansion, crashing through a thin barrier that covered the entirety of the house as they did so.

“I didn’t notice this when I left…”

“Well, you weren’t in the best mood.” That was putting it lightly.

Their passage through the barrier alerted the two people resting inside the house. Rude as it was to enter without knocking, Kagriss unlocked the mundane lock on the glass door with a bit of mana, leading Camilla inside.

There was a reason that Kagriss chose the roof to land on.

The whole roof of the mansion was made of glass, and the centerpiece of the roof was a solarium with whole walls made of glass. The east and west were unobstructed to provide a view of the sunrise and sunset, while the ceiling was shaded with branches and vines to block out the hot noon sun. The foliage came from the greenhouses in the north and south, an extension of the gardens below.

As a place of leisure, there were dainty tables and chairs that looked so much like the sets in the meeting place that Victoria always manifested. The only missing was that ever-present and ever-filled teapot and cups.

“Let’s sit,” Kagriss said, pulling out a chair for Camilla who nodded and sat down before reciprocating with a seat next to her. Thus, she and Kagriss sat together at the empty table, staring at the plants in the greenhouses while they waited.

It didn’t take long for Victoria to appear with a fluttering of wings, appearing from over the side of the mansion. She held a box by her side.

“Just you?” Kagriss asked.

A second fluttering interrupted her and Ismelda appeared to stand next to Victoria. The younger vampire lord gave the two of them an indecipherable look before they entered the solarium and sat across from Camilla and Kagriss.

Camilla was the first to speak. “How much does she know?” she asked Victoria, voice strained as she thought about the deaths that were happening as they spoke.

Ismelda huffed.

“She knows what’s happening in human territory, but not about that. She also understands that that is something she can’t know. I explained.”

“About time,” Kagriss muttered.

They half expected Ismelda to protest for Victoria’s sake, but to their surprise, Ismelda stayed silent and looked down at the table. 

Perhaps… Ismelda finally found something that she could not completely forgive Victoria over.

Of course, Ismelda’s relationship with Victoria was none of their business, and Camilla hurriedly pressed on.

“Before I continue, I must ask something.” She stood up. “Putting aside whether or not that matters, can the vampires stop the undead currently in human territory?” 

Victoria shook her head.

Camilla slammed her hand on the table. “Why not?! The vampires are so powerful, and you said that it would be easier to defeat the undead…”

“It’s not that simple,” Victoria replied in an even tone. She didn’t get angry at Camilla’s attitude. “We vampires can win against the undead because their magic is weak against ours. It is slow and indirect, and we can easily turn it against them. However, a small battle is not fought the same way as a war. We need places to rest, supplies to survive. It won’t be over in just a day because of the numbers involved.”

Even the undead took months to win against the flugels.

“Perhaps if we mustered the force of every vampire right now we can still make a difference, but why should we? Even if I choose to help, I rule over a single city. Even if I plead with my mother, that is still only one kingdom out of several,” she said. “There’s no guarantee that my mother will in order to preserve her strength against the other states.”

A teapot floated up on a billowing cushion of red mist from somewhere below and Victoria poured herself a cup of tea. “And that’s just the political aspect. What about supplies? You’ve fought a war; you should know how hard it is to invade anything. Tell me, do you think that I can make a difference now that things have come this far with just the power available to me?” 

The way that Victoria explained her own helplessness left Camilla silent, because she could think of no rebuttal. She knew enough to know how hard it would be to truly fight that war. In a way, it would be better if Victoria was truly just evil, since at least she’d have a target of hatred sitting right in front of her.

Now she saw that Victoria wasn’t trying to be cruel. She was simply looking out for her best interests, which was the revival of the race entrusted to her by her beloved. In her place, Camilla would have done the same for Kagriss in a heartbeat.

In the grand scheme of things, Camilla understood that she was just a minor sacrifice—a sacrifice that will bring great good.

She had to know if her sacrifice was truly necessary, and as it turned out, it was. It was a win for every side except for Kagriss. Camilla buried her head in her hands. 

Kagriss forgave her, but she could not forgive herself. But she had to go through with the mission because she was a selfish person that wished she could get everything, but ultimately had to choose between two precious things.

Seeing Camilla like this, Kagriss suppressed a sigh. Camilla was probably thinking too much again. In that case, she will have to act in Camilla's place. Both she and Camilla had accepted their fates, so the least she could do was face the future with no fear or regrets.

She sat up straight and looked straight at Victoria.

“The reason you want us back is for us to help you with the last key, right? You can’t do it yourself.” She didn’t wait for an answer since the answer was quite clear. “We accept. What is it that you want us to do?”

Gone was the familiarity that she had once treated Victoria with as her future mother-in-law. All that was left was two people involved in a business transaction and all the formality it entailed.

Victoria got the hint and straightened as well, getting to the point without looping around in circles as she usually would. She summoned up that accursed bloody mist where it formed an image of an ivory tower that stuck out over the forest. 

“The final key, as well as the key slots, are in the Tower of Wings. When you retrieved the fourth key, the tower appeared in the Border Forest on the site of the original ceremony. According to my familiars, major elements of the undead army are marching southward toward the tower, and they will arrive soon.”

A twist of her fingers and a moving image appeared alongside the tower that depicted the undead king and its subordinates on the move. 

“As far as I know, the way to undo the ceremony is simple: you just have to enter the tower, get to the keystone, and slot all five keys into the stone.”

“Why can’t you do it yourself?” Kagriss asked. “Why force Milla to do it?”

“Yes… why does it have to be me?”

Victoria sighed. “Because only someone that has both the blood of a flugel and me, the keyholder, can enter the tower. Your hair is the greatest proof of that. Camilla, I’m sorry for deceiving you for so long.”

The room went silent and Kagriss looked over at the girl by her side, searching for her reaction to the sudden apology. It came as quickly as the stroke of lightning. 

Camilla stood up, her chair falling back. “Why say something like that after all this time?!” Camilla shouted. “What’s the point? Are you trying to make yourself feel better?”

Victoria looked away. That was the limit for Ismelda and she finally stood up, but Victoria stopped her with a raised arm. She took out the box and placed it on the table. “There’s nothing I can say that will satisfy you.”

With one last venomous glare, Camilla grabbed and opened the box. Within it sat the four feathery shaped stones that seemed to almost glow in the moonlight.