Chapter 191: A Reason for Vampires (Part Two)
"The Endless Echoes Clan has a great deal in common with bats," Nyrielle explained. "My teacher also has a connection to bats that comes from his power as a vampire rather than his nature as a member of the Endless Echoes Clan. Let me back up a step and I can explain better," she said.
"True Vampires are like witches in a way. I don’t want you to think that it’s entirely the same, but it helps to provide a way of looking at the world. You have a connection to trees and the forest. That’s the part of nature that defines your witchcraft. Every person who is born a witch the way you were embodies some facet of nature."
"Then, the Mother of Thorns embodies things that are... prickly?" Ashlynn asked.
"I’ll leave it to her to explain her own domain," Nyrielle said, not wanting to wander off track. "What I’m trying to say is that, just as witches embody a facet of nature, True Vampires embody a facet of death."
"My teacher is known as the Fangs of Death," Nyrielle said.
"Did he give himself that title?" Ashlynn asked. "Or was it earned somehow, the way people call you the ’Blood Princess of the Arena.’" A title like ’the Fangs of Death’ sounded impressive, but if it was something that he’d chosen to call himself, it was perhaps a bit much to Ashlynn’s sensibilities. But perhaps it was different to the Eldritch.
"It’s the title that goes with his power and his position," Nyrielle said, poking Ashlynn when she saw her lover’s teasing look. What would her lover think when she heard her own title? "He’s the oldest of the True Vampires on this continent. As far as he and I are aware, there are four of us on the continent and six of us in total, though only my teacher has encountered one of the other two."
"Are the other two from the old countries then?" Ashlynn asked. "I’ve never heard of there being vampires in the old countries. I would have thought that the Church would have hunted them down long ago."
With more than a thousand years of history in the old countries, it was hard to imagine that any Eldritch people who had lived there could have escaped hunts organized by the Templars and Inquisitors. The Church was ruthless enough to raise the banner of Crusade to ensure that all the lands that paid reverence to the Holy Lord of Light were free of ’demons’ and ’evil witchcraft.’