Corrupted blood lord

Teclos could feel Tepesh and Dallion getting farther away.

Their presences were already fading through the trees, slipping beyond the edge of the array and into the deeper forest. They were wounded, but they were moving fast now.

Teclos stared in the direction they had vanished and slowly shook his head.

What a situation.

He could not move properly. He could not teleport. His darkness refused to answer him, and a two-handed claymore was pressed close enough to his neck that the slightest movement would cut him.

And above him stood Regulus.

The Paladin Captain of Lupos. The same monster of a man who had destroyed that banshee all those years ago.

Teclos looked up at him and smiled faintly.

"Can’t we just talk this out?"

Regulus, of course, did not answer him, and the claymore remained exactly where it was.

Several paladins and inquisitors surrounded them, weapons poised at Teclos, their eyes full of hatred. To them, Teclos was not a person. He was an undead thing pinned to the ground, a vile monster that they had caught.

’Fair enough,’ he thought, as he probably looked the part as well.

Regulus finally lifted the blade from his shoulder, but before Teclos could even think about moving, three priests stepped forward. They pressed metal cuffs around his wrists, ankles, and neck, each one carved with light runes that burned into his skin the moment they locked shut.

Teclos hissed through his teeth.

The array beneath him faded as the cuffs now kept his mana sealed.

A blessed chain was attached to the cuffs and handed to one of the paladins.

Regulus looked toward the mountain path where Tepesh and Dallion had escaped.

"Track them," he ordered.

Several riders moved out immediately.

Another paladin looked at Teclos. "What about this one?"

"We’ll take him back to Lupos," Regulus said. "The archbishop will decide how to proceed."

That was bad, very bad.

Teclos lifted his head. "Captain, we should really talk. I am willing to open my heart to you people," he said while trying to smile innocently.

They ignored him.

The paladin holding the chain then yanked him forward, forcing him to walk.

Teclos stumbled once, but soon regained his balance. "I know this might be hard to believe, considering the whole vampire thing, but I can be very reasonable when surrounded by heavily armed religious lunatics."

The paladin hit him in the stomach with the end of his spear to shut him up.

Teclos bent forward slightly as the air was knocked out of him. He coughed, then looked up with a smile.

"That felt unnecessary..."

They ignored him again.

Church policy was simple. Vampires were spawn of evil and should never be trusted. Undead were a sin that should not exist in this world.

To top it all off, darkness mana only made the whole thing worse. As far as they were concerned, anything he said was either manipulation or blasphemy.

That did not stop Teclos from trying, though.

"Captain, I believe we have started on the wrong foot here."

He tried being sarcastic to get their attention.

"You know, for holy warriors, you are all terrible conversationalists."

Still nothing.

He tried sounding desperate.

"I am literally offering useful information here. Very useful. Potentially life-saving for you people. Maybe even promotion-worthy!"

A few eyes narrowed, but no one spoke.

He tried to annoy them by speaking a lot.

"Lovely night for a forced march, by the way. The forest behind us is burning, half of you look dead tired and ugly, I am in chains, and somehow this is still not the worst evening I have had this month."

The paladin holding his chain pulled him by the collar, making him gag for a second.

Teclos sighed. "Silent treatment for a hostage willing to talk. Very mature and smart."

They continued moving.

The Church force was larger than he had first thought. Around sixty men and women moved through the forest in formation. Paladins in heavier armor were the vanguard, while the inquisitors were the scouts on the outer edge of the formation.

Lastly, priests walked in the center, their eyes constantly focused on Teclos, talismans ready in their hands.

He was being watched from every angle.

If he even twitched, he would probably be stabbed by six different people before he could scratch himself.

His chances were not wonderful.

Teclos kept talking because if he could not persuade them, eventually, he would be dead.

Returning to Lupos was not an option. If Luther discovered that he had survived and fallen into Church hands, he would kill him through the pact the moment he felt threatened. Even if the pact was damaged, Teclos did not know how far that damage went. Testing it while surrounded by paladins and weakened by blessed cuffs was not ideal.

And staying with the Church was not much better.

They would torture him until he talked, then kill him anyway because he was an undead creature with darkness mana. He could already see it. Holy water, blessed knives, truth spells, prayers, fire, and all the pretty little methods righteous people used when they were behind closed doors.

So he needed their attention.

Badly.

He dug through everything he had memorized in Luther’s ledgers. Names, payments, routes, facilities, noble connections, Church movements, political rumors, blackmail, hidden messages.

Then he found it. In the corner of his mind was information that could maybe save him.

A small note that was tucked between the reports.

Not important to Luther, perhaps, but very important to the man walking in front of him.

Teclos looked at Regulus’s back and prayed, forgetting about the irony here.

"Captain," he called out.

Regulus, of course, still ignored him and just kept walking.

Teclos raised his voice. "Or should I call you Commander now?"

The second those words left his mouth, Regulus stopped.

The entire group seemed to feel the air change.

Several paladins looked at their captain in confusion. A few priests exchanged glances.

Regulus slowly turned around, and the aura he gave off silenced everyone.

"Where did you hear that?"

Teclos’s smile widened slightly. Finally, a chance. "Ah, I bet you are curious."

Regulus appeared inches away from his face with a stare that could kill, and a crushing aura slammed down on Teclos, making his knees buckle.

For a moment, it felt like standing before the sun itself. A heavy, violent, and overbearing power pressed against him, threatening to burn even his soul.

Teclos had fought the wyvern not long ago, a mighty beast no doubt, but Regulus felt way worse and more domineering once he unleashed his aura.

Teclos gritted his teeth and forced himself to stay standing.

"Filth, I’ll ask for the last time," Regulus said. "Where did you get that information?"

Teclos swallowed the blood in his mouth and raised his cuffed hands slightly in surrender. "I am willing to tell you everything. I am no longer fully bound by my master’s pact. My master is Luther Vael’thorr, and he is living in your city. Now you might understand why I am not eager to return to Lupos under your ’protection.’ If I go back there, I will die."

A wave of angry voices broke through the group.

"Lies."

"Blasphemy."

"Kill him, Captain!"

"Do not listen to the undead’s lies!"

Regulus raised his brows slightly, surprised.

Teclos could see the conflict behind his eyes. Luther Vael’thorr was a well-known name in Lupos. The foreign envoy noble had become the favorite topic of half the noble circles for months. Handsome, benevolent, refined, righteous, and supposedly a devout believer of the Church.

A noble who could not hurt a fly, if the rumors were to be believed.

Teclos almost laughed at that thought.

Regulus’s hand tightened around his claymore. "You expect me to believe that Lord Vael’thorr is your master?"

"No...atkeast not yet."

Regulus’s eyes narrowed.

Teclos continued quickly because the man looked very close to punching him unconscious. "You personally know there is no normal way for me to know about your upcoming promotion. You are leaving for the capital in two weeks to undergo higher holy training and receive the rank of Paladin Commander. And THAT is not public knowledge."

Regulus froze, and the others went silent.

Teclos tilted his head and rolled his eyes after he stayed silent for qlmost half a minute. "Come on. The archbishop hates undead. I doubt he shared his secrets with vampires for fun. So who else knew? Who had access? Who in Lupos could have learned that and passed it along?"

Regulus’s expression darkened.

"It cannot be..." he said quietly.

Teclos sighed. "Finally, one of those muscles connected to your brain."

One of the paladins stepped forward angrily at the insult, but Regulus raised a hand and stopped him without looking away from Teclos.

Teclos kept going. "Listen carefully. Your count is colluding with a vampire, my master. If you go beneath the castle, you will find a dungeon that should not exist. A proper little nightmare filled with torture, human experiments, and enough sins to keep your priests busy for weeks. I swore I would destroy it one day. You can beat me until sunrise if you want, but that will not change what is under your feet back in Lupos."

The warriors were in an uproar and shouted that he was lying, calling it deception. A few priests raised talismans as if his words alone might spread corruption.

"Silence," Regulus ordered.

The command cut through the noise.

Then Regulus looked down at Teclos again. "Why should we believe you?"

Teclos rolled his eyes again. "You have a relic or a spell, some holy object that proves lies, do you not? Use it. This is my chance to ruin Luther and Aweq at the same time. I am telling you not to take me back to Lupos because I will die there, and then you will lose everything I know."

Regulus studied him for a little longer, and Teclos’s smile faded.

"It’s simple really. I hate my master more than you hate me. And I hate your Church too, just for the record, but right now you are the only people who might go against that bastard and live to tell the tale." He continued, his tone growing more and more serious. "Bring whatever holy torture device makes you feel better. Just give me one chance to prove to you that I’m not lying."

This time, no one spoke for several seconds. It sounded like the vampire spoke the truth...

Then Regulus turned toward two older paladins and a senior priest. They stepped aside and began whispering. At first, the conversation was tense. Then one of the paladins suddenly looked at Regulus with wide eyes.

"So you are a Commander now?" he asked.

Regulus’s jaw tightened, and he sighed. "Not yet..."

Suddenly, the paladins and priest were all smiles, and congratulations spread among the squad leaders. Even in the middle of a burned forest, standing over a chained vampire, they took a moment to acknowledge it.

Regulus was positively red and embarrassed.

Teclos watched in mild disbelief.

The discussion lasted only a few moments longer before, finally, Regulus turned back to him.

"You are lucky. We won’t be returning to Lupos just yet," he said.

Teclos was relieved and smiled.

"There is a village not far from here," Regulus continued. "Alta. It has a temple and a secured holding chamber beneath it. We will take you there and wait for the Cross of Truth to be brought from headquarters."

The smile on Teclos’s face became a little brighter.

"Wonderful choice, muscle brain! A temple visit. I have always wanted to be welcomed by the Church."

Regulus then walked closer, and the tip of his claymore lifted Teclos’s chin.

"But understand this," he said, his voice cold as ice. "If the Cross proves you lied, I will personally make sure your death is slow and painful enough that even an undead like you learns to pray for God and salvation."

The hostility in his voice was very real.

So was the hatred in the eyes of everyone around them.

Teclos was technically on their side now, but apparently, that did not make him popular.

Still, it was better than being dragged back to Lupos.

Teclos gave a small nod. "Then I suppose I should be grateful that I am telling the truth."

Regulus lowered the blade and turned away. "Change course. We move to Alta."

The holy warriors changed their course without another complaint.

And Teclos had survived the first hurdle.

Of course, that did not mean he was safe. But for now, that was enough.

And who knew... this might be an opportunity for him.