Chapter 8:
Although dawn was approaching and the environment would soon enter the daytime which severely weakens vampires, it was still the darkest moment of the day. The blessing of night enhanced Murphy’s senses far beyond normal.
After hearing the gunshots, he and Maxim immediately rushed towards the source. As they got closer, their supernatural senses allowed them to detect slight movements coming from a cellar below, where a body was pinning down the entrance.
There was someone hiding there!
A woman!
In the village filled with the stench of blood, Murphy caught a faint whiff of perfume. Though not overpowering, it made him narrow his eyes as his left hand rested on the hilt of the crimson cage sword at his waist.
This weapon his mother Tris once used was imbued with the intricate artistic sense that vampires harbor, the cage guard intricately carved with vulture patterns.
It was the symbol of the Blood Vulture, one of the seven major vampire clans.
Its name was the “Blade of the Desire Clan,” and “Desire” was the original sin of the Blood Vulture clan.
A rather peculiar concept in vampire traditional culture, each of the seven major clans had a corresponding original sin to represent their identity as the “Eternal Sinful Progeny.”