Once more, as soon as the sun awoke, I was awoken with it, Rita coming into my room with a much needed change of clothes. She had a set of older clothing, a durable shirt made out of cotton with some patches here and there, a set of pants made out of tough Denim and a coat made with dark wool. They must have been some of Peter's old clothes, but they were a good fit and in a good condition so I didn't have any reason to complain.
After I changed my clothes, I went outside, where sir Adam and Peter were waiting with a table full of food.
"Come here son and start eating. You will have a hard day ahead." said Peter as soon as he saw me.
This scene reminded me a little of home. The sun was warm and bright, the wind was blowing slowly and Peter even played the role of sir George like his own. You wouldn't have guessed that just 2 days ago I wouldn't have known him and sir Adam and that just 3 days ago my life was much the same just in a different part of the world. It almost brought tears to my eyes just remembering everything that happened, but I did as Peter said, I am sure that I would have a hard day ahead, maybe even a hard week, month or even year, so I must eat while I still had the option.
"So, what is the plan?" asked Peter as soon as I sat at the table.
"We will go to the biggest monastery that we could reach in a day, any more and we would be stranded in the middle of nowhere with a few dozen of those beasts on our rears."
"Your nearest option is the Sunday Down monastery, but it would take about 3 days on foot."
"Can we borrow a horse then?" I interjected after downing a cup of water.
"That is a given, I just pointed out how far it is in case something happens to the horses. I will even personally escort you there. Wouldn't want my grandson to die so young, now would I?" Peter's words reassured me. He was a good man, that was for sure, even though cussing his allies wasn't below him, he still proved that he loved them through his actions.
"There is a small village, with a church, around the middle of the way there."
"So you want to bring more innocents into this mess?" said Peter with an annoyed look on his face.
"How much would you reckon that it would take Alucard to eat every human down to the mountains, not just a small village, but hundreds. I wouldn't say more than a decade or two, especially with how fast he grew in strength in the last 18 years."
"If sacrifices must be made for the better good, then make them without a second thought, isn't that what you used to say old man." said Rita while taking a seat next to him.
"I must be getting old. Back in the day I would have blasted half of the people here down to hell."
"Women have changed your mind, as it seems."
"Like you're the one to talk. We would still be killing each other if not for the same woman."
I didn't know who they were talking about, but it seemed like they did have a longer history than I thought at first, a history that would remain almost an entire mystery for the rest of my life.
"So. When are we leaving?"
"As soon as we are done eating. The plan is mostly laid out, just checking possible mistakes."
"Are we sure that a monastery would do or if it's even a safe place?"
"I am as sure as the existence of Lucifer. A monastery is the house of God just as much as a church, but they also have even a dozen times more practitioners."
"They have more than enough manpower to set a patrol around the buildings every night. Even just two priests or monks will be able to stop an army of a hundred of those beasts, let alone a small amount of 50 or so."
"As he said. They will accept us, that's what God would want after all."
"Maybe not the two of us old man. You would go straight to help when you crack."
"God still loves me, you sucker. I would go to hell by my own will to show those devils who is the boss." said Peter while hitting the table with his fist.
I didn't know if that was their attempt at humor or if they actually meant those words, but it still brought a smile to my face. I wasn't sure that I would live for much longer, but I was sure that they will give their all to keep me in this world. It made me happy to still have someone who I could rely on even after all that happened.
…
As soon as we finished eating, Peter and Rita brought out several bags and boxes. I helped them move them to the back of the inn, where 4 large, black and gray horses were waiting. Rita quickly moved to take them out of the stable, sir Adam tying the bags and boxes to their backs.
Peter pulled me aside and pulled a rifle out of a bag, handing it to me. "Son, I will make sure that nothing will get to you, but I've gotten older and the enemy we are facing might be too much even for my younger self. I might fail, that's why you must have something to protect yourself. I will give you a quick rundown on how to use this rifle as we don't have much time."
Peter moved to my side, giving me a bullet. "Now, this kind of rifle has a special reloader to make it quicker, but it would take too long for you to learn how to quickly use it, so you will keep it fully reloaded before any danger. Now press the bullet here and pull the lever." he said as he moved my arm through every step. "Hold it firmly to your shoulder and aim at that scarecrow." Peter pointed to a weirdly placed scarecrow, about 30 meters away, that I hadn't seen before that. Why did he even have that was above my best guess, after all there are better targets to use. "Now breathe out and press the trigger." I quickly took a breath in and out and pressed the trigger, my ears instantly starting to ring, taking my attention away from the target.
The sound was deafening and the recoil was stronger than I had expected, so much so that it took me almost a minute before I could regain control over my senses.
"What were you aiming at, son?"
"Ah… the head?" I said, still half sure if I've heard what he said properly.
"Well I will be damned. A perfect shot straight in the middle of the forehead. If it's beginners luck or not is another question, we shall test it another time. Now, let's get you on one of those horses and start our journey." Peter said as he took my rifle, reloaded it with 7 bullets, strapping it around my neck as soon as he was done.
I was quickly pulled back to the horses, Rita already being on top and starting to leave as soon as Peter gave a nod.
"Where is she going?"
"She will go send a message to the order for me, I won't be able to do it myself after all."
"Will she be alright? Isn't it dangerous for her to go alone? There might be bandits on the way."
"Then I would worry about the poor bandits that crossed her way. That little witch would curse their lineage up to the 7th generation." said Peter before starting to laugh out loud. "Now, choose your horse."
In front of me were 3 big horses. They were well kept and calm, Peter must have taken a lot of care of them. I chose one of them at random, not that I even knew how to read them, I barely knew how to ride one since my mother and sir George almost forced me to learn when I was still 14. The horse let me climb him with no problem. It's back was strong, the kind of strength that must have been built over days and days of riding on large plains.
"Hmm, Cetra seems to like you. Take care of her and she will take care of you."
Cetra was her name, I later learned that she was the youngest of the four siblings and that all of them were fathered by Peter's original horse, the horse that used to ride while he was still active in the order, so about 15 years before I met him. They were all strong and fast, Peter said that they were similar but still lacking to their father, but they were still some of the best mounts that you could find on this side of the mountains.
"No more talking, let's go." said Peter as his horse, As, started moving at an impressive speed, but still not fast enough to be called a gallop. Sir Adam with his horse, Tris, following right behind and Cetra following their example before I could even give it the order.
…
Hours later, we took a small break for the horses to catch their breath. They were truly fast, making a day's worth of distance in no time. Without Peter's help I am sure we would have been almost sitting ducks or pigs at slaughter. I could never thank him enough for all that he did in that time. I've learned many things from our discussions, even on that break I asked him many questions while sir Adam was looking over the horses.
"Who is this Alucard anyway?"
"A vampire, the second oldest in existence."
"How do we know that he is the second though?"
"If not for him saying that to everyone that has seen him and lived to tell the tale 'My name is duke Alucard, the first born of king Dracula, killer of millions!', or something like that. He was certainly old though, the earliest writing of him would tell you that he was at least 100 years old almost 300 years ago."
"First born of Dracula? Does that have anything to do with the Dracula order?"
"Maybe. Vlad III Dracula, or better known as Vlad Ţepeş, was the one who created the Dracula order to cleanse the country of all evil. It was one of his bigger moves for a better, more righteous country. You might have heard of the legend of him leaving golden cups at fountains to prove that all the thieves were already dealt with by the fear of execution. Crazy man if you ask me, so crazy that there have been more than one myth of him making a pact with one of the princes, maybe even Lucifer himself, to gain power after his death. One of those has him becoming the first ever vampire. If it's true or not is out of my knowledge, but the first vampire did use his last name, Dracula, as his own."
"Is Dracula still alive? I would imagine that such a being would have some control over Alucard. Maybe we could somehow get him to stop Alucard if we really need?"
"Having dreams is a good thing, but don't let them turn into delusions. I don't think you have anything that could make Dracula stop his mongrel. Not that he could anyway, Alucard has left his control almost 300 years ago, back when that first writing of him was made."
"So the only option is to go to war."
"Don't worry, with the kind of fire power that the holy knights and the order have, we will take him down in a matter of a day."
"You said it yourself, the holy knights might not come. Is the order enough to do that by itself?"
"Well… it's hard to say, but if I can meet him before he takes down more than half of our people, I should be able to kill him by myself, if the others can keep his strays away from the battle for at least 10 minutes."
Those seemed more like empty words back then. I was ready ready to tell him that he too turned his dreams to delusions, but a voice from behind stopped me before I could open my mouth.
"You might not be able to do that this time. Last time it took a dozen men to keep his beasts down and they were fewer than now."
"You rackon… Then I would need to take down half of them too, before clashing blades with that bastard. Would that do?"
"Maybe, but you might gas yourself out before dealing the final blow."
"Well, the plan could get some tweaking here and there. Maybe a half dozen priests and monks could keep the beasts away for long enough."
"That should do it, but it would be pure luck to find half a dozen that would be willing to join such a battle, let alone half a dozen that has the guts to stand face to face with one of those things."
"Fair point. Maybe some old timers would do the job, but they would slow us down with their weak bones, this new generation, on the other hand, is too inexperienced."
…
When the sun was almost gone past the horizon, we finally reached the Sunday Down monastery. It was old with a small wooded church in the middle, several buildings surrounding it and a 2 meter tall wall made out of large rocks surrounding them. A few fields of vegetables and fruit trees outside of the wall were the main source of food for the monks living there.
A monk was outside at the entrance. He seemed to await us clasping his hands together in a prayer motion as soon as we reached him.
"What might you be here for?" said the monk after Peter got down from his horse, stopping his prayer.
"We are here to seek refuge from foul beasts of the one below. The boy's village has been destroyed and he is now followed by them."
"What a pity, other sons and daughters of the Lord have been taken away by evil. You shall give him refuge for now. But what about the man?"
"He is with us, he won't do anything."
"And you are?"
"My apology, I am Peter, former member of the Dracula order."
"I've heard about you. You can all enter, but you must follow the rules of the monastery."
"If it's also possible to send a message to the Vatican in the name of the monastery. The evil that follows the boy is bigger than anything that we could deal with by ourselves."
"It is true then. A handful of our brothers have had a dream of an evil force rising from the ground. We thought that it was because of the great war or another war that shall come, but an evil like that, a man sent by the Devil. If there is no other option, we shall send it and we shall spread the word to other monasteries and churches for them too to send the message."
"We couldn't wish for more. Thank you brother."
"It is our duty as children of God. Now enter, the night is approaching. I shall send a man to show you your rooms and send a patrol to keep the foul beasts away, God's resting place must remain clean from true evil."
We entered the monastery where we were accepted with open arms. All of the monks there were good men, following everything that they preached and then some. Sadly I couldn't talk much with them as most of them had a vow of silence, but their actions spoke enough for a million words.
That day I slept in a truly safe area, but once again, my sleep wasn't that good. I still wonder why I could sleep so well at sir Adam's house, yet everywhere else was so hard. But nonetheless, I was safe once again.