73 The Ritual Pt.2 (1/2)

”Can you manage yourself around all the blood?” He asks me. His voice managed to break through some of the fog that was clouding my mind. But my brain was still screaming at me to satisfy the bloodlust that I felt.

I had no idea why the urge to drink was this strong. Could it have been from the fact that I had only had some nasty goblin blood? But normally, I would be fine without drinking blood for a couple of days. However, now I was starting to wonder if I was mistaken.

”You've never had human blood, have you?” He asks me.

I shake my head and I felt some of the fog vanish as I look away from the bloodied bodies. Not seeing the vast amount of blood helped me getting my body under control. Even still I could not get my fangs to retract back into my mouth. They cut into my lip and blood wells in my mouth.

He reaches out with his free hand and rubs the line of blood that dribbles from my mouth. The ruby-red blood glistens on his fingertip and he rubs it between his forefinger and thumb.

”I'm okay,” I mutter and take a deep breath. Breathing in the blood saturated air the inner beast in my stirred. But I pushed it down. I would not lose my cool over something like this. This was a test and I would endure it!

Steeling my resolve, I look towards the corpses and imagine them as something less appetizing.

Nodding his head odd says. ”Good, let's go and inspect them then,” he puts me down onto the ground.

Standing up, I felt a little better, but I was now eye level to the corpses of the females. Moving forward I head to the closet one and found that the closer I got the more impeccable they looked.

Reaching the nearest corpse to me. I find that the fresh smell of blood wafts off of her body. She was a pretty woman. I could tell just from the body and the white clothes that she had on. Her body was lithe and thin.

Her dress accentuated her body's features. The dress clung tightly around her neck. It was strange to stare at a body that was now headless. The blood had obviously started to die that first. Because around her neck, the blood was the darkest red.

It had bung to seep through the rest of the dress and had completely stained the white dress into an elegant sanguine. All that was missing from the bloodied woman was her head. I'm sure that she was a beauty.

Examining her neck closer I found the cut was clean. It was obvious that whoever had done it had completely taken her neck in one clean swipe. They were either incredibly strong or had a sword that was also incredibly sharp. The other option was that they had used magic to perform this feat.

Either way, it felt almost to perfect. The thought of a blade being wielded this perfectly sent a chill up my back.

”It is a bit to clean don't you think?” Odd asks me. It was like he was reading my mind. Glancing towards him I find that those green eyes are boring down into me. It was like the corpse wasn't even present in his eye that he was solely looking at me.

Did he suspect me of this?

”I agree. It's to clean to have been done with a weapon. I suspect the person that did this beheading was a magic user,” I tell him matter of factly.

He averts his eyes from mine and looks towards the woman. She looked very small from her prayer position in his eye, no doubt. Bending down he flicks his wrist and a knife appears in his hand.

I watch him curiously.

Just what did he plan to do with that?

”Taking out the idea of magic. Their bodies are perfectly preserved. As if someone had taken the time to prep these women. Or had these women prepped themselves?” He speaks as he swings his wrist down. The blade slices fluidly along the back of the woman in front of me.

It was so fast that the clothing split perfectly to reveal the woman's back. Her blood-soaked dress opening like a blooming flower. Instead of a perfectly white back, the appearance of an ugly black burn came into view.

”It appears that they were branded beforehand,” he mutters standing up.

Stepping forward again the scent of blood hits me like a train. But I clench my hand and gash my teeth together.

Around the blackened brand fresh blood welled and ran across her back. The brand was in the shape of two serpents that are fighting each other. They are wrapped around an inverted cross.

”Look,” he says pointing in front of the woman. Stepping around her I look towards the bloodied symbol on that had been drawn a little way in front of her. It was the same symbol that had been noted down in blood that was burned into her back.

The symbol was connected in a straight line to the pointed hand of the woman.