Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 106107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
According to witnesses who came over from Primera Angostura, there was one villager left, a woman who had lost all her blood. She told the others that the Devil took over the church and sprouted wings. When the church collapsed, the Devil flew from the flames and picked up all the people with its claws, tossing them in the flames. Those who escaped, the Devil hunted down and bit, draining them of their blood.
She also said that the Syren who killed two men a few months earlier was found in the church with the Devil when the fire started. She looked like a human at first and had been on fire until she was placed in the sea—a trick, according to this woman. She said she saw the woman’s legs transform into a tail right in front of her eyes. The Syren then swam away before they could capture her, and that is when the Devil flew out of the church, on fire, flying over the waves until it started to destroy everything and everyone in its path.
I do not know what you plan to do with these rumors. The only witness soon died shortly after. You know how these isolated settlements have a way of playing with people’s minds. Several search parties from Primera Angostura and Ciudad del Rey Don Felipe have set out in the area on horseback and by boat to search for both this Syren and this flying monster. To my knowledge, they have found nothing.
The settlement is no more. Perhaps this is a sign for us to put our resources elsewhere. If pirates want the Strait of Magellan, maybe it’s best we let them have it.
With regards,
Halberdier of the Guard, Felipe
Chapter Twenty
Dear Doctor Van Helsing,
I am unsure if you remember me or not. Even though I am told we blood-letters are able to procure memories in our mind’s eye, I’m afraid the longer I live, the less space I have inside my brain for everything and everyone I encounter, and perhaps the same is true for you.
But let me reintroduce myself. My name is Eros Fausta. I worked with you at the monastery, San Juan de la Pena. I helped teach many of the reformed disciples how to read and write, and I know you had formed a deep friendship with one of them, the witch Armand Alcaraz, whom you renamed Aragon. I wasn’t with the monastery for long—my calling pulled me away elsewhere—but when I had returned much later, it was said that you and Aragon had left for a settlement at the bottom of the world.
I, too, ended up this way, for different reasons, on a ship that went through the Strait of Magellan. It was here, from the bow, that I glimpsed who I believed to be Father Aragon. Or rather, it had been the priest. He was half-monster, with a broken wing, standing on the shore and watching the ship pass. I could smell him, and I remembered his scent, which is what made me recognize him, for there were no real signs that it was the man I remembered.
I am in India at the moment, and I am unsure whether you are back at the monastery or if you perhaps were with Aragon down below. I don’t know if you are alive, but I have a feeling you are. In the event that this is news to you, I wanted to let you know what I saw. There is a chance I was wrong—I was the only one who saw the monster—but I don’t think I am. I wish I was. There seemed to be something wrapped around the creature’s wrist—a rosary, perhaps.
Coincidentally or not, when we passed the settlement of Nombre de Jesus, there was nothing left of it. It had been burnt to a crisp, with only a few gravestones standing. A chilling sight, to say the least, and I’ve seen a lot.
I’m sorry if I am bearing bad news. I am even sorrier if Doctor Van Helsing is no more. I hope whoever receives this letter finds it to be helpful in some way.
Your old friend,
Eros Fausta
Chapter Twenty-One
To Captain Battista of the good ship Nightwind,
I hope this letter finds you well, or finds you at all. An albatross is a new delivery system for me, but the Vampyre I have corresponded with assures me it will find its way to you in a timely manner.
I will be in the village of Valparaiso this coming March with a dear friend of mine, Aragon, who is also part of your Brethren. We have heard you will be sailing through on your way to the southern seas and would like to join your crew. We both have experience fighting, and while our morals might drive a human to church, we are both of sound mind and constitution. I have heard that you are heading to a Syren colony off Roche Island, and Aragon has a bit of experience with Syrens himself. Perhaps he can be of some assistance on the journey.