Salvation equals death

When Vera first met Alex, it was in a half-human cage.

In the dark castle, a young man with silver hair and blond eyes braved the wind and rain. He wore a snow-white windbreaker, gloves, and boots. This sudden presence was like sunlight, which hurt people's eyes.

Vera, who had never seen the sun before, looked up at him, and the young man looked at the girl shrunk in the cage with a pair of golden eyes.

"Can it kill people?"

The young man lowered his head slightly, pulling his snow-white gloves. He obviously had a pair of warm-colored eyes, but Vera felt that the blood flowing on the ground was warmer than his eyes.

"Find out by yourself, I won't help you."

He said so, this young man who seemed to be gathering light, said such words to a four-year-old child.

Vera didn't think there was anything wrong, she just picked up a roll of silver wire that the young man casually threw beside the cage, wrapped the wire around the cage's iron railing and pulled it back and forth, finally sawing off the railing after exhausting her strength.

A gap was sawed in the beautifully carved thorn railing, and Vera slipped outside without saying a word. Because she grew up in a cage, her figure was smaller than ordinary children, and she looked like a dwarf.

After climbing out of the cage, Vera stood up hard, took a step with her legs, and fell to the ground like a duck at the foot of the slope, then rolled off the altar where the birdcage was placed, and fell onto a corpse with a snap body.

The corpse was very cold, without the warmth that life had once survived, and there was a somewhat sarcastic smile on the blood-stained handsome face.

Vera knew him—call him "master" or "breeder"; he raised Vera, and not long ago called her "Nightingale" in the gorgeous and decadent tone of a rose, and asked her to be the "nightingale" at the ball. The Kindred sang.

By the way, Vera wasn't originally called Vera. She was a pet picked up and raised by the blood prince. Because of her beautiful voice, she became "Nightingale".

Where is she from and what is her name?She had no idea that from the time she could remember, apart from the small birdcage, there were only vampire aristocrats who were promiscuous, extravagant or elegant.

They would only say one word to her—"Sing a song, my sweet little nightingale."

When singing, the owner can't stop until the owner tells him to stop, even if he sings until his throat is hoarse and his throat is bleeding——

Fortunately, the prince still cherished the nightingale he raised, or maybe he felt that after she died, it would be difficult for him to find a substitute that he could show off at the ball.

But now, the owner who once ruled her fate is lying on the cold floor. The man who is so obsessed with cleanliness that he is almost crazy can no longer care about the dirty skirt, and the blood is dotted on his side, just like his favorite. Rose.

The little child tilted his head, his dark eyes were clear and innocent, even with a touch of dust, those eyes had never been polluted by the world, and he didn't even understand the true meaning of death.

The blood prince turned into wind and sand and dissipated, but she just managed to stand up, tried to walk cautiously, and quickly trotted, leaving the handful of gravel behind.

The little girl ran to the side of the man in church attire, stretched out her little hand with pits, and gently grabbed his hem.

The young man glanced down at her, without saying a word, lying on the floor in front of him was a dying woman with blond hair and red eyes, as graceful and beautiful as a blooming dahlia.

The castle was very quiet, so quiet that only the woman's weak but rapid breathing could be heard. Vera looked at her calmly. She was also shot through the heart by a bullet stored with mercury. Soon, she would also die. Turned into wind and sand.

It is very painful to stay alive, but the woman is still smiling, that kind of relieved and sad smile, so sad that Vera can't help but want to touch her cheek.

After thinking this way, Vera did the same. She squatted down and gently stroked the woman's face, like a child touching a beloved thing, and seemed to be comforting her.

There was light suddenly in the woman's slack eyes, and the figure of the girl was reflected in her wine-red eyes, sighing for the faint warmth on her cheeks.

She parted her red lips slightly, and murmured in a low voice: "...I'm sorry, brother."

——"Also, thank you..."

The woman turned into wind and sand and dissipated, but Vera frowned in confusion, trying to pile the sand back to its original shape, but before she could do so, she was picked up from the ground by a slender and tall young man.

Vera lay on the young man's shoulders, her soft, chubby cheeks pressed against the young man's neck, like a half-melted cotton candy.

The young man hugged her in one hand and the silver gun in the other, and left the gloomy castle through the wind and rain. The sky was pouring down with rain, but not a single drop of rain fell on them.

"name?"

"nightingale."

"That's the name of the bird."

"But I'm just a little bird, I can sing."

"Birds live in cages."

"I don't want to live in a cage."

"Well, so you're not a bird."

what is my nameThe girl held her cheeks and rubbed against the young man's temples like a puppy, and then the young man's silver-white hair touched her nose, and she couldn't help but sneezed a little.

The young man pressed her small head on his shoulders, and immediately the girl didn't feel the cold, and the warmth spread all over her body, as if she was bathing in the sun.

She heard the tired and gentle voice of the young man, like a dream that would dissipate at the touch of a touch: "Then from now on, you will be called 'Vera'."

Thus, the little nightingale got a name, Vera, which represents "truth" and "faith".

The young man named "Alex" brought Vera to a small town, taught Vera to read and write, taught her how to manage her own life, and taught her how to live in this chaotic era.

Alex lives in a church in a remote town. The church is small, with two or three nuns and two or three clergy, but it doesn't even have a single knight capable of fighting.

Alex is the church—no, the only combatant in this small town, but he's neither a glorious knight nor a vampire hunter in the Human Association.

The people in the small town and the clergy of the church all call him "Holy Apostle". Occasionally when he walks through the street, even young children will bend down and bow, offering the most noble blessing to the only guardian in the town. tribute.

This is an era when blood races and humans divided the world. This human town is located on the border, and people who cannot leave their homes have been tortured. Girls and babies in the town are often taken away by vampires, and the end result is nothing but It is the blood food of vampires.No clergyman is willing to be dispatched to this poor place. As long as the blood race does not make a large-scale invasion, the church will choose to turn a blind eye.

The blood clan is divided into thirteen clans, which are further divided into the Hidden Alliance, the Sabbat Alliance, the Independent Clan, and the Death Clan. They have neither the same nor the same strength, and the internal friction and struggle are also lingering.

But in contrast, the human camp is not united. The faith line led by the church uses the Holy Light as a weapon; the kingdom line uses the army as a weight; and some rangers and individual travelers join the Hunter Association.

And Vera only learned later that the "Holy Ancestor" is the soul of the church. If the bishop is the real ruler of the church, then the pope is the faith of all people.

Why was such a distinguished Holy Father sent to this remote town?This question, no one knows.

The answer given by the church is that the Holy Father is sympathetic to the poor people here, but the real reason is an unspeakable secret.

But there is one well-known thing—that is, the holy sect holds the most powerful holy light of the church, which is a miracle formed by the pious belief of all people.

What should the holy sect, who is trusted and admired by all people, look like?Holy and noble?Gentle and compassionate?

No, in Vera's eyes, apart from his appearance resembling a collection of lights, the priest's temperament is as cold as a marble core. He has a handsome appearance, but his heart is already old.

As for the devout faith... It remains to be seen.

"Are you tired? Father?" Vera, who was sitting obediently on the chair, struggled to hold the quill pen, scratching on the paper, and said in a childish voice, "I can sing for you."

The silver-haired, golden-eyed man held his chin and looked out the window indifferently. The posture of crossing his legs was dignified and elegant, but his body seemed to be filled with the twilight of a dying person.

"Should have sung enough before? You." Alex raised his hand and rubbed Vera's head, and moved a heavy look, which made people feel a little breathless, "If you don't like it, don't sing it, you should be free."

"But I want to sing to my father." Vera put down the quill, dangling her two lotus root-like legs, and pinched her shy belly with her hands, "Because I can only sing."

After Vera was adopted by Alex, she underwent a series of tests, but she had no talent for learning magic, and her physique was weaker than ordinary people, so she could not become a priest or a vampire hunter.

Such Vera, Alex did not give up on her, but taught her to learn alchemy and gun fighting, and tried his best to build her a pair of armor that could survive.

Even Nightingale, whose brain is no bigger than a cherry, would want to repay those who treat her well.

And the nightingale has nothing, the only thing it has is a beautiful singing voice that can be praised by others.

Seeing that Alex had no objection, Vera sang a song. Most of the tunes she knew were taught by blood servants of the blood race. She didn't know the meaning of the lyrics, but most of the tunes were gorgeous and tactful.

Only one lullaby was different.It was sung by the maid when she was putting her to bed, but she couldn't appear at the ball.

Vera sang a song for her father in her heart, trying to soothe his tired brows with tenderness.

"I'll bring you the breeze and the sun, and let the eagle watch over you."

"The flying eagle has already flown home, the sun is hidden under the water, and the wind has been guarding it for three nights before it returns home to find its mother."

"Feng'er's mother asked it, where have you been? Fighting with the stars, or playing with the sea?"

"I didn't play with the sea, I didn't fight with the stars, I was watching the baby, and I just rocked the cradle all day—"

When the nightingale sings, even the noisy wind is quiet, and it seems that only her immature singing is left in the whole world, cleansing away from dust, washing away thoughts and souls like a clear spring.

After Vera sang a song, she looked at the sleepy young man with narrowed eyes, and was about to sing another song, but was suddenly hugged by Alex.

"Stop singing, Vera."

Shengzong's expression was tired, but also sad. He kissed the girl's forehead with his body, as if he understood and took pity on her sad past.

"If you sing, the world will regard you as a goddess, and use admiration as a shackle to force you to sing day and night until you cry blood and die—this huge world is no different from a birdcage."

"So stop singing, my boy."