Angel on earth

Arnold looked at the fire, and as soon as the thrill of revenge rose, he was overwhelmed by the exhaustion of the rising tide.He grasped his arm tightly and said dryly:

"...In Lieyang City, I was the first and only vampire who was successfully transformed. In the early stage of transformation, the priests asked me to carry stones in order to evaluate whether my ability was up to standard. By the way, you should know that Micah Destroyed the 'Glorious Dome', well, the bell tower seems to have collapsed, I don't remember much. I guess I moved the stones used in the later reconstruction from the back of the holy mountain. - I can't be lazy, because they put My cousin Christine brought it, and my labor can be exchanged for water and... food. Let's call it food, very fair. Christine is only eight years old, too delicate, obviously not for transformation experiments, those disgusting The bastard of - ahem...

"She was crazy. But I was young at that time, I didn't understand anything, and I wanted to let her live. So I didn't stop for a moment, going up the mountain, down the mountain, and moved the polished one cubic meter of stone to the holy mountain. .I don't know how long it took, anyway, the church just wanted a report proving the dangers of vampires... I couldn't walk. She was hungry, and I was hungry. I couldn't walk, and they cut off the g Christine's hands and feet, gouging out her eyes, or in front of me... I remember it all! First the right hand! Then the left foot! She was crying so hard they pinned her to a stone—! I Standing up again. She cried out for hunger and pain and hoped I would save her, then she stopped talking and asked me if I was tired...then they gouged out her eyes and told me to eat them! I couldn't—I shouldn't But—but I'm so tired, she—she smells—"

It was the first time Mikhail heard of such a thing, and trembled with fear.From the moment he met Arnold he slid into hell, the first 16 years of his life and all its meaning turned into a lie of blood and fire.

As if being strangled, Arnold took a quick breath and covered his face.

"I drank her blood. The overseer fell asleep... I killed the overseer and then her. Christine died in agony, she called my name, my brother's name, and wanted us to save her. But I Killed her, bit off her neck, because I was too hungry, and the newborn vampire was out of control..."

Mikhail clenched his teeth, blood flowed from the corner of his mouth to his chin, otherwise the howling would rush out of his throat and wake up all the counter-insurgency troops by the river.

"Are you in pain?" Arnold approached him, but Mikhail saw a trace of resolute cruelty on his face amidst the chaos, and the vampire's tone was full of hellish tenderness, "Don't be jealous of those girls anymore, Misha. Christine has long blond hair like the sun and green eyes like the first shoots of spring. She loves Harry and me, and the first word she learns besides 'Dad' and 'Mum' is 'Harry' , stumbling to play with us as soon as I could walk, the Hardy boys called her 'follower'. When I was a boy... when you were in the army, I would still fall in the woods. I broke my knee once, Christine saw me secretly treating the wound behind the housekeeper's back. She thought I was bleeding but didn't cry, so I was a hero."

After a moment of silence, he hooked his lips and threw a stick of firewood into the fire with a smile: "But I didn't become a hero. When she most hoped for a hero to save her, I had more than St. George and Siegfried." A force greater than Elijah's combined, and I tore her throat with it."

The story is over.The doctor smiled at Mikhail, as if he was not looking at Mikhail, but at Christine through the short light blond hair, like a real brother comforting a lovelorn sister.

Mikhail opened his mouth and closed it again with a click.Hearing the sound of his teeth chattering, Arnold leaned over to lick his lips and chin, and finally took the boy's soft lower lip and gently sucked away the blood oozing from his teeth.

"...Are you still willing to pardon me?" Arnold knelt beside him, raised his stiff hand on his head, "I..."

"It's not your fault." Mikhail's first sentence was hoarse like a growl, ambiguous, but the second sentence was like a scream, "It's not your fault!"

"You're wrong." Arnold said seriously, "You should ask me to let you go."

"But who will let you go? Will you let yourself go?" Tears fell from those beautiful eyes, and Arnold regretted that he didn't drop diamonds when he cried ,"What should I do?"

All emotion disappeared from Arnold's face at once, and he became expressionless again, turned around, and lay on the checkered cloth with his back to Mikhail, his legs tucked up.

Mikhail sobbed, unfolded 660 the thick cloak embroidered by six girls to wrap around him, then leaned over and hugged him tightly, tightly, like burning.

"It's really cold here at night." Mikhail said softly, "Sleep well."

Arnold opened his eyes and felt that Mikhail was still shaking constantly, as if he had to rely on Mikhail to get enough heat to soothe the crevices of his bones, and Mikhail had to rely on him to keep warm.

Vampires, he thought, were indeed the sum of all baseness and intrigue, or why would he seek comfort in such a young man's misery?

As a result, both of them had a good night's sleep.

Mikhail woke up before dawn in the morning.As if everything had an answer, all doubts and hesitation went away from him, like the extinguished bonfire around them and the morning dew that didn't even have a chance to condense.

Arnold fell into an unexpectedly deep sleep. If it weren't for the smell of herbs on his body, it would be almost the same as a fresh corpse.Mikhail didn't wake him up, and carefully looked at his clean sleeping face.Arnold has a sculpted and rigorous face, with straight eyebrows, a straight nose, smooth cheeks, and cold lips. All expressions are as reluctant as a sculpture squeezing the jade on his face.His short, grey-black hair, rebellious as withered reeds, spread out in a mess, once perhaps groomed like silk from Aerys by stewards and servants.

Finally Mikhail sat up and went to chop wood for the fire.Arnold woke up to find him sitting by the fire, intently waiting for the water to boil.Seeing that he was awake, Mikhail handed him a jar of warm water to wash his hands and face.The corpse that had slept all night came alive, took a deep breath of the morning air filled with the fragrance of grass and trees, dipped in some water and randomly grabbed two handfuls of hair, but there was still a strand of wet gray hair that fell down stubbornly, and the rest gradually refused to accept it. Stick it up.

Mikhail laughed.Arnold muttered, "What's so funny."

Mikhail smiled and said, "Nothing."

The morning mist filled the riverside and low mountains, and the two waited for Emile by the fire.Maybe it wasn't waiting for Emile, and Arnold didn't know their password.

Mikhail struck the firewood and said: "Anna is much better, the fever has subsided. I can rush back to Sunrise City tonight, so I gave them all the money left. I can only save this family."

"You will save more people in the future. You have saved many people." Arnold turned his neck, moved his joints, and said perfunctorily.

Mikhail turned his head and asked seriously: "Can I save you?"

Arnold froze.

Mikhail sat on the gingham cloth, the damn dignity and reserve in his demeanor disappeared at some point.His lean, muscular shoulders hunched, his back deflated, and everything was slight.

Mikhail says:

"I apologize to you, once again... for your sister. I didn't mean to insult her, and I didn't mean to hurt you...I want to know what stories you told your sister, I'm sorry, I always... in front of you always Uncontrollable, always turned bad. Isabella also told me stories when I was very young, not only the ones in the Helios, but always with various educational purposes. Princess and the Pea sounds like just You are not a brother who will force your sister to seek justice in the story."

"Okay, it's your turn to tell me a story." Arnold laughed lowly, with a strong sense of self-deprecation.Mikhail added a handful of twigs to the fire, and the flames shot up, and after a while they died down:

"It should be when I was six years old, ten years ago. I have already joined the Knights and worked hard to become a Templar. The other saints took turns to give me lessons, and Gregory would come occasionally. Well... I was partial to Isabella and Jonathan at the time, they would tell me stories. Isabella was a nun and a field doctor and took care of many children; The bard is very famous in Norn, of course, after the fall of the Emerald City."

Arnold nodded, pleased with his use of the word "fallen."

"One day, the knights were on vacation, and I went to church to learn scriptures and etiquette. After the evening service, Isabella sent me back to the monastery. You know, sorry-the Lieyang Cathedral is in the center of the city, and the monastery is more than 3000 meters away Isabella walked so fast that I couldn't keep up, so she told me stories. That time she told me the story of the farmer and the snake, and I still remember it.

"A long time ago, there was a farmer who went out on a cold winter day and picked up a snake. The farmer found that the snake was not dead, but was frozen stiff, so he felt compassion, put the snake in his arms, put it next to his body, and took it home. After one night, the snake woke up, and the farmer happily took out milk for it to drink, but the snake bit him in the heart and killed him."

"You're talking like a story in the scriptures." Arnold thought for a while and sighed, "Or, am I the snake that bit your heart?"

"No, no—I didn't mean that..." Mikhail muttered, blushing suddenly.