Chapter 61: Chapter 59

“Mornin’ Yuuji. Oh, hey! I was wondering, are you up to much over the Christmas break?”
“Christmas? No. Why?”
“Hold up!”

As she dutifully listened in to her brother’s conversation, Hema’s ears twitched as she heard something unforgivable.

“Yuuji, don’t tell me you don’t have anything planned with your girlfriends over the holidays!?”
“...No?”
“Thought so.”
“...He’s hopeless…”

The girl leaned back in her chair languidly as she covered her eyes with her hand. Even her hopeless brother was looking at Yuuji with a pitiful gaze, as neither of them could believe that the person in front of them could be so dense.

“It’s Christmas! C.H.R.I.S.T.M.A.S.! It’s the perfect time to do something romantic!”
“How the hell would I know what that’s supposed to mean!?”
“Tsk tsk tsk. Yuuji, if you need some lessons on how to make a girl swoon for you, just ask-”
“I don’t want any lessons from you!”

The idiotic twins continued to berate him as he looked for an escape. Unfortunately, Hibiki had been sitting by his side the entire time, and as he turned away from them he locked eyes with her, and it was out of the frying pan into the fire.

“Yuuji..?”
“...I’ll think of something, alright!?”
“Hehe~! Christmas~! Christmas~!”

He buckled immediately under the pressure, and gave in. It wasn’t as though he didn’t want to do anything for the occasion, he simply didn’t consider it at all, as he’d never been in this situation before. Knowing there was no backing out now, he made a mental note to reach out to Master Baozi once they’d finished for the day to get some ideas of what to do as a couple for the holidays.

There were still a few weeks before Christmas, so he had plenty of time to plan. With so many cultures and religions tied into the core of Phoenix Academy, they were very respectful of holidays and special events, and provided it didn’t conflict with any active operations at the time students were able to take days off for their personal needs.

Though Christmas was a predominantly Christian festival, it was widespread enough that the academy wouldn’t schedule any lessons across the week bridging Christmas and New Year. Exactly what the students would do with their free time would likely depend on where in the world Helios was anchored at the time, but the faculty members and other inhabitants would mostly celebrate with their families on the island.

“Well, if it doesn’t interfere with your schedule, we were looking to host a party.”
“It’s a Christmas party for everyone in class. It’s boring to be stuck on your own for the holidays, so we figured we should do something fun!”

Yuuji didn’t exactly know what the twins’ idea of ‘fun’ was going to be, but if they had somehow agreed without Hema mercilessly beating her brother up over it, it was likely a good idea. Besides, a chance to get the entire class together for something other than work seemed interesting, and he was happy that he’d received an invite.

“Yeah, that actually sounds really nice. Thank you both, I’d love to come.”
“Haha, no shmoozing any other girls while you’re there though!”
“As if I would!!”

He had hoped that Hema would give her brother a swift boot to the shin on his behalf, but sadly she only smirked at him, so he could tell they were in a rare agreement. As he hung his head dejectedly, the siblings turned their sights to Hibiki, who could barely contain her excitement.

“Hibiki, you wanna join t-”
“Yes!! Yes I want to come!!”
“O-Oh! That’s good. We’ll pass along more info once we have a better idea of who’s coming.”

Mitra aside, Hema was actually quite popular with everyone, and was almost always chatting with someone or other. She seemed to blend in perfectly with almost every clique, and was a true social butterfly - Yuuji had even recently seen her speaking with Valeriya, though he had to admit she appeared to be struggling somewhat.

“Morning everyone. Are we all here..? Looks like it.”

Conrad marched into the room and stood behind his desk, scanning the seats before him. As usual, despite Ji-Hye not being present, she was accounted for as if it were only natural for her seat to be empty.

“It’s nice to have you back Leona. I would say I hope you enjoyed your day back home, but forgive me if I don’t think that's necessary.”

The man leaned forward as he stifled a sigh, before looking out over the students that waited patiently for his words. There were some confused faces in the crowd, but at this point, they were likely aware of what he was about to say.

“As you may or may not know from Leona’s return from the Vatican City, we have received an official request from the Church. Since we’re still within European waters, we are due to depart towards Italy as of this afternoon, passing the straight of Gibraltar late in the evening.”

It wasn’t too uncommon to go from one operation straight into another, but if the request was from the Vatican City directly, it was surely not a simple one. Leona remained silent at the front, but she wore a difficult expression, and it was clear her journey back home was not for pleasantries.

“It seems that across mainland Europe… there was been a vampire problem.”

Hushed whispers broke out amongst the students. Vampires were a form of greater demon that had been in the cultural zeitgeist for centuries, even long after they were only thought to be make-believe, and the impact that they had left on society was clear to see.

Now, they were no longer just the subject of stories and pop culture. Across the world they could be found wreaking havoc, as vampires were quintessential creatures of darkness that prowled in the shadows, preying on the weak.

“Unfortunately, sightings have begun cropping up too frequently to be a coincidence. The current theory is that we have a vampire coven on our hands.”

You are reading story God Is Dead at novel35.com

The air in the room froze as Conrad frowned grimly. A single vampire was a threat, but for a group their size with their strength and experience, it could easily be dispatched. A coven, however, would be a family of vampires working together, and without knowing the extent of their power and how many there were, it could be exceptionally difficult to deal with.

Most greater demons were solitary in nature, often spawning in some unknown place only to roam until they found their own place to call home - usually somewhere where they could attack and feed on livestock or humans. Others worked in packs, but were generally far weaker, and could be dealt with appropriately once they were identified and located such as the Aos Sí they faced in Ireland.

With vampires, it was the worst of both worlds.

If a single vampire was strong enough, it could use its power to turn humans into other vampires under its control. With these second-generation vampires, they would form a coven, and while they largely travelled together, each vampire would be strong enough to cause a massive headache on their own - never mind when multiple would show up at once, and when they worked to protect each other.

If that wasn’t bad enough, while the second-generation vampires weren’t able to create third-generations and keep the bloodline going, they were able to turn humans into thralls; mindless zombies that retained their human forms, but had completely succumbed to the hypnosis of their new masters and followed their every whim. At best, thralls would be treated as walking blood-bags until the day they died, or at worst they would be turned against their own species, and used as a weapon to fight and capture other humans without remorse.

If a punitive force that was sent after a vampire coven was too weak, they would only serve to bulk the enemy’s numbers, and sadly, that was often the case for remote villages. Once they were under siege from vampires, it was all too common for foolhardy locals to strike back without seeking greater assistance, and the mob of farmers and shepherds would be easy prey.

“Today, we’re going to be focusing on how to eliminate vampires, and what to be wary of should you come face to face with one. As vampires are not uncommon across Europe, the Church has a lot of experience dealing with them, and you can be sure we’ll make the most of the resources they have available before joining the fight.”

Though the news he had brought today was heavy, Conrad still had a job to do. Rather than wallow in fear for the safety of his students, he would do all that he could to make sure they were prepared for what lay before them, and fight his own battles behind the scenes to ensure they were supported properly and prevent a repeat of what happened on the British Isles.

“First, let’s go over the basics. A lot of you will likely be somewhat aware of vampire-slaying techniques, but we have to separate fact from fiction.”

A picture flicked up on the screen at the front of the room. Though it seemed comical at first, it was certainly something that needed to be addressed to clear up any confusion. The image was something even an amateur chef would know well - a bulb of garlic.

“Garlic is no superpowered vampire killer. It’s been proven that they do show some adverse reaction to it, but no more than a distaste, so it is wholly useless in a life-or-death situation. Even if you wear a garlic garland, they’ll still be able to drink your blood without a problem - at most you’ll just taste a little worse.”

It was hard to say for sure why vampires didn’t like the vegetable, but there was no shortage of theories on the matter. Some claimed it was because their keen sense of smell made it overpowering, others claimed it was due to their love of blood, and the haemolytic effect garlic had given them an instinctual dislike of it. There was even a theory that they simply didn’t like it because vampires had pride in their natural seductive charm, so the idea of having bad breath was repulsive to them - though Yuuji had to believe that last one was entirely ridiculous and off-base.

“Next, is the wooden stake. Or just, the ‘stab-through-the-heart’ idea in general.”

Conrad flashed up the next picture in his informational slideshow - a sharpened wooden stake that looked like it was taken as a picture from an old TV show, labelled “Mister Pointy”. There was a faint smile on his face as he looked at it, but he quickly cleared his throat and continued with the lesson.

“A wooden stake is not needed for killing a vampire, nor do you specifically need to stab through the heart. That said, even thralls have exceptional fortitude and healing abilities, so the idea of stabbing through the heart or beheading vampires was born as a way to ensure they were properly killed and not just playing dead. Your spirits will do a fine job at eliminating them, but we will aim to keep a stock of imbued holy water and other items as a backup when needed - just make sure the vampire turns to ash before you assume it has been killed.”

He proceeded to the next slide, which was only a stock image of a beautiful sunrise. It was uncommon for Conrad to have such slapdash assets for his lessons, but considering the situation, it was likely that he had been forced to make the presentation with minimal preparation time.

“Ahem. This fable is actually the most reliable, as vampires are indeed weak to sunlight. It is often entirely out of your control whether or not the sun could be used as a weapon as vampires only tend to operate at night to avoid this exact problem, but should the need arise, sunlight will vanquish weaker vampires as it touches them, and even stronger vampires will become more sluggish.”

He looked at the picture for a moment longer, before frowning slightly, and drawing a quick sketch of a glowing rod on the blackboard beside it.

“You’re probably thinking, ‘So can we just use UV light?’, and the answer is sadly no. We don’t know exactly why the sun has this effect and not any human recreation currently tested, but glowsticks, blacklights and other related items have not shown any effect on the demons.”

He clicked once more, but instead of showing another picture, the slideshow abruptly ended. He paused for a moment and scratched the back of his head, before deciding to just continue his explanation without a visual aid and ignoring the awkward atmosphere.

“Finally, there is the rumour about needing to invite a vampire into your home before it can enter. This seems to be entirely false, and likely was just caused by vampires playing with their mark before attacking them, so do not rely on this method whatsoever. Vampires can, and will, enter buildings and homes on their own terms.”

With his hastily prepared lesson nearing an end, and the class still trying to absorb the barrage of information they had been presented with, it was time for a break. Conrad set them some simple assignments based on vampires and the undead, then allowed them to research at their own pace, figuring that pressuring them further would only make it more difficult for the important details to sink in.

As the morning class drew to an end, he held back another sigh as he watched the winter clouds rolling in the distance, and thoughts of the difficult days ahead filled his mind.

You can find story with these keywords: God Is Dead, Read God Is Dead, God Is Dead novel, God Is Dead book, God Is Dead story, God Is Dead full, God Is Dead Latest Chapter