Yvette, the Vampire Slayer

Chapter 4: The Bishop

Sypha wasn't sure what to think of Trevor.

He smelt mostly of piss and beer and sweat. Sure, he was sad – seemed to carry it around on him like a second skin – but he was also rude, as she said to her grandfather. At the same time he had saved her life, and he clearly did care about them. He wanted them out of town for their own safety, even if their own ethics didn't allow for that.

But he left shortly after, evidently to seek out beer.

Trevor grit his teeth as he barely stepped out of the Speaker's hut and was surrounded by armed priests.

'Careful,' the priest he'd defingered said, evidently trying to scare him. 'My knife hand's not too steady. I could slip and take your eye out. The Bishop of Gresit requests your kind attendance at the church.'

'I don't think I'm allowed into churches,' Trevor said.

The priest moved around. 'The Bishop says he'll make an exception in your case.'

Trevor chuckled. 'No. Seroiously. I realise you're trying to menacingly abduct me, but I'm excommunicated.'

'The Bishop said to tell you that the terms of even major excommunication mean that you are obliged to appear when summoned by the church.'

Now, Trevor knew that his excommunication really meant nothing where it counted. It only mattered on earth. He also knew, from Yvette, that the only earthly beings that received "divine messages" were seers and Slayers. So, these priests, and their bishop, meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. And he really didn't want to see this asswipe.

But it looked like he didn't have a choice. 'Well, shit.' He was prodded along. 'Look, if I enter the church and catch fire, or something, it's your fault.'

So he was "escorted" to the church and in. The Bishop that approached the pulpit as the priests w
ithdrew was a skinny man with beady little eyes and he didn't like the look of him one bit. He looked a little too much like the turd that'd excommunicated and exiled his family; a little too much like the one that Yvette had killed.

'I am the Bishop of Gresit,' he said with a haughty demeanor.

Trevor made an observation based entirely on the man's voice. 'You're not from around here.'

'No. I am originally from Targoviste. I was an aide to the Archbishop. I did not like the man.' The Bishop's eyes narrowed. 'How did you define that?'

'Well, you're not running away screaming like the rest of the locals for one thing.' Trevor's eyes narrowed.

'From you?' the Bishop asked.

'From the baby-eating freaks-of-nature who apparently raid Gresit every night.'

'I'm here to save Gresit.'

Trevor nearly laughed at the claim. 'And how do you intend to do that?'

'I brought you here to answer some questions,' the Bishop said. 'Not ask them.'

Trevor smirked at him. 'Well, tough shit. How, exactly, do you intend to help these people? By killing Speakers?'

'The Speakers brought these troubles upon themselves.'

'Bullshit.'

The Bishop ignored him. 'One cannot live without God, quite literally.'

That was almost laughable. 'You think the night hordes came because people weren't religious enough? And you were in Targoviste?'

The Bishop came to stand behind the pulpit. 'The Archbishop had some…interests that I believed compromised his ability to protect his city. I was sent away long before Dracula came to Targoviste. We disagreed on matters of a…clerical discipline.'

Trevor inclined his head. 'You were the one responsible for burning Lisa Tepes of Lupu, weren't you?'

'Oh, yes. I arraganed it, in fact.' He looked at Trevor curiously. 'How did you know her name?'

Trevor chuckled. 'I'm a Belmont. The moment the hordes began to descend I started looking for the source and I found a few of her patients.'

The Bishop's eyes narrowed.

'Specifically, the old woman she was tending when you walked in to haul her away as a witch. She gave me a very detailed description of you.' He inclined his head. 'Seems the old lady didn't buy your "witch" story.'

'The woman was a witch,' the Bishop stated firmly. 'And there can be no doubt now that she consorted with the devil. She even married him.'

'I see,' Trevor said. 'And I'm here to be disciplined?' Which would make leaving him his weapons very stupid.

'Not as such,' the Bishop said. 'I have a gift for you: your life, Belmont. Take it, and go. Tonight the Speakers will be dealt with, and then Gresit will be secure. I refuse, however, to toil so hard for the soul of the city with an excommunicate heretic with its walls! You put harm on everything by your very presence.'

Trevor stared up at him in disbelief. 'My God. You really believe it, don't you?'

'You will leave Gresit by sundown or you won't see the sunrise. Do I make myself clear?' He gestured. 'Despite the crimes you've committed against my aides, despite the crimes your family has committed against God, you will walk safely – but until sundown.'

'My family committed no crime!' Trevor snapped, his temper flaring. 'You people simply decided we were wrong to defend this world against the supernatural, and now—'

The Bishop cut him off, eyes blazing and nostrils flaring. 'You Belmonts have never understood the Power of the Word of God! The people of this city are mine! I am their Lord now. They'll do as I ask! By morning, no one Speaker will defile these streets, and you'll either be gone or be dead!' The look faded into a cold glare. 'Do you understand?'

He was a fanatical madman. There was no other way to describe him. 'Yes.'

The Bishop composed himself. 'Do this thing for me, and perhaps a decision from the church will be something we can discuss.' He turned his back and stepped away from the pulpit.

Knowing exactly what he was talking about, Trevor turned his own back and walked out. 'No offence, but you are just a Bishop. Excommunication came from a little higher up the ladder.'

The thing about church was that they were designed to carry peoples' voices. So Trevor heard exactly what this nutcase said.

'Targoviste is gone. The other great cities are lost. Gresit will be the last major city in all Wallachia. To all intents and purposes, I will be the church.'

Sypha wouldn't want to admit it, but she was glad to see Trevor again.

She wasn't sure why. And his first statement following her grandfather's invitation to him wasn't exactly great.

'By the way, you're all going to die.'

Then he explained. Sypha didn't understand. Didn't he understand that they had to stay no matter what. He then made the statement that they had a few options and the one that could stop the mob dead in its tracks would take three days to get here if he sent a summons out now. Of course, then the smart-ass had to come up with an alternate plan.

And Sypha wondered why she hadn't thought of it.