A couple of months passed. There's nothing here, no animals, and thankfully, no humans. My eyes had turned an onyx color, and my throat burned; I hadn't fed in too long, but I feel that being here will help me review my life and meditate on where I should go.
As I felt the icy wind blow, and the landscape was white, surrounded only by mountains and snow as far as the eye could see, I thought about everything that brought me here.
My illness as a human, the damn osteogenesis, although I hated it, I must admit it helped me form a more resilient spirit and stimulate my mind in my favorite pastimes. I was always grateful for all the help both my parents and my cousins, almost like brothers to me, gave me to feel better.
Nacho must be wandering around for now, aimlessly, devastated by the destruction of his hometown. Tomás, always calm, must surely be wandering around Africa; I imagine how the luxuries he didn't have in our town will affect him; surely English will help him adapt better. Amalia must be taking good care of him.
Oh, and Anastasia. Just thinking about her sends shivers down my spine. I like to think that I forgave her more for my principles than for feelings, but I won't deceive myself; just remembering her angelic face ignites that sensation of a forbidden fruit, an innocent and beautiful face, but deadly and dangerous at the same time. She was a guilty flame of passion within me, but seeing her amber eyes made me feel less bad for sparing her life.
"How can someone be so misguided?" Centuries of feeding on people and wandering around, without remorse, living in the present, as if time or anything existed for her, Od must have brainwashed her for centuries. I hope with all my heart that being with Amalia and Tomás will give her another perspective, that she will be able to see her actions and stop focusing on the now.
And me? What do I do? I still try to understand my gift. My mind constantly flows in different thoughts in unison, while it captures and processes signals from any nearby device. The problem isn't my power or what I can do, but why? Why do I have such an ability?
Science can explain how it works and probably the factors that led me to have it, but not the reason. For what purpose? It is said that purpose is given by each one, but it must be found.
I thought my purpose was to hunt vampires, to eliminate vampires that threaten humanity, but my actions in Mexico haunted me back to my homeland; every action has consequences, even if one doesn't believe it.
Dr. Petrov also talked about the special abilities of vampires. Some read minds, others are good trackers. "Illusionists," I thought when I confronted the coven in the Amazon jungle and almost died.
"You control machines; your ability is connected with humanity. This is the source of your power. Humanity depends on you, and you on it," the Doc said.
"It can't be a coincidence... it can't be..." I thought over and over again.
I looked at the saber and thought about what Father Rafael was mumbling. "The spear of destiny. Could he know more than he said?"
The father seemed comfortable with Tomás, Amalia, and Nacho, giving them refuge when they needed to hide from the sun and not look like disco balls walking down the street. He was also very fond of the mythical and supernatural; he had various objects and paintings from different myths and legends.
"The spear of destiny..." I kept thinking. I had created the saber, or "katana" as Kaori said, to eliminate vampires, along with the dagger, and from what I generally saw in their reactions, they didn't know of any weapon that harmed them so obviously.
"Cubic Boron Nitride fused with a vampire's tooth..." I said as I looked at the dagger. "Cubic Boron Nitride, fused in a werewolf's fang, known as Children of the Moon." I muttered again as I admired the saber.
"It's just science, using nanotechnology concepts; there's nothing esoteric or magical about this," I thought, laughing.
"Technology advanced enough is indistinguishable from magic," I thought.
"The Holy Grail... the spear of destiny..." I kept thinking as my throat burned, and the snow began to slowly bury me.
I stood up to brush off the snow and saw something very peculiar. I could see my shadow in front of me, and as a ray of light reflected on the necklace my father gave me, it illuminated the small crucifix, in front of my shadow, as if I had it on my chest; that chilled my blood, and suddenly, an idea came to me.
"If the spear of destiny... is a metaphor for my saber... then the Holy Grail would be..."
I ran quickly to the shelter and began to review the papers again, along with the notes; Father Rafael knew something about us, about vampires, he was looking for something, I know it.
Reviewing the passages of the Bible, I saw a note with the name Mrs. Schneider.
"It can't be..."
I kept searching, more and more... and found another note...
"Nikolai Petrov..."
"They knew each other?!" I thought, truly confused. Mrs. Schneider was a very learned lady and knew about the origins of the now dismantled Bloody Moon sect, who, since almost the Middle Ages, tried to contact vampires through offerings. In Himmelsburg, they captured and burned a guy at the stake for such atrocities. Countess Bathory and Baron Gilles de Rais had strong connections with these crazy people.
Dr. Petrov worked for them at the time but always felt conflicted about the atrocious experiments and kidnappings they did. Myself, along with my boss, Detective Klein, caught a network of them in Himmelsburg looking for vampires; I thought they were crazy, but knowing that Anastasia and Od were around there, I realized they were looking for them; they wanted their venom for experiments.
If Dr. Petrov, Mrs. Schneider, and Father Rafael knew each other and were in contact, they were looking for something in common, and if both Dr. Petrov and Father Rafael insisted on giving me information and helping me, it was because they knew about all this mess.
"The spear of destiny..." I looked at the saber. "Created by me and Dr. Petrov..."
"The Holy Grail... could it be... The vampire venom?"
It didn't make sense, as the legends of the Holy Grail spoke of something sacred, and the father seemed quite distressed for having been bitten, not proud, he wanted to die.
"Could they be looking for a cure? Something to help humanity?"
It makes sense; if the saber represented the bellicose form of defense, the cure would be the peaceful form.
"Is he hiding information in those letters, Father, and he wants me to decode them?" I thought.
I began to review and search for more patterns, but I couldn't concentrate.
"Come on, come on..." I kept searching. I took notes of several notes and I could see a vertical pattern when arranging the numbers and rearranging them, along with the verses, which seemed to correspond to some letter of the Latin alphabet.
"The Knights Templar Order."
I read that stunned. "Do they exist? Were all three members?" I thought.
"My throat, I can't take it anymore, it burns."
The thirst wouldn't let me, and I ran out desperate. I wandered through the snow, and seemed to be lost; my throat burned and I began to think about it. I thought about beautiful women, with their necks exposed, waiting to receive me in ecstasy.
"No, no, leave me alone..." I thought as my imagination went crazy with the liquid my throat screamed for and all kinds of fantasies related to satisfying my deepest desires; I was a vampire, I could have anyone I wanted. I hadn't drunk a drop in months, nor slept with a woman or vampiress since my human wife died, it had been more than two years.
I curled up in the snow like a baby; I hadn't felt so overwhelmed since the first time I discovered my abilities.
There, in the middle of the snow, I saw someone; I didn't recognize them, nor could I see who it was, but I could hear their voice.
"Have I been with you for so long, and still you do not know me, Gonzalo? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how do you say: Show us the Father?"
I stood up quickly, and the figure disappeared, leaving only before me, shining in the snow, the crucifix that my father had, and my mother had given me before she died. I knew at that moment that I had a new mission, to find out what the Holy Grail is and how to find it.