Trinity Blood Part 3
"Okay, missy," said Cain sternly. "This has got to stop, you hear me?"
"But of course," replied Esther, with impressive calm. "But, what is 'this', my lord?"
Cain made an irritated motion with his hand, and several beggars along the dirtied road eyed him warily. In these parts, it wasn't good to stick out much, if at all, and large guestures from equally large men did a great job getting oneself noticed. Almost as good a job as snow-white habits in a landscape of brown and grey.
"'This'," said the vampire, pointing at the girl in front of him.
"Something about my bosom displeases my lord?" enquired Esther, looking puzzled. "Us women of our Father do not concern ourselves with it, but I understand that most men..."
"No!" Cain very nearly shouted. More people glared at him, mostly because they had decided to stop in the middle of the road, forcing others to walk around them. Others, evidently bored with their dreary daily lives, had decided to stop and watch the unlikely pair's even more unlikely argument, meaning that the block in the road was growing every bigger with every word spoken. Or shouted.
"I mean the whole following me thing! The whole 'my lord' thing!" Cain paused for breath and tried for calm. "Look, missy, I don't know who you are and what drugs you're taking, but I'm a one man show and I like it that way."
"But of course, my lord. You killed twenty men yesterday. I prayed for their souls." She paused. "We were each performing our own duty."
"Our own duty, huh? Then why the lord business?"
"It's a sign of res---" her voice was cut off by the loud whine of a loudspeaker, screeching across the dritied roads like a physical blast of sound. Cain visibly ahuddered, his vampire hearing making the sound even louder, while Esther seemed to try squeezing herself into her habit.
"Coming thru, coming thru!" Someone shouted as masked, black guards, metal plates heaving and synthesized breaths discolouring the air, shoved through the crowd. The stragglers, used to this sort of display, quietly shuffled aside as a single, defeated body, leaving Cain and Esther in the centre, black and white against a sea of brown.
Through the sea came a large, many legged figure, walking precariously across the uneven ground as the wheels of its joints and body whirred and grated in constant motion. It seemed at once grotesque and comic, its hulking body pulling itself from gear to track to pump, as claws clicked and its metal husk shuddered like a heartbeat.
"Who the fuck.."
"The priest!" said Esther, fumbling for her rosary in her habit. "Oh, that the Lord's word has reached so far!"
"But of course," replied Esther, with impressive calm. "But, what is 'this', my lord?"
Cain made an irritated motion with his hand, and several beggars along the dirtied road eyed him warily. In these parts, it wasn't good to stick out much, if at all, and large guestures from equally large men did a great job getting oneself noticed. Almost as good a job as snow-white habits in a landscape of brown and grey.
"'This'," said the vampire, pointing at the girl in front of him.
"Something about my bosom displeases my lord?" enquired Esther, looking puzzled. "Us women of our Father do not concern ourselves with it, but I understand that most men..."
"No!" Cain very nearly shouted. More people glared at him, mostly because they had decided to stop in the middle of the road, forcing others to walk around them. Others, evidently bored with their dreary daily lives, had decided to stop and watch the unlikely pair's even more unlikely argument, meaning that the block in the road was growing every bigger with every word spoken. Or shouted.
"I mean the whole following me thing! The whole 'my lord' thing!" Cain paused for breath and tried for calm. "Look, missy, I don't know who you are and what drugs you're taking, but I'm a one man show and I like it that way."
"But of course, my lord. You killed twenty men yesterday. I prayed for their souls." She paused. "We were each performing our own duty."
"Our own duty, huh? Then why the lord business?"
"It's a sign of res---" her voice was cut off by the loud whine of a loudspeaker, screeching across the dritied roads like a physical blast of sound. Cain visibly ahuddered, his vampire hearing making the sound even louder, while Esther seemed to try squeezing herself into her habit.
"Coming thru, coming thru!" Someone shouted as masked, black guards, metal plates heaving and synthesized breaths discolouring the air, shoved through the crowd. The stragglers, used to this sort of display, quietly shuffled aside as a single, defeated body, leaving Cain and Esther in the centre, black and white against a sea of brown.
Through the sea came a large, many legged figure, walking precariously across the uneven ground as the wheels of its joints and body whirred and grated in constant motion. It seemed at once grotesque and comic, its hulking body pulling itself from gear to track to pump, as claws clicked and its metal husk shuddered like a heartbeat.
"Who the fuck.."
"The priest!" said Esther, fumbling for her rosary in her habit. "Oh, that the Lord's word has reached so far!"