Betrayed By The Hero, Loved By The Lord-Chapter 265: Losing faith (3)

"Come," Xavier said, leading the way for Bryce out of the room.

Bryce was confused about how Xavier expected him to walk when he wasn’t in control of his body, but it wasn’t long before his feet started to move.

The earlier panic returned as Bryce started to get a better picture of how much of a dangerous man Xavier was. He had never heard of vampires being able to control anyone, and he would bet Phillip had never come across one as well.

Bryce feared Phillip might not be ready for a fight against Xavier, and if the other Blackthorns shared this power along with the king, then the church’s plans were doomed.

Bryce wanted to share this with the others, but since Xavier had revealed this power to him, Bryce knew it was unlikely he would ever be free to tell anyone about it.

Against his will, Bryce followed Xavier like a puppet. His strings were being pulled by Xavier, but to anyone else watching them, it would look like he had abandoned the church and was on the vampires’ side.

"You mustn’t do this. You are making me look like a traitor," Bryce said, worried this would put him in hotter water with the church.

Xavier wasn’t concerned about how Bryce would appear to the others. It hadn’t dawned on Bryce yet that he should be less concerned about the church and more worried about where he was going now.

The dungeon was getting more guests as the days went on.

Bryce’s anger grew, seeing that Xavier wouldn’t listen to him. He tried to speak again, but his lips wouldn’t part.

When Xavier returned to where the vampires had gathered and the other priests were praying to send the vampires out, he searched for Isaac since it was time to go.

"Isaac," Xavier called out to Isaac.

"No one can understand it. I was trying to speak to the priest, but he was trying to shove a cross into my face. It didn’t burn me," Isaac said, tempted to go back and hold the cross.

"It is time for us to go. This will soon reach the palace and town guards. I don’t want to be here when they show up," Xavier said, walking toward the door with Bryce quickly behind him.

Isaac stared at the man following Xavier. He knew the stranger was a priest because of the robe, but what he couldn’t understand was why the priest wasn’t behaving like the others.

Isaac kept his distance from Bryce after noticing his eyes. They were moving around oddly, as if the priest was trying to tell him something but couldn’t, so he resorted to using his eyes to ask for help.

"Xavier, what have you done to the priest?" Isaac asked.

"Nothing. He wanted to come along with me. That is why he follows," Xavier replied.

Bryce wanted to scream that it wasn’t so, but his voice was not heard. He looked around for anyone who would be able to help him. Anyone who would be smart enough to realise Xavier had him under some kind of trance.

This was when Bryce spotted the same men from the church who had been trying to capture him.

Bryce could tell from their gaze and the way they gripped the weapons in their hands that they had misunderstood why he was with Xavier. He was not a traitor, and he had not lost faith as Phillip would claim.

Bryce knew his fate was sealed when they turned to walk away, most likely returning to Phillip. If they weren’t going to kill him before, then they were going to do it now.

Unfortunately for Bryce, going wherever Xavier intended to take him was the safest place for him to be right now.

Away from Xavier, Phillip sat in his private chamber, sharpening the blade of his weapon. He patiently awaited news of Cassandra coming to her senses and the return of Bryce.

Phillip didn’t look up when the door opened. "You haven’t found him. For how long will you let him run free when he is sharing that the water is gone and there are few weapons? He will cause the others to panic."

Andre, a priest loyal to Phillip, looked down at the floor. "I have sent the others to watch the church and drag him out of it tonight. He will be back in your hands soon. A room has been prepared for him to be saved."

Phillip carefully set down the weapon. "I don’t know if I want to save this one. We cannot keep too many of the corrupted ones around us since they will affect the others. He shouldn’t have told her what we don’t have."

Phillip stood up to open a window. "Instead of bringing him back alive, take him somewhere to kill him and have it look like the work of vampires. Before the others can lose sight of what is important, we must show them what our enemy can do." freewebnøvel.com

Andre didn’t think they should do this again. They were losing too many of their own. "If this gets out-"

"How will it get out? Will you speak of it? Will the men who will help kill him speak of it?" Phillip questioned, picking up the weapon as he walked to Andre.

"No. I misspoke," Andrea replied.

"I believe you," Phillip said, setting the weapon down. "You will never lose your faith. Unfortunately, sacrifices must be made for our cause. We shall pray over the souls of the ones we have lost. We will send them off to a better place."

Phillip needed the other humans to start seeing the truth. They needed to open their eyes and realise that they could not live amongst vampires. Many lives had to be taken and displayed to get the others motivated.

Phillip’s followers had grown over the years, but he was not yet satisfied. Only when all humans saw he was the one to lead them would he feel that he had succeeded. There were still so many souls for him to save and not enough time for it to be done.

"It will not end here. It is the will of the one who granted us these answers that those who cannot follow our faith must be killed. You must be at my side and ready when the time comes. I trust you the most," Phillip said, filling Andre’s head to keep him loyal.

Andre nodded his head. He would do whatever Phillip needed since, under Phillip’s leadership, they had been the most successful.

Andre’s attention then went to the markings Phillips drew on the walls of his room. Since he had met Phillip, Andre had been seeing the strange markings. He never saw them in any of the churches he visited or on any of the scrolls left for them by the priest before them.

The markings made Andre uneasy when he looked at them, but he believed they were harmless since he trusted everything Phillip did.