Cra left the library as quickly as possible, but as she stepped into the corridor, she slipped on a strange liquid. Before she could identify it, fire spread through the liquid, and Cra realized what it was."Fucking priests. I will kill you all, you bastards," she muttered under her breath.
Cra darted through the corridor, reaching a set of doors that led into another room within the house. She didn’t wait to be consumed by the fmes and instead hurled herself through the window into the inner garden of the household.As soon as she crashed through the window, sunlight hit her body. Before she could nd in the shadow of the building, Cra was burning with rage as her skin began to heal rapidly, though the sun scorched her. She tried to sense if any of the servants were still inside or if they had been caught by the priests.
As Cra focused on detecting any signs of life within the house, the entire building was engulfed in fmes within seconds. The priests had spread oil all around, and before she could confirm if anyone was still inside, the whole pce was abze.Cra didn’t wait any longer. Unable to sense if anyone was truly there, she flew to the roof of the burning household. The sun burned her skin, and with fire raging all around, she looked out and saw that Dante’s house was also burning, not to mention several other buildings scattered randomly throughout the city.
Cra realized that staying in this city was even worse than being in Venice. Florence was crawling with priests, and now hunters were purging all the vampires, thanks to her presence.Without hesitation, Cra leapt from the roof of the burning house. As she did, she noticed the entire building was surrounded by priests who showed her no mercy. While flying from the building to the roof of the one across the street, several silver arrows struck her body.
Cra reached the other roof, but with the arrows embedded in her and the sun searing her skin, she didn’t nd lightly. Instead, she crashed through the roof into the upper part of the house, a fall that didn’t go unnoticed.Before she could pull out the arrows—the most painful things she’d felt in a while, she noticed, amid the notorious stench of eleventh-century medieval Europe, that this house was also catching fire and filling with bck smoke.
"What is going on?" a voice cried."Our house is burning! We need to get out!"Two children and their mother rushed to escape, but as soon as they opened the door, they were met with a sword that swiftly decapitated the first one to step outside."Kill them all! They’ve met the devil, so don’t spare anyone!" shouted one of the priests outside. Unlike most priests Cra had encountered, this one wore white robes, held a silver cup, and was commanding everyone around him.
As soon as the priest in silver armor finished killing everyone in the house, he moved toward the floor where Cra was hiding. He seemed unconcerned that the house was on fire and filled with smoke, which dulled the senses.Cra stood up, quickly grabbing a torn skirt and cloth from the linens drying in the room to cover herself after pulling out the arrows.Fortunately, only four arrows had hit her, and none were dangerous enough to slow her down or affect her regeneration speed.
Before Cra could finish dressing, the priest in light silver armor reached the second floor. The house, a mere wooden hut with two floors, was already in poor condition even before the fire. The weak stairs forced the priest to climb over them several times, and when he finally arrived on the second floor, a thick cloud of dark smoke obscured his vision.Cra couldn’t see well either, but she had been in the house longer and had found a spot as far from the fire as possible, hiding there to wait for an opening.
The smell of the silver-cd priest moving clumsily on the stairs, like a dumb sheep, calmed Cra. After reading a few books in the library—mostly about vampires, potions, the church, and medicine, she knew that a human, even a fully armored priest, stood little chance against a vampire, especially an elder like herself. The priest was struggling through the heat, smoke, and ck of breathable air."Surrender yourself, devil! You have no chance to escape!" the priest bellowed.
He didn’t hesitate to swing his sword at Cra, but she wasn’t ready to take action yet. The priest began sshing wildly, cutting through the ceiling in several pces, which allowed some of the bck smoke to seep out.Even that didn’t force Cra out of hiding, but it did clear her vision enough to see where the priest was. Seizing the opportunity, she hurled all three arrows at him at once.Her aim wasn’t precise, but at close range and with her inhuman strength, one of the arrows managed to scratch the priest’s chest pte. The massive kinetic energy sent him crashing to the ground. As he fell on his side, the weakened floor gave way, and he plummeted to the first floor.
As he fell, fire spread through the hole after him. Amid the priest’s screams, an opportunity arose. Cra climbed onto the roof and jumped to the next building.The houses were packed closely together, but the one Cra nded on was also catching fire. Thanks to the summer season, the citizens who had gathered to watch and learn what was happening had no chance to stop the bze. They could only stand by as the priests tried to capture Cra, inadvertently spreading destruction through the city.
