BLOODY LOVE'S
Episode 239's

Sir William chuckled amusedly at Jose's offer. The man pulled his blonde hair back, then sighed. "And why should I trust you, Argent?"

"You don't have to trust me" Jose said, unraveling his scarf more loosely to make him more sensitive to temperature changes. Bjork air is cold, but the temperature is quite stable, there is no decrease. That means it's relatively safe. Although he has not been able to find out what the relationship is, but Jose has learned from experience that the further temperature drops around him means that danger will come. "But I gave you a warning. The devil tricked you just so you could give him a lot of life. In the end, he won't give Arabella. Everything you do is in vain, your life will also be taken. He just needs you to harvest human lives."

"You're very kind to give me a warning." Sir William did not sound grateful. It was cold and hateful. He shook his hands indifferently as he moved closer. Exactly three steps before arriving in front of Jose, the man stopped. "We are under contract, so he helped me. If he wants human life, he can take it himself. He's strong enough for that. No need to use me."

The defense! Jose was happy to hear that. A clarification is only given if the interlocutor is interested enough in the topic. It also meant that Sir William was not in a hurry to kill him. He was curious, Jose estimated. Sir William was just waiting to be persuaded not to look like an unconditional surrender. The presence of Arabella's figure just now clearly managed to shake his heart.

"He can't just take a life with his own hands because it's rule-bound" Jose tried to explain. "The world has rules. Everything that is on the surface of the earth is bound by this rule. He cannot touch humans directly because it is tantamount to intervening on a system that has been created. Such an intervention will make the system correct automatically. Correction or reforming by the system will result in injuries, rewards, prices to be paid. He won't want to. But you can break that rule for him, he'll benefit but be free of any reward. Want to know what his life will be for?"

Sir William was silent, waiting.

"Congratulations," Jose answered his own question dramatically. "Ragnaroks. Armageddon. Apocalyptical. Whatever the term may be, this is clearly the preparation for the end of the world. The life you sacrifice will not be accepted by His side, nor will it even be in limbo. All will be inhabitants of darkness, they will help the angels of the devil." Jose stopped himself because he remembered another, colder Bjork he had been to. Everything he described just now was not an essay. He did know because he was given a whisper by the Ancient One when he drowned in the river. "Therefore he educated Solomonari. He won't return Arabella to you, I assure you. You said you were under contract? Remember the contents of your contract, did he say that Arabella would be returned?"

Sir William was silent for a long time. His eyes stared frozen like stone statues.

Because of you, Jose thought. Silence means yes. He believes the devil is unlikely to return Arabella. Human life is not something that can be returned by the devil.

"You're saying that my teacher can't give it back, but you can?" Sir William finally spoke. His voice builds rome feathers.

Jose nodded without thinking. "I have a gift for it" he lied. "That's why I can survive your army of corpses. You know why? I returned them all to their rightful place, freeing them from your chain of curses. I can see them, Bannet. I can see the crowded souls of men in your home. Arabella was there. Why do you think I looked panicked the last time I came to your party? I saw them!"

Now there was a glimmer of hope in Sir William's eyes. Jose urged further patiently, "But returning the lives of others is tantamount to intervening which is a Divine right. I'm not strong enough. I need your help."

Sir William was doubtful. Both of his hands were inserted deeply into the pocket of the coat. His eyes looked at the sky, seemingly thinking. The black particles had already stopped slipping out of his body.

"You have nothing to lose" Jose said persuasively.

"Why did you make this offer?" Sir William looked at him straight up right at the bead of the eye.

“Why?” Jose knew the question was coming. He laughed hoarse and rough. "You should know that you love Arabella." His eyes turned blank as sympathy entered slowly. This is what they do for love. Even if they have to deceive others, even if they have to spill the blood of many people, so far they are willing to bet for the sake of their loved ones. "I can do anything if it means Mary's salvation."

"Then why didn't you do it in the first place?" Sir William's eyebrows are wrinkled. His hands pointed backwards, towards the east. "Why do you need to shoot me instead of offering a peaceful option like this?"

"First, I just got this gift a few days ago, my body needs time to adapt. Not everyone knows I got a gift." Jose shrugged, tried to sound as normal as possible, but failed. His tone was bitter when he said, "Second, the law of exchange is equal. After doing so I must have died. This is actually my last move."

For a few moments no one spoke. Jose was shivering with the cold, so he reattached his scarf. It's cold because the temperature is down or because I'm too tense? He doesn't know what's right. A cold wind blew, making their coats flutter. Uncle Marco's coat, he thought grimly, saw the emblem of Argent embroidered on Sir William's clothes.

The man approached Jose's side and hissed threateningly, "If you run away with my necklace, I'll make you regret ever learning to talk."

"You can take me with you if you're afraid I'm running" said Jose calmly. Relief reached all over her body, making her warm. He could feel his toes behind his shoes.

He is still a human being, he thought, a hopeful human being. Even a thread as thin as anything would he achieve if it could pull him back into the upper world.

"We're going South. But that's because I need the help of all the sacred things in Bjork," Jose hurriedly added as soon as he felt Sir William's body stiffen again in a state of alert. Cold sweat dipped on his temples. "Do you know that Bjork Mountain is a sacred place? It is the energy we need. That's why I need your demons too, I'll use them later. Get him out when I ask."

Sir William looked at him for a long time as he tried to weigh the good and bad of the request, then nodded stiffly.

Jose turned around to lead the way. He pulled out a pocket watch. Half at twelve. "We'll start as soon as possible" he said. "Faster is better."

"For the first time I agree with you, Argent."

***

Lady Chantall finally finds Marco. He found the man lying on the street not far from the tax office. There was a large hole in the middle of his chest that penetrated all the way to the buttocks, blood was no longer seeping from there. Black red frozen blood clots clot wounds. His skin is cold. The reddish hue had already disappeared completely from Marco's face.

Just look at it clearly that the man is dead. But Lady Chantall stuck her ear to Marco's chest expectantly, still hoping to find a heartbeat in the middle of her own gurgling storm.

The body is not stiff. He guessed Marco died not from a stab but from blood loss. When he was dragged away, Marco was still alive. If I had chased you, I regret. If I had brought a gun. He grabbed and clasped Marco's fingers, clutching them tightly to his chest. "You promised we'd see each other again tomorrow" he said. He tried to smile, but the corners of his lips trembled and were drawn down.

He leaned over, hugged the dead body and screamed, screamed, and screamed again.

A long scream echoed throughout Bjork's walls, sounding like the roar of a wild beast in pain.

***

Maria raised her face in shock. It was like hearing someone cry. But no one else reacted, so Maria concluded that the voice was just a hallucination.

For safety, Rolan moved the caravan from the prairie to the middle of the village in the South. No one welcomed them there except Nolan, who immediately told him what he was doing once he returned to the South. "Everyone was scared" the girl continued her story. "Many have seen how the river shone last night and just now."

They sat in front of the caravan, warming themselves with a bonfire set up by Dave. There was only Mary, Susan, Dave, and Nolan in front of the fire. The other Northmen took a serious turn in the caravan. Rolan and Mr. Stuart are also in there.

"What did Jose ask you?" Maria asks the curious Dave who added wood to keep the flame. "He asked you to make what sigil?"

"Either what his name was, but it was to weaken his demons," Dave replied honestly without turning his eyes away from the campfire. "Sir William used blood to make a sigil that locked you up in Bjork, but Jose used the water of the Sacred River. The problem is, the water is not as thick as blood. Sooner or later the effect will be gone. If he could not lure Sir William and say a prayer in time, the sigil would not be activated."

"So he's gonna pray in front of William?" Nolan asked in wonder. "That's hard! How could that person not know that he was being winnowed!"

“Prayer!” correction Dave, “not incantation, eh Where are you going?” he asked as soon as he saw Mary had risen from her seat. He quickly approached the girl and blocked her arm. "Depend on Jose! If you go there, everything could be broken!"

"You want me to keep quiet when Jose's in danger?" hiss Maria. He shook Dave's hand in annoyance. His heart was beating very fast and the buzzing sound in his head would not stop since he crossed to the South. All of this makes it easy to sag. He wants to meet Jose.

"He's running dangerously for you!" Dave paused and said, "Technically for everyone at Bjork anyway, but especially for you. If you go there, Garnet, you'll trouble him. Is that what you want?"

Thas right. Maria bit her lower lip so hard it hurt.

"Calm down" said Nolan flatly from where he sat. "He's a pinter by the way. He's definitely not gonna do anything."

Maria was even more annoyed to hear that pretentious tone. He knew Nolan was just trying to cheer him up, but Maria didn't like to hear the girl's tone when talking about Jose. He knows Jose the best. No one else had to convince him of anything about the man.

Maria was silent, but in her heart was determined to find a crevice slipping into the grass field as soon as possible. He will not disturb Jose, all he wants to do is just in case from a hidden place. He wants to make sure Jose is okay.

“Sue?” she whispered to Susan when Dave was back sitting down and busy chatting with Nolan. “You have prepared what I asked for?”

Susan nodded. The woman took out a flat leather pouch from the skirt pocket, and gave it to Maria. “I use pigeons .. does it not matter? Miss did not mention the specifics of the animal ..”

“No problem. Poor pigeon,” muttered Maria while stroking her neatly tanned leather pouch. Twice four inches in size, thin enough to be relatively easy to tear. He kept it behind a corset carefully.

Susan helped fix the shifting layout of the dress. “I hope Miss does not need to do that,” whispered weakly. “It feels too dangerous ... what if there is an error?”

“I myself did not expect Uncle Marco's plan would be necessary. What I'm worried about is that Jose is in shock, not Sir William.” He bit his lower lip slowly. “But anyway, I have to do something instead of watching from the sidelines. I have to be ready for anything that might happen.”

Susan still looks worried. The day approached until their shoulders touched each other, then whispered to Maria. “But I heard the talk, Miss ... said ... said Marquis Argent is dead.”

Maria looked surprised. “Hush! What did you say? Don't gossip!”

Susan quickly apologized, but the lady kept insistent, “I heard it by accident. Dr. Rolan spoke to Mr. Stuart earlier. I ... just a quick glance heard it, but it can not be wrong.”

Maria clenched her hands tightly. If that's true, what about our plan?

***

¬limbo: sanctification of sins/place of waiting. In the doctrine of the Catholic Church it is explained that there is a place of transition for the sinner who has died.