"Roses, according to the literature, Herbert, that is, my grandfather was very fond of them during his lifetime, especially my grandmother, and it is said that they met in a rose garden, and my mother used to say that my grandmother had a large rose garden, and it was all planted with fine roses, and she had a strong preference for roses."

Resley nodded as if she understood something, and she suddenly noticed that Thomas was staring at her intently, and she glared at him, and shook her head, as if to tell him very willfully, "I just ask casually, I just want to, do you have a problem?" ”

"Why are you also interested in 'Death Ribs'? No one knows about this thing, I don't think you have anything to do with it, what got you involved? ”

"Entrusted ......" Thomas looked at the wine glass on the table, and muttered, obviously this is not a clever lie and the truth, his client is 'death', some questions are bothering Thomas, since 'death' knows everything, it should know where its own ribs are, why should he go to find it? There is only one possibility: this rib is very well sealed, it can't be found at all, or the defense is too tight to break through, the latter situation is basically impossible to happen, it should be sealed.

Everyone was silent in their thoughts, and there was a wall clock in the room, and the tongue of the clock was swaying tirelessly, although the hour hand swung strongly towards the center of the clock, and there was a "click", and in the quiet space only the soft sound of "crunch, crunch" could be heard on the wooden beams.

Thomas, above.

Hearing Afie Miller's warning, he looked up and saw a figure squatting there on the beam, and the moment Thomas saw the other party, the black shadow jumped down from the beam, fast and athletic, if it weren't for Affie Miller's reminder, this figure could kill everyone present at any time.

※

It didn't take much time for Hesman to find the general place according to the note, and it was still relatively lively on this street, with all kinds of backpack couples, elderly people supporting each other, young people with headphones and skateboards, businessmen in formal suits and briefcases, men and women sitting at the door of the café, happily talking about things they were interested in, and occasionally laughing heartily, the afternoon sun sprinkled on this street, and the sunlight through the shop windows made the light of clothes, jewelry, and crystal cups particularly dazzling. The sunlight stretches long on the streets.

Heathman walked to the door of a storefront, looked at the note in his hand and looked up at the house number, his destination was here, it was a "Angelo Antique Store", on this street were full of modern, fashionable brand stores, and suddenly an antique store appeared and seemed out of place with the surrounding atmosphere.

Hesman pushed the door into the shop, the door knocked on the copper bell at the door and made a long sound, the antique store is no different from other antique shops, dark, woody, and silent are all dark tones, because of this tone, there is a sense of oppression, in front of a counter in front of a fat old man with one elbow supported on the counter, the other hand holding a pen to stay in the air above the ledger, head down, eyes up, eyes across the bridge of the nose to look at Hesman who came in.

There was no warm greeting, no courteous action, as if asking the person who came in, if you were going to the wrong place or that it was not a person who came in, but a monkey or something.

Heathman walked to the counter, and the old man's eyes followed him as he walked to him, and Heathman asked, "I'm looking for Angelo. Mercer. ”

The old man in front of him slowly straightened up, his hands propped up and down the counter and looked at Hesman in front of him, and after the two looked at each other like this for a few seconds, the old man opened his mouth and said with a thick Italian accent: "What can I help you?" ”

"You're Mercer?" The old man simply raised his chin and did not say anything, and Heathman continued: "Father Martins has called me to come to you, and I have heard that you have studied strange things very deeply. ”

The old man exhaled deeply from his nose and laughed, "Strange thing. Is that what he said? ”

"Yes."

"A lot of things in the world are imagined by people, and there's nothing strange about it."

"Basic? Then you mean that there is still a small part of ......"

"Did Martins give you something?" The old man stood in front of him and said, Hesman was stunned, he took the string of beads from the inner pocket of his clothes and handed it to Mercer, he took the string of beads and rubbed it on the cross with his hand, and then put it in Hesman's hand, waved his hand to him and walked to the door, and said as he went, "Well, tell me your story, and see if I can help you with anything." ”

He walked to the door and turned the sign hanging in the doorway, and then, locking the door, led Hesman to the small door next to the counter, which was a staircase leading to the underground, and he made a gesture of please to let Hesman sit down at a square table, and asked, "May I have some coffee or brandy?" ”

"Whitewater, thank you."

Mercer looked strangely at Hesman at the table, "It's a pity. He took a glass of water from the hose and handed it to him.

Heathman took out a few pieces of paper from his backpack and put them on the table and pushed them to Mercer's eyes, Mercer put on his glasses and picked up the paper and looked at it carefully, he didn't show surprise, he looked up at Hesman, and saw that Hesman took out his phone and put it in front of him, Mercer looked at the surveillance footage that the soldiers had brought that night.

Mercer wondered what the origin of the guest introduced by the priest in front of him was, "The FBI, the CIA, Interpol or the Special Forces?" ”

Heathman's cold and expressionless face looked like he didn't answer a word from Mercer, and Mercer nodded knowingly, "Okay, it doesn't matter to me anyway. ”

At this time, Mercer really became serious, he got up and pointed to the books in the bookshelf to find something, and soon pulled out four or five old hardcover books from them, some of the books were made of cowhide, and the color had been worn off, and some of the gilded words on the cover had begun to fade, he put the books aside, and took a magnifying glass in his hand to carefully observe the photos.

"Well, you want to ask something." Mercer lowered his eyes, he already had the answer, and looked at Heathman with his hands crossed over his chest.

"Tell me what the 'monster' in this picture is and how you can kill them." Heathman asked, standing up with one hand propped up on the table and pointing a finger at the portrait in the photo.

"Looks like you're in trouble, GI, it's a vampire, based on the evidence and photos, there's no doubt about it." Mercer held the picture up to Heathman. "Fangs, super self-healing ability, extraordinary athletic ability, these characteristics all indicate that you have encountered the 'demon in the dark night'."

"I want to know more." Heathman sat down slowly, and Mercer saw in his eyes that he would not rest on his laurels if he did not get a satisfactory answer today.

"Okay then." Mercer put on his glasses, picked up a book from the side, turned one of the pages, pushed it in front of Hesman, and patiently explained it to him.

"Let me give you a brief introduction, the vampire species is a product of European civilization according to the records, especially in the Christian tradition that prevailed among the Jews, and it must be said that it is also related to the myths that existed in ancient Greece and Rome, for example......" Mercer picked up another book and licked his fingers with his tongue and flipped the pages, "Here, the 11th chapter of Homer's poetry 'Odyssey' records the Greek warrior Ulysses who summoned the heroic spirit with blood, and after drinking the blood, he was rejuvenated. Look here......" Mercer said, pointing to a picture from another book: "This is Lamia, carved on a stone tablet in the 5th century AD, and witchcraft made her suck human blood. Morality. The Life of Tiana also records that Lamia was in the form of a snake. Mercer paused, looking at Heathman, not knowing if he understood what he was saying, and Heathman nodded for him to continue.

"What does this have to do with me?" Heathman didn't want to hear Mercer tell him more history, he wanted to get straight to the point, he wanted to know how to kill those demons.

"Of course it has a relationship, some legends have a close relationship with reality, and they are also the key to solving the problem, since you come to let me help you, then you have to listen to me." Mercer pointed at Hesman. He went on to say everything about vampires.

The account in Christianity goes like this, Lilith, as Adam's first wife and the first woman created by God, a woman who preceded Eve, because her character was too stubborn, God had three angels to persuade her, but Lilith drove her back, she was abandoned by God and Adam, banished to hell and became the mother of demons, she sucked the blood of young men and infants, which was completely and absolutely forbidden in the eyes of the Jews, and violated the Law of Moses. Specifically in the Bible in the 'Old Testament. Leviticus chapters 11 and 14 are clearly described. Mercer got up and walked over to the bookshelf, pulled out a Bible from it and handed it to Hesman, "You can read it slowly." ”

"There are also different theories about how vampires came into being, some people say that Lilith taught Cain the brother killer, and the vampires were created, I think this is made up and lacks basis, of course, some people say that it is Judas, but according to modern science, some people think that Judas sacrificed himself to achieve Jesus, of course, there is no basis."

Then he sat down on the table again, opened another book and slid his fingers across the pages, searching for clues to the legend.

"And here, according to the Hebrew records, they have a contradictory view of blood, they see blood as life and impurity, life is created by God, blood is the soul, and blood is sacred, and the impure side is that Eve was tempted by the devil to eat the forbidden fruit, violated the original sin, and was punished by God, so the woman's menstruation is the punishment side, the Hebrews regard it as an impure wound, and many legends in history believe that seeing a woman's menstrual blood will bring bad luck."

"And here," Mercer said, pointing to Jesus on the cross, "the New Testament teaches us that Jesus atoned for the sins of mankind with wine and bread as His blood and body before His martyrdom, and indirectly shows that blood has a redemptive effect, especially in the Gospel of John." Mercer pointed to the Bible for Hesman. According to various legends throughout history, eventually the legend of vampires was born, which many people thought was superstition. ”

"But the earliest legend is in France in 1440. The Rice affair was indeed a big deal, and the later French state Smann described De in his 1891 book "There". Les is a vampire in the truest sense of the word. If you're interested, you can go to the library and borrow it, I don't have it here anyway. ”

"And then there's Bede. Rice is said to be very bloodthirsty and a tyrant, anyway, tyrants in history are basically bloodthirsty, as a result, someone gave him two nicknames 'Bit' and 'Dracula', and the name Dracula I believe everyone is familiar with. ”

"Yes, vampire. That's what it's called in the movie. Heathman finally heard something he knew.

"Of course, it is no stranger to disobedient children, which is attributed to the fame of the English writer Stoker's creation of "Dracula", and the credit for being recognized in the church is entirely due to the fact that in 1481, Pope Innocent VIII of Italy actually approved the book "", which contains monsters, demons, zombies and other monsters, originally such books were forbidden to be disseminated at that time, anyway, with the endorsement of the pope, the church recognized these things."

"When it comes to vampires, we have to talk about werewolves, the legend of werewolves predates the legend of vampires, and the two are somewhat closely related, look at this painting created by Finet in 1988 "Three Bloodletters at Night", it is rumored that Finet saw a werewolf and created a painting. The first official report ......" Mercer continued to search through the scanned copies of the book, which were very old, and he pointed to the document and said, "In German, the first report is still in the Vienna archives, and the word 'vanpir' appears for the first time in an official report, according to the manuscript. ”

"There is also a legend here that vampires are related to medieval alchemy, and it is said that someone found a manuscript "Interpreting the Symbols of Dracula", which is said to be very secretive, and it is said that the way to unlock this manuscript is through the four fires of alchemy." "What?"

"There are four kinds of fire in alchemy, namely the fire of heaven, the fire of secrecy, the fire of nature and the fire of the center. Francis. Father Veran presents evidence of Dracula's real existence. Mercer finished drinking the rest of the wine in his glass, and he continued to explain to Hesman.

With his head down, his hands crossed on the table, his breath short, he looked up and asked, "What's the way to kill them with so much?" ”

"In vampire legends, it is said that vampires have no shadow and mirror image because they have no soul, they are monsters who give up their souls, so the cross is very effective for them and will remind them of the sins of their life, and the only way out for their salvation is to perish, that is, nothing exists, disappears." Mercer made an exaggerated gesture.