The Divine Hunter

through his memory and found out that Letho had made black blood, and high quality black blood, at that.

Letho made a dose of black blood here. The discovery finally gave Roy another lead he needed.
Not many humanoid monsters were strong enough to dodge crossbow bolts and hurt a witcher.
“Ekimmara, bruxa, katakan, doppler, and higher vampire.” A dose of high quality black blood could turn Letho’s blood lethal, making him a perfect weapon against ghouls and vampires.

“Perhaps the killer is a vampire.” And a higher vampire, at that.
The other variants don’t possess the intelligence needed to blend in among a large populace.
Higher vampires can make themselves look like humans, and they aren’t afraid of the sun.
Garlic, fire, and stakes won’t work against them, either.

The possibility of facing off against a higher vampire scared him.
If he were to make a list of the most powerful beings in the witcher world, Gaunter O’Dimm would have been the strongest, if Roy hadn’t come across the golden eyes in the temple of Melitele.
Those eyes could have belonged to a god.

In that case, Gaunter O’Dimm would be second on the list, while the king of the vampires — The Unseen Elder — would be third.
Higher vampires would rank right after that.
They were indistinguishable from humans, and they didn’t differ in bodily functions.
They didn’t need blood to sustain themselves, either.

Higher vampires were far superior than normal vampires, and their regenerative abilities were off the charts.
Not even decapitation or having their heart crushed could kill them.
They weren’t afraid of holy water or any religious symbol either.
On top of that, they could go off the magical grid.
Not even a witcher could see through them, even with their senses activated.

Geralt’s friend, Regis, was a higher vampire.
Even when he was almost nothing but ash after getting killed by Vilgefortz, he came back to life with the help of another vampire, though it took him years for that.
A small group of higher vampires could massacre a town with a thousand people if they worked together.
A regular witcher couldn’t kill a higher vampire easily either, unlike what the games had shown.

Letho could’ve been killed. He wasn’t sure if Letho could win against a higher vampire in a battle. Calm down.
It’s just an assumption.
Let’s go through this again. Roy rubbed his cheeks, forcing himself to calm.

He sat cross-legged on the wooden bed, calming himself through meditation.
Roy went through everything he had found and sorted them all out.
Higher vampires were rare creatures.
They had emotions and free will, just like humans did.
In a sense, they were more sensitive than humans.
Of course, there were good and bad higher vampires, at least in the eyes of humans.

For example, Regis, who was a ‘vegetarian,’ and Dettlaff, who fell for Sylvia Anna, were the moderates.
The higher vampires of that faction were willing to coexist with humans.
They wouldn’t destroy human society if humans didn’t cross the line.

On the other hand, the rest of the higher vampires were hunters, or in other words, evil.
They saw humans as nothing but cattle, as food for their palate.
There were three factions among the hunters, distinguished by their way of raising humans.
One let them do as they pleased until they were ripe for the taking; one raised them in a ranch; and the other took care of them until the day of their slaughter.

They don’t communicate with humans.
We don’t talk with our food, do we? If Letho did fight a higher vampire three days ago, which faction is that vampire from, then? Is it possible to establish communication? Let’s go through the details.
First, he lives in Ellander City.
Two, he was powerful enough to have killed every soldier back then, including Dennis.
But he didn’t do that.
Instead, he escaped to an alley to fight Letho.
Could he be trying to hide his identity in case anyone was hurt? This one could be from the moderate faction. “I hope so.
That means Letho could survive, even if he lost.”

Aside from the six deaths, Roy never did receive any report of another victim.
Even the knights who were on the case weren’t hurt.
“The killer didn’t kill as he pleased.
If the vampire were a hunter, everyone in his path would have been butchered.
But if he were from the moderate faction, he wouldn’t kill at random, much less lay a finger on the innocent.” Roy shook his head.
“There must be something special about the victims.” The knights missed something.

“And that something is the motive for the murders.”

Then he shifted his attention toward the killer’s identity, and Francis was his prime suspect. He’s a coroner.
It’s easy for him to fiddle with the bodies and hide the evidence.
Cranmer said he didn’t see the killer clearly, though it’s obvious that he was taller than me and Francis.
And the killer wasn’t hurt either.
That means it’s stronger than a higher vampire, which is impossible.
Black blood is potent enough to harm a higher vampire.

Francis was suspicious, but Roy wouldn’t confront him without any definitive evidence.
Besides, he didn’t know the killer’s motive.
Facing him off at that point would be suicide.
Roy didn’t think he could ‘kill’ a fake vampire either, since he was just a rookie witcher.

Higher vampires didn’t die easily.
Piercing their hearts with a silver sword, decapitation, and burning them with Igni only served to put them in a deep slumber.
Only a higher vampire could vanquish a higher vampire. Fighting them is a last resort. He wanted to save Letho, but he wouldn’t approach the suspect if he wasn’t sure he could take him down.

That’d anger him.
I need to find out the reason for the murders and what he’s afraid of.