The Priest and the Vampire

2: A Childlike Voice

"Yeah, so you all obviously don't wanna be here. It totally sucks. Some of you have probably never killed anyone before either, so a quick warning, blood is super slippery, don't trip. Killing people won't feel awesome either, it's not really something you want to do. Hell, I'm all for a good fight, but killing is a pain." He spoke earnestly, honest to a fault.

Far outside the school, on the edge of the dilapidated schoolyard, a little rundown car with seriously tinted windows and peeling shit-brown paint sat idly on an old forgotten dirt road in the shade of the trees that encroached on either side of them. To its left, past the line of trees and foliage, was a rather imposing fence that separated it from the school. Inside the vehicle, the boy's voice played through speakers surrounded by a wooden frame that sat in the lap of a man with a rather long nose sitting in the passenger seat. He was fiddling with the wiring as static coated every word that played through them. In the driver's seat sat a man with short green hair and three swords - one black, one red, and one white - crammed between him and the door. The man had been leaning back with his head against the headrest and his eyes closed, probably taking a nap, the others in the car assumed, as the monotone voice of your run-of-the-mill priest filled the car with their usual propaganda. But when the new voice spoke up, his eyes snapped open and he sat up straight, his gaze flashing to the speakers and his brows pulling together. The static suddenly disappeared to a steady buzz in the background and the long-nosed man grinned proudly.

"Sir, the connection's finally set. This is the clearest sound we'll be getting out of this old system." Usopp, the one messing with the radio, spoke up even as he turned the dirty yellowish-white dials ever so slightly to try and make the sound even clearer. A very brave, very dead officer planted a listening device as a last-ditch effort before this place fell to the priests and now that was paying off. The brick walls of the school were a mere few dozen meters away but were untouchable to these people.

If the strangers attacked, they would lose.

A fifty-foot fence of silver was an unyielding shield that kept them at bay, and the guards circling in predictable intervals gave them little more than a ten-minute window. The hidden car giving them more time than they'd have otherwise. If they didn't get the information they came for soon, it would all be a wasted effort.

"It's fine." The driver muttered offhandedly, not really giving a shit that the kid was practically patting himself on the back. He liked to act all humble about it, but if they weren't so pressed for time and technically hiding at the moment, Usopp would be shouting his victory and pride over the electronic device to the high heavens. Exaggerating the story until only the most gullible child would believe his words.

Regardless, Zoro - the green-haired driver - really didn't care how clear the sound was so long as they could make out the words being said. Though, now that this new speaker had started, he suddenly appreciated the lack of static. The voice pricked his ears and sent an odd warm sensation through his chest. He didn't understand why, but he wasn't one to ask too many questions. He usually just got his mission, took care of it, and got paid. He occasionally traded in favors, but he didn't typically leave people behind to owe, so it was rare that he worked for something other than money.

The voice that had drawn him in was childlike, yet somehow still strong. Ringing with an innocence that he didn't know how to describe, even as the speaker spoke of killing as though it were something you just had to deal with and move on from. He both downplayed and described in morbid detail the bloodbath that was war, as well as the consequences of taking another life. He obviously wasn't usually one for making speeches, and this half-baked attempt at one wasn't scripted. He sounded like he'd thought of war and what it would be like for newbies, then just said the first things that came to mind, jumping topics as his thoughts did as well.