61 - A NEW MEETING...

 61 - A NEW MEETING...

Another meeting with the five began. Duarte decided to make a joke about the situation... they were at the Round Table... this was due to the fact that the table they used was circular. They weren't at the police station or the doctor's office. They had reserved a room at Dona Mônica's boarding house, and in that room there was that table, with the five chairs requested by Juvêncio. The first to arrive was Dr. Alberto, followed by Dr. Andrade, then Professor Alice and finally Zacarias. Everyone sat down and waited for Juvêncio to start the session. He was still standing, thoughtful. Clearly, something was bothering him. He excused himself from the group and left the room for a few moments. He returned, frowning, frowning, worried expression. He took his seat, looked around, checking that the attendees were all there as he'd requested. In front of each of them there was a folder and a notebook with a pencil for possible notes. Juvêncio was still deep in his thoughts, the atmosphere was heavy, you could feel the tension in the air. Juvêncio took the pitcher of water that was on the table, filled one of the glasses, drank the liquid and finally began to speak...

- I think it is unnecessary to explain to you why I called you here...

- The latest events, isn't it?

- Yes... two more bodies were found... and again none of them had a drop of blood in their veins...

- Don't forget the body without the entrails...

- Yes, Doctor Alberto, you're right... two bodies without blood and one without entrails... and without wounds...

- Seu Vicente, in the last two weeks we had a total of fifteen deaths in strange circumstances...

- I know... Mr. Zacarias, could you tell us something?

- Well... I did some investigations, as you asked me...

- AND...?

-Well, I don't have any concrete proof at hand... for now, all I can say is that we are facing a vampire and part of his retinue in our region....

Aside from Juvêncio, the reaction of the other members present was one of surprise at Zacarias' conclusions, who was not shaken by the discrediting face they made. It just continued...

- Before you say that these are stories that are told by the campfire, to scare little children, a clarification... you don't usually hear about these creatures because they are usually in regions where there are armed conflicts between divergent groups... therefore, his attacks go unnoticed among normal people...

- Guys, what Mr. Zacarias is talking about is correct... the best way to hide is to be in evidence in the places that least expect you... and that give you more conditions to go unnoticed...

- But what you're saying doesn't make any sense...

- Dona Alice, you are a scholar. She is an intelligent person. She knows that not everything that happens is told to everyone...

- Yes, I know... now, to say that where there is war there are supernatural beings...

- Dona Alice... nobody said they are supernatural beings...

- And they would be what, then?

- Honestly, I don't know... what I do know is that they manage to use us as if we were their private cattle, they choose which one of us they want to devour and simply consume us, as we do with our animals...

- Your Zacarias... how can they turn an ordinary person into one of them?

- I have no idea... maybe Doctor Alberto can shed some light on this...

Doctor Alberto looked at everyone present, who had directed their gaze at him. He got up, walked around the room a little, absorbed in what he could say... well, how could he talk about something he had no idea what it could be? One always has a theory, but those are easily dismantled when one discovers how reality works... but since they wanted to hear something, he would say what he thought it might be... that is, he would give his opinion. ..

- Guys... first of all, I apologize... I'm ignorant when it comes to the inexplicable... the supernatural... what I'm going to tell you here are my personal impressions, it doesn't mean that they are the truth....

- All right, doctor... that's all we're asking you...

- So there you go... apparently, when someone is attacked by these... entities... well, they are infected by some kind of virus...

- Viruses? what is that?

- I'll explain later... let me continue my line of reasoning, please... usually the victims don't resist the attack and die right away... these are the lucky people... but, for some reason , some end up resisting the wound and survive...

- Is that possible, doctor?

- Of course, Andrade... or have you already forgotten Tiana's Mané?

Upon hearing about Tiana's Mané, Alice stirred, showing discomfort in her chair. Only Juvêncio and Zacarias realized this, as Andrade was paying attention to Alberto, who in turn was trying to explain his point of view to those present and ended up not seeing his beloved's reaction. Zacarias could have sworn that the color of the teacher's eyes had changed from blue to black, but it was only for a fraction of a second... to confirm his impression, he decided to question Alice...

- Professor, what do you think of Alberto's explanation?

Everyone turned to Alice, including Alberto. Everyone wanted to hear master's point of view. Somewhat awkwardly, Alice spoke...

- Folks, this is not my beach... in fact, I don't even know what I'm doing here... yes, I am a researcher... but, unlike Mr. Zacarias present here, my research concerns the origins of families. I don't know anything about fantastic cases, they are of no interest to me...

- We know, Professor... but your research on families can help us a lot. Suddenly, it is in her writings that we find the solution to everything we are going through...

- I don't see what relationship it could have...

- Neither do we... at least for now...

Juvêncio decided to take back the command, passing the word to Alice...

-Dona Alice, we know that you are not a doctor... but we also know that she is a fervent scholar. And that she likes to write down all the discoveries she makes. In her personal opinion, could Alberto's view of these ... viruses ... have any basis in truth?

- But of course yes... suppose we find one of these fantastic creatures on our way and are attacked by it... some of the team members will surely save themselves... and that's when these microorganisms will act...

- So you think this is perfectly possible to happen...

- Yes, without a doubt...

- And I agree with Alice, Seu Juvêncio....

- Well, then we agree that the propagation takes place through physical contact with the causative agent...

- Yes, that is common ground... the transmission takes place through physical contact... certainly through the saliva of the agent in question...

- In that case, the only way to avoid such a situation would be to not let yourself be touched by this...

- Which, in every situation, proved impossible...

- Yes, because in fact the person is being attacked... he is a victim...

- Actually, it's the prey of some predator...

- I mean, something is hunting people...

- Which, in this case, are seen only as "food"...

- I think we can name our predator... it would be "The Woman in White"...

The mention was made by Zacarias, who, along with Juvêncio, was paying attention to the teacher's reactions. They noticed that she controlled herself with a lot of difficulty, and the impression they had before regarding the change in the color of her eyes was repeated... yes, the girl was extremely uncomfortable...

- But no one who saw her stayed alive to tell the story... how do we know she really exists?

This time it was Juvêncio who spoke, relating the vision he had had on the riverbank. Everyone listened to her story, paying attention to every detail. And once again Juvêncio and Zacarias noticed Alice's discomfort while the facts were reported...

They continued to exchange information for another hour, then Juvêncio decided to close the meeting, asking everyone to return the next day at the same time... and that each one investigate what was possible, so that they could continue the discussion in the next meeting. .. after everyone left, and only Juvêncio and Zacarias were left, the former decided to question his partner...

- So... what do you think?

- Sincerely? I am more and more convinced that our target is the teacher...

- I agree... but let's do some more investigations, before giving our opinion... I don't want to accuse an innocent person... not in a case like that...

- You are right, Vicente... this is a very delicate case....

And the two also took to the street, each one going to his destination in the night...