Mature Content Warning: Nothing in this chapter segment

Author's Notes: Sooo, indeed....

--

Chapter 24.2: Discordant Lullaby

--

In time even the longest journey will come to an end, and so in its own time did the road trip that Scott had undertaken with the eight men in the van. He knew that something had changed when he felt a strong stinging sensation throughout his amorphous mass.

The dark specter slipped through the bottom of the van and waited as patiently as only a sentient cloud of darkness could. The men talked in a low, quiet, tones but it did not matter. He could hear them quite well.

“The money is in Father Atkins’ office.” said the driver.

Rodrigo thanked the man then told the others to go wait in the war room for proper debriefing and payout. After the men separated, Scott did his best to follow after Rodrigo. He needed to learn more, and he seemed to be the one most likely to lead him to answers.

Scott slipped into the wall of the compound that they had entered. As a creature of pure shadow and more than a little anger, he could slip through walls like a ghost. Staying inside of them was slightly more difficult and strenuous that floating in the air, but it was not hard to do in general.

His ability to see and hear were reduced when he existed inside of a physical object, but he could still sense the presence of the one that he was following due to his innate ability to sense the vitality of other beings. If anything that ability was greatly amplified in his current form, or perhaps it simply remained his strongest sense. He was uncertain.

Scott followed the presence of Rodrigo for a brief few minutes until he stopped outside of a door. The hired killer knocked three times then waited.

A clear, strong, voice from the other side called out, “Enter.” and Rodrigo opened the door. The cloud of darkness slipped into the room with him by traveling through the wall, and then after locating an out of the way place, a tiny portion of Scott’s darkness slipped out of the wall so that he could see and hear properly.

He appeared in the room through the floor boards and underneath the father’s desk. Magic was a strange thing. Even though he had neither eyes nor ears, he still saw everything in the room quite clearly. Though, he could not see and hear outside of it since the door was closed. Basically, he could see anywhere inside the room that the air could reach.

“Ah, Rodrigo.” said a man that Scott assumed was Father Atkins. He was a middle-aged man with salt and pepper hair and a warm expression.

“Hello Father. We have returned.” said Rodrigo simply.

“By the grace of god and the courage of men.” said Father Atkins.

“By the grace of god and the courage of men.” replied Rodrigo.

Father Atkins stood up from his seat then moved to stand closer to his enforcer. “It is a good thing that your men accomplished. That creature could have done incredible harm to the world.”

“So, you already know of our success?” asked Rodrigo.

“Yes, god sent word to me earlier.” replied the good father.

Rodrigo nodded but then acquired a strange expression. It did not go unnoticed by Father Atkins. “What is it my son?”

“Some of the men have questions about what we just did.” said Rodrigo.

“As well they should. Evil can confuse even the strongest of hearts.” said the father.

Rodrigo nodded. “Yes, but that’s the biggest issue that they have. Despite how horrific that thing was, they are confused about its nature.”

Father Atkins nodded. “I too, was uncertain for a time. I first gained word of it from two men who are the epitome of vileness and corruption.”

“Yes, didn’t the creature torment them because it discovered them at its sister’s grave drinking?” asked Rodrigo.

“Yes, and it did not even slay them. It simply tormented them for a while then bade them turn themselves in to the police.” replied the father.

Rodrigo raised one of his hands and ran his fingers through his hair. “That’s...”

Father Atkins raised up his own hand and shook his head. “I’ll tell you what the good lord said to me when I prayed for an answer.”

“Yes, please do.” said Rodrigo. “The men need to know. They will probably always remember the faces of those women if nothing else.”

Father Atkins nodded once. “God spoke to me in my prayers. He said that even when a creature of evil does a good deed it is still a thing of wickedness. If that creature was left to run free it would terrorize all of humanity in time.”

“And... the women?” said Rodrigo.

“I don’t know, but if they were with the creature then they were no doubt corrupted beyond our ability to salvage them. If they do not return to this world then their souls will be judged by god.” said the father.

Rodrigo nodded, but then asked. “What if the creature revives?”

Father Atkins took a deep breath. “Pray that it does not, but even if it does we are safe from its temptations here under the protection of god. Only the forces of heaven and the celestial host may enter here, wickedness is kept at bay by the sanctuary that god grants us.”

Rodrigo sighed in relief. “That’s good to know. That thing was able to kill our men so quickly that it still haunts us. Even those three deputies who drove the vehicles died.”

“Yes, pity that they revived as well.” said the father.

“Father Atkins?” asked Rodrigo in surprise.

“Do not misunderstand me, Rodrigo. I wish ill on no man, but there is something very wrong in that town. Very few of the officers in that police department did not make my skin crawl when I looked upon them.” said Father Atkins.

“I see...” said Rodrigo. Honestly, he had not much cared for those men either.

“Don’t be concerned about them, we have a higher task than rooting out the corruption of such people.” said Father Atkins.

“I suppose, but everything about this mission felt wrong... I am sorry, but it did.” said Rodrigo.

Father Atkins nodded. “That is understandable. When a great spirit of darkness makes your skin crawl less than a simple county deputy, there is something very wrong with the world.”

“I wonder how they will handle the situation with our bodies.” said Rodrigo.

Father Atkins winced. “That has been handled, but you will not like it.”

“Why not?”

“Because I did not like it either.” said the father.

“What happened while we were away?” asked Rodrigo.

Father Atkins took a deep breath then slowly let it out. “They covered it up, claimed it was a drug raid after a meth lab explosion.”

“That... How do they expect anyone to believe that? The weapons fire and weapons used would prove that to be a lie.” said Rodrigo in confusion.

“I do not know, my son. All we can do is continue to undertake the lord’s work and pray for a day when this descent into madness ends. The scriptures claimed that these tribulations would only last for seven years before the coming era of peace.” said Father Atkins.

“Is it truly the end times, father?” asked Rodrigo with a confused but strangely hopeful expression.

“I can’t tell you for certain, but I also cannot think of what else these events might be. Did not the good book state that at the end of days the dead would rise from their graves? Are you not proof of that?” asked father Atkins.

Rodrigo grew silent. Had the bible really meant that this was how the old world would end? This new world was ridiculous, and yet it certainly seemed like the end of the world and judgment for mankind.