Tina thought about it. "I don't know. Maybe not. Maybe I would've been long gone."
Trent pulled her closer. "You can't imagine how relieved I am to have gotten all this off my chest. It was eating me alive."
There was a burst of silence and Tina got up to check on the baby.
"So, let me ask you something," she said a few minutes later. "When I was seeing those hooded figures and telling you about the strange things that were happening with our baby, did you know I was telling you the truth from the beginning?"
"No. Not from the beginning," Trent replied. "When you first saw these entities or whatever they are, I thought there could be no way. As far as I knew, the dark spirit from the past was gone months prior to that. When you started to point out certain things about the baby, I knew there was some validity there, but I couldn’t admit it to you because I hadn't yet told you my secret."
"So you would've just preferred that I go on thinking I was losing my mind instead of telling me what you knew right then and there?" A tinge of anger laced her voice.
"I'm guilty of that, Tina, and I'm sorry. I didn't know what to do," he said. "I was wrong for letting you go through that. I feel really bad about it and it's something I've gotta live with—like it or not. It's not easy being different from everyone else. You don't know if you'd be accepted or not and there's a great chance that most people will reject you—even those who claim to love you. This is something that was at the forefront of my mind every day from the moment I found out who I really am. I hope you can forgive me."
"I do forgive you. Let's just move ahead and get our baby covered."
10
The Preacher
Trent and Tina arrived at the church with Little Foster two days after they agreed to have him baptized. One car - a blue sedan - sat in the parking area when they pulled up. Tina was sure it was Pastor Stan's.
"Well, this is it," she said, unbuckling her seat belt. "You said you wanted to do this privately and Pastor Stan agreed, much to my surprise."
Trent looked up at the tall edifice with the beautiful, stained-glass windows and eye-catching pedestal.
"What's wrong?" Tina asked, sensing his angst.
"Uh… nothing. Everything's fine."
"You're lying. What is it, Trent?"
He glanced back at Foster who was acting a bit fidgety, then at Tina again. "It's just that… I never told you this before, but…"
"Yeah?"
"I've never been on the inside of a church before."
Tina gazed at him. "What on earth are you talking about? You went to Tony's wedding, Trent. The ceremony was held inside of a church. I wasn't there, but that's what I heard. And what about Janice's funeral? Oh… you were late for the service and showed up at the gravesite." She remembered.
"I sat inside my car the entire time trying to work up the nerve to walk inside, but I couldn't. I just went to the reception party afterwards and had to make up an excuse for not being at the ceremony. I felt terrible."
"You said you were trying to work up the nerve to go inside the church. Why?" Tina asked, although she thought she knew the answer already.
"When I was a very young kid, my grandfather took me to church one Sunday and I became very ill almost immediately. He said I kicked and screamed and became uncontrollably violent, so we left. He took me one other time not long afterwards, just to see if his suspicions were correct and the same thing happened. He never took me back again," Trent said. "Whenever I get near a church building, I feel such apprehension—a dreadful feeling overwhelms me."
"So you were never baptized?"
"No."
"Why didn't your grandfather get you prayed for when he knew what the problem was?" Tina asked.
"He wanted to protect me. He didn't want any questions asked based on my behavior because he wasn't going to give any answers. I don't know if in some small way he was also ashamed, but he never gave me the idea that he was. He was more of a father to me than a grandfather because I didn't have a father in my life and my mother was dead."
"I'm really sorry about all you've had to go through, honey." Tina glanced back at Little Foster who was starting to shift agitatedly in his seat."
"Do you think you can do this?" She asked Trent.
Trent sighed heavily. "I have to. We've gotta help our son."
Tina gently patted the baby's leg. "I'm coming to get you now, darling." She looked at Trent again. "Something just crossed my mind… In light of the fact that we're getting married soon and you knew I wanted a church wedding, how in the world did you think you could manage it?"
"The best way I could… just as I'm about to now. My mind was made up—I was going to give you the wedding of your dreams even if I fell deathly ill in the process."
She leaned over and kissed him. "You'll be fine. We're in this together; right?"
"Right."
"Let's do this then!" She went to get the baby from the car seat. The child was handsomely dressed in a white suit.
Looking ahead, Trent saw a man walk up the steps and into the church. At that moment, his cell phone rang.
"Where are you?" Deed asked abruptly.
"In front of a church. We're going to have the baby baptized. Why?"
"Go inside and check on the pastor. Go now!' Deed hung up.
Tina was standing outside with the baby when Trent got out of the car. "Wait right here!" he said, before hurrying toward the front entrance of the church, the anxiety building with every step. He stopped suddenly in front of the double doors as he felt a strong, invisible force blocking his passage.
I have to ignore this, he thought. I have to get inside this church! With every ounce of strength he could muster up, he pushed his way through the barrier and ran into the building. Immediately, a nauseous feeling worked its way up his throat and with eyes watering now, he felt like they were about to burst inside the sockets. An intense pressure assailed him and every fiber of his being screamed to get out of there.
"Pastor Stan!" Trent cried as he proceeded down the middle aisle as quickly as he could. He called out again after silence audaciously greeted him.
"Yes?" A lean, elderly man approached from an adjoining room. "How can I help you?"
"Where did that guy go?" Trent asked.
"What guy?" The pastor glanced around the sanctuary.
"I saw someone walk inside this church a minute ago."
"Sir, I am the only one here right now—except for you, of course. Besides, people come in and out of here every day. It's open to the public. Are you all right?" He noticed that Trent was in some sort of distress.
"Yes, I'm fine. I just thought…" He knew it didn't make any sense. "Never mind. I'm Trent Matheson." He could barely stand the sickening feeling he had subjected himself to.
"You're Tina's husband-to-be."
"Yes."
They shook hands.
"Where is Tina and the little one?"
"They're outside. Are you sure everything is okay in here?" Trent had to get back to it, recalling the urgency in Deed's voice right after the young man walked into the church.
Pastor Stan found Trent's behavior bizarre. "Everything is fine. What makes you wonder?"
"Trent!" Tina screamed from the doorway. The men followed her widened, terror-stricken eyes to the huge, winged creature hovering above them near the ceiling. It resembled a dark-brown bat, other than for its massive size—approximately ten feet long and seven feet wide—and unreservedly daunting in appearance.
"My Lord in Heaven…" Pastor Stan stumbled backwards.
The baby was crying hysterically and shifting violently in Tina's arms.
"Get out!" Trent said. "Everyone, get out!"
"Come with us!" Tina cried.
"No. You go!" Trent looked at the pastor who seemed stuck to the floor. "Go now!" His pupils had turned a florescent green. He felt the unwanted transformation rearing its ugly head—the metamorphosis he had met for the first time on the beach that night, months
earlier, when he battled Tarrow face to face.
Frightened by Trent's appearance, but more so of the otherworldly creature hovering above them, Pastor Stan hurried out of the door with Tina.
The double doors of the church remained wide open as Tina and the old man huddled inside of the car with the baby.
"None of us have full use of our power here!" A deep voice escaped the vicinity of the bat-like entity whose head was identical to that of a wolf. "Leave this place, surrender the child and the holy man would be spared!"
"Who are you to decide who will live and who will die?" Trent roared.
"The child is ours. Leave the holy man and his worthless ritual out of this and he will live. If not, he will suffer an untimely demise. Moreover, if the child is not surrendered to us by nightfall, you bear the responsibility for an event of a much greater magnitude. You have by nightfall. We will make the transition easy. If you refuse our demand… watch the early morning news."
The bat flapped its monstrous wings and made its exit at full speed through the wide open doorway of the church. Tina and Pastor Stan saw it fly away into the distance.
Trent rushed outside. His eyes were no longer beaming as he approached the car. Tina and the pastor were now standing next to the vehicle with the look of fright on their faces. The child was securely in his mother's arms.
"You're all right!" Tina hugged Trent.
"What…for Heaven's sake…was that thing?" Pastor Stan asked.
"Nothing you'd ever want to meet again," Trent responded, the nauseous feeling gradually leaving him. "Is there somewhere other than here where we can talk?"
"I live in the little house behind the church."
"Let's go," Trent said.
"What happened to you back there?" The pastor asked as they were all quickly walking together. "Your eyes..."
"It's nothing. That happens to me sometimes. It's an abnormality I was born with."
"That's really something… but God sees and knows why He allows such things."
Trent sat at a small, round table with Pastor Stan as Tina resorted to the sofa in the adjacent living room.
"What we witnessed in the church was Satanic," Trent asserted.
"Well, I could see that!" The pastor replied. "What puzzles me is why it was there and what on earth it wanted!"
"I can't get into any details, Pastor, but the long and short of it is… the people or entities associated with that thing are after our baby."
"Your baby? Why on earth for?" The old man glanced over at the child.
Tina looked on.
"For some strange reason they think our child belongs to them," Trent answered. "They want him to be a part of their so-called community and will stop at nothing to strong-arm Tina and me into submission." He paused for a second. "They know we came here to have the baby baptized and that thing you saw in church threatened to take your life if you performed the ceremony."
"My life?" Pastor Stan frowned.
There were a few moments of silence.
"You know… I'm seventy-two years of age. My birthday was last month on the twenty-fifth. I've been a pastor now for the past forty-five years and God has been good to me." He looked over at Foster who was cradled in his mother's arms. "You two have a precious little son there—only God knows the plans He has for him." His eyes met Trent's again. "I know there's a lot you're not telling me for whatever reason, but I can see that you are good people trying to do what you possibly can for your child. I have known Tina for several years and she is a wonderful lady and will make a beautiful bride when you two tie the knot. If I hadn't seen with my own eyes what was there in the church today, I would have found the story very hard to believe. I knew from the moment I saw it that it was inherently evil and was sent from the devil himself. I said all of that to say this… If such wickedness is determined to have your innocent child, there must be something very special about the boy and if my life has to be sacrificed to save his… then God's will be done."
Trent and Tina were astounded by the pastor's grit.
"No one can take anything from me at this point in my journey," he went on. "Little do those bastards know they would be doing me a favor. You see, I was diagnosed with terminal cancer one week ago. Before you came here today, I suspected that the cancer would be the thing to kill me, but how I see it now is any vehicle the Lord allows to get me through those Heavenly gates, I humbly accept. So, we're going ahead with the baptism and don't worry about the threat on my life. As you can see… I have nothing to lose."
"I'm so sorry," Tina interjected.
"Don't be," Pastor Stan told her. "I'm good either way. I would advise you two to fight this battle with faith. There are more with you than there are against you. God will help you."
Trent wasn't sure what to say right then, but he admired the old man's gutsiness.
"Now, you came here for this handsome boy to be baptized." The pastor got up and walked over to the child. "Let me hold him."
"He's kind of heavy," Tina warned him.
"No worries. I'm not dead yet. Although he's a good size little man, I still have a bit of strength left in this body. I won't let him fall."
Tina handed Foster to him. The moment she did, he started crying and shifting about violently.
"Oh, he doesn't like this old geezer!" Pastor Stan exclaimed, quickly returning the child to his mother.
"He's a little grumpy today," Tina said.
"Who wouldn't be grumpy after seeing that thing we saw a while ago? The boy has a right to vent, you know."
Tina smiled.
"Anyway, let's get back over to the sanctuary." He looked at Trent who was still sitting quietly at the table. "I could see you had a bit of a struggle in there. May I pray for you before we go back?"
Those words sounded like music to Trent's ears. "Yes. I'd like that."
The pastor stood next to him, placed his hand on top of Trent's head and prayed earnestly for a barrier of protection to surround him, Tina and the baby. He may have taken a full five minutes before he was finished and afterwards, Trent felt a flood of emotions arise simultaneously, the most dominant of which was gratitude. He was grateful for Tina's unwavering support and also for this godly stranger who pretty much resorted to sacrificing his own life for the sake of a child. With a few tears escaping, Trent felt considerably lighter in spirit.
"Are you all right," Pastor Stan asked.
Trent drove away the tears. "Yes. I'm fine. Thanks."
Tina looked on proudly.
"I'm really sorry about all this," Trent said to him.
The old man patted Trent's shoulder.
"There's no need for sorrow. No one and nothing can steal my joy."
Inside the church for the second time, Trent realized that the nausea and anxiety that assaulted him before had not resurfaced in intensity—although they were not altogether absent. He was holding the baby who appeared highly agitated and for obvious reasons. Tina stood next to him.
"Can we do this quickly?" Trent asked Pastor Stan who was preparing for the ceremony.
"I will do my very best." As he proceeded through the rite of baptism, the baby became more and more aggressive. He kicked and screamed as the sky suddenly turned dark and dreary. Wind started to pick up considerably and within minutes, it was storming out. Trent and Tina instantly suspected their baby's vehement resistance had everything to do with it although they didn't verbalize it. The thunder was loud and frequent, and sparks of lightning intermittently flashed onto the church's interior walls.
"Hold him still," Pastor Stan said firmly as he attempted to sprinkle water onto the child's forehead. As the droplets touched Little Foster's head, a shrieking scream escaped him and his skin immediately turned pale. Tina was watching closely, dreading the sight of her child in utter torment. She saw his beautiful brown eyes turn green, then suddenly—jet black.
As if he didn't notice any of it, the pastor continued. "I baptize thee in the name of The Father and of The Son, and
of The Holy Ghost."
"Something's happening," Tina said. "We have to stop now!"
"Carry on, Pastor," Trent insisted, desperately wanting his son to be much better off than he was.
"It's done. You can take him," Pastor Stan replied, feeling no need to prolong the ceremony as the child's reaction was ferociously intense.
Tina grabbed the child from his father and hurried toward the front door.
"Wait!" Pastor Stan cried. "It's raining too heavily out there." He went into the adjoining room and retrieved a large umbrella. "Take this!" He handed it to Trent. "I will be praying for your family."
"Thank you," Trent said, before they headed into the rain.
"God be with you," Pastor Stan uttered behind them. As he watched them make it inside of their car, on looking up, he noticed across from the church, four hooded, faceless figures standing there in the pouring rain. He quickly closed the double doors and locked them, then hurried over to the altar where he kneeled down to pray.
"He's sick! Really sick!" Tina exclaimed, while cradling the baby in the back seat.
"He'll be okay after a while. You'll see," Trent replied.
The child's cries had died down and the rain had suddenly reverted to a drizzle.
"I hope you're right. If not, we're taking him to the hospital."
Trent's cell went off. It was Deed again.
"The pastor's all right," Trent told him. "We just left there."
"But he's not," Deed responded quite matter-of-factly.
"I know... and so does he." Trent's voice lowered.
"Where are you headed now?"
"We're on our way home. What's up?"
"I'm on the road myself. Give me the directions," Deed said. "I need to tell you something."
Trent gave him the directions.
"Whatever you do, man… keep your family close," Deed felt compelled to say before hanging up.
"I will. See you in a bit."
Little Foster was quietly smacking on his thumb. Tina saw that his color came back and so did the natural shade of his eyes.
Immortals- The Complete Real Illusions Series Page 31
