by Greg Ballan
"Easy Martin. When it comes to confronting Lazarus, let me do the heavy lifting." Erik placed a friendly hand on the elder agent's shoulder. "Lazarus' power levels are super human. He's not someone or something we should take lightly. Let's get the whole story from our church allies before we hunt this thing down."
Erik and Martin waited until the priest was dragged away, loudly swearing and cursing his captives. Erik was about to speak but the Archbishop waved him off with a gesture.
"Take five guards and round up everyone Bashir mentioned. Call Mother Superior Agnes and inform her she has a den of whores inside her walls. Give her the names and let her round up those harlots. Throw them all in the basement cells with Bashir. We'll sort out that mess later."
"We don't have enough room, your grace."
"Double or triple bunk them. I am not overly concerned with their comfort, Bishop O'Malley. I want them imprisoned and the leak of Vatican intelligence plugged."
"I'd strongly suggest you screen all of your staff, Archbishop. I got the impression when we escorted Bashir out of his cozy love nest there were more guilty parties than we have names. By now everyone knows a battle was fought here and the side of Light prevailed." Denton pointed toward Erik. "They know we have Bashir and they know Timulty had his brains scattered across the courtyard. Any fool with eyes can see the aftermath of Erik's confrontation and God only knows how many other souls heard the words of that wraith in their heads. The evil rats know the jig is up and they'll be fleeing Vatican City in droves."
Erik nodded in agreement. "Martin's right. The impressions were loud and clear as Timulty and Bashir did their 'Perp Walk'. Several priests gave off impressions of panic and guilt. You need to do a thorough housecleaning and apprehend anyone trying to leave the city without a valid reason."
The Archbishop nodded. "A prudent suggestion. Bishop O'Malley, inform our guards at the gate that anyone attempting to leave the premises be detained for questioning. I'm going to report to our Holy Father and recommend Vatican City be put on lock down until we can sort the guilty from the innocent." The old man rose slowly and was escorted to the door. He turned quickly. "Bring Agent Knight up to speed on the fabric he discovered, and the results of the blood tests." The old man sighed. "And tell him the story of Lazarus. If that abomination is behind the murder and theft, then we need to find him as soon as possible. It's time we dealt with that disgrace as well. Lazarus has been a loose cannon long enough and we've let him run freely out of some sense of shame. That too ends today. What he did to our chapel is beyond the bounds and I want to send his decayed soul where it belongs—to Hell! We're at war my brethren, and it appears the rules of Eternal Engagement have been violated and we've all been played for suckers. We need to adapt and get in the game before Molec wrests this world from either side. We'd better start behaving more like soldiers than pampered holy men."
"Someone put a bee in the Archbishop's bonnet," Denton whispered as be picked up copies of the lab reports from the Vatican and his CIA source in Rome. Denton slid both folders toward his young friend. "This makes for some interesting reading and corroborates our undead theory."
Erik skimmed through the pages shaking his head in disbelief. "Low hemoglobin and iron count, no white blood cells, and abnormal blood platelets. The other samples from the victims tested as normal human blood." The detective tossed the report back on the table and looked at Bishop O'Malley. "What about the fabric?"
O'Malley took a deep breath. "We gave your sample to one of our more knowledgeable clergy and he knew the fabric. It was mentioned in some of his earlier readings. It's not a naturally occurring fiber on this planet."
Erik raised an eyebrow. "Okay. So what planet does this mystery fiber come from?"
"We don't know. It shouldn't exist here. How it got here, we simply don't know."
Erik lightly banged the table, shaking his head in frustration.
O'Malley ignored the detective's outburst and continued. "They are called talithum fibers. It's a material designed to mask both holy and evil essence. This is how Lazarus was able to enter consecrated ground and move about with no ill effect. He was shrouded in a garment of pure talithum fiber. I can only assume he put the cross in a sack of the same substance to mask its presence. This also explains how a creature as vile as a nosferatu could penetrate our grounds without being vaporized."
Erik rubbed his fingers across his unshaven cheek and chin. "So they've made a protective stealth suit." He looked over at Martin, "Do we know anything about this mystery fabric's chemical composition? Is it a natural fiber, or some kind of synthetic material?"
"The DaVinci Science Department in Rome ran the fabric through a mass spectrometer while you were in the hospital and I'm afraid to say they couldn't identify any familiar components." Denton slid another report toward Erik.
Erik picked up the report and studied it. He let his mind absorb all the data. He planned on questioning Jakor when he was alone. Hopefully his warrior counterpart had some experience with this type of fabric during their protracted conflict. "Bishop O'Malley, the Archbishop mentioned rules of conflict. Do the rules allow the use of foreign substances such at this? Can you elaborate on these rules and the players? It would help to know all of the pieces in play on this chessboard."
O'Malley shrugged his shoulders. "I am not versed on the rules of Ethereal conflict, Mr. Knight. The Archbishop or the Holy Father will have to answer your question."
Erik nodded. "Okay then, tell us about Lazarus. I'm sure Mr. Denton wants to hear the tale as much as I do."
Bishop O'Malley tilted his head forward. "It's not a tale we're proud of, Detective."
"I'm not going to judge, Your Excellency. But Lazarus appears to have touched a delicate nerve with the Archbishop and he's now our prime suspect in William Denton's murder and the murder of his two friends. I'm going to do the Archbishop a very big favor. I'm going to hunt Lazarus down and anyone affiliated with our renegade priest/vampire/ghoul or whatever the hell he's become."
O'Malley began the story. "In the late 1800s, the Church was very powerful and exerted a great deal of force and influence in the world. The methods of the Church at the time were often strict and intolerant of those who did not share its views. Lazarus was a product of those beliefs and practices and came to the Vatican in the early 1900s as an upper middle-aged cleric, ripe with his staunch conservatism. There were rumblings of change inside the hierarchy as Vatican City was being contemplated as an autonomous entity. The members of the Papacy and the College of Cardinals considered sweeping changes to make the Church more inclusive and less rigid in certain teachings and practices.
"Lazarus was a loud voice of dissent against these changes and his voice carried a great deal of weight and influence among many of the other clergy, even those at the highest level. Lazarus' knowledge of scripture and church law was borderline supernatural. But more important the man was a natural born Orator. "
Denton shook his head. "Politics."
O'Malley nodded. "Sadly yes. Lazarus began an active and vocal campaign against the council's ruling members and to the dismay of the Papal leadership, he was beginning to sway people to his position and there was momentum to elevate Lazarus into the College of Cardinals. If that occurred, he'd be in a position to influence the Holy Father and his council against the progressive movement the cardinals were trying to bring about."
"So the Church destroyed one of their own," Erik surmised.
O'Malley nodded. "Yes. Several local women of ill repute were paid to say that Father Lazarus had been carrying on intimate relations in direct violation of his oath of orders. Lazarus was able to refute those accusations but his image had been tarnished. Despite that, it was not enough to end his influence. A few weeks later the Bishops' Council paid a young woman to come forward and claim that Lazarus was the father of her bastard child. She told a compelling story of Lazarus forcing himself upon her in a confessional. Since the Bishops' Council was the church body that heard th
ese matters, Lazarus was as good as finished. Despite his pleas and spirited defense, the Council expelled Lazarus. As the shamed priest was escorted out of the Vatican he swore vengeance upon the Church."
"That gives Lazarus motive, but not the means. How was he turned? I can't imagine there's a vampire on every corner in Italy." Erik looked over at the Bishop. "Or is there?"
"No. Lazarus spoke out vocally at local parishes against the changes being discussed in the Church, shouting down the local priests and deacons. We received enough complaints from local parishes that we sent our guards to find Lazarus and drive him out of Rome for good. Lazarus was expelled forcefully from a church and physically beaten by the guards. They stripped him bare and dumped his body in a refuse pit outside of Rome."
"A rather harsh punishment for speaking out against the religious establishment." Denton sipped a glass of water shifting uncomfortably in his seat.
"By today's standards, yes. Dissent wasn't tolerated back then, Mr. Denton. You were either a true son of the Church or you were a rebel. Lazarus chose to be a rebel, and his honeyed tones and words were able to sway many commoners and spiritual leaders to his cause. The Church deemed him a threat and acted as was appropriate during those times." O'Malley sighed before continuing his tale.
"Lazarus was wild with anger and humiliation. He fled Rome and found shelter in a nearby farming community. The shamed priest began speaking out against the Church and painting the papacy and all holy officials as corrupt and vile. He also took a liking to a local vintage of wine fermented by the small family vineyards." O'Malley sighed again. "That was his undoing. He got drunk one evening and fell to temptation. A young prostitute offered him the pleasures of her body and Lazarus, in a drunken stupor, accepted. He had her several times before he passed out and when he awoke, he found himself in a basement chained to the floor. He cried out for help but was there for several days. On the third day, the girl who seduced him entered his cell and gave him food and water. She mocked him, a fallen priest, one of the most holy now speaking out against his keepers. She tormented him for many days, countering the speeches he made against the devil and evil. At that point, Lazarus realized he'd been set up. The woman he bedded was a vampire and she'd brought a priest into her lair for all her brethren and sisters to torture and feed upon."
Denton gasped. "That's horrible!"
O'Malley nodded. "Indeed. They tortured Lazarus, raped, sodomized, and humiliated him in every conceivable manner. They told him over and over again that the Church had ordered this and condoned it. Lazarus cried out to God for mercy and release, begging God for forgiveness but his cries went unheeded. For several days and nights this went on. They fed on him and tortured him. Before Lazarus' body finally succumbed to the torment, he cursed God, the Church, and everything holy for his betrayal and abandonment. Before Lazarus died they turned him. In one final act of defilement, they made him one of them, an undead, a living mockery, a holy man turned into the very thing he'd decried all of his life. Lazarus would be a walking undead affront to the God and the Church he spent a lifetime serving."
Erik shook his head in stunned disbelief. "How utterly tragic. He was betrayed by the very thing he believed in and the forces of darkness used that against him."
"Lazarus was freed and returned to Rome and began attacking churches and holy men in outlying parishes. We sent soldiers to stop him, but they were all butchered like cattle. Lazarus made no attempt to hide his identity. He wanted us to know who committed the atrocities. We searched for his lair as he slept but never found him. The attacks continued on and off for five decades. Church men were attacked and innocent parishioners slaughtered in the dark hours. Lazarus told people who fled he was punishing us for abandoning him and condemning him to his unholy fate. Finally one evening he attacked a church with an aggressive pastor, who drenched Lazarus in holy water and oil. He shrieked in agony and fled into the night. The weakened vampire was caught hiding in a barn to avoid the sunrise. We locked him in the basement of an old convent just outside Vatican City until we could decide how best to interrogate him and finally dispose of him."
"I imagine he wasn't too cooperative." Erik leaned back assessing the incredible tale.
O'Malley nodded. "When a human is turned, Detective, the soul is diminished and something else shares the shell of flesh, something unholy. Lazarus, or what was left of him after the transformation, went completely insane. He had become what he despised most of all in the world and he was condemned to suffer with that change for all eternity, a literal Hell on Earth for what was left of his human soul. Whatever beef Lazarus had with the Church, he didn't deserve such a fate. We tried to reach the human part of him and even tried to exorcize the demon within him, but it was impossible. His body had changed and there was nothing we could do. Even if we could have driven out the demon, Lazarus' soul was half destroyed and his body was already dead. No matter what we said, he was beyond reason. His hate for the Church and its body fueled his irrational rage and the beast dwelling within him only made the hatred that much worse. It was decided that he would be put down and spared further suffering. We couldn't have him spreading more chaos and blood across Italy."
Erik's eyebrow rose. "I gather that didn't go too well since he's still out and about causing mayhem."
"On the third day of his captivity, we went to drive a stake through him. When we approached the building, the door was open. The two guards were dead and Lazarus was gone. He could not have escaped alone. We had been keeping him weakened with holy prayers and oils. Someone or something aided his escape. We believe the nest of hell spawn that turned him heard of his capture and decided to keep their travesty alive." O'Malley poured a glass of water, drank deeply, then wiped his brow. "Over the next several decades we'd heard stories of atrocities committed around the world by Lazarus to churches in Spain, England, America and Brazil. Lazarus always left thirty small silver coins as his trademark to announce himself to the world, to let us know he was still out there wreaking havoc."
Denton tilted his head trying to comprehend the message.
"Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver," Erik explained. "He's taking the betrayal theme a bit far." The detective frowned. "Did Lazarus leave his calling card in the chapel? We didn't come across any coins. Did you find any when you first discovered the crime scene?"
"No. Had we found them, we would have known who committed the atrocity."
Erik ran his fingers through his long hair, forcing some stray locks from his face. "He was hired then—just a stooge. If Lazarus' grudge against the church is as bad as you're making it, our unseen adversary, Molec, used him as a patsy to steal that prize. From what you've told us, I gather Lazarus isn't a great intellect, even though he's a persuasive speaker. If he's hell bent on leaving money as his calling card, he probably has little regard for it and therefore can't afford the wealth it would take to acquire the specialized stealth weaponry he used to infiltrate Vatican City. The fact that this nosferatu creature had a similar covering ties Molec and the clandestine forces of both planes—earthly and ethereal—to this crime." Erik looked over at the bishop. "Unless these wraithlike creatures are running around going 'bump in the night' as well?"
O'Malley nodded. "No, the nosferatu all serve Molec and from what we know, they are kept on short leashes. Your hypothesis pretty much agrees with what our sources in Washington told us. But it's nice to have the facts all laid out and tied up in a neat bow. Now what do we do about this? I'm sure the Holy Father and his staff are coordinating something with our forces in an effort to recover our treasured relic and hunt down Lazarus. Lazarus can lead us to the relic and possibly to Molec."
The detective shook his head, staring at his friend as the realization came to him. "Martin, I have a funny feeling we aren't going to find Lazarus."
A cacophony of emotions played across Denton's face. The old man's hand balled into a tight fist. He too came to the same conclusion as his mind processed the facts. "No loose en
ds! Son of a bitch, you're probably right!"
O'Malley tilted his head. "I'm afraid you gentlemen lost me."
"It's simple, Bishop O'Malley. If you paid someone to do a job for you and they botched it by committing multiple murders, thereby potentially exposing you and your operation, are you going to risk having that person run around freely? If you had employed someone like Lazarus, would you trust him to keep your business relationship confidential after the stunt he just pulled here?" Denton paused giving the bishop time to digest his scenario.
O'Malley's face paled. "They killed him as soon as they got the relic, to keep him from talking, just in case we apprehended him."
"As soon you called me and I called Agent Knight, Lazarus was living on borrowed time." Denton frowned. "At least that's the approach I'd take given the circumstances. Either Lazarus was killed by Molec's forces or by someone from the other dark side in retaliation for the theft."
"How can we verify that Lazarus has, in fact, been eliminated?"
"We'll stop by DC and have a little off-the-books chat with Speaker Collins. I'm sure Special Agent Knight can convince him to shed some light on this issue." Denton's tone was a cold and lethal.
Erik nodded. "The good padre gave us some names. Let's start shaking those trees and see what kind of fruit falls off the limbs."
"Tread lightly, gentlemen," O'Malley warned. "These men are involved in far higher stakes than just murder and corruption. They're dealing with powers and conflicts that transcend humankind—things no man should be involved with. Cross them and you risk confronting more dark horrors."
Erik nodded. "Duly noted. Our friends in Washington are playing with the worst kind of fire, Martin, and I believe we're about to get burned because of it. Molec has to be stopped. If his sphere of influence is such that he's able to orchestrate a ruse so vast it can confound both God and Satan, we need to tread lightly and carefully."
