“That would be me,” he replied in rather heavily accented English.
“I was hoping to ask a few questions about what happened over at Dzialdowo a couple weeks ago.” Mark said taking out his Church identification and showing it to the Priest. “I’m Mark, this is Judith my partner, we’re investigators for the Church, like Bennett and Claude were.”
Father Ryswelski sighed, “That was a very sad evening. Very sad. But why are you here? Mister’s Miles and Harbaugh were already here asking questions.”
“Sorry, I didn’t know that. I’ll have to find their report when I get back to my office. But as long as I’m here anyways,” Mark said and shrugged.
Father Ryswelski nodded. “Well come in and have a seat,” he said standing out of the way of the entry.
Mark and Judith both went in and Father Ryswelski directed them to a couch by the front window. Mark looked around the room as they sat down, it wasn’t very large, there was a small TV, two couches and one rather worn looking easy chair. The two low tables in the room, were also rather old, but sturdy looking. About the only elaborate item in the room was a rather nice cross hanging on the wall above the TV set. Father Ryswelski obviously did not own much, but that wasn’t really much of a surprise to Mark.
“Tea? Coffee?”
“No thanks Father, we’ll try to make this quick. So what was your first clue something was wrong?”
“There was just a sudden overwhelming feeling of evil that spread through the grounds, one instant it wasn’t there, the next it was. Me and Father Niconski immediately started saying blessings, there are a fair number of old stories about things that suddenly turn up in some of these old camps, but no one thought such things were left anymore.
“Then it burst out of one of the old buildings, made a direct line for Mister’s Norman and Stills and attacked them. It came for Father Niconski next, but I had the presence of mind to pull out the Martyr’s Ring then and dismiss it, but sadly not soon enough for Father Niconski.”
“So it happened quickly, no build up, it was just suddenly there,” Mark said.
“Yes, just like that.”
“Why were you there, and at night?” Judith asked.
“I have no idea. Misters Norman and Stills showed up after dinner, they looked very worried. They said we needed to go out there immediately, that something had gone terribly wrong. But when we got there, they looked confused, said something about looking for a flower.”
“There were flowers all over the place,” Judith said. “You sure about that?”
Father Ryswelski shrugged, “I believe that is what I heard.”
“Did you hear them say anything else out of place?” Mark asked. Why in the world would they be looking for flowers? He thought to himself scratching his head.
“No. Nothing that comes to my mind. They expected something to be there I guess, and it was not. Then out came the devil surprising us all.”
He looked at Judith and shrugged, she shrugged right back.
“Well thanks for your time Father.” Mark said standing up, Judith stood as well, following him.
“You’re welcome, after seeing what happened that night I am happy that there are people like you doing this job, and very glad it is not me.”
The Father followed them to the door to show them out and waved as they left.
“I’m surprised you didn’t ask any more questions than that,” Judith said.
He shrugged, “I just wanted to confirm what I already know. That thing wasn’t summoned there.”
“So now what?”
“There’s a Commission office in Warsaw. I guess we go stop in there and see what they can tell us and get caught up on any new events.”
“Do you really think that’s wise?”
“Why would you say that?”
“Won’t they tell your boss?”
“Got a better idea?”
“Call them on your cell phone.”
“I don’t have one,” Mark sighed, “Lost it the other day in that park in Paris.”
“The car has one,” Judith laughed pointing at it as they got into the car.
Mark sighed again, “I must be getting tired. Want to call information for me? I don’t speak Polish.”
“What, you don’t have the gift of tongues?”
“No, but you do. Ask for the number for the office of religious affairs at St. Johns Arch Cathedral in Warsaw.”
Five minutes later Mark was on the phone to an old acquaintance in the offices there.
“John, it’s Mark. I’m looking into Bennett and Claude’s deaths.”
“Ah, I’m not supposed to talk with you, you know.”
“Oh? Why not?” Mark asked surprised.
“Eh, word from the Abbey that you are training a new field agent and are off field assignments for now.”
“Well a phone call hardly qualifies as field work John.”
John laughed on the other end of the phone call, “True, very true. Plus I don’t care much for the dictates of those desk jockeys anyway. What do you need to know?”
“I’m curious as to why they were sent out to Dzialdowo, any idea?”
“Not a one. The call didn’t come from us. The only thing we have going on up there is the monthly blessing.”
“In the report that I got there wasn’t any mention of why they were sent there either.”
“Really? Well that’s strange. I haven’t seen the report myself. Someone slapped a ‘Church Secret’ tag all over it. Did the same for your incident too by the way.”
“Well I was in Spain at the Abbey when I saw it. There were a couple of copies of it floating around.”
“Where are you now?”
“Out getting some air. Have there been any other attacks of late?”
“Miles and Harbaugh got hit, but they were lucky. They’re in the hospital now but they’ll live. However Harbaugh will probably go out on medical retirement and Miles has asked for a leave of absence to recover.”
“When was that?”
“Last night.”
“Shit. Okay. I need to get back to my sick bed. Bye John!”
“Bye.”
"So now what?" Judith asked.
"I have no idea." Mark sighed and shook his head. "It's a twenty four hour drive from here to the Abbey according to the GPS, and we've got three days before Father Flores blows a gasket on me."
“So, head to the Abbey it is.” Judith said.
“Yeah, I guess so...”
It was late and Judith was sleeping in the passenger seat. They'd been on the road for about ten hours at this point and he couldn't stop yawning either.
He knew of a nice little place in Nuremberg that he and Jake used to stop by so he turned the car into the city and headed for it. They might as well sleep in a real bed, not like they were in that much of a rush right now. Plus he could use the time to think about this.
"Where are we?" Judith said waking up as the car stopped for a traffic light.
"Nuremberg. Thought maybe we should spend the night in a room rather than the car. Might as well be comfortable."
"Oh you just can't wait to get your claws into me," Judith laughed while yawning.
"Very funny," Mark dead panned.
Just then the phone on the car rang once, and then stopped.
"What the hell?" Mark said.
"LOOK OUT!"
Mark looked up as Judith yelled and there was a greater demon suddenly in front of them, just like the one he had seen in France.
"Shit!" He yelled and putting the car in reverse floored it, opening up space between him and the devil.
"How did he get here?" Judith asked digging out their kits from the backseat.
"I have no idea."
"Why's he looking around like that?"
"He's confused; it takes them a moment to get their bearings." Mark leaned on the horn then and the devil turned and looked at their car.
"What the hell are you doing?" Judith said shocked
.
"If he runs off now, who knows how many people he'll kill before we find him again!" Mark locked the brakes, killed the engine and opened the door. "He needs to be close before you can use the cross to send him back to Hell, so don't start trying to dismiss him until he's right on top of you. Otherwise we may be spending the next month trying to corner him."
"Damn, now you tell me!" Judith jumped out of the car as Mark did; he was waving his arms and yelling at the damned thing. "Want the cross back?" She asked nervously.
Mark pulled out his own cross and charged the devil before it got fully orientated. The weaker cross wouldn't affect it much, more likely it would just make it mad, which was what he wanted. He needed that thing to chase him and not run off.
He needn't have worried however as the moment it saw him it let out a loud scream, a rather unearthly sound that almost froze him in his tracks and which sent the few onlookers still out at this time of night running away in fear. Back peddling quickly he turned to run. He had forgotten how fast they could move, but was quickly reminded as he was hit from behind and sent flying across the street and into a wall.
He heard the snap as he felt his right arm break, as he made contact with the wall. He'd stretched out to try and gain some kind of control over his flight through the air, but he hadn't realized he'd been hit with such force. At least the wall wasn't magical so his arm started healing right away. He rolled to his feet and looked up just in time to see a clawed hand reaching for his head and was able to quickly dodge that.
However he got hit again with a backhand from the devil that lifted him up and threw him over the car and into the middle of the street.
"Keep him in one place!" Judith was yelling at him.
"Oh sure," Mark groaned and tried to crawl around the back of the car, his head was spinning, the backhand had jolted him and he was trying to regain his balance. Something grabbed him by the leg then and picked him up and then swung him back down, onto the ground.
He felt a lot of bones break on that one! The pain was so great he would have screamed if his jaw hadn't been one of them.
"In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be gone devil! Return to the pits of Hell I command you!"
Mark sighed as he heard the sound of trumpets and the grip on his leg was suddenly gone and he fell to the ground. He could feel his bones slowly knitting themselves back together, and as always, it hurt. A lot.
"Mark, Mark," Judith said running up to him. "Are you okay?"
"I'll live," He groaned, "sadly."
"I thought you said these things were hard to get rid of?"
"I'd like to point out that if I were human I'd be dead right now."
"Oh yeah, forgot. Sorry."
"Without that Cross, we'd both be dead. And that thing focused on me the moment it saw me. It was sent here specifically to kill me. That was why it didn't run amok."
They both heard the phone on the car ring once, then stop.
"Oh my God no..." Mark groaned.
"Get in the car, quick!" Judith yelled and grabbing him under the arm helped drag him to the passenger seat and stuffed him in it enough for him to crawl in the rest of the way as she vaulted the hood and hopped into the driver's seat and fired the engine up. Just as a pair of lesser devils appeared on the hood.
"Same ones as in Paris," Mark noted, still a little dazed.
Judith floored the car then tumbling the two devils to the ground and took off down the street, the doors swinging closed and latching from the force of the acceleration.
"Good, they're following us," She said glancing up in the mirror.
Mark was still trying to compose himself, his body was still healing and he was having trouble focusing. Plus Judith was slamming the car around corners like a deranged stock car driver.
The car shuddered and he heard a loud scrapping followed by the sound of metal shearing. "Don't worry, it'll buff out," Judith mumbled.
Mark tried to fumble for the seat belt but was thrown up against the door. Judith must have hit a straightaway then because he heard the engine open up and growl loudly.
"You okay Mark?" She yelled at him.
"Getting there," Mark groaned as his crushed ankle started to regenerate. That one was going painfully slow, his body was reaching its limit he suspected. One of the problems of having been turned and not born a were. But at least he was alive.
The phone rang again...
"Fuck! Can't you turn that thing off?" Judith yelled at him. Mark took his gun out and put a bullet through the head unit.
"There it’s off!" He yelled.
"Whatever works. We only picked up a third one. I guess they're getting weaker.
"Or moving targets are harder." Mark said panting; his body was suddenly very thirsty so pulling out the holy water he started drinking.
"You can drink that?" Judith said surprised.
"Its water isn't it?" He said still panting. Turning around in the seat he could see the three devils were keeping up with them.
"They're not that far behind us."
"I don't want to lose them," Judith said. "Like you said, we can't let them run amok."
He grabbed the seat tight as she swerved around some traffic then, good thing it was late.
"So what's the plan?"
"Look for an overpass, or better yet a tunnel. Someplace we can stop really fast, group them up, and try to dismiss them all in one shot."
"Think it'll work?"
"Might as well try." Mark said his head clearing. "Give me the cross. They're probably after me still. So at least I can get them in close."
Judith nodded and quickly pulled it over her head with one hand and tossed it to him.
It hit the window then, and shattered it, and went right outside.
"Fuck!" Mark swore and dove out after it, changing forms as he did.
He realized his mistake as soon as he leapt from the car, but he had no choice, they needed that cross! He hit the ground in a tangle of clothing, which thankfully was quickly ripped from his body, the devils all speeding by him as he heard the loud sound of tires squealing as Judith locked up the brakes on the car.
He stopped rolling, but was still sliding, the remaining bits of his clothing being ripped from his cougar form, his claws quickly getting filed down as he tried to dig them in and stop his sliding. He could feel his paw pads turning into chop meat.
He saw a glint of metal; the cross was still sliding as well! Scrambling against his momentum he finally got control of his body and ran to the cross, grabbing it with his mouth as something tackled him.
Or tried to at least, his side got raked but he was able to twist and turn out of it. His cougar body was unnaturally strong and limber, even if he was running on bloody paws right now. He saw the AMG heading back right at him and suddenly he had a lot of sympathy for road kill. Jumping to the left Judith locked the brakes up again and spun the car sideways, hitting the two devils chasing him and sending one of them flying while running over the other.
The other one was still chasing the car then and actually started to attack it, using those strong claws to shed the metal. Judith jumped out then and ran to him, grabbing the cross out of his muzzle. She quickly dismissed all three of them then leaving him a panting bloody mess on the side of the road.
The AMG however had faired much worse. The third devil had pretty much torn it to pieces before Judith had gotten rid of it.
"On my God! I'm so sorry! I'm sorry Mark!" She started babbling.
Mark growled, she kept babbling, he growled louder.
No effect.
He rolled to his feet and screamed then, his paws were healing very slowly.
Judith shut up.
He limped over to the car and nosed at the remaining overnight bag, Judith's apparently, his was nowhere in sight. Judith got the idea and grabbed it and the small pouch holding what was left of Rafael's money. Then he started limping slowly back the way they had come.
Thankfully she
was silent.
He found the tattered remains of his jacket. Thankfully his passport, Interpol ID, and badge had survived. But that was it.
"I'm sorry Mark, really. I shouldn't have tossed the cross to you."
"Obviously you were meant to wear it," He said. Or tried to at least. Talking as a cat was pretty much impossible, though he could talk to another werecougar. It was their very own private language. Not one that humans could understand.
"Maybe you're right; let me put it back on."
Mark rolled his eyes and looked up at the stars. It figured. Gift of tongues. He should have known.
"What I really want to know is how it had managed to not only shatter safety glass, but go through it!" he said ending it with a growl.
"I... I hadn't thought about that." Judith said surprised.
"Just like you haven't thought about how you can understand me?"
Judith laughed, "Oh no, I get that, gift of tongues!" She looked around. "Where are we going?"
"Away from that wreck. The police will find it, report it, and note there was no one there. Maybe our enemy will think we're dead."
"Or maybe he'll think we ran away."
"Either one leaves us alone."
"Are you going to change back?"
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"I'm too hurt, too tired, and too weak. But worst of all," He sighed.
"Yes?"
"I don't have any clothes to wear."
Judith started to laugh so hard then that Mark was sorely tempted to commit homicide. Surely they'd understand?
12
When sunrise came they found a small inn off the side of the road. Judith went in and got a room, then opened the window so Mark could jump inside once the coast was clear.
"Order me lots of food when the kitchen opens. Or send out for it." He growled and curling up on the side of the bed he stuck his nose under his tail and passed out.
It was dark outside when he woke back up. Judith was snuggled up against him, face buried in his chest fur with a heavy blanket pulled up over the two of them. He couldn't help himself and started to purr at that point, thinking about his wife Charity. She loved to sleep like this, and he could never refuse her. Heck he couldn't refuse any of them anything.
The Hammer Commission Page 14
