Howl of the Heavens ch.21

    Deep in the forest upon the mountain a down pour in the bleak blackness slowly brings Mike back to consciousness. He gets up and remembers the horror that brought him there and left him in the dirt.

 

    He thinks to himself, “That demon left me for dead, that it’s mistake.”

 

    He stands to his feet realizing just then how dark it had become.

 

    “I will kill it next time.” He vows to himself out laud.

 

    He checks himself over and aside from a bump on the head he seems to be okay. He spies the broken Golem slayer on the forest floor picking it up,

 

     “Little good this thing did for me.” And tosses it down the rocky edge where his gun had fallen down before.

 

     He decides he had better head back to the Jones’ and make a new plan tomorrow.

 

    As Mike approaches the Jones’ house he witnesses a very strange sight, a sheriff’s truck is out side and a man he has never seen before is helping Father Henry put Jeff Jones and Nick Jones into the vehicle. They appear to be either dead or unconscious. He rushes over to see what is happening.

 

    Father Henry spots him approaching and yells out, “Brother Mike it is horrible! Versa attacked and we arrived too late.”

 

    Mike asks, “Are… are they dead?”

 

    “No but they are in bad shape, we need to get them to the church, and our selves included before Versa or worse her and Rhuen return to finish the job, which they will assuredly do to keep Jeff and Nick from telling what they saw when they come to.”  

 

    “Tell!?” interjects Peter, “My son’s tongue is missing and his hands have been severed, and who knows what that demon bitch did to Dad, his ear is missing and his face is scorched. It’s a fucking miracle their even alive!”

 

     Mike says to Father Henry, “Who is this cop and what did you tell him?” Peter hadn’t heard Mike as he was too busy lying down Jeff and Nick comfortably and securely in the back of the truck.

 

    Father Henry says to Mike, “That’s my grandson Brother Peter; he is also a member of our order Brother Mike.”  

 

     Peter turns around and says, “And you must be Mike King, a senior werewolf hunter of the order.”

 

    Mike is about to speak when Peter says, “Get in we can discuss this on the way.”

 

    The ride back to the church is dark with the absence of street lights in the stormy night. Peter is driving with Henry beside him and Mike in the back seat with Jeff and Nick secured in the back of the Sheriff’s truck.

 

    The Silence is broken by Peter, “Mike King, after I heard you were here in my reports at my office I looked you up in the Order’s databases and found out all about you.”

 

    “So” Mike says, “My record is spotless.”

 

    Peter quickly looks back at him in the review mirror with a stern look in his eyes and continues, “You are a werewolf hunter who has until now never hunted with in a town or so close to one, your hunts have always been at least twenty miles from the nearest town on an Order camp site or your own, in the deep forest, the high desert, the deep jungle, or an isolated island. If not for the miraculous coincidence you stayed at the home of an order member’s father, not to mention a man also the son of another order member then you could have easily exposed us with your actions. It may have escaped your notice but this is the United States.”

 

    Mike gives him a quizzical look and says, “What difference does that make, we are the Order of the Knights of the Golden Cross.”

 

    “WE are a secret group with absolutely NO political power or jurisdiction here,” says Peter in an even angrier tone, “if we were found out we could be deported, exposed, or secretly locked up never to see the light of day again by any one of the several secret groups that hold political and economic powers in this country, not one of which is on good terms with our order. YOU really need to read up on the protocol for these types of situations, especially considering you are now in official police reports as asking questions to people whose livestock have been stolen and have been pointed at by the Mayor’s office in Brooksville as the one who started up a werewolf scare. You’re also likely in the reports that Zoologist Samantha York made for her investigation here. And on top of that because of your blatant un-called for harassing of Versa and Rhuen a civilian residence, my father’s residence, was attacked by this demon!”

 

    Mike didn’t respond he only thought to himself, “So Versa, the female attacked the house. Damned monsters and this rookie who has likely never had any field experience telling me what to do. This IS a war after all, and these are high class opponents. He is just letting his emotions get the better of him.”

 

    “We have to destroy these monsters,” Mike says to Peter, “I haven’t been harassing them I have been trying to kill them.”

 

    Before Peter can say anything Father Henry starts talking, “During World War II I was one of the few field operatives of the order that hadn’t been captured by the Germans or Mussolini’s fascist government to be forced to work in their occult groups as I am an American and hadn’t gone to Europe until I was drafted. In France I was contacted by an underground sub-group of the Order that had escaped and learned that the Germans were trying to find a vampire by the name of Count Fontaine that lived in northern France in some ruins of an old castle. We had gone to investigate when we encountered Rhuen. We don’t have time for the whole story so I will keep this short, He destroyed several mystically enhanced German soldiers and tore apart that vampire, we were then ordered to destroy him.”

 

     “So what happened?” Mike asked after Father Henry paused while looking down with a troubled look on his face.

 

     Henry answered, “I don’t want to go into the specifics of it, let’s just say he couldn’t be killed and it didn’t end well. It was after this I told the order about the legend and how Versa in the legend resembled Rhuen. They had me keep an eye on her and to confirm if she is one. I recorded her one day on my video camera and the higher ups confirmed she is a Dire, and I have been here watching her ever since.”

 

     The rest of the ride to the church was dead silence with Father Henry looking out the window with a worried look on his face.

 

    As they approach the church they see Paul waiting on the porch under the over-hang out of the rain.

 

   Father Henry says, “I called Paul so he would also be safe incase they hold the whole family responsible.”

 

    Together the whole group heads inside the church and up to the second floor carrying Nick and Jeff up with them. Once inside they set Nick and Jeff on a bed in the small bedroom off from the main upstairs area that Father Henry spends most his time in.

 

    “Well this is it,” says Father Henry, “they attacked the house and when they return to finish the job they will un-dubitably follow the scent back here especially since every one that knows what’s going on is here. And I have placed special wards around the church as a safety measure, although I can not guarantee they will work as they have never been used for these Dire creatures, but it shouldn’t be a problem.”

 

    Peter sits up right and stands as a thought shoots through his mind, “Samantha, she knows about these creatures.”

 

    “Not every one who knows about these creatures is here!” shouts out Peter, “there still is that Zoologist Samantha York, they might go after her too.” With that he quickly rushes out the door and into his truck and driving off into the night.  

 

    Mike turns to Father Henry, “This situation has gotten more dangerous than we can handle with what we have. We should call in the Elite Paladins.”

 

     “No we can’t call them in.” Father Henry says with a shake of his head.

 

   Paul sitting down with his arms crossed across his girth and says, “Okay grandpa cryptic, exactly why can’t your Medieval Knights of the Round table or what ever role playing name they like to go by come here? Huh?”

 

    Father Henry turns to his grandson and says in a somber tone, “The Elite Paladins can’t come here because they are currently trying to keep the world from plunging into Hell.”