Howl of the Heavens ch.25&26

    Father Henry leans over and whispers to Peter so that Samantha can not hear, “You left before I could tell you, we are unable to get any extra help out here, I have tried several times to convince the higher ups that our situation is getting beyond our control but they insist that a problem in the Middle East is getting worse and needs their full attention.”

 

    “So,” says Peter in an angry whisper “That just leaves us where we already were anyway. Except we are trapped in a church with two or more ancient demonic beasts somewhere outside that may or may not attack us at any time.”

 

    He looks over to see if Samantha heard any thing, she has gone back to looking out the window and has her arms crossed. “I think it would be best,” says Peter, “if we told her about what is really going on.”

 

    “We can’t do that, it would betray every thing we stand for and besides her knowing more than she needs to would put her in even more danger.”

 

    “She has already seen one of them, she tested samples from them, and she will definitely figure it out when we are attacked. So we might as well tell her what’s going on.”

 

    As Peter is walking over to Samantha she looks up and sees the gold cross pin on his collar with gold wings and halo, “The Order of the Knights of the Golden Cross.” She says as though reciting some forgotten dream.

 

   This stops Peter in his tracks and looks back at Father Henry who looks at Peter suspiciously, and all Peter can do is shrug and mouth “I didn’t do it.”

 

   Peter asks Samantha, “Where did you here that name?”

 

    “So that’s a real group?” she asks.

 

    Paul interrupts and points at Father Henry, Peter, and Mike while saying, “yeah these three and about a million other stupid monster hunting priests.”

 

    Peter is about to say something to Samantha when her eyes suddenly glaze over and she begins to speak in a deep terrifying voice, “They are the Order of the Knights of the Golden Cross.”

 

    Then she turns her head as though talking to someone to her right and says in a second yet more feminine deep voice, “Well that certainly is a long winded name.”

 

   Moments before on the ridge Versa using her mental link ability is spying on the goings on inside the church through Samantha. She hears Samantha say the name The Order of the Knights of the Golden Cross, and this causes her to inadvertently alter her connection with Samantha as she turns to Rhuen and asks, “Who are these order guys.”

 

    Rhuen creates a mental connection with Versa so as to send her mental images with the story and says, “They are the Order of the Knights of the Golden Cross.”

 

    “Well that certainly is a long winded name.”

 

    “Long ago during the middle ages in Europe the Catholic church saw that the pagan faiths and other beliefs used magic to defeat evil spirits and their people confirmed the existence of none human beings who they perceived as evil because they for the most part didn’t care about humans or would actively hunt humans. They created many groups to hunt witches, vampires, werewolves, and torture people of other faiths; eventually over time these groups changed with the times most becoming lesser groups that mostly just do exorcisms. These priests are much like the cliché priests often seen in movies who act like they know every thing and always have the answer like in that movie the Exorcist.”

 

    “Movie?” she asks

 

   “Yeah moving pictures,” he continues, “television, small electronic box with talking and moving images.”

 

    “Oh yeah I had one of those a long time ago that some hikers forgot at their campsite, it went dead after awhile and nothing on it was very interesting just some shows with out any colors that seemed to do nothing but teach moral lessons for humans.”

 

    “They have changed since then as it seems you are describing something from a few decades ago as they have color now and are mostly just sex and violence, in other words more entertaining.”

 

    Rhuen stops for a moment with a curious look on his face and says, “Any way as I was saying these order guys are basically a secret group that seems to think the Holy Roman Empire never ended and seek to either control or destroy all magic and what they perceive as monsters.”

 

    Versa suddenly realizes this whole time while they were talking she was projecting to Samantha which means she was saying every thing she and Rhuen were saying, so she disconnects the mental link.

 

     Inside the church Father Henry, Peter, and Mike stared in shock as Samantha seemed to be speaking on behalf of two separate beings. After a short dialogue Samantha’s eyes went back to normal and she regained control of her self.

 

    “Do you know what just happened?” Peter asks Samantha.

 

    “I could hear myself talk but I couldn’t control it.” She says shaking her head.

 

    Peter says in an attempt at a calming tone, “This may come as a shock but the giant animals you have been looking for are actually intelligent demons and we are certain they will attack us, it’s only a matter of time.”

 

    Samantha thinks back to the encounter in her room and thinks, “That was Versa I could hear her voice in my head as I talked as well as the same voice as that black fox from my dream.”

 

    Father Henry interrupts her train of thought, “They must be nearby and messing with us since they can’t enter here, a normal demon couldn’t do such a thing through the barrier I made around the church so it seems I was right; these are fallen angels; which is why they are able to control people like that even through a barrier.”

 

(26)

 

    “What just happened is a good sign that they will likely attack tonight.” Said Peter, “and we need to arm ourselves if we hope to stand a chance.”

 

    “Father Henry does have weapons down stairs,” says Mike, “I don’t know how useful they will be. the weapon he gave me was useless against that demon bastard Rhuen.”

 

    “What are you talking about Mike?”

 

    “Not long ago Father Henry gave me a golem slayer sword from the stash below, and told me about a gargoyle to the south, which I easily destroyed with the golem slayer. It didn’t work on Rhuen, then again that gargoyle was badly injured.”

 

     Samantha thinks to herself, “Giant fox’s with magic powers and now a gargoyle, I am in the fucking twilight zone.”

 

    “The gargoyle,” Father Henry says, “I asked you to take it out as I could no longer do that myself, and you seemed like you needed something to do. I didn’t mean for you to go after Rhuen, that weapon would never have worked on such a creature. But some of its powers should have caused some damage, as for that gargoyle It was the Dire that hurt it. I don’t know which one or if both did it, but not long ago I saw the gargoyle land on the other side of the mountains only to be propelled out of there, through my telescope I could see it had been badly damaged and didn’t look like it was in control more like it had been thrown. And Brother Mike speaking of the golem slayer… what happened to it?”

 

    Mike answered, “I tried to call up its supreme spell but Rhuen destroyed it, cut the thing in half in fact. I also lost my custom made gun down a rocky ledge.”

 

    Samantha thinks, “Dire, that’s an awfully wolfish name for a fox like creature and I guess this Rhuen must be the black furred male.”

 

    After hearing Father Henry and Mike’s story Peter has a sickening feeling and thinks, “Gargoyles are practically invincible and these Dire things tore one up and tossed it across the sky. Then one easily with stood a blast from a golem slayer and cut a sword designed to destroy a nearly invincible monster in two and there are two of these things out there fully grown and two younger ones that may attack at any moment or are just waiting for us to leave the barrier. We can’t stay here forever we will need food eventually and we have jobs to get to.”

 

    Peter says aloud to the others, “We can’t stay here forever we will need to arm our selves, grandpa we are going to need those weapons downstairs in the basement. Do you have anything that might help us?”

 

    Father Henry says, “Yes I believe I might have some weapons that could help if only a little, enough should we need to run.”    

 

    Father Henry, Peter, Paul, and Mike head down stairs leaving only Samantha York behind who told them she would keep and eye on Jeff and Nick, “besides” she thought to herself, “I am not in your secret society, and something tells me I might be safer off than you guys.”

 

    An Image of Versa came to mind as she thought.

 

    Down stairs Father Henry opens the secret wall panel and floor panel with the weapons in them and says, “Here are the weapons I keep in case of a situation like this.”

 

    Paul says to him, “So do you have a missile launcher in case trucks come to life like in the old movies where the old guy always has some weapons around in case of some crazy situation?”

 

    Up stairs Samantha sits down as her stomach and lower back start to hurt a little and she feels like she has a headache and maybe a fever coming on.