~
Josh looked at the printed out reports and calls they've been getting lately from locals about strange noises at night especially in dark places and a lot of people acting real weird at night or stalking for no reason.
"How do we deal with all these reports?." Chief Anthony asked Josh.
"I honestly don't know Chief." Josh replied.
"Do you really believe all that bullshit that charlatan spat.?" He asked.
"Not really but I think the earlier we start seeing this case for what it really entails, the better." Josh replied as he dropped the last complaint file down.
"Call Kol in, ask him to start working on this immediately." The Chief said.
"Alright sir." Josh said and turned to leave.
Josh immediately took an elevator at the west wing and went straight to the parking lot. Stepping out of the elevator, he walked towards his car and got in. He dialed Kol's number and turned on his car while the line rang till Kol picked up.
"Hey brother." Kol said over the phone.
"Watsup, the Chief said I should call you in, concerning the recent complaints in town." He said as he started to drive out.
" I'm kinda busy right now though, but let's meet up later or tomorrow and talk about it." Kol replied.
"Alright." Josh said and ended the call.
He stopped the car in front of the building and tapped his fingers on his steering in deep thoughts. He then remembered Leya's advice.
"You should approach her in an unofficial manner.......as a friend." Her words rang in his ears.
"Yeah, I should do that." He muttered to himself.
He stepped on it and drove towards her destination, he had heard from Mr Andrew that she recently lost her mother, he'll visit her on that ground and see how she was doing. He continued to drive and felt a lot better since he could come up with something.
****************************************
Riya sat on the couch in the living room watching a show on TV while Rick was on his phone. Voleth Meir and Elijah had stepped out to God knows where, but Riya was sure Voleth Meir had gone to her Lair to get something in Elijah's company.
She continued to watch the show as she put her thoughts aside for the moment and smiled at something the woman on the show said. There was suddenly a knock on the door and she got up from the couch and walked towards the door but stopped when she peeked through the window to see who was at the door and remembered how she looked, she immediately signalled Rick to go open the door while she did something with her look.
"I don't think that's a problem, you can just tell him it's your new look." Rick whispered.
"What about my eyes?." She whispered back.
"It could be contact lens." He whispered back while the person kept knocking.
"It becomes more hard to keep on a low when you hide it." He added.
Riya stepped forward and opened the door slightly and smiled at the officer while the man was obviously taken aback for a moment.
"Oh hello." He said, finally regaining composure.
"Hi, come in." Riya said and stepped aside for him to come in.
"Sorry for badging in on you, I just came to check up on you and see how you're doing." He said as he sat down.
"Ohh I understand, thank you." She replied smiling.
Rick who had gone to the kitchen to get coffee came out with a tray containing coffee and some fibre cookies. He dropped the tray on the table and shook hands with the officer as they exchanged greetings.
Riya watched on for a while till the officer finally looked at her after Rick had gone to sit close to her, expecting what the officer was here to discuss.
"Well I came here to check up on you since it has been a while since I saw you and I also heard about your mom, please accept my condolences." Josh said.
" Thank you officer." Riya said smiling.
" You can call me Josh." Josh offered smiling.
" Alright Josh, thanks for coming." Riya replied
"So what's new on the case if I'm allowed to ask." She asked.
"Nothing new, no new leads, everything just always hits rock bottom." He said, looking frustrated.
Riya and Rick discussed with the officer for a while about the case before they finally switched into normal conversations on politics and even watched a show together. After some hours, Josh got up to leave and Rick went to shake hands with him as Riya followed them to the door.
"Thank you so much for this kind visit Josh." Riya said, bowing her head slightly.
"Anytime Miss Sindell." He said and turned to leave.
Riya and Rick stood on the patio and waved him good-bye as he drove out of the garage and out of sight. They went in and met Voleth Meir and Elijah inside the house already.
"Can you guys get any less creepy?." Rick asked
"It's their thing." Riya replied as Voleth Meir just stood there laughing.
"What was the cop here about?." Elijah finally spoke up.
"He came to check up on me and he also heard I lost my Mum." Riya replied and went to sit down.
Her and Elijah's relationship had improved since she got back from the Astral journey, they had related more now on a closer perspective since she got her memories back.
*******************************************
Father Jonas sat in his office arranging some files for the repairs and commissions the church would need to be back on its feet again. He had been running this church for years and just couldn't see it fall like that. As he arranged the files, he wondered if the news of strange things and happenings in the town were true as attendance in church for the evening mass had really collapsed. Folks no longer wanted to keep late nights lately, even some of his members advised him the same last Sunday when they came for prayers and counseling.
He wondered if that was the reason Anthony had also advised him the other day to not just lock himself up in this office all the time. After putting the files together and turning off the lights, he walked out of his office and locked the door. It was already late at night so he decided inwardly that he'll get salmon salad and pasta around the corner before driving home.
After making sure his office was locked, he walked through the hallway and towards the front door but stopped when he heard scratching sounds in the far corner of the church. He walked towards the sound and jumped when some rats ran out from the reconciliation room.
"I should call the pest control guys tomorrow morning." He muttered and turned his back to leave when he heard the same sound again, this time louder.
He walked slowly towards the confessional and took deep breaths before opening the door. He opened the door and walked into the booth, slowly checking every corner but saw nothing. He was about to turn to leave when he heard whispers behind the curtain from the penitents side of the booth. Suddenly, his body started to shake as he felt a strange chill run down his body, he attempted to leave the booth but could not move from the spot, he tried and tried but couldn't.
"Help me dear Lord." He whispered shakily as his body got colder.
The noise continued and stopped abruptly before something black in smoke form started to sip out through the curtains and began to take form in front of him. The priest continued to shake in fear as the thing continued to form with sharp claws, hunched back and red eyes.
It lunged at him with its claws and tore at him continuously with the priest standing there unable to move. It tore him with its teeth and claws, with blood splattering all over the booth as the priest screamed endlessly in numbing pain and torture.
Not too far from the church, Adonis stood in the middle of the road as a car approached him. He checked his neck and shoulder and noticed that they had almost completely decay till bone. He looked at the sky and smiled as he felt his demon's satisfaction on its release. The driver of the car must have stepped on the breaks at the last minute because the car tires screeched before coming to stop right in front of Adonis.
"Hey, watch where you're going, are you suicidal or what.?" The man yelled at him as he stepped out of his car and walked towards him.
"I'll give you a painless death to compensate you, don't worry." He replied the man.
The man started to take cautious steps back to his car as he heard this but Adonis immediately lunged towards him and snapped his neck. He placed his fingers on the man's chest as he whispered some words, his hands started to sink into the man's chest slowly with blood splattering the car and the floor. With one swift twist, he dug into the man's chest and ripped out the man's heart. He held the still beating heart in his hands and smiled like a maniac before throwing it aside and bending down to come face to face with the dead man.
Adonis whispered a spell and something white in smoke form started to come out from the man's mouth slowly he swallowed it all and got up. He started to check all the decaying parts of his body and saw that they were coming back to life. He sighed and looked up while his body continued to repair itself.