We left the alley and made are way down main Street, the cool of the night felt brisk on my skin.
We barley spoke a word, I was still trying to figure out what happened back there, and Lisa wasn't exactly telling me what was going on. She has just mentioned some 'wedding chapel' or whatever-
She walked in front of me, silently leading the way.
I decided to speak up.
"So... What is this wedding chaple anyway? I'm assuming it's some kind of church-"
I then realized how redundant I sounded and cursed myself under my breath.
"Obviously- dumbass."
Lisa looked back at me and gave me a slight smile. "Yeah, it's the church I attend... "
I walked up beside her.
"You go to church? So your Christian?"
She nodded.
"I am. Methodist actually-"
I scratched my head awkwardly.
"Well... I'm Christian too... I was raised penticostal, but right now I'm non-denominational.... But anyway, I didn't know you were Christian."
She let out a chuckle.
"There's a lot of things you don't know about me Jack."
'yeah no kidding.'
Actually To say that I was Christian is technically correct. Yes I did believe in God, Jesus being his son and that he'd died and rose again for the sins of the world, yeah I believed all that, but certain things in my life at that time had led me down a path where I wasn't completely sure where I was with my faith, was I deconstring? No...
But I was certainly doubting God in certain things, as well as myself and my faith.
But I digress.
And yeah, about me not knowing things about Lisa was a HUGE understatement.
I mean she was doing things that you could only see in a manga or comic or whatever...
And that guy was she was fighting.
Thinking about him just sent chills down my spine, I still had no idea why the hell she was fighting him in the first place, and it looked like she didn't plan on telling me why until we got to whatever church she went to, needless to say the suspense was killing me.
"So, how far is your church. And why do we have to go there anyway?"
"It's past the old clock tower, right before the next district-"
She looked at me and explained calmly.
"And well, let's just say that what I'm gonna tell you is top secret, and my pastor can also explain things a lot better then I can."
"Your pastor?"
She nodded.
"Billy Maxwell. Let's just say he's not just my pastor but my mentor as well."
I whispered underneath my breath.
"Mentor."
Her mentor? Was she gonna be a clergymen?... Or.... Was there something more to this?
She walked ahead of me, continuing to lead the way. There was a few more moments of silence before she stopped in her tracks.
"?"
She turned back to me. Her expression was unreadable. "By the way... Jack, thanks."
"For what?"
She tilted her head to the side, her Ocean blue pupils went to the corners of her eyes.
"For you know, trying to save me-"
I hesitated for a moment. Looking down at the ground, why was she thanking me?
I didn't do anything but get myself killed.
"Oh. Uh... Well, it was nothing. And besides I
Didn't even do anything."
She shook her head.
"No, you still try'd to save me... You could have ran away but you didn't. So, thank you."
I just looked at her for a moment, a pang of self hatred shot through me.
'dont thank me.'
I was too weak to do anything.
And in the end it proved my life a waist, I need to get stronger so I can save others in the future. I know she means well, but her thanking me is just making me wanna punch myself in the face.
"No problem."
She gesterd me to follow her once more, and I did so.
* * *
We eventually made it to the 'wedding chapel'.
It was huge, about the size of a grand cathedral. I believe I had passed this Church a few times whenever I was out jogging but I had never really paid attention to it.
For starters it was grand and meticulously designed with gothic architecture, much more like a castle then a church, one would think it was a Catholic church but no.
This was a Methodist Church, it had beautiful
Stained glass pictures of the saints, the disciples and Jesus all over, as well as ingraivings and carvings of old testament figures such as Moses holding the ten commandments and the prophets.
There was something so captivating about these kind of Churches, even though I was nondomantinal I couldn't help but love churches like these more, historical churches always seamed more reverential.
Meanwhile modern Churches felt like rock stadiums or whatever...
I was only nondenominational because I wasn't sure where I was in my faith at the time.
"Wow"
"I know right?" Lisa grinned as she stood beside me.
After a few more seconds she walked forward and walked up the steps, I followed suit. She grabbed the handle. But stopped and looked back at me.
"Jack... Are you sure you want to know what you saw? Because, once you know there's no turning back."
She sed as if it were a warning.
"I do."
She looked down for a moment. Then opened the door.
"Come on then."
I followed her in.
We entered the foyer, then down a hall.
"Bill-" she called.
"Bill you here?"
Then a voice called out from the back the hall. "Iisa? I'm in the library."
We went back and entered a door at the end of the hall, entering a small yet cozy little library, it was old and a bit dusty.
There were a few bookshelves with loads of books on various different subjects, my eyes scanned them. They had everything from the church fathers, to theology on multiple subjects. As well as the writtings of John Wesley and c.s Lewis.
On the wall was an old map of Philadelphia.
As well as a few different paintings depicting different biblical events.
And there sitting at a table with a huge Bible in front of him, as well as a few other books and a cup of coffee was an older gentleman.
He had messy black hair and a black mustache, he looked to be about in his fifty's.
He wore a black vest and a white dress shirt and tie, as well as black dress pants. On the table was what I assumed was his hat,
Which was an old brown beat up cowboy hat.
This guy looked like he was pulled right out of a spaghetti western.
"Bill." Lisa and I walked up to him, he slowly raised his head, his eyes were squinty.
"Ah, Lisa... What brings you here this time at night? And who's your friend?"
He spoke in a Southern draw.
"Jack, this is billy Maxwell... Bill this is Jack Turner, he's my classmate."
The old man stood up and shook my hand.
"Nice to meet ya son."
I have a slight smile and shook his hand back.
"Good to meet you to old man-"
The second I withdrew my hand Lisa elbowed me in the stomach.
"Oof!- hey! Dude! What was that for?!"
Lisa crossed her arms and glared at me.
"It's rude to call someone old 'dude'-"
"Grrrr!!!" I gritted my teeth at her.
The old man let out a laugh.
"Heh, young'n."
Billy walked around to the other side of the table and leaned against it crossing his arms nonchalantly.
"Now, how can I help you too? Is Jack considering joining are church?"
Lisa's eyes became filled with a look of seriousness. "No, bill... He knows."
"He knows?... You mean he saw something tonight?"
She gave a nod.
He looked at me dead in the eye.
"Young man, what did you see?"
I took in a deep breath and explained everything I saw in detail, me entering the alley, seeing Lisa about to be killed, me getting stabbed and then heading here.
When I was done he glared at Lisa.
"You went after Nikolai's henchman after I told you not to on your own?"
She bit her lip.
"I did, I know it was reckless but-"
He raised his hand to shut her up and looked at me. "Jack... Listen vary carefully to what I'm about to say, I know it's gonna sound crazy, but it's all true. Take a seat son."
I sat down and so did Lisa.
The old man walked to his seat and took in a deep breath.
"Well... I soppose I should start with who you saw Lisa fight'n."
I just took a look at him, preparing for whatever he was about to say, I was willing to keep an open mind.
"Ya see son, that was a sorcerer-"
"A sorcerer?"
"Yep, a pagan god worshipping sorcerer who has been goin' round old town sacrificing folks to his deities for power, him and his master."
Then I was reminded of what Logan had sed
About that killer, he sed the body's had looked as if they were slaign in some kind of ritual.
"Wait, is this the killer that's been draining people of all there blood?"
He nodded.
"And Lisa you were trying to stop him?"
She also gave a nod.
I looked down at the table, so she was trying to put an end to his murder spree, suddenly I felt a twinge of anger, why would she go on her own? Why? She could have gotten killed, I did.
"So, as for all that blue lighting you saw, well... That is something that are church practices, ya see Jack were not exactly a normal church."
I looked at him.
"I can see that? Are you guys sorcerers too?"
"No. Where Christians, we know that using magic is calling opon the powers of demons and spirits. No, what we use is arc- craft."
"Arc- craft?"
"Ever heard of alchemy?"
I nodded.
"Yeah, it was an ancient form of science that died out hundreds of years ago-"
"Well, arc- craft is the modern equivalent of that, are church has been using it for over a hundred years. You see are church is one of many under a secret alliance, United for one purpose. Protecting the world from the supernatural."
"I see..."
He raised an eyebrow.
"You seem to be taking this well, you believe me?"
"Yeah, well. I'm Christian I already believe in the supernatural, I believe in demons and spirits and wizards and stuff, so i guess believing this is already kinda easy. After all the church has been exercising demons and stuff for the past two thousand years already, so it's not exactly that hard to believe that there'd be something like this. It's just, the 'arc- craft' stuff... That's seams a little far fetched... I mean the stuff that Lisa was doing was superhuman. And your saying alchemy gave her that ability?"
He gave a nod.
"Yeah, you see arc- craft is so advanced that even modern science is behind it. That's because there are certain aspects of it that modern science has yet to discover."
With that I leaned back in my seat.
"So. You and Lisa go around fighting wizards
Around the city... I'm guessing these guys all try to hurt people right?"
"They do, all they ever do is try to appease there pagan gods by killin' and killin'...
Now, Jack... Let me see your left hand."
I gave it over to him, he looked at the symbol and studied it. "Interesting."
"Do you know what it is?"
"It's ancient Hebrew."
"Hebrew?"
"Yes... " He let go of my hand and maintained his steady gaze in my eyes.
"It's the word mahshah, which in English means 'anointed'."
"Anointed?"
He seemed to be studying my face, trying to get a good read on me. "Jack, when you were
Out, what do you remember?"
"I..."
I wasn't sure if I should have sed anything,
Should I tell him what I saw?
"Tell me son, it could be a matter of life and death."
I hesitated but, I relented.
"I met God."
Lisa gasped.
"What? You... You met God?"
"I did... He asked me a few questions, then he asked me if I wanted to go back. I sed yes and before I came back to life he placed his hand on mine. And this got burned into it. And I woke up with Lisa beside me."
He looked at me and then looked down, he muttered something underneath his breath.
"Well, it looks like God has chosen you for something. After all the another word for anointed is chosen-"
"Chosen me?"
"Yep. As for what that is... I'm not completely sure, but I feel I better get the people from 'the church' in New York to see if they can look into it..."
Then he moved in closer to me.
"Now Jack, I need to tell you. That is a seal, and seals usually mean that you have some kind of authority givin' to ya by the Lord himself... And that can mean big trouble for some bad, bad, vary bad people. Jack... From now on were gonna have to keep an eye on you."
He sed with a voice and expression showing how deadly the situation I'm in really is.
"If the wrong person finds out about you, you and your family might be in big trouble."
Lisa spoke up.
"Yeah, Jack. You have no idea what could happen. Let me- us, protect you."
I looked down at my hand. The seal burned into it.
God had told me what he wanted. He wanted me to protect people, to break curses and slay demons. He gave me the power to accomplish my dream. To be a hero.
They wanted to protect me. And I appreciated that. But, I wanted to protect myself and others too...
I came to a conclusion.
"No."
"Wha-?" Lisa exclaimed.
"Boy-" so did Billy.
"Listen... I appreciate you wanting to help me. But I have a different idea."
I looked at both of them and proclaimed.
"I wanna join you."
There was a pause.
"..."
"..."
Then the both let out at the same time.
"WHAAAAAA- ??????"
"WHAAAAA-???????"