Short stories

Faith decides for everything

In the basement of a ruined church, a group of about ten to fifteen people attended a secret ceremony. The room was lit by many candles of all colors. A woman was holding a baby in her arms. The ceremony master stepped into the circle and took the baby in his arms. He motioned for the woman to withdraw with the others. She bowed before the man, kneeling with the other disciples. The master raised the child above his head and shouted:

"Master! Welcomes this little girl in your family. Take her as Your daughter! Give her all the love she needs to survive!"

"I'm giving her to You!" the mother cried.

"Welcome her!" the man yelled, raising the baby a little more, making her cry and squirm.

Suddenly, the door leading to the staircase opened with force. The small group turned to the intruder. A woman dressed in a long black cloak entered. Members tried to push her away. She turned to the master and the young mother. She pointed her gun at them, a smile on her lips.

"Put down the child" she ordered.

"And what are you going to do?" the master spat with a mocking voice. "Kill me? He will help me to bear all earthly suffering."

"You don't understand, Norcal. He will never help you. He only exists to do evil around him."

"His power is great!"

He handed the baby to the young mother which stepped back, trembling. Norcal gave her a look full of love before reporting his attention to the woman in the black cloak. He raised his arms to the sky and closed his eyes. He puffed his chest with oxygen before putting his hands to his mouth, forming a cylinder. He spat out his breath in a powerful line of fire. The woman quickly closed her eyes and blocked everything with her free hand.

"Go back to your convent, my dear sister."

"Not before I kill you, Norcal."

She pulled the trigger. The bullet struck the master in the chest, causing blood flow to the new mother. The latter yelled while the other members of the group fled through the only door. Without leaving the woman in black out of her sight, the new mother leaned down and slowly laid her child on the concrete floor.

"How could you do such a thing?" she screamed hysterically.

"Give me the baby."

"No! She's His daughter now! He will protect her from your stupid acts!"

"You offered your only daughter to Satan? Why?"

"She's His daughter! She's His daughter!"

"It's just a baby, poor fool!"

Influence by her anger, the new mother threw herself on the woman dressed in black to strike her when a shot rang again. The assailant gasped in surprise and stepped back. Leaning against the wall, she slid along the concrete floor, moaning in pain. She was holding her wound as best as she could. Stunned by grief, she looked at her fingers covered with blood. Then she looked up at the woman and smiled stupidly.

"She's His daughter..."

Blood trickled down her chin. The bullet fatally wounded her in the stomach. A large pool of blood now covered the floor around her. The woman looked down at her daughter one last time before closing her eyes.

"She's His daughter..."

Then she died, her hands still covering the wound on her stomach. The woman dressed in black dropped her gun on the ground before running to the little girl who was crying again. She took her tenderly in her arms and pressed her against her chest. She picked up the gun and left the basement with the baby in her arms. She walked to her car and hit the road. She turned, staring at the scenery passing before her eyes. Once at her destination, she asked not to make any assignment for the Clergy. Her request was accepted on one condition: she had to replace the dead mother to protect the baby against evil. She agreed, having no other option.