The Demon Behind The Mask |*x OC*| (Ghost Fan Fic)

01: Secular Haze

secular:

not subject to or bound by religious rule; not belonging to or living in a monastic or other order

haze:

vagueness of mind or mental perception.

--

Cardinal Copia sat in the window bay of the church as he awaited the arrival of his favorite Sister. This had become a normal Monday morning occurrence since he had joined the Church of Emeritus. He would wait in the second floor window bay above the main entrance, watching the leaves as he waited for Jasper to return from her weekend travels.

He would always be the first to grab her by the arm and start a conversation with her about whatever she did that weekend, asking her where she had been or who she met, as well as what wonderful new things she bought back with her.

This specific Monday, Jasper appeared to be running late and it showed as Copia was sat there taping his foot impatiently, while also checking his watch every few seconds. Frustration began to take over the man as he huffed to himself.

"She won't be back until later, Cardinal." Papa Emeritus III spoke sadly from behind him. "She is on business." The man spoke sadly, as he also favoured the sister, after she had watched him grow up in the church, and as the youngest, she babysat him more than his brothers.

"We will see her by lunch though, right?" Copia asked, kicking his feet as he sulked, wishing his friend was there already. He longed to know more about the mysterious Jasper as she never gave him direct answers.

One memory the Cardinal favoured was a conversation about her age, as Jasper never seemed to get older. Her response was sweet but spoken as though it should have been a riddle.

"Cardinal, I am but your age, in different time though. In all due days for me you will find out, but in all due years you shall find out." Copia remembered her response like it was yesterday, but of course it had been months.

Papa Emeritus III had taken Copia by the hand and slowly pulled him to get on with his daily duties... rehearsing and writing music and lyrics with the Ghouls of the church. Sighing, Copia nodded, heading towards their rehearsal room in the basement of the left wing of the church.

Loud noises were heard as the man approached, a loud yell and a crash were followed by this noise. Pinching the bridge of his nose and exhaling his frustration, he opened the door to see Aether holding a broken bass guitar belonging to a very sad looking Rain and an angry Dew holding onto the remains.

"Cardinal!" Aether exclaimed, happy that someone was finally there to diffuse whatever had just happened.

"I am only going to ask once. What happened, Aether?"

"Well- Dew argued with Rain that he messed up the bass, and Rain had already told us he was having a bad day, and Dew got even more angry and then took Rain's bass and broke it on purpose, and then I tried to stop him and this is the end result..."

Dew suddenly seemed to lose his anger and he quickly bowed his head in shame to Copia. Meanwhile, Rain stood there silently, he took a deep breathe in walked over to Dew.

"Fuck you." He whispered, before smacking the back of his head. "How dare you break my favourite bass!" Rain frowned before he walked over to Swiss and sat next to him silently plotting Dew's death.

"I deserved that didn't I?" Dew asked sheepishly, while rubbing the back of his head.

"Yep!" Aether spoke as he stifled a laugh.

"This will be a long rehearsal..." Copia said, shaking his head.

—

The demon, known as Jasper, was chained up under neath the church during all of the commotion that happened above her. She had been chained up as she was in her hunting period.

When a demon - such as Jasper - felt the need to hunt, they would leave for up to five days to fulfil their primal instincts for blood and death. They would hunt for fun, for the adrenaline and for the joy of killing. Jasper, who had been on the mortal plane for decades and was unable to get home, hadn't hunted properly in almost a millennia and this was slowly starting to affect her instincts.

So, she found herself every few years in the same situation, chained up in the basement of the chapel so that she wouldn't hunt on the grounds of the church. For the safety of herself and others.

This season of hunting instincts was shorter than normal, meaning by lunch time on Saturday she was ready to morph back into her human disguise and attend the Clergy meetings of the day as well as the feeding of the Ghoules.

Finally, Papa Nihil came in to let Jasper free of her chains. "There we go, how you feeling Jas?" The elderly man asked as she rubbed her wrists slightly.

"I'm alright Papa, thank you for doing this, I know it's a pain in the ass but thank you." She bowed her head slightly before excusing herself so she could run to lunch and catch up with Cardinal Copia.