The Devil's Guard Dog

Chapter eight: The Demon, and the Devil

"Corruption of the innocence, as we walk through the dark. Corruption of the body, brings the gateway to the sun. Death of the mind, brings the soul to the door. Opening the door, shines the path to the light." I could hear the chanting through the ringing in my ears, slowly fading in as my world around me spun. I could see stars dancing in my vision as I looked up, unable to feel anything through the shock. Was I dead?

"Dear brothers of the light, we gather here in this, our holly sanctum to bring forth that which we have spent so long to see. We gather in numbers to bring strength through unity, and power through a collected thought and will." No, no I definitely wasn't dead, the fact that I was still here listening to that fucker's insane ramblings was proof enough of that; but shouldn't I be? I was slowly coming back to reality as I reached up and felt over my chest, and as soon as I made contact, the pain hit.

I'd been shot, but I couldn't feel any blood, at least not the amount of blood that should have been there. I slowly felt under my robes, and was shocked when my fingers brushed over the cracked and sharp splinters of wood. My chest throbbed, it was hard to breathe, and I could feel my sternum crack as I tried to draw in a deeper breath of air, however the bullets never touched my skin. The table leg was in splinters against my chest, the robes ripped, however it'd saved me, the impact of the shots tearing through the wood.

"Blessed is the light, hallowed is the dark!" I heard a group of people chant as their leader continued, however I wasn't paying much attention to him to hear more of his words. I looked over and saw Dicaius still laying there, and felt relief and worry as I saw that he wasn't dead. He'd rolled on his side, curled up and clutching his chest and stomach, panting as though he'd run a marathon, but he was actually alive.

"Dicaius... can you hear me?" I called faintly to him, and he slowly opened his eyes to look at me, his gaze reflecting nothing but pain and anguish. "Please... please hold on..." The state he was in wasn't anywhere near good, I couldn't even begin to guess what the bullets may have hit inside of him. His hands were shaking, his eyes looked cold and dim, and his lips were already blue as blood seeped through his fingers and into his clothes.

"You're... Alive." He said, struggling through the words as he watched me, and I gave him a faint smile, trying to let him know I was ok... I think we both knew neither of us were ok.

"On this day, as the sun rises, we will be free from this mortal grasp, free from the constraints of the mortal plane."

"Hallowed are we, as we open the door!" The leader's disciples chanted back, and I looked over to watch them. The leader was standing atop the steps that lead to the pillar, his arms outstretched as around twenty people stood below him, looking up to him as though he were a God among men. Two others stood with their arms folded in their robes at the base of the stairs, facing out to the crowd, guarding their leader. Three more sat chained on their knees between them, dressed in what now remained of once normal clothing, ripped and stained from an undesirable amount of wear. I recognized one of them, sitting in the middle, her matted hair hanging over her face. It was Alice, or at least, her body that is.

The leader slowly looked over to the side at me, his eyes sunken in and fixed with the gaze of a mad man as his lips curled into a wrinkled smile. "Well, looks like you're awake dear one. Rejoice, you'll be the first non-believer to bear witness to his glory." He said in a tone that oozed with ill intent, and controlled hate. He looked down to the two men at the base of the stairs as they looked back to him, nodding them in our direction as they began coming over without hesitation.

I wanted to get away from them as they came to us, however any movement made my chest heave with pain, and before long they were there, one of them lifting me up by my shoulders, as the other grabbed Dicaius. "Get your fucking hands off of him!" I screamed through my pain, my voice cracking as they ignored me and drug us up to their leader.