Hidden (Papa IV X Male)

Chapter 9 - Rehearsal

I woke up, barely remembering how I got into bed or when I actually fell asleep. Clearly I must have changed because my ghoul uniform was hanging up on a hook and I was in my boxers plus the sweatshirt I had been wearing when i arrived.

The most important thing at the moment, though, was that I was now 30 years old. Before my spur of the moment research trip, my plan for my 30th birthday was to have dinner with my mom and dad. Probably talk about why I'm still single, why I still work from home, all that fun stuff. But now I'd be spending it in a satanist church with people in leather masks and a guy I was supposed to call "Papa" wearing face paint. Still haven't gotten used to that.

It then occurred to me that my mom had probably called me a million times yesterday. I wouldn't be surprised if she'd filed a missing persons report after the third unanswered call. I remembered seeing a rotary phone in the study.

The hallway was dead silent, and I couldn't tell if that was because it was early for the ghouls or because I had woken up far after them. I pushed open the heavy door to the study, limping over to the rotary and dialing my mother's number. Ring. Ring. Ring. Click.

She sounded worried. "Hello? This is Joyce Wright."

"Uh, hey mom."

She let out a high pitched squeak. "Nicholas? Sweetheart, where have you been? We've called, we even came by and you weren't home!"

"Yeah, sorry." A wash of guilt fell over me. "I'm alright, I promise.  I just can't get any signal where I am, is all."

"Where on earth are you? Did something happen?"

"No, mom I'm alright." I could hear her sigh. "I won't be home tonight, so maybe dinner another day?"

"Alright. As long as you're not hurt, I'm happy. But never do that again without telling me first."

"Okay. Love you."

"I love you too. Goodb-"

"Bye." I hung up before she could think to ask where I was. She would flip if she knew I didn't even know exactly where I was, let alone that said ambiguous place was a satanist church. The last thing I needed was a goddamn kidnapping investigation.

Well, now that that's done, now what?

I ended up spending most of my day in the garden, taking in the amazing fall weather and beautiful plants. I ran into a couple of ladies resembling nuns tending to the flowers and hedges. They seemed friendly but were clearly confused about my presence. Warranted.

I hadn't had a ton of time to check out the library the day before, so I thought I'd go read in the smaller library on the third floor. It while passing through the second floor, I heard the familiar sound of drums and bass coming from one of the band practice rooms. They were set up very much like recording rooms, with one section for a tiny audience and the space for the band to play. I carefully opened the door and snuck in, catching the beginning of a song. Papa began to sing.

"Since dawn of time, The fate of man is that of lice..."

Swiss and the ladies' back-up signing was much more apparent in this song. You could hear every harmony separately and they stacked together beautifully. Eventually the drums picked up, and the lyrics made it apparent that this was one of their original songs.

"Hell Satan, Archangelo. Hell Satan, welcome Year Zero."

Even if their lyrics were shocking at first, they were interesting. Some were very surface level, no doubt about it, but they used just enough layers of meaning that if you handed somebody a sheet with a couple lines on it they wouldn't be able to guess what this song was even written for. They should tour with this stuff, it's really good.

The song ended and I made sure to stop myself from clapping as to not disturb them. I saw Copia turn around and speak to the ghouls, but I could barely hear what he was saying when he stood away from the microphone. He eventually turned around, accidentally making eye contact through the glass. He gave me a smirk and pulled the mic closer to him.

"How did we do?"

I help up a thumb, getting a small laugh from Papa. He pointed towards a practice list with all the songs they would be playing, so I grabbed it and watched them for the rest of practice. According to the list, they would be playing Year Zero, Con Clavi Con Dio, Ritual, Jigolo Har Meggido, Idolatrine, Missionary Man, and Kaisarion.

After they finished practice, Copia lingered behind to talk to me.

"Sorry to eavesdrop," I apologized. "I didn't mean to intrude on your practice."

"Trust me, Nicholas, it's much appreciated."

"Did you guys write all of those songs?"

He paused, opening his mouth to speak but quickly closing it and rethinking. "Well, not necessarily. There have been others before us, but the songs belong to the church."

"Who are the others?"

For the first time since I had met him, Copia's face went dark. I must have upset him, as he cut the conversation short. "Forgive me, I have work to do. I'm sure I'll see you at dinner." He gave a wink, but he was clearly trying to compensate for his grim demeanor.

I was left alone in the practice room to think about what he had said. It would make sense that there were others, clearly Copia and the ghouls weren't old enough to have been running this church for as long as it had been around. When I was a kid, the stories i heard always described a wildly different version of the ghouls with silver, human looking faces and sometimes long robes. It would also explain the unfamiliar men depicted in the stained glass windows of the church. Odd. Where are they now?