Sympathy for the Devil - Reader X Ghost - Nameless Ghouls & Papa

Ch 7 - Syphon

Delusional memories of full moon dreams haunted my mind. No matter how much I tried to have faith, doubts plagued me.

Shame dug its crawls in deep. Vicious internal dialogue degraded me for second-guessing Satan's plan.

How dare I query His Dark Excellence?

In my stubbornness, I decided that if the answers wouldn't come to me, I'd go to them. Or - at least put myself in the way of them.

For that reason, I decided it was time to tag along with the unsanctioned Ghost tour.

Cirrus and Rain were kind enough to be my eyes and ears behind the scenes, so I was somewhat in the loop. However, nothing prepared me for what I would find upon attending myself.

Naturally, I kept my distance initially. A pale face in the crowd. But I soon noticed that I wasn't the only church representative lurking in the swell.

Each night, I saw the same dark faces. Agents of the Satanic Church that felt familiar. Perhaps they were human clergy members... or something else entirely?

I was no stranger to Lucifer's games, I knew He would often play His pawns against one another. So in the state of the unknown, I reserved my instinct to approach them.

It was only on the third night that I had to step in.

Terzo had played his little cirice trick and a fan dressing as a Sister of Sin had caught his eye. Reaching out with his white gloves, he snatched the women's hand and held her in place as he serenaded her. She was in awe. There was no doubt in my mind that Satan's darkness flowed through her and into the other eager fans beside her, I could feel it coursing through the crowd.

An intense reaction waved over everyone in the room. It was nothing like the connection Secondo had with the fans. Of course, I respected the old man but... there was something different about Papa 3.

The crowd was captivated.

But did they worship Satan, or did they worship Papa Emeritus iii?

A thousand hands reached out to absorb Papa 3's blessing. Including the crooked hands of the curious church figures hiding in the shadows of the crowd. Their fiendish claws raised above the fans and slowly began to syphon the darkness that emanated between the fans in attendance.

Invisible to the human eye and impossible for the ghouls to notice under the intense stage lighting, these devilish paws sucked up Satan's dark matter that seeped from Papa 3. Much like the way my body would be used as a vessel to spread Satan's darkness, Papa Emeritus served a similar purpose on a larger scale.

Only, from what I discovered that night, Papa 3's darkness was being intercepted.

The shadow of hell simply breezed right through the fans, having no chance to embed Satan's will.

This surely would not be Lucifer's doing. It went against everything the Ghost project stood for. The motion was totally counterintuitive to our plans of indoctrination.

Worse still, who was the syphoned energy going to and how would it be used?

Something wasn't right.

Weaving through the tightly packed bodies, I stepped closer to one of the nefarious figures. Thick, sweat-filled air made me feel as if I was chewing on every desperate breath. Transfixed on Papa Emeritus, the fans barely noticed me shuffle through. However, I knew that if my suspicions were correct, the dark figures I encroached upon would have their wits about them.

I needed to proceed with caution.

Every heavy step cleared my view. Human at first glance, with an uncanny valley twist; everything seemingly normal enough but an aura that made the warning sirens of my unconscious mind screech in overdrive. I could see the dark web twirling through their splayed fingers as they soaked up the energy of the crowd and the darkness of Satan.