Devil at the Vatican (BL)

Chapter 21

While Petru went to the cargo hold with a crewman, Marcel made his way to the Master-At-Arms' chamber. There was usually at least one on most passenger transport ships, or a small platoon. Theirs was just one man, Norbert Merlin, a plump short man with pale skin and salmon-colored lips. His breath smelled as yellow as his teeth looked, and his face was fixed in a sour expression.

"You want me to investigate what?" Norbert groaned, leaning in his doorway. Father Marcel stood in the hall outside, towering over the officer with all the authority God gave him. Norbert straightened and asked again. "You want me to investigate a theft? In steerage?"

"Yes, please sir."

"And what was taken?"

"Crucifixes and Bibles, sir."

Laughter popped from Norbert's big juicy mouth. Redness from the hilarity flushed his neck and face, darkening his cheeks and nose. "Bibles and crucifixes, Father?"

"I understand this might not seem like an important issue to you," Marcel said after giving the officer a moment to get his chuckles out. "Without the protection... the physical presence of God, well, it makes the Devil easier to roam."

"I guess you Catholics need your props." Norbert sighed and scratched his belly. "I'll come about later to check in on it."

Before Norbert could close his door, Marcel stepped his foot in the way. "I urge you to make haste, Mr. Merlin."

"I will. First I will go ask that black boy you brought with you."

Marcel straightened. His jaw tensed. "I can assure you that he had nothing to do with this."

"I will figure that out when I ask him. I know his kind, you see. My father always said things were good before the war, Father. Your accent, where're you from?"

"I was raised in Rome," Marcel said, surprised this man actually picked up on it. He mastered languages and rarely spoke with any more than a slight accent. He'd been travelling enough to lost most of his native tongue.

"What's a ching-chong doing in Rome?"

"I will see you later then," Marcel said before he walked away. He focused on unclenching his fists. It was normal to meet these kinds of people on his travels.

He made it back to the cabin with Elio around lunch time, after collecting testimony from the steerage passengers. Basically no one saw anything except Dante, and Marcel did not quite trust that boy's word. Their crucifixes, crosses, rosaries, Bibles, and all other homages to their faith simply disappeared overnight it seemed. Vanished.

When Marcel walked into his joint cabin, he found Elio sitting at the dining table with two plates of lunch – biscuits with sliced chicken and tomatoes and cups of tea. His face lit up when he saw Marcel.

"How did this get here?" Marcel asked after he closed and locked the door. He motioned towards the food.

Elio shifted in his seat, clearly nervous. "I brought it from the dining hall. I was fine, Marcel. I didn't bother nobody and nobody bothered me."

Marcel went over to him, moving his shirt to check and see if his crucifix necklace was still there. It was, and so were his bracelets. Elio gazed up at him with those bright hazel eyes, his full lips slightly open and naturally a bit puckered.

"Don't leave this room without me," Marcel told him as he sat down. "There is something dangerous on board."

"You said a demon last night."

Marcel nodded. He took a bite of his sliced chicken. It was bland but better than nothing. "It has marked this ship as its domain. You must be careful, Elio. I believe it is targeting you."

Elio tensed. His eyes drifted off in the way it did when the demon inside him was speaking to him. Marcel slammed a hand down on the table, startling him.

"Do not trust what that thing says."

"It's saying it can find the other demon," Elio replied. His eyes were now focused on Marcel but they flickered. He was always fighting the beast trapped in him.

"It probably can, but everything comes at a cost with demons. It is never worth the risk."

"What do you mean?"

Marcel finished chewing his next bite and used the napkin to dab his mouth. He then stood and went back over to the window. Earlier when he looked out it, he could see a full stretch of the Atlantic Ocean before him. Now it was just the same, but they'd made a day's progress. These waters were different. Open ocean, open seas, deep deserts, and wide rivers always held the most frightful things.

"My mentor Father Ichabod told me a story once, from when he was just an exorcist assistant," Marcel said, placing his hand on the wall of the cabin. "A family was being held captive by a very powerful entity infesting their home. It was absorbing them, feeding off them. Well, the entity in the house spoke to Ichabod's fellow acolyte Young Josiah, promised to release the family if it could just possess him for one night. It wanted a human form. Pacts with demons are powerful things. They can trick you into a pact by seemingly simple exchanges. Young Josiah agreed. And yes, the family was free. His teacher believed the exorcism had worked and they returned to Rome. See, the demon didn't specify when it would possess him, just that it would be for one night. So Young Josiah turned into Old Josiah. He grew mad with time, believing that the older he got, the closer the demon drew. He got night terrors and ended up fearing that the demon would take him and hurt the new young acolytes."

Marcel turned to look at Elio, and continued, "He poisoned twelve young exorcist students, Elio. Killed them. He believed it was better than whatever the demon had in mind. He died in the basement of a rectory and they buried him in holy ground. The demon possessed his corpse six months after his death... raped a young nun from Japan and tore the throat of a priest. The nun hid her violation and hid her baby. He was born a Peuri Maledicti."

Elio stood and backed away from the priest.

"You're a Cursed Child?" Elio stammered. He bumped into the bed and collapsed on it.  Of course he immediately understood this story was about Marcel.

Marcel nodded. "While most exorcists are normal priests, there are eleven of us, exorcists who were Cured Children. The demons were removed from us as children but we can still harness their power, which is what makes us the perfect weapons against evil, Elio. I am bringing you to the Vatican because I believe you can be the twelfth. But you must keep that vile beast inside you at bay."

His eyes glistened with his belief. It was the most emotion Marcel ever showed him. Every muscle seemed to tense with this revelation, beholding the truth as if it were a heavy thing to bear.

Before Elio could say anything, a pounding shook the door.

"Bring out the colored boy," Norbert's voice shouted from the other side. "He is being placed under arrest."

Elio's eyes blackened.