Devil at the Vatican (BL)

Chapter 30

"I plan to take you to the Vatican to decide your fate," Marcel continued. "But I am more than willing to carry your corpse there. The demon inside you... Is it truly Murmur?"

"Not anymore, no," Elio said. He knew it was a dumb thing to rationalize, but he was never truly frightened by Marcel until this very moment.

"But it was. This whole performance by this town tells me it is so. And now, it has returned thousands of years later, smarter and stronger than before." Marcel stepped close to Elio; their chests were mere inches apart.

"It's Jonah now. I named him."

Marcel smiled, but sadness filled his eyes. "Fitting name. He will swallow up the whole world."

"God's angels cast him into Hell before. They can do it again."

"God heard the cries of His people, Elio. How many cries do you think it will take to rouse God this time? Abraham bartered with God. Who will be the one to convince God not to destroy us all?"

Elio was silent. 

"Girl," Marcel said to Dolcezza. "Will we find trouble on the road?"

"Yes," Dolcezza said matter-of-factly. "They need him at the grove. Cinque Terre has the best lemons in the world." She was crying now; her face flushed red. Her delicate shoulders shook with her sobs. "He will need to bless the fruit, or a piece of him will need to remain here." She placed a hand on her womb. "I can carry a piece of him. It is what I was born for."

Elio shuddered, jumped away from her, and exclaimed, "How long has this been planned?"

"Murmur is a powerful demon, Elio," Marcel said, still watching Dolcezza. "So powerful that his arrival in the future leaves breadcrumbs into the past."

When Marcel looked back to Elio, he found him gone. He must have fled with some of the demon's energy, because the door was still swinging open by the time Marcel noticed. This was all too much for Elio; Marcel knew this, but he could not afford to treat him like a child. 

Using his distraction as an opportunity, Dolcezza leapt at Marcel with a knife drawn. He caught her knife-bearing hand and redirected the trajectory right into her own stomach. "May God have mercy on your soul," he whispered before throwing her dying body to the floor beside her parents. 

Marcel took one last look at Petru, still unconscious from the poison, and ran from the house after Elio. He stopped in his tracks just a few feet from the door.

Whatever was left of the town, maybe two hundred or so people, stood in a blockade outside of the lemon vendor's home, carrying weapons and torches. Elio stood in front of the crowd with his back to Marcel. He removed the stoles from his wrists and ankles easily. Marcel could see even from the house that dark veins crawled up Elio's hands and arms from his blackened fingernails. 

When Elio turned to look back at him, the oil-black discoloration of the demon's awakening swarmed over his bright hazel eyes, burying the innocence there. His expression confused Marcel. It was a strange look of fear that lingered closer to sorrow.

The people all knelt before him in reverence and placed their weapons on the ground.

"Begone demon," Marcel hissed. He found himself shaking as a seething rage boiled up. "Flee back into the pit of Hell you crawled up from."

"You want him, don't you?" Jonah said, his voice raspy and deep, like razorblades scratching the ocean floor. "I can smell it on you."

Marcel held fast to his rosary and raised it before the demon. "We ask in Christ our Lord to help Your servant Elio to hear this gospel and give him the strength to overcome the demon named Murmur... the demon named Jonah."