Cursed Souls Blood, Brains & Rock'n'roll

Chapter 26 Lost Colt

The woman was coming toward him, but you couldn't tell if she was doing it out of politeness or hostility.

"Good afternoon, ma'am," he lifted his hat and tilted his head slightly.

"Do you think so?" The woman stood across from him and crossed her arms over her chest. Her face showed nothing but interest, though apparently hostility was her priority.

"My name is Abraham Moore."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Moore."

"Just call me Abraham, Mrs..."

"Anne. Just call me Anne."

"As you say Anne." The cardinal looked around the farm and inhaled. - It's a nice place you have here. It's a life to be envied. People in the cities have forgotten what it means to live on the land. They walk on it, build houses on it, raise their children on it, but they have no idea how to live on it. They don't hear the land; they don't feel it. It's so nice here."

"That's right, I'd never trade it all for some musty city." The hostility seemed to subside a little, for Anne shoved her hands into the pockets of her dungarees and smiled, even if a little strained.

"And all this household you're carrying on your shoulders? Alone?"

"Well, why alone, my friends live here with me. I don't know how I'd manage without them. The only thing that matters is that they don't find out about it," she said and laughed.

He really liked her. And that made it all the more painful for him to realize why he had come to see her.

"Well, let me ask Abraham, what brought you to my farm?" Moore could have sworn the question was asked in a somewhat flirtatious way. But he couldn't say he minded it.

"You may be surprised, but the reason for my visit to you has to do with your grandchildren."

"You mean Alice and Alan? They came to see me recently."

"Did they?"

"What happened?"

"Well, the thing is, I'm trying to track down some friends of theirs. A young man called Simon, a short, middle-aged man called Will and another man called Rob. Not long ago, your grandchildren left Springwood in the company of these men."

"Yes, I remember these guys. One of them my granddaughter introduced to me as her boyfriend, and the others were his friends. And these people," the woman's voice became hoarse and low at the sudden thought, "are they dangerous?"

"Don't worry, these people are not dangerous. On the contrary, they are my friends. I just need to meet them urgently, that's why I'm trying to find them. I have to see them."

"You're scared of me," Anne waved him away. "My head was already beginning to draw disturbing pictures."

"I'm sorry ma'am, I didn't mean to disturb you like that."

"Not at all," Anne sighed. "It must have been important for you to go so far from Springwood to get them."

"Very important. So, I must ask you if Alan or Alice or my friends have mentioned where they were going."

The woman thought for a moment. And it must be admitted that her answer surprised the cardinal a little. To be honest, her answer completely knocked him out without a chance for a rematch.

A black-painted Hudson Hornet from a fifty-four year of manufacture didn't look that suspicious. Not much suspicious about a car that stopped on the side of the highway. Even an old man in a cowboy hat and a metal cuirass on his chest, wearing a black leather cape didn't raise much suspicion. There was no telling what clothes had been in fashion half a century ago at the peak of his youth. And the fact that the old man was running his fingers over the map on the hood of the car, automatically removed all suspicions from him, because it was immediately clear that this old gentleman simply lost his way. In general, Abraham Moore didn't arouse any suspicion.

"Dunwich. Is he really standing on your land again? How could this have happened? Forty years ago we purged the town by Your Name. But even before that, at the beginning of the last century, the Order brought Your punishment upon this city. Is it poisoning the souls of men again? The city has come back to life, like a dead man rising from the grave. No, this city is worse than a dead man, for a dead man has no will, but is guided only by the sinful urges of his body. But Dunwich is different. It perverts the souls of men, likens them to the devil's creatures.

Moore took off his hat and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his hand.

"She said they went to Dunwich. But why? It is a devilish place, no doubt, but it has never been a breeding-ground for such foul creatures. There is a different kind of darkness there, a darkness that grows out of the souls of men and feeds on them, which the human mind cannot understand. What made them go there? Maybe it was Your Hand that led them to this city. Do You want me to go there? Tell me, what do You want? I will obey Your will."

Abraham checked the map once more, then gathered it up and got into the car.

"And the Sisters? Where have they gone? Maybe they're already out there, stalking their prey. Or maybe they're fighting for their lives right now. Or maybe they've gotten so bold that they think I'm a liability, and so they want to deal with these creatures of darkness themselves. Did I really make the right decision when I decided to enlist their support at the time?"
The Cardinal of the Order of St. Constantine turned the ignition key.

"Dunwich... Oncemore this city. If it is Your Will, I will go to this cloaca of darkness andoriginal sin. I will walk through this city and fear no evil, for I know thatYou lead me. And I will praise Your Name, and I will be Your Sword, and I willbe Your Fury, and I will sweep over this land and burn out sin from the heartsof men, and I will bring the children of the devil to Your judgment, for Youhave called me Your Colt."