Unsainted

.5 The Pastor's Chapter

The Church sat in complete silence. Filled to capacity with the town's people, mourning the loss of two of their own. Michael and Ben; the surgeons whom Atrox had killed. Father John stood at the altar, wearing black clothing like everyone else. Beside him where a pair of closed caskets and on each one; a photo of Michael and Ben. 

"We, are gathered here today" John said in a artificially sad tone,

"to mourn the loss of some of our most devoted followers" he continued. 

The sun rose from the horizon, shining a beam of light through a circular stained glass window and onto the caskets. The slight whimper of a crying individual, and the pastors voice where the only sounds in the church.

"Michael was a good man" John said "a man filled with compassion, and humility."

"And Ben, who has served our country and our lord" John continued.

He pointed to the caskets with an open hand, and sighed a deep breath. 

"Both of these men have died; much like Jesus christ, they died so they can make your lives safer" John said motioning towards the crowd. 

"And in their names, let us pray" John said as he placed both hands on the altar and bowed his head. 

The rest of the church followed in a similar fashion, sliding off the pews and onto their knees. John began to recite the hail mary, and the people joined him; murmuring in unison with their hands closed in front of them. John glanced up from his podium and from the mass of praying citizens, he spotted Victoria sitting in her seat. But john held his posture and continued the prayer. He was in the public view, and he didn't want to tarnish his appearance. John concluded the prayer and everyone crawled back onto their seats.         

Victoria stared at John whilst he continued the funeral. She and Andrey had finished their investigation into the double homicide. But when they told the town, the media, no one listened. '

They were killed in cold blood'  Victoria had told them 'murdered and mutilated shortly after' , they realised pictures shortly after to support their findings.

 All it took, was for John to see the bite marks, the human bitemarks and all other evidence was null and void. He confirmed to himself and the town, they in fact where under a demonic curse. 

She wasent even allowed to send her tissue samples to a forensics lab. The rest of the town had banded agaeisnt her, demanding the resources go to protecting the town. Despite the major set back she had sent Andry out of town with the sample, it would be better to have someone she trusts do it than anyone else.

John finished the first half of the funerals ceremonies, taking a moment to catch his breath. 

"My children...my flock...my lambs" John said waving his arm to the people,

"our community is in dire straits, due to this new development" he said.

"We have had two more of our family...taken from us..." he said, pretending to choke on his words,

"I have personally viewed the evidence, and without a doubt; with the lord as my witness. This has been the crime, of the unholy nature" he said dramatically, a single tear dropped from his white eyes further convincing the crowd that John was indeed sad.

The people whispered to themselves, somewhere skeptical, others where fearful. Victoria was furious.

"Everyone please, calm down" John said wiping the tear from his face and waving his arms in front of him,

 "If you where to look at the photos, the victims are plagued in bite marks that could have only come from a human" John said.

"As we all know, it is not only a sin to consume human flesh. But. It has many negative effects on the body, so I ask you all a very simple question. Would you ever commit such a crime, as eating another person?"

He received various forms of the 'no', with most shaking their heads. John nodded in approval.

"So why would a rational person, from our humble community do such a thing?" John asked rhetorically.

"The only answer is, he was under the influence of the devil" John said leaving his podium.

He walked to the side of his podium; watching the church chatter amongst themselves, before standing in front of the two caskets. A serious look crawled across John's face, a cross between anger and determination; enough to silence the church. 

"What are you going to do?" John asked , gesturing towards the crowd.

"How long will you wait before you do something? How long until beast that is out there, takes our families, our wives, our children. How long will it wait before it takes, you" John said angrily jerking his finger at a random person in the front row. 

The people's attitude began to change, adopting the pastor's energy and conviction. 

"You will not go to heaven if this, thing kills you" John said pointing at the floor

"by the disgusting power of satan himself your soul will be imprisoned in hell for all eternity!"

Citizens from the church began to stand from their seats cheering on the pastor. Victoria on the other hand stood from the seat and left, she had came to the church to mourn the loss of her coworkers. Not to join a rally. 

With Victoria gone the whole church turned from a place of worship, to one of anger. John raised his hand in the air, lowering the volume in the room as people paid him attention.

"We must root out the heretics that hide in our community" John said

"find those who fear the sun's light and harbour in the darkness-" before John could continue his monologue. A deranged man ran forward from the crowd. 

"I-I know who that is!" he shouted in a shaky voice, everyone went quiet. Some listened in anticipation of his answer, whilst others stared in disgust.

"A girl, an outsider to us. She came here the day before the murders, I've seen her..." the man rambled on.

"She stalks the street at night, never ever have I seen her walk in the day. She must be the one!" 

The church looked to John for an explanation, who quickly threw the information in his favour, 

"he speaks the truth" he said quickly.

"We must act on the opportunity to condem this monster" John said, causing the church to cheer in arms. 

"By dusk tomorrow we will purge this creature, but for now you must prepare yourselves. For in the name of our lord Jesus christ, we will save ourselves from the sick grasp of the devil!"