Devil at the Vatican (BL)

Chapter 10

The three men read a Bible passage in unison. It was 2 Timothy Chapter 1, Verses 6 – 14. Elio knew it well.  

Such words that were once so pleasant and easy for his soul now brought him on the brink of insanity.  The demonic power rose up in him almost immediately at the holy onslaught of words. Whereas before it was a more gradual build, this wicked evil burst from him in an effort to escape.

Immediately upon their recital of the gospel, pain thundered through his body. He rose again in a tense levitation that pulled at his constraints and challenged the strength of his limbs. 

Though the windows were closed, wind whipped through the room at high speeds. The door slammed shut. Two chairs knocked over.  

Marcel alone ended the recital with the verse, "That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us." 

Landon went over to the left side of the bed where the goat stood. The animal struggled against its ties to the bed post. All the commotion had frightened it beyond belief. Landon took the shaved horns into his monstrous hands and held the beast down into submission. 

Ellery went to the right side of the bed. He held a small cup of foul holy water and an aspergillum (a silver ball on a small metal rod). He used this stick to splash the water on Elio. The water melted into him like acid.  

A scream shook the entire bed. Elio's constraints thrashed. He fell down onto the bed with a hard thud, and immediately began writhing wildly. Inhuman sounds rumbled from his lungs as he struggled under the pain of the water. 

"Save your servant," Marcel called loudly. The wind grew stronger. The windows blew open. 

"Who trusts in you, my God," both Ellery and Landon responded. 

"Let him find in you, Lord, a fortified tower!" 

"In the face of the enemy." 

Elio understood it as a call-and-response chant. This hit him worse than the Bible verse. Every word seemed to borrow into his soul. They continued on and on with the chanting. Meanwhile, Ellery splashed him with water with each response. 

"Let the enemy have no power over him." 

"And the son of iniquity be powerless to harm him." 

Ellery placed the water aside. He removed a knife from the sleeve of his cassock. Landon slammed the goat's head down. Marcel held his Bible high. 

"Send him aid from your holy place." 

"And watch over him from Zion." 

"Lord, heed my prayer!" 

"And let the cry be heard by you!" 

Ellery sliced the knife deep into Elio's arm, right where the artery lay near his wrist. Blood oozed out in rivers. Elio screamed. The walls in the bedroom cracked. 

The entire bed rumbled.  

Marcel was upon him suddenly, holding both wrists down with purple stoles drenched in holy water. The pain was unimaginable. Elio thought he might faint or die on the spot, but something tethered him to that place. 

Scorching heat pierced through his veins and seized his heart. His mind spun. His body bucked and thrashed under the weight of Marcel. 

Marcel placed his mouth beside Elio's ear and shouted, ""I command you, unclean spirit, whoever you are, along with all your minions now attacking this servant of God, by the mysteries of the incarnation, passion, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the descent of the Holy Spirit, by the coming of our Lord for judgment. I command you!" 

Elio could feel something snake its way up from his stomach, to his throat, and at the edge of his mouth. A vileness so bitter yet so tantalizing was making a painful exit. Every sin he committed these past few days flashed before his eyes. 

Shame clogged his heart.

Andries.

Marvin.

The young maid.

He ruined them all.

And this vile surge tasted like every repressed desire and every repressed sin he locked in his heart for his entire life. His eyes rolled back, now black as the night.

Marcel continued his vicious whisper, "Depart, transgressor. Depart, seducer, full of lies and cunning, foe of virtue, persecutor of the innocent. Give place, abominable creature, give way, you monster, give way to Christ, in whom you found none of your works." 

The vileness shot from him like a bullet. It felt like flesh being torn from his face and brain, but it came as a relief. The sourness of its aftertaste made Elio shiver.   

The power in him calmed and his own thoughts returned to the forefront. Easy now. Rest now. 

He consciously could feel himself will the bed to a halt. It felt clumsy and wrong, but he did it. 

It worked, he thought. I'm finally free. A smile rose to his lips. Tears welled in his eyes. He would be able to go home. 

Elio opened his eyes. 

Marcel was still over him. Elio finally realized the heat of Marcel's body, how his breathing pressed into Elio's abdomen. He smelled like a sacrament. 

But Marcel's expression was not one Elio expected. 

Marcel gazed down at him with a furrowed brow and clenched jaw. Though his expression was hard to read, it was clear he was not happy. 

"No, no, no," Ellery said from the left of the bed, near Landon and the goat. 

The goat was dead. Black blood spilled from its eyes and mouth. It was covered in it. The blood was dark enough to make the goat appear almost entirely black. 

Landon still held the goat, except his arms had lost their strength.  

Their expressions were worried and terrified. 

Marcel released Elio's wrists and inspected them. He jumped from the bed and went to his case, which was now spilled over the floor. He returned with another stole and jug of holy water. He splashed the water on Elio. 

Elio flinched, then gasped. 

It didn't hurt. 

Marcel placed the stole on him.  

Nothing. No pain. 

Landon pulled Ellery back a few steps, away from Elio. 

"Hold fast the form of sound words," Marcel recited, "which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." 

The words no longer burned Elio's ears.  The priests were frozen. 

"What is it?" Elio asked, hopeful. "Am I cured?" 

"The cut," Ellery said, motioning his head towards Elio's wrist. 

The cut was nothing more than a scar now. It had healed in the few seconds between Ellery slicing him and Marcel pressing the stole against it. This too didn't hurt. 

"Your eyes," Landon murmured. 

And Elio knew right away. He could feel it, their blackness. Elio blinked hard with a gentle mental nudge and they returned to normal. He could control it now.  

But he could not control that familiar voice ringing in his head. Your eyes. They were completely black. 

"The exorcism worked," Marcel said. He cast his fiery gaze away from Elio. "And it failed."

"What does that mean?" Elio cried. "How could it work and fail at the same time?"

"I... I don't know."