Unspeakable, Part 4
Saint-Croix Cathedral - 3:30 AM
Angela, Anders, Kevin, and Kristen entered the cathedral, where Dieter waited for them. The Inquisitor was busy repainting the sigil, only now inverted and reversed, with a pentagram and Enochian script placed over the lines and the snake imagery.
“Ah, you’re finally here,” Dieter said, “Just in time.”
“Okay, so what’s the plan?” Anders said.
“Behr probably knows we’re onto him and is sending reinforcements as we speak,” Dieter said, “We need you to protect the sigil while it powers up.”
“I’ve done the favor of repairing your perimeter spells,” Kevin said, “And laid down some more defenses around the place. They’ll be expecting countermeasures, and they’ll know how to get around them, but it’ll slow them down at least.”
“But what are we supposed to do?” Angela said. “I mean, whatever these guys want, they’ll stop at nothing to get it done.”
“This sigil should repair local reality and prevent the spell from working here,” Dieter said, “Of course, they could always use the spell somewhere else, which is why I also turned it into a banishing spell, to make it harder to summon whatever it is they’re summoning.”
“Where’s Wagner?” Anders said.
“He’s bringing even more backup,” Dieter said.
“We don’t have time,” Kristen said, “I’m hearing cars outside. Get ready!”
They took cover behind the pews and readied their guns just as the doors swung open. Behr and several Inquisitors stormed inside, wearing tactical gear and armed with automatic weapons.
“Dieter?” Behr said. “Care to give me an explanation for this?”
“I know the truth!” Dieter said, still repainting the sigil. “I know you were trying to sacrifice me to summon something!”
“Uh, what?” Behr said.
“You were trying to cover it all up, weren’t you?” Dieter said. “Your cult activities? Why not kill two birds with one stone? Get me out of the way, and use me as the sacrifice for your spell.”
“It’s over, Behr,” Kevin said, “We know what you want to do, and we won't let you do it.”
“What have you really gotten yourself into, Dieter?” Behr said. “Associating yourself with a disgraced excommunicado? You do know the punishment for associating with him is becoming excommunicado yourself.”
“If that’s what the Inquisition is going to be with you as its leader, then I don’t care,” Dieter said, “At least I’ll know the truth.”
“And I’ll have gotten justice for the Prague branch,” Kevin said.
“You know, I should’ve seen this coming,” Dieter said, “The cult has lasted for millennia. It wouldn’t have been defeated and wiped out in just one Inquisition operation in the 1930s. That’s why the mission was covered up. It was a failure. Not only did an entire branch get destroyed, but the cult ended up infiltrating the Inquisition…and taking it over. And with you as the new Head Inquisitor, you’ve completed that.”
“I suppose it’s no use denying it, then,” Behr said, “You are all heartless. You don’t accept It’s love in your hearts. That’s the problem with this world. You’ve all lost the way. It promises to lead us back to the light, back to our destiny. But first, we must cleanse you of your sins, so we may build you back up as the righteous. Through the pitch dark comes a cleansing fire. And using the Inquisition’s resources is the best way to accomplish that.”
“Through the pitch dark…” Angela said. “I’ve heard that before. On the other side.”
“They’re active there as well?” Anders said.
“I assume so,” Angela said, “Seeing as the cult predates our two universes diverging.”
“I won’t stand by and let you destroy our civilization,” Dieter said.
“You and whose army?” Behr said. “Your partner isn’t even with you.”
“Us,” Angela said.
“Hah!” Behr said. “Two Athanatoi hope to stand against us? Preposterous. Not even all of angelkind could stop us from sending a nuke to their doorstep!”
“We have backup,” Dieter said.
There was a flash of light, and Wagner, Cornelius, Minerva, and Wolfram appeared. Cornelius and Minerva wore classical Hellenic armor and carried long golden spears, while Wagner and Wolfram donned the armor of medieval Russian warriors and brandished gleaming swords.
“I missed these dramatic entrances,” Wolfram said.
“We should do this more often,” Wagner said.
“Ah, you’re here,” Behr said, “Dyeus, Manus, Perwunos, and Weltis…the false gods. We’ve been expecting you for a while.”
“Who are you calling false gods again?” Wolfram said.
“You will leave this cathedral and then the town,” Minerva ordered.
“And you will never come back,” Cornelius said, “This town is under our protection.”
“Your protection means nothing,” Behr said, “Your powers are utterly dependent on the faith of your believers. The gods of money and technology put you to shame. And our faith is growing again like it hasn’t in millennia. We already operate outside this town. Even if you drive us out of here, we still have plenty of places around the world, waiting to welcome us!”
The Inquisitor cultists stepped forward and aimed their guns at the gods. Angela and Anders stepped back and took cover behind a pew.
“Well, that escalated quickly,” Angela said.
“Tell me about it,” Anders said.
Dieter finished the spell.
“This is your last warning,” he said, “I will trigger the spell. You’ll regret it.”
“You really want to make this difficult, do you?” Behr said. “Your spells are meaningless. I got past the perimeter spells easily.”
Kevin looked at Dieter.
“What?” Dieter said. “I thought you upgraded them!”
“I did,” Kevin said.
“This is not your ordinary spell!” Dieter said.
“Your modern magic is futile,” Behr said, “It’s power is ancient, older than any of your magic. That is why It will always prevail, and has already prevailed. That is why we do what we do. Because It rewards our faith, and we know It has already rewarded us. We see our fate written in Its scales. You can’t say the same about your dead gods.”
“We’re not dead,” Wagner said, “Just in retirement.”
“And you do not want us to come out of retirement,” Wolfram said.
The Inquisitor cultists opened fire. Cornelius and Minerva spun their spears, deflecting the bullets aimed at them. Cornelius’ spear arced with electricity. Letting out a roar, he slammed his spear against the floor, and a bolt of lightning erupted from the tip of the spear, blasting several cultists down the aisle. Wolfram charged in after him, swinging his sword, which was infused with electricity. Kristen jumped down from the rafters into the midst of the cultists, hacking and slashing at them from up close with a dagger. Several of the cultists fell before Behr realized what was happening, by which time she had climbed over the pews, up the walls, and disappeared into the rafters again.
“A vampire, huh?” Behr said. “You’ve stooped so low as to make subhumans fight for you? We should’ve killed every last one of them when we had the chance!”
Those words echoed through Dieter’s mind. A recent memory he had been trying to forget instead resurfaced, just as he remembered the Blue Man bursting out of the waters of the Minch, its gaping mouth of sharp teeth opened. An unfortunate Inquisitor who was too slow to react screamed as his left arm was torn clean off. Munster quickly put a bullet in the Blue Man’s head, the monster’s corpse splashing back into the water.
“Dieter!” Munster said. “Help Paul out!”
Dieter ran over to Paul, who writhed on the ground and kept screaming.
“I’m sorry, but this might hurt a little,” Dieter said.
He whispered a Latin incantation for a healing spell. A circle of runes and a green pentagram appeared around Paul’s stump of a left shoulder. Small bolts of energy shot out from the runes and struck the wound. Paul screamed more, but Dieter held his left side down. Slowly, the magical energy stopped the bleeding and began repairing the skin and tissue.
“It’s going to be okay, Paul,” Dieter said, “We’re going to get you back to base where we can regenerate your arm.”
“Kill…kill those monsters,” Paul said, “Please…kill them all…”
“Get at target lock on that nest!” Dieter shouted.
“On it!” the captain said.
The Inquisition ship approached a small rocky island covered in branches and other debris gathered from the sea. Dieter noticed a dozen Blue Men gathered on the island. They weren’t all males. There were some females and children too, hiding behind the males, who had picked up sharpened sticks and clubs to defend themselves.
“Wait, I thought they were feral,” Dieter said.
Munster noticed the Blue Men as well.
“Yeah,” Munster said, “The briefing said nothing about the children.”
“Target lock!” the captain said. “Firing!”
“Wait!” Dieter shouted. “Stop!”
But it was too late. The ship’s guns opened fire, and the shells instantly destroyed the island and everybody on it. With the Blue Men’s screams still ringing in his mind, Dieter shook himself back to the present. While Angela and Anders laid down suppressing fire, Kevin concentrated. A dozen copies of himself split off from the real Kevin and immediately rushed the Inquisitors, spells firing from their hands almost as quickly as the enemy’s bullets. Wagner approached Dieter and the spell.
“Ready?” Dieter said.
“Yeah,” Wagner said, “Let’s do this.”
Wagner stepped into the middle of the sigil. More cultists streamed into the cathedral. Cornelius and Minerva continued to hold the line. Behr stepped back and raised his hands. The space above his hands distorted, and dark energy gathered into a ball, which he shot at Wolfram. Wolfram slashed the energy ball with his sword, dissipating it. He then charged at Behr, who drew a short sword and defended himself. The two clashed in the middle of the aisle as the other gods held off the rest of the cultists.
“We didn’t even do that much investigating, did we?” Angela said.
“Not that I know of,” Anders said, “Is this even our case anymore?”
“At this point, no,” Angela said.
“Seriously, how crazy is this?” Anders said. “I only started all this to find my sister. And now we find out the Inquisiton is run by snake people?"
"Even by our standards that’s pretty out there,” Angela said.
“Wagner, now!” Dieter said.
Wagner closed his eyes and began speaking in the dead language of ancient humanity. The sigil glowed a light blue, and wisps energy swirled around the edges. The cathedral rumbled, dust falling from the rafters. Realizing what was happening, Behr’s eyes widened in shock before turning a deep red. Then he clenched his fists, which became cloaked in dark energy. Wolfram slashed at him with his sword, but Behr grabbed the blade with one fist, dissolving, no, outright erasing the metal’s existence at his touch. The severed tip clattered on the floor. Wolfram staggered back, staring at the broken sword, just as Behr charged forward and punched him in the stomach, sending him flying over the pews and smashing against the far wall.
“Stay out of our way!” Behr shouted. “Why don’t you all go back to Taurica?!”
He let off a burst of red energy, and the gods disappeared, presumably banished elsewhere. He rushed the altar, his arms raised and more dark energy gathering around his fists. More of Kevin’s apparitions appeared around him and attacked, holding him back for a few seconds. But he eventually overpowered and vaporized them, continuing his charge. Just as Behr reached the edge of the sigil, Wagner finished the incantation. He abruptly switched to modern German.
“I sacrifice myself!” he declared, slamming his hand down on the middle of the sigil.
There was a flash of blue light, and Behr and the cultists screamed. Angela closed her eyes, but she could still see the blinding light, along with the figures of the cultists falling. When the light went away, she opened her eyes. The cultists lay on the ground, dead. Behr clutched his shoulder and grunted in pain.
“You…” he groaned. “What have you…done…”
“We stopped you,” Dieter said.
“No…” Behr said. “You’ve stopped…nothing…your fate has already been written.”
“We decide our own fate,” Dieter said, “We won’t the likes of you dictate our future. I won’t let anymore innocents die. Like in the Minch.”
“You’ve got it all wrong,” Behr said, “We aren’t dictating the future. We just know what has already transpired and what will come to pass. This empire will fall, and the family that rules it will perish to the last member. But as for right now, you haven’t seen the last of me!”
He activated a teleportation spell and disappeared in a flash of light.
“Damn,” Kevin said, “I guess we’ll get him another time.”
Kristen dropped down from the rafters.
“Uh, did you guys forget about Wagner?” she said.
They looked at the sigil, which had mostly burned itself off the floor, leaving only some ash. Hovering over it was Wagner, though his body was now ghostly and transparent, slowly flickering in and out of existence.
“Oh no,” Angela said.
“What’s happened to you?” Anders said.
“I…I don’t have much time left,” he said, “I’ve sacrificed myself…for the spell.”
“You’re dying?” Angela said.
“Not really,” Wagner said, “I’ll reconstitute after…a little bit. But right now, it’ll be like…a really long sleep. I…I just want to thank you for saving my son back then. It’s only natural I repaid the favor.”
His image became harder to see.
“Can I ask one last favor of you?” he said.
“Yeah, anything,” Dieter said.
“Destroy those cultists,” Wagner said, “I’ll try to find you or your allies when I wake up again, but it’s in your hands now. Destroy them for good. Don’t let them ruin your world.”
“I will,” Dieter said.
Wagner smiled, and he faded away. They stood there in silence for a little bit, taking in what just happened. Then Dieter packed up his things, followed by Kevin and Kristen.
“I’ll call Munster,” Dieter said, “Hopefully he’s done with his mission by now.”
“Wait, for all we know he could be one of them,” Kristen said.
“How do we know he’s with us?” Kevin said.
“There’s a reason Stahl sent him on his own mission,” Dieter said, “I’ve known him for over twenty years too. I’d know.”
Motel - 6:00 PM
Anders and Angela left their motel room. As they carried their suitcases to their car, Anders noticed Dieter, Kevin, and Kristen waiting near the exit.
“What are you guys doing?” Angela said.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Dieter said. “We’re going to avenge a god.”
“The Inquisition’s compromised,” Kevin said, “We’re going to root the cultists out of it.”
“You could help us, you know,” Kristen said, “You have experience with these matters. Conspiracies, I mean.”
“Oh, please,” Anders said, “I’m terrible in these situations.”
“You saw what I did—or didn’t do—back in the cathedral,” Angela said, “You’re better off without us.”
“You guys have each other, and Munster too,” Anders said, “And to think, Dieter, that twenty years ago you hated vampires.”
“Yes, I’ve since grown past that,” Dieter said.
“Thanks to me,” Kristen said.
“You’ve done well for yourself since then, Kristen,” Anders said.
“I have,” Kristen said, “Now I know what it means to live free.”
“You’ve also grown a lot, Kevin,” Angela said.
“I’ve honed my abilities,” Kevin said, “Now I realize this…fighting the cult…it’s my destiny. I will not stop until they are defeated.”
“So, I guess you’ll go back to your own anomalies, huh?” Dieter said.
“At this point, I’m not even sure,” Anders said, “I’ve been doing this for a long time. I’m getting really sloppy. I don’t feel like I enjoy this anymore.”
“Well, do whatever you want to do,” Dieter said.
“Guess this means goodbye, then, huh?” Angela said.
“I think so,” Kristen said.
“Will we see each other again?” Anders said.
“If we do, that would mean things went terribly wrong,” Kristen said.
“And I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen,” Dieter said, “I will not let another Minch happen on my watch.”
They shook hands one more time.
“Take care,” Angela said.
“It’ll be your word against Headquarters,” Anders said, “Which is compromised. A lot of people won’t believe you.”
“Someone has to try,” Kevin said, “Against all odds. I learned that from you two.”
“Don’t give up, Anders,” Dieter said, “You have to keep going. You have to finish the fight. It’s too important to give up now.”
Anders nodded. “I’ll try. Take care.”
Dieter pressed his finger to his phone. He, Kristen, and Kevin disappeared in a flash of light.