PART SIX
Saint Sebastian's Catholic Church, Downtown.
Once downtown, Ash spent ten minutes crisscrossing the streets before he found the church. All at once the massive building went from being totally obscured behind a high-rise office complex to completely dominating the scene. It's ornate stone architecture, massive stained-glass windows and soaring steepled tower put the flat, grey, corporate boxes around it to shame. He noted with amusement, that the church even had gargoyles perched medievally around its higher walls.
As he cruised by the front, he saw the stone encased plaque in the grass near the front steps that read, "Saint Sebastian's Catholic Church". Next to the plaque, on a more modern, white sign, written in removable black letters it read, "Monday, May 9th, 8:00pm - Requiem Mass for Robert Foster."
He pulled his bike around the corner and parked one street over. From this vantage point he could see a covered side entrance to what looked like a newer wing of the church. The parking lot on the north side of the building only had four cars in it currently. Besides one couple walking along the sidewalk there were no people within his view.
Sh*t. So not only do I have to meet someone there, I'm probably gonna have to sit through a mass 'fore he shows up, Ashley thought, surveying the newer entrance from a distance as he approached. He ignored the couple, figuring that they would want their "alone time", and so came to the door within a few minutes.
The side door was unlocked. As Ash stepped inside he was presented with a choice. Stairs leading down, or a white tiled hall to the right, with several closed doors leading off of it. There was still no sign of people, though his acute hearing did pick up the feint sounds of an organ somewhere further inside.
Outside he heard the grinding roll of hard wheels on pavement and turned see several younger kids going by on their skateboards.
He closed the door behind himself, knowing the curiosity that an open door might entail from passersby (such as those kids). He glanced down the hallway -- no open doors that he could've poked his head into -- and then decided after a moment to head down the stairs. After all, he'd heard sometime in the past that it was rude to interrupt a church service, and he didn't want to do so accidentally.
As a matter of habit Ash was quiet on his feet as he descended the twenty or so steps and was presented with another hallway. Again there were doors along its length, but this time two looked to be open at the end of the hall.
He had only taken two or three steps when he saw a young man with dark hair, in jeans and a t-shirt cross from one open door to the other. He was carrying what looked to Ash to be folded up, white garments of some sort and was completely oblivious to Ash's presence - thanks to a pair of headphones over the boy's ears. The door he stepped through closed behind him, muffling the... choir? ... music Ash detected from the headset.
Curious, he stepped into the hallway, first looking into the room the kid had come out of, then at the door into the room he had entered.
The first was a storage room by the looks of it. Forty by twenty-five feet, the room had stacks of plastic chairs and folded tables along one wall. Another wall was lined with a set of shelves on which rested clear-plastic storage bins, holding the same sort of white clothing the boy carried and an assortment of other cardboard boxes. As Ashley was scanning the room, he heard the boy - through the door of the room across the hall - start singing in a sweet, high voice. By the evidence at hand, he surmised that the white garments were choir robes and the boy was practicing while changing.
Not wishing to be caught skulking around -- especially in a church! -- Ashley moved silently back toward the stairs, his footsteps as light as a feather as he went back up.
Once he crested the landing, he looked around again, wondering where exactly he was supposed to meet these others that the old man had spoken of.
As he came back up to the landing by the side entrance Ash saw an SUV pull up to the curb outside. Two boys were climbing out of the vehicle and saying something to the woman driver who he guessed to be their mother. They looked to be ten or eleven years old and wore dress shirts and slacks. They also looked to be coming towards the side entrance and Ashley.
! Act cool, act natural, act like you're supposed to be here... If there was anything Ashley didn't like, it was being caught off guard or not knowing what to do. He figured that if the two kids questioned him too much he could just ask them where the bathroom was. Meanwhile, he put his hands in his pockets, trying his best to look like a casual observer.
One boy opened the door while the other rushed past him inside - almost colliding with Ash before coming up short and staring, the way young kids will. A moment passed by and then both kids did a sideways shuffle, continuing to stare until they were on the steps heading down to the hall Ash just came up from. Neither said a word, but it was clear they were both wondering what Ash was doing there.
He mock-saluted the two kids, although they didn't see it. "Nice to meet you, too," he muttered under his breath. It was about time he stuck his nose into somewhere a little more prominent than some choir-boy's changing room. He circled the hallway, looking for doors that might lead into some sort of sanctuary. Once there, he figured he could listen against the doors to see if there was anything worth hearing.
He wandered down the upstairs hallway. By all appearances this section of the church was devoted to more mundane purposes. The first door he came to had a little plaque that said "DAYCARE." No sounds were evident from within. He tried the handle and found the door locked.
He was moving down to the second door when he heard voices, adult voices from up ahead. Due to his excellent hearing, Ash knew the voices sounded closer than they were. He could also tell that at least one of them was headed this way. As it drifted nearer, he heard a man saying, "... check and see how many of the boys are here. Go ahead and start moving the flowers into the chapel." The last bit came to Ash much louder, as if a door had been opened. Footsteps could be heard now as well and he judged he had maybe ten to fifteen seconds before the man came into view.
Ashley wasn't one for quick thinking often, but some things were almost instinct. He summoned his power and stepped into a nearby shadow, all but disappearing just as the man came around the corner.
Ashley judged him at mid thirties perhaps. He had short, light brown hair and wore the collar and clothing of a priest. As the man came down the hall Ash simply hugged the wall. Once the man was past, he watched him turn the corner and take the stairs down towards the boys. He looked the way the man had come from and could hear the muffled sounds of activity.
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As night fell D hunkered down in his little hidey hole. He reached into his backpack and pulled a dark, old, and very wrinkled hoody out and put it on. While he sat there, he studied the faces of those around and those who came and went, noting various points of reference for later retrieval.
OK, so maybe not me. Maybe I am paranoid, but I have as much cause as the next guy, I guess. If not me, then who... Surely not the bunch of punks sitting on the stoop. If it is some sort of trap, what can I do about it. To know is half the battle, but the other half can get you killed. Maybe I'll follow whomever comes for the other guys, and if they come for me I guess I am as ready as I can be. The best I can do is just keep and eye out. All of this addled through his brain and he sat and waited for the big something.
He poked through his pack and finally came out with an old Tac folding blade. He knew he had no idea how to use it but perhaps the idea was enough. Though old, it was well cared for, as were most of his things. This was for two reasons; one he didn't own much and what he did own he wanted to keep, and two he had lots of free time for such things like sharpening and oiling knives. So there he sat, noiselessly flicking the blade opened and closed and almost cutting the hell out of his finger while he did it.
Another few minutes ticked by before an SUV pulled up to the side entrance and dropped off two kids. unlike the ones on the steps, these were dressed... well, like they were going to church. They exchanged words with the driver, a woman by the looks of it, before disappearing inside. The vehicle than pulled away and drove around the corner and out of sight.
D sat and thought, and realized he hated waiting for "something" to happen, especially when he thought it might have something to do with him. He also did not like the idea of someone using his pal as a puppet, but what the hell could he do about it?
Hmm, well it's worth a shot, he thought to himself. Not being much for the magic arts, but not being a total fool in such cases, D thought that maybe a minor trauma would give his friend another chance to snap free or something like anyway.
D crept as slyly as he could, in a round about way, back to the back of the car he had visited earlier in the light. Darkness would help a bit more now. Eyes rolling back once again he went for that state which allowed him to focus more clearly on his tasks at hand. Shuffling through his mantra like lyrics, he focused on a catchy phrase or two and began to repeat it over and over in his mind. Then he pushed and extended his abilities again, this time reaching farther and harder than he had in a while. Once there and calm D used his power of the mind and not just his gift of seeing and scanned about the area for large concentrations of mana and perhaps even for any celestial or vaporous being the might be about.
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Ash looked after the man, then looked down the hall again in the direction the man had come from. He'd already been downstairs and found nothing... so it was off in the other direction for Ashley. He kept the illusion up just in case anyone else was just around the corner.
He made his way to the end of the hall. After a brief listen at the door the man came through, he stepped inside a large, carpeted room with a dry erase board taking up one wall and about thirty metal chairs arranged sort of like a classroom. On the board were several biblical passages written out in a semi-neat hand. Across the room was another door, this one slightly ajar, from which the sounds of activity came from. The smell of flowers was very evident through the door.
With a roguish and slightly mischievous grin on his face, he approached the board, adding to the bottom of the list the only bible verse he knew by heart.
The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.
Just to be spiteful, he hid all the markers and the eraser in various places around the room; then he glanced in the adjoining room, getting a feel for what was going on inside before he entered.
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It took D a few minutes to find that right spot in his head. It was something like tuning a radio, sifting through the static until he could feel his own essence gathered about him. Once he had his station, he could search for others, and he didn't have far to go. There was the essence equivalent of a two hundred foot transmitter right across the street.
D opened his eyes to an awe inspiring sight. The stained glass windows of the church pulsed with a soft blue essence. It was a strange sort of brilliance. If he looked a little left or right, or let his concentration waiver even slightly, the essence winked out, but looking straight on almost blinded him. his study of such things was limited, but he thought what he was looking at was a Place of Power. One that had something done to it to hide it from all but direct scrutiny.
"Holy
," was all D had to say, except for the scoffing he did at himself when he realized what he just said. Not knowing whether this was a good thing or a bad thing, D guessed that a church had to be on the positive side of this power thing, and thus would perhaps be a reasonably safe place to hang for a bit. Being a coward had it's drawbacks though, as he could not muster the strength enough to even try to move back to his hidey hole.
No one had as yet approached or said anything to his pal Dave, nor any of the others so D could not figure what part they had to play in all of this. If this was a place of evil and they were wanted as a source or sacrifice, someone would have acquired them by now, as 11 kids sitting out front is a bit suspicious. If this was a place of good, then what the hell did they want with 11 scrubs, and if not the scrubs then again perhaps D and again what for.
Maybe they are looking to train a new choir and they have someone determined that this bunch has some hidden talent.
D realized he had switched his trance focus from perception to contemplation and he was enhancing his ponder abilities, but none of his resolution skills and therefore was making no progress. Though he did feel a bit more rejuvenated.
One idea did strike him though. The best place to get lost is in a crowd. So with his pack on and his board in hand D strolled across the street and sat down next to Dave. He calmly removed a cigarette from his pocket, pulled out his lighter and lit up. He then placed it between the lips of his friend Dave and lit another for himself. D was now consigned to wait it out until something happened. At the very least he had temporarily broken the fear caused by the power, by justifying his being here as being more secure than skulking in shadows. Either way it did not smell as bad on the steps as it did in the alleyway.
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As he finished with his little prank, Ash felt his illusion begin to fade. He was just about to reestablish it - on the thought that it would be a much better way to explore - when he felt a spike of essence from somewhere outside the church. Directly on the heals of that, came a tidal wave of essence through the far door.
It was as if a switch had been thrown. Suddenly Ash realized that the essence had always been there. It was only masked before. Something, or someone outside had caused his momentary glimpse. Even as he had the thought, the power began to fade from sight. As it receded, he heard a voice through the open door saying, "Bring it to the front gentlemen... Gentle, gentle, don't scratch it." The speaker sounded like an older man. The sound of shuffling footsteps on stone could be heard as well.
Essence spike... what the hell? He looked around as the spike seemed to fade.
Maybe I should let myself be seen, just in case... Boldly, he walked into the room, hoping he wouldn't have to use more essence to hide himself again. The hide-and-seek game was getting a little tiresome. Besides, if the men on the other side objected to his presence, he could always use the excuse he would've used with the two kids earlier -- just looking for the bathroom.
Stepping through the doorway, down a short hall and up a small set of steps, Ash found himself in the main hall of the church. The juxtaposition from modern to gothic was startling. Instead of painted walls, straight corners and dry erase boards he was suddenly confronted with stone walls, arches and dark polished wood. Row upon row of oak pews sat before a raised alter area and podium. Hundreds of flowers were artfully arranged around a dark wood casket just being placed at their center by four men in slacks and white dress shirts.
An older, white haired man in the the black suit of a priest was guiding the others with words and gestures, attempting to keep them from trampling the flowers. His back was turned to Ash and the men were currently too busy watching their own feet to notice Ash's presence. Besides these men, the cavernous hall was empty of people. The main doors at the far back were shut and the diffuse glow of city lights filtered through the large stained glass windows, adding their light to the four large candelabras hanging from the vaulted ceiling.
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As D had hoped, neither Dave or the others made so much as a peep. Dave sort of half smiled when D placed the cigarette between his lips. Now that they were here on the steps, it seemed that whatever controlled them, kept them quiet and subdued as well. He looked from face to face, studying their expressions for a moment before attempting the same face.
What the hell am I doing here? This sucks. These brief thoughts passed through D's mind as he sat there trying to look inconspicuous.
Damnit, something is out there, was D's last coherent thought before he turned inward again, this time to narrow his field of perception as a hawk scans a prairie looking for a mouse. D often "noticed' things that happened around him, but he just put it down to being so used to looking over his shoulder. He went for the tunnel vision effect and slowly scanned the area like a terminator looking for a target. He moved slowly so as not to be thought of as actually looking. Prying into the nooks and crannies that he could see, he made sure not to miss and inch of top, bottom and side to side.
With time to ponder, and forcefully hedge out all other distractions, D focused once more on the power emanating from the church. It took a few moments but gradually, feint clouds could be seen like vapor trails converging on the building. Some teachings would call them ley lines.
So that's cleared up at least. This church was built on the junction of several ley lines. It's a natural place of power. With that figured out D guessed that the power wouldn't be bad or good, just a neutral build up of essence.
He quit his scan and went back to looking blank and bored as several people appeared around the corner, coming from the parking lot area. It looked to be a family; one man, woman and two girls, all dressed in dark, formal clothes. The man looked at his watch and then up to the doors of the church, just noticing D and the others when he did so. At this distance, D wasn't able to hear what he said to the woman, but they all turned and began walking away.
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Okay, so nothing too big through Door Number One... He stepped back through the door he entered from, closing it behind him.
I don't even know why I'm waiting around here. I'm destined to meet some people here tonight? Well, destiny can blow me, if she don't want to work as fast as me. Shaking his head at his immediate reaction to the old man's words -- like a child, no less! -- he walked back to the back of the pews, exiting through the big double doors in the front of the building.
He stopped short when he noticed all the kids on the front steps, almost going back inside --
but what's the point? he asked himself. Seeing that most of the kids were lounging or smoking -- and he chuckled mentally when he noticed this -- he shrugged his shoulders and joined them for now. Whether it was fate or chance, he sat right next to D.
A few moments later, as he was just getting comfortable on the steps, Ash felt an unpleasant twinge in his head. His nostrils flared and his eyes slid sideways, somewhat surprised to see a slight aura of essence being drawn into the young man next to him. By the feel of it, he had just been probed.
The young man's eyes never moved however, and by all outward appearance he was simply minding his own business.
Oh, god, please don't tell me I just sat down right next to a hunter or something... It would be just his luck if he had. A quirked eyebrow was about all the reaction Ashley was willing to give. He didn't know if the guy who'd just probed him knew what he was or not, and he didn't want to give anything else away.
D twitched suddenly as if he had been in a daze and turned with a surprised and rather agitated face toward the new guy. "Dude! What the f*ck. Who the f*ck are you? What the f*ck are we all doing hangin' out in front of the church? And then you come out and scare the
out of me. Did you make this happen?" D shuffled nervously as he tried to hit his mouth with a cigarette and tried not to burn off his eyebrows, while his hands shook badly.
"The hell you talking about, man?" Ashley replied. He was a little startled by D's response, which was odd for him; he hadn't felt this nervous since... well, since he'd been alive. Ash looked at the other kids on the steps, some of whom had reacted to Donavan's words; but the ones who had were in a surprisingly low number. Thinking quickly, Ashley grabbed D's arm before the other guy burnt himself with his cigarette. "I get the feeling you 'n' me, we need ta talk," he said in a low tone. His hazel eyes flicked in the direction of the corner of the building, then back to D.
"Dude!", D almost shouted as the stranger grabbed his arm and the cigarette shook loose from his shaky grasp to land and then to tumble down the steps.
His face went stark white when he realized the solid grip this guy had on his arm, which was a trick considering how pale he was to begin with. He was practically frozen in terror, as his survival instincts began to rampage through his system. D felt his blood begin to rush, and that little part of his brain that controlled his abilities prick into life. Though pallid he began to feel very warm. A sensation he had not experienced for some time. He fought to stabilize the tumult of emotions, the most predominate of which was fear.
A flash of insight struck him as adrenaline focused his mind.
No weapon. No harsh words. What the is a Dhampyre. Is he going to hurt me? All of this pulsed in D's skull, and perhaps even settled him down a hair when he semi-realized that if the guy had wanted to kill him, he probably could have by now. As if he was trying to get a grip on the true reality of the moment, he managed to squeak out a few pitifully pronounced words to try and answer one of his questions.
"WWWhat the hell do you want?", was what D stammered at the guy with the grip.
The looks on the few faces that registered anything were of mild curiosity. The kids quickly lost interest however, seemingly unable to maintain focus. Ash was surprised by their lack of reaction. Either they didn't like this guy very much, or something was else was off here. The one he was speaking to seemed to be the only one displaying much emotion. He suddenly realized that with a little effort, he could feed off this one. On the back of that realization came the attractive aroma of a higher than normal essence level. He pushed the feeling away with a twinge of unease.
Not being dead or harmed allowed the sense of danger to slip slightly from D's immediate perceptions, but also being somewhat cornered was making him angry and slightly agitated. "Get off me! Tell me what the
is going on around here, and quit f*cking with these others guys, if you had something to do with it." Without waiting for an answer D stopped for a moment, his expression blanked and he glared for a short time into the the eyes of the man before him. Lingering, but not for long D stiffened and straightened his neck then suddenly jerked back on his arm trying to break the grip.
D didn't have to try too hard, because at the same moment Ashley released his arm, barely realizing that he'd gripped quite so hard. "I ain't got nothin' to do with whatever these f*cks're on," he replied in a low tone, on edge because the other had more essence than Ash normally saw in humans. And it could be tempting; but Ashley knew he had to keep himself under control. The guy was already in fight-or-flight mode; he could smell it. "'S far as what's goin' on around here, I'd like to know too. Some old man told me to be here tonight... and here I find this situation, and someone who apparently ain't affected by it. Somethin' tells me that you're one of the men I was s'posed to meet." He put as much sincerity as he could muster into his voice; the last thing he (and probably the other guy) needed right now was a lot of attention.
"Alright man, then peace. I don't know about any old man and nobody 'told' me to come here, but it seems that somebody is playing games. I followed my friend here 'cause somebody mind-f*cked him in the park and he wandered this way. Probably did the same to these other guys, whom I don't even know, but it would explain the blank looks on their faces. I don't know you and you don't know me, but why would anyone want either of us here? It's a memorial service for some guy I don't think either of us know. I will tell ya I think this place has a lot of mojo to it and it is making my skin crawl..." D spoke these words in a more mild tone, when he realized the guy was not trying to hurt him or take him away somewhere. "You want a smoke?", D said, distracted as he reached for his pack and tapped two out for the both of them. "These guys seem to be waiting for something, and I'm here to try and protect my friend if the need arises."
Ash shrugged. He might as well; it wasn't likely to affect him in any noticeable way. Accepting the cig, he replied. "The inside of the church is mostly normal, but a coupla' kids who came in while I was wanderin' around kinda seemed spooked that a stranger was there. Least that's the bead I got. Other'n that, I didn't see anything out of place in there." He smirked at his statement. As if he'd be the one to find it if there were anything wrong with the place? Today must have been the first time he'd stepped foot in a church since he was... well, he couldn't remember.
"That's nice. So you didn't see any rituals or sacrifice that these guys might be waiting for?" D sighed heavily, as he was tired of still having no answers. "So this may seem strange, but who is this guy that told you to come here for no obvious reason? I mean, did he have something on you, or are you just really trusting of old people?" A smirked crossed D's face and
he dragged deeply on his smoke, as he finished his last phrase.
Ash leaned closer to D and lowered his voice even more than he already had. "First off, I'm kinda new to town and tend ta keep to myself." He ticked the point and the following ones off on his fingers. "I don't know nobody... except you, now, kinda... and nobody knows me. I saw him attacked on the street, and any decent guy would stop to help, right? Well, so did I. After I shooed the gangers away, the old man stopped me to talk a bit before he... disappeared. He not only knew who I was, but--" He broke off, casting a glance over his shoulder at the other kids. As before, they were all listless and disinterested in general in the world at large. "what I am. Not even my family knows that.
"'Sides," and he shrugged, "I had a few hours to kill 'fore I went to work, so I thought if weird stuff was goin' down, I might be able to do something."
"So let me get this straight." D puffed his smoke and blew out slowly as if composing his thoughts. "You are new in town and have no friends here, and if I had to guess not many anywhere. You were walking along the street and you see a guy getting mugged, so you did what any 'decent person' would and helped the guy. So 'WHAT' you are," D enunciated this precisely, "aside from a good Samaritan, makes you either tough enough or stupid enough to take on a gang, and since you are still here I would guess the former and not the latter. This all turns out to be some sort of setup. The guy knows you which trips you out a bit, but seeing as he does know you, you figure that if he wanted to hurt you, in one way or another he could have done so already, so you trust him a bit. You are here because you are not a harsh person at heart and you figure he has got something to check out that might prove worth it. Right?" D paused his babble for a long moment dragged the cigarette again and sighed as if it still didn't help to know anything about anything.
Ash thought for a minute, letting D's words sink in a little. "Yeah, that about sums it up," he said after a second with a miniscule nod.
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Zoryn continued down the road to the church, taking the opportunity to sort his thoughts. He had enough experience to know he was already in over his head. He had to find a foothold and make sense of this before he found himself in front of a hungry demon or some other anomaly of equal proportions. Zoryn sighed and took a well kept pack of cloves out of his coat with his mind. He placed it in his mouth and physically took out his lighter. The zippo clipped open and Zoryn lit the darkness as he walked. Both hands covering the flame from wind and his mind keeping the zippo in its place. He breathed in a heavy drag of thick smoke as the cigarette sparked and sputtered to life. The zippo was placed back as was the pack of cloves and zoryn was off again at a slow pace to the church.
He mused over the possible enemies and known strongholds in this city as he allowed the lack of oxygen (more so than the nicotine) to cloud thoughts together. He let out a heavy breath of mostly thick smoke and picked up his pace. In the distance he saw the front of the church looming over the street like a neon sign out front of a cannibal hut. He had a feeling there would be no solace this evening in the house of God.
He stood on the street corner across from the church scanning the area. A group of teens loitered on the wide steps to the right of the main doors. By their attire, Rakov guessed they weren't there for the Robert Foster Requiem Mass posted on the sign out front. Another group, this one apparently a family unit, was walking in his general direction and looked to be in their church finest. From this angle he could see the parking area across the far street and by the lack of vehicles the service wasn't yet under way. He looked at his watch, 19:08 hours, an hour 'til 'festivities' begin. He briefly wondered if the service had anything to do with the old man and his business here.
A moment of inner focus and he sent out a psychic radar ping, searching for ongoing supernatural effects. He was rewarded with a light return. Someone close by was or had recently been manipulating essence.
As the family neared his position and continued walking past him he heard the man speaking to his kids, "... f either one of you spill food on your clothes you'll be grounded, Nothing with ketchup and that's final..." the softly spoken words faded as the family moved away down the street.
Zoryn took a last breath of cloven air and flicked the remnant tobacco stick to the ground. He breathed it out slowly and began his walk to the steps of the church. The few seconds seemed an eternity as Zoryn's thoughts raced through the possible horrors that might befall him. Paranoid? He'd been called worse. Way he figured it, you wish for the worst and when you find it, you're not surprised. Visions of demons eating his face came and were embellished. Prepared for the worst, Zoryn stepped up to the entrance of the church and opened the doors. He stepped in and stayed in the threshold allowing his eyes to adjust to the lighting. Once his vision adjusted, he looked around the cathedral entrance and took in all the gritty details he could. when he felt satisfied of what he saw, he moved in and sat in a pew near the center. Resigned to the imminent death he was sure to face, he prepared himself for the struggle to come.
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