Two corpses hung in front of them.
One hung on each side of the door, both burned and so misshapen that one could only tell that it was a body that was wrapped in bandages.
The three of them paused for a moment, unable to look away from them. Even Vincent looked sick.
"Ready?" Cheryl asked.
"Ready," Travis responded.
Vincent pushed his glasses up and muttered something under his breath, before nodding.
Cheryl opened the door.
Like Vincent had been earlier, Harry was hanging from the ceiling by a rope wrapped around his arms and torso. Like Vincent, he was in the middle of the room. Unlike Vincent, there was a small but steadily growing pile of blood beneath him, and his head was hanging limply.
For a second, Travis thought that they'd come too late.
"Dad?" Cheryl's voice rasped out.
But no, he was moving his head, looking up at them, "Cheryl, get out of here!"
"Not without you!" she called back firmly.
"Oh Alessa, how you've grown."
All three of them turned towards the voice. They'd been so busy worrying about Harry, they'd forgotten about Dahlia. Probably a bad move.
The cultist moved next to Harry, gripping his gun in her hand before pointing it straight at Harry.
"My name isn't Alessa," Cheryl said, voice surprisingly even. "Let my father go."
Dahlia laughed. Travis had always hated that grating sound. It echoed through the empty seats surrounding them.
He began scanning the room, looking for things that might help or hurt, but all he could see was a long narrow hole in the back of the room.
"Why would I do that? You may have the Power, but you have no power over me. I am the one with the power over you." She clicked back the safety on the gun. "You see what I mean? Now, drop your weapons, all of you except Alessa." She smiled, an expression that made Vincent swear under his breath.
A drop of Harry's blood hit the ground.
Travis dropped the sledgehammer, tossing it a safe distance from the toes of his friends.
From the other side of Cheryl, Vincent slowly bent down and set down the shotgun.
"Now push it away."
He did so reluctantly.
"Now, which should we take care of first? There's the meddling coward who always runs away." Vincent tensed but said nothing. "And then there's her brave protector. Which should she shoot first?"
That told them all what her plan was. And it was indeed a plan that would feel Cheryl's heart with a lot of dark emotions, among the first of which would be despair and self-hatred.
Luckily, her father also figured out the plan.
With a grunt of pain, Harry kicked out, sending the gun flying.
Cheryl shot. The bullet went straight into Dahlia's shoulder.
The cultist screamed and clutched at it before beginning to move away.
Not wanting her to cause any more trouble, and still angry, Travis scooped up the sledgehammer and chased after her. "You two take care of Harry! I'll take care of her!"
Dahlia ran to the hole in the back of the room, glared over her shoulder at him once before jumping in.
At the edge, Travis slowed down, and looked down into the hole. He could see the bottom. It didn't look like he could kill himself by jumping down- he couldn't see Dahlia's dead body for one thing- but he couldn't see the rest of the room.
"Travis?"
He looked behind him.
Cheryl was looking at him from beside her father, who was now resting on the floor.
Travis forced himself to smile. "Be right back," he said, and dropped down.
Even as he fell he heard Dahlia's voice, chanting.
He landed and looked up.
Despite the dark of the room, Travis could see something that had to be a large alter at the end of the room. In front of it, a huge circle had been drawn on the ground.
Dahlia stood in the middle of it, holding some strange pyramid like object, almost clutching it to her chest as she kept chanting.
"What are you doing?" he demanded.
"I am finishing it!" Dahlia said, spreading her arms wide. "It will be summoned this night!"
"That's what you think," Travis answered as he walked forward.
But before he could do anything, Dahlia began laughing and the symbol glowed. The pyramid thing in her hands began moving- but Travis couldn't get a good look at it because even as it began moving darkness began seeping out of it, spreading, intensifying-
Dahlia kept laughing even as the darkness enveloped her and she disappeared behind it-
Wind began ripping around, as if seeking to rip his eyes out.
Travis flung up his empty arm, half to protect his eyes, half to protect him from running face first into anything as he stepped forward.
Behind the slight protection of his arm, basing his steps on what he'd seen before the darkness, he kept walking forward- going by memory and the sound of Dahlia's voice- a voice which was beginning to change-
Travis gripped the sledgehammer tighter and struck. He made contact with something as a strange inhuman cry rang out- and a metallic sound rang out and then again and again- each time further away-
Even as he drew his arms back, preparing for another swing, Travis wondered- then remembered the pyramid thing- he must have hit it away-
Something large and foul smelling rammed into Travis and sent him flying backwards-
Travis went head over heels- managed to hold onto the sledgehammer until just before he hit the ground.
He groaned, but quickly began pushing himself up and picked up the hammer again.
The darkness was beginning to fade away, he noticed as he looked up. And almost dropped the hammer again.
The thing that had once been Dahlia Gillespie moved forward, looming in front of him.
Travis was not a small man but he was child sized, almost toy sized in comparison.
It stretched out above him- stretched being the key word- like a goat, but a disjointed, unfinished one. Long and too thin and the legs and arms bending in impossible ways. Patches of skin remained naked and without fur, unhealthy grayish white skin showing.
The head was the only part that was no longer remotely human. It looked goat like but it was too far away for Travis to really be able to tell. It gazed down at him maliciously.
Massive wings full of rotten feathers blasted Travis backwards- then even as he fought and regained his balance- the wings drooped weakly, before the creature snarled at him and yanked them up again.
Lightening fast, something shot at him- he dodged but it managed to graze his shoulder- he rolled over and sit up, awkwardly, but safe.
Travis turned to see a long skinny and sharp edged feather embedded in the ground where he'd been a moment ago. After a few seconds, it started stinking and rotting away.
The thing that might've been what Dahlia worshiped (Travis couldn't call anything that looked like that a god) roared and tried more feathers.
Travis dodged the feathers and dashed closer and began whaling on the goat body with the sledgehammer. After he'd gotten about six swings in, the monster succeeding in hitting out with the wings, sending Travis flying back.
It laughed, a sound like nails on a chalkboard, before shooting out more feathers.
This time, better prepared, Travis rolled out of the way and jumped up to attack once the wings drooped again.
The monster roared angrily, and again, after a short while of pounding, it managed to pull the wings back.
"Travis!"
Cheryl and Vincent dropped down the hole to land beside him.
"What's that thing?"
"Used to be Dahlia. Don't bother shooting unless it until after it stops using its wings as a shield- here it comes!"
They all dodged the storm of feathers.
As he landed, Travis started moving closer- but shot a glance at the others, not wanting to hit them with the hammer.
Cheryl was keeping her distance- bullets sounding a steady tempo as she kept firing and kept moving.
Vincent was at the other end, aimed his bullets into the thing's mouth.
Both of them were far enough away. Travis brought down the sledgehammer and as he battered away at it, he realized he could hear gunshots from above. Harry must've had his gun returned to him.
The monster yanked its wings back, turning the air almost black with the feathers, one cutting across the top of Cheryl's hand even as she dodged.
"Ow!"
"Cheryl!"
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, it's just a scratch."
"Here it comes again!" warned Vincent.
Again they all dodged again and again they all went at it, this time when it started shooting feathers again it managed to cut Vincent's knee.
He cursed under his breath.
"Are you okay?"
"Fine," he spat as he began reloading his shotgun, then aimed and fired.
The massive creature jerked, head banging into the ceiling, before slumping over.
After a moment of deafening silence, Travis asked, "Is it dead?"
Vincent slowly approached the motionless body, studied it a moment then lifted one leg to kick-
It groaned, a mixed multi-voice of nightmares-
Vincent didn't back away fast enough- one wing hit him and flung into the closest wall-
"Vincent!"
And the storm of feathers shot towards them.
"Run!"
They scattered, not having time to stop to aim, although Travis could still make out Harry's gun firing in a more rapid tempo.
Travis was closer- headed towards Vincent- who was groaning - rolled slightly but didn't get up-
Travis dodged more feathers- allowed others to hit and bore the cuts- grabbed Vincent and dragged him away as Cheryl and Harry covered them.
Travis kept moving even once Vincent groaned and began fighting to get himself before Vincent succeeded at that, he managed to scoop up his shotgun.
Travis only stopped once they'd reached the far end of the room where Cheryl was waiting for them, reloading her handgun.
"Those wings- they're beginning to look kinda bare, aren't they?"
"Maybe, but there's still a lot of feathers there-" Before Travis could even finish talking, the creature moved- flung itself forward and began using just its arms to crawl towards them- lashed out with its claws-
"What do we have to do to kill this thing?!" Cheryl shouted even as they all dodged.
"I don't know!" Vincent landed and looked down at his shotgun. "I'm all out."
"Alessa!"
They looked up and a falling object made each of them back up.
The pyramid shaped object hit the floor undamaged.
The monster roared, as if knowing what it was.
"It's the Flauros! Alessa, you can use it!" Claudia's voice echoed down from above.
Cheryl picked it up. In her hands, it began to shine and come apart, the pieces circling each other. Golden colored strings of light shot out and rushed at the monster. The strings of light attached themselves to it, and it began to struggle, pieces of flesh sliding in different directions but the light followed and caught them all.
Each and every piece was drawn into the Flauros.
A final cry, not a roar but a cry, a shriek as if a thousand people were screaming at once, and the shriek turned to sirens.
All of them winced and shut their eyes and covered their ears.
When the sound died away, they opened them to find themselves back in the sanctuary of the real church. The doors hung open wide, a soft rain coming down outside.
"Where did Claudia go?" Vincent asked, looking around.
"Ran off," Harry said, wincing as Cheryl and Travis helped him to his feet.
Cheryl looked around the room, sadly. "People can't be saved if they don't want to be." She sighed before looking back at her father. "Come on, Dad. Let's get you to the hospital."
OoOoOo
Ugh. So unhappy with this it isn't even funny. But I hate leaving things unfinished and I have other projects I'm trying to focus on, because fanfic is great but I would like at least a couple original projects finished and out there. Also I still love these characters and want to get them out of this and to their ending.
Just a epilogue left now.