Note: Any references that this story makes aside from the universe that this takes place in belongs to their respective owners and should be as such.
Warning: Language
Intermission: Hellmont Manor
Saturday, April 23rd, Metropolis district #10, 6:15 am
Somewhere at the edge of Metropolis there surrounded by sunshine and fully bloomed flowers stands a Cathedral, the Cathedral of Exodus to be precise. No one else knows about the nickname aside from the followers that reside within and beyond out of the county. It is rumored that the church among many has a secret organization in which they monitor spiritually gifted individuals and hire their services to investigate and purge the hectic forces of darkness, but barely anyone has looked into this, not even out of curiosity.
This particular church is smack dab in between the lower and middle districts, think of it as the borderline. Anyway, the chiming of the bells echoed throughout the almost empty halls as a young man almost in his mid-twenties sped walked up the stairs to the top second floor. He didn't want to instill panic among his colleagues so he kept the calmest face possible while making sure not to bump into the sisters chatting away. One of them gave him a good afternoon to which he responded in a rushed yet friendly tone.
His name is Sully and in his 4 years of being with the church, his life has never been better. Gosh, he bet his brown wavy hair looked like a slight mess due to his rushing out the door. Meh, he'll deal with the consequences later.
At last, he reached his destination, in front of a wooden door of someone's office. Before even thinking about entering, the young man took a deep breath through his nose and knocked on the door.
"Father Craig? It's Sully."
It took a couple of seconds until Sully got a response from the voice of his superior.
"Come in."
"Thank you, Father."
With confirmation set, Sully put his hand on the door handle and opened the door into the office. Meanwhile his superior, Father Craig was flipping through pages of some books he had on his desk.
"Good morning Father Craig. It seems like you were here all night. Honestly, I wasn't expecting you to be still here since eight."
"Well when you start to feel the adrenaline the lord injects into my veins, you'll understand my perseverance."
"Don't you mean 'injected' with coffee?"
"Nature is God's gift lad, be sure to remember that."
So like Father Craig who's known for his caffeine drinking. However, now wasn't the time to crack jokes. The young priest rushed into his superior's office for an important reason, a reason regarding the recently strange phenomenon in Metropolis, the latest being the reappearance of that place.
"As much as I want to crack jokes today I have two important matters to discuss with you today Father."
"I can guess to what one of them is. Did The Order accept our request for the specific scrolls we need?"
"No not yet, but they did give us something that could very well help us with our current investigation."
"And that is?"
Sully quickly reached into his satchel bag and pulled out a black leather book. On the front of it had big red symbols unfamiliar to ordinary folk.
"These symbols look...familiar. Where did they get this from?"
"Wish I knew Father. They said it just appeared two nights ago in front of one of our church's doorstep. The Order specifically ordered for you to decipher the symbols since your eyes are able to translate it."
Father Craig was already at it with scanning the contents inside the book, first the cover and then to the actual inside. For a second thereafter he looked at the cover before diving in he had a look of shock and disbelief. Why The Order handed it off to him is a bit unexpected, but he had the idea.
"That must be why it took them two days before handing it to you?"
"Basically yes. The Order was unable to identify the complications of the symbols, told me it had to be in demonicon. Not only that, no record has been presented."
"The language of the demons. I figured this would be the case. What is the other matter that needs attending to?"
Although Father Craig's eyes were fixated on the black book he still acknowledges the existence of his younger colleague. Multitasking is fun, isn't it?
"It appeared, just as you predicted it would."
"Hellmont Manor...where witches used it as a hidden storage facility for their nefarious tools for ceremonial sacrificial purposes. It was also a strong spiritual connector to many of the blasted horrors attempting to crawl out the bowels of hell."
"Unfortunately we aren't able to go near it without The Order's okay."
With a quick click of his tongue, Father Craig shook his head in disappointment. Sometimes he wonders who the hell is in charge of The Order to make these ridiculous orders. Then again, the church here is severely unprepared to take on a Level 3 Exorcism mission. Damn themselves for their lack of assistance for the time being.
"And it's all because of those two The Order hired. Baah, demonologists my ass. They don't even look like they have ever faced a demon in their life. Haah! If they joined the exorcism crusade in Abraham City 4 years ago, those two would barely form a sentence in a vegetative state."
"Father!"
"Haah much apologies young one but...I can't stand the fact that The Order once again sends in clearly inexperienced children of God into a den of voracious, violating vermin."
"Sorry to get off topic but do you remember that young pink hedgehog who visited us not too long ago?"
"Miss Amy Rose? Oh yes, I remember what a polite young lady she was when she arrived, great baker too might I add."
Now that the thought popped into Father Craig's head he did remember that Miss Rose wanted some advice regarding her powers. A smart girl since she researched Father Craig's involvement with mediums in the past with certain cases. It wasn't all that difficult for him to give a step in the right direction. In fact, Father Craig heard that she was doing medium work at the Metropolis Mall, go figure. It has been a couple of weeks since her last visit.
"I wonder how the young lass is doing?"
"Um, Father...I heard from colleagues that she went missing."
"What?! Since when?"
"Two nights ago."
Falling into silence Father Craig closed the book, pinching the bridge of his eyes. Irritation is a part of that, but most of the time when Father Craig is doing that he figured out something that causes him more stress. Sully can see that sign. After all, he has been under Father Craig's wing for at least 6 years.
"What horrible timing it seems."
"Father Craig?"
"Lad...the Blood Moon is going to rise."
"Blood Moon...you're talking about the demon amplification Blood Moon right?"
"Aye, the same one. This is all too convenient...Hellmont Manor, the Blood Moon, and this book. Someone is clearly taunting us, telling us that whatever demon they are trying to summon is big and we can't do a damn thing about it."
"Why the book?"
Father Craig circled around his desk and handed the book to Sully. For some unexplained reason, he can feel some heat radiating from it. Before handing it to Sully Father Craig's hands felt as if it was holding a block of ice, more of the tingling sensation than the actual thing.
"It's the same M.O as the last one four years ago."
At that particular time, a different event occurred that almost costed father Craig his life and many others in The Order. Luckily the demon worshippers were all terminated, but from his observation, this was basically a repeat. It confirmed his fears that one of them survived and is now finishing what was started, unleashing the vilest demon of all; The Devil.
"...If only I was there. Maybe I could've done something, anything."
"No, no don't start shouldering the blame for something you weren't able to do. A young man such as yourself would not be able to survive the ordeal."
"You're...You're right Father. To think the events would be circulating once again.
"The last one was a fake Black Bible copy just to spite us. The one we have now, this is a diary."
"A diary? My apologies but who's demonically possessed teenage daughter was able to do this?"
"I appreciate the joke, but that is the case."
"Please tell me you aren't saying that the book is written by an actual demon?"
Father Craig then walked past Sully and pressed his ear against the door, making sure that there was no one nearby to eavesdrop. He knows of a few loose-lipped individuals who would indirectly cause a chain of panic if what was being discussed were to leak. Ghosts are one thing the public has the least panic about since they call the church for help. Demons however are a whole nother issue entirely depending on what the church identified.
"...What I'm saying is the fact that The Order hasn't found any connection must mean that whoever wrote in this book did it recently."
"To provoke us. Whatever entity is doing this is pretty clever to cover up their tracks."
"Hell, this book doesn't feel nor looks old."
"So this means that since our Church is nearby the threat we would have to go do our duty."
"Just like always lad. Luckily, I gave them a time limit before they left that day just to prove themselves the real deal. If those two weren't able to successfully contain the threat by the twenty-sixth of this month we would have to immediately step in, plenty of time to stock up for the mission from The Order...if they answer my call this time."
"In the meantime, I'll investigate a little more to see if I can find anything. But what I can tell you right now is that the place where Hellmont Manor will be appearing somewhere in District 7."
How odd for Sully to have a location estimation this quick. Then again, just the other day when passing through District 7 Father Craig felt a weak yet familiar ominous presence, mainly from the nearby park full of flowerbeds. The only thing he could do is some surveillance the moment the devil's house dared to appear.
"I see, thanks for the tip. Stay safe and keep an eye out for any paranormal signs. Remember, if Hellmont Manor comes back then nearby activity increases even more frequently than the moon. It'll even be more dangerous than ever."
"Thank you, Father. If you'll excuse me."
With a bow, Sully exited his superior's office while making sure that others possibly nearby weren't suspicious of his actions, especially one of the nuns in particular. With that, Father Craig started to get to work on pre-ordering the preparation items needed for the mission ahead while he still scans the content of the book. Or he thought he was going to continue until he heard a slight commotion coming from below. How weird, "fights" are supposed to be extremely rare since this is one of the many houses of the Lord.
Being the good servant that Father Craig is he got up and walked the stairs. Upon reaching the bottom he saw Sully trying to calm down a distraught fox boy with two tails.
"Look I heard there is a paranormal expert in this church! I have no time to waste!"
"Oh Father, my apologies, I was meaning to get you. This young man just burst through the front entrance an-"
"It's alright Sully. Hmm, I feel like we met somewhere before haven't we young man?"
"Wait a sec...you're the priest I helped with the groceries not too long ago. Ah never mind, I need your help ASAP! You see my friend got kidnapped and I don't know where the hell he is and some schmuck smacked the shi-"
"Calm yourself, child. You are obviously in distress so why not come by my office and voice your troubles."
"Uh sure."
A couple of minutes after entering Father Craig's office Tails explained the situation that happened to his friend, Sonic the Hedgehog. Although in the explanation Tails seemed to have some gaps in his memory, he was able to get to the point of what he could remember. Father Craig listened intently to the story, afterward, he had his arms crossed and a look of seriousness in his eyes.
"So it is as I feared. From the sequence of events, the pieces seem to have fallen into place."
"Pieces? Pieces for what?"
"It's not just your friend Sonic that was kidnapped. Another that we know of is a pink hedgehog by the name of Amy Rose."
Upon hearing the name, Tails' eyes bugged out a bit.
"Holy crap I knew something was very off for the past two days. Amy is also a friend of ours. Are you saying she was kidnapped too?"
"I'm afraid so and those two are most likely not the only ones."
"But why?"
"Sacrifices...that's why."
Dating back to the infamous Witch Trials after the extinction of Salem they say that an unknown phenomenon wiped out the majority of the civilians. That unknown phenomenon was caused by the last remnant of surviving witches who sacrificed their bodies and souls to the great Moloch to create a structure. Not just any structure, a structure of dark proportions. Ranging from the hateful, the resentful, even the out-of-control sick sons of bitches that currently roam the mortal world.
The structure is named "Hellmont Manor" and its power to influence the level of paranormal activity also acted as a base of operations for the Lucefarians and Witch practitioners alike. But don't get it confused, not just any wimpy practitioner of the dark arts knows of its existence let alone would be able to use its paradoxical existence. Anyway, the last main function of Hellmont Manor is the entire reason they actively seek it out. It acts as a one-way gate to Hell without the use of items along with a black chalk-drawn pentagram, just two things: the blood of the dark arts practitioner and a circular altar.
Before the extinction in question, many of Salem's best tried to destroy the structure only to end up falling victim. Eventually, the structure vanished and the entirety of Salem was nothing but crumbling ash and flickering fires. The worst part of Hellmont Manor can appear anywhere...and has had several sightings in the modern age, being thwarted of the practitioner's nefarious plot time and time again. Since at this very moment its presence has appeared once more, the terror of Hellmont Manor's power rises once more.
End of Intermission