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"...hallowed by thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven..." The candle light blanketed Kurt's face in an odd glow. As he knelt before the altar, the light from the candles seemed to dance across his body in waves. Churches usually are not open this late, however there are windows which allow one to see inside, allowing easy access to any teleporter. Besides, why should the lord ever close his doors to those in need? And he was definitely in need.

"Dear lord, why is it that, even when I try to be a good person something inside me tells me otherwise. Am I really a demon? Earlier, I had shouted at you, blamed you for what I was. But, in reflection, was that really me? Am I a killer? I thought I could control myself, but what should I do? I'm scared. I'm scared not only for what may happen to me, but for what I may do to others. I mean well, I swear I really do. But..."

Kurt's pleas stopped becoming audible and instead became contained in his mind. He felt that only here could he feel at peace with himself. He felt a calming breeze sweep through his mind, reassuring him that everything was alright.

He reflected on how events had grown to become the calamity they are now. It all started with a bad dream. He had dreamt of the night that had happened earlier. He saw the same eyes filled with horror, the same body spasming as life fluttered out of it. It was so vivid that when he woke up he could still feel the warm blood on his hands. That is how it started, with a dream. But here, in this church, that dream and even the events that night seemed distant. He never told anyone that he came here, it was his place. His alone and no one could intrude. It was a sanctuary from not only others but from himself, where unwanted elements of his life dare not to intrude.

"And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell," echoed a voice throughout the church.

"Who are you?" Kurt asked to shadows above. The man continued speaking, unhindered by Kurt's question.

"And as was such with Cain's kin, the generation after and so on down the line. Each generation weaker than the last, the blood of the accursed growing thinner until Cain's lineage dies out. This is our race's plight. But not so with yours, dhamphyr. The 10,000 hungry dead from across the ocean come back for karmic debts yet to be unpaid. More human than the ones God cursed, permitting them only to walk the earth as truly forlorn creatures. But you are more human still, the amalgamation of a sinful act and the devil's own luck. Is God not cruel in his choosing? We are cursed due to our ancestry, the hungry dead are dammed because of their transgressions in their mortal life, but you are cursed merely for being," bellowed the powerful voice once again.

Kurt stared up at the roof trying to make out a figure in the candle light until that figure leapt to the ground snuffing out all the candles and leaving poor Kurt in utter blackness.

"And yet you still praise him," continued the man, now mocking Kurt in a much harsher tone, "when you should curse his name for what he has done to you." The voice stopped after that and was replaced by a hand placed on Kurt's shoulder. "But, there are those that are willing to help, if you will but ask it."

Kurt recoiled from the unwanted touch. The man's hand felt almost...chilled. A gut instinct kept Kurt on his guard, his mind had yet to make a judgement but his more primal self had already deemed this man a threat.

"My dear boy, you seem frightened, can you not see in the dark? An interesting predicament, one that sadly...I have not faced in hundreds of years. I do apologize, let me find you some matches. We Cainites are quite repulsed by flame you see, so I hope you will understand..."

A lone flame in the dark appeared and behind it the face of a man who looked to be in his thirties. A goatee and sunglasses, this was still the middle of the night mind you, added to the overall look of complete and utter eurotrash. His voice seemed respectful enough, it had a hint of majesty to it. His fluid movements added to the idea that he was either a dancer or cared a lot about outward appearance.

"They call me the scourge, a very misleading title I assure you. I am the personal bodyguard of the prince of New York, among other things. I also attend to his personal wishes, and you my lucky friend, fall under that category."

"What do you and your Prince," Kurt added with a blatant hint of sarcasm," want from me?"

"We only want to help you Kurt. You see that Professor of yours, what did the television call him? Professor Xavier, that's it. What the Professor is unaware of is that your abilities lie far beyond mutant talents, we wish to help you develop those talents."

"Why do you care? Why should you? Not that I believe you."

"But you know I am right. However, this is an open invitation, I will not force you into anything. Besides, it seems you have a visitor, three is quite a crowd you know," the scourge said as he slowly backed into the shadows and disappeared from view.

Moon light shown onto Kurt's figure as the church door slowly creaked open. Funny how he never considered that the door might be unlocked.

"Kurt? Kurt are you here?" Kitty asked. She entered and saw him standing in the moonlight by the altar, perhaps it was the odd setting, but he just didn't look like the same old Kurt.

"How did you find me?"

"The Professor was worried when you began acting so weird. We put a tracker in your watch. The others are waiting outside, lets get out of here. This place, like, totally creeps me out," she said as she began to approach Kurt.

"Stay back, Kitty," Kurt said softly.

"Kurt, like, stop kidding around. We were worried sick," Kitty said while continuing to approaching him.

"Stay there!" Kurt shouted.

Kitty stopped dead in her tracks. She had never heard Kurt angry before, he would always just kid around or pretend that he was angry, but by morning he would be the same old prankster he was before. But then again, the figure before her wasn't the Kurt she knew, this one was different.

"Kurt, please, you're scaring me."

"I...I'm sorry. I just don't want you to get hurt. I've done something awful Kitty, something that I can't take back."

"Kurt, you aren't making any sense. What happened?"

"Duncan and his friends were picking on a mutant today. Some poor kid, they were yelling at him and calling him all sorts of things. I...I wanted to help, I wanted to stop them. I swear, I never meant to hurt anyone, but, but I did. And...and as much as I hate what I did, what is most frightening is that remorse is only a thought to me. It's as if...as if, a part of me really did want to do it, and would gladly do it again."

"Kurt, the Professor says that you might be hallucinating. Please, let's just go home where we can get this all straightened out, ok?"

Kurt stood there blankly for a second. Had this all been a dream? Had he just gone crazy? The Professor is a great telepath, he can't be wrong. He tried to think back on the events earlier that night but now it all felt like merely a lucid dream. If he was crazy than he just had to get help, he really wasn't a demon. He was just crazy; mentally ill being the polite term. Being mentally ill seemed a lot more acceptable to him, that meant that there was no crisis of faith, just some chemical imbalance of some sort. That was a relieving thought.

"Ok Kitty, let's go home."

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