Sorry that I've been MIA for a while. I finish exams on monday and after have winter break so I will have much more time to write.

Like a Puppet

Ambrose POV

I watched as Forsyth paced the room outside the Committee room door. He looked agitated and apprehensive.

Something had been very off about him lately. Before I had merely chalked it up to grief over losing his family but it wasn't sadness I was seeing in his eyes, it was fear.

I left the hall that day with a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I pushed those feelings aside, Forsyth was trusted by Charles. He was his second in command for all intents and purposes. He should be trusted.

I walked briskly to my lunch appointment with Minerva and tried as hard as I could to forget the wild look in our Regents eyes.

I was in a small dark space. No wait, the smoke only made it seem small. The smoke and ashes cleared to show a cavern. The walls were made of inky black rock. The kind you found near volcanoes, where there is a lot of fire and heat. I stepped closer to the edge of the cavern. There was no wall, only a steep plunge into the fire below. I jerked away from the heat causing a few rocks to break lose and fall into the pit. I could hear screams echoing through the cavern. I could hear the rattle of chains, the cries of the tortured souls.

The fires of Hell

The voices became clearer now. I could distinguish one voice from the white noise of the rest. One beautiful voice that stood out from the madness. One I had not heard in millennia.

"They are playing straight into our hands, brother." He spoke.

I heard the grating, terrible voice of the demon, Leviathan. "Yes, they were terrified after the massacre in Rio. And now without Michael to lead their ignorant flock, they are lost." It was like he got some sick sense of enjoyment from our demise.

"Michael" he spat bitterly. Suddenly his voice took on a less musical quality, the smooth exterior pulled back to show the hatred and corruption underneath.

"He is finished." Leviathan rumbled, almost in reassurance.

"No." He said, the music back in his voice. "Just lost."

The scene changed to show the Committee hall. It was empty. The pale light from outside cast long shadows against the gothic interior of the building. The silence was deafening. Not a soul was here.

I walked through the aisle, cringing as the echoes of my steps broke the silence. The wind blew open the door, blowing papers and fabric everywhere. The shaft of light coming from the door illuminated the altar at the front of the hall. The temperature seemed to drop suddenly. A shiver went down my spine.

I wasn't alone.

A man stood at the head of the hall, his back turned to me. His dark suit blended in with the darkness of the room.

Then suddenly his arm jerked out unnaturally from his side.

Then his legs.

Then he turned to face the front of the room. His head jerked up, as if my an unseen force to stare blankly at the empty space.

It was Forsyth.

I hid behind a pillar to stay out of his sight. He walked almost robotically to the head of the hall where he took a place in the center. Where Charles used to sit.

Where the Regis sits.

I looked more closely and saw that there were chains at his wrists and ankles, pulling him along, My gaze followed them, drifting up to the high ceilings of the church. Another figure stood in the wings of the balconies. In his hands he held the chains.

The man looked up from below and smiled menacingly. I gasped as I saw his face. The beauty of it barley hid the bubbling evil underneath. He saw me, there would be no fooling him.

I watched with horror as he pulled the chains tighter, making Forsyth move. Like he was his puppet.

My eyes grew wide as I saw what was happening. Forsyth was the traitor. Forsyth would try to run for Regis in Charles' absence. And he would win.

I stared as the ground Lucifer stood on started to smolder. The thick black smoke started to billow out of the hole in the ground. Fire burst forth, making the room catch fire. Forsyth stood there, unable to move at the head of the room. I heard laughing, deep and threatening as the flames grew stronger, enveloping the room.

The last thing I saw was Forsyth staring in horror at what he had helped unleash.

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