Elsewhere...
Archbishop Maria Romano considered herself a fairly straightforward and simple woman, particularly when it came to her likes and dislikes.
She disliked her title, considering it overbearing and pompous. She disliked her name, referring to herself simply as Mary instead. She disliked grandiose ceremony with all the posturing and grandstanding. She hated wearing fancy clothes, preferring to dress casually and comfortably. Perhaps most of all she disliked hypocrisy. This was of course why, above all other things, she very much hated the Triumvirate meetings.
Cannibalised from the old Roman term which referred to the three men who held power, the Apostles now used it, apparently, to refer to the three religious orders that watched over the hearts and souls of the citizens. Of course, this was only the surface explanation. In truth the Apostles cared very little for the concerns of the other two branches.
Instead, they considered the real Triumvirate in the city to be the three High Priestesses. High Priestess of the West, Viala, High Priestess of the South, Vernol and High Priestess of the East, Varix. Mary was fairly sure they had chosen those names themselves, though only their thrice blasted scriptures would know the reason why!
The Triumvirate meetings were supposed to involve an exchange of information and ideas between the three High Priestesses and their counterparts from the Traditionalist and Sisters of Salvation branches. But almost every time it simply devolved into arguments about ideals, policies and the 'true role' of the Church in the city.
Mary considered the entire day a complete waste of her time and she very rarely made it through one of these days without consuming an entire bottle of 'sacred wine.' All the attendees were given a glass of the stuff, sickeningly sweet and with a drastically reduced alcohol content, to the point that it couldn't even be considered booze any more.
Mary had long learnt how to discreetly swap the vile stuff with something a lot stronger from her own personal wine cellar. It was the only way she stayed sane during the meeting. That and the odd 'toilet break' where she could sneak a quick cigarette in the bathroom. If there was anything on this world that could drive a woman to drink and smoke it was these cursed meetings!
At this point in the proceedings the three High Priestesses were arguing amongst themselves, their barely touched glasses long forgotten. Mary briefly played with the idea, as she had done many times before, of spiking the bitches' drinks. Maybe that would loosen the cunts up a bit. But she would hate to waste good drink on them. Such a dilemma!
A hand slammed on the table. This time it was Viala, the High Priestess of the West.
'I'm telling you,' she barked, 'we need more enforcers and inquisitors in the West, not less! The hellspawn are up to something! And we need to figure out what it is before they make their move!'
'And I'm telling you!' spat Vernol, High Priestess of the South, 'that the Apostles of the Covenant do not exist to cater to your petty whims!
'We cannot muster our forces based on your baseless hunches! While you waste vital resources witch hunting and chasing ghosts, my division is desperately fighting a war against the servants of evil!
'Ha!' Viala countered, 'fighting and losing! The last report I received was that St Claire's Church was captured by Cerberus! Maybe the issue isn't about resources or manpower! Maybe it's just about your incompetence!'
'How dare you!' Vernol hissed, 'day after day my fellow apostles and I struggle to hold back a black tide of atrocious evil! While you sit around all day concocting wild theories trying to explain why nothing productive is happening in your sector! I heard only the other day you harassed a small child outside his school! Is that how the High Priestess of the West should be spending her time?'
Mary supressed the urge to groan. These two were always like this. You'd really think they'd grow tired of bickering like children. Was this really the best that the Apostles could find to lead them? She took another sip of her wine, counting in her head. Any moment now, three, two, one…
'That's enough,' a calm voice cuts through their argument and the two High Priestesses stop. The only one who could make the troublesome pair desist was of course, High Priestess Varix of the East.
Leader of The Bastion, the section of the city that was completely consumed by their doctrine and fanatical ideals, High Priestess Varix was the only one among the three who commanded absolute respect amongst her peers. From Mary's point of view, at least she wasn't as grating on the ears as the other two.
'You both raise important issues, 'Varix continued, mediating between the two as usual, 'and these issues will need to be addressed. Regardless of what is truly going on, the demonic activity in the west has indeed been suspiciously subdued over the last month. We will need to establish exactly what is the cause of this before we can make any decisive action.' Finally, the Apostles seemed to remember there were others in the room, watching their squabbling.
'You done bickering?' Mary derided them, 'maybe next time you can get your affairs in order before inviting the rest of us into your crib?' Mary had made this 'suggestion' a few times already. It had never had much of an impact, but her job was all about having faith after all. Maybe one day that faith would be rewarded. High Priestess Viala sneered.
'A powerless, out of date fossil like you should simply be grateful to be allowed into these sacred halls!' Mary sighed. Faith could only get her so far. Despite her various habits, Mary really did believe in her own way. She wasn't as dedicated as the Apostles, though few were. She just didn't believe in their way of doing things.
And the Apostles, for their part loathed her and her Traditionalist faction, not just because their ways were so different, but because the more 'old fashioned' style of belief was popular amongst those who held true power in the city. The mayor and pretty much his entire inner circle were traditionalists, and it was the main reason the Apostles had thus far failed to make any real head way in the western most reaches of the city. And thank fucking God for that!
Mary knew full well what the Apostles would do with that kind of power. And it would not be pretty. Why would these fools not realise that the conditions in the city had only started to get worse after they started their open crusade against the demons? How long would it take for them to understand that their anger and hatred was nourishment for these creatures? A direct confrontation would never be successful under such terms. Fight your enemy, yes. But hatred is a tool of evildoers, it shouldn't be utilised by those claiming their goal is pure and righteous! And this hypocrisy was why Mary disliked the Apostles as much as she did.
'Maybe you bitches should get your heads out of your sacred posteriors and take a good look at what's going on in this city,' she snapped at them, 'the rate of crime and death is at an all time high at the moment, and that's without the majority of the western demons doing anything at all. You want to guess what percentage of those figures your regions of the city are responsible for?'
'Purging the weak and the faithless from within our sacred borders is a vital step in fulfilling our Covenant,' Varix answered. It was her quiet calm while speaking of the hidden slaughters that had been taking place in Apostle controlled areas of the city, that disturbed Mary the most. She snorted.
'And how many innocent lives must be lost to fulfil your stupid pact, eh?'
'It is certainly troubling,' Senior Sister Gabrielle concurred, 'what you seem to view as necessary is seen by the rest of us as a senseless massacre of undeserving human lives! You cannot expect the rest of us to cooperate with you so long as you continue to utilise such domineering methods!'
'Speak not of matters you do not understand!' snapped Vernol, 'those non-believers and troublemakers have cast off their human shells and been liberated from this world! They now serve a much greater purpose, as should all those who refuse to contribute directly!' Mary took another drink. These people were completely delusional and beyond help! How was civilised discourse supposed to exist in the face of such naked rage? The only reason these discussions never did devolve into violence was…
Mary cast another look over at the creature wearing human skin.
Up until now she hadn't said anything, simply sat and watched, her mere presence enough to force the Apostles to restrain themselves. Powerful as they may be it would take all of them and then some to overcome this particular monster.
Mary had once asked the Guardian why she didn't move to suppress the Apostles further, simply watching them grow more powerful without concern. The answer had made little sense to her. Fucking hell, what she wouldn't give to be reassigned somewhere more normal! A nice little country village where all she had to worry about was the odd overly ambitious wolf! Maybe she'd shack up with the son of a shepherd and let him show her his 'crook.' Maybe that was what these shrivelled up cunts needed, just a good hard fucking to let the crazy out and be halfway reasonable for once! Christ what she would give for a cigarette right now…
'Are you listening to us?' One of the High Priestess shrieked at her, Mary didn't know which; their voices were blending together at this point.
'Not at all,' she responded, curtly, 'why not try asking using your indoor voice, if you can remember whose arse it's shoved up!'
'How dare you…' began Viala, but Varix raised a hand to stop the outburst in its tracks.
'We were asking,' she explained, 'for an update regarding the investigation.' Mary flipped through some papers sitting in front of her.
'You guys are finally down for some brass taxes,' she commented, 'thank God for that!' The High Priestesses hissed at her and muttered something about 'taking His name' but Mary had little interest in that. The being that she worshiped was far different from the one they did, that was for sure. Mary rattled through the figures, grateful to finally be able to speak without being interrupted. Her branch worked the closest with the local authorities and law enforcement and so her ability to gather information within the city was unmatched. Not that it earned her anything more than a begrudging tolerance from the Apostles.
As for Gabrielle, well she was cool, but the Sisters were too few to be of great impact, contenting themselves mostly with charity work. And that was fine, they were doing God's work and more power to them. But it wasn't enough, it wasn't addressing the root of the problem.
'Our conclusion,' Mary finished, 'is that the demons are looking for something. According to our reports what they seek is an item of great power, something worth mustering almost their entire host over.'
'But we have no idea what this thing is that they are searching for?' demanded Vernol. Mary sighed:
'The one demon we managed to question didn't even know himself,' she snapped back, 'either that or he was a very convincing liar!' She turned to the only other person in the room she actually liked.
'What about you, Gabrielle,' she asked, 'what have the stars told you?' Senior Sister Gabrielle consulted her Stellar Compass. Or at least that was what she called it. To Mary it just looked like a pretty green crystal with a model of the solar system around it. But Gabrielle had used it many a time to great success, not that the Apostles ever listened to her predictions in time to actually do anything about it.
'The omens are not good,' she declared, 'Jupiter casts it's shadow upon us, and Mars is gleaming far more ominously than usual. It may be premature to say immediately, but a great darkness may well be approaching! It may even herald the birth of a new Demon Lord!' Mary raised an eyebrow. She probably should be more alarmed by this news, but she hadn't been around for long enough to understand what the big deal was. There already was a Demon Lord, there had been for a while. And so far, he hadn't done shit! So why would a new one be cause for alarm? She wouldn't say that out loud, of course, there was no need when there were others here who would happily do that for her.
'A new Demon Lord,' Viala scoffed, 'as if that is of any concern to us! The Demon Lord is far too cowardly to leave his own realm! There's no reason to assume this new one would be any different!'
'Indeed,' confirmed Vernol, for once in agreement with her rival, 'those cowards have always been too afraid of direct confrontation for there to be…'
'Silence.' The single word sliced through everyone present, the power inherent within it reverberating through the cathedral and echoing of its stone walls. Mary feared for a moment the stained-glass windows would shatter at the force behind it. Only one being present had that kind of power. The beast in human form was eyeing Gabrielle without her usual calm.
'You mean to say,' she clarified, 'that the Demon Lord will rise not in their world, but in this one?' Gabrielle confirmed with the Compass once more.
'That is the feeling I am getting,' she reported, 'though at the moment they are only saying that it 'might' happen.'
'Even the possibility is troubling enough,' the woman declared, 'it's certainly of greater importance than this petty squabbling. Find out as much as you can about what the demons are up to. Whatever they are planning cannot be allowed to be left unchallenged!' Mary couldn't help but be somewhat nonplussed. She'd attended dozens of these abysmal meetings and the Guardian had contributed little in all of them. Now she was suddenly giving orders. It was certainly off-putting. And did she expect these High Priestesses to listen to her?
'We can postpone the rest of our discussion,' Varix concluded, 'if the Guardian believes this is important the Apostles can divert some of their resources towards this investigation.' The other two immediately began to protest, but Varix evidently was in no mood for further argument, silencing the protesting pair with a glare that could likely kill a lesser man in his tracks.
'With that, this meeting is adjourned,' she stated, 'we thank everyone present for their time today.' Mary drained her glass, then downed Viala's glass while she was at it. Nasty stuff but she'd hate to see it go to waste. She contemplated speaking to Senior Sister Gabrielle on her way out, try to wring some more details out of her. But in the end she decided against it.
She'd probably be better off filling our her transfer request application for the sixth time! Hopefully one of these days those bastard board members would accept her application, even if it was just to get her stop sending them anymore! Yup, a nice farmhouse in the countryside with a studly man with big 'assets' sounded much nicer than remaining in this hellscape of a city! She just hoped she'd be able to get out before the shit really hit the fan!