Swiftly Descending Darkness

by TakerFoxx

Gensokyo is a world of monsters, and no one knows that better than Rumia Yagami, a young orphaned girl who had lost her parents to youkai attacks when she was just a baby. But as she grows older, she learns that there are other kinds of monsters, from the ones wearing human faces to the one growing inside her.

16. Where There's Smoke

Where There's Smoke…

Eyes smoldering in the dark, Mokou slunk around the outskirts of the Human Village, watching.

It was the dead of night, not even midnight yet, with daybreak still several hours away. Only a few people were up, such as the night watch. Not that it mattered. It could be midday in the middle of a festival and Mokou would still have no difficulty getting in unseen.

Somewhere inside that village was her prey, one Nathaniel Skinner. She had promised Miko Hakurei that she would go after Skinner and Skinner alone, that she would bring him back alive and not lay a hand on anyone else. It was a somewhat restricting promise, as there were a few other names that she felt could do with a personal visit, but a promise was a promise.

Mokou did not anticipate encountering much difficulty in her mission. Skinner was, after all, just a man, and while she did not doubt that he had a few tricks up his brown sleeves, she was still herself, and that all that she needed.

Still, if her suspicions were correct, it was probable that there was more to Skinner than met the eye. So why start taking chances now?

Mokou reached into her pocket and pulled out a knife, small but wickedly sharp. Then she held up her other hand, palm flat and fingers spread.

It was time.

…

"Sweet spirits," Gendou Sonozika breathed.

He had only just drifted off into a fitful sleep when he had awoken to a messenger slamming his fist against the door of the Sonozika home, one bearing an urgent message from Rev. Nathaniel Skinner, telling him to come quickly. Given all the recent turmoil, Gendou's heart had dropped, his stomach had turned sour, and he had gone expecting the worst.

What he found was far worse than even that.

Nathaniel was an absolute wreck, the poor man disheveled and sweaty, wearing just an untidy robe and, oddly enough, linen wrapped around his hands. His eyes were hollow and his skin cold and clammy, a far cry from the calm and reserved man that Gendou had come to rely so much on.

And laid out in his church's sanctuary was the body of Mai Horaki, Nathaniel's housekeeper. The poor woman's head had been sawed off.

"I found her just a few minutes ago," Nathaniel said. Normally a paragon of poise and control, he was now clearly shaken, rocking back and forth in his seat and staring off at some invisible point on the floor. "Over…" He swallowed, and pointed up toward the dais that held his pulpit. "Over there. Her body was on the dais, her head on her chest."

Gendou covered his mouth. He felt sick.

"It was an act of defilement, a deliberate act of defilement," Nathaniel said. "Whoever did this…Whoever murdered her, they did it not just as a warning, but to blaspheme. They wanted to desecrate the house of God."

"They…Yes, of course. I see," Gendou murmured. Truthfully, he didn't share Nathaniel's faith, not exactly. Oh, he knew that Nathaniel's God existed, and he certainly respected the other man's beliefs, but that wasn't the same as sharing his faith. But even if they did not devoutly serve the same deity, that did not mean Gendou was going to tolerate this level of sacrilege.

"But who?" Gendou asked. "Who could have done something like this?"

Finally Nathaniel looked up from the floor to meet Gendou's gaze. The man's eyes were harrowed, yes, filled with the horror of what he had seen, but that stalwart conviction had thankfully not wavered. "You know," he rasped. "You know who did this."

Gendou did, and that terrified him.

"Her," he whispered. "The woman."

Gendou lived in a world of spirits, apparitions, gods, and principalities. There was very little that did not exist. Still, something like this disturbed him on a deep level. The woman was a childhood nightmare, a scary story, the specter that hung over his family's history. The last of the Fujiwaras, a vengeful demon that had rained down fire on his ancestors, nearly ending the line right then and there. Every Sonozika grew up knowing the story. Every Sonozika had dark dreams of being burned alive by a cackling witch.

He knew that this had actually happened, of course. It wasn't just a legend used to scare young children into obedience. But it was one thing to know that, centuries ago, the last of his family's rivals had made a pact with some kind of demon and nearly annihilated the entire Sonozika line. It was something else entirely to know that she was not only still alive, but was still after him and the rest of his family.

"Are you sure it's her?" he said. "Are you sure it's the same that almost destroyed my family?"

Nathaniel's gaze didn't so much as flicker. "I am," he said. "There can be no doubt."

Cold terror gripped Gendou's heart. "Then what do we do? If it's her, then she'll stop at nothing to kill me, to kill all Sonozikas!"

"Most likely." Nathaniel shook his head. "Gendou, you must understand that we are now all in very real danger. It is clear to me that this woman's prolonged life must come from consulting with youkai. That is the source of her power, power that she now turns against us."

"B-But they attacked them! The youkai, I mean! You told me that the youkai attacked them and killed one of their children!"

His face grave, Nathaniel laid a hand upon Gendou's shoulder. "This is what they told us, yes. But consider: mere days after she and I had our confrontation, one of their children dies. Naturally, they blame the youkai. But almost immediately after that, Mai is killed, her body desecrated, and through clearly demonic means."

At first Gendou didn't understand what Nathaniel was suggesting. Did he mean that the same youkai who had murdered that child also killed Mai? But that didn't make any sense. Any youkai trying to enter the village would have-

And then understanding dawned within him. Horrible, horrible understanding.

"Nathaniel," Gendou said, slipping the big man's hand off of his shoulder. "Are you claiming that the poor child was sacrificed?"

"I claim nothing. But it does track, does it not? Such dark magics so often require the blood sacrifice of an innocent."

Gendou felt sick to his stomach. He didn't want to even consider the possibility, but the evidence being laid before him was hard to refute.

"What…" His dry throat convulsed, and he coughed. "What must we do?"

"I wish I knew," Nathaniel said in a grave voice. "But whatever it is, we must decide soon. I fear that time is running out."

…

Time.

Time was something that Miko always seemed to possess in abundance. Yes, she busied herself with the upkeep of the shrine, something that seemed to take more and more time as the years wore her down. Yes, keeping the Wilds safe and maintaining the fragile peace between Gensokyo's mortal and immortal denizens was a full-time job. But she was so experienced in her duties as the Hakurei Shrine Maiden that all of that was now dull routine, leaving her with quite a lot of time to fill, and precious little to fill with it.

Of course, had she been more mindful of her other duties, then she would have no trouble filling that time. Producing and raising the next generation of shrine maidens would no doubt keep her very busy, so much so that squeezing in her usual duties would become a problem. However, Miko had decided long ago that she wanted nothing to do with that, much to the irritation of her own elders. But as far as she was concerned, those elders were as much to blame for the troubles that constantly plagued Gensokyo as the troublemakers that her family had been created to keep in line. Maybe after the Hakurei line had gone extinct, they might realize that there were no longer any Humans to pawn their responsibilities off to. At least she liked to believe that that might be the case.

Regardless, her lack of interest in maternal affairs did often leave her with more time on her hands than any of her ancestors. However, as cruel irony would have it, once she needed it the most, she found it most severely lacking.

"Girl, don't make me tie yah down 'til yah explain. What in a godsdanged hell are you blabbin' about?"

Grunting, Miko did her best to ignore Genji as she all but tore her shrine apart in search of everything that she needed. Drawers were yanked open, cabinets pilfered, boxes and crates hauled out of their keeping places and their contents dumped out.

"I'm bein' serious here, kid! Now, if yah don't slow and down start talkin'-"

"I literally do not have time for this, Genji!" she snapped over her shoulder at the wizened old turtle standing in the doorway. "I have a whopper of a curse to kill, an entire other dimension of ghosts to seal off, and crazed Christian cult to shut down! And if I don't do all of that soon, Fujiwara no Mokou just might massacre the entire Human Village!"

Genji was, as previously indicated, a turtle. A very large turtle, one big enough to carry a whole person on his back, which he often did for young shrine maidens who had not yet mastered the skill of flight.

Now, one might think that being borne around on the back of a turtle would be a very poor way to get around. However, Genji was much quicker than his size, age, and species might suggest. Not on his feet, though. When walking, he was as slow and plodding as one might expect. However, unlike most turtles, he was gifted with the ability to fly, and could move quite swiftly when in the air. Furthermore, he stood apart from the rest of his thick-shelled brethren due to being functionally immortal, being able to talk, and also possessing a long and flowing white beard, which didn't come standard issue for reptiles. He had been around since the dawn of Gensokyo and acted as both mentor and companion to every generation of Hakurei Shrine Maidens.

Under normal circumstances, Miko would have taken the time to pick his unnaturally advanced brain for a possible solution for her problem. The turtle was a wealth of information and experience, all of it ready to serve each shrine maiden. But as previously stated, time was the one thing she no longer had.

"Wh-wh-what?" he sputtered, a neat trick for a creature without flesh lips. "This about that shit at the orphanage? How in the hell-"

Miko sighed. "Look, whatever the Black Circle curse is, it's going to pop any minute now, so I need to cure those kids. Meanwhile, I also have to repair the orphanage's wards, which are currently buried, because apparently it also connects to some kind of spiritual orphanage for the ghosts of all the Human children who died in the Wilds! Did you know about that?"

"Th-That?" Genji said. "Well, sure, but-"

"Would've been really nice to know! Now I got multiple centuries of dead kids to safely seal away before they hurt anybody or anybody hurts them!" Miko took a deep breath. "Oh yeah, and it turns out, Nathaniel Skinner might have the same curse that those kids do, and that's what's caused him to go completely insane and start a child-killing cult, one that Fujiware no Mokou is one excuse away from eradicating, along with everything and everyone close to them! I had to literally talk her down to just kidnapping him and letting her execute him after he's been interrogated!"

"What!" Genji cried. "You're lettin' a principality murder a Human! That violates-"

"It's either that or she razes the Human Village to the ground! Oh, and Yukari Yakumo is being no help whatsoever." Finding the last of the charms that she needed, she stuffed them into the pack that she had been filling with every magical item that she might need. "Literally everything is falling apart, and if I don't hurry soon, Humans might end up as an endangered species!"

"Kid," Genji said in a low voice. "Yah can't handle this alone."

"Then you ring up Yukari and talk some sense into her!" Miko snapped. She shouldered her pack and rushed out the door, barely slowing down to hop over the intrusive turtle. "In the meantime, I have to act now, before the whole country burns down!"

…

"I'll of course confer with the rest of the elders," said Gendou Sonozika. "I can't promise you that they will act be as receptive to your viewpoint. We are, after all, speaking of children. But I can promise that I will do everything that I can to convince them."

Nathaniel stood with him on the porch to see him off. Despite Mai's ghastly murder, Nathaniel still felt a sense of relief. Finally, the wheels were moving. If it could at least act as the impetus for Gensokyo's cleansing, then at least Mai's death was not in vain.

"I thank you, my friend," Nathaniel told Gendou. "That is all I ask."

Gendou hesitated. "What of…What of Mai? Her family ought to be told…"

"I'll make sure that she isn't disturbed," Nathaniel promised him. "She'll of course need to be inspected first. Once we've learned all that we can, we'll hand the body…and head…off to her relatives."

"Yes, yes, of course," Gendou murmured. The portly man was clearly uneasy, which was understandable. "And, ah, will…you be all right staying here? Perhaps you ought to go somewhere…more secure?"

Nathaniel's right hand twinged, sending shivers up his shoulder. "No need. If she wished to kill me, then she would have done so. This was a message."

"If you say so," Gendou said dubiously. "Well, be safe, Nathaniel."

Nathaniel bowed low, for once grateful that the Japs preferred that gesture to a proper handshake. It would not do have Gendou touching his hand at that moment, even through the scraps of linen that bound it.

Gendou left, and Nathaniel turned to reenter his house. He didn't anticipate being able to sleep again. There was just too much on his mind. But at least he now had time to think.

Then, as he walked through the front room, he paused.

Nathaniel's house felt wrong.

That was to be expected. It had been defiled, the very holiness of the sanctuary that he had built desecrated.

But that was an unholiness that he had grown accustomed to. He had slipped, and it had struck. This was new.

He felt it the moment that the door had been closed. It wasn't anything that he could see. Nothing had been moved.

But there was something different.

It felt as if every nerve in his body was on high alert. He moved slowly through the house, eye darting to every corner, every shadow. Nothing he saw was amiss, but that didn't mean that something wasn't wrong.

Then, as he entered the hallway, the air grew cold, and the hairs stood up on the back of Nathaniel's neck.

The hallway in front of him seemed to stretch and warp, growing longer and longer while the walls bent both inward and outward. Nathaniel shivered. No. No, it was happening again.

Nathaniel.

No! Shut up! Stop talking! He wasn't going to submit! He wasn't going to give in! His soul was his own, and no Dark Voice from Hell was going to-

Nathaniel! Look up! You're in danger!

What?

Suddenly a pair of legs swung down from above to slam into his chest. Nathaniel was sent flying back, slamming into a chair and knocking it spiraling.

His heart racing and his head swimming, Nathaniel tried to pull himself to his feet, but then a hand gripped him by his robe and yanked him up, and he found himself staring at a pair of maliciously glowing maroon eyes.

"You're such a fucking liar," said a familiar voice, each word dripping with contempt.

Then something struck him on the side of his head, knocking him spinning. Nathaniel landed with a gasp of pain.

"You're the one who killed her, weren't you?" said the voice of the Devil Woman, of Fujiwara no Mokou. "That dead woman. The one with her head cut off. Let me guess: you have the same curse from the Black Circle as the children, and it compelled you to kill her. But instead of actually taking responsibility you have the gall to try to pin it on me."

Nathaniel tried to rise, but a foot slammed into his back, flattening him down.

"Pathetic."

Nathaniel's world was spinning, his body wracked with pain. God, help me! his heart cried out, but God did not answer.

However, something else did.

Nathaniel.

Two hands seized the back of his robe and hoisted him into the air with horrifying ease, and he was thrown as if he were nothing more than a child's doll instead of a two-hundred and thirty-two-pound man. He slammed into one of the dreadfully thin paper walls of his house and tore right through.

This time, he hit something hard and wooden that didn't collapse under him. Something inside him snapped, and he saw stars.

"Ah, so this is where it happens, huh? This is where you feed them all of that delusional bullshit that gets normal people to kill kids."

What?

Shaking with fear and pain, Nathaniel levered his head up the best he could. Everything was pitching this was and that, but he was able to make out where he was.

It was the sanctuary, where he ministered to the good people of Gensokyo, the last stronghold against evil in this literally godforsaken country.

It was also where Mai had been murdered by demonic forces less than an hour ago.

Nathaniel.

"You know, I used to think that maybe it's your God making you act this way, that it's your God turning everyone so sick and evil. But you know, your old buddy Joshua worships the same God you do, and he'd almost make a convert out of me! So instead I'm thinking that maybe it's not your God at all. Maybe it's just you. It's always been you."

Fingers like steel clamps wrapped around Nathaniel's neck, and he was lifted smoothly and easily into the air. Gasping, he tried to grab at the hand holding him, but his left arm, his uncorrupted arm, lay limp and useless, leaving him only the one touched by the Devil.

He had no choice.

Nathaniel seized the wrist at his throat with his bandaged hand and tried to pull it away, but he might as well have been trying to uproot a mountain with a lever made of straw. This shouldn't be happening. He was a strong, hearty man! He ought to be able to overpower this mere woman with ease!

But this was no mere woman, and they both knew it.

Fujiwara no Mokou's demonic eyes regarded him without pity or mercy. There was only contempt. "And you know what else? I bet every time you pray to Him, your God wants to puke."

With that, a fist slammed into Nathaniel's sternum.

Nathaniel wasn't entirely certain what happened next, but it must have been bad. All he knew was that when he came to, he was no longer being held aloft by the neck, but instead sprawled in an agonizing heap at the far end of the room. Everything hurt.

Groaning, he struggled to raise his head. Though his vision was still swimming, he managed to see that the pulpit was gone, smashed to pieces. He had been thrown right through it.

But then, what was he lying on? It wasn't the ground. Rather, it was something made out of wood, something that was now lying at an angle against the wall.

Nathaniel turned his head to one side to see a beam of wood extending out to his right. Frowning, he turned his head the other way to see another beam of wood to his left.

The cross. He had knocked the ivy-crowned cross from the wall, and was now lying on it. There was something deeply ironic about that, but he was in no state to appreciate it.

Nathaniel!

Then something kicked the back of his shoulders, forcing him to bend forward. Before he could piece together what was going on, a pair of legs clamped themselves around his throat and yanked up, hauling him into the air.

He was being hanged! The awful woman was clinging to the ceiling, and literally hanging him with her legs! Nathaniel thrashed, gasped, and choked, but he could do nothing as the air was squeezed from his lungs, as his windpipe was collapsed and the bloodflow to his brain slowed to a crawl. He started to see spots while his strength seeped from his limbs.

"Nighty-night, asshole," Mokou hissed.

This couldn't be happening! It couldn't end like this! Strangled to death by the Devil Woman in his own home, in his own sanctuary? Everything he had worked for, everything he had sacrificed, just brought to a violent end? God, please help!

Nathaniel!

No. No, no, no, no.

Take my power.

No! He would never-

You are dying. You have no choice. Take my power.

But he couldn't! He had spent so long fighting off the Dark Voice! He couldn't give in now!

Just a taste. Just long enough to save your life. Take my power.

The strength was rapidly leaving Nathaniel's body. He heard a strange rushing in his ears, like wind through a tunnel, or the crash of waves upon the shore. Everything was feeling so heavy, from his lifeless limbs to his eyelids. He ought to just close his eyes and sleep, just let the dark take him away…

NO!

Then let me help you! Just enough to save you!

Things were slowing down, time creeping to a crawl. He felt like he was underwater, drifting away into the ocean.

Though Nathaniel was so close to being gone, he found enough mental will to think, Just a taste?

Just a taste.

He had no choice.

Save me.

For what felt like an agonizingly long time, though in truth it was less than a second, there was no response. The Devil Woman continue to squeeze the life out of Nathaniel's lungs, and he continued to hang helplessly as she did it.

And then the Dark Voice purred, I knew you'd warm up to me.

…

Tears streaming from her eyes and her breath coming out in frenzied pants, Melissa fled from the grave of Aoi Yume as if the very hounds of Hell were biting at her ankles.

She kept going, running as fast as she could through the graves of the orphanage's founders. If she could fly she would have taken to the air and never come down again.

"Melissa?"

Melissa froze in her tracks. Trembling in fear, she slowly turned her head.

Kana was standing there at the mouth of the staircase that led down into the catacombs of the orphanage, her skin sallow and her eyes as wide as they were empty. Black veins zigzagged through her unnaturally pale skin, and tiny wisps of black smoke rose from around her feet. Clutched loosely in her hand was a necklace with a glowing yellow gem.

"Did I scare you, Melissa?" Kana asked, her eyes never so much as blinking. "I didn't mean to."

Melissa's breath had been robbed from her lungs, preventing her from answering. The rest of the Black Circle Six were emerging from the open grave to stand silently at Kana's sides, each of them as corpselike as she was.

Kana didn't seem to have even noticed the others. She slowly raised her hand and held it out to the petrified girl. "Please don't be afraid," she said. "I won't hurt you."

Run!

Melissa bolted as fast as she could, fleeing the cemetery. "Help!" she cried out, not caring that she had slipped back into her natural Spanish. "Somebody help me!"

Tears of terror misted her vision, and she wiped them with her arm as she did. In doing so, she couldn't see where she was going, and suddenly ran straight into a hard and sturdy body.

Melissa shrieked as she fell back, certain that they had caught her.

"Melissa?" she heard a familiar voice say.

Melissa stared up with wild eyes at the kind and concerned face of Mr. Joshua.

"Melissa, what's wrong?" he asked.

In answer, she lunged up, throwing her arms around the surprised man's neck while crying out, "They're coming! They're coming! They're coming!"

…

Mokou wasn't entirely certain what had just happened.

One moment, she had Skinner dead to rights. The bastard was beaten senseless, his body suspended off the ground, her legs squeezing down on his neck, the air being squeezed from his lungs. Mokou could feel his strength fading, the last desperate gasps of life as he fought in vain to keep conscious.

Then the next thing she knew, she was two rooms over, lying in a heap amidst a pile of broken furniture and pottery, large holes ripped through the walls between her and Skinner.

As for Skinner, he was back on his feet, hands hanging loosely at his side, back straight and head bowed. He wasn't even looking at her.

Huh.

Well, no sense in giving him space to catch his breath. Quicker than thought, Mokou shot into the air, her body bursting into flames as she burned a comet's trail right toward Skinner, one flaming hand cocked and ready to strike him down.

Something hit her in midair, knocking her head over heels to slam belly-first onto the ground. Her flames snuffed out.

Frowning, Mokou looked up. Skinner still wasn't looking at her. Instead, he seemed oddly fixated by his right hand, the linen wrappings were falling away from his hand in tatters that blackened and shriveled as if set on fire.

A bitter chill swept through Mokou. The air had changed, the temperature dropping. She could see her hot breath misting in front of her. What was more, there was a strange thickness to it. Not humidity. It was more like the air was filled with ash.

She recognized it immediately. It was the same feeling that she got around the Black Circle Six.

A furious scowl twisted her features. "I fucking knew it!" she spat. "All this time! All this time you've been going on and on about demons and black magic and evil, while you've been carrying a piece around with you the whole time!"

Now Skinner looked at her, though he did so without expression. His face was utterly blank, all save for his eyes.

His eyes now burned bright with Hellfire.

Fuck this. Fuck bringing him back alive. The situation was now utterly fucked. Mokou called up her own fire, the cleansing holy flames of the Phoenix, and directed them to spring to life within Skinner's chest. Let's see how well the bastard does against spontaneous combustion.

As it turned out, he did just fine. Steam briefly rose from his body, and the tips of his beard hairs turned black and withered, but then it just stopped.

Mokou's arms lit up as liquid fire sang through her veins. Her hands ignited, and she hurled a column of flame at the bastard.

In response, Skinner's hand snapped up, fingers open. The fire slammed into his palm, and Mokou's vision filled with white. Gritting her teeth, she kept the inferno going, intent on reducing him to nothing more than a cloud of ash.

Finally she snuffed out the flames and lowered her hands. Predictably, the whole hallway was now blazing, with the fires spreading quickly to engulf the rest of the house. It wasn't the first time Mokou's attempts to incinerate her target had result in massive collateral damage, but in this case, she found it hard to care.

Unfortunately, unlike times past, her intended target still lived.

Skinner had fallen to his hands and knees, his body trembling from exertion. He was naked, his hairy body glistening with sweat while steam rose from his shoulders. Mokou's eyes darted down to his right hand, which was balled up into a fist and planted against the ground. The skin of his hand and most of his wrist was now scorched black and cracked.

But he was alive.

Hate was a familiar friend to Mokou. She loved hate. She thrived on hate. Hate had walked with her for every step of her eternally prolonged life, a dear companion that she knew as intimately as a lover.

It had been hate for the Sonozikas that had turned her into the monster that she was today. It had been hate for Kaguya Houraisan that had given meaning to her existence ever since she had stepped foot in Gensokyo. Through hate she had maimed and destroyed, killed and burned. Her hands were caked with the scorched blood of the hundreds of victims of her hate, both deserved or otherwise.

Two years ago, something had changed. She had found a chance at a new life, a new purpose. She found an opportunity to lay aside her hatred, to use her powers to protect rather than destroy. She learned how to love.

For a time, it had seemed as if that love might fill her heart so completely that there would be no more room for hate. But now, as she saw the man who had used his own hatred to attack her family, who had killed an innocent child and now sought to murder the rest, Mokou found out just how much room her heart truly had. Hate filled it once again, not drowning out her love but being fed by it. Powered by it. Her love and her hate now joined together in shared purpose.

And that purpose was to destroy Nathaniel Skinner.

Mokou screamed, her voice rising higher than Human vocal chords ought to be able to reach, echoing and reverberating over itself to become a cry that so many few would be able to recognize: the war cry of the Phoenix. Her eyes blazed with holy light as she stared into the demonic flames that burned in his own.

She charged, her body becoming a blazing spear of justice as she hurled herself like a meteor at the chest of that vile man, intending to tear him apart limb from limb.

…

Rumia suddenly looked up at the sky. She frowned.

Something was wrong. Something had just happened. There was a strange tug at her heart, as if a thorn had become lodge in there and now something was trying to pull it loose.

She looked over to Kohta, her brother, who was also looking to the sky. "You felt that, didn't you?" she asked.

Not taking his eyes from the sky, he nodded.

Rumia then looked to her sisters, to Keine, Kana, Hayate, and Haruko. They all had felt it too.

"There is another," Haruko said.

"Another one of us," Hayate added.

"He is drinking of the dark," said Kana, the necklace that she had retrieved from that casket hanging loosely in her hand.

"If he drinks too deeply, we will be rejected," Rumia said. "There can only be one who calls up the Dark One."

Keine began to speak. "Perhaps one of us should—"

Then she let out a sharp cry of pain and fell to her knees, hands clutching at her head.

And just like that, the trance was broken, those black whispers silenced. Rumia shook herself, and ran to Keine's side.

"Keine, what's wrong?" she said. "Is it the curse?"

Keine gritted her teeth. "No. My head…hurts. I don't know why, but it hurts!"

"Maybe it's something different," Kohta suggested as he knelt down next to the shaking girl. "Like something from that Skinner bastard."

Rumia scowled. Right, she had almost forgotten about him.

"Um, guys?" Hayate said. She and Haruko were holding onto each other, the fear evident in their eyes. "What…What were we just talking about? What was all that weird stuff about darkness?"

"The curse is getting worse," Kohta said. He looked back to the sky. "Damn it, where's that shrine maiden? She said that she'd fix us!"

Rumia didn't say anything. It was getting cold.

Clutching her new necklace to her chest, Kana started coughing.

…

Nathaniel…

With a pained groan, Nathaniel rolled over onto his back.

Nathaniel…

Everything hurt. His entire body felt sore, though not from being bruised. It was as if he were sick with fever. Every slight movement brought cold aches and sent shivers through his inflamed muscles.

Nathaniel! Nathaniel!

"Brother Nathaniel, can you hear me?"

Nathaniel blinked his eyes several times. His eyesight was a total blur, but he could just make out several hazy figures looking down at him.

"Wha-" he tried to say, only to start coughing.

"Is he okay?" someone said. It sounded like Brother Seiya.

"I don't know. Brother Nathaniel, are you all right? Are you hurt?"

Hurt? Yes. Just the act of coughing felt like hammers were being slammed into the inside of his head. However, he could not allow this weakness of the flesh keep him down.

"I'm…all right," he said as he struggled to sit up.

"Here, let me help you," said the blur that sounded and sort of looked like Brother Seiya.

Immediately Nathaniel's vision cleared, and he saw three men from his congregation, their bodies enveloped with burning red light like fire. The flaming specter of Brother Seiya was reaching toward his hand.

Terror seized Nathaniel's heart, and he jerked his hand away. "Don't touch me!"

The three burning men recoiled in shock. "Brother Nathaniel, what has gotten into you?" said young Brother Andrew.

Holding his hand to his chest, Nathaniel stared at them. "Why…Why do you…"

His fever welled up, and tingles erupted all over his body. Nathaniel closed his eyes and shook his head.

When he opened them again, Brothers Seiya, Andrew, and Rito were all staring at him in concern. The fire was gone.

Even so, Nathaniel still burned with cold fever. "What happened?" he said through a throat that felt like it had been scraped raw.

"You don't remember?" Brother Andrew asked.

Remember? All he remembered was…that woman. Attacking him. And the Dark Voice. He remembered the woman charging at him. He tried to stop her, but then…

…but then…

Nathaniel looked around. To his surprise, he was no longer in his house. He was outside, in the street.

His eyes fell upon his house. To his dismay, it was burning, flames gutting it from the inside and out. A massive hole had been torn through the wall, through which he could see that the entirety of the interior had been consumed by the flames. The town's fire marshals were hard at work attacking the blazes with water and ice magic, but it was clear that their intention was to contain. The house itself was a lost cause.

Then his recovering ears picked up the sound of muttering voices. Nathaniel craned his neck. Standing uneasily in a circle around him and his brothers were the townsfolk of the Human Village. There weren't many, as few walked the streets past dark, but they were there, staring down at Nathaniel with troubled eyes and whispering amongst themselves.

"We heard about what happened to Mai," Brother Rito said in a low voice. "We were coming by to provide comfort and counsel, but when we approached, you were literally thrown through your wall into the dirt."

"Thrown?" Nathaniel blinked several times. "By whom?"

His brothers exchanged glances of discomfort. Then they parted, with Brother Seiya holding out a trembling finger.

Nathaniel looked. There was the Devil Woman, lying against the house across from him. She was dead, her body pierced with multiple arrows. Steaming blood drizzled from the wounds to make dark mud in the dirt around her.

"She l-leapt out after you," Brother Andrew stammered. "She stood over you, shouting nonsense. Then her…her hands! They were covered with fire! She looked like she was about to murder you, b-but…"

"We shot her."

Still utterly bewildered, Nathaniel turned. There stood three of the Night Guard, young men in black uniforms with lavender sashes and crude helmets. In their hands they carried rudimentary weapons. Crossbows, off all things!

But that didn't make any sense. Mere arrows shouldn't have been able to kill her. That woman was empowered by demonic fire!

Nathaniel looked back to the body of the Devil Woman. Though she certainly had enough arrows stuck into her to kill anybody, there was one wound that they couldn't account for. Her shirt was torn right beneath the chest, and the flesh beneath was…

The Devil Woman slammed into Nathaniel. Ribs cracked while the air exploded from his lungs. He was lifted off of his feet and sent hurtling back, the Devil Woman holding onto him the whole way.

Nathaniel blinked. He shook his head, sending droplets of feverish sweat flying.

She was going to kill him. The heat of her body burned his skin. Her hand was crushing his throat. She was going to kill him.

Then kill her first.

How?

How indeed? Did he kill her? But-

She is too close. You cannot miss. Kill her.

As Nathaniel was thrust back through wall after wall, flames surrounding him on all sides, everything began to slow down, as if she were driving him through thick water rather than air. At the same time, his senses sharpened. He was able to make out every detail of the Devil Woman, from how the light of the fire glimmered off of her silvery-violet hair to the look of hate contorting her beautiful face.

What was more, he could feel her: feel the beating of her hideous heart as it pumped her vile blood, feel the currents of that blood through her veins, feel the unnatural life animating her body.

He felt it all, and in that moment, he knew how to end it.

Even as the two of them flew through the air, even as the walls parted for them like so much tissue paper and the fires consumed his home, he felt a sense of inner calmness. His hand moved, almost of its own accord, moving down to the Devil Woman's chest. There was a gentleness as he touched her, like a lover's caress. His cold met her heat, and the shirt fell way from around her fingers, leaving no barrier between him and the flesh underneath.

And then he thrust it in.

Sickness welled up through Nathaniel's throat, and he vomited.

The world became a muddle of movement and interlapping voices. He was dimly aware of someone rubbing his back, of someone else yelling for people to stand back and give him space.

A flask of water was handed to him, and he took it with a nod of thanks. Taking in a few small sips, he swirled it around his mouth and spat it out to get out the sour taste of bile before drinking the rest down.

"Reverend," Brother Andrew ventured. "What happened?" The freckle-faced young man looked terrified. At any other time, Nathaniel might have chastised him for his weakness, but at that moment he just didn't have the heart. After all, he was scared too.

Why?

Nathaniel started. No, not the voice! Not now!

Why are you afraid, Nathaniel? Did I not do as I promised? Did I not give you the power to defend yourself while leaving your free will intact?

Swallowing back, Nathaniel turned to look back at the body of the Devil Woman. Several more people had gathered around her. They whispered among themselves while shooting fearful glances at the corpse.

The Devil Woman was not stirring. However, the rot around where Nathaniel had crushed her heart was growing, a creeping tide of darkness that shriveled her skin and caused it to flake away. When Nathaniel had first been shown her body, it was only around her chest, but now it was reaching up to wrap black fingers around her neck.

She would have killed you. Just like she killed Mai.

But…But Mai had been killed-

A lie. A falsehood. An illusion. The Devil Woman killed Mai. You know this to be true.

No, it wasn't! Mai had been killed by-

Wait.

Was it?

In his mind's eye, Nathaniel relived the grisly sight of poor Mai, held aloft by an invisible force over the sanctuary's dais, her hands frantically moving the razor wire back and forth as she sawed at her own throat—

No.

No, that wasn't right.

Not her own hands. Another pair of hands held the wire, hadn't they? A pair of hands belonging to…

She killed Mai, the Dark Voice said in a soothing whisper. Then she waited for Gendou to leave before she tried to kill you. I saved you, as I promised that I would.

Nathaniel looked down at his hands. They were still burned, the flesh around his wrists raw from the heat. But he felt no pain. No pain at all.

All this time you have resisted me, when all I wanted to do was help you. Now you know the truth.

That couldn't be true! The Dark Voice was that of the Devil! It was sent to lure and beguile him, and only through his steadfast will and the Grace of God—

If God were in you, then the Devil could not tempt you, correct?

Nathaniel couldn't help but gasp. He hadn't thought of that.

If I am evil, and if the Holy Spirit dwelt in your heart, then why would I be allowed in?

But…But that would mean…

I am your friend, Nathaniel. Not evil.

Nathaniel felt numb. Was it true? Was what he had taken for the voice of evil in truth the voice of righteousness?

Now you finally see. So get up, Nathaniel Skinner. You have work to do.

Yes. Yes, that must be true.

Nathaniel breathed deep of the night air. He tasted the smoke of the fire.

When he exhaled, he also breathed out all of his doubts. He now knew what he must do.

"Reverend?" Brother Andrew repeated.

Pushing him side, Nathaniel stood to his feet. Someone frantically told him to not to try to move, but he ignored them. As he did so, he noticed that someone had placed a blanket around his shoulders. That was odd. He didn't even feel it.

And why? It wasn't cold.

Brother Seiya must have noticed the look of puzzlement on his face, as he sidled up to him and murmured, "Reverend. You are naked, you know."

Ah, that made sense.

Then he heard a scream.

Nathaniel turned to the burning remains of his house. The blaze had been more-or-less contained, though the building itself was lost. The scream had come from the sanctuary.

One of the firefighters stood in the entrance to the sanctuary, where his congregation would to enter to hear him preach the words of God. The poor woman was horrified, one hand clutching at the doorframe and the other pressed against her heart.

"There's a body in there!" she cried. "Its head…I think it's Mai!"

Gasps and murmurs rose up, and everyone turned toward Nathaniel.

As Nathaniel stood there, his burned body naked save for the blanket draped around his shoulders like a cape, faces full of fear and confusion staring at him in hopes of an answer that would quell their fears, he knew what he must do.

It was her.

"It was her," Nathaniel said to the good people of the Human Village. He pointed to the swiftly rotting body of the Devil Woman. "That's the woman who started the fight in the market a few days ago."

"The same one that breathed fire at us?" Brother Seiya asked.

Nathaniel nodded. "She snuck into my house and murdered Mai. You can ask Leader Sonozika; he was just here. And when he left, she attacked me, trying to kill me as well."

Brother Seiya swallowed hard. "Reverend. How did you survive? What did you do?"

Then a hand came down onto Nathaniel's shoulder to grip it tight. "Father, can you hear yourself?" Brother Rito admonished. "The same woman responsible for stirring up so many dark powers attempted to murder our brother in his sleep! She must have been struck down by the Might of God!"

Nathaniel slowly turned his head to stare at the young man. In contrast to his weak-willed father, Rito Kirisame had always understood what they were up against more clearly than any of the other Gensokyian natives, and his sharp mind and strong will had proven to be invaluable. But most of all, Rito fully understood the necessity of certain actions that others might turn their noses up at. Seiya had quailed at the thought of soliciting the services those disgusting spider youkai, whereas Rito had simply gone about making inquiries.

Frankly, Nathaniel found it a little disappointing that a Jap from a heathen land would prove to have more moral fortitude then the Americans that Nathaniel had brought with him. But then, God's grace could be found in the most surprising of places.

"You're right," Nathaniel said, and then started coughing again. "I don't…I don't know what happened, but she was about to kill me, and the next thing I knew, I just felt this sense of peace. As if God were taking me into His hands."

The fingers of his right hand involuntarily twitched, and dark laughter echoed in his mind.

Gripping Nathaniel's shoulder, Brother Rito said, "He certainly did. He certainly did." He then looked down at the shriveled remains of the Devil Woman. "We must tell Leader Sonozika about this. He has to know."

Once again Nathaniel was thankful for the young man's steady mind. He was right.

In fact, now that Nathaniel had calmed down enough to think, he realized what a boon had just fallen into his lap. The Devil Woman had tried to murder him, only to fail. She was no longer a threat. And he now had all the evidence that he needed that those demon-worshippers at that so-called orphanage truly were a clear and present danger against the good Humans of the Human Village.

"Right, right," Nathaniel said as he pulled himself to his feet. A fresh sense of purpose filled his heart, reinvigorating his body and clearing his vision. "We must act quickly."

…

Fearing the worst, Joshua hurried over to the Children's Home cemetery. Melissa Garcia's panicked babbling hadn't been easy to discern, but the gist had been clear.

The Black Circle Six had gotten loose and were after her.

He didn't know how they had slipped out from under their watch. Shion was supposed to be keeping an eye on them, but she had drifted off. It had only been for a few seconds, but when she jerked back awake, the children were gone, and she raised the alarm.

Of course Joshua immediately began combing the fields surrounding the haunted orphanage for them, whispering prayers under his breath. They had lost one child to this nightmare already. Having it take so many others would have been unbearable.

That was when he ran into Melissa. The poor girl had been absolutely frantic with fear, but praise the Lord, she was unharmed. And from there, he immediately headed for the cemetery, his prayers continuing, only now he begged the Lord Jesus that he wasn't too late, that the dark powers that had lodged into those poor kids like ticks hadn't fully taken them yet.

Then he saw them.

They hadn't left the cemetery, but instead were gathered together in a tight circle. He saw Keine on her knees in the middle, groaning as she clutched at her head. The others were kneeling down around her, with Rumia and Kohta laying their hands on her shoulders.

Joshua's breath caught in his throat. Then he redoubled his speed.

His legs were short, but they were powerful. He cleared the distance, hopping over the small fence that surrounded the inner cemetery. "Hey!" he called to the kids. "What's wrong?"

Hayate and Hakuro both turned toward him, and to his relief, their eyes and face were normal. "It's Keine!" Hayate cried, pointing at the slight half-youkai girl. "Her head's hurting again!"

Joshua hurried over to the whimpering girl. "Keine?" he said as he got down on his knees in front of her. He reached over to touch her head. "Are you-"

Suddenly, Keine's head whipped up, exposing two blazing scarlet eyes and a face twisted up by savage fury. "Don't touch me!" she screamed, swiping his hand away.

Joshua fell back, his jaw hanging open. "Keine?"

Ignoring him, Keine lowered her head again, her hands still clutching at her temples. Rumia and Kohta kept their hands on her shoulders, but they now were staring right at Joshua with unblinking eyes.

Then Hayate and Hakuro both moved to place themselves between Joshua and Keine. They grasped each other's hands, forming a wall.

"Please keep your distance," said little Kana Anaberal as she walked around to stand in front of Hayate and Haruko. "She does not wish to be touched."

Jousha stared up at the cursed children, his mouth agape. It was happening again, and he felt helpless to do anything about it.

Father, he prayed. If you have any miracles to spare, now would be the time.

…

As Nathaniel dressed, his caught sight of his bedroom mirror.

Though the house was lost, the firefighters had acted swiftly enough to snuff out the flames before all of his possessions were burned. Most of the furniture was ruined, but at the very least his clothing had been safely tucked away in drawers, so he didn't have to borrow any to cover his nakedness.

As for the mirror that had once been fastened to his wall, the one that he had gone through so much trouble to obtain, it now lay on the ground, its glass cracked and smeared with ashes. But he could still his reflection.

His skin was a bright red from the heat, while the tips of his beard and hair were singed black. The skin of his hands and wrists were burned to the point of cracking. By rights he ought to be in agony.

And yet he felt nothing. The numbness of his cursed right hand had now spread throughout the rest of his body.

But was it truly a curse? The Dark Voice had kept its promise. Without the promise it granted him, he would be dead.

Perhaps he had misjudged it. After all, it wanted to purge Gensokyo as much as he did. The Lord had made use of dark powers before, hadn't He?

There was a smudge of ash over the reflection of his face, obscuring his eyes. He knelt down to wipe it away.

The white of his eyes had been consumed by blackness, the blue of his irises now burning red.

Fascinated, Nathaniel blinked several times and looked again. As he watched, the darkness faded back to white while the red cooled into blue. His eyes were still bloodshot from the smoke, but otherwise normal.

Nathaniel smiled. So, he still had control. That was good. The Dark Voice would help, but he was the master of his own soul.

He finished pulling his pants up and buckled the belt. Then he buttoned his shirt up, covering the burned flesh. From there he pulled on the ankle-length coat of brown leather that had become something of his staple. As he straightened out the lapels, his eyes caught sight of the glint of metal in the smoldering beams of his house.

Reaching down, he pulled out the large silver crucifix that he always wore around his neck. His smile grew. The heat had warped it somewhat, the carved figure of Jesus now fused to his cross, but it had survived. He slipped it around his neck, just where it belonged.

That done, he picked up his wide-brimmed brown hat, shook out the layer of ash, and put it on his head. It was like donning armor for battle, he realized. And the enemy will not find him underequipped.

But as he reached for the thick leather gloves, he paused. Those gloves had been worn to hide the curse in his hand, to keep others from noticing. But what did he now have to hide?

No, the time for hiding was over. He was about to go to war, and he would not do so with his most deadly weapon kept in its sheath.

Leaving them where they lay, he turned and strode from the ruins of his room for the last time.

Leader Sonozika again stood at his doorstep, anxiously fidgeting as he stared in abject horror at the still-crumbling body of Fujiwara no Mokou. Around the house was gathered the good people of the First Gensokyo Baptist Fellowship. The congregation had grown literally overnight, with the growing threat of that damned so-called "orphanage" having turned many hearts to their cause over the last few weeks. The murder of poor Mai and the barely thwarted attack on his own life had finally won over the last few holdouts. He saw many from the village who had in the past turned their hearts from the Gospel now standing with his brothers and sisters. He saw those from the smaller villages and hamlets come to stand with their fellow Humans. It did his heart good to see such solidarity against wickedness.

Standing in the entrance to his destroyed home, he let his eyes roam over all of the faces watching him. Many were scared, several angry, a few confused, others determined, and still others downright eager, but it didn't matter. What mattered was that they were here, they were ready, and most importantly, they were all Human!

Lifting his right hand, through which the Dark Voice had first entered his soul, he closed his fingers around the warped crucifix hanging around his neck. Then he spoke.

…

Within the Human Village, lights were coming on as word of the attack spread. But outside, Gensokyo lay quiet and sleeping.

Night creatures, animal and youkai alike, prowled the dark as they always did, unaware of the stirrings of their mortal neighbors. Insects sang to each other, owls hooted in ignorance, and a gentle wind stirred the grass.

In a small wood that sat on the side of a hill that overlooked the Human Village, a pile of dead leaves lay still. The breeze rustled those leaves, moving them just enough to expose a small, pale object.

…

"Brother and sisters," Nathaniel said to all those gathered. "I was not born in this country. I came from another. Your ways are not my ways. Your gods are not my god. But despite all of those differences, you took me in as one of your own. You cared for me. You listened to my words. And just as you have all learned from me, I have learned from you."

…

It was a finger, that of a Human woman, severed from the rest of its hand. The finger was long, slender, and ashen white.

On its own, the finger would not be anything out of the ordinary. Remains, Human or otherwise, could be found in many of Gensokyo's forests, as those who ventured in didn't always return, though bits and pieces of them would turn up in odd places.

But this finger had not been chewed off; it had been cut by its own with a sharp blade. And any curious creature looking to take a nibble would quickly find it unpalatable, if the blood didn't incinerate them from the inside-out.

…

"Because no matter where we were born, in America or Gensokyo or elsewhere, we are all united by our humanity! We are all Children of the Most High God, and He does not abandon His children!"

…

The finger began to move. It was small at first, just a tensing around the joints. The tip flexed a bit, its sharp nail scratching into a nearby stick.

…

Fervor took Nathaniel, as it always did whenever the Holy Spirit took him while preaching his sermons. "However, there will always be those who seek to lead God's Children astray. Those who wear the faces of Humans but have the hearts of Devils. Those who are born from wickedness, and seek to spread their wicked ways. Youkai. Fairies. Demons. In my world they are the boogiemen of children's stories, but here they are every bit as dark and twisted as our stories make them out to be. They deceive and beguile the weakhearted among us! They prey upon our children, make off with our sisters and brothers, and defile our women!"

…

The shaking was becoming more pronounced. The finger jerked back and forth, writhing as if its severed nerves had been struck by lightning.

…

"Long have I spoken of den of evil that calls itself the Aoki Yume Children's Home. A most deceitful name, for they claim to be nothing more than a normal orphanage, taking in those poor, unloved children and raising them right. But it is all a lie! They are in league with the youkai, and have been this whole time! They take your children, and feed them to the youkai of the Wilds! They practice dark arts in secret, using the children's flesh and blood as regents! They consort with the servants of the Devil, and offer up the souls of orphans as offerings!"

…

The tiny trickle of blood at the finger's severed stump smeared all over the leaves as the finger shook and twitched. Smoke began to rise from wherever the blood touched.

…

Thrusting a finger at the rapidly withering body of Fujiwara no Mokou, Nathaniel all but screamed, "See the evidence with your own eyes! A youkai woman, a spawn of Hell itself! She who claimed herself to be a simple cook and protector of a humble orphanage was in truth a bloodthirsty murderer, one who brutally executed my dear friend Mai this very night, but then tried to murder me as well! Were it not for the Grace of God and the vigilance of the night watch, she would have succeeded! See how her body crumbles as the unholy powers keeping her alive melt away!"

…

Suddenly, the finger stopped in mid-twitch. It sat at a tilted angle, its tip pressed into the ground with its length rising up with no visible means of suspension.

…

"And who is she?" Nathaniel demanded. "None other than the infamous butcher of the Sonozika family, who has tormented the bloodline of our dear Village Leader for centuries!"

Noises of surprise and discomfort rose up. The near-annihilation of the Sonozika family in pre-Gensokyo history was well-known, with its perpetrator playing a starring role in many a cautionary tale told to small children.

"It's true," Leader Sonozika spoke up. "I didn't want to believe it at first. When Reverend Skinner came to me with his suspicions, I thought that he had to be wrong. But it was her. She came here to murder him." He shivered. "And no doubt me."

The crowd turned to the corpse of the Devil Woman, which was continuing to crumble to ash. More than a few anxiously shuffled away from it.

…

Out of the end of the finger more steaming blood squirted. But this blood didn't splatter over the leaves. Instead, it became slimy dark red tendrils, ones that wove themselves together.

…

"The time for hesitation is over," Nathaniel called out to good Humans of Gensokyo, his people. His flock. "I do not know how far gone those poor children are, but if any of them can be saved, we cannot delay. And if they are too far gone, we must deliver them from the Devil's clutches. However we can."

"We're with you, Reverend!" Brother Rito called.

"Let's get those youkai trash!" called a middle-aged woman, one whom Nathaniel didn't know.

Smiling, Nathaniel spread his arms wide as if to embrace all the people of the village. "May God have His hands upon us. May He lead us through the Valley of the Shadow of Doubt and deliver us from evil. And when the Sun rises on Gensokyo on the morrow, it will rise on a cleaner country. A safer country. A righteous country, one claimed by Humans for Humans!" Then he raised his right fist into the air. "For humanity!"

"For humanity!" came the uproarious response as fists were raised in answer.

Yes, Nathaniel thought to himself as he saw the fires of the Holy Spirit spread through the hearts of those gathered. He had won. The spark had finally been ignited, and would continue to sweep Gensokyo clean until all the filth had been purged, and all that was left were good Christian Humans. As for the demon, the false god, and the unbeliever, they would all burn in the fires of perdition.

And the so-called Children's Home would be the first domino to fall. It was a long time coming. Children or not, they would pay for their inequities, their blasphemies, their consorting with the demons of Gensokyo.

They would pay for taking Joshua away from him.

…

The blood tendrils grew and grew, forming flesh and muscle. The jagged tip of bone pushed its way out, expanding into other bones, ones that were swiftly wrapped up in meat.

And then the flesh of the began to grow.

…

Yeah, I know. It's been a hot minute since I touched this one.

To be honest, I feel really bad for neglecting it for so long, as despite it being one of my least read stories, it's always been near and dear to my heart, and was one of the very first stories I ever came up with. But real life just kept getting in the way.

But now I'm finally coming back around to put Swiftly Descending Darkness in the bag, and will power my way through until it's done. That being said, damn! This chapter might be really short for one of my stories, but it was just so difficult. That's the problem with not touching something for a really long time only to finally circle back to it. It's really hard to get your brain back into the groove.

Until next time, everyone.