Eldritch Exorcist 86. Industry professionals

I stood there looking at the five people in an awkward silence. The larger man gazed at with furrowed eyebrows. After a few monts, he slowly took his hand off his hip and bent down to pick up the cara, still keeping an eye on throughout the whole process.

“Hello. Sorry. We thought you were, um… soone we know and wanted to surprise,” said a lanky, mousy-looking guy at the front.

“Oh, well then, sorry to disappoint, but I don’t think we’ve t,” I said, smiling.

“Oh, right. Where are my manners? I’m Cecil, and this is Victor, rcy, Liz, and Rey,” he said, pointing at everyone in the room. “We are ghost—”

“What happened to your hand?” the larger man interrupted. “You okay?” he added, but there was no genuine concern behind the question.

The rest seed to notice as well, as they looked at my hand.

I swore inwardly.

“Oh, that’s nothing. I’m not wounded, don’t worry. The na’s Samuel, by the way, but please call Sam. I’d shake your hands, but, well…” I said, raising my hands in the air as if surrendering.

“Yeah. So what are you do–” Cecil started, but was interrupted again.

“How did you get so much blood on your hands?” Rey asked, not paying the mousy man any attention.

I furrowed my brow.

“Maybe it’s paint,” I tried to joke.

“It’s drying in flakes. I can tell blood from paint.”

Great. I had to run into soone with knowledge about blood. I was gearing up for so ntal magic, but I tried to talk it out for now.

“Why are you so curious?” I asked, buying ti, thinking up an excuse.

“eting a strange man with his hands covered in blood and no wound in an abandoned building. Do I need a reason to be curious?”

“You seem on edge.”

“You seem to be changing the subject.”

Well, he wasn’t stupid. We stared at each other. Sadly, eting his gaze seed only to put him more on edge rather than scare him off. I was about to try a ntal suggestion when an excuse ca to .

“Well, it’s a strange story, and you might not believe , but I saw a wounded, dying boar on my trek through the woods to get here,” I began.

The man, introduced as Rey, made a deep frown. “And you just happened to what? Sar his blood all over yourself?”

Now ca the best part. “Well, I had to do a ritual over him so that the animal spirit didn’t infect the forest.”

They all looked at one another.

“It’s a strange story, actually. You see, I’m undercover. I work at a youth counseling center, but I’m actually an exorcist. I could sense that the spirits here are in upheaval, so I wanted to guide the boar to the other side. And after that, I ca here to do sothing about their unrest,” I finished.

If you want soone to leave you alone, then just pretend to be crazy. It usually did the job.

I looked at them, expecting the weirded-out expression followed by ‘oh, well then, good luck,’ and them getting away from . And I did get that, but on only two out of the five people in front of .

The younger-looking woman looked at like a proper crazy person alongside the large man. But the rest was weird. Cecil got a shine in his eyes like I’d just told him I was here to give him a massive inheritance from his long-lost relative. Victor smiled and nodded happily, and the woman, rcy, actually looked relieved for so reason.

Were they crazy as well?

“Cool, dude,” said Victor. “So, fellow industry professional, that—” He continued, but got cut off by Cecil.

“So you’re an actual exorcist. Like real life. Priest and stuff?”

It was my turn to look at them like they were crazy. Fellow industry professional? What? Did I actually run into exorcists? But they didn’t look the part.

Well, even less than I did, but I was undercover, after all.

“Yes. Although not a priest. I’m an affiliated exorcist. I work with the church, not for the church.”

“Yeah, yeah, right. But you know all the words, spirits, you know, the nonclature,” the mousy man asked, clearly excited.

“Yeah?” I confird, not sure where he was going with it.

“Do you have any stories?”

“Sure, but here is not the place—”

“Not the ti,” he interrupted . “We would have to set up an interview,” he murmured to himself, loudly enough for to hear him.

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Yeah, I was not interested in interviews.

“Thanks for the eting, but I need to get to my work. The souls cannot wait in limbo when they were ant for the pearly gates,” I tried sounding wise and excused myself, but the man stopped .

“Wait. Wait, wait. I think we can help one another.”

I raised my eyebrows in doubt.

“We are ghost hunters. You know, like, also kind of exorcists, not affiliated with the church.” I saw the eyebrows on people behind him shoot up in surprise at those words. They seed not to have been inford of their new job positions. But the man continued unperturbed. “We are doing an investigation into the local murders, and the opinion of an expert exorcist would do wonders for the footage.”

I was about to refuse, but then stopped. “Murders?” I asked, curious. “I’m here about overdoses to help fight the demon of addiction.”

I saw the people wince and look to Cecil, who choked at my question.

“Yeah. Well… you know, demon of addiction can work in mysterious ways, so ummm—” Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs novelꜰire

“That would be God, I believe,” I interrupted in fake offense.

“Right, riiiight. God. But, umm, if a demon caused the, ummm, overdose, or whatever happened, then he, I an, technically speaking, he caused death. So… that makes it murder, and that’s why I called it as such. Yes! That’s right! A demon caused the murders. That’s why we are here as well, to docunt the demon. We don’t believe that the local youth would ever do drugs on their own. We were raised here, and our footage will prove that it is demonic forces responsible for the downfall of youth in our hotown!” He finished his bullshit with a proud smile.

God, he was an awful liar. But hotown. So they were local. So more info wouldn’t hurt for now…

“Well, then we are fellow industry professionals,” I said with a grin. “But I don’t want to be anywhere on the footage. As I said, I’m undercover as a youth counselor.”

I had to say my excuse was coming together pretty well.

“Right, right. We will blur you and change your voice. Even better. Mysterious traveling exorcist sensed the presence of the demon and joined our team.” He spoke in sothing that was ant to be a deep announcer’s voice. I think?

I was starting to wonder whether any info they could provide was worth it, but finally relented. I wasn’t the most friendly-looking person, and if I could use them as surrogates for asking questions, then why not?

“Well. Then I’m looking forward to our cooperation,” I lied. “But I would like to see the place where the demon did its grueso work. Can you lead there?”

“Of course!” shouted Cecil. “Can you tell us on the way, like about the scene, what you suspect, but in, like, professional terms, you know, drop so Bible nas, so demon nas. Sothing… professional-sounding.”

“I can’t speculate yet,” I answered.

He looked like he wanted to argue, but the woman, Liz, pulled him back and told everyone to get a move on.

We began to stroll through the corridors. I wanted to check most of the rooms along the way. The man initially protested about wasting ti, but then relented when I offered the excuse of looking for signs of a demonic presence. The excuses were getting annoying. That, and there was another problem.

“So, dude. Do you have, like, a gun?” asked the tall, skinny man.

“A gun?” I asked.

“Yeah, like a blessed one, for demons?”

“No?” I looked at the man. Was he making fun of ? But he looked genuinely interested. “Why would I need a gun?”

“You know, like with bullets with holy water. Or like a cross gun. Blessed cross gun.”

“N-no. Faith and prayer are all the weapons I need,” I said, barely holding back a less-than-pleasant comnt.

“Cool. But, like, brass knuckles with crosses would be cool too.”

“I’ll look into it.”

We checked another room, and once I was done sensing for mana, which I still didn’t feel anywhere, the man stuck to once again. He was immune to my aura, sadly, being the too-stupid-to-get-the-hint type, not sensing any danger, unlike the Rey guy, who still kept an eye on my movents.

“So, you ever fight any demons?” asked Victor. And I could see that Liz raised her cara slightly to pick up the conversation.

“Yes, I did. I have helped many young people overco the demons in their lives. Each was a battle for the immortal soul.”

“Cool. So you get paid by the Vatican for that?”

I almost started laughing. “Actually, yes, I do.”

“And you, like, pray and cite the Bible? No throwing hands with demons?”

“No, prayer is the best weapon against evil.”

“I don’t see a cross on you,” Rey interrupted.

I sighed. What was his deal?

“I have one in my backpack. Approaching young people with a visible cross is a surefire way not to be listened to. Or would you like to go through my belongings to make sure?” I barked at him, turning around.

The man seed like he wanted to tell to get on the ground with my hands behind my head and check my stuff, but finally, seemingly realizing he was taking it too far, just shook his head and gave up.

After that, we walked the corridors, checking room after room. Nothing unusual ca to mind for now. But I grew increasingly curious about the woman rcy, as she seed to be on edge as we approached the place where Cecil had led us. She was looking at more often.

We finally entered one of the storage rooms. I imdiately noticed the police tapes still lying on the floor. But there was another thing I sensed. Mana, but not from a vein.

I entered the room slowly, keeping my senses at their highest. Sothing happened here, that much was for sure. There was so magic in the air, but it was barely perceptible. There wasn’t a vein in the vicinity. This seed to be more like the outco of a release of magic, either on purpose or sothing like a broken spell or artifact.

I entered deeper. The mana was barely there. So much so that I couldn’t sense the attunent, if there was any.

I swore lightly under my breath.

“What?” Cecil imdiately piped up, and I realized my mistake.

“Yes. I can sense it. There was so demon activity here.”

“Yeah, the demon left you the police tapes, did he?” Rey comnted.

I paid him no attention. Sothing took place here. Sothing or soone with magic released mana. But that’s all I got.

“So what can you tell about what happened here?” I asked the people.

“Sothing bad happened. Yesterday, there were those eyes and one of the h–” rcy imdiately piped up, but to my annoyance, Cecil interrupted her.

“He’s not asking about that.”

‘I was asking about exactly that,’ I added in my mind, but with a titanic feat of will, stopped myself from strangling the man.

“There were two overdoses, but that’s all we have for now.”

I nodded in confirmation.

“So what are your plans now?” I asked the man.

“We have so interviews with the people set up.” Oh, that was music to my ears. “You can go with us. As a youth counselor, you might be better than Rey.”

“I will help as much as I can,” I replied.

“Cool. So the local preacher is the first on the list,” the man said happily as I groaned.

Oh, co on, of all the people…