From Satan with Love (bxb)

Chapter 18 Secret of The Past

"Um...okay?" Angel said incredulously and hesitantly, "I'm going to assume you know what you are doing and not bat shit crazy. But can you elaborate a bit more?"

"It had been done before. When a demon's grasp on the victim was too strong, some exorcist would volunteer to take the victim's place. However, it's not a pure sacrificial move but more of a strategic one. We were trained to contain the demon had it ever come to that, and often the priest could exercise the demon from within because now they had a much stronger connection with the demon, and thus had more power over it."

"What if you can't overpower her? Weren't there some priests offed themselves so the demons couldn't jump to someone else?"Angel said pensively, "You are not planning anything like that, are you? Because I swear to holy mother that I will literally raise hell myself if you do that."

Leon thought Angel was joking, and he chuckled, "How do you plan to raise hell with a broken leg?"

"You have no idea what I'm capable of," Angel said cockily with his chin raised, "I will knock you out and tie you up if it's necessary."

Leon laughed heartily, "I swear to God I will not intentionally put myself in harm's way."

The oath seemed to mollify the careworn Angel. A minute later, Mary returned from the kitchen with cheese and ham sandwiches for both guests and herself. As they were having lunch, Leon carefully told her that the cult victim from ten years ago was likely her missing mother. Mary was dumbstruck yet relatively calm, as though part of her had already guessed it.

"That was why I was the only one not affected." She said while tears trickled down her face, "The old woman I saw in the Church parking lot, she was so emaciated and strange that I only felt scared. But then I kept thinking...that she looked a little like my mother, except I didn't want her to be my mother...Because that means she had been through hell to have changed so much..."

Leon didn't have the heart to tell Mary that her mother, Catherine, was likely to be tortured for months before she was sacrificed, just like what the cult members had attempted with their latest victim. And that was why she couldn't recognize her. However, if the old woman was really Catherine, that further attested to his hypothesis that The Mother was heavily affected by Catherine's memories and emotions.

Mary gave Leon a small figurine of the Virgin Mary, saying that when she was a little girl, Catherine used to put the figurine on her nightstand, telling her that Mother Mary would protect little Mary from all the evils in the world. As long as the figurine watched over her, Mary never had nightmares. Catherine carefully kept the figurine even after Mary had grown up, married, and became a mother herself. Even after Catherine's mind began to deteriorate, she still insisted on putting the figurine on Mary's nightstand every night, until she went missing.

Leon planned to ride Mary's husband's motor bike to lure the hordes back to the church and away from Mary's house, so that Mary could drive Angel to a hospital in another town.

Angel didn't protest about the arrangement, but before Leon was about to leave from the backdoor, he suddenly grabbed Leon's hand and put something in his palm.

Leon looked into his hand and saw a cross made of some type of polished bone or horn material, though it had a unique peacock blue lustre glided along the elegant shaft and crossbeam.

"You said your silver cross melted when Father Morgan attacked you." Angel said, "You can have mine."

"I can't. It looks...precious..."

"It's yours." Angel insisted emphatically, wrapping his fingers over Leon's, "Please, keep it on you all the time. It will keep you safe."

Leon saw the pleading look in Angel's eyes and couldn't say no. He nodded and put the cross into his pocket. Angel was visibly relieved and leaned back on the couch. He was wearing Mary's husband's flannel shirt, which was several sizes too big on his slender frame, making him look smaller than he was, almost fragile. Leon didn't want to leave Angel alone, but he had no choice. Angel's leg needed medical attention as soon as possible.