Blood and Beasts

Chapter 50

Cara stood outside the residential home in Baltimore, just a quick drive from the capitol. It was an underwhelming and poorly maintained property on a grimy street, away from all the major sights of the city, a perfectly clandestine spot. She glanced around the street, a couple guys smoking on the porch a few houses away, but neither seemed too interested in her.

She walked up the steps to the front door, rung the bell and soon after heard the sound of multiple locks being unlatched. To her surprise a large, muscular and very attractive middle-eastern man answered the door.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I must have the wrong..." Cara backtracked, glancing at the number of the house to make sure she had it right.

"No need to apologize, we've been expecting you," the man pushed open the screen door and held it for her. The man smiled but Cara was hesitant, until she heard a familiar voice coming from inside. She walked past him and moved through the house into the living room. It was mostly bare of furniture, except for a foldout table at the far end, but the walls were covered with papers, files on potential members of the Imperial Cult, news articles reporting their exploits, old photos of faces Cara had never seen before, and at the centre a large map of North America, marking out potential meeting places, headquarters and other locations.

Across the table were a slew of file folders, and gathered around it were two other well-muscled men that Cara had never met, standing with Andie and Bethany. They all looked up as Cara entered, and the room went silent. Andie was the first to break this.

"Cara," she said, rushing over to her. Andie wrapped her in a tight hug, kissing her cheek. "Thank god you're alright."

"Thank god you're alright," Cara echoed. "I've been so worried over the past months." Andie smiled and kissed her again on the cheek, hugging her tight, as Cara's eyes went over her shoulder to Bethany. Her face was stern and poised as she walked towards Cara. Andie broke away to give them room.

"Bethany, I'm so sorry–" Cara began, nearly sobbing it out, but Bethany wrapped her in a hug before she could get another word out.

"It wasn't your fault," Bethany said, and Cara could tell she was fighting back tears too. "You're back with family, and you're safe, that's what matters." She pulled apart, holding Cara at arms length with the kind of smile only a mother can give. "And we are not done fighting yet. All of us here are going to keep going till the end."

Cara was introduced to the others in the room. The man who answered the door was Saif, he was ex-military, as were the two others in the living room, but there were more working in the basement, five more to be exact, prepping weaponry, melting silver into bullets, carefully wiring up explosives. All of them had experience as hunters or exorcists, all of them understood what the Imperial Cult was trying to do, and all had pledged themselves to Bethany to do whatever they could to stop it.

After getting settled in, Cara spent some time going over all their notes and research. It was an impressive comprehensive collection, considering it had mainly all been gathered by Andie and Bethany over the last few months. She gazed at an old picture, central on the wall, of a teenage boy's mug shot. A pale and not particularly good-looking boy, with a round face, many pimples and very soft features. A note was attached: Benjamin Garrow, age 17, Little Rock, Arkansas police report. There was the full arrest report laid out elsewhere, which Cara would read in more details, but for now she simply focused on his face.

There was another photo underneath that one, a much more recent photo, but a much poorer one. It showed the same boy (though now a middle aged man) leaving a cemetery in Bellevue, Nebraska just a few months ago. He was small in the frame and so had been circled with red marker. His face had elongated, though it still carried some of the chub the boy's face had. His hair was longer, sleeked back in a black ponytail, but otherwise he was much the same. Underneath the photo, written in red was the name: Abraham.

"That's what he goes by now, Abraham," Bethany said, stepping up beside her. "But it's the same boy. Logan and Gregory crossed paths with him years ago when they were still new to this. I put it together, combing through their old cases, anything to do with devil-worshipping and this cult."

"Must have taken a long time."

"Months," she said with a grin."

"You think he's the one leading the Imperial Cult?" Bethany simply nodded, as she continued to stare at the pictures.

"Seems strange doesn't it, that from the beginning, Logan and Gregory were so central to this fight, the epitome of good against all the evil this man represents. And now they're both gone." She turned over to Cara. "I got the story from Andie, but I would hear it from you too. Did he go peacefully in the end?"

Cara sighed deeply. "It was quick at least. They shot him, and he died instantly. No pain, no fear. I know that for sure because I saw him after. I saw his spirit. He saved me." Bethany smiled a bit, teary eyed. "He lead me safely out, past the soldiers. And then he held me as we said goodbye. He felt like...like light." Bethany smiled and wiped a tear away.

"Well...I guess that's about the best we can hope for." Cara smiled too, and then gazing over the map once more she asked the million-dollar question.

"So what's our plan now to stop them?" Bethany gave a wicked grin.

"We think we know where their headquarters is, the Sanctum as they call it. It's underground, way underground, underneath the capitol."

Cara snorted, "How fitting."

"There are multiple entrances, but they are all hidden away armed to the teeth, and any sign of trouble, that pathway will be sealed off tight."

"If there's an upside I think you should get to it."

"We've reasoned that there is going to be one night where the paths will be open to all members of the Imperial Cult, giving us our best chance to sneak in undetected. That will be the night that they try and perform this final ritual. I know its cutting it close, but its looking like our only shot to get in. And once inside, we blow the whole place to bits." 

That would explain the explosives, Cara thought. She nodded firmly, warming to the idea of bringing their whole organization crumbling down.

"Alright. But do we know when this ritual is happening." Bethany smiled with a sick laugh.

"Yes. Christmas eve."