~~Young~~

Chapter Five

   Jerry gave Gage a nod as he rounded back to the driver’s side of the car even if Gage didn’t get in. With the maze of one way streets the campus was set on it’d be much faster for him to simply hoof it. He could see the chapel from where he was through the carefully spaced trees, and after giving a quick look around he started off in a jog, his shoes crunching through gravel and fallen leaves.

   Also of no surprise was the lack of population anywhere near the chapel, inside or out. He could hear a few distant voices drifting on the wind as he climbed up the stone steps, saw one jogger a few hundred feet away on another path…ear buds. Good, then they won’t hear anything either.

   He looked up to the arches and peaks above him as he passed under the eve and couldn’t help but think how the place stuck out drastically from the concrete and glass buildings around it. One could easily assume the university just sprung up around the place. It seemed in the way really, but wouldn’t that just be a sin to knock down a place of worship simply because it was inconvenient, Gage thought sarcastically.

   Dark weathered brick, original moldings encasing the lead glass windows. There was no colored glass from this side, but maybe they saved that for the grand hall. The heavy wood and iron doors gave a tell tale creak of a seldom used entrance, and Gage’s first step into the small entryway echoed through the entire place.

   He eyed the holy water in its silver bowl atop a pedestal with amusement.

   Oh what the hell…

   He stuck the tips of his fingers in to a mild tingling before crossing himself- in reverse for the inverted cross of Lucifer- leaving behind more tingling wherever the water came in contact with his skin. A few more resonating steps and he was inside the main room. There was a single body there in the dim light, the priest, kneeling before the bank of candles in prayer.

   Gage sighed, “Father,” he called as he approached the man, “you may want to find somewhere else to do that.”

   There was a humbleness to his gaze as he turned to Gage, along with recognition, “you shall not triumph.”

   So he knew he was coming, go figure.

   “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ve heard that before,” he grumbled as he helped the aging man off his knees, “but please, do me a favor and go lock yourself in your office until the noise stops, alright?”

   The man scowled at Gage but he still did as he asked, shuffling his way beyond the curtained archway beside the alter.

   With him out of the way Gage gave one last look around for anyone else he may have missed. It wasn’t that he was worried about the mortals, but that one of them may get in the way leading him to inadvertently kill them…in a house of god. Yeah, not a great way to keep one’s immortality.

   Nothing, just your typical room full of its stiff wooden pews, burning prayer candles and massive crucifix hanging over the empty alter. Oh wait, no, there was a single communion wafer up there…Gage grinned.

   “If you think I’m going to choke that shit down, you’re so wrong Michael.”

   His voice boomed through the space enough so the tiny flames flickered on the candles, and was followed shortly by a cynical laughter.

   He couldn’t pin it down as it bounced through the room, which was exactly what Michael had hoped for no doubt.

   “One day…” Michael mused, his voice coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time, “and then I will watch you burn from the inside for having consumed it.”