"F*cking nuisance." Bennett gritted as he loosened his tie. He threw it on his bed and groaned.
The meeting had been a disaster.
The attacks had come from everywhere, it'd been so fierce that no one could gather at the secret location.
They had to change region at the last minutes.
The meeting would hold at the mansion instead, with the small few that could make it.
There were lots of empty rooms in the house but they would have to make use of the largest one- it was on the third floor on the east wing of the mansion.
Even he's never gone in there. It took almost a sixth of the entire house.
A lot of executives were delayed, some got into emergencies and some hadn't even responded.
Bennet exhaled.
You can't snuff the darkness, it'll always find a way.
There would be a mini-meeting at the mansion, precisely 1:00 am after midnight.
Fil Reuc was presently in one of the secret rooms.
He had to get things in order with his father.
Bennett took off his clothes and showered.
Ink was scattered all over his skin in form of letterings and pictures.
He'd gotten his first tattoo at the age of twelve-it was of the family crest.
He had it right at the nape of his neck. It was of a snake eating an apple.
He toweled himself dry and got into cleaner clothes.
As a kid he'd been lanky, not weighing much. He'd often been picked on by bigger boys of his class.
One day he'd told his father about it and his father had responded with a slap to his chubby face.
Stunned he'd looked at his father.
"Why should you allow yourself to be bested by worthless worms?" His father had said.
His father had then taken him to a room where he'd seen things he could not unsee.
His mother at the time had often fought with their father about how he was being treated.
But his father would always punish her by locking her up in one of those secretive rooms.
Because the rooms were soundproof he would hear nothing of what was going on on the inside, but each time she was let out, she would look so battered, barely clinging to life.
Bennett always defended his mother even as a child but he stopped after a while when his father told him her place.
She was a woman, a woman must submit, a woman mustn't oppose her husband.
In the house, even he was greater than his mother.
His father had made him drink his first human blood that night. He'd spat it out but his father had slapped him till he bled himself.
He'd finally drank it and had later gotten his second tattoo. It was that of a scorpion.
"Now, you can defend yourself in school, Richard."
The next day at school, three bullies had ganged up on him as usual demanding his lunch money.
They all ended up with cracked skulls and broken ribs.
One of them had irreparable brain damage as a result of having his face smashed against a pavement.
He was feared from that day on, for an apparent dark cloud followed him from that day.
The intimidating look he carried often kept people away from him ever since.
There was a knock on his door.
"Your father asks of you, sir." A man called from behind the door.
"I'll be there."
He walked down the stairs and cut some corridors. He opened a door, and entered a room, he closed it again and re-opened it, he met with another hallway.
In front of the door, he'd opened was another door, completely black.
Even the atmosphere on that floor was gloomy.
He could hear voices in the hallway but could see no one.
The master's waiting.
One of his demons urged him.
Bennet raised an eyebrow, then his eyes widened.
He was supposed to meet his father.
He knocked on the door, he heard a 'come in', then opened the door.
It was an office but it wasn't your typical kind.
There Fil Reuc was on the chair, with a desk in front of him.
Bennett felt goosebumps up his skin.
Such darkness.
Bennett could sense other presences in the room but he couldn't see them.
"I thought I told you to keep an eye on the cherished for me."
The voice was cold but sharp enough to cut.
Although it was Will's body that was physically present, Bennett could sense nothing remotely human about the personality sitting before him.
Bennett immediately sank to his knees in the presence of such power.
"My Lord, it could not be helped. They had a lot of aid, "
"We couldn't even pinpoint their exact location-" He cut him off,
"Silence vermin." Bennett held his tongue.
He heard the chair screech against the floor as Fil stood.
"I did not spend that many years imprisoned to be stopped now."
"You're to pave the way for my reign. Use all and every means necessary to deceive, to lure...to kill." Fil slithered.
"I'm not about to let them get in my way."
Bennet gulped, he wondered where his father was. He was usually the one who made use of the office.
"The goal is to get as many to our side as fast as possible. Dwindle the believers as much as possible,"
"Barrage them with both physical and spiritual wars."
"I'll grant the few slaves that make it today, the power to rule in their different sectors of operations, don't fail me too."
"Yes my Lord." Bennett quickly answered.
Fil grinned,
"The time is at hand." Bennett chanced a look at him and saw a craze that rivaled even the joker.
He gulped.
"Bring me my gift." Bennett knew who he was talking about—Faith.
"Yes, my Lord." He bowed.
He wondered what happened to Betty.
{¶{¶{¶{¶{¶}
The present.
Hope often wondered where Seth always was in his absence.
Now she knew.
That evening they would have a meeting comprising of all nine cherished.
But currently, both she and Seth were in the forest.
It was a sanctuary of some sort for him.
It was around noon and the birds chirped happily as they flew from one branch to the other.
She'd always wanted to see this piece of Seth. He was an enigma. Often times she wanted to know what he was thinking.
"Usually I'm the only one who used to come here. This is my spot, my secret place." Seth started showing her the place.
Hope couldn't describe what she was feeling. It looked like a haven. It was a piece of heaven.
The air was the cleanest she'd ever smelt, there was an obvious pure presence around them. This place was holy.
They took off their shoes. The light seemed brighter and everything seemed to come alive around her. She felt at peace.
The feeling was so pure and good. She'd felt it before when she saw Jesus in her dreams. The place was consecrated ground.
It felt so good to be so close to him.
Seth motioned to a tree in front of them. It looked so big and healthy, it was planted by the stream and they sat there and enjoyed the cool breeze.
A lot of thoughts ran through Hope's mind. She was really fortunate to know God.
There is nothing like his presence and love.
"Do you remember why you accepted Christ," Seth asked her, watching the birds as they flew above them.
A smile appeared on Hope's face.
"Yeah. I didn't want to be alone anymore." She said.
"Me too," Seth agreed, "I was with people and yet I felt like something was missing, at the time, I didn't know what."
A look came upon his face then, as if he was remembering.
"We've all been a slave to something at one point in our lives. Their weight is like chains that bind us but depending on how sweet the chains are, many of us never find the courage to break free."
"Before I met Him, I wasn't a good person, I'm still not." Seth smiled.
"On my own, I don't think I would be here, he taught me enough to want to be here." He said.
Hope was having a flashback of her own.
She'd been kidnapped at the tender age of seven and had been abused.
She couldn't remember all her time at the kidnapper's home, but she always remembered talking to someone, a man with a beard, dressed in white.
His smile would always calm her down. She called him her imaginary friend thinking it was a protective mechanism to soften the brunt of the trauma.
Countless times, she would watch her abductor kill the girls he brought in without a second thought, but somehow despite the beatings, she would always survive to live another day.
She was the only one who remained out of fifty girls he abducted.
She spent almost a year in abduction. Hardly eating more than once a day she'd been beyond malnourished.
The devil had further wanted to traumatize her by making her witness the death of her parents at the hands of her kidnapper.
He'd purposely sought them out because they were the only ones who pestered the police and media long enough to irk him.
They just didn't give up and he'd sought them out and killed them and he made her watch.
But he got caught by the police when he was trying to escape and was prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Somehow she made it through high school despite all that.
Somehow she felt the devil was always standing by, waiting for her to break, oftentimes she felt like she would but the day never came.
Even as she was ridiculed in school, she held it together.
Studying hard she got into a very good school studying Public Relations.
"I had no one to rely on but Him. I turned my back on him countless times but he always calls me back." Hope said.
"He always does." Seth agreed.
Seth knew about her story and she knew about his. He looked at her and instead of weakness, he saw strength.
They sat there in comfortable silence for a while before he broke it.
"All I've ever wanted all my life is to know God. I wanted his presence, I longed for it. Because somewhere deep down inside of me I craved a love like his, a mercy like his. He is a profound being beyond our comprehension."
Hope marveled as he spoke.
"My whole being longed for God, to be close to him, to be held by him, like his own son. I craved a father and he had everything I was looking for in one."
Seth's father had killed himself after killing his own mother.
"The world didn't care, you only get sympathetic glances and words of condolences at most. Most people have their own problems to deal with to be bothered by others. The world is too bleak. Sin is the only trend."
"Evil reigns and people join hands in reigning evil. People join them because they think they can't beat them."
"I crave a home free from darkness, free from pain, free from lust, free from sin. This body of death ensnares us. But in Christ, we live."
Hope was staring at him in awe. She could feel Seth's radiance and purity.
He seemed like light to her, untainted, unsullied.
"You're wonderful." Hope blurted out before she could stop it. Wide-eyed, she looked away blushing.
Seth looked at her and smiled.
"Aren't we all?"
"Father tells me a lot of things. When the time is right we shall support those who need support, we shall free all those who need freedom,"
"If they are willing. The train is moving Hope, there's only this chance to get on."
Seth stood up and held out his hand,
"Let's go prepare for war. The darkness won't stop till the church suffers. The gates of hell mustn't prevail."
Hope looked at his hand then at him,
"No, it mustn't." She held his hand.
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A/N: See you next chappie!
And don't forget to vote and comment on your thoughts.
Taiwolilly, out👌