Myosotis - Exorcist's Beginnings

Chapter VII: Devil's Effect

It was already night time. Both Macaria and Dumah took a nap in the afternoon to be completely energized for that night, as they knew there was going to be a lot of work to do during the night.

"Does Beatrice know you have been wondering around with some girl?" provoked Don, at the entrance of the inn. He was smoking and his appearance was not as neat as he had previously presented himself in the mayor's house. He did not wear glasses and his blonde hair was messy. On his ears, he wore multiple silver piercings with skulls and crosses and he also had a ring piercing on the side of his lip. Unlike Dumah, who wore a black fur coat and black leather boots, Don was more creative with his choices, as he was wearing a dark red leather coat.

"Actually, she does know. Not that she has anything to do with it" replied Dumah, as he waited for Macaria to come down from their room.

"Oh, so things are like this now? I see that you've already learnt your place. It was about time" Don said. "What about this new girl? How is she special?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't try to fool me. She must have some special abilities. I doubt that you brought her around just for her t**s", Don retorted, and Dumah just stared at him for a few seconds.

"It's none of your business" Dumah ended up saying. "Did you come here alone?"

"Worried?" Don smirked. "How kind of you."

"I see that your friend is also here. Oh! He sure looks different" Macaria said upon arriving and she looked at Don from head to toe. "Is he coming with us?" she asked, closing the door of the inn behind her.

"Not a bad idea. I usually work alone, but I can make an exception. On nights like these, a girl needs someone to protect her and I don't know if I can trust Mr. Dumah to protect you."

"Don't be ridiculous. Let's get going, it's almost midnight" said Dumah.

"It's only eleven. God, was he always this hasty?" said Macaria, and Don chuckled amused, however Dumah did not find it funny at all.

"Can I go too?" Don provoked.

"No" Dumah replied bluntly.

They had a place in mind that they wanted to inspect first and that was Mr. Anthoine's suspicious barn. It was quite a walk to arrive there and Dumah could see that Macaria was growing a bit frightened of the badly illuminated streets on that dark night, since she was more quiet than usual. At every little noise, she would turn around hastily and then sigh in relief, when she realized it was just a cat or the wind.

"Are you siding with him now?" he asked to break the silence.

"With who? Oh, you mean your friend? I'm not siding with anyone, I was just joking around. And since you always present you as so mysterious, it's actually nice to know someone who knows you. But isn't it dangerous for him to be all alone in this village?"

"Why do you care? Worry about yourself first", Dumah advised.

"I see there is a lot of bad blood between you two" Dumah did not reply. "Are you not going to talk about it?"

"No, why should I? We are not friends or anything. Focus solely on what we are doing and have your ears and eyes open and have your hand on your knife at all times."

Anthoine's house looked even more isolated at night, as it was a bit distanced from the rest of the houses. As they got closer to the barn, they only hoped Mr. Anthoine was not watching them from a window; that could lead them into trouble. There was a board that kept the barn closed, but besides that, there was nothing really locking it. The barn was dark and had a strong stench of meat. Dumah illuminated it with his lighter and there they saw all the hanging salted meat parts. Anthoine probably thought it was best to preserve what he had for the trying times. It was quite a lot, there were rows and rows of hanged meat.

"This isn't all from cows, right?" Macaria asked.

"It looks like it" replied Dumah, looking around with his lighter.

"What about those over there? They are much smaller" said Macaria, pointing at a row at the end of the barn.

"Maybe he also had sheep or goats" said Dumah, but he quickly realized he was wrong.

Those huge pieces of meat were obviously from animals, but not those later ones, which left them horrified. There were human legs, arms and torsos hanging salted just like the others. Curiously, there were not any heads, hands or feet, but at that moment that was the least of their concerns. The barn's door was opened again and they could see another source of light coming in their direction. Dumah turned off his lighter and hid himself along with Macaria between the rows of meat. The figure got closer and closer. The inquisitor and his new partner held their breath. They got a grip on their knives just in case they needed it, but thankfully, the intrusive figure was too distracted with its own business. They tried to catch a glimpse of whoever or whatever was coming their way, but it was too dark. All they could see was to where the figure's flashlight pointed at, which was at the end of the barn. Then, they heard a sort of moist bang. The figure had just slammed something heavy on the floor and proceeded to grab an axe, which scratched the floor. With strong slashes, the figure cut the new victim into pieces. The light was not pointed at who was making such a gruesome mess, but at what it was doing and Dumah witnessed all of it. Macaria wanted to see it too, but Dumah made sure she didn't see such a sickening scene by grabbing her head tightly close to his chest, to prevent her from gasping at it. He saw the figure crack open the head and eat its fresh brain. It sure took time to properly taste those brains, like it was a delicacy. It slurped the meat, as if it was having a grand delicious feast. The smell was almost unbearable, but they did not have any other choice but to endure it. They decided it was not a good idea to attack such a ruthless person or whatever it was. After it was finally done feasting, it took the rest of the head, hands and feet and put everything in a bag and just left the rest behind. They were not sure if it was coming back to salt and hang the rest of the meat, but they knew they did not want to be there for that. However, the strange figure locked the barn's door and, since it could only be unlocked from outside, they were stuck in there. Even though they knew they were still in trouble, they could not help but to sigh in relief when the culprit got out of the barn.

"What are we going to do now? We can't scream for help, people are going to ask what the hell we are doing here" said Macaria.

"I know, but the barn seems flimsy enough. It's made of simple wooden boards, maybe we can make a hole and escape", Dumah said, taking out his knife.

Macaria sat next to him and helped cut the wood from the wall with her knife. "So what did you see?"

"I saw someone eat a brain and then took the head, hands and feet" he replied bluntly.

"Oh God..."

"At least, we know it's a person with their full senses, at least most of them. They took everything that could identify the victim" said Dumah.

"For what? This is a small village, if someone disappears, everyone will know who it is" argued Macaria. "That only works in larger places."

"That is true. Maybe those pieces are taken as trophies, then. It doesn't matter; we now know who it is."

"We do? You saw who it was?" she asked.

"No, but who does this barn belong to?"

"Oh please, anyone could enter this place!"

"Even if that is true, Anthoine must have seen this human meat hanging and never said anything. Even if he is not the one doing it, he's an accomplice and you can't deny that", Dumah concluded, as he finally broke the side wall.

Macaria gladly breathed in the fresh air outside of the meat-filled barn. She was just happy to be out of it and was ready to call it a night and go back to bed, however Dumah had other plans.

"Where are you going?" she asked, as she watched him go in the direction of Anthoine's house.

"Where do you think? Weren't you in a hurry to get back to your case? Let's finish this one tonight", Dumah said.

"But... what are you going to do? Can't it wait for tomorrow?" she nagged.

"No. We are already here anyway."

"Do you really want to see me unclothed that badly?" she asked, and he was obviously flustered by her question.

"No! I only said that, because you were being cocky", he replied, and she looked slightly disappointed by his response. "Why are you making that face?"

"Nothing. Let's get this over with then, before whoever that was decides to come back."

Dumah unlocked the back door of Anthoine's house. He was very skillful with his tools, which made Macaria wonder how many times he had done that before. As discreetly as they could, they opened the door and entered the house. It was dark as expected, so Dumah turned on his lighter again and then they realized they were in the living room. Brown leather couches, a brick fireplace, some indoor plants, an old grandfather clock, everything seemed normal. They climbed up the stairs, assuming the bedrooms were on the upper floor of the house. Their steps made the old wooden stairs squeak and in return they tried to breathe as silently as they could, as if to compensate for the noise they were already making. At the end of said stairs, there was a dark corridor with a couple of closed doors. Fortunately, they didn't have to open each one of them to see where Anthoine was. A loud machine-like snoring was coming from one of the rooms. Macaria disagreed with Dumah's statement and said the snoring resembled more one of a bull moaning. Dumah dismissed her comment and carefully rotated the doorknob and there they found Anthoine and his wife sleeping.

"Anthoine" he whispered, while touching him, but he was not waking up. "Anthoine!"

After insisting, Anthoine started to open his eyes and was startled by the two dark figures in front of him. "Ah!! What... what is this?!"

The disturbance did not wake up his wife, but she did roll over to the other side. Dumah put a finger in front of his lips. "Shh, there is no need to wake up your wife. Come outside with us."

"What?! What do you want from me at this hour? Are you here to rob me?!" Anthoine exclaimed.

"No, we just want to ask a few more questions" Dumah muttered.

"Can't it wait till tomorrow? It's late and I'm in my pajamas!" Anthoine exclaimed, still disturbed by the invasion.

"Maybe it can wait until tomorrow" agreed Macaria, making Dumah glare at her.

"Come meet us outside" said Dumah, resolute.

Dumah wanted to meet at the porch, because he didn't want to miss the culprit, in case it appeared again. While he was sure Anthoine was an accomplice, he could not see that old man swinging an axe that strongly and, moreover, so heartlessly. In spite of that, Dumah was well aware of how demons were often summoned by rather weak-looking people to divert attention and they were also known to turn their vessel more manipulative and stronger, hence Anthoine was not completely off the hook.

"This is absolutely outrageous! You must have not been well-raised, if you break into people's homes in the middle of the night and disturb their sleep!" said Anthoine, as he tied up his robe to come to the porch, since it was a bit chilly to be just in his stripped pajamas.

"This place is becoming sterile and people are getting more miserable by the second. Why are you so keen on waiting? Didn't you people already waited long enough?" argued Dumah.

"Fine! Just get it over with, so I can go back to bed", Anthoine complied.

"I will be direct then. I think you are responsible or at least one of the culprits for the murders and for this village's misfortune" said Dumah.

"What?! You actually woke me up to blab that nonsense?! Are you out of your mind?!" Anthoine replied angrily.

"There is no point in denying it, so let's cut the chase: did you act alone or do you have an accomplice?" Dumah asked.

"What do you mean there's no point in denying? I didn't do anything!" he claimed.

"We have been in that barn. We have seen what is in there" said Dumah.

"So? It may seem gruesome to you city people, but that's just meat. My poor cows were starving. I couldn't sustain them anymore, so you know... I did what had to be done and stuck their meat in there. How does that make me guilty of anything?" argued Anthoine.

"There's no need to play innocent. You know that we are not talking about animal meat."

"Then, what are you talking about?!" Anthoine exclaimed and, for some reason, his denial triggered Dumah, who slapped him and the old man ended up on the floor. "Now even hitting an old man! What horrid people! I didn't do anything wrong! I don't even know what you are talking about!"

At that moment, Dumah picked him by the collar of his robe as he was not done with him yet. As his answers were not satisfactory, Dumah intended to beat the truth out of him, which made Macaria even more uncomfortable.

"Dumah, put him down. Maybe he really doesn't know. He seems sincere" said Macaria, and Dumah sniffed and rolled his eyes.

"All those years in the convent really made you naive", Dumah scoffed.

"Shut it" ordered Macaria. "Mr. Anthoine, tell us about the last time you went to the barn."

"I barely go in there! I only go in there when I need to get some meat", the old man replied, trembling.

"From which row?" Dumah asked, still grabbing him.

"Why does that even matter?"

"Answer", Dumah demanded.

"The front ones, of course" Anthoine replied.

"So you are saying you don't go to the back in months, maybe even years? Are we really supposed to believe that?" Dumah said.

"Why would I, when what I need is at the front? What the hell is at the back?!"

They ended up showing Mr. Anthoine what was placed in the back of his barn. The stench had spread around and they had to cover their faces with their sleeves and, judging by Macaria's nausea, Dumah was glad he was wearing his usual mask. Anthoine was appalled when he finally saw the human meat pieces hanging, but mainly the body recently butchered in his barn. His reactions were believable enough and they almost had Dumah's certainties shaken, but then he remembered it was pretty impossible for Mr. Anthoine to not know about it.

"How can this be? Who is this? Are all these bodies the disappeared people? I swear to God, I did not know about any of this!" Anthoine pleaded.

"Then what are they doing in your barn?" Dumah asked.

"I... don't know. Someone must be trying to frame me or something. I swear I had no idea what was going on in here."

"What about your wife?" asked Macaria.

"My wife? That is impossible. She is a very sick woman. She barely leaves the bed", Anthoine replied.

"Is that true? Since you went off business, what do you do?" asked Dumah.

"Unfortunately, not much really. I just stay inside and only go out to eat and then I bring my wife some food, because she can't really walk there. And sometimes I go on some hunts with a few old friends of mine", Anthoine said.

"It seems like your wife is often alone" said Dumah.

"What are you trying to imply?! I know this seems bad, but I swear neither me nor my wife knew about this. My wife could never do such a thing", he claimed.

"It has to be one of the two. Perhaps your wife feels bad to be bed ridden and, let's be honest, she is kind of a burden on you and she must know it. So maybe she agreed with the culprit in exchange for something", Dumah argued.

Anthoine did not say anything for several seconds, as if he was thinking of an instance in which Dumah could be correct. "I see that no matter what I tell you, you will not believe me and your mind is set. The only thing that I can say is that you're wrong and that me and my wife are in fact innocent."

"Even if I'm wrong, I don't know if it is worth the risk of letting you two go. Taking into account your situation, I'm only going to do you people a favor" said Dumah, pulling out his knife.

Anthoine gasped and backed away, frightened by Dumah's threatening gaze and deadly intent. Luckily for him, Macaria was not having it.

"Dumah, don't be so rash. Are you really going to risk killing an innocent person? He could very well be right. Sometimes things are not what they seem."

"Then, what do you suggest, Miss? Are you willing to risk having a guilty person continuing to be free to do their evil deeds or even running away?" Dumah argued.

Macaria gazed at him. "I did not take you to be so imprudent. You did not seem to be in such a hurry to solve this before. Is it because your friend is in town and you want to win over him?"

"Nonsense" Dumah said, putting down his knife. "But fine, I guess I'll just restrain these two, until further evidence is found."

"You mentioned a friend? Is it a blonde man? He seemed like a decent fella" said Anthoine, which got on Dumah's nerves.

"You are walking on a very thin line, old man. I suggest you be quiet, if you're not going to say anything helpful."

They ended up locking Mr. Anthoine and his wife in their own house. They blocked both the front and back doors with hard wooden boards and hoped that would be enough to prevent them from running away and they certainly hoped they wouldn't summon some extra supernatural help from inside the house. They wouldn't get anything else done that night, so they decided to go back to the inn and rest, which Dumah hated. He already expected to be done with that case, but things certainly did not go accordingly to his plans. Macaria had never solved a case like that before, but she did expect it to take some time. Seeing how Dumah grew impatient made her question his methods, mainly after Don arrived.

"I can't believe you slapped an old man that hard" said Macaria on their way to the inn.

"I would even slap you, if I suspected you were a demon", Dumah replied bluntly.

"God! Do you have to be so harsh?!"

"Am I supposed to catch demons with cotton balls? You're only holding me back. If I was alone, the case would be solved already. Soon, when you see the power of a demon, you will realize how right I am."

"And does it justify tormenting innocents? He or his wife obviously did not benefit from anything from the supposed 'deal with the demon' thing. I don't even understand why you suspect them so much" said Macaria.

"Many times deals with demons f**k you in the ass. Didn't Mr. Dumah teach you that?" said Don, who suddenly appeared from behind them. "I see that in this case, we won't be clashing, Mr. Dumah. We obviously have very different suspects, although mine are, of course, well-grounded."

"If you are waiting for me to slip or give you any type of clue, it will not happen" Dumah replied.

"I don't need any, since you are obviously on the wrong trail. How sad it is when the mighty one gets distracted and loses his touch", Don said, looking at Macaria, which flustered her.

"In the end, we will see who lost his touch" said Dumah.

By the rough way Dumah unlocked their room's door, Macaria understood how upset he actually was, even if he managed to maintain his typical calm face, or what she could see of his face. By the looks of it, Dumah was sick of Don, as much as Macaria was sick and tired of Dumah's mask.

"Wow, he really gets on your nerves, huh?" said Macaria to break the tension.

"Don't meddle in, please. There's no need for you to bother with my personal business. It won't be long until we are apart again" he replied, taking out his heavy black coat and throwing it on his bed.

"You seem so confident that you are going to solve my case quickly. That makes me concerned, to be honest. You seem to rush over your cases" she said, and he glared at her.

"First that i***t and now you too? Why does everyone suddenly doubt my skills?"

"Because you seem different. Every time I saw you at the convent, you were so serious and, because of that, I thought you were competent and, of course, the abbess never complained about you and kept on hiring you. But I didn't really know you, but Don does and apparently he also thinks you are not your usual self. I wonder why" Macaria said.

"Not that it concerns you, but I'm the same, alright?"

"It does concern me, because your behaviour may influence the outcome of my case" she argued. "So what is it? Is it really because I'm here and you are used to work alone? Because if that’s it, I can go back home. I don't want to be a setback."

"You said you wanted to come to find your father. I don't know how your father looks like and neither do you, but you have a better chance of recognizing him than I do. That was your argument and that was why I let you come with me. You were so resolute before, so what is this now?" he asked.

"I... don't know. Maybe I don't think finding my father is that important anymore..." she said, hesitant and a bit confused about her own words.

"This is not you talking; it's the curse of this village that wants us to separate. Go to sleep" he advised.

Macaria's sleep was far from being peaceful. She kept waking up and thinking about what Dumah and Don had said. Was it really because of the curse that her will to find her father was quaking? Was Dumah just acting strangely because of the curse too? While her mind filled up with questions, she ended up falling asleep and only opened her eyes again, when Dumah woke her up at almost midday.

"Wake up. We have to get food for ourselves and for our prisoners" he said, throwing her clothes at her.

"You know that is not how you treat a lady" she protested, but he just shrugged and went to the bathroom. "Ass."

Suddenly, she had an idea. She jumped out of bed and went straight to the bathroom's door and peeked in to try to catch a glimpse of his face. She had tried to see it at night, since he did not wear his mask to sleep, but he would shut the window completely and hide the lightbulbs of the lamps, so she wouldn't try anything funny. They always slept in a pitch black room, which made her nightly visits to the bathroom quite adventurous and dangerous to her feet. But at that moment, the windows were open and so there was a lot of light. She saw that he was still in the shower and could not see his face, but he was definitely not wearing a mask, because it was put on the side of the green porcelain washbasin. She waited and minutes later, he came out wearing nothing, which made her flustered and she couldn't help, but look away. She gathered up her courage and peeked in again. Unfortunately, he was with his back to the door, so she could not see his face. However, she certainly could see his muscular arms, back and buttocks, which she could not help but stare at. She was suddenly overwhelmed by the desire of touching him and running her hands over his wet skin.

"Macaria!" he suddenly yelled, which startled her and she immediately backed away. "I really hope you are out of bed already!"

She was agitated and walked around frenetically without knowing what to say, like a little girl who was afraid of being caught by her parents for some wrong doing. "Hum..."

"Why are you not saying anything?!" he said and put his head out of the door with his mask on. "If you are up, why didn't you answer me?"

"I was... distracted" she sighed in relief, when he accepted her excuse. However, once again, she failed to see his face.