by thedoctor, Sonhaven and GoozX
Monroeville, Pennsylvania:
A zombie with a T-shirt saying Philadelphia: The City of Brotherly Love lay with his head underneath the wheel of the county inmate transporting van. The van was pulled up to the door of the Dragon's Den, an old, rare occult bookstore in the historic downtown area of a now-defunct Pennsylvania community. Inside, Dirk Bell lit a cigar as he and Tayden began to search the shelves. Jason Hill stood uneasily looking out the window.
"Why can't we just leave?" the young man finally asked. "We don't need to stick around. All those for leaving, raise your hand." His arm sprang up, and he stood on his tip-toes to try to further emphasize the point he was trying to make. No one even acknowledged him.
Dirk continued to yank books from the shelf and let them fall to the ground as he searched. As the angel searched the shelves, he began to feel a strange sensation all across his body. The closer he came to the rear of the store, the stronger it became. His skin started to feel like thousands of needles were pricking the surface of his skin. "Uh... guys," Tayden finally spoke. "I think there's something back here."
The gunslinger let another book fall as he joined his teammate. They entered a small office in the back. Dirk and Tayden began their search again. "This drawer is locked," Tayden said while sitting at the desk. Dirk was getting ready to shoot the lock, when Tayden yelled, "Wait! Here's a key!" He put it into the lock and turned it. After the click, he slid the drawer open.
Inside lay a cloth wrapped around something large. Tayden picked it up. A spark lit up inside his body as he lifted it. He unwrapped the cloth to reveal a relic of a book. The former angel opened it and revealed its passages transcribed so long ago. "Latin," he said after a few moments. "It's written in Latin."
"You know Latin?" Dirk asked.
"It kinda comes with the job."
"Comes with the job?" Hill asked. "What are you? A priest or something?"
"Um... yeah. Something." Tayden knew that trying to explain would only complicate things further.
"Well, what is this thing?" Hill felt like he had walked in on the middle of some complex movie, and he wanted to know just what the hell was going on.
"It's the Liber Vitae, a record kept by a monastery centuries ago. It was common practice for churches to keep records of members and major events. There seems to be something extremely special about this one, though." Tayden studied the book further.
"If it was common practice, how do we know that this is the one?" Dirk said right on cue.
"He's telling me it is."
"He?"
"Yeah," Tayden said as he motioned upward with his eyes. "Him."
"Him?"
"Yes. Him."
"Hmmm..." Dirk stared at the angel. "He's not going to want a cut, is He?"
"Can we go now?" Hill asked. He looked like a child who had to go take a piss as he glanced back at the two heroes from his post up front.
"No. We've got to find Grimm." Tayden's eyes were still fixed on the book as he spoke. "I got a bad feeling about this..."
"Really, Gabriel? I can't imagine why you would possibly have a bad feeling about any of this." Dirk's tone was thick with sarcasm.
"Statements of the obvious aren't what we need right now. We need to find Grimm... and if we get the chance..." Dirk's voice switched to one with a slight hint of compassion. "...we should off Priest."
"Guys..." Jason Hill barely got out the words. His eyes squinted in unbelief at what he saw approaching the bookstore. What looked like a thousand zombies began to walk slowly and almost uniformly toward them. Some carried guns, knives, sticks, and some even had pitchforks.
"What the fuck?! We got company! ... Oh, shit, man -- it looks like all of them are headed right for us!" Hill shook out the words.
Dirk and Tayden walked toward the van, where they saw what was on its way. "Keep your shit together, Hill," Dirk said as he eyeballed the mob.
"You know what it looks like," Tayden softly spoke to Dirk. "It looks like a military formation... like they are being commanded."
"Yeah... I got a bad feeling about this," Dirk said. "Get in the van."
Priest slowed walked down the now-crowed street.
"I can't stop this feeeeling..."
Priest grabbed two zombies by the backs of their necks.
"Deep inside of meeeee..."
Priest's fingers sank into the decaying flesh of the creatures. A blue energy seeped from their bodies, traveling into Priest. His eyes were a blue hue for a moment before returning to the unnatural red that had taken over for the last few hours. The zombies crumbled in his hands and fell into a puddle of mush.
Priest's fists grew denser; he quickly tested his might on a nearby zombie. One punch busted the zombie's chest open. A second took off its head. Blood and chunks covered Priest.
"Nah nah nah... Something, something, what you do to me..."
He grabbed another zombie and sucked its energy. Throwing it to the ground, he stopped singing and looked up. "Look at me now! BA-WA-HA-HA-HA-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha... wah..."
Priest clutched his chest, and his facial features returned to normal. "I--I--" He spit a large gush of blood, and his eyes went into the back of his head. His hands tightened. Sweat dripped from his body. His eyes snapped open. The red hue returned.
"My time might be short, but your son is as good as dead!" A wicked smile returned. "DEAD!"