Anton Flores had changed Moore House. Once he'd read the headstones in the garden he'd had them removed. He'd left it at that. Exhumation would be ideal, but painstaking. The grounds went untended now. Most of the books concerning mortal religion, the painting of Christ - all gone.
The Bishop awaits his slim congregation in the embalming room down in the basement. A bare bulb cast dim light over a concrete floor, dusted at the edges with rotted drywall. Seating had been arranged in front of an embalming table, positioned like an altar. Strapped to the table is a quivering bulk, wrapped in canvas. The Haunt stared intently at the burns from his latest anointing as he awaited the others.
Amelita Cardoso|Striking Looks •• (Curvez)|Presence ••• (Miss Thang)| |BP •|Vitae 5/10|Slave of the Ordo Dracul|
As Sidor walked down the pathway towards the Moore House, the vague thought that if he had been human, his heart would have been beating faster ghosted across his mind. He crushed it. He was not human, so the thought itself was irrelevent, nonsensical. He had once had the chance to be a man, and he had sinned, and whittled his life away in blood and violence. His end and his punishment was fitting, and he accepted it with both hands. Enough of this foolishness.
He hesitated on the threshold even so, but only for a moment. A new country and a new service it might be, but he was incomplete without the Sanctified. His faith defined everything that the Beast he was did not.
He walked down towards the basement, seeing the empty seats and noting with a flicker of disappointment, that he was the first one there other than the Bishop. A shame. If the previous meeting were any indication, there would be perhaps one more.
He bowed his head as he sat, closing his eyes and muttering under his breath, in Russian, a quiet prayer of thanks for being permitted to attend once more on his pilgrimmage.
A few moments later the door to the cellar opens. Katrina enters wearing a smart black business suit with a white blouse. A silver cross on a thin silver chain hangs from her neck. Katrina missed the usual clicking sound of heels; it was a shame that heels were not appropriate attire for mass. Still it required people to come clean and tidy and she hoped that any minor fidgeting she may do would be put down to the suit, and not down to a certain creepy assed Nosferatu named Heathcliff should he decide to attend.
She closed the door behind her and made her way to a seat one space away from Sidor. There were only two of them so they had the luxury of having a little more space than she was used to.
Katrina looked at the embalming table, wondering exactly why there was such an item here. Wasn’t this a priest’s house before the lance used it? Figuring it must be one of Heathcliff’s many....”Talents” she cast the thought aside and smiled politely to Anton and Sidor.
Sidor kept his head bowed until he had finished his muttering, the shadows twisted over his face completely obscuring his expression. His eyes flickered to the cross for a moment as Katrina smiled in greeting and he frowned slightly, before inclining his head and smiling hollowly in reply.
"Dobry vecher, cestra Scherbotskaya." He said quietly as she sat down. He was eager for the service to begin. It would be interesting to experience a Midnight Mass in English, for that matter.
The large Gangrel made his way into the Moore House feeling rather awkward about attending a Lance Mass. It wasn't the subject material that bothered him, it was the concept of faith and the seeming lack of it inside of him. He was curious about that nature of the Covenant, he'd seen the zeal of Katrina's own faith and how she had clung to it no matter how bad things had gotten in her existence. It was something he had been able to see up close and personal and something he admired in her, so well here he was to see what was up with that faith.
Taking a chair a few seats away from Katrina, he quietly sits down.
Thomas O'Connor
The Deputy entered soon after the Gangrel Whip, walking in dressed in one of his basic black suits. He had been wondering about the recent reemergence of the Second Estate and after learning that his fellow Deputy was also the new Bishop the Soldier of the First Estate decided to check out the service. It would be interesting to see if the Sanctified supported the rule of the Invictus in this Domain or not. In some cities the two Covenants were allies and yet in others bitter enemies, he wondered what the new Bishop's thoughts were on the separation of Church and State.
Taking a seat alone near the back he examines the room, taking a look at the number of Kindred in attendance and making a note of their appearance. It was just becoming a habit for the Deputy, figuring out the favorite spots and hang outs of the Kindred of the Domain.
Besides there was another reason he was here. Attending an event of the Lance was a slight rebellion against the Crone. Not that he had any ill will towards the current Hierophant, in fact he respected Dirge's abilities and would love to work with her again against the enemies of the Domain. No his slight distaste for the Crone was something old and in the blood, a trait a Kindred with the name O'Connor would understand even when mortal. His Grand Sire had been, for lack of a better term, a Bond Villain, but even megalomaniacs were right about some subjects. It was like a broken clock being right twice a day.
Anton stares back at the gathered with glassy eyes. The Haunt wears two pieces of a sober, black two piece. The suit jacket is draped over a folding chair; he wears the ciphered missives burned, carved and inked into the skin of his forearms, openly. The tarp-bound bulk atop the embalming slab hyperventilates. The Bishop hushes the ghost with a firm hand and whispered Spanish. He finishes watching the congregation filter in.
"Good evening. He speaks simply, in level English as he takes a place before the altar-slab, with no props and no ceremonial garb.
"Permit me to acknowledge and welcome those of you who attend our Mass this night from outside of the Sanctified church. Thank you for joining us. I understand that the city hasn't seen a ceremony such as this for some time. I shall begin by reading selected passages from the Centurion's Testament in English and a sermon of my own. We will conclude with communion and confession. I invite our guests to abstain or participate at their own discretion."
In places, the Haunt's recitation is delivered forcefully, turning lines into bludgeons; others lines are made into hushed secrets, hinting at a true, shrouded Purpose.
"Et Spiritu Longinus vobiscum.
Et cum spiritu tuo.
Oremus, per omnia saecula saeculorum.
Amen."
"I believe that there is but one only living and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, who works all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will, that He is the rewarder of those that diligently seek Him; and withal most just and terrible in His judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty."
"I believe that God has most sovereign dominion over all creatures, and that He is due from angels and men, and every other creature, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience He is pleased to require of them."
"I believe that in the unity of the Godhead there are three Persons of one substance, power, and eternity; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son."
"I believe that Longinus did pierce the side of Jesus Christ as He hung upon the Cross, and in so doing revealed the divinity of God the Son in fulfilment of the prophecies, and that Longinus was Damned for his blasphemy, which itself is part of God's Holy Plan."
"I believe the Damned to be agents of God's Holy Will, chosen by the Embrace to test the faithful and drive them unto Him, as wolves drive sheep to the shepherd."
"I believe that I sinned and became one of the Damned to act upon God's Holy Will, and though I am destined for Hell, I may yet find my purpose through God's Holy Plan."
"Sum Sanctus."
He pauses, gazing around at the gathered faces.
"Before I deliver a short Sermon, let us pray, silently."
The Haunt makes the sign of the Spear across the rawest patch of skin on his arm. He prays silently.
Amelita Cardoso|Striking Looks •• (Curvez)|Presence ••• (Miss Thang)| |BP •|Vitae 5/10|Slave of the Ordo Dracul|
Sidor listened raptly, smiling very faintly as he followed the service. His lips moved to add the correct responses in soft, half-spoken Russian as he murmured to ensure he wasn't speaking out of turn. He lowered his head when Anton asked for silent prayer, and made the symbol of the spear. His lips moved slightly within the shadows as he prayed that he would be guided in this pilgrimage he was making.
Show me the pathway You have marked for my sins, for I am Damned in Your sight and I rejoice in Your Will. Let it be marked that I may know it and see all that is to unfold by Your Grace. I ask nothing more than to be Your vessel.
Anton prays, eyes closed. He allows a few moments to pass before beginning his sermon. It begins with a calculated melodrama to it.
"Night. The city sleeps. Screams carve into the silence, squealing tires spray gravel and smoke into the air, and armed villains: nameless, violent shades, choke the shadows. Pervasive darkness, overwhelming evil, and criminals too awful to name compel the cowering masses to cry for God’s salvation. Isn’t this the scene that we are all compelled to enact night after night for the duration of our damnation? To be the Sinner's Mirror?"
Anton looks about the room as he delivers the questioning rhetoric, meeting the eyes of all. Some of the drama leaves his voice as he explores the meaning behind it all.
"Why, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, do mortals insist on believing that good will triumph, and in the end evil will be destroyed? They rest on the foundation of their Christian faith. Deep in every mortal heart there is a need, a desire to believe in a world where the righteousness of the Almighty triumphs over evil. And so often we are required to remind them of that belief. This is our Mandate. God hasn't finished with us yet."
"From humble beginnings, greatness emerges. I'm a believer in that. The Dark Prophet was once Longinus, a simple soldier -- made into so much more when he accepted his role in God’s great plan. We often spend months, years, decades engaged in simple, ordinary, and boring activities in preparation for the day that we might be called to the extraordinary role that God has for us. We have already had extraordinary events happen in our lives, through our embrace and acceptance of faith we were started on this both sacred and damned path. We would not have power of our own, but for what God has given us in sacred trust to fulfil His great plan. It's our faith that allows his power to flow through us."
"And true faith? It's doing what is needful even when risk is involved. It's going out night after night and displaying for mortals the reality of their Damnation should they give in to greed, violence, prejudice and injustice; to show them something like where they're headed. Perhaps this is too great a trust to be given to one person, but collectively we can be the wolves that drive God’s sheep back to their fold. I believe this with every piece of me. I truly do.
Sum Sanctus."
The Haunt tugs the edge of the tarp open and pulls a thin, white arm from within. The fingers quiver, going limp as Anton squeezes hard.
Amelita Cardoso|Striking Looks •• (Curvez)|Presence ••• (Miss Thang)| |BP •|Vitae 5/10|Slave of the Ordo Dracul|
"Sum sanctus, Amen." Sidor murmured softly, in echo to Anton. He found the sermon uplifting- a good reminder of his purpose on the pilgrimage he was on. He closed his eyes, his heart open and listening for the guidence he craved.
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