The problems were Stefan's new followers, every place he went they were there. They came in all forms and sizes, some had bigger weight, others were easier to solve, but, for him, the worst of them was his discussion with Momotaro.

The instant he ordered the young man to stay away from the headquarters he realized he made a mistake. It wasn't the fact that he asked Momotaro to not investigate the other members that he regretted, but the way he screamed at him.

"Still fighting against your thoughts?" Gellert crossed the threshold of the office's door, his blue eyes scanning the state of the room.

"Was I too hard with Momotaro?" The question came out of his mouth before he could stop it.

A sigh left Gellert's mouth. Preparing for the conversation that was about to start he sat on the chair.

"I don't have to explain to you that as a leader is your job to keep the order, if you let Momotaro run the word about a traitor it would be chaos"

"But that's the thing. Would he do something like that?" Stefan controlled his pacing, his movement turned slow. "He knows what could happen. Even if I don't agree with his theory, I can assure you that he was careful about who he was talking to and the questions he asked."

"It would take only a smart member to guess what he was doing."

"He has good intentions, the Protectors are his only family in this village. He left everything to join us, I understand where his anger comes from." By this point, Stefan stopped pacing and sat on the chair in front of Gellert.

"You're worried about him, I get that, believe me, I do." His voice transmitted empathy. "After my husband died I was always thinking about Bertram's safety, all I did was worry about my parenting skills. In the end, I started believing it and my relationship with Bertram broke, all because of my doubts. Don't repeat my mistake"

"What did you do to fix it?"

"We talked. We listened to each other,  accepted our mistakes, and found a solution. Once a week we take our time to communicate."

A knock came from the other way of the door. Stefan stood from his seat and welcomed Flora into the office.

"Sorry for the interruption but I have important news," she said, her voice shaky from running to the room.

"What happened now?" Stefan asked, tired of the problems that kept following him.

"Mr. Peters' cult is planning to make a deal with the devil. They give him the souls of the impure in exchange for their lives."

"I can believe this shit," whispered Gellert to himself but his words reached the others. " We have to stop them."

"I'll take care of this," announced the leader. "Flora, tell Casimir I'll be waiting for him at the entrance. And Gellert, you're in charge of the headquarters."

"Can't you use your power to let him know?" Asked Flora. "I just ran a fucking marathon, a little bit of rest would be appreciated."

"You know I don't like to abuse my power, I use it when necessary."

"Don't you have his phone number or something? I'll go but don't expect me to be fast," complained Flora before going to fulfill the task assigned to her.

The blond man nodded to Stefan's words, his glasses slipped a little because of the gesture.

"Come back quick, I can't handle all these kiddos for long."

The leader left the office in a fit of laughter caused by his friend's comment. Gellert had the habit of running away from the youngest ones, according to him their perfect behavior changed the second Stefan stepped outside the headquarters.

As the man requested, Casimir reached the front door, ready to do whatever the leader asked him to. His blond hair stood in all directions and the buttons of the green jacket that embraced his muscular body were badly fastened. There was no doubt that he was in a hurry.

"Thanks for coming on such short notice. We have urgent matters to take care of," Stefan commented while they left the headquarters.

"No problem, that's why we are here."

On the way to their destination, Stefan explained the situation to the young man. He chose Casimir to go with him because of the connection he had with the people inside the church.

The leader expected to be introduced to the members of the community with the help of the boy. They needed someone to provide them with information from the inside.

Casimir took him to the parish, it wasn't the first time that Stefan went to the old building. Everything stayed as he remembered it: the bell tower still intact continued to be the jewel of the parish, the stone walls corroded with the passage of time, the roof tiles with their orange color, and the big wooden door that seemed to be always open.

Already inside they were illuminated by the colored lights that came from the windows. A short man, with white hair, face full of wrinkles, and brown eyes, was sweeping the floor. Casimir signaled to Stefan to go to him.

"Father Zenkin," the young man said to get his attention.

The man turned around and smiled when he recognized the one who called him.

"Casimir! Good to see you, boy"

"How're you, father?" asked the boy. He pointed at the leader of the Protectors before making the introduction. "This is Stefan, he wants to help the people of the village. There's something we want to ask you."

"Of course, anything for Hanna's grandson." Agreed the old man immediately. He guided them to a small office in the back of the church.

The place had only one little window, in the center an old wood desk took most of the space. There were three chairs, two on one side of the desk and one on the other side.

"Please, take a seat," indicated father Zenkin after sitting in the lonely chair "What do you want to know?"

"First of all, thanks for helping us," said Stefan. "We've been hearing certain rumors about Mr. Peters' followers and we wanted to know if you have any information about them. "

"You mean his cult? Between us, I don't like that man, he says he's preaching Christ's message but he's misleading people. I can assure you that they're not rumors, they'll do anything to save themselves."

"So they think they can make a deal with the Devil?" asked Casimir between laughter.

"They say that it wouldn't be a new thing. Mr. Peters came to ask me to join, he said they have proof of villagers that already made a deal with the demons in exchange for anything they wanted. But he tells a lot of lies so I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't true."

"I hope he's lying," sentenced the leader, afraid of the possibility of humans betraying each other for a single wish. "Did he explain his plan?"

"He explained a little. One of his followers knows someone who made a deal with a demon, this person is willing to take Peters to them. The meeting is supposed to be tomorrow night, in the old cinema. The people of that cult made a list of sinners and they would take them to the demons, one sinner for every member of the cult. A soul for a soul."

"Do you know who's on that list?" Stefan was getting worried about the outcome of the situation.

"I don't know the exact names but he did mention the Protectors, you've been messing with his people and he doesn't like that. That's all I know."

Casimir lifted an eyebrow. "So we're probably on that list."

Stefan stood from his seat and extended his arm toward the man offering a handshake. "Thanks for everything, we won't take more of your time."

Father Zenkin walked with them to the front door. They said their goodbyes, the priest promised to call them if he had new information.

"Stefan!" The man screamed when they were only a few steps away. "Be careful, the temptation is everywhere and humans are weak."

I wish you'll have you an amazing day! Don't forget to look for the things that make you happy today *Hugs for everyone*