34 years ago

"Caritas! You'll never learn the Bible if you keep skipping Sunday school," Belle says, rubbing his head and laughing. Belle was Caritas's caretaker. She was 22 at the time and looked after Caritas.

"Sorry Belle" Caritas mumbles looking down, Belle gently runs her hand down his cheek and leans in closer her eyes sparkling with some hidden desire. Suddenly the doors open and she stands up, ensuring Caritas is cleaned up. A priest walks in and smiles.

"Hello Belle, Hello Caritas," the priest says. Belle smiles and returns the greeting. Caritas waves and the priest exits the room. Belle sighs in relief, thankful she wasn't caught. She shifts in her seat, looks over at Caritas, and smiles. She stands up and rubs his head.

"There's this cool secret hideout I want to show you! Here follow me." Belle holds her hand out and Caritas grabs it walking with her, she turns around and smiles down at him leading him to the cellar of the church,

"This place is where we keep the wine, have you tried it yet, Caritas?" She asks and he shakes his head,

Belle smiles and hands him a glass of wine and waits for him to drink it,

"Aw come on is that all? Have some more darling." Belle strokes his hair and smiles as he drinks more wine.

"I feel a little funny" Caritas slurs out and Belle giggles taking the glass from his hand and holding his hand in hers,

"Lay down here Caritas" Belle says and Caritas nods laying on the ground his vision going fuzzy. Belle grins a glint of desire and malice walking over to the cellar door and closing it, locking it behind her. Belle walks over to Caritas and sits next to him brushing his hair and shushing him as he starts to close his eyes,

Fading in and out of consciousness he sees a flickering firelight, Belle stands up and swears grabbing Caritas.

"Shit, shit. If anyone knew we were down here they'd know I...We have to go through the church Caritas." She grabs his arm and leads him through the blazing inferno. She swears repeatedly and he stumbles in her grasp. She looks down and picks him up, her hair still a mess from earlier and she holds him close. Suddenly one of the floorboards cracks below them causing her to trip and drop Caritas.

He opens his eyes and looks at her. A large burning wooden beam separates them, and the fire creeps up to him. He slowly backs away to the exit, and Belle tries to run towards it, but the fire catches on her clothes, the wine accelerating the fire. Caritas stumbles out of the church as Belle limps after him, her entire body on fire as she screams and stares over Caritas.

"It's your fault! If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have" She can't finish her sentence as the fire takes her completely over and she burns down to a charcoaled corpse.

Caritas screams and grips his Bible hard until his nails peel back.

~

    "Caritas, start from the beginning. You said you went down to the cellar, what happened after that? What did she do? What did she say?" A priest asks as Caritas mumbles and shrugs

    A few of the senior priests look at each other, knowing exactly what happened, One priest whispers to another,

    "I mean the fire was a complete accident, but who knows what would have happened if Belle had more time down there." The priest sighs and the other one nods,

    "Tell me about it, it's nothing short of divine intervention," The other priest says looking over.

34 years later, present day

Caritas stumbles back as the creature approaches him drooling at the mouth, all he can see in the face is that of Belle. He knows logically it isn't her. But he's terrified and frozen in fear, the creature steps forward onto the iron manhole cover and screams in agony, her foot burning from the simple contact of iron. Caritas laughs nervously and stands up backing away, divine intervention again...It has to be.

Brock stumbles out of the church, one of his arms completely gone, chewed apart. The wound looks cauterized and his face is determined and full of pain. Noticing the reaction to iron, Brock throws his gun to the side, runs back into the burning church, and grabs a fire iron. He rushes back out screaming as he drives it straight through the creature's head. The creature screams and writhes before bursting into white fire and turning into ash.

Brock grabs his radio and yells into it,

"Iron! You need iron to kill these things! Grab whatever you can" Brock turns to Caritas and Caritas's eyes widen,

"Nail guns! We use iron nails here so if we can get to those..." Caritas smiles and Brock nods. Charlie pushes through the chaos looking at Clair and Kit smiling before turning to Brock and seeing his arm. She cries out and runs over to him,

"Oh my god Brock! What happened, oh no..." Charlie cries and pulls him in for a hug, Brock kisses her on the forehead and smiles,

"It's okay, I'm thankful for this pain it's keeping me conscious" Brock nods and Charlie nods. Devika speaks into the radio this time,

"Everyone grab nail guns, use the iron nails. Or any iron, we have to protect our town!" Devika yells and looks towards the group,

"Okay follow me," Devika says running, Brock throws Charlie the fire iron and she nods swatting at any creature that gets close. They see soldiers screaming and other civilians getting dragged out of their homes.

Devika grits her teeth, she wants to help but she knows she can't. Not until she can arm herself and everyone else here,

"Come in here!" Devika yells and runs into a warehouse. Some nail guns and crowbars lay on a table. Devika grabs a nail gun and hands one over to Charlie. Brock takes the fireiron back, Caritas and Kit grab a crowbar, and Clair grabs the last nail gun. Devika nods and walks over to Clair,

"You know how to use one of these?" Devika says looking at the nail gun and Clair nods,

"Yeah I used to help my adoptive father with construction" Clair smiles and Devika nods patting her on the shoulder.

~

    Malachi flies in the air over the city, all he needs now is for the crystal to activate and he can get his body back, he looks over to the creatures pulling people out of their homes, he looks away uninterested, and sets his eyes on Lillian, grabbing Asu by the hair and pointing a gun at Cecilia, he raises his eyebrow and lands next to her.

    "What are you doing?" Malachi asks and Lillian looks over at him

    "The more sacrifices the better," Lillian responds coldly

    "I said no kids, Sadie was necessary to open the rift but they can be raised as allies," Malachi says and Lillian rolls her eyes.

    "Why do you even care? I mean what does it matter, now or in half a century from now, kids are just small humans it shouldn't even matter." Lillian spits out and Malachi narrows his eyes.

    "It matters because I said it matters, regardless of what you believe, I still ordered you not to hurt children. Don't disobey my orders, Lillian." Malachi steps towards her and Lillian tuts, throwing Asu on the floor forcefully,

    "These are my creatures, Father. They obey me. And currently, you're too weak to even-" Lillian doesn't finish as Malachi grabs her throat as she yelps.

    "Do not fuck with me Lillian, I gave you a clear order. Stop playing this stupid game and listen to me!" Malachi yells and she frantically nods, tears pricking her eyes, Malachi drops her and looks over at Asu and Cecilia. He shakes his head and flies back into the air watching over the battlefield.

    Lillian pushes past Asu and Cecilia, rage fills her heart,

    "Fuck that! I'll do whatever I want, these are my creatures. I won't allow him to intimidate me and humiliate me. Just wait Malachi, as soon as I'm done with these idiots you're next." Lillian whispers to herself and shouts to her creatures.

    "Find these people and bring them to me alive, Brock, Charlie, Clair, and Kit! Kill everyone else!" Lillian yells and the creatures shriek in delight.