Natalie was prepared to reveal to everyone the extent of her powers and her control over the town.
Todd watched as Natalie
puffed up her body, attempting to appear
larger than her mere petite frame allowed her to be. He was disgusted with her
for fooling him; but more importantly, he was disgusted with himself for not
seeing through her clever ruse of posing as his faithful assistant. He hissed,
“It had to be someone who’d been aware of all my plans in advance—to be always
one step ahead of me. You were the only one who had prior knowledge of all my
meetings and social engagements; the one who constantly pried into my personal life; the one who leaked privileged information about our secret gatherings.
You sicken and repulse me.”
“How did the Father turn
you into a saint? Let me understand this: You were one of The Dead and then a spell
made you a saint?” Shana asked.
“I cast a vanquishing spell
on her,” Father John said.
“How?” asked David.
“With a spell that had
been passed down from my ancestors,” the priest said.
“Why would your ancestors
have a vanquishing spell?” Todd asked.
“I come from a long family
line of vampire slayers. I’ve remained in this godforsaken town only to fight the relentless stream
of demons. I’ve killed countless numbers of them over the years, but there are
always more of them coming to town. I had decided to try the vanquishing spell
in my ancestor’s spell book, but regrettably, I messed up and ended up with
this deformation of nature.” The Father pointed his finger at Natalie.
“That’s enough already!
I’ve listened to enough of this silly drivel! I will now rid this town of all
you do-gooders!” Natalie transformed once again into the robed skeleton. She was
holding a huge fire ball in both hands. Shimmering in the heat of the flames, she lifted the ball above her
head. She threw the ball of fire at
them, cackling in glee as the fire spread through the room.
In the flames appeared faces
of people, young and old, chanting in unison the name of the saint, La Santa
Muerte, over and over. The chanting grew louder as the flames intensified and
spread further into the room, closer toward the group huddled together at the
back wall.
Bright flashes of lightning
lit up the room’s floor to ceiling windows. The lightning bolts that hit close
to the building emitted eerie sizzling sounds. Debris flew through the air;
trees and pieces of buildings flew by the rain-splattered windows.
