Chapter 1

When the church doors opened, a flock of sheep could be seen hanging from the ceiling by their feet. The feet were bound by their intestines; they were skinned and gutted. Everything from the church's furniture, from tiled floor to walls, was drenched with the sheep's blood. The sheep heads neatly filled the seats of the wooden benches; their heads sat upon the church's bibles. Detective Engelram enters with black disposable gloves and an essential black cloth face mask; he stands at the church's doorway, staying away from the dead sheep to avoid the blood dripping on him. He examines the sheep from the distance as he waits for a police officer to bring him a raincoat.

When finally handed a raincoat, he thanks the officer before walking over to the sheep, where he begins to study their wounds. The incisions that ran down their stomach were clean and neat like a professional butcher had done it. The decapitation looked like their heads were whacked off with one clean swipe; Engelram walks over to a bench lined with sheep heads and picks up a sheep's head, examining it. He notices another incision around the top part of the head; he carefully grabs the wool opening the hole made in the sheep's skull. He looks inside the dome to find that the brains were removed and carefully puts the skull cap back on. He notices the sheep's eyes are also missing; he gently sets the sheep's head down, picking up the bible underneath it. It looked like the person who did this made an effort to blackout every word in the bible.

He continues seeing that some pages were violently stabbed or shredded with a knife. He sets the bible down and checks the other bibles, seeing they have all been through their own torture. Every bible had been desecrated out of pure malice, fueled by hatred. Engelram sets the bible down and walks to the altar after changing his gloves. The dark wood pulpit used by the pastor had a large crack carved into it, along with the words: Mendax, Parasitus, Stuprator, and Avarice repeatedly. The pastor's bible was out and unharmed. He pulled out an evidence bag once he spotted a few long white hairs hanging from the pages. Detective Engelram bags the bible and begins to make his rounds around the chapel, examining every inch. Most of the damage was done in the commune hall, except the pastor's office, which was broken into and desecrated. Detective Engelram checks the office and discovers the pastor's bookshelf is a hidden door by seeing a bloody arrow painted on the wall. He changes into a clean glove before he starts fidgeting with the books; he stops noticing the bust on the bookshelf has a bloody handprint.

He traces his finger along the bust, looking for anything odd, he picks up the statue, and nothing happens. He sees another handprint on the back wall of the bookshelf. Sure enough, it was a secret compartment; he cautiously stuck his hand in it, finding a small button in the back. Engelram presses the button retreats his hand, and the bookshelf slides to the side. He pulls out his flashlight, peering down the dimly lit staircase; he shines the light on the stair seeing a trail of blood.

He pulls out his gun, seeing the blood is fresh, he walks alongside the blood trail. He keeps his eyes on the bottom of the staircase; he makes it down and is greeted by another door hidden by the shadows of obscurity. He gently twists the knob, and the door opens with a creak; he steps inside the room lit with over a hundred candles, and he hears the dripping of blood. Then he noticed the body hanging from the ceiling. It was the pastor; his robe drenched in his blood, hands tied together in a prayer position. Engelram turns on the light switch and looks at the pastor's back. The pastor's back had been cut open, his broken ribs and back skin were turned into wings. He then notices that the pastor's lungs are outside of his body. Engelram looks at the body, baffled.

He hears the door slam behind him, he quickly scans the room, and he sees fresh bloody footsteps leading out:

"Shit," he picks up the walkie-talkie, " The killer is still on the premises!" he slowly opens the door, seeing a fresh pair of bloody footprints going up the stairs. He follows them, with the footprints leaving the pastor's office. They stop once outside of the door; the detective scans the hall:

"Where in hell..?" Engelram notices both the church's front door and windows are still closed, and there are no more bloody footprints. He grabs the walkie-talkie, "Killer may be outside, but there are no signs of them leaving. He cautiously steps out of the pastor's office, and as soon as he does that, someone lands on him; Jace can feel the weight on the middle of his back. Someone grabs him by the back of the head. They begin smashing his face against the ground, letting go before he falls unconscious. They run off giggling; Engelram feels his face swelling. Though his vision was blurry, he looked up in time to see his attacker jump out of the window:

"What the hell?!" lies there; some officers bust through the door running over to him.

"Crazy son of the bitch jumped out of the motherfuck'in window!"

"Yes, we have other officers after them." One said as they helped him up, while another called an ambulance.

Engelram grips his face, his head hurts, and he starts feeling a bit dizzy, "Help me get on my back." he groans as an officer gently helps him lay on his back. "The pastor's body is in the basement," he feels tired, and his eyes feel heavy as a headache forms:

"Sir, you have to stay awake."

Engelram nods, finding it hard to breathe through his nose; he reaches up to confirm his nose is broken. He is still up when the ambulance arrives; at some point during the trip, Engelram loses consciousness. Engelram wakes up in a hospital room, his face felt slightly sore, but his vision is back. He takes a breath; he slowly reaches up, touching his nose, now wrapped in bandages. He sits up and turns on the Tv, flipping to the news as he watches; he learns it's been about three days since the attack. He didn't see the murder on the news, " So they're keeping it on the down-low." he says to himself as he pushes the button to summon a nurse. Jace turned off the tv and looked out the window beside his bed. He sighs softly; how could he let them get away like that? How did he give them the advantage to attack him? He sits up on the bed, adjusting the bed to be more comfortable. Other than the soreness of his face, he feels fine.