––––––––
“That is the symbol adopted by the Church of Satan, but it isn’t satanic in origin,” Katie said from behind them.
“Look what crawled out of its hole,” Travis said.
Katie ignored him and stepped beside Bryan. “That’s the Sigil of Baphomet.”
“What is the face in the middle, a demon?” Kyle asked. The front of his shirt was drenched with sweat from moving the altar and his breathing hadn’t returned to normal yet.
“It’s a goat. Baphomet, to be exact, and it’s a pagan deity.”
“What are these symbols at each point of the star?” Bryan asked. Finding the symbol carved into the floor did rouse his curiosity, much to his disdain.
“Those are Hebrew letters. Starting from the bottom point and reading them counter-clockwise spells Leviathan, which is a sea monster referred to in the Bible.”
“I saw that movie!” Kyle said. “It starred the dude from Robocop. It really sucked.”
Katie closed her eyes and bowed her head, taking a deep breath.
“You said the symbol in the first stained glass window meant Leviathan. Are you saying they both mean the same thing?” Bryan asked.
“The symbol in the glass, much like the Sigil of Baphomet, wasn’t meant as a satanic symbol, but was adopted as such within the last fifty years. The pattern in the window is the alchemical symbol for Sulfur. Both have come to stand for Leviathan in the last century or so.”
Joey sniggered again. “I guess old man Danver had a fetish for big fish.”
“Why have all these pagan and satanic symbols? What were they trying to accomplish here?” Bryan asked. While he wasn’t that interested in the symbols themselves, he was curious as to why they were scattered about, and what the motivations behind them were.
“I’m not sure. Like I said, these are now considered satanic, but they weren’t always. Who knows in what context Danver’s people were using them.”
Travis continued to glare at her over the top of his beer. Bryan didn’t understand why there was such a tension between the two. Perhaps they were both accustomed to being the alpha in any given situation. He hoped they wouldn’t start slinging feces at each other soon.
“What are you doing out of your hideout anyway?” Travis asked.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but it’s hard to concentrate when giant stones are being shattered in the next room,” she said, gesturing to the broken altar top.
“You know what would make a great shot?” Ben asked from across the chapel. “If you got some of those candles from the library and put them around the Sigil of Barf-and-stuff. We could use that in the commercials and really pump up the ritualistic murder angle.”
Joey and Travis shared a short look before giving each other a nod.
“Not a bad idea,” Joey said, rubbing his chin.
“I need those to continue my research,” Katie said. Her hands had found their customary positions on her hips.
“Just use that ridiculous spotlight you’ve been carrying around,” Joey said. He motioned to Bryan and Kyle. “Go grab some of those candles – get four and we’ll put one at the end of every point of the star.”
Bryan thought it was a pretty good idea too, surprisingly, and headed back to the hole in the wall. He could hear Kyle lumbering along behind him, his height and musculature sapping his body of any grace.
They both climbed through the opening and had just started toward the desk at the back of the room when they heard something move ahead of them. They stopped in midstride, listening.
“Did you hear that?” Bryan asked. “Like something sliding?”
“Yeah, I heard it.”
Bryan found himself wishing for a flashlight yet again. Though several candles on the desk were lit, they didn’t provide enough light for them to see anything in great detail. The sound had been brief and unexpected, not allowing them to pinpoint its origin.
“Where did it come from?” Bryan squinted against the darkness, looking around the room.
The shifting sound came again, but this time they saw the open book on the desk slide a few inches.
“Did that book just move?” Kyle asked. His breathing had picked up and was coming in short, ragged bursts.
“I thought I saw it too, but it maybe it was the light from the candles playing tricks on us.”
Bryan started to step forward when he heard Ben yell from his workstation in the chapel.
“What is that in front of the desk? I can’t really see it through your helmet cams.”
“It’s a chair, genius,” Kyle said, rolling his eyes.
“On the other side of the chair, asshole. It’s standing against the wall.”
Bryan considered flipping off the camera, but decided to leave such pleasantries to Kyle, who had more skill at being profane. Nothing could be seen beside the chair except for the stone wall. Bookcases stood on either side, but nothing else.
“Right there - what the hell is that?”
Kyle turned toward Bryan and moved his finger in a circle around his temple. Bryan was thinking the same thing.
“Oh my god, you're freaking retarded. For the last time, you are wearing helmet cameras. I can see everything that you can. If you look at each other and one of you mimes that I'm crazy, I can see it too.”
“Maybe we wanted you to see it,” Kyle said. “There's nothing over there but some old ass books. And we can hear you just fine if you speak up – stop screaming.”
“Whatever,” Ben yelled, not listening. “There really is something hiding behind the chair.”
They both squinted toward the corner, looking at the empty space beside the chair. Kyle pulled his cell phone from his pocket and used the flashlight application once again, angling the light at the chair.
“We can't see anything,” Bryan said. “If this is another lame attempt to scare us, it's pretty pathetic.”
“It looks like... it looks like a man. Kyle, take a few steps to your right. I need a better angle into the corner.” Ben’s voice was faint despite his yelling, hard for them to hear from the other side of the wall.
“You better speak up, we can’t hear you after all,” Bryan said.
With an aggravated frown on his face, Kyle sidestepped slowly, sneaking to his right. Bryan could see that his patience with Ben had completely evaporated.
“There! That's definitely a man. Why is he hiding by the desk?”
“Dude, for the last time, there's nothing over there.”
“Stop dicking around. Who is that? Did someone sneak in while we weren’t paying attention?”
Bryan moved over beside Kyle, wanting to make sure he wasn't missing something. The light from the cell phone wasn’t overly bright, but he could still make out the empty space they were talking about.
“Ben, we're fifteen feet from the corner with a clear line of sight. What are you smoking out there?” he asked.
“You're telling me you can't see the guy hiding behind the chair?”
“What in the shit are you guys doing in here?” Travis asked.
Bryan turned to see Travis’ head sticking through the hole, looking over at them. “It’s not us, it’s your boy Ben out there being an idiot and trying to scare us. Do you see anything in the corner?” He gestured toward the desk and stepped to the side to give Travis an unobstructed view.
“Ben, stop screwing around – there’s nothing there,” Travis said. “I don’t have all night to wait for the candles.”
“Are you blind? He’s right there!”
Though Kyle had been completely absorbed in the idea of investigating the church from the beginning, the game Ben was playing didn't sit well with him.
“You know what, you nerdy little−”
The chair moved.
Bryan took an instinctive step back. The chair hadn't gone far, only a few inches, but it was enough to get their attention.
“Did you see that?”
Kyle didn't respond, but stared at the chair, his mouth slack.
“He's standing up!”
“We can't see a goddamn thing!” Bryan said. His pulse pounded in his ears and his palms were slick with sweat.
“He's turning around. Seriously, you aren’t seeing this? The guy dressed in black right in front of you?”
Bryan's mouth felt like it was full of cotton balls. He watched the chair, not sure what to expect. Moments before he’d felt sure that this was just another joke, but the knot in his stomach told him otherwise.
“What the fuck! His face is−”
The chair slid across the floor and fell over, landing on its side.
“He's coming right at you!”
Kyle and Bryan turned in unison and ran toward the hole. They could see Travis pull his head back through, his eyes large and round in shock. Kyle was a few steps ahead when he reached the opening and dove through it head first. His foot caught on the stones still in the wall, sending him sprawling to the floor.
Bryan went to jump over him, but he plowed directly into Kyle as he tried to get to his feet, sending both of them to the floor in a jumble of flailing limbs. Kyle pushed him away and jumped to his feet, backpedaling into the chapel. He stopped when he bumped into Travis who still stood with his mouth agape.
Bryan rolled to his back and crab walked backward, never taking his eyes from the hole leading to the next room. His head thundered as adrenaline coursed through his body, his mind scrambling to understand what had just happened. When his back bumped against one of the benches, he sat on the floor and stared straight ahead, waiting for something to appear.
Everyone watched the wall, anticipating. Bryan hoped his heart wouldn’t burst from his chest. Only shadows danced on the walls from the candlelight behind them.
Kyle eventually broke the silence. “What just happened?”
Bryan wanted to say that the Specter Slayers had just pulled another successful trick, getting good footage of them running in fear in the process. Unfortunately, he didn't think he could say that.
“I don't know,” he said. “I think I almost pissed my pants though.”
“Did the two freaking interns just make actual contact?” Joey asked no one in particular.
Katie walked over to Bryan and extended her hand down to help him up. “Congratulations,” she said. “You’re most likely going to be famous from this experience.”
Bryan took her hand and stood up, making sure not to put too much of his weight on her. “I’m not sure I want to be famous for running away from a chair,” he said, dusting himself off.
“Ben, tell me you got all of that,” Travis said. He walked toward to the workstation, throwing quick glances over his shoulder at the hole as he went.
“I’m cueing up the footage now. You’re going to shit your pants when you see this!”