Who: Marty and Willis What: Offering some demon advice When: Tuesday September 1st Where: Communal Tent Rating: High, a bit of violence Status: Complete
Marty did love a good fire, especially in the name of love and the smug preacher really was rather slippery. He had done good, or so he thought but the Reverend had made it out alive and unscathed. He’d been hiding, hiding in plain sight as it were and Marty was having a hard time locating the bastard.
Finally he made his way around the communal tent and felt a presence. He couldn’t find demons as well as he could angels but he could sense the Reverend was nearby.
“Oi Padre, you going to spend all your time hiding like a wuss or are you going to get over it and be a man.” It wasn’t his best insult by far but it would work well enough.
He heard the voice, he knew who it was before he saw Marty. He remembered those words from their first meeting. You’re like me. Had he sabotaged him? Had he said something? Done something to give Bella the impression he was a demon?
Willis was still trying to deal with his world having been torn apart. All that he knew, or thought he knew had been pulled into question. And he had yet to find answers. As hard as he prayed he couldn’t get a clear response, or even a subtle one. Only more sins, more knowledge of how to test someone. And that included this man who’d come to his door.
Metaphorical door.
Willis got up, visible, and opened the curtain. He looked like he’d not slept in days, eyes had bags and were bloodshot. He smelled of liquor even though he’d finished the last bottle he’d stored a week ago. “What the hell d’ya want?” He asked, his expression made it clear he wasn’t in the mood to see anyone, particularly the man before him.
He let out a low chuckle as he eyed the Reverend. “Padre you’re not looking so good. Something the matter with you?” He questioned, invading his personal space by walking in and sitting on the bed. From the way it looked, Willis was conflicted and that was clearly odd for a demon to feel. Maybe it was because he didn’t know he was a demon. Funny that.
He pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniels from behind his back and held it out to Willis. “Sure look like you could use a drink.” He offered, a sly smirk plastered on his face.
This was how Marty truly got high. High off the chaos and distress he caused for others. It wasn’t as good as killing but it was all he had to do while some garbage spell protected these people.
Alcohol numbed things, it delayed the thoughts of doubt. But maybe that’s just what he needed. Maybe he needed to suffer through it, prove to God he was still his servant. Anger filled him at the other man’s mocking tone. His fist clenched and the shadows seemed to draw to him. “My business is none a’yours.” Will said, turning to the man. Murderer, the man was a killer, he could feel it. The feeling of pride, he had done something recently… something that had harmed someone else. Details weren’t coming to him like they eventually did normally (for a human), but he could read the man, sense his sins. The question was, who was giving them? God or the devil?
He shrugged his shoulders and took a swig of the drink himself, placing it on the nightstand next to him as he swallowed. “Suppose you have a lot of questions about yourself. Never fun waking up and not knowing who or what you are.” It didn’t take Marty long to find out. Some poor fool had explained it to him before he drained the life out of his body.
He put his arms out in a grand gesture. “And that’s why I’m here. I’ll be your fountain of wisdom for this evening.” He added, crossing his arms over his chest as the smirk returned to his face. A eyebrow raised in the silence following.
“Go on then, ask me anything.”
The reverend scoffed. “You? Font of wisdom? An’ what sorta wisdom do you think ya have fer me? How t’rub everyone ya meet the wrong way?” He asked, annoyed.
He chuckled at that and leaned back. “Well about being a demon of course. Figured you hadn’t a clue so let me clue you in, eh?” He replied, looking over the reverend’s face to see any kind of information had dawned on him yet. No reply, so he chuckled again. “Come on now, you really don’t know? I’d have thought with my brilliant presence before you, you might figure out what I said at that wedding was true.”
He put his arms out with a big smile. “Hello Brother.” He leaned forward as if to give the other man a big hug.
Shadows gathered around his fist as his eyes seemed to darken. He was certain now that it had been this sinner who had put the thought of him being a demon into Bella’s head. He was the man who had ruined his Bella and gotten her to destroy his church and splinter his congregation. He had wormed the thought into her ear that he didn’t love her (whether he did or not is not the point), and that he was a bad man. “You are no brother of mine. I am God’s servant and you are a serpent sent to move me from my path.”
The strike landed hard across the carney's jaw. Willis had often found himself working out with the gents of the ten in one as to keep a nice, healthy body for their bally. He wasn’t a fighter, but he wasn’t a weakling either. He was a manipulator, he wasn’t hands on in that way. But in that moment, he went against the grain. He was so full of rage that it darkened him. This man had ruined his life in Zion. The only reason Willis hadn’t moved on was because they weren’t in their own time. He didn’t know the world of 1950 and was waiting to see if they would or could return home. But Willis heard the whispers as he passed by people unseen when his name came up in conversation. Talk of mistrust, uncertainty. That was not a good place for the leader of a flock to be in.
So, he punched Marty. And thankfully Jericho and Ben had shown him how to throw one, otherwise he’d have broken his hand.
Marty had been hit and punched and stabbed more times than he cared to remember but it was always a shock when it happened. He grasped his jaw, holding onto it as he moaned. “Jesus bloody Christ mate, I’m trying to help you.” He groaned again as he grabbed his jaw in pain. Using his other hand to grab the bottle of Jack next to him he took off the lid with his teeth and spat it out against the wall of the tent. He took a large gulp of it, something that might make other men cough or gag but Marty was a professional.
He stared at his hand that was holding his jaw for a moment to see if there was any blood. None to speak of but it would be black and blue come morning. He exasperatedly put the bottle down and regarded Willis. “You think you’re an angel? I’ve seen bloody angels. That wholesome doctor and the tattoo’d girl are both donning halos.” So to speak.
“They shine like the bloody sun, it’s irritating as shit.” He winced as his talking only exacerbated his pain. “Listen Mate, you don’t have to be my bloody best mate but if you want these bloody people to stop gawking at you then you need to bloody accept who you are.”
“I’d never claim t’be an Angel. I’m jus’ a man.” A man with gifts, sure, but he truly believed those gifts were bestowed by god. Right? “A man chosen ta spread the word of God and trial those who have sinned.” Willis wasn’t actually speaking to Marty anymore as much as he was trying to reinforce in himself his divine providence. “He shows me the evils of the world and gives me the power to test his children, give them a chance to avoid their temptations and redeem themselves in his eyes.” His hand rubbed the back of his neck as he backed up from the other demon. “He set me in that field with a mission. I’m ain’t no demon. I can’t be.” His eyes focused on an empty spot between them. “And I know I can find my way clear a’this, the Lord is testin’ me an’ I will come out the desert a stronger man.”
If his eyes could roll all the way to the back of his head they would have done so right then and there. He sighed and lifted his arms up in frustration, swinging them down to his sides like a toddler throwing a tantrum. “Jesus Padre, how bloody long do you think a normal human man lives? By the looks of it you’re not much younger than I am.” He could see it in the dimness mostly. He’d say they were within a fifty year age range, give or take the whole time travel element.
That at least he’d know about himself, he’d know how many years he’d spent wandering the world, trying to figure out god's place for him. What a load of shit. “Listen mate, I’ve read the entire bloody bible. Jail cells in the bloody Victorian era didn’t have much else to read. It’s not sodding God whose meant to tempt you, you’re tested by the devil himself. And truth be told mate I don’t want to have this conversation again: none of them exist. God, Lucifer, even Jesus Bloody Christ was just an early Buddhist.”
He sighed, rubbing his temples with his fingers. “I’m sorry you had to find out this way. Honestly I thought you were going to be dead anyway.” Oops, that wasn’t exactly what he was trying to let slip.
He wouldn’t let his faith waiver. No matter what the other man said. He couldn’t. He couldn’t.
The slip of the tongue did catch him off guard though. “What makes you think I were dead?”
The Reverend didn’t know anything. That was a good thing.
“Well it’s the fire innit? Can’t have a church service without a preacher and I assumed that you’d gone down with the fire, being so close to the candles and all.” That was a close one, but Marty could spin a tale better than anyone.
He stood from the bed and put his hands on his hips. “Listen mate, I were just trying to help you but if you’re not going to listen then I’m just going to leave.” He’d leave the bottle of Jack. This realization was going to need some liquid courage.
“It’s prolly best ya do.” Willis said, the anger still raw in him. He wasn’t sure he wouldn’t end up striking the other man again should he stay longer. “An’ take your lies an’ ‘help’ t’someone who’d believe you.” He couldn’t allow himself to be polluted by the other man’s words, the demon who’d come to speak with a silver tongue and false wisdom, trying to taint his soul. His gifts, his long life, they’d come as a blessing from God, nothing more. So long as he followed God’s path, he’d be granted the ability to serve his Lord in life and once his service completed, he’d find himself welcomed to Heaven and God’s warm embrace.
He scoffed, shaking his head. “Do me a favor yeah? Take a look in a mirror next to someone else, anyone. You’ll see I’m right and maybe then you can get some bloody peace.”
With that he left, leaving for the comfort of his own tent where he had plenty more of that whiskey to enjoy.