Asher smiled, he had no problems with a church, he attended regularly when he wasn't on a mission like now. He knew Markus's views on religion.... it didn't bug him, it wasn't his job to change Markus.<br/><br/>"Alright.... seeing as you are such a heathen," Asher grinned, "I will go up to the church myself, we don't want to alienate the poor man right now. You go set up traps and look around I will talk with the pastor. We can meet up tonight at the hotel and talk about what we found. Best to split up right now and cover the most ground."<br/><br/>Asher wrapped his cloak around him and headed to the church. Everything was quiet, there was a grave yard near the church, it looked like something from a horror movie. Asher shivered, he was used to mowed lawns nice flowers and kindly old people. this place was overgrown, cracked stones and there was even a smell that was off.<br/><br/>Asher walked up the church and opened the doors, it was old and looked like it was barely holding together, the interior was dark and depressing. Nothing like a church should be, something was feeling very off here.<br/><br/>"Hello, anyone here?" Asher listened as his voice echoed across the empty church.<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>Jonathan Lee Stevenson sat in his study, his mind mussing on various things, he was thoroughly upset, things weren't going as he planned and now P.I.C operatives are here!!<br/>Of all the things, now I have to deal with the P.I.C! Three of them.... I should be able to get rid of them soon enough, maybe lay a false trail, confuse them, and if they are too annoying I can always have them killed. A wicked smile spread across his face, he was snapped out of his dark musing when he heard a voice coming from the sanctuary. I wonder who that is??<br/><br/>Jonathan walked out of his study and down a dark hall and opened a door to the sanctuary. Standing in the middle of the room was a man that was cloaked..... Jonathan had never seen him before, Hm.... he must be one of the P.I.C<br/><br/>"Hello, can I help you?"<br/><br/>Asher looked at the man for a moment, "Yes I am looking for the pastor of this church, I ma here to investigate with the P.I.C, I would like to ask him some questions."<br/><br/>Jonathan smiled at the man,I knew it..... a blasted meddlesome operative!<br/><br/>"I am the pastor of this church sir, My name is Jonathan but you can call me Jon."<br/><br/>Asher shook Jon's hand and smiled, "Pleasure to meet you, My name is Asher Nightshade."<br/><br/>"The pleasure is all mine Mr. Nightshade, please have a seat."<br/><br/>The tow men sat down in one of the pews Jon smiled, "Now what can I do for you sir?"<br/><br/>"Well I was talking with the sherif and I had heard that some of the victims of the recent attacks were members of this here church. I was wondering if you could give me some information about the two ladies who were recently killed, it would help me out a lot if I could get all the information. We need to find a link somewhere."<br/><br/>Jon looked grave for a moment, "Terrible loss Ashly and Wendy were the girls names. They were sweet ladies, always attended, gave regularly. Wonderful girls, no one would have thought anything bad about them. But they did confess something to me." Jon leaned forward a little and whispered, "They came to my study one night telling me that they were having very vivid dreams, these dreams were dark and full of demonic horrors. They thought they were becoming possessed by some spirit, they even said they had thoughts of murder at times. I of course told them that they were being silly and that there was nothing wrong with them and that they should try and read more uplifting passages at night."<br/><br/>Asher nodded his head, "Is there anything else you can tell me?"<br/><br/>Jon shook his head, "I can not recall right now, all this death has really shaken me, perhaps if you give me some time to look through my notes and think a little more I could help you more."<br/><br/>"Of course I know this is sudden and you have had to deal with a lot I will call another time."<br/><br/>The two men shook hands and Asher left with a strange feeling that something was very wrong here.<br/><br/>He got to the hotel, Faith was already there sitting at a dinning table, Asher walked over and sat down. Markus hadn't come back yet.<br/><br/>"Well nice to see you here in one piece, me and Markus split up, I went to the church and talked with the pastor, Markus went and looked at the swamp and set traps. He should be here soon and then we can debrief."<br/><br/>arkus nodded though he couldn't help but feel worried for his friend. Markus had no love for the church. Neither had his family, he had at one point desired to change and become a believer, but that was before the accident...<br/>He shook the thought from his mind and set out.<br/>He picked up the records first, making sure no one had got them before he arrived.<br/>"Humans are much harder to deal with than animals...animals operate fair in old mother's nature's way mankind is sneakier..." He said to himself, immediately tucking the files away in his bag. He knew the secretary most have thought he escaped from the asylum. Luckily for her he wasn't crazy.<br/>As he walked out of the townhall he looked up estimating his hours and chances to investigate and get some traps done.<br/>He would set up the traps first he decided. So he headed out for the swamp.<br/>He roughly followed the map, after all he had rely on his own instincts and judgement when he got attacked. So he used his eyes and ears, he looked for trails and for any animal activity. To his sadness he found none. It gave him an eerie feeling, which indicated that there usually was something unnatural hiding there. And that something had scared off the local wildlife it had deprived the woods of their charm and turned it into a scene from a horrormovie.<br/>He examined the locations that were shown on the map and took a monster of the water. After all considering mutation it was quite possible and plausible it had spread through the water. As he set up the last traps he walked back noticing it growing darker, he narrowed his eyes and placed an enchantment over himself, draining power from the earth to grow stronger and more confident as he walked back. It worked as a sort mantra, it was his way, the old way. The spell he had found in the finnish medieval magic book called the Kalevala.<br/>"Auta Luonto anna voima tee vereni vavemaksi" ( Help me nature, give me power, make my blood run strong and stronger)<br/>He touched the trees as he went, intentionally to draw spirit from their old power. To him this was as normal as praying to God was for a believer.<br/>He walked in a solid tred back to the hotel, but he had felt eyes on him ever since he left the swamp. Yet he knew if he would display fear it would only encourage the creature to attack, so he didn't. He stayed outside for a moment lighting another cigarette and looking back from where he had come, almost as if to show the creature that he did not fear it, but rather that the creature should be the one afraid. When he finished it he went inside, but not before he placed a seal around the entrance. He carved the runes into the ground and spread out a mixture of old herbs in front of the entrance.<br/>"Come on you bastard...try and get us now..." he growled softly before he went in assured that the proper rituals had been executed.<br/>As he walked up he saw that Asher and Faith had already returned. "Sorry I took so long...I had to make sure the proper enchantments and spells were up and running before I went in..." he said explaining his late arrival.