Chapter Text
He was dead a few days ago, and they were already pushing a ton of work onto him.
People flowed in and out of the airport. Some pulled out their phones as they walked out. Others stopped with friends and family, greeting each other with hugs and smiles. A clearly tired man walked away from the building until he reached a shady tree to protect himself from the light.
Was the sun always this bright? Or does the world look different after returning from hell?
He waited at the sidewalk under the tree. He had dark hair with streaks of gray decorating it. He wore a black T-shirt, dark jeans, and sneakers. Usually, he would dress nicer than this, but he wanted to wear something more comfortable for the long flight.
A car slowed to a stop in front of him. Two masked figures watched him as the window rolled down. “You ready, Terzo?”
Terzo gave them a fake smile and a nod. He didn’t really feel like speaking today. His mind was on other things. Right now, it was stuck on the black gas masks all the ghouls seem to be wearing now. How he preferred those shining, silvery masks during his time as Papa. Seeing the new ghoul outfits after being revived was quite the rude awakening.
The ghoul on the passenger’s side got out to help Terzo with his bags. He immediately gave them up to the ghoul, glad to get those weights out of his grasp. Terzo sat in the back seat, letting the soft cushions of the car take him. He spent the ride staring out the window. The more they drove, the more the city was replaced by a bare desert.
“See the Light” began playing on the radio. The ghouls in front responded by turning up the volume. The one on the passenger’s side was rocking his shoulders to the music.
“Turn it down, please,” Terzo said, resting his arm on the car’s door while tapping it. The ghouls shared a glance with each other before lowering the volume.
Was it a good song? Yes? Were the new ghoul masks nice? Also yes. But to Terzo, they were just reminders of his replacement, Copia. He had it all back them. The fans, the fame, the sex, and the parties. He was the face of Ghost. He was the ruler of his personal empire.
And then Sister Imperator took it from him.
She decided that he was distracted from his duties and made him resign. He was then assassinated. Despite being cast off from his position, Sister Imperator was now giving him another chance.
A small-ish town was seen in the distance. Except, it grew in size as they got closer. Sister Imperator planned on expanding their presence and had a church opened in this lonely location. The town was growing fast, and she had the idea to try to get a whole town converted before it became larger. Then it would be easier to get new members and power from there.
And Terzo had the honors of running this new church. Well, Sister gave him quite the earful before allowing him on this mission. But as long as they are getting her wishes fulfilled, she should leave them alone.
The car stopped at an old looking building. They stepped out. Putting his hands on his hips, Terzo examined his new workplace. Past the jet-black gates was a church that had red, brick walls. It stretched up and up until it ended with a bell on top. There were some steps to a wooden door. On the door was an inverted cross made of metal.
A ghoul on the other side opened the gates for them. Terzo entered and let the two ghouls from the car ride carry his things. The stone path led him to the door. He turned the handle, and inside was a desk with a human staff member running it. She greeted Terzo with a smile, and Terzo gave a smaller one in return.
The ghouls caught up to him with his luggage. “Allow us to show you to your room,” one of them said.
On the way to the second floor, Terzo examined every detail of the building. Dark wooden floors and sand colored walls. The wall color was not his taste, but he could fix that. The stained-glass windows, however, were beautiful. They decorated the left of the hall. Each depicted the ministry’s symbols or stories regarding the devil.
One that caught his eye was a red devil covering his eyes as he stood at the edge of a pit. Was he scared of being cast off from the heavens? Terzo didn’t think so. He always believed that the devil threw himself into hell. Lucifer was aware of the consequences to his actions, but kept moving forward anyways.
“The way you remolded is lovely,” Terzo finally said something. He was examining the curved arches at the doorway before entering their living area. His voice lightened up. “But maybe new paint for the walls. And more decorations.”
He turned to look at the ghouls that were still struggling to bring his things up the spiraling staircase.
“But don’t worry yourselves,” Terzo said. “I can select new decorations on my own.” He continued up the stairs, not bothering to offer the ghouls help. He was finally distracted from his negative thoughts, and didn’t want to ruin his new mood with manual labor.
He turned around. The second floor had a balcony, where he could look down at the first floor. He peered down, and if he looked to the left, he could see a worship area with rows of pews. He would be performing their services there. He stroked his hand over the polished wood of the balcony-rails, then moved again to view the living areas. There was a hallway with doors lining up at each side of the walls. He read the names hanging beside each door until he got to his name. He took the keys dangling out of the doorknob and swung the door open.
It was a small room, but a cozy one. The window gave some light, but he turned on a lamp on the dresser to lighten the area some more. The room had silvery-gray walls and the same dark, wooden flooring the whole place had. The furniture was black and had a Victorian feel to it. The only thing disappointing about this room was the twin sized bed. A king sized, or even a queen, would never fit in here. Oh well. He could work with it.
The ghouls came in and put his luggage down. Terzo was already planning on where he could put his stuff.
Terzo spun around to face the ghouls. “Thank you,” he finally said. “You know, I think I’m going to like being in charge of my own church. No one to get in my way, and I can finally try out some new ideas.” Terzo clasped his hands together. “This church will serve as a safe space during the day, but will become the most feral place in town at night. We’ll be like an exclusive club that everyone wants in on. Except, people will be very pleased to see how easy it is to join.”
The ghouls glanced at each other.
“Yeah. An inclusive, exclusive club. Makes perfect sense.” Terzo said. “How about you two give me a tour once I finish unpacking?”
--
After a couple days of decorating, Terzo was proud at how the church was beginning to look. More fancy. Like moving around in Dracula’s castle. The next step would be to host a gathering. No! A party!
Terzo and the two ghouls went out in town that day to hang up posters for their event. Party in Hell, the posters said. One ghoul, who was called Foxtrot, had told him that the posters were cheesy, but Terzo didn’t care. The other ghoul, Bravo, was more concerned about the town’s reaction to the posters.
Terzo also didn’t care.
Bravo looked around nervously as Terzo stuck a poster on the town’s bulletin board. “People are staring,” Bravo said nervously, looking over his shoulder.
“Good,” Terzo smiled, “I like attention.”
“You don’t understand,” Bravo said. “We have had not-so-nice reactions since we moved here. Religious protesters, vandalism, and all kinds of nasty words. Maybe we shouldn't draw so much attention to ourselves.”
“They are staring because we look like freaks, huh?” Foxtrot said, gesturing to their masks and Terzo’s makeup. One perk of running the church was that Terzo got to wear his Papa Emeritus make up again. It looked so good on him he spent an hour looking into the mirror before leaving.
Terzo walked with them, looking for a spot for their next poster. “Bad attention is still good attention. With all of this staring, we are bound to find someone who wants to attend.” Terzo winked to a woman who was staring at them. She immediately looked away upon making eye contact. Bravo put his hand to his face.
--
The day of the party was spent decorating the church’s front yard. They set up tables, cleared some space for dancing, prepared their equipment, and set out some snacks.
It was barely the evening and the sun was still out, but it was never to early to start a party. Terzo came out with a nicer outfit: A suit with a sparkly red bow tie. He always cared about his appearance. Especially during special occasions like this. “Let’s get started,” Terzo pumped his fist into the air. A sister of sin that was assisting them blasted some music. It was mostly Ghost’s music, but they all worked together to throw in songs from their other favorite bands.
Terzo commanded the ghoul at the gates to leave the entrance open.
Foxtrot and Bravo walked up to Terzo.
“I’m not going to sleep tonight, am I?” Foxtrot was staring in the direction of the speakers.
“You’re really going to leave the gates open to the public?” Bravo asked nervously.
“Yup.” Terzo said. “Everyone is invited. You two relax and try to have fun tonight. Got it?”
“I’m gonna chug Nyquill,” Foxtrot said sarcastically and left.
“I have a really bad feeling about this,” Bravo shook his head.
“Look, if there are any problems, just let me know.” Terzo said. “Besides, our guard ghoul at the gates will be keeping an eye out.”
At first, it was just the church’s members that were at the party. But slowly, some people from town trickled in to check it out. It was going well. People were enjoying the music, getting snacks, and chatting. Terzo stopped to greet each visitor personally. Some of them had questions about their beliefs which he happily answered. Most seemed confused at the answers, but he hoped that he can ease their worries about their devil-worshiping neighbors. There were some people that seemed more interested than others, so Terzo offered to add their information on a sign up sheet stuck to his clipboard. If he could work that Terzo-charm on them, they may get new members signing up for their services.
Terzo stopped to get a drink. He pulled a can of beer out of ice and opened it. Looking around, he could see that neither Foxtrot nor Bravo were taking his advice. Foxtrot was missing (probably avoiding the party inside), and Bravo was pacing around. It seemed that he was looking out for any trouble.
Terzo sighed and took a sip from his drink. Bravo began to walk up to him the moment their gazes met. “Terzo.” Bravo pointed to the front.
Terzo’s gaze was taken past the gates of the church. It was darker, but there was a clear silhouette of a person with his arms up. He knew it was a protester because of the sign he held up. “It’s just one,” Terzo said, “Best to ignore him. It seems like he is not doing much, really.” Terzo took another sip. “Have a seat and calm that little head. Maybe a drink as well?”
Bravo put a hand to his head and sat at the table beside them.
--
As the night came for them, some colored lights came on. There was more dancing, and more people. But it was nothing like the huge crowds Terzo remembered from his time as Papa. He shook his head to get out the thoughts. He still wanted to have fun at this smaller party. A dance with a very elegant woman made a good distraction.
Terzo looked around and kept and eye on everyone. He saw Bravo calling him over, still at the table with the drinks. He had been taking glances at the protester the whole time. Approaching him, Terzo noticed the two tipped over cans at the table.
“Still worried about our friend over there?” Terzo said playfully.
“Yeah, he told something to someone that came in.” Bravo sounded more tired but his nerves still shook his voice. “I don’t know what was said, though.”
“He has the right to protest.” Terzo shrugged. “As long as he’s not bothering anyone, I don’t see a reason to get involved.”
“But that’s what I’m worried about.” Bravo rose his voice slightly, “What if he is scaring the guests?”
Terzo sighed, tilting his head side to side, thinking of the right answer. “How about I greet him? Try to be friendly. Maybe he’ll see how nice we are and leave. Will that make you feel better?” Terzo asked.
The Bravo ghoul nodded. Terzo took a bottle of water from the ice and walked towards the protester. He held a clipboard in his hands. He waved to the guard ghoul before leaving the church grounds.
It was pretty late. Terzo was impressed by how long the protester had been out here. The protester had moved spots to be under a street lamp.
“Greetings, friend,” Terzo approached him. “Care for some water? You’ve been out here for a while, and it seems you brought nothing to drink.” He shook the bottled water to gain his attention with the sloshing sound.
The protester turned to face him. His round glasses made a reflection over his eyes. “Ah, no thank you.” He had a short haircut with brown, curly hair that swept neatly over the top of his head. He had some sophisticated streaks of gray in his hair. His face was rounder than Terzo's and his lips pursed as he made eye contact with him.
Cute, Terzo thought.
“If you want, you could come in,” Terzo said and gestured to the yard glowing in rainbow colors. “We have snacks and chairs if you need to sit.”
“I’m not going in there,” he mumbled. He seemed like a shy fellow. He avoided eye contact with Terzo, looking into the distance. It was probably taking him a lot of courage to stand there. He adjusted his brown glasses.
“Why not?” Terzo asked, smiling innocently. He viewed the sign the man was tapping his fingers on. “Do not fall for the devil’s temptation,” Terzo read the sign out loud. His smile was more of a smirk now, and his eyelids lowered to go along with it. “Afraid you’ll be tempted?”
“I know better than that,” was all the protester said. Whatever that meant.
Terzo looked at the protester’s outfit. He had a beige shirt underneath a brown, striped sweater vest. He wore long slacks and a silver colored watch on his wrist. Fancy. “May I ask why you are protesting our event?”
The protester’s voice was quieter now. “This event is to trick people."
Terzo looked away, but it did nothing to hide his amused smile from the protester. He looked back at him. “I don’t think we’re tricking anyone. The posters were very clear on what this event is about,” he said with such a fake innocent voice.
“Have you ever been to church?” The protester asked.
“Yes, I’m in charge of this one.” Terzo pointed to their church.
“No, I mean a Christ-following church.”
“Ah. You should have said that. I’ve been to some.” Terzo put his hands on his hips. “Long story. Let’s just say that nuns don’t always follow their vows,” Terzo chuckled to himself.
The protester stayed quiet and took a step away.
“What is your name?” Terzo asked.
“Wallace.”
“Wallace. Lovely name,” Terzo said with new interest entering his voice. “Wallace, we have our differences, but we could still be friends.” Terzo was no longer speaking for the sake of the event. He was now more interested in getting to know this dapper man. “How about we go in and have a seat together? If we talked, I’m sure we’ll find out that neither group wants to cause any harm. Maybe we’ll even discover something special about each other.”
Wallace shook his head. “No, uh, just leave me. Please.”
“If you leave our guests alone, then sure.” Terzo said. He waited for a response, but got nothing. Wallace took one more look at Terzo before looking away once again.
“Aw, afraid I’ll bite,” Terzo gave him a toothy smile and stepped closer. Wallace side-stepped away. Wallace gave no other reaction. And no reaction meant no fun. “Well, Wallace. It was nice meeting you.” Terzo changed his tone of voice to be calmer and more proper. “I’ll just leave this here in case you change your mind.” He bent over to leave the bottle on the sidewalk.
He looked at Wallace one more time, hoping he could continue this conversation. He felt the clipboard in his hand with the sign up sheet on it. He considered asking Wallace to sign up for their sessions, but decided against it. He turned and left.
He informed Bravo that the protester probably won’t be a problem for anyone. Wallace seemed kind of afraid of confrontation. The rest of the night went on. People left one by one. Once all the townies were gone, they cleaned. They had a total of nine names on the sign up sheet, which pleased Terzo. He kind of wished he got Wallace to sign up. The image of Wallace and his stylish clothing lingered in Terzo's mind.
Maybe this won't be their last meeting.