3.03 OBSESSIVE LOVE: Overachiever
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Kyden's day begins early, before the break of dawn.
There are many rituals he must perform to keep his body's divine integrity. He kneels before the altar of the Mother Oracle and takes his time to bow low, his brow touching the cold floor.
Only after fifteen minutes of prayer is he then worthy enough to take a clear bowl of water and douse his brow, and then proceed to clean the golden statue that stands at the end of the prayer room. The smell of incense wafts and Kyden finds himself in a trance.
There's the faint beeping on his phone that can be heard coming from another part of his apartment but he ignores it and continues to sprinkle water on the sacred statue.
After that is done, he puts the bowl aside and resumes the prayer position. He meditates and purges his mind of desire.
He's only allowed to leave when dawn's light trickles into the room. And only then does he finally allow annoyance to sink in as he strolls out of the prayer room and comes into his messy apartment. The rest of his abode resembles a bachelor's den rather than the humble home of a priest. But it's not like Kyden ever entertains guests so he doesn't care about his lack of interior decor.
His phone was left on the kitchen counter and is now exploding with calls from work. Those bastards. They should know better than to attempt calling him in during his sacred rituals, emergency or not.
He decides to ignore it for now and shrugs on his uniform. Breakfast is skipped when he rushes out the door. Only then, does he return the call.
"What's the situation?"
…
The host body is a child, around twelve years of age.
She's stuffing chocolate cookies in her mouth when Voir bursts onto the scene with the drones. There's the sound of her eating and crumbles that trickle to the ground amid the loud stomping and banging on the door.
The girl is all Voir sees at first, back turned, shoulder-length black hair, and munching on a jar of cookies. The figure of a child makes him flinch, gun lowering from instinct. But when she turns, he realizes that her hands are bloody. There's a larger figure on the kitchen floor, slump over in a red pool.
Voir curses, realizing his mistake, "F-fuck!" And points the gun at the little girl but he struggles to pull the trigger.
The girl stares, blank. It must be a nymph, Voir thinks absently as sweat greases his palms, finger trembling against the trigger.
She looks at him and then looks at the barrel of the gun. Her face pulls, brows furrowed. She bites her lips but the attempt at a pout is thwarted by the soulless gaze. "Why…?" Her little voice squeaks.
Voir gulps, it's definitely a nymph. A newly summoned demon that is incubating in its first host. It doesn't know how to form full thoughts yet and Voir feels kind of bad but he has to kill it, and the child host.
The child— demon— finally growls when it realizes that Voir isn't going to lower the weapon. It screeches at him like an animal and the sound is hear-piercing. Voir feels his gums ache and his eardrums are on the verge of rupture. He grits his teeth but his eyes are watering. It's futile when he can hardly keep his aim steady.
The cookie jar in the girl's hand shatters, her hands are lined with cuts from the glass but she doesn't notice.
She makes a break for it and dashes right at him. Voir fumbles and trips over his own two feet because he's damned startled and he doesn't even know what he's thinking when he discards his own gun in favor of the drone patrol panel.
The drones are two pillar-like machines and roll around and maneuver obstacles quite quickly with the right person behind the control panel. But compared to the nimble body of a child, they're awkward and clunky, failing to capture her with their mechanical arm extensions. She makes it for the emergency exit and Voir is still hissing past his headache as he scrambles to his feet. He almost rushes out of the apartment but has to double back because he totally forgot his gun lying on the floor.
The girl tries the emergency exit door but it doesn't open. Chains rattle on the other side so the girl abandons it and runs for the elevator.
It conveniently dings almost right away, she doesn't even have to wait. But as the part of the door, there's someone else on the other side. The girl looks down a gun barrel.
Bang.
She falls back, limp. The carpet in the apartment hallway soaks red. Kyden doesn't hesitate. He brings out his knife and runs it across his palm, re-opening the old wound to coat the blade. With one swift motion, the knife comes down, straight into the girl's throat. A black wisp rises from her body when Voir finally turns the corner, watching in fascination while his partner works.
All of Kyden's movements are concise with pinpoint precision. He almost makes it look easy with his stoic gaze, with an expression that rivals those of balding office workers. He flips his jacket aside to pluck a small vial of holy water and empties it onto the escaping black wisp. It dissipates with a screech.
"…" Kyden stands there calm and peaceful, an expression appears on his face only when he catches sight of Voir. The priest scowls, "What were you doing?"
"Hey to you too, Rev. Kyden. I-I uh," Voir stammers. "I was…trying my best?" He attempts to smile and wink, using the charms that would only work on naive and foolish girls. And perhaps middle-aged housewives too.
Kyden isn't impressed. He puts his blade away as he bandages his palm. "You're sloppy," he says, "and slow. A nymph can be handled even without a priest."
Voir perks up at Kyden's words, "Oh! You knew it was a nymph. Then why did you use your blood—"
Kyden grumbles as he pulls out his phone. "It's a good habit to always use blood, just in case. It'll do you well to practice good habits, Voir. Because I can tell that you have none."
"Ouch." Voir deflates, "You really don't pull back punches, huh?"
The priest ignores his partner's complaints and continues, showing his offensive call history to the new recruit, "Speaking of which, do not call me during morning rituals."
"Oh! I totally forgot!" Voir chirped, scratching the back of his neck bashfully.
Kyden felt his eyebrow twitch and blood pressure rise. Seriously…this kid is damned useless!
…
Kyden's stuck in the office late that night. There are just a million and one things to do. He hunched in his cubicle, typing away at the myriad of reports that need to be filled in, from this case and the last.
The Exorcism Department office is a lot more depressing and somber than movies like to depict. All the money goes into research and development; the offices themselves are old and left forgotten from government funding plans. The lights are cheap and blinding white, yet there are too few to properly light the entire office when evening darkens the sky. There are several cubicles in the office and a few more desks that sit around in the open, usually where the interns and new recruits are designated to.
The higher-ups get their own private offices and it's the only reason why Kyden aspires for a promotion. Because he's tired of slaving away in his little corner when he can hear people being useless and chattering around him like birds during mating season.
Seriously though, he's busy. Really busy. It's already late and he hasn't even had the chance to eat dinner.
There has been a recent increase in nymphal demons hatching within the city bounds. He thinks it's about time for them to elect a new Holy Mother Oracle but it's hardly his place to decide. All Kyden can really do is fill out a ton of reports and complaints, praying that they will reach someone, somewhere with enough power to actually do something.
'Actually do something!' he chants aggressively in his mind as his face pulls into a scowl, fingers typing at the speed of light, crackling against the keyboard.
He swears that he can hear Voir's obnoxious voice, "And then she turned around and I was like oh shit because that's when I realized I messed up, you know?"
And that's when Kyden feels his patience break. He surges from his chair and barks out, "You!"
Voir flinches, "Rev, Kyden!" He's standing among a small crown of four that disperses instantly. But Voir maintains an insufferable smile and holds up a bag that has the logo of a fast-food chain stamped on the front. "I got you some food. I mean, I'm pretty sure you haven't taken a break in the last eight hours so—"
Kyden grinds his teeth together. "And why do you think that is?" He attempts to maintain his calm but there's heat behind his words. He's annoyed and impatient because the least Voir could do was fill out paperwork.
Voir shrinks and whines, "Because you're an overachiever?"
"Because you're an underachiever!"
"But I—"
Before Voir can fully form his excuse the two of them get interrupted by the chief, who steps outside her office to bellow at them both, "Officer Lerouge and Rev Kyden, come into my office, now. It's an emergency."