The Last Crusade Part: 01

"Ouch!" Jake frowned in pain.

"Hold still!" Ying was sewing the wound on his shoulder.

"How bad is it?" Jake asked.

"Think we'll have to cut your arm off."

"You're joking!" Jake laughed wearily, "Right?"

"Yeah," Ying tore the string apart, "You're good to go."

"Thanks, doctor," Jake moved his hand a bit, checking if everything is okay. Ying started to clean the blood-soaked wearing.

Jake remembered the last words of Murphy. After all, she's the one who…, he thought about asking Ying what he talked about, "Hey, Ying!"

"Yeah?"

"Murphy told me something."

"Is that so?" she stopped in her place, "What did he tell you?"

"He said that…" Jake decided not to ask her that, "He's disgraced himself that he's taken the book and agreed to hide it."

Ying seemed to be normal hearing this, "Of course, it was a terrible thing to guard the book. He posed a great threat to himself and…" she turned towards him, "Wait, did he tell you about its whereabouts?"

"Well, not exactly," Jake scratched his head, "Mostly, he blabbered that the book doesn't contain any spell to turn demon to human or so…"

"Then what does it contain?" she asked.

"He said that there're only ways to kill demons."

"Well, he doesn't seem wrong," she sighed.

"So, that's what we're doing, right?" Jake said, "Killing her?"

"I reckon so."

"Won't that be hard on you?"

"We'll see that later," Ying announced, "Murphy was a priest, and he didn't stay at one church for too long. So, churches have the highest probabilities of hiding that book."

"Don't tell me we have to search all the churches of America right now," Jake said, then he remembered something, "Wait, Murphy said he not only disgraced himself, he also disgraced Joseph too."

"So?" Ying didn't understand.

"St. Joseph's Abbey at Spencer, Massachusetts!"

"Oh, now I get it," Ying understood, "Yes, I remember, he was there a few years ago…That's where he's hidden it. Must be!"

"Shall we go there now?"

"Yes, we need to go there right NOW!" Ying said, "And end this madness once and for all!"

***

"Damn, this place is dead cold" Jake shivered, "Does anyone even live here?"

"It will undergo construction from next month," Ying said, "Everyone has left."

"Where should we search?"

"Um, in the gate, I saw a direction map," Ying remembered, "If you go straight there will be the prayer room, then there is the kitchen. On the 1st floor there is infirmary and living quarters. The second construction is mostly the chapel, and above it is another layer of a shrine containing a huge cross."

"Damn, you have photographic memory," Jake praised her.

They started moving through the old, but still nicely decorated dark hallways. The windows were filled with red, green, blue multicolored stained glasses with different figures drawn on them. The alter stood tall and the chairs and benches before it empty. Hard to believe, once they used to be filled with people every once in a while.

Jake started to finger through a rack full of candles, and he stopped suddenly. Someone has been through here. Some of the candles were rolling on the racks, and their sides were clean, unlike the rest of them covered in cobwebs.

"Someone has already been here, " he told Ying.

"Yeah, I sensed that a while ago," she replied, "Stay on guard.

They started to cross the large columns slowly and more cautiously. Jake passed by a playing harp. He couldn't resist the urge to pluck a wire. It made a sharp sound, which almost made Ying to break the world record for high jump, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Uh, sorry," Jake chuckled.

But immediately, another plucking sound came from the other harp at the other end of the room.

"You heard that, right?" Jake asked Ying. She shook her head in response.

They started to advance really carefully. Jake walked in slow and steady steps and stood before the second harp, none was there. Jake saw that the wires were just normal. Then he went forward and touched the seat, it was warm. All the hairs on his hand became straight in caution, he looked at Ying, "Trouble!"

"What trouble?" she asked.

"Someone has…" before he finished a pair of hands broke the door behind them and grabbed Ying, it pulled her up to the door. She screamed.

Jake hurried there and grabbed the hands, he used all his force and got her free from them. She fell on the ground, whimpering.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked her.

She couldn't answer, no sound came out of her throat. Probably those hands grabbed her throat.

Suddenly, a drop of water fell on the ground. He stood frozen in his place, absolutely still. Another drop, he turned back, very slowly and looked down. The drops of waters just stopped in front of his feet. He sat to take a drop of that liquid in his hand, they weren't water, more like saliva. He looked up immediately, but couldn't see anything.

Again the harp made a tune. He looked back at once, but the scary thing was that Ying wasn't there anymore. He started to step back, an eerie feeling started behind his neck. He looked back again, but no one was even there. The mental pressure was too much.

The attack came from his left side, a figure covered with thorns like a porcupine lounged at him. He barely dodged it at the last moment, and rolled over at the side.

Horrifiedly, he noticed that the demon had no eyes, only a mouth filled with several sets of small, but razor sharp teeth. He guessed that it won't be able to see him, so he moved very carefully, so that no sound was made. But one of his feet touched the water drops, or saliva or whatever that was, while getting around that demon. It stopped immediately and slowly turned towards him, its lips bulging in low growling. Jake took a long breath, but the demon, instead of jumping at him, shot its tongue st him like a frog, he couldn't move enough quickly. It started to pull him towards itself.

He understood that supplying force will not be enough here, it will overpower him easily. He took out his double daggers and pinned them in ground, slowly taking himself behind, creating tension. Then he suddenly let go, flying at the demon and slid under it, slicing its belly.

It fell over the ground, vomiting black blood and its abdomens scattered on the ground. He stood up, coughing as a huge thorn came out of his leg. He felt that the thorn had touched his humerus, its poison slowly flowing to his limbs, numbing his leg. That's why he couldn't prevent the last trick that demon had up its sleeve, it thrust his head towards him one last time, jaws unhinged. He was sure that he's dead, but Ying came out of nowhere and kicked it so hard that its jaws went flying.

"Ha! High heels rule!" Jake chuckled.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," suddenly the room filled with scent of woodroses, along with girlish chuckling, Jake and Ying instantly went back to back, "Remember, if you can, don't miss the blow."

The wind started to flow like crazy, the braziers and candles started to fky over the place. Before he could even react the scream came from his back, "Ying, take it!"

But she couldn't. Jake saw desperately as she slapped Ying with the back of her hand and she went flowing through the door leading to the hallway. Another of her hits sent Jake flying through the windwo, breaking it and landing him in the field.

He was so stressed that he couldn't even transform. He started to crawl on the ground. He could see a fountain, though the water wasn't flowing. He dipped his hands in the water at the water at the bottom of the pool. When he took it in front of his eyes, he could see blood instead of water.

The wind started to flow behind his back. The flapping of wings landed. He started to crawl even faster, but that was no use. The footsteps were closing in.

While crawling, a cold touch was felt at his chest. He touched it, then took it out. It was a cross. He was never to believe in such things. But he remembered how it worked in his childhood while facing Bill. He decided to try it again.

He grabbed it in his fist. And immediately he could feel his neck grabbed by an inhuman hand, which slowly turned him back by lifting him in the air. The vicious dog-like face growled at him. Keeping his fears at bay, he left a gasp of air and stabbed her in her face with the cross. With a howl of pain, she threw him across the field, on the door of the chapel. It was hut open and he fell on the stairs, rolling down and dropped on the floor. It wss like all his bones shattered.

He could barely lift his head and saw a figure hovering in the air. Even in the darkness, he could identify, it was Ying. But how was she hovering in the air.

Then he could see that she was being held in the air by strings. They penetrated her arms and legs. Seeing her in such a painful position made him forget all his pains. He jumped up, "Ying! Are you hearing me?"

"She can't hear you," a familiar voice spoke very closely. The candles slowly started to lighten up. It was Frank, "She's on the verge of fall."

"You don't know her limits," Jake tried to sound confident, "Ying, I know you're there. I need you to wake up."

She moved her brows very lightly, blood was dripping out of her wounds.

He heard the wings flapping and looked back. Ada, in her demon form landed and pushed him out of the way, "She's mine to kill!"

Jake kept his balance and took an empty amulet from his pocket, lucky thing Ying was teaching him to keep spare items always, "Not today, you won't!" he punched with it in her face.