BLOODY LOVE'S
Episode 180's

Mr. Stuart decides to see Xavier alone, intending to dig deeper. Dave was escorted to the guest room for a break and given extra security. Rolan also placed the same sigil as the tattoo on Gerald's body in the guest room. He didn't know if it would work as effectively as his original tattoo, but trying never hurt.

After re-examining Marco's waist and making sure the man didn't have a fever, they went back to talking about something more serious.

Marco fondled the golden talisman of Arabella which he still kept, looking at the fine engraving on the pendulum valve. "You say Jose can go to the realm of death because you accidentally cast the right spell and activate this necklace?"

They were both in her room on the second floor. He fell asleep in bed while Rolan watched from a chair beside the nightstand. Marco actually does not like to discuss while lying in bed. Lying down makes him look weak. But the wound was painful again, and if he did not comply to rest, Rolan had vowed to hang himself in the room.

"Yes, I don't know what the mechanism is," Rolan said, "but obviously it's because of that. Jose made a quick decision and asked me to knock him unconscious. Otherwise, I can't imagine how that would be."

"What spell?" Marco looked. His eyes glowed like children got new toys.

Rolan knew the meaning of that gaze. He shakes firmly. "You're crazy to think I'd say it for you! Jose can come back just by luck, sheer coincidence! No one can guarantee that you will have the same experience!"

"We won't know if we don't try."

Rolan narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "You're just messing around, right? You've never believed in this kind of thing before."

"I'm a flexible man" said Marco calmly, hiding the gold medal in his hand. "After looking at the golem and seeing for myself how it was made, my name would be foolish if I didn't think about the possibility of another magic happening."

"I thought you'd be looking for a possibility to deny the fact that we're dealing with something supernatural."

"I never like it if the conclusion ends in a suggestion about the existence of the occult, because usually it does not help. For example, concluding that lightning is a phenomenon produced by the anger of God is a foolish thing." Marco closed his eyes, feeling his painkillers begin to work. "In general, occult things are just wreaths used to fill human ignorance. Why does rain appear? Don't know, don't care, maybe God is sad. Why do humans die? God wills that. Isn't that a stupid answer? But we're talking about something different now. We are not filling our ignorance with occultism. We already know first that there's some kind of magic in Bjork, so we'll deal with it."

Rolan understood the man's intentions. He sighed. "And you mean to face magic with flowers."

"That's just in case." Marco felt his eyelids getting heavier, he could not open them anymore. The darkness that surrounded him felt comfortable. "He has a physical body. As long as we destroy his physical body, he should be destroyed."

Rolan wasn't sure. What they were facing was not a man-made golem, but something stronger. People who have seen the real figure of Sir William call it the devil. How could it possibly defeat demons while they were just ordinary humans?

However, Rolan did not argue with Marco. He let the man sleep.

***

"Sir William is not a demon" Jose told his three friends. A white towel was around his neck.

They've reached the Argent manor, in Jose's room. Marsh and Clearwater borrow Jose's clothes for not bringing a change of clothes. The two did not even bring a waiter because they only intended to stop by Simon's office to chat.

Maria hugged the sitting pillow, watching Jose closely. "You mean how?"

"Wait, why is it about Sir William?" Marsh cut in wonder.

Jose realizes his two male friends have no idea what they're up against. It spins the brain, looking for the right way to tell what really happened.

Clearwater rubbed a towel over her still damp brown hair. His face looked grim as ever, as if he had just attended a funeral. "I want to say," he said slowly, "I'm not helping you because I want to hear your secret. If you don't want to say it, don't say it."

"I'm not telling you because I feel indebted" said Jose calmly, understanding the man's discomfort. "As I said before, I need your help."

Marsh smacked his fist into his chest while smiling broadly. "Say!"

"You know the mystery of the missing people in Bjork, right?" Jose started, intending to make his explanation as concise as possible. "We know who did it. He's not human."

"You said," Clearwater said quietly from under the hood of a towel, "Sir William isn't a demon?"

"He's not a demon" Jose asserted. This time his eyes turned to Maria. "But he's not human either."

"I saw the devil when I met him, Jose," Maria denied. He still shuddered whenever he imagined the disgusting shape of horned beasts behind Sir William's back. He remembered feeling the stinky breath vapour of the creature. "He is a demon."

"You see something behind his back," Jose reminded, "it stuck to his back like a parasite. That's demon. Sir William himself is not."

Maria fell silent, only to realize the possibility.

Marsh did not understand what the two friends were talking about. "Devil here means figurative, right?" he made sure confused. "Morphosic only?"

Jose and Maria shook their heads together with serious faces.

"He's going to kill more people in the near future" Jose continued. He rolled his eyes around the room, combing every corner in wonder. It felt like someone was watching. "Four more days, at the time of eclipse. Well, here's the help I need."

"How many people do you need? What kind of weapon?" Marsh was still a little confused, but he felt he did not need to know the details. He just feels good to be able to help. "Don't think you should talk to the church?"

Jose shakes. "We're in Bjork. The sacred here is not the church. Their strength is too weak. We're too far from the Holy See or the nearest cathedral." He looked back quickly, again feeling that pierced feeling, feeling as if someone was staring and watching him. His heart is beating fast.

"Jose?" Maria was suspicious. "Is there a problem?"

Jose put one finger to his lips. He got up from the sofa and grabbed the letter knife from the top of the bouquet as it settled. There was an intruder in his room. He just saw a little movement behind the partition closet that blocked his bed with a sitting room in the room. His feet moved quickly without a sound. Now he could even hear the soft breath of the intruder.

One sec. Jose slashed the distance in that fast time and lunged back to the partition.

The tip of the knife stopped exactly one milli in front of the skin of the intruder's neck, which stood docked to the side of the cupboard with a shocked face.

"Nolan?" Jose moved the knife away quickly. At first he was astonished, but then he became arrogant. "I almost scratched your neck! What are you doing here?!"

"Nolan is there?" mary from where she sat. The tone of the girl's voice was still as sweet as usual, but Jose felt that there was irritation there.

"I didn't mean to peek," Nolan said quickly, his face flushed red. "I'm sorry I went in without permission, but I'm tired of being chased by that shitty chick, so I'm hiding here. He did not dare to approach your room. I just came. Then you go home. I was just about to go out and say hello, but you guys got changed, so I hid."

"I heard a girl's voice," Marsh exclaimed while whistling flirtatiously. "You're keeping a mistress in your room right now?"

Jose extended his middle finger out of the partition towards Marsh, who instead chuckled crisply. He looked back at Nolan with a demanding look. "Then why don't you show up after we're done getting dressed?"

"You're talking about the devil." Nolan stared back at him with blue eyes that were shooting out loud. The girl did not feel at all guilty for eavesdropping. "So I'm right, our opponent is the one you were looking for in the South from the beginning?"

The blue color on Nolan's pupils made Jose recall the corpse that had just dragged him to the bottom of the river. The corpse of the pitiful man who said that he didn't want to experience any more pain. Jose gulped, feeling the corpse had facial contours similar to Nolan's. "When we first met at your house, I didn't see your father."

Nolan furrowed his brows, astonished by this change in topic. "Yes it's impossible. My father died a long time ago. I never said?" His expression changed miserably. "Why?"

Jose did not dare to answer.

***