While you were gone...

So apparently what was going on was a great deal more than I had expected. Candlemass had mentioned the Red Skull scare wasn't the worst of his problems in the village, but I had no idea how far that extended. But I'll tell you what Candlemass told me.



When he got back to the village, everything seemed generally as usual. He stopped in to check in with other members of The Order. Rachel Dogood was, as usual, disapproving of his continual absence, but she never approved of anything Candlemass did, anyway. Not even his high kill record. The only other person in the Order quarters was Daniel Stone, who was in the main area, sharpening his hunting knife.

Daniel is about the age of Candlemass, give a few years, and he's one of the ones who generally doesn't care what Candlemass does, and leaves him to his business.

So Candlemass got the rundown from Stone about the Red Skulls. The Johnston's farm out near Bender's Creek (a large, winding stream that runs through the town, and ends near a thick patch of woods) had quite a few number of Red Skulls lurking in the herd- luckily, Marsten Johnston's eldest daughter Margaret had recognized the signs and had taken the things out to an early slaughter, and their corpses were in need of being disposed of. But there was no hurry.

But Candlemass never being one to put off today what can be done today, set out to go burn some cow-monster corpses, leaving Daniel to sharpen his artillery.

The day had been mild and pleasant, and the Red Skull corpses actually made quite a merry fire, according to Candlemass. He had a preemtive breakfast on the fire, roasting a few sauseges and eating them with a leftover end of bread provided to him by the littlest JOhnston child.

He said he finally understood the urgency of the Council when he came back, still content from an early morning's well-done job. The village was more quiet than usual, even for winter time. People were guarded. They were afraid.

The town hall was shut up tight, and a notice had been pinned to the front doors: Town Council meetings had been suspended until further notice, in light of the recent emergencies. Any village member or member of The Order was to report to the town Justice and head of the town council, John Blackwater.

Candlemass headed over to the residence of John Blackwater at once.

Blackwater's house was one of the largest, oldest houses in the town, and one all town council heads had lived in. When Candlemass stepped up to the front door, the house, at first, seemed empty. When he stooped to look into a window, all he could catch was the sight of his own face in the glass, and realized the curtains had been pulled shut tight.

Just as he thought he had sighted something moving in the kitchen past the drapes, the door opened, and Blackwater's son stepped out, looking slightly nervous. But Candlemass greated him cordially and gently and stepped in past the boy, and was called in further into the house by Blackwater.

The man himself was in the house's small study, and Candlemass wasted no time in asking what had gone amiss in the time he had been gone.

On the village council, there are always thirteen members, just like there are always thirteen Punishers.

But now there were only nine.

Over the past week, in their sleep, members of the village Council had been picked off one by one.

The entire Order was already on the case, but not a trace of how the Council members had been murdered had been found. They were simply found, every morning, strangled to death in their sleep. The hands that had done it were long, with too many joints in the fingers, and on the bodies of the Council members, there were patches of thick, viscous slime.

Candlemass had listened to all this silently, and then asked simply,

"If the entire Order is on this, what do you want me to do? I can hardly do something thirteen people can't accomplish." But he'd really only said this to be a bit difficult, and the council head knew this too.

"Jack," he said, for he was one of the only people allowed to call Candlemass Jack.

"You and I both know you're the pinnacle of the Order. God help us all."

"Don't pray to God in times like these, John. He won't be there to help you." Candlemass was already rising, though. He knew what he had to do.

It had already been two days since the thing had attacked last and killed Mordecai Crow, and Candlemass knew it would only be a matter of time before it would need to feed again. He knew now that was what it was doing- feeding. Or, at least, he had the suspicion.

So, that night, Candlemass went to sleep in his own house. He settled down in his ill-used bed, and dragged the thick covers up over himself, and snapped the candle out.

It was past three in the morning, he said he had figured, when he felt a warm, slim arm slip over his waist, and the points of two slender, smooth knees coming to rest behind his own. He sighed and resettled himself, only half awake, because he realized it was only his wife, Valeria who had come to bed.

It was only an instant after that before he remembered his wife was dead.

Thin, sinuous arms and legs began wrapping around his body. Thin fingers, with too many joints wrapped around his neck. Candlemass said he'd been so surprised by what he saw, he lost the advantage of first attack, as Rachel Dogood settled on his hips and began choking the life from him.

He knew, at that moment, the knowledge flashing through his head like fire, what she really was, and her true nature. This wasn't Rachel at all. Rachel was already dead, and this thing was wearing her skin. And he knew what these Skinners were particularly vulnerable to.

Fire.

So when she opened her mouth to draw his soul from him, he dragged the thing down into a kiss, and snapped his teeth together.

The spark he created with his teeth traveled into her mouth and down into her insides like grass feeding on dry fire. It didn't even have the time to stagger up away from him; the thing collapsed on him in a hull of ashes, and Candlemass was left choking on his bed.

Candlemass, of course, went to report almost immediately to Blackwater, who wasn't too pleased to have a mostly naked Candlemass in his living quarters so late at night. His position quickly changed once he had gotten a good look at Candlemass, and before he could ask what had happened, Candlemass gave his report.

The rest of the process involved selecting new Council members, of which Daniel Crow was one, someone Candlemass regretted highly being selected. All in all, he was pleased with the results however.