"So, what's this about?" Alain asked as the two priests began to lead him through the building. He looked around as he went; from what he could see, they were all underground, though in typical Catholic fashion, that somehow hadn't stopped them from trying to make everything at least somewhat aesthetically pleasing. Religious iconography adorned the walls, along with what had to be at least one crucifix on every available surface. Incense burned throughout the area, no doubt to fight off the scent of damp cavern. All around him, priests and nuns moved about, hustling to and fro; Alain didn't miss how some of the priests were armed with holstered revolvers.

And, naturally, his question went ignored, Father Alex and Father Corrin continuing to lead him along in silence. Alain, never one to be perturbed, decided to press his luck a bit.

"So, what's going on with all of you?" he questioned. "Looks like this is some kind of paramilitary organization made up entirely of Catholics. That about right? And if it is, I'm guessing we're in some kind of religious center-"

"Do you ever stop talking?" Father Corrin snapped at him without looking back. "All of your questions will be answered in due time. Besides, I thought you wanted to see your friends again?"

Alain's gaze narrowed, but he nodded nonetheless. He fell silent, continuing to follow the two priests as they walked.

Eventually, they led him up a winding staircase, and to Alain's surprise, they emerged in what appeared to be a large cathedral.

"Geez…" he muttered. "What is this place?"

"San Fernando Cathedral," Father Alex finally answered.

"I take it the big underground section is a new development?"

He didn't receive an answer, both priests remaining silent. Alain pursed his lips.

"So, you let us live because I'm her apprentice," he surmised. "I take it that's more substantial of a statement than I understand it to be?'

"Vampires generally do not take human apprentices," Father Alex told him without looking back. "The last time something like that happened was several hundred years ago."

"Okay. And the significance of that is…?"

"She has told you of her family name, has she not?"

"She has. Clan Sable, of Romania."

"Clan Sable is well-known among those on the other side of the Veil," Father Corrin interjected. "Someone like her taking you on as her apprentice is significant enough that we are willing to spare your lives in order to find out more, ourselves."

Alain's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Somehow, I get the sense that's not the entire truth."

"And you'd be correct. The truth is, vampires have an intimate connection to the Underworld, in ways that most other creatures from the other side of the Veil do not. There is a reason why they are referred to as children of night. To have one from a family so powerful be willing to take on a human apprentice… it is worth keeping an eye on all of you, if only to see how this continues to develop in due time."

Alain opened his mouth to say something else, but didn't get the chance to before someone interrupted him.

"Alain!"

At the sound of Sable's voice, Alain whipped around to face her, and watched as she came running up along with Danielle and Az. Oddly enough, Sable seemed completely fine, whereas Az looked incredibly tired and fatigued for some reason.

"Hey," Alain said, getting Az's attention. "You alright, big guy?"

"Fine," Az replied.

"You sure? Because I've never seen you-"

"Alain," Az said, cutting him off. "I am fine."

"As am I, thanks for asking," Sable said, rolling her eyes. "Are you okay? They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"I'm alright," Alain assured her. "And Danielle? What about you?"

"Also fine," she said. "Of course, I got let out pretty quickly once they figured out who I was."

"Must be nice…" Alain muttered. Shaking his head, he turned back to the two priests, who were waiting nearby. "Now, I believe you mentioned that we had much to discuss?"

"Indeed, I did," Father Alex said with a nod. "First off, I believe some explanations are in order. To begin with, you are correct – the underground section of the cathedral is a new development. As in, within the past few months."

Alain let out a low whistle. "You all work fast, then. It can't have been easy to build something like that in such a short amount of time."

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Indeed, we do. But what else would you expect from the world's premiere monster hunting organization?'

That got Alain's attention. He blinked in disbelief. "...Hang on," he said, "you're telling me that the Catholic Church actually boasts some kind of organization dedicated to hunting creatures of the night?'

"That is exactly what I'm telling you," Father Alex confirmed. "And it's been that way for thousands of years, almost since the first day of the church's formation."

"Hm… I guess that might explain where my mother gets it from, then…"

"Your mother?" Father Corrin suddenly asked. "Who is-" His eyes suddenly widened in recognition. "Smith… your mother is Heather Smith."

"You know her?" Alain asked, confused.

To his surprise, Father Corrin nodded. "Yes, I do. We trained together, when we were both young, before I entered the seminary."

"Alright, that's going to require an explanation," Alain demanded. "How did you two meet?"

"The same way most prospective monster hunters meet, I imagine," Father Alex interrupted. "They happened to survive an attack by the supernatural and were brought into the fold as a result. Your mother is Catholic, and so the church got to her before the Army did, otherwise she would have been a part of Colonel Stone's regiment, I'm sure, as are most Protestants who survive an encounter with the supernatural in this country."

"You know Colonel Stone, too?"

"We're the Catholic Church," Father Alex reminded him. "We have reach across the globe. That is to say, we are at the very least acquaintances with every large government's monster-hunting organizations."

Alain brought a hand up to rub at his forehead. "Pardon me for cussing in the Lord's house, but what the hell…?"

"It's really not that hard to understand," Father Corrin pointed out.

"No, I get that, it's just… hard to believe." Alain let out a sigh. "So, you knew my mother. Any reason why she's not an official part of your group?"

"Because she wanted to raise a family," Father Corrin said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I don't know if you remember it, but the church requires its priests and nuns to be celibate, which naturally precludes us from raising families."

"So your entire monster hunting group is made up of priests and nuns?" Sable asked.

"Aside from our support roles, yes," Father Alex confirmed with a nod. "And there is a reason for that, too – a lot of what we deal with comes from the depths of hell itself; it pays to have a close connection with God, in that case. And even beyond that, everything we face is extremely dangerous; we wouldn't dream of sending married men and women out to willingly face any of it as a result, not when they have families to raise."

"And I take it that my mother disagreed, which is why she went off on her own rather than stay affiliated with your order," Alain surmised.

"Correct," Father Corrin said. "Now then-"

"If I may?" Az asked, impatient. "I was under the impression that you had something you wished to discuss with us aside from all of this."

"Indeed, you are correct," Father Alex confirmed with a nod. "As you can probably imagine by the fact that we've established a base of operations here, we have reason to believe that a cult is operating in the area."

"A cult…?" Alain muttered. "No offense, but I think we've already dealt with those guys."

"You have?"

"Yeah. Did you hear that train derailment a few days ago, the one that killed everyone on board? We were a part of that. Cultists took over the train and began massacring everyone on it, then raising them as undead; we managed to fight them off, but the train derailed shortly after, and we were stranded in a small town out in the desert. I guess that's where the cultists had been heading, because it turned out that they'd taken over the town as their base of operations."

Father Corrin's eyes narrowed. "And the townspeople? Dead, I presume?"

Slowly, Alain nodded. "Unfortunately. We did manage to deal with all the cultists there, at least. I take it that's who you were talking about?"

To his surprise, Father Alex shook his head. "No, actually. We did hear about the train derailment, as well as the massacre of a small frontier town, but this is all new to us. No, we're specifically discussing cult activity here, in San Antonio."

"Hm… is it possible the two are connected?"

"It's very likely," Father Alex confirmed. "We have reason to believe that the cult is using San Antonio as a staging area from which to spread out to the outlying areas in Texas."

"Which would mean that the so-called leader we killed was really just a slightly higher-ranked underling." Alain let out a tired sigh. "Answer me this, Father – what's with the explosion in cult activity, anyway? Do you think that's a natural occurrence?"

"That should be obvious enough," Sable interjected, crossing her arms. "Once the Veil was lifted, people were probably equal parts frightened and curious. I imagine that the ones who were truly terrified flocked to religion for comfort, while the others saw… opportunity, for lack of a better word."

"The vampire is correct," Father Corrin said.

Sable bristled at that. "I have a proper name, human. You should use it if you wish to speak about me."

Father Corrin ignored her, instead looking back to Alain. "It's as she said – people got curious about what lurked on the other side of the Veil. For some, that meant digging deep, looking into esoteric knowledge for things man was never meant to uncover… and hell itself was all too happy to provide."

"So that's where the books are coming from?" Alain asked.

Father Alex shook his head. "Not quite. We suspect there is a demon lurking behind the scenes, leaking knowledge to key people who are then compiling it in these books and handing them out to whoever wants them."

"And that's why you're here, then?" Alain questioned.

"We've been here in San Antonio since the middle of the eighteenth century, at the very least," Father Corrin replied. "And we've had a monster-hunting operation going for at least that long, too. But it's only recently that we've been able to push it farther than we ever have before, up to and including operating in plain sight. Traditionally, the church has always treated us as the black sheep of its organizations – our job is a necessary one, but that doesn't change the fact that we are, at our core, hunters of abominations. But ever since New Orleans, that's changed; we are now more necessary than ever, and we can no longer work purely in the shadows."

"I can imagine," Alain said. "So, you think there's a cult operating here, in San Antonio, that's being led by a demon. Do you know what they're trying to accomplish, exactly?"

"If they're doing the same things they were doing on that train and in that town, it can only mean that they intend to fuel a ritual of some kind," Az interjected. "It's roughly the same thing as what happened in New Orleans, and to a lesser extent, Los Banos."

"That's exactly what we suspect," Father Alex confirmed. "We believe this cult is trying to fuel a ritual through the use of human sacrifice."

"Great, another one of these…" Alain sighed tiredly. "We've been dealing with a lot of these since New Orleans. Generally, it's nothing more than some idiot and maybe a few of his friends cutting their wrists with a dagger to try and summon a succubus or something, but occasionally we come across something truly dangerous like this. Whoever this cult is, they're obviously well-connected and probably well-funded."

Danielle suddenly bristled. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"I'm not saying anything at this point, aside from the obvious," Alain promised her. "We don't know what happened to your father, Danielle. It's entirely possible he's completely innocent in all of this, and we won't know for sure until we find him." He turned towards the two priests. "I don't suppose you two would know anything about the disappearance of Senator Silvera, would you?"

"If he's involved in this, then it'd be the first we're hearing about it," Father Corrin grunted, crossing his arms in the process. "Frankly, we're just as mystified by his sudden disappearance as the rest of the city is."

"Great…" Alain let out another sigh. "Alright, then – what is it that you want us to do about this cult, exactly? Because, much as I'd like to help, we're already searching for the missing senator."

"We're not asking for much," Father Alex assured him. "Just that if you learn anything more about the cult, that you come to us with that information. In exchange, we will provide you with whatever we know about the missing senator. Is that agreeable?"

"Yeah, I suppose. Now, if that's all, I think we should be on our way, if you don't mind."

Father Alex waved him off. "Go in peace."

Alain tipped his hat to him, and then beckoned for his friends to follow as he left the cathedral. He didn't miss how Sable and Father Corrin spared each other one last pointed glance before separating, however. Still, they were free to go now, though he wasn't optimistic enough to believe they weren't also still being watched.

The church had eyes all around San Antonio, apparently; as far as he was concerned, it'd pay for them to be cautious after the way their first meeting went, especially given how badly they'd been beaten.

For now, though, all he wanted to do was find a place to rest his head. There'd be time for more investigating in the morning.