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Lucifer (Original Draft): Chapter 4 |
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A Friend? [Per Note: Yes, there are two Chapter 3's.] During the next few days Damien and Father Damien spent a lot of time together, catching up on things they didn't know. Once in a while the two kids, Harvey and Esmeralda, would tag along. One day the four of them stopped at an outdoors cafe. Father Damien went inside to talk to someone. Damien sat there boredly and waited. "Are you Mr. Damien?" The voice came suddenly. Damien turned around to see a person about his age holding out a hand. "Just Damien," Damien replied, shaking his hand but not getting up. "You?" "Derrick. I hear you're interested in the occult?" Damien looked a little puzzled. "What else?" "Well," Derrick said, thinking. "You know, cults, the unknown, the supernatural?" Damien shrugged. "In a way. Why?" Derrick sat down. "I was wondering if you'd ever heard the name of a certain cult." What a weird answer! "I don't know. Listen, why don't you get to the point? I don't know what the heck you're talking about." "The cult that kidnapped your relatives," Derrick stated. Damien started, "How did you know that? What are you, with the FBI or something?" Derrick leaned forward, ignoring his questions again. "There is a cult," he said, "which is so powerful that few who join can escape. It's worldwide, with members in every walk of life. It includes top generals and politicians, and," (here he lowered his voice) "maybe even some of your closest friends." [Per Note: I originally wrote here that I believed part of this speech was paraphrased from the Weekly World News article which inspired this series. I had no way to confirm this, as the WWN archives cover only their online edition, and I lost my print copy of the article long ago. But then I remembered I included the entire article in one of my stories! I just went looking and it's included in the unfinished novel Luther. And yes--the lines about top generals and politicians, members in every walk of life, and few being able to escape were lifted from the 1988 article.] "What..." Damien started. "The cult," Derrick said, getting up to leave, "is called Scorpio." With that, he walked away. |