The man and the woman tied Kate in a chair too. The room is a wide rectangular room. The wall color and the carpet is pure red giving it a really demonic cult impression. It was dark. The whole room is dimly lit by candles held by wall candle holders on each sides of the room. In the other end of the rectangular room from the door, there was a huge white inverted cross on the wall. And the backs of Kate and her friends were turned against it. It was already 8:30PM and Matthew hadn't arrived yet when Marissa woke up.
Marissa tried to move her body but she realized that she is tied in a chair tightly. "Hello? Anyone there?" No one answered her. So she continued to try to call for someone. And as she continued, she woke Kate and Jake up.
"Where are we?" Kate asked. "We're tied. Oh my Gosh. What they did. Why did they do this to us?"
"They haven't told you yet, did they?" Marissa said.
"Arghhh.. Those filthy devil worshipers!" Jake said angrily.
"What? D-devil worshipers?" Kate said.
"Talking about us? Don't you know that it's bad talking behind person's back?" a man said.
"But you love bad things and bad deeds, don't you? Besides, what's the use of being a devil? And take note, we're not talking behind your back because if I'm not mistaken, your voice is coming from our front side." Jake said sarcastically.
"Oh no no. I'm not condemning your bad deed. Actually, I'm so proud of you because you're a promising devil. Hahaha. And please, don't be so sarcastic."
"You gits! You are the ones who killed Robbie, Alyna, and the guard!" Kate burst. "Why do you have to kill people? Why!? You've killed three people! Murderers!"
"Three? Looks like we're still good in your eyes. We haven't killed only three. Actually, we've killed 87 people. And tonight, the 88th people will die and the demon of art will live again! Hahaha."
"What!?" Kate said, shocked by the number of people the LIVED people killed and the resurrection of the demon of art the man is talking about.
"Yes. 87. The last 5 people we have killed are just too lucky that Artamus, the demon of art, is quite stronger now that he doesn't need to eat the body of the people we've offered to him anymore. Hehehehe." the man said. "And in case you are wondering, no one noticed the number of people we have killed because they are still listed as missing persons in the past 7 years. And every year, we shift schools so that we wouldn't look suspicious.
"Seven years?" Jake asked.
"Yes. And as I've said, the five lucky people are lucky because Artamus haven't eaten their bodies. Hahaha."
"Who are the other two then after Robbie, Alyna, and Mang Reynold?" Jake interrogated.
"Too much information, eh? But it's fine. You're gonna die anyway. The first of five who have their bodies left is Robbie. Alyna and Reynold followed. But yesterday, we've offered Artamus another two. It's the new cheerleader Trina Caspers and her boyfriend. Ahahaha. Their portraits will be made after tonight. After the demon of art, Artamus live again! Hahaha."
"So, you've moved to St. Patrice University. You can't possibly do that because..St. Patrice is a catholic university!" Marissa said.
"Oh, darling. You're very wrong. It doesn't matter if you study in a catholic school or in a non sectarian school. Yes, of course, St. Patrice is a catholic university..but do its students even pray after the mass? But do the students even talk to God before they sleep? But do you, the catholic students, even act like catholics or even just Christians? No! And that allowed us, and Artamus, to make St. Patrice University our home this year." the man said. Suddenly, Marissa, Jake, and Kate realized how far they are from God at the moment.
"But..but LIVED is an organization not only in St. Patrice!" Kate said.
"Of course. There is a famous metro wide organization named LIVED, but the LIVED you mean is different from our LIVED. The famous LIVED means Lovely Incredible Versatile Engaging Dashing photography club. Since there's no LIVED in St. Patrice, we've decided to use their name but it means different. The LIVED you've been idolizing, darling Kate, is LIVED that means DEVIL when read backwards. Get it? Hahahaha."
"WTF.." Marissa muttered.
"But the blood you've sucked from the people you've killed..what are they for?" Jake asked.
"Oh..of course..the bloods. We only started to become a photography organization this year. In the past few years, we were a guild of writers. We've been secretly adding Satan conspiracies and signs to the articles we've written on other universities. But since the demon of art is stronger now, he said that we should become a photography club now and he'll make the photographs. I mean, he will paint the photographs."
"Paint the photographs? I don't understand." Jake said.
"The demon of art is not a human. He's a demon. And a demon is a lot better than an ordinary human. Using the bloods of the people found dead in the past weeks, Artamus, the demon of art created their lively portraits. And that's the reason why you, Jake, and you, Marissa were captivated by the portraits of Robbie and Alyna because their blood were part of their portraits. So naturally, their portraits will stand out. Too bad, Reynold's photograph weren't seen. Hahaha. And the other portraits, we've taken it ourselves and those are real photographs."
"But..but how do you choose the people you kill? I mean, Robbie, Alyna, and Mang Reynold are different people. What do they have in common?" Kate asked.
"Oh darling, you still didn't get it. Actually, you three and the other five we've killed, including Trina and her boyfriend, have something in common. You didn't get it, did you? That we have been able to study in a catholic school because of a weak faith to your God?" the man said.
"I get it. So, you've picked the people who have the weakest faith to God? Well, my relationship with God is weak indeed, but I don't think I have one of the weakest in school."
"You're right and wrong there. Yes, we do pick people with weakest link to your God. You're wrong because it's not about you and your faith. It just happened that you are friends with the last offer.."
"Last offer?" Jake asked.
"Yes, the last offer is Matthew. Matthew, just like the other people we've killed, has a very weak faith to your God. Just like you, he's a catholic. But he seldom went to the church by his own or he never visited the church during ordinary Sundays. He only goes to the church when he is with his family during Christmas or Holy Week. But that's all! He doesn't pray at night, he doesn't make the sign of the cross. He never acted as if he was a real catholic. And according to Artamus, that's the perfect personality that he wants. He really wants the soul of Matthew. And since we have been feeding him souls and bodies for years now, Matthew will be the last and he, Artamus, will be 100% back."
"So, if it's not about us, why take us too?" Marissa said.
"Oh you selfish girl."
"I'm not selfish, I'm just wondering!" Marissa defended herself.
"Well, I know that you know that you have weak faiths to your God too. And it just happened that Matthew found friends like you. And now, you will serve as the first dinner of Artamus after he gets his body back."
"You kept saying Artamus. But does he really exists?" Jake asked. "I've been reading a lot of articles for all my life. And I've read the list of demon names. I never found any demons named Artamus nor the demon of art tag."
"Because not all the demons in the demon list you've read are real, and not all the demons they have not listed are bogus!" the man responded.
"Then after summoning the demon, what's next?" Kate asked, trying to not mind the fact that the man who's talking plans on feeding them to the demon.
"Of course, we've been summoning Artamus because we need him, Satan needs him. Artamus is one of the greatest followers of Satan, and Artamus in the world of humans will be a great help to him. Together, we will spread the satanic conspiracies, signs, and we will grow the number of Antichrists from the students sector through breath taking artworks here in the city. The art made by the demon that people will love, they just don't know, is also the art that will bring them to hell. Hahahaha! And through this work, we will empower Satan. Satan goes stronger when evil deeds are being practiced by more people."
"Witty." Jake said.
"Thanks." the man said.
"But not witty enough." Jake said.
"What do you mean? You're now going to die but you're still trying to sound fierce, huh?" the man said.
"Because if you are really witty, and your Satan, and your Artamus, whoever you guys are, you should have understood the word 'almighty'."
"And you did think that we don't know what 'almighty' means? Funny Jake."
"I don't mean it literally, git. I mean, if you guys are witty and intelligent, you should have known what are the capabilities of the Almighty God are. He was called Almighty God because He is Almighty. And Almighty means the greatest, unbeatable, strongest and most powerful! And He will prevail whatever you and your filthy demon lords do!" Jake said angrily.
True indeed. The man was quiet for a moment. But he thought of something good to say. "Says who? You? If your God is really Almighty, then why are you here? That means, even if your God is really Almighty, you, His creation, is nothing. Especially if you have no connection with Him! Now you're here, will die in a couple of hours. Hahaha. And our war against your God will continue through the help of people like you!"
These words left Jake silent. Then he prayed "Lord God, I'm sorry if I'm only talking to you now. I'm really, really sorry. I forgot about you because I've been busy studying and making things in school perfect for me. I'm really sorry if I ignored you for a long time and didn't thank you for all the blessings you've gave me. I'm no longer asking you to save me now because I know that I don't deserve it. I just want to say sorry..and I love you." after these thoughts, Jake stopped thinking about anything else anymore but he kept apologizing to the Lord. Marissa and Kate bowed too to pray silently.
After a minute or two, Kate asked "But..where is Matthew? Looks like he's not coming. You've failed."
"Don't smirk yet. Everything went according to plan. Thanks to the demonic intervention, you all arrived in the rightest time. Artamus' spirit is on the works now to bring Matthew here. He is meant to be late because you all need to be tied first before he arrives."
"Demonic interference, you mean?" Marissa said, smirking.
"Shut up."
"But based on Jake's research, you need something from Robbie..what is that?" Kate asked.
"So the interview isn't done yet. The demon of art asked us to invite Robbie to join in. According to him, Robbie is a genius and he will become a great help if we get him as the new president of our cult. But of course, he's so stupid and stubborn and all, he refused. That's why Artamus will have the kill him and suck his soul."
"But I know, you've liked it that he refused because you'll lose your post, won't you, Mario Adan?" Kate said, guessing whether they are talking to the president of LIVED himself.
"Of course. But I still have the post so no need to say that things." Mario Adan said, quite annoyed.
Before Mario could even add words, somebody knocked at the door.
"Yes?" Mario said. Then the door opened, the woman in black dress said "He's here."
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