A Demon Cultist In the Closet, Next to the Tea Cozies ((Bendytime before the Godstorm))

[vesper_verde]

New York City felt taut from the skies. As Vesper winged his way around buildings, he could feel the tense anticipation brought on by wall-to-wall coverage of the huge storm heading their way. Though that didn't mean the gangs he tracked did less.

It just meant they got more trigger happy and frantic about the next shipment getting in before the rest of the city blew away. He was on his way to a meeting. He'd overheard part of it. He didn't have all the details but enough to get there and make these drug-pushing gangs regret it.

He kept his ears tuned toward the ground as he flew. It was always good to know if he was spotted and going to be shot at. Which is why he didn't fly right by a set of apartment buildings in Brooklyn when he heard a blood-curdling scream.

Vesper adjusted course and swooped lower to try to figure out what that was and where it came from.

Comments

[fear_the_rider]

"Do you plan to turn these fools over to your mortal authorities?" Ghost Rider asked.

The Rider held little faith in human constables, even less than his host did.

[vesper_verde]

He moved to the next cultist to bind her like the one he just finished.

"They killed someone." He glanced at the bloody mess in the room. "Or something. I'm not sure what this is or what demons might tear the seven veils or whatever. As you're not a blind woman with a set of scales, I don't think you're the embodiment of justice. If a person died, then their friends or family need to know what happened. You going to do that? I'm definitely not. Law enforcement needs to get involved."

It sounded like a normal solution to a paranormal situation, so he clung to his normal mode of working.

[fear_the_rider]

"I am the Spirit of Vengeance, not the Spirit of Compassion or Comfort. When innocent blood is spilled, I destroy the ones responsible." Ghost Rider said, looking at the dead in the room along with the cultists.

He looked at one of the unbound cultists. Walking over, he snatched the cultist up from the floor with one hand.

"Where did you learn the ritual you performed? Who gave you this knowledge?"

Whoever put them up to this was the one that the Rider needed to deliver vengeance upon.

[vesper_verde]

"Compassion is more powerful than anger. It makes one less of a monster." Despite his own path of vengeance, he understood the human toll. Eavesdropping on people as part of his patrols gave voice to exactly who he fought and who else was affected.

Though he was going to let flame-head do his own interrogation as he moved onto one of the remaining cultists. So he totally missed the cultist dangling off the floor biting his tongue off to not reply. His stomach would thank him later. He didn't want flashbacks of tentacle-biting.

[fear_the_rider]

If the cultist refused to answer, Ghost Rider would make the man face the weight of his sins. Staring into his eyes, he gave the Penance Stare to this one as well, allowing him to feel the horrors he'd unleashed on his victims and others in the name of whatever volatile god he served.

[vesper_verde]

Making sure to keep his back toward the Ghost Rider, Vesper winced. He really didn't want to know those noises a tongue-less man could make. He temporarily put a silence field around the upper half of his head.

Years of practice let him keep his voice level when he spoke without hearing his surroundings. The jig might be up if he started shouting like he was deaf. "Anybody else up for that? Because he wants answers."

[fear_the_rider]

"If they refuse to speak, then we should hunt the rest of them. This cannot be the only cell."

[vesper_verde]

Vesper had been watching the cultists' eyes to see when to drop his silence field. He only caught the last half of what the Ghost Rider had said, but it was enough for him to get the gist.

He turned toward the flaming skull guy in leather. "Do you have a better way of tracking mystical hoodoo? I usually deal with gangs and drug dealers. When you use your whatever that was, they don't become talkative. More screamative. And they're fanatics if they're this far gone."

He gestured at the ritualistic and bloody room.

[fear_the_rider]

"They won't be hard to find. They're using young women as their sacrifices. They'll make a mistake. And then we will destroy this cult and its master." the Rider said.

[vesper_verde]

Vesper looked at the windows covered in... he wasn't sure if that news paper or very thin tattooed skin. He wasn't going to ponder the later option.

"Big storm coming," he noted quietly. He cast his hearing out of the room, through the building, into the neighborhood, and out to it's limits. He heard a lot of things, but no piercing screams, death rattles, or weird chanting.

He shook his head to focus back in the room. "Nothing going on within a couple miles. If you have a better way of tracking, you might want to do it. I'll..." Did he really want to hang around a guy who could toast marshmallows on his head? "... get these people into the hands of the authorities."

[fear_the_rider]

"I'll be in touch. There are places we can go that you cannot. Once I know where to find them, I'll make contact." he said.

With that, he turned to go and let the masked human deal with the mortal authorities. If any of these fools continued using dark magic, he'd see them again eventually.

And there would be no one to save them, then.