2 He's Laughing... (Updated!)

"Get your hands off me!", yelled the woman, pushing the man away from her. The man fell on the nearby wooden chair, breaking it; And a sharp piece of it impaled his shoulder. The man who should be in pain suddenly broke into a maniacal laugh and pulled the chair piece out of his shoulder and moved towards the woman.

The woman who was crying and panicking slowly widened her cheek, smiling and broke into laughter joining him. She couldn't control the exploding laughter and tears flowed from her cheek. Her body moved on its own.

She jumped onto the man and kiss him 'passionately' as their tongues meet and roll. He unhooked her bra and caressed her back, and the disgustingly passionate kiss took a sudden turn as she bites off his mouth and spat on his face - while still laughing. The man who lost his lips and some part of his jaw was still laughing too; while tears were flowing from his eyes. Both of them laughed hard, unconditionally. He grabbed her by the neck while she poked his eyes; pushing her fingers deep inside into his skull. The blood flowing from the eyes rained on her face. 

The more they both hurt, the more they laughed and as time went by, the laughter faded as there was no one left to laugh nor hurt anymore.

******************

The sun arose, and Maguire stepped into a hotel room. He sipped his coffee, seeing two dead bodies in front of them with their intestines spilt out and stuffed into each other's mouths; like they were eating it when they died.

"It's just been a month and here we are. With a new fresh murder," said Maguire with obvious fake excitement; and ever-poor sarcasm.

"Oh! Mr.Aalaf, good to see you again"

"Thank you, sir... but two people are dead here so it's..." replied Aalaf, embarrassed. Maguire gave him a gold coin, with a cross engraved on it.

"Sir, this is ... ?", asked Aalaf, showing the coin to Maguire. Maguire smiled.

"It was my fault last time, and I just learned to not repeat it."

Aalaf was still puzzled. "Sir?"

"Call him."

The telephone rang repeatedly as Priest was still sleeping in his room, tired from roaming through the city all night. Priest uses a special kind of telephone which needs an exclusive coin for others to contact him. Priest finally, after five calls, attended the call.

"It was an epic line!", yelled Maguire from the other end. The Priest immediately put the phone down as it felt like someone shot his ears. After rubbing his ears a few times, he picked the receiver again.

"What?"

"It was an epic line. It would have looked cool! You were supposed to pick up the phone right away—"

"Okay! I am sorry! Next time, call me if you are going to say any epic line so I can attend the call right away, so you won't be embarrassed if I don't attend the call right away... Now, why the hell did you call me?"

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The Priest arrived at the hotel wearing his usual black two-piece suit and round-neck black t-shirt holding a red umbrella in his left hand and a chilled chocolate milkshake in his right.

"Who in their right mind drinks milkshakes in this rain?", yelled Maguire like he usually does.

"I do. Mr.Maggie," Priest replied, finishing the last of the milkshake.

"You motherfu...ufff whatever. These are the dead bodies... they ate each other off and our forensics tried to find clues but cannot look other than the fact that they ate each other to the point they died andddd what else... yeah! It's an A-level crime and, of course, it is above our paygrade, so help us out... Majesty!"

"W o W. You're dissing me, aren't you?", Priest chuckled, "Anyway... Okay, the thing is, this falls in the same pattern as with the previous one... the one with the woman who was stabbed but disturbingly smiling... What's her name?"

"Meredith."

"Yeah... Whoever. These murders are not just murders, they are sacrifices, Maggie knows it well, he saw it up close... fearlessly", Priest said gesturing towards Maguire irritating him, "They are trying to awake someone from something... sleep, death... we don't know but all these are rituals were once followed back... umm... when I was eight hundred years younger than now, and it was followed by..."

"By who? Why the hell are you pausing for?"

"Increasing the dramatic effect, haha...", Priest awkwardly laughed - alone," Okay, that's not funny as I expected it to be. They are satanic cults, okay? They are here... In the seventh gate... hunting!"

Later, Maguire and the cops inquired the guests of other rooms, hotel management, while the Priest was happily listening to 'Song of Denise' in his headphones lying on the floor next to the dead bodies.

"Ms. Rakul, right? You're a newbie here?", asked Priest to the new lady officer. "I am supposed to work at night, miss. Can't you guys figure this out by yourselves?", asked Priest to Rakul, who was busily texting.

"No, father... but we are not allowed to deal with A-level crimes—"

"Supernatural stuff, " muttered Priest, "Just say the things as they are"

As only Rakul and the Priest are left in the room apart from the dead bodies, Priest thought about having a chat with Rakul. He removed his headphones.

"Hey listen. Actually, the thing is, these supernatural occult stuff works in their prime only after the sun is set, the night. So, we could form a division where cops work at night—"

"Respectable father! You know that working at night means associating ourselves with the defected, " said Rakul, keeping the phone back in her pocket.

"Defected? That's a name you guys gave. They are people too. They are risking their lives to work at such a time, to feed themselves and —"

"Equal society, right? A society where everyone can co-exist with no barriers and every basic need reaches everyone."

"What? Yeah, it kind of relates to that. But that's not why I—"

"Society where anyone can climb up if they work hard, so anyone can attain equal footing in success... even a defected," Rakul clenched her teeth, but still maintained her smile.

"No one is truly higher, only efforts matter. Superiority is not decided by birth. We all are equal, blah, blah...".

"What are you trying to say?", asked Priest taking out a flat lollipop and unwrapping it.

"Fuck your ideology!... Sir. Respectfully"

The Priest put the lollipop into his mouth and smiled at her where the smile slowly descended and disappeared in disappointment as another one refused to look at things his way.

"Hey, I... sorry we found something, the two—", stopped Maguire as he saw Priest silent, doing nothing, "Did something happen when I'm out?"

The time passed six, and the rain slowed down and stopped. The high-level restaurants closed their doors and the workers immediately rushed off to the low-end one, which opens after six. Because...

Twenty years after the seventh gate was formed, a secret organization crept into their city, spreading satanic beliefs and luring people into their organization; and putting them through rituals promising them it can grant their wishes and give anything they desire.

This caused a massive rise in murders and suicides. As per the studies, the rumoured supernatural forces only takes effect after the sunset as even the murders only take place at night. So, the government implemented a curfew, where people should be indoors as soon as the sun sets. But the 'defected' or, in a respectful way, 'refugees' need to work double to make their ends meet.

Priest and Maguire entered the "Halina Fried Chicken" restaurant where they are the only customers other than a man in his 30s sipping his coffee.

"Hey, father!" Diana, the chief cook, who is also the owner, and sometimes a waitress of her own restaurant, waved at the Priest.

"A fried chicken burger and milkshake," said Priest, plugging earphones without even looking at her.

*Smack* Diana punched Priest hard on his face. "If you want to say something, say it to my face!"

"It hurts, uhh my nose... shit, I'm bleeding," groaned Priest.

"Don't take it seriously. You're immortal anyway," mocked Maguire chuckling.

"But it hurts, Mr. Maguire..."

"Wow," gasped Maguire as Priest called him by his name, which only happens when he is really pissed off.

Maguire lifted Priest and both of them settled down to the table.

"You're still thinking about that new officer?"

Priest gave a deep sigh and rubbed his forehead, being tired.

"I thought maybe she's young... maybe she can understand it," replied Priest after a long pause while Diane placed the milkshake on his table. "That's fast," muttered Maguire.

"I always keep a glass of chilled milk ready for him. Just throw some chocolates and a scoop of ice cream and all that is left is mixing them..." Diana excitedly explained to Maguire but quickly resorted to her cold face.

She turned towards Priest and said, "Now drink it!" with a glare, to which Priest casually chuckled.

"Sure thing, mam", Priest sipped the milkshake. Diana smiled, but kept it hidden and buried behind her stoic face. But not before breaking into asking, "Does it really hurt bad?"

Maguire noted the concern and care in Diana's eyes.

"Hey D!" yelled the man from another table. "Yeah, coming!" Diana replied and hesitantly looked at Priest, who signalled her to just carry on. Diana half-heartedly walked out of the conversation and left the table; leaving Maguire and Priest alone to talk.

"That's a very short skirt, even for a waitress. Hey! Have you heard that priests usually don't indulge in—"

"I'm not 'The Priest' okay! It's just my name. I don't even have a religion. And there's nothing between me and the girl—"

"I didn't say anything about you and Diana."

"You didn't?"

"Nope. Not at all... I mean, she's like your sister, right? Sister? Did you hear it correctly? Sister!" Maguire loudly teased Priest, to which Priest paid no heed and simply proceeded to drink his milkshake in silence.

"Jesus! fuck!", screamed Diana from the other table. Diana stepped back and tripped herself to fall on the ground. Her wrist was bleeding as the man she was serving sliced her wrist with a knife.

Priest noticed the blackened eyes of the man and his weird expression; which made him realize what was happening and what was going to happen.

"He is laughing..." Priest muttered. Maguire got confused on hearing it and asked, "What? What is happening?"

"He is laughing! Go and grab my stick!" Priest snapped. Maguire forced himself to understand and rushed to the car, to bring his 'stick'.

"I'm not a dog, asshole," Maguire mumbled to himself all the way.

The man charged himself towards the bleeding Diana. Priest hopped and jumped from the tables, reaching Diana in time. He grabbed the man's hands and kicked away his foot off from the ground and threw him towards his table.

*Bam* The table broke along with the plates and cutleries on it.

"Maguire! Did you get my stick?"

"That's called 'Katana'... or you can also call it 'Bokken'," replied Maguire, still searching for the Katana in the car.

The man stood up and tore his cheek off with the fork. The blood spilt profusely on the floor, but the blood appeared strange and unnatural. Priest calmly noticed the strangeness of everything happening around them. While the man continued laughing maniacally.

But to the calm and controlled Priest's shock, Maguire silently snuck behind the man; using his expired stealth skills. Priest noticed Maguire's buffoonery and tried to warn.

"Maguire, don't try anything stupid—"

Eager to show off his sword fighting skill, Maguire slashed the man in 'Kesa Giri' style. And to his utmost disappointment, the katana broke off into pieces without causing any damage to the man.

"Do you really fight with this shit?"

"Maggie, move!" Priest alarmed him.

Before Maguire react, the man growled and charged to attack. He slapped Maguire, throwing him all the way toward the nearby table. He then changed directions and charged towards Diana.

Priest defending Diana tried to fend off the laughing man manually. But the man was simply had unnatural strength and also armed. He avoided Priest completely and directly went on to stab him repeatedly in his abdomen, severely weakening the defenceless Priest.

But fortunately, it ended up disarming the laughing man as the knife was stuck and stabbed into Priest's abdomen, as he moved away from the man. The man, not caring about the knife anymore, shifted his attention towards Diana and Maguire. But his instincts warned him. An inevitable danger arose behind him.

Priest though wounded, stood up against the laughing man. With no options left and heavily bleeding, Priest convinced himself not to hold back. The man, irritated by not finishing Priest quickly, rushed towards Priest; to bite off his throat. Little he did realize that Priest was in no mood to waste any time in defending.

He grabbed the man by his cheek and crushed the bones and teeth by tightening his grip. As the bleeding in his abdomen was worsening every second, Priest sped up his actions. He grabbed the jaws and, using both hands, pulled them each other apart, tearing his entire mouth slowly. The man realized he was getting killed and screamed in pain and fear.

Blackened out by the slap, Maguire woke up and saw Priest bleeding. Maguire immediately rushed to aid him; but not before realizing the horror.

"Hey let me help—What the fuck is he doing?"

Priest continued to pull the jaws. And within a few seconds, he ripped the man's jaw apart entirely, splashing the blood all over the three. Distraught and hurt, Priest threw away the lower jaw that came off and grabbed a glass of water from a nearby table, and handed it over to Maguire to wash off the blood on him.

"What the fu..uhh..uck was that?", Diana stammered while wiping off the blood from her thighs while the cops Maguire called arrived at the scene.

Diana's eyes were focused on Priest's injury. Part of her was relaxed as she heard from others that it only takes a few seconds for him to heal since he's an immortal. But what she saw told her otherwise.

She hesitantly turned and looked at Maguire.

"Why isn't he healing?" she asked, with tears in her eyes, fearing the worst. Maguire remained silent, bummed by being not able to reveal anything to her.

Priest removed his coat and hung it over his shoulder, and walked towards his table all the way with one hand pressing on his wound. With a blood-soaked hand, he grabbed the glass - to finish his remaining milkshake.