With less that two hours before the time of meeting Mortis was in need of something to do, not that he was short of things to do, is that less than two hours were not enough time to go somewhere and look for something, with one exception. Going around the Streets of Down town Nashville Mortis arrived to a church. The old Catholic house of worship was as big and onerous as the people of the time could make it, a memory of a time when Catholics where a novelty in the majority Protestant United States. The name of the church was Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows, built in Greek Revival style, it gave the idea that the place was a temple like of olden times, a style heavily imitated by other cities at the Time. The building was not of Mortis taste, but he was not one to complain of aesthetics at this time, he was on a time crunch, he needed to do some research on his new acquisition, the Silver Box, that was why he had come to Church on this day.
Mortis had a good relationship with Catholics, his grandfather and even his own parents were believers to a point, although his father believed for their connections sake, for their clan and their people had been believers for too long, and it was an edge against powers might, muscle, claws and teeth could not overcome. Mortis had his belief tested over time, and had trouble coming to their concept of belief after seeing the world in all its glory and all its horrors, but he recognized the good work of the Church in spite of its many flaws, the people who truly believed, and the vast amount of knowledge they had accumulated over the centuries, not to mention being one of the few religion with a true understanding of demonology, even if it was something they kept mostly to themselves, they could find demons, and they could kick them out; and in Mortis's line of work, where hell is never too far away, allies like that are very useful, that is why he kept good relations with the foot soldiers such as Father Raphael, and donated generously to keep the less trusted elements complacent.
Today the Detective was in search of answers, and that was to see if someone could tell him about the box, and few were better in that than Father Raphael, an honest and hard working priest who Mortis only tolerated out of respect because the man was as professional as he was a pain in the ass, always making life hard for other people that weren't of his flock. Mortis chagrined at the idea of asking a favour of the man, but the man was skilled, had encyclopedic knowledge of iconography and Religious inscriptions and was as professional as he could get. If doing this would save Mortis time and speed up catching his killer, he would bite the bullet.
The Church Office was open as usual, inside a young priest sat behind a bunch of paperwork; it was a thin man, not lanky thin, but thin in the sense of a steel bar can be thin, yet solid, this lean man gave you that feeling of solidity, too much solidity. His gaze would look lazy at first glance, with half-closed eyes looking at things really was a look of loving patience that not hippy could ever give, the man really cared for anyone he saw in a sense that made that solidity all the more foundational to his character. A Mediterranean Skin and elegant black hair crowned the design of this man many women pined for, yet non could attain. Telenovelas and Pink Romance novels could be written about women looking for the affections of this man and would sell like crazy, and yet here was, sitting behind a desk, devoting himself to the Triune God as believed by the Roman Catholics.
"Sebastian Mortis, how is our wandering sheep doing today?" the priest asked with a voice fit for smooth singing. He looked away from the papers and to the man. Mortis could not stop himself from feeling awkward at a gaze that was not just looking at him, but actually seeing him, acknowledging him as another miracle on God's Green Earth. "Is it too high of a hope to believe you are here to turn your life to the God almighty?"
"You know that stuff is not for me Elijah, I am here for work related reasons" said Mortis.
Elijah stood up, a solid six foot two stared to Mortis eye to eye with benevolence. "You are always here for work my friend. I assume you were here to see my superior."
Mortis pulled out the Silver Box from a shopping bag and showed it to Elijah, the man gave a curious look at the object as Mortis explained: "I am currently investigating the killings happening in the streets of the city, I need help with this."
Elijah gaze saddened as he spoke: "The loss of life, cut so young, and so many more, it is a true tragedy. Sadly my superior is not with us right now, he is covering for father Michael while he recovers from a broken knee."
"I thought father Raphael could go nowhere without you on account of his little issue" pointed Mortis.
"His task may be taxing but such a small favour should not extenuate him enough to need my intervention, not he would want it or admit he needs it" pointed Elijah.
Elijah looked at the box and back at Mortis and he smiled at the detective as the cogs of cognition rotated in his mind. "If you are in need of help I may be of assistance, do you need any help with learning more about the box?"
"I was hoping Raphael could identify the emblems on the box, give me an idea of where it was originally from, and what it was used for,since it seems to have been engraved with religious imagery" said Mortis.
Elijah extended his hands and asked a polite "May I?" in relation to the Silver Box. The Detective passed the box to the priest, who before touching it could feel something in it. "There was something dark in this box, old, evil" the words of the young priest came as one of a wise man way beyond his age.
"I felt the strange power, but I could not sense much. Whatever was sealed in there must have been extremely weakened" pointed Mortis.
Elijah examined the box silver engravings carefully "There is a Saint Andrews Cross here" said the priest, pointing at the cross in the shape of an X.
"Do you recognize the patterns?" asked Mortis surprised.
"Some" said the young priest as he continued to observe the box carefully. "Mostly the crosses, they taught me that in seminary."
"Do you think you can research the box for me? It would save me a lot of time" asked Mortis.
"Have you try to use your, er, arcane powers on it?" asked the young priest with a slight sense of embarrassment towards the question. Not that Elijah looked down on Mortis's arts and crafts, long ago Elijah had learned that man had been blessed with far more than body and mind to handle the world, so he did not judge Mortis for who he was or what he can do, still Elijah came out as wet behind the ears to many for his innocent behaviour towards dark subjects and even swearing, to what he did not approved and gasped at, yet Mortis had heard stories about the young man, rumors that made him not know how to handle him.
"I am not a wizard Eli, I do not cast spells or wave wands, or brew potions, I do not do non of that sh-" Mortis halted as he saw Elijah threaten to frown at the desecration of the house of the Lord with the use of vulgar profanity, Mortis quickly dodged "-ill, that shill".
"Is not what father Raphael says, although you never know until you see for yourself" said Elijah.
"How does it go Thomas? Blessed be those who believe without seeing" jested the Detective, earning a smile from the priest.
"Touché gum-shoe".
"I bet Raphael was quite colourful in his description, wasn't he?"
Elijah blushed in shame at the question "Y-yes, I suppose there were a few, profanities in his statement."
"A few? The man swears like a sailor on trail. I would be amazed if there was a coherent sentence in whatever he told you about me" said Mortis.
"Fine, you got me, he went to town on you" relented Elijah.
"Must kill the old, er, gargoyle to have to work with me when the chips come down to it" said Mortis.
"He is old school. He thinks magic should be a parlour trick to amuse children, and even then he thinks is not right" said Elijah.
"I cannot blame him, magic brings more problems than it solves" stated Mortis bitterly.
"Blessed be the Lord that we can count on you and your noble heart to deal with the darkness beyond the realm of mortal understanding" praised the young priest with earnestness.
Mortis smirked and replied:"You know you deal with that sort of stuff too, don't you Eli?"
"Our is a matter of the divine, yours is amongst men, you deal with things we cannot as prescribed by the hidden laws" stated Elija solemnly.
Mortis was surprised to hear the name 'The Hidden Laws' from the mouth of the priest. The Hidden Laws, sometimes refereed as the Forgotten Laws, Solomon's Pact, the strange powers that keeps that what the mind cannot explain with matter hidden away from the affairs of men who do not seek it on their own.
"Either way Eli, would you do me the favour and research the box, nothing fancy, just tell me what the engraved symbols represent?" said Mortis.
"I will, it will be a nice change of pace from all the paperwork. I know the Lord call us to bless our work, but I do not thing even blessed Saint Joseph, Saint among Saints, could make the weight of dull administrative duties a holly one, and he was THE Holy man" said Elijah.
"How about Jesus?"
"God in the flesh, not the same" pointed the young priest.
Mortis shrugged "Fair enough. I'll be on my way then, will be back for the box in a couple of hours."
"I should have something by then, worry not. May the Lord guide you on your quest Detective Mortis, and bring you wisdom and strength when you need it" said Elijah.
Mortis tipped is undertaker hat and left the room as Elijah switched work for play.
Back in his car Cicero sat straight and Mortis took account for his day so far. During the whole morning he had looked into an old crime scene, found a corpse he did not have time to inspect, bought a Silver Box that may or may not be a clue of his case, found out his father may be buying favours to jeopardize his operation, and had to ask a favour from a priest in order to speed up operations. Mortis ruminated on everything that he had done, and accounted on top what had happened last night; The Detective had not been back to the city two days and he had to get himself deep into a crime spree that threatened to spiral out of control, a crime committed by means that escaped the perceptions of the materially mundane, and yet Mortis could feel a connection there, somewhere, something was meant to add up, if only he could get the piece that would reveal the clear path; for now he had to many variables, and to explore them all would take too much time, a luxury he could not afford to waste. Something inside him told the Detective his killer was going to come out again tonight, and the more nights it could come our the stronger it would become.
Mortis leaned forward, he looked to his feet, he was worried. He had the resources, he had the strength, he had the skill to deal with it all, except, he was but one man, one man who had to bear with the consequences of his own actions, and that meant having to deal with hell when it gets broken lose on his back yard. The Detective thought about cursing for leaving his post to deal with something in another state, but he really couldn't, he needed to do it, it was the only way he could keep getting what he needed to secure his slice of heaven, and have what he needed to deal with hell when it came up knocking.
With a deep breath, and eyes full of determination Mortis drove away from the Church to his next appointment.