Audition Script - Stoned in Charm City

8/17/2019 Audition Script - Stoned in Charm City

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Audition Script – Stoned in Charm City

1

Hands grabbed her, and she was pulled back onto the dais, the marble edge scraping painfully

against her back. Her head hurt, too. She was almost too tired to move.

!hy didn"t it work#$ %reg asked her, dragging her closer to the altar.She shook her head slowly. & don"t know. 'he touch of the relic should have banished the

demon.$ She thought back to how she"d asked the (uestions of her pendulum. She"d asked how

to banish the minions, and the pendulum told her to touch them with the relic.)h, no,$ she said.

!hat#$

& didn"t ask the right (uestion*$ She scrambled to her knees, suddenly full of energy. &

asked if the relic would help with Father Hughes, too.$So why didn"t it#$

+ecause the demon wasn"t possessing Father Hughes when & struck it. &f it had been, it

would have probably separated the two, maybe banished the demon, but now &"m not so sure.$He knelt beside her on one knee. !hat do we do now#$

& don"t know.$ espair filled her, weighing her down. Her shoulders slumped.

She had held in her hands a weapon that had touched the blood of Christ. &t had destroyed thesmaller demons. !hy had it had no effect at all on the larger# Surely the demon was not stronger

than Christ#

She tightened her resolve. !e have to kill it.$

How#$&t"s still vulnerable to holy ob-ects,$ Assumpta said. !e -ust need to find something holier

than that relic.$

%reg looked dubious. Holier than the ance of onginus#$ He looked up. And these thingsare getting closer again.$

She wondered, What’s holier than a relic?

Assumpta smiled. !hat"s the holiest of holies#$ she asked %reg. &t should have been aneasy (uestion for someone currently studying the faith.

+read and wine.$

Transubstantiated bread and wine,$ she corrected. 'he actual body and blood of Christ.$

She stood and hurried behind the altar to the small cabinet on the back wall. et"s see if there"ssome in the tabernacle.$

Assumpta pushed aside the gold curtain with the chalice embroidered on it, then opened a

small gold door, her stone hand making a tinking noise as it struck the metal cabinet. &nside, theciborium, a gold/plated bowl with a lid, was veiled with a scarf.

!e"re in luck,$ she said, relief flooding her. !e have transubstantiated hosts.$

How do you know#$ %reg asked.

A priest wouldn"t cover unconsecrated hosts.$Assumpta pushed off the scarf, pulled the bowl from its niche and lifted the lid.

Her heart sank.

Half full. !ith so few precious wafers, she was going to have to aim instead of -ust slinging

the bowl at the demon.

&"ll do it,$ %reg said, reaching for the wafers.

0o,$ Assumpta said. & have to do this.$ She walked toward the edge of the dais, toward thedemon. &t stretched its wings, able to keep aloft for more than a second or two now.



&f she didn"t get this over with soon, it would be able to fly over the altar and carry her and

%reg off. She wouldn"t be able to fight it. et she knew if they left the safety of the dais again,

she wouldn"t survive.She stepped to the edge of the dais, her toes hanging over the step.

on"t stand so close,$ %reg said.

& can"t help it. & need to be as near as & can in order to hit my target. & can"t afford to miss.$She looked down at the wafers in the bowl. She had how many# 2ifteen# 'wenty#

Hastily, she made the sign of the cross and said, 2orgive me, ord, & know that more than

one piece of you is going to land on the floor.$!hat#$ %reg asked.

She didn"t have time to tell him how bad it was if a transubstantiated host fell to the floor. &t

would need to be dissolved in water and poured onto the ground. )r eaten by a priest

immediately afterward3if he didn"t mind eating the host off the floor. +ut would it lose its power over the demon# She didn"t know. And she hoped she didn"t have to find out. &f she could

hit her target the first few times, maybe she wouldn"t have to worry about that.

She picked up one of the hosts, a flat disc of bread slightly larger than a (uarter, and held it

between her thumb and forefinger as if she were going to toss the ace of spades. She needed theedge to cut through the air and fly fast, rather than being slowed by the flat side.

'he demon had backed up a few paces. Had it sensed the power of the 4ucharist# She didn"tknow. Could she make that distance with the host#

She flicked.

'he white disc flew about ten feet, then veered sharply upward and lost momentum. &tdropped to the floor.

Damn,$ she muttered, and reached for a second one.

'he demon raised its arm and made a motioning gesture with its wrist.

!atch out*$ %reg said. She looked up. )ne of the demons on the ceiling abruptly let go anddropped. Assumpta covered the bowl with one hand and stepped backward.

'he minion fell on her right shoulder and slid down her arm. 'he -arring weight brought her

down on one knee, and the demon fell off onto the dais. &t screamed, and Assumpta brieflysmelled wet cement before the overpowering scent of burned flesh pierced her nostrils. She

gagged, s(uee5ing her eyes shut, and the creature e6ploded, more flesh than stone.

+loody bits of flesh and blood splattered her right arm and the right side of her face. Sheforced her gorge down, and stood.

%ore covered %reg, standing beside her. 7eep them off me,$ she said. He nodded and

looked around, then stepped to the altar and e6changed the %ospel for one of the tall candlesticks

there.She stepped forward again. 'he creature took two steps forward and ground the dropped host

beneath its heel.

&t roared, lifting its heel. !isps of smoke curled from the bottom of its foot. espite the pain,it stomped the host again, grinding its heel into the tile. !ith a scrape of its heel, it took another

step forward. +ehind it, a small circle of tile smoldered, black and smoky. &t flapped its wings,

and the pungent odor of burning linseed oil filled the air.!ell, that answered her (uestion8 any consecrated hosts that fell to the floor would be

useless.



She flicked another host toward the demon. &t struck on the chest, sticking, burning. 'he

demon roared, flapping its wings, and raising itself a few more inches off the ground, propelling

itself forward several feet.Oh, Lord, she thought, taking a step back.

&ncoming*$ %reg yelled. She heard the whine of the candlestick whipping through the air

and the thud of the candlestick hitting concrete. %reg grunted. Something small slapped themarble of the dais to her left and si55led. A small pop later, and nothing remained.

She flicked another host at the demon, but the disc veered to the side, landing on a pew to the

right. She tossed another, striking it on the shoulder. Again its wings flared.ould she hit its wings?

9uickly, Assumpta threw another host in its direction. She"d aimed too high and it sliced

over its right wing and fell behind the creature.

She flipped another host at its chest. &t hit on the arm, smoking and burning. 'he demonroared again, wings whipping out, and Assumpta (uickly flung another host, aiming for the

demon"s wing.

&t struck, (uickly burning a hole through the thin membrane.

'he demon screamed, flapping his wings. &t moved closer.)ne of the larger minions ran up the aisle, passed the demon, and barreled toward the altar. &t

leaped, striking %reg in the chest and knocking him over. %reg rolled to her right. )ut of thecorner of her eye, Assumpta saw him lose his grip on the candlestick when his head struck the

marble floor. His legs tumbled over the edge of the dais. :inions attacked his legs and started

dragging him from the altar.

!od sa"e him, Assumpta thought, knowing she couldn"t. 0ot now. &n an instant, she knew

she had to make a choice, and make it (uick8 attempt a rescue and hope she could fight all of

them off, and then kill the demon leader. )r, kill it first, and hope the others would find their way

back to Hell once they lost their leadership.'here was no more time.

She reached into the bowl and grabbed several hosts with her right hand. &mmediately, her

hand turned back to flesh, and she was able to grip the hosts more easily. She set the bowl on thealtar and grabbed the remaining hosts in her left hand.

;umping off the dais, she ran toward the demon, arms outstretched, intending to press the

wafers against him8 no chance of winging the hosts past the demon or dropping to the floorwhere they could do no good.

She"d nearly reached it when it sidestepped her. !hen she saw the minions pulling %reg off

the dais and toward the demon, she understood.

She wasn"t the target.'he demon spread its wings and took flight, moving around Assumpta and toward %reg.

!ith almost angelic grace, it landed at %reg"s feet and stepped closer, its clawed toes touching

the bottom of %reg"s feet and then sinking into them.&t was taking over %reg, like it had taken over 2ather Hughes.

0o*$ Assumpta yelled, and ran toward the coupled pair.

'he demon leaned at an awkward angle, sinking slowly into %reg"s prone form.Assumpta clenched her fists around the sacramental hosts and, spreading her arms wide,

leapt at the demon.



!ith a rock/solid thud she crashed against it, scraping her face against the rough skin of its

wings, and clutched it with all her strength. 'he two of them disconnected from %reg and

tumbled to the floor.'he demon howled, trying to shake her off, then stopped abruptly.

This is e"en better.

Assumpta heard the voice in her mind, felt the hard body of the demon go soft, like warmcement, felt herself sinking into it, filling her nostrils with the scent of it, cloying, suffocating.

'he demon laughed, and it was her own voice. 'hen she reali5ed she hadn"t been sinking into

the demon"s flesh<it had been sinking into hers.

==

Assumpta burned. She felt the heat of Hell emanating from the demon spirit within her.4nergy3 life 3coursed through her veins, more than she had ever known before. She could do

anything.

She could fly. 4ven with the demon"s wings sunk beneath her own skin, she knew she could

fly if she simply willed it. # could grow to li$e this, she thought, to ha"e all this power.

es,$ she whispered, then reali5ed it wasn"t her own voice.0o*$ she shouted, reali5ing where this conversation went.

Drop the flesh of hrist% it burns, the demon commanded.

She looked down at her hands, smoldering. Her poor, abused right hand, stone for so long,now flesh and burning. She hadn"t felt the heat of it with all the power emanating through her.

+ut seeing the flesh turn black, the smoke rise from her clenched fists<she nearly did drop the

hosts.

&nstead, she did the only thing she could think of to bring the demon down. She brought herhands to her chest, opening the palms wide to spread as many of the wafers from her throat to her

belly as she could, clustering several in the location of her heart.

'hen it really did burn, her shirt catching fire, and the hosts3still whole3sinking into herskin.

She fell to her knees, the pain so intense that she could no longer hold her hands to her chest.

She let them fall to her sides, burned fingers bent like shriveled claws.0o* 0o, no, no*$ she screamed, but it was the demon yelling with her own hoarse voice.

Acrid smoke filled her throat, choking her. She coughed, barely able to breathe.

#t’s not o"er , the demon thought, its mind3 its bod& 3still connected with hers. And she

knew without being told what it would do ne6t.>aguely, as if in the distance, she heard the screams of the demon"s minions, their protests, a

brief second before each e6ploded in turn, those closest to them detonating first and then the

others, farther out toward the rear of the church.?ower surged into the demon.

es*$ it roared. And she could feel it, too. He had killed off all his minions, taking back their

power for his own. He was healing himself.She brought her hands to her chest again, feeling for the hosts. She located several, and one

at a time, peeled them from her body, the pain e6cruciating.

'es, the demon whispered in her mind.

(o, she thought. 'here was one more thing she could try.



Oh, m& !od, # am heartil& sorr&)$ she whispered the words of the Act of Contrition, the

prayer said after confession to show regret for having sinned. &t was the only one to come to her

mind for this situation.'here were specific prayers to be said for the dying, but could you say them for yourself#

4specially if what you planned to do was virtual suicide# ?robably not.

#’m definitel& going to Hell for this one, she thought.Assumpta raised the wafers to her lips and ate them. Her mouth burned. Her teeth heated,

feeling like hot, ceramic stones in her mouth. She swallowed, then gagged, but forced herself to

consume the wafers, her lips and tongue blistering from the heat. 'he discs burned like moltenlava all the way down her throat and into her belly.

She curled into a fetal position, eyes s(uee5ed shut, pulling her knees to her forehead,

writhing against the pain.

et me die,$ she prayed. et me die.$0o, no, no*$ the demon bellowed.

Assumpta felt a tug at her back and a cooling sensation.

And then the demon e6ploded around her.

Audition Script - Stoned in Charm City

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