Part 1
https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/z8hu0j/the_daughters_of_perdition/
Part 2
https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/zbbsgn/the_daughters_of_perdition_part_2/
Part 3
https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/zexlgn/the_daughters_of_perdition_part_4/
I work at a construction company and we are renovating this old monastery into a library. The last of the monks decided to sell the building for money and the state of Tennessee bought it make it a heritage site. There is still going to be a library and in addition to adding a bunch of books they are keeping all the ones that were originally here. While renovating the building I found a book with the story of a witchhunt in New France. After reading it I found this story particularly fascinating and wanted to share it.
My name is Jacob, and I have trained 10 long years as an inquisitor In Madrid, Spain. My talent was exceptional and at the age of 25 I became the youngest inquisitor ever to receive the rank of master. It was customary once an inquisitor received the rank for them to be blessed by the pope and I traveled to Rome, Italy for the ceremony.
While on paper we answered to Phillip the Fifth, it was Grand Inquisitor Hugo who was really in charge. The Pope had no actual power and any requests had to go through Phillip, and then Hugo. But as the head of the catholic church Hugo liked to have him do it. I knew Hugo well and he said that it was mainly to give us a presence in Rome. When I met Hugo he was grand inquisitor of the New world, but now he was the head of the who thing. The grand Inquisitor in Spain had been demoted to a Master inquisitor when Hugo took total control of the inquisition.
Before the anointing in Rome I was too be quizzed by Hugo. It was just a customary thing and anyone who reached this rank knew all the answers like the back of their hand. Still this ceremony was all about customs really, and I was ecstatic to have reached this rank so quickly.
The morning before the anointing I walked behind Hugo through the gardens of Rome.
“Well I guess we should start with the basics shouldn’t we? What is the unpardonable sin?” Hugo said sternly.
“To kill or destroy the person who is Jesus to you.” I responded rhythmically.
“Who are the possible candidates for a person’s Jesus?” He responded in rhythm.
“Their parents, children, siblings, best friends, lovers and…” I paused. and Hugo turned to look at me. “Business partners” I said with a wink.
“Good. “ he said, continuing to walk. “Of the layers of hell, which do we currently inhabit?”
“We are in the 9th layer of hell.” I said taking in the beautiful scenery.
“So at birth what is the range of human morality?” Hugo responded in turn.
“The good among us are those who betrayed and killed or destroyed someone they just met. While the wicked are those who killed or destroyed a possible Jesus candidate, that was not their Jesus. The only other way would be to kill or destroy one of this worlds saviors.” I said rhythmically.
“Given that information what exists within the human soul?” He said in rhythm.
“Treachery exists with in the human soul. All other values within the soul are variables, treachery is the only constant” I said in rhythm.
“Why does this world exist?” Hugo said in rhythm
“To give us lowly traitors a chance too redeem our souls” I said in rhythm.
“Is the bible the true word of Yahweh?” He said in Rhythm.
“While it is based on truth, nothing can be certain because the treacherous are who wrote it down. And the truly treacherous have revised the bible, filling it with anti truths and perversions.” I said in Rhythm.
“Name 2” he said as we walked into the palace.
“In the story of Abraham and Isaac, it was Samael who told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac and god that made the goat appear. “ I said without missing a beat. “And blaspheming the holy spirit is not the unpardonable sin.”
“Good choices” Hugo responded happily. “Everyone down here has demons. What demons do we not tolerate?”
“Beelzebub and treachery. Anything else is fair game.” I said.
“And that’s the test! Told you it would be easy! From this point forward this is your day. Your always so tense Jacob. You should try and relax and enjoy yourself.” he said, his voice softening as he spoke.
“I’ll try and relax but, I’ve never met the pope before you know?” I said laughing.
“He’s a good pope. Best I’ve met anyway. And get this, I’ve got something to tell you. Have a good time tonight. You don’t become a master inquisitor every day. We’ll talk about it tomorrow.” Hugo said with a smile. He opened the door for me and I walked through into the chamber.
Pope Clement the 11th sat on his thrown with a smile. Phillip the Fifth, my brother Robbie, cousin Wynken, along with many other Inquisitors and cardinals lined the chamber. Everyone was clapping. I walked to the pope and stood in front of him.
“A master already? At such a young age. There is so much promise in you. Kneel.”
I got down on one knee and bowed my head. The pope took a bible and placed it on my right shoulder. “I hereby grant you the rank of Master Inquisitor and all the luxuries, duties and power that bestows up on you. If you choose to accept this honor you must now swear that you will use what I have given you to serve Yahweh. And that you will not allow the demon of the unpardonable sin or the demon of treachery into your body.” The pope recited from memory.
“I will serve lord Yahweh in all things and I will not allow the intolerables into my body.” I said with a heavenly ring.
The pope moved the bible to my left shoulder and said “Rise master”.
The party that night was a grand one. We drank wine, swapped stories and I spent the night with a lovely Italian beauty. Premarital sex invited the demon of lust, but I mean we allow up to fraud, you have to live a little.
The next day I awoke early. When I went out into the garden for my morning prayer Hugo was waiting for me.
“So what did you want to tell me anyway?” I asked.
“We found her. Your aunt Jill And the Baronet. They are living in a commune in the middle of the woods in New France. We’re forming an expedition right now. I’m sure your in?” He said glowing. “I asked your brother and Wynken last night and they’re both in.”
I couldn’t believe it. After all these years we had finally found her. And right after I had reached the rank of master. I stood stunned for a second then said “I said I’d hunt that witch to the ends of this earth if I ever found her, and thats exactly what I’m going to do.” I said with a snarl.
“We leave at noon” he said with a smile.
We left later that day on the 2 month voyage back to the New World. Before heading to New France we stopped by the Monastery in Louisiana to pick up an old friend.
Jon was a warrior monk who we I had met on my first trip to this monastery. As fate would have it he was actually my cousin my uncle or the Baronet’s son.
The first time we had come to this church Hugo spoke to Yahweh, asking him why he had allowed us to fail. He had been told that all the pieces were not there and to banish Samael from this world forever Jon had to be the one to kill the Baronet. The fact that she had body swapped thankfully added Wynken to that list because he was his sister. I had already dealt with Jackie but unfortunately Wynken or Jon had to be the one to kill Jill in order to permanently banish Samael. It had to be someone that could be their Jesus. Samael was the angel of the unpardonable sin, so we had to beat him at his own game.
I was standing on the deck of the flagship, looking at the sea, as we sailed to New France when Jon approached me.
“There were some things I wanted to talk to you about before we got to New France.” he said calmly. “I’ve noticed that you aren’t married. I would have thought someone of your age and position to have found a wife by now.”
I looked deep into his eyes and felt his mind. As a trained inquisitor it was obvious to me we were thinking the same thing. “So he did it to you too? The broom bear?” I said.
He looked insulted. “your brother? Wynken?” he asked.
“All the boys” I responded.
There was a common superstition that if you swept dirt over someones bare feet they would never marry. The broom bear was what my father would call it when he grabbed a dirty broom and came looking for feet to sweep.
“And the deedee bird?” Jon asked sourly.
I gagged a little bit. “All the boys.”
“You didn’t let him get away with it did you?” he asked.
I snickered. “Hugo told me to leave him. A year after I started my training I got a letter from my brother saying he crucified him to an upside down cross, left him for a day then burned him. After I got the letter Hugo knew my brother was inquisition material.”
“Yahweh told me he did something else terrible to me, and that I would uncover it on this trip” Jon said sadly.
“He told me the same thing, he said it was done to all of us.” I responded in disgust.
Just then I saw my brother approaching with a smile on his face “I got everyone a good luck charm!” He said gaily holding two bibles. He handed them to us. “Do you think we can actually banish Samael forever?”
“The visions of the future bode ill. Everything I know tells me we fail. Could all the Prophets really be wrong? But just because it seems impossible doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.” I said nervously.
“I’ll show you what I think of visions of the future. Open it!” He said with a snicker.
Both me and Jon opened our bibles and burst out laughing. Revelation was torn out.
Before long we docked at Montreal and were on our way north towards the commune. Before long there were no roads and we were heading through the woods. We were on horseback but the thick woods made it difficult to navigate. Sometimes it got so thick that we had to walk the horses. It was midsummer, but this place got really cold in the winter.
We were a large party, 50 inquisitors in total. The journey through thick, unmapped woods was not something you did with an army and given their location we were not expecting too encounter a large force. As we walked though the woods we talked away.
“You seem like your in great shape for an old guy” Robbie said to Jon.
“We at the Monastery of…”
“Ugh ugh” a horny woman’s voice called from the brush.
We all froze. The scouts had not seen any manhawks and we hadn’t expected to encounter any. Most of the time they would try and do their dance before they stung you. The week minded would be lured into a trance and the wasp would appear to them as a naked woman, then sting and paralyze them, before laying their eggs. The thing was if you resisted the illusion it was a perfect time to strike. We dismounted and waited for them to appear.
The Italian girl from the party then jumped out of the brush and started twirling around. “I love you Jacob, its only you” she said twirling towards me. “I will be your wife and you will fill me full of babies” she said, twirling away. She then laid on her back and spread her legs, moving towards me “Lets put the first one in right now, hubby”
I stood motionless, studying the illusion. Where was the head? I clutched my Damascus steel sword swing in a downward arc and lopping off both of her feet. Immediately the illusion disappeared and she became a black wasp the size of a vulture.
I looked around to see how the others were doing but the visibility in the brush was low. I heard screams in the distance. I could only see Hugo, Robbie and 2 other inquisitors. They all stood in front of dead manhawks. I noted that mine was the biggest. We doubled back to help the others.
In total there 21 dead manhawks. And 13 paralyzed inquisitors. We all said a prayer and lopped their heads off before burning them.
As the sun fell we set up camp for our first night in the woods. Hugo came up to with a knowing smirk. “So did Yahweh give you one?”
I smiled “Yeah.”
“Show me” he said, eyes glowing with white light.
I closed my eyes I thought to myself ‘I have a halo and I am illuminated’ and an apparition appeared in front of my eyes. It just showed what was in front of me, but it allowed me to see like an eagle in any light. With it toggled on I we could see each others halos.
“You take the first watch, I’ll take the second one. Master Sean also has a halo, he will take the third watch.
I sat by the fire, scanning the trees with my darkvision. Everything had a purple tint to it when it was dark. It was deafening quiet when I started hearing rustling in the bushes. I could tell the sound was from manhawks, and I wanted to press my advantage. They couldn’t see in the dark.
I quietly woke Hugo then went to the noise and spotted one quickly. It seemed totally blind in the darkness and stared away into nothingness, listening. I chuckled to myself as I cut off its head. I quickly ran to the noise of a second and did the same thing. Then a third. And a fourth. It seemed like the whole forest was buzzing. How could there be so many? I rendezvoused with Hugo and Sean. Hugo was missing his right arm but he was ambidextrous. Most of the time he had gold prosthetic of him giving the middle finger in, his permanent message to Samael, but during combat he had a Damascus steel prosthetic and a crossbow prosthetic he switched between.
“How many did you get?” Hugo asked panting.
“two” Sean said
“Four” I said.
“I’ve got 7 so far. Whoever get the least has to buy 10 rounds when we get back!” he chirped, and we were back to work.
I manged too get 2 more before they retreated. Sean didn’t get any. As we all regrouped around the fires we did a head count. 7 lay paralyzed by fire with three more found in the bush. We lopped off their heads before adding them to fire. The rest of the night passed without issue. At first light we resumed our travels.
It wasn’t long until we came to a large clearing. I was shocked. Acres of land were bare, all that remained were the stumps of thousands of trees. In the middle of the clearing was a huge log structure. Around 2 dozen men were working around the cabin doing all sorts of things. Some were smithing, some were farming, all sorts of things.
Just then I heard a muffled scream and looked to see a fellow inquisitor apprehend a child. We quickly returned to the cover of the wood and went back until we were out of earshot. Hugo then began questioning the child.
“Who is your mother kid?” he said eyes shining with heavenly light.
“I’m not supposed to talk to strangers, but you seem ok I guess. I live here with my…” he paused for a second. “30or so brothers and sisters. Our mother Dora was given the gift of Lilith by Samael. She has at least 7 or 8 of us every 9 months. You can’ tell her I told you this though, if we are bad we get given to the wasps. And talking to strangers is bad”
“We’re here to save you kid. Your not going back there. There is a world outside of this” he said.
the child responded “I know that silly. Thats where mommy gets the workers.”
“Why do they agree to work with her?” Hugo asked inquisitively.
“The wasps sting them lay eggs and bring them back. If they sear an oath to Samael and Dora she stops the eggs from hatching.” he said nervously.
“I see.” Hugo was silent for a moment. He surveyed the situation. There were only 27 of us left and we had only just got here. “How many workers are there?”
The boy responded “Around 30 I think. It changes all the time, hard to keep track.”
“A swift death will be a mercy to these people.” Hugo responded. The boys face lit of with shock. And for a second I saw the demon of fraud on his face. I had mixed emotions about his tricking the child, but it was clearly necessary. There was a reason we allowed that demon.
We tied the child too a tree and mounted a cavalry charge. We still seemed to have the element of surprise. While we only had 27 inquisitors left, they were our 27 best. We used our third eyes to survey the spirit world as well. IT was eerily empty, like a calm before the storm. I looked at the sun. I would guess it was about 3 oclock, giving us about 3 hours of daylight left.
We charged in formation across the open field hoping the workers would meet us in battle, but instead they all retreated inside, looking terrified. When we reached the building Hugo immediately had us start to work on fire to burn the accursed thing to the ground. We laid the kindling and the shredded grass and were about to start using the flint to make sparks. When I heard the warhorn.
I looked to the trees and saw many children with bows and arrows. I immediately drew my shield and we got in a turtle formation before the volley of arrows came. Two of our men were too slow, dropping to the ground with multiple arrow wounds. We returned fire immediately and many Samaelian children fell to the ground. The fear in them grew so strong that Samael left their faces and they ran to the hills.
Just then the front door burst open and the workers came out, armed. Some had Samael on their faces but some looked doe eyed. The door slammed behind them. The doe eyed one ran at us and made no attempt to defend themselves as we cut them down. They were brave enough to choose death instead of serving Samael and Dora/Jill.
The rest of them then charged in an attack. We cut them down in perfect turtle formation and for a second I thought I saw Julius Caesar clapping in the spirit world.
Then Hugo came up to me and said “I’m going in alone to Get Dora and Nod. Your in charge until I get back.” He then walked up to the side of the building and put his hands on it, then he just disappeared.
I stood there shocked for a second and then I saw it. Dozens of naked beautiful women charging out of the woods, moaning and calling. For a second I was overcome with the demon of lust before coming to my senses.
“Hold formation!” I screamed “Draw you bows and fire on my mark. 3, 2, 1 fire!”
Almost everyone fired and the illusion faltered for a second. They stopped, 20 yards from us and started dancing, singing like sirens. We fired a second volley of arrows and the illusion ebbed, revealing the wasps for a split second. The women starting screaming and crying, calling us awful things and begging for mercy. Then we fired a third volley of arrows but there were fewer this time. Inquisitors began giving into the illusion and fell to there knees, begging Yahweh for forgiveness. For a second my faith faltered and I thought hope might be lost.
Then Hugo appeared outside the wooden structure, with who I presumed was Nod/The Baronet thrown over his shoulder, both her arms and legs appeared to be broken. He turned to me looking alarmed.
“There are giants in there. “ he said, obviously shaken. Before I could respond he threw the Baronet on the ground. “Either Wynken or Jon needs to kill her. As well as the finest swordsman in the land I was also the finest dancer.”
And then I realized than his arm had regrown. Before I could say anything he grabbed one of the fallen Inquisitors swords and charged into the group of women.
With a sword in each hand he danced with them. He had a perfect understanding of their movements, perfect timing. He would dance with two at a time for half a second, moving in rhythm with the whole group. After he danced with a woman she would fall to pieces. As he danced the women became wasps.
Jon was sobbing uncontrollably and I could not make him stop, so I got Wynken and took him to the Baronet. She looked up at him with Samael’s face. He held his sword looking at her, the resolve vanished from his eyes. He dropped the weapon and fell to his knees.
The door then burst open again and three giants came out the door. I looked in astonishment, they were maybe 11 or 12 feet tall.
“Auntie!” They all screamed in unison.
One charged at me, the other at Wynken, the other towards his mother.
As the giant charged at me I rolled between its legs and turned around. It stood there looking around frantically, its back to me. I cut one of it’s legs off and it fell to the ground. I jumped on top of it and ran up its back cutting off its head.
I looked towards the other giants. One had torn Wynken in half and was quickly being overpowered by the other inquisitors. The other had grabbed the Baronet and run into the woods to the north.
I looked to Hugo, who danced around a field of dead wasps. The wasps seemed locked in a spell as he slaughtered them. I was rounding up the inquisitors to give chase to the giant when the door burst open again 8 shielded giants came out in a line, followed by four carrying a giant slug like creature on a board. I recognized the burned face as Dora. She had an odd detached look on her face. I wondered if it was Lilith.
The giants came charging with clubs and sticks and shields. One bunted me with a shield and I flew into the wall stunned. I looked over as the giant walked towards me and saw Hugo standing there, not a single wasp left. Then he charged towards the giant, and just as it was about to reach me he cut both of its legs off. It fell to the ground and he ran up its back, cutting its head off.
Another giant grabbed him as he made the cut, holding him with both hands, pinning his arms to his sides. He phased through its hands, cutting both of them off as he fell. He hit the ground like a feather, drawing his bow and putting an arrow through the giants eye.
It then occurred to me that the house was burning from the inside. Hugo must have set a fire when he was in there.
I got up and looked to the remaining inquisitors. I counted 12 plus me and Hugo. The last of the 8 giants were dead. We looked towards Dora and the 4 remaining giants when a swarm of manhawks came out of the woods from every direction. They flew asynchronously.
I felt my third eye open farther than it ever had before and I saw Samael, in the spirit world. He had a black cloak covering his face, and 12 bat wings on his back. His harem of Valkyries danced about, and came and marked me and every other inquisitor, including Hugo. I knew that Valkyries would mark people before and during battle, deciding who lives and dies. Being able to see the Valkyries was incredibly difficult at the best of times, but they were crystal clear right now.
The giants charged as manhawks swarmed. I dodged left and right, shield in one hand and sword parrying in the other, just fighting for my life. One by one the inquisitors started to fall as Samael laughed from the spirit world.
“This ends now” I heard Samael’s voice in my head. “You have my respect though, for mortals you guys are pretty tough.”
I then heard a mad cackle and felt another presence in the spirits world. A black dragon head floated towards Samael. Its face was twisted in smug grin. Other than its face, the whole head was smoldering and producing and incredible amount of smoke. In our world the sky filled up with clouds. The Valkyries started screaming. Some burst into flames, some of their heads exploded some even shorted out like they were hit by lightning.
“Nibiru… That’s not fair! What are you doing here?” Samael screamed, throwing a tantrum.
“Fair? When you turned against Yahweh were you not prideful enough to specifically ask him to send me to face you?” Nibiru cackled.
“Yeah but that was then! I’m a fraction of that power now!!!” He screamed like an angry toddler. He then doubled over backwards breaking his back.
It was only me, Hugo, Master Sean, Robbie and Jon left but we all started moving in perfect unison. The wasps lost their form and started flying into our swords. We were all dancing like Hugo did, in perfect unison with each other creating a dance of absolute slaughter. An unending supply of wasps came out of the woods as we all danced. I didn’t even feel in control of my own body as I killed dozens of wasps.
Jon danced away from the group and giant came to meet him. It swung it club to the ground and he stepped out of the way. The club hit the ground uselessly as he cut off the giants hands. He jumped on top of Dora the Slug and cut off her head.
As the dance continued Nibiru came to see me. “I am in total control. I could make your group kill every wasp in this area without another one of you falling.” It said to me as it cackled.
‘So we’re safe?’ I thought as I danced around killing wasps.
Nibiru cackled. “Not quite that easy bud. Only one of you gets to live, and lucky you, I’m going to let you pick who!”
I looked around the battlefield as I danced on my own. I could let Hugo live. I could let my brother live. I thought to myself. Hugo was my Jesus. would I invite Beelzebub into me by not picking him?
“Nope” Nibiru cackled.”It’s him or you that you’re SAVING.”
I started thinking selfishly. Hugo was old. I should probably save myself.
“Times up!” Nibiru cackled. Who’s it going to be?
Save me I thought to myself.
Just then the corpse of Dora birthed a manhawk holding a human baby. It flew off into the sunset, and was then abruptly hit by a bolt of lightning.
We were losing tempo, I could tell that we couldn’t keep this up forever. The manhawks seemed endless. I could feel the wind starting to pick up and it felt great on my hot body. As we lost tempo the wind gained speed and before we knew it it was like a cyclone. The wasps were being blown from the air and the remaining giant was paralyzed when multiple manhawks few into him stingers forwards. He was dead soon after.
At first I thought we could kill the wasps as they were on the ground. But before long it was all we could do to not be blown away.
A tornado came out of the woods and went over the burning house, turning into a tornado of fire. All the wasps were sucked into the flaming maelstrom. As it tornado intensified I saw the unnamed Inquisitor, then Robbie, then Hugo get sucked into the flames. I saw Nibiru cackling madly as me and Jon flew towards the tornado. At the last second we hit each other and flew away into the woods. I lost consciousness as I hit the ground.
I woke up the next day and headed back to the ruins of the building. I saw Jon praying there. WE explored the ruins together and found all sorts of horrors. Jars of flying salve lined up like jars of jam. Highchairs covered in blood. Me and Jon uncovered what had happened to us when we were too young to remember. We were shown beautiful things and hurt. And then shown the wasps and given treats. Programming us to be slaves and destroy ourselves from the inside out.
I saw Samael in the spirit world again. He appeared to have healed his back but the process had drained him greatly. He sat there powerless. Looking at me with malice in his red eyes.
Jon unfortunately had eggs in him. And I had to kill him before I burned him.
Thankfully mine and two other horses were still around. I thought briefly about chasing after the Baronet and the giant, but realized Nibiru has spared me so that I could tell this tale, and that I should return to the monastery in Louisiana to record it.
I made it back to Montreal without stopping, walking through the night. The few inquisitors we left in Montreal mourned when they learned of Hugo’s death. On the voyage back to Louisiana I thought a lot about the unpardonable sin, and if I should have saved Hugo instead of myself.
When I got to the monastery I wept and begged Yahweh for forgiveness for choosing myself over Hugo. And as I finished writing this down I heard his voice say to me.
“You are blameless”
It is here that I write my story down, so that my contemporaries and future generations may have a true account of how Grand Inquisitor Hugo met his end.