Writing Prompt: Heir to Damnation

Writing Prompt:

     He would never forget that smell.

   
     He would never forget that smell. The smell of burning flesh, chalk and melted wax. Agent Samuel Talbot took out his red handkerchief and pressed it to his nose, covering his mouth as he inspected the scene. An adult male skinned alive before he was burned... alive. The crispy corpse lay in a white chalk drawing of a pentagram. That wasn't all that was done to the body it seemed as it looked like he was gutted or disemboweled. The warehouse was an old butchering plant in the 30s. One could still smell the animal fat or could have been the candles.

      "Nope," said Holden. "Those candles are made from human fat with animal fat."
      
      "How could you know that, Holden," Talbot asked exasperated. Holden was a young guy with large round glasses that usually hung on the end of his pointy nose, he was always adjusting them. Surprising how he stayed out of the drafting. The government already had enough young bucks killing Nazis.
      
      "My grandpa had a farm," Holden explained casually. "Grandma had many uses for the animal fat and some of them were candles."
      
      "Jesus Christ," Talbot cursed. "So what are we talkin' here? Some kind of voodoo/devil worshipper?" 
      
      One of the agents crossed himself in horror then kissed his golden cross. Talbot miffed at the guy. He was never the religious type. He didn't put much stock in an afterlife when those who preached it had no real clue if it was real. 
      
      "I'll know more when I inspect the body further," Holden adjusted his glasses as they slipped again to the bridge of his nose. "I don't have any fancy tools but I think I can--"
      
      "Spare me the gory details, Holden," Talbot ordered. Talbot took a deep breath as he inspected the scene. There were bones at four corners of the pentacle. Animal bones. That was... somewhat of a relief. 
      
      "Hey, Talbot, come over here I got something," Graham called Talbot over away from the horrorific sight.
      
      "Please tell me it's not more bones or this guy's guts," Talbot pleaded. 
      
      Agent Graham held up an ornate silver key to his flashlight. He held it with his bare hands. Despite being in the middle of summer and the building being luke warm, the key was ice cold. It filled Graham with a feeling of dread. 
      
      "What door does that unlock?" Talbot wondered aloud as he took the key with his handkerchief hand. 
      
      "By the looks of this," Graham looked around in disgust, "nothing pleasent."
      
      "Or maybe it's a key to the Ritz," Talbot joked. 
      
      But Graham still looked grave. He followed his gut and by the looks of all of this it wasn't good.
      
      *     *     *     *     *
      
      Dr. Holden called the agents down to his office where the body looked even worse in the light.
      
      "Christ, doc, can you cover that thing?" Talbot begged shielding his eyes. "It's an assualt on my baby blues."
      
      "Sorry, sir," Holden quickly pulled the sheet over the subject. "Didn't get a name but I did find something interesting."
      
      "Besides the gutting, the skinning, and the burning?" Graham cocked an eyebrow. 
      
      "There were claw marks coming from inside the body," Holden looked like a boy at Christmas. He was one of those lab coats who was more into the thrill of discovery no matter how gruesome. 
      
      "What are you saying?" Talbot asked incredulously. "You saying that something was inside this guy and it ate its way out of him?"
      
      "I'm... not exactly sure what it was... but it looked like it wanted to get out badly," Holden spoke with terryfied fascination. Talbot and Graham looked at each other with inquisitive eyes as if hoping the other had a clue about what they were dealing with. 
      
       "I did however, do research on that key you found," Holden became excited again as he adjusted his large round glasses. He went over to his other work station, "It's a very old key. Made in the 14th century."
       
       "How do you know that?" Graham asked.
       
       "I've studied some archeology in college," Holden bobbed his head. The agents looked at him until Holden confessed, "There was this girl who was into that stuff..."
       
       "I believe that," Talbot laughed. "Here I thought you were a virgin."
       
       "What else can you tell us about this key?" Graham wanted to get back to the business at hand. As he held the key he started to hear a dark voice muttering something incoherent.
       
       "Hey...," Graham silenced everyone. "Does anybody hear that?"
       
       Talbot and Holden looked at Graham curiously.
       
       "I don't hear anything, Graham," Talbot eyed his partner suspiciously. "You alright?"
       
        The voice died away but Graham's entire insides went cold. 
        
         "Anyway...," Holden continued. "I did manage to get something off it. There's some writing on it. It blended into the ornate design but it says in Latin: Love Conquers All."

       "Any girls into Latin?" Talbot asked with a wink. Holden's face was flushed then he said, "I also found a name worked within the head of the key: Saint-Pierre. I don't know many saints with that name."

      "It's not a saint it's a name," said Graham. "The family Saint-Pierre. Know them?"

      A rich and powerful family the Saint-Pierres were in everything from politics to the economy to the industrial market.

     "This could be above our pay grade," Talbot sighed. 

     But Graham couldn't shake that malevolent voice. It was branded in his brain like a searing iron and would never heal or wash away.  
       

      *     *     *     *     *

This is supposed to start my next short story. If you would like to know what happens next please comment.