Jeff watched Reverand Jack carefully give his answer. He could detect some sense of guilt in the reverend's voice, though, in many ways, he couldn't picture where that guilt was coming from. After all, Reverand Jack had been a good paster and friend to the Chapman family. Pretty much everyone knew about his volunteering to help others. The Chapmans hadn't known that some of these "others" were the local members of the Slug Person colony, but from what they all knew about Reverand Jack, that seemed to fit in with what they knew about him. Jeff wanted to ask questions, but the reverend did continue with his answers, and it thus would have felt impolite to interrupt.
Reverand Jack sighed, "that is a different story and one that begins to bring your family into things... even before Cupple sent Megan and Jenny to your door..." There was a brief pause for a moment before Reverand Jack continued, "and it would also relate to other actions and responsibilities that I and my church have in the matter."
"What... you mean like you've been fighting Cupple over these past few years as well?" Zoe wondered, "like Kung-Fu Pastor?"
"No," Reverand Jack gave a weak chuckle, "no direct fighting... as to a great degree, I'm bound by the rule of law just as much as any other church would be. However, our church DOES believe that it must play an important role in using its knowledge to try and preserve what is right and wrong on Earth, and if need be, assist law enforcement wherever necessary to assure that people like Cupple are brought to justice and that either evidence that can convict them is gathered... or that efforts to talk him down are made to make him back off without a fight and thus without breaking the law."
"That sounds complicated in a world where people don't really believe in literal magic anymore," Lucy commented, and absentmindedly running one hand over her womb. She obviously couldn't feel the sort of movement a human woman would feel in the same sort of gravid state that she was in, but just knowing that there were eggs there did feel comforting to Lucy. Not getting chewed out by her mother was reassuring, a bit, though, the threats posed by Cupple did keep things on edge as Lucy worried over the future for hers and Melody's children.
"And in some ways, it is," Reverend Jack said slowly, "very cloak and dagger sorts of things and requires a fair amount of work. Needing what our church would call "knights" to do a lot of talking and other work in self-defense if attacked. More often than not... it's often worked because most of those wizards and witches that would be engaged in these sorts of things are not necessarily wicked in the way that they come up in stories. It's more a case of being lazy more than anything else."
"Like how the wizards that created our species didn't necessarily mean harm and wanted to help those that were weaker than themselves," Simon added, "technically, one could say that abuse followed, but it wasn't always intended.
"Some of it still sounds dangerous, particularly when considering the stuff that Cupple's done," Grace said slowly with one eye looking to Simon and the other looking to Reverend Jack.
"It can be... and as the local minister and head of our church in this area," Reverend Jack nodded, "it is something where I feel responsible when things go wrong... Particularly when running into someone like Cupple who is truly wicked."
That brought back the sense of guilt that Jeff sensed earlier.
"And Cupple does fall into that category," Reverend Jack spoke, "he is not insanely powerful... and there are various ways that you can defend yourselves from a lot of his attacks, but he is highly intelligent and knows a lot about the system that which would be used against him otherwise. Which would then limit what can be done to more defensive and monitoring sorts of missions. Attacking him would be out of the question and would violate the law."
"But he's already done a lot... brainwashed two Slug People... or one and then transformed a human friend," Lucy ran the list of things down on her fingers, holding them up so that Reverend Jack could see her count, "and then sent them to transform us. Wouldn't any of that qualify morally as deserving to do something about him?"
Reverend Jack ran one hand through his hair and then brought it forward to grip his other hand. He seemed to wring them together for a few moments.
"From a purely moral perspective, yes, you are right," Reverend Jack spoke, "Cupple has done enough to warrant real action taken against him. But as noted earlier, that then runs into hard cases regarding the law and what can be proved. And it's where Cupple has proven to be as dangerous as he has been. He's made sure that any evidence of any actual crime is either non-existent or is covered up by some other issue that would make it difficult to convince the police to bring charges to go after him. For one must always note that there are many things that are morally wrong but perfectly legal in this world. If morality determined legality, things like Playboy would not exist."
"So... us and Melody's friend weren't the first that Cupple has gone after?" Whitney wondered.
"If anything... you would be the latest and maybe the most successful attempts," Reverend Jack nodded, "often because he was either testing the waters on how well he could mask his sorcery and keep his actions appearing legal. And because those who have served our church as knights have been able to confront him... in legal ways that have made it difficult for the worst of his activities... And that went until a few years ago when a knight was killed in a confrontation with Cupple."
“Like our father was killed,” Jeff said slowly, his eye stalks and sensory stalks on his upper lip drifting a bit.
The rest of the Chapmans looked down as well. For Whitney, Lucy, Zoe, and Grace there was the admission that Cupple had made to their faces that he was the one responsible for the fire that killed John Chapman. They didn't know how Cupple survived the fire, as the retail building that the confrontation had been in had been consumed by the flames, but the report in the paper was that Cupple was able to escape through the front door or window before the fire hit a gas line that consumed the rest of the building. But if he had been able to escape that way, then John should have also been able to escape. But any charge from the Chapmans that Cupple had set the fire would be their word against his, as they didn't record Cupple admitting to it, or admitting to what forced them to become Slug People.
Jeff, however, noticed that Reverend Jack looked down and was biting his lower lip. It was something that even had the lower part of is upper front teeth visible as he did so. Something had to have the reverend nervous or guilt ridden on something and something that related to their father.
"Your father... WAS that knight," Reverend Jack said slowly while barely able to look up from his feet.
"What?!" came the response from just about everyone in the room.
"Come on," Grace spoke, "dad was always pretty spiritual, but he wasn't going out to fight people."
"As I've already said... it really isn't about fighting," Reverend Jack spoke, "most of that will only come in self-defense if something escalates. The primary hope would be more that the opponent backs down and repents after recognizing the error of his/her ways or is sloppy enough that there will be the evidence to take to the police and then provide them with the appropriate protection against any destructive spells. And I was new to town at the time..."
"And you just recruited John?" Whitney asked, her mind racing and barely functioning from the shock and surprise.
"More that he volunteered," Reverend Jack answered, "as I said... I was just starting out and hadn't yet been able to get in contact with the knights that served my predecessor here. John was curious on my thoughts and said he wanted to be able to help. I tried to tell him that a knight wouldn't get much in the way of a financial reward, and while they aren't to go out and engage in vigilante actions, that doesn't mean that dealing with the supernatural isn't without risk. He insisted on wanting to help... said something about a nightmare about a dark figure torturing you and the children."
"So... it was to save us?" Whitney asked.
"That is what I sensed from it," Reverend Jack nodded, "and would be why he had various meetings and other things while going through the proper training and education to work with these situations and handle the appropriate things for defensive magics... shields and so forth."
There was a silence that followed as the Chapmans looked to each other. Melody put a hand on Lucy's shoulder and began rubbing the tip of Lucy's tail with the tip of her own.
"When Cupple got started here... things weren't entirely apparent, and was limited to real estate," Reverend Jack continued, "it is only when he began making inquiries to Simon and the Slug People of the colony here that there were warning signs that he might be a bit darker, or at least questionable. The mission that John was on was simply to try and talk to him about the importance of leaving the colony alone... or not abusing them. As while the magic around their defense has worked, it has its limits. There was never supposed to be a fight or confrontation that would lead to anyone dying. John had a pendent that would protect him from any attempt to bewitch him to serving Cupple, and it was expected that Cupple would do what most witches and warlocks in these situations have done in the past in recent years... back down."
"I take it he didn't?" Jeff commented, realizing that they'd finally gotten an answer as to why their father had been at that real estate office, even though there was no plan to sell their home at the time.
"It couldn't have," Reverend Jack spoke, "a knight's training is not to go in and attack anyone... or do anything that would allow for claims of self-defense, and your father was smart enough to follow that. And his first missions had actually worked out very well in that way. Just a pair of boys that came across an old book with writing in it... you father was able to talk to them which allowed for the book to be borrowed, I provided a prayer and the proper counters to cleanse the powers that had been in the book, just rendering it to paper with writing on it, and it was returned to the boys. That's about all that a knight's job really is for the church. If someone were to be as dark as Cupple has been... more than one knight would be sent, and they would have the protection that might work against more physical or energy attacks, along with recording devices that could then be used as evidence to convince the police to take action."
"But at the time you didn't think Cupple would actually go that far..." Jeff surmised.
"And Cupple did go that far," Reverend Jack said slowly, "he had to have done something that John wasn't prepared for and that I hadn't anticipated... and... I... I'm sorry."
That sense of guilt became even more obvious as Reverend Jack was barely holding back tears.