Touch Not The Priestess

Cerebus, he of the recently elongated snout, suddenly pops back into this plane of existence, along with the accompanying 'POIT' sound effect and lands on top of his head on the stones of what looks like a cellar.

Countess Michelle appears at the door and doesn't seem the least surprised to see Cerebus, in fact by the way she talks, you would think she'd actually expected him.

He follows her upstairs, lured by the promise of food. Cerebus doesn't do a lot of talking in this chapter. Most of it is done by Michelle. Cerebus lets her ramble. We hear about her relationship with Weisshaupt, his love of gardening, his attempts to turn her into some sort of protege. I was reminded of Therese, who seemed to have a similar relationship with the recently departed President. There was one very funny moment when Michelle finds out that Cerebus has never cleaned up before, he doesn't even know how to use a dustpan and brush. It makes sense, prior to becoming a political and religious mover and shaker, the kind of places Cerebus frequented had dirt floors or didn't much care if they were dirty anyway. After people cleaned up for him.

While Michelle cooks, Cerebus sits at her kitchen table and lets her talk. Michelle seemed to be the prize in a fight between Lord Julius and Weisshaupt. I don't think either of them won, but it made Michelle wealthy. From what the Countess says it appears that Weisshaupt was paranoid even then.

Eventually Cerebus asks Michelle why she is telling him all this, she then says that everything she told him when he was staying with her was a lie, but he had to know what really happened before she told him what she felt she had to.

The man knows how to write a cliffhanger ending.