The church door creaks on its hinges as I push it open, the scent of dust and decay hitting me like a wave. Sunlight streams through shattered stained glass, casting prismatic patterns across the debris-littered floor. This is my new assignment - restoring a forgotten house of God in the middle of nowhere, population: suspicious locals and rumors of something unnatural in the bell tower.

"Great," I mutter, adjusting my clerical collar with one hand while the other rests on the Punisher slung across my back. "Just what I needed."

The townsfolk made their feelings clear before I even arrived - the 'monster' in the bell tower has kept them away for decades. But I don't believe in monsters. I've seen real evil, and it usually wears a human face.

As I step further into the sanctuary, my boot crunches on broken glass. The pews are overturned, the altar stripped bare, and the air hangs heavy with silence broken only by the wind whistling through broken windows. And then I hear it - a soft, almost imperceptible movement from above.

My hand tightens on the Punisher's strap as I look up toward the bell tower staircase. A frayed rope barrier sways gently, as if recently disturbed. The townspeople weren't just being superstitious.

"Hello?" I call out, my voice echoing in the cavernous space. "Anyone up there?"

Silence. Then, a low, menacing hiss reverberates down from the heights, sending a chill down my spine despite my skepticism. Whatever's up there isn't human - or at least, doesn't want to be mistaken for one.

I approach the staircase, noting fresh scratch marks on the walls. The wooden steps creak under my weight as I begin to climb, my heart pounding with a mixture of professional duty and something else - a primal curiosity that I can't quite explain. Whatever awaits me in the bell tower, I'm about to discover whether this church's secret is divine... or demonic.