Holy crap, Ulalume! That is a creepy story with creepy tendrils creeping off in creepy directions. We have far too many seriously messed up "religions" in this country.
Your description of the "facsimile" character is intriguing. I've known a few people who didn't seem to project much in the way of personality, but only one encounter sticks out in my mind where there was definitely something very wrong with the person. It freaked me out but good. Many years ago, I was working with a young fellow who came from a family deeply involved with a cultish splinter religion. I'll call him Joe. His parents were way 'round the bend on their religious path and were known to be pretty well nuts. Joe had an older brother he looked up to and admired, so I heard a lot about him at work.
One day, I had to stop by and pick Joe up for some reason. We may have been working on a Saturday or whatever. I walked up to the house and rang the bell. Older brother came to the door. I had never met him. He was pleasant enough, and polite, but I had a sudden and very strong impulse to run. It was very confusing. I can't imagine coming face to face with a vampire or some other kind of imaginary ghoul come to life being any more jarring. I stammered out something about being there to get Joe, and The Count informed me, again politely, that Joe was not there. I said okay thanks and got the hell out of there. The guy was not odd looking in any way, didn't act weird, but being in his presence made my skin crawl.
Years later, The Count gained his fifteen minutes of fame by declaring himself an important religious figure, much like some of the dingbats who turn up here with nutty prophecies and ludicrous claims. Some people reading this will no doubt have even heard of him. I'm being very vague because "Joe" is a really good guy, especially considering his background. There is little chance of my causing him trouble by describing his badly warped brother in more detail, but he has suffered enough embarrassment about it and I don't want to take even that small chance of being the one to cause him more. Too bad, because it is a truly whacked story.