Page 42 of Dark Cravings

I snorted, taking off for the city. "A few things before we get to our destination. You're coming along only as an observer. Unless I say otherwise, you stay back and let me and Arrow take care of the beasts."

"Arrow?" There was an understandable note of apprehension in his voice as he said the other hunter's name. "He's coming?"

"He's the reason you're coming," I informed him. "I don't think you're ready, but he disagrees."

"Why does it matter what he thinks?" he asked. "Didn't Father Marius put you in charge of me?"

"He did," I said. "But technically, as a vicar, Father Lavigne is in charge of us both. I'm just a priest."

"Oh," he murmured. "I guess it's a good thing I didn't mouth off to him, then."

"He'd probably have more respect for you if you did," I admitted.

When I looked over at him, he was sulking.

"Our ranks aren't quite as regimented as the Order," I said, figuring it was time I started explaining some of the more administrative aspects of the Church. It was clear Father Marius wasn't going to be talked out of Eddie becoming a hunter, not any time soon. I wasn't even sure I was as opposed to it as I had been. At least, not for the same reasons.

If I thought too hard about why the idea of Eddie going out there unprepared bothered me so much, it led down roads that were better left unexplored.

"They operate as a military institution first, and a religious sect second,” I replied.

"Yeah, I was wondering about that," said Eddie. "You said they’re Anglican, but I have a hard time believing all this is officially sanctioned."

"It's not," I said dryly. "The Order was originally established by Queen Victoria many years ago as the military arm of the Anglican Church, but it’s gained a good deal of autonomy since then.”

"The queen made a secret society of monster hunters?" he asked doubtfully.

"The war between humanity and beasts has been going on for as long as anyone remembers, but there have been certain points in history where it was worse than others,” I explained. “That was one of them. The so-called ‘Dark Ages’ were another."

"Wow," he breathed. "Are they still part of the Church?"

"Not officially, no. There are only a few high-ranking members who are even aware of the Order’s existence, and for the most part, it operates independently under the jurisdiction of Mother Cerise."

"What about the Sanguine Church?"

"We were originally a part of the Order," I admitted. "There was a schism due to certain… doctrinal matters, you could say."

"Seriously?" he asked. "The blood thing?"

"That was part of it," I answered. "It's been over a hundred years, so some of the finer details are contested, but the sum of it is that we embrace the power of the blood, while they shun it and consider us heretics."

"I guess I can kind of see that. No offense."

I snorted. "The Order views the plague of beasts as a spiritual problem as well as a physical one. They see it as a result of the fallen world. Corruption spread through sin and transmitted through blood.”

“But you guys don’t?”

I hesitated. “In a sense, they're correct. Blood holds the essence of what we are—our vitality and our disease. Energy, in another manner of speaking."

"And the Church worships the blood?"

I grimaced. "We’re frequently accused of it by the Order, but no. We see it as a gift. A tool to be used, morally neutral in and of itself."

"And beasts?" he asked warily.

"A natural phenomenon," I answered. "Merely another product of the evolution of humanity. One that must be understood both scientifically and spiritually, and addressed in the same way."

"So you don't think we're inherently evil?" There was a hopeful note in his voice.