Page 43 of Dark Cravings

I paused to consider my answer carefully, gripping the wheel a little tighter. "My personal opinion on the matter is irrelevant,” I finally answered. “I submit to the Church's teaching, and to me, the hunt is a sacred calling, regardless of how morally culpable the beasts we hunt happen to be for their actions. That's between them and God, and it’s simply my job to arrange the meeting."

He coughed a laugh. "I guess that's one way of looking at it. So… Do you really believe in all this? The spiritual stuff, I mean."

"I do," I answered, glancing over at him. "Why does that surprise you?"

Eddie pursed his lips. "I don't know. I guess it’s because you just seem so logical."

"And you're of the belief that faith and reason cannot coexist?"

He winced. "No. I didn't mean that."

"I’m not offended,” I told him. “It was just a question.”

"I don't know," he admitted after another pause. "Part of me hopes this world is all there is. Especially when the alternative means I'm evil."

I glanced back over at him, not expecting that answer. I wasn't sure why I felt the need to comfort a damn monster about his existential angst. Even if it was hard to see him that way in this form.

"For what it's worth, Father Marius doesn't believe you're all evil,” I replied. “I suppose he would know better than anyone."

"Really?" There was that hopeful note again.

"I'm sure you've noticed the rosary he wears around his neck," I said. When he nodded, I continued, "The gem within it contains the blood of one of the Church's earliest saints. It may interest you to know that she happened to be a vampire."

"A vampire?" he echoed doubtfully.

"Saint Imogen," I answered. "She lived in the late sixteenth century, or at least, that's when she first appeared on record. Back then, the vampire population was at an all-time high, and most of them were particularly brutal. Most of the old orders of hunters can be traced back to that era. Saint Imogen not only created a sanctuary for vampires who wished to coexist in relative peace with humanity, offering them methods of feeding that didn't require killing their prey, but she also pioneered the early science of infusion. She was something of an alchemist herself, and she discovered a method of distilling vampire blood and using it to heal ailments that would otherwise have been fatal. In return, the humans she saved offered their blood as sustenance through regular donations."

"That's pretty incredible," he said, his voice low with reverence. "So she founded the Sanguine Church?"

"One of her disciples," he corrected. "Her lover, according to rumors. That, too, is heavily contested, but in any case, she was our progenitor. Father Marius has a shrine to her in his study."

"I thought that statue was the Virgin Mary."

I chuckled. "In the early days, when the Catholics were still trying to burn all of us as heretics, it was necessary for the iconography to be vague and easily disguised."

"Oh. So, if you guys are kind of your own thing, I guess that means you don't believe in celibacy?"

I raised an eyebrow. "That's what you gleaned from all that?"

"Well, I’m already a werewolf," he said sheepishly. "And I just slept with a priest, so I’d kind of like to know if I'm going straight to hell."

I sighed. "The Church's teachings on the matter are vague, but no, we don't have to be celibate. Fucking a monster certainly isn't ideal, but of all the reasons your soul might be in a mortal danger, that's the thing I’d be worried about the least. And how many times do I have to tell you, you’re a shifter, not a werewolf?”

"Right," he mumbled, looking up as I pulled the car to a stop at the entrance of an alleyway. "Is this it?"

"We're going into the city on foot," I answered, getting out of the car. I reached into the trunk for the black duffel bag inside it and slung it over my shoulder. "Stay close."

He followed behind me as I headed toward the fire escape wrapping around the nearest building. I looked back over my shoulder as we neared the top of the stairwell.

"Are you really winded from a few flights of stairs?" I asked in disbelief.

"No," he said defensively, his voice suspiciously strained.

I rolled my eyes. If nothing else came of this, at least Arrow would be able to report to Marius that I wasn't exaggerating. Eddie was not ready for the hunt. Part of me wasn't sure he ever would be. Not as a human, at any rate. He was surprisingly weak, even if I did eventually manage to whip him into shape. Literally and figuratively.

Arrow was waiting for us on the rooftop with an impatient look on his face, even though his newly bloodied clothes were proof he hadn't actually been waiting idly for that long.

“Took you guys long enough,” he said.