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"Father Marius and Father de Leon have summoned you," he announced, pulling out a pair of silver handcuffs from the holster at his side. "Turn around, hands behind your back."
I obeyed and let him bind my hands with the cuffs through the bars, even though that seemed like a rather insufficient method of restraint, all things considered. Then again, I hadn’t been able to break the silver chain on my own in my wolf form, and Arrow had warned me that wasn’t possible. That and my experiences with being wounded by silver—not once, but twice now—were enough to assure me the silver itself possessed some hidden strength not present in technically stronger metals.
I had no plans of challenging my restraints, either way. I was wary of Father Marius under the best of circumstances, but my continued existence hinged upon his approval, and no matter what he had in store for me, it was worth the chance to see Castor again.
Father de Leon, I reminded myself. I very much doubted he would appreciate me referring to him on such familiar terms, even inside the privacy of my own thoughts.
"What's your name?" I asked as the hunter let me out of the cell. He gave me a strange look, so I added, "I haven't seen you around before."
I wouldn't have been surprised if he refused to answer at all, but he finally snorted and said, "Baker."
"I'm Eddie," I said, smiling as I followed him toward the stairs. "But I guess you already know that."
"Yeah, you're something of a topic of interest around here," he said in a flat tone.
For some reason, that made me blush. "I guess it's not really a surprise. What are people saying now?" I asked, even though I really wasn't sure I wanted to know the answer to that question.
I followed him up the stairs, and he didn't reply for a moment. He finally said, "It's split about fifty-fifty. Some people say you're a hero and we all owe you our lives, and others are saying you’re a liability who’s going to kill us all."
"That's what I figured," I said with a heavy sigh. Truth be told, I was surprised it was evenly split. "And just out of curiosity, which side do you fall on?"
"I'm about fifty-fifty myself," he admitted. "But it doesn't matter what I think. If Father Marius wants you here, it's nobody's business but his."
"Right," I murmured. Hopefully that was the case.
I hadn't actually seen Father Marius after that first night, and we hadn't gotten off to a very promising start. I could feel my own heart racing as I approached what I assumed to be his chamber. It was further down the corridor than the clinic, with the same stained glass windows that were all over the rest of the Abbey. One of them had been broken—from the raid, I assumed—and covered over in a thick tarp that bulged outward from the wind. It was the first hint of fresh air I had gotten in so long, and I couldn't help but breathe in deeply, not sure when I would get another chance.
Baker opened the doors into the grand chamber, which was darker than I’d expected. Other than a large wooden desk at one end of the room and bookshelves lining the walls on either side of it, there wasn't much else in the way of furniture. Behind the desk, however, there was what appeared to be an altar with a statue of a saint as its centerpiece. Placed on the center of the altar in front of the statue was a goblet of some dark liquid I assumed was blood, since I could still faintly pick up on the metallic scent even in my human form.
Maybe I wasn't that human in this one, either.
When I looked up, the white-haired priest was sitting behind the desk, looking as ethereal as ever in his dark crimson frock with his elegant hands folded on the table in front of him. He was taller than I remembered him being, but there was something about his slender build that kept him from seeming imposing. At least, not physically.
The sharpness in those blood-colored eyes, on the other hand…
It was the sight of Father de Leon standing next to him that held my attention, though, as usual.
He was wearing his street clothes, so I assumed he had been out on the hunt recently. As absurd as it was, the thought always worried me. Wondering when the next time he would come back was, but knowing there was a chance he wouldn't come back at all, however skilled he was. If there was anything I had learned about being a hunter during my time in captivity, it was that it was brutal, bloody work.
His brown eyes had a reddish glint to them today, though I couldn't be sure if that was just a trick of the light. I had initially assumed Father Marius's curious eye color was a result of his albinism, but now, I wasn't sure. Maybe it had more to do with the infusions the hunters took from the vampires. Several of the others I had encountered had golden eyes not unlike mine, and the dead hunter they had used my blood to try to heal was one of them.
"Thank you, Baker," Father Marius said in his silken, strangely pleasant tone. "That will be all."
"Yes, Your Excellency," Baker said, bowing to him before he left the room and pulled the door shut behind him.
"Come forward," Father Marius said, beckoning me with his hand.
I had to overcome my physical hesitation to approach the desk, if only for the chance to be closer to Father de Leon. I stopped a few feet away from the desk, bowing to him as the other hunter had. "You wanted to see me, Your Excellency?"
His lips quirked slightly, as if he found my address amusing. "Yes. Father de Leon recently filled me in on everything that happened while we were away, and I wished to thank you in person."
"Thank me?" I echoed, unable to hide my surprise.
"Yes. We lost many of our own that tragic night, and my understanding is that the blood toll would have been much greater if it weren’t for your intervention."
"I'm glad I could help, Your Excellency," I said, not really knowing what else to say.
He gave me another strange look before murmuring, "Indeed." He paused to look at the younger hunter beside him. "In any case, there is a matter that needs to be settled."
