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"No," he said thoughtfully, his tone softening with fondness the way it always did whenever he spoke of the vicar. "Arrow is quite possibly the strongest hunter I've ever known, but strength alone is not enough. He's much too reckless and driven by his bloodlust to shepherd the flock. But another has shown promise recently."
"Then who?" I asked impatiently. When he still didn't answer, the realization that was slowly dawning on me filled me with dread. "No," I said firmly. "You can't possibly be serious. Not Eddie. He’s a fucking monster, for heaven's sake!"
"Quite a remarkable monster," Father Marius agreed. "I can't say I thought I would ever find myself considering it, either, but I also didn’t think I would ever see the day when the Church had a shifter for a hunter.”
"This is absurd," I said with a bitter laugh. "Either you’ve lost your mind, or this is one of your little tests. So which is it?"
His gaze sharpened dangerously. "I understand that you're upset, but you need to calm down and choose your words carefully before you say something you're going to regret."
"I'm not the one who's thinking about putting the Church in the hands of an out-of-control beast," I hissed.
"And yet, you're acting like a petulant child. Is that really much better?" he challenged.
Fresh rage washed over me, but I managed to seal my mouth shut before I really could say something I would regret. Not in the moment, perhaps, but eventually.
"Forgive me, Father," I said through my teeth.
Marius’s gaze softened. "It is a testament to your training that I'm considering this at all," he said, his tone gentler as well. "And I trust that you will be able to put your personal feelings aside and continue to train him faithfully."
I took a deep breath. I felt like I was going to have a meltdown.
"Of course," I said, bowing to him and turning to leave before I really could say something that would give him reason to doubt my maturity.
"There's one more thing," he said as I stood with my hand on the door handle.
My spine stiffened and I reluctantly turned around. "Yes?"
"You've been hunting ceaselessly these last few months," he said, his fingers laced in front of him. "Might I suggest you take some time to return to prayer? There's more to being a hunter than bloodshed, and if we lose sight of that, we are no better than the beasts."
I felt like I was seeing red, but I nodded shakily. "Yes, Father. I'll certainly keep that in mind."
ChapterNineteen
EDDIE
As soon as I saw the soldier from the Order leave through the front of the building, I went off in search of Castor. Father Marius's door was shut, but I knew Castor wasn't in there anymore, both because his scent was fresher further down the hall and because the room was silent. When Castor wasn't in any of the training rooms, or the sanctuary, I ventured in the direction of where most of the higher ranking clergy lived.
I had never actually been to Castor's room, and I wasn't permitted to live in the barracks, but I hadn't explicitly been told I wasn't allowed to venture into that region of the Abbey, so I figured it was better to apologize later than ask permission now.
A few of the other recruits gave me strange looks, but no one tried to stop me. Following Castor's scent was easy enough, and it would have been even in a crowd. Everything about him stood out to me, from his scent to the sound of his voice, as if the universe had shined a spotlight to help me always keep track of him.
He would probably call it stalking, but I preferred to think of it as unrequested surveillance. And maybe there was a bit of obsession thrown in.
I was still rehearsing what I was going to say when I finally found Castor's room, but when I reached the end of the hallway and heard banging like there was a struggle going on inside, I panicked. I flung the door open, rushing in prepared to fight whoever he was struggling against, but there was only him. I stood in the doorway, watching in confusion as Castor swiped everything off his desk, then toppled the nearest bookshelf. He didn't notice me until he turned around.
Our eyes met, and while his were usually so cold and unfeeling, it was the first time I had actually seen emotion in them. It was pure, unadulterated rage.
"Father de Leon?" My voice sounded strained as the door fell shut behind me, and I jolted at the sound, since he was now looking at me with all the anger he had yet to take out on his unsuspecting furniture.
I had barely opened my mouth to say something when he had me pinned against the door the very next instant. I gasped sharply as he fisted his hands in my shirt and crushed his lips to mine.
And of course, I returned the kiss. I didn't even bother to ask what he was so furious about that had prompted him to tear apart his room, or why he was kissing me now. Neither of those things really seemed to matter in comparison to the present reality, which was that his lips were on mine and his hands were tearing off my shirt as he kissed me with passion that seemed like the natural progression of his violence from moments earlier. And I kissed him back just as fiercely, because I really was that pathetic.
Suddenly, he flung me back against the dresser and my back hit the wood hard. He was on me again in a split second, his hand in my hair as he yanked my head back and bent his head forward. At first, I thought it was to kiss my neck, but then his teeth grazed my flesh and sank in almost hard enough to break the skin. I gave a startled cry.
"Castor," I breathed, pushing against his chest enough to look at him. "What's going on with you? What happened with that guy from the Order?"
"Do you ever shut up?" he asked, shoving me back onto his bed.
