“That will—“ Gideon started before looking past me, his brows drawing together. “Can I help you…”
“Father Severide,” the man said, making me turn around.
And, I shit you not, he was the sexiest freaking priest I’d ever seen in my life.
I figured I would avoid hell for that thought process because of all the demon slaying.
But, I mean, damn.
He was tall and fit under his black jeans and black button-up with his discreet white collar giving away his position in life.
But the face? Straight out of a cologne ad. Wide forehead, strong jaw, a stern brow over ice-blue eyes, and these cheekbone hollows that gave him a dark, dangerous look.
His hair was black which just added to the mysterious vibe.
“Father Severide,” Gideon repeated. “This is a private institution.”
“Whose wards inexplicably fell,” Father Severide declared, making all of us stiffen.
“How do you know that?”
“Because it was the last thing your previous priest told me as he was packing to flee the area.”
“Excuse me?” Gideon hissed.
“Where is he going?” Marsh asked at almost the same time.
“Fucking coward,” was my commentary. “Sorry,” I added, grimacing when the father’s gaze slid to me.
“I don’t disagree with you,” he said, shrugging. “And you don’t have to apologize to me. My assistant curses like a fucking sailor,” he added, making a choked laugh escape me, despite the serious situation.
“Father…” Gideon said, tone a little commanding, and I suddenly felt like I was a child in a room with grown-ups.
“I think we all feel what is coming,” Father Severide said. “And I think that some in all of the holy orders are choosing now to bow out.”
“Why?”
“Because we only know our God. And if there are to be others, we aren’t sure how they will treat those of us loyal to our God.”
“That’s fair,” Marsh said, nodding. “So why are you here then?”
“Because I believe in what you do here. Believe me,” he added, tone serious. “I’ve done far too many exorcisms to let this organization that keeps the demon population under control crumble because you have no one to bless your institution and weapons. And whatever else you need a priest for.”
“We truly appreciate it,” Gideon said, offering the father his hand.
“It’s my pleasure. Now, are any of you aware that there is a demon out front, leaning against a car that costs more than I will make in a lifetime?”
My hand raised.
“He’s with me,” I admitted.
If Father Severide was shocked by that, he didn’t let on.
“Do you want me to get started on the blessing?” he asked.
“That would be great. Marsh, care to show the father around?” he asked.
Marsh gave us a nod before leading the priest away.
“So much change,” Gideon mumbled, mostly to himself.
“Maybe this change will be good. Our last priest wouldn’t even perform exorcisms,” I reminded him.
“Not many do,” Gideon told me. “It’s too dangerous.”
“Maybe it is a good thing, then, that we now have a priest on our team who doesn’t cower in the face of danger. If times are about to get very dangerous.”
“True,” Gideon agreed. “So back to the demon.”
“Right. Well, Arick concluded that it is a demon cult secret society.”
“At the college,” Gideon guessed.
God, he was good.
I hoped to be half as good as he was some day.
“Exactly.”
“Okay,” Gideon said. “Pick out a team to handle it.”
“And exactly how is it to be handled?” I asked. “They’re humans.”
“They will be brought in. If they don’t agree to cop to the kidnappings and murders and head off to human jail, we can jail them with the demons. But they can’t be allowed to stay in society. It wouldn’t be hard for them to conjure up another demon.”
“It’s going to be a lot of them. Several generations,” I reminded him.
“Well, they won’t have to rot in jail for too long before they head off to hell then.”
“Alright. I will figure out who is here and get a team ready tomorrow. Get one issue out of the way.”
“Tomorrow,” Gideon said.
“Yeah, that’s what I just said.”
“No, I mean… go spend the night with Minos,” he said, shrugging. “It’s going to be a busy couple of months. Get your fill on the downtime when you can,” he advised.
And I was suddenly acutely aware that the loneliness—and not to mention the almost crippling horniness—that I had dealt with for so many years wasn’t a unique experience.
All the others had the same problem.
Hurting human partners.
So unless they were willing to fuck coworkers, they had that same deep well of emptiness inside that nothing could quite fill.
“We’ll be fine here,” Gideon insisted, misunderstanding my reluctance. “Just get back here by ten. We have an assembly to talk about the changes going on around here. And trying to figure out the sleeping and teaching assignments.”
“Okay. I can do that. Gideon, thank you. You know… for everything.”
“Never have to thank me, kid. You’ve always been one of the best of us. I’ve been lucky to try to help you harness all that crazy and use it. Now go get your fill of happy. You’ll need it.”