Oh thank God I don't have to get my hands dirty tonite! exults Mariel, happy for small favors. She drives her Z3 back to the Citizen, noticing with pleasure that Father Black rides a motorcycle.
She leads him to the underground parking, and waits nervously while the priest parks. Mariel doesn't like this place, with its yellow fluorescent lighting and multiple hiding places for who-knows-what to jump out. Circe is largely responsible for that feeling of discomfort, and Mariel hopes that she won't return to the hotel.
We have a few hours, she says to Black. And you're welcome to crash in my room if you need a place to stay.
Mariel is looking forward to getting to know this man. And to using him to help me stay in Sacramento.
Being underground reminds Benton of sleeping in the earth. And lately that reminds him mostly of his sleeping torment.
"Thanks for the offer." he replies, "So let's get to know one another, shall we? What can you tell me about yourself? How did you come to be among the faithful? What gets you out of bed at night? For me, it's the young people. The ones tempted by greed and violence and crime. Tempted into joining a gang and corrupting others instead of finding peace with the Lord. I've been down that path. It doesn't end well, let me tell you."
As he says those last words his eyes seem to look far away, to see something painful.
Mariel leads the way to the elevator. Oh, I grew up Catholic. Catholic schools, Catholic teachers, Catholic everything. I did something to attract the attention of my sire while I was at a convent school...and here I am! She tries to smile brightly and fails.
Do you mind, could we continue this conversation in my room? I'd feel more comfortable with some privacy. Plus, I'm dying to change into something more comfortable. My feet are killing me!
"You know, I actually knew my sire before he got Embraced. We were in the same Motorcycle Club" There is an unspoken "outlaw" in front of the words Motorcycle Club. "I left that life but he never did. And I guess he never will, but I did and he didn't want to accept that. Anyway, lead the way, Mariel. It'll be nice to get out of this garage."
Mariel leads the way to her very comfortable hotel room. Once they're inside, and she has placed the "Do Not Disturb" sign and locked the door securely, she relaxes a little. Was your sire also Lancea? she asked, as she gratefully kicked off her shoes.
You don't mind if I change, Father?
Mariel is uncertain how the new Bishop of Sacramento will react, so she doesn't go out of her way to tease him...However...
She does go into the bathroom (door firmly closed) to put on a very beautiful, very short, sleeveless black satin and lace negligee. Her concession to propriety? It has a floor-length jacket of black satin which she ties very loosely. She returns and sits cross-legged on the king-size bed in her bare feet and starts brushing out her long flaming red hair.
Mariel is anxious to hear Benton's "conversion" story. And tell her own. And if I can get him to yield to temptation- so much the better.
Damn, He thought when Mariel came back out in her more comfortable clothes, in another life we could've given that bed a workout. It took him a moment, a moment he hoped she didn't see, to respond.
"Sanctified? Oh, hell no. He was a Bruja. It's basically a gang of vampire bikers. Like I said though, I left that life behind long before my Embrace. I used to be a genuine outlaw biker; If there was a sin I committed it. Greed, envy, lust, wrath, you name it. Then one day this bright flash of light blinded my and I lost control of my bike, went rolling across the pavement and died. Clinically dead, no heartbeat, nothing. And the last thing I see is the sunlight shining off the cross on top of a church."
Black decided to shrug off his own jacket and get comfortable in a chair. With his jacket off, his short-sleeved black shirt displayed the tattoos on his forearms, including a crucifix on the inside of his right forearm.
"Anyway, that's a pretty clear sign that you're doing something wrong. It was a message from God and I listened up. Joined the priesthood after that and devoted my life to keeping kids from making the same mistakes I did. 'Course I never stopped riding, that was in my blood by then. So one night I'm out on some empty stretch of highway when he catches up to me. Starts talking all this nonsense about a new gang and riding the midnight roads forever. I tell him that's in the past but he doesn't want to hear it and...well you can guess what happened next. Of course I didn't join up, ran as fast as I could away from that bastard and before long I found other Vampires and the Lancea Sanctum. Well, it all made sense then. I was a brutal monster of a man, then I was a man of God, then a vampire, one of God's chosen brutal monsters. This is what my life has been leading up to, it just makes sense, this was The Lord's plan all along."
He took a moment to let it all set in, this was probably the most he had spoken to anybody, much less a fellow Kindred, since he arrived in Sacramento. He suddenly worried that maybe he said too much, maybe she didn't share his belief in God's divine plan, she could just be the Easter and Christmas type.
"Wow, listen to me ramble. So, what's your story?"
Well, I was embraced by a Sanctified, starts Mariel. My parents thought I was too hard to handle; I was such an embarrassment to them. So they sent me a thousand miles away, to a convent school. They trusted the nuns would straighten me out.
What they didn't know, Father, was...I really was "in trouble". At least that's what they called it back then. I didn't tell anyone, and the nuns were awful to me, making me scrub cold, hard, stone floors for hours on my hands and knees as penance, making me recite the rosary over and over until I made a mistake, then beating me.
Mariel pauses. I think things would have gone differently if my baby had lived. She looks away. But she didn't.
Mariel continues her story. And I was so angry. I figured if everyone thought I was so bad, I must be. It was Good Friday, and I decided it was a perfect time to start being the new me. I found the priest in the sanctuary, and....she looked at Black directly... I seduced him, Father. Right there in the church.
The priest regretted his actions right away, ran from the church, just horrified. That's when my sire stepped in, she said, wearily.
I didn't know what hit me, but as I lay dying, I looked up and saw it- the most beautiful stained glass window. I don't know why I never noticed it before. It was Christ crucified, with blood flowing down from his hands and head...and there was a centurion there. With a spear.
Mariel pauses for a long moment. It was Longinus.
She continued on, earnestly: God is good. He gave me a reason for continuing to exist, and at the same time since I know I'm a damned soul, I can revel in my damnation. And I do, Father.
Mariel smiled seductively at Black, regaining some of her composure.
Oh, you've got a history of seducing priests. Sure I'll come to your hotel room. he thought to himself. Recovering from her brazen come-on Benton was glad to hear how Mariel came to the covenant. Though the paths they took were practically opposite, they both arrived at the same destination and that's really all that mattered in the end.
"It's good you found your place in God's plan. Too many get lost in the ecstasy of the blood and the tangles of the Danse that they never even think about the big picture. So what do you do when you're not out corrupting clergymen?"
Mariel looks at the man in front of her in shock and anger. What kind of priest do you think you are, anyway? I pour my heart out to you, and that's your response? I've never told anyone that story!
She continues on, blood tears coursing down her face. I bind you to the rules of the confessional. Or are you such a sick fuck that you can't manage that, either?
Mariel cries as if her heart was breaking, turning away and burying her face in her hands.
Father Black silently chastised himself. He had allowed himself to get too relaxed and let the callousness of his Beast override his sympathy. Looking back on what he had just said it almost shocked him. Almost if not for his cruel and callous past. He quickly shifted his posture and manner back to something more formal like he learned in the seminary.
"I apologize if I seemed crass. You know your demons and that is commendable. You know your sins, you have suffered for them, and you accept your damnation and your purpose. If it's absolution you are seeking then you can have whatever I can offer, from one damned soul to another."
He approaches Mariel and places his hand on her shoulder.
"I assure you, what you tell me in confidence stays with me. I'm not some scheming Invictus Lord who will use what you tell me as leverage later. The faithful must stand together."
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