An Alpha for Valentine

TEN

DEVIN

If there was something Wentworth did well, it was the churches. But not every church would lay a witch to rest and David Blossom at the time of his death was still an outcast of the Primrose coven. But our diggings had caused us to find one of the few churches that did not care about the blood heritage of the deceased. A priest by the name of Father Milo had reached out to us during our search and told us he helped a grieving sprite put a boy to rest. That Sprite had been Arielle. A sworn ally of the Blossom witches. So we paid a visit. I stood in front of the chapel, scanning the ornate architecture that had been built centuries ago. I took a deep breath and stepped inside, following Jason closely behind.

“This Priest… He promised you a delicate?” I quizzed the second we passed through the gate.

“Yes. He is surprisingly open-minded.” Jason chuckled.

But I found that unnerving. Humans who knew too much were always bad news. It would be bad news too if I one day learned in seminary that I was not the apex predator I once thought I was. What human would learn that vampires, werewolves, witches, and everything in between existed and would be fine with it?

“Open-minded humans do not exist,” I stood firm by that belief. “What does he want to gain by helping us?” I asked.

“A vial of vampire blood and a kilo of moonshine. A small price for invaluable information if you ask me.”

Vampire blood and Moonshine were odd things for a human to ask for, especially one in the fold. A vial of vampire blood could turn him into a child of the night. A kilo of Moonshine which was f*****g expensive by the way was a hard drug that was popular among supernaturals. I couldn’t even begin to comprehend what that would do to a man’s system if ingested. One look at my brother and I can tell that he doesn’t give two shites what the man intended to use them for. He had only one goal and that was to find out what happened to Satake. I wanted that too. Although, I would rather not have a shady priest as my middleman.

“Jason, I really think we should think about this. What does a Priest need vampire blood and moonshine-” I had barely gotten the words out of my mouth when a man in a black cassock approached us, a somber expression etched on his face.

"Welcome, my sons," He said, his voice deep and grave. "I am Father Milo. The one who contacted you."

He was not old which made me dislike him even more. The unmoving and unreadable expression on his face told he was ambitious and knew his garlic. The rosary dancing around his throat was silver. I could smell its toxicity in the air. I exchanged a knowing look with Jason but he dismissed it. My brother would be the death of me.

“It is nice to meet you in person, Father Milo,” Jason reached for the man’s hand. When the man accepted it, I glanced at a tattoo hidden under his sleeve. I did not exactly see what it was. But I could tell it was professionally done. The Priest in front of us was not always a church boy. It explained a lot. Behind the man, I noticed a girl, cloaked in dark blue robes. She was silent and kept her head down. Was that the Delicate, I wondered as I reached into my suit pocket and took out a cigarette. I needed it if I was going to survive whatever interaction this was. When I put the stick into my mouth and reached for my lighter, the wind blew in my direction and the hood the girl wore fell to her shoulders and revealed long golden hair. My hands stopped looking for the lighter and I stared. It must have been intense because the girl immediately stepped back when our eyes made contact. Her face turned red and she pulled back the hood. It was weird how just her hair color reminded me of Valentine. I tried not to act too shaken up but in truth, it was not only Satake that dominated my thoughts. I worried about Valentine too. She was not doing okay and plenty of it was my fault. The simple way out would be to break the bond that had tortured us both for years. But I could not bring myself to do it. It was selfish because I was only thinking about myself. But Selene willed this. The universe matched me with her for a reason and we would find out that reason together. She would come around…eventually. I returned the cigarette inside my chest pocket. The urge to smoke one out had died.

“Is that her? The Delicate?” Jason asked, pointing at the girl behind Father Milo.

“Yes,” The Father nodded, waltzing toward the girl and nudging her forward, He peeled back her hood when she was close enough, revealing the dead ringers that the girl was a delicate. I had been focused on her golden hair before. That had blinded me to the fact that the girl had pale-almost translucent skin. Her eyes were also pitch black and more animated than that of a regular human being. It made my skin crawl. “I will give her to you for a price.” There was something sinister in the smile that crawled up the man’s mouth when those words were spoken.

“You will have your price once your lab rat has worked her magic,” Jason retorted. The warm and inviting smile was gone. He was now a man of business. This was the Jason I liked.

Silence ensued as both men stared into each other’s souls like they were going to pull a gun from behind at any moment. There was a chance that a silver bullet and a biological killing machine would go head to head at any minute. Bloodlust was in the air and the thickness was coming from both parties.

“We will pay half upfront?” I blurted, stepping between them. My eyes however remained on the Priest. “We give you the Moonshine here and the vial after we get something to work with.”

Like clockwork, the man’s expression softened and his plastic smile returned. “You have a deal.”

I stepped away from the middle and turned to Jason. He did not like that I butted in. But he did not give me much of a choice. It was either this or bloodshed and somehow I preferred using the resources at our disposal to find our brother rather than kill some shady priest. The delicate played a huge factor in it too. They were sensitive creatures. There was a chance that she was attached to the man. Killing him would be a waste on our part. Delicates, although docile were extremely protective of those that mattered in their lives. The girl could take her own life in response to Jason taking the priest’s life. None of us would have wanted that. Senseless bloodshed did not need to happen. “Just stop being stubborn and hand it to him. The vial is the real deal anyway.”

Jason begrudgingly reached into his jacket and handed over the drug sealed tight in a clear plastic wrap which the Priest’s grabby hands snatched. His unhinged reaction when the brick came into his possession made me contemplate maybe I had been wrong about the priest being some human with evil intentions. It was starting to dawn on me that maybe he was just a druggie who had the misfortune of jumping into supernatural drugs.

“Give us the girl.”

The man’s next move sold me completely. He obeyed Jason’s order instantly. His hand slammed into the girl’s back and he pushed her into our arms. I reached for the girl with open arms. But she steadied herself before she could fall into me. The look on her face showed that she was frightened to bump into me. My worry had caused me to forget that she was still a Delicate. A volatile supernatural whose specialty was to reading emotions and powerful memories absorbed into objects. Her skin merely grazing mine could have been catastrophic. I put my hands down and swallowed. I wondered what it would be like for a Delicate to consume my mind.

“Come with us, girl” Jason signaled at the girl with a finger snap.

She nodded and followed us deep inside the church where the procession of David Blossom’s body had taken place.

The room itself smelled like death. It was no surprise considering a lot of mourning had occurred in this very room. Behind me, I could hear the girl sobbing. When I turned to face her, I realized that her skin was glowing. It was dull. But it was radiating nonetheless.

"I can feel them," she whispered, her voice trembling. "I can feel all their suffering."

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a picture of Satake. I held it up to her face. "Look past all the emotions and suffering. Look for this face."

This was our chance to find answers.