Out of Time 01 - Out of Time

all-knowing something.
    “Elizabeth?” Simon said, pulling her from her tangled thoughts.
    “Coming.”
    They followed Father Cavanaugh into a small back room. Cherry wood cabinets and a shining metal drum, like a water dispenser, lined the far wall. The Father gestured to a beaten leather couch.
    “You’ve some experience with vampires?” Simon said in a very businesslike way, as if he asked the question every day. The Father nodded. “I thought as much.”
    Father Cavanaugh pulled up a rickety wooden chair and sat down. “And it seems, so do you.”
    “What can you tell me?” Simon asked.
    “A man of few words, I see. I respect that, but may I beg a little indulgence? I’m an old man and prone to ramble on a bit, I’m afraid,” he said with a wink at Elizabeth.
    She could feel Simon tense, even as he leaned back against the cushions. “Of course.”
    The Father inclined his head and then turned his attention to Elizabeth. “What have ya seen, lass?”
    “How’d you know it was me?”
    “A demon is always drawn to the innocent.”
    She laughed nervously. “I’m not exactly what you’d call innocent, but thank you.”
    The priest leaned forward in his chair. “It’s a purity of the heart they seek. To sully the unsullied.”
    Simon grunted and shifted in his seat.
    “And if they have a soul?” Elizabeth asked.
    The father rocked back in his chair. “I see.”
    “Well, I bloody well don’t,” Simon bit out. “Soul or not. What difference does it make?”
    “Every soul is worth saving.”
    “Not this one,” Simon said.
    The Father settled back in his chair and clasped his hands. “And why would that be?”
    “He’s after my wife.”
    Elizabeth felt a thrill at the words. Sure, it was a fib, but she felt like his wife, or what she imagined it would feel like.
    The priest smiled genially. “Coveting your neighbor’s wife is a sin, but hardly reason enough to be kept from Heaven.”
    “Murder, extortion. You can take your pick of sins. And honestly I don’t care,” Simon said. Ever since the Father had side-stepped Simon’s questions about the murder, he didn’t seem to have much faith in the man.
    “I didn’t come here to find a way to save a man I’d just as soon see dead,” Simon continued.
    “Simon!”
    If Father Cavanaugh was insulted he didn’t show it. His placid face betrayed nothing. “Why did you come here? Aside from liberating some of my holy water?”
    Elizabeth chimed in before Simon could. “That’s all we came for, but now that we’re here, maybe you can help us?”
    She felt Simon shift in his seat and quickly continued before he said something insulting. “We know a little bit, but our practical experience is, well, different.”
    “And what experience is that, child?”
    “King. I guess you’ve probably heard about him.”
    “I’m acquainted with Mr. Kashian. We’ve spoken on occasion.”
    Simon snorted and Elizabeth stilled his tongue with a gentle hand on his forearm. There was something odd about the way the Father looked when he mentioned King, but she put it out of her head. “I had dinner with him last night. Not that I wanted to, but he... persuaded me. And then, I’m not really sure why, but he told me about what happened to him.”
    “Did he now?” the father said, both surprised and troubled. “Isn’t that interesting.”
    “That isn’t the word I’d use,” Simon said tartly.
    The Father smiled sympathetically. “No, I suppose not. Forgive me, you were sayin’? He revealed himself to you? But he didn’t attack?”
    “No,” Elizabeth said, “he didn’t.”
    “It’s some pathetic game to him,” Simon said.
    “Oh, no. This is no game,” the Father said. “Another creature wouldn’t have hesitated.”
    Elizabeth shivered. That’s exactly what King had said to her. Simon clutched her hand in his and gave it a comforting squeeze, but she could feel the tension in his grip.
    “It’s a terrible truth, I’m afraid,” Father Cavanaugh continued. “Used to be quite a problem here. Although, I fear Tammany Hall may be spawning something new.” He smiled ruefully. “Politics.”
    Good grief. She knew the government was corrupt, but demons too? It was too much to think about, and she tried to push the implications out of her mind. One problem at a time.
    “Used to be?” Elizabeth asked. “Is that because King... killed them?”
    The Father clasped his hands in his lap. “It’s a wicked debt to owe, is it not?