Page 44 of The Wickedness of Man

“Who would I tell?” I griped. “The priests, during bouts of torture confession in the cells?”

“Have you ever wondered why our sect of the Church is quite literally hidden underground?”

“I mean…” I shrugged. “I just assumed it was because we, y’know, murder people… or at least, people-shaped beings.”

“Caleb, please,” sighed Jax. “The truth is… there are many demons within the organization. These demons—largely incubi—work in the name of God to eradicate other evils. Harry isalso a cambion. The night before graduation, he ah… met those specific conditions that awakened the demonic power within himself.”

I blinked, flashing back to the trip we’d taken to the strip club—not just the two of us, either. The organization had actuallydrivenus there, and then the brothers had stood by, pretending not to notice after letting us draw lots to find out when we’d go into the back, one by one, to have somepersonaltime with the dancers. The shock of it struck like a gong in my head.

“You mean that night… one of those women…?” I gaped at him. “But Harry is the archbishop’s son—” I spun to face Jax, and he put a finger to his lips.

That absolute dickhead—I’m going to tear Harry a new asshole when I get my hands on him again. He knew. He fucking knew and he never told me?

“I’m warning you, boy. Secrets and machinations you could never, ever understand,” Jax whispered. “Tell me, this girl you were with… you had sex with her, correct?”

“Yeah…” I said, struggling to find the words to make this as painless as possible to explain. Talking about sex with a priest was one of my least favorite activities. “It was…”

“Caleb.” Jax scowled at me. “I’ve caught you with girls more times than I care to remember. IwishI could forget how many times I walked into your room only to be greeted by the sight of your bare arse pumping into the air. You’ve never exactly been a mastermind at hiding how much of a—what is it they call it now, a man whore?—you are. Don’t be shy now. This is important.”

“Jesus, Jax.Ouch. Did you really just call me aman whore?”

He slapped me on the back of my head. “Don’t blaspheme. Tell me what happened.”

I rubbed my head, even though it didn’t really hurt. “I wasn’t lying. I thought Dr. Lowe might attempt to hurt her, but… There was also justsomethingabout this girl. Made me feel like I hadto get to her at all costs…” I went on an explained inextremelylimited detail about the events that took place. Didn’t say where we’d hidden, what her name was—not even what she looked like. I told him about the doctor’s insistence that I be the one to take her; that as soon as Magda woke up later, we’d been inseparable… quite literally.

“Caleb.” Jax jabbed his cane into the rug below him, his voice resigned one I’d finished. “There is no way out of this for you.”

“Jax, c’mon. Can’t I pray this away or something? Isn’t there a spell? An incantation? None of you padres can do a damn thing? Try and remove the curse or something?—”

“You’re not… human. You never were—you just didn’t know. No amount of prayer or spells would work because you havealways beena demon. It was lying dormant until… well, until those certain conditions were met.”

“But that means I’m the one who turnedherinto a demon,” I whispered. “Not Dr. Lowe.”

The bishop shook his head. “We don’t know for certain. For now, I will leave the young lady’s name out of this, as you clearly want to protect her, but?—”

“Please no ‘but’ Jax,” I whispered, chest constricting in agony. “If they try to hurt her… I don’t know what I’ll do.”

But Ididknow what I would do: Anything possible, so long as it meant keeping her safe and out of the organization’s hands.

“Very well, my boy.” Jax softly thudded his cane into the carpet—the motion was one of his ways of emphasizing a point. “I will keep it quiet as long as I can.”

I was shocked at the relief that flooded through me.

“However, tomorrow, the archdiocese will likely begin monitoring your progress?—”

“You mean they’re going to poke and prod me while I devolve into some kind of demon,” I corrected. “I’m never going to leave those cells, am I?”

“I simply don’t know, Caleb,” said Jax. “The archdiocese will need to study you. There are… other issues at play here as well. You may well be locked in here the rest of your days, or perhaps… perhaps they may attempt to use you as they do Harry?—”

“This is bullshit,” I spat. “That was a goddamn suicide mission, and you know it. Harry picked me for this knowing how it could end. I won’t accept… I mean, there must besomethingwe can do. Harry’s the archbishop’s son, so he’s probably got immunity. I won’t be so lucky.”

Jax approached me and placed a fatherly hand on my shoulder, his gaze, even hidden behind his lenses, was clearly troubled.

“I’m sorry, son. The decision is not mine to make.”

Although we weren’t related, Jax had been the only actual father figure I’d ever had. True, I spent most of my life either finding new ways to get in trouble or being punished for having found them oncehe caught me, but it had always been Jax who’d attempted to help me, in his fatherly way. Hearing him say these words now… that tone in his voice… it conveyed to me everything I needed to know about the situation: I was doomed.

“I’m so sorry,” he said again, squeezing my shoulder.

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