Page 48 of The Wickedness of Man

On the couch, breathing in soft, wet hisses, was Mercy. She was sitting as still as she could, but I wouldn’t have much time for my game if she didn’t behave herself.

“A theory?” parroted the bishop.

“Yes. You see, I know of a certain bishop in this organization that has had a soft spot for him since we were kids. I figured that said bishop, knowing what kind of terrors lay in store for his favorite little demon, might see fit to bend the rules a little. Perhaps even… pretend not to notice that his security card”—here I raised the edge of his belt, revealing that the white card was indeed gone—“had been taken from him?”

Jax didn’t speak, but his throat worked up and down as he watched from the window of my room. Below us, a car screeched off into the night. I couldn’t help but smile. After graduation, I had specifically asked for a room on the top floor of the university—mostly so I could be certain none of the organization’s magical writs could reach me here—but also for the ability to watch everyone’s comings and goings.

“Well?” I asked, taking a seat on the couch opposite Mercy behind him. “Which of the archdiocese’s cars did he take?”

Jax hesitated, then answered, “The Jag.”

“Ha! Wilson owes me twenty bucks.” I sat forward, glancing momentarily to the veiled nun in the chair across from me. “He bet me it was going to be the Escalade, didn’t he, Mercy?”

The nun made a hissing, groaning sound and shifted in her seat. She wouldn’t last much longer. The run in with Caleb had sapped more of her restraint than I’d anticipated. If I didn’t hurry, she’d end up ripping her clothes off and jumping thebishop’sbones.

It’s better than the old bastard deserves, I thought.

“What you did to him was wrong,” said Jax. “Does your father know about the?—”

“My father doesn’t need to know everything that goes on around here, now does he?” I shouted. I could feel the shift of my teeth in my mouth; eagerness, irritation—who knew? “Imagine how upset he might be to learn that the man he trusts to run the lower sector of the organization betrayed him by lettingCaleb Knightescape after he’d been plucked like a ripe fruit by Carmilla de Mornay—the succubus he’s been hunting for the better part of fifty years?”

“Caleb doesn’t deserve this,” Jax said softly. “You were prepared when you awakened—he’s going to be on his own?—”

“Oh, come on,” I snorted. “I used to get into all sorts of shit with the man, bishop. He’s always had a predilection for dipping his wick where didn’t belong, and it doesn’t take a succubus’s power to seduce him. Trust me, I went out bar hopping with him on more than one occasion. He madehimselfthe perfect target for succubus bait—that had nothing to do with me. You can’t bait a great white with a minnow; we know from experience we had to have a target she would grab, and he was perfect.” I stared at him, hoping to relay the meaning behind my words. “Besides, you made sure he was alwaysparticularlycareful about using protection, weren’t you?”

Jax went quiet, then sighed. “But there will be a time that he doesn’t. You and I both know it. It could be when he meets a girl he really likes. It could even be this time?—”

I let loose a guffaw. “You… you’re joking!” The laugh spilled out of me like the bubble of oil from a well-tapped vein. “He didn’t! He actuallycameinside her without a condom? Oh, this is good. This is too perfect!”

“Harry,” Jax’s mouth turned into a sour frown. “We can’t know for sure what happened. Caleb’s memory is hazy after all, and he couldn’t tell me everything anyway?—”

“Couldn’t?” I asked. “Or wouldn’t?”

Jax glared at me, both hands tightening on his cane in aggravation. “Whether he couldn’t orwouldn’tdoesn’t matter. He was intimate with the succubus, which means he was caught in her web. We know this is true because your veiled sister confirmed it, and he believes itcouldbe a possibility. I want to know what the hell were you planning to do with him, and why, knowing that Caleb could possibly have already awakened as a demon, was there a reacquisition request for weapons that could have killed him?”

“That’s my business, old man,” I snapped at him. “Breathe a word of this to my father and I will have you in stocks for a week and then hanged, understand?”

There was a long pause before the bishop said simply, “I see.” He strode toward the door of my room, sighing. “It seems we both have secrets to keep, but know that I will discover your game eventually, child. Caleb is?—”

“A fool,” I said, my patience wearing thin, “who will serve a greater purpose for my mission. The succubus is all that matters. I was backed with the authority of the archdioceses to select my team, and that means if Caleb had to die for this mission, he should be so honored. He’s the first bait she’s ever taken, and that fact cannot be overlooked—and oh! How perfect it would beif he finally broke his own little rules, eh? He’s going to have onehellof a time once he starts waking up, isn’t he? I know when I turned, nothing could have prepared me for?—”

Across from me, Mercy groaned, a distinctly sexual sound, low in her throat. My cock twitched; I needed to get rid of the old man. I was wasting time in gloating to a priest when I was so excited, I could have been allowing myself toenjoyfucking her tonight.

“You’re condemning him to eternal hellfire,” said the bishop. “We both are.”

“Then I suggest we seek forgiveness later, hmm? I hear God’s big on that stuff,” I said, standing and walking to the door. I opened it and waited for the doddering fool to get the hint. “In the meantime, I have things I need to take care of, and I’m tired.”

“I’ll see you after mass.” The bishop glared before pausing once more and looking back at Mercy. “You already knew it was inevitable that Carmilla would choose him, didn’t you? What good is it to have the sisterconfirm what you already knew would happen?”

“Because now I have proof that Caleb, precious, shining Caleb, messed up and fell victim to his own inner demon, which makes him just as weak asIwas.”

“Do you not think your father will be interested in learning that the boy is potentially on his way to an awakening?”

“That, dear bishop, is formeto tell him. Once I can confirm it, of course. Caleb’s been a slippery devil one too many times—and don’t for one second think I don’t know where he got those condoms from, old man. Were Father to find out that you’d delayed his grand plan… he might finish what he started with you all those years ago.”

Jax’s mouth twisted into a hate-filled grimace. For one brief second, I could see the fire in him that had made him a monstrous hunter agent when he was a younger man. “Do notforget the story of Cain and Abel, Harry. Hatred only begets hatred?—”

“What I remember,” I said, leaning down so that I could level my gaze on his, the reddish glow of my eyes reflecting in the glasses on this nose, “is that one brother ended up living for another seven hundred years, the other died. My plan is working better than I had ever hoped—and it’s in part thanks to you. Who knows what kind of lunatic Caleb will become after thirty years of denying his heritage? In one fell swoop, I will catch both him and de Mornay, and thenhecan get sent off to be Father’s new lab rat while I finally get to be free of my old man’s control.”

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