Addie ducked into the back.
“Can I help you, Father?” Peter’s heart pounded a hard beat in his chest. Bile burned his throat. What business had he with a religious man? One by one, his customers darted out the door. For a lot with little respect for the Father’s teachings, they showed fear at one of his servants.
Cowards. It wasn’t them being approached.
“You call yourself Peter, do you not?”
Peter expected the priest to lift his hood, revealing a grizzled head of hair and a craggy face. The priest did no such thing.
“Yes, Father.”
The hood swiveled one way, then the other. No one remained. “A few nights ago, you… saw something. Something you’ve never seen before.”
“How… how…? Do you mean it was real? Not only in my mind?”
“Yes, it was real.” The priest kept his voice even, betraying no emotion. “I wish I could say otherwise.”
“What was that thing?”
“Something you shouldn’t speak of.”
“I wouldn’t. I mean, who’d believe me? But, shouldn’t people know?” Given its speed, the thing could take out dozens of lives in a night.
“Ordinary folk cannot see them. There are reasons you do. We cannot let the beings become common knowledge.”
“But… Why don’t you tell people?”
“Can you imagine the panic, people running from what they cannot see? When one shows up in the city, it’s hunted.”
“By what?”
“By those trained to hunt them.”
Knife in boot. Always on guard. Martin showed up at the right time and saved Peter from the abomination. “Who?” The twisting in his gut said Peter already knew.
“I believe you’ve met a hunter. Or rather, one other.” The hood dipped. “I myself am a hunter, as are most of the Father’s priests in the city, and a few priestesses.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“First, because I’d like your silence to avoid a panic. Secondly, because the hunter who rescued you is concerned for your safety.”
All the cards lay on the table, apparently. “Why didn’t he come in person?”
“He is at war with himself, between what he needs to do and what he wants to do. In time, he’ll reach a decision.”
“What he wants to do?” Did that mean he wanted to visit but didn’t out of some misguided sense of loyalty? Peter narrowed his eyes. “Are you holding him somewhere until he does what you say?”
The priest waved a dismissive hand. “We believe in free will. However, we must help him fulfill his destiny. Tell me truly. If he left the city and never came back…”
What? No!
A chuckle emerged from under the hood. “No words are needed. Your face betrays you. So, he has found a place in your mind, if not your heart.”
How could this priest speak so casually of a man loving another man? Didn’t the Father consider such affections to be abomination? “I… I don’t know.”
“Well, though he will not tell me, you’ve certainly found a place within his.” The humor fled the priest’s voice. He placed a gloved hand on the bar. “A war is brewing. I cannot clearly see your exact role, yet you will play a part. A big part.”
“Again, why do you tell me this?”
