Order 42: Guilty Conscience
Anderson and Skey stared at one another for a long pause. Malakai kept his hold around Skey, nuzzling her cheek affectionatly with his own cold, dead skin. Skey only looked on to Anderson with no smile, no emotion in her eyes. Deep in his conscious, he knew she didn't want this. Why then, did she resort into giving in to the heathen vampire? Anderson's tongue lashed out hurtfully, him not being accustomed to forms of apology or convincibility.
" SKEY! Whit the HELL dae ye THINK yer DAUN? Thas the enemy! SKEY! Ye will come wi' me RICHT NOO!"
Resentment gave a lustrous shine in her glare. The glare was powerful enough to make Anderson take a step back in submission. With his teeth bared, he tried his best to keep his cool. It wasn't easy to see the most vile enemy in front of him and with his only trusted friend. The innocence walking around them gave no heed to the evil in their centre. Laughter from the children, talk from the prime. None could see into the battle before their very eyes. Lightning streaked the sky in a dazzling display. The crackling of cellophane thunder shook the placid clouds. The ember eyes of the vampire challenged the unwilling priest to battle him in front of these souls...
" Skey...Ah'm disappointed in ye...yer betraying the Vatican. It's nae too late tae come back wi' me, Skey. (Holds out his hand calmly) Skey, please..."
" Skey darling, do not listen to that hypocrite. (looks into Anderson's eyes with a scowl) he's nothing but a child at heart, mourning and lamenting his own past that he can't forget. He could never love you, Skey. Not like me."
" Skey, dinna listen tae thon piece O' garbage! Come wi' me! Skey, Yumie is worried aboot ye...please!"
"...Father Anderson...you speak of me betraying the Vatican. You took me in, trained me and showed to me that someone can really care for another. You watched over me like a guardian angel. At least, that's what I thought. But when you shoved me off earlier, I knew it wasn't just you having a bad day. I would be able to tell that. You genuinely didn't want me around you anymore. You acted like I was some kind of disease to you. Who's betrayed whom, Father Anderson? Me betraying people who hate me anyways, or you who betrayed the only person you felt close to?...It is pointless in living somewhere where I am hated and resented like some kind of deformed beast. It's not even living."
" Skey..."
" I've made my decision, Father Anderson."
skey stepped from Malakai's secure hold and took off the hemp rope necklace, the shiny, pure cross dangling from it. The cross was taken into her white gloved hands, her fingers gripping around the figure tightly before she threw it to his feet and turned her back on him. The precious symbol slid across the wet sidewalk and bumped into Anderson's boot. The filth enriched itself into the rope and the rain soaked the silver and infinite circle of the rope. Anderson remembered now how fragile trust was. Even when he was a child, it was hard to trust anyone around him. Growing up the way he did, no child had to go through with it. He wanted to tell Skey so many things, so much about himself but his tetth always halted his tongue, preventing him from unveiling his deepest secrets.
" Ah'll kill ye, Malakai...Ah swear on it. Ah'll hunt ye doon...It widnae matter aif ye ran tae China, India, Egypt, America, Brazil, Canada, Japan or Australia...Ah will hunt ye doon like the filthy dog ye are, and Ah'll place ae stake throo tha' black hert O' yers."
Makakai gave a single grunt, acknowledging the priest's threat before walking off with Skey on his arm. Anderson had to return to the Vatican and report to them what has happened. Worse, this was all his fault. If he would have been more lenient, maybe more friendlier with Skey, this all wouldn't have happened. This couldn't have happened on a worser day. The ferocity of her voice proved over that she was firm in this decision. The sadder thing was she was right. He had betrayed her trust. Anderson knew too good and well how untrustful Skey was of people. The first one she openly showed trust in, and it had to be him. And he had to go and blow it.
The Vatican halls. 3:00 P.M.
Alucard strolled the vast halls aimlessly. There was nothing in particular to do. Seras had been left with Integra as a guard. Integra was in her own appointed room to wait out the day until tomorrow night. Ah, yes, he thought. Tomorrow night would prove to be a field day. The anxiety, the anticipation for that night to arrive rattled Alucard's patience. These covens of strong vampires made Alucard laugh with glee. It had been a long time before he was able to unleash all restrictions and have some fun. In fact, he looked forward to it. Alucard's stroll came to a halt. Ahead, Yumie was approaching. The rain had dampened her nun outfit but that wasn't what she was ranting about. Alucard slipped into the dense walls and followed to catch her words.
" Damn him! If it wasn't for his going off like he always does...Skey wouldn't have run away! Seems like anytime someone tries to be nice to Anderson, he shoves them away. Damn, he is such a CHILD! If he finds Skey, I hope she slaps him or something! The stupid bastard!"
Alucard came out of the wall, surprised. What he heard did indeed sound like the emotionless, vampire killing Anderson he knew, but it disappointed him. The man was finally learning what it was to be human, something he solely was whether he wanted to admit it or not. And now he was throwing it away. Skey was a very strong girl and needed more credit for her talent.
" The fool."
St. Peter's Basilica. 5:00 P.M.
Anderson walked into the Vatican drenched in rain. It was beginning to pour. Rain fell like bullets. People scattered everywhere to seek shelter from the rain. Except Anderson. He had walked through the rain without thought, without feeling. His head hung low, his heart regretful. Something told him to shape up and take it, to not let his feelings become involved. Yet, he truly couldn't follow those words. If he had the heart anymore to follow that frigid way of thinking, he would have shrugged this off like anything else. The Basilica was emptying. The Swiss Guard was escorting people and tourists out. The Vatican was closing now due to what they had called " complicated reasons". People were ushered through the doors. A Swiss Guard man saw Anderson's troubled behavior and felt sorry for the guy. Many times he'd seen this man walk through these doors of God with bloodied hands. Maybe it was finally catching up to him exactly what he was doing.
Anderson took a seat on a bench, looking around the musical Basilica. No holy light shined through the Basilica's domed ceiling. Even though the music played on, it was a solemn day. Things had been said that shouldn't have been said. There was no easy way to break this Maxwell.
" Father Anderson...what are YOU doing moping around like a dog?"
That voice. Anderson whipped his head up to see Alucard standing in the middle of the empty basilica. Immediately, like a instinct, Anderson stood up and whipped out two large bayonets made for dueling. His eyebrows narrowed at the vampire, and his legs were ready for the fight. But the vampire laughed!
"Whit's so funny, Alucard!"
Alucard had doubled over holding his stomach, his chest shaking with the absurd laughter. It baffled Anderson to see this might Alucard laughing like this, there being no apparent reason for it. Anderson felt obliged to run headlong into battle with the great vampire, but before being able to take a step into the plan, Alucard stood up and rested his demonic red eyes upon him.
" You're real amusing, Priest. You just chased the only person close to you away. Then you sit around moping about it, regretting what you've done. A true hypocrite indeed."
" AH'M NOT AE HYPOCRITE! DINNA CALL ME THA'!"
"And so irrational. You're afraid of having human feelings. You excuse yourself from feelings by using the lame excuse that you're serving God by doing so. How pathetic. Even for you."
Anderson's fingers became numb around the bayonet's hilt. His teeth chattered and occasionally grinded due to his rising anger. Alucard only smiled his all-knowing smirk, knowing he was ruffling. the priest's feathers. Alucard saw this anger as Anderson's point of focus. It would let Alucard pass and into Anderson's mind, to read his thoughts and memories at will. Being the devious and mischievious vampire he was, he didn't hesitate to read a few recent memories of the priest. He'd been out to find Skey and he wanted to know exactly how the search went...what Alucard saw appalled him. Malakai stood in the priest's mind, clutching Skey with his clawed hands.
"(frowns) you truly are a fool, Vatican dog...you drove your own former student into the enemy's hands. And all you can do is sit around and mope about it, huh? I thought you were a man of action! That vampire has one thing he has been wanting and he'll be empowered to mow your little Vatican City down to its foundation if you don't do something now!"
" whit's the point O' it! Ah tried tae get her tae come back...She chose whit she wanted and tha' was tae remain wi' thon vampire!"
" You're not tryin hard enough! Damned, lazy simpleton! I would expect this from an ordinary human, but not from you. (turn his lips in disgust) you go on about killing every vampire you meet. You vow to battle demons even after death! Quite a devotion. You made a similar vow to Skey, didn't you? To protect her and take care of her. You dare to go back on that vow? If so, you don't even deserve to be a priest much less called a MAN. (turns his back to walk away) If you really cared, you wouldn't be sitting around here regretting anything. YOU would be out there fighitng anything in your way to get her back. If you truly cared that is."
" And why dae ye care? Ah ought tae throw yin O' these bayonets through yer heid and be done wi' ye."
" (grins) You think of her as a daughter, don't you?...Or do you think of her as something more? Father Anderson?"
" MIND YER OWN BUSINESS, VAMPIRE!"
Anderson's eyes squinted together tightly, wishing the vampire to go away and to nevermore haunt his consciousness. The horrid vampire's laughter echoed through the hollow, domed building of the basilica. Lighting struck, the thunder overhead crackling. The priest's sight glared at the vampire walking away until he turned and went into a wall. Anderson sat back into the wooden bench, calming his heart and trying to thin rationally what should be done. His memories wouldn't let him. As he looked around at the ancient building, he remembered when he had brought Skey into the Vatican. He held her in his arms and carried her in, bruised, skinny, half-dressed and dirty. He wished for nothing but some time off to devot himself to a human being and teach them faith in God. For most of his life as a priest in the Vatican, he had only been sent out to slaughter unholy creatures. Once in a while, as a break from this dirty job, he would be sent to orphanages and sometimes fellow churches to preach. Being in the kind of job he had, putting up a shield to perserve his concentration was not abnormal. When he found that poor, scared girl dying on those streets, that shield was cracked. He took her in and showed her the kindness she deserved. And now he was fearing that in doing this, he had disrupted his morals and fixations he had in his life.
