Part V
As the church bells struck half past seven in the evening, a special Mass that was being held in the church of St. Anne in the Vatican came to an end. Only a handful of people attended it; all of them members of Vatican's secret organisations.
Four of them – one priest from the Assembly of the 8th Sacrament and three Executors – had exited the church, and two started smoking while waiting for the fifth person, Narbareck, who was still inside.
Two black cars were parked in the narrow street in front of the church. All four men seemed restless, conversing in low voices about the mission for which they had suddenly been handpicked. It was incredibly unusual - perhaps even without precedent, at least in the last few decades – for the agents of the Burial Agency to cooperate with members of the other branches of the Holy Church.
They were all lone wolves, an eccentric and feared lot among the rest of the Church, who preferred dealing with their prey on their own terms. Their actions were sometimes too extreme even for the most ruthless of the Executors. For the Director of the Agency, the most infamous of the bunch, to suddenly organise a hunt like this meant that the Church was dealing with an enemy of the highest order; a particularly powerful Dead Apostle Ancestor.
The four agents had already received some basic briefing before coming here, but most of the data pertaining to the hunt ahead of them was to be distributed during their flight from Rome to Prague. Thus, all four of them were still half in the dark regarding upcoming mission.
Just as the two Executors were about to light a second round of cigarettes, Narbareck finally emerged from the Church. One gloved hand was stuffed in the left pocket of her leather coat, while the other was firmly clutching a silver briefcase. Her face was stern, and her tone commanded obedience:
"Move out! You three, go in the first car. You, Assembly guy; you're coming with me in the second car. Go."
The four agents obeyed immediately; cigarette butts were thrown on the ground, doors slammed as the men entered the cars, and with a loud hum of engines, the group left the Vatican through the Gate of St. Anne.
After getting bored of watching buildings, palaces, and churches fly by as the car speeded through central Rome, Narbareck turned to her companion, the priest from the Assembly of the 8th Sacrament.
He seemed to be Asian, but he was rather tall, and brown-haired. Simple black clothes and a golden Pectoral cross on his chest were his attire.
He, too, was staring through the window in silence. Narbareck had expected him to take the front seat, by the driver, but he didn't appear to be at all uncomfortable sitting in the back, next to her. He only seemed bored.
"So, what's your name, priest?"
He slowly turned towards her, with a look that was half-empty and half-surprised at her speaking to him. Still, he replied clearly:
"Kirei. Kotomine Kirei."
"Which one of those is your first name?"
"Kirei."
"A-huh. Sounds Asian."
"Japanese."
"There aren't many Japanese here in the Vatican. You're the first one I've met, actually."
"I'm aware of that."
"Your Italian's good. You look pretty tall for an Asian, though."
"My father was Japanese, but my mother was not. He met her during a pilgrimage to Lourdes."
"Quite a lovely story – a man and a woman find each other whilst seeking God," Narbareck said, with a mocking grin, "Say, what made you choose a career in the Church?"
"I never really thought about it. My father is a priest, too, so it seemed only natural."
Kirei's last few words didn't pass unnoticed for Narbareck, but she decided to focus on something else at the moment:
"Wait, your father is a priest? Wow. That's just... wow. That must have been a pretty awkward confession he had to make after that."
"Don't talk bad about my father."
"I wasn't talking bad about him."
"You were mocking him. I will not allow you to do that. He is the most virtuous man I know."
Words that came out of Kirei's mouth sounded firm and confident, but it did not escape Narbareck's sharp gaze that the young priest's eyes were as empty while he was uttering them as they were while he absentmindedly looked through the window earlier.
The corner of her mouth twitched a bit as she suppressed a grin:
"What a good son you are, defending your father's honour. Then riddle me this, priest – if he's so virtuous and good, how do you explain and justify the fact that he broke his vows and slept with a woman? It doesn't sound like something a truly good and virtuous priest would do."
Kirei didn't respond immediately, instead taking a few seconds to think before he answered:
"My father's act wasn't born out of passion or lust, but true love. There was nothing sinful about it, and even if there was, he already repented for it through confession and penance."
"Heh. What a masterful evasion of the problem. Well, you're good with words, I'll grant you that. You'd probably make a great preacher.
But you haven't really addressed the issue: how can he be virtuous if he's broken his vows and the Church's code? It doesn't matter whether his act was born out of passion or love – your Church explicitly forbids its priests to have sexual relations and marry. No exceptions."
"His act-"
"No, don't give me that shit. There's no way around it. If you've taken up a vow - and one that binds you to God, at that – then surely breaking that vow diminishes one's virtuousness. Don't you see a logical contradiction in your claim?"
"Even so..."
"So you admit that I'm right?"
"Even so! That doesn't mean he's not a virtuous person. One act cannot overturn a man's entire character."
Narbareck didn't respond to him for a while, and instead just watched him intently. The young man's words and tone, and even his facial expression, were those of a man certain and confident in his beliefs. But Narbareck wasn't really interested in his words or tone. His eyes told her all the truth that she needed to hear.
"I do believe that you greatly respect your father. And that he really is an incredibly virtuous and pious man."
"He is."
"But this is not just about your father, isn't it?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you said you became a priest because of your father?"
"I... yes."
"That must mean that you greatly admire him and want to be just like him, right?" Narbareck said, grinning at Kirei.
He looked down, seemingly lost for a few seconds, but then answered.
"Yes, I do."
"There's a lack of conviction in your voice, priest."
"No there isn't. I mean it – I do want to be just like my father."
"Heh. I'm sure you do. But... how does breaking one's vows count into that?"
"I don't understand."
"Well, you said that you want to be a perfect priest because you look up to your father, and consider him a perfect priest, no? But how can one be a perfect priest if they've broken their vows? Would your father still be a perfect role-model?"
"I... I am not a perfect priest..." said Kirei, in an emotionless voice.
"Oh? Have you broken your vows, too?"
Kirei said nothing.
"I see... but still – I don't think that sleeping with a woman is what's really troubling you, priest."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm saying that I think that you have other problems on your mind."
"What would you know what I think?"
"I can tell. It's my talent."
"Right. I'm afraid I don't care much for psychics."
"Oh, I'm not a psychic. It's just a little talent of mine. Say, priest – do you want to know what I think you think?"
"Well that was a mouthful."
"I think you don't really care about this whole priesthood business at all."
"I beg your pardon?"
"I don't think you really have any passion in your chosen career, Kirei."
Narbareck's twisted grin, her blunt words, and the fact that she said his name for the first time since he introduced himself to her, all made the calm and collected Kirei twitch a little. Still, he had enough presence of mind to remain in control of his emotions and acts:
"And what makes you think that?"
"Oh, not much. It's just that you didn't sound particularly enthusiastic when you said how taking up priesthood was 'only natural' to you."
"Plenty of children take up professions after their parents, it's nothing strange. And they don't only do it out of a sense of obligation, but out of genuine passion."
"Yes, but not you."
"You know nothing about me."
"I think I know enough," she replied, her eyes now glowing with twisted pleasure.
"Spare me your insights. I am a man of God. I will do whatever is asked of me for my faith. My faith is everything to me, no matter what you think."
"Spoken like an exemplary priest. I bet your father is proud of you. I bet everyone who knows you thinks you're a model priest," she continued after a small chuckle.
"But say, Kotomine Kirei; do you find pleasure and purpose in your career as a priest?"
"Of course I do," Kirei replied, but the consistent lack of passion in his eyes failed to convince Narbareck. On the contrary; each further answer to her instigations only served to strengthen the impression she was getting from the young priest.
"Do you? Somehow I doubt that."
"Think whatever you want."
By that point Kirei was left positively disturbed by his conversation with Narbareck. She noticed a slight dose of terror and insecurity creeping into his voice and into his emotionless eyes. As if he had been shown a glimpse of a dark abyss.
Narbareck's only response was a snicker.
"Say, Kirei, do you know who I am?"
"Of course I do – you're the leader of the Burial Agency."
"And what do you know about me?"
"That you're the Church's most powerful vampire hunter. That you have captured a Dead Apostle Ancestor on your own a year ago, when you took over the agency, even though you were only 16."
"Is that all you know?"
"Of course not. Everyone knows what happened during your hunt of the Ancestor," Kirei said, turning a suspicious eye filled with disgust at Narbareck.
She, of course, noticed that.
"Do I disgust you, Executor?"
"Of course you do. You're a vile murderer. You're godless. Your actions go against everything the Church teaches."
"Indeed. I am monster. I enjoy killing. I do not deny that. What point is there to deny our own nature?" she said.
Her twisted grin revealed two shiny fangs, and Kirei backed off a little from her. However, that wasn't because he was intimidated by her appearance. It wasn't Narbareck's sick smile that made Kirei's heart pound stronger, but her words.
"What point is there...?"
"Yes. Why fight against who you are? Why deny your impulses? What good will it do to a person if they keep killing their own nature?"
"Self restraint and control of one's urges are some of the most important teachings of the Catholic Church. That is the path to holiness."
"And are you on that path, priest? Will you ascend to heaven one day?"
"If God judges me to be worth it. All of us are at his mercy."
"Heh. Kotomine Kirei – if those are your actual, honest thoughts, then you truly are an ideal priest."
Kirei fell silent again, staring at the palms of his hands which he rested on his knees. He felt that they got sweaty during his conversation with Narbareck, and it unnerved him.
"Still – would embracing our own nature be so bad?" Narbareck said after a long silence, "Wouldn't people feel more at peace if they could just be who they are and accept themselves as such, instead of always denying themselves, always killing themselves because the society expects or tells them to do so?"
"And what about evil people?"
"What about them?"
"What you're saying is all well and good as long as it's about harmless things, about mostly good people. But what about the likes of..."
Kirei stopped in the middle of his sentence, and the abrupt pause didn't fail to make Narbareck giggle on the inside once more. She could easily guess what the priest was about to say, but decided to torture him no more; she had already read the man.
While others must have thought him a virtuous man to the core, Narbareck knew better. She could read his thoughts and feelings, for his eyes always spoke the truth. One just had to look, and Narbareck was good at looking.
'We are birds of a feather, after all, Kotomine Kirei. You just haven't realised it yet,' she thought to herself, 'But don't worry; you can't run from yourself forever.'
Just then the car stopped as they finally reached their destination; the Fiumicino Airport.
Through the thick shower of rain – which Narbareck hadn't noticed while they were on the way here due to having a rather... engaging conversation with Kotomine Kirei – she could see that the Vatican's private jet was already waiting for them at the far end of the runway. The first car was already there, and she saw the three Executors loading some bags and briefcases from the trunk of their car into the plane.
Both Narbareck and Kirei opened their car doors at the same time, and were just about to leave the car when Narbareck suddenly stopped and said:
"Hey, priest!"
"Yes, what is it?"
"I was thinking; you said that one act cannot overturn a man's entire character, and that doing one bad thing doesn't mean someone isn't virtuous."
"Yes; I said that, and I believe that."
"Yes, but... I have a question: if it's possible to commit a sin and remain a virtuous person, is it possible to always act virtuous, and still be a sinner?"
"What do you mean?" Kirei said, an ominous darkness falling over his eyes.
"I'm asking you: if one can do evil, and still be good, can one also always act good, and still be evil?"
Narbareck's grin made Kirei's heart skip a beat. He was certain that the woman in front of him was a demon.
"Something to think about during our flight," she said and stepped out into the rain.
(...)