Author's Note
A fellow reviewer pointed out a few critical errors in my last chapter and I'd like to apologize! I do see now that I'd gotten the Old and New Testament mixed up! Thank you for pointing that out!
Chapter Fifteen
Zed did just as he'd asked. She played the perfect dutiful daughter when she stepped out of the Confessional. Really, John thought, she was superb. Except for the fact that the moment she faced her father, she threw her fist.
John smacked himself in the head. "What the bloody hell are you doing, love?" He'd asked her to play the good daughter, not the psychotic one. He listened intently because if John so much as thought that Martin was going to raise his hand against Zed, he'd be meeting John's fist as well. First priorities be damned.
Someone hit the floor.
"Get off me, get off me." Zed panted out and John fought a smile because from the sounds of things, Zed was winning. He pushed the door open a fraction of an inch and peeked out. Zed was pinned down beneath a male's body, one arm above her head while the other was moving towards a pressure point in the mans throat.
John knew they weren't going to hurt her, but he was mighty tempted to make himself known and throw the sod off of her himself. But she was holding her own just fine. What in all of hell's jolly realm had she been thinking?
Martin held his chin and then opened and closed his mouth. "What did that Priest say to you?" His hand disappeared inside his jacket and came back out, revolver in hand as he turned.
Zed sat up, her eyes growing wide. "No!"
John backed up, pulling the door closed and reevaluated his position. He wasn't in a good position.
No one was immune to the higher position that Martin was in. He didn't just want things done, he wanted them done his way or no way. Shit, John thought, the blighter would kill a priest because he hadn't capitalized his daughter into this Messiah-ism? John started digging through the robes but came up ended handed. Why couldn't the damned Priest carry a gun or something?
That would go over well with the Church, he thought wryly.
The only weapon he had on hand was the Achilles but that was only good in hand to hand. He took a stance and readied himself to burst through the door. He never had been one to wait for any bloody sod to come to him.
So much for diplomacy.
"He's your father, Zed. Have more respect."
Manny. It took every ounce of self control he had not to go through the door. His rage was a cool simmer on the inside because he knew the sodden Angel's time was coming.
"Constantine was more of a father than he ever was." Zed's voice came to him.
John muffled a snort. Now she was being dodgy with that one. There was absolutely nothing father like about him when he thought about her.
"Constantine is lost to us. He clouds your mind with doubt and insincerity, Zed."
"We never should have given her that spell book." Martin said, turning away from the Confessional, the weapon disappearing beneath his suit jacket.
John paused, the robe half off his shoulder.
Zed remained silent and John strained to hear the conversation. Through out the entire confrontation, there was no outbursts from the outside, nor the pews. That meant the nay sayers had left or Manny had done his time loop trick.
Where was Papa Midnight? Just like the stonker to up and leave when he needed him.
"You thought we didn't know?" Martin straightened the labels of his jacket, bringing himself back to his impeccable attire as usual. "Of course we did, Mary."
"Why?"
"Because I needed John to focus your mind. We couldn't do it."
So he was being used like a trollop? He'd had better lays than this Ben Elohim. How much did they know of the connection between himself, Zed and Midnight? John had the gut feeling they weren't as sure of everything as they thought they were.
Did they know that he knew about the Pentalpha? He really wanted to get his hands on that piece of history. He and Manny were going to go around and around with it in the end.
"It no longer matters. The time has come."
The time has come? For bloody what? John scrubbed a hand down his face. He was running out of options and he didn't like the way things were sounding out there. Zed could handle herself. He'd taught her well on his part. He reminded himself of that over and over. He couldn't afford to be irrational. He just had to wait...wait...
"No—No."Zed jerked back when Manny gripped her forearm.
John's clenched his jaw. He reached out to push the door open.
"No—I'm not a virgin." Zed said through clenched teeth, blurting out the inevitable truth.
John inhaled.
Manny stared down at her, his face impassive. He looked at Martin.
"She's lying. She was raised since birth to realize the importance of this." Martin said, staring Manny down.
Still, Manny didn't move. His wings flared out then and he released Zed, his body blurring. The Confessional shook and groaned as Manny slammed Martin up against the wooden side, his hand around the humans throat. "What reason would she have to lie, Martin?" Manny hissed out.
"For the very same reason she denies the truth." Martin breathed out roughly. He didn't struggle.
John took a deep breath. Good love, he thought, but a damned dodgy subject to bring up.
They had the ring, though. One of them did. And John knew his time was up. She wouldn't be going back down to that room. As Manny had said, the time had come.
John inhaled again and then dropped the robes unceremoniously over the unconscious Priest at his feet. He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and flipped it open with it thumb and pushed one to his lips. The lighter briefly illuminated his expression before he pushed open the divider.
"She's telling the truth, the little trollop." John said as he strolled around the Confessional and into sight. Martin spun around to face him and Manny looked mildly irritated—and shocked, much to John's delight—to see him. John lifted his hand.
"What'd you expect, Mate?" He said, the cigarette dangling from his lips. "Cherry Jubilee, that one was."
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