Chapter 60: Monastery

"Alright, we have arrived." The engine of the car finally died down after a reverse that was a bit too fast to Izaya's liking. Smiles danced on Maria's lips as she jumped out of her seat.

Izaya should have seen her coming to tear open the backdoor, but somehow he was just slightly distracted by the bullet wound in his arm.

Metal clacked and the girl beamed at him like there was a tomorrow to hope for.

"Welcome to our monastery!"

Izaya wasn't quite sure what he expected, but considering a priest was actually steering the wheels of their escape car he should have probably expected as much.

A mistakenly rural landscape opened before his eyes. Trees, bushes and grass in abundance covered the landscape in a wild, but tediously kept to fashion. It was obvious that a gardener, maybe the priest himself, had put a lot of effort into letting nature do what it wanted without impairing the heart of the location: A chapel. Joined with what appeared to be a few more housing complexes it stood pridefully at the center of the area.

On second glance it was quite obvious that this land was not just out of the city, but simply held protection from the government in terms of being abused by new concrete and skyscrapers.

The rights to the ground must be living with the priest in duty and so Izaya's eyes glanced towards the man of religion.

Pride reflected in his face as Maria introduced their home as if to confirm everything Izaya had come up with.

Izaya snorted, despite the exhaustion layered in his mind, "I understand why you said this is the last place they would look for us."

The priest smiled, "It's my family's monastery. No harm will fall to you here."

Izaya nodded and followed the man of religion as he made his way to the front door.

Two leaves carved of a century old wood decorated the entrance and with a bit of effort he pried the leaves open.

"And you are the priest?" Izaya confirmed once more as the pastor proceeded into the holy halls of his chapel.

"The role has been handed down for generations, yes."

The inside of the chapel was even more impressive than the outside. Gold had been used in abundance to fine line paintings scattered at the ceiling. Fat angels hovered above every door and very detailed figurines sat at the altar.

Considering this building must have been built a few centuries ago it was in awfully good shape.

Quickly scurrying around Maria properly locked the front door with a set of large keys once Roy entered the chapel as well.

Only now that Izaya looked at her did he notice a fair similarity to the priest's face.

Was she his daughter?

Interesting theories spun in his mind, but none of them were enjoyable as Izaya slowly but surely felt a suffocating but sadly familiar heat crawl into his chest.

As if on cue he remembered what Vincent had said and that triggered a pretty strong urge to retch at the knowledge that there was still blood of that bastard cursing in his veins.

Was it still active?

The blood?

His body felt oddly warm and having been drugged a few days before it seemed awfully similar to back then.

Vincent was definitely dead with his face torn in half like it had been, but it seemed he left behind a gift with that infected bullet.

"Are you okay?" Shizuo had picked up quicker on his state than Izaya liked it to.

What was he supposed to say?

No?

You will have to fuck me again like there is no tomorrow because Vincent's blood is in my veins?

While the fucking wasn't exactly the issue here, the knowledge of why it happened was still as daunting as it had been the first time.

"Don't worry. You will be as good as new in a few minutes." Roy suddenly announced, and waved them down a stairway to the left of the altar.

Curious Izaya followed down into the monastery.

This was a building joined by many to serve as living spaces for monks usually. It was supposed to act as a large dorm of prayers and chastity. Considering everyone in here seemed to be incubi of either the pure kind or the dilated kind, Izaya figured the location was abused in a different way.

A large hall was the first room they entered after a long corridor of doors and Roy pulled out a chair from the closest table.

"Sit down." Any other day Izaya would have probably questioned Roy's motives- but right now after they had gone out of their way to save them from the police he doubted he had anything particularly dangerous in mind.

Especially after having seen what Shizuo did to the bastard.

The discomfort the action brought still was too apparent for Izaya as he sat down on the chair. A very imminent need to jump Shizuo was slowly but surely starting to infiltrate his mind. And despite really loving the intercourse he shared with the blond, this was a kind of location he could really pass on using that way.

Nodding to himself as if having analyzed a kind of situation Roy approached Izaya. Reaching out Roy's palm hovered above the bullet wound and for a second Izaya froze as he feared the guy might be stupid enough to touch it.

But he didn't.

Hell, Izaya couldn't even tell what exactly it was that he did, because suddenly that skin moved.

The bullet, as if having come to life suddenly reappeared from his skin in a way that made Izaya's back crawl-

But it did.

Half a minute, maybe a whole later the lead plopped from his arm and fell to the ground with the graceful sound of metal hitting marble.

"How-" It was not often that Izaya was surprised by anyone but Shizuo, but this guy had certainly managed to.

A pleased hum left his lips and Roy showed a cocky smile.

"What? Thought you were special?" Izaya snorted. Yeah. Actually he did. Stopping time was something he thought to be extremely rare and valuable even within incubi. Hell even Vincent had said as much about his ability, so he hadn't expected Roy to own anything more impressive.

"You can make yourself feel at home. Down the corridor we have some spare rooms with beds. They are quite simple I'm afraid, but you can renovate them. We have food and-" Maria started to rant right away, but Izaya was quite perturbed by the content of her words.

"Hold up for just a second," he interrupted with a smile, his intention was not to be rude to the young woman. "What is the idea of this place?"

A soft blink followed as he had obviously thrown her off. "Don't get me wrong, thank you for saving us. But, this place-" Izaya pointed to the walls of the hall, the thick marble acting well like a shield from the outside but also as a prison from within. "Are you expecting us to sit here and hide until we die?"

Awkward and sadly confirming silence filled the space for a second as both Maria and the priest seemed to be a bit lost for words.

"Sucks, doesn't it?" Roy announced first and to Izaya's surprise he seemed about as appalled by the idea as him.

"Roy-" Maria scolded her friend shortly, but it had close to no effect as his brows merely furrowed into annoyance.

"I know you don't like to hear it Maria, but this place is hell." And with those words Roy simply left.

A door to the right of the hall had already been open and within a few seconds he disappeared into what laid behind it.

Izaya was always a fan of stirring up trouble, but even he felt uncomfortable in the midst of what appeared to be some kind of family fight.

Sighing deeply the priest pressed the bridge of his nose before speaking.

"Forgive him, he is frustrated," he spoke softly and it was only after a minute that Izaya realized he was talking to his daughter.

She seemed quite distraught by Roy's statement as she whispered. "I know."

Taking it upon himself to explain the situation, the priest approached Izaya.

"The whole city is searching for you right now. While I can't force you to stay, I strongly advise you to do so until most of the commotion dies down."

A wise advice.

Izaya wasn't stupid enough to decline an offer like this when it was presented on a silver tablet.

"For free?", he asked, and the priest shrugged. "You can give us a hand at daily tasks if you like, but that's upon you."

Izaya snorted, "You know that's not what I mean. You are basically hiding criminals." Nevermind corrupt police officers like Vincent, but the actual police were also at their heels now that they had evidence of them being incubi.

A soft chuckle left the priest and for a second he just looked at the colorfully painted ceiling before closing his eyes briefly.

"Isn't it a priest's duty to provide help in times of need?"

How noble.

Izaya couldn't help but mimic the smile. There were not many priests around that were that dedicated to their beliefs in this day and age.

Casting a short glance towards Shizuo, their eyes met for just a brief second.

The blond had been awfully quiet since they arrived. Izaya couldn't quite tell what was going on, in his mind.

Did he regret killing Vincent after all? Or was he simply retaining himself in order to not get in Izaya's way. Considering his fairly calm gaze it was probably the latter and Izaya hummed.

"What's the long term solution for this place?"

Retracting his gaze from the ceiling the priest looked at Izaya with more confidence than his words should offer.

"Getting the government to accept us into society."

Now that was a goal.

He was talking about incubi obviously. But considering the long history of them having to hide simply to not get executed his ambitions were a bit too large for a mere priest.

"That will take a few decades," Izaya argued, albeit unwilling. He didn't really feel like putting the priest's dream down. But maybe a reality check here and there didn't hurt. "Especially now with our video circling around."

But the priest merely shrugged as if none of it mattered.

"A worthy sacrifice for generations to come."

Wow.

Talk about confidence.

"Pretty noble motive," he added, and his eyes narrowed, "But what do you gain from this?"

"Nothing."

"I doubt that."

There had to be a reason the priest was this adamant on his objective. Some sort of reward he expected or a solution to a problem of his own.

This priest was almost too holy and selfless for Izaya's tastes. And without any proper reason to be driven by it was simply fishy.

It was then that a door to the left opened slowly.

Hesitant, as if not sure whether she was allowed to or not a small girl peeked into the hall.

She was barely half Izaya size. A bit younger than Mairu and Kururui he suspected from first glance as her eyes got stuck on the pair of unknown men inside the hall.

"Maria I can't sleep…" she whispered quietly and quickly directed her gaze back to the people she knew and trusted.

"Want me to read you a bedtime story?" Maria questioned on the move. As soon as she had spotted the girl she put up her most pleasant smile before steering towards her. A soft nod was given by the girl and her hand grasped as Maria led her back behind the door.

Uncomfortable silence filled the hall for a second as now the conversation had bottled down to only Izaya's, Shizuo's and the priest's presence.

A low sigh dropped from his lips and for a moment the prideful shine in his eyes dimmed.

"Her mother was executed for being an incubus when she was four," he suddenly whispered, barely loud enough for Izaya and Shizuo to hear. "That's the reason if you are looking for one."

Revenge.

Or rather, a better future for his child.

A bit of relief swayed Izaya as his body relaxed.

He could get behind that.

With Mairu's and Kururi's fate being as insecure as his own he would probably do anything in order for them to be able to lead a safe life.

"Now, if you would excuse me. If there is any question you have, Maria can show you around," the priest announced, before strolling back to the door they had come from.

He was probably going to pray or something. For his daughter perhaps.

Or maybe even for Izaya and Shizuo.

"What do we do?" It had been an awfully long silence that hovered above Shizuo, but now with the priest gone he seemed to have his own fair load of questions.

Gaze unsure, albeit not too displeased, Shizuo looked at Izaya and Izaya sighed.

"He is right," he admitted, "At least regarding the impending danger of running around the city at the moment." With the video of Shizuo decapitating a police officer there was barely any place they could stay at without being found. "We stay." Izaya announced and as expected Shizuo's expression turned bitter. "At least for a while."

Complaints of various nature seemed to be on the brink of leaping off Shizuo's tongue. But that had to wait when sudden but very familiar voices filled the air.

"Ah, wait, that's the wrong door!"

Izaya recognized the voice before he saw his beloved secretary emerge from the direction Maria had disappeared into.

One, two, three- all of a sudden they were all there. Namie. Kururi, Mairu and Maria.

They were alive. They were fine-

Feeling a sense of relief Izaya hadn't quite expected he took a deep breath while Mairu complained. "Jeez, why does this building have to be so complicated?" They twins hadn't yet noticed Shizuo and their brother standing there and for a moment Izaya couldn't help but watch the two.

Roy had already told them that they had taken care of his siblings and Izaya believed those words mostly, but seeing his siblings safe with his own pair of eyes was a different kind of relief.

"Sorry, some of the kids woke up and then they got scared because you weren't there," Mairu continued to rant as she apparently filled in Maria on what happened while she was gone.

"That's alright, don't worry," Maria smiled. It was then that Kururi's gaze traveled to Izaya.

"Izaya!" but it wasn't her who shouted, but Namie instead. A ludicrous expression decorated her face as she approached with quick strides. "What kind of bullshit did you drag me into?" she frowned and to be honest, the woman looked quite wasted.

Dark circles were decorating the bags underneath her eyes and in general she seemed quite exhausted.

"Namie-" Izaya mumbled fairly surprised. He had expected to meet his siblings here, but Namie was a different story.

"Ah, I apologize, we had to taser her, she was putting up quite the fight." Maria explained and Namie's eyebrow twitched at the word taser.

"You protected them?"

She probably expected Izaya to laugh and her expression only grew more irritated when Izaya spoke. "Of course I did. There is no reason to let any harm fall to them just because their brother is an asshole," she groaned and crossed her arms to ready herself for complaints.

But she didn't receive any.

"Thank you."

Honesty.

That's what she had probably expected least, but Izaya's words spoke of nothing but pure gratitude and her arms dropped in a fairly disarmed fashion.

She had expected a lot, insults, teases, maybe even accusations about how she could let herself be dragged to this place in the first place- but none of that happened.

And to be honest it flabbergasted her quite a bit.

"What about you? You look like shit," she mumbled with only half her bite and Izaya couldn't help but snort.

"Likewise."

to be continued~