Addeline: The Darkness at the Heart of My Love [Papa Emeritus IV]

Come Together for Lucifer's Son

The Cardinal, now Papa Emeritus IV, was riding his small red tricycle around the ministry—the pope-cycle as he called it. He was getting dreadfully close to the mausoleum on the far side of the building when he crashed into a wall, sending him flying through air to the floor. The impact made a big splat. Laying on the floor he could hear the wheels on his trike still turning. When he looked up, he could see Sister peering down at him.

"Sister!" He quickly composed himself, standing up to straighten his gown. "I didn't see you there."

Sister wouldn't call the Cardinal "Papa." Afterall, he was her son and the man that was his true father is who she called Papa. She thought it would be perverse. Instead, she called him her little Cardi.

"Cardi!" she exclaimed, giving the man a hug. "Are you alright? You took quite a fall there."

Embarrassed, the Cardinal mumbled, "Oh that? That was nothing... I was just uh, testing the walls for durability." He wanted to move on from the subject, "What brings you here today?"

"I need to speak with you about an important matter."

"An important matter, you say?" The Cardinal spoke English with an Italian accent, some of it broken with an oddly placed emphasis on certain words. He conversed in a very staccato manner—each word spoken sometimes being detached from the next.

"Yes, Cardi. It's about your future."

The man stared into her eyes almost spacing out—his mouth wide open as though he wanted to ask a question but couldn't find the right one.
"CARDI!" Sister yelled to snap him out of his stupor.

"Yeeeesss...?" he trailed off, "Yes! My future! Of course, we should talk about that. Uh... what about it?"

"Not here. Walk with me to my office and I can give you more details," she paused to look at the man in a judging manner, "Or you can ride."

Copia looked at his tricycle, still lying on the floor, wheels still spinning. He jolted, "That? Oh, I was just... you know? I was not riding this, no, I was testing it for the children."

Sister Imperator was already walking to her office. The Cardinal had to sprint to catch up. He was quite awkward in social situations, especially for a frontman. On stage he was confident and could rock a crowd but at home he was just simply himself. At home he could trade his ornamented liturgical cape for a jogging suit, and nobody would judge him. He was very attractive. Just in his mid 50s—not the youngest Papa but not the oldest—he had a strong jawline, dark hair with some gray scattered throughout. He had a broad nose and was very sturdy in build—one might even say muscular. His features were very distinguishable including his eyes, one blue and one black, just like "his" Papa.

Sister was already seated at her desk when Copia made his way in. He stood for a while, looking around the room. There was an old picture of Sister and Nihil on an end table next to a couch in the corner. He shuttered to think of the two sleeping together, "Ugh," he said aloud, shaking his shoulders.

"Cardi," the woman broke his concentration, "have a seat."

He slowly sat down in the chair directly across from the woman.

"I called you here because I want to speak with you about a delicate matter.

"Mhmm," he responded.

"It's about your place in the clergy."

The man remained silent, only nodding his head clumsily up and down as though he had no clue where she was going with the conversation.

"We need to secure your bloodline," she waited for the lightbulb to go of in her son's head. He bit his upper lip and cocked his head to the side.

"We need to ensure that you remain Papa IV until your protégé can take your place."