Strange Aeons [Book 1]

10. The Final Countdown [part III]

Father Browning got to the entrance too, and stopped beside the holy water basin, shaking his head as he watched the tall woman disappear in the night.

«I suppose you could have sat in a pew during mass?» he said, still looking outside, his dark eyes hidden behind his glasses, but clearly speaking to Garaham beside him.

«I was praying.» the Enforcer said.

«For her not to notice you, I gather.» the priest joked.

«I try to avoid personal contact with my Coven outside the office, as much as I can.» Garaham replied, dryly.

Father Browning rolled his eyes.

«I don't think this is the-»

«Oh, look who slithered out of his cubicle.» an elegant voice said. An elegant voice that sent waves of irritation along Garaham's back. Both him and the priest turned to notice the smirk on face, gleaming at them from down up.

«Councilman Jägermann, a pleasure as always. I don't see your blushing bride.» Garaham greeted him.

«And I don't see yours, is this a new game in Losertown?» Jägermann snapped back.

«Boys, boys, manners.» Father Browning intervened, raising his hands to separate them, even if only in gesture. «Joachim, is something the matter?»

«Ask him, Father. Have you come to confess your theft?»

«Theft?» Father Browning looked at Garaham. With not enough shock in his eyes. «Again?» he mouthed, covering his mouth so Jägermann couldn't see. Garaham rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

«I have nothing to say.» he lawyered up, instinctively.

«Oh, you still haven't confessed to the good Father? He's put his paws on a Pandora's Box.» Jägermann exposed him. «And he's keeping it hidden from the Council.»

«I only knew about the trial, certainly not the details still. Why haven't the Virtues been informed that a Pandora's Box had been recovered? These weren't the pacts, Joachim!» Father Browning suddenly turned serious, focusing on the blonde man in front of him. Garaham took a step back.

«Well, I'll leave you to it then. It seems you have much more to discuss than I.» he said. Father Browning glared at him.

«Garaham, did you steal it?»

«No. I didn't.» he answered, ready and sustaining the priest's eyes. Before Jägermann could say anything, the priest slowly nodded, and Garaham simply disappeared without a sound.

«That clown. Of course he didn't, his Coven of brain-deads did.» Jägermann spat. «I didn't remember you were so easy to bamboozle Father. But you're Temperance, not Smartness, for a reason I gather.»

«First of all, Smartness is not a Holy Virtue.» the priest pointed out. «Second, Joachim, we had a deal. You could study me, and my powers and, in exchange, you would have kept me, and the other Virtues informed about any Pandora's Box. How have I not heard about this one?»

«You're conveniently forgetting that one of the entries of the deal was the Order helping you disappear from the Vices' radar, stashing you in a safe place. Well, we did. So, don't act like you didn't get anything for just some simple tests.»

«You got more information from me than all of your predecessors in centuries, so don't act like you did anything out of the goodness of your heart either.» Father Browning retorted. «I'm listening.»

«All right. Some time ago, some rumors started about the D'Yves finding yet another Pandora's Box. Of course, we remembered our binding pact with the Virtues, and their holy duty to keep the Pandora's Boxes from being open, and even if we couldn't act out in the open, every one of us had started planning how to get to the box before Justin, or anyone else of his family of madmen, could do anything rash and stupid.» Joachim started to talk, in a very self-righteous tone.