Sineater

Eight

Pacing at the end of the table, Yoongi lit a cigarette. "I believe Michelangelo went blind from candlelight." He exhaled the lungful of smoke he had taken in.

"Namjoon didn't believe in electricity," Jin replied sitting at the table, his head propped on a single finger. Brielle was beside him, lighting one of the candles in the center.

"Yes, but a sineater?" Yoongi continued pacing, smoking his Pall Mall. "You couldn't have shocked the Bishop more if you you had been possessed by some Phoenician demon, and then demanded an exorcism."

"Ha!" Thomas interjected, sitting at the table across from Jin. He looked away from Yoongi's pacing form and straight into Jin's face. "The exorcism was on Friday."

"Well, today is Monday," Yoongi said, gaze cutting across the room to Thomas. "And yet, I think there may be credence to what you say. Matter of fact, I know there is." He halted his pacing and turned to face the trio as he took a long drag of his cigarette. "A sineater: A renegade who provides a path to Heaven outside of the Church, outside of our Savior. If you believe such things, he has the power to grant redemption to the unrepentant. Sort of a heretical wrench in the cogs of our Catholic machinery..." He flicked his gaze from Jin to Thomas and back again. "Now you two were Namjoon's chosen. What do you know about his excommunication?" He began his pacing again, slower this time.

Shaking his head from his thoughts, Jin replied, "Nothing." He had taken off his jacket and collar and only sat in his slacks and a black long sleeved t-shirt.

"He wouldn't speak of it," Thomas chimed in, gaze focused on Yoongi's pacing.

"Well, Namjoon, believed this other, this man, was based right here in Rome," Yoongi was still pacing, his cigarette, halfway finished, clutched between his thumb and forefinger. "Now, that's all I know because that's all he told me, and I assume that the two of you plan to seek him out." He placed his hands shoulder width apart onto the face of the table as he leaned toward the other two priests. "Otherwise, I am just spinning my wheels here."

Thomas looked to Jin, who looked back at him, nodding his head in agreement. Thomas looked back to Yoongi and nodded his head with a slight tilt to it followed with a shrug of one shoulder.

Easing off of the table and crossing to the chair his coat had been hung on, Yoongi stuck his cigarette in his mouth as he spoke. "Sadly, the Church no longer has the will to dispatch." He reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled a scrolling length of leather from within the confines of the woolen fabric. "Thank God we still have the tools." He walked to the opposite end of the of the table, behind where Jin and Thomas were sat, placing the item on the table. "The instrument of delivery, if you will."

He unrolled the leather, unfolding the ends, and revealed a shining, silver dagger. The blade was split into four cross sections, taking the shape of a cross. The hilt had scrolling, beveled vines and dragons, between which small rubies had been set into the precious metal. At the end of the hilt, a crucifix stood proud, daring anyone to come forth.

Yoongi relit the cigarette dangling from his lips as it had gone out during his speech and, checking the time, walked back to his coat. "Now, if you will excuse me, there are even more pressing matters weighing on the Vatican tonight." Placing his coat on his arm and his hat on his head, Yoongi walked through the apartment, passing Brielle, who had been sitting down in the chair reading while they spoke. "Signorina."

Brielle watched as the Cardinal left the apartment, closing the door behind him on his way. She was lost in her thoughts of the man, the way he'd appeared in her dream, long before he showed up on their doorstep, she was sure it was an omen. She wasn't sure of much anymore, not after being in that place for so long. But she was sure of one thing.