Father Cal thought about the time he once saw a pair of doves fight. The birds had been pecking at each other making their once-white feathers scarlet. Blood stained their wings like stigmata and dripped down their crowns. When one succumbed to its wounds, the other began to coo and circle it as though it had accomplished some grand victory.
The house was silent. As silent as that questionable moment before a lie is uttered. Turning on the bathroom light, Cal saw himself in the mirror. He looked the way he had for the past fifty years. Only little changes were obvious; a couple of strands of gray hair by his temples, a few thin wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. But no one would ever be able to guess his real age. Caleb Hill was not content living a lie – that he was far from mortal – but it was all he could do.
Very few people had ever known anything about his kind – the Kadisin, the bastard angels banished to Earth by a God who had turned His back on them when they betrayed Him by falling in love with the humans they were merely to observe. Punished not only by being cast away, but the Kadisin also possessed a constant hunger for blood. And the only creatures that could truly satisfy their hunger were the mortals they so dearly loved and the demons they had been told to hate. Every Kadisin became a blood-drinker; a vampiric angel who had their wings torn off and were given a full century of suffering.
Caleb reached for the faucet and turned the shower on. Smoke plumed from the cubicle. Heat extended towards him. As he removed his clothes, the mirror caught twin sword tattoos decorating both of his inner arms. Just below his belly button, in a spot no one had seen in decades, a nearly finished tattoo of a vine of thorns was inked from hip bone to hip bone.
Caleb ran a palm over his stomach as he looked down. All of his inkings had been done long ago, in a time when he hovered between being a killer and being a priest, and they brought back memories he did not want to remember.
When he turned to enter the shower, two large scars on Cal's shoulder blades screamed at the peeking mirror. They were red and angry and were there to remind every Kadisin of their shame.
When Father Caleb reached up to touch the scars, he cried out and paused under the steamy stream of water. "Has my faith never been enough?" Tilting his head up to the water, he choked back a sob. "You welcome all into Your church yet cast every Kadisin away from Your Heaven." The water ran down Cal's skin. It slithered down the black-inked tattoos and over the angry red wounds. "Tomorrow, we will sing in Your glory," he murmured, "has that ever been enough?" Shaking his head, he replied, "No. The door of Your church is as far in as I am welcomed."
Through the semi-opened bathroom door, the steam from the shower escaped and floated phantom-like into the hall. Tendrils of warmth lingered for a moment, then most of them quickly died. Outside the house, a breeze tapped at the window. It blew along a patch of fallen leaves then rolled up and coiled around the pane. When the wind touched a sliver of heat, it hushed down and went to sleep alone.
Purgatory roared with life. Saturday night brought in all the hardcore sinners – those with an insatiable itch, deep pockets, and a desperate urge to forget their life outside the club. Saturday had once been Sina's night, but ever since that bitch with the beautiful mermaid hair had started stripping there, Sina found himself working weekdays when the clientele was scarce and the tips were even more scarce.
Weaving through drunk patrons, Sina made his way to the bar and found a spot at the end of the counter.
"Sinful!" Spotting him, Cody rushed over and grabbed him by his wrist. "I need your assistance with a few things in the back room. Help a pal?"
Before Sina could tell him he wasn't interested in carrying or cleaning anything, Cody pulled him towards a small storage room and locked the door behind them. "Look." With a huge grin on his face, Cody slipped out a small baggie and waved it in front of Sina's face.
For a second, Sina's eyes went wide but before he got too excited he scowled. "You know I have no cash. What are you going to make me do?" He looked around the messy room. "Ain't cleaning shit, Del Mar."
"Don't want you to do anything," Cody chirped. He clasped a hand over Sina's shoulder. "It's more than enough for two and you know Joni will have a fit if I bring this stuff back home with the baby and all."
Sina narrowed his brows. "When did she turn so goodie-goodie?"
Cody shrugged and sat on a box. "She's a mom now. She's supposed to be dull."
Sitting on the floor by Cody's feet, Sina huffed. "Is that the law?"
"I dunno, man. My mom was as vanilla as ice cream. I'd even bet my left nut the only time she had sex was to conceive me, Elizabella, and Andie. Very vanilla, indeed. Wasn't yours?"
Curling a shoelace around his finger, Sina shook his head. "No. She was cool." Feeling the lace cut off the circulation of his finger, Sina tugged so it hurt more. "I was adopted, you know. I mean not that it makes a difference. She felt like she was mine and I'm sure to ma Bel I felt like I was hers. At least she made me feel that way."
Tapping out a small amount of cocaine on a serving tray, Cody paused and looked at his friend. "Adopted? Had no clue," he said, surprised.
"Don't sound like it's a bad thing. She was fucking amazing. She used to buy me stuff like smokes and liquor." And opium.
"So, not a regular mom but a cool mom."
"You could say that."
"Where is she now?" Cody asked after he'd laid out four lines.
"Planted in LaFayette Cemetery. She died when I was nineteen."
On the verge of offering condolences, Cody did a double-take. "Huh? On the other side of town? That place has been shut down since 1907."
Sina looked at his finger turning purple. "No. I mean..." unwrapping the lace, he sputtered, "LaFay. The one next to LaFayette." What a fucking idiot you are, Sina Noir. He wanted to kick himself. You just admitted your mom died over 80 years ago and that you're nearly an antique. Stupid fuck!
"I'm sorry, Sinful." Cody offered the tray and a rolled-up bill to Sina.
"Shit happens." Bowing into the coke, Sina breathed in two lines before returning the tray and bill to his friend. "It's busy out there today."
Cody touched the bill to the powder and inhaled deeply. "Yup."
"Shouldn't you be out there helping Isla and Jack?"
"Yup."
"But you're not gonna."
Cody touched his nose briefly. "And that's a hat trick."
Not really caring if Cody returned to work or not, Sina leaned his head down to his friend's knees. "I'd make a good dog, wouldn't I?"
When Sina woofed, Cody set the tray down and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Life...or whatever this is." Sina hoped the drugs would begin to work soon then he could erase reality for a bit.
"Hmmm...could be worse, I guess."
When Cody slid his fingers through Sina's hair, Sina shivered. "Feels good."
"I know."
"Too bad you don't have hair. I'd do it to you."
Cody chuckled. "I know."
They sat for a moment in a nest of utter silence as Cody continued to run his fingers through Sina's long dark hair.
"Speak fag yet?" Sina asked teasingly.
Cody chuckled then let out a slow breath, "Gimme a minute." By the way he blended his words so close together, Sina knew he was getting stoned.
"I don't have a minute." Rising on his knees, Sina wriggled between Cody's legs and let his fingers spider-walk up Cody's thigh until they were dangerously close to his dick. "Want me to?"
Euphoria washed over Cody. The coke was doing its job and it didn't disappoint. Leaning back, he forgot he was on a box and not a chair and fell with a thud. "Gawdamn it."
Crawling to where Cody lay, Sina lay next to him. He entwined his fingers together to keep them from being naughty and rested his hands on his belly. "Are you still in love with Joni? I mean like you were when you first met her and you told me you felt like you couldn't breathe without her?"
Turning sideways to look at Sina, Cody nodded. "Yah."
"Even now that she's vanilla?"
Giving Sina a small smile Cody nodded again. "Maybe even more so."
"I hate that Ariel wannabe. He's a total airhead," Sina complained, changing the subject.
"I think he hates you too." Cody chuckled.
Sina reached out to wipe away a stray bit of powder from Cody's nose. "Thanks."
"For what?"
"For not being an asshole. For being here."
"You're too kind. See, this is why I stay friends with you. Your sweet talking." Cody stuck out his tongue.
"Whatever. Thanks for the blow but I'd have been happier if I were able to add job by that word."
Bursting into laughter, Cody clasped his hands over his face. "No one's ever going to call you vanilla, Sin, that's for sure. There's something about you, pal. You'd make a holy man fall for your charm and question his sanity and loyalty, ya know?"
"It's my one redeeming quality. Being a cute little whore with a tongue dipped in both sugar and poison." Sina rose. "Go the fuck back to work, Del Mar." Giving Cody a wave, Sina unlocked the door and entered Purgatory alone.
* Fun fact: A few years ago, I made up the Kadisin for a story called Savage that's no longer up on WP. The Kadisin are, in a nutshell, blood-drinking angels. You can find another Kadisin in The Tiffany Box which is still up.