Redemption: A Custos Novel

by Emjay Soren

  “No.” She grinned and we both started laughing.

  “How did you get your name, really?” I asked and took a seat at the end of the bed.

  “You first preacher man.”

  “I became a Catholic Priest in 1919 after I finished my seminary courses.” Was it really that simple? I hoped.

  “Seriously?” She asked, and I knew she thought I was joking, messing with her, just as she had done to me moments before. I nod and stand up, heading into my closet. Inside I have a box, one I haven’t touched in years. There are memories here best kept at rest, but also a few pictures of my human life. I grab what I was looking for and walk toward the bed handing it to her.

  “Oh my God this is you.” She exclaims loudly and I know she is thrown by the short cut hair in the picture.

  I nod and inhale a deep drag of the bifter and try not to show the emotions running through me.

  “What happened?”

  Don’t ask me why I told her. Maybe as a warning, proof I wasn’t the saint she thought I was. Maybe it was to release a bit of the burden I'd carried all these years. I wanted to be truthful though, and if I was honest with myself and with her, she would see why I was broken. She would know why I would never be what she wanted. Hell, she didn’t even know what she wanted, but if I gave in and let the carnality inside me loose, I would never get enough of her. All I could ever give was my body, and she deserved a man with a heart.

  “I was married too.” I say, testing her reaction. She looked confused and I gave a light chuckle. “I had been a priest for two years when Emigen walked into confession. There was something in her voice that made it impossible for me to let her go without a look. I didn’t think she would be as perfect and angelic as she was. After that, I knew it was only a matter of time until I left my congregation.”

  “Why?” It was a simple question, but it had a complicated answer.

  “She had been to confession to ask forgiveness for her sins. Her 'sins' as she called 'em were her own, even if I thought she was an angel. She was Catholic though, born and raised, and she believed that she was in the wrong. Hell, I didn’t absolve her sins; I followed her out of that box, and knew she would always come first.”

  She didn't say anything, just smiled and I liked that, a lot. People knew when I told this tale, that it had a bad ending. They just didn’t know how badly. Seeing my little Bird smile like that, I couldn’t finish. I couldn’t talk about my faults as a man, a father and a husband while looking at her perfect face.

  “I needed a job though, so I got a job as a bootlegger with a guy that was a dirty rat, and when he came looking for me because I quit, Cash was there with Leushus. It was a right place, wrong time sort of thing. They turned me to save me from a fate worse than death. Over the years I began sending the Nex to their death with final confessions. I became infamous because of it and the name just stuck.”

  “So you’re the vampire preacher on his road to redemption, saving eternity one soul at a time." She spoke all dreamy and carefree and I couldn’t tell if she was a bit of a nut or joking. She didn’t let me answer though when she started laughing. “It was a joke. I had planned on becoming a writer before I was abducted, and I was thinking your story would make a great book.”

  “A writer huh?” I asked, hoping to divert any questions about my past. I had shared enough that I'd left myself very little wiggle room if she started getting curious. Questions like, what happened to the love of my life. She didn’t even know about Mary and Peter, not many did. I cherished their memories on my own and in private. The pain of losing a child is personal and tragic, and my feelings for them and their demise is private.

  “Yeah, I was an English major with a minor in Creative Arts. I had even started my first complete novel that I was going to use as my thesis when I graduated.” Her smile fell as she remembered what she'd lost. “I don’t even know what happened to my stuff.”

  I hated seeing her sad. It affected me in a sinister sort of way and had me aching for a fight. I hated knowing that Bliss had taken as much from her as Conlin had. He was dead and gone, but I wish he wasn’t so I could get a chance at him with my cross. “Once we get you a little more stable, maybe we can go ask around, see if anyone out there knows anything?” I was thinking of her friend Jezzi. “How close were you and Jezzi?”

  “Close, extremely close. She was my family, all I had.” She picked at a string on the sheets not looking at me. “I was named Tavern Madley because I was left at thirty three hours old on the steps of a tavern in Kentucky. The Tavern was on Madley row, a very well known street to thugs and junkies. The state named me the Tavern baby, and after a while the name stuck. I was adopted into a program for gifted children when I was thirteen. I had perfect grades and a spotless record. The program was like a militant school for girls. I lived there and went to school there and at the age of eighteen I took my scholarship papers and headed off to UNLV, never looking back.”

  I was a very bad man. Very bad. While she sat there pouring her heart out for me, I thought of nothing but how much I wanted her. She was the hero, a victim who rose to excellence. “You’re remarkable little Bird.”

  “I’m a survivor Preacher.”

  “That you are.” I looked to the clock and saw it was almost nine a.m. The time had flown as we talked and I knew she needed her rest.

  “You should get some more rest, Tavern.” I said and stood putting the remaining half of my blunt between my lips. “Tomorrow we can start looking up your friend Jezzi on social sites and the UNLV records department.”

  “What for?” She asked, completely lost on why I would look for her friend.

  “To see if she might know where your things are.” I took a long drag trying to distract myself from the action of her running her fingers through her short locks and arching her neck. It made my dick twitch.

  “That was so long ago Preacher, there’s no way she would remember me.”

  I sat beside her now desperate to touch her if only to comfort her. I can’t describe the rush of desire that beat through my veins when I placed her hand in mine. “You think you’re unforgettable, but I don’t see it. You are remarkable Tavern, and I think you’re a hard one to forget. Friends like that don’t give up easily.”

  She shrugged, and I hated that she was so lost. God I wish I was worthy of redemption. I would take her and claim her, and never let her second guess herself again. But wishes are as useless as the coins in the wells. Wasted and forgotten. “Sleep little Bird your safe here.”

  I stood to leave but she wouldn’t let my hand go. “Please don’t leave Preacher.” I knew that she was frightened and didn't want to be alone, that she wasn’t asking me for more than that, but I wish she would. I may have turned her down in the bathroom earlier, but my conscience got lost somewhere between here and there, and I wasn’t in a hurry to find it.

  “I’m not going anywhere. I’m gonna grab a shower and a quick sip, then I’ll sleep in here on the floor.”

  “You don’t have to sleep on the floor.” She was looking at her hands in her lap, but I had heard her motive and I needed an explanation.

  “Earlier I said I didn’t think it was a good idea........“ She silenced me up with her delicate fingers on my lips. I could smell her perfect scent of sugar and sweet peas and I wanted her more for it.

  “Well maybe while you’re showering and getting a quick sip you can think about my offer.”

  I laughed and removed her fingers from my lips, kissing each tip softly before entwining them in my fingers. “What offer?”

  I didn’t miss the kick in her heart rate or the gentle gasp when my lips met her fingers. I didn’t miss the tale tale scent of a woman in need. “The one where I say I accept your terms whatever they are. You get me through this spell until I’m free of the Bliss reactions, and I’ll keep it light and about the sex.”

  My mind went dizzy and all I could see was her beneath me, body bowed as I drove wildly inside of her. “My terms are s
imple.” I am shocked that I’m agreeing to this. “I still want to help you get on your feet and I can agree to a physical arrangement as long as we keep it as it is, an arrangement. There are secrets I keep and those secrets will keep me from ever being anything more than a fuck. I cannot give more than that, more importantly, I won’t.”

  “The last thing I want is a broken heart Preacher.”

  “Well, we agree there little Bird.”

  She leans in and kisses my cheek and I feel like I did as a boy, excited about a lass with a nice rack and sweet lips. “Go shower and drink your blood and come back to me.”

  I didn’t wait for her to beg. I stood and left the room pondering what the hell I had just agreed to.

  Chapter Ten

  Tavern

  I stood in front of the mirror in that bathroom trying to figure out a way to look better than I did. I was falling short. I had the clothes Preacher gave me and the ones I arrived in. I hoped he would be fine with me being plain and somewhat undesirable and still give in to my needs.

  I wanted to laugh at the irony. I had been forced into being a whore, selling my body for a fix of the drug that made me that way. Now here I was begging a vampire to relieve the ache so that I could function and rebuild the life once shattered.

  I was a whore either way. This time I was paid in sexual relief and shelter. A gentle knock came from the door and ripped me from my troubling thoughts. Expecting Preacher I opened the door and found London.

  She smiled shyly and in her arms was an enormous box. “Can I come in?” She asked. Not waiting for my response, she entered and set the box on Preachers bed.

  “I figured you were awake. I saw Preacher leave and the door shut loudly. Preacher is respectful to a fault, he wouldn’t have let a door slam if you were resting.”

  She was rambling and I wanted to laugh at her. “Can I help you?” I tried, I really did. I tried to sound welcoming, but it came out snappy.

  She pointed to the box and bit her lip. “If I’m out of line I’m sorry, but I want to try and help.”

  She sat beside the box and waited for me to open it. “Is this like a peace offering? Because I'll tell ya, Conlin’s head is what I want.”

  She must have really hated the guy, because she laughed. “Well that I can’t do, because Cash killed him.”

  That was good news. “Well… I really didn’t like Cash, but now I think I may have to buy him a bag of blood in thanks.” I was joking but the little beauty queen took it literal.

  Tracing the trim of the box she shrugged her shoulders. “Don’t bother, he only drinks from me.”

  “Seriously?” I asked because it was terrifying. And TMI.

  Nodding she continued. “Yeah, he's has been drinking from me exclusively since that night in Bliss.”

  “That doesn’t freak you out a little?”

  She smiled softly. “No, I know what Cash is and understand his needs. I prefer he drink from me or a bag than to be out infatuating girls into meals.”

  “That’s awful.” I whispered and wondered if I was getting into this thing with Preacher without thinking it through. What if he wanted to drink from me?

  “No, it’s fucking unreal.”

  I couldn’t respond because all of my experience with being fed off of was horrendous, present company included. “So what’s with the box?”

  She was suddenly anxious and nervous. “So I am a total fashion hound. I have a serious addiction to clothes, and according to Cash I have too much.” She is very animated, and I am really trying to be nice. Fuck this chick is clueless. She doesn’t get that I have nothing.

  She flips the lid of the box and starts removing item after item of clothing. “This should get you through the next week or so and by then we can get you out shopping for your style. I have a toothbrush and paste, deodorant and some hair brushes and better smelling soaps. There is also an entire bathroom down the hall that holds every shade of make-up imaginable. I am obviously a serious glamour girl and I don’t know if that’s your thing, but if it is help yourself.”

  I looked at all the clothes, there were also beautiful panties with tags still on them and a few sports bras. I looked at her because I may have a nice set of double B’s but London was a D and these bras were never gonna fit. “Sorry they're sports bras, but they should hold you in until we can go shopping.” She was smiling and she sang shopping out loud in a high pitched voice.

  “Why are you being so nice?” I ask and start sorting the tops from the bottoms. There were even a few Maxi dresses in the bunch.

  “Because I feel like shit for what I did. I feel even worse for not knowing what I should have about my father. I feel like this whole nightmare you are in is my fault. I know you can’t forgive me, but I can try to persuade you to.” She shrugs like it’s all so simple. “I know what it’s like when these guys try and go shopping or dress you and I wasn’t about to let you experience Preacher’s lack of fashion. Hell, when I first got to Preachers place in New Mexico, Cash took the boxers he was wearing and gave them to me.”

  I laughed and it felt good. She was funny and a little full of herself but it wasn’t like I hated her. “Well, thank you London. I don’t hate you, I’m just a little lost and my emotions are everywhere.”

  “From Bliss withdrawals.” She said knowingly.

  “How did you know?”

  She seemed to get a little uncomfortable and a shiver worked over her shoulders. “I took two pills like six months ago trying to play along with the Nex dealer. I went fucking crazy, certifiable. I went after Cash obviously, but he was… soft for lack of a better term. I then went after Preacher and Leushus and even Bastian. By the time we learned......" She stops abruptly as though she's had an ah-ha moment.

  While she is busy thinking through whatever shut her up, I was still hung on the fact she said she went after Preacher. Had they had sex? Now was not the time for her to stop talking.

  "Look I need to go find Cash I just thought of something that might help with the addiction. Can we talk later? Please?"

  “Well what is it that you’re thinking?” I ask, hopeful that there is something I can do that will help.

  “I don’t know yet and I don’t want to get you excited if it’s worthless. Trust me ok? I’ll make sure to tell you everything if I’m right.” She didn’t wait for a response as she bolted out the door.

  Trying not to think about what she was thinking I went through and looked at the clothes, thankful for what she had done. I felt like hell now for being so rude earlier. She had to make a choice between me and Preacher, they told her I was a foul human being and she made the choice she thought she could live with. Had I been in her shoes, and it was Jezzi's life or someone I didn’t know, I know I wouldn’t have second guessed and I’d have saved Jezzi.

  I grabbed a few pairs of panties and jeans and started stripping and trying them on. Most of the labels I couldn’t pronounce or hadn’t heard of. From what I knew though, she was overtly wealthy and I assumed the clothes I was wearing cost more than my first car. Don’t get it twisted, my first car was an 82’ Plymouth Reliant and cost me three hundred dollars.

  Before I could try on the bras and a top the door flew open and in came the cavalry.

  Chapter Eleven

  Preacher

  'So bleedin' beautiful' was the first thought that popped into my head. The second was that both Cash and Cookie were looking at her that way too. I would have been fine with the show because I was twisted. Tavern didn’t need the others seeing her though, so I immediately turned around, pulled them out the door with me and paced back and forth down the hallway.

  “Oops.” Cookie said laughing and looking at Cash. “Better not have liked that vampire.”

  “Please baby, a little credit.” He said, but I knew he was bluffing. He was a guy and Tavern was gorgeous and in there topless in nothing but tight jeans and skin. “Where did she get the clothes?” I asked, only now realizing she was dressing, not waiting for me to ball
her.

  “Me.” Cookie said as knocked on the door. “I came earlier and gave her some of my new stuff I haven’t worn yet. I told her we would go shopping when she’s feeling better.”

  Tavern opened the door and Cookie didn’t wait for an invite. She barreled right on in the room like she'd done to our hearts. “So look, I talked to Preacher and Cash, and they think it might help. I think you may say hell no though, based on our earlier conversation.” Cookie took a seat beside Tavern and spoke, looking her up and down.

  “I love this top. I bought it like a month ago, but I don’t have the right frame for it. You look great.” Cookie had a one track mind when there was fashion around.

  “Yeah I like it, the fabric is so soft. Thank you London.” Tavern sounded genuinely thankful, so whatever Cookie was hoping to gain might have paid off. And she did look great. She was wearing a skin tight pair of very low rise jeans that hugged her curves like a second skin; the shirt was low cut and a vibrant shade of purple with holes at the shoulders, though the sleeves were long.

  “Can we get to the point? Its daylight and Preacher and I are exhausted.” Cash sounded as annoyed as I felt. At least there was another female in the house to listen to Cookie blather on about clothes and shoes. “Feed off Preacher and it should take the withdrawals away.” Cash didn’t wait for a response. He looked at Cookie who was still jabbering on about the top and trying to remember if she had some Manolo's that would match and gave her a nudge.

  “Right.” Hugging Tavern she stood to follow Cash. “He's just grumpy and hungry, don’t let him scare you, he's a big teddy bear.” When Cash growled she just rolled her eyes. “We’ll talk more tonight and I'll tell you about my experience on Bliss.”

  “No.”

  “Like bleedin’ hell.” Cash and I both said at the same time. Neither of us ever wanted to remember that night.

  “You’re both a couple of big babies.” She said and stood on her tip toes and kissed my cheek. I held Tavern's gaze when Cookie kissed me, her face went red and she dropped her eyes to the floor.