Thane obeyed. Inside, the Bishop's office was pristine. Dozens of books lined the walls. All of the spines were older and traditionally bound. Gilded letters sparkled in the daylight coming through the window in the back wall. In the middle of the room was a massive wooden desk. Behind that was a man in dark jeans and a white button-down shirt: Bishop Daniel, the head of their branch of the faith.
"Sit," the Bishop ordered.
"Yes, sir," Thane agreed, moving to take the uncomfortable leather chair across from him. "I should warn you, Bishop, that I'm running on fumes. If I seem distracted, it's because I'm trying very hard not to pass out."
The man gave him a gentle smile. "I understand, Hunter. It's Thane, isn't it? Thane Keegan?"
"Yes, Bishop," he agreed.
"What can you tell me about the creature you came in contact with tonight?"
"The Asian or the blonde?" Thane asked. "Because I saw the Asian in the club, but she was simply talking to a guy. Trying to get her alone, we spread out. I can tell you that when she passed by me, my ward signaled. She acted as if she could feel the irritation, so I moved away, and she continued on. After she bolted from the club, I found her feeding on one of the priests we lost. The blonde was with her. When the blonde attacked me, the Asian ran."
"Pretty typical for a vampire," the Bishop said. "It's actually the other I'm more interested in. The one I heard you kissed."
Thane pushed out a heavy breath. "I can tell you that she was powerful. More than I expected. The priests told us she was a thrall, so my unit was working on that assumption. Typically, we separate them from the master - a vampire, in this case - to break the hold on their minds."
"Is that why you kissed her?" the Bishop asked.
Thane nodded. "It is. With vampires, the thralls often find prey and lure them back to feed the master. My team positioned ourselves in the hopes that she'd try, and she did. Seduction is a pretty common lure for them, and acting like we're giving in lowers their defenses. At first, everything seemed to be pretty standard, until she pressed my hands against the wall - "
"And why did you allow that?" the Bishop broke in.
Thane huffed out a weak laugh. "Because if she'd been human, it wouldn't have mattered. Let her think I was completely under her control. That kind of thing. I can overpower a human woman easily, Bishop. The problem came when her hand touched my ward. Until she had physical contact with the ink, it was completely silent."
"How do you explain that?" the man asked.
"I can't," Thane admitted. "I was actually hoping that you knew. In all honesty, I froze when it happened. The ward alerted, and it took a second for me to realize what that meant, because I couldn't understand how she'd gotten that close otherwise."
"Then you kissed her again," the Bishop pointed out.
"No, sir," Thane corrected. "She kissed me. I tried to push her off, but the beast was strong. When I tried to tell her that she wouldn't get away, hoping to scare her enough to make her let go, she kissed me before I could get a word out. She also drained me."
"And yet you chased her out of the club?"
Thane nodded slowly. "Drained or not, my duty is to stop the creatures of Hell. The women ran straight toward a group of priests. I sent the rest of my group to alert our team leader. Naturally, I assumed that the priests would subdue the pair, and we'd be responsible for bringing them back for questioning."
"Instead, they killed four priests," the Bishop reminded him. "Why didn't you help?"
"Because a hunter should never interfere in a priest's work," Thane said, quoting the standard operating procedure he'd been using for over a decade. "Priests have the power of God's Words. None of them used it, though. I can't tell you if the demons had some trick to stop them, but I can say that not a single Word was spoken."
"Was that when you gave chase?"
"I stepped in when the blonde grabbed the last priest. My intention was to save him, but she killed the man before I could do more than pull out my clavum. That was when the pair split up."
"You chose to follow the blonde," the Bishop said, his eyes flicking to his monitor. Clearly, someone had already sent him a report. "What made your decision?"
"The Asian was heading back toward my team's last known location. The blonde was heading deeper into Deep Ellum. Now, my plan was to stake the blonde and follow the Asian woman, but the blonde..." He grunted, remembering how hard she'd kicked him in the balls. "She managed to stun me before I could put her down. The creature was not only fast, but also strong. She'd drained my life when she kissed me in the club, and then she drank the blood of the priests she killed."
That made the Bishop sit up straighter. "She did both?"
Thane nodded. "Yes, sir. Multiple times. In the abandoned building, when I managed to pin her, she kissed me again, pulling more life. That was how she managed to get away. The demon weakened me and strengthened herself."
"Then it's what we feared," the Bishop said. "This thing is clearly a new construct. The Devil is getting stronger, and it seems he's making more tools to beat us back."
"Is it possible we could've missed her?" Thane asked, thinking about how easily Dahlia had mentioned a century passing. "I didn't get the impression that she was new. That woman moved like she knew exactly what she was capable of. She drank blood without hesitation, and the new vampires tend to be either greedy or reluctant. The blonde was neither. Is it possible there are more types out there than we know?"
"Anything is possible," the Bishop said. "The Devil's power depends on lies and deception. The Church, however, has been very thorough. God put this responsibility on our shoulders, and for centuries, we've kept Hell from taking over, so no. I'm more inclined to think this is something new. Something we need to prepare for."