"Did you, though?" he asked.
"Yeah," she admitted, lifting up and moving back. "If I pulled that much off anyone else, they'd be in a coma."
"Were you trying to kill me?" he asked, tucking himself back in his pants under the cover of her dress.
That was the other problem. Dahlia just shook her head. "No. I want the answers." And she didn't want to destroy this perfect example of a man, but she didn't have a clue why.
He just nodded. "Not sure if you idle-things need cleanup, but there's a bathroom around the corner."
"So you can sneak out of here and call the priests?" she asked.
"Fuck," he grumbled. "So you know, letting you live last time got me in shit. They wanted to know why you didn't kill me. They're asking if I betrayed the Church."
"Did you?" she asked.
He lifted his chin and met her eyes. "Yes, because the Church betrayed me first. That's why I'm talking. The place is a damned cult. Once we're in, we stay in. I have to play by their rules or my brother will pay the price. What's your excuse, Dahlia?"
"I need to know how the Church works so I can get away from you and hopefully live to see the next century."
He'd moved on to buckling his belt. "Why can you touch the cross when your girlfriend can't?"
"Because I never believed in your god," she said. "Mind over matter, Thane. That's all we are, but the mind is a very powerful thing. If we believe it will hurt, then it does. I don't believe in your god, so his symbols have no power over me."
"Atheist?" he asked.
"Not Christian," she explained. "Mei can touch you because she didn't worship your gods, but she learned that the Christians caused pain. Thus, you feel like an irritation to her."
He nodded. "That makes sense, actually. Pretty sure it's your turn to ask a question."
"How the hell do we get out of town without the inquisitors catching us?" she asked.
"Priests are watching the buses, the airports, and the trains. If you want out of North Texas, you're going to need to catch a ride, because they think you're something new. They're convinced that you're the Devil's next power move."
"Shit," she breathed. "So how do I survive this? You have our car. You have all of our possessions. I'm sure you're watching for any crimes reported that we could be tied to."
He nodded slowly. "They are. The hunters are just the grunts, babe, but if you want to survive this, then I suggest you pick a spot, stay there a bit, and wait about a month. If there are no incidents that look supernatural, they'll assume you left and put the word out to the other branches of the faith."
"Other branches?" she asked.
Thane gave her a look like he must've heard her wrong. "The other branches of the Church of the Holy Inquisition. We're in almost every state now. Two in Texas and New York, three in California. How did you think we kept track of you?"
"Inquisitors used to move across the country, looking for 'demon sign' to figure out where to go next," she admitted.
"And now we have the internet," he pointed out. "I should also mention that this? It'd get me accused of blasphemy or heresy and convicted of demon possession. The sentence for that is a clavum to the heart. It's what they did to my mom." Then he leaned in. "That's why I have questions."
"We still can't possess anyone," she assured him. "That's just your church killing those who don't obey blindly."
"Yeah, kinda what I thought," he grumbled. "Now get your hot little ass out of here before someone sees us together. Hopefully, I won't see you again."
"Feeling's mutual," she assured him.
There was just one problem with that. It wasn't. Damned if she didn't like this guy. He might be her enemy, but she was starting to think there was a chance they could even be friends. Granted, his church would then call him a thrall, but that was ok. They'd blame her, not him.
She wondered what Mei would think about that.
Chapter Twelve
THANE