The Mark of Cain (49 page)

“Inac…” she warned.

“What? Do you really expect me to take advice from a
man who despises me? He doesn’t want our marriage to work. He wants you to go
into the nunnery so that you can live and die here without ever knowing a man.
Could you really live that life now?” he asked, taking her hands as he looked
intently into her eyes.

When she took a shallow breath in through her mouth,
he moved in. He bent to kiss her at the same time as he moved one of his hands
to cup her cheek.
This
would butter her up….

When he pulled away, he asked in a whisper barely
loud enough for the priest to hear, “Do you still want that life?”

“No,” she whispered.

“What
do
you want?” His mouth was so close to
hers that their lips touched on a couple of the consonants, as well as they
were sharing their breaths.

She was breathing quickly, her eyes switching
between his eyes and mouth. Apparently, she wanted another kiss.

“I want to be with
you
,” she answered.

From the corner of his eye, Inac glanced at the
priest, unable to keep his gloating out of his sideways leer. The priest was
witnessing full force the effect Inac had on Hara.

“Forever?” he asked Hara, looking back at her and
brushing the backs of his fingers along her cheek.

“Forever,” she managed before Inac kissed her again.
He kissed her the way that always made her lose control, rubbing his tongue
stud along her bottom lip. Just when she was on the brink of losing it, Inac
pulled away.

“I think I’ll go to bed. Let you two have a nice
chat without me,” he said as he untangled himself and stood up. He looked at
Hara and said with a wink, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She nodded, telling him with her eyes that she’d
sneak into his room later.

He didn’t have to wait long. He was only on the
fiftieth page of the ancient Vedic text he was reading when his door cracked
open and Hara slipped inside wearing a navy ribbed tank top and blue striped
girl’s boxers that didn’t even go to her mid-thigh. He loved when he could see
her long, perfectly formed legs like this.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey yourself,” he replied with a lazy smile as he
set his book aside.

She tip-toed to him before getting on the bed with
him. Because it was a twin, she was practically lying on top of him.

“So you got away,” he said once he was cradling her.

She chuckled. “Yeah. And after only two more
lectures.”

“Oh yeah? What about?”

“You and you.”

She leaned up to kiss him. It was a kiss that would
have knocked his socks off had he been wearing any. Before he knew it, things
were moving beyond anywhere they’d gone before. He was just following where
Hara was leading them. When they were both naked and he realized that they
weren’t going to stop, he pulled away.

“Are you sure?” he asked, his ragged breaths making
it difficult to ask.

She nodded. Looking into her eyes, he knew that she
really was. His heart pounding even harder now, he moved his mouth back to
hers.

***

When Inac awoke the next morning, it was to find
himself completely entangled with Hara. It was comfortable, though, something
he didn’t understand since he was way too tall for the bed in the first place.
He was surprised at how different last night had been. Throughout all his
years, he had never felt the way he had last night while making love to Hara.
He wasn’t sure what made the difference, but he wouldn’t mind finding out.
Maybe he
didn’t
have to kill her. Maybe just being with him would keep
her from fulfilling the prophecy. Maybe they could start a family and be happy
together. At least, until he was forced to leave because of the curse….

When Hara started wiggling, he began lightly
tickling her bare back and arms.

“Mmm…. Did last night really happen?” she asked with
a small smile.

He kissed the top of her head. “Yes, it did. Are you
asking because you wish it hadn’t?”

“Hell no! It was perfect,” she said, moving so they
could look in each other’s eyes.

He smiled as much at her as he did over her actually
cussing for real…kind of. “Yeah. It was.”

Her smile turned naughty. “I bet that’s the first
time anything like that has happened here.”

He laughed. “You’d be surprised. Priests and nuns
have been hooking up for centuries. Some of the most revered cardinals had
their own mistresses, and I’m not even going to tell you how many popes had
their own men or women….”

Her eyes opened wide. “Are you serious?”

Shrugging his bare shoulders, he said, “It’s not
natural to be alone. We’re programmed a certain way. It’s instinctual.”

“Wow. I didn’t know that. I mean, I know it’s
instinctual since my body just seemed to know what to do last night, but I
didn’t know about priests and nuns, and cardinals and popes….”

“You didn’t notice how protective Father Carroll was
of Sister Kelly, and how she moved toward him when I walked in last night?”

“Father Carroll and
Sister Kelly
?” she
squeaked, her eyebrows in her hair.

“Yeah.”

Her face scrunched up in deep disgust. “But they’re
old
.”

Inac laughed so hard at this that Hara began
giggling as well.

“What? Why are you laughing at me?” she asked, lightly
hitting his chest.

“So what if they’re old? It’s a good thing they
still have a healthy sex life. It does wonders for your health. Besides, do you
really only want to have sex for the next thirty years and then go without for
the remainder of your life?”

“Well…no. But….”

“Then how can you expect them to?”

Her lips puckering up as she thought about it, she
said, “I guess I can see your point.”

“In a relationship, you only need to worry when you
no longer feel like sleeping together. Your sex life mirrors the health of your
relationship.”

She smiled. “Then I guess ours is healthy,” she said
before kissing him. She then followed that up by proving her point; apparently
their relationship was
very
healthy.

It was when they were finished and only cuddling
again, their long limbs splayed everywhere like tree branches, and Hara’s hair
all over like the snakes on Medusa, that a tentative knock sounded on the door.

“Yes?” Inac called, trying not to laugh at Hara, who
was stifling back giggles of her own by biting down on her fist…and then on
Inac’s chest….

“Is Hara with you?” came Tracker’s voice.

Inac looked at Hara, who had stopped biting him to
frantically shake her head while mouthing the word no.

“Um…nope,” he said, trying not to laugh. “Sorry.”

Suddenly, the door opened and Father Carroll walked
in. Hara shrieked, grabbing the sheets to cover herself. She wasn’t quick
enough, though, because they were scattered around the room from a combination
of last night and this morning. Behind the priest, Inac could see Tracker’s
startled expression at having walked in on the two of them naked on top of a
tiny bed.

Inac jumped in front of Hara as she wrapped a sheet
around herself. He didn’t care that he had nothing on. Right now, he was just
pissed off.

“What’s the big idea?!” he demanded. “Do you make it
a habit to just walk into people’s rooms without asking?!”

“Only when I need to know the truth in a situation,”
the old man said, his voice oozing with disdain.

“You could have just asked Hara. You know she
doesn’t know how to lie. Instead, you come in here,
completely
disrespecting her!”

“We were worried,” the priest said. “Neither of you
came to breakfast and our Thanksgiving meal will be starting soon. Her bed
wasn’t slept in. I guess we now know why….”

“Don’t you dare judge her! You have no right to
while you’re sleeping with Sister Kelly. At least Hara never took a vow of
celibacy.”

Now that she was safely wrapped up in the stiff
white sheets, Hara put a hand on his arm. “Inac, just leave it.” She then
turned toward Father Carroll and said, “We’ll be right out. If you could please
close the door behind you so we can get dressed….”

He turned and slammed the door, leaving Hara to
quickly dress.

“I’m gonna go take a shower and get in my
Thanksgiving outfit,” she said. “You should do the same.”

She was so calm that he had to ask, “Hara?”

“It’s okay. I’m okay. Thanks for getting so
defensive for me. It shows me how much you care. You should’ve just left it
alone, though.”

She didn’t say anything else before leaving the
room. At dinner—really an overly-salty lunch since the feast was at two—she
acted as though nothing had happened. Father Carroll and Tracker both tried to
do the same, but it was obvious that they were both upset. Inac himself was
quiet; he was still angry with Father Carroll for humiliating Hara. Inac knew
that was what was behind her overly-happy display. It wasn’t natural like it
had been yesterday. Today she was trying too hard.

Inac wasn’t in the mood to visit later so instead,
while Hara played with the children, he wandered around the many rooms,
checking out all of the beautiful artwork. One thing he appreciated more than
anything was art. Because he had personally witnessed many of the things
portrayed in the religious paintings here, it was almost like looking at
snapshots of his life. He was enjoying those memories until he came to one
particular painting….

***

Tracker made his way to Father Carroll’s office, his
head down so he could stare at his feet as they moved forward. Today had been
surreal. First, with them thinking the worst when neither Hara nor Inac had
showed for breakfast. Then, with that whole uncomfortable scene in Inac’s room
followed by an equally uncomfortable dinner. And now, Inac and Hara didn’t seem
to be talking. Were they fighting? Hara’s embarrassment had turned to anger
when Inac had begun to yell at Father Carroll. Had they finally found a
weakness in their relationship? Or were they keeping their distance to try to
be respectful?

“Enter,” Father Carroll called when Tracker knocked.

He stuck his head inside, still holding the door.
“You wanted to see me?”

Father Carroll was frantically going through a stack
of papers on a desk probably as ancient as the orphanage was…which was pretty
damn ancient.

“Yes,” he said as he threw a stack aside to grab
another one. “Where’s Hara?”

“Playing with the kids, I think.”

“And ‘Inac’?”

“Wandering around. I’m not sure.”

“But they’re not together?” he asked, freezing his
movements and throwing Tracker a questioning look.

“They weren’t when I was told that you wanted me in
here.”

“Good,” he said, nodding. “We’ll do it when the
children go to bed then.”

“Do what?”

“We’re taking Hara away.”

Tracker almost passed out. He was grateful for the
sturdy door handle holding him up. “We’re
what
?!”

“We’re taking her to a safe place.”

“I thought—?”

“I have my orders, just as you have yours. I told my
superiors the entire story last night. Then, when I called to inform Them of…of
the scene this afternoon…They told me their plan. Don’t worry. She’ll like
where we’re taking her.”

“But he loves her!” he yelled, throwing open the
door and stepping inside, accidently slamming it behind him—he hadn’t meant to
be so forceful. “He won’t hurt her. Today you saw firsthand how protective of
her he is!”

Father Carroll’s face grave, he said, “I also saw
the road she’s heading down with him. It’s a road full of sin and degradation.
She’ll never fulfill the prophecy while on that road.”

“What
is
this stupid prophecy anyways?
Nobody’s ever told me.”

“
I
don’t even know it. I only know that the
key to it is in her name. However, the problem with that is that we can’t find
it in any language known to man. We’ve found names similar that mean ‘Angel or
Archangel’ and, though she is that, that doesn’t tell us anything. We’ve had
scholars searching for it for centuries.”

Unable to contain his disbelief at their stupid
prophecy, Tracker found his mouth saying, “Then how do we even know it’s about
Hara?”

“It spoke a lot about where and when she would be
born, as well as what she would look like. Apparently, it was all riddles.
Things to do with who was in the Superbowl and World Series, referring to them
as battles for the ring and pennant, or something like that. Also, what she
would look like, astronomical phenomenons, and nicknames for the city and
hospital she’d be born in. Basically, it didn’t make sense until after
everything had occurred.”