“Evelyn, please,” said Antonio, looking at the ground with his ears folded back. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done it.”

  The wooden door in front of him did not respond. However, a few moments later, a voice from behind it did.

  “Damn right, you shouldn’t have!” said Evelyn. “You basically voted on her execution! What were you thinking?”

  “I just- I-” he stuttered.

  “You what?” demanded Evelyn.

  “The others- they didn’t seem like they would be convinced! I just didn’t want to drag it out any longer! I know how much you dislike Elaina. And how much she dislikes you. The conversation wouldn’t have gone anywhere!”

  “So?” she replied. “You wanted to let Lucy die, just to get out of a conversation faster?!”

  “No!” he exclaimed. “The others had their minds set! There was nothing we could say to change their minds, but as long as it was still 2 to 3, you would have kept fighting, and it would have never ended!”

  “Exactly!” she shouted. “You voted for someone undeserving of death to die, just to end a conversation sooner!”

  “No, that’s-”

  “I don’t want to hear it! Even if we couldn’t have changed their minds, you shouldn’t have just given up like that! It was cowardly! Shit like this is the reason you were never able to become an Orderbound Blade!”

  Antonio did not respond. A few seconds later, Evelyn spoke again, this time more softly.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t have said that. I’m just- ugghhhh. I know they wouldn’t have changed their mind. I know there’s nothing we could have done. But you shouldn't have just abandoned me like that. You can read a room really well, and you're good at making compromises, which is why you’re such a good diplomat, but sometimes, you need to take a stance. Even if it’s pointless, you shouldn’t just give up like that. Especially not when you’re betraying me me to do it. You need to be more assertive.”

  “I know,” said Antonio remorsefully. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done it. I’ll never do it again. So please, forgive me. I’ll do anything.”

  “...fine,” said Evelyn.

  “Then-” started Antonio, his ears perking up.

  “But not yet,” interrupted Evelyn. “I forgive you, but I’m still angry, and don’t want to see you. Go do some work. I’ll come find you when I’m ready.”

  “Ok…” said Antonio, his ears sagging back down. “But you will come find me, right?”

  “Yes, yes, I will. So get-” She suddenly cut off.

  “Evelyn?” said Antonio.

  Before she could respond, suddenly, an alarm started ringing throughout the cathedral. It was not the alarm indicating an attack; it was a much rarer sound that no living person could say they had ever heard before. It was the sound indicating the escape of a high-security prisoner.

  Evelyn’s bedroom door flew open, revealing her disheveled figure, dressed in a thin, wrinkled nightgown with her hair flying about in the wind created by the opening of the door. She stared Antonio in the face, then slapped him before pushing past him.

  “What-?” said Antonio.

  “Hurry up!” she said, running down the hallway.

  Evelyn’s bedroom was about as far from the prison cells as it could be, so even running, it took them five minutes to get there. On the way, they ran into Mirella, the hound-like beast woman, and joined her as they sprinted toward the prison cells. When they reached the final staircase down into the maximum security area where Lucy had been held, Saintess Evelyn caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye that froze her in her tracks. It was Lucy.

  At first, Evelyn was confused about how Mirella hadn’t seen Lucy. She was just standing there, not even trying to hide. Then, she realized what was happening. One of her skills [Divine Eye] was at play, and was letting her see through Lucy’s invisibility. According to the church records, millennia in the past, the Saintesses had actually helped fight the Demon Kings directly, and that skill was a remnant of those days. In the present era, the Saintess was little more than a figurehead, but she still retained all the skills that Themis granted her, even if she occasionally forgot about them.

  She tore her vision away from the vampire’s cold purple eyes just in time for Antonio to enter the stairwell behind her.

  “What is it?” asked Antonio.

  “Nothing,” lied Evelyn. “I was just worried about going down the stairs too quickly. I don’t have the [Vitality] or [Dexterity] to go that fast.”

  “Here,” said Antonio.

  Evelyn felt her knees buckle as Antonio’s arm crashed into the back of her legs and she was lifted off the ground.

  “Hey!” she yelled. “Put me down!”

  “No time for that,” said Antonio, running down the stairs.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, holding tightly to his shirt.

  “Carrying you,” he replied.

  “Why? I could do it on my own!”

  “But you weren’t,” he said. “And besides, didn’t you want me to be more assertive?”

  “This isn’t what I meant!”

  They reached the bottom of the stairs, but Antonio still did not put her down, instead focusing aura into his legs so that he could go even faster down the final stone corridor. By the time they reached the adamantium cell door, they had caught back up with Mirella. The paladins guarding the door nodded respectfully as they flew past, but Antonio and Evelyn did not pay them any attention.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Inside, the guard was in the process of explaining something to Natalya, but she held her hand up to stop him when she saw the others arrive.

  “Good, you’re here,” said the elf as soon as the three newcomers made it into the room. “Justin, tell them what you saw.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” said the guard. “I was watching over the prisoner as usual, when suddenly someone else appeared right next to her, grabbed her, and then they both vanished. I didn’t get a good look at the man, but he was clearly an elf, and he didn’t trigger any alarms, so I believe it must have been Lust.”

  “The evidence certainly points that direction, yes,” said Natalya. “But I have my doubts. I know my son, and this doesn’t feel quite like his work. Something’s not right. That’s why I called you here, Mirella. Eyes can be deceived quite easily, but it’s much harder to trick your nose. Tell me, what does your nose say happened in here.”

  The beast woman moved toward the empty manacles still chained to the wall, but before she could start her work, Evelyn spoke up.

  “Wait,” she said, then pointed to the guard. “You. Get out. And close the door behind you.”

  “Yes, Saintess,” he said.

  “What are you doing?” asked Natalya as the paladin obeyed.

  “Natalya, please set up a soundproof barrier,” said Evelyn.

  The elf eyed her suspiciously, but did as she requested. “So, what is it?”

  “Just before the guard sounded the alarm, I received a message from Patience,” said Evelyn. The others immediately focused their full attention on her. “She said ‘Let her go.’ She didn’t mention Lucy by name, but considering the timing, it can only be her.”

  “So this was an escape, and not a kidnapping by Lust?” asked Natalya.

  “Yes,” said Evelyn after a short hesitation. “I believe it would be wise to follow Patience’s advice, given what her ability is.”

  “Hmm… Yes, I agree,” said Natalya, looking mildly disappointed.

  “Did Patience say anything else?” asked Antonio.

  “No,” replied Evelyn.

  “Ha,” said Natalya. “She doesn’t communicate for a year, making everyone believe she’s dead, and then she finally messages us again, and it’s to tell us to let one of the incarnations go?”

  “I guess,” said Evelyn shrugging. “She’s always been that way though. Never doing anything, then suddenly telling us to do something drastic without warning. It works though, so we can’t complain too much.”

  “Yeah…” said Natalya. “But if Lust wasn’t involved, how did she escape? How did she use her mana? And how did she manage to bypass the wards and teleport away?”

  “Well, I don’t know how she used her mana, but I do-” started Evelyn before suddenly stopping.

  “What is it?” asked Antonio. “Another message from Patience?”

  Evelyn nodded, but did not reply immediately. She stared at the wall while the others waited with bated breath until she finally turned her gaze back to them.

  “Patience says she’s escaped from Wrath, and that she needs you,” she looked at Natalya, “to make a portal to the big hill northeast of Rio Azul in about 12 hours. She said you would know where that was.”

  “I do, yes,” said Natalya, nodding. “Is that all?”

  “For now, yes. She says she’ll contact me closer to the time that she needs the portal with more details. For now, we should remain on standby.”

  Natalya nodded again. “Sounds good.”

  “And Mirella, you are not to speak a word of this to anyone else,” said Evelyn. “What has been said here will never be relayed outside.”

  “Of course, Saintess,” said Mirella.

  “Well, now that that’s over with, we’ve got a bit of time before Patience arrives,” said Natalya. “We should wait in Antonio’s office, but before that, you two should get dressed.” She pointed at Evelyn and Antonio. “And you probably shouldn’t carry her like that again. Especially not when you’re both in your nightclothes.”

  Evelyn’s face flushed and Antonio’s head drooped, causing Natalya to laugh.

  “Now, hurry up and go get changed. We still have things to discuss. I’ll be waiting in the office.”

  Natalya disappeared, leaving the others to return to the cathedral proper the slow way. Evelyn saw Lucy again waiting at one of the doors, and did her best to stifle her laughter as the invisible woman ‘snuck’ behind her back out of the prison. Once back in the main structure, the four split up, each heading to their own chambers to prepare for the day.

  Twelve hours later, Antonio, Natalya, and Evelyn found themselves back in Antonio’s office as Patience finally contacted them again.

  “Five minutes,” relayed Evelyn. “And she said to make sure not to go through the portal. Merely open it, and close it behind her after she comes through.”

  “Roger that,” said Natalya.

  The next five minutes passed painfully slowly, until Evelyn once again heard Patience’s voice speaking in her mind.

  “Start it now!” said Evelyn.

  Natalya did just that, holding out her hand as a rectangle of pure blackness formed beside her. A few seconds later, a dangerously thin woman stumbled through, and collapsed on the rug in front of them.

  “Angelina!” shouted Evelyn, jumping to her aid.

  White light washed over the woman as Evelyn helped her up and onto the couch.

  “What happened to you?” she asked.

  “Food,” said Angelina her voice barely audible. “Meat. Then talk.”

  “Of course, of course,” said Evelyn. “Tony go tell Gisele to fetch some food. Lots of meat.”

  “Yes, Saintess,” said Antonio, jumping up to complete her orders.

  A quarter of an hour later, Patience was inhaling food as quickly as her weak arms could get it into her mouth. The other three watched her in tense silence until she finally finished, belching loudly and leaning back on the couch.

  “Oh, that was good,” she moaned, her voice now much stronger. “I haven’t been able to taste much in the past year.”

  “How did you taste any?” exclaimed Evelyn. “You hardly chewed! And what do you mean you couldn’t taste? What happened to you?”

  “I’ve been imprisoned by Wrath for the past year,” said Angelina. “I’ve lived on stale bread and dirty water, and even then, I couldn’t taste it because he cut out my tongue.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us? We could have rescued you!”

  “It was necessary,” said Patience. “If you had come to save me, you probably would have succeeded, but then it would be much more difficult to defeat Wrath after.”

  “Why?” asked Antonio.

  “Without me, the fight between Wrath and Lust would have gone on much longer,” explained Angelina. “More people would have died, and the Demon Kings would have only grown stronger. This was the most efficient way to let Wrath win Maradona. Now that he’s done that, he’ll be much easier to defeat.”

  “How come?”

  “I can’t say,” she said. “But trust me, it will work out. For now though, he won’t be a problem. We can ignore him. We can ignore Lust and Pride too. None of them will be bothering innocents anytime soon. It’s Greed we need to turn our attention to.”

  “And by Greed, you mean Ophelia Lyon, correct?” asked Evelyn.

  “Who else would I mean?” asked Patience. “Right now she’s in Griegland spending time at her adamantium mines.”

  “But we already investigated all the adamantium mines,” said Antonio. “Does she have more that we aren’t aware of?”

  “I can’t say any more than that at the moment. I might be able to share more at a later time, but for now, you’ll have to work with that.”

  Natalya and Evelyn frowned, but didn’t protest.

  “What are you going to do then?” asked Antonio.

  “Rest and recover,” replied Angelina. “I won’t be doing any more hands-on work for a while. Not for the church anyway.” She yawned widely.

  “We have a room prepared for you here,” said Evelyn. “It’s not far. Would you like to go there now?”

  “No, I already have accommodations prepared,” she said. “Actually, he should be here right about now.”

  She pointed at the door, and on cue, there was a loud knock.

  “Come in,” called Angelina.

  The door opened and a tall figure stepped in, smiling brightly at the group while Natalya’s eyes widened in surprise.

  “Dad?”