Belief Problems

Honestly, it wasn’t the booze that kept me from jumping. It was that I wasn’t really even surprised. The Enlightenment, The Guild of Nod, Paladins of Light…they were all the same in the end. Just people thinking up a reason to keep going. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” Sunshine said politely. The moment Iago had said their labs would handle it, I knew something was up. Even if they had found some kind of logical explanation, just the idea of the Book could not be left alone. The Book had to be possessed, it had to be overturned, and for some, it had to be burned. By them. “Just my faith in ambivalence, Sunshine. I hate to spoil your spoiler, but I’ve got a meeting in a minute,” I say coldly. The clock says ten minutes till show time. “Ah yes. With the Nod Worshippers, correct? This wouldn’t have anything to do with the package you just stored in the safe, would it?” he asks. I smile and chew an ice cube in silence. “Shade, it’s not that we didn’t believe you, it’s just that Iago decided there might be certain factors not accounted with your being human again. So I followed you,” he explains. “It sounds like belief is the problem, Sunshine. I thought you said the Book couldn’t possibly be responsible for those bullets or the cure,” I say back. He shrugs with one arm and I almost laugh at the awkwardness. My cigarette is almost done and I make moves to get up. He grabs my arm. “I want that Book, Shade. Now kindly go up to the concierge and request it,” he demands. I give him a half smile and find myself mulling over the heightened stakes of a death threat. When two immortals are threatening each other, it’s so much less satisfying. “Or what? You have to make your bet or the cards don’t mean anything,” I shoot back. He snarls at me and I can see a hint of his fangs. “Or I’ll rip your fucking arms off and do the same to everyone in this hotel,” he says. For just a second, I pause and wonder how I’m supposed to feel at him threatening all the other people in the hotel. It’s a short lived muse, because a Nod Templar in black appears out of the shadows and relieves Sunshine of his grip. “We would appreciate it if you did not detain our guest,” he says calmly. For once, I’m glad to see the religious people making sense. Sunshine makes an interesting point back when he pulls out my Holy Gun and aims it at the Templar’s head.