Sisters of Fate

"It was funny, but this time, with Pru in danger, I didn't care about my morals. I'd kill every thrall the vamp could hypnotize to save Pru."

"I ducked just in time to avoid being slashed by the vamps raking claws. As he went by, I slashed at his torso and did no damage. It felt like my blade had hit metal. As I rolled across the muck of the alley, I remembered what she'd said about armor and I knew what I had to do."

"While the vamp was distracted by me, Penance swung her mace into his back as hard as she could. The impact, coupled with the surprise of the blow, knocked him down. As I moved back to attack him again, my foot hit something. It was Pru's Katana. It had been blessed by the church and according to Penance, all of their weapons were special. I knew exactly what I had to do. While the vamp tried to get to his feet, I dropped the Oriole and picked up Pru's Katana. I thrust the antique blade as hard as I could, trying to get to his heart by piercing the armor."

"I'd grown up reading stories about Samurai who had done incredible things with their swords. They were supposedly able to cut through anything. There were stories about them cutting through gun barrels with their finely honed blades. I needed to do something like that. I was sure that the good Lord was on my side. I summoned every ounce of strength I had and screamed as I plunged the antique blade towards the chest plate the creature wore. Just as the samurai of old, I knew I'd have only one shot at this. The blade struck, bent and then snapped in two. Obviously, I was no fucking samurai. To make things worse, the vamp hit me. It was only a glancing blow, but I flew through the air backwards and landed in a big pile of stinking mud. Again I hoped it was mud. This made the second time he'd knocked me on my ass in that alley."

"I ached everywhere and as the creature turned back towards me baring his fangs, Penance struck again. This time he was ready for her. He plucked the mace from mid swing snatching it from her hands. He threw it across the alley, advancing on her as she retreated in fear. I knew I had only seconds to act and suddenly it became clear what I had to do. Penance looked at me across the alley, her eyes full of fear. I got up as fast as I could and ran. I didn't go charging into the fight. I ran away from Penance and the vamp."

"God's plan for me was suddenly clear and I knew why I hadn't driven my Mustang. Obviously, God likes Mustangs too. I would never have been able to do what I needed to do in my car. I climbed into the Volt as the vamp advanced on Penance. She reached inside her cloak and pulled out a 357 magnum and fired point blank into the vamp's chest. He avoided the bullet somehow and caught it on his arm instead of his chest."

"The vamp was pissed and he bared his fangs at Penance. He kicked over a garbage can and she shot two more rounds at him. He jerked from side to side and dodged both bullets. The roar of the handgun at close range covered the sounds of me barreling towards him in the silent car. Just as he reached out and knocked the gun from Penance's nearly paralyzed fingers he realized that something was wrong. He tried to turn to see what was coming only to have 3781 lbs of nearly silent electric car slamming him into the wall. The hood of the car had crumpled with the impact destroying his legs in the process. His arms flailed uselessly, unable to get the leverage to free him. The airbags had gone off in the impact and saved me from serious injury. I got out of the car a little shaky on my feet but fully aware. I reached out and picked up my sword."

"When I saw you run, I thought you were leaving me," said Penance.

"I'd never leave Pru," I said. "Check on her."

"As I approached the vamp, he howled in pain. I could tell he was trying to summon his thralls but it wouldn't do him any good. He tried to put a hand on the hood of the car to push it away from the wall and free himself. Even as I watched, his legs appeared to be healing. It was too little too late though, I thought. I took up a stance behind him. I wanted to make this stroke count. He tried to look over his shoulder to see what I was doing as I prepared."

"See ya," I said as the blade hissed through the air. It was a difficult stroke, not nearly as easy as it seems in the movies but this time I was perfect. The blade sang though the air and at the end of the stroke the vamps head sprang from his neck. The body jerked spastically for just a second or two and then came to rest. The homeless people in the alley that had come in response to the creature's silent call looked around themselves as if they had no idea why they were there. They dispersed through the alley, asking each other for change."

"Terri looked up as if she too was finally awake. She looked around herself in confusion."

"Penance and I knelt by Pru's side. I wanted to kiss her so badly but I knew that Penance would kill me if I did. I was so shaky that I staggered and swayed as I tried to stay upright."

"Prudence opened her beautiful eyes and looked at us."

"I couldn't stop him," she mumbled. "He's too powerful. I had a plan but it didn't work. I had to try to save Jason."

"I know Honey," I said. "You thought you could penetrate that breast plate he was wearing and run your blade through his heart. You got the idea from the fact that Patience scared the shit out of him when she hit him with her crossbow bolt."

"Where is he?" she asked.

"Probably the third ring of Hell," I said. "He's worm food."

"Penance, you got him?" she said.

"It wasn't me," she said. "But I helped. He killed him, but I really could have done it if I knew cheating was allowed. And boy, you are going to be pissed. He broke all of your stuff. He tore up your car and he broke your sword."

"Prudence tried to get up and looked at Penance with a shocked look on her face."

"Sister Penance, did you just say pissed?" she asked. "Good nuns, especially the Sisters of Fate do not use language like that."

"We walked out of the alley with Terri following us. Prudence leaned on me and held my hand. Penance glared at us whole time. We went back to the church and filled Patience and the Bishop in on what had happened. Everyone was relieved that the nightmare was over. With the vamp dead, everything except my marriage could go back to normal. Everyone seemed not to notice the glances passing between Prudence and me. They also seemed to accept the fact that we touched each other a lot and held hands. We stayed together the whole night since they wouldn't leave until morning."

"The next day Prudence and Penance, who didn't want to leave us alone for a second, drove me home. My heart broke as she told me goodbye."

"For the first time that I can remember, my heart is tearing in two," she said. "Jason, I have never felt the way I feel about you for any person. I wish I didn't have to leave."

"God, just do it," said Penance. "The plane is waiting. We're going home. I've turned my back; I can't see anything, so do it already."

"Do what?" I asked.

"This," she said.

"And before my cat like reflexes kicked in she kissed me. She kissed me full on the lips and made me weak in the knees."

"I know what love is now Jason Grant," she said, as she turned and left me standing on my doorstep.

"Wait," I said.

"I ran back into the house and came back to her. I put a tube into her hands. She opened the top and smiled."

"What's this for?" she asked.

"To remember me by," I said. "It's not a three hundred year old Katana that's been blessed by the church, but shit, the blade won't snap in half like yours did. Think of me whenever you kill something with it. And for the record, I know what love is too."

"Three days later, I sat down with Terri to rationally discuss our divorce. She tried the old I'm Catholic, I can't get a divorce ploy on me. I showed her my papers that granted us an annulment from the church as soon as we got a civil divorce. She ripped them up and stuck them in her purse. I told her that they were only copies and I had plenty more."

"She refused to see a lawyer. I tried to have her served several times but no one could find her. It didn't present a problem for me. I moved on with my life. I took her name off of all of my accounts and canceled our joint credit cards. Her name had never been on the mortgage and I changed all of the locks. I removed all of her belongings and dropped them off at her parents' house. I didn't really mind not getting the divorce. At that time, I had no intention of ever getting married again. How could I. I was in love with a nun. As I watched the kids trick or treating in my neighborhood and saw their costumes, I wondered how many of those ghosts and goblins that they were pretending to be really existed. Shit, they probably all did. Three days before, I hadn't believed in vampires."

* * * * * *

Epilog

"Okay, you're telling me that you want to divorce my daughter because she was attacked by a vampire?" asked Terri's father. "That just doesn't seem fair."

It sounded as if he really didn't believe me.

"No sir," I said. "I know that all of the shit that happened with the vamp wasn't her fault. Those things can easily enthrall people with weak minds or a lack of resistance to temptation. I want to divorce Terri because she cheated on me with four different guys before she ran into the vamp."

"Jason, she's had a year of therapy. She's a completely different woman now. Can't you give her another chance? Besides, your nun friend went back to monster hunting. You shouldn't be alone. And I don't think there's anyone out there who loves you as much as Terri does."

I just smiled. "The Lord works in mysterious ways," I said. "Over the past year, I've been busy. The first few weeks alone were really interesting. Once I got over the fact that Terri was hiding and wouldn't give me a divorce, I decided to tie up a few loose ends. I sent a copy of that video and the stills to the wife of Nick Jones, the guy who Crystal was cheating with. She was so angry, that she divorced him and took every dime he had. She named Crystal in the divorce suit, so naturally Ed found out and divorced Crystal too."

"I thought you'd given your word to Crystal," he began.

"I did," I said. "And I kept it. I told Crystal that I wouldn't tell Ed. I never said that someone else couldn't tell him. I thought of it as poetic justice. After all, Crystal had helped to fuck up my marriage, so it was only right that hers go down as well."

"I was sitting at my dining room table, polishing my new Golden Oriole that I'd bought on Ebay to replace the one I gave Prudence, when someone knocked at my door. I opened the door and there she stood. The leather was gone and she had on a white blouse and a dark skirt. It was the kind of clothing that nuns wear when they're out of their habit."

"Sister Prudence," I said smiling.

"It's just Prudence now," she said. "I was let go from the Sisters of Fate."

"But why?" I asked in shock.

"The Sisters of Fate are raised from a very young age to serve the church," she said. "They have to remain pure and untouched and have special gifts of speed and strength because of it. I lost my powers because I was sullied."

"But we never did anything, except that one innocent kiss," I said.

"Jason, that kiss wasn't so innocent on my part," she said. "Besides, that wasn't it. As soon as I got back, they noticed the scratch on my neck from the vampire. It was probably that touch of evil that cause me to lose my powers."

"Since I'd been sullied by the taint of evil, it was decided that I could no longer serve. They tried to assign me to three different convents where I'd serve as a regular nun. I didn't stay in any of those places for more than a few days. Mostly because once they learned what I did in my previous assignment, most of them were afraid of me." She looked downwards.

"That must be rough," I said. "The people you've served for most of your life turned their backs on you. It must be truly awful to be betrayed by the people you love. I guess we have that in common too. You were betrayed by the church and me, by my cheating wife." She nodded and smiled a bright smile.

"Wait a minute," I said. "Penance and I checked you over right after I killed the vamp. You hadn't been scratched or bitten and it wouldn't have mattered if you had. When we killed the vamp, his taint was gone."

"I know," she smiled. "I made the scratch myself in the bathroom with a safety pin. I told you I was torn. But now, I have nowhere to go. I do remember someone telling me that I was always welcome. I need someone to teach me the wicked ways of the lay world."

"Wait a minute," said Terri, "You mean that woman gave up...And she lives in my house with you now?" I nodded.

"Fuck you Jason. I'm still not giving you the divorce so you can marry someone else. I came here today to see if you've regained your senses so we can get back together. Come on Dad, let's get out of here."

"Terri, we're already divorced. I filed under abandonment six months ago. It'll be final tomorrow on Halloween. You'll have been gone for a full year." I just smiled.

"Fuck you Jason," she said again angrily. Then she looked strangely at something that must have been behind me. From the fingers that began lightly rubbing my shoulders I figured it had to be an almost 6 foot golden haired goddess in a Dunkin Donuts uniform.

"That's my job, Terri," said Prudence.

"Huh?" said Terri moving away from us as her Dad took in Prudence and started shaking his head.

"Fucking Jason, that's my job now." As Terri and her dad retreated and left the cafeteria, Prudence sat down at the table.

"Jason, I heard the part about your divorce being final," she said. "It's a good thing. Oh, Patience and Penance will be dropping by to visit tomorrow," she said. "It's been a year and I guess they want to check up on me. They're bringing their new partner, Piety, with them."

"What does that have to do with my divorce?" I asked.

"Nothing, Honey," she said. "But the divorce is a good thing, because I found out today that all of those depraved things you've been making me do seem to have worked. We're going to have to get married."

"Pru, are you?" I began. And she nodded.

"We, not ME, are going to have a little one. I think it's going to be a girl."

"Penance is going to kill me," I laughed.

The end