James Baldwin - Stained Glass

We shook hands, and he glanced at my gloves for a split second, and then the cat. “And who is this?”

“Binah,” I replied tightly. I cleared my throat, trying to loosen it up. “She’s my familiar.”

Christopher reached out to her. Binah backed away with a hiss, circling around my neck to put my head between her and the priest. He laughed and dropped his hand. “She certainly is.”

“She’s been like that for a while now,” I said. “Doesn’t seem to want anyone else to touch her.”

“Animals are what they are. Thank you, Aaron. We’ll catch up before the midday service?”

“Yes, of course.” Aaron glanced at me, perhaps wondering if it was safe to leave his mentor and a Spook together in the same room, but at a wave from Christopher, he withdrew.

“Take a seat.” Christopher gestured to one of the red leather chairs. They were on an angle to one another, the classic counsellor’s arrangement. “As I understand it, you’re here to talk about Lily and Dru Ross? I’ve already given my statement to the police.”

“I’m a consultant, not a cop. I’m here to get a sense of why Wolf Grove might have been targeted by someone with considerable Christian Occult knowledge,” I took the chair. Binah left my shoulder to crouch on the back of it, her tail lashing against my head. Her discomfort was my discomfort, but there was no weird smell here, no dead plants. “In addition, I’d like to learn more about the Church and what you – and Lily and Dru – practice in the Church.”

“‘Christian Occult’ knowledge? What do you mean by that?” He inclined his head to one side, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. I’d learned these postures and positions in college as well. More evidence of his counselor training.

“The murder scene and a number of the activities that took place during the murder relate to medieval clerical magic,” I replied. “But as an experienced magician, I don’t really buy the Satanic abuse angle that the Vigiles Magicarum is currently tracking.”

“As an experienced priest, I can assure you that ritual abuse is a very real problem in this city, and in every city and town in America.” His voice was very light, even melodic. The priest blinked rapidly, and then looked down as he twitched his jaw to one side. “But anyway… Lily Ross – Powell, back then – was Confirmed in the Church long before her husband. Now, you must understand that we don’t just give Baptisms away in the Church of the Voice. Have you ever watched Father Zach preach?”

“I’ve never owned a TV,” I replied. “So no.”

“The heart of his gospel is that we are the ones who chose to fall from grace, and so we must earn God’s love.” Christopher sat back up, and gestured to his own heart. “Jesus died for us, but that doesn’t mean we can sit on our behinds and do nothing. He believes that God wants us to take action in our own lives, to improve our selves and become the best we can be. When we work with people, we don’t just want to redeem them – we want them to save themselves, to save other people, and not just by hitting them over the head with the Bible. We teach that the way to happiness is to take responsibility for your demons. That’s why we’re the fastest-growing Church in the country: people know that, instinctively. We all get dealt a hand in life. You have to play it the best you can and you will become a better person.”

“I see. And what does becoming a better person entail?” I mirrored his body language. He wasn’t the only one with training. “As in, how do you go about it?”

Christopher’s face lit with warm urgency. “Well, accepting the Gospel is a big part of it, as far as I’m concerned. After that, attending services, learning, getting proactive. One-on-one and group counseling is also a very important part of what we do here. The voice of sin is always trying to make us cave into things we don’t really want to do, and talking out those demons helps to banish them. We nominate people for Election when the vessel is prepared and they are ready for the intense experience of receiving the spirit, but God always makes sure you continue to grow.”

“So, you would have had fairly intense contact with the couple, seeing as Wolf Grove had been given a grant by the Church?”

He nodded. “They came here every week for Profession. Dru was preparing to train as a pastor, actually, which is why I saw them so frequently.”

“Profession?” I hadn’t brought a notepad, but I was confident I would remember everything. Binah was watching Christopher as well, and her presence really did improve my memory.

“We encourage our members to profess the sins they have committed, or want to commit.” Christopher spread his hands. “This is how we learn to implement self-mastery. I suppose it’s similar to Catholic confession, but the intent is not to absolve sin. It’s to conquer it. We don’t record anything that’s said.”

“I see.” Which meant he was unlikely to tell me anything about the murdered people beyond platitudes. It was still worth a try. “Did either Lily or Dru discuss anything to do with drug use or drug dealing?”

“Excuse me?” The Pastor balked, then frowned. “Absolutely not. Lily led the drug addiction relief classes here sometimes.”

“There is evidence that they were due to receive a shipment of contraband at their home,” I said, watching him levelly. “A week and a half before they were murdered.”

“I can’t divulge anything said to me in session,” he said. “But I will say that I am fully confident that neither Lily Ross or Dru Ross were involved in anything of that nature. They were good people who cared for very vulnerable children.”

There is was again, that one phrase that everyone kept on using: ‘very good people’. “You were aware that most of them were shapeshifters?”

“Of course. We work with Supernatural Support Units all over the country,” he replied. “We were one of the first modern churches to make outreach to the FBI, actually. We provide pastoral support and education for the communities the SSU works with. Brother Aaron is part of that program. Pastor Zach has a strong interest in providing a strong foundation for those with… abilities. It’s very easy for young shapeshifters or young people with arcane ability to be pulled onto very dark paths. We help them to understand their powers are a gift which is given to them for a higher purpose, and that God could just as easily take it away.”

I drew a deep breath, pushing against the tight embrace of the parasite in my body. Binah hopped down to the floor, and began to nose around the chair. “Why are you so confident that ritual abuse is an issue here?”

“Easily.” He sat back, spreading his hands. They were very large for his frame, like he’d never quite grown into them. “I was a victim of it.”

Short and to the point, but effective. “Is this something you are able to discuss?”

“Of course. It’s the reason I entered the ministry, after all.” Christopher worked his jaw again, brows furrowed in thought. “My family was bad soil, as Father Zach put it to me once. My father was a very violent man, an alcoholic. My mother was a house-mouse… she wasn’t a bad woman, but she was helpless against the likes of my father. I was born in the Newark projects. Ran away at seven years old.”

That all sounded familiar. I’d run away from home at eight. I listened, keeping one eye on Binah as she sniffed her way around the room.

“I was picked up downtown by a man who told me he was from a shelter for abused boys. He said his name was Thomas… he bought me dinner, got me a new warm coat, walked me to his car, then drove me out to a junkyard,” Christopher continued. Some of the light had drained from his eyes, leaving them flat and glassy. “He chained me up in an outhouse building like a dog and injected me with heroin. Then he raped me.”