The heart of a priest

"In my prime, there wasn't much I wasn't capable of, certainly more than reading minds and controlling weak willed mortals. I possess but a fraction of my former power." She said

"Is that why you hide from the outside world? You don't have the strength to fight back against the 'entities' you mentioned before?" Kelvin asked

Zafira sighed "Partially, yes. I would be no match for an angel in my current state."

Kelvin gave Zafira a look of surprise. "Angels!? They exist?!"

Zafira rolled her eyes. "You know for a fact, demons exist. How could you not know angels were real too? Just don't go believing all that God and Satan nonsense you humans conjured up."

"I try not to make assumptions," Kelvin said, calming himself.

"Otherwise, I would think you'd have severed heads and leech extract in your fridge." He joked

"Touché," Zafira giggled.

"Crusaders, on the other hand, I could take care of them, if they were alone." She said

"What are Crusaders?" Kelvin asked curiously

"Crusaders are an order of men dedicated to the extermination of demons. Their order is as old as civilization itself, and it is well-versed in the art of magic, they are much more secretive and reclusive than they used to be. However, you can always spot one by the small cross branded on their neck."

Small cross? Brand?

Father Gabriel! Recognition exploded in his mind.

Sure the mark on the priest's neck wasn't a coincidence.

"I saw one yesterday!" Kelvin explained. "He came to my apartment asking about the nightclub murder, I knew something was off about him. He gave me some bullshit story about…"

"I can read minds, remember?" Zafira interrupted.

"I figured one of them would be paying you a visit after that night club fiasco hit the news. This is good news for you Kelvin, because we need him to find Maria's killer."

Kelvin looked at Zafira inquisitively.

"We need him? For what exactly?" He asked with caution

"Hmm, how to put this delicately?"

" Well, we don't need him per say, rather we need his heart."

Kelvin wasn't really buying this.

"I'm not helping you kill people, Zafira!" He scolded, that was going too far.

"You won't have to kill anyone. However, I never said you wouldn't have to do questionable things"

"You want my help, this is me helping you. One hand washes the other." The demoness said straightforwardly, she didn't bother sugarcoating anything for him

Kelvin thought about it. He was okay with her killing criminals, but a priest?

Like he said, that was going too far.

"Since you're busy questioning your own morality, allow me to make this easy for you; while you were spending the day trying to find an alternative to my offer, I took the liberty of doing a little memory spying on Gabriel. Turns out Mr. Holy man has an affinity for young girls, very very young girls, if you catch my drift."

"A corrupt soul!…" Kelvin exclaimed, he finally got the gist of it.