"Now hold on, Marie used the word 'genetic' , " Lawrence exclaimed looking ready to
explode. He scared Lilly, Casandra and even Samantha who was no longer used to be afraid
of being harmed. "Genetics didn't even EXIST at that point! I'm pretty sure the WORD didn't
even exist yet! And Father Mendel research that would lay the foundations for genetics
wouldn't exist for almost two hundred more years! And practically fifty years after that
where 'hereditary units' began to be recognized as a viable theory! And Francesco Redi
experiments to refute spontaneous generation only happened seventeen years from then."
"You're forgetting one thing."
"What?"
"Marie had her sixth sense.... "
Lawrence groaned. "And Kathrine just ACCEPTED the word?"
"More or less, yes. Moving on. The witches' overblown acts of magic would make it easier
to Marie to find them once in the new world, but Marie didn't know that.
This would lead to part of the curse being actually PARANOID that some bored or proactive
godling would notice the curse, swoop in, annihilate it with a gesture, and then go home to
drink tea. 'A dog of God' Goldwyn would call the other disfigured woman. And Marie wold
reply 'Then I'm going to act like one and defend my master's home.' Marie would tell her
'Becoming an adult is taking responsibility, giving back to the world that's given to you.
Accepting the consequences of your own actions.' "
++++
"The Inquisition and it's courts do not recognize, nor humor the superstitious belief in the
existence of witchcraft or sorcerery!" The Council of the Suprema had told her to her face
on a Tuesday afternoon (since that was normally when they were closed and not in
session), "And we will not grant resources to such a ridiculous fantastic quest!"
Marie knew her limit was five years. She had exactly five years to find allies and to find the
witches and kill them. She was an Inquisition she didn't cringe from killing.
"Miss Cruz, if I may ask, what do you plan to do with these 'witches' if they really exist,
and if you're really able to find them, and you're really able to subdue them?" Asked a lanky
young man who looked like he had just earned his robes as a cleric.
Marie remembered the last thing her god father had ever said to her,
<i> Her god father placed his hands on her shoulders and knelt down looking her in the
eyes, "Marie, God's universe is one based on truth, remember that if nothing else." </i>
Marie turned to look at him with her good eye and smiled, "They'll face the one thing
people who despise order hate above all else: due process."
Marie found her way to the perch of a very familiar Gargoyle. He had read through the
records. She looked at Vatican, had she really left this all behind for a year before coming
home? Her home? The only real home she had left in this world?
Then again, Abraham, or rather, Abaza, had shook all of them to the core. Princess of
gossip Zoey apparently still had nightmares of what the Turk had done to her and had
NEARLY done to her. And the worst part was that Marie Cruz herself had almost revealed
the truth about herself to him... thankfully he made his move before she made his. And
Marie and Vatican saved all three innocent women (Zoey apparently being an emergency
replacement after Abaza felt he wasn't make enough progress with Marie).
"You were a paladin." Marie Cruz said the winged dragon/lion statue (purely atheistic, after
all, gargoyles could carve themselves to resemble nearly anything, but could only function
properly in stone shaped like a winged humanoid), "You were part of a just and honorable
order whose duty was to protect pilgrims on their journey to the holy land. But your king
betrayed you and called you an evil sect.... You came to this holy place for refuge after
seeking refuge with the stone beasts. I will need your help soon to protect those of our
faith. As a Knights Templar, I ask you to fulfill your duty one last time."
The statue didn't move, didn't visible react. Marie Cruz sighed and left.
Vadican slowly turned his head to watch Marie's back as she went from the dangerous roof
top.