The Order Page #2

his order in the Concezione Cemetery.

Your order. His former order.

The Carolingians, not many

of you left in the world.

Yeah, a dying breed.

Look, and when they die,

it's the Concezione Cemetery.

Suicide is a cardinal sin.

- Dominic didn't commit suicide.

- It makes no difference.

He had been excommunicated, excluded

from our society and sacraments.

"There is no salvation outside the church."

- Yes, I know my Latin.

- Unlike your manners. Respect what you are.

Well, what I am is my concern.

Thank you.

Listen, I'm sorry. I am. I-

I need the theosophic council

to convene as soon as possible.

The council?

It hasn't convened in years.

For what purpose?

Tell them I found a sin eater.

A sin eater? Here?

At the start

of the new millennium?

How many other impossible things

do you believe in?

It's not impossible. I've seen the marks

on Dominic's body myself.

Your mentor

was excommunicated...

for rejection of articles of faith.

Heresy. Accept it.

He took his own life

because he couldn't bear that.

- Grazie, Franca.

- Father Alex.

Ciao, Maria. Ciao.

Grazie.

In nomine Patris, et Fili,

et Spiritus Sancti.

Amen.

In the name of God...

I command you to return

from whence you came.

In the name of God-

In the name ofJesus, God, and the

Holy Virgin, I order you back to hell!

Well, off to hell yourself.

What kind of a greeting's that?

You're late.

Never too late, Alex.

Witness the repentant thief...

crucified alongside our Lord Savior.

- Quick thinker, eh?

- How you doin'?

Ah, I'm grand.

- So, did you bury him?

- Yeah.

Rogue priest readin' rites

over an excommunicado.

Damn dirty job,

but someone's gotta do it.

Well, cheers.

To the last of the Carolingians.

You and me.

Cheers.

What just passed

through here, Alex?

Demon spawn

in the guise of children.

Nothing I couldn't handle.

- Who summoned those nasties up?

- Dominic, I think.

They were camped

outside his apartment.

Oh, speaking of the apartment,

I met your girlfriend.

She's not my girlfriend.

Well, she should be. She said

you'd be at the Concezione.

You told her it was a restaurant?

- Well, she would have come with me otherwise.

- Oh, women.

Can't live with 'em.

Can't live with 'em.

- Come on.

- Sin eater.

"In absolution, the burden of guilt...

"would be transmuted

to the sin eater...

as would the knowledge

of the transgressions."

Wait. You mean he'd know what

your sins were? Even the details?

He'd know them

and feel the burden of them.

He'd spend sleepless nights

over things others had done.

He'd have the ascendancy

to free a man's soul.

And damn his own.

We're Carolingians, Alex and I.

Now, in a way,

that makes us responsible.

They say the practice of sin eating began

with banished members of our order.

Come on. That's like

saying that sheep...

are responsible for the sweaters

that get made from their wool.

Maybe they are, Mara, girl.

I found the vellum Dominic bought.

I'll translate it for you.

Okay...

"Place the instrument

of delivery over the heart."

It must be some kind of weapon.

And then look.

"Barath-mae, barath-sec. "

Blood in, blood out.

"And drive into the heart."

Now, the rest is missing.

- Still, you get the idea.

- I'm not sure I do.

Well, they're instructions...

on how to kill a sin eater.

Dominic trained us to deal with ghosts

and demons and all manner of undead...

but this sin eater,

he's a living man.

Well, whatever he is,

he killed Dominic.

Maybe, maybe not.

I've seen another copy

of this somewhere.

So, we meet again.

Jesu, the f***in' cavalry.

So, how are you finding our city

of emperors, our city of martyrs?

Would you care for a beer, Your Eminence?

Or something a little stronger?

- And you are?

- He's Thomas.

- She's Mara.

- We're the Catholic Pete, Linc and Julie.

Well, I am Michael Cardinal Driscoll,

and among other things...

I'm head of

the theosophic council.

A bit like the dead letter department

of the post office, I'm afraid.

I believe Michelangelo

went blind from candlelight.

Dominic didn't believe

in electricity.

Yes, but a sin eater? You couldn't have

shocked the bishop more if you'd said...

you'd been possessed by some Phoenician

demon and then demanded an exorcism.

- The exorcism was on Friday.

- Well, today is Monday.

And yet, I think there may be

credence to what you say.

Matter of fact, I know there is.

A sin eater-

a renegade who provides a path to heaven

outside of the church, outside of our savior.

If you believe such things,

he has the power...

to grant redemption

to the unrepentant.

Sort of a heretical wrench in the cogs

of our Catholic machinery.

You two were Dominic's chosen. What do

you know about his excommunication?

Nothing.

- He wouldn't speak of it.

- Well, Dominic believed this other...

this man was based right here in Rome.

Now, that's all I know because

that's all he told me...

and I assume that the two of you

plan to seek him out.

Otherwise, I am just spinning

my wheels here.

Sadly, the church no longer

has the will to dispatch.

Thank God we still have the tools.

The instrument of delivery,

if you will.

Now, if you'll excuse me...

there are even more pressing matters

weighing on the Vatican tonight.

Signorina.

What could be more

important than this?

They say the pope is ill.

In fact, they say that he's dying.

And that man, Mara, girl,

that American is front-runner for the job.

That man that just asked you

to kill somebody?

Left it to our discretion, I'd say.

Where'd you get that?

Last year. Got drunk,

woke up with it.

That's very strange.

Sailors get anchors, so I'm a priest.

It's still strange, Tommy.

I'm glad Dominic

believed in bathrooms.

I usually just open the window

and lean out.

What's strange is that you're a priest

sleeping on the couch...

instead of a man

sleeping in bed with her.

Thomas, two days ago,

she was in a mental institution.

So, she's crazy about you.

Can you look me in the eye and tell me

you still wanna be a priest?

Can you?

There are other ways to serve.

Hmm, to serve.

- It's knowledge I'm after.

- Knowledge.

When I look under a rock,

my gut reacts to what I see.

I don't wonder how it got under

the rock to begin with.

You guys tired?

Go upstairs and get some sleep.

- Good night.

- Night.

- Sweet dreams, yeah?

- You too.

I know who she is,

but who is she?

Tell me something about her.

- Hmm.

She's a- She's a painter.

Really good too.

I don't know, there's something

about her that-

She sees things differently.

She feels things differently.

I wish I never saw her face.

Alex, you're a fool.

Same as you were once.

Alex,your head rules your heart.

- Oh, and what rules yours?

- Laughter, of course.

Hey, hey, you laugh

to keep from going mad.

- You laugh to keep the wolves at bay.

- It's still laughter.

- As for you, SpaghettiO, choose life.

- Right.

Let your heart wear the crown,

not your head.

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