As Camilla waited at home for Father Don Josiah to pick her up for their date on Wednesday night, she thought about the disturbances of her sleep, as well those of her lovers' sleep. She knew she had to be responsible: if Dr. Singh was right that Nigrovum had been feeding on the lusts of her dead lovers, as well as those of Miles Holland, Bob, Candice, and potentially many more, all of those lovers of hers still living had to be warned; for they, too, more than likely, were being affected by the same sleep disturbances...or incubi, if that's what they were.
Before she went out on the porch of her father's house to wait for Don, she sent an e-mail to Dr. Singh, listing all of the lovers she'd had in Vancouver, right from Wayne, her deflowerer, to Bob, in the few POV videos she'd made with him prior to her move to Toronto. She asked Dr. Singh to find out if Mr. Hanson had really died, and if her still living lovers there were OK, or if any of them had also died.
The night before, she'd created psychic barriers to protect not only herself and Candice (whom she'd correctly thought would be too high to remember to do so herself), but also for Mr. Holland, Agape (in case the incubi went after him), and Bob, who was an adamant atheist and didn't believe in ghosts, despite the supernatural scratches he'd received during his dream.
Finally, Father Josiah drove his car up to the curb in front of Agape's house--it was about 8:30, and she'd taken the night off at
Club Ritz
to be with him. She was wearing her dark blue evening gown, the one that showed off a generous amount of cleavage, from the front
and
from behind.
She was delighted to see him in his priest's outfit, but he was scandalized to see how slutty she looked, in high heels, whorishly bright makeup, and obviously, no underwear.
"Camilla," he said with his eyes and mouth agape in shock (as well as in arousal). "What are you doing wearing such a dress when I'm in my priest's clothes?"
"Oh, come on, Father," she said as she approached his car. "You
don't
know? I wanted to please you."
"Camilla, I'm a man of God, not a solicitor of sex. We are going to dinner, and I'm helping you find God."
"And I
will
find Him," she said, bending over at his car window on the passenger's side, and revealing so much cleavage that almost her entire breasts were exposed, her nipples barely covered, and some areola showing. "I will after you sleep with me." She then opened the door and got in the car.
He took her to an Italian restaurant called
Giovanni's
, where she, Agape, and Carrie often went together. They got out of the car, and as they walked toward the front door of the restaurant, Josiah was feeling increasingly nervous about how Camilla was dressed, to say nothing of how
he
, her date, was dressed. About two centimetres of her buttock cleavage was showing. Just as they got to the door, she dropped her purse, and she bent over to pick it up, with her legs spread out wide. He, right behind her, saw her pretty brown puckered anus clearly on display. As they walked in the door, he put his hand over his priest's collar, while she blithely made no attempt to cover either her front or back cleavage.
The maitre d', shocked at how she was dressed, said, "Miss, we don't have a dress code here, but there are reasonable limits as to what is considered tasteful."
Looking in his eyes and working Nigrovum on him, she said, "Really? Is what I'm wearing in such bad taste?" She turned around for him, and turned him on.
"N-no, of course n-not," the maitre d' said; then he showed her and Josiah to a table and gave them menus.
After they ordered, the priest quickly steered the conversation in the direction of religion, as much to mitigate his embarrassment at being seen with so harlot-like a girl as to turn her away from harlotry. Actually, she
was
somewhat interested in the salvation of her soul, remembering Ravinder's advice about pursuing spirituality, and wanting to protect herself against the emerging dark sides of Nigrovum.
"You must understand how one's soul is saved," Father Josiah began. "Not by your own good works, but by faith."
"But I
do
believe in God and Jesus," she said. "I'm a Catholic."
"It's not merely about being a member of the Church," he insisted. "We Catholics are redeemed by Christ, but if we fall into sin we can lose that redemption. You must welcome God's grace into your heart, and let the Holy Spirit guide you."
"We're not saved by the good we do, right?"
"That's right, Camilla."
"Jesus saves us; we don't save ourselves?"
"
Only
Jesus saves."
"But isn't welcoming God into our hearts a kind of good works? Isn't our believing in Jesus just us saving ourselves? It's a choice
we
make; Jesus doesn't make for us."
"Wait," he said. "You don't seem to..."
"If we can't save ourselves, and only Jesus can; if our salvation has nothing to do with what we do, then what difference does it make if we believe or don't believe, or if we do good or bad?"
"St. Paul in his epistles writes of how we mustn't trivialize moral error," Don explained. "You mustn't assume you can do whatever you like, and that believing
alone
will get you to heaven."
"Then faith can't save us," she said. "And Christ died in vain."
"No, don't say that. It's not that simple, Camilla. You must be born again."
"I've never understood what that really means: 'born again.' So many religious leaders are 'born again', then they go to hotels with whores...much as you will." She grinned lewdly at those last words.
"Camilla...oh, how can I make you understand? Faith
is
what saves us, but it's not a passive thing. It's not, 'Well, I'm a confirmed Catholic, I know the catechism, and I agree with Church teaching on an intellectual level; now I can go gambling, swearing, hating, and fornicating, and who cares about the consequences?' Faith is an ongoing process, a journey in which we're tested, as I'm being tested now. One must hang on to faith, through the easy times as well as during the hard times, right until death."
"Still sounds like we're saved by good works to me," she said. "Saved by the good works of faith."
"It's not about doing good deeds; it's about holding on to faith and never losing it."
"But doesn't Jesus say that the ones who go to heaven aren't those who say 'Lord, Lord,' but those who do His will? That is, doing good deeds?"
"Yes, but they're deeds that are informed and inspired by faith in God; and in order to continue to do good, it's a faith we must never lose."
"But I've never lost my faith," Camilla insisted. "I've done bad stuff, and I'm not proud of it, but I've done good, too. I've used this power I have, Nigrovum, to
help
people, to protect them from evil. Recently I saved a man from his abusive wife, a real bitch who used to hit him and belittle him in public. I believe God gave me this power, from the angels. I just have to make sure I don't misuse it."
"I'd like to believe you," Don said. "But if you use it the way you just did on the maitre d', or use it for procuring sex, then
devils
have usurped your 'angel power'."
"Why is sex so evil to you? Didn't God say, 'Be fruitful, and multiply?' What about that sexy poetry in the Song of Songs?"
Precocious little tart, isn't she? he thought.