The Sinner's Child. Chapter One

Chapter one
	There was always something that fascinated her about the life of living in the church. Even though she grew up scared of the priests. Her mother told her that not all of them were bad, but she still was worried about dirty priests. Not just the priests, but some of the priestesses, too. Or whatever they called themselves nowadays.
And because of the priests, she was wary of the church as a whole. Especially the church run by priest Aron Mathas. Everyone knew this man. The priest that could do no wrong. The breaker of chains as some called him. Even if that was a funny title to give to a single priest.

	It was Amelia's eighteenth birthday. A day of celebration marking her finally being an adult. Or at least, that was her dream. As she sat in the back seat of her fathers car, she wondered where they were taking her on a cold Wednesday morning during the Winter Break. Her father hated driving in the snow and ice.

Her parents always went over to a friend's house for a 'business' meeting. She wasn't exactly blind, she knew it was them going to a hotel to have kinky fun with their friends. Evelyn was a nice lady anyway, even if they were a couple or something; she'd not judge nor question the relationship. The young girl had come out to her parents that she enjoyed both boys and girls. She couldn’t see herself with one of the others, but she still respected them, and enjoyed their company.

Several hours went by in silence, as the trees rolled past. She knew she'd get an answer to where they were going when they got there, so there was no point in asking if they were there yet. Sadly though, when she got there, she wasn't exactly thrilled to be there. It was the one place she had always been taught to be wary of. A church, and not just any church either. His church. Aron Mathas's church.

As she stood by the car, her father fetched her bags from the trunk. Had her mother packed her things? What was going on?

"Why did you bring me here? I don’t want to be here! I hate this place!" She screamed as her father carried her bags up the steps.

“Amelia, it’ll be ok,” her mother said soothingly as her father returned to the car with a man in black vestments. A man that had bright blonde hair with tattoos on his knuckles. A man of the church that permitted tattoos? She always thought their bodies were their temple. What kind of church is this?

	The next thing she knew, a hand smacked across her cheek. Her cheek stung from her father’s rough calluses. Barely had her fathers hand left her cheek, the other cheek was slapped by her mothers long nailed hand, barely missing the eye.
A stunned gasp fell from her mouth, and she stumbled backwards into the car, numb from shock.

The last time that they had smacked her was when she was sixteen. Up until that point she was constantly getting abused. That was when she had had enough, and called the cops to report them. For all the good that did.

After that call, they got more creative with the abuse, no more hitting, and more shouting. Maybe they didn’t want the cops coming back because of her, or maybe it was the black tar heroin they didn’t want the neighbors to know about.

That was how she first met Aron Mathas. Though he didn’t let her call him that then, and only later did she learn that was his real name. She had called him Beithir, which was Celtic for dragon. She called him that for the tattoo of an Oriental dragon that wrapped sinuously around his left wrist, and up his arm to the elbow. The dragon would ripple with the well defined muscles of his arm as he moved, and he had copper eyes to go with his ginger hair. His untattooed skin was the ivory of a natural born ginger as well. But he must have taken to dying his hair, as she was sure he was in his 40s, but he had no signs of grey, nor silver, nor white in his hair. He was always willing to buy her food, in exchange for favors, and never complained of being short of cash. But then, he was her parents dealer after all.
She usually met him in the park, in the dead of night, after sneaking out of her fathers house. Her mother was out working, to purchase Beithirs product.

Straightening up from where she had stumbled on the cold hard pavement, she staggered a little as her mother shoved her towards the door, and the blond haired man.
“Go, you useless bitch, find your forgiveness!” her father shouted at her. A final insult before they both vanished from her life.

	A sigh passed her lips as she looked at her parents drive away, and soon was guided into the church by the man with her bags. What was she foolish and stupid about now? Stained glass windows were along the walls with crimson bricks around them, holding them in place. Endless seating for sermons and lectures to the youth. The holy cross on a stand in front of a table with chalices along with the bible. Though an actual band set was beside it instead of the usual piano. Maybe it was a little modern or maybe too many people complained of it being just piano in it’s worship. Shortly after she looked around in awe of the glass, a woman that seemed very familiar came to her. Blinking a few times, she realized it was Evelyn. The short chocolate haired woman with the brightest green eyes she had ever seen on anyone; proudly stood a few feet from her. As she elegantly stood at five foot three, she crossed her arms across her chest with a gentle look in her eyes. She, herself, was only five foot one. Wearing on her figure was a classic pair of washed out blue jeans that were form-fitting till mid-thigh then it flowed out. Along with a nice lavender blouse that was, too, form-fitting but had a tiny bit more flow to it. To complete the look, the women wore boots underneath.

“Amelia Evans. I see your parents dropped you off when expected.” She gestured a hug with wide open arms, knowing the young one would need it.

	Without a second thought, the girl did in fact, go straight to the other for a deep long hug. Small tears going down her cheeks in utter confusion and sadness.

“What is going on Eve?” Amelia asked with a broken tone.

“My dear, you were brought here because you were sold here in order to pay your parents drug addictions. They, in exchange, got all of the resources they needed to get out of debt.”

	Once Evelyn had explained all that happened, her flesh went pale white as if she were a sheet. The young girl sighed and nodded her head before the woman took her hand to guide her to her new room. As they made their way up the stairs on the side of the church, she took deep breaths to keep her focus and alas be able to break down when in private. When they got to the third floor, the two of them had heard the instrumental piece of a song the young girl had listened to when a child. Bring him home from Les Miserable. A sudden smile crept up onto the child's lips as she looked in the distance of where it was coming from. Evelyn smirked and rolled her eyes as she tightened the grasp on little one's hand to guide her closer to the music.

"I have to make introductions anyway." She teased and chuckled.

	Amelia's smile only grew bigger as she nodded to her. She was excited for who was behind the melodic door. It had been a long time since she listened to the tune. Before she could ask, the attendant pointed to the room right across from her, indicating a sticky note that had her name on it. Guess this must be the place. She ducked inside for a moment, putting her luggage down so when she was done getting the introductions out of the way, she could get unpacked.

But once she stepped into the room, she was simply awe struck. Behind that door was a canopy bed that was adorned with light blue sheets dangling off it. A silver vanity that reminded her of the old Hollywood ones with the light bulbs circled around it. A nice oak dresser on the side while on the other side was a window with a French lavender loveseat. Beside the windows were empty book shelves to put all of her books inside. It was all tatami flooring so it was completely Earth friendly, just like she preferred it.

Though she had only told one person this fantasy, her dream room, it was before her. She'd met that person in the park growing up. The man that kept her safe and took care of her. Turning around to go, she stumbled into someone, falling to the ground in an ungainly heap.

Startled, she stammered ”Hey, can you watch where you are going?...” only to trail off in her thoughts while rubbing her skull with her hand.

	A gasp came from Evelyn's mouth as she looked over to her. The women's eyes were wide and then looked to the mysterious other person in the room. Amelia kept rubbing her head and sighed heavily.

"I am so sorry Father. She's new, please forgive her." Evelyn begged.

    The stranger held out his hand to silence her before leaning down and offering a hand to the younger one. As soon as she felt his hand, she noticed there was a scar causing her to raise an eyebrow. Pulling it towards her for closer examination, she would see an 'X' shape upon it.

"Dim ond chi fydd yn gwybod." The young girl whispered to herself.

    That was the little bit of Welsh the man taught her in their meetings. He was from Wales. A native from there. He only came to the States because he wanted to educate Americans of his studies as he always put it. The saying means "only you will know." When she turned her head up to look at the man, her irises grew wide in shock herself.


"F-F-Father?" The young one asked in confusion.

"Yes Father, little one." He chuckled.

	He swiftly grabbed her hand fully and brought her to her feet with a smile that could blind someone. Before her was the man she was practically raised by. The second she was about to open her mouth, Evelyn chimed in with a soft stride forward and fixed her frightened look to a smile.

"Amelia, this is Father Aron Mathias."

	The ginger haired man smiled more brightly as he put his hands behind his back. His posture was straight and well mannered just like how she remembered. Upon his figure was black slacks with a red button down shirt tucked under the pants. No tie, naturally, but it was open a little bit exposing his chest. Upon it was a silver like black chain that an ankh dangling from. It wasn't like the traditional prayer beads, if anything it was the total opposite. He also wore a silver ring that was blue in the center with dragons in Celtic knot work on his right hand; the one that had the huge scar on it. Not only that but now, he had a go-t that had small points on each side of his lips that didn't connect to the top. The rest of the bottom of his beard was thin and evenly trimmed up to look professional.

"So that's why you never told me your name nor where you worked." Amelia finally spoke after her nerves had calmed down.

"Yes, little one. That is why I never told you." He gently spoke while his welsh accent pushed through.

	Taking a second to take in that the man that she admired so much was a priest; it frightened her. What was she to do? It wasn't like she could go anywhere. She didn't have anywhere. Suddenly a knock came onto her door as another man came into view. Same height as Aron and the same similar build except with no facial hair. Long black strands that went to mid back but it was, too, tied back to where it just hung on the back of his neck. Not to mention one ocean eye while the other one was green. Pale but not ghost-like either. It had a little warmth but not by much. A watch was on his left wrist and a tattoo of a Celtic cross on the other. No jewelry aside from the watch. Having a practically the same suit but with an emerald shirt instead of crimson.

"Hawk. Nice to see you." Aron greeted.

"Thank you Father Aron." Hawk began before shifting his gaze to the young girl and slowly prowling inside the room. "Is this Amelia?"

"Yes it is.”

Hawk lifted the youthful girl's hand to his full lips; pressing a delicate kiss upon them. "A pleasure to meet a princess such as you is quite a delight." The smallest flicker of a British accent coming through as he spoke.

	Amelia’s eyes glassed over as she looked at the priest. “Ydy e bob amser fel hyn?” She asked so the other couldn’t understand them.

	Aron couldn’t help but chuckle and smirked at her. “Yes, child.”

	Being thrown back by the sudden shift in nicknames, the girl’s head canted to the right once again in confusion.

“You are now a member of the church. I must address you as such.” The priest announced.

	A groan slipped out and she snaked her hand out of Hawk’s before letting it fall beside her. Well this was her home now, better start getting used to it.