Immortal Enemy

By Jack Bray

This is the story of a young priest who has a weakness for women. As a celibate, he fights temptation all the time. After a terrible year before ordination when he was pursued by a lady friend obsessed by the devil, who commits suicide because she failed to win him, he thinks he sees and hears the devil urging him to sin and warning him to stop his vendetta against his pedophile colleague whom he has caught in the act. He gets his colleague arrested and brought to trial. During the trial, he has a bad accident and falls into a coma. He experiences being with the devil during the coma when he believes he is in hell. The devil proposes a deal he thinks he can’t refuse. Will he accept, will the jury find the pedophile not guilty, will the woman realize her lust for him? Is she in fact the devil himself using her to contaminate him? It is the timeless story of good versus evil, the serpent and temptation in the garden of Eden, the battle with the immortal enemy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jack Bray
• Release date: Jun 27, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476283708

Jack Bray

After college, Jack had a successful thirty year career in broadcast television sales in New York City where he was born and raised, retiring as President of Blairsat, a satellite company he founded. His retirement years were spent as stock broker, teacher, publisher, lay minister and for the last 20 years, freelance writer.While living in Florida, feeling the need to respond to criticism of Catholicism, he began writing letters to the editor that led to column writing and web postings. After moving to Cullman, Alabama, his current home, he published his first book, a collection of those writings, "When My Catholic Buttons Were Pushed". That was followed by his debut novel, "The Good Sheep", a story of temptation suffered by a young man seeking the priesthood. The sequel, "Immortal Enemy", is a tale of the devil following that young man in his first year as a priest.His first novel of commercial fiction, "Grove House", is the story of a man who experiences the onset of dementia complicating his dealing with multiple suicides while living in a retirement home. His estranged daughter reunites and uncovers the mystery behind the suicides.He has just published “The Dreamers”, a short story sequel to “Grove House”.

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IMMORTAL ENEMY

Jack Bray

Copyright @2012 Jack Bray

Published by Jack Bray on Smashwords

Cover Design by Tatiana Vila

Formatted by eBooksMade4You

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All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

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And the serpent said to the woman: No, you shall not die the death.

Your eyes shall be opened: you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

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PROLOGUE

Seamus couldn’t get her out of his mind. Burned into his brain was that image of Dorothy, beautiful, beautiful Dorothy, dressed as a nun, the skirt of her habit billowing as she seemed to float off the Brooklyn Bridge, in the pouring rain and in the glare of floodlights, all the way to her soundless splash, disappearing into the black, murky water and all because he wouldn't- couldn't-didn't-love her. If she hadn't slipped her soft hand into his as they walked from the beach that day so long ago and excited him beyond his dreams, she might not have ever been in his life. But he knew he must forget her.

For now he was a priest.

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Chapter One

The handrails on the steps leading into St Anselm’s Catholic Church were so hot you couldn’t hold onto them. That’s the kind of day it was. Broiling, scorching hot. The steps, in fact, gave off heat with those wavy lines that appear with a mirage. But, inside the church, it was noticeably cooler. That was due to the two large electric fans that were positioned at the front of the side aisles and blowing cold air. On this Saturday afternoon, about the time confessions were always heard, the church was dark and empty. A single red votive candle flickered alongside the main altar. Above one of the confessionals that lined the side walls, a light went on signifying a priest was now available. Inside, Father Seamus slowly opened the small screened window that allowed him to hear the sins of the penitent. Confessions had begun.

Tell me your sins, he said quietly.

Oh, that would take forever, Father. And, I’m not here to confess. I’m here to tell you something. The voice was different. Deep. Hollow. Other worldly.

Excuse me? Who are you? What do you mean? Father Seamus turned to see who it was in the darkened confessional. All he could see were two red eyes. They spooked him.

Don’t you remember me? I met you on the Staten Island ferry when Dorothy licked your ear. You angered me when you resisted her and forced her to commit suicide. She failed me because of you. Maybe Gloria will succeed for me. Doesn’t she remind you of me? He was speaking rapidly. Whispering. And, now, worst of all, you had your colleague arrested. Didn’t you see me when he told you off? Oh, how I had him in my grip. So, now I’ve come to warn you. See you soon. And he left.

Father Seamus jumped up, opened his door, looked around. There was no one there. No one. No one on line or in the church.

What the hell…..

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The Year Before

Autumn is a time of year when trees seem to explode with color. It’s as if someone threw pots of different shades of paints on all the leaves. Especially in upstate New York. In Saugerties, a pretty little town along the Hudson in New York, the Saint Michael Elementary School, proudly facing these trees and wearing a dull red brick façade, was about 30 yards down the street from the Church and the rectory. There were six sisters- -no longer called nuns since they no longer wore habits- - and four women teachers comprising the all-female faculty. The students- -they’re not called ‘pupils’ anymore- -were a mix of 120 boys and 130 girls from Kindergarten to 8th grade. Alongside the Church and the rectory, the three buildings looked very similar to the way things looked in the Church not too long ago. Welcome to Going My Way.

That afternoon, Father Seamus made his first visit to the school. He had wanted to get over earlier, but, for some reason just didn’t. It was raining. Not heavily, but enough for an umbrella. As soon as he stepped out of the rectory, he jogged a few yards as he tried to open his. Never fails. They don’t open when you want them to. As he walked into his first classroom, every student rose and in unison said good afternoon Father. Wow. Just as he remembered his class 15 years ago. Some things never change.

Good afternoon boys and girls. Am I interrupting?

No, Father. We're happy to see you, answered the smiling teacher.

Mrs. Johnson was the fourth grade teacher, straight out of central casting. fiftyish, plump, modestly dressed with half glasses hanging from her neck on a beaded chain. Madame Librarian.

Are you taking over for Father D’Antonio?

No, no. I'm just making the rounds. You know, new guy in town getting acquainted.

After a lively question and answer session with the kids and not wanting to disrupt the teacher’s schedule, he said