Page 15 of Revelations

“Excuse me? How long did you say?” Greylyn expressed surprise, more to cover up the fact that she already knew he was a vampire, because that would lead to questions that she did not want to answer.

Claude just grinned, ignoring the interruption.

Upon first glance, it looked like a simple orchard in bloom with an abundance of white petals and sweet fragrance in the air, kept separate from the rest of the garden by a quaint white picket fence. But the vampire was not just giving them an arborist lesson. There had to be something of significance here.

She had heard of magical flowers and herbs used in potions, but not mystical trees. However, had she not learned that apple seeds contained amygdalin that released cyanide into the system when it came into contact with human digestive enzymes?

Claude put his hands on the trunk of one of the trees as if trying to feel for a heartbeat. “This one here is only a couple of years old. I planted it myself and have lovingly tended to it every day.”

The tree he motioned to seemed to be at least a couple of decades old. The trunk was wide and sturdy, over six feet tall, with its gnarled branches reaching out and up another ten or more feet.

“That must be some serious fertilizer you use. Miracle Grow, is it?” Kael smirked at Greylyn, but his tone was clipped.

Their host frowned.

“No. No. Nothing like that. It is not the soil that makes this group of trees so exquisite. It is the seed that began its life in a long-ago garden that no longer exists. A garden destroyed by God himself because of the naïve misdeeds of His greatest creation.”

As Greylyn churned his meaning around in her head, a light glimmered at her from amidst the jumble of petals and green leaves. She squinted at it, and then turned to see if either Kael or Claude had witnessed the same sight. They appeared not to notice as the vampire smugly observed them both, and Kael held a death-stare on him.

The light flickered again, brighter this time. An invisible force drew her closer to the tree until she was standing directly underneath its expansive branches. She surveyed the limbs and flowers. Her fingers reached out to touch, but a hint of fear stopped them in midair. “So these trees are offshoots from the Tree of Life or the Tree of Knowledge? You do mean the Garden of Eden, right?”

Claude’s face lit up. “Yes, my dear, from the Tree of Knowledge to be exact. But do not worry, I will not ask you to eat of the fruit or anything.” His hand continued to lovingly stroke the trunk like a long-lost friend’s arm. “These never bear fruit anymore. Just lovely white blossoms year-round.”

Kael stepped up next to Greylyn and inspected the tree more closely. “If the garden was destroyed, how did you obtain a seed fromthattree?” His tone was inquisitive, but not unbelieving. “That was quite a long time ago. Surely nothing survived.”

“Oh, it was not easy. It was my life’s pursuit, even before I was turned into a vampire.” This was the first time Claude had admitted what he was. He said it so matter-of-factly, as if his guests would not even question the bold statement. Perhaps he knew more about them than he’d let on. “In life, I was convinced the tree was not an apple tree as portrayed in the Bible. I was fascinated with what we could learn if we only had one seed, leaf, a piece of bark—anything from the Tree of Knowledge. Finding the seed was my greatest joy. And”—his eyes lit up with tears brimming on his thick black lashes—"I was right. It was not an apple tree at all, as commonly believed; and not even a fig tree as more religious scholars surmised, but something else altogether. But unlocking its potential was the greatest adventure of my life. Its glory transcends all else.” The tears openly flowed, making his eyes sparkle like true amethyst gemstones. “It was with great surprise that I discovered it still holds knowledge unattainable to the rest of us. One day I will unlock that knowledge, but in the meantime, I have found it to hold a most unusual power.”

Whoa! The Tree of Knowledge? THAT tree? Is it really possible?

Greylyn had seen lots of things throughout her existence as a guardian angel that pointed toward a power greater than anything she could imagine. She knew the Bible stories, all of them, and even stories that had never made it into official religious texts. She could recite verbatim every religious scripture on the Creation story. But if what Claude said was true, this was truly momentous and mind-blowing.

Silence stretched on as they soaked in the significance of the claim.

Kael’s hand brushed against hers, shocking her out of her reverie.

“So what power do these trees hold, then? No offense, but I’m not the scholarly type, so to gain complete erudition isn’t really on my bucket list.” Greylyn’s voice quivered slightly, giving away her awe.

The vampire stood before her, his face earnest to impart his wisdom to someone else. “There is something fantastical about just being in the presence of this grove. You feel it.”

His eyes seemed to peer into her mind to validate his own statement. She did feel something—a humming filled the air raising the energetic vibration of the garden and its occupants.

“I believe it is something given off by the scent of the blossoms, but it awakens your innermost senses so that you can see clearly into your very soul, as well as the soul of another. Nothing is hidden. Secrets cannot abide in the presence of the tree. Only the truth, especially when the two persons are soul mates.” By the way his eyes sparkled, she knew that he wholeheartedly believed everything he had just said.

Soul mates? It was a nice ideal, but not one Greylyn could believe in. Not for herself, and not with Kael.

However, the concept of the truth? That was intimidating.

Could she afford to be completely honest with Kael? With herself? Could she stand for him to be so with her? The continual tightening in her gut clearly indicated danger. Complete honesty between her and the one man in all of the world who represented everything she was sworn to defeat? The man who had tormented her for centuries. The same one whom she hadkissed under the gazebo as the sun had broken over the Shenandoah Mountains just months before? Nothing could be more perilous.

A nervous laugh burst from her unexpectedly. “You think that simply hanging out in this garden is somehow going to show us”—she pointed between herself and Kael—"that we aremeant to be?”

Claude smirked. “Yes. You agreed to give me twenty-four hours to prove my assertion. This is how we do it.”

Greylyn bent down to pick up some fallen petals. They felt light as air and tingled in her palm. Bringing them up to her nose, she sniffed tentatively. “My bet is that these really produce a hallucinogenic effect designed to make the victims believe they are seeing into each other’s souls. When someone doesn’t see what you want them to, they are so intoxicated that you can easily kill them outright without a struggle.” Her stare dared him to argue with her. “This is nothing but a con.”

She stood her ground, hands on her hips. Common sense had to prevail here. There was no way that she could afford to trust the word of a smooth-talking vampire. If what he said was true, the situation in which she found herselfcould get a lot more deadly.

Kael stepped in front of her. The pleading look he flashed her was unnerving. She could not tell if he thought that she hadpushed her luck too far, if he somehow believed the whole farce, or if he was proud of her for figuring it out and calling the vampire on his charade.

---