Page 27 of Revelations

A calming energy washed over her body, starting at her crown and flowing down like a rain shower until it covered her entirely. In her mind’s eye, she envisioned gray billows of negative energy swirling down to her feet, and then vanishing into the carpet. A feeling of weightlessness, as if she were being lifted out of her body, overwhelmed her. She stiffened to fight it, but Sofia softly encouraged her to let go.

Behind her eyelids, a white light seemed to grow brighter instead of darker, dancing while morphing into various shapes and colors. Images flashed in her mind; muddled at first, then slowly taking on form, but switching quickly as if the artist had changed his or her mind in the middle of a sculpting. None of this made sense.

The only thing recognizable was her dagger. Its image glowed, growing sharper. Although she had held it in her hand every day since Jasper had bequeathed it to her centuries earlier, Greylyn noticed something different about it. The triquetra, or Trinity Knot, as it was more commonly called, had something embedded into the center where it joined with the looping infinity symbol. The image was tiny, barely visible to the naked eye. Desperately, her eyes strained to make it out.

Was that an eye? Like the all-seeing Eye of Horus? That couldn’t be right.

Damn it, she could not make it out completely before the symbols on her dagger grew fuzzy and dim, but then flared with a blinding light. The symbols faded until they were no longer discernable. It was as if they had been worn away by time and weather.

Slowly, the symbols detached from the dagger, flying away over time, space, perhaps even dimensions. As it finally landed, the symbols came into focus, this time prominently displayed over a large entryway at the ruins of a stone castle. Beside the entrance stood a large, ancient-looking tree with a sole white flower barely hanging on to a low branch.

Her hand reached for the flower, but the scene changed again. Before her was a familiar tree, alone in a desert oasis covered in white petals. Remarkably similar to the Tree of Knowlege in Claude’s underground conservatory, it differed in one aspect—this tree’s limbs were heavy with fruit. A sweet fragrance floated in the air as the branches swayed in a gentle breeze. It called to her as before, but this time with silken strands of music from unseen instruments.

Stepping toward the tree, an unbidden sob escaped her own chest. Humility overtook her, bringing her to her knees. With her head bowed in supplication, she crawled forward.

Within mere yards from the tree, lightning flashed and struck it. The earth, sky, and stars screamed in terror. As the trunk split in two and began to fall, Greylyn ran toward it. Flinging herself at the base of the tree, she desperately scrambled to stop it from toppling over; but it was too late. She was not strong enough. An invisible force rolled her out of the way as the tree crashed to the ground, shaking the earth with a fierce rumble that sounded like the wailing of millions.

A single fruit dropped and fell right into her outstretched palm.

“…ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”

She stared in disbelief at the fruit in her hand. Too late, she was touching it, but death did not seem that scary, as she rolled it around and felt its texture against her palm. The tales of the Tree of Knowledge always depicted the fruit to being similar to an apple. Claude had been correct that scholars now deemed it more likely to have been a fig. However, neither assertion was accurate. Instead, it looked more like baobab fruit with a velvety, pale-yellow exterior and elongated coconut appearance.

The shell cracked open, unleashing a fragrant, intoxicating aroma. The meat of the fruit was soft and appealing. It suddenly peeled back to reveal several iridescent pods, exactly like the one Greylyn had plucked from the tree in the vampire lair; the one still in her pocket.

One pod glimmered more brightlythan the rest with a blue energy that pierced through to her soul. Gingerly picking the seed out of the fruit, she held it in her fingers. It was smooth, warm, and pulsed with life. The pod split, revealing two halves of a gem—one side darker like an onyx and the other a mixture of vibrant, sparkling colors resembling the opals that adorned her dagger.

Something unseen, but frighteningly powerful, grabbed Greylyn, and dragged her backward, away from the tree, plunging her into an inky darkness. Desperately, she clung to the seedpod. She had to save it, but as she opened her hand, it softly disintegrated and turned to a shimmering dust.

Bolting upright on the sofa, Greylyn gasped for breath. Her hands clutched at her chest. Her body trembled uncontrollably. Nausea roiled her stomach. Strong hands closed around her upper arms and a familiar, husky voice broke through the confusion.

“It’s okay, Greylyn. It’s just me. It’s okay.”

Relieved, Greylyn collapsed into Jasper’s strong arms. As he rocked her soothingly and stroked her hair, a deep welcoming sleep overcame her.

***

Acrid smoke stung Kael’s nostrils as he surveyed the ruins of the vampire’s lair. It had been so carefully disguised deep in the woods, that he doubted even a satellite could pick up its image from thousands of miles in space. Obviously, it had not so much as warranted the attention of the fire department, despite the mass of black smoke that had suffocated the surrounding forest earlier. Perhaps the fire had simply put itself out. Nothing remained, other than the cracked and blackened concrete that formed a hollow shell of the building now.

That was how he felt—cracked, blackened and hollow.

After everything that they hadexperienced in there, after opening up his soul to Greylyn, she still rejected him. He did not blame her; not really, anyway. It was easier, and more convenient to fall back on old tropes of him as the bad guy and her as the good girl.

It was how it had been in the beginning. She was the perfect little girl. He had been the scoundrel with a propensity to fight everyone and everything around him, including her; or, more accurately, until her. From the first time that those emerald eyes had locked on him, she had calmed his inner rage, made him want to be a better version of himself—if only to be remotely worthy of her love.

All of that had changed in an instant; a story that she wouldnever know and a truth that she wouldnever understand.

Holding on to the lie eventually made it feel more real than the truth; the truth that he could never tell her about, not without risking her life again. Conveniently, it protected her, which was all he’d ever wanted, but it ripped his heart apart every day during which the lie remained intact.

Within the vampire’s clutches, the veil had been pulled back. He knew that she had seen into his soul and had seen the truth. Their connection had not been severed; it had grown deeper. But still she could not accept it because of who he was now—a dark guardian, the very thing that a guardian angel should despise most. No amount of love could ever overlook what he had done.

Why had he come back here; to torture himself more? Could that even be possible?

His feet carried him down the crumbling steps into the heart of the burned-out building, with blackened walls, floors, and ceilings; charred steel doors with locks still in place, sealed their secrets away in the ruins forever.

He had to give Jasper credit. He certainly knew how to blow things up.

His chest constricted with pent-up anger and resentment. Jasper. If he ever touched Greylyn…

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