Page 28 of Revelations

No, he could not allow himself to imagine that. He knew that he wouldkill the smug guardian in a heartbeat, but that would only make her hate him more. Besides, if it had not been for the damned man, perhaps Greylyn would never have survived this long. Jasper had kept his end of the bargain—kept her hidden, safe for as long as possible from Hell’s clutches.

He passed the door to the room he hadshared with Greylyn. He did noteven turn his head to peer inside, as there were too many bittersweet memories. Tears blurred his vision, as his feet continued down the corridor.

The garden drew him to itself; something that he needed, but did not know.

The door to the garden stood open, but the fire had not consumed it. Everything remained as it had been before. Mist sprayed the flora and fauna. His skin cooled as it washed away the soot covering him. Closing his eyes, he breathed deeply of the aromatic air.

Memories roared to vivid life behind his eyelids; some were his memories, some were hers. What he had witnessed in her soul, as they had stared into each other’s eyes underneath the Tree, squeezed his heart.

He thought of the pain that she must haveendured; her dreams dashed in a moment, only to find herself in a fresh Hell, trapped inside a splintered wooden box. Not able to withstand the pain any longer, his knees gave out and he collapsed on the sodden ground.

Kael had never allowed himself to cry for what he had lost; centuries of agony, grief, anger, and sadness, had all been bottled up inside. He had pretended to be evil incarnate, and had done a damn fine convincing job, too. At times, he had even convinced himself. Every sin, every deed haunted him. It had been necessary. He had played his part well. But for just one moment, alone in this very place with her, the façade had shattered. All that pain had rushed to the surface, with no dam to stop it.

After all this time, Kael succumbed to his misery and mourned his losses.

As he lay prone on the ground, the garden’s mist covered his body in an opaque cloud of soothing coolness that penetrated his skin all the way to the wounded spirit caged within. Dark water pooled around him, soaking into the earth along with the residual shadows attached to his aura, to be transmuted and healed.

Hours later, strength returned like a swelling wave of energy; no longer dark and twisted, as if the garden had cleansed his soul leaving him renewed and purified.

Pushing himself up, Kael took in the beauty of the garden for the last time. With one hand on the trunk of the Tree of Knowledge and the other on his heart, he made a silent vow.

Chapter 7 – A Heist

The Smithsonian Gem and Mineral Collection

“Let me get this straight. You want to break into the Smithsonian?” Jasper’s eyes rounded in shock as he ran both hands through his mane of jet-black hair. “May I ask why?”

Greylyn fidgeted with a frayed thread on the sofa. How much should she tell him? Not the whole story.Hey, Jasper. You see there’s this asshole fallen archangel holding innocent lives over my head to force me to fulfill a prophecy no one knows anything about. The seedpod I stole from the vampire’s garden told me to steal the original seed. It just happens to be locked up in a national monument.

Nope. Jasper would freak.

“I asked Sofia to put me under hypnosis earlier…” She paused.What will he believe?“…because I was having that guardian tingle, but couldn’t figure out the ‘who, what, and where’. Well…apparently there’s something at the museum that I need.”

Jasper raised one eyebrow. “Something you need… from a federal building? Darling, this isn’t like breaking into a department store. It’s not even remotely close to breaking into a damned bank. This is the Smithsonian!” His glacial-blue eyes shone with keen interest. “All this for an assignment? And since when have you had trouble discerning what your angel senses tell you? It’s not encrypted messages we receive. It’s divine knowledge.”

His eyebrows furrowed over the bridge of his nose. He was not fooled. This was not a simple assignment. Perhaps the lie, rather the omission of the one hundred percentpure truth, had run its course. Still, the knot in her gut said to keep her mouth shut.

“Sometimes things aren’t so clear when I envision my next charge, but what I saw under hypnosis happens to be at the museum and…it’s tied to this person’s problem.”

He shook his head. “You’ve had some weird schemes in your time, but this one is downright bonkers. Still”—he reached over and placed his hand on top of hers—"you know I’m with you, no matter what. You raced here to help me with the swinging vampires. The least I can do is return the favor.” His eyebrows shot upward as a grin spread across his face. “Who knows? Could be fun.”

Relieved, Greylyn put a call into Thomas next. They would need his techie skills to pull this off. She quickly walked into the other room so that Jasper could not hear her ask the professor to research history of the symbol in her dagger. If there were a castle associated with it, like she’d seen in her vision, it could lead to more clues.

Also, she needed a closer look at the weapon, in real life, not just the dream state. Whatever had been embedded in the Celtic symbols in the vision had been completely erased from the dagger she now held in her hand. Regardless, she took a picture of the hilt with her phone and sent it to Thomas.

What did a seed pod from an ancient holy tree and the Celtic symbols on her dagger have to do with anything, much less the prophecy? No answers yet, but it felt a little like progress. If anyone could unravel that puzzle, it would be Thomas.

When had she come to rely on him so much? Truly, why had she allowed herself to depend on anyone, other than Jasper?

Somehow, the former Aussie rugby player turned parapsychology professor had made himself indispensable to her. More importantly, he had wormed his way into her normally shuttered heart. More like an adorable younger brother, she doted on him, and he doted on her. Caring for the people you were helping was one thing, buttrulyallowing herself to care for a person as something more than just an assignment? Well, that went against her creed. Caring allowed hurt and pain in. Being associated with her, Thomas was at risk from more than the usual dangers of human life. Inevitably, he would die, whether by foul means or natural. Either way, it would meanextreme heartache for Greylyn sometime in the future.

Thankfully, Thomas did not pester her with questions for which she had no answers. He vaguely knewabout the prophecy; enough to ask for his help, but just enough to keep him from danger.

However, for this phone call, he was more interested in how things had transpired during her latest adventure with Kael. “Honey, you got to rid yourself of that dude. His obsession with you is off-the-charts crazy.

He’s completely unpredictable. One moment he’s evil itself doing all sorts of terrible things. The next he’s Watson to your Sherlock. Tango to your Cash. Or…more like it, he’s Solo to your Leia.” He chuckled at his own humor. Greylyn failed to be amused. “You’ve told me the stories. I’ve read up on him. He’s not a knight in shining armor. And he’s twisting you into knots. I don’t like it; not at all.”

Well, she couldn’t argue with logic. He was right. Kael was a dark guardian. She had witnessed the suffering that he hadcaused over the years. She had been on the wrong end of his right hook herself. She had also been…

---