Page 34 of Revelations

After fortifying herself with a deep cleansing breath, the truth tumbled out. “When we were here last, Olivier knocked you and the others out for quite a while, so that we could have a little chat.”

Jasper nodded for her to continue.

“Seems he’s heard all about me. He even knows things about me that I don’t. Like…there’s some prophecy that I was supposed to fulfill back in my human life.”

His head twitched, but somehow she had expected more of a reaction from that statement.

The dryness in her throat threatened to enclose her vocal cords. A couple of swallows did nothing to relieve whatever had lodged in her esophagus. “Since my untimely demise negated it, he is under the impression that there’s another opportunity for me to do my job now, considering I’m not exactly dead-dead.”

Jasper’s eyes blazed white hot with anger and worry. His nostrils flared. “Well, you told him to go back to Hell, right?”

Greylyn chewed on her bottom lip. “Not exactly.”

“Mais par tous les enfers, qu’est-ce que tu entends par “pas exactement’?”

In the heat of the moment, it took a second for Greylyn’s brain to translate the harsh French words.But by all the hells, what do you mean by “not exactly’?Well, at least she knew his anger wasn’t abating with her revelations.

It only made it even more important to barge on ahead with the rest of it. “Well, he’s kind of holding Kelly and her child’s lives over my head if I refuse. He was also going to kill you right in front of me that night. I couldn’t allow that. I would’ve agreed to anything to save you, just as I know you’d do the same for me.” Desperately, she willed him to at least try to understand that.

Jasper stalked around the tiny kitchen like an angry lion trapped in a cage. “So what’s the damn prophecy?”

Oh, he’s going to really love this part.

She shrugged. “I don’t have a clue. Olivier said that the prophecy was deemed too dangerous by Heaven, so it was not even written down.”

Jasper roared and slammed his fist into the table as if it was a karate chopping block. “That’s preposterous!”

She could not argue that point. It was beyond preposterous.An unwritten prophecy. Who does that?

Greylyn slumped back in her chair, almost knocking herself over backward in the process. “Olivier hasan idea”—she could not stop the resulting eye roll—"obviously to make him want to ensure it happens, but he’s not even giving me that much to go on. If I don’t find out and see this through, he’ll use Kelly and her child.”

Thick dark eyebrows furrowed to merge over the bridge of Jasper’s nose. “Why them?”

Here was where the explanation could get convoluted. Even Greylyn was not completely sold on the idea, but if Olivier believed it, then that was all that she had to go on.

“He claims they’re somehow connected to me and the only humans who have the special quality that makes it possible for them to fulfill the prophecy, if I’m not in the picture. But he’d rather go with Plan A, which is me.”

Gulping down the knot in her throat that held back the true fear in her voice, Greylyn stared down at the worn table top with little circles of water stains decorating the surface in a haphazard pattern. Not even able to look Jasper in the eye, she added her personal rationale. “Considering the situation, I didn’t think Kelly and her child should be involved in this. They’re innocents. They deserve my protection. No prophecy I’ve ever heard of ended with everything being bright, rosy, and everyone living happily ever after.”

Jasper stomped around like a petulant child. It would have been comical, but the situation was far from it. Abruptly, he kneeled back down in front of her and clasped her hands. His ice-blue eyes were pleading. “Fine. We’ll protect them. Together. But not like this.”

“I’m open to suggestions.” Her voice shook as much as her hands. “You know as well as I do how prophecies end—in death. I won’t allow Kelly or her child to die when I have the power to stop it.”

“So you die, instead?” His voice wavered. “I won’t allow it! We will find another way.” He gripped her forearms. “Not you. Never.” His entire body trembled as violently as her own did.

The urge to fall into his arms, cry, and let him take care of everything was overwhelming, deep and undeniable; but she knew exactly how he would take care of it. First, he would use it as an excuse, any excuse, to kill Kael. Then, despite being a guardian angel tasked with saving human lives, he would sacrifice Kelly and the child. He would do it for her. Of that, she was certain. If their roles were reversed, she could not say that she would not do the same.

Greylyn wrenched herself free of his grasp. “It has to be me, Jasper. There’s no other way.”

“Like hell it will. Let Olivier have them! I won’t let him take you!” His voice cracked, breaking her own heart along with it. “Honey, you have no concept of the hell Olivier can rain down on you, in the very literal sense. Not to mention if you do die. The not-so-friendly big brother, Lucifer, claims you for eternity and that prick has no qualms about making your worst nightmares seem like mere daydreams. And that…is the best-case scenario. All in all, I’d say handing over two humans is the smartest call.”

Shocked, Greylyn jumped from her seat and stormed out the door. To even consider what he was saying was incomprehensible! Unforgivable.

Her body reverted to autopilot. Her feet moved under her, but she did not see nor hear anything other than the pounding of blood in her eardrums and the need to flee before she punched something or someone…hard.

Jasper yelled after her, but his voice resounded like distant echoes in a never-ending cavern; unintelligible mumbling that her ears refused to translate to her brain.

Greylyn punched open the doors to exit the building. The onslaught of light blinded her momentarily. Blinking, a familiar warming sensation cascaded over her body, and it was not from the sun directly overhead.

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