Page 41 of Revelations

Up until that moment, Greylyn had held out hope that was exactly what it was—a mistake. Hearing otherwise shattered what remained of her courage.

“That is exactly why you were chosen. Your heart is pure, but your body is still human…well, mostly. In this way, you have the strongest, uncanny ability to show empathy and understanding. It fuels your will to overcome whatever obstacles are thrown in your path to save even one innocent life. Your purpose, though, extends so much farther. It is so much greater than you can imagine.” He brushed away a tear racing down her cheek. “Your love knows no boundaries. Throughout time and space, love endures. Not even the perceived lines of good and evil limit your capacity for love, for both exist because of the other.”

The solitary tear turned into a torrent flowing down Greylyn’s face. Although her neck ached from looking up at the archangel, the blurred image of Gabriel’s glowing face riveted her in place. His words washed over her. But little comfort soaked in, for even now she knew thatlove would not save her.

“Let your heart show you the way. Let it lead you. You have so much love in your soul, but you have kept it locked away all of these years. Only your truest heart can shine a light on your path through the darkness, for darkness cannot withstand the light. Shadows cannot exist in direct sunlight.”

Well, he wasn’t saying to rush into Kael’s arms and have wild, mad sex. He had to be speaking hypothetically about the heart and the darkness.

But what if he is referring to Kael?

“There is a connection between you two.” He tugged a tendril of her hair out of her eyes and tucked it behind her ear, answering the unspoken question. “You are a child of light and goodness. Literally. He is a child of rebellion and darkness. It is a familiar story, is it not? Angels in Heaven do not despise a brother,despite his treachery. Just as the lone brother may envy the rest of the family, an abiding connection remains.”

The glorious angel before her trembled slightly, his face pinched in a split-second of sorrow. After regaining control, his next words shocked her. “But what if the two extremes came together to conquer the unconquerable?”

The chaos in her heart had calmed to a quiet murmur, but now roared back to life.

“I won’t even try to understand that. Kael is not the ying to my yang. He’s evil. He has committed such atrocities…”

“Perhaps, child. Kael’s path was his own, chosen for his own reasons. Reasons you know nothing about. Just as you were destined to be a guardian angel, he was destined for darkness, whether his soul yearned for it or not.”

A cool breeze ruffled her hair, dislodging it from behind her ears. The archangel’s words resonated deep within her. What if Kael had not chosen to be a dark guardian? But would he not have had to be evil to end up resurrected into service to Hell?

Gabriel continued in a more muted tone, no longer answering unspoken questions from her mind. “What I do know about the prophecy is that only the light can break through the darkness. Neither would exist without the other. They can also cancel each other out.”

What was with all the cryptic crap, anyway? Did anyone answer a straightforward question anymore?

Greylyn was certainthat being angry at an angel was probably a sin, but an ember of it ignited in her gut, anyway. “Tell me something I can use; everything that you know about this prophecy and about Kael. Otherwise, I’m lost, and I can’t fulfill, or stop, anything.” Her voice echoed off the stone walls of the ringing chamber, as she turned her attention to the outside vista of the nation’s capital.

“Give me your dagger.”

A simple order, but one she was reluctant to oblige. If anyone saw the knife, she was sure that Homeland Security would swarm the cathedral. Greylyn glanced around the area. Oddly, no one was around. The place appeared deserted.

“Trust me.”

She pulled the dagger out and handed it over with a shaking hand. Gabriel traced the Celtic symbol of the hilt and a finger lingered on the black opal embedded in the handle. He turned the weapon over, again tracing the crest and the lighter opal.

“This is the key to finding yourself. You cannot uncover the prophecy without the knowledge of who you truly are.” His fingers stilled in the middle of the Celtic symbol interlaced with the sign of infinity. “Your family crest. Yourtruefamily crest, but there appears to be something missing.” The surprise in his voice sent a shiver down her spine.

“Well, considering I have no idea about my life or family before finding myself buried in the ground, why don’t you fill me in on that? Surely, you can answer that part.” She jerked the dagger back from his grasp.

The sorrowful look he gave her quenched the rising anger in her heart. “I assume Olivier referenced your lineage when he paid you a visit a few months back.”

She nodded.

“He was correct…mostly. But he did not tell you all of the facts.”

“Shocking! A fallen archangel who omits things!”

Gabriel’s lips curled up.

“So what parts did he get right?” A sudden knot in her stomach alerted her that she really did not want to know the answer. Biting her lower lip, she waited for his response.

“It is true that you are Nephilim.”

Okay, she had barely come to terms with that revelation, but accepted it as fact.

“But what makes you so special, what makes you the one spoken of in the prophecy, is that both your parents were Nephilim.”

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