Page 55 of Revelations

To his credit, Jasper did not yell. He did not even utter, “I told you so.” He wordlessly took it all in. His brow furrowed in contemplation, but that was the only sign of his distress. Considering that he was such a hothead, especially when it came to Kael, Greylyn feared his unearthly silence more.

On the other hand, Thomas did not take the news so well. How could he? He was a human—death was not a constant companion as it was for immortal guardians.

She and Jasper had witnessed genocides, grisly murders, and even deaths by natural causes. Some deaths had occurred on their watch, innocents whom they were supposed to have saved. Some had been caught in the crossfire from their fights with hellish monsters. Each time that a human died, it had been another dart through the heart. But eventually, the heart had grown numb.

However, Thomas being a human, having those people die, essentially for him…that would be a tough truth to accept; a painful one that he would have to learn to live with.

As he held his head in his hands with his elbows on his knees, his entire body shook. The only words he managed were, “You should’ve just let me die, Grey.” He kept repeating it until Jasper stopped him.

“What’s done is done. You’re alive. Be grateful.” With a playful slap on his back, he added, “But I am glad you’re still kicking, my friend.”

Greylyn smiled because she knew that was quite possibly the greatest compliment Jasper had ever paid a human.

“Thomas, I’m so sorry. I really messed things up.” Tears free-flowed down her cheeks. “Truth is, I don’t think I could’ve stopped Kael from doing what he did. Watching you die was one of the hardest things I’ve ever endured. By the time I was fully aware of what was going on, you were already healed.”

Thomas banged his hand on the coffee table, sending a tiny ceramic pixie figurine tittering dangerously close to the edge.

“But you knew there would be consequences,” he insisted.

“Of course, I knew that.” She chewed her lower lip in frustration. How to convey her guilt, but also relief because he had been spared? “I had no idea what it would be. There was no way to fathom…this. If anything, I figured it’d be me paying the price, not…” Her voice trailed off. Shaking her head and wiping at her tear-streaked face, Greylyn lifted her head to stare Thomas in the eyes. “But that’s no excuse. Perhaps I should’ve stopped him, but I can’t say that I completely regret him healing you.”

His hazel eyes softened. The creases in his forehead relaxed. He stood, stepped over the table, and wrapped Greylyn in his arms. They both sobbed, each wetting the other’s shirt with tears. When he finally pulled back, they shared a tiny, apologetic smile.

With the tension and emotion eased in the room, Jasper cleared his throat. “What I don’t understand is how did whatever did this get inside the building, though? Sofia had this place locked up airtight with every protection spell ever known. Lucifer himself could not stroll in here without being crispy fried.”

Thomas narrowed his eyes while tapping a fingertip to his chin absentmindedly. “To heal me would’ve taken high velocity mojo. Angelic healing is one thing. It’s done with divine love and light. But this…for a creature of Hell to do this…that doesn’t come cheap. Magical barriers can’t hold up against Death once it comes to claim its payment.”

Jasper’s eyes turned cold and distant. He got that way whenever he needed to strategize, much like a military genius planning battles. His face was stoic. His body was stiff, like a soldier at attention. No emotions registered.

Greylyn had witnessed this side of him before. Usually, it boded well for whatever they were needing at the time, but at this moment, goosebumps erupted up her arms to her neck. She knew that he was planning a murder; Kael’s, to be exact. And to be honest, she did not blame him. Hell, after this, she would help him.

As the group waited for darkness to fall so that they could bury their dead, they discussed everything—what they now knew about the prophecy, what they still needed to find out, how Kael played into all of it, and how to foil Olivier’s plans.

Greylyn and Jasper also wanted Thomas back in South Carolina, safe and sound. He had other ideas.

“No, Greylie. I’m not going anywhere. Too many just died, so that I may live. I intend to make the most of thegift. That means seeing this prophecy thing through with you. For better or worse, you’re stuck with me.”

No amount of arguing changed his mind.

“Stubborn blockhead, ain’t he?” Jasper chuckled. “Never seen any supernatural action in his life, and now he wants to join the big league.”

***

Horrible images played out in Greylyn’s dreams. She relived the ordeal in Baltimore over and over. Each time, she failed to save Thomas. The vision transformed to a what-if scenario, regarding how the demon got into Sofia’s apartment and infected everyone there with the plague. Their last throes of death vividly danced in her subconscious. Lastly, the dream morphed from the scene in the psychic’s workroom to another time that she had faced victims of the black plague.

For centuries, nothing had struck fear into the hearts of man like the onset of the plague. Entire towns and villages had been engulfed in disease and death. Homes, livestock, even people had been burned in a misguided attempt to halt its progress throughout the countryside. Yes, the bubonic plague had been appropriately deemed one of the most devastating natural disasters ever known.

By the time Greylyn had become a guardian, occurrences of the plague were rare. The most feared disease of those days had been the sweating sickness. However, for no known reason, the plague had struck a small village on the outskirts of Lisbon, Portugal. She’d witnessed firsthand its horror.

However, she had also seen its true origin. For centuries, superstition had reigned that mankind had offended God and he sent the plague as a warning to His people, much like the ten plagues of Egypt during the time of Moses and the Exodus.

But that had not been it at all. Quite the opposite. The bubonic plague had been born of pure evil, straight from the pits of Hell, specifically designed to strike terror into humans to cause them to turn on each other. Just one person suspected of carrying the deadly disease had led to village-wide, even countrywide, panic. The result—death and chaos.

The Devil loves chaos.

***

An entire town was eradicated in a matter of two days. Bodies—half-dead from the disease—were piled up in a mound and set ablaze. The stench of burning, decaying flesh permeated the air. The other half was driven mad with panic that they would be next. They turned on each other. Riots broke out in the previously quiet little village.

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