Page 61 of Revelations

No, she could not even begin to have a rational conversation with Kael. Not now; possibly not ever.

She shook her head. Her mouth was dry, barely able to force the words out. “No. Not now. I can’t. I just can’t,” she sputtered.

Tremors began down in the depths of her being. She had to get out of there fast before her strength gave out—the strength to fight him and her own jumbled feelings about him. A good fight where she bloodied him and pounded his smug face into the ground flashed before her mind.

But no, the will to do so leached out of her body. No strength. No will. Nothing left inside her to fire her anger or provoke her to do her duty as a guardian…not where Kael was concerned.

Ashamed and defeated, Greylyn turned away from Kael.

In the corner of her eye, she saw him move as if to follow her, but Joe’s crystal-clear drill sergeant voice thundered. “Hold on there, buddy.”

The quickest exit was the dark hallway to the back of the bar that led out to the marsh behind the building where she had killed Rowdy. Greylyn paused only long enough to grab a whiskey bottle off the bar before running out the back door, leaping over the chair still blocking the door.

I’ll pay later.

With Jack Daniels in her hand, she raced down the long pier to where it ended a quarter way into the small murky pond.

For a second, she contemplated taking that next step off the dock.

Can’t swim, dumbass!

She turned to go back, but her feet refused the order. Joe and his buddies must have stopped Kael, because he had not followed. Her brain screamed to go back inside to make sure that he didn’t slaughter them just for fun.

Staring at the back door, her eyes squinted as if she could concentrate hard enough to be able to see inside. That would have been a cool power as a guardian angel, but sadly, she didn’t have it. Her ears picked up hints of heated words, but the blaring red energy of violence didn’t materialize as a warning. The only thing she caught was the distant slam of a door and the tension surrounding the building, which evaporated in a puff of black smoke.

Her knees buckled under her, with every muscle and nerve frayed to its limit. The need to get as far away from the dark guardian as she possibly could overwhelmed her. No distance would suffice. She would never be truly safe from him again.

Maybe on the moon? No, still not far enough. For the moment, the end of the pier would have to do.

Despair racked her body in heavy convulsions. Tears flowed down her face. When had the mighty guardian angel turned into such a coward?

What the hell is wrong with me?

Facing Kael again had been inevitable, but so soon after that nightmare in Baltimore, though? Too soon. She was too raw.

Whom was she kidding? Part of her had even wished for it, to see his rugged, handsome face, to stare up into those golden eyes—so unnaturally beautiful. But the desire for her fist to collide with his face alsofueled a fire deep in her belly. Punching something, especially him, could be cathartic. Maybe if she beat him into a bloody pulp…maybe then she would be free of him.

Then there wereall the other things swirling around in her brain that were not quite so simple. The prophecy. Yes, the godforsaken prophecy. But that was not why Kael was here. There was no way to deny what he truly wanted. Problem was, as much as she fought herself to make the feeling stop, Greylyn realized that she needed the same thing—him.

This is so messed up.

A swig of whiskey burned down her throat to warm her belly and then spread out to her extremities like a snuggly blanket on a cold, winter’s day. She could not hide out here forever, but she would delay the inevitable as long as possible. She could run from him every second of every day. It would not do any good. Eventually, he would come for her.

Ugh! I’s such a chicken!

With a groan, she lifted the bottle to her lips again. Sweet oblivion. She dropped the now empty bottle and lay back on the rough, splintered pier to stare up at the sky. Her muscles relaxed as the alcohol took over her body, washing her with warmth. Like a sedative through an IV, it coursed through her veins until every inch of her was blissfully numb. The scattered thoughts racing around in her mind stilled, and then vanished into a void of nothingness.

Deep within the nothing, a show tune began to play in her head. Mindlessly humming along, Greylyn lifted her arms to conduct an invisible orchestra with the stars that blinked in and out of her vision, occasionally peeking out from behind a swatch of clouds.

The rest of the lyrics died on her lips as a dark form cast a long shadow over her and out onto the still water.

Her arms dropped to her sides. “Was wondering how long it’d take you to get past that Band of Brothers.” She wanted to sound flippant, but even she recognized that the slurring dampened the intended effect.

“Aren’t you going to ask whether or not I allowed them to live?” His tone was clipped, like a boss asking if the employee had filled out his timesheet correctly when he knew that he had not done so.

“Hmmmm, I’m going out on a limb here, but I trust that you let them be. Otherwise, I’d have to kill you.” She sat up, slowly. Her head was a bit wobbly on her thin neck.

Blinking several times, Greylyn fought to clear her blurred vision by focusing on the ripple of moonlight that was floating on the surface of the pond like a silk scarf. It took a few moments for the swaying to subside as she planted her hands firmly on the pier, scooted farther away, and flung her legs over the edge.

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