Page 8 of Revelations

What the hell is he doing here?

Shaking her head to quench the onslaught of tremors, Greylyn’s raspy voice squeaked out, “So, dealing with bloodsuckers now, huh? Classy, Kael. Real classy.”

A loud rattle of chains echoed in the room. “I despise those creeps as much as you do. I have never—and I repeat—never—lowered myself to work with vamps. Werewolves, yes. Shifters, yes. Zombies and ghouls, only if absolutely necessary. Even a Jinn, if the price is right. But not vamps.”

“Yeah, right! It’s just a bit too convenient that you showed up at the club.” Anger began to warm her from the inside. Yes, anger was good, especially when dealing with Kael.

“They got me, too.” More clanging of chains against the hard ground could be heard. “I realized why you were atDante’s Infernowith that jackass”—he paused for emphasis—“when I saw the vamps. Then you went missing, well…it didn’t take too much pondering to figure out what happened.” A gruff chuckle implied his opinion. “Really, Grey? Vamps? You let vamps get the best of you?”

She snarled in reply, not willing to admit thathe had been her weakness. His presence had unraveled centuries of training and focus.

He continued, “Went looking for you, followed your lovely jasmine perfume deep into the woods, and”—more chain rattling—“here I am!”

“Stop the bullshit, Kael! What were you doing there if you weren’t cheering on those leeches?”

A deep sigh filled the void between them. “No bull, love. I was there…for you.”

A tremor, one filled with anticipation and something else she could not name, raced down her spine.

“Purely business, though. It seems my boss doesn’t believe you’re making a lot of progress.” He paused. “Once we get out of here, you must explain to me how you—the squeaky clean kickass guardian angel—lowered herself to team up with such a notorious fallen archangel! Hell, Lucifer is a teddy bear compared to that guy.”

“My business with Olivier is none of your concern.”

Laughter was his reply. “Oh, honey. Everything about you is my concern.”

A scraping sound of metal against concrete bristled her eardrums.

He added, “We can discuss business some other time. Right now, let’s figure out how to get out of here before we find out if guardians can also be turned into vamps. That’s not a hybrid creature I want to become or encounter.”

“Any brilliant ideas how to do that?” Greylyn yanked on the chains binding her hands to a cold cement pole. The clanking reverberated throughout the room. “Okay, let’s say I believe you. You’re not working with the vampires. How exactly did they take you? I have to say, my regard for your skills has lessened.” Deflecting her own failure onto him seemed to be a good distraction from her own self-loathing for the same offense.

Kael chuckled. She could not see him, but his sheer presence engulfed the room, making it harder for her to breathe and more difficult to pinpoint his direction.

“I could say the same of you; the small and mighty guardian angel taken down by a couple of lousy vampire whores? Really, Greylyn?” A soft tsk’ing sound came from somewhere behind her that set her teeth on edge.

Yeah, he was not going to let that go. She had failed, epically. Two vampire chicks! Two! Not one of her proudest moments.

“I was trying to protect a human woman and her boyfriend from being kidnapped by a suspected vampire clutch targeting couples and offering them eternal life or death. While in the bathroom, they cornered me and…well, there was chloroform involved. Now what’s your story?”

“Well, love, as I said before, I was looking for you. When you didn’t return from the bathroom and the club closed, I grew concerned. Bumped into your pal, Jasper. Needless to say, that delayed things for a bit.”

“You better not have hurt him!” she nearly screamed, her voice still hoarse from the chloroform.

“Oh, don’t worry about lover boy. He’s fine…as far as I know. He ran off after a young man who was looking for his lost girlfriend. Must’ve been the woman in the bathroom with you. Don’t worry, he made his intentions clear. He plans to fillet me and then puree me into liver mousse or something to that effect. My French is a bit rusty so I could have interpreted it wrong. Maybe he was saying that he farts in my general direction.” He paused with a barely suppressed giggle. “But finding you was his priority, as was mine, so he vowed to wait until he knows you are safe.” Kael’s impersonation of Jasper with his angry Frenchman accent was spot on.

However, his tone dropped deeper, more menacing. His next words wound around the room like a snake preparing to strike. “Yeah, not going to happen. I believe I’ve already expressed what would happen if heevertouched you. And I’d say what you were doing together on the dance floor qualified as more than touching.” More tsk’ing followed, but more malevolent, less flippant than his previous tone.

Although it was pitch-black in the room, she threw darts of hate at him with her eyes. “So how, pray tell, did you find me here? And where exactly is here, anyway?” she asked while stilltwisting her wrists trying to find a way out of her restraints.

Greylyn tried to remember anything about how she had ended up there. Nothing. Her lastmemory was of that vamp bitch’s knees digging into her sides, and then nothing.

“Thankfully, there’s no perfume more alluring than your delicious jasmine with a hint of lavender. I simply followed it to a creek a couple of blocks away from the club. A good hike through the woods led me to what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse in the middle of nowhere. Stuck my head in the door, and …BAM!” He rattled his chains again. “Here I was trying to save you, and not so much as a thanks for my efforts.”

Her face scrunched up as she contemplated his story. He was there to save her? That was a joke, but teaming up with vamps was not exactly his style. Kael was well known in the supernatural realms to be a loner. Oftentimes, he used other demons and monsters of all sorts to further his own agenda.

However, his partnering with Olivier? That was something she could notoverlook. He had mentioned the Hell Powers That Be the last time when they had met at the bed and breakfast in Virginia. He had said one faction wanted Kelly and her child killed because they were possibly Nephilim. The other, his boss in particular, wanted them alive to utilize for more nefarious purposes. Olivier wanted the latter, so that he could manipulate her into this prophecy.

Kael had referred to his “boss” and the prophecy… how could she have been so blind before? He was working for Olivier! He kept Kelly safe in order to use her as a means to force Greylyn’s cooperation.

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