Page 28 of Rekindled Prophecy
“It went about the way you’d bloody think it would. She drank an entire bottle of awfully expensive wine while I nursed a damn soda all night. By the time we got back to her place, she was snockered. Passed out on the sofa with her blouse halfway unbuttoned. I left. Not planning on calling either.”
“Sorry, pal. You win some, you lose some.”
“Yeah, I’d like a fifty-fifty shot, but I’m batting zero for a hundred here.”
“Stop it. You haven’t been on one hundred dates since you sobered up. Give it time, Sparky.”
Once he finally piped down about his dating woes, she gave him all the information she had discovered along with the names of the wedding guests for him to check out. The news that the bride was pregnant caused him concern. “Are you sure it’s her? You don’t think Kael would be after the baby?”
“No, I’m certain it’s Kelly. But anything that threatens her also threatens the child.” Greylyn left out the part about finding a folder of photographs of herself in the dark guardian’s room. She needed him focused on their mission. The more personal stuff could wait. Besides, the last thing she needed was him raising the alarm to Jasper.
“How did the evil dude get so chummy with the couple in the first place?”
She let out an exasperated sigh as she sunk down onto the worn velvet trimmed chair next to her bed. “Get this. He conveniently stopped Kelly from drinking too much one night before she found out she was pregnant. Sounds fishy to me.”
“No kidding.”
“The funny thing is, he hasn’t shown any signs of aggression or ill intent. Being around them all night, he acts like he’s genuinely enjoying himself and that he adores Matthew and Kelly.”
“Well, he’s a bloody good actor then!”
“Yes, I know. It’s just I can usually sniff these things out. Remember the Bolshevik Revolution? It looked as if he was going to take down the tsar using a few political enemies of the Romanov’s. I figured he would target the family friend and physician, Rasputin. Kael was the one who introduced Rasputin to the tsarina in the first place, but he was also the one who lured Rasputin out that night to be slaughtered by those sympathetic to keeping the tsar and his family in power.”
“I remember you telling me about it, and it’s in my archives somewhere. But the family all died, even after Rasputin was done away with and after they were promised safety.”
“Well, maybe not everyone died.”
“Okay, you definitely didn’t tell me the entire story. You owe me, darling.”
After promising a full recounting of all horror stories related to Kael, Greylyn lamented that the dark guardian was always innovative and a real genius when it came to manipulating humans. “You should hear Kelly go on and on about how wonderful he is. Makes me nauseous.”
Thomas did not have much more information on Kelly and Matthew than she did. “However, I did uncover one little nugget about Kael that was of interest. Seems our boy is on the rise politically. He’s always shown a penchant for getting in with the political types, like Rasputin and Robespierre, and there are some that suggest he influenced Mao, but there’s no literature to back it up. But it’s enough to consider it a trend of his over the centuries.”
He added with a snark, “His appearance in the DC metro area a few years back coincided with a new low in national politics that led to a particularly nasty scandal. Any guesses?”
“Okay, I get the gist. What does this have to do with the here and now?”
Clearing his throat as if to make a big announcement, Thomas continued, “Apparently, Kael is on the ascent in the supernatural political ranks as well.”
Seriously? Why am I surprised?
“Two years ago, he was photographed meeting with a much higher-level demon. Higher level in that the being was a fallen angel. Not the infamous Lucifer, but just as scary and lethal. How someone managed to get the picture and live was a miracle. If Kael is working with that guy, then all bets are off. This apparently small-time wedding could be something more catastrophic.”
Oh, great! My vacation has turned into the apocalypse.
A sick feeling surfaced as she hung up the phone, after promising to touch base with Thomas in the morning. So, Kael had made friends in extremely low places? This was getting worse.
Greylyn marched back to the main house. She wanted to be around when the two boys came back from the festivities in town. She and Kael needed to have a little chat.
Just as her hand touched the doorknob, an eerie howl broke through the quiet of the night – a lone wolf from the sound of it. Then silence. Not so much as a cricket chirp. Not even the bull frogs dared to croak.
Chapter 12
A Bride’s Confession
Gaelic Haven Main House
The back door creaked softly as she re-entered the main house. Maureen was sitting in the front parlor with a romance novel in hand, reading glasses adorning her face.