Page 59 of Rekindled Prophecy

“Wow, who would’ve thought?” he replied with a grin.

The muscles in his face relaxed as he pondered the situation and then with a more serious scowl, nodded.

“If I agree to stay behind, you must agree to two conditions: First, you CANNOT get hurt like that again. You may be immortal, but you are not invincible.”

“Fine.” She had no intention of being injured again, but if it made him feel better, she would agree.

“Second,” he continued, withthe gold flecks in his eyes practically lighting up at what he was about to say. “You owe me a dance.”

Huh?

Now that was not what she expected to hear. Just to hurry things along, though, she agreed. “Okay, okay. I agree. But I have one counter-condition for you. If anything bad happens to anyone here, particularly Kelly and the baby, I will know you played me false, and I will spend the rest of eternity making you pay for it,” she replied, trying to portray real malice with one hand fisted on her hip and the other pulling out her dagger from where she had taped it to her leg, barely concealed by the soft fabric of her new dress.

“I mean it, Kael, if so much as a hair on anyone’s head is out of place I will hunt you down like a hell hound.”

Somberly he raised his right hand like a Boy Scout, “I promise to do everything in my power to protect these humans and to earn your trust in this matter. Nothing evil will befall any innocent human here,particularlythe newlyweds and the baby.” He raised one finger. “However, I cannot make any promises to not toss any of those girls into the pond to cool them off. Their constant staring and giggling frays my last nerve. If the blonde one bends over any steeper, all her assets are going to fall right out. I appreciate a good feminine physique as much as the next guy, but ... come on, have some decency.”

Greylyn doubled over in a fit of laughter, nearly dropping her blade in the process.

His solemn declaration turned to a coy grin as he suggested, “How about we seal our bargain with a kiss?”

Not even bothering to answer, she stalked back to the door and shut it in his face. She heard him chuckle and call out, “I’ll take that as no for now, but maybe later.” The foyer door thudded closed as he left to rejoin the wedding party.

A silent, fervent prayer went up. This was a first for her. Placing her trust in a dark guardian. Deep down in her soul she knew he would not betray her, but her mind screamed that this was incredibly dangerous territory. Shaking off her doubts, Greylyn hurriedly changed and added a prayer that she would make it in time to save Sofia and her friends.

Chapter 24

Battle Zone DC

Sofia the Psychic’s Apartment Building

Greylyn invoked a glamour rendering her vehicle invisible to cops between the Virginia bed and breakfast and Washington, DC. As a guardian angel, she did not possess abilities to alter time and space to facilitate a quicker trip like pure blood angels. They could simply think of where they needed to go and immediately transport there. At least, that was what she had heard. She had never actually met one before.

The cloaking spell had served her well over the years, as her lead foot would have gotten her countless tickets otherwise. There had been one time she just forgot to utilize the spell. State troopers in Montana clocked her at 140 miles per hour. Since they could not catch her, there had been a Wanted poster of her car across the state for the next decade. Needless to say, she avoided Montana for a while.

To not alert the demons that might be patrolling the area to her presence before she was ready, Greylyn parked a few blocks southwest of the neighborhood. Jasper had not exaggerated the case. The night air was charged with foreboding and fear. The place was deserted. Not even the faintest sounds of life. No lights. No music. No voices. No car engines. She did not even hear the rumbling Metro underneath the ground.

Calming her mind, she telepathically located Jasper. She found him, along with three humans, paranormal investigators turned demon hunters, hiding out in a back alley beside a mom-and-pop sandwich shop with a clear view of the front entrance of Sofia’s apartment building.

The stench from the industrial size garbage containers served to mask the scent of humans from the demons surrounding the building. At least something was working in their favor, even if it was the putrefied odor of rotting lunch meat.

Jasper quickly filled her in on the events that had transpired as the sun went down and the demon army converged on the tiny land parcel in the middle of the nation’s capital city. During the daylight hours, some demons had masked themselves as humans or even animals to blend in with their surroundings. Others had stayed back in the shadows out of sight. Those invisible to human eyes stood guard around the building. “This isn’t just a demon convention. Every species I recognize are vicious soldiers, built for nothing but annihilation. They do not take prisoners and they show no mercy.”

“Any Malphas legions?” The second in command in Hell, Malphas, commanded up to forty legions of Hell’s army. She had never personally encountered them, but guardian angel urban legend told of mass destruction and horrific ends for all involved in the battle against them. They had shown up in Vietnam, and there were rumors of their presence in the Middle East. Greylyn prayed they were not part of this army.

Jasper shook his head, and they both breathed deep sighs of relief. “No, they’re a mish-mash of demons, mostly mercenaries, but highly organized. Malphas keeps his soldiers all the same species.”

One of the demon hunters, looking more like a WWE wrestler, relayed how their numbers seemed to swell just as the sun began to set. With bloodshot eyes as round as the top of a beer can, he fidgeted with a large, jagged knife in his hand. His gaze shifted from her to the alley entrance to the ground at his feet and repeated the cycle. “Since the sun went down, more creatures kept showing up, like cockroaches. Never seen anything like it.” The tremor in his voice belied the truth … he did not want to see anything like this, did not want anything to do with this situation, and most certainly regretted the demon hunter life for the moment. “This neighborhood isn’t exactly the safest part of town, so most people wisely vacated the area as soon as nightfall approached, except for a few local thug types. Those poor bastards didn’t stand a chance.”

The way the man said it made it clear that the humans had not been asked nicely to leave.

Jasper and the others had callously deemed it unsafe to intervene. If she had been present, she probably would have blown their cover to save the miscreants. That was just how she was. No human should have to suffer at the hands of a monster. Her strategic mind acknowledged that the gentlemen had made the right call, though.

Instead of a small battalion to fight off, they were facing an army of more than one hundred. This was going to take some ingenuity on their part, as well as a foolproof battle plan.

With a deep sigh, she asked the obvious, “So what’s the plan?”

All four men looked at her with vacant stares and shrugged shoulders.

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