Chapter Thirty-One
Adam stood on the tarmac with Samuel and Thalya, the couple held hands as they all watched the private jet Samuel had arranged take off. At first, when he’d shown up with Annalisse in tow at the warehouse asking for a favor, his friends had both been shocked. He didn’t tell them who the woman with him really was. That was her business, but he did tell them she needed to get to LA, there was a soulless there she might be able to save.
What he did not share with them was that a soul was in danger of being forever lost. Annalisse was an angel who protected this particular soul and she might not be the only one who offered such protection.
For the first time in a long time, his senses were alive with hope. What the fuck was happening to him, to the others? Angels giving up their wings to help the soulless? Truly, the time of the end of days must be near.
“Come on,” Samuel asked him. “Who is she really?”
“Someone who might be able to save a soul,” Adam replied. “Thank you for sending Ray and April with her. I fear she’s going to need all the help she can get.”
“California is in bad shape. We were planning on sending the hunters there supplies anyway and we’re working with the Governor to get more supplies to the shelters,” Thalya stated.
“I fear that’s not the worst of it,” Adam replied just as the ground beneath their feet began to shake.
“What the fuck?” Samuel asked. “An aftershock?”
When it stopped, Adam looked at them but didn’t respond since he wasn’t exactly sure himself. “I have to get back home. But you need to find the lost Chronicle. It may be the only thing that can save us all.”
“Damn, I meant to tell you. Evangeline has one of them,” Samuel said.
“One of the ones that the Chroniclers had that were stolen?” Adam asked.
“Yes, one of those,” Samuel confirmed.
“What about the other one?”
“I don’t know. I’ve tried to reach Devlin since I heard from him earlier this morning to let him know about Annalisse but service to California is hit or miss. I’ll keep trying.”
“Let me know if you hear anything and Samuel, I want the Chronicles. The originals.”
Both Samuel and Thalya stared at him.
“Why?” Thalya asked.
“Because I am the only one who can stop the end of days and in order to do that, I need to find the lost Chronicle. The answer lies in those two that are missing. But no copies. I need the originals. Bring them to me when you have them both.”
“Are you shitting me? So there really is a lost Chronicle that heralds the end of days?” Samuel asked. “I only halfway believed it.”
Adam turned and looked Samuel in the eye, knowing Samuel was strong enough to withstand his death stare. Because that’s what it would be to a human to gaze into the depths of his eyes. They’d get lost in the emptiness that dwelled inside him. “Get the originals to me.”
“You know the sisters and Eva are going to at least want to make copies of them, study them.”
“They can try. Remember even when they had them in their possession they couldn’t read them. Not really. I’m the only one who can. Get them to me.”
Samuel sighed. “I’ll see what I can do. It won’t be easy and it’s going to take some time. But I’ll let Ray know and he can bring them back with him when he returns. But what if they only have the one? Because right now, that’s all they have.”
Adam was silent for a moment. Feeling the currents of the world shifting around them all. “Annalisse will find the other one. Contact me when you have them.” With that, he turned around and walked away. But he was sure to them, it looked like his body simply blurred then disappeared.
Eva had never been so tired in her life. Devlin laid her on the bed and went out to check on Tony who had followed them to the bedroom door and seemed anxious to talk to him. He stepped out and gave the young man five minutes, but she couldn’t hear what he said. Then Devlin returned to her, she felt him untying her boots and taking them off. When he straightened up then came around beside the bed, she was staring at him.
“Go back to sleep,” he said. “It’s late.”
“Where’s Starla?”
Devlin turned his head to the lounge chair in the corner, the dog was already curled up on it snoring softly.
“See, even Starla knows it’s bedtime.” He leaned over to kiss her forehead but when he pulled back as if to leave she held onto his arm.
“Don’t go. Stay with me.”
“Alright, until you fall asleep. I’ve got to finish speaking to Tony and talk to the guys and Jeannie is here. They’ve started organizing the houses on either side of you.”
“That’s good. I’ll get her set up downstairs after I sleep. I can’t concentrate right now. I don’t want to move. But you need to sleep too. All of that can wait until morning. What about Paul?”
“He’s going to be fine. One of our guys who’s an RN is here and taking care of him. Some of the hunters are already out tonight and some of the others are heading out soon too. The soulless as you can imagine, have been very restless. They’ve killed three of them in the time we’ve been gone. But they’ll also be looking for supplies. Everything that wasn’t destroyed around here has been picked clean. We might have to do a search for supplies tomorrow. Tony said there’s a mobile station set up not far from here that is supposed to be handing out food and water.”
“Okay. What about Michael? Any word on him?”
“So far nothing, and that’s why I’m sending out a group to look specifically for him.”
“Are you going back out tonight?”
He seemed to hesitate. “I was planning on it.”
“No. You need to rest too.”
He smirked. “Not a hundred percent human, babe. I don’t need as much rest as you do, especially now that you’re pregnant. You’ll need to sleep even more.”
She yawned. “Maybe. I’m not going to agree or disagree with that statement.”
He snorted.
Eva placed her hand on his arm. “Please. Don’t go out tonight. There’s…there is more I need to tell you. And it can’t wait.” She’d decided he needed to know it all. Well, as much of it as he was destined to know. “So go talk to your guys, get everything sorted out and I’ll get a little shut eye. Come back and wake me.”
The feel of the bed dipping had her opening her eyes. She hadn’t really planned on falling asleep, she might have been more tired than she thought. “What time is it?”
“Just after midnight.” He’d already taken off his clothes, he just had his briefs on as he pulled back the duvet and got into bed. Eva scooted over to make room for him. Devlin took her into his arms and pulled her against his body. He took a deep breath and slowly released it.
She turned so she faced him and placed her hand on his cheek. “Everything okay?”
He closed his eyes. “It is now.”
“Are your hunters settled next door?”
He opened his eyes. “Yeah, Tony took care of all of that. He said it looked like your tenants had evacuated. All of their clothes were gone. But the furnishings are all still there.”
“Well, that’s good, so I don’t have to deal with kicking them out, just the tenants on the other side.”
“They left too. Don’t worry about anything right now. We can deal with all of that in the morning. Now go back to sleep.”
“No, I can’t put this off any longer.”
He frowned. “There’s more?”