Chapter Nine
“Key?” Evangeline asked, confused. “For what?” She was the key for one thing, the continuance of the Chroniclers. But how would the soulless know that? It’s not in any of the Chronicles that had been shared with Samuel and Thalya back in New York. No, those were set in their most sacred place in Rome. Directly under the Vatican’s vaults. No, he could not be referring to her role.
“To the missing Chronicle.”
This took Eva aback. What did he know of the missing Chronicles? Did he know there were two that had been stolen? The lost one? Did he have anything to do with her mother’s death? Her aunt’s? Either woman would have tried to run with their work or fight. Which is what they did and both lost their lives, along with her siblings.
“What do you know of the missing Chronicle?” Devlin asked the very question she was just about to.
Eva didn’t dare remove her hand from Dev’s shoulder. The tension radiating off him burnt her skin. Knowing she was the only thing keeping him from ripping out the man’s throat. She had no doubt he’d kill Percy given half a chance. But she wasn’t going to let him. This soulless hadn’t killed anyone tonight, merely fed off the anger of others. There could be hope for him. If Percy knows about the hunters and Chroniclers, then he must know the rest of it. They were angels once. If Percy showed he could be saved, that he too would seek his redemption, they could release him. Lots of ifs, Devlin would say.
Percy answered Devlin but his gaze remained on Eva, “I know that you seek two, we seek only one.”
Eva frowned. What did that mean? The soulless only wanted one of the Chronicles. Then who the hell had taken both, and more importantly, what did they contain? Both had gone missing long before the age of using computers to house data, and before the volumes could be copied. But the first writings, they’d only recently become aware of the lost Chronicle or writings.
“What’s so important about the one you seek?” Devlin asked.
Yes, she thought. Obviously, it contains information the soulless suspect would help them and want, but which one exactly were they seeking?
“It’s the book that promises the end of days. The end of our torment here on earth. The time when we will rule both heaven and earth.”
“What!” She was shocked. This wasn’t something she was aware they knew. Unless they had both missing books and were able to decipher them. A chill went down her spine.
“Armageddon,” Devlin stated.
“For some.”
“And Evangeline is the key?” Devlin asked. “How so?”
“That we do not know.”
Devlin raised his hand as if to twist the blade into Percy’s neck.
He tilted his head. “No torture or threat will make me tell you that which I do not know,” Percy snarled.
“I believe you,” Evangeline stated. The Chronicle he referred to had to be the lost one, the others may well contain information on how to locate it. Those missing books may confirm the existence of the lost Chronicle. They only knew about it because a few of the older books had cryptic hints at the existence of a first book. One penned by the Archangel Gabriel, placed in the care of the Chroniclers, but lost in the early times. “But who does know? And who told you of its existence?” And where are the other two books? She didn’t ask the last part if he really didn’t know about them.
Percy laughed. “Answer’s the same, Abel. So go fuck yourselves.”
“Abel?” Devlin said, they both ignored his comment. “He’s dead.”
Eva didn’t blink at Devlin’s blatant lie.
This time the soulless looked right at Dev. “You and I both know he’s not.” In spite of the blade stuck in his neck, he tilted his chin in Eva’s direction. “Her kind somehow have him bound and hidden somewhere.”
Evangeline had to struggle to make sure she inhaled calmly, thankful the soulless couldn’t read her thoughts. The fact they knew that much was very disturbing. At least, they didn’t know about Adam, and how much he really did control what happened to soulless here on earth. Even beyond the punishments he’d already dealt to his kind.
Adam was the one who had Abel bound, not the Chroniclers. Abel’s father was his jailer and keeper, not the Chroniclers. But what did any of this have to do with the lost Chronicle, or the two missing ones? She wondered if her aunt Wilhelmina could get a message to the first man, see if he could shed any light on this. Did Abel have any of the Chronicles on him when Adam found him? And if Abel did, would Adam tell them?
They played a very precise game with the first man, and he with them. She’d contact her aunt later to see what she could learn from Adam. But more importantly, how was it that she, Evangeline was the key? Then it hit her. There was another. She clamped the errant thought. Shut it down hard.
Devlin glanced over at her and frowned. She gave him a small smile, so he’d know she was fine. The man was way too in tune with her.
“Well, since you all have been seeking me, what did you plan on doing if you found me?” she asked continuing her questioning.
This time, he wasn’t so quick to answer. She thought she’d try a different tactic since she could feel Devlin tensing under her palm again. “Percy, I’m assuming you’re aware of your origins?”
Looking back and forth between them, he responded, “What of it?”
“You know there is another way for your kind?”
He snorted. “Lady, I may not be an Olden, but I’m still among the oldest beings in this city and there is no redemption for me.”
“Do you feed off hate?” she asked.
“That too.”
“What else?”
He inhaled. “Any emotion that dulls the hunger.” He glanced at Devlin. “Like his need for violence. His hate.”
She ignored his words knowing them for truth but there was nothing she could do about Devlin’s emotions. They weren’t the issue she needed to deal with right now. “Yes, I understand that. But all of you have one or two emotions of choice. Preferences, ones you can’t help but gravitate toward. Hate’s the easiest human emotion to manipulate, but what’s the one that really does it for you?”
Again, he was silent. At first, she didn’t think he was going to answer her but he began to talk. “Lust. That is my emotion of choice and when I take it through the blood it’s all the sweeter.” He licked his lips as his glance flicked toward Devlin before returning to her.
“What about love?” she asked before he could say anything else.
He started to shrug but the point of the blade stopped him, he shifted his gaze to look past her shoulder. “What about it? Still just lust humans pretty up.”
She wasn’t sure, but something in his manner led her to believe he was lying to her or himself. “And have you ever?”
“Ever what?” Percy asked.
“Fed on love,” she replied.
Devlin inclined his head a little to stare at her.
Eva could just guess at what was going on in his mind. Soulless don’t feel, therefore they cannot love and for them lust, love, makes no difference. But she and the other Chroniclers believed that wasn’t quite true. It was the basis for their redemption. The one thing left to them. It was all about choices and making the right ones. Devlin and Samuel, products of soulless that had found love were proof, the soulless could find redemption. Thalya, Samuel’s wife was a modern day example of redemption being possible.
It saddened her that Devlin knew all of this, yet he refused to believe it applied to all soulless. It was at the core of the problems in their relationship. She had to be realistic, there could be no relationship between them, if she couldn’t trust him to support her beliefs. How would they find their way to fall in love?
“So have you ever fed off someone in love with you?” she asked, bringing the focus back to Percy again.
His gaze swung back to her. “How could someone love a soulless?”
“She asked you a question,” Devlin growled.
“No. She wasn’t in love with me. It was lust. Just lust.”
“What happened?” Eva asked.
He gestured at his face. “Look at me. I’m a fucking walking wet dream. I walk into a room and I have women creaming at the sight of me. Present company excluded, apparently.” He grinned and for the first time flashed his dimples.
The soulless was right. He was a walking wet dream, but she was immune.
“Ya think,” Devlin growled.
Eva squeezed Devlin’s shoulder. Not wanting him to respond more to Percy’s subtle taunts. “So have you ever fed on someone in love with someone else?” she persisted.
“No, I have no use for those kind of emotions. I don’t do happy.”
“Then how would you know the difference between love and lust?” she asked.
“I—I just do.”
“What if I told you I happen to know there are some soulless who do feed off love. More than you think. The love someone has for them. They encourage the emotion and feed off it.” She was thinking of some of the soulless Wilhelmina had documented that ran a nightclub in Manhattan.
“So, they’d only drain it, then what?” Percy asked.
“They leave the woman drained and devastated, but no longer in love and go on to the next one. But for a moment, they can share her love and return it,” she countered.
He shook his head, she wasn’t sure if it was in denial of what she’d just told him, but she knew her words gave him something to think about.
“What happened to the girl who was in love, sorry… lust with you?” Eva asked.
“What do you mean what happened?”
“Did you kill her?” Devlin clarified. “Did you drain her blood from her body to satisfy your need?”
“No. No. She didn’t die by my hand.”
“But you did feed off her?” Eva confirmed.
“Hell, yeah. But in the end, I let her go and I left her still breathing.”
“But you have killed others before?” Devlin asked.
“Sure, but not over lust.”
“Why not? Why didn’t you kill the woman who lusted after you?”
“I—hate tastes better. More fulfilling, she didn’t hate me, so I let her go.”
“Did you let all of those who lusted after you go?”
“Yeah, so.”
Eva smiled. Choices. It was all about choices. She was going to have to check the database and see if there was anything on Percy. She was pretty sure she’d seen his name and description come up before. She’d tried to check on all the soulless they were aware of who were in LA after she arrived. “You did the right thing with those people.” Eva said. “Now how do you feel about doing the right thing again?”
“Lady, I don’t fucking feel.” His gaze shifted downward on the blade. “Well, pain. The nerves do. But no emotions, remember?”
“What if I told you, you still retain some emotion, sometimes from the ones you’ve taken through the years. The positive as well as the negative ones.”
“So?” he scoffed. “Makes no damn difference.”
“So, what if there’s another way that can make a difference?”
“Such as?” Percy asked.
“What if I told you that the way to your redemption, the way to regain your soul is through love?”
Percy’s gaze shifted back to Devlin’s as if to say is she nuts or what?
She couldn’t see Dev’s expression but she wouldn’t be surprised if he was rolling his eyes. “Just think about it. You’re already drawn to lust, try love, see if you find that more filling. You’d lose nothing, at most you’d drain the emotion from the person.”
“Yeah, if he doesn’t kill him or her first,” Devlin stated.
“He won’t kill his partner. Will you, Percy? You’ve already shown you can feed from emotion without having to kill the person. There is no need to. So from now on, do so.”
He didn’t respond just stared at her, but his features no longer wore such a calm untouched visage. Like his brain was analyzing what she’d just told him.
She could only hope she’d given him something to think about. For now, it was enough. “Just think about it. That’s all I ask. The choice has always been yours.”
“Now can we get back to the reason we’re here?” Devlin asked, his voice seemed strained.
“Percy, what are the soulless doing with Chris and the other hunters who follow him?” Eva asked.
“I should tell you this why?” Percy snapped.
Devlin raised his hand as if to push the knife in more but Eva raised hers stopping him. “Please, what would it hurt? Eventually, we’d find out.”
“That is true. You should have already. We have them keeping an eye on the other hunters and helping us search for the Chronicle.”
“Do you feed off them too?” Devlin asked.
His lips curled into a mockery of a smile. “Oh yeah, we use them to fill some of that emptiness we were just talking about.”
Eva frowned. “You mean, Chris and these men lust after you?”
“Sure. Chris especially has become our bitch.”
“But…but from what I’ve heard Chris isn’t gay,” Eva stated.
Percy chuckled. “It has nothing to do with gender or sexuality, and everything to do with our allure. This isn’t about sex, honey, not for me at least. It’s all about what’s in the blood. For them, hey, the heart wants what the heart wants, in this case lust after my kind.”
She was shocked at what he was saying. These hunters were basically their emotional food supply. But she couldn’t let that knowledge turn her against him. They weren’t hurting the men. Or were they? “Are those men still alive?”
“Chris is.”
“Did you kill the others?” Devlin growled.
“No. Not me. That would be Scott. He tends to get off on death. I don’t need to.”
“Consider what I’ve said, Percy. Just think about it. Now why do you all think I’m the key to finding the lost Chronicle?” Eva asked.
“Like I said, that I really don’t know. But if we find you, we’re to start feeding from you to pull out whatever knowledge you might have. We know you might have some kind of an immunity to us, but you won’t if we feed from your emotions. Eventually, you won’t be able to resist and you’ll do whatever we want. Including help us find the Chronicle.”
“And were you planning on feeding from her?” Devlin uttered the words in frigid tones.
For the first time since they’d captured the soulless, his body stilled. There was no tenseness in it. It was as if he sat frozen. Even an unemotional being recognized the underlying threat of death in the cold tones of Devlin’s voice. This time Percy looked as directly at Devlin as he could to answer, “Not anymore man, not anymore.”
She sighed, knowing he had nothing else to tell them. “Let him go, Devlin.”
Devlin had been crouched down in front of the soulless on the floor. At her words, he stood straight up and faced her. “We can’t let him go. You heard him, he’s a bloodsucker and he’s killed.”
“Yes, I heard him. Let him go. And Percy, you have one chance. One only.”
Devlin stood toe to toe with her but she wasn’t backing down. She would not allow him to destroy Percy. Which was why when Percy pulled the sword out of his neck and moved faster than a bullet, she didn’t try to stop him, not since he was headed away from them, and she held onto Devlin’s arm, so he wouldn’t either.
Percy was already out the door when the sound of his voice drifted back to them. “I’m not the one you need to fear.”
Devlin pulled out of her hold and ran outside but Percy was nowhere in sight. He swung around to face her.
She stopped to pick up his short sword where Percy had dropped it on the ground. “Here,” she said, handing it to him hilt first.
He just stared at her not saying a word, but the blaze of anger in his eyes said it all. Finally, he took the sword from her and replaced it in the sheath at his back.
Without another word, she walked past him back toward the fence and his car. She would not apologize for what she’d done. It wasn’t until they were seated that he spoke to her.
“You should not have let him go,” Devlin insisted.
“He answered all our questions and I gave him something to think about.” Eva turned her head to look at him. Light from a streetlamp flashed across his features. The flush against his slightly pale face let her know he was livid with her. The knot in her stomach tightened. He would never understand. He wanted all soulless dead. She was out to save as many as she could.
“If I find him feeding on anyone, next time I will kill him.”
“I know, but only if he’s going to kill them.” She couldn’t keep the sadness out of her voice. “And if he does, you should and it will be noted in the Chronicle that I made the wrong call.” But she knew to her soul she hadn’t.
By the time Devlin pulled into her driveway behind her car, dawn was close. She got out of his car, surprised when he got out and followed her up the path to her front door. “Thank you,” she said pausing at her door, the key in her hand. “For the ride and for letting Percy go.”
“You’re welcome.”
She unlocked the door but turned at the threshold. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Have you hired any help for the store yet?”
She leaned against the doorframe. “Not yet, I was going to focus on that this week. I thought I’d start with one person. Why? You have someone in mind?”
He put his hands in his back pockets. “Jason has a younger sister in college who could use a part-time job. She’s a genius with a computer and knows about the hunters. It’s just her and Jason, their dad was a hunter but he died in a stupid car accident. I was thinking she might be able to help you at the store and maybe with the database for the Chronicles. She can be trusted.”
“That’s a good idea. Perfect actually, I really need part-time help for now. Thank you. What’s her name?”
“Jeannie.”
“Can you have her give me a call tomorrow, and I’ll talk to her.”
“You’re welcome. I will. She’s a good kid.”
When he leaned forward and rested a palm against the door frame near her shoulder, Eva knew it was time to part company. “Well, good night. I’ll start searching the database for any information on Percy as well any more information on the Chronicles we need to find. If Jeannie can help me get the inventory ready for the store, even copying information into the database, that can free up some of my time so I can focus on finding more information on that lost Chronicle.”
He just stared at her. As though he was waiting for her to say or do something else.
She knew what he wanted but it wasn’t happening. They’d missed their chance and he’d have to wait a long time for it to come around again. They wouldn’t be taking up where they’d left off earlier this evening. She took a step back and began to close the door.
His hand shot out and stopped it. “So that’s it,” he said, stepping forward a little so he could brush his knuckles against her cheek.
It took a lot of willpower she never realized she had not to react to his touch. Not to lean into his caress the way her body cried out for her to do. No. She let practicality rule. Refusing to give into him, or her own body, she steeled her emotions. “Good night, Devlin. I’ll let you know if I find anything.”
He paused with his hand still against her face, like he was daring her to step back first.
Eva didn’t. Devlin was a hunter, a predator, and she could show him no weakness in her resolve. He’d pounce on the slightest chink. She held her ground. She didn’t know what he saw when he stared at her so intently, but finally he lowered his hand.
Stepping back, he turned and left without another word.
She closed the door behind him, locked it, but had to lean against it for a moment. Refusing to allow the tear hovering to fall, she blinked it back, but her heart moaned. Eva sank down onto the floor and put her head down. He was all wrong for her.
He can’t be the one.