“So, Thalya wasn’t specifically your target?” Winifred asked.
“No. We thought we’d put out some bait and see what happened.”
“Ah, I see,” Wilhelmina nodded. “Go on.”
Samuel told them how they set the stage and Thalya took the bait. But he explained, “Almost from the beginning it didn’t unfold the way it had gone down in the past with other soulless. Thalya never tried to hurt or bite Karl, and then she ran instead of staying and fighting. Now, that hadn’t happened before, so I followed her.”
Thalya interjected, telling the ladies her point of view of what had happened. They both told the story of how they met in the bar.
Samuel then talked about going back to the park to look for her the next evening and following her. He paused after he told them about the fight with the other soulless in the park, then glanced at Wilhelmina. “I still don’t understand Wilhelmina. Why did you help that soulless escape?”
“I am sorry.” She smiled sadly. “But I didn’t help him, not really. He came through the store and asked where the back door was. I pointed him in the direction.”
He leaned forward. “But you knew he was soulless?”
Her eyes opened wide. “Oh, yes. We can tell.”
“So, why did you help him?” Samuel asked.
She shrugged her shoulders. “Why not? He did nothing wrong as far as I could tell. For all I knew, he could have been unjustly hunted. It is why we don’t make assumptions and try not to take sides.”
“Well, he tried to kill Thalya and me again, earlier tonight.”
“We know,” Evangeline interjected. “But we cannot interfere directly in your fight.”
Samuel couldn’t let her comment pass. “You knew?” He frowned. “How?”
Silence greeted his question.
He’d love to know how they got their information. He understood they weren’t going to give him an answer but he didn’t have to like it. “All right, so somehow you knew about the fight. But sooner or later, you’re going to have to realize you can trust me.”
“This is not a question of trust, Samuel, please understand. We do trust you. We cannot speak of this. Not now,” Wilhelmina said.
“Not ever,” Eva added.
Samuel nodded, still not understanding but deciding to let it go for now and ask another question, “Let’s say you know about all our encounters but can’t stop them or assist, so what does that mean? You can do it indirectly?”
Wilhelmina shook her head. “Perhaps, and we’ll get to that.”
“Please, go on with your story,” Winifred encouraged.
So together, Samuel and Thalya told them their story. As much of it as they thought prudent.
Through it all, Winifred wrote furiously, stopping them a time or two to ask for clarification.
Which they answered, but some parts of the story they left out. Besides, those parts were no one’s business but his and Thalya’s. They did not tell them she had yet to make her decision if she would rejoin the ranks of the angels in heaven, or stay as something less than an angel but more than a human on earth with him. But when all three women frowned and stared at Thalya, he could tell they’d come to the right conclusion on their own.
He cleared his throat to regain their attention and continued. When Samuel got to the part about the attack earlier in the evening, he found them unaware of Chris’ involvement with the soulless. So, there were holes in their information, or a time lapse. “Chris led the soulless to us,” Samuel volunteered.
Wilhelmina nodded and glanced at her sister. “We’re not surprised,” she said. “He’s walked a fine edge for some time, full of too much guilt and hate.”
By the time he and Thalya were done talking, they’d finished all the lemonade.
Wilhelmina clapped her hands as excited as a child at Christmas. “Oh, how romantic. Such a love story.”
Evangeline rolled her eyes. “They were lucky, is all.”
“Luck has nothing to do with it, dear,” Winifred said. “Thank you both. You have no idea what this means to us. While we can interpret events this puts a personal touch to it.”
“There’s also something else.” He’d told them about Thalya being held with what appeared to be regular handcuffs and he had one of his people do further testing on the metal.
“Could you by any chance give us a piece, so we can analyze it ourselves and put it in our records?” Wilhelmina asked.
“Not a problem. I’ll have a piece sent here to you tomorrow.”
“Could the cuff have been coated with something?” Eva asked.
“Funny,” Samuel replied. “My thinking exactly. But the initial analysis came back negative.”
“Which it might have if the substance evaporated over time,” Eva suggested.
“Yeah, that’s what my scientist tells me, which is why he’s trying to do additional testing. But we found reference to holy water in the book I got from your apartment, Wilhelmina. Does holy water weaken soulless?”
“Hmm, I think perhaps it can,” Winifred replied. “Maybe make them no stronger than the average human. It would seem to make sense. Sort of like a positive cancelling a negative.”
“But the water is not something we can test for, nor the holiness of something,” Samuel said.
“Water probably not. But if something is blessed, then that is something we can test for,” Winifred stated.
“How can you test for holiness?” Thalya asked.
The sisters exchanged a look Samuel couldn’t interpret.
Winfred answered, “As you can sense soulless and humans, there are some who can sense if an object has been heavenly blessed. Or cursed, for that matter.”
Ah, he thought he understood the silent byplay between them. One sister might have been agreeing to let the other answer. He wondered if they might have some form or telepathy. “Very well, after you get the piece I’m sending you I’d like to know if that’s the case.”
“How about religious relics?” Thalya asked. “Can those have the same effects?”
“You mean like a bible or a cross?” Wilhelmina asked.
“Yes,” Samuel said thinking it a good question.
Winifred frowned. “Maybe. It could explain why people think crosses can hold off a vampire. Most myths are based on some semblance of truth. We’ll have to give Willa a call in Rome. She would know. There may be volumes there that address this.”
“I can check on what we’ve already got loaded in the database,” Eva offered.
“And check about soulless being able to enter churches too,” Thalya added. “I did once. I felt fine, but I didn’t try to actually touch anything in there.”
Wilhelmina clapped her hands again. “I told you this was right, didn’t I, sister?”
Winifred smiled. “Yes, you did and you were.”
“We’re already learned so much by talking to them.” Wilhelmina positively beamed.
“Now, we’ve answered your questions. So, what is this preposition you all keep referring to?” Samuel asked.
The three women looked at each other. Wilhelmina appeared to be in charge though. Both women nodded to her and she turned to face Samuel and Thalya. “We would like to propose a partnership of sorts. Not between us and the hunters but between the chroniclers and Thalya and Samuel.”
He frowned. “I’m not sure I understand. I am a hunter.”
Thalya stared at Wilhelmina. “It’s not clear what I am yet. But for as long as I’m here, if Samuel hunts, I hunt at his side.”
He stared at her, still frowning. What the hell did she mean by hunt at his side? They hadn’t talked about what they were going to do and the thought of her hunting didn’t sit well with him. Besides, he couldn’t allow himself to hope she would stay with him. But if she did, she would no longer have all of her powers. She would be vulnerable and still a target, especially if she were with him. The thought sent a cold breeze down his spine.
“This isn’t about hunting,” Wilhel
mina said, regaining his attention. “This is about protecting the past as well as the future. You see you two are unique to us. We’ve aware of the possibility of such unions, but they are very rare. We have records of them, but they are also incomplete and none of the chroniclers were in the position we’re in now. In the old days, the lines were clearer, but not so much anymore. Hunter and soulless are joining, soulless are becoming restless again and hunters are turning on each other.”
“So, you know about Chris?” Samuel asked Wilhelmina.
“Not about what he’s done tonight, but yes, we’ve had an eye on him for a while. We didn’t know he worked directly with the soulless to betray you.”
“Why didn’t you come to me? Say something?” Samuel released Thalya’s hand to lean forward, his body rigid. Angry at Chris’ betrayal but he could understand it. The enemy of my enemy and all that, but he didn’t understand the neutrality concept of the Chroniclers.
“One, you would not have believed us,” Eva said.
Wilhelmina nodded in agreement with her niece. “Yes. At the time, you knew nothing of us and we only knew you from our observations. The facts as we knew them only gave us a piece of the picture and certainly not enough to gain trust and most importantly, telling you would have been actively interfering.”
“Bullshit!”
“Easy, Samuel,” Thalya said, taking his hand. “We understand maybe you thought such an act interfering, but how is your asking us to partner with you all any different? And you’re telling us a great deal right now.”
“It is because you are actual representatives of both groups,” Wilhelmina explained. “For the first time, both groups have a common interest. You, Thalya, give hope that redemption does exist. It is no empty promise. And you, Samuel, that hunters are also willing to believe in redemption and accept it. If you, the hunter, can fall in love with the very thing you hunt, there is hope for all of us.”
He couldn’t bring himself to address the love part. This time love might not be enough, at least the love of a man for a woman. “What exactly do you expect from us?”
“As you know, we already own the buildings on both sides of the store and have taken steps to break the lease of our current tenants. What we’d like to do is have you, Thalya,” she looked directly at Thalya. “Buy the building on one side of us and you, Samuel buy the building on the other. We will give you a more than fair price, half the market value. That way we’d know the chronicles are fully protected.”
Thinking fast, Samuel asked, “Does that mean we’d have access to the volumes?” If so, that would be a boon to the hunters.
“Goodness, no.” Winifred laughed.
Her reaction halted the idea Samuel had from completely forming.
“No one group will have an advantage over the other,” she continued, “Even within each group, there are opposing factions. But we are willing to share information, which is something we’ve never really done in the past.”
He frowned. “And you’ll share with both sides.”
“Yes,” Wilhelmina answered. “But the chroniclers will still act as librarians. We’ll answer questions, but no one other than yourself or Thalya will be allowed to examine any volume. Even those will be done on the premises. The books will not leave the chambers. Same thing if you decide to visit any of our other sisters. Which by the way, they’d love for you to do. They can’t wait to meet you.”
“Although in five years, maybe less,” Eva interjected. “We hope to have everything in a secured online database. That’s what we’ve been working toward. Even then, you’d only be allowed access on the premises. We can take no chances of anyone hacking into our files, so it must be a closed system with designated terminals.”
“We trust you both to protect the information,” Winifred said.
“Thalya knows firsthand the promises the Father made to his angels when they were banished are true,” Wilhelmina stated. “And she will protect the interest of the soulless. While you, Samuel, are the head of the hunters, but you’ve always required the soulless be treated fairly. You only hunted those who kill or attempted to. This will strengthen your ability to get the hunters in line to follow you. And my sisters and I can continue to bear witness and be protected from those who wish us harm.”
“That’s brilliant,” Thalya said smiling.
“Not bad,” Samuel nodded. But they both couldn’t commit, not tonight. He could. Samuel glanced at Thalya, unsure about her. “You’ve given us something to think about. Can you give us a couple of days?” he asked. Thalya still hadn’t come to a decision and they needed to talk. He couldn’t take her leaving him again. In his heart, he knew her next call would be the last time.
“Of course,” Winifred replied. “We understand you have to talk to your fellow hunters and we know Chris and others like him are a concern.”
“We have a lot to talk about. We’ll be in touch,” Thalya promised.
Chapter Twenty-Six
A shot rang out. Its release cut through the stillness of twilight. Samuel threw Thalya to the ground and looked around. They’d just returned to his brownstone from their meeting with Wilhelmina and her family. It’d been a long day and night, and they’d only made it to the front door of his house. He could see where a bullet chipped part of the brick and lay lodged near the doorframe. Instinct kicked in at the last second, shouting a warning at him and causing him to shift his head to look behind him. Otherwise, the bullet would be lodged in his brain.
No soulless would use a gun, at least not the kind who just shot at him and none would be that good a shot. But who knew anymore? A couple of weeks ago he would have said no such thing as redemption existed for the soulless and would have laughed his ass off if someone told him they were actually banished angels. Now, anything was possible.
“I think he’s gone,” Thalya replied beneath him, sprawled on the bottom steps where he’d rolled them.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes I’m fine. The shooter was human.”
“Yes, I think so too. Stay here,” he said, already lifting off her.
“Not bloody likely,” she said, rising too.
He had no time to argue with her. She paced at his side as he ran in the direction he thought the shot had come from. They scanned the area using all of their senses but came up empty, the shooter long gone. Too much traffic passed near them to tell which one of the cars the assassin even now drove away in. His would-be killer was most definitely human. If he had been a soulless one they’d be able to sense the lack of emotion from the area where he stood. But this human knew how to block his emotions, giving off a different vibe. Besides, no soulless would use a gun.
“Come on, let’s get inside,” he said, taking her elbow.
She turned and walked with him back to his house. “Who do you think it could have been?”
“I’m pretty sure Chris shot at us. He’s finally let his hatred of me carry him off the deep end. Since the soulless failed, now he wants to try to kill me himself.”
They went inside and she sat on the couch while he called Ray to let him know what had happened. Ray already had the other hunters on alert. “He’s fucking with the soulless and now tried to take you out. He’s a dead man,” Ray said. “No worries, word will go out to all the hunter groups. He’s a danger to all of us.”
Now, they would look for him even harder. Chris had tried to take out a hunter himself and had to be stopped. Samuel also told Ray about Wilhelmina’s preposition and his belief they should work with the chroniclers. After disconnecting with his second in command, he called the headquarters for the group Chris worked with in LA to tell them what had happened. Chris’ second in command didn’t seem shocked; he’d been close to Chris. He thought he’d been having some serious issues lately.
“I’m sending Devlin to fill the leadership role Chris held,” Samuel told Jason. “At least until things settle down to help you get a handle on things. And then we’ll see if you’re ready to take over.”
“Yeah, I’ve met Dev. He’s good. I got no problem with that. We could use the help, I could use the guidance of an experienced hunter. There’s been a lot of talk here lately, Chris helped to instigate about being tougher on the soulless. This might make things worse or calm the hot heads down, not sure yet. I’m all for calming things down.”
“Agreed,” Samuel replied. “The last thing we need is further dissention among us.”
“Chris has been acting strange for weeks now. He’s been fanatical about killing soulless.”
“He’s been like that for a long time.”
“Yeah, but it’d gotten worse. A few weeks ago, me and another hunter were out with Chris on a hunt and we followed this guy Chris swore was soulless. Well, I never saw any evidence of it. Oh, the guy mighta’ been a prick but nothing to show he was trying to kill or take blood from anyone. After the surveillance turned up nothing, we all headed home. But a few days later, I was reading the paper and saw the guy had been reported missing by his wife. He’d been missing since the night we’d been tailing him. The guy was married, had a kid, so how could he be soulless?”
Samuel tightened his grip on the phone. Angry at Chris. “Did you ask Chris about it?”
“Hell yeah, and he got a funny look on his face and just said, ‘Somebody else probably got him to pay for his sins.’”
“Damn.”
“Yeah, Chris had been sprouting about how there were a lot more of them out there than we’d realized and we needed to stop them before they created more bloodsuckers and before they even came close to causing harm.”
Samuel shook his head. “Do people still believe humans are made into soulless ones?”
“I think Chris might have managed to create doubt in some of the younger, less experienced hunters. I don’t know. But send Dev. I suspect things are going to get rough around here real soon before it gets better.”
Angel Rising_Redemption Page 27