His Soul To Keep (Dark Knights of Heaven Book 1) (26 page)

Chapter Fifty

"Are you telling me we have the prophecy?" Cassidy took a shaky step backward and sat heavily on the bench. "Are you sure?"

"It’s a copy, but yes, I think it’s the full prophecy and an explanation of how this person came to be in possession of it."

"Please tell me that book wasn’t bound in human skin." She broke out in a cold sweat at the idea.

Rail shook his head and joined her on the bench. "No. This is cowhide and much newer, comparatively speaking, than the original piece you saw. Looks like this was written by a monk in the eleventh century. There’s something here about visitations. He was told to put these words down and keep them safe." Grabbing her hand, Rail pulled Cassidy to her feet. "Come on, we need to show Kaz."

Cassidy kissed him and pulled away. "You stay here, and I’ll get the others. We can tell them together."

"We can do that upstairs, sweetheart."

"I’d feel better if we didn’t," she tilted her head toward the iron doors, "for safety's sake."

Rail slapped his forehead. "I was so excited, I wasn’t thinking."

Cassidy gave him another quick kiss. "That’s what I love about you. You’re more human than you think." She winked and took off.

* * *

By the time Cassidy returned with everyone in tow, Rail had the bookbinding laid out on the table, held down by books, and he’d almost finished the translations.

"This better be good," Boomer snapped as he sat on the edge of the table and pulled Gina against him. "We were busy."

"Yeah." Rail smirked. "It’s good. This," he pointed to the sheet of leather in front of him, "was the cover of a book accounting angelic visitations made to various monks during the tenth and eleventh centuries at a monastery in—"

"Whoo-hoo," Boomer cut him off and received a smack on the back of the head for the interruption.

"Shut it," Kaz snapped. "Go on."

Rail smiled. "Doesn’t matter. The monks produced this book for their fellow
future
brothers only. There are several passages stating they were told by the visiting angel to never let anyone outside the monastery know they had been visited or what they had been told."

Zach leaned over the table. “What does this mean for us? We all know that angels were occasionally given permission to visit holy people. Even demons have made visitations disguised as angelic messengers to travelers just to fuck things up. What’s so special about these visitations?"

Rail tapped the leather binding. "One of these visitors gave the monks a copy of the prophecy we’ve been searching for."

"You’re sure?" Kaz looked at him with open disbelief.

"The monk who bound the book also penned the last entry. He personally took down the words of an elderly monk as he lay in his deathbed. The younger monk was sworn to secrecy and told to never let anyone, not even his brother monks, see what he was taking down. Right here, he writes,
‘Brother Gemlich has told me never to speak of this, a gift granted to him as the eldest among our simple order. This is a record of the last visitation granted to us. The Sister of Light told Brother Gemlich that all would be revealed in time when Dark and Light become one
in the service of the most Holy
.’ So yes, I’d say it’s what we’ve been looking for." Rail couldn’t keep the grin off his face. "And I’d say that line about Light and Dark becoming one describes mine and Cassidy’s soul-mating."

"Okay," Boomer drawled. "What else does it say?"

Rail traced a finger down the lines of handwritten script on the left side until he found the passage he wanted. "’
On the twenty-first night of the twelfth month, a new angel did appear—say only to myself. She bid me secrecy and bid me a vow to hold the words she would give until which time The Most Holy should call me home. She gave no name, made no show of power, but made known that she was one of three sisters set to watch over Creation for all time and beyond’—
"

"How do we know this was really an angel and not the Hell Bitch playing games?" Bass laid a dagger on the table and gave it a spin. "You know how those demon spawn like to play games with the faithful."

"I don’t think that’s the kind of game she plays. She’s given herself to the Darkness. I don’t see her passing the prophecy on to the opposing team," Kaz answered before Rail could.

"Doesn’t mean she didn’t slip up here and give those monks a false prophecy," Bass offered.

"Why are you focused on her? There are other Seers, right?" Seraphina moved to Rail’s side. "That monk mentioned three sisters. In our research, I saw lots of references to the number three being sacred." She opened the scroll. "The Three Fates, the Stygian Witches, the Holy Trinity."

Zach moved to her side. "So?"

"Maybe the Seers were part of that. Maybe they perpetuated that."

"Granted, that’s a possibility," Zach conceded.

Gina cleared her throat. "Okay, we know that one Seer is in Hell. Where are the other two?" When everyone turned to stare at her, she snapped, "Look, I don’t know much, and I don’t understand half of what you all say, but I do listen when you guys talk. Three women, three sisters, three fates, and I’ve heard you mention the three faces of the Earth Mother."

She was met with silence.

Cassidy groaned. "Please don’t tell me it’s that damn compulsion again."

"No." Rail took her hand. "We just never thought about it. I mean, really, we didn’t care about the Seers. They dealt exclusively with the Hierarchy and a few select humans. But to answer Gina’s question, legend says that one vanished—presumably destroyed by the one who went to Hell—and the last ran away, went into hiding."

"Bet you the one in hiding is the one who visited those monks," Boomer observed. “You know, like leaving one of those
if anything happens to me
letters.”

Gina pushed away from Boomer, her eyes shimmering. She clapped, jumping up and down. "
Ooo
,
ooo
, I got it…"

Boomer's eyebrows arched as though it were the first time Gina had ever spoken. "What?"

"Seraphina was reading something about balance. Something called universal balance. It was on one of the clay thingies." She motioned to the tablets stacked on one of the tables. "Light and Dark have to be in balance. That would mean one Seer in Hell, one in Heaven, and one here on Earth." She squealed like a game show winner and did a little dance.

Bass stood and paced around the group. "Okay, say Gina is right. And we presume that the dead Seer isn’t dead. Why wouldn’t one or both of the
good
Seers come to us? Lucifer has a Seer helping him. To keep the balance, wouldn’t one of the others have to help us?"

Cassidy shook her head. "I don’t think Lucifer is getting help from the Seer. He asked me for the prophecy as payment for our freedom. He presumed we knew what he was talking about. I don’t think he knows any more than we do." She snapped her fingers and pointed at Rail. "Maybe the Seers can’t actually tell any of you their prophecies. Maybe it has to go through someone like a priest, or monk, or whoever."

Rail rubbed his temples. "Rules."

"Who gives a shit? We have it now. So, read the damn thing already, and let’s figure this out!" Boomer slammed a fist on the table. Books slid toward the edge where Tucker and Tam caught them.

Rail read over the lines silently, cleared his throat, and read them aloud.

In a time of false Kings,

Darkness will rise over the World of Man.

The Earth will tremble, the sky will burn, and the seas will overflow.

Two will become one.

One will become Light.

One will become Dark.

One will rise to fight back the Night.

One will be Lost.

One will be Found.

Three will return.

The Gates will open.

Life will move on.

Balance will remain.

The room was silent for a few minutes before Boomer let out a, "Whoop!" Everyone jumped. "Then, it’s over!" He shouted, grabbing Gina and spinning her around.

"Let’s not get ahead of ourselves," Kaz said calmly. "We don’t know what this really means."

"But, but…" Boomer stammered. "All of that’s happened. I wouldn’t call any of the world rulers true kings .Lucifer is trying to start another demon war, and look at all the natural disasters lately." He checked off each point with his fingers. "Rail and Cassidy became soul mates…and…and that means the gates to Heaven will be opening!"

"Or the gates of Hell," someone offered.

"You’re oversimplifying things," Zach stepped forward,"especially based on what I found in examining the bodies we took to Romania."

Crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back against the edge of the table, Kaz leveled the scientist with a cold stare. "Which is?"

"I’ve done some testing on them and I figured out what they are…" He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes before returning them to their perch. "If I’m right, the
skratars
aren’t true demons at all."

"Then, what are they?"

Zach let out a long breath and ran a hand over his hair. "The last stage of what happens to one of us."

His theory was met by a chorus of, "Bullshit," and "No fuckin’ way!"

"I know. I didn’t want to believe it either, but my tests…" Zach took a breath. “I discovered that the markings on the
skratars
were made from the same magical inks I created to make our tattoos permanent."

"That doesn’t prove anything," Bass objected. "Others could have come up with that formula. You didn’t tattoo every one of us who got kicked out."

"I realize that," Zach snapped. "My point is, I started to recognize some of the symbols and designs once I stretched out the flesh. Some are identical to what you told me you saw in Lucifer’s cavern." He nodded to Rail and Cassidy. "I compared the samples in Romania to the skin samples Rail brought back from Peru and found more tattoos. Not all of the markings are recognizable, and certainly not all of them are tattoos I did, but I am still convinced the
skratars
are those of us who have truly fallen."

Cassidy grasped Rail's arm tightly. "But how would…"

"We’ve always known it could happen. It’s happened in the past. Not all of Lucifer’s minions are those who mutinied with him. We’re as vulnerable as humans to the temptations that can turn a being evil. Need, greed, lust, and anger to name a few. Plus, we have supernatural powers. The proof has been in front of us for ages, and we ignored it." Exasperated, Rail scrubbed his hands over his face. "Hasn’t anyone ever questioned why the longer we exist, the more we fight, the more demonic we become when we transform? I don’t remember transforming into a monster in the beginning. A berserker, yes, but not a full-blown monster. Not until after the first time I died and was resurrected."

"What are you saying?" Tam speared him with glowing eyes, protectively pulling Margarite closer.

"We may have satisfied part of the prophecy, but there’s more to come. One of us may still have to truly fall."

"But for
now
it’s over?" Margarite asked softly.

Kaz looked over the group, sorrow and disbelief in his eyes. "For now, I guess so."

Chapter Fifty-One

It was a time to celebrate and Cassidy found herself alone, hunting the villa for Rail.

Again.

Damn him.

After the meeting ended, all he’d wanted to do was take a shower and hide in his room with Cassidy. Of course, she was more than happy to oblige.

Yet, when she’d woken up after her sex-induced nap, Rail was missing.

Cassidy grumbled to herself. She had a good idea where he’d gone.

By the time she reached the library, Cassidy was ready to commit murder.

“I can’t believe you’re down here again!” she shouted, storming though the doors.

He was hunched over a pile of scrolls. "There’s too much to do. I have to find out what happened to us."

"Why?" Cassidy shot back. "Why is it so important?"

“It could be part of the prophecy.”

“So?”

"Don’t you want to know?" Rail’s shocked expression reflected sad disappointment.

"Yes, of course. But I don’t want you making it your life’s obsession. You’re not even a quarter of the way through Anallis’ journal and all you know is she loved Savor enough to give up being an angel if it came to that. The answers you’re looking for aren’t in there." She stabbed a finger at the parchment. "They’re in here." She placed her hand over his heart, over the tattoo he’d gotten to commemorate their bond. "It’s faith. Faith in us. I don’t care about the other crap. We’re soul mates because that’s what the universe wanted, and frankly," she choked on her words and pulled away. "Frankly, I’m beginning to wonder if you want to find out what happened so you can undo it."

"What?" Rail surged to his feet. "How can you even think that?"

"Well, what else am I supposed to think? If you’re fine with us being together, if all your pretty words about loving me were real, then why does it matter how what happened, happened?"

Rail paced, running his hands through his hair. "I’m trying to find out so I can better protect you. Look what Lucifer did. What if something like that happens in the future and you get yanked right into the middle of a battle? I couldn’t…I couldn’t live knowing I’d failed to protect you."

Cassidy dropped her gaze. Rail’s guilt hummed through her. He’d lost so many people during his long life. “You don’t need to,” she whispered. “How do you think I feel knowing every time you go on patrol you may die?”

“You don’t understand—”

“Oh, I think I understand better than anyone.”

“Cass—"

"No. I’ve had it. No more hiding and waiting for you to come home, damn it. If you think you are going to leave me behind to worry every time you go out, you are sorely mistaken, mister." Standing, Cassidy moved in front of Rail. She parked her fists on her hips and looked up at his grimace. "I am not going to be the damsel in distress anymore. I think I’ve proved I can take care of myself, and I want to start going on patrol with you." Taken aback, Rail stared down at her, jaw hanging open. "And another thing," she poked him in the chest, "you are going to teach me to fight. Really fight, like with a sword. And you’re going to teach me about demons and magic, and—"

Rail silenced her with a kiss. When they finally broke apart gasping for air, he mumbled, “I hear you.”

“Thank you.”

"You’re crazy."

"But you love me, anyway." She laughed, nipping his swollen lower lip.

"Yes, I do. So, forgive me for wanting to protect you and hide you away from all the evils out there in the world."

"That’s not your call anymore. I know what’s out there now. I know what it can do, what it will do. I’m one of you now. You just need to accept that." With one final poke, she left without waiting to see if Rail followed.