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We walked back into the house holding hands, but the mood in the room had grown tense.
"What's up?" I asked, moving toward the table as Rob and Grace hovered over the largest book we'd retrieved from the safe.
"Come look at this. It's..." Rob paused and shook his head.
"Scary as hell," Grace finished his thought, and pushed the book across the table to me and Michael.
An image of the dark angel hovering just above the trees caught my attention first. A Grollic in the throes of transition sat before him, bent over in the agony of becoming human again, or perhaps wolf. I couldn't tell which way he was morphing due to the point at which the picture was painted.
"What does the dark angel have to do with the Grollics?" Michael reached out and brushed his fingers over the wolf.
"He's their creator," I mumbled, knowing I would receive a few shocked looks, but it was time to divulge all I knew, "and that's not just any wolf. It's Bentos. He couldn’t shift because he was the seventh son of the seventh. He found out he could control Grollics but it wasn’t enough."
"How do you know that?" Grace asked, her eyes wide and face flushed.
"I met an old woman in the forest on my last journey across the United States. She was a Grollic much like me, but incredibly old. She told me the story of the dark angel and the Grollics. Bentos wanted power more than anything else and the angel, in his mercy, gave it to him, but with power comes a price." I looked up.
"What was the price for dad's power?" Rob asked.
"The curse of the seventh son." I pressed my hands to the table, staring at the picture a little while longer. "I'm the curse presently."
"But you're not a son." Rob pointed out the obvious and got a sarcastic response from Michael.
"Brilliant observation, Rob."
"Shut the hell up," Rob barked at him.
"Hey. Enough, guys." I stood and moved back a little. "The woman said that the seventh child couldn't be a girl."
"But you're right here." Grace lifted her hand as confusion swept across her face.
"I know. She said if the curse were upon a female that the end was near." I bit my lip, not wanting to bring doom and gloom into the conversation, but not really having another choice. The truth was the truth.
"The end of what exactly?" Michael reached out and touched the back of my arm.
"Of the Grollics." I leaned back over and started to read the ornate writing beneath the image. "Oh... wow."
"Exactly." Rob took a seat and pressed his elbows to the table. "I assume you're to the part that says anyone who ingests the blood of the dark one will live no more?"
I glanced up. "Yeah, but who would willingly drink Mal..."
"Stop!" Michael shouted next to me.
"Sorry," I responded, pursing my lips at my almost slip up. "Who would drink his blood on purpose? That's disgusting."
"Would it kill anyone?" Michael asked, taking the seat next to me and moving closer.
"It says anyone." I looked over at him.
"Which would include your father." Grace stretched her hands out on the table and tapped the top of the book. "So we get the blood of the dark angel, force it down his throat and he dies."
We all stared at her in shocked silence. She acted like we were making a pie or putting together a desk. Add part a to part b and voila! Done.
"Not sure it's that easy." I glanced back down in hopes of it actually spelling out how one would go about getting the blood of the dark angel.
"But in theory, that's how it works. Right?" Her voice held a hint of defensiveness.
"Yes. That's exactly how it works, baby." Rob moved toward her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "It's just a little more complex in real life because, well because..."
Michael cut in, his voice no nonsense. "Because how the hell are you going to get the blood of a dark angel? I assume he goes by other names, maybe Lucifer?" He snorted. “They’re probably cousins.”
I rolled my eyes. "I've seen him face to face. He's not to be messed with. Not at all." I pushed the book away as a shiver ran down the center of my soul "He's pure evil. He helps and expects much in way of payment."
"What kind of payment are we talking about here, Rouge?" Rob looked up at me.
"A life. One that matters significantly to you." I brushed my hand over my face. "We'll not be asking for his blood. We need to figure out how to take it. That's our only hope."
"Take it? Are you out of your mind?" Rob laughed and sat back. "No way. That's a suicide mission. We need to bargain with him."
"No!" My tone was sharp and I narrowed my eyes on my brother. "You have no idea what you're dealing with."
"Then tell us." Rob leaned forward, giving me back what I was serving up.
I let out a long sigh and got up from the table. "I already did, Rob. He's evil at the core of its existence. He's darkness, death, pestilence, pain, suffering... all wrapped up in a near perfect bundle."
Michael jerked his head around as his eyes narrowed. "You've seen his face."
"Yes. Several times. You didn't at the beach that day?" I reached out and ran my hands over Michael's thick shoulders.
"No. He was just a shadow, though I could feel the darkness that you speak of. Horrible feeling actually." He let out a long exhale. "I don't want any of us hurt. Maybe there is another way around this."
"Let's keep searching in these journals and if we don't find anything, then we'll have you call Caleb." I squeezed Michael's shoulders and released him.
"What? That's a horrible idea!" Rob shot to his feet.
"Do you have a better one?" I turned on him, ready for a fight if he wanted to step on the dance floor with me. "I didn't say we were going to invite him to help us or to return to him, Rob. I said we would call for information. We're fighting their damn fight for them."
"Rouge has a point." Grace looked up toward Rob. "We are helping them. Whether they are our new enemy number one, we're fighting the same fight as they are. They might come to their senses and realize that helping us is their best bet in winning this war."
"Whatever." Rob walked out of the living room and down the hall.
"I can't blame him. The bastard betrayed us, drugged him and killed your mother." Michael stood and turned to face me. "Let's go on what you have for now, search more and as a last ditch effort call Caleb."
I nodded and walked down the hall to find my brother. I knew Grace wanted to go, but she wouldn't be able to bring him to understand where we were and where we needed to go like I would. We were on the precipice of bringing this battle to closure. I could feel it in my bones, and I was scared as hell.
––––––––
I stopped by the door and tapped on the frame.
Rob glanced up from the bed and shook his head. "No. I don't like it. They're not going to get the opportunity to hurt us again, Jamie. They f—they lied, and you know it." He caught himself from swearing, probably for my sake, or knowing Rob, because of the baby growing in my belly.
"I know." I walked into the room and sat down beside him as he stiffened.
"Then why are you agreeing with this like it's our only option? It's not." He looked over at me with a pleading in his eyes that I couldn't deny.
"I'll protect us all if something goes wrong. You have to trust me." I reached out and took hold of his forearm. "You weren't there when things went down. I saved all of us and I came to save you."
"At what cost? Mom died, you lost a huge chunk of your innocence and Grace and Michael lost their guardians." He shook his head. "I know I'm just the mutt of the group, but if I get a vote at all—"
I cut him off. "You're not just the mutt of anything. You're my brother and I would have moved heaven and hell to get you back. When you died..."
I lost the volume to my voice as pain laced the center of me. A soft sob left me and I pressed my hands to my face. "I lost mom and then I thought I lost you."
Rob's voice was soft and thick with unshed tears too. "Hey. I'm sorry." He pulled me into a sideways hug and pressed his cheek to my head. "Don't cry, please?"
"I can't help it. I'm trying to figure this thing out, and we really don't have many options." I sat up and lifted my t-shirt, drying my tears and trying to get a hold of myself. "We can look through these journals, but it would be really great to talk to someone who knew the history and had the answers."
"And you think that's Caleb?"
"Well, it's not dear-old-dad." I gave him a look and sniffled.
He laughed, breaking the tension between us. "All right. I'll do my best to trust your judgment, but don't expect me to just sit by and let things fall apart again. I'm more vicious than the three of you put together, unless caught off guard and drugged. Then I'm useless."
I stood and offered him a hand. "Stop running from me and start looking for options with me. I don't trust Caleb and Sarah either, and neither does Michael, but they are our best bet for intel that rings true."
"Okay." He took my hand and pulled hard, forcing me to land on the bed beside him as he stood and jogged out in the hall. "Stop laying around. We have two evil bastards to slay. Gah... Women."
I rolled my eyes and stood, realizing that I was in the room that Joshua and I had spent several nights together in. The feelings inside of me weren't devastation over losing a man that I was in love with, but intense sadness over losing someone that was sure to be a part of my family.
"I'm sorry," I whispered and walked out of the room. I'd not only failed the alpha wolf, but murdered him against my own will as well. It was something I wasn't sure I could ever get over.
Michael walked in from outside as I moved into the living room and took a seat on the couch. Rob got busy starting a fire and soon Grace plopped down on the spot next to me, snuggling into my side and brushing her hand over my tummy.
"What’re you going to name him?" She glanced up at me.
"How do you know it's a boy?" I smirked. "It might very well be a pretty little girl."
"I just have a feeling this first one's going to be a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy."
"So a heartbreaker?" I reached down and took her place, rubbing my stomach.
"Something like that." She rested against me and for a moment everything felt as if it might be okay.
"I just spoke with Caleb." Michael walked into the living room and sat down in my father's chair.
The moment was gone and reality settled back in.
"And?" I asked, working to keep my voice calm.
"I explained some of the situation that we're facing, but left out parts that I didn't feel that they needed to know." He ran his fingers through his hair and turned to Rob as my brother jerked around.
"And what parts was that?"
"That part where we're planning on figuring out how to shift the Grollics’ life source from Bentos to Rouge before we kill him." Michael stiffened as if he were in the mood to fight too.
I lifted my hand in the air, which forced Grace to move back.
"Stop it, you two! We don't need them to know our plans at all. What we need is information on what they know about killing Bentos. We need to know what they know about the dark angel and that's it! We can take care of the rest." I scooted to the edge of my seat and turned my attention to Michael. "Right?"
"Exactly." He pursed his lips for a minute. "They're willing to share information with us, but they want to do it in person."
"No!" Rob stood and turned to face us.
"Rob. Please?" I glanced up at him with a look that hopefully reminded him of our conversation not ten minutes before.
"I told Caleb that only he and Sarah could come, no one else from the Higher Coven and that if they tried anything at all, that I would slay them both where they stood. Family or not." Michael leaned back, his posture leaving me no doubt as to the heaviness that sat on him.
"And what did Caleb say?" Grace whispered.
"That he understood. He would not betray us again. They realize the error of what they did and want to rectify it."
"Bullshit," Rob barked.
"If they come here and anything happens, I'll show absolutely no mercy at all. You understand that, right?" I asked softly. I didn’t have the power to control them or stop them. But I could control any Grollics around me and I would spend the rest of my life hunting Caleb down.
"I do. I believe Caleb has a lot to share with us, and where you cannot expect him to be warm and engaging with you and Rob, you can expect him to be respectful and willing to help." Michael glanced toward Grace. "You okay with them coming?"
"As long as they know the rules of engagement, of course." Grace stood and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not interested in a relationship with them, Michael. Don't expect a big family make-up time. That's not happening."
"I agree." Michael nodded. "I'm not making up with anyone myself, just looking for ways to protect my family going forward. You guys are all that matter to me."
My heart swelled in my chest as Michael turned and pinned me and Grace with recognition that we were his family, but it was when he nodded to my brother that I melted. I would love him forever and stand beside him for eternity.
"This will be neutral ground while we're here, so all I can ask is that while you don't have to be happy about them being here, please don't antagonize the situation.” He glanced purposely at Rob. “They're on edge just like we are. Caleb’s tolerance level is not very high. He is used to people following orders from him." Michael stood and stretched his hands toward the ceiling. "It's not the best of situations, but I think we'll work through it as long as Bentos doesn't make an appearance."
"I hope he does. We’ll take a stand against him. All of us. Together." Rob spoke his commitment softly, but all of us heard the ferocity and felt the truth of it in our spirits. We would stand together. With Caleb and Sarah. We had no choice.
I sighed. Since meeting Michael and Grace, I never thought there would come a day that we would be standing against Sarah. Her sweetness and loyalty was something I respected. I’d always been cautious about Caleb, yet somehow I trusted him. He held his power different than Bentos. He was by no means sweet, but he protected those close to him. I had once felt that protection and I hoped he would take me under his wing again. Me and Rob.
However, I was no longer that naive girl anymore. I carried power within me and Michael’s child. If Caleb tried to hurt any of us, I would protect them by any means necessary.
