Tall, Dark & Lonely (Pyte/Sentinel #1)(112)

“I’ll tell them,” Chris said, sounding a little stronger.

“Even better.” Caroline grinned. “I would love to hear this explained by a Sentinel.”

“Sentinel?” Jill and Grandma asked at the same time.

“Er…” Chris was at a loss where to begin.

Caroline jumped in. “I’ll explain him and then he’ll explain Ephraim.”

Ephraim watched carefully. His mind calculated every single possibility while he kept track of the conversation. He knew Madison was going to throw her body over her brother, sister, Chris and Eleanor too if she got the chance. He also knew that if she was severely injured her body would reject the baby.

He should have reminded her that her body would reject the baby to save itself, but there hadn’t been enough time. There were no words to describe the pain from a bullet or a knife wound and he didn’t want her to find out first hand either. If she was shot her body would rush to fix it and kill their son.

Now he was kicking himself for his stupidity. If she’d known how painful an injury was as a Pyte she never would have come out here. Well, that wasn’t true she probably would have for the kids. He made a rule right then and there to always tell her everything from now on.

“I’ll give you the quick version so we can get to the real juicy stuff.” Caroline said in a tone that was friendly and excited as she let them in on what she probably thought was a juicy secret. “Chris here has a big secret.”

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Candy inch further away from Chris. She probably thought he was a monster in disguise ready to pounce on her.

“Chris is what we call a Sentinel. I'll explain Chris, but no interruptions. I want him to explain Ephraim as soon as possible.” She cleared her throat. “Thousands of years ago Lucifer found a way to place a demon in disguise among humans.” She raised her hand when Jill’s mouth opened. “I said no questions.” Jill shut her mouth and reluctantly nodded.

Caroline’s minions looked very interested in this tale. Something told Ephraim that she didn’t like sharing information. The men took small steps closer to their Master in hopes of not missing a single word.

“Now this is just the story. I obviously wasn’t there when all of this went down. I’m just a result. God found out and was pissed. He decided to send, I guess you would call them half angels, warriors in his place to earth. He couldn’t on his own interfere. It’s a long ago agreement that earth was a chess board. They could add, but not subtract. They also couldn’t interfere once the game was in play.”

“Once Lucifer released his demons since he knew that he would never be allowed to release anymore. Rules as I said.” She waved a dismissive hand. “As I said it's all very complicated. So he made sure his demon could multiply on his own through a blood exchange.”

“Now God had to play by these rules as well. I know, doesn’t seem fair does it?” she asked with a wicked smile that showed her fangs. “Instead of depositing all of his half-angels all at once he set it up so that ten of these half-angels would come to earth every ten years.”

“Five pairs of mates made up ten warriors. They’re born as a twin to a human baby. They require a human soul to bring them to earth. I believe Chris’s twin died in the womb.” She looked at Chris for confirmation, he nodded. “Our Chris here is an unmated Sentinel. You see he has never met his mate and probably never will.” She threw Chris a taunting smile. "Mostly because I plan on hunting her down and tearing her throat out for fun."

Chris' scream was feral as he tried to get to his feet and attack her. Grandma, Madison and even Jill held him down. It took Joshua's little hand in his to finally calm him down. Caroline continued as if nothing happened.

“Now, normally a Sentinel will live to be around two hundred and look about twenty-five for the rest of their lives. They’ll begin to age quickly when their job is over. Then they are sent back. Rumor has it they are born again. Their mates are also born again as their mates. They’re what you would call soul mates. Now unfortunately for Chris he is not going to live to see his mate never mind tomorrow morning.”

She clapped her hands together. “Now, I believe Chris has a take to tell us.”

From above them Ephraim’s voice echoed throughout the room. “Oh, I believe I’m more qualified to tell that tale, wouldn't you agree?”

Everyone looked up and gasped.

Chapter 30

Madison was surprised to see Ephraim lying across the ceiling with his hands folded behind his head and his ankles crossed. The perfect picture of leisure, if one did that sort of thing on the ceiling of course. She had to remember to ask him to show her how to do it.

She dropped her gaze to take in everyone else’s expression. Caroline looked torn between anger at not knowing he was there and excitement that he was. Her men looked nervous and awed. She knew what they were all thinking. Caroline no doubt promised to have them changed and they all thought they were looking at their future.

Candy cowered back even more. Madison saw Candy’s eyes take in everyone’s distractions. She inched away quickly while she could. Madison didn’t say anything. If Candy managed it good for her, otherwise drawing attention to her right now would set off guns in their direction. If Candy was going to get herself shot she would rather she did it away from the kids.