Jelly Babies

Many thanks to Moonstar, Tenshistar, Snidne, and FlamesEmbrace for their lovely feedback! Your words are the best Christmas presents I could get! Moonstar -- I can't claim to have had the prophecy planned from the very beginning, but as soon as I mentioned it in "Candy Kisses", I knew how it was going to come true. And FlamesEmbrace -- I'm glad that I managed to get the hints just right. I love stories that give you that "Aha!" moment when you realize something right before the characters do.

Just a short chapter this time. The next one will be longer, I promise.

Jelly Babies

Chapter Four

“Oh hell!”

After escorting his guests to their room, Kale had headed for the mansion’s library. He needed to do some research. Learn more about Aryeh, about the prophecy. Unfortunately, as the hours ticked by, and the books piled up around him, all he learned was that he really should hire someone to come clean the shelves occasionally. Choking on a fresh cloud of dust, Kale considered giving up for the night. But that meant retiring to his own bed, alone, or joining Pepper, Marzi, and Nicholas in theirs. And neither one of those was an option he felt prepared to deal with. So, with grim resolve, he lifted two more heavy tomes, and carried them over to his desk.

And this time, his persistence paid off. But the news wasn’t good. “Hell,” Kale repeated. Snapping the book shut, he switched on the desk intercom, and pressed the button that would connect him to Sylvia. “Get up.”

A moment passed. Then he heard his healer’s voice answer him, groggy and muffled. “Boss?”

“Wake our guests, and get them down here. Right now.”

“But...it’s three o’clock in the morning...”

“If I wanted to know what time it was, I’d look at my watch. Now get them down here!”

Before Sylvia could offer any more protests, Kale switched off the intercom. Hell. Why couldn’t it have been an angel? A nice fluffy angel, full of good intentions and bible quotes. Or even a demon. At least he understood demons, knew something of their strengths and weaknesses. But this...this was out of his league. A year ago, he would have responded by kicking Marzi out on his ass. Actually, a year ago, he would have turned Marzi over to Aryeh, tied up in ribbon and gagged with a bow. Now, of course, he could do neither of those things. Damn Balberith for being right!

Well. Kale had never believed in looking back. History couldn’t be rewritten, and if he was destined to be undone, he wasn’t going to be undone without a fight. He’d play this one quicker and trickier than anything he’d ever played before. Picking up the phone, Kale dialed the number of Inferno’s unofficial manager. “Listen. This is what we’re going to do. I want my club full. Not just for a night, not just for a week – I want it full for the next two months. Packed. I don’t care how much money I lose. I don’t care if you need to hand out free passes, offer people drugs, or wear little party hats. Just do it. Understand?”

“I—“

“Do it!” Kale slammed down the phone, and then noticed that Sylvia had returned with Nicholas and some combination of Marzi and Pepper. The fact that he still couldn’t be sure, while Nicholas’s ability to distinguish them never faltered, was just one of the many things about the boy that had really begun to irk Kale.

“Kale? What’s going on?”

That had to be Marzi. If Pepper had spoken those words, Kale felt sure they would have been a challenge, not a plea for reassurance. But Marzi trusted him. Despite everything he’d done, Marzi trusted him. For a moment, Kale wanted to go to his lover, to whisper in his ear, to begin telling him all of the thousands of promises that he intended to keep. But not now. And most definitely not with Nicholas standing there.

“We’re screwed,” Kale admitted.

Marzi arched his eyebrow. “And not, I take it, in the good way?”

“No. Not in the good way.” Kale gestured at one of the books scattered across his desk. “I discovered a few things about your new playmate. Aryeh – in old Hebrew, the name translates to ‘God’s Lion’. He, and a few others like him, have been around for a long time. They claim to be direct agents of God. Unlike angels, they are bound by no rules, and once they decide that a course of action is necessary to protect The Plan, their methods tend to be ruthless.”

“Such as?”

“Crusades. Inquisitions. Witch trials. That sort of thing.”

Without seeming to realize he was doing it, Marzi folded his arms across his belly, shielding the unborn child that slept within him. Despite his usual skill at hiding his emotions behind a flippant mask, he couldn’t quite disguise the horror that bled across his expression. “And are they really agents of God? Are all those terrible things really part of some divine plan?”

“I don’t know,” Kale snapped. “The next time I have a chat with God, I’ll ask Him.”

“So...? What do we do?”

“We engage in time-honored evasion tactics.”

“You mean we run?”

“We run like hell.” Kale rose from behind his desk. “I can’t protect you here. I’m not strong enough. But Inferno is the center and source of my power. If we go there, I think I can hold off Aryeh. For awhile, at least.”

“Awhile?”

“Right now, my main concern is keeping you safe until the child is born. After that, we’ll have more options. Something will present itself.”

Kale walked over to Marzi, intending to offer his support for the journey down to the underground garage. But Nicholas had already wrapped his arm around Marzi, and something about the unhesitating, unquestioning way that he did it ignited the fire in Kale’s demon blood. How dare he? How dare he touch, and kiss, and – of all things – impregnate what so clearly belonged to Kale. And how dare he look so goddamn smug about it? Kale’s temper, already frayed around the edges, finally snapped. Snarling, he grabbed Nicholas, yanked him off Marzi, and shoved him backward.

In the heat of the moment, Kale hadn’t given much thought to how Nicholas might react. And, even if he had, he would have expected the boy too look offended. Maybe even start crying. However, instead of filling with tears, Nicholas’s eyes locked onto Kale, and the hatred which flickered in them showed that he hadn’t forgotten who cut out his lover’s heart, or who set the deal into motion which had forced him to betray her. Like monstrous tendrils closing around helpless prey, his fingers curled into a fist, and he hit Kale with all his strength.

Kale’s lips twitched into a smile. Somewhere, in the depths of his fury, he knew that what he really wanted to do was beat the hell out of Aryeh. But since he couldn’t do that, this would suffice. This would suffice nicely. Swinging his fist, he returned Nicholas’s punch, and being considerably more practiced at fighting, he landed it squarely in the boy’s stomach. The air rushed out of Nicholas as he doubled over. And, for a moment, Kale regretted that the conflict had been so brief.

But that just showed how little he really understood Pepper’s lover. Still clutching his stomach, Nicholas hurled himself at Kale, knocking them both to the ground. And then everything dissolved into a confusion of flailing arms, kicking legs, and, to Kale’s consternation, hair pulling. Until a voice pierced their brawl.

“Stop it! Both of you! Stop it right now!”

Even Kale could recognize those words as coming from Pepper. So it didn’t surprise him when Nicholas immediately stopped fighting. What did surprise him was that he, also, obeyed Pepper’s command.

“You!” Pepper shook her head as she helped Nicholas to his feet. “I love you more than anything, and your bravery is truly impressive, but you’re turning my hair grey. If you keep blindly attacking every threat, you’ll never live to see your daughter born.”

Standing, Kale straightened his jacket, and nodded his approval of Pepper’s tongue-lashing. But he shouldn’t have been so quick to assume that none of it would be directed at him.

“And you! For reasons best known to himself, my brother loves you. But I haven’t forgotten what you put him through. I swear, if you ever give me just the smallest excuse, I’ll turn you inside out. I’ll show you what true suffering feels like.”

Then the stability fled from her body, and she swayed, like a leaf no longer able to cling to the tree that has always been its home. Forgetting their clash, Nicholas and Kale both rushed to help her. But by the time they arrived, each one taking hold of an arm, she’d faded away, and they held Marzi, looking weary and sad.

“We have to go, right?” he sighed. “So let’s just...go.”

Pressing close together, not quite sure if they were offering shelter or asking for it, the four of them made their way down to the underground garage. Nicholas carried Pepper’s purse. Sylvia carried her sketchbook. Marzi carried the unborn child. And Kale carried his rage, and his fear, and his love, and wondered when he would finally be able to untangle the knot they formed in his heart.