Chapter 8

Kaitlyn was sitting in the nave as she awaited Jacob’s return.

Two nuns looked at her, then dropped their faces as they hurried away down the hall. Kaitlyn frowned.

At the sound of footsteps, she stood. He hadn’t taken long. She raised her eyebrows. He was marching down the hall with his eyes to the floor, shoulders hunched, fists clenched at his sides.

‘Something wrong?’

He stopped and raised his face. His jaw was hard and his lips were thin. He quickly tried to clear his expression but it was too late. ‘We have to leave.’

Her eyebrows shot up higher. ‘What? Why? Have they found us?’

‘No.’

‘Then tell me what happened. What did the abbess want?’

He gave a resigned sigh. ‘She does not approve of our relationship. She will not tolerate our presence any longer.’

Kaitlyn stared, surprised and yet not surprised. It certainly explained the nuns’ strange behaviour. She remembered how loud she and Jacob had been during their lovemaking last night. She tried not to blush but she felt the blood heat up her face anyway.

‘She wants us to leave immediately,’ he said.

Her eyes widened. ’

? Does she not care why we’re here?’

Jacob pressed his finger to his lips as a nun walked past. He looked towards the entry doors. ‘I must tell the others. Pack up your things. We leave within the hour.’

Kaitlyn was trembling as she returned to her room. It was nerve-racking to go back on the run again, especially since she was starting to like the place. She was even starting to feel safe.

Looking around her room, Kaitlyn realised that she really had nothing to pack. All she had was her nightie, her slippers, a bag of toiletries and the clothes on her back. It made her sad to think what her life had been reduced to. Sitting down on her bed, she looked around.

room. When again would she have her own room?

She rested her hand against the mattress. Jacob had made love to her for the first time here. This was where they’d said that they loved each other. This was where he’d transformed into the wonderful creature he was now. This was where she’d finally been able to confront Satan. She’d only been here a few days and yet so much had happened.

She was going to miss the place.

Ten minutes later, Kaitlyn was walking down the hall carrying a small sack over her shoulder filled with her few things. Her slippers slapped lightly against the cold, stone floor. The plain dress the nuns had made for her swayed around her knees. The further she walked, the more the back of her neck prickled. The hair rose up on her arms. She would be in danger again very soon.

She stopped. Grace did the same as she entered the hall at the other end. Kaitlyn felt a twist in her guts.

The young nun lowered her eyes. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘So you know.’

The young nun didn’t answer.

‘I’m sorry, too,’ Kaitlyn continued.

‘Where are you going to go?’

Kaitlyn shrugged. ‘It’s always a mystery until I get there.’ She forced a smile. ‘Hey, don’t worry! It’s an adventure.’

The girl frowned, unconvinced by her clumsy lie, then approached her. Kaitlyn braced herself but had nothing to worry about. The young nun kissed her cheek, then gave a little bob of her head. ‘You’ll be in my prayers.’

Surprised, Kaitlyn returned, ‘And you’ll be in mine.’

The nun raised her eyebrows. ‘You pray?’

‘I have been—lately.’

With a nod and a small smile, the girl walked away.

Kaitlyn tried not to look depressed as she met Jacob and David in the nave, forcing a brave smile. Jacob smiled back encouragingly as he took her hand and walked with her through the front doors. Catherine was waiting outside on the steps, hood pulled over her face, long black dreads spilling down her front.

The black truck they’d arrived in days before was waiting just beyond the rocky path. The leaves of the surrounding trees were rustling. Birds were singing. The sun was high and it was unusually warm. She looked behind her once more, at the spires and arched windows and the overall grandness of the beautiful abbey. David closed the front doors with a thud.

As planned, they left within the hour. Kaitlyn looked back again as the abbey disappeared from view, a rock sitting in her throat. She remembered how she’d felt when she’d first arrived, still shaken from her escape from the police station. She remembered how uncertain she’d been realising that she would have to live with nuns. So much had happened during her short stay. So many incredible things. When this was all over, she promised herself that she would come back and walk its halls—the next time without fear.

Kaitlyn turned back to the front. Jacob clasped her knee.

‘You look uncomfortable,’ she said.

He was leaning forward to give his wings room, knees pushed up against the back of Samuel’s seat.

‘I’m fine,’ he said. ‘It’s you I’m worried about.’

Kaitlyn didn’t bother arguing with him, turning to the angels in the front. ‘So, will it be long before we reach our next destination?’

‘Not long,’ David answered.

Cryptic as always. Samuel watched her with his yellow eyes through the rearview mirror. It felt so long since she’d last seen her angels. It was nice to be in their company again, even if it meant driving for many hours. She’d quickly come to learn that “not long” meant something different for an angel who’d lived for millennia.

She watched them both closely. It didn’t seem to matter to them that she and Jacob were now together. They had to know what they’d been up to. They must know why the abbess had tossed them out, ruining their plans, putting them all in danger. And yet they showed no sign that they disapproved. Samuel’s eyes gave away nothing.

Jacob touched her wrist. Smiling apologetically, he held out the usual black sash she used as a blindfold. Kaitlyn took it with a sigh.

Minutes passed. Then hours. Kaitlyn could feel it in her backside as she shifted awkwardly in her seat. The car was quiet. The road was straight and gentle. She wondered how Jacob was dealing with his discomfort. He wasn’t complaining. He hadn’t moved. Stoic as always. Kaitlyn thought of his little adventure in the bathroom that morning and struggled against a smile.

Not always so stoic.

They were probably another hour into their journey when Kaitlyn sensed something was wrong. David’s seat kept squeaking, as though he kept looking behind. Jacob was stiff at her side, his grip on her knee tight. There was a subtle change in the way Samuel drove the truck.

‘Is something wrong?’ Kaitlyn said in a slightly strangled voice.

‘Keep calm, Kaitlyn,’ Jacob said.

‘I am keeping calm! Just tell me what’s going on.’

‘We’re being followed,’ Samuel said.

‘By what?’

’Another car.

other cars.’

Instinctively, Kaitlyn looked over her shoulder, forgetting her blindfold. Kaitlyn gasped when she felt a tug at the back of her head. She tried to grab onto her sash but it slipped off.

‘You might as well remove it,’ Jacob said, tucking it into a pocket of his cloak. ‘You’re going to need your eyes.’

Kaitlyn met Jacob’s worried gaze, then turned to look behind. Through the back window, she could see that a large black sedan was following them. It looked sleek and expensive and reminded her distinctly of Father Bartholomew’s Rolls Royce. She squinted but couldn’t see who was in the front seat, the window heavily tinted. Kaitlyn’s heart jumped as a second car overtook the first with a roar. Another sleek, black sedan.

They all watched as it passed them. Samuel tapped the brakes as it pulled close in front of them.

close. Kaitlyn gripped onto Jacob’s knee. Jacob laid his big, warm hand on top of hers. They could do nothing, sandwiched between the two black cars.

Trapped.

Except for their “escort”, there was no other traffic. There was nothing, in fact. No buildings. No people. No intersections. No civilisation. Only a desert-like wilderness that disappeared into a blazing white horizon that made Kaitlyn squint. It felt so lonely. So desolate. Where the hell were they?

Kaitlyn tightened her grip on Jacob’s knee, thinking of the last time she’d been caught up in a car chase. She’d lost her angels. She’d been alone. People had died. The Fallen had almost caught her.

‘Who-who are they?’ Kaitlyn asked.

Samuel’s eyes flicked to hers.

‘It won’t be like the last time, Kaitlyn,’ Jacob said, meeting her darting gaze with his calm, hazel eyes.

‘How do you know that?’ she said.

‘I just know.’

The car ahead began to slow, forcing Samuel to slow along with it. It pulled off the road in a spray of dirt. The car behind flashed its lights, indicating that Samuel should follow it.

‘Just take off!’ Kaitlyn cried. ‘Now! Before it’s too late. The road is clear!’

Jacob squeezed her trembling hand. ‘It’s okay, Kaitlyn.’

Samuel pulled over. The brakes whined. The car behind them almost nosed their bumper. Kaitlyn’s heart was racing. She gripped onto Jacob’s arm with sweaty hands. ‘Don’t leave me alone.’

‘I won’t. Not again.’ Jacob unbuckled her seatbelt. ‘Stay with me. Don’t leave my side.’

Samuel left the engine running as two men climbed out of the first car. One was dressed in a long black robe with a white collar—a priest. The driver was dressed in regular clothes, but Kaitlyn got the distinct expression he was a priest too. The first was older, tall, with grey hair. The second was middle-aged, attractive and unexpectedly built beneath his T-shirt.

The first thing Kaitlyn thought was that he was concealing a knife in his pants. The pair reminded her so much of Father Bartholomew and his killer counterpart that her guts twisted anxiously.

she had to remind herself.

The priest lifted his hand in greeting as he approached their car.

David and Samuel made sure their hoods were in place. David wound down his window. ‘Can we help you?’

The priests’s eyes probed the cloaks of the two angels. He glanced at Jacob, then turned his focus on Kaitlyn. He stared.

’Can we you?’ David repeated.

The priest smiled. ‘I’ll make it quick. My name is Father Randolph. I know who you are. I know what you’re running from. We can take you to a safe place.’

David and Samuel looked at each other. Kaitlyn tightened her grip on Jacob’s arm.

‘You can trust us,’ he continued. ‘We’ve known you’ve been staying at the abbey for the last twenty-four hours now. We’ve been waiting for you. We want to help you.’

‘How do you know so much?’ Samuel said warily.

The priest waved his hand. ‘I can explain later. You need to find hallowed ground as soon as possible and we have it for you.’ He swept his eyes over Jacob and Kaitlyn. ‘Like you, I want to keep the world safe.’

A hush fell over the car.

‘You can’t trust him,’ Kaitlyn whispered desperately in Jacob’s ear. ‘They tried to kill me, remember?’

‘I remember.’ Jacob frowned at the priest. ‘If we don’t know who you are or how you found us, how can we possibly trust you?’

The priest raised his big flat palms in a passive gesture. ‘I can only give you my word as a man of God.’

‘Not enough,’ Kaitlyn snapped.

The priest lowered his hands. ’After what happened in Dakota and Alabama, the whole country is looking for you, police and civilians alike. Good people. Bad people.

people. After all that’s happened, many are starting to work things out. Or worse—

they are. They have seen you. They know at least three of your faces. They know how you’re travelling. In the end, whether or not you manage to escape Satan’s dark forces, will find you. And how, then, will you defend yourselves?’ He gripped onto the edge of the window with a large, bony hand. Kaitlyn saw that his eyes were grey, much like Father Alexander’s had been. ‘We are only here to protect humanity—as is our duty. The Church is powerful. We can protect you and hide you.’

‘You tried to kill me!’ Kaitlyn exclaimed. ‘You tried to stab me with a knife in my own home!’

Kaitlyn dug her fingers into Jacob’s arm as she shook. She felt hot, angry tears swelling in her eyes, but even as they did she knew resistance was futile. She knew the priest was right. How much longer before they were found again? She couldn’t do another Bowdie. She winced as she thought of the poor dead police officer. She winced again as she remembered the panicking cop pointing his gun at her. If the wrong people found her …

‘I know of Father Bartholomew, but he was not one of ours,’ the priest continued. ‘He was his own agent. I am very sorry for what he almost did but his is not the view of The Church.’

Samuel turned to Jacob. ‘We must make a decision now, Jacob.’ He looked up. ’

are watching.’

Jacob turned to Kaitlyn. All Kaitlyn could do was gaze at him helplessly.

He leaned into her ear. ‘I will not leave your side.’ He turned to the priest. ‘We will go with you. But myself and at least one other of my angel brothers must ride with Kaitlyn. We do not separate under any circumstances. That is our agreement.’

‘That sounds perfectly acceptable,’ the priest said, sounding relieved.

Kaitlyn watched as the second man in regular clothes opened the rear door of the waiting black sedan and stood by it.

‘Stay in the truck, Samuel. Follow us,’ Jacob told the angel.

Samuel nodded. ‘Definitely.’

Jacob turned to David as he seized Kaitlyn’s hand. ‘Come with us.’

David opened his door. The priest stepped back as Jacob and Kaitlyn slid out of the backseat. She could feel his eyes on her back as she walked over to his car. The second man returned to the driver’s seat. Kaitlyn paused before she got in, glancing over at the other car. A man was leaning against the driver’s door with his arms folded. He, too, was dressed in casual clothes. A figure sat in the passenger seat, indistinct behind the tinted glass.

‘Come on, Kaitlyn. We need to go,’ Jacob warned.

The Fallen. Demons.

.

Kaitlyn slid into the middle while Jacob climbed in after her. David climbed in from the other side. Kaitlyn jumped when all four doors slammed shut. It was tight and uncomfortable but she felt safe. She had Jacob. She had David. Samuel would follow behind them. She was not alone.

The wheels churned against the dirt, then the car bumped back onto the road.

‘Shouldn’t I put on my blindfold?’ Kaitlyn asked.

The two men in front were quiet. The priest’s grey eyes caught Kaitlyn’s through the rearview mirror. It was the last thing she saw before Jacob helped her with her sash.

‘How did you find us?’ Jacob said.

‘One of the nuns,’ Kaitlyn answered before the priest could.

‘You don’t trust easily, do you Kaitlyn?’ the priest said. Kaitlyn jerked at the sound of her name. ‘You are right. Yes. It was one of the nuns. But don’t judge them too harshly. We had our suspicions. We asked the right questions. They could not lie. And in the end it will be good for you. You will be much safer with us.’

‘I’m sorry if we scared you,’ he continued and Kaitlyn knew he was talking directly with her. Angels didn’t get scared, after all. ‘It truly is a privilege to be in the presence of such company.’

he was talking to the angels. He took a deep breath through his nose. ‘It is still incredible to me. There are so many questions I want to ask.’

‘Now is not the time,’ David said.

‘No. You are right, of course. All that matters is Kaitlyn’s safety. And she will find no greater safety than with The Church.’

‘Other than my angels,’ Kaitlyn said. She held out her hand. Jacob took it.

‘Other than your angels,’ Father Randolph agreed.