CHAPTER 31 RAGNOR
CHAPTER 31
RAGNOR
Ragnor awoke to the sound of tapping on the window.
Immediately on alert, he pulled away from the beautiful woman lying in bed next to him and slid out of the covers. Aileen murmured something as she cuddled deeper into the duvet, and Ragnor’s chest tightened at the sight.
Then the tapping on the window echoed again.
After quickly putting on some clothes, he strode to the window and pushed the curtains away. Outside he saw Luceras floating in the air, staring at him with profound jungle eyes.
Glancing back at Aileen, he motioned for the Malachi to wait and left the room. Once Ragnor was out of the inn, Luceras landed in the yard and approached him. “The number of Jinn congregating in Vermont has multiplied,” he told Ragnor without preamble. “There also seems to be more vampires there as well, from what I could tell.”
Ragnor grimaced. “My surveillance team is already on it,” he said, referring to the intelligence department of his Troop. “I’m going to take care of it today.”
Luceras’s face remained as expressionless as ever, but his eyes seemed to flash. “The Seraphim have been uneasy as of late,” he said, glancing at the window of Ragnor and Aileen’s room. “It might have something to do with that woman.”
The last thing Ragnor needed was either Luceras or the Seraphim to be aware of Aileen’s ancestry—especially since Ragnor himself was not yet sure what it was, exactly. “She’s a mere vampire,” he now said evenly. “Hardly a threat.”
This didn’t seem to be enough to satisfy Luceras. “You know how well I’m bonded to the ether, Deveran,” he now said, stepping toward Ragnor. “The same abnormal shifts in the ether I usually sense near the Jinn, I also sense now near this woman.”
Ragnor froze. “I told you,” he said, keeping his face schooled into neutrality despite his shock at this news, “she’s only a vampire.”
“That’s not the only thing she is,” Luceras argued, coming to a stop only a foot away. “The Seraphim are unaware of her existence at the moment, but I won’t be able to hold them off for too long.” He paused, giving Ragnor a meaningful stare, before he said, “Take care of the Jinn today, Deveran, so the Seraphim will be off both your and my backs.”
Luceras raised his wings and took flight, turning invisible the higher he ascended.
Now that he was gone, Ragnor could let himself feel the bomb Luceras had just dropped exploding inside him.
The ether was a divine energy that existed everywhere on earth at once. Around humans, vampires, and other anthropomorphic races who were considered creatures of the earth, the ether was as tranquil as the ocean, since neither humans nor vampires were alien to this dimension.
Unlike humans and vampires, the Jinn were not created on earth; they were an abomination. Their presence in this realm was unnatural and disruptive to not just the ether but the ecosystem as a whole. This was why the ether always shifted oddly around the Jinn, acting as a warning to the Malachi that something was wrong.
Ragnor had never known any other creature who disrupted the ether in the same manner as the Jinn. That Luceras said he sensed the same kind of disruption near Aileen was another matter to be wary of where she was concerned.
It must have something to do with her being Sacred, Ragnor thought grimly despite the other nagging thought fighting its way into his stubborn brain. He hadn’t been surprised to learn that she was Sacred, but that was supposed to be impossible for a newbie. And yet, it wasn’t the only impossible thing Aileen Henderson had managed to achieve since he had given her the Imprint.
The utter improbability of everything that had happened since the night he’d seen her in the alleyway behind that dreadful excuse for a club weighed on him. Imprinting on her instead of killing her. Allowing himself to become involved with her. Luceras’s warning. Eliza’s insistence that she was not to be trusted. Even Atalon’s interest in her. And now, the Jinn? What the hell did they want with her? What was it about Aileen Henderson that made everyone close to Ragnor want her? What made him want her?
Ragnor looked at the window and felt his chest tighten again, this time for different reasons than before. He had only managed to get her to give him another chance. Would he be able to convince her to tell him about the past she’d been desperately trying to hide?
He let out a sigh. There wasn’t time for backstories and past lives. He had to prepare for the battle to come. Because saving Aileen’s friend was only secondary to his eternal mission.
He would eliminate the Jinn from the face of the earth.