***
Kevan watched her mother's internal struggle over the decision to stay and cluck over her girls, or to, trust the grown women she called her babies. Kevan smiled, feeling blessed that so many family members accepted the decisions that she had made; they may not like them, but that was all part of being a family.
Kevan was still overwhelmed, and found it a little hard to wrap her mind around the fact that her mother was a magic wielding policewoman of sorts. It was going to take time to reconcile the two images together. She wondered what it would be like to learn from her mother and aunt, as well as from her dad and uncle. The way the guys spoke about the Sentinels made her think that there was a lot more to be learned and it would certainly piss Joseph off to know that he wasn't the only one that they could learn from. Her reminiscing was stopped by a touch; her eyes landed on her mom watching her.
"Kevan honey, are you sure that you don't want us to stay and help you?" Bridget questioned. Kevan leaned over and hugged her mom.
"Mom, the idea of watching you in action would be amazing, but what we need, only you can get: more information. We need you go to the council, and try make them understand what is happening. Joseph doesn't believe that Dreyden has given up, and even though there hasn't been a sign of him for a long time doesn't mean we shouldn't be worried; I think we are on the radar now. Finding anything that might give us a starting point that could lead us to the grimoire would be a help." Bridget nodded, and pulled Kevan into her arms, hugging her baby girl.
"I'm very proud of you, all of you," Bridget whispered in Kevan`s ear. "You can do this, I know you can."
"Thanks, Mum," Kevan told her.
Bridget looked over Kevan's shoulders at the men standing on the steps, watching them. In many respects, the cairbare reminded her of all those years ago when she had first met Jason and Gavin. Their proud stance, the determined set of the jaw, and what was most surprising, she saw honesty. She let Kevan go before she started crying again, she walked over to Caleb, taking a hold of his hands.
"Understand this gentlemen, I am putting into these hands the one thing that I never in a million years thought that I would. These women are more important than anything or anybody, and I don't care what you have to do to protect them, but you will," she warned them. "If one hair on their heads is harmed, you will never know another day's peace, do you understand me?"
"Perfectly," Caleb assured her. "We will protect them with our lives." Bridget looked to her sister, and then to her husband, "Ready?"
"We'll be in touch once we find anything, and remember, we are only a phone call away," Jason said, shaking Caleb's hand.
"Yes sir." Caleb could see the worry in his eyes. "We will protect them with our lives, you don't have to worry."
Jason looked at him. "They are my daughters, and I can't begin to make you understand how much I love them. But I also know that they are strong capable women, but it's nice to know that they have good friends standing at their sides."
It was a bittersweet moment as they watched the parents drive away. They had some of the answers they needed, while others remained unasked or unanswered.
After the car was long out of sight, Kevan turned and looked to the men standing behind her family, feeling sure that life was about to be very different from now on.
"We need all the information you have on the grimoire, location, details about the spells, as well as the contributors over the years. Please refrain from allowing your arrogance from influencing what you divulge," she told Joseph.
Joseph nodded; in the past few weeks he learned to go along rather than argue. He had to admit, albeit reluctantly, that their unorthodox methods worked more often than not. It had been a long time since his brother and his warriors had taught him a few things about this world outside of L'Dern. Earth was very different from what he remembered from the last time he had paid a visit, and maybe it was time for the members of the cairbare council to step out of their world, and start interacting with the others.
"I'll gather everything we've discovered over the years." The sorcerer began to shimmer when Kevan said, "Joseph, bring everything!"
"Do you not trust that we would know what is important, and what is not?" Joseph demanded, getting his back up.
"Take it down a notch, Gandalf. There are things you might not see the same way we would, things that could give us clues as to what Dreyden's up to. He's got a huge jump on us, so a fresh pair of eyes looking over everything again won't hurt." Kevan almost kept her voice cool.
"I really wish you would speak English," Joseph muttered as he disappeared from sight.
"I don't think I'll ever get use to that," Eve stated as she pulled out her keys. "Looks like you've got it under control. I need to get to the hospital; my shift starts in forty-five minutes."
"Are you feeling any better, Eve, about your new talent?" Kevan wanted to know.
Eve gave a weak smile. "A bit; the blocks that Joseph taught me have certainly helped, and latex gloves preventing skin contact makes it easier. Time, I just need time, right?" she sighed. "I'll be a better doctor. At least that is what I keep telling myself. I gotta run, talk to you all later. Call me if there is anything I need to know."
Kevan gave her a quick hug. She could see the struggle that Eve was having. All the girls seemed to be having a hard time with the inexplicable things that had happened to them, all except Kevan; she felt strong, and secretly loved the power, the way it made her feel. So far, Eve was the only other who manifested any showing of power, making the others question if they would. Not Kevan; hers were growing daily, as was her control. When she called up the energy, it was a giddy rush, and within her control at a thought. She leaned back into Caleb's arms, as they snaked their way around her. She sighed with contentment, amazed at how much this man had come to mean to her in such a short amount of time.
"What's going through that beautiful brain of yours?" he whispered in her ear.
"Nothing," she told him.
"Don't tell me nothing, I can see that brain of yours racing. I can't help if you don't tell me what's bothering you." Kevan stepped out of his arms, only to realize that they were alone in the foyer. "Kevan?"
She looked to him. "Why has all of this come so much easier for me, my powers I mean? Don't get me wrong, they're way cool, and I'm having a lot of fun with them, but they seem to be growing stronger in me, and the rest haven't even shown a glimmer of power, except Eve. I can see how to make things better, don't ask me how, but I can. I know where, yet again, Kaitlyn has misplaced her keys. I touch something, and I know its history. Eve got hers at the same time I did, and she's still struggling. I can't tell you how many dirty looks Kaitlyn has given me because my powers are working and hers still seem to be dormant. Can you explain why it seems to be so easy for me?"
"I wish I could, but I can't. The only reason I can think of, is maybe yours will be needed in order to find the grimoire before Dreyden. Call your Mum, maybe she knows, or ask Joseph." He took Kevan's hand and led her into the living room, making her sit down. Kevan looked at him as she made herself comfortable on the couch.
"I don't understand? Why would you say that? If we are meant to find the grimoire, wouldn't we all have our powers?"
"Maybe you aren't all supposed to find the grimoire," he told her. "Look at it this way: the two powers that will likely play a part in finding the grimoire will be a detector, which is you, and a truth seeker, which is Eve."
"So the rest don't get powers? No, Mum said that Brennan showed signs of powers when she was eight months old. They didn't bind our powers until we were toddlers, so why would they come in at different times?"
"I don't know why. All I know is that right now, as important as your sisters' lack of powers are, finding the grimoire is more important and we need to be focusing on that," Caleb told her.
Kevan didn't like it but he was right, they would dea
l with everything else after they found the grimoire.
"Then what is the next step? We have to wait for Joseph to bring us what he has and go from there." Kevan paused. "What do you know about this Samhain diary, the one that Dreyden stole? Better yet, what do you know about this grimoire thingy?"
"Thingy?" Caleb arched his eyebrows.
"Oh, give me a break. Just tell me what you know."
"You're really cute when you get mad."
"Caleb, don't forget I can throw energy bolts."
"Wow, now you're just making me hot."
"Caleb, everything makes you hot."
"What can I say; I'm a horny old man?"
Kevan shook her head and changed the subject. "So what can you can tell me about the grimoire, and who else might be looking for it?"
"Talk about a mood killer," he told her.
"Concentrate. Fun stuff comes later," she promised. "Right now, I need you to tell me everything you know about this grimoire and who else might be looking for it?"
"I'm going to hold you to your promise."
Kevan crooked her head and gave him a smile. "Who else might be searching for the Drusa grimoire? Let me rephrase that. Who wouldn't be afraid to use it? Who would gain the most from having control over it? A book of all the most dangerous spells ever imagined in one place.” Kevan snorted with disgust. “Who ever thought this was a great idea was seriously fucked."
"Preaching to the choir darling, but it was." Caleb declared.
"Are you telling me that you can sing?"
"Kevan, focus," he growled.
"Fine." She pouted with a smile.
"Okay," Caleb began, "the legend, or story, is that Samhain found the grimoire, and was so terrified by what he found that it drove him crazy. He wrote riddles and clues, and in the end, ramblings in a diary which, if you can figure them out, will lead you to where the grimoire has been hidden."
"At least someone was smart enough to hide it," Kevan stated, stopping when she saw the flash that came over Caleb's face. "Caleb, they did hide it, didn't they?"
"Well, that's the thing, we aren't exactly sure what happened to it," Caleb admitted.
"What do you mean, you aren't exactly sure?" She stopped, drawing in a deep breath, calming herself, and then looked back at Caleb. "I'm going to shut up, and you are going to tell me what you aren't telling me right now."
"Kevan, it's a really long story," Caleb carped, making her smile.
"You want me to keep my promise, and then you had better start talking buddy," she warned, her finger poking his chest until he grabbed it, bringing it to his mouth and biting it gently. Kevan stared at him, her body flush with excitement at the memories of what he could do with his mouth. His eyes twinkled with need and mischief.
"Fine, the Drusa grimoire was assembled before recorded histories. General belief is that even though the saved spells were nasty, they were spells that they thought should be saved. No different than housing bio weapons, I suppose. The book floated around for a while, until it ended up in the Repository."
"The what?" Kevan gave a look of confusion.
"The Repository of Wisdom, which is a whole other story for another time." Caleb's hope of ending story time made Kevan smirk.
"Okay, it was in this Repository thing, then how did it get out?" Kevan let him off easy.
"That's just it, nobody seems to know. As far as we knew, once something went into the Repository it didn't come out," Caleb told her with a shrug. "Oh course, there have been exceptions, but they were few and far between and certainly not something as dangerous as the grimoire."
"Okay, so what does this all have to with Samhain and the grimoire?"
"Supposedly, Samhain was searching for the lost repository, and found the grimoire by accident."
"My gods, how many things have you guys lost?" Kevan said with frustration.
"You know we're getting off track," Caleb told her. "You wanted to know about the grimoire and the diary."
"Well, is there a chance that it's still in this repository place?" Kevan asked.
"I guess it's possible, but then why would Samhain have gone crazy?" he pointed out. "Besides, nobody has been in the repository for a very long time."
"This is nuts. Too much fragmented information, I'm getting confused," Kevan groaned.
"You and me both. Okay, let’s forget about what the repository is for the moment; it really doesn't play a part that I know, other than that this was where the grimoire was supposed to be stored in order to protect all the worlds."
"Uh," Kevan started holding her finger up.
"Not now, Kevan; I promise to explain later."
"Deal," she told him.
"Somehow the grimoire, which is supposed to be safe in the repository, is removed. A rumor is started about its disappearance and now all the races know that the grimoire no longer resides within the safety of the repository. It's a powerful artifact; if it falls into the wrong hands it could be extremely dangerous. Samhain was a sorcerer or warlock, which depends on whom you talk to. He was obsessed with finding the Repository. We can only speculate about motives."
"Okay, as much as I would like to ignore this, I can't; what is this repository thingy?" Kevan demanded.
“Thingy?” Caleb laughed. “Such elegant english.”
“Knock off smart ass. Explain now, please.” Kevan insisted.
"The repository is like a library, or a museum, existing on its own plane. Over the eons, all kinds of things were stored for safe keeping with contributions by all the races. According to legend, Samhain was looking for the repository, and by accident found the grimoire. The contents of which robbed the man's sanity."
"I would suspect that is a vast oversimplification of what happened, but at least it gives us a starting point." Kevan felt a bit of relief.
"How does that give us a starting point?" Caleb questioned.
"Well according to you, he wrote the diary after he found the grimoire, not before, so he followed a trail which led him to the grimoire. All we need to do is find that trail. What do you know about Mr. Dexter Samhain?" Caleb pushed himself to his feet as he went to look out the window. "Caleb?" Kevan came to stand behind him.
"I really hate admitting this, especially with all the things we've said about Joseph's ilk, but I'm a warrior, I've always been a warrior." Kevan slid her arms around him, her hands sliding under his t-shirt as she reveled in the feel of his body.
"I for one am very glad that you are a warrior, Caleb, but what does that have to do with anything?" Kevan asked him.
"A warrior learns how to fight, how to protect; we don't worry about things like the grimoire, it just wasn't important. Looking back, I realize maybe I should have paid a bit more attention about things like that, but it just isn't a fighter's focus." Caleb shrugged.
"So what, you guys don't know anything?" she asked with surprise.
"No, I'm sure that Niall and Marcus would have paid attention, but most likely it would be Joseph and his sorcerers that will have the answers that you are looking for." Caleb muttered, "Shit!" under his breath.
"And we already have asked him to give us everything that he has regarding Samhain," Kevan stated. "So we're back to a question I asked just a while ago, who else would be searching for the grimoire?" Kevan moved away from Caleb, coming to a halt in the middle of the room. "Any idea where to start?"
"Not a clue," Caleb told her.
"I might have idea." They both turned towards the voice at the doorway of the room.
"Brody!" Kevan gasped. "Oh my gods!" She ran to him as he slid to the floor.
"What the hell happened to you? Who did this?" She reached out, touching his bruised and swollen face.
"I'm alright, just help me to my feet," he told her, trying to grin, but she could see the pain in his face.
"Caleb!" she appealed.
"Rhiannon's on her way," Caleb spat, a
s he came to Brody's assistance. "What the hell did you do to piss someone off now, Brody?"
"I asked the wrong questions," he choked out, letting the black that swam in front of his eyes swallow him up.