Cinderfella 3: Life Continues - 44. Will You Help Us?

I admit it.  My writing reflects me and scenarios I try to work with.  I miss God.  He didn't move, but I had issues that you know.  I'm not the crazy man with the sandwich board on that says "The End Is Near." will shouting for everyone to repent.  I believed what I was taught.  I admit I don't know who is in charge.  I'm no zealot.  There just has to be more.  

Will You Help Us?

For the next hour or so, we caught things up with Caleb and Demetrius. Don’t misunderstand. Caleb sat and listened with a clear path mapped out for him to get away. If he needed to. But where could he go? I was little concerned about where he sat. And what he wore to sit in. It screamed with its lack of fashion! The color was red…sort of. It wasn’t burgundy. Crimson? I am no slave to any fashion, but… I knew there were some in the Church that took time to look…what’s the word? Superior? The crimson they wore was clean, pressed and re-enforced their opinion of themselves as others who would cower away from them. I’d love to have a one-on-one with some of them. I was hoping that in the end, they would see they were not better than anyone else. In many cases, they were way worse! False humility and piousness of a saint and fake! How would their notions stand against evidence? Would they accept the evidence? Caleb’s robe was a step above a sack! It didn’t improve how he looked. It wasn’t designed to. Every time Demetrius or I moved, he’d jump a little. We’d been all through this. I walked over to him and sat in a chair right in front of him. Caleb sat back in his chair for distance.

“You were the most unique friend I ever had,” I held my finger up to make a point, “Friends in the guard or in the service sort of had to be.” I shrugged. “I hope I was an approachable sort of person. I tried never to be demanding or impatient. People working at the palace were busy! Then you came around and…” I waved at Caleb, “at first you were there because someone accidently broke your mom’s arm.” I sat back. “How dare they!?” I said indignant. “A little tidbit of my own wisdom, get in the good graces of anyone that cooks for you.” I pointed at Caleb, “I find out your mother is the baker of choice!! Jackpot!! Cakes, rolls of all kinds, any loaf of bread, biscuits, cookies, parfait, pie,” I was getting exciting remembering as I told Demetrius and Seth, “and she made them just a little better because she knew me and liked what she made! I was also her son’s friend! She made these what did she call them? They were baked on the outside and soft when you bit into them. I think I made a meal or two off of those alone!” I saw two of them looking interested and one smirking at me. Caleb knew the tasty tidbit I mentioned well.

“The ones that had the pepper jelly?” Caleb asked me with a small smile.

“God, yes!!” I pointed at Caleb happily. “Before her I had never even heard of pepper jelly.”

“Pepper jelly?” Seth grinned.

I nodded, “Yes! It could be hot, sweet, savory and any combination you could imagine! At twelve, I was determined to try all of her pepper jelly! But those…” I sat forward a bit, “what did she call them?”

Caleb was relaxing as he nodded, “Cheese Parfaits. They were in those little cup crusts…”

“Yes! And there was cheese in those flaky crusts!” I added.

Caleb chuckled, “the name changed with what she put in them.”

“Maybe I’ll get Grace to try it one day and try to get her to makes some.” I looked at Caleb. “Your mom is still at the palace kitchen. She’s a head baker now. I’m certain if her son asked her to, she’d make some.” I tapped his forehead. “I,” tap, “will,” tap, “not,” tap, “hurt,” tap, “you! It was your brains that won you over with my professor. Your love of knowledge and your gift for languages that moved you to Roma.”

“Which you didn’t even ask about,” he looked at me and then Demetrius, “Did you?”

“Ask about?” Demetrius questioned.

“He was going on his way to do something,” Seth pointed out. “What was it?” He shook his head, “You don’t even know!”

“I sort of sort of forgot that part,” I admitted. Seth smiled and threw an arm around my shoulder. “We are descended from Adam and Eve.” He put a hand of Demetrius’ shoulder. “He descended from Adam and Lilith. His wife was Ella’s Fairy Godmother and used magic to get Christian and Ella quickly together.”

“There was a Fairy Godmother?” Caleb said more to confirm.

“I was!” Ella said appearing by Demetrius. Dressed more like a fairy or angel or…white, silver and light reflecting clothe and blonde hair cascading down and she sort of shimmered. I noticed that Caleb didn’t shrink away.

I reached over and pinched Demetrius lightly. “Why didn’t you think of wearing something like that!?” I waved at Demetrius.

“It never occurred to me to put you in a dress!” Demetrius explained as loud.

“Not the dress!!”

“Wait!” Seth said quickly holding his hand out. “Where did you leave from?”

“From a lovely pub known as L’Angolo sarcastically.” I said, “That’s Italian for corner.” I nodded, “Because, it is a corner.”

“Two buildings so close, but only room for a child to make it through the gap…” Demetrius admitted with a nod.

“There were people there!?” Seth bellowed in horror! “Was there anyone who knew you, Caleb?”

“I stand by what I said!” Demetrius said firmly pinching me back. “I knew he would run and he did.” He pointed at the surrounding building. “He didn’t run far as he has never been here. He knew in Vatican City!”

“And I could keep up with him!”

Seth smiled as he came closer to Caleb, “Don’t worry about them,” he waved me and Demetrius away. “They adore each other, I swear.”

“He has a life, Demetrius!!” I said pressing each syllable on his chest.

“And?” Demetrius said. “You two own this huge vineyard!! When was the last grape you tended?” He asked Seth and then pointed at me. “The last bottled you labeled, was it red, white, a burgundy…what. His life is not over.” He turned to Caleb, “Was there anyone that recognized you there?”

“Especially the bartender,” I added in a grumble. “They see and remember everything. Did you recognize him?”

“No,” Caleb admitted. “I think I’ve been there five times in the past decade. It’s where you go not to be seen.”

I held my hand up. “If there were simply three men that disappeared,” I began. “If they know who, we plan something else,” I placed a hand on his arm, “I return you to your little room and what cover you want to use is up to you.”

“Just like that?” Caleb nodded irritated. “You waltz up in Roma out of nowhere after ten years, you say some wild stuff, grab my hand and we’re thousands of miles away.” He threw his hands up. “Now you just want to take me back and say, sorry!?”

I inhaled and then slowly nodded, “Sorry.”

“No!” Demetrius blew up. “NO!” He stood angrily and stomped a foot, “No, no,” he turned to me. “No!” He waved at Caleb, but looked at me. “He’s supposed to be here! It’s not a coincident that a school friend from your past has learned to read the ancient languages! He’s studied them. It’s getting better, but a few decades ago or more, you’d have to search the streets to locate someone that could read English! Their own language.”

“Yes,” I said. “He was the one to spark my interest in the scriptures and testaments.”

“Coincident?” Demetrius asked. “Please.” He began to say loud in an a near rant. “This isn’t even a hard to follow trail, this is a marble, landscaped paved path leading up to the front door saying here! It is so obvious! He is supposed to be here!”

“We didn’t ask him,” I said simply. “It’s common curtesy.” I smiled at Demetrius. “Please, sneak a peek at A’Langolo. Check his room…”

“You’ve been in my room!?” Caleb gaped.

“I had to,” I explained to Caleb, “To prove to myself I could find you. We sort of popped in last night.”

“They must trust you,” Demetrius said. “All those translations lying around. The biggest thing is that table. All those scrolls and other letters and…”

Caleb nodded and chuckled, “I’m always getting fussed at about that.” He absently scratched his ear. “You were there. I was there?”

“Sound asleep,” I said. “Demetrius has had his abilities almost from birth. I got mine just recently.”

“That’s not what Deme…” Seth interrupted.

I barely glanced behind me at Seth, “Well, yeah, but, I didn’t know about that then, did I?” I threw my hands up. “We all can do it! Children of Lilith and Eve can.”

“HOW!?” Caleb blurted.

“I DON’T KNOW!!” I said as loud. “I don’t know how I do it, but I can. I might could teach others if I did know! I don’t.”

“There was a bit of confusion at L’Angolo’s.” Demetrius said appearing out of nowhere. Caleb jumped again, but not as badly. Two gentlemen there said we just vanished, but one was very drunk and…another mystery at the Vatican. No one knew who was in the group of three.”

“Well, this isn’t the usual stigmata of a bleeding Christ or Blessed Virgin,” I reached out again for Caleb, “I’ll take you back.”

Caleb pulled his hand away and where I couldn’t touch him, “Not so fast.” He pointed at Seth, but walked away me. “You guys have been dealing with this more than a day. I need more than a few hours.”

“Fine,” I nodded. “But you have to be cold.” I pointed at the ceiling. “Freezing water out there. They heat the floors, but what you have on can’t be warm.”

Caleb grinned looking down at himself, “It is a little drafty.” He admitted and the shrugged. “Which was no problem in Roma. Must of the meeting places are heated even if it’s by other bodies there for the same thing.”

Really, I didn’t pay that much attention to what anyone with the Church wore. It wasn’t an attractive garment. I knew there was a ranking system, but Caleb only had that one robe on. I’m not shy. “You’ve been in a while,” I said, “but you look like a novice.”

Caleb smiled and grudged a nod, “That’s because I still am.” He held his hand up to stop the questions. “I’m not a Priest or a brother, I don’t want to make vows for life giving up things like comfort, sex and other things, I didn’t want to make vows that tied me to the Church for life.” He shrugged. “I like what I do and I’m good at it.” He looked up, crossed his arms and scowled. “You want me here to do something more. Are you going to ask me?”

I chuckled, “Would you help us?”

“To do what?” Caleb asked, “Exactly?”

I held that finger up, “First, let’s find something warm to wear.”

I went to get some clothing for Caleb. I cut to the chase and asked for some. Men don’t, except at the last effort. While I there, I changed my clothes. Those deerskin pants and shirt were warm. Caleb was about the same size as Toby. Upon my return, Seth and Demetrius had gotten Caleb to sit and talk. He really was cold as his hands were between his knees.

“…and none of them have been able to sire or conceive a child in two hundred years!?” Caleb asked in amazement.

“Have you spoken about the Watchers?” I asked as I held up deerskin pants.

“Not yet,” Demetrius answered.

I tossed the pants to Caleb. “Try these.” I sat by Seth. “I have a lot of problems with the book of Genesis. When the first humans were here,” I began, “were they in the garden?”

Caleb shook his head, “I don’t know. It’s possible there were two worlds, this world and the garden.” He slid his legs in the pants’ legs and pulled them up, under his robe. “Why?”

“Because the Watchers were made to watch people,” I said. “About two hundred of them did more than that. They married some of those first people,” I pointed at Demetrius, “who were these people! The Children of Adam and Lilith. The angels were sent to watch the shepherds then.” I shook my head. “If it was in the Garden, shepherds wouldn’t be needed. The sheep would never be attacked. They might scatter, but they were safe.”

Caleb slowly nodded, “Maybe.” His answer was given as he would to anyone would question his belief in the Church or its teaching. He fastened his pants and pulled his robe off.

“They were Ben Elohim,” I said to confirm. “Weren’t they?”

“There were two sets,” Caleb said nodding, “the Grigori and the Irin…”

“And here we go again,” Seth hung his head and moaned.

“He’s just not liking the names,” I explained.

Caleb chuckled at Seth, “It’s not Bob, but when you learn it, you never forget them.”

“So, what’s the difference?” Seth asked.

“We can’t prove any…”

“We know!!” Seth, Demetrius and I said at the same time. Caleb to pull back, but there was humor in it this time.

“Okay,” Caleb chuckled as he tried to appease me. “Jewish Mythology and…” he saw I was going to say something about that and he went on, “Okay.”

I waved at Demetrius, “He is not like anyone you ever met. In ten years, he has hardly aged a day!! He does things very few can do.” I put my arm around him. “Whatever proof, he’s here!”

“And he’s not alone!” Seth added. “There’s Dara, his wife and Ella’s Godmother, Lukus, who is a good guy, but…long story,” he shook his head, “His wife Martha and Ceto…”

“Don’t forget Eabha.” I told Seth.

“They are all here?” Caleb asked. “Why?”

“We were to help man’s transition to an age where we are gone.” Dara said simply and was just beside Demetrius. She wasn’t here before. She held her hand out in caution, “I keep forgetting. Children of Eve don’t undress or dress where others can see.” Then, she just wasn’t there. “I’ll be back.”

Caleb had seen Dara, so was not as shocked. “Not wasting time, because you’ve explored all the natural means to stop pregnancy. Do you want these Watchers to have children with them?” He shook his head. “That wasn’t a good idea in the first place.”

“Why?” I asked.

“These Watchers were not allowed to interfere with Human Development.” Caleb argued pulling the robe off. He was a small man, but I saw muscles that had been worked and was fit. I had Seth, so just like with Yannick, I appreciated what was there and even thought he was attractive, but I never…look, those in marriages of man to woman sees a pretty woman, but not his wife, knows she’s pretty and doesn’t mean he wants to have sex with her. He might! That is a whole other topic. This was not a rabbit or wild hare. And Seth has more chest hair which I loved. Caleb had a little hair in the places I could see on his chest and under the arms. “The Grigori were elite special angels. They were angels so high up in the top levels of Heaven they were superior.”

I nodded. "But if you peeked under those glowing robes of theirs, they had man hoods the same as all men do!” I waved at the sky, and then shouted, “Why would You do that!? It doesn’t make sense!” I threw my hands out helplessly. “The Watchers…” I waved at Seth, “The Grigori was angels! They were, I have no doubt, just stunning to look at. Beautiful! They fell in love with the daughters of Lilith! They should! Every Child of Lilith is beautiful! You’re seen Dara! Even Le Nah was beautiful when not on her mad rant.”

“We saw Lilith,” Seth said softly to Caleb whose eyes grew.

“Seth,” I groaned. “We don’t know…”

Seth shook his finger at me. “Oh, yes you do!” He argued, “We both know it. She didn’t deny it when you asked her and you know it was her!”

“It doesn’t matter!” I turned to Seth as I grinned. “Some handsome, viral males came to watch, fell in love with the daughters of Lilith and had children. That’s what we do as Humans! I don’t blame the Watchers. Were there other angels these Watchers were compatible with? Can regular angels have relationships? There is a whole lot of time missing! There were two worlds! Weren’t there?”

Caleb looked uncomfortable, “I don’t…”

“Tell me what you think!” I pleaded. “We need to remember Father Markham is leading this group.” I shook my head. “He doesn’t scare me. I’ve dealt with him before, but that man with him.’ I shuddered. “I don’t know what he is, but he’s not all Human.” I pointed at Caleb. “He’s from the other Earth.”

“The Church threw it out,” Caleb said.

“The Church burnt heretics when they said the world was round,” I pointed out, “We know it is. I don’t give a damn what the Church says. It left traces in Genesis about what in the book of Enoch! According to them Adam and Eve sinned, got cast out. Those Watchers were mating with the daughters of Eve way before that. There were cities. Whoever this whatever is, he has something that could hurt or harm Demetrius and the other Children of Lilith! I know it!”

“It will bring the progress that the Sons of Adam have made to a stop,” Demetrius said.

“Those testaments you’ve studied,” I said smiling, “we written, having been passed by a people with lifespans of almost a thousand years! Written thousands of years before the New Scriptures when it was fresher on their minds. The answers are there!”

Caleb smiled and nodded, “You’re right.”

Seth jumped at that. “He is? Which part?”

“Most of it,” Caleb said. “There was just one Earth, though. The Garden of Eden is gone. If it ever was. The Grigori had children and those children had children.”

“They were evil?” I asked.

Caleb’s eye squinted, “Well, the ones that were evil outshone the ones that weren’t.”

“Great!” I said in triumph, “I feel victory heading our way!”

“What happened with us?” Seth asked. “We lose the ability to use magic and our lives got really short.”

Caleb shrugged, “This is a guess, but the flood happened.”

“Flood?” Seth asked. “You mean the Great Flood, Noah, and the animals gathered two by two, the Ark and…”

“Yep,” Caleb smiled, “before the flood, most of Human lives were as long as others. After the flood, the life spans became what we’re familiar with. Enoch was Noah’s great-grandfather.”

Seth’s eyes grew when he heard that.

“You think that God’s decision to put angels capable of fathering children with Human women is a mistake?” Caleb asked me smiling slyly. “It’s like putting a tree with fruit we can’t eat from and telling them eat everything, but the fruit of this tree. Why create the tree? Maybe to shape Humanity?”

“And Angels? They sin and they make bad decisions,” I said.

“Just like some other beings I heard of,” Caleb chuckled. “Nobody’s perfect.”

I smiled at him, “Caleb! Making friends with you was a great decision!” I hugged the man.

The door opened and Toby came in with Val.

“Dad!” Toby bounced once and came over hugging me. “I came a while ago, Daddy said you and Uncle Deme went on another trip.”

Not to bore you, but again, new people had to notice Toby’s speech was a little…off. The glutaral stops and pauses were there because Toby learned to put them there to be understood. Caleb was not stupid. He grinned, curious as he looked at me as I hugged Toby.

I held Toby back a little so he could see my face, “Everything’s alright, though?”

“Oh, sure,” Toby chuckled, “Daddy was about to ware a path into the floor for you to get back.” The floor beneath us was stone.

“Your Daddy worries,” I said explaining simply. I waved at Caleb. “This a very smart friend of mine, Caleb Dupont.” I held Toby slightly forward. “This is Toby. One of Seth’s and my two brilliant sons. He has a brother, Dennis waiting back in A’Dore.” Now telling people was just a manner of course. “He’s been deaf at six months of life. He reads lips, so he needs to see your face.”

As it was normal now, Caleb’s reaction was delighted surprise, “You must be brilliant!” He said and shook Toby’s hand. “I knew your smart Dad a while and I know he’s smart. I just met your…Daddy was it?”

Toby nodded, “I have two, so I call that one Daddy,” he said as Seth walked over.

Caleb nodded, “My impression of him all good and he’s a very happy man. I have no doubt he is brilliant, too.”

Toby put his arm around my arm that held him securely. Not to push my arm away, but pull it more securely, “this one is Dad. For both of them, it’s Dads.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Toby.” Caleb greeted shaking Toby’s hand.

The novelty of what was going on was wearing thin. With the time difference, it was late, or early, in Roma. Caleb had relaxed a whole lot. We quickly introduced him to everyone. Told him that Max, Reese, Beau, and Val were Creid. He reacted as anyone who didn’t know them would, but they eased Caleb to relax. The other Children of Lilith were also introduced. My nephew Thomas and Hana and Dakotah.

The energy the adrenalin gave had abated and I saw that on Caleb’s face. We had traveled a long way before, but the time of day wasn’t that much. By the calendar, it was almost a day apart, but our body clock didn’t care if it was Wednesday or Thursday. The sun was up and we were awake. With Caleb, back in Roma the sun had gone down and it was time to sleep. Here in Gitchi, the sun was still up! Everyone stuck to a day cycle! Since the very beginning!

Seth and I got Caleb away from everyone and I smiled at him, trying to be sensitive to what he might be going through.

“I asked Dakotah,” I smiled at him, “There’s room here and we have one for you.”

Caleb smiled as he looked around the room, “I’ve never seen architecture like this before.”

“I don’t think anyone has before,” Seth said. “It’s unique.”

Caleb chuckled, “I’ve had some crazy dreams before, but nothing like this. It has to be real.”

Ceto came over, smiled at us and handed Caleb a steaming cup of something. “Drink this as quickly as you can. It’s hot, so it will take a little time.” She stood up, “After you are done another cup will be brought and you drink that one slower.”

Caleb sniffed the steam. “It smells like hot tea.”

Ceto shrugged, “Yes, but it has a few other ingredients that will help you sleep well.”

“Can we ask?” Seth asked grinning.

“Sure!” Ceto said brightly. “It’s not a secret, but we’ve known how much to add to the chamomile tea. The tea alone will relax you, but we add Passionflower, Lavender, and Valerian root. It’s not something that will knock you out for few hours, but even out the natural desire to sleep and keep it to a steady amount. I don’t give it more than three nights in a row. Your body will adjust to it.” She bounced. “If you do, you will sleep, but not like this time. It becomes your normal. The first cup will get the tea in your system and the second one encourages your natural sleep impulse to increase. I won’t be surprised if you get groggy.” She walked away and back to Beau.

“Wow,” Caleb said sipped the tea and held it back, “It is hot!” He nodded. “It’s good!” He leaned in to say something in private. “She’s a Child of Lilith?”

Seth and I laughed, “Yes.”

“She’s a Native!” He shook his head, “That sounded bad, but Demetrius and the others, even Eabha looks…like us!” He looked as Ceto began speaking with Beau and laughed at something he said to her. “She’s very, very beautiful!”

I leaned in to speak as privately, “We know. It sort of makes me wonder what the original race of man was.”

Caleb grinned, “What do you say that woman you say was Lilith was?”

I had to sit back and thought. “Black hair, very beautiful…”

“Did she look like she came from Europa or Britannia?” Caleb asked.

“Not really.” I admitted. “Maybe from a country on the Eastern side of the Mediterranean.”

Caleb nodded again. “Could be. Jesus was, too. He wasn’t white.”

I had thought that before and heard some say it, too.

“No one knows what the original Humans looked like,” Caleb shrugged, “It’s doesn’t require that much thought to figure what was there.” He sipped the tea a little more and looked at Ceto and Beau. “So, she and Beau?”

I chuckled again, “Yes, she and Beau.”

“I’m getting an impression of you two,” Caleb said sipping again. He pointed at me with his tea cup. “You just confirmed my initial impression of you.”

“What have you seen?” I asked.

“You like the unusual,” Caleb said. “You’re a prince, but don’t like to be seen different than anyone else. You marry.” He waved his cup at Seth, “but marry a man! And stay married, not just in name after Seth is made king! You bring the attention of the world to you saying you are happily starting a life together even when Seth abdicated! You get two large kingdoms to reverse their stance on same gender marriage and it pretty quickly accepted now. You have two sons; I know there’s a story there. Toby is ten?”

Seth chuckled. “Soon to be eleven.”

“We can never forget that part,” I laughed, “Dennis will be nine!”

Caleb chuckled with us, “But Toby is deaf, but talks and brilliant?”

“Talk to him,” Seth waved at Toby who was in a deep discussion with Val. “Having Val who is willing to speak with Toby has been so wonderful!” Seth sighed. “I love and like my son, but he has question after question!”

I chuckled, “He can’t talk Val to death.”

“You both like the odd ones.” He shook his head. “The ones no one else sees a point with.”

“My taking you from the Vatican?” I asked. “Your plans for the future weren’t interrupted?”

“No,” Caleb said. “I stayed because the scrolls and writings were there.” He sipped again. “I want a life.” He pressed his chest. “My life. I should marry and have children…”

“You can’t at the Vatican!” Seth stated quickly.

Caleb laughed sipping again, “Tell me something I am unaware of!”

“Do you have someone in mind?” I asked, but was laughing with him.

Caleb nodded, “I do! There’s a woman named Lia. She started working for a group of priests.”

I frowned, “Don’t they use the novices for any cleaning or things?”

Caleb nodded, “Yes, and it is what you think. She is in her mid-twenties, was married and even had a child. Her husband and child died. She was being groomed for sex.”

“But she’s still there?”

“And working for the nicest couple of priests you hope you could meet.” He chuckled. “They hired her from under these other priests.”

I grinned, “But you’ve never dated?”

“Did we?” Seth said indignantly. “Did Ella date Christian?”

Caleb downed the rest of his tea. He was about to get more when a new steaming cup appeared before him. He didn’t jump, but was surprised.

“You get used to it.” Seth said simply.

“What were you going to do?” I asked.

“I was allowed to stay even as a novice when they realized I could do the translations.” He shrugged, “I have to give it up.”

“Why?” I asked.

“I am not a brother, abbot, friar or priest. They won’t let me in if I leave the Church and marry.”

“A locked door can’t keep me out,” I grinned slyly. “I can get you in.”

Caleb began drinking the next cup slower. He shook his head, “Why not?”

“You’ve been there a decade!” Seth said. “How much more is there you haven’t seen?”

I leaned away from Seth, “You assume he’s been wasting time?”

Seth rolled his eyes, “No, but how much more is there?”

I shook my head, “Even the scriptures said, if everything Jesus did were written down, no room would hold them all.”

Caleb looked helpless, “That is so right! Not to mention all the languages!! I could read them the rest of my life and still not ever be done!”

“No one ever told me that,” Seth whispered. “Or about that!”

“This old world,” I began. “It goes back a good length of time?”

“Hundreds, if not thousands of years.” Caleb nodded. He held his hands up. “I have to say this. I am not an expert! No one knows.”

I nodded, “I know, but someone remembered enough to pass it on and it got written down. Something happened. Those Grigori taught men to mold shields of metal, swords and they fought a war!” I looked at Caleb. “Len Na began with using illness to attack. Did she get it from back then?”

“Demetrius couldn’t even kill himself,” Seth said. “Was that always true? Was there something they had to hurt or even kill the Children of Eve?”

“Would that kill the Children of Eve?” I asked. I shook my head. “No, I don’t want to lose Demetrius or any of the others, but if this man with Father Marcus is still part Grigori, will it kill the angel part of him? Tomorrow, I want to take a scouting party to see where these men are. We need a plan. Will you help us?”

“Absolutely!” He sipped the tea. “Good tea!”