Kincaid sat quietly in the meeting room. He was stretched out in his favourite chair; his long legs perched on the low coffee table before him. The room was empty apart from himself and for that he was immensely grateful. He liked the peace and solitude. Summer's introduction had unsettled him as it had everyone else.
Lucas was acting very out of character. His usually cool facade was slightly fractured and he was letting some of his emotions leak through. Anton was acting strangely too. Kincaid couldn't remember when the last time the other Síochán had been so vocal in a meeting. He closed his eyes and pondered it for a moment and then decided the last time Anton had spoken so much was when Nathaniel had told them he was leaving.
His brows drew down in a deep frown as he thought of Nathaniel. Of all of them, Kincaid found the vampire's desertion the hardest to take. Lucas came a close second to his feelings on the matter but inside, Kincaid burned with a deep rage that Nathaniel had abandoned them. He didn't even know why he felt the way he did about it. It wasn't as if he had been particularly close to Nathaniel when he had walked among them. And yet, any thoughts of Nathaniel caused a slow pulse of rage to burn deep inside of him.
Perhaps he was jealous? Perhaps he wished that he had the courage to stand up and say enough was enough? Living forever, doing the same thing day in and day out could be pretty repetitive at times. Despite their mission in life, long periods of time went by when little or no work was required. Even though they weren't constrained by linear time as such, they still measured the passage of time in their own realm as the humans and otherworld beings did below.
The other Síochán found things to do when it was quiet. Kincaid's natural predilection for detachment made it hard for him to find other things to occupy his time. So he invariably found a quiet spot and sat by himself ruminating over whatever thoughts went through his mind. Maybe that's why he was so angry with Nathaniel? He had too much time on his hands to sit and think about things which should probably be best left forgotten.
Right now he was mulling over the changes to the world as he knew it. The changes all came back to Summer Melrose. Lucas had told them she was Temperance. He snorted a laugh which held no humour. He'd seen precious little temperance in the beautiful blonde woman so far. In fact, she had upset the equilibrium worse than Marcus did when he decided to get going.
Kincaid snorted again and rolled his head slightly against the back of his chair, feeling the corded muscles in his neck start to tense. He was allowing himself to become annoyed again. Harlan had an inbuilt radar which seemed to spring to life whenever Kincaid became irritated. If he didn't calm his thoughts soon, Harlan would appear and start to irritate him further. He really was in no mood for another disagreement with the man. The last one at the meeting had raged on for almost three hours, all because he had allowed Summer's emotional 'kill me' outburst to irritate him enough to speak.
He sensed someone enter the meeting room and slowly opened his eyes. His expression stayed carefully neutral even as he sighed inwardly at seeing the object of his most recent displeasure before him. Summer Melrose. She was simply stunning in appearance and his reaction to her on a male level made him grit his teeth in annoyance. He would have to be a eunuch not to find her attractive. His lips firmed slightly as he looked up at her and she met his gaze with her own carefully neutral expression.
"Will you answer a question for me, Kincaid?" she asked quietly, her expression so serious, her green eyes full of conflicted emotions.
"I am not the best person to ask," he answered with a sigh. "You should talk to Lucas, Summer. He was your trainer. He was supposed to prepare you for this life."
Summer stared into Kincaid's beautiful face solemnly as her thoughts whirled through her mind. She had hoped to find either Anton or Harlan in the room, anyone but Lucas, Kincaid or Marcus. It would appear her luck was out and she had only Kincaid to turn to. That he didn't want to help her was more than obvious. She was not going to let that stand in her way though. She had questions and she wanted, no, she
needed
, answers to the them.
"I don't want to talk to Lucas," she said with a stubborn tilt of her head. "I want to speak to someone else and as you are the only one here then that leaves you to ask what I need to know."
His beautiful face settled in a slight grimace before he sighed again and inclined his head. "Sit then," he said coolly. "I'm getting a crick in my neck looking up at you." He closed his eyes again and she rolled hers as she sat in the leather chair beside him. He wouldn't get a crick if he wasn't even looking at her!
"Nathaniel was watching me in his fountain," she began almost hesitantly as she tried to string her thoughts together. "I was younger then, about sixteen if I remember correctly. So why didn't he know me when he met me two years later?" This question had been nagging at her for days now.
Kincaid almost groaned out loud as he slowly opened his eyes again and turned his head fractionally so he could look at her. She had to pick on him! He almost wished to go another five rounds with Harlan than have to answer her about Nathaniel.
"I'm sure you've pieced most of it together already," he answered quietly, his tone resigned. "Nathaniel was chosen to terminate you when you became known as a threat to the balance between good and evil. He developed feelings for you instead and found his faith in our world shattered. He lost his zeal. He began to question all the other 'good' people he had terminated. He allowed emotions to overcome his perspective of the greater good. We spent a century trying to work out the issues with him but he decided he wanted to become mortal. He wanted to be placed in the same era as you."
He pursed his lips thoughtfully as he watched her guarded expression. She was giving nothing away and he couldn't resist having a little mental nudge at her mind. His lips curled slightly as he met her strong wall. She was definitely not a soft touch, he would give her that.
"We met and discussed the options without Nathaniel being present," he continued after his brief pause. "After weighing all the options Lucas pronounced our judgement. Nathaniel could become human again but he would not be allowed to live in your era. We set him back in time over a millennia before you came into existence.
Nathaniel was furious at the judgement. He saw it for what it was, a punishment for him leaving us. He and Lucas fought bitterly about it but Lucas would not alter his judgement. He knew Nathaniel hadn't lost his true zeal, that he would find a way around this barrier we were imposing on him, so he added another punishment. He left Nathaniel's memories of the Síochán intact but he removed all memories of you.
Nathaniel must have sensed some inner purpose when he was made human again. Perhaps Lucas left a little marker inside him, a little hint that he was missing something important in his life to add to his turmoil? Who knows where Lucas is concerned. His fury knew no bounds at the time. Nathaniel made the choice to become a vampire early on in his mortal life. He chose a being which was literally immortal so he must have wanted to meet you very badly even though he probably had no idea why he made the choice that he did."
Summer frowned as she listened to Kincaid. The more he revealed, the more blows rained down on her wounded psyche. Lucas' abysmal behaviour, his outrageous decisions seemed to know no bounds. He called himself Justice? From the sounds of things his judgement upon Nathaniel sounded more like a petty man exacting vengeance rather than true justice. And Kincaid didn't appear to be the least put out by it. He appeared to agree with Lucas' judgement.
If the other Síochán cared so little for each other as people then how could they be tasked with keeping the mortal world safe? It was all so confusing. She knew she was still thinking in human concepts and that if she gave herself over to this new being she now was then she would probably be able to fully understand why they did as they did. She also knew that soon she wouldn't be having this internal debate with herself, that she would lose that last link with humanity she still retained. The question was did she really want that to happen?
Now, at least, she understood why Nathaniel had been drawn to her. She could understand why this had caused some concern for the other Síochán and why they debated on whether or not to let them meet. They didn't want to kill Nathaniel; they wanted to bring him home to them. If he had taken her with him that night and they had been forced to step in, then they may have had to take his life because he would surely have fought to save hers if his feelings for her had been as strong as they had told her.
From every angle she looked at it, things had turned out spectacularly well for the Síochán. The threat of her goodness had been neutralised so the mortal world was safe. They had taken her into their fold, turning her into one of them so they could use her to lure Nathaniel back. Lucas had used his not so inconsiderable charms to get inside her head, play with her emotions, and make her care for him as a person, so that when the truth came out she would be less inclined to react negatively.
She may have thrown a fit in the meeting. She may still be furious at Lucas and to a lesser extent, the other Síochán. But Lucas had trained her well. He had skilfully manipulated her and honed her into what she was becoming. Despite her anger, despite her hurt, she was thinking as a Síochán so much more than she was thinking like a human. The deep feeling of responsibility to do the right thing rather than what she personally wanted was starting to settle into her very soul.
The Síochán had to maintain their watchful stance over the mortal world and keep it safe. It was a heavy responsibility and it required such heartbreaking decisions to be made, but the need to make them was being ingrained into her the longer she stayed in this realm. She was losing herself. She felt like a butterfly about to break out of it's cocoon as it reached its last stage in its lifecycle. She was fighting the change as hard as she could but she knew she would succumb soon.
She suddenly ached to see Nathaniel. If she could just see him, talk to him, maybe she wouldn't lose herself. The moment the thought crossed her mind she had to stifle down a shudder. He would know what she was instantly because he still retained those memories.
Now she knew how devious Lucas was, she wouldn't put it past him to have left something in Nathaniel's mind, some caveat that should they meet again, Nathaniel would remember her completely. It was what she would have done if she had been in Lucas' position. The final snare to tempt Nathaniel back to his former life.
Nathaniel would know her completely; he would know she had been trained as he once had. He would most probably also know that she had been with Lucas intimately. How would he react to that? She did shudder then, turning to look deep into Kincaid's eyes. "Thank you for answering my question," she said quietly. "I want to go back to the mortal world now. How do I do that?"
She needed to see Nathaniel. She needed to know where she stood with him, if they could overcome the almost insurmountable barriers between them. She needed to know if he could accept her being with Lucas, even though she hadn't been in a relationship with Nathaniel at the time. Her restrictive views on morality were still strong in her mind. Lucas had casually shrugged off those views as if they didn't matter but they mattered to her. If Lucas and Nathaniel had as great an enmity between them as Kincaid intimated, then the vampire may not be as willing to accept her relationship with Lucas.
