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.
