Lovers' Oath Ch. 06

Author's Note : Alright. Back again after a long wait. I just hope this chapter is long enough to compensate for the wait. As usual, dealing with other necessities of life took away time for writing. And since this chapter covers a lot of background story, it took a lot of writing and rewriting.

Thanks to my wonderful editor Gabriel. Without his keen eyes to find irregularities and mistakes, this chapter would have taken even longer to come out and not nearly as smooth and clean as it is now. If you spot any mistakes, it is purely to be attributed to my post-edit tweaking around.

And many thanks to you, my readers, who faithfully hang on to the story and vote and leave comments. I promise, the next chapter will not take this long.

No more waiting. Enjoy the story.

***** ***** *******

"That was a good step. Well done." Kendra's soft voice sounded like a drum on the mental connection as it startled Kiel out of his deep thoughts.

"What are you talking about?" He frowned at his desk.

"Of course I'm talking about the way you handled Rohan's need to protect Rayn. By asking him to choose her side over yours, you assured him that you are concerned for Rayn, too. That should influence his decision to some extent if ever a situation for potential defection emerges." Kendra stated in a matter of fact way.

"That's not why I did it Kendra. You know me better than that." His irritation was pretty apparent over their connection. As Kendra's soft 'Gotcha' laughter sounded in his head, he almost wished they were speaking over a phone or something. At least then he would have the satisfaction of slamming down the phone on her.

"No, that's not why you did it. Good thing you admitted that. Now to the reason why you did it." Kendra had gone from smiling to serious in a heartbeat. "I think your reasoning behind the decision to not mate with Rayn is faulty. You should reconsider..."

"I've already told you I'll think about it. Anything else?" He snapped at Kendra, something he had almost never done before. Even as he realized that, he didn't feel like apologizing. His mind was already troubled.

"Yes. We have to inform her about her parents."

"I know." He grew wary. 'Did Kendra know?' he wondered. Shaking his head he banished that thought from his head. If she didn't know what he was thinking, she would know if he kept thinking about it while talking to her. Being an Immortal, she had powers many would die for. Ferreting out information from someone's active memory while connected to their mind was one of those powers of hers.

"Do you want me to do it?" Kendra asked, even as her curiosity flared as she felt him strengthen his guard.

"Yes. That'd be for the best. And Kendra..."

"What?"

"Tell her the truth. She has the right to know the truth."

"She might over react. She's still too young..."

"I'll take care of that if she over reacts. But she deserves the truth."

"Yes she does. When does she get to hear the truth about you and what you feel for her? And oh, I guess telling her about you two being mates would be one those truths, too, that she deserves to know."

"That's for me to decide." Kiel was trying hard not to scream at her. What were they trying to do, irritate him to death?

"She was right you know. You do become an ass when it comes to Rayn." Stunning Kiel with that taunt, Kendra broke the connection, leaving him alone to grumble.

His connection with Kendra now broken, he again wondered if she had gotten whiff of his uninformed activities. He didn't want her to know, not yet. He should be the one to inform Rayn about that, not Kendra. He sighed. Doing a quick search of the main hall when he couldn't see Rayn there, he made his way down to Rohan's office to find him pouring over a design for a new armor. As he saw Kiel enter, he straightened up to greet him,

"Hi. "

"Hey." Kiel's reply was subdued, somewhat grim. Rohan could almost understand why.

"Kendra knows?" he asked knowingly.

"Not yet. But I think she suspects something." Kiel replied in the same tone, picking up a small throwing knife and starting to play with it.

"Quite possibly. The medical bay is crowded and not for a reason she knows. And unless you put that knife down, there's gonna be another patient there shortly. Those knives are poisoned." Rohan didn't seem much worried by the possibility of Kendra knowing their secret. His thoughts were centered elsewhere, "Whether she knows or not is a moot point. She will have to be informed eventually. But I think it should be you telling Rayn about this, not Kendra."

Kiel nodded distractedly, still playing with the knife, throwing it slightly up in the air to again catch it by the small handle, "Yes, I know. Where is Rayn right now? I need to talk to her." he lifted his eyes questioningly at Rohan.

Shaking his head, Rohan said,"Not yet. She's out on a solo trip to meet a contact for her next mission." He paused and flashed a smile, adding, "Her first mission as a full fledged operative. I think Kendra told her this morning about the initiation and her new status as a level two operative. I think Rayn likes the fact that she's not a trainee anymore." Rohan's eyes twinkled with amusement. As he saw Kiel nod and smile in agreement, he continued, "And as far as I know, she then has a date with Rogers, and they will be having dinner at his house. So in all likelyhood, you won't be seeing her until tomorrow morning." seeing the look on Kiel's face change, he swiftly extended a hand and caught the knife Kiel was playing with in mid-air, adding, "and I will take that for you, thank you."

"She's dating Rogers?" was it jealousy he was feeling? Kiel didn't think about it, but nevertheless, he couldn't stop the growl that emanated from his chest, courtesy of the suddenly edgy wolf inside him.

"Uh-huh." Rohan calmly replied, as if he hadn't even noticed Kiel's growl, "In fact," he continued, "I've even started to facilitate their relationship by getting her on his team for the next several missions. They'll grow even more close, just like you wanted." Rohan had the nerve to smile at Kiel as if he had done a great favor for him.

Even as Kiel tried very hard to reign in the sudden urge to snap someones neck, even as he tried to humanly reason with the aggravated wolf inside himself, hearing Rohan's last words almost overrode his efforts, almost. Despite his relatively good control over himself, he took the few steps necessary to close the gap between Rohan and himself, growling, and gritted out, "You. Are. Facilitating... This ?" he couldn't find a nice term to fit the situation between Rayn, Rogers and himself. He was keeping his arms tightly crossed across his chest to keep himself from doing something to wipe the grin off Rohan's face.

"Yeah. Just like you wanted. You know, that she falls in love with another." Rohan supplied innocently, his words tinged with mock confusion. As his words penetrated the haze of rage inside Kiel's head, he understood the trap Rohan had gotten him into. What is it with these people today? Kiel silently wondered.

"Yes, I wanted it. But only if it happened naturally. I didn't want you to play Cupid. This is not a match making organization we're running. I'd appreciate it if you don't turn it into one." His voice was calm enough, his mind wasn't. He knew what Rohan and Kendra were trying to do - and they were succeeding at it. Kiel was realizing very well that despite what he had said earlier about Rayn loving another, he wasn't ready to let go of her. He would never be ready. He knew that too. And still, he didn't want her to know about them being mates. Loving someone meant keeping them safe. He had not succeeded in keeping her family safe, and that was going to hurt her pretty badly when she would come to know of it. He couldn't save her from that pain. But he was going to do all he could to save her from meeting the same fate as her family. She was irrevocably involved in this war now, the demons knew of her and she was in no less danger outside than inside the organization. He wasn't going to do anything that might give the demons a chance to find a chink in their armor.

Calming himself down he stepped away from Rohan, then turned towards the door to walk away,

"Please tell Rayn to see me when you see her next. And get her off Rogers' team. I want her on my team. I'm her trainer, not Rogers. She needs to learn a lot and learn quickly. That won't happen if she's on his team." with that he walked away. If he had paused and turned for a second at the door, he might have caught Rohan's knowing grin and a murmured,

"Sure pal, whatever makes you feel better."

*****

Rayn slightly swiveled on the bar stool she was sitting on, her back towards the counter, one leg crossed over the other, her left elbow resting on the counter top, her palms clasped firmly. She had walked in just a few minutes ago, and decided she wasn't going to find another bar as shady as this one in town. With her gradually enhancing beast senses, she was hard pressed to control her expression as the bar literally reeked of foul things. She completely hated it. Yet, when she had placed her order, she had smiled as sweetly as possible, all the while swearing mentally at Rohan. She was going to have to yell at him in person for sending her to this meeting because she wasn't allowed to connect with anyone mentally as long as she was here. Supposedly, even demons visit here and some of them have senses that enable them to "listen in" on such connections. The smells were proof that the speculation was true. At least one demon was here. She had to get out of here as soon as her job was done. Rayn casually ran her eyes over the surrounding crowd. The contact should be here by now, and that's the person she was looking for.

"Here's your drink, ma'am." the bar man's voice almost startled her, she hadn't heard him approach. Quickly hiding her reaction, she turned towards him.

"Thanks." Once the bar man went to attend to others, she peered at the drink she was told to order. It was a curious mixture of colored liquids. As she stared at it, the colors swirled and changed continuously, hypnotically. She couldn't take her eyes off the misty looking drink.

"You don't frequent this bar, do you, beauty?" a deep male voice sounded beside her, jerking her out of the trance.

"Huh?" she lifted confused eyes to find a middle aged balding man sitting beside her, surveying her with interest. "Why would you think that, may I ask?" did she look that obviously new to the bar?

The man laughed. "Cause anyone who is a regular here, doesn't order the Bleeding' Mesmer, specially if they are alone and are looking to keep their sanity." as he looked her up and down, he added, "It takes a hell of a strong mind to drink that thing and walk outta here on their own. Last man I saw order that, went crazy after one shot. Jumped up from his chair and went out running' shouting at the top of his lungs that Demons were all around him."

"Ah, I see." even as she said that, she sipped at the drink. The man's eyes twinkled at her action.

"I wasn't lying, you know. The drink acts differently for different people."

"Of course it does. For humans." she smiled at him, sipping her drink again. The man laughed,

"You are not human?" he asked. Putting down her glass on the table, she leaned in and whispered conspiratorially,

"Nope. I'm a VampOwl." she smiled brightly.

"Oh?" His lifted his eye brows. "What's a VampOwl?" he whispered.

"An Owl which has been bitten by a Vampire, thus turned into a Vampire Owl." she stated in a matter of fact way.

"Hmm, see, I told you people go crazy from drinking that stuff."

"I'm not crazy." she protested, sipping at her drink.

"Then show me those big teeth vampires get."

"How can a bird have teeth?" she frowned reprovingly.

"Then how will you drink blood from a victim?" he shot back.

"That can not be described, only demonstrated."

"Fine. Show me." he challenged.

"Don't invite yourself to be dinner. You might not live to speak of it." she said with mock menace.

"Pfft."

Even as she started to open her mouth to reply, Rohan's voice sounded in her head, "Rayn, the contact is there. It's a woman in a white dress, pink scarf. Follow her."

Sweeping the room with her eyes, she easily picked out the described woman heading towards the ladies' room. Looking back at the man, she smiled,

"Excuse me. I'll be right back."

"Seen an interesting dinner?"

"Oh yeah. Don't be jealous, though."

Getting off the stool, she hurried towards the ladies' room. As she entered, two girls slipped past her out into the bar. As their giggles faded away, she found herself alone in there. Looking carefully around, she didn't see anyone else. But she was sure the woman had come this way. And there wasn't any other way the woman could have gone once she went through the door they had come through from the bar. Confused, Rayn returned to the bar, this time walking slowly and looking around carefully as she searched for the woman. When she reached her seat, she still hadn't found the woman. 'Where the hell did she vanish?' Rayn wondered. Looking back at the stool beside her, she found it vacant. She frowned. Something was nudging at her mind. She couldn't pin point it yet.

Picking up her drink to sip again, her fingers brushed against something sticking to its bottom. Detaching the object, she brought it nearer her eyes. A small, thin 1c.m long plastic box was attached along with a folded piece of paper.

"Shit!" whirling around, she tried to find the man who had been sitting beside her. But, like the woman, he had also vanished in the crowd. "Damn it." she cursed in frustration.

Walking out of the bar she climbed inside her car. After driving for a few minutes, something occurred to her.

"Rohan?"

"You are not supposed to use the connection until out of the bar."

"I'm out of the bar. Were you trying to contact me mentally within the last hour?"

"No. That would have been risky. Why?"

"Crap. Uh, nothing. I mean, something weird happened. I'm coming in. Tell you all about it once I'm there."

"Weird? What do you mean? And did you talk to the contact?"

"Damn it!" Rayn cursed, frustrated over her failing to identify the man as the contact. She had to extract some much needed information from him. "It's part of the weird stuff. I'll tell you when I get there."

"Alright. Come on in. Don't talk to anyone else about this until you have talked to me." Rohan instructed.

"I know that."

"Good. See you later." Rohan broke the contact. Getting the car on a less crowded road, Rayn increased her speed to get to the headquarters sooner. She had a hell of a lot of explaining to do. Banging on the steering wheel she cursed again.

*****

"He did what?" Rohan's tone was almost incredulous.

"Umm, he, I think he did it, you know, because one moment I was talking to him, and the next moment I heard you over the link telling me a woman in a white dress was the contact and I am to follow her. When I started to follow her, he distracted me for a second, then when I went after her, I didn't see her any where. As if she wasn't even there. Then I came back to my seat, and this was stuck to the bottom of the glass." she showed him the small box and the folded piece of paper. Taking the things from her, Rohan first opened the piece of paper. After reading the written lines he opened the thin box. A small, thinner, rectangular piece of metal was lying there. Rohan lifted the metal piece with a pincer and placed it onto the platform of a small gadget which Rayn could only describe as a scanner of sorts.

"Umm, what is that?"

"What kills the cat, Rayn?" Rohan distractedly asked as he watched the gadget read the data stored in the metal piece.

"I just want to know." She pouted. Rohan laughed. As the gadget beeped to announce the completion of the task, he connected it with a data panel to transfer the data.

"The small metal piece is a -data cell- of sorts. The data stored in it isn't electrical. The data is stored there using magic. That cell can not be read by just any reader. You need this to start with." he pointed towards his gadget. "This gadget is infused with the type of magic that unlocks the binding spell placed on the data cell. This data cell is demon made, using demon magic. A demon would not need a data cell reader, he'd only be required to place a drop of his blood on it. The magic in the blood drop will do the rest. Werewolves and others need this reader to unlock the data cell.Then you need a key, a Spell that pulls out the data in it. Then the data needs to be decoded in order to understand what is really being said." as he scrolled through the apparent gibberish appearing on his data panel, he glanced at Rayn face. Seeing the stunned look on it he laughed.

"Uh, alright. Nonhuman technology is confusing. I was better off as a human."

"Hmm, yes, of course. I don't know how you could stand the thrill and excitement of being human."He rolled his eyes.

"Hey!"

Rohan chuckled,"Alright. I'll get off your case. But I gotta tell you, Scott must have liked you to just give it to you that easily. Last time he had a meeting with our operatives, he made them run through 3 cities in 1 hour to give them the information they wanted. He likes playing hard to get. Your charms must have been irresistible for him."

"Uh-huh. My drunken charms are indeed that irresistible. Or me telling him that I'm a VampOwl." she grumbled.

"What's a VampOwl?" Rohan frowned, trying to remember if he had ever read about them. "And why would you tell him you are one?"

"A VampOwl is a... Oh never mind. It's just something I was telling him after he told me drinking Bleeding' Mesmer makes people go crazy. So I told him I won't go crazy because I'm a VampOwl."

"You... drank Bleeding' Mesmer?" his jaw dropped.

"Yeah. You told me to order that. Why?" she frowned.

"I told you to order that because that's how he was to identify you. You weren't supposed to drink that. People don't order that drink because it drives people crazy. Only very few people can withstand its effects. He was telling you the truth." as he replied, he first checked her pulse, then her temperature, then he examined her eyes.

"But it tastes so good." she was surprised.

"Of course it does, you stupid girl. It has elf and fairy blood in it. It's not exactly the most legal drink around here. But we can't arrest them for selling it unless we could prove that the blood is forcibly taken and not donated by elves and fairies looking for some quick cash." despite not finding any observable illness, he couldn't relax. "Well come on, let's get your ass to the medical wing. We need to get you checked. No wonder he didn't give you any crap after seeing you drink that stuff."

As he rushed them to the medical wing, she had to do a fast paced jog to keep up with him. Once there, he quickly told the healer about what had happened and asked her to check for any internal problem. After running a few tests and examining a blood sample of Rayn the healer found nothing wrong with her.

"She must have absorbed the magic laced in that drink. The magic that the elf and fairy blood lend to the drink is otherwise unstoppable. The only people who can stand it are the ones that can absorb it." The elderly woman smiled at Rayn."You must have a strong, courageous heart and powerful magic in you, little one. Those are precious treasures for any mage." Rayn smiled at her, feeling good from the compliment.