Lovers' Oath Ch. 06

Only I knew what had happened. That day, I went home crying and told my parents everything. They then told me a story - the story about how they had found me. That I was adopted. That whatever had happened today was because the girl had tormented me to my limits and my guardian angels had taken revenge on my behalf. That it wasn't my fault, only, I should never let that happen again and should always contain my rage by not letting it build up inside." A self deprecating smile played on her lips for a second, "Only now I understand, there never was a guardian angel. It was me who had caused that girl such anguish." Rayn paused, hugging herself tighter, her eyes closed, as if she was again back in that classroom where it had happened, as if she could still hear that girl's screams. Kendra stood up and walked around to stand in front of Rayn. She gently placed a hand on Rayn's shoulder.

"It was unintentional, Rayn. That girl must have pushed you too hard, so your emotions fired an inherent magical reflex. It was never your fault." She tried to sooth the girl.

Rayn nodded, then opened her eyes to look up at Kendra. "I know, I understand that. Just that, it is only recently I've discovered this, so... Well, the shock is still fresh."

Kendra nodded, "I can understand." walking back to her chair, she sat down. "You were telling me why you left home so early." She quietly supplied.

"Hmm? Oh, yes. Well, naturally, I wanted to know who my real parents were. But they never told me. All they ever said is that I'll know when it was the right time. Since they never explained that, I took 'the right time' to mean when I came of age. So, on my 18th birthday, I asked them again, and they were still not going to tell me. I asked them why I can't know who my real parents were, and all they told me was that it wasn't time yet. So, I decided it was never going to be the right time for them. That night, I packed up and left their home to search out my real parents, since they were not going to allow it if I told them, I never said anything about leaving. Only left a note at the dining table, that they won't be able to find me and I won't return to them even if they tried to find me." Rayn shrugged.

"Did you find your real parents?" Kendra knew the answer even before the reply came.

"No!" Rayn laughed hoarsely. "You think I'd be living in that state if I had found them?" she shook her head. "I never found out anything about them. Not at the hospital where I was supposedly born, not at the agency from where I was adopted, nowhere. As if they had just disappeared after my birth. As if they never wanted me to find them."

"Do you still think that? After knowing what you know now?" Kendra softly asked.

Rayn took a little time to process her question. Then she slowly shook her head. "No. I mean, I shouldn't. If I'm a Were, it's obvious that so were my parents. It is entirely possible that my parents were unable to take care of me. May be one of the victims of this war..." She stared off into the air for sometime, "Strangely,the thought that they didn't want me feels better than that they were killed in the war."

"How do you feel about your parents - who raised you, now?"

"It's complicated, really. I mean, they have always been awesome parents. Being unable to have their own child, they always took great care of me. And I loved them. I still do. I just don't think I can ever go and be with them again. I've hurt them too much already. I just don't want to open up their wounds again. Since now I'm involved in this war, I don't think I should." Rayn said thoughtfully."I hope they are happy with each other. They always have been." she smiled slightly, remembering her childhood days of watching their playful banter.

Kendra sighed. Then she straightened."Rayn, I need to show you something."

The grave tone of Kendra's voice made Rayn sit up straighter in her chair, her body stiffening in anticipation, "What is it?"

"This is a news clip from yesterdays morning news." Kendra handed her a data panel.

As Rayn watched the news clip informing her about a car accident that killed a middle aged couple, her brain was going numb. A short, hazy clip was being played again and again of a severely damaged car wreck - she had seen that car wreck minutes before on a screen when she had entered Kendra's office, and medics running around, two bodies - a man and a woman, lying on a gurney, the faces all too familiar to her. "No!" her whispered denial was ten times louder in her head. It felt like her heart was being squeezed out by a giant fist. Suddenly, she couldn't breath any more, everything became a blur as tears flooded her eyes. "NO! No, oh God, no, no, no! It's not them, it can't be them. Please." she looked up at Kendra, "Please, tell me it's not them. Tell me it's a mistake. Tell me they are alright." She sobbed painfully. She groped in her mind for something to substantiate her denial. She hurriedly picked out her phone from her pocket, dialing the number from her memory. "It's not them, I know it can't be. I'll just call them and mom is gonna pick up the phone. May be dad's home, too. May be he'll pick up. I'll just call them. I won't even have to talk. She'll just say 'hello' and I'll know." she muttered to herself, pacing around as her quivering fingers dialed the numbers, trying to make herself believe her own denial. As she dialed the familiar numbers again and again, the same monotonous "Not Reachable" record answered her calls. She collapsed on the floor. Her eyes staring blankly at the phone screen. "May be they have changed their numbers? I can find them. We've access to all the databases. I know they are alright. It's just a mistake." she tried to reason with herself, trying to find support as she raised her tear-stricken face to Kendra, who slowly stood up and came to where she sat and pulled her up on her feet. Without answering, Kendra gently steered her towards the chair to sit her down and leaned on the desk to face Rayn. Picking up the data panel again, she brought up an image of the house of Rayn's parents.

"I'm sorry Rayn. But we checked it out ourselves. That is why we delayed giving you the news. It indeed was them." She said with sincere sorrow.

"No. Oh God, no!" Rayn sobbed. As the tears rolled down from her eyes, she hid her face in her palms. Without speaking, Kendra gently laid a hand on her shoulder, lending her strength; trying to convey her understanding of the pain Rayn was going through. As Rayn's sobbing slowly receded, she softly said,

"There is still something else, Rayn."

"More? What more can there be?" Rayn couldn't think what could be more worse than the big void that had formed in her chest, in her mind.

"Our investigation revealed what the human police couldn't understand. It wasn't an accident. It was a murder."

"a robbery went wrong?"

Seeing Rayn to have gained some calmness, Kendra walked back to her chair to sit down and shook her head, "No. Evidence suggests demon involvement. Several demons were there; they searched the rooms and then murdered your parents when they returned from a night out. They then staged the accident."

Rayn instantly saw red - literally. Everything in her visual field became as if she was looking at them through a red tinted glass. She lifted her eyes to Kendra, and growled,

"Murdered at their own home by demons?"

As Kendra saw Rayn's eyes change color from green to golden, she instantly put up her shield and braced for any kind of uncontrolled magic to attack her. Much to her relief, when Rayn's eyes landed on her, she only felt a slight push against her shield. Either Rayn's magic wasn't as strong as when she was a child, or Rayn was holding back somehow. Kendra could only nod to answer her query. All her concentration was on maintaining her shield.

"When did this happen?" Rayn suddenly felt her heart grow cold. She almost knew the answer even before Kendra supplied it.

"The night of your initiation. Evidence indicates it happened sometime before your mission started."

Rayn's nose flared. "Did Kiel know this?"

Kendra observed her throughly as she replied, "Not during the mission, no. At least I'm not aware that he knew."

"Is it possible that he knew but didn't inform you?" her vision was slowly returning to normal. But the anger she was feeling was still there.

"It's possible, yes. But Kiel wouldn't do that, Rayn."

"Well, we won't know until he says so, would we?" Rayn threw the words acidicly at Kendra and stormed out of the office without giving Kendra any chance to reply.

Coming out of the office, Rayn almost ran down the corridor and the stairs, waiting impatiently as the doors seemed to take too long to open. Everything just seemed blurred and distorted as tears ran down her cheeks. Entering the hall, she took long strides towards the exit. As she was halfway down the hall, she suddenly bumped into a hard body. Even as she lost her balance, she felt a pair of strong hands steady her.

"Rayn, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Rogers' voice sounded in her ears, but it almost didn't register in her head.

"I... I need to see Kiel. Right now..." Finding her balance, she strode past Rogers.

"Rayn?" She didn't hear him call her name as she all but ran to the exit and got in her car.

*****

"Kiel..." Kendra's grave tone over the mental link instantly got Kiel wary.

"What's wrong?"

"I just informed Rayn of her parents' death. As per your suggestion, I told her the truth. She was hurt, but on hearing the involvement of Demons, she got angry and stormed out of my office. I think she's on her way to The Den to see you." Kendra calmly reported, never betraying a hint of the concern she felt at heart for both Kiel and Rayn.

Kiel sighed softly. "I'll take care of her. Don't worry. May be get her off all assignments for the week. She needs a break, perhaps."

"Alright. But it's not only her I'm worried about. When she left, she was angry at you, for some reason. She may have an idea that you knew about the murders before the mission started, but deliberately didn't inform her."

"Don't worry. I will clear up things. You know I wouldn't hurt her like that." He felt a little irritated for being subjected to such a doubt.

"Yes, I know that. But she doesn't. Take care of her Kiel. She's hurting right now. Be gentle."

"I will." He could hear the elevator coming up. "I think she's here. Bye." As he cut off the mental link, he heard the elevator clatter past the floor below and move up towards the top most floor. Seeing that his door was already unlocked, he picked up the book he was reading and tried to formulate a plan to calm Rayn down. He suddenly jumped as Kendra projected an image and a thought into his mind successively. The image was of Rayn, looking fiery, yet beautiful, both the beauty and the fire more accentuated by her glowing golden eyes. The eyes had all turned a golden color, even the white parts. Then the golden glow receded and the white parts slowly became visible, the golden part only contained to her irises. The following thought was the incident of Rayn's childhood. Kiel got the gist of Kendra's projection - 'be careful if her eyes turn golden'. Just as he was processing that bit of information, he heard the elevator stop at his floor and the soft 'ting' sound of the door opening. He braced for a storm to enter his suite.

*****

Getting off the elevator, Rayn almost ran to the door opposite her suite. She couldn't see clearly as tears rolled down her cheeks continuously. She didn't even know why she wanted to see Kiel. But somehow, she felt she needed to. She could reason with herself that it was because he had asked to see her that she was walking through the door to his chambers, but she knew that was not the truth. So, instead of trying to understand the 'why' part, she simply concentrated on venting her anger on him. Someway or the other, in her pained heart, he had been found to be guilty; just like she had found herself guilty for not protecting her own family better. And yet, despite all the anger and pain, a small part of her heart felt drawn to that man, as if he would be able to take all that pain away. Rayn didn't believe that part. No one could take this pain away. No one.

As she approached his door, she didn't pause or knock, she simply banged open the unlocked door, finding herself staring straight towards the sitting form of Kiel. As he looked up at her, she thought she saw a fleeting look of concern and pain cross his face. Before she could be sure of what the look meant, it was gone and he was striding towards her.

"Did you know?" Rayn asked, barely keeping the rage suppressed inside her. Coming to a stand in front of her, he surveyed her face silently, gravely. Then he walked past her towards the door.

"Don't you dare walk away from me Kiel." She growled, whirling to follow him with her eyes. Pausing at the door, Kiel first closed the heavy doors and locked them, then turning towards her, he calmly uttered three words.

"No, I didn't."

"You didn't what?"

"I did not know it, not before it was on the news the next morning." He answered her original question honestly, then added in a quiet, yet warm tone, "and also, I didn't walk away from you. I'd never walk away from you." He slowly closed the distance between them in a few steps.

Rayn had expected him to not answer her, she had expected him to tell her to get out of his room, even to tell her that she had no right to question him, what she hadn't expected was the caring tone in which he spoke, nor the way he wiped away her tears that had been falling freely, staining her cheeks red. As his soothing fingers wiped at her cheeks a second time, she couldn't help it anymore. She burst into tears. As her knees went week below her, she started to fall. Even though she didn't realize it, her fall was broken when he gently pulled her up into his arms and held her tightly to his chest. She screamed again and again as all the tears she has been holding back flooded her senses, a deep pain engulfing her. She couldn't think through the pain and anger and guilt she was feeling. As she cried herself out, he slowly rocked her side to side, trying to sooth her, calm her.

"I don't believe it. I can't. They were not suppose to die!" she wailed. Knowing answering her to be futile, he kept silent. "they shouldn't have had to kill them. They could've just asked them about me, they didn't know this. It's wrong. So wrong. They deserved to be happy. Not this. How could they?" she sobbed.

"They didn't know anything that the demons could use. And since they were of no use to them..." Kiel murmured, not finishing the sentence. "Cruelty is a natural trait for the followers of Gedan, Rayn. It is no one's fault but Gedan's."

"But it is. It is my fault. It was me they were looking for. If I wasn't hiding here, they wouldn't have killed my parents. They would still be alive, happy with each other. My fault." she slowly detached herself from him. As she staggered backwards, she fell down on his couch. She hid her face in her palms, sobbing, "I should have taken better care of them, I should have protected them better. My fault. It was my fault that I left them. I had hurt them then, and I hurt them again. Now they are dead because of me. And they never even knew it. They always thought I was angry at them, that I hated them. I never told them I loved them. I should have, but I didn't. My fault. My fault, my fault." she whispered away the last words.

"It's not your fault Rayn. You didn't know they would do this to your parents. You couldn't have known..." he tried to reason with her.

"No. But you could have warned me, Kiel. You have known how the demons work for so long. Why didn't you warn me? I could have relocated them, could have protected them."

"They would have found your parents no matter where they relocated."

"Then I would have stayed guard on their door step every hour of everyday. But I could have protected them. I am a good enough fighter to kill four demons, but I couldn't save my own family, because you didn't warn me." She half growled, half shouted in frustration and despair.

"They did have guards on their doorstep every hour of everyday, not one, but twenty of my best warriors. You couldn't have stood against the demons that were there, Rayn. Those warriors barely made it because four of them sacrificed their own lives for the rest." He snapped at her, stunning her into silence. Exhaling sharply in frustration and exasperation he sank on the couch beside her, and closed his eyes.

"Your warriors were guarding them?" She paused as a thought occurred to her, "Those injured men in the hospital wing..." she half-whispered.

"The most injured ones of the team that I had appointed to guard them." he quietly, automatically supplied.

"How many demons were there?"

"At least fifty. But not all of them entered the house; about ten demons entered the house. The rest of them kept my wolves from reaching your parents in time to save them. Which makes us think that they were expecting my people to be there." Sighing, he opened his eyes and looked at her, "I'm sorry I couldn't protect your family. I wish I could have known better."

"You said you didn't know they would be attacked. Then why had you stationed your people there in the first place?" she asked quietly, her eyes locked on to his.

"Because I had anticipated that they may go there following your scent. I didn't anticipate that Kan would lead the team and bring so many people with him. This just isn't their way. In fact, your parents weren't supposed to get to their home when the demons were there. My men were instructed to collect your parents and take them away in such an event. Somehow, the demons had gotten news of our men being there. Just like they have been getting news of our plans and strategies for several important missions. So they had taken extra hands along to deal with the wolves while the search team did their job. There is no other explanation."

"A mole?" she suggested.

Kiel nodded, "A very sneaky and well connected one. Our guess is it is a 'she'. A male sneaking around would raise suspicion sooner than a female charming information out of the operatives." He regarded her carefully; she wasn't crying anymore, but a tear or two frequently escaped her control and rolled down her cheeks. He guessed that the information he had supplied had temporarily distracted her. Right now anger and frustration were very obvious on her beautiful face, making her nose and cheeks turn red. She was leaning against one of the arms of the couch, facing him. Her hands wrapped around her knees that she had drawn up against her chest.

Seeing her curled up in that helpless way only heightened his urge to draw her into his arms and sooth her, protect her from every pain. Knowing that he couldn't do that, he compensated by placing one of his palms on her one knee and quietly said, "I can't tell you that everything will be alright, because I don't have the power to bring them back; if I could, I would. But I can promise you, that the murderers will pay dearly, and not only with their lives. I'll tear each of them apart, limb from limb for causing you this pain." He suddenly realized what he had said, and fell silent, unsure whether she will be able to understand his feelings from his words or not. To his surprise, she slowly shook her head,

"No, promise me you won’t." Her voice was calm, collected and very unnatural considering she was crying so hard just a while ago.

"What?"

"The privilege of killing the murderers of my family is mine only, Kiel. I want to be the one who will kill Kan." She icily said, fury blazing in her eyes. As he stared into the green fire in her eyes, he saw a faint golden haze creep into it. Understanding the extent of her need for revenge, he nodded,