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I am a high priest of the Aedh.
"I've never heard of them."
I am not surprised. Few of this time would know us.
This time? As in, this century? Or longer? Something in the way he said it suggested the latter rather than the former. "And you came here to talk to Quinn?"
Talk? No.
"Then what?"
That is for him to explain if he wishes.
"He says he was ordered not to explain."
Given the Aedh died long ago, that rule no longer binds. Unless he wishes it.
Why I was surprised by that I had no idea. After all, Quinn had a long habit of keeping his secrets - and using fair means or foul to avoid answering questions about his past. "How could this Aedh of yours have died out if you're a high priest of it?"
Again the amusement swirled, this time tinged with sadness. I am all that is left.
"Then what is Quinn's connection to you and the Aedh?"
He once trained to be one of us.
Quinn had once trained to be a priest? The mere thought made me smile - and yet, it certainly explained his somewhat old-fashioned views when it came to sex. "And you were his priest teacher?"
No, I was not.
"Then what's your connection to him?"
Once again, that is for him to explain. The presence paused. Do not get too curious in this matter, little wolf. You may find you do not like the answers.
Not liking answers hadn't ever stopped me from asking the questions. And I had an odd feeling that he knew that - and that he was deliberately trying to provoke me into action I might later regret. "Did you tell him about the things in the car? Order him to hunt down the person who summoned them?"
I inform. I can no longer order.
So why was Quinn so angry? Why did he seem to think he'd been ordered? "And were the things in the car really demons, as he said?"
I take it from your tone you do not believe in demons?
"Frankly, no."
He laughed, and it was suddenly such a creepy sound I backed up a step before I realized what I was doing and stopped. Up until that moment, I'd felt no real malevolence from whatever it was hiding in the mist, but right then it seemed like I was teetering on the precipice of an endless pit. And that he was behind me, ready to push.
You will believe in demons by the end of all this, little wolf And you will learn that not all demons are creatures of myth or magic, but rather of flesh and blood.
And with that, he and the mist were gone.
As quickly and as suddenly as the things in the car.
With the mist and the presence gone, awareness of the night and the weather returned full force. The rain was falling harder, meaning I was soaked to the skin and shivering like a newborn pup. Though I wasn't entirely sure the shivering was a result of the cold.
I scrubbed a hand across my face to wipe the rain away - uselessly, as it turned out - then turned around and splashed my way back to Karen Herbert's car.
Thankfully, the keys were still in it. Maybe demons couldn't carry them in wraith form - who knew? Certainly not me. Hell, I still wasn't sure what to think when it came to that revelation.
I climbed in, started the car up, and turned the heater on full blast. But I didn't go anywhere because I wasn't entirely sure where to go. Part of me wanted to go home, get warm, and consume the coffee and chocolate I'd been anticipating earlier.
