Soul to Shepherd (41 page)

“You’re messing with us,” Quinn remarked. “This is some kind of joke, right?”

“I couldn’t be more serious. The process is designed so only the members of the Order—less the Keepers of course—and the Three Sisters know the identities of the two humans in which the Consecrated Keys have been implanted.”

“So, why tell us? What does this have to do with me?” Quinn’s words faded as he asked the question, and his expression changed from one of confusion to one of alarm. The same thought that had popped into my mind must’ve popped into his as well.

“Because Ronald knows you have the Key. Isn’t that right?” I asked Ronald.

“Yes,” Ronald replied matter-of-factly. “As advisor to the Order, I am privy to the identities of the two mortals who hold the Keys.”

Quinn exhaled loudly and stood up. “I need some air,” he announced, running his hand through his hair before walking around the couch and down the hall towards the junior suite.

“So, you’ve known all along?” I asked Ronald when I heard the door to the suite shut. I felt my voice catch in my throat. I suddenly felt so betrayed.

“I warned you there were certain things I could not tell you, angel,” Ronald stated ruefully. “And I still shouldn’t be sharing this information with you. What I am revealing cannot leave the sanctity of these four walls. Understood?”

“Yes,” we all stated.

“How did Mathius figure out the Key was attached to Quinn’s soul?” I demanded.

“We believe Mathius only
suspects
Quinn possesses the Key.”

“Why does he suspect Quinn? Why not anyone else?” Dylan asked.

“Oh, Quinn is certainly not alone,” Ronald assured us. “Mathius has been after these Keys for centuries. Why do you think the Servants target humans?”

“Wait—so that’s why the Servants have been targeting humans all this time?” Minerva inquired. “To see if any of them have one of these Keys?”

“Yes.”

“This sounds outrageous. You know that, right?” Dylan shook his head in disbelief.

“Yes,” Ronald repeated.

“But, I thought—” The more I thought about all of this, the more irritated I became at learning this information so late in the game. “I was
told
the Servants only targeted those humans they believed might interfere with their ‘master plan to rule the universe.’”

“And what would you call hundreds, if not thousands, of unsuspecting humans—each of whom, in Mathius’s eyes, possibly could be harboring one of two Keys he needs to unlock millions of unbound souls for the taking?” Ronald’s calm demeanor didn’t waver.

“A major pain in his ass,” Dylan replied.

Ronald nodded. “At first, the Servants seemed to have no rhyme or reason when it came to choosing their victims, and the Order felt relatively confident the hidden-key system they’d implemented was foolproof. But the Servants’ targeting patterns have become more focused throughout the last century, and their victims less random. And if something is not done soon to stop the Servants, they
will
find a key, allowing them to gain the tactical advantage and position themselves to back the Order into a corner.”

“If that’s true, then how come this is the first time we’re hearing about any of this?” I demanded. “I mean, shouldn’t this be part of Shepherd 101 or something?”

Ronald just sat there for a minute, as if thinking of what to say—or what not to say.

“They don’t want anyone else to know,” Minerva interjected, looking like she’d just solved a riddle. “Not Shepherds, not Watchers—no one but themselves.”

“Is Minerva right?” I asked Ronald in disbelief. “We’ve been kept in the dark on purpose?”

Ronald nodded slowly.

“How can this information be withheld from us when we’re the ones charged with protecting these humans?” I exclaimed angrily.

“That is exactly why the Order decided it was best to limit who has access to this information,” Ronald replied. “Imagine how you would’ve treated Quinn if you knew that hidden within his soul was the Key to unlocking the gates to Heaven and Purgatory—if you knew what the Servants could do with that Key if they got their hands on it. You cannot, in good faith, claim such information would have left you unaffected. Ask yourself, how much more protective would you have
acted?
Enough to tip the Servants off, perhaps?”

“I think I could’ve kept a pretty good poker face,” I replied defensively.

He shot me a dubious glance. “Even if that were the case, could you say the same about all of your colleagues. Would you risk the safety of their charges?”

“So if we’re not supposed to ever know about these Keys, why are you telling us now?” Dylan asked.

“Because we’re in a state of emergency,” he continued. “The Servants are hell-bent on converting Quinn, and if they get to his soul first—if they get their hands on that Key …” Ronald trailed off.

“All hell will break loose,” Dylan added in the wake of Ronald’s silence.

“That is why the Order will
not
let that occur. They
will
intercede if necessary.” Ronald shot me a piercing look. “Do you understand what I mean by this?”

Instantly, I flashed back to my first conversation with Tara after being reassigned to Quinn, and her cautionary words—
“The Order’s directive is clear: Quinn’s conversion is to be prevented at all costs … if you fail, the Order will take matters into their own hands.”

“Perfectly,” I nearly whispered, feeling like I was about to buckle under the weight of what Ronald was saying: The Order would kill Quinn and remove the Key before letting the Servants get their hands on his soul.

Just then, Quinn walked back into the room, snapping me out of my daze. I stood up and made my way over to where he stood. I looked into his eyes and could see the torrent of emotions swirling within them—anger, confusion, hurt, and
fear.
I reached out and touched his hand gently, not knowing any other way to let him know I was there for him. He grabbed my hand and pulled me into one of the tightest embraces he’d ever given me, burying his head into my hair. I could feel his hot breath in the crook of my neck as he sighed heavily.

“Hey, we’re gonna get through this,” I whispered to him.

He looked up at me and nodded once, unconvincingly, before leading me as stoically as he could back to the couch.

“I still don’t get it,” Dylan began when Quinn and I were both seated. “What’s the big deal if this Mathius guy gets the Key?”

“Souls are immortal currency,” Ronald explained. “There are only a finite number of them, and those who possess the most souls have the most power. They get to call the shots. Those with the most souls get to decide how to use them.”

“But don’t the Servants have their own chamber of souls in Hell?” I inquired. “I thought Mathius hijacked a bunch of them before he was cast out as a member of the Founders.”

“Yes, many souls are trapped in the Underworld, and while that number continues to increase, it is nowhere near the multitude of souls in either Heaven or Purgatory. And Mathius knows better than to go after either Keeper—the Order has had protocols in place for many centuries, preparing for that exact scenario. But, if Mathius can locate one of the humans whose soul has been tagged and grab the Key, he’s one step closer to taking possession of the souls in either chamber, which would push his overall number into the majority, allowing him to assume power over all the Realms.”

“And the members of the Order—they really believe he can succeed?” Quinn asked.

“The possibility exists. I have seen it. After all, Mathius not only knows the location of the Order’s Realm, but he also knows most of the members’ defenses, weaknesses, and secrets.
And,
he knows where the souls are kept. All he needs is a Key and an army to lead him to victory.”

“So now that the Servants think Quinn has a Key, can’t one of the Sisters just yank it out of him and stick it in someone else?” Dylan asked. Quinn and I both looked at Ronald hopefully, praying there was a quick fix to this situation.

“No.” Ronald sighed. “Once a soul is tagged with a Key and implanted, the only way to access the Key again is at the moment of death, for that is the moment when the soul separates from the body. That is when you can see the Key and remove it.”

“So, what, you see the soul, you find the Key, and then you can just grab it?” Dylan asked.

“Essentially, although the Sisters do it in such a way as to not harm the delicate soul. I doubt the Servants are that conscientious when it comes to preserving the integrity of individual souls. That is particularly true when performing the conversion ritual—” Ronald stopped short and looked at Quinn.

“It’s okay. I need to hear this,” Quinn urged.

Ronald took a deep breath and nodded. “During the conversion ritual, the soul must be forcibly removed from the body and destroyed, affording Mathius convenient access to the Key.”

With each additional detail Ronald revealed, I felt more and more ill. I glanced over at Quinn; he didn’t look he was faring much better. Ronald had dropped a huge bomb on him—on all of us. And as much as I wished Quinn wasn’t part of this discussion, I knew better than to ask him to leave. This was his life, and he’d made it very clear he wanted to know all the risks threatening it. I just hoped he was handling all of this better than I was at the moment.

“Has Mathius ever gotten his hands on a Key?” Minerva asked.

“Almost—once,” Ronald replied. “Thankfully, Evie’s Shepherd reacted quickly enough and saved the day.”

I snapped my head up and looked Ronald in shock.
“I
had one of the Keys?”

“Yes. As soon as your souls were earmarked for one another, Quinn’s soul was tagged, and months later, he was born. And when it was your soul’s turn to be recycled, the mortal whose soul had been tagged with the other Key died unexpectedly, allowing you to become the other carrier.”

“Yeah, right,” Dylan remarked skeptically. “You expect us to believe some poor latchkey dude just happened to kick the bucket ‘
unexpectedly’
right before K.C. was born? C’mon, that’s just
way
too convenient to be a coincidence in my book. What do you think?” he asked Quinn.

“I think I’m reevaluating what it means to be true soul mates. It all goes back to a couple of damn keys. Our souls are bound by them. That’s the only reason why Evie and I have such a strong connection, isn’t it?”

I felt like I’d been slapped in the face. Quinn sounded like he’d just discovered we were part of some toxic clinical trial. I looked at him, trying to will him to turn my way so I could determine whether his eyes told the same story, but he wouldn’t break eye contact with Ronald.

“If you would’ve posed this question to me a couple of years ago, I might have agreed with you, but such cannot be the case now,” Ronald replied.

“And why’s that?” I asked anxiously, wanting—no,
needing
—some assurance that what Quinn and I had ran deeper than merely being used as a couple of living safety deposit boxes.

“Because once Evie died, the Key was removed from her soul and implanted in a new mortal host.”

“So I haven’t had the Key the entire time I’ve been a Shepherd?” I asked optimistically, eagerly awaiting Ronald’s affirmation that Quinn’s and my feelings for each had been genuine all along.

“The Key was removed well before you became Quinn’s Shepherd,” he assured me.

I sighed in quiet relief and glanced over again at Quinn. He, too, seemed to visibly relax some. I stretched my pinky finger out towards his neighboring hand and, without even looking, he met me half way, linking his little finger with mine. We both knew we’d fallen in love for the right reasons.

“Does Mathius know Evie no longer has a Key?” Minerva asked.

“Yes. Only a mortal soul can carry a Key. A few years ago, our sources revealed that the Servants had figured out both Evie and Quinn were one of two soul mates—not necessarily
true
soul mates, mind you, and not necessarily mated for one another. This information was enough to red flag both of them as likely candidates, who might possess a Key. As Evie was already involved with another, the
wrong
other I might add,” Ronald said, winking at me. “Mr. Ryan Walker had also been flagged.” He looked at Quinn. “That was until your eager persistence to win Evie over gave your pairing away,” Ronald teased with a slight grin.

“Was it my fault that Evie was targeted by the Servants before me?” Quinn asked hesitantly.

“What? No, of course not,” Ronald replied emphatically. “Evie’s demise had been plotted before she’d even met you. She was not destined to survive her nineteenth birthday—and she knew it. If anything, your pursuing her only moved you up to join her at the top of the Servants’ hit list.”

Quinn glanced at me and I flashed him a huge “I told you so” look.

“In any case,” Ronald continued, “Evie’s Shepherd was a seasoned veteran in the field, and after much deliberation, it was decided to forewarn him that Evie possessed something the Servants wanted—something they were not allowed to take under any circumstances. So after the initial car crash, when he was too weak to come to her rescue a second time, he hailed reinforcements. Thankfully, they were able to intervene and procure her soul before the Servants had the opportunity to confirm she, indeed, had been tagged.”

“So as far as we know, they could’ve concluded she never had the Key,” Dylan chimed in.

“It’s possible, but unlikely,” Ronald replied. “When Mathius learned Evie and Quinn were
true
soul mates, he moved Quinn to the number one spot on his list of potential candidates for having a Key.” Ronald sighed, shaking his head slightly. “Not exactly one of the Order’s better plans—especially when the Order directed Evie to be Quinn’s Shepherd. I warned Othniel about creating and tagging such a potentially high profile couple, but would he listen? Would Harmonia? Or the rest of the Order? No. Stubborn mules—the lot of them.”

“So if Quinn has one of the Keys, then who has the other?” Dylan asked.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Ronald responded cheekily, instantly shutting down Dylan’s curiosity.