Free Redemption by Randi Cooley Wilson Page A

answer any and all of
the questions running around behind your beautiful eyes.” His smile
is warm.
    I exhale roughly. “Um, I need to let Abby
know. She’s waiting outside for me.”
    “Very well. I’ll simply need a few moments
or so of your time this evening,” he responds.
    After convincing Abby that I’m not avoiding
her, but need more time to finish my thesis, I follow Professor
Davidson into his office. It looks typical of a college teacher’s
office. It’s dark with books strewn everywhere and it’s dusty. He really needs to clean more.
    “May I offer you some tea, Miss Collins?” he
asks while placing an elegant silver tray on his antique mahogany
desk. It’s host to a white bone china carafe, dainty teacups and
saucers.
    “No. Thank you,” I respond and take a seat
in an old worn leather chair across from the middle-aged
gentlemen.
    Professor Davidson sits back in his own
executive chair and tents his fingers under his chin. “Let me begin
by formally introducing myself. My name is Dr. Henry Davidson. As
you have already assessed, I’m a gargoyle. At the moment, my
current assignment is the protection of Kingsley College.”
    “I see.” I don’t really, but it seems a
more appropriate response than get the fuck out.
    “I was assigned here when you decided to
join the student body. The council realized the demonic legion and
Dark Army could infiltrate the campus while looking for you and
that would place humans in danger. Hence the reason for my
presence,” he explains further.
    “Are there other protectors here that I
don’t know about?”
    “Yes.”
    “Do Asher and the St. Michaels know that
you’re here and who you are?”
    “Prince Asher is aware since he is on the
council. Once he was assigned as your protector, and you accepted
your academic spot at Kingsley, he ruled in favor of the college’s
protection.”
    Great, something else that Asher ‘left out’
of previous conversations.
    “Why didn’t he say anything to me when we
had your class together last semester?”
    “That’s for him to answer. I assume he
didn’t want you to be concerned with it.”
    “Which clan are you with?”
    “That isn’t important. What is, is that I am
an elder, and with that comes a level of prestige and privacy. I
realize you are unfamiliar with our ways. I’ll ask you to be
respectful of what I can, and can’t, offer you in the form of
information. The oaths are imposed for reasons.”
    “Right. Who could forget those pesky oaths?”
I sigh. “Would you at least indulge me and answer how it’s possible
for you to sense Thoren, if the others can’t?”
    “Like the prince, I have a dark bloodline,
hence my gift to sense higher-level demons. It’s a rare attribute
that very few gargoyles possess. My ability is the reason I was
chosen to protect the college from the demonic legion and Dark
Army,” he answers calmly.
    I ponder this. “Asher can also sense
higher-level demons?” I ask quietly.
    “Yes. Mr. St. Michael not only has the
ability to manipulate darkness, but his bloodline allows him to
sense higher demons, such as Thoren.”
    “Doesn’t he share the same family bloodline
as Keegan and Callan?” I question.
    “Asher has a stronger lineage than his
brothers, which is why he is next in line to the throne and will
eventually rule our people. Surely that has been mentioned to
you?”
    “It has.” I let this information sink in for
a moment. “I’m sorry, Professor, I don’t understand. If Asher
shares the same parentage as Keegan and Callan, how is his
bloodline stronger? Does he have different parents?”
    “Asher’s line is stronger for the same
reason that yours is directly connected to Heaven. It was altered.
Just as you are the last descendent of Eve, Asher is a direct
descendent of Adam, through Lilith, the first female demon.”
    I go still. Adam? Eve? Lilith? I swear to
all that is holy.
    “I can see further explanation is needed,”
the professor says, taken