Chapter one hundred and nineteen

     We were still hugging while looking out the window when I heard sharp and crisp footsteps approaching us from behind. I let go of Delilah and turned around wondering who it could be.

     It turned out that the sharp and crisp footsteps were being made by a pair of hard soled white dress shoes that looked rather expensive tapping on the marble floor. I wasn't sure but something told me that these shoes were not made from bleached leather but the hide of something a little more exotic. The only thing I could think of was the almost extinct African Albino Rhino which would make these shoes very expensive not to mention very illegal.

     I looked up from the shoes and watched dear old grandpa in his expensive white suit walk towards us with a brisk pace. Now that he wasn't sitting behind a giant desk, I could see that the old geezer was actually quite fit. His body was quite stocky and it looked like it was capable of exhibiting a lot of strength. He didn't stoop like most old people, in fact his spine was ram rod straight as he took large strides towards us. His old wrinkled face looked out of place perched upon his well built body.

     "Sophia, I'm glad I found you before you left."

     "Why? I've already rejected your offer to join the coven."

     "That is only secondary, the main reason I called you here is to ask for your help."

     Help? He wanted my help? This guy has an army and was chummy with what I was sure was a decently powerful coven. Why would he need my help?

     My thoughts must have shown on my face because he continued to speak, "I really do need your help. We have a situation developing that could have disastrous consequences for the entire world. We are already using a lot of our resources to keep things contained but we are failing miserably."

     "Why don't you just ask your little witch friends for help?"

     "Look, I'll be honest. Kazimir has already told me that you are very capable and from what I have seen so far he is probably right. You are powerful. My sister might be stubborn at times but even she has admitted that you would be a valuable addition to the team we are sending. I'm not asking you to join the coven Sophia but I am asking you to work alongside them to prevent something horrible from happening."

     "Grandfather, do you know what kind of people you are asking me to associate with? Do you know how they got their power?"

     "I know. I know they use human sacrifice and pain to get power but it is not what you think Sophia. They are not bad people. They do not use innocents in their rituals. In fact they have been working with us for quite a while and by us I mean the Russian government. They are stationed in most of our black facilities as interrogation specialists. They gain their power by torturing and killing terrorists and murderers."

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     "Do you also know that their souls have been corrupted by what they did? Do you know that the blood that they had shed clings to them and affects who they are?"

     For the first time since I met him, the inscrutable and cold expression on his face melted away and I saw a flash of pain deep in his pale blue eyes before he recovered and covered it up with his normal expression.

     "I know. I know the price that they have to pay for the power they use to protect people. I know the struggle they have to face every day to stay sane because I have seen it in my sister. We know the consequences Sophia. We had to kill more than one family member that had gone insane because of the power but we have no choices. We needed someone to fight all the things that go bump in the night, the things that normal people should never know about and only those who have agreed to it are inducted into the coven. But now things have changed. More and more powerful things are crawling out of the woodworks and the coven is struggling just to keep things together."

     His explanation made me feel a little sorry for my great aunt and even a little guilty about how I had acted previously. If what he said was true then I had been a total jerk but even now I still didn't want to work with them. They might have done what they did for a good cause but they are no longer the people they were when they started. They have been twisted by their power. Grandfather might not know but what the government was doing is similar to keeping a pet snake. When they decide that they no longer needed the government, they are probably going to be a bigger problem than the ones they are suppressing.

     "*sigh* Fine. I will help with your world threatening problem."

     "Really? You don't even know what the problem is or where it is and you simply agree?"

     His choice of words was kind of strange. Yeah, not knowing what the problem is and agreeing may sound stupid but why would the location matter that much?

     "It doesn't matter. If the world truly is in danger then I'll help no matter what the problem is. As for the location, why would it matter? There is nowhere in Russia that could scare me away."

     He had a strange humorous glint in his eyes as he spoke.

     "The place isn't in Russia. It's in Ukraine."

     "Wait, you mean....?"

     "Chernobyl."