“Three,” Claire said. I turned to see her in the same stance as Jared. “And if you pull a weapon on us again, I’ll blow your knee cap.”

“Bruce,” Kim said, shaking her head in warning.

Bruce put the second gun down, and then pulled up his pant leg, revealing another gun. He set all three side by side on the ground, and then stood.

“You sure you don’t want to check the other leg?” Claire asked, her weapon still drawn.

Bruce sighed, and then reached down, pulling a rather large hunting knife from a holster. “That’s all of it.”

“Kim,” Charles said, stiff and nervous. “What’s going on, here?”

Kim reached out to her father. “Nina is my friend, Dad. And she’s important. These people are here to protect her. They’re not here to harm us.”

Charles nodded slowly, and then touched the arm of this brother. “Easy, Bruce.”

Bruce relaxed, then, and Claire stepped out of her rigid stance, replacing her gun in its holster.

Jared turned to me. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Don’t cuss at me,” I said, immediately defensive.

Anger lit Jared’s eyes. “You…you have no idea how dangerous it is for you right now.”

“Maybe I would if you would just tell me.”

“If I told you everything, you wouldn’t want to leave the house. And I don’t want that for you,” he said, his eyes dark. “But you can’t do certain things, Nina, and running off with two humans without telling me where you’re going is one of them.”

“I’m sorry,” I huffed. “I thought you’d just follow.”

“Oh,” Jared said, taken aback. “You did?”

“Oh, Christ, let’s hear what Kim has to say and get out of here,” Claire snapped.

I peeked at our audience, embarrassed about the outburst. “Sorry,” I said, clearing my throat.

“The book,” Kim said to Charles.

“Kim!” Bruce said. Charles touched his brother’s arm, and Bruce immediately silenced.

“They know,” Kim said.

“You’re the son of Gabriel, aren’t you?” Charles said, in awe.

“One of them,” Jared answered.

Bruce’s face turned red. “Thief. If he wouldn’t have taken the damn book none of this would be happening.”

Claire took a step forward, and Jared gripped her shoulder. “You call my father that again,” Claire seethed, “and it will be the last words that come from your mouth.”

“They're going to help me,” Kim interceded.

“What?” Charles said, confused.

“Jared promised to help me return the Demoniac to the Sepulchre in Jerusalem.”

Charles' eyes darted to Jared. “Is this true?”

“Yes,” Jared said. “I need time to study it, but after that, you have my word.”

Charles took a step back, and then walked several steps away with Bruce right behind him. They conversed in low whispers, and then returned.

“We can't trust them,” Charles said, finality in his tone.