Violet Eden Chapters 04 - Endless

house, the dust here was undisturbed and looked as though it had not been touched for many years.
    Lincoln let out a breath. ‘It’s clear. We’ll probably find a key around here somewhere.’
    I’d already turned my attention back to the main room, wasting no time in starting to carefully pull back the sheets that covered the furniture, taking them out to the verandah with all their dust. Lincoln followed and in a few minutes we had unveiled the simple decor. The cabin smelled woodsy, like we were inside a huge walnut tree, but also, it smelled of time gone by, of history.
    My eyes fixed on the wide stone fireplace, burnt black around the edges – it had been used often. I ran my fingers along the worn brown leather sofa and wondered how often Evelyn had stayed there.
    Lincoln looked around in awe. ‘If I had a cabin like this, I’d never leave,’ he said.
    I gave him a doubtful look. ‘Don’t you, like, I don’t know, have a gazillion dollars or something? If you wanted a place like this, you could just buy one, couldn’t you?’
    He rolled his shoulders back, uncomfortably. ‘I don’t have a gazillion dollars. But … Yeah, I guess I have enough money to make some choices.’
    ‘Well, then, what’s stopping you?’
    He looked at his feet. ‘Maybe one day. If I had someone to share it with.’ My heart ached. He stood by the window looking out. ‘Do you think they ever got lonely here?’ he asked.
    I didn’t need to think for long.
    ‘Yes,’ I said, sure it was the truth and, with that realisation, understanding my mother that much more.



CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
    ‘Who rises up for me against the wicked? … against evildoers?’
    Psalm 94 : 16
    W hile Lincolnset about calling Griffin – for a strictly timed conversation – and hiding the car within the glamour, I swept the dust out of the living area.
    Returning the broom to the kitchen cupboard, I spied a flat-bottomed ceramic ball resting on a shelf. It was about the size of a tennis ball and seemingly served no purpose. I picked it up and looked at the base, where a letter ‘E’ had been etched into it – the same mark Evelyn left on all of her pieces. I shook it. Nothing.
    Why would she make a ceramic ball and close it away like this?
    I took it over to the counter, found an old towel and wrapped it up tightly, before bringing the base of my palm down hard and fast, shattering it.
    I felt a wave of triumph when I found a key, wedged into the base.

    Lincoln whistled. ‘I see you found the key,’ he said, but his attention was on the same thing as mine. The now-open basement revealed a surprisingly modern vault-style space containing pretty much every weapon imaginable. If I’d thought Father Peters was well stocked – his collection looked like the local convenience store in comparison to Evelyn’s supercentre.
    Circlingthe large stainless steel table in the centre of the room, I marvelled. I didn’t even think flamethrowers actually existed outside of the movies. And not just that, boxes of grenades, plastic explosives, swords, knives, daggers – hell, there were even two machine guns on the wall. I gasped when I opened the first of many drawers that were filled with different currencies and what looked like stock sheets.
    ‘Impressive.’
    ‘I never want to get on your mum’s bad side,’ Lincoln countered.
    My senses were drawn to a more discreet row of daggers. Discreet but powerful. ‘Grigori blades,’ I said.
    Lincoln came up behind me, his body so close I could feel his warmth and a faint smell of car grease.
    ‘Evelyn and Jonathan were around a long time. I imagine they made some of these blades using shavings from their own daggers like Samuel does.’
    I nodded. Samuel was a weapons expert. He used small metal shavings from his own dagger to mix into silver for new weapons. It took only the smallest amount of Grigori metal to enhance ordinary weapons to entirely new levels. It didn’t make them as powerful as a pure Grigori blade, but good nonetheless for back-up.
    ‘But some of these are the real deal,’ Lincoln went on, fascinated. ‘Possibly blades of fallen Grigori or maybe those who retired.’
    ‘ButI thought they were supposed to disappear once a Grigori dies?’
    I felt him shrug behind me and found it increasingly difficult to concentrate.
    ‘Some people say that if another Grigori is there at the time one of us falls it can be claimed by the other. The reason they usually disappear is more to