Part 34 (1/2)

'Soo to see the else occurred to her 'Gabriel'

'What about him?'

'I don't know Do you think it was odd, hi off like that?'

'After you threatened to kill him, and then knocked him unconscious?'

'Another mistake I've made so many of them, haven't I?'

'I didn't mean it like that'

'It just doesn'tto escape, surely he would have taken a different route?'

'Rather than one that took hiun'

'It seeet away frorunted 'I'm a bloody idiot I hadn't even considered that Now you ree with you'

'I always felt he was laughing atAt the time I put it down to paranoia I should have trusted ht here'

Gabriel walked into the kitchen and closed the french s behind hi their reactions with eyes like blue azurite In his right hand he held a duffel bag, which he dropped to the floor Stubble grazed his cheeks His face was grave, absent of all humour

Hannah surprised herself with her lack ofeffect of Sebastien's sedative, or the alcohol, or both, but she felt anchored to the chair She glanced around the roo for weapons She could see none The kitchen worktop held only a kettle, a coffee maker and the dishes stacked on the drainer A basket stood next to the wood stove, but it contained no logs

Hannah looked up at him 'What do you want?'

'I want to help you'

'Why?'

'Because of the tragedy that's found you Because I began to like the wo to do Because there's no one else who can'

Aware that Sebastien's hand was creeping towards the pocket of his trousers, aware that she needed to hold Gabriel's attention, Hannah asked, 'How did you find us?'

'It wasn't that difficult'

'Who are you?'

Gabriel moved further into the room Hannah cli

'I' for, old man,' the Irishman said 'Please, don't I'm very tired I'm not here to hurt anyone'

'Who are you?' Hannah repeated

Gabriel studied her face Finally he said, 'I'm hosszu elet'

His words were like a fist in her stos She sucked in a breath 'What happened to Gabriel? What did you do with him?'

The man before her frowned, and then his face softened 'Hannah, I auy I can understand, based on your experience, why you'd think we're all aspeople as if they were little more than a fresh set of clothes But I assure you we're not' He glanced away froree with me on that'

'Don't tell me what I think,' the old man snapped 'You have no idea who I am, no idea at all And if you were really hosszu elet-'

'You're Sebastien Lang,' Gabriel interrupted calmly 'You were born and raised in Vienna and you studied medicine at Semraduate you dalena Szollosi eva mistook you for one of us The Eleni cull was still fresh in her memory and secrecy remained the ord By the time she revealed herself to you and discovered her mistake, you'd both fallen in love She admitted the truth, and then she fled'

Sebastien stu hands to his face, covered his eyes

'eva pleaded with you to forget her but you were heartbroken, devastated You began researching the hosszu eletek Everything you could read, everything you could hear Finally you stu out the hosszu eletek was searching for its few survivors Not to kill, this time: to exploit But you didn't care about any of that You just wanted to find eva'

'I did care,' Sebastien croaked

'You rose up through the ranks and finally becaht hand to the Presidente and responsible for finding the hosszu eletek using whateverhosszu elet girl was killed She was one year away froht have ht have had children She eneration or ain, Sebastien Lang Tell irl was neverhis head to reveal eyes ith tears 'It should never have happened The whole thing was a disaster from the start'

'A disaster for us'

'You think I don't know that? Why do you think I walked away?'

'I'm not here to answer that,' Gabriel replied 'I'm here to help Hannah'

Hannah laid a hand on Sebastien's shoulder She didn't like the ani between the two of them To Gabriel, she asked, 'How do you know so much about Seb?'

'When your faenocide that history charly labels a cull, you tend to keep a close eye on those who choose to do you harm'

'I never wished to do you any harm,' Sebastien said 'God's sakes, I was in love with her I just wanted to find her again'

As if he had never spoken, Gabriel said, 'We don't know the identity of all the Eleni Council members But the ones we do are watched When he relocated to Snowdonia, I agreed to keep an eye on hie'

'How long ago?' Hannah asked

'About eight years'

'Eight years? That's a hell of a long time to live alone in a place like that, just to s of one old ht years isn't so bad It was an i to do'

Hannah recalled how desperately lonely Gabriel had seereed 'How do I know that any of this is true? How do I know that you're not Jakab?'