Chapter 225-5

Lifting my hand to his lips, he planted a small soft kiss on my knuckles where his thumb had gently soothed the skin and then he drew his head back slightly, his eyes sparkling with a keen interest as he examined the soft glow that seeped out from between my fingers. "You can't turn back now." "I know," I said, my voice firm and resolute. "And I won't. I came here to see this through and that's what I intend to do." I turned back to the painting, studying the scene inside the frame. "He's here somewhere. But ... where?" Stretching up on tiptoes and using my hand to brace myself against the wall, I strained to study the image closer. Everything seemed so still and if it wasn't for the flurry of a couple of birds in flight, I would have thought it was an ordinary painting – a perfect portrayal of a landscaped garden on a summer's day. And then I caught it, a slight movement amongst the tree-line on the far side, not like the dark shadowy figures I had seen when walking there with Lucifer