The Guardian Read online

  “I prepared and said my mother’s last rites, as I’d been taught. I did a favor for the insane woman who birthed me so that hopefully she could have some peace in whatever version of the afterlife she believed in. None of this is real! Magic doesn’t exist.”

  Reed’s face went from confused, to calculating, to sympathetic. “You have honored your mother despite not believing in what she did. I am sorry for your loss, Tourmaline. It is always hard to lose one we cherish.”

  “Give platitudes later,” Onyx snarled. He continued to glance hurriedly around the apartment. “We need to move, soon.”

  “You know none of the lore? You don’t know what the call for the Guardians is?” Terran’s voice was hesitant and he appeared as on edge as Onyx.

  I closed my eyes for a moment, counting to ten in my head as I strove for patience. “I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about. My mother was a bit crazy, and I performed her death rites, the same as you would in any other religion. Now, if you are actually real and not hallucinations, I want you out of this apartment, immediately, before I shout loud enough to bring the cops down on you.”

  “We can’t leave you.” Reed piped up, nearly chipper. “We’re your soulmates.”

  Well, fuck. He had managed to shock me into utter silence. I opened my mouth, unsure what I was about to say, when the window shattered, blowing glass toward me.

  2

  “Guard!” Terran threw his hands into the air and strands of green light moved like veils toward the thing that had smashed in the window.

  Surprisingly I wasn’t covered in a layer of glass, despite the shattering window. I sought the reason, my brain refusing to acknowledge what was happening in front of me. Reed’s eyes glowed a brilliant green, his right hand raised toward what remained of the window — and the wall — I realized with a wince. I really hoped this was all in my head or I’d never get that security deposit back.

  Reed’s lips moved rapidly and he flicked his wrist, sending shards of glass flying at the dark creature now crouched under Terran’s streamers of light. The creature growled as they sank in, its back and shoulders twitching.

  “W-wolf,” I stuttered in shock as I watched it pace and growl, contained by whatever the hell Terran was doing.

  Onyx snorted and, in a rapid movement, he drew a sword I hadn’t even noticed was strapped across his back. The fabric that had appeared silky before was a thick, metallic armor the same color as the dark, deadly blade he now twirled idly in his hand.

  “You are more human than anything.” His lip was curled as he shook his head, his eyes cold as he glared at me. “Yes, as you have so cleverly deduced, it looks like a wolf. It is, indeed, a werewolf.” I froze, more afraid of the whistling, twirling blade than his words.

  “Do not worry, Tourmaline. We have killed many before. We will kill anything that tries to hurt you.” Reed’s tone was sweet and soft, but I could only stare at him in horror.

  “Are you seriously trying to comfort me by telling me that you have killed on many occasions and that you plan to do it again?” My voice crept up to a shriek.

  “Believe us or not, fool. It makes no difference to me.” Onyx snapped the words and ignored the glare Reed shot him. “We do our duty, nothing more. Terran, stop playing with it and kill it, or I will,” Onyx snarled.

  Terran didn’t look back at him and merely muttered as a reply. The gossamer strands of green wrapped tightly around the wolf, sliding and squeezing as the wolf’s growls changed to whimpers before it suddenly disappeared.

  Onyx scoffed, sheathing his sword back behind his shoulder, his armor dissolving into silk before my eyes. A small part of me wanted to touch it, intrigued by the chance and wondering at the texture. The other part of me wanted to kick him in the balls. I wasn’t feeling very kind at the moment.

  “You killed it?” I was unsure whether I should be relieved, offended, or horrified.

  “No, Tori.” Terran smiled at me, his big hands held wide and empty now of the strands of light. “I sent him away.”

  “So, he’ll come back? Why the hell was he breaking down the wall and attacking us in the first place?” Maybe I could get behind this killing thing if it meant a hungry wolf wasn’t going to hunt me down and try and eat me in retaliation for having glass thrown at him and then being poofed away.

  “He is bound. I must try and learn more before I consider destroying him. I will explain the rest in time.”

  “We must go,” Reed encouraged me. He stepped forward, urgency lacing his tone. “If one has found you, more will not be far behind. We need to get you to the Fae Realm where we can protect you.”

  “I don’t understand any of this.” My body shook, too overwhelmed by the culmination of today’s events to make heads or tails of them. “This is all a hallucination incited by the stress of my mother dying.”

  “If you’re so sure we’re a hallucination, what harm could come to you by following us?” Onyx’s voice was snarky and sarcastic.

  “Well, let’s see.” I couldn’t help but snap back at him. “If I’m severely hallucinating, I could possibly walk into traffic or another situation that could potentially harm me. I could go with people who have terrible intentions because I think they’re witches.” I glared pointedly at his clothing and then back at him.

  “I’m not a witch.” Onyx drawled the words, his eyes as hard as the armor that had covered him.

  “Finally!” I threw my hands into the air. “Apparently some of this is wearing off. You’re actually speaking sense.”

  “They’re witches.” He jerked a thumb at Reed and Terran. “I’m a faerie.”

  “A faerie.” I nodded, as if that made sense, choking my hysterical laughter down. “Of course. Why not. Now I’m hallucinating faeries.”

  “Oh, for the love of the gods,” Onyx growled. He reached out to grab me, and he pulled me flush against him. “Do I feel like a bloody hallucination?”

  “Silky.” The stupid word was the only thing I could gasp out as the sensation of the fabric he wore pressed against my skin.

  “Bah!” He dropped me to my feet and paced away.

  “Enough,” Terran nearly roared as he glared at Onyx and squeezed his hand into a fist. Apparently, Terran wanted to punch the guy as badly as I did.

  “If you believe you are hallucinating, there is not much that we can say. You will simply explain away all of our reasoning.” Reed pointed the conflict out to me, continuing to study me. “Do you have a history of hallucinations?”

  “No.” I could only blink in surprise at the question.

  “A history of using drugs? Or your mother using drugs?”

  “Of course my mother didn’t use drugs!” Irritation and anger bubbled close to the surface.

  “You can’t have it both ways, Princess.” Onyx wore a smug smirk. “Either your mother used drugs and accidentally gave you some, or you’re not hallucinating.”

  “If I’m not hallucinating then it means magic is real,” I pointed out. “If magic is real, that means my mother was right. If my mother was right, that means she could have saved herself and she didn’t. It means that there really is something to be afraid of that she was moving us away from.”

  We had moved constantly as I was growing up, driving me absolutely crazy as we jumped from city to city. Sometimes we would stay for only a few days, other times up to a year, though that was rare.

  “I don’t know how your mother died.” Terran’s voice held sympathy. “I am sorry all of this is hitting you at once. It was not how we intended to find you. All we ask is that you come with us while you figure things out.”

  “I would suggest gathering a few valuables. Anything you cannot bear to part with.” Reed interjected before I could object. “I am not sure if or when we will be able to return here now that we have drawn so much attention.”

  “What if I say no?” I hesitated. I had grown up hearing that magic was real. While I hadn’t believed it since I was young, I liked to think I w
as fairly open-minded. Plus, it would mean my mother, and I by genetic association, wasn’t actually insane. “What if I say I want to chance it how things are?”

  “Then we take you how you are,” Onyx supplied with a shrug.

  Terran grimaced. “Tori, it’s not safe here. It isn’t warded and we can’t protect it. Not to mention, you now have a giant hole in the side of your building and people are already gathering. The wards I cast preventing their entrance are only temporary. We need to be well away from here before they fade.”

  “You didn’t deny it,” I mused. “That you’ll take me one way or another.”

  The three exchanged glances, but all remained silent. I had hit the nail on the head. They were insistent I was going to leave with them, one way or the other.

  “Fine. If I’m being kidnapped by faeries, I’m at least packing first,” I grumbled. Heading into my mother’s small bedroom, I tugged the luggage set from the closet.

  “We’re not all faeries, either,” Reed piped up conversationally, continuing to watch me.

  “Luggage. Really.” I wondered if Onyx had any other setting besides irritatingly condescending.

  “I don’t have any of my things in this apartment, so we’re making a stop at mine. I’m not leaving all my mom’s stuff behind though.” I glared at Onyx and waited for him to object. He swore and stomped back out into the kitchen.

  “As long as you move quickly.” Terran glanced at Reed, who nodded his understanding and moved to help me open the luggage.

  “Leave that one empty,” I called, pausing a minute as I studied the room. What of my mother's would I want? Most of her things I had planned to donate, but there were a few mementos I couldn't leave without.

  I dragged her small safe out from under the bed, hoping it contained all her important documents still. I had bought it with my first paycheck as a teen, wanting to ensure we always had our identification and other necessities on hand when she would decide we needed to run again. The box was heavy, but small enough to only take up a portion of the bag.

  I pulled down the scrapbook she had made of us, stuffed it into the bag, and placed her jewelry box and gemstone collection on top. Neither were monetarily valuable, but my mother had enjoyed being surrounded by shiny things. Brushing past Reed and Terran, I headed to dismantle the altar I had set up. It felt wrong to leave without those pieces of her, like leaving her exposed.

  “Here.” Reed offered up the small satchel Mom had used for her knitting that had been sitting by the table. I smiled at him, surprised by his thoughtfulness. I tugged out the yarn and placed the altar pieces inside. Tucking that in the bag, I glanced around.

  “Do you guys have a car?” I still had no idea how they'd arrived. “I can give you my home address.” Hopefully, the cops were there investigating one of my neighbors for drugs like they normally were. That would be one way to ensure if I was hallucinating or being abducted — whether the cops arrested me or them.

  “Cars aren't exactly our speed.” Terrans lips quirked as though he’d made a joke. “You have everything you wish to bring?” I wasn’t sure how to explain that all I wished to bring was my mother and my sanity, so I gave a sharp nod instead. “Onyx.”

  “Hold tightly to a man of your choosing.” Onyx arched a brow at me and I considered punching him, then debated throwing myself onto him to show him I wasn’t afraid.

  I decided to wrap my arms around Reed’s neck instead, though I was uncertain as to why I followed the direction. I figured that with Reed I at least had a chance to escape. He was the least physically imposing and seemed the most innocent, unlikely to expect a shot to the balls or the throat.

  Terran scooped up the empty bag Reed had set on the floor and the one I had filled, before nodding at Onyx to continue with whatever he was doing. Onyx laid one hand on Reed’s shoulder and the other on Terran’s.

  “Know where we’re going?” Onyx asked me, bored and indifferent. I blinked for a moment, opening my mouth to recite the address, when I suddenly felt as if I'd been kicked into a refrigerator.

  Dark and cold wrapped around me, digging into my skin with icy fingers. I could feel Reed against my side, but everything else was wiped away by the cold that bit and nipped at every inch of available skin. As quickly as it had started, it was over. Light and warmth returned, and I was left breathless, gasping for air as I stared into Reed’s eyes.

  “Teleportation is a little difficult at first.” Reed attempted to soothe me with the explanation, but all I could do was stare at him.

  “Ya think?” I wheezed out. I nearly tumbled from Reed’s grasp when I realized where we were. “How in the world…” I trailed off, glancing around my small studio apartment.

  Reed seemed intrigued, twitching his fingers and legs as if fighting the urge to poke around. Terran had his hands out in front of him, murmuring low and fast, not seeming to consider the actual details of the apartment. Onyx looked around in pure disgust, his nose wrinkled and lines of distaste digging in deeply by his mouth and eyes.

  “You live here?” Utter contempt was clear. “Our servants live better than this.”

  “Of course a stuck up prick like you would have servants,” I muttered, stalking over to the curtain surrounding my bed and tugging it aside.

  “Knights almost always have servants,” Reed offered absently, his concentration on the shelf holding my books, his head cocked to the side to try and read the titles.

  “Oh. Right, of course.” I was nearly seething at this point as I tugged my own fireproof safe out. “You’re not only a faerie, but you’re also a faerie knight. Why not?”

  “I think we’ve proven you’re not hallucinating at this point. Unless you can rationalize how you were transported across town in a moment, that is,” Onyx snapped. He continued to stare about the small apartment.

  “Oh, you’d be surprised what I can rationalize.” Honestly, at this point I wondered if I’d continue suggesting it was a hallucination just to keep pissing him off.

  Looking around my apartment, I tried to see it through his eyes. The twin loft bed had been curtained off, giving myself a little extra privacy. I had appreciated that the bathroom was completely walled in and that they had provided a small mini-fridge with the cost of the apartment.

  There was only enough room for a loveseat and a small end table to eat my meals on, both of which I’d gotten from the local thrift store. My books were all neatly organized, each item carefully in its place so I could find it in an instant. Okay, so it was a little shabby, but every inch of it was mine, and I wasn’t going to let some hot snotty Tinkerbell make me feel ashamed.

  “If anyone in this scenario should be upset or rejecting the issue, it should be us,” Onyx bit out. He paced toward me, menace radiating from him.

  “Onyx, enough.” Terran scowled at his friend, stretching and shaking his hands as if they ached. “You have made your feelings clear. Leave the girl alone.” He turned his attention to me, his tone softening. “Gather what you need but do so quickly. We must be on our way again soon. My wards here are not as strong as I would like.”

  “Bossy, the both of you.” I glanced at Reed and he willingly offered up the spare bag. “You, I may like.” He beamed, color tinting his cheeks. “Though no more of this soulmate business.”

  I headed toward my bed and the storage systems underneath it. Leggings, t-shirts, and sweaters were yanked from the containers and stacked in the bag. I didn’t know what lay in store for me, but damn it I was going to be comfortable during it. I shoved the empty drawers around, digging until I found a few pairs of shorts that I had stashed and tossed those in the bags too. Hesitating for a moment, I glanced around, but none of the men appeared to be watching me directly.

  Reed seemed fascinated by a book he had found on my bed, Onyx was staring mutely out the window, and Terran leaned against the wall, observing the doorway. I wasn’t sure why I was mildly embarrassed, but knowing their backs were turned made it easier to slide open my underwear
drawer and scoop bras, panties, and all of my socks into the bag before I tossed a t-shirt over the pile.

  “Are we done with this nonsense yet?” Onyx drawled, rubbing at his temple as though it ached. Did faeries get headaches? There was a question I had never imagined myself asking.

  “So where are your wings, Tinkerbell?” I tossed at him as I passed on my way to the bathroom to gather my toiletry bag. Unsure where we were going, I wasn’t willing to risk not having toothpaste or tampons, for that matter. Onyx only snarled in reply to my question.

  “Most fae don’t have wings,” Reed called absently as he continued to flick pages of the book. I doubted he was reading at that speed; although if he was, I was definitely impressed.

  I considered for a moment, debating if there was anything else I wanted to try and shove into the suitcases. I tucked my small safe into my bag, but there really wasn’t much else. I had gotten used to living lightly over the years, not collecting more than what a few suitcases could hold in case I’d need to end up saying goodbye to it. While I enjoyed the small pieces of knick-knacks or the stack of books that littered my apartment, none of them were items I felt like hauling around the Fae Realm.

  “I think that’s everything.” My reply was low, but Terran’s ears were sharp.

  “Nothing else?” I could almost feel the sympathy pouring off him, and I scowled.

  “I live light,” I snapped, unwilling to accept any pity.

  “Smart.” Surprisingly it was Onyx who spoke, and I could only gape at him. “You may be mostly human, but that is one trait I can appreciate. A true warrior takes what they need, everything else may be discarded at need.”

  “I’m no warrior.” I balked at the idea.

  “Of course you’re not.” The words were scornful, and I scowled at him again.

  “Look, if you’re still insisting on taking me somewhere can we just go? Then maybe we can figure out why a werewolf broke through my window and who’s going to pay the damages for it, because I can assure you it won’t be me.”