Zero Rising: Soldier of Light Chronicles Book 3

by Ireland Gill

  “It already is screwed up, Hayden!” I screamed at him. “Don't you see that? This fucking life has robbed Jaxon and me of each other! All because of my idiot father!”

  “Hey!” Luka's voice interrupted my rant. I looked over at him to see his brow line furrowed as he looked stared back at me. I'd never known Luka to have such an angry face. “That is enough!” he yelled. “I know you don't want to hear this, Evika, but your father was human. Just like you!” His voice was deep, eyes furrowed. “Now, I know Jack screwed up. We all know that. He knows that. But the rules put in place as a result of that mistake were there for a reason...and it was to protect both you and your brother.”

  I gulped, still looking at Luka in surprise. His expression softened as he took a deep breath.

  “I know that you feel hurt, deceived, betrayed,” he continued, “I know that. We all do, I swear. But you have to see that there was good reason for all of this. And you cannot hold it against us, Evika. We were given no choice in this matter, no matter how we felt.”

  I sighed, relieved that he didn't hold onto that mad expression. “I do know that,” I said quietly. “I do.” I felt the pain in my throat rise, and my eyes started prickling. I folded my arms into my chest and turned away from them slowly. I didn't want them to see me cry anymore. “But you have to see that Jaxon is a huge chunk of my life that has been missing. And I just found this out. If he gets taken away from me again—-I—-” I paused before continuing so I could take another deep breath. “I can't lose another part of me again. I just can't.”

  There was a long moment of silence while the three of them looked at me.

  “You know,” Blane interjected. “Maybe she’s right.”

  “What?” Hayden and Luka turned to him simultaneously. Even I looked at him in surprise.

  “I’m serious,” Blane continued. “I’ve been hunting this thing for years and whenever I get close, it jumps to another body.” Blane took out a few of the knives from inside his jacket and threw them at one of the oaks that held part of the hammock. One after another, they were embedded in the tree’s bark about six inches apart, forming a straight line going down. “We could reel it in by keeping the kid here. Maybe it’s the bait that we need.” He examined the tree for a long moment, aiming his last knife and finally throwing it. It hit the bark in the same spot as the first knife, but was embedded noticeably deeper. “This could all be over if I just had the chance.”

  I smirked at Hayden. “Sounds like the knife-throwing asshole has a point.”

  “Thank you,” Blane nodded my way, not fazed by my insult. “See? Princess agrees with me.”

  Hayden ran his hands through his hair and started pacing. I knew he was feeling outnumbered, and I wanted him to feel that way. I wanted my way. I wanted to make the choices from now on.

  We all watched him deliberate for a few minutes before putting his pacing to a stop and standing in front of me with his arms crossed. His demeanor had now changed. He’d become more confident, and whatever he was about to say would be indicative as to why that was.

  “Okay,” he simply said.

  “Okay?” I asked, shocked.

  “Wait, what?” Luka asked, confused.

  “Okay, Jaxon can move in....on one condition,” he amended.

  I was used to Hayden’s love for “conditions,” so I wasn’t surprised by his answer. Maybe it would be that I would have to agree to no drinking at all, or no smoking at all, two things of which would go from “curbing” to “non-existent.” Whatever. I figured I’d be able to handle whatever it was that Hayden had to throw at me, as long as I could have my brother in my life.

  “Fine,” I said coldly. “Then what’s your condition?”

  Hayden gave looks to Luka and Blane, as if warning them.

  “Everyone has to move in. Even Jaxon’s Guardian.”

  “What?” was the simultaneous response from Luka, Blane, and myself.

  “You all heard me,” Hayden said with a shrug, looking each of us in the eyes. “If Evika wants Jaxon to move in and we have to continue to hold up the ideal amount of security set in place by the House of Council, then everyone’s going to have to move in. That’s my condition.”

  “No way,” I shook my head.

  “You’re out of your goddamned mind!” Blane blurted in disbelief. “Are you serious?”

  “No joke, man.”

  “It would be like a freaking frat house with everyone living here!” I threw my hands in the air in protest. “You can’t expect this to work out. There has to be another way.”

  “There’s plenty of room in that house,” Hayden stated. “If you want Jaxon here, you’ll have to agree to Luka, Blane, and Indigo moving in, too.”

  I didn’t mind Luka moving in, so that wasn’t my problem. Blane, and Indigo, who I assumed was the name of my brother’s Guardian, was what bothered me the most. Strangers who may have been House of Council picks for their tasks didn’t mean I’d like them and want to live with them.”

  “This is such bullshit. You know that, right?” I contested.

  Hayden sighed. “So is that a yes to my proposal?”

  I pursed my lips and narrowed my eyes at him, shaking my head and tightening my fists.

  “Fine,” I said through tightly gritted teeth.”

  “Great,” he said with a smirk. “Blane, please let Indigo know about the arrangement. Luka and I will cover everything with Costello and let him know.”

  Blane shook his head in shock. “You’re seriously making me move in?”

  “Yup,” Hayden answered.

  Blane looked over at me with a glare. “Unreal,” he said. He then started throwing his knives at a different tree in the yard, more force behind each of his throws this time. “Fucking princess,” I heard him say with a bite under his breath.

  Chapter Six House Guests

  In a matter of forty-eight hours, the “condition” to which I’d agreed in order to have Jaxon move in was met. Each empty bedroom was filled with a warm body. Even one of the living rooms had become a new place for slumber since I’d only agreed to let Hayden back into the house, and not back into our bedroom. Hayden gave up his own room to Luka, I guess in hopes that he wouldn’t really need it anymore after we made up. I still didn’t relent.

  I had Jaxon claim the biggest of the guest rooms. The others – Luka, Blane, and Indigo – took the rooms at the other side of the house. They each had their own unique way of handling the change. Luka was, as always, just go-with-the-flow about the move and was happy to nest in the house as long as he could have Beau in his room for a few nights a week. I had to laugh when he laid out that request because he and my dog had such a close bond anyway due to the fact that Luka was the nature harmon who brought Beau back to my world. I agreed to it immediately.

  Blane had a large duffel bag that he’d kept on the floor of his room from day one. He refused to use the dresser or to unpack. He lived out of the bag, and he’d made a point to leave the bag visible to all walking by and down the hall. The impression I received was that he was making it clear that he wasn’t staying. He never liked the arrangement in the first place. Neither did I.

  Jaxon and I met Indigo that very first evening after the agreement. A very tall, muscular, dark-skinned angel with long dreadlocks knocked at my front door. Next to his feet were two huge, clear containers full of his belongings.

  Jaxon spent most of that evening peppering Indigo with all types of questions after finally warming up to him. He’d been a bit intimidated, at first, to even speak to his Guardian. I had to guess it was because the whole thing was a bit surreal, knowing that some being has been “watching” you your entire life. You question things like “How much do they really know about me?” or “Have they really seen everything I’ve ever done?” I didn’t have to imagine that those were Jaxon’s initial thoughts because I had them myself when I’d first met Hayden.

  Indigo looked extremely familiar to me. I almost gave up on trying to place his f
ace until it finally struck me; he was at the Pancake House that Jaxon and I went to the first day we’d met. Indigo had been reading a menu and peeking over at us occasionally from his table, then scrambled to pick up his cell phone and have a conversation. I’d known what he was.

  I observed his attire, recalling the familiar camouflage cargo shorts. “I remember you,” I told him after he settled into his room that first night.

  He chuckled very quietly before turning to look at me. His long dreads were tied back in a low, loose pony tail while a few hung freely on either side of his face, lying well below his broad shoulders. He gave me a smile.

  “I can imagine you would remember me,” he said in a smooth, deep tone. “I didn’t make much of an effort to conceal myself from you.”

  I looked at him inquisitively.

  “I was quite sure you knew what I was. There was no real danger in your knowing, so I didn’t try very hard,” Indigo elaborated.

  “Oh,” I said. “Yeah, I had a hunch that there’d be a few of you lurking while Jaxon and I were out all day.”

  I turned my attention to the rows of dark purple pillar candles covering the floor and the bed, so I walked a bit closer. I saw that each of them was marked with a tiny, silver plaque on which a Roman numeral was engraved. Indigo had them all lined up in order. My eyes followed all the way to the end of the top row on the bed to find the last candle with a plaque showing three capital “Cs,” three “Xs”, and two “Is.” I didn’t know Roman numerals well, but it was clear to me he’d had a few hundred of them in that room.

  “They’re the lives I’ve guarded throughout my existence,” his silky voice answered my unspoken question. “Three hundred thirty-two of them. And this,” he reached down and pulled out a black case from one of the bins and opened it up to reveal yet another pillar candle, “is my current life. Number three hundred thirty-three.” He smiled.

  He held the candle out to me. It was already lit, as if it had been packaged and transported that way. It, like the others, sported a plaque with Roman numerals; three “Cs,” three “Xs”, and three “Is.”

  “My brother’s,” I said.

  Indigo nodded. “From the moment they are given life, the flame will light and remain lit until their death. Until that final day, the flame stays bright. These, of course,” he added, “are no ordinary candles. They are specially made at the House.”

  I watched him carefully place my brother’s candle on the nightstand by the bed. I then looked around the bedroom at all of the others and wondered where he planned on putting the rest of them. Surely, he wasn’t considering leaving them where they were.

  “Um. Did you need some place to put all of these? You could always use the cabinets down in the dining room. It’s not like I need to display those hoity-toity china plates.”

  I thought about the chinaware in those cabinets. Hayden had negotiated with the seller to leave it all with the house and we’d include payment in the total price; two china cabinets full of stuff. He’d honestly thought we’d use them someday when Joel came to make us some nice meals. I saw them as things that just took up space. Nice dinnerware was definitely not my style.

  Indigo deliberated for a moment, looking around the room at his organized mess, and then back to me. He chuckled. “You know, when I packed all of this up, I’m not so sure I even considered where I’d be putting all of these when I got here. I only felt the urge to bring them with me and never gave it another thought.”

  I was curious to know what all of the candles meant to Indigo. Although I’d been used to the different Guardian angels possessing their own personalities and quirks, it still intrigued me when I learned of new ones. I’d never gotten past the whole idea that these sentient beings were almost more human than I was.

  I waited for Indigo to come up with an answer as he still stood there, bewildered at the sight of his three hundred thirty-three pillar candles all over the room. I couldn’t resist asking an additional question after becoming a bit perplexed, myself.

  “Indigo, where do you normally keep all of these, anyway?”

  His trance broke at the sound of my voice. “Oh, we have vaults at the House of Council, we angels. Most of us like to keep meaningful items we’ve collected over the years, keepsakes, if you will. The pillars are what I’ve kept for hundreds of years.” He looked over his candles again proudly. “I’ve always collected a candle for each of my lives. I’m the only Guardian who does, that I know of.”

  “Why do you keep them?” I asked him.

  He looked down at my brother’s candle for a moment. “Well, I guess it started out as just a way for me to keep count. I’d been fascinated since my Creation Day with the many lives some of the other, more seasoned, Guardians had watched over. So, from day one, life one, I kept a burning candle for my current human. But then,” he continued, “I’d realized after around the first thirty lives or so that all of my humans died only from natural causes, or old age. None of them were murdered or were met by their demise with some tragic accident. I found that to be quite peculiar.”

  Indigo took the black case in which my brother’s pillar candle had traveled and placed it in the nightstand drawer. “Ever since that realization, I’ve cherished them even more.”

  I studied him curiously, fascinated. “You mean to tell me that all three hundred and thirty-two of these lives were never someone who committed suicide, or was in the wrong place at the wrong time?” I winced a little after asking my question. That last scenario had come from deep within my subconscious, I knew. I instantly thought of my mother and her own demise.

  “None of them,” he declared. He said it as if he, himself, were still in amazement of the fact. “I did have quite a few children - more than I would have liked to see die at such early ages – but none of their deaths were at the hands of someone else...except, of course, the Creator himself.”

  Indigo sat down at the edge of the bed in the one, small section left that wasn’t covered with candles.

  “The human race, from what I’ve gathered since the beginning of my existence, can be so cruel to its own kind. Even over the long period of time since Guardians have existed, humans and their nature have never changed. There are always the bad seeds that can ruin so many of the lives around them if they choose to, murderers who will take the life of another in the blink of an eye without giving a second thought to their actions.” He gestured with a nod to the candles next to him. “I am still astonished over the fact that none of my humans’ deaths were ever due to the hand of another.”

  I thought of how significant it was that Indigo was able to claim this fact, and how sad it was that it was even significant. He was right, humans have always had a nature about them that has never changed. There was always a dark side to human nature.

  I looked at Indigo inquisitively as the thought occurred. “Maybe this means you’re good luck. For your humans, I mean,” I said.

  Indigo’s eyebrows raised. “Good luck, huh?” He laughed heartily, much deeper and animatedly than he had previously. “Maybe I’m just the lucky one,” he mused. He stood and turned to look over his organized mess once again.

  “Either way, I’m glad my brother has you,” I assured him.

  He beamed, starting to blush. “I’m honored to be his Guardian. And I can assure you, I will do anything and everything in my power to protect him from this new entity.” He raised his palm to me and added, “Angel’s honor.”

  I gave him a warm smile, appreciating that he already knew how important Jaxon was to me. Before leaving the room, I took one last glance at the burning candle on the nightstand, the symbol that represented my brother’s life, and the life which this new angel had vowed to protect.

  “Hey, Evika?” I heard Indigo call after me right before I walked out of the room.

  “Yeah?” I looked at the angel as he wrinkled his nose, obviously assessing his belongings and coming to his conclusion.

  “Maybe I’ll take you up on those china ca
binets.” He finally relented.

  I laughed. “They’re all yours, Indigo.”

  Chapter Seven Truce

  Tension was still looming, that thick kind of tension in the air that everyone speculates you could cut with a knife. I still never let Hayden back into my room, nor did I make an effort to talk anything out with him. Most mornings, I would awaken and out of habit, stroll to the family room to put on the television. But then, I’d see the fading angel on the couch either still sleeping or eating a bowl of cereal, so I’d just find somewhere else to seek sanctuary.

  The house was divided, and no one was on the same schedule, as if anyone sharing the same room together at one time was off limits. It could have been me being overly sensitive, but for as many people we had in that house, it still felt lonely.

  It had been a solid week since Jaxon showed up at my door and everyone moved in before I started even thinking about giving Hayden the time of day. I refused to do any saves, and quite honestly, I didn’t have to put up much of a fight. Hayden, nor Luka, confronted me about the issue. I guess they were just giving me my space, time to get over the fact that I had a whole clan of guys just move into my home...and to get used to the fact that I had a twin brother.

  Although I was still angry with Hayden, I wanted our issue resolved. It was almost as if Hayden had also become upset with me in the process, as I really didn’t see any efforts coming from him either. But then again, he knew me well and was aware that space was usually the best thing to give me at times.

  While I wasn’t with Jaxon and learning more about him, I spent the majority of my time in my bedroom creating sketches. Some of the drawings were of the landscape and seascape outside of my window, but a lot of them were my perception of the Guardian stories I’d been told. I drew one rendering of Indigo setting up his three-hundred thirty three candles, only one of which was lit and held in his palms against his chest as he looked down at it. It was a dark sketch, mostly shadow, and I used color pencil only on the flame and the reflection on Indigo’s face.