Last Ascension

by Rebecca Royce

  Ace sounded choked when he spoke. “I know you can do it, Lael. You"re so much stronger than we are. If you can"t believe in yourself, believe me when I say I do.”

  Lael sat up straight in the bed. The room was quiet except for the rhythmic sounds of Margot breathing. Her heart beat perfectly, and she had a slight smile on her face, which told him whatever she dreamed about was nice.

  So what the hell had awakened him? He rubbed at his eyes. He"d only been asleep one hour.

  Something pushed at his mind. A memory, something wanting his attention….

  Like the shadows dreams were, it faded away. He leaned against the headboard staring out at the darkness of the room where no answers met his questions.

  ****

  Margot studied the computer over Lael"s shoulder. Nothing. They hadn"t found one single thing to indicate anyone, anywhere, knew she had gone missing. How was that even possible?

  She"d been in her apartment for two weeks, so she had to be gone for some time longer.

  Shouldn"t someone care?

  “It doesn"t mean anything.” Lael rubbed at his eyes. She suspected he hadn"t slept much from how grumbly he"d been all day. “It just means I"m not finding it. This isn"t my forte. There are people in Powers to do this kind of thing.”

  She nodded. “Every Guardian has a Handler. I"ve read the pamphlets, seen the television shows.”

  Lael stopped what he was doing and turned around to look at her. When he did, he had raised his blond eyebrow. Damn it, why did he get to have such sculpted features? How was she ever to get over throwing herself at him—and being rejected—if he continued to be so damned hot all the time? Maybe they could find him a goofy hat.

  “You followed information about the Guardians?”

  She nodded. “A lot of people do, don"t they?”

  “I guess a fair amount.” Lael stood up. “Come on. We"re getting out of here. I want to go find the woman Nevada and then find out what the Organization is doing around here. After, we"ll go to Trenton and figure out who you are.”

  Her heart stuttered at his words, and she had to stick her hands in her pockets to stop them from shaking. Why had she gotten nervous? If Lael noticed, he didn"t comment, and she appreciated his silence on the subject. She wanted to find out her life, didn"t she?

  “Let"s go.” He motioned for her to step in front of him, so that was what she did. They walked outside together.

  “Lael.” She spoke when they stepped into the sunlight. “You seem different today. Is something wrong?”

  “A lot of things are wrong, but I"m not blaming any of it on you. I had a weird dream I can"t quite remember.” He shook his head. “It"s not your problem.”

  She shook her head. “Well, that"s not exactly true. I have to spend the day with you unless I want to get zapped by the green light again.”

  She didn"t want to tell him just how much she actually wanted to be in his presence. Not if he was acting like a jerk to hang around with and made her change her mind. Not if he was going to hurt her….

  “I"ve never been particularly good at working on improving my mood. My attitude is kind of my attitude. Take it or leave it.”

  She patted him on the arm. “You can do better, Lael. I know you can.”

  He simply had to. The Lael from the previous days had been friendly, sharp, and hero-esque.

  Everyone had the right to have an off-day, but not while she was still in limbo. He had to stay almost god-like until they got through this. Then he could get all surly and turn into a guy if he wanted to.

  His jaw ticked and he turned around. “The car is this way.”

  Evidently, he wouldn"t make this easy. Lucky her.

  They rode in silence in his car, which had turned out to be an older model four-door sedan.

  The outside was green, even with the rust on it, and the inside was brown. The seat wasn"t exactly comfortable, but she wasn"t going to complain. He"d flown here when he"d left his Guardianship. That meant he"d acquired this car after he got here.

  A thought dawned on her. “You did buy this right? I mean you didn"t steal it in some sort of anti-Guardian rebellion?”

  Her snark finally earned her a smile, and the tension in the car dropped a degree. “If I was intending to steal a car, I can promise you I"d have picked a better one than this. My brother restores old ones.”

  “You have a brother?” He"d never mentioned one. “Is he also a Guardian?”

  Lael drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “My family is…complicated.”

  She snorted. “Whose isn"t? Is that Lael code for 'I don"t want to talk about it'?”

  “Yes.” He nodded fast.

  Margot made a mental note. Lael did not want to discuss his family. He seemed fine outing himself as a Guardian, but the simple „you have a brother" question had thrown him for a loop.

  They pulled up to a warehouse, and Lael stared at it for a second without commenting. She waited a beat. Did he want her to get out of the car? Truth was, Margot couldn"t remember everything about her life, but she suspected she"d never been so far out of her comfort zone before. The Lael of yesterday she could manage. This hard, tight-lipped person was an entirely different creature from the one she had known the day before.

  “This is the address I got from the woman at the halfway house for Penny Nevada, Henry"s sponsor. But this is a warehouse.” He sighed loudly. “My Guardian sense is telling me this is a very bad situation. Showing up unexpected somewhere always turns out to be fighting and blood.”

  “But you"re not a Guardian anymore. Maybe it simply means she got the address wrong.”

  It was possible, wasn"t it? Things didn"t always have to be aliens, green light, and trouble.

  Maybe Penny Nevada lived somewhere else. End of story.

  “This is feeling very Guardian-like. I"ll give it a quick look, and then I"m calling my brothers. I"m not cut out for this. I"m not good at it.”

  She unhooked her seatbelt. “I"m coming with you.”

  He shook his head. “No way. You"re waiting in the car.”

  “Oh, no way.” She got out of the car before he could lock her in it. “What if they use the green light?” Margot shuddered at the idea. Her whole body had burned.

  Lael leaned against the car. The afternoon sun showed the gold in his skin. Handsome didn"t begin to describe him. Her panties got wet, and she wished she had somewhere she could excuse herself to go take care of the ache being around him created inside of her.

  “All right. But if I say run, you run. If I say quiet, you listen and shut your mouth. That"s the deal. Non-negotiable.”

  “Deal.” She smiled and walked over to him.

  “Good. I guess.” He marched next to her, and they both approached the benign-looking warehouse together.

  The closer she got, the more her stomach tightened. She swallowed. There was nothing about the building per se which should have been giving her the willies, and yet she suddenly knew she didn"t want to go inside. Sweat broke out on her skin, and Lael stopped walking.

  He looked down at her. “Are you okay? You"re scared. Something freak you out?”

  If she had any doubts about his ability to understand her emotions, they fled. Lael could probably hear her body functions, which was both strange and kind of cool at the same time.

  “I don"t want to go in there.”

  Lael nodded. “Great idea. Get in the car.”

  “I don"t want to do that either. Can"t we leave?”

  Her personal Guardian closed his eyes. “I don"t hear anything in there at all, which means either it is empty or they lined it with lead.”

  “Do you think that"s likely?”

  He opened his lids to glare at her. “I think anything is possible. We can"t leave until I figure out what"s happening in there. Okay? You can wait in the car.”

  “No. I want to encounter the aliens again less than I want to go in there.”

  “You make me a little bit dizzy.” He shook his head. �
�You"re all over the place.”

  “Try being in my head.”

  They started walking again toward the warehouse. This close she could see the sole property on the street had peeling white wood on the side. No signs were visible anywhere indicating what was inside.

  “Maybe it"s a homeless place. And Penny squats here.”

  Lael shook his head. “It"s not run down enough. Other than the wood, it"s too well

  maintained. Also, there would be people around. This place appears empty.”

  “Are you some kind of detective?”

  “Call it my keenly honed skills picked up from my years following other Guardians around.”

  His words didn"t even make any sense. “How long could you have been shadowing them?

  You"re what? Twenty-five? Did you start at sixteen?”

  Lael"s face fell again, the way it had in the car when she"d asked about his brother. What was his deal? Either it was okay to ask him about his life or it wasn"t. If he didn"t want to discuss it, he should shut up about it altogether.

  “I started very early.” He tugged on the door, and it didn"t open. He looked up and pointed at the security camera above the door.

  “Can we assume whoever is watching the camera knows we"re here?”

  He shrugged. His tell. She sucked in her breath. Lael had gotten nervous. “Or they will when they review the tape. We can"t assume anyone is watching the live feed.”

  The door swung open with a large creak. She retreated a step. “Or maybe we can. Come on.

  It"s a bad, bad place. Let"s get out of here.”

  “We"ve been waiting for you, Mister Hudson.” An electronic voice boomed through the room.

  “Lael. It can"t be okay that they know you.” She tugged on his arm, but he didn"t budge.

  “I agree. But I"m in for it now.”

  She should have waited in the car. Margot would take an encounter with aliens and green light any day of the week.

  Chapter Six

  The green light filling the warehouse made his skin crawl. The same light had assaulted them at the soup kitchen earlier. Either Margot"s aliens had taken over this warehouse, or something else equally as nefarious went on inside. One thing he believed in his gut, he wasn"t going to find Penny Nevada—if she existed in the first place—or Henry there. If this turned out the way he suspected, he"d never find either. Anywhere.

  No matter, he had to enter, see what was what so he could report it, and keep Margot safe in the meantime. He looked at her. “You can still run to the car.”

  She shook her head and grabbed his arm. Now, he didn"t blame her for her fear, but why she had been so worked up before they entered warranted a second thought. However, he"d have to wait to do that for another time when he wasn"t about to face whatever waited for them in the warehouse.

  “Aliens,” Margot whispered and he shook his head.

  “If only.”

  She pointed upward. “Green light.”

  “Have you lost your ability to speak in complete sentences?”

  He knew he sounded harsh. She needed to snap the fuck out of her shock. Lael wanted her sharp and ready to follow commands. Not shaking and nearly out of her mind.

  “Hey. Screw you.”

  He nodded. Better. “Stay with me. Don"t panic.”

  “Fine.” She gritted her teeth. Anger was always preferable to fear. Being afraid made him sloppy. Anger focused. Draco used to repeat the phrase all the time, but it had been years since he"d thought about it.

  “We"ve been waiting for you, Lael.” The mechanical voice again boomed through the room.

  “The final Guardian. The one who got away. We see you got the present we sent you.”

  What? “I"m not interested in playing games. I know who you are.”

  “Do you now?” A snicker. No machine made that noise. This was human-controlled.

  Probably some douche bag talking into a fucking microphone. Straight out of the Wizard of Oz.

  Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain….

  The asshole kept talking. “You don"t have any idea of what"s happening. No more than Ace and Draco or any of the other pathetic Guardians did.”

  “Draco Powers and Ace Hudson are always in control. You"ve got nothing on them. Where are Henry and the others you took?”

  A snicker. “Dead. But their wasted lives came to great conclusions. We learned very much from watching them burn. Gathered a great deal of information about how quickly acid can burn through human bones.”

  “Open up a science text book. It"ll tell you the same.”

  Margot doubled over, her hands covering her eyes. The green light in the warehouse seemed less intense than the one at work. It felt like nothing more than a mild annoyance to him, but it proved to be too much for Margot.

  They weren"t going to be able to get more than a preliminary look and the small glance had to be enough.

  He stepped forward. The warehouse was filled with machines he"d never seen before. Giant mechanical monsters set to wreak havoc on the world. One destructive attack at a time.

  Except for the Guardians. They stood between the chaos of the Organization and the general public. They used their powers to stop the mess. And they got paid for doing so.

  Only no one was going to pay Lael for this. He would kick a little ass for fun.

  He spun around and in two seconds lifted and placed Margot in the corner. “I"m sorry. I know this hurts, but now I don"t dare leave you outside. Hold on.” He kissed her head because he needed to. “Think good thoughts.”

  Lael took off running and leapt in the air. His ability to fly wasn"t hindered by whatever this green light turned out to be. Other than a mild sense of burning on his skin, he hardly noticed the damn thing. Either he had adapted since the day before, or they couldn"t present the same bang of exposure in such a large room.

  He intended to do some damage before he left.

  Lael zoomed down. The machine in front of him appeared to be a mechanical dog. He shot fire from his eyes. Draco had always called them lasers, but his brother"s description wasn"t exactly accurate. . When the energy exploded from his eyes, it burned as the fire from the sky.

  But he"d never complain. Not when nature had gifted him with the ability to kick some serious ass straight from his vision.

  The machine groaned, the sound of metal splitting from extreme heat, and split into two pieces.

  “Look at you, Guardian. So tough. So sure of his own strength and power.” The room

  vibrated, even the air seemed to pulsate. What the fuck?

  One second he was alone, the next a figure appeared before him he"d thought never to see again. Tall and dark, like Draco, with imposing features, which culminated with one long eyebrow instead of two at the top of his face. He"d been the stuff of nightmares for years when Lael had been growing up.

  The man had left them high and dry, but not having to deal with him had been a relief after the beatings and abuse he"d endured for the years before. He"d never told Draco or Ace about those times. He"d gotten the impression they hadn"t been whacked around, which meant the man who called himself Ben Monroe had saved his particular brand of hatred just for him.

  A metal machine hung from Ben"s neck. It had the same symbol as the one placed on all the machines in the warehouse, a face with eyes and a smile but no nose. It had always been one of the icons used by the Organization.

  “Ben.” Lael spoke through gritted teeth. His whole body shook from the power of this encounter. Why had he convinced himself Ben had died years earlier? No one had ever told him.

  But when his father had never resurfaced, he jumped to conclusions.

  “Son.” Ben"s voice came out of the machine attached to his neck not his mouth. Lael stared at the contraption for a second. He"d never seen anything akin to it. His father wasn"t moving his mouth at all. “It"s been too long.”

  “Not long enough. Why aren"t you dead?” Lael surged upward toward the ceiling. Having the hi
gh ground was always preferable, the same held true for the air. If he could stay above his father"s plane, then it would give him some kind of edge. Assuming this moment actually came to blows.

  “I should be dead.” Ben pointed to the machine he wore. “I came to some trouble a few years ago over the Gulf of Mexico. A rogue missile nearly took me out. Destroyed my vocal

  cords. But then some people—some amazing patriots—rescued me and showed me the error of my ways.”

  “The Organization.” Lael rolled his eyes. “We"ve been beating them for years.”

  “We? I thought you weren"t a Guardian anymore. I could hardly believe it when my contact told me you"d left. You"ve been trailing after your brothers for so long I started to think you were their lap dog. You finally manned up. That"s why I sent you your present.”

  “My present?”

  His father laughed. Throwing his head back in silent glee as the machine made cackling noises for him. “You don"t even seem to be aware you have it, do you? Funny, boy, I thought better of you. I tried so hard to make you a man.”

  Lael let his father"s comment slide. Beneath him on the floor all the horrifying machines his father controlled turned on all at once. They came alive like a giant menagerie of hell rising up to destroy the world.

  If they got out of the warehouse, the local population would be helpless against them, and the government never wasted time on saving the poor disenfranchised. Not like they did in the bigger cities.

  “Draco and Ace are so convinced you"ll save them, but you aren"t going to, are you Lael?

  Because, deep in your heart, you know what I know—you"re more me than you are them.” His father snickered. “So they will languish at the hands of the Organization, as they always should have, and you will come with me, son. You and your present.”

  His father"s gaze moved left, and Lael had no doubt what the man who sired him was staring at. Margot? Was Margot the present? What the fuck? And what did he mean Draco and Ace languished?

  Somewhere in the back of his head, he knew something. He wasn"t clear how, but he did.