Guardian Born

by S. A. Moss

  I shook it off. “Not an attack. More like a covert mission. I’m hoping I can sneak in and out without a fight.”

  “Then I’m going with you.” Her shoulders straightened and her jaw set.

  “No,” I corrected patiently. “You need to stay here and make sure Alex is okay.”

  Pearl flicked a glance at Alex again. “What if we could get this Boss Man fellow to tell us what the Fallen’s next move is?”

  I snorted. “He’d never do that.”

  “He might. If we threatened to take his immortality. Or rather, if Alex threatened.”

  Stunned, I turned to her. “Are you serious?”

  “The Seer matched you with Alex for a reason. Maybe this is it. I know you’re supposed to keep him safe, but perhaps the only way to do that is by keeping all of humanity safe.”

  “But I don’t know if I can protect him if we take him into a hive of demons! I’ve seen him fight, and he’s a freaking badass. But he’s already been injured twice by demons. In case you haven’t noticed, they have powers that no human does.”

  “I know that. But I’ll be there too, and we’ll do everything we can to take care of him.” She suddenly narrowed her eyes at me. “This isn’t about your parents, is it?”

  “What?”

  “You said you found this demon, Boss Man, while you were looking for your father. Is sneaking into this club just an excuse to search for answers about your parents?”

  I gaped. “No! No, I swear. It’s because he’s the only one of the Fallen I’ve seen who seems to be giving orders to other supernaturals, which means he’s got to be behind this somehow. Maybe he knows where the Guardians have been taken.”

  Her eyes were sharp in the darkness. “But if you were to find your parents there, would you still be capable of keeping Alex safe? What if you have to choose between protecting him and them?”

  I hesitated. What would I do? Mostly, I just hoped I wouldn’t see my parents. At this point, I’d almost be happy to learn that they’d abandoned me and were off living the high life in Australia—because at least then they’d be far away from this mess.

  I sighed. “I honestly don’t know, Pearl. But I made a promise to keep Alex safe, and I know I’ll do everything I can to keep that promise. And that includes not forcing him into a dangerous situation if he doesn’t want to be there.”

  “All I want to do is ask him if he’ll help us. We won’t make him do anything.” She smiled sweetly, the moonlight falling across her face giving her a ghostly appearance.

  “That’s cheating, you know. Just look at him. He’s a good, honorable guy. When you ask him to help save humanity, you know what he’s going to say.”

  “No,” she argued. “I don’t.”

  But I did.

  As if drawn by a magnetic force, my eyes found Alex’s sleeping form again.

  He had told me he always wanted to be a hero.

  And now he’d have the chance.

  27

  Sarah left early the next morning for class. When she saw me and Pearl sitting up on our pillow fort, she did a double take. As long as we’d been friends, she’d never been able to get me on board the “early riser” train, and I could see the shock on her face that I was awake and functional before 9 a.m.

  Alex, a man after my own heart, didn’t rise until almost eleven despite the daylight streaming into the room. Pearl and I had spent the morning making tentative plans for sneaking into Boss Man’s headquarters. When Alex yawned and sat up slowly, Pearl gave me a wide-eyed look and nudged me toward him.

  Here goes nothing.

  I sat down on the couch in the spot where Alex’s feet had been and glanced over at him. Sarah had given him a shirt her on-again off-again boyfriend Dylan had left here, so he hadn’t had to sleep in his bloodstained one. Alex rested his hands on his knees, head drooping toward his clasped hands, letting out a noise somewhere between a yawn and a grunt. I had a sudden vivid memory of how his hand had felt holding mine. Large, warm, and rough.

  I cleared my throat. “How did you sleep?”

  “Like the dead.” Then he tilted his head, a grin catching his lips. “Sorry.”

  I grinned back. “It’s okay.”

  “How’d you sleep?”

  “Actually, I don’t sleep.” I had decided that no matter what he asked or said, from now on I was going to be totally upfront about everything with him. If he got freaked out by all of this, better it happened now than when we were in a much more dangerous situation.

  He sat up straight. “At all?”

  “Nope. To be honest, I kinda miss it.”

  “Yeah, I would too.” He had a strange expression on his face, but I couldn’t identify the emotion behind it.

  Before I could continue the conversation, Pearl stuck the TV’s remote control in my face. “How on earth does this thing work? There are entirely too many buttons on it.”

  Curious why she suddenly wanted the TV on when we were supposed to be getting Alex up to speed on the demon threat, I took the remote from her and fiddled with it. She was right. There were way too many buttons on it, but luckily I’d used it dozens of times before when Sarah and I met up to study and ended up binge-watching our favorite shows instead. A few clicks and the TV flickered on.

  “—the highest homicide rate in a single day in the past ten years,” a perfectly coifed newscaster was saying. “Chicago PD were stretched thin last night responding to a sharp spike in 911 calls, and at one point the call center was completely overwhelmed. It’s unclear what caused this sudden rise in violent crime across the city. The instances don’t seem connected to each other, and it’s unconfirmed whether any of them were gang related. Emergency lines were also flooded with a number of what are being described as prank calls, reports of wild animals being seen on the streets and reports of alien sightings. Please, if you do not have a true emergency, police ask that you keep the lines clear for those who do. More on this story as it develops.”

  As she spoke, images flashed on the screen beside her. Some of it looked like cell-phone camera footage, probably recorded by bystanders and sent to the station. In one of the clips, I could clearly see one of the Fallen with small blunt horns protruding from his forehead. He was holding another man by the shoulders, lifting him off his feet as other people fought in what looked like a vicious bar brawl behind them.

  Oh man. This was bad. People’s attachment to the world that they knew and understood would stop them from considering that the man might be an actual supernatural—for a while. But how long would that last with the Fallen able to run rampant through the city? And if this was happening here…

  I changed channels a few times, and the news was similar on each one. CNN was reporting a sharp spike in violence in several major cities worldwide.

  Alex stared at the TV, his brow furrowed. “What the hell is going on?”

  I suddenly understood why Pearl had interrupted us with the remote. I hadn’t had a clue how to segue from “good morning” to “can you please help us take down a powerful supernatural”—but here was the segue right in front of us. The real-world consequence of what the demons were doing was right there on the screen.

  I handed Pearl the remote with a grateful look. She lowered the volume on the TV and continued flipping through channels, possibly trying to see if there were any patterns emerging in the demon activity.

  Turning to Alex, I tried to keep my voice calm and authoritative as I said, “The demon attack on us last night? That happened all over the city, and probably all over the world. The Fallen—demons, wraiths, probably others—are going after Guardians, overpowering them and abducting them. We’re not sure exactly how or where, but without Guardians here to keep an eye on things, all of this will only get worse.” I gestured to the TV.

  He seemed to take that information in stride. I could tell that he’d started to truly believe everything I’d told him last night. Running his hands through his sleep-mussed hair, he asked, “So what do they wan
t? The… the Fallen.”

  “We’re not entirely sure. But we know where one of their leaders has his headquarters set up, so we’re going to go ask him.”

  Alex’s eyebrows shot up. “Ask him? Just like that?”

  “Well, not quite just like that. We’re hoping to have some leverage over him, to make him tell us why this is happening and what their next move is.”

  He nodded slowly. “Okay.”

  I took a deep breath, meeting his eyes. “And to do that, we need your help.”

  28

  Alex’s head rose and fell once, like he’d been expecting this. I didn’t think his nod was so much an agreement to help as it was a confirmation to himself that he’d been right.

  Pearl set the remote down and turned to us. “We might need your help. If you can do what Cam says you can.” She stroked her hair. The copper locks were held back in a simple braid instead of the elaborate style she’d worn when I first met her, and she looked younger without the fancy dress and updo. She’d been so excited to get out of the Haven and spend more time on Earth—I wondered if she’d take back that wish now if she could.

  “Do what?” Alex looked between the two of us.

  “Can you, um, touch Pearl and try to do the same thing you did to me last night?” I asked, glad that my cheeks couldn’t currently flush with embarrassment. Gah, that sounded all wrong. “I mean, can you try to make her mortal?”

  “Oh. Yeah, okay.” Alex seemed to avoid my eyes, which was just fine with me. I slid off the couch, and Pearl moved from her perch on the armrest to sit beside Alex.

  She held out her delicate hand, and he gripped it in his larger one. His eyes grew a little unfocused as he concentrated.

  God, I hope this works.

  I kept my gaze focused on Pearl’s face, wondering if I’d be able to see a noticeable change in her if it did work.

  I didn’t have to wonder long.

  A shriek of surprise and joy escaped her lips, and she began heaving in breaths like she’d just run a marathon.

  “Oh, my goodness. Oh my. Oh, my word!” She didn’t seem capable of much more speech than that. Instead, she shrieked again and clutched their joined hands to her chest with a giddy laugh. Alex grinned at her reaction, and I worked hard to tamp down my totally ridiculous feelings of jealousy. It was a good thing his ability worked on other people besides just me—our entire plan hinged on it, in fact. So it was stupid to be disappointed that it did.

  After a few moments, Alex finally dropped Pearl’s hand. She stood from the couch and paced around the room, fanning herself with her hand. I had a sudden vision of her in a Victorian dress, corseted and carrying an actual fan. I had a feeling no matter how much she obsessed over modern technology, a part of her would always be old-fashioned.

  Finally, she stopped and turned to me, her eyes shining. “Well, that most definitely worked.”

  Alex looked between the two of us. “Is that good?”

  “Maybe,” I told him. To Pearl, I added, “It’s not a very scientific study. Only two test subjects, and neither one of us is Fallen.”

  She pursed her lips. “I suppose we could try to find a lower level Fallen out there to test it on. I’m sure there are several roaming the streets right now.”

  “No, too risky. I don’t want to take the chance of Boss Man finding out where we are, or getting any whiff of what Alex can do.”

  Pearl glanced at Alex, her expression almost awed. “Excellent point.”

  Alex leaned back on the couch. “Okay, fill the human in, please. What exactly are you planning to do?”

  I grinned at him. He was adapting to all of this way quicker than I had. Then again, my multiple slip-ups since I’d started guarding him had given him enough hints of the supernatural activity around him that maybe he’d already been halfway to believing when I’d finally come clean last night.

  “Like I said, we don’t know much about why this is happening, or how to stop it—yet. But we do know where one of the Fallen behind this is operating from. He’s a wraith who’s taken over a human body, and he has a nightclub in the Gold Coast. I think the guy whose body he’s living in has mob connections. So the wraith is probably taking advantage of those connections to push his own agenda.”

  “Wait, the guy you’re going after is human?” Alex looked shocked.

  “You can’t think of it like that,” Pearl said sadly. “Yes, it’s a human body. But once a wraith takes over a human host, the person they once were will never be back. The only way to expel the wraith is through the death of the body. The person’s mind is already gone.”

  I shuddered. That was grim. It also explained why the wraith I’d seen in Silver’s office had killed his original host body. He’d wanted out, and that was the only way out.

  “Do you think that Alex’s touch could force a wraith out of a human host?” I asked. “If he can make immortal beings mortal, maybe that would break the hold a wraith has over a human?”

  Pearl shook her head. “It’s possible, I suppose. I’ve never met anyone that can do what he does. But I think it’s more likely that the wraith would just be vulnerable to death along with the body it inhabits.” She turned to Alex. “We are talking about killing the Fallen, you understand that, right? That is why your incredible ability is so important. To my knowledge, there has never been a way to end an immortal for good.”

  Alex’s face tightened. After watching Pearl’s and my joyful reaction to being turned temporarily mortal, I could tell it was a bit of a shock to hear that we wanted him to use his ability to help us kill.

  “Alex.” I sat down beside him, making sure not to sit too close. “I know it’s a lot to take in, and a lot we’re asking of you. We need to move on this fast because I have a feeling kidnapping Guardians isn’t the end of this—the Fallen have a bigger plan. But I don’t want to push you into anything. You can take some time to think about it.”

  He looked at me for several long beats, the growth of scruff on his jaw making him look rougher and more handsome than ever. “I don’t need time. I’m in.”

  My chest squeezed. “Really?”

  “Yeah. I saw what just a couple of those things could do last night. They need to be stopped.”

  “Thank you.” The words didn’t seem adequate, but they were all I had.

  “I just need to do one thing first,” he added.

  “What?”

  “I’ve gotta call Evelyn and see if she can watch Otis. It sounds like I won’t be going home for a while.”

  29

  A single day to plan an attack on a demon stronghold/trendy nightclub is both not enough time and way too much time. After Alex agreed to help us, the three of us went into planning mode.

  Unfortunately, there wasn’t too much planning we could do. We didn’t have building schematics or anything—we weren’t the freaking FBI. So our discussion mostly revolved around trying to talk through various likely scenarios, so we wouldn’t be caught totally flatfooted once we got inside the club.

  I had thought briefly about trying to return to the Haven to consult with the Council, but I hated the idea of leaving Alex alone even for a few hours. And according to Pearl, the four leaders were out trying to protect and round up Guardians who hadn’t been taken by the Fallen yet. So we were on our own for the time being.

  We’d decided to wait until night to go in. The place was likely to be more heavily guarded then, and there’d be more people around—which meant we’d have to be more careful to avoid civilian casualties.

  But trying to sneak into the club during the day, when it was closed? Short of posing as a motley crew of very young exterminators with no equipment, I couldn’t think of an easy way to get inside the building. It’d be easy at night. We all looked young enough to belong in a nightclub, despite the fact that none of us were actually the clubbing type.

  Pearl also helped me practice putting up a shield at a distance from myself. Instead of using ether to form a shell around my own body, I
could throw it out toward another person. Unfortunately, it was a little tricky to keep up with a moving target. My own shield moved with me because I knew where I was in space at all times.

  But when I tried to shield Alex, I had to focus really clearly on where he was or I’d end up with a great shield that wasn’t actually keeping him safe at all. In the end, we realized it was better if I thought of it as a wall instead of a case around him. And instead of trying to get the shield to follow him, it worked better if I threw up new shields as he moved, abandoning the old ones.

  All of our practice would’ve been much easier if we could’ve done it outside, but Pearl was right. It was too much of a risk to leave the apartment before we were ready for our mission. If Boss Man realized where we were, he could bring the fight to us; and considering how badly the odds were already stacked against us, the element of surprise was one of our best weapons.

  So we practiced inside Sarah’s smallish apartment. Pearl threw baby blasts of energy so I could practice shielding Alex, and except for one wide shot that nearly knocked a large bookshelf over, we managed to run drills without destroying the place.

  I felt better knowing I could do something to keep Alex safe even if I wasn’t standing right beside him. I still need to have eyes on him to know where to throw the shield, but it was something.

  After our practice session, Pearl hunkered down on the couch with Alex’s phone, supposedly to find out as much about Paradise as she could—although I was pretty sure I saw her trying a few game apps and taking selfies too. That girl had a serious technology fetish.

  Sarah had given us permission to raid the kitchen for anything we needed, and although Pearl and I didn’t need anything, Alex had missed breakfast. I think he felt weird about going through a stranger’s kitchen, so I did the honors, pulling sandwich makings out of her fridge and pantry.

  I set everything up on the counter, then squeezed around Alex in the tight confines of the kitchen to let him assemble his sandwich however he liked. I was about to slip back into the living room, but found myself lingering in the doorway instead.