Hard to Handle

by Christine Warren

  The minion reacted predictably, gathering his unholy power into a ball of flaming energy and sending it shooting toward her. The sick crimson of his magic illuminated the night for an instant, which was apparently enough to allow someone else to spot them.

  Ash heard someone shout from several yards away, out in the open area between the nearby buildings. An instant later, a chunk of rock came sailing through the air to shatter against the wall several feet behind where she had landed. Had it been meant for her or the nocturni? Either way, whoever had thrown in possessed spectacularly bad aim.

  The unexpected interruption did nothing to distract Ash from her duty. She gathered herself for another attack only to witness her enemy shift his focus away from her. He gathered another ball of fire magic and cast it in the direction of the interrupting bystander. She saw it shoot toward two human figures already half lying on the wet ground, but luckily at least one of them managed to move fast enough to get them both out of harm’s way. The larger human threw itself atop the other and spun them both to the right, rolling out of the way just in time for the missile to hit the earth instead of living flesh.

  Furious that the vile demon worshipper would dare to attack humans in the presence of a Guardian—in her presence—Ash screeched and lashed out, curling her fingers into claws and slashing across the nocturni’s face with her deadly sharp talons. The figure jerked back and threw up a hasty counterattack in the form of a bolt of tainted electricity, like rusty red lightning. He intended it for her, Ash knew, but she leaped out of the way, and the minion was already losing his balance. The combination threw off his aim, and instead of striking her, the energy arced past above her head before crashing down into the earth.

  As the magic impacted the soil, Ash felt the ground lurch beneath her feet. The very fabric of dirt and stone protested the contamination of the nocturni’s dark magic. It wanted him around no more than she did.

  She launched herself into the air, intending to make another attack from above, but perhaps the dark mage got the message from the wounded earth. He bolted toward a nearby street, disappearing behind some sort of magical veil before she could change her direction to follow.

  Cursing, she regathered her energy and turned to assess whether the human figures who remained would prove to be enemies or allies. Or perhaps no more than innocent bystanders. Who liked to throw stones.

  By the time she settled her feet on the ground and half furled her wings against her back, puzzlement and shock had made her grumpy. Perhaps that explained her shortness with the human she found sprawled at her feet, the one who stared at her with wide, dark eyes, even as he attempted to shield a female of his own kind.

  Even before Ash posed the question, she knew that neither of these humans belonged to the legion of demon worshippers. The taint of evil associated with the Order of Eternal Darkness left a stain on the soul that could not be concealed, especially not from one of those sworn to protect against them.

  Something in the air sent her hackles rising, though, and if it hadn’t come from these humans, then the current situation must be grave, indeed. She could sense a chill of darkness around them that had nothing to do with the time of year or the hour on the clock. Some evil had taken root nearby and sent its cancerous tendrils out into the atmosphere. It felt bigger than what a single nocturni could have managed with a few strikes of dark energy, though. Something else must be behind it. For that reason, Ash had been summoned, and for that reason, she would do the duty for which she had come into being.

  She could destroy it.

  First, though, she should see these humans to safety. Guardians like her existed to protect humanity; she could hardly abandon two examples of the species when they literally fell at her feet. She lived to protect them.

  But how could she respond when the stupid creatures refused to heed her warnings?

  Even after a second extended tremor shook them all with the violence of its intensity, the man and woman stayed in place and debated its cause rather than seeking shelter as any sensible human would.

  The male, in particular, seemed determined to focus on the inconsequential instead of his own safety. Now, for example, he was gawking over the idea of magic when he should be running for his life. Luckily his sister pointed out his folly before Ash could do so—and in much gentler language than Ash had planned.

  “You’re not half so blind as you like to pretend,” the woman said, finishing her scold.

  “At the moment, I’m less concerned with what’s causing it and more concerned with how to survive it,” he retorted.

  The quaking ceased as suddenly as it had begun, and the man—Michael Drummond, he had called himself—breathed a sigh of relief. Ash thought that might be a bit hasty. And so, as it turned out, did the human female.

  “It’s not over,” Maeve said.

  At least one of them made sense.

  “Your sister is correct,” Ash agreed. “The earth quakes in response to the insult done upon it. It tries to reject the contamination of the Darkness.”

  The human male stared at her for a moment. Then another. Then he cocked his head to the side. “An bhfuil Gaeilge agat?”

  “What?”

  The man shrugged. “Didn’t understand a word you said. I thought maybe you’d make sense in Irish.”

  Did he think he spoke more clearly with nonsense like that?

  “For her to make sense, you’d have to actually hear with an open mind, Michael.”

  The human female seemed to have gathered her strength in the aftermath of the quaking. She extricated herself from her brother’s protective embrace and pushed to her feet, dusting her hands together before offering one of them to Ash.

  “I’d apologize for him, but he’d just do something else idiotic and start the cycle over again.” The woman spoke with a wry curve to her lips. “I’m Maeve, by the way, if you didn’t hear before.”

  Hesitant, Ash shook hands. The human custom sounded familiar in her mind, but felt awkward on her skin. “I heard.”

  With their fingers still touching, Maeve narrowed her eyes and peered closer. “This is why you’re here, isn’t it? Somehow, the two of you are linked. You and whatever it is that I saw coming.”

  That made Ash take notice. She tightened her grip and demanded, “What did you see?”

  Those human blue eyes slackened and went unfocused as Maeve responded. “A black cloud. Fire. Blood. Shadows that can reach out and grab you and suck the life out while you scream and scream and no one hears you. Pain. Chains. And something … else.”

  The male scrambled to his feet and placed a hand on his sister’s shoulder, as if he could protect her from her vision. “Maybe it wasn’t even a vision. You’ve been working hard, Mae. It’s late. Maybe you nodded off—”

  “I know a vision when I have one, Michael Stephen. I’ve only had twenty years or so to grow accustomed to them.”

  Ash silently applauded both the confidence of the statement and the sharp tone in which it was delivered. The human girl had a backbone after all. Given her obvious fear during the tremors, Ash had wondered.

  “But—”

  “Once again, your sister judges the situation better than you. What she has seen is the future the nocturnis would like to bring about.” She ran her gaze over the female and frowned. She saw power in the girl, but not of the sort something told her she was looking for. “You have magic about you, but not the look of one trained by the Guild. Were you sent away because of your sex?”

  The man stepped forward, putting himself between the two females. His expression had turned belligerent. “Again, no one here has any idea what you’re talking about. Plain English will get you a lot further. If you can manage.”

  Irritation and amusement warred inside Ash. On the one hand, she disliked this Michael Drummond for the way he challenged her and the tone with which he often spoke to her. But on the other, she found the way he seemed determined to protect his sister from her almost … cute. As if she
could not tear him limb from limb with very little thought and even less effort.

  She found the chore of simultaneously suppressing a growl and biting back a smile more of a challenge than she had expected. The growl wound up backing up in her throat and making her feel as if she needed to sneeze.

  “If you cannot understand the concepts of the Guild and the Order, human, then any explanation I might offer would take far more time than I feel is wisely spent here. This place is too open to attack, and I fear what other effects the Darkness might have in store.”

  “Come back to the Bones, then. Michael’s pub,” Maeve clarified when both sent her incredulous looks. Well, Ash just looked puzzled, she felt sure; Michael Drummond, though, looked a combination of shocked and appalled.

  Maeve crossed her arms at her brother’s expression and lifted her chin. “It’s after hours, so the place will be empty. No one will see her if we bring her in through the back. And I have more questions.”

  “You want me to bring a monster into my pub in the middle of the night so you can interview it like you’re Ryan Tubridy and it’s a guest on The Late Late?”

  There went that tone again. Ash couldn’t suppress the hiss. “I am not an ‘it,’ and I am not a monster.”

  His sister slapped his shoulder hard enough for the crack to register in the quiet. “Really, Drum. Have some manners in front of the lady, or I’m telling Ma.”

  He squeaked out, “The lady?” just before another smack caught him across the back of the head. Considering how far the small female human had to stretch to reach, Ash found herself almost impressed.

  “Ow! Right, then.” The man reached up to rub his skull. “This way, I suppose.” He walked a few steps into the night before his posture stiffened and he turned. “Just one problem here, Mae.”

  “One problem aside from your poor stupidity, you mean?”

  “Yes, aside from that. I brought a car, thinking I’d be driving you out to Ma’s house tonight.”

  “And?”

  “Aaaand … have you any brilliant ideas how I’m meant to fit th—”

  Maeve narrowed her eyes, and Ash growled.

  Drum quickly corrected himself. “How I’m meant to fit her into the back of my Toyota?”

  Maeve turned to Ash and performed a quick visual survey. Ash had to fight the urge to shift her feet that struck her like an itch between her wings. She felt as if she were being scrutinized and found wanting, which made no sense.

  She had been designed perfectly to perform her duty. She had long, strong legs to give her power on takeoffs, and huge, powerful wings that sliced through the air like a ship through ocean waves. Her tail acted as a rudder in flight and an extra weapon in the field. Her muscled arms allowed her to wield a heavy battle-axe for hours on end and added strength to her blows in combat. Certainly, she stood taller than the tiny human female and even the disrespectful male, but a warrior needed to be large and powerful in order to win her skirmishes and vanquish her enemies. There was nothing wrong with the way she was formed.

  And still, the assessing gazes of these humans unnerved her.

  “It’s the wings,” Maeve said, breaking the extended silence. “They stick up too high, and she’d have to sit on them to get them to fit. I don’t suppose they fold any smaller?”

  Ash bit back the urge to ask if the male’s head folded any smaller and shook her head. “They do not. However, if I understand you correctly and we are meant to enter a confined area, I can perhaps offer an alternative.”

  She saw their expressions of confusion, but ignored them and focused on the process of concealing her true form under a disguise of humanity. It was a skill all Guardians possessed in order to allow them to pass unnoticed while investigating the threat posed by the Darkness on this mortal plane.

  The human shape felt confining, like a set of clothing in a size too small, but Ash ignored the sensation. Perhaps with time, the disguise would stretch to fit more comfortably.

  When the transformation was complete, she looked to the humans. “Will this do?”

  They stared back at her with wide eyes and open mouths, which Ash found somewhat rude. She had no way of seeing herself as she appeared to them, but no matter how she looked there should be no cause for such scrutiny.

  Maeve recovered first, her slack-jawed expression firming into a grin with a decided edge of mischief. She shot a sideways glance at her brother before she nodded briskly. “That will be perfect.” She stopped and frowned. “I just realized I have no idea what to call you. Do you have a name?”

  The urge to roll her eyes almost overwhelmed her, but Ash held strong. Do I have a name? Hmph. “You may call me Ash.”

  “Ash. I like it. I also like that jacket. I don’t suppose you got it at Top Shop, huh?”

  Reflex had Ash blinking down at her own body. The ability to alter her appearance came naturally, an innate ability for all Guardians. She simply thought of a shape that would fit in among her human companions, and the magic that lived inside her provided. The appropriate clothing was just part of the package. Still, Maeve appeared to be waiting for her answer.

  “Uh, no, I did not,” Ash managed. “I do not know where it came from. I made it, I suppose.”

  Maeve sighed. “Figures. Come on, though. I’m getting cold just standing out here, and I certainly wouldn’t turn my nose up at a pint right now.”

  Through all of this, the male remained silent, but Ash noticed the way his gaze lingered on her human shape. Was he in awe of her ability to shift shapes as she willed? Or did he find something about this form of particular interest?

  She didn’t get a chance to ask. An elbow in his side provided by his sister had him turning and stalking off into the gloom. Maeve scurried after him, her short legs pumping to keep up. Ash found the pace no problem. In fact, judging by the view she had of the back of the bad-tempered human’s head, she would guess her new form stood eye to eye with the man, or close to it.

  That thought made something inside her grunt in satisfaction, as if she needed the height to keep her advantage against a human. She huffed. That was ridiculous. No matter what shape she wore, her strength could crush a mortal of either sex. After all, she was a warrior and a Guardian. She existed to battle the most powerful Demons the Darkness had ever spawned. Her prowess could not be matched on this plane, even if this was the first time she had ever visited it.

  The thought made her frown, because it meant something very important had brought her here. She needed to discover that reason, and for that, she should have a Warden by her side.

  Ash slowed to a halt. The man and woman had brought her away from the ancient buildings behind them and to the edge of a modern road. Black pavement glistened under a slick coating of rain and tall lampposts cast circles of light like golden puddles at regular intervals along the curb.

  Glancing back over her shoulder, Maeve saw her hesitation. “What’s the matter?”

  “I have allowed myself to be distracted. I must leave you here.” Ash shook her head and took a step back. She needed to refocus. Her duty included protecting humans, not socializing with them. Now that the immediate danger to them appeared to have passed, she should forge ahead with her tasks. A Guardian’s first contact after summoning should be with her Warden.

  Why did that thought make something in her chest pull tight? Her instincts warned her that all was not as it should be on this plane, and a lot of it had less to do directly with the Seven than one might first imagine. Curiosity nudged at her with unusual force.

  “Are you certain that’s such a good idea?”

  Ash had already turned away, her attention turned inward and her focus on determining her next step, when the female’s voice cut through her thoughts. “Excuse me?”

  “Do you think leaving us here and heading off on your own is really such a good idea?” Maeve repeated while her brother stood behind her, brooding. “Based on what you said to us at first, it seems to me that you’re not any more certain o
f what’s going on at the moment than we are. In the circumstances, don’t you think that it might be a better idea if we pooled our resources and tried to figure it out together?”

  “Work together?”

  “What? Us and her?”

  Ash and the male human spoke at the same time, and with the same degree of incredulity coloring their tones. Their thoughts must be running along the same lines.

  Somehow that gave Ash reason to pause.

  This time, the man managed to dart out of the way before his sister’s blow landed. “Hey, now, love, I never said a word of insult! I only meant that if the … er … lady wants to be on her way, we’ve no right to try to stop her. And based on what she’s said since we met, it sounds like that’s what she wants.”

  Ash started to nod in agreement, but again felt that jerk of uneasiness behind her sternum. Why would her instincts want her to remain with two humans who knew so little of her kind or the mission of the Guardians that they had never even heard of the Wardens Guild? It made no sense.

  “It’s hardly as if I’m attempting a kidnapping, Michael,” Maeve said, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m merely pointing out that perhaps we could help each other. After all, Ash appears to be, um, new to town, and Ma always says that many hands make light work. I’m all but certain that extends to many minds making light puzzles. Staying together until we know what’s going on just makes sense.”

  The man scowled at his sister. “The saying I remember about hands had more to do with the devil’s work,” he muttered.

  Ash curled a lip and wished she hadn’t changed forms. A flash of fang always added a certain something to that particular expression.

  “Stop pouting, Michael. It’s not at all attractive in a grown man.” She turned to Ash. “Well? What do you think? Should we work together?”

  Still, the Guardian hesitated. She knew that the only humans her kind traditionally worked beside were their personal Wardens and other members of the Guild, but her Warden seemed to be missing. He should have met her at the place of her summoning, but both of these mortals denied knowledge of the organization, and no other beings appeared anywhere near the area. That in and of itself told her that at least a few of the old rules might no longer apply.