The Guardian

by J. L McFadden

  “I love your family and will do my best.” Both of the erupted into the house heading to the living room where Marcos put his arm out to stop John for a moment” O.K, John catch your breath. We can’t have her seeing us like this.” John nodded to Marcos. Oddly John did not seem winded.

  “Is that my baby’s Johnny out there I here?” came from a sorrowful woman’s voice inside the doorway of her room “come here sweetie. I miss you and my baby”

  The woman broke into an uncontrollable weeping fit. She had her arms out for John to come and embrace her. John sat at the edge of the bed and pulled her up to him allowing her to kiss him on his head and he too began cry.” We are your family and we need you to be a part of it even though she is gone.”

  “Mom, I know not what to say. I miss her so bad and wish it had been me and not her.” John said with great pain in his swollen and crackling voice.

  “I know, you have always been good to her. Nothing was your fault, baby.” “Mom I am going down to check on dad”

  “Alright, I am sure he needs some slowing down.”

  She held John tightly in her arms slightly rocking him like a small child.“Baby, you are not to blame. I lost my daughter and do not want to lose you too.” John sat up pulling himself away from her, trying to calm down.

  “You won’t, mom, but I think I need to leave for a while and get my head straight,” John said in a sobbing voice “ I need time to figure out what is going on with my head and to try and get rid of these nightmares.”

  Sandra sat for a moment looking at this boy and started to caress his face with one hand “Baby, maybe you need to get away and not have so many reminders, but where would you go? You have no family to speak of.” “I think maybe Europe I keep seeing Europe in my dreams, which are not nightmares.”

  The Questioning

  In a cold drafty castle off of the Baltic Sea were several people walking through a corridor as on dirty blonde stood staring out the window at the blackened night, looking out at the star covered sky. “Galechka, I have some questions for you.” came from a tall European man’s voice with a slight lisp in it. ”Not again, your questions are growing so tiresome,” she responded in a cold and defiant voice. “Why oh why, did you save that dirty human in the States? I did that was it and it is over!” “It was a risky gamble you took that could have exposed us to the humans. How could you do it for a human that you had never met and certainly was not even your familiar?” Drakus said with a commanding voice. “Why are you so troubled by this? I am not your woman and this is not your coven!” The doors bursted open and there stood Adela the leader of their coven. She glared at Drakus and headed toward Galechka placing her hand on her shoulder and whispered to Galechka “Is he ever going to understand that you are not interest?” Galechka just laughed at the comment. ”Drakus, this is my coven and I am the only one that can question anyone about anything pertaining to this coven. Do you understand this?” Adela said with a voice that was oddly beautiful but had a smoky sound to it that was full of power. “But, but she placed us all in danger, Adela.” He said in a more emasculated voice. As the two women walked went to another room to talk alone.

  Adela was close upon two thousand years and was one of the strongest still alive. She herself being one of the few ancients left had acquired a lot of strength through the years. You see a vampire gets stronger and gains other abilities the longer they are alive. There are only three other ancients left on Earth besides the ghost stories of a shadow group that the ancients are afraid of and do not mention.

  “My dear I must also ask: what compelled you to do such an act?” Adela asked as she poured herself a tall glass of wine in her favorite goblet.” Galechka, I am waiting for your answer and my reasons are not to cut you down or judge you. My dear girl I am hopeful that your action was a sign of hope.” “What do you mean? I do not understand what you mean by a sign of hope.” Galechka looked puzzled at this line of questioning from the woman that turned her only a few years ago. Galechka was one of the youngest, but a bit stronger than a normal vampress of her years. “My dear there are things that you do not know about the true history of vampires that I am banned from speaking of,” Adela said while motioning for Galechka to take a goblet of wine herself “I chose you, because I could feel something unusual about you. As a human you had were different from others and as a vampress you are also different. I believe you will be a great asset to our coven and maybe someday lead it.” “That is nice of you, but I think you over estimate me, Adela. How could me saving one human be a sign?” Adela patted the open cushion on the sofa, motioning for Galechka to take a seat beside her. Gazing into the fire Adela begun “There used to be another race that was very rare born out of the humans, it was born to belong to one vampress. You see it was always a male that belonged to a female vampire and no other way. We called them Guardians, because to the female the belonged to they would give their lives to protect. After the Guardian meets his vampress, he starts to gain strength very rapidly; so rapidly that it made the ancients nervous.” Adela turning towards Galechka placing her hand on her lap” What I tell you next can never leave this room. If it did it could cause the end of us both, do you understand me dear?” Galechka replied back “What you tell me stays with me forever.” “That is good, because this is forbidden knowledge that is punished by pain of death to whoever speaks of it. I was the last to have a Guardian and watched him lose his life trying to save my own. The ones that we mustn’t speak of, I believe were at the root of the order of his death. I need to ask you a few questions. Answer as honestly as you can, I know it is difficult to explain something’s.” “Yes of course I will my mistress.” Adela drew in a nervous breath that was not usual for her before asking “Why did you vanish from us and go to the States?” Galechka sat for a moment without moving before replying” I have no idea at all. One morning, I had awoken and felt a need to go to that very spot. Strangely, it was as if I was on auto pilot like something or someone else was controlling me. I knew where to be and almost knew what was needed before hand. I had never seen him before that night.” “Has anything else happened since this moment?” Adela asked with full attention on Galechka. “I have dreams that seem like I am seeing his life. I can feel his pain sometimes, but they are only dreams.” Adela did not seem socked or surprised by this news. “Tell no one of these feelings and dreams. We could be witnessing something that I have been praying for. Galechka, we are having a lot of pressure from the other coven headed by the other ancients. I believe, they are each becoming more and more hungry for power and I am a lot younger than them. If I had to face one to protect my coven I would not last long. If your little human shows up do not be surprised.” “What do you mean? He has no idea where I am, who I am or even my name.” Adela smiled and said we will see.

  The Awakening

  As the sun crept into John’s room from the morning son, John sat up feeling different than usual. John was now dreaming of this beautiful woman that seems to have saved his life in his dreams. Who is she? Could she be real? All John knew was he felt like a new man and was ready for his morning run. After stretching, he went into the bathroom and did all the usual morning routines except when it came time to take his pills. He took them in hand and just looked at them before placing them back into the bottle. He sighed and headed for the door and began to jog as soon as he hit the street. He was up to running six miles a day and did not feel a need for his pills, but felt an urge to leave this town.

  As John entered into the building that hosted his support group he paused and made up his mind, that today was the last day he would be in town. He walked up to Tom since he was a half hour early and said” Tom, we need to talk.” “Well than, speak.” Today, is my last day in town, I have decided to leave town and clear my head.” Tom looked shocked and surprised with this sudden out coming. “What about group? Do you feel like you can afford to back slide and not see any more growth?” Tom questioned.” I feel the group is not helping me as much as
me moving on. Do you think it is healthy for us to just sit here day after day and not experience any new chapters in life?” Tom looked angry it perplexed him how people just leave group and think they can get better without a professional. ”Oh, I am sorry I thought I was the one with the training and education in helping people through their problems and not you.” “Come on Tom; don’t put your ego into this. I need a change of scenery for a while. Anyways, I am leaving tonight on the first plane.” “Great just run away from all your problems and see how things go.” John snickered and shook his head before leaving. Clearly, Tom needed some couch time himself to get over his overly inflated head.

  John stopped off at his ex-girlfriend’s parent’s house leaving a note since no one was answering the door explaining to them that he had decided to leave for a while and would stop by when he was back in town. He did not want Sandra causing a fuss or being worried about him. He understood that he was the last connection that she had with her daughter after their last talk. With note firmly in place he headed to the airport to get whatever ticket he could out of the country to the Baltic Sea. He had no idea why but he was being drawn there in his dreams and in his heart. He had already packed is book bag with an extra set of cloths and had the little money he had managed to save in such a short period of time. He had no idea where he was going to stay or if he would be able to communicate with people there.

  His flight was an all-night flight and he was lucky enough to get the window seat. He was completely exhausted for some strange reason and he drifted off to sleep and was quickly in a dream seeing different things in what seemed like the Baltic Sea. It was as if he was seeing through someone else’s eyes. It was as if it was a female driving a car down some old streets and turning into a back alley. It was a strange dream from the very get go. The woman walked into a bar and was talking to some man behind the bar collecting some information before heading into the lady’s bathroom. She was checking her makeup and it was the very girl he had been dreaming of all the other times; the woman that had saved his life. When she looked at herself in the eyes she paused and at that moment it felt as if she knew that he was looking through her eyes.

  “Everyone please settle down and buckle up we have just hit a rough spot and will be out of it momentarily, “sounded the Captain from the onboard system.

  The plane was shaking about and everyone was scrambling to get fastened in to their belts.

  ” Looks like they might be scrapping us of a building,” Said the strange man sitting next to John” I am just funning with you boy, calm down.”

  “Do I look worried?” snapped back John.

  It was a nervous moment for all, but soon it all settled down. John gave a look to his next door neighbor that let him know that any other commentary was unneeded or wanted. John took this moment to reflect and wonder could this be real or are his dreams just becoming more and more strange. He laughed to himself and thought: Maybe I need to become a writer and just rehash what I dream at night. God knows, they are strange enough to sell some copies.

  After an hour or so John turned to his neighbor and said:” You know this is my first flight out of anywhere. I had to get out of dodge and try to clear my head, so don’t take offence to my reactions earlier.”

  The older man turned and looked at John through his glasses replying: “None taken kid, I tend to rub people the run way. You see I choose to be myself and not follow the social standards at all. Maybe that is why I have had so many ex-wives.” He said with a smirk.

  ”Damn, not one, but multiple women were dumb enough to hitch up with you. Maybe there is hope for me too.”

  Both men began to burst into laughing. “True, true I am sure anyone has hope if I had multiple run ins. Just remember, it is the escape that is hard.” Replied the older man.

  Both men were laughing and motioned the flight attendant over to try and get a drink. “Hey Barbie how about two scotches to wet our whistles.”

  The woman just shook her head “which one is paying for them?” “I’ get it, this is my new friends first flight.” The man turned to John and said:” My name is Mike. What is yours?” “John” Mike reached out to take John’s hand and said: “Pleasure to meet you son.” “Same here sir.” “No need for that, I am not that old kid.” “I don’t know you are old enough to call me kid are you not?” Mike smiled and said: “I like that you got wit about you.” They sat and talked the remainder of the flight until the landing and the parted ways.

  The Baltic Sea

  A strange feeling came over John as he stepped off of the plain, he felt as if he was coming more and more alive; every inch of his body from his toes to his figure tips felt like they were surging with more strength and will. He felt more centered and less conflicted about his past and present. The oddest thing is it felt as if he had an onboard compass leading him into the city. With just his backpack flung on his back with the few items he brought he headed to god knows where from the small airport.

  The buildings here were different from what he was used to in Simpsonville. These building were old, but more history was in these buildings. He could smell the sea from where he was. Listening to the people speak a language that sounded somewhat like maybe Russian to him. Here he was and even though he was in a new place it felt as if he already knew the area. It was a unusual feeling as if he had been here before.

  Back at the cave a handful of the coven were having a meeting behind closed doors about steps that the coven needs to take in the future to handle the never ending problems with the possibility of technology blowing their cover. “Really, how are we supposed to deal with these cameras and body scanners everywhere,” stated Ivan with his hands lifted up in the air pointing at random locations to make a point “any type of creature vampire of human cannot take a step in most countries now without it being tracked. How long until there are scanners that will make them aware of our presence? How long until, these devices ruin everything we have spent centuries building?” A sound of clapping hands came from behind the group in the shadows. “Great speech, but since the other covens have control over these humans we have nothing to be scared of. Do you really think that after being alive as long as the ancients they would not be somehow in control of these things,” retorted what seemed to be Vitaliy “We never talk about it much but two of the ancient ones have worked very hard to have the reins on all the companies that do the hunting and tracking for Governments. No need to fuss over these things youngsters.” Vitaliy walked to the center of the room and took his time to look every person in eye and continuing with: “These times are not so scary and we have other things to consider closely. A good example is where we are going to take our next gamble in business boys.” “Really, you are not worried about the others having all the power over this? Could this not be used as an end all dispute against our coven?” proclaimed Drakus “How much longer should we allow them to have this monopoly on the humans tracking systems?” Drakus added. Adela now entered the room and began “Drakus, Drakus, Drakus, you should be on a drama show on some station somewhere, but your grandstanding in unwanted today. Vitaliy, good to see you again, are there any news from the other covens worth bringing up?” “Only behind closed door my lady. Our matters are not for the ears of the younger coven.” Replied Vitaliy with a slight bow towards his coven leader. “Is it any thing pressing?” “Nothing that cannot wait a few days mam.” “Oh, how I have missed you on my court. Have you anything for these youngsters?” “Other than not worrying over conspiracy theories, I have nothing at all. May I retire back to my room?” “Of course you may, I know this trip was a long and tiresome one on you.” Vitaliy bowed once more like an aristocratic man of a royal family and seen himself out of the room.

  “ I am completely bored and tired of your antics in this coven,” Adela spoke with a soft voice as she was walking behind Drakus,” Are you trying to corrupt my coven or just trying to feel important?” She looked at him with interests and he could not even look her in the eye kno
wing that she could remove his head from his shoulders without even breaking a sweet.

  “No, not at all mam, I am just worried about the well-being of our coven,” He said with a trembling voice, you could hear the complete and utter fear with every syllable that he spoke, “Please forgive me; I meant no disrespect.”

  He now could feel her breath on the back of his neck and ear and feel her finger tips tapping on his shoulder; she had appeared in this position like a specter and with her voice so faint that only he could hear the demonic under tones in his ear she said:” If you ever go behind my back and voice your concerns again,” pausing for a breath second, while placing her slender fingers around his neck,” I will crush your neck and rip your skull off of your shoulders. Do you understand me?”

  Trembling and shacking beyond control he shook his head yes and “creaked out, “Yes, yes my mistress, please forgive me.” Everyone in the room held their breaths fearing an attack from their leader.

  “My coven, my beloved coven, am I not fair and always take care of you?” Everyone in the room looked down at the ground trying not to enrage her any more than she already was. This was not her usual way of acting, which scared the coven even more. She normally was calm and lead without threats or attacks. “I will not tolerate any more secret meeting in dark corners of my castle. Is that understood by everyone here?” Everyone in the room nodded their heads and murmured,” Yes,” at a very low volume and tone.