by G. K. DeRosa
“It’s possible you experienced some sort of temporary black out due to an overly traumatic situation,” said Stellan.
“Maybe,” she answered. “It’s just that the darkness felt so real, like it was something buried deep inside of me trying to take over. And I’m not sure that it’s completely gone.” A chill went through Celeste as she said the words aloud.
“It is common for Guardians to experience bursts of power,” Stellan began.
Celeste interrupted in a rush with, “It just wasn’t like anything I’ve ever felt before. Something about it seemed wrong and yet it made me feel so powerful.” She hated admitting it, but something about the darkness was tempting, it was trying to lure her in.
“Don’t worry my dear,” said Stellan standing from his seat abruptly. “I’m sure it’s nothing to be concerned about.” He put his arm around her shoulder and walked her through the library and back down the stairs. “Let me make you some tea.”
As they walked side by side down the corridor toward the kitchen, Celeste glanced at Stellan out of the corner of her eye. He looked worried – very worried. His eyebrows were furrowed and she could almost see the thoughts running through his mind. That’s not good. What is he not telling me?
***
“Oh, hey Mom,” said Celeste as she took a sip from her favorite coffee mug which featured her crush from The Vampire Diaries. Her mom walked in the house with dark circles under her eyes, her shoulders slumping from the weight of her purse after an intense overnight shift at the hospital. “Let me help you with that,” said Celeste running over to take the heavy bag from her.
“Thanks,” she said trying to catch her breath. Celeste pulled out the kitchen chair for her to sit down in, realizing her mom probably wouldn’t make it up to her bedroom before she passed out.
“Do you want some coffee? I just made a fresh pot,” said Celeste holding up a cup. “First day back to classes after winter break, and I definitely needed it.”
Her mom smiled. “No, thanks. I’m going straight to bed,” she answered yawning. “You seem much more chipper this morning.”
“Don’t let it fool you, it’s just the coffee talking,” said Celeste with a smirk as she grabbed her backpack from the floor and swung it over her shoulder.
“Have a good day at school,” her mom shouted as Celeste hurried out the door.
Brian was already waiting in his car when Celeste trudged out of the house. She was dreading the start of the new semester. It wasn’t that she didn’t like college, just that she couldn’t seem to find the time to fully focus on her classes when demons kept getting in the way.
“Did you understand a single word of the Macroeconomics assignment?” asked Brian as Celeste hopped into the Mustang.
Celeste’s face dropped. “What assignment? Today’s the first day of the class, how could we already have had homework?”
“It was on the class syllabus online. Look how the tables have turned – who would have thought that I would ever be helping you out with homework!” teased Brian proudly.
Celeste pulled her backpack onto her lap and began searching through it frantically for her Macroeconomics book. “You know, I should really get some sort of break. Demon fighting is a full-time job after all. Maybe I can get credits for an internship or something.”
Brian laughed. “Yeah, maybe Stellan can talk to Coach Reader about that. Maybe it could count for some physical education requirements.” Celeste glared at him and buried her head in the book for the rest of the car ride to school.
By the time they arrived at Oak Bluffs CC, Celeste was fully nauseated from trying to read while being in a moving vehicle. Brian’s crazy driving definitely hadn’t helped, and she had only gotten through about one-fourth of the reading assignment. As the pair walked through the modern campus, they found Marie sitting at a bench right outside their class. Her flowing red hair was tied back in a neat braid and to Celeste’s surprise, she was wearing reading glasses. She had never seen Marie look so studious.
“I’ve heard Professor Thomas is super tough,” Marie said. “My friend took his class last semester and she said that he almost always has to grade exams on a curve because no one ever gets higher than an 80 percent.”
“Great,” muttered Celeste.
Brian threw his arm around Celeste and squeezed. “Don’t listen to Marie. I’m sure it’ll be a piece of cake for you.”
“Are you okay?” asked Marie after catching onto Brian’s reprimanding glares.
“I’m fine. It’s just been a little hard to focus on school work lately,” she huffed.
“Brian told me all about what happened the past few weeks. If you need any help catching up with school stuff, let me know,” Marie offered.
Celeste knew Marie was trying to be nice, but for some reason it rubbed her the wrong way. Celeste had been a straight-A student since kindergarten. She always had it together, and she hated the thought of having to rely on someone else for help in the one part of her life where she had always excelled.
The threesome stepped into the large auditorium that was brimming with freshmen and searched for seats in the dim lighting. Macroeconomics was a prerequisite for most majors so the room was completely packed. Finally they found three empty seats next to each other, and they settled in just moments before Professor Thomas appeared at the podium.
The professor immediately started lecturing without so much as an introduction, nor an overview of the syllabus to Celeste’s dismay. She quickly pulled out her notebook and began scribbling notes as he spoke. About halfway through the class, her hand was starting to cramp up, and she still had no idea what she had written. She looked over at Marie who was staring at the professor with an intense fascination. Ugh. How come she gets this and I’m totally lost?
A flash of light and the sound of the back door creaking open diverted Celeste’s attention. She turned toward the noise and saw a figure enter the dark room and her stomach roiled. The nausea she was feeling was certainly supernatural and not just after-effects of Brian’s bad driving.
Really? Here in my classroom?
She tried to follow the figure with her eyes as it walked around the back aisle of chairs, but then with all the students in the way, she lost sight of the intruder when it rounded the corner. Celeste glanced at her watch, noting that there were still ten minutes until class ended. There was nothing she could do but wait. She assured herself that whatever demon this was, it wasn’t going to try something in front of so many witnesses.
Celeste tapped her foot impatiently as the professor’s words muddled into the background and the last few minutes dragged on.
“Quit,” said Brian as he nudged her leg. “You’re vibrating my chair.”
“There’s something in here,” she whispered. Brian whipped his head around the room. “No! Don’t be that obvious! I don’t want it to know I know it’s here.”
“Shhh!” hissed someone in the row behind them.
Celeste scribbled a message to Brian on her notepad.
Play it cool. When the lights go on, I’ll go after it.
I’m going with you.
No you’re not. End of discussion.
Brian shook his head, then turned away from her and whispered something to Marie. Marie glanced at Celeste and gave her a knowing nod.
The professor closed the Macroeconomics book with a loud thunk that reverberated throughout the auditorium, making Celeste jump. As the lights came back up, she searched the crowd of students who were all up and out of their seats collecting their belongings.
“I can’t find him,” said Celeste as she stood on her tiptoes trying to see over the crowd.
“Maybe he snuck out while the class was still going,” said Brian.
“No, he’s here. I can feel it,” she said scanning the room.
“Come on let’s go outside. You can’t fight him in here with all these people anyway,” said Marie. Celeste knew she was right, so she filed out of class behind them and all the other students. W
hen she was out in the quad, the ominous feeling began to dissipate.
“Darn it! I think I lost him,” Celeste said as she was jostled by the throng of undergrads walking through the courtyard.
“Maybe it was just another demon college kid trying to get an education,” teased Brian.
“Haha, very funny,” she responded.
“Come on, whoever it was is gone now. Let’s go grab a coffee before our next class,” said Brian. Marie nodded and took his hand.
“I’ll wait here. I think I might overdose if I have anymore caffeine today,” she responded.
Celeste watched the cheerful couple walk away hand in hand, and she felt a slight pang of jealousy. She really missed Roman. It had only been a few days, but it felt like forever since she had held his hand. As her thoughts drifted to happier days, her evil radar suddenly knocked her back to the present. She spun around in the direction of the sensation and spotted a young guy disappearing between two buildings. She leapt to her feet and sped after him, freeing the dagger from her inner coat pocket as she ran.
Celeste turned the corner by the biology lab and saw the young guy transform into a shaggy brown wolf right in front of her. He glanced back at her, his bright yellow eyes taking her in, but he didn’t seem to care that she was following. She trailed him at a slight distance through the parking lot until the wolf finally stopped at the edge of the woods.
There, just at the tree line, a much larger silver wolf appeared. His snout was speckled with white hair and his eyes were pools of black. With hackles raised, he growled menacingly at Celeste as she approached. Her evil radar was surging off the charts as she tried to keep the gut-wrenching sensation at bay. Celeste twirled the Albsurori ring around her finger, comforted by the feel of the warm sapphire against her thumb. She was suddenly extremely grateful that Roman and Stellan had convinced her to keep it.
Slowly, she approached the wild animal with the small dagger poised for attack. She inwardly chastised herself for not having brought her sword, but it was just too big to fit in her backpack along with all of her books. In the blink of an eye, the wolf contorted in a terribly unnatural manner and a middle-aged, full-grown man appeared before her. She immediately recognized him, tall, tattooed, gruff-looking and with the thick black beard.
“Brazen?”
“Oh good, I’m glad you remember me. I thought maybe my face would be a blur after I slaughtered so many of your people in Astor,” he growled.
Celeste charged. A maddening fury pumped through her veins as she lunged at the werewolf. She stabbed at him with the dagger, aiming for his heart, but caught him in the arm instead when he deflected her blow. A spurt of blood escaped from the gash, staining Celeste’s jacket, but seconds later the cut healed itself right before her very eyes. Confused, Celeste took a step back, losing her offensive position. Brazen took advantage and attacked. He flung his two-hundred plus pound body weight on top of her, knocking Celeste to the ground. She struggled underneath him and was just able to get the dagger free and plunge it into his belly. Brazen howled, but didn’t budge, his heavy weight still smothering her. Although she couldn’t see the wound, she was certain that it had healed again since it seemed the blood had stopped flowing. How is this possible? She stabbed at him again and again with the dagger, but no matter how many times she cut him, the wound would heal within seconds.
Brazen let out a threatening chuckle. “I’ve had about enough of you, girl. You threaten my pack, and you say Oak Bluffs is your town. It’s about time someone taught you who’s really in charge here.” He clasped his meaty hands around Celeste’s neck and began to squeeze. Celeste gasped as she struggled for air. She kicked and flailed her arms around, slicing through Brazen’s skin with her blade, but no matter what she did, his grip around her throat never loosened. As the darkness began to settle in at the corners of her eyes, she saw a shadow loom above and then two hands lifted the deadweight off of her. Then there was darkness.
Celeste’s eyes opened and she shot up from the bed, her eyes frantically darting around the room, scanning her surroundings. She cleared her throat, which felt raw and scratchy as she tried to speak.
“Whoa, take it easy. You’re okay,” said Nico who was sitting on the chair next to the bed. He put his hand on her shoulder and forced her to lie back.
“What happened?” asked Celeste, rubbing her throbbing head. “Where’s Brazen?” The last few frightening minutes of images began racing back to her.
“He took off,” said Nico. “Roman saved you.”
Celeste suddenly remembered Brazen’s body being flung off of her like he was a ragdoll. She knew there was something familiar about those hands. “How did you guys find me?” she asked.
“We were just lucky, really. Roman was dropping me off for class because the Beamer is getting detailed. When we pulled up into the parking lot, Roman saw you or heard you or something. I’m not even really sure because you were pretty far off,” he explained.
“You guys saved my life,” she said. She couldn’t think too much about what would have happened if they hadn’t shown up or else the fear would consume her. So she pushed the frightening thought to the back of her mind and locked it up tight. “Brazen’s like invulnerable or something. I kept stabbing him, but the wounds just healed five seconds later.” Nico gave her an incredulous look. “What happened after Roman got him off of me?”
“He ran after him, but he morphed back into a wolf and disappeared in the woods. Roman was worried about you, so he came back to make sure you were okay,” Nico said. “You were out cold.”
“That’s what lack of oxygen will do to you,” she said with a weary smile. “Where’s Roman?” She thought he would have come in to check on her by now. Usually he was always hovering over her restlessly when she woke up. You’re not together anymore, Celeste, he doesn’t have to act like a concerned boyfriend!
“He’s out in the living room with Brian, Marie and Marco,” he answered.
“They’re all here?” Celeste asked embarrassed.
“Brian and Marie got to you just a few minutes after we did. Brian was really worried and refused to let us take you unless they came with us. And Roman called Marco to let him know you were here. He came right over before Roman could object.”
“Ugh…” Celeste sunk back down under the covers.
“I can tell them you’re not up to seeing anyone, if you want?” offered Nico.
“Nah, I’m going to have to face them all eventually.” Celeste knew Brian wouldn’t leave without seeing her and first making sure she was okay.
Nico stood up and gave her a reassuring pat on the head. “I’ll go tell them you’re awake.”
While Nico was gone, Celeste sat back up and attempted to tame her wayward curls. She couldn’t help but dwell on the fact that if Roman and Nico hadn’t shown up, she would be dead right now. Anger began boiling up inside of her. How can Brazen be invincible? She needed to find out how that was possible. He had to pay for all the deaths and damage he caused in Astor, and she would make sure he did.
“Are you okay?” asked Brian as he rushed into the room and sat down on the bed beside her. Marie and Marco followed, standing by the foot of the bed with matching looks of concern on their faces.
Celeste felt like she had been asked that question much too frequently lately. “I’m fine,” she said, plastering a convincing smile on her face.
“I guess you were right about the guy in our class, huh?” asked Brian.
“What guy?” asked Roman who Celeste suddenly noticed was lingering in the doorway.
“I don’t know exactly, but my evil radar went off when I was in class. It must have been the werewolf. When we got out I followed some guy into the woods, and he led me straight to Brazen.”
“So one of your classmates lured you out and served you right to him,” said Roman angrily. “You have to be more careful, Celeste.”
Celeste narrowed her eyes at him. She could see how upset he was, fists clenched
. He was gritting his teeth as he spoke, but he had no right to act this way. “I was careful. I waited until everyone was out of the way before I went after him. I can handle a regular old werewolf.”
“But it wasn’t a regular old werewolf! And you still went by yourself,” he argued, moving closer to the bed as he spoke. The room had gone silent.
Celeste sat up straighter and clenched her jaw. “I’m the Guardian, Roman! That’s what I do – I fight supernatural creatures. It doesn’t matter if I’m alone or have a whole army behind me. You can’t protect me all the time!”
“It’s a good thing I did today,” he growled and stormed out of the room.
Celeste threw her hands up in the air in frustration. “I just can’t seem to do anything right these days.”
“Hey, take it easy on yourself,” said Marco as he stepped forward. “Brazen is tough, believe me – I remember.”
“No, Marco,” she said. “You don’t understand; he wasn’t just tough. He was indestructible. I stabbed him over and over again and I watched as the cuts healed themselves almost instantly.” Marco looked stunned. “Was he like that when you fought him in Astor?”
“No, definitely not. He was cut up pretty bad from our fight. I shot him in the chest with my arrow and it stuck all right. There was no supernatural healing going on besides the normal amount for a werewolf, that is,” he assured.
“I think Roman better hear this,” said Nico. “I’ll go drag his stubborn butt back in here.”
Celeste rolled her eyes, but didn’t respond.
“How does someone become invincible?” asked Brian.
“A lot of magic,” answered Marie.
Marie was right. If Brazen hadn’t been born this way, someone had to have given him his new power. Celeste had a bad feeling she knew exactly who it was.
Nico led a contrite-looking Roman back into the room moments later. He refused to meet Celeste’s eyes, and stared sullenly at the floor, which was fine with her.
“I was just thinking,” said Nico, “when Roman and I went to see that werewolf, Cerveza, in the fancy condo, he said that he had gotten to keep all the money from the Astor job. So what did Brazen get out of it?”