by Anthology
What Callum heard next made him smile. Rory tore his arm from his supposed best friend’s grip and almost growled out, “No, Steve, he isn’t here. And as for us getting it on... why is that any of your business?”
Callum could read Rory’s inner thoughts. Only a few hours before, Rory would have been hoping Steve was finally pursuing him. He didn’t hope that anymore. Rory wanted to move on with his life. He knew Steve wasn’t for him. He knew he deserved more than to be strung along by someone with whom he knew he could never fully share himself.
Steve’s eyebrows shot up. His jaw dropped. “I’m your friend, Rory. Who else is going to look after you?”
Callum smiled as he felt Rory think, very loudly, and obviously for the Guardian’s benefit, Callum. Callum will look after me.
Rory stared at Steve. He put his hands on his hips and cocked his head. “Why is this party so important? And why can’t we wait for Cal?”
Callum saw Steve frown. He hesitated, seemingly searching for an answer, and then he smiled. “The fraternity Chapter President wants to meet you. Cal can come, if he gets here on time.”
Callum tried to read Steve’s surface thoughts again, in order to figure out whether what he was saying was a lie, but his mind slammed into a barrier that was even stronger than before. This was not a good sign. Callum went through different options. He could block the door. He could even arrange an accident. Nothing too serious, but enough to prevent Rory from having to go to the fraternity house. He discounted the first option as being ineffective, and the latter was too risky.
When Callum realized he had no viable options, he thought that he would disappear and possibly be reprimanded. At the very least, he thought he would get another charge to protect. However, he was still linked to Rory. Callum actually thanked God for that.
Callum also expected a sign of some sort to indicate his mission had changed. A thought came to his mind: protect Rory. Callum took that as an indication his mission had indeed taken a turn. He resolved that the best way to protect Rory was to be physically present. He had failed in his primary mission—Rory would be going to the party—but Callum was determined to go with him. He concentrated, shifting so that he was in the corridor.
He felt the familiar tingling; the movement between planes had worked this time. Callum knocked enthusiastically on the door, and was not pleased when he heard Steve shout, “Rory’s sick. Come back never.”
Callum heard Rory instantly retaliate. “Steve! Get away from the door! Now!”
Seconds later the door opened and Callum was face to face with a relieved and grinning Rory. “Cal, you made it back!”
Rory then surprised everyone, including himself, by leaning forward to give his new friend a hurried peck on the cheek. Callum’s eyes widened in surprise, while Steve’s face reddened. “Rory! You hardly know the guy!”
Callum could feel Rory’s annoyance. Steve could see Rory’s eye-roll. “Steve, how many women have you slept with on the first date, much less kissed them?”
Steve blushed angrily and grunted. “Let’s just go.”
When Steve came rushing toward the door, Callum thought the man was trying to rush him, but just before Steve was close enough to hit him, Rory took Callum’s hand and lightly shoved him backward. Callum twisted around and Rory began pulling him toward the elevator.
Everyone was silent as they descended, but Callum noticed that Rory was sticking very close to him. Steve was staring at Callum with intense, furrowed eyes. Callum felt uncomfortable—quite a new sensation for him, and one he’d experienced far too often of late.
Callum almost jumped when he heard a very loud thought from Rory. “Callum, if you want... and this is definitely not an order, please stay with me.”
Callum involuntarily hiked his eyebrows even higher when he witnessed Rory push Steve out of the elevator a little hard, and then press the button to close the doors. “I’m sorry, Steve. Cal and I need a moment. We won’t be long.”
When the doors were shut, Rory pushed Callum to the far side of the compartment and pressed himself against Callum’s thigh, causing him to gasp. Rory then brought a hand to Callum’s face and leaned in. Callum felt Rory’s lips on his. The sensation was almost more than Callum could take; it felt so wonderful. His pulse quickened. He even found that his hands had unconsciously stretched out to grab Rory’s hair.
When Rory’s tongue pressed against Callum’s lips, Callum let it through willingly. He bathed in the feel of Rory’s tongue exploring a mouth that he himself knew very little about. It was a moment of discovery for both of them.
Throughout this wonderful experience, Callum felt Rory’s mind exploding with various emotions and thoughts. One thought caught him off-guard enough that he gently pushed Rory back. “Rory, what do you have to apologize for? You have done nothing wrong.”
Rory’s face was flushed with guilt, lust, and embarrassment. He leaned in and whispered into Callum’s ear, “Callum, why did you tell me your name? I didn’t mean to force you to leave like that. You had no choice, did you? How can you live like that?”
Callum smiled. “Rory, I am a Guardian. I live by the covenant God has with my kind. I went into this willingly. I trust in God.” He looked into Rory’s emerald eyes. “When you asked my name, I trusted God to give you one for me. God chose for you to know this name. He has His reasons. They will become clear. Trust Him, Rory. I do.”
Rory gave Callum an apprehensive, yet loving little smile. “I’m still getting used to the idea that God is real... and that I’m not automatically going to hell.”
Before Callum could respond, there was a loud knocking on the elevator doors, as well as aggressive and loud shouting. “Cal, if you have sullied Rory, in any way, I will murder you! Both of you need to get out of the elevator. Now! We are going to be late!”
Rory turned away from Callum and rolled his eyes, pushing the button to open the door. When Steve could see into the compartment, he was met with a vision of Rory with one hand on his hip and the other hand entwined in Callum’s. Rory’s voice was noticeably strained. “Sullied? Really, Steve? I don’t need you to look after my virtue, thank you very much.”
Callum spent the next ten minutes with his guard up. He did not like what Steve had said, or the way he had said it. He didn’t like being kept in the dark as to the true nature of his mission. It was obviously more complicated than simply stopping Rory from attending a party.
Steve’s tone when he uttered the word “sullied” was far too intense to be normal. It implied something, but Callum was unable to grasp what it was. To sully was to make a person or thing impure, and it was Callum’s opinion that Rory was as pure as any human ever could be. Why would Steve be so angry if Rory’s purity was diminished? It definitely seemed fairly sinister.
Chapter Five
WHEN THE three young men finally arrived at the fraternity house, the place looked busy. So busy, in fact, there was a line at the door. People were showing their student IDs. Rory looked at Steve, frowning. “This is a student only party? You need ID to get in?”
Steve’s lips curled in a malevolently mischievous grin. “Yeah. Sorry, did I forget to mention that?”
Steve turned to Callum, wearing a rather undisguised triumphant smirk. “Sorry, man. Maybe next time.”
Callum grunted and replicated Steve’s smirk as he reached into the pocket of his trousers to pull out a wallet. This wasn’t his first rodeo. “Steve, I was walking freely inside a university dorm. At the very least, I’d have a valid student ID. Besides, this isn’t my first frat party.”
Callum had not lied. He simply didn’t add that the last time he was at a frat party he’d spent most of his time In-Between, and it had been 1976. Rory stared at Steve with an incredulous look splashing across his face. The quivering lip made Callum’s human form shiver with excitement. He needed to calm down. He almost shouted victoriously when Rory announced he was thinking of leaving. “I can’t believe you, Steve. Leading Cal on like that. Maybe
he and I should go.”
Rory had taken Callum’s hand and had turned to go when they all heard Steve’s name shouted from the top of the staircase. Callum turned around to see a very striking human male approaching. He instinctively stretched out his senses and hit another figurative brick wall. This one had the definite tinge of Otherness to it. Callum went instantly on the alert.
The young man approached Steve and gave him a friendly double-pat-on-the-back bro-hug. “Steve, you know that you don’t have to stand in line, right? And neither do your guests.”
The young man then turned to Rory. His voice was slick, almost oily. “You must be Rory. Steve has been mentioning you non-stop. You’ve been a good friend to him. We’re counting on that continuing. I’m Mark.”
Mark ignored Rory’s suspended eyebrow flick and turned to Callum. “And who might you be? You are rather brazen, flaunting your obvious attraction to this dude here, in front of a fraternity house no less. No fear?”
Callum grunted. “No.”
Rory rolled his eyes. “His name is Cal.”
Mark slapped Callum on the back. At that moment, a mental link was established. Callum sensed that Mark was indeed human, but most of him was gone. Mark’s personality was intact, but his soul was torn, ripped away. Mark was a shell for another entity, most likely a Fate Demon. This wasn’t good. Demons of Fate were the Other side’s equivalent of Guardian Angels. They were very powerful. They played by different rules. A great deal of the time, they even broke the rules, especially those set in place between God and the Other.
Callum retreated from Mark’s half-mind as fast as he could. He hoped whoever was controlling it hadn’t noticed the invasion, though that was highly unlikely. Callum was also aware of Rory’s growing agitation. Rory had sensed Callum’s surprise and was anxious to know what caused it.
Callum was amazed at Rory’s abilities. No other human he had ever met had Rory’s sensitivities, or his wonderful personality, or those cute little dimples below his cheeks. Callum wanted to touch them, and Rory’s lips, and his torso, and any other part of Rory’s body he could get his hands on.
At that thought, Callum felt blood rush to his face as another part of his body began to swell. Callum looked at Rory, who had obviously sensed Callum’s change in mood. Rory’s eyes were wide and twinkling, and his smile was broad. Shaking his head, Callum wondered just how he was going to get himself out of this situation, and he wasn’t thinking of the danger he and Rory were in. Guardians simply didn’t interact with humans in the way he was thinking of interacting with Rory. It just wasn’t done. It wasn’t proper... but he didn’t want to hurt Rory in any way.
As Steve led Callum and Rory into the house, Callum pondered the origin of these new thoughts... Was it his prolonged human transformation? Was it the Other’s presence? Or did it have something to do with Rory? Callum wasn’t sure.
The house was packed with partygoers and there was loud techno music playing. Many people were drinking, even though most weren’t of legal age... and despite the fact it was still early as parties go, people were noticeably tipsy. Some were just flirty, others couldn’t seem to keep their hands off each other.
Callum scanned the surface thoughts of everyone he could lay his eyes on, careful to do so quickly and lightly. He didn’t want to bring to himself unwanted attention from any Others.
Most people were easily readable; those that weren’t looked as if they belonged to the fraternity. Considering at least two members of the fraternity had been unreadable, that would make sense. The Others, especially Fate Demons, seemed to like to create a harem of unthinking slaves to do their bidding.
The appearance of a beer in front of his face jolted Callum back to the present situation. He hadn’t noticed Steve leave, but now the man handed Callum a beer. Callum was going to refuse it, but he noticed Rory did not. He then heard Rory’s voice in his head. “Callum, take the beer. If you don’t, he’ll bug you until you do and you’ll probably end up drinking more than you want to. This way you can nurse the same drink all night. Steve probably won’t remember how many he’s given you.”
By way of response, Callum nodded to Steve and took the beer. This wasn’t the first beer he’d ever tasted, but he was still reticent. As a Guardian, he was practically invincible, at least where physical limitations were concerned, but in human form Callum was susceptible to anything any human would be. That meant alcohol would affect him until he had a chance to go In-Between.
Callum felt a hand in his, and then pressure as Rory pulled him toward the corner of the room. He wondered what Rory intended to do. When they reached the corner, Rory turned to him. “Cal... why are you here? This is just a party... I can’t fathom why I’d be in danger here.”
Callum tilted his head. “There are Other elements here, Rory. Evil. They wish to thwart God’s plan. You have been deemed central to this. I am here to protect you. I’ve already failed you by not preventing....”
Rory did not let Callum finish. He put a hand to Callum’s chest. Callum’s pulse quickened. He was so busy trying to control his body’s reactions that he almost missed what Rory said. “Is that the only reason you stayed?”
Callum frowned. He knew it wasn’t. He also knew that he was in danger of revealing far too much. A Guardian should not get attached to his charge. Higher-level angels may be free to do that, but not Guardians. It simply wasn’t done... and if a Guardian stepped over the line, that angel would no longer be a Guardian. Callum was never told what happened to those who did overstep their bounds.
In the end, he decided he needed to tell Rory the truth, even though he might get into trouble for doing so. After all, his feelings were true. “No, Rory, I stayed for you. I’m sorry.”
Rory’s eyes sparkled. “Why would you be sorry?”
Rory would have said more, but Mark sauntered in rather smugly, interrupting them. “If the two of you would follow me to the basement, we are about to start the ceremony for which Rory was invited. Since you came with Rory, you can come too... Cal.”
There was something very sinister about Mark’s tone. Callum was not happy about this situation at all. He looked at Rory, who seemed nervous, although not overly concerned. Callum wished he had more time to convince Rory to leave, but there just did not seem to be a valid excuse to refuse the invitation. Rory and Callum followed Mark down into the basement, hand-in-hand, of their own free will, however reticent either of them was. There was an ominous sign on the door announcing their destination: THE DUNGEON.
Callum resolved to be as vigilant as he could. As the group descended the stairs, Callum squeezed Rory’s hand, and received positive energies from Rory in the form of a hand squeeze in return.
Callum hoped that he was doing the right thing, and that he stopped failing Rory. He wanted, and needed Rory to be safe.
Chapter Six
RORY AND Callum descended the stairs and were led through a series of long corridors. Eventually, the corridor opened out into a cavernous space. In the center of this room was a group of robed figures. Hoods and masks obscured their faces. They formed a semicircle, the apex of which was a shirtless Steve.
Rory and Callum both turned toward where they thought Mark stood, wanting to know what was going on. However, Mark was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, another voice was heard. It echoed around the cave several times. “Welcome, Rory, to Candidate Steve’s Initiation Ceremony. Before we can accept Steve in our midst, he needs to undergo a transformation. In order to do that, we need your help. You will be asked certain questions. Answer them truthfully. We will know if you lie. If you choose to lie, Steve will suffer. Do you understand?”
Callum could tell that Rory was stunned into silence—he had clenched his hands into tight fists and his face had reddened. All Rory could do was nod, once. That seemed to be enough, because the voice continued vehemently. “Rory, do you love Steve?”
Callum saw Rory jolt at that question. He answered it indignantly. “Of course I do! We’ve been be
st friends for years! What kind of a question is that?”
The voice acted as if Rory had not really answered the question. “Are you in love with Steve?”
Rory physically shook. “No! I’m not!”
Before Rory could say anything more, one of the robed figures near Steve moved rapidly. A black streak flickered through the air and Steve began to scream, though he did not move. A very bright red mark appeared on Steve’s chest. Steve had been whipped.
Rory ran forward, only to be stopped by two robed figures. “I’m not in love with Steve. I was, okay! I was, but not anymore! Steve is straight, if that’s what you’re all worried about! Stop hurting him!”
Callum sensed a presence before Rory saw him—a hoodless figure in a bright red robe, coming from an opposite entrance to the cave. The man was stunning, almost too stunning. He had a light complexion, very dark hair, and to Rory’s gasped surprise, red-glowing eyes. His voice, even up close, was almost as echoing as before.
“My dear Rory, you are an extraordinary person, with extraordinary talents. If you want Steve to survive this, you need to open your mind. We can’t read you if you don’t.”
Rory waved his hands and shook his head in frustration. “What are you talking about? My mind is open! And besides, I’m not that extraordinary....”
Callum then saw a knowing spark of fear in Rory’s eyes. “Wait a minute! Reading my mind? How is that possible? Unless you... who are you? No, let me rephrase that. What are you?”
The red-eyed stranger’s lips formed what could only be called an evil sneer. “Rory, I can’t sense you. I never could. You are special that way. Your mind is strong. I wanted to use that. Steve was my way of getting inside your mind. I was so close. I was breaking down your barriers. Then all of a sudden, you were opaque again. The reason for that, as I’m sure you are aware, is standing beside you.”