by K. B. Draper
Daylen’s heart completely broke at the hope in Kanyon’s eyes. She couldn’t do it, couldn’t let Kanyon throw away everything again. “Kanyon, I can’t.” She braced herself. “I can’t be responsible for you hurting your career and I won’t let you risk your life for me again.” A horn sounded outside. “I’m sorry, I’ve got to go.” Daylen took her plate to the sink and returned to Kanyon. She ran her fingertips gently down the side of Kanyon’s face. “Thank you for being my guardian angel last night and so many years ago. Good-bye, Kanyon.” Daylen pressed a kiss to Kanyon’s cheek then headed quickly to the door before she could change her mind.
Kanyon sat stunned before deciding what to do. Fuck this! She raced after her. “Daylen!” At Kanyon’s call, Daylen turned back from the open cab door. “It’s my life and my career, I can risk it if I want.” Okay, I’d been hoping for more of a poetic, life-changing, proclamation rather than a spoiled, fit-throwing teenager one, but ...
“You can, but I won’t let it be because of me,” Daylen replied simply then crawled into the waiting car.
Again, Kanyon had hoped for a response with a little more movie ending, run-back-throw-yourself-in-her-arms-ish. Not so … well, “no-ish”. She watched as the cab pulled away. “Damn it.”
Daylen sighed heavily, dropping her head back against the seat. What was she thinking? That was the problem, she wasn’t thinking. She’d let her feelings for Kanyon cloud her judgment and she was being selfish. She enjoyed having Kanyon around, having her all to herself, and Kanyon, for once, hadn’t held her at arm’s length. The mere recollection of the previous night produced an intense ache. Daylen pushed the images from her mind. She was doing the right thing. Kanyon was … well, she was just Kanyon, an insanely beautiful, strong, famous, movie and television star. Okay, yeah, she herself was slightly famous too, but not “cause riots” famous, “paparazzi follow your every move” kind of famous like Kanyon. Hollywood would soon forget about her, which was probably a good thing because she wasn’t an actress anymore, she was a Seeker. She laughed at herself. She didn’t even fully understand what that meant yet. What she did know sounded crazy. Kanyon would think she was a freak. The obvious aside, if she let Kanyon in her life like she had mistakenly done already, it would be the end of Kanyon’s acting career. It already might be if the media found out about last night’s back alley fight. They’d publicly crucify her. She wiped a tear from her face. I did the right thing. Though her heart would likely never recover, she had to put away her feelings … again.
Without warning, her mind flashed back to the convention center, replaying the moment when she’d suddenly felt Kanyon, knowing instinctively she was there. She felt feverish at the memory of Kanyon standing only inches away from her in the bathroom. Daylen shifted in the backseat attempting to physically turn away from the memories. She fanned the collar of her shirt and saw her driver lean forward and turn the air conditioner knob to high.
“Thanks,” she said, dropping her hand.
“You okay?” the man asked with a heavy accent.
Not even close. “Yes, thank you.” She stared out the window trying to focus on something besides Kanyon. Her thoughts drifted back to waking up in Kanyon’s arms and how it felt like exactly where she belonged. She was still pondering the feelings when she realized they were stopped alongside her car.
She scrambled quickly for her belongings and paid the driver. She walked around her vehicle, giving it a quick once over. Lucky for Lenny, all appeared to be okay. She got in and closed her eyes, briefly finding comfort in the familiar environment. She put the key in the ignition, knowing she should head to the office and begin working on the new case, but all she wanted to do was go back to Kanyon’s house, crawl back in her bed, and spend the day there.
She forced her hand to start the car only to have the desire to drive straight back to Kanyon become a physical ache. “Get a grip.” Jesus, what’s wrong with me? She laid her head on the steering wheel trying to steady her mind. “I’m doing the right thing.” She had to walk away for both their sakes. “I’m doing the right thing,” she said again attempting to convince herself.
Daylen lifted her head and took in a slow steadying breath. “I’m doing the– What the hell?” She sniffed again and the smell of deep fried dead things assaulted her nose. She searched the immediate area. She searched the floorboards, under her seat, the passenger seat, the console, and glove box. She had a quick panicking thought and sniffed her own armpits. Not me, she decided in relief. She got out of the car and opened the door to the rear seats. There was a pile of fast food wrappers and containers ankle high in the back floorboard. “God, Lenny, gorge much?” After she cleared out the backseat at the nearest dumpster, she drove, with all the windows down, to the closest detail shop to get her SUV disinfected.
“About time,” Ruby started as Daylen walked through the backdoor of the office. “Wearing the same clothes, I see.” She gave her niece a suggestive eyebrow wiggle. “I take it your date went well?”
“It wasn’t a date.” Daylen dropped into a chair at the kitchen table.
Ruby finished cutting up an apple, sat it between them on the table, and took a seat across from her niece. “You say tomato, I say to-DATE-o.”
“You know, most aunts wouldn’t actually try to convince or encourage their nieces into relations with another woman.” Daylen dropped her forehead on the table with a thud.
“When have you known me to be like other aunts?” Ruby said before biting into an apple slice.
“Good point,” Daylen agreed without lifting her head.
“All I’m doing is trying to guide you to your–”
“To my what?” Daylen said, lifting her head to eye her aunt suspiciously.
“Oh my, these apples are missing something. Do we have any vodka?” Ruby got up and began searching the cabinets for a clear bottle of liquid distraction.
“Aunt Ruby! To my what? What do you know or what have you seen?” She watched as her aunt found a bottle of vodka. “Geez, it’s not even noon.”
“Yeah well, I’m old. I shouldn’t delay anything. I might keel over by the afternoon.”
“You’re not going to die today.”
Ruby waved her off as she poured herself a generous glass. “You’re still in training, like I can trust your instincts!”
“Aunt Ruby, will you please come over here and explain to me whatever it is that you’re so NOT doing such a good job of hiding from me right now?” Daylen begged in singsong politeness.
Aunt Ruby dropped her head in resignation. She knew this day would come sooner or later, but she was really hoping it would be later, because she knew her strong-willed, self-reliant, pick-my-own-fate niece, who she nearly lost once because of the fated Seeker job, would not take kindly to the news her job came with a Guardian as a side benefit. Especially since said predestined Guardian just so happened to be Kanyon. She picked up her glass of vodka, swirled it, and considered becoming an alkie. Then maybe Daylen would discount her ramblings as those of a drunken old woman? Unlikely, since she’d never been a drinker, but maybe she could just drink this glass, pass out, and wake up sometime after Daylen had figured it all out for herself. That was a plan she could get behind. She took her glass and went back to sit at the table next to Daylen.
“Are you going to drink that straight?” Daylen asked.
“No, duh, I was going to have an Appletini. Isn’t that what you kids are drinking these days?” Ruby picked up the remaining apple slices, dropped them into her glass, and cheered.
“Wait!” Daylen grabbed her aunt’s arm. “I’m having a vision. You are going to die today if you drink that.”
Ruby scoffed. “Please.” She rolled her eyes and took a big swig.
A minute later Ruby was still coughing and Daylen was filling a second glass of water. “Why in the world would you kids drink such a thing?”
“I’m pretty sure that’s not how they make Appletinis,” Daylen said as she patted her aunt�
�s back.
“Why didn’t you let me in on that before I poured the not-so-apple-flavored rocket fuel down my throat?” She let out a couple more coughs.
“Oh, my bad. Are we sharing now? Sorry, I thought we were still doing that whole super-fun secrecy thing?”
“You’re a conniving child.”
“Learned from the best.” Daylen smirked.
“True.” Ruby took another drink of water and cleared her throat.
“Better?” Daylen asked.
“Yes.”
“Good. Now out with it. Guide me to my what?”
“You never know when a good alcohol tolerance would serve useful. Hair of the dog, right?” She lifted the drink toward her lips again.
“Aunt Ruby!” Daylen caught Ruby’s forearm mid-lift and lowered it back to the table. “What are you not telling me?”
Ruby sighed. “Fine. But no killing the messenger, okay?”
“I’m going to kill the messenger if the messenger doesn’t start messaging.”
“You’re an annoyingly persistent little thing,” Ruby barked sarcastically.
Daylen rose an “and?” eyebrow.
“Ugh, all right, all right! You obviously know about the whole Seeker thing being a fated gift throughout our family; me, your grandmother, her father and his father, his uncle and aunt, they were twins, their mother–”
“I get the idea. Long family history of Seekers, blah, blah, blah. Hit the fast forward button.”
“Right, okay. Seekers, as you know, possess special gifts. Gifts which help them find things and these gifts vary from simple premonitions to more advanced skills, like mine, like seeing the future at will. I can also see people’s auras, fates, and–”
“Aunt Ruby, this isn’t a psychic hotline job interview. I know what you can do! You can see the future, get vibes, read people, and lots of other really neat things. Geezzz, you’ve already told me all of this.”
Ruby crossed her arms and glared at Daylen with her lips pursed together.
Daylen rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry, please go on. Please continue telling me how amazing you are ...”
Ruby huffed and held her hand outward to examine her fingernails.
“Seriously?”
When her aunt didn’t appear to want to cut her any slack, she raised her hands in an I-give-up motion as she sat back in her seat, her best attempt at patient and polite. “I’m really sorry, Aunt Ruby. It’s been kind of a long couple of days. I’m very interested in what you have to say.” She smiled sweetly, even though she wanted to scream. She was desperate for insight into this fated life she’d accepted. Her aunt, up to this point, had been reserved and selective with the information she exposed, stating she needed patience and time to adjust and let her power mature.
Ruby returned her eyes with a grin of satisfaction to Daylen. “Fine. What I have not yet mentioned is …” She adjusted in her seat. “Well, there’s another part to the whole Seeker gig.” How best to tell my stubborn, independent niece that she has a partner? Quick like ripping off a Band-Aid. “Each Seeker is pre-assigned a partner, a Guardian, to help them with article retrieving,” Ruby’s voice dropped to a mumble, “and to protect them.” She stood quickly and patted Daylen on the top of her head as she started to escape. “Okay, glad we had this little talk. Now I have paperwork to do.”
“Don’t you dare take another step,” Daylen growled. Ruby froze. Daylen pointed at the chair. “Sit.”
Ruby took two steps backward and dropped in her seat. “I take it you have a couple questions?” Ruby asked innocently.
“Yah think?”
Ruby didn’t need her ability to read auras at this particular juncture. She could readily tell her niece was perturbed at this newly revealed part of the job description.
“You’re telling me I have a pre-assigned Guardian to protect me from the big bad world of article finding? I don’t want a partner. I don’t need a Guardian. I can take care of myself.”
A flash of last night’s events and Kanyon played in fast-forward and her gut twisted. “Wait.” She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her aunt. “Tell me this doesn’t have anything to do with Kanyon and why you want me to go all “Ellen” all of the sudden!”
“I think you’re more Portia than Ellen. But I do love me some Ellen. She’s so funny and–”
“Aunt Ruby!”
“... has such a sunny disposition, which clearly someone else does not,” Ruby mumbled as she fought for a plausible explanation to avoid dropping the second information bomb.
“Tell me this Guardian or whatever has nothing to do with Kanyon.”
Ruby ignored her. “I can’t believe you have such an attitude! You know women don’t like women with attitudes.”
“What are you even talking about right now? And how do you know what women want or don’t want?”
“I just heard somewhere that gay is the new straight, which, now that I think about it, does that mean I’m now gay?” She shrugged. “Guess it really doesn’t matter. I’m not getting any anyway …” Daylen furrowed her brow, but Ruby plowed on. “My friend Suzanne has a niece that’s gay and it’s all I hear at bridge club. My niece bought a Jeep. My niece got another tattoo. My niece just won another softball tournament. Doesn’t Suzanne’s niece sound happy? I want you to be happy. Plus, I always thought you’d look good in a Jeep.”
“Aunt Ruby!”
“Okay, okay. Are you sure we haven’t already talked about this?” she asked in one last effort to elude the conversation. “You probably weren’t paying attention. We really should’ve tried to treat your ADD when you were younger.”
“Aunt Ruby, for the love of God, I didn’t have ADD,” Daylen growled through clinched teeth. “Tell me why you’re pushing me and Kanyon together and what that has to do with me being a Seeker!”
“Should’ve looked into your anger issues too.” Ruby whispered into her hand. Daylen slapped a hand on the table. “All right, all right.” She took in a deep breath then let it out in a rush. “Kanyon is your Guardian … soul mate.” She mumbled the last two words intentionally.
“Um, excuse me, my what?”
“Guardian soul mate,” Ruby repeated only a slight bit louder.
“My Guardian soul mate?” Daylen shoved out of her chair. “You have got to be freaking kidding me! The powers-to-be not only picked my career path, assigned me a … a bodyguard, and since that wasn’t controlling enough they decided to choose who I was going to fall in love with?” She threw up her hands in frustration. “Unbelievable!” She began stomping around the kitchen then whirled back to aim more questions at her aunt. “Do I get to have any choices in my life? Why don’t they just pick out my clothes? How about they pick out what I eat, what I drink, and what TV shows I watch that way I won’t have to burden myself with making any of those pesky, mundane decisions!” Daylen began pacing the kitchen again. “Perfect! I’m destined to go through life searching the world’s lost and found box with my lesbian lover slash private security guard. Boy, was I off when I told my 3rd grade teacher I was going to grow up to be a baker.”
“Well,” Ruby smiled wide, “all is not lost, you’ll be bumping donuts and doing some muffin munching ...”
Daylen spun on her aunt and threw her a dark stare.
Ruby shrugged. “What? Too soon for lesbian jokes?”
“Um yeah, maybe you could give it another minute or two.” She paused for a second, “And, oh my God, how do you know about bumping donuts or muffins …” She held up a hand. “Never mind, I don’t want to know.” She ran a frustrated hand through her hair. “You know in all the years this Seeker thing has been going on, you’d think someone could’ve taken the time to put together a little handbook, a quick reference; The Field Guide for Seekers or Seekers for Dummies. Heck, I’d take a tri-fold pamphlet, something, anything.”
Ruby sighed. “Listen, I understand this is a lot to take in. It was for me too.”
“You too? Excuse me! I don’t see
any lesbo bodyguards running around this place–” Daylen stopped mid-rant with a sudden thought. She turned slowly back to her aunt. “There’s not a lesbian, but there’s a big, black ... Eddie! Eddie is your Guardian soul mate? I thought he was just …” Then Daylen had a second revelation. “Oh my God, you’re sleeping with Eddie? Christ, he’s half your age and, and so …” She expanded her hands out then up and down. “I mean he’s so, he’s … like three times your size.”
“Age and size doesn’t matter, sweetheart.” Ruby tilted her head and lifted her eyes upward. “Okay, size does,” she stated with a devilish grin. “Well, I guess in your case, maybe not.” She lifted her hands. “It might be all about …” She wiggled her fingers at Daylen.
“Seriously?” Daylen scolded, hands on her hips.
“Right, still too soon. Anyway, Eddie and I aren’t sleeping together.”
“What about the whole Guardian soul mate thing?”
“Guardian comma soul mate. Kanyon is your chosen, fated Guardian, here to protect–” she stopped and corrected quickly, “assist you. And she just happens to be your soul mate. The soul mate thing doesn’t have anything to do with you being a Seeker. Who knows how soul mates come about … two reunited souls long separated by a lightning bolt of some angry Greek God, two people who get shot in the ass by Cupid, a secret department of Hallmark …” She shrugged for emphasis.
“So, if it doesn’t have anything to do with the Seekers, how do you even know she’s my …?” Her mouth couldn’t form the words yet. “You know ...? Maybe you’re wrong?” She’d been prepared to fight and ignore her feelings for Kanyon, but now? No, no this can’t be. “Tell me you’re wrong,” Daylen pleaded.
“I’m not.” She reached out to grab Daylen’s arm. “Sweetheart, I’m so sorry. I didn’t want you to find out this way. I wanted you to have the joy of figuring it out for yourself.”
Daylen saw true sorrow in her aunt’s eyes. She waved a flippant hand. “I think I already kind of knew, I just …” She shrugged and let out a heavy sigh. “Anyway, will you tell me how you … I mean, how you know for sure?”