Guardian's Grace

by Jacqueline Rhoades

  “Are you done now?” Col asked nervously and when she nodded and wiped her nose one last time with the smelly towel, “You promise?”

  “I promise.”

  They moved to another room that Col referred to as the Back Room. An all-purpose room, it seemed, with a wide screen television at one end and a pool table at the other. Sofas and chairs, unmatched and comfortable, were scattered throughout with various tables placed for purpose rather than design. The artwork left a lot to be desired, unless posters of scantily clad women in various poses were to your liking. As with the kitchen, litter covered most surfaces with the addition of dirty laundry in piles across the floor.

  Grace finally put the towel aside, cleared a space on the coffee table for her mug and sat back, more exhausted than relaxed.

  “Can we start over?”

  Dov looked anxiously at his brother, who gave a slight nod. “Okay, but no more crying. Man, you’re scary when you cry.”

  She shook her head and raised her hands, palms up and moved them up and down like a scale. “Let’s see. Grace crying or Col and Dov ripping hearts out. All right class, on a scale of one to ten, which is scarier?” She looked from one to the other. “No contest. You guys win.”

  “No way,” Dov protested. “See, when we fight, we know what we’re doing and when you know what you’re doing it’s not so scary. But when you were cryin’ like that, we didn’t know what to do. That was scary.” Col nodded his head in agreement.

  “You did very well, thanks.” She sniffed a little. “And for what you did for Alice, with all of my heart, I thank you.” She tried to stop it, but her eyes filled and she swiped them with her fingers.

  “She’s doing it again,” Col said to Dov. He shook his finger at Grace. “No more. You promised.”

  Dov swiped another dirty towel off the floor and grabbed her mug of tea, ready to offer aid.

  The two of them looked so worried that she sniffed and tried to smile. “I know. I’m sorry. I’m not usually such a cry baby. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” She cocked her head and rolled her eyes. “Oh yeah, now I remember. Murder. Mayhem. Kidnapping.”

  Dov grinned. “We caught us a real smartass, Col.”

  “Yeah, and this smartass still wants some answers.” Grace folded her arms across her chest and waited.

  “Your guy was a demon,” said Col and all smiling stopped. “Yeah, it sounds crazy to you, but it’s how we earn our keep. We hunt them and when we find them, we destroy them by removing their hearts.”

  “Or their heads,” Dov added helpfully.

  “It’s our job,” Col continued after giving his brother a dirty look. “We don’t do it for fun. It’s the only way to make sure that they can’t come back. The one you saw had already killed. We knew he was in the area, but we didn’t find him in time. We thought Alice was gone, Grace, or we would have helped her sooner. For once, my brother’s right. If you don’t believe us about anything else, you have to believe that. We would never let an innocent die on purpose.”

  “I do believe you, Col. I shouldn’t, but I do. Now what’s an innocent?”

  Dov answered. “It’s a bystander or victim, someone who’s not supposed to be there.”

  Grace nodded, accepting the definition. “Okay. You said he’d already killed. What happened to the other victim? After they died, I mean. Didn’t somebody find the body? What about the authorities?”

  “We found him, an old man, probably homeless. His throat was torn out. We called the cops and they did what they always do. They took him to the morgue.”

  “And that’s it? They didn’t search the area? Look for the thing that did it?”

  “Grace, the cops can’t see them the way you do and they can’t chase what they can’t see. They’re not going to search for something they don’t believe is real. You saw it up close and personal and you’re still not convinced.” Col shrugged helplessly. “Most victims get stashed where they won’t be found. That poor guy the other night? They probably blamed the damage on the rats.”

  “Why did I see it?”

  “We don’t know. Now Grace, don’t look like that. Tell her, Col.” Dov looked to his brother for confirmation and Col nodded. “See? I’m not giving you the run around. We didn’t know you could see demons until you were yellin’ at us in the gym. Hell, we can’t see them until they attack. We find them by their stink. We thought you were just another innocent and I screwed up the thump. But now I’m pretty sure I didn’t screw it up. You just don’t wipe. That’s why we brought you home.”

  “Thump? Wipe?”

  Col sighed. “We are so screwed,” he muttered. He shook his head in defeat and continued, “We call it thumping because you use your thumb to do it. Thumb, thumping, get it? You put your thumb on the innocent’s forehead, will them to forget,” he snapped his fingers, “and they do. Wipes their memory of what just happened.”

  Who were these people that fought demons for a living and could wipe people’s memories away with a thump of their thumb? Was the ability something like the buzz in her head only they knew how to control it? Did she really want to know? A small voice inside said yes.

  She realized they were staring at her, waiting for her to speak.

  “And you think Dov might have made a mistake, didn’t do it right.”

  “Yeah, that’s about the size of it.” Col rolled his eyes at his twin.

  Dov threw his hands in the air and huffed in disgust. “I did do it right. I’m telling you, I didn’t screw it up. How could I screw up somethin’ as simple as a thump?”

  Grace ignored him, focusing on Col. “If I’d been thumped, you would have left me there. I could have gone home.”

  “Yeah.

  “Then do it now and take me home.”

  “You have no idea how much I wish we could, Grace, but it doesn’t work like that. We have to do it right away, before the memory imbeds and that still won’t explain how you saw that demon.”

  “Then just let me go. I won’t tell anyone. Who’d believe me, anyway? I can’t stay here. I have no clothes. My cat, Buffy, needs to be fed. I have a job to go to,” she lied, “at least for another week. And I need to see Alice. Please let me go.”

  “Stay the night, just for tonight,” said Dov. “Maybe we can fix it, figure something out. It’s getting late and we have to go out on patrol. If we were going to hurt you, we would’ve done it by now. And jeez, Gracie, the way you were cryin’ for a while there, who would’ve blamed us for shuttin’ you up?” He flinched when Col smacked the back of his head. “Well, it’s true. But we let you cry it out and we made you tea and everything. If we were going to hurt you, we wouldn’t have done all that. Come on, would one more night be so bad?”

  “One night isn’t going to make a difference.”

  “There. You see? One night’s not going to make a difference. So stay.”

  And the same feeling she’d had when she first walked into the gym came over her again. She should be afraid, but she wasn’t. Something deep inside her, something she couldn’t define was telling her that this was where she was supposed to be. Why she, who’d never taken an incautious or unplanned step in her entire life, should suddenly be willing to take this leap of frightening faith she couldn’t fathom. She nodded her head, the decision made.

  “All right. One night.”

  “You promise?”

  “I promise.”

  “Atta girl.”

  Chapter 6

  “Grace? Wake up. We got pizza.”

  “Come on, Gracie. We got places to go, Alice to see.”

  Dov and Col stood in front of where she lay curled on the sofa. Dov held three large pizza boxes and Col a couple of two liters of soda.

  “What time is it?” Grace sat up supporting herself on one hand while rubbing the sleep from her eyes with the other. They’d wanted her to go back upstairs, but she’d felt too drained to move. She’d told them she’d wait here on the couch and watch a little TV. She must have fallen
asleep.

  “Almost three. Look what else we brought.” He put the pizza on the coffee table and picked up a large cardboard box, offering it to her.

  “What now,” she said as she took the box and pulled back the flap. A sharp hiss and Buffy, tiny and tawny, leaped onto her lap. The cat gave the twins a haughty glare and proceeded to wash her face with her paw.

  “Oh, baby. Am I glad to see you.” The cat had followed her home from the bus stop only a few weeks before, but Grace was already attached. Having the little ball of fur to come home to had made a real difference in her solitary life. She held Buffy close and scratched behind her ear. When Buffy began to purr, Grace turned her attention back to the twins. “You went to my apartment?”

  “Yeah. We got your cat and cat food and the litter box and we didn’t know what you needed for clothes and Col felt funny going through your stuff, so we just brought everything. Man, you got a shitload of stuff.”

  “How did you know where I lived and how did you get in?” She wasn’t sure how she felt about these two going through her things.

  Dov twirled the end of an imaginary mustache and said dramatically, “Ve haf our vays,” then laughed and said in his normal voice, “I grabbed your purse and threw it in the back seat when, well, you know. Got your keys out of it and your address was on your pay stub. Oh, and Col took care of your job.”

  “My job?”

  Col looked embarrassed. “I called Personnel and left a message. Said you quit and they could mail your last paycheck.” He took a step back. “She’s doing that thing with her jaw, Dov. I told you she’d be mad. You said you only had it for another week and we figured what’s a week?”

  “My rent. That’s what.” After giving them hell for their lies, she wasn’t about to admit she’d lied about her job and what if she lost her severance pay?

  Dov waved the concern away. “Is that all? We can take care of that. We’ll just write it off as miscellaneous expenses.” He didn’t give her time to argue. “Now eat and then put those scrubs on. We’re gonna take you on a little trip to see Alice.”

  An hour later, they were in the hospital. No one even glanced at them as they walked down the hall and Grace suspected it had something to do with the white light, but she was afraid to speak, to perhaps draw attention. The twins knew exactly where to go and held the door for her to enter alone.

  “We’ll keep watch,” Dov whispered.

  As soon as the door closed, her head began to buzz, but she ignored it and went to the bed.

  Alice’s eyes were closed and her breathing was soft and regular. Her face was a swollen mass of scrapes and bruises and her neck was heavily bandaged. Her arms, which lay atop the white blanket, looked no better than her face, and her hands, which were always so pretty and perfectly manicured, were battered, the nails ragged and broken. She was attached by numerous wires and tubes to a bank of machines at the side of the bed.

  “Oh Alice, look what he did to you,” Grace whispered. She gently stroked the hair from Alice’s forehead.

  Alice flinched and her hands came up flailing in a panicked attack at an unseen enemy. Grace backed away.

  “It’s okay, sweetie. It’s me, Grace. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

  “Grace?” Alice’s voice was soft and raspy. “Sorry. I thought…” Her face crumpled and she started to weep.

  “Oh sweetie, don’t. It’s all right.” She grabbed a tissue from the table beside the bed and softly wiped the tears away. “You’re safe now. It’s all right.

  “No it isn’t. I don’t know what happened, Grace. I’ve lost a whole day. I don’t remember going to the club or how I got in the alley. I don’t remember being beaten. The doctors say I wasn’t raped, but he tried to kill me, tried to slit my throat. And I don’t remember anything about him. He could be anyone, anywhere.” Her eyes darted around the room and the panic flowed from her in rippling waves.

  Grace felt a dreadful shiver of her own. This was a side of Alice she had never felt before. She slid her fingers beneath Alice’s and lovingly stroked her hand. She wanted to be calming but couldn’t keep the quiver from her voice.

  “Alice, all you need to remember is that you’re alive. Right now, you just have to get better. Later, when we get you back to the apartment…”

  “No,” Alice firmly interrupted. “I can’t go back there. Not ever. Mom and Dad are going there tomorrow to get my things. I’m going home, Grace, where it’s safe. I’ll live with my folks, find a job and maybe after a while I’ll get another place, but not in the city, never in the city. I’m sorry, Grace, I’m sorry.” She turned her face into the pillow.

  Grace wanted to tell her friend the truth, wanted to tell her that the beast who’d done this awful thing to her was dead and would never do this to anyone again. She wanted to tell Alice about the twins, the eye candy from the club, and how they’d killed the demon and saved her life, but she couldn’t. The tale was too fantastic. She’d seen it with her own eyes and she could hardly believe it was true. There was no point in adding to Alice’s pain.

  “Don’t be sorry, sweetie. You have nothing to be sorry about. I understand.” She said instead and she did understand. The buzzing in her head was increasing steadily and it wasn’t what she had always recognized as Alice. Alice was more like a purring in her mind, soft and happy and funny. This was jagged and sharp like shattered glass. That bastard hadn’t taken Alice’s life, yet he’d taken something precious. Alice of the Rose Colored Glasses was gone and in her place was some poor broken and frightened soul.

  Grace had never felt raw hate before. She felt it now, oozing up, churning inside of her and finally boiling over. She wanted to scream and rage and fight against what had been done to her friend. She wanted to turn back the clock and kill the monster herself. Dear, sweet Alice, who would never hurt another human being, who always showed kindness. She didn’t deserve this. No one did. And if Dov and Col were to be believed, there were more monsters out there like the monster that did this.

  Just like that, Grace’s decision was made. If the twins hunted creatures like the one that had destroyed her friend, then she was on their side. She was going to help in any way she could, even if it was only cleaning up the pig sty they lived in.

  Col stuck his head in the door. “Need to go,” he said.

  Grace kissed Alice’s cheek. “I’ve got to go now and you need to get some rest.” Alice’s big, sad eyes met hers. “I love you,” Grace whispered as she stroked the tangled blonde hair back from the bruised forehead. “Now go back to sleep. Dream about beautiful things.”

  Alice closed her eyes.

  *****

  “Just like that, you’re staying.” Col looked confused and a little suspicious.

  “No, not just like that. I’ve had some time to think, that’s all.”

  Grace dunked the frying pan into the sudsy water and began to scrub. Like the knife she’d found earlier, the pan was top notch. The dishwasher was full and running and she’d cleared enough space on the counter to fry up the bacon and eggs she’d made them pick up on their way home from the hospital. They’d scarfed down the pound and the dozen along with three quarters of a loaf of bread and were now polishing off the two packages of cookies that were their contribution to the menu. It would cost a fortune to feed these two.

  “I’m unemployed, so it’s not like I have to be anywhere for a few days. The only one I have to be concerned about is Buffy. You took care of that and everything else.” She shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. “It’ll be like a vacation. I’ve never had one before and this is the best offer I’m going to get.”

  Dov looked triumphant. “See. I told you. Clothes, cat, job, Alice.” He counted off the list on his fingers. “I knew we could get her to stay.”

  “Whatever.”

  “Shitface.”

  “Jackass.”

  “Boys!”

  “Sorry, Gracie,” they said in unison.

  Chapter 7

  Over the n
ext two weeks, Grace experienced more happiness than she had ever known. As far back as she could remember she’d lived in fear. Fear of getting kicked out of the current foster home she lived in, fear of the new family she was being sent to, and as she passed into her teenage years, fear that the constant buzzing in her head would drive her insane. Most of all, she was afraid of people.

  By High School, she was able to distinguish different nuances in the buzzing and eventually recognized those changes as different emotions, but she had no way to control it and in a room full of people, she felt as if her mind were under attack. Sitting in a classroom was torture. Her grades were barely passing even though she read widely and learned quickly. Alice was the only one she was ever comfortable with until now.

  From the twins, she felt nothing and it was wonderful. She was sure it had something to do with their abilities, the things she had seen the night of Alice’s attack, but she didn’t care. For the first time, she wasn’t afraid of what the day would bring. This was irrational, of course. She was living with a couple of admitted killers, good natured killers to be sure, but killers nonetheless who spoke of demons that she herself had seen. No rational mind could qualify this as normal, but for the present, it just felt right.

  There were conditions to living here, of course. She was not to leave the premises and the twins wouldn’t answer any more questions about whom or what they were and Grace reluctantly agreed to that. They didn’t need to know that she had plans of her own. For the first time in her life she felt she had a purpose. She could never do what these guys did, but she could help them. Dov and Col believed that supplying her with her cat, clothes and rent had bought her acquiescence. Let them believe it.

  She adjusted her schedule to match that of Dov and Col by becoming a day sleeper. She arose each afternoon around four and went to bed at eight each morning. She expected her body to protest and her mind to remain groggy but after three days, she felt more rested and alert than she had in years.