The Guardians Complete Series 1 Box Set: Contains Mercy, The Ferryman, Crossroads, Witchfinder, Infernum

by Wendy Saunders

  She felt him lash out at her, knocking her back a few paces. For a second she skidded along the cold stone floor of the cellar but still she drew down her power like armor and punched out. The spirit’s head snapped back as if it had been struck and its eerie silver eyes widened in surprise. Seizing the advantage, she felt her fire flow down her arms like liquid. Her hand flexed and gripped instinctively as she felt her fingers wrap around a handle. Looking down she found she held a long lean whip which glowed brightly with silver flames. A strange calmness washed over her as she watched the vicious spirit stalk her warily.

  He lashed out and as her head snapped to the side she tasted the metallic tang of blood in her mouth. Her eyes flashed dangerously and she began to circle the whip, slowly gaining in speed. When she lashed it in his direction the spirit howled in pain as a great tear appeared in the flesh of his torso. She lashed out again and this time a slash mark appeared down the side of his face.

  He bared his teeth in fury and rushed her. This time when she flicked the whip out it wrapped around him, winding round and round his body until his arms were pinned to his sides and he was held captive. Olivia reached quickly into her bag and removed the mirror. He shrieked as she held up the small glass and tried to advert his face, but it was too late. His pale ghostly flesh seemed to stretch and pull as if it were being sucked into the mirror. He howled and pulled back as much as he could but the silver flames of her magic held him fast. Olivia moved closer, resolutely holding the mirror up and watched as he was dragged into the glass, shrieking in fury.

  Olivia glanced down at the reflection but instead of her own face, it was his reflected back, beating against the glass. Pulling the cord from her bag she began to wind it carefully around the mirror muttering quietly as she did so.

  ‘With magic I bind you spirit of the deep,

  Within the glass your anger keep,

  Now be still and no harm to cause,

  Time be still and give you pause,

  With magic I bind you,

  With power I hold you,

  Sleep now and wait,

  An eternity to forge your fate,

  As I will so mote it be.’

  She finished wrapping the cord around the glass, making sure to bind it tightly. It was the best she could do under the circumstances. It might not hold him forever and she would probably need to take extra precautions to prevent him from escaping. It was beyond her power or experience to banish him completely but perhaps when they found Charon she could hand the spirit over and he could send him back to the afterlife for her. She slipped the mirror into her bag and as she looked up at the silvery shield in front of her it began to pulse and fade.

  Kaitlin let out another ear piercing scream and Theo felt a warm rush of blood gush over his hands. He looked up in concern and met Jackson’s equally worried eyes.

  ‘What is it?’ Kaitlin gasped, ‘what’s wrong.’

  ‘Nothing Katy love, everything’s just fine,’ Jackson soothed her.

  ‘Okay Kaitlin I can see the head, on the next contraction push hard.’

  She nodded as she felt the muscles in her abdomen lock viciously. Screaming in pain she pushed.

  ‘Okay the head’s out, on the next contraction just one more push.’

  ‘I can’t,’ she panted as she fell back against Jackson.

  ‘Yes you can,’ Theo shook her face lightly as he felt the pain and exhaustion taking her under. ‘Kaitlin look at me, just one more push okay.’

  She felt an agonizing pain lance through her womb and as a scream tore from her lips the tiny infant was expelled from her body in a thick rush of blood and fluids. She fell back against Jackson, her eyes closed and her breathing shallow.

  Kaitlin?’ he shook her lightly but couldn’t rouse her. Laying her back gently against the towel bale he looked up at Theo who was cradling a tiny perfectly formed child. The umbilical cord was still attached and the baby, barely the length of Theo’s hand as he held it carefully in his palms, was unmoving.

  ‘He’s not breathing,’ Theo massaged his chest gently.

  ‘Isn’t there anything you can do?’

  Theo looked up, his sad eyes meeting Jackson’s and shook his head slowly.

  Olivia watched silently, her heart squeezing painfully in her chest when she suddenly felt a warm familiar presence standing at her shoulder. The calming fragrance of woodlands and spring flowers washed over her.

  ‘Isn’t there anything you can do?’ Olivia whispered.

  The presence did not answer but simply moved towards Theo. He looked up, his face etched in sorrow, and his breath caught in his throat as he beheld the Goddess Diana. Jackson’s mouth fell open at the sight of the incredibly beautiful woman who had suddenly appeared in the cold dingy cellar. She almost seemed to carry her own light with her and it reminded him of sun dappled trees. The scent of her wrapped around his throat and filled his nostrils making him think of summer meadows and wildflowers. He noticed with a start that wherever she walked a thick carpet of grass and flowers grew under her sandaled feet.

  ‘Give me the child, Theodore,’ her voice was soft and musical but carried a hint of command.

  Silently he held out the tiny lifeless body to her. She plucked a long blade of grass from beneath her feet. It shimmered in the light as she wrapped it around the cord close to the baby’s belly and tied it off. Withdrawing her hunting knife from her wide leather belt she severed the cord easily and dropped the knife back into its sheath. Taking the tiny little boy with gentle hands she cradled him lovingly. Leaning closer she pressed her lips to his tiny perfect little mouth and for a second Theo could have sworn he saw her breath, warm and golden, pass from her mouth to his.

  ‘Wake up little one,’’ she whispered.

  His tiny chest heaved once and then again as he drew in his first breath and let out a weak cry.

  Instead of passing the baby back to Theo she turned to Jackson and handed the child to him. He pulled off his sweater and wrapped it around the boy, cradling him gently against his chest.

  ‘This child is very important,’ she told him softly. ‘Make sure he is well cared for.’

  ‘I will, I swear,’ he whispered in awe.

  ‘What about Kaitlin?’ Theo asked as he looked down at her pale unconscious form.

  Diana leaned forward and placed her hand on Kaitlin’s stomach. The blood which had still been oozing between her thighs, slowed to almost nothing.

  ‘She will live,’ Diana told him. ‘Her womb will never again bear life but she will have her own path to walk.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Olivia nodded.

  Diana turned, her eyes locked on Olivia’s and then with a small inclination of her head she disappeared.

  Theo pulled off his coat and laid it over Kaitlin as she slept.

  ‘I’ll go call an ambulance,’ he climbed to his feet and headed up the stairs to the stout door which was now open a crack.

  ‘Jesus, Mary and Joseph,’ Jackson breathed.

  ‘Wrong religion,’ Olivia smiled.

  ‘Who was that?’

  ‘That was the Goddess Diana,’ she told him softly.

  ‘Does this happen to you regularly then?’

  ‘She’s been known to drop in on me from time to time,’ she smiled.

  He looked at her intensely as if he were seeing her through new eyes, still with the same affection but now mixed with a profound respect.

  ‘Thank you Olivia.’

  ‘For what?’

  For everything,’ he replied simply.

  ‘You’re welcome,’ she touched his arm gently as she leaned over to get a good look at the baby. ‘He’s a sweetheart isn’t he.’

  ‘Aye,’ Jackson nodded, ‘I reckon Adam would be real proud.’

  ‘I think he would,’ she agreed.

  ‘Ambulance is on its way,’ Theo headed back down the steps.

  ‘Good,’ she nodded.

  ‘What happen
ed to the spirit?’

  ‘Got him locked up tight,’ she patted her bag. ‘I have a few ideas of what to do with him when we get home.’

  ‘He won’t come back will he?’ Jackson asked.

  Olivia shook her head. ‘No,’ she promised, ‘we’ll make sure he doesn’t this time, I swear.’

  He nodded gratefully as they heard sirens drawing near.

  Olivia and Theo disappeared up into the bar to pour themselves a well-deserved drink and to keep out from under the feet of the paramedics as they filled the cramped cellar.

  ‘God,’ Olivia took a sip of her whiskey and blew out a deep breath. ‘I feel exhausted.’

  Theo downed the contents of his glass and dropped it onto the bar.

  ‘I know,’ he agreed, ‘me too.’

  ‘I need a vacation,’ she sighed longingly.

  ‘A vacation?’ he gave her a puzzled look.

  ‘Yes, you and me on a beach sipping Mai Tai’s and watching the sun go down.’

  ‘I don’t understand any of what you just said.’

  She laughed in delight. ‘A vacation is when you go to a different place, preferably another country and relax; basically do nothing for a couple of weeks.’

  ‘That doesn’t sound like fun,’ Theo frowned.

  ‘That’s because you can’t picture it,’ she smiled. ‘Just imagine you and me on a tiny little island surrounded by a turquoise blue Indian ocean and white glittering sands. You in a pair of board shorts, me in a bikini, curled into each other on a hammock strung between two palm trees.’ She sighed in pleasure lost in her own little fantasy, ‘our feet trailing in the warm water as the tide comes in…heaven.’

  ‘I’m still not sure what you’re talking about.’

  ‘Here,’ she beckoned him closer as she pulled out her phone, connected to the internet and began searching. The picture she finally showed him was almost exactly what she had been imagining with white sands, palm trees and clear ocean.

  ‘Is this a real place?’ his eyebrows rose.

  ‘Yes,’ she smiled, ‘this is the Maldives just southwest of India and Sri Lanka.’

  ‘And we can go here?’

  ‘I don’t see why not,’ she shrugged. ‘After we’ve dealt with the Charon problem why shouldn’t we disappear for a couple of weeks?’

  ‘What was the other thing you mentioned you’d be wearing?’

  ‘A bikini?’

  ‘Yes,’ he nodded, ‘what’s one of those?’

  Grinning to herself she scrolled back through her phone and brought up another image.

  ‘That’s a bikini.’

  Theo’s eyes widened as he took in the scandalous image.

  ‘Do you own one of these?’ his eyes swept over her hungrily.

  ‘Actually I own several,’ her mouth curved.

  He grabbed her and pulled her in close, his face nuzzling into her neck as he breathed in the scent of her.

  ‘I believe I would enjoy a vacation,’ he murmured

  She laughed lightly. ‘I thought you might say that.’

  They looked up as two paramedics wheeled Kaitlin through on a stretcher, followed by a third who cradled the baby gently in a blanket. Jackson followed behind hovering nervously over both of them. Handing Theo his coat as he passed them he shrugged into his own.

  ‘I’m going to head to the hospital with them both and make sure they’re okay.’

  ‘You do that,’ Olivia leaned over and kissed Jackson’s cheek softly, ‘you’re a good man Jackson.’

  ‘So people keep telling me,’ he shook his head in amusement. ‘I don’t suppose you’d mind locking up the pub for me?’

  ‘We’ll take care of it,’ Theo assured him.

  By the time they returned to the house they were both tired and hungry but Theo wanted a shower, to wash away the dirt and blood from the morning’s unexpected events. Olivia headed for the kitchen to make sandwiches and leaving Theo’s on a plate on the side, she took one upstairs for Sam.

  Knocking lightly, she stuck her head around the door but instead of finding him in bed she saw he was standing by the window fully dressed and gazing pensively down at the lake.

  ‘Hey,’ Olivia spoke softly.

  ‘Hello Olivia,’ he turned and smiled.

  ‘I guess you’re feeling better.’

  ‘I am,’ he replied. ‘Louisa stopped by while you were out and removed the stitches and splints. I’m a little sore but other than that there seems to be no lingering injuries.’

  He took the sandwich she offered and bit into it.

  ‘Sam,’ she sighed shaking her head, ‘I’m worried about you.’

  ‘Are you now,’ he sat down on the side of the bed regarding her thoughtfully as he ate.

  ‘I know you can’t tell me what happened to you but I know almost nothing about you.’

  ‘I know it’s not fair and I know I’m asking a lot, that I’m asking you to trust me without giving much in return but all that is about to change.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  He finished his sandwich and brushed the crumbs from his fingers.

  ‘I have to go,’ he murmured, his eyes distant. ‘I’ve already been gone for too long.’

  ‘Gone from where?’

  ‘Nice try,’ he chuckled before sighing. He wandered to the window and once again gazed out down to the lake as if watching something only he could see.

  Knowing he couldn’t tell her much, that he had strict rules he had to abide by she hadn’t expected him to answer. So when he quietly started speaking, she held her breath, afraid to break the spell.

  ‘In my time we are at war,’ he murmured. ‘Heaven went up like a tinderbox, chaos spread to earth; the Hell dimensions rose up and everyone in between was caught up in it. The humans barely notice what is going on right before their eyes, that every day is a fight to survive, to save their world, to save their families…and ours.’

  ‘Do you have a family?’ Olivia whispered.

  When he turned back to her his eyes flashed with pain.

  ‘I have to go now,’ he crossed the room to stand close to her. Wrapping his arms around her he hugged her close and dropped a sweet brotherly kiss on her forehead. ‘Thank you for taking care of me.’

  She nodded silently as he pulled back and looked down into her eyes.

  ‘Stay close to Theo no matter what happens’ he told her ominously, ‘and find Charon.’

  Before she could answer he disappeared leaving her standing in an empty room with the faint scent of him lingering in the air.

  With a sigh of frustration she turned and walked out of the room heading towards the attic. There was one thing she needed to do before anything else and that was to deal with the haunted mirror she currently had stashed in her purse. She hurried up the stairs to the third floor and opened the door to the attic, flicking on the light as she went. Shivering in the cold air she headed further into the room, carefully avoiding piles of all sorts of strange items. She remembered vividly as a child playing in the attic with Jake and Louisa. It had been a place of wonder, an Aladdin’s cave, or a Turkish Bazaar, and even a smugglers cave. They had spent hours playing amongst hundreds of years’ worth of her family history, dressing up in vintage clothes that today were probably worth a lot of money.

  But there was one item she remembered, something they used to play with all the time, that she was specifically looking for. She pushed an old rusted birdcage out of the way propping it next to a broken lamp with the shade missing. Shoving aside a couple of stacked boxes her eyes landed on a small black rectangular box, heavy and made from iron. She dragged it across the floor and sat down in front of it. It was not much bigger than a shoe box, but slightly deeper. The whole box was decorated with deeply etched circular symbols and on the lid there was a heavy black metal key inserted into the lock. She grasped the key with curious fingers and turned and the lock released with a barely audible click, allowing Olivia t
o open the lid.

  When she spied the contents she sat back and smiled. A childish treasure map was rolled up inside along with her grandmother’s pearls and brooch, and also there was a handful of dimes and quarters. She scooped them out and turned them over in her hands remembering that the last time they’d used this box they’d been playing pirates. She took the map out and unrolled it, laughing lightly at Jake’s seven-year-old version of a skull and crossbones which looked more like a pumpkin on skis. He’d always insisted on drawing the maps she smiled fondly.

  ‘Hey,’ Theo’s voice interrupted her thoughts, ‘what are you doing?’

  ‘Looking for this,’ she smiled.

  ‘A picture of a turnip sitting on chopsticks?’ he looked over her shoulder at the drawing.

  ‘No,’ she laughed, ‘the box.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Help me take it downstairs and I’ll explain.’

  He grabbed her hands and hauled her to her feet before bending and easily lifting the box. She followed him down the stairs, closing the door to the draughty attic and locking it before they headed towards the library. Theo set the box down on the desk amidst piles of books and papers and as Olivia glanced across at the fire it burst joyfully into flames.

  ‘That’s better,’ she murmured as warmth began to spread through the room, ‘it’s getting cold again; I think we’ve got more snow heading our way.’

  ‘Probably,’ Theo agreed, ‘so what’s this box?’

  ‘It was a box we used to play with as kids, something that’s always stuck in my head,’ she moved closer and ran her hands over the markings. ‘To me it was just a really cool box we used to play with but it was only the other day when I was thinking about it I realized it’s true purpose.’