The Guardian Chronicles 2: Dark Horizon

by Matthew Burkey

  Gabriel danced around the incoming mass and surged forward. He still couldn't make out the demons face, although it really didn't matter. He had a good idea of where the head was and he figured that getting close enough was better than standing by and looping off tentacles.

  Gabriel moved as fast as he could, calling on all the training that he had received under Ryan and Tony’s watchful eye, he called on his natural agility and grace; something that he had only recently discovered. He neared his target, avoiding the attacks that were coming at a relentless pace, getting more furious and almost desperate the closer that he got to the head of the demon.

  Gabriel leapt up and landed on the back of the demon. He didn’t even wait to make sure that he was in the right place. Instead he spun Aequitas around and slammed it down into the demon. The glowing sword pierced the skin and caused the demon to roar loudly. It thrashed around and sent Gabriel tumbling off, landing on the ground.

  For a brief moment, Gabriel thought that the demon was going to continue fighting with his sword sticking out of what he thought was its head. Gabriel took a deep breath, beckoning his weapon back toward his hand. There was a sickening sound of flesh tearing apart as his weapon sailed back toward his hand, slicing through anything that got in the way, including the demon.

  The Azura demon toppled to the side, black blood pouring from his wounds.

  “Wow,” Everett said, after he took a deep breath. “That was effective.”

  “I think we should go help the other guys now,” Ethan suggested. Although he didn’t say anything, Gabriel could have sworn that he saw some actual pride in Ethan’s eyes. He wouldn’t take the time to ask now though, not when his teammates were in danger of being overrun by Darklings.

  It turned out as soon as the demon was killed, the remaining Darklings decided to retreat. They opted not to go after them, mainly because they were unaware if there might be more Azura demons lurking out there or perhaps even something worse.

  “Wait a second,” Elise asked. “You mean to tell me that Gabriel is the one that killed this thing? What happened to you having everything under control?”

  “That was part of my plan all along,” Ethan shrugged. By the way that everyone looked at him Gabriel had a sneaky suspicion that no one bought it. He chose to keep his mouth shut and merely slid Aequitas into its sheath on his back.

  “You’re lying again,” Elise pointed out.

  Ethan rolled his eyes. “Does it matter? Demon is dead and no one ended up being a chew toy this time, must we have a long discussion about it?”

  “Yes,” Cody nodded. “We must because he killed it and you didn’t.”

  “Not the important part here,” Everett grunted. “Important part is that it’s dead and we aren’t. And that we got some valuable intelligence from Daniel’s network.”

  “Everett’s right,” Marissa nodded. “We need to get back and let Jonathan know that we’ll need extra drone passes for the next few hours, those Darklings and that Azura demon had to come from somewhere close.”

  “We’ll need a cleanup team too,” Tony suggested. “Unless you think that we should leave all these bodies around for our friends to discover when they come too.”

  “Well, that would be amusing,” Ryan smiled.

  Gabriel scarcely heard the rest of the conversation that took place. Together the team started out of the compound and back to where the helicopter was parked. He couldn’t believe that he had survived his first operation. What was even more shocking to him was that he was the one that actually took down the demon.

  But what really surprise Gabriel was the fact that he wasn’t nervous. He would have thought that he would have been a nervous wreck after such an encounter but instead, he felt an odd calm come over him. And there was something else there too...a feeling of power.

  And it felt good.

  They boarded the helicopter to return to Aegis, fifteen minutes into the flight, Gabriel was fast asleep.

  CHAPTER 9

  Ethan had never particularly liked the council chambers for a variety of reasons. At the top of the list was the fact that nothing ever good came out of a meeting with the council. He remembered when his parents had their last meeting that resulted in them being asked to retire from active Guardian service.

  Which was why Ethan was confused. As far as they knew, everything went right with their last mission. Daniel and his goons would be waking up soon without any permanent harm, they destroyed a whole cache of illegal firearms and drugs, and they managed to take down the demon.

  Well, that wasn’t entirely true; Gabriel was the one that managed to kill it.

  He wasn’t sure why he was reacting the way he was to Gabriel’s performance. He should have been happy about it. He should have been happy that everyone walked away unharmed save for a few flesh wounds. He had no idea why was acting like such a jerk toward him. Ethan knew that Ryan and Tony would no doubt corner him after the session with the council and demand that he go easier on Gabriel from now on.

  They would say that he earned the right to be on the team, despite how things started off. The bad part was Ethan agreed with them both but could easily see himself doing the opposite just to ensure that Gabriel didn’t get the idea that they should be friends. The last time that he let his guard down with someone he ended up a shattered wreck. As much as he wanted to praise Gabriel for his actions, he’d keep his distance.

  Once they got to the second floor landing, they took an immediate right, heading toward the council chambers. The hallway was lined with statues depicting famous Guardians, most of whom had died in the line of duty. They came to a set of large double stone doors with glowing runes etched along them. Two guards were in full ceremonial Guardian armor holding large spears with tips that glow in the dim corridor.

  “Speak only when spoken to,” Jonathan reminded them. “And do not insult them this time.”

  That comment was directed at Tony, who merely shrugged.

  The doors to the council chamber opened up and they entered. The chamber wasn’t that large, in fact it was probably one of the smallest rooms in the castle proper. It looked as if it could comfortably it twenty people or so. The council members themselves sat at a large stone table, facing the door. It was slightly elevated, giving them a few feet on anyone that stood on the chamber floor. The sides of the chamber were lined with seats that all faced toward the council members, leaving a small asile down the center of the room.

  Jonathan gestured for them to sit down before approaching the council members. Introductions were made. The first was Councilmen Elora, from clan Wolf. He had curly black hair, olive colored skin, and dark brown orbs for eyes. The dark robes that he wore were filled out nicely by what appeared to be well built frame underneath. His stance seemed reserved but open, unlike the council member next to him.

  Councilmen Alana was next in line. She represented Clan Owl; her greying hair framed a face that looked entirely too etched with worry. She had piercing blue eyes, a slender build, and looked at the Guardians gathered before her with an almost predatory glare.

  Councilmen Vor was sat next to Alana. He was the oldest of them all and represented clan Phoenix. He had bright blue eyes and a greying bread to watch his greying hair. Unlike the others on the council, he appeared to be openly happy and interested in talking to the gathered Guardians.

  The last in line was council member Eli from clan Lion. He appeared to be the youngest of all the gathered members, with short close cut brown hair, green eyes, and a muscular build that filled out his robes well. His gaze seemed intense, although with more curiosity than anything. He gave a nod of approval as they all took their seats.

  “We wanted to commend you on your last mission,” Councilmen Alana stated. “It would appear that you were right in your assessment of the newest member of your team.”

  “Good thing we didn’t listen to your suggestion of mind wiping him then,” Councilmen Eli responded. That brought an icy look from both Councilmen
Alana and Councilmen Vor. Councilmen Eli just returned the glare to them both, clearly not intimidated.

  “Can we please not have that debate again?” Councilmen Elora grumbled.

  “Want to tell us what we are doing here?” Ethan asked.

  That caused everyone in the room to turn and look at him. Jonathan sighed heavily and opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Councilmen Eli.

  “We wanted to discuss Sainte-Pierre.”

  “We haven’t located him -” Jonathan started to say.

  “Because you demanded that we come here,” Ethan snapped.

  Jonathan looked like he wanted to punch Ethan through the wall. Ryan gave his friend a look that was a cross between amusement and bewilderment and Elise just shook her head.

  “We haven’t even looked at the data yet,” Ethan continued. He leaned forward in his seat slightly, resisting the urge to stand up and start pacing around.

  “We realize that,” Councilmen Alana said. She adopted a more calming tone before speaking again. “But we wanted to share with you some information that we thought was important to your investigation, which has come from a rather unconventional source.”

  “Who?” Ethan demanded.

  “Anton Valentine,” Councilmen Eli answered.

  “No way!” Ethan snapped. “The last time that we trusted Anton things went to hell real quick and we lost a lot of good men.”

  Anger boiled up inside Ethan, threatening to overcome his usually calm veneer. Ryan reached over and put a hand on his shoulder, his first reaction was to shrug it off and continue yelling at the council. But then Ryan gave his shoulder a squeeze seeming to project his calming influence without even talking. Ethan’s outrage subsided enough that he managed to keep his mouth shut.

  “It wasn’t his fault,” Councilmen Alana protested. “He was unaware that he had a traitor in his midst. The vampires have no reason to want to kill Guardians.”

  “Other than the fact that with us out of the way they can go back to hunting humans and killing the lycans,” Ethan growled. He got another warning look from Ryan that let him know he was once again teetering dangerously close to crossing that line.

  “The vampires haven’t mass hunted humans for two hundred years,” Elora reminded them all. “We have been devoting the considerable resources to tracking Sainte-Pierre down for the better part of three months and have yet to find any trace of him.”

  “We have the information from Daniel’s computer...” Ethan started to say.

  “Which may or may not yield results,” Councilmen Alana snapped, interrupting his train of thought. “Anton assures us that his information is reliable, and we have nothing else to lose meeting with him and his coven.”

  Ethan wanted to say something else but stopped as soon as he saw the warning look he got from not only Jonathan but Ryan as well. Generally speaking, his friends gave him a lot of leeway but he could tell that he was nearing even the edge of their patience. Normally, he wouldn’t have cared so much but given how he had treated Gabriel earlier, well he didn’t want to give them any more fuel for the fire. Instead, he took a deep breath and settled back in his chair. It was clear at the council had already made up its mind, despite the dangers that working with Anton and his coven posed.

  “He has agreed to meet you in two days at his estate in Montana.”

  “You just assumed that we would say yes?” Tony asked.

  “We didn’t agree to it,” Councilmen Alana responded. “Although we shall point out that we are well within our rights to order you to attend such a meeting. Given your past with Anton we realize that this might be a sensitive subject for you all.”

  “Why us?” Ethan inquired, with a raised eyebrow. “He has to know that we don’t have a lot of love for him or his coven.”

  “He seems to have a certain affinity for you and your team,” Councilmen Alana said, with a shrug of her slender shoulders. “We didn’t ask because to be honest we really don’t care. We need are answers, answers that he might possibly be able to provide.”

  “He just wants to try and suck up to us after the debacle that -”

  “That is enough!”

  The tone of voice that Councilmen Alana used made it clear there would be no further discussion about the motives of Anton, at least as far as the council was concerned.

  “Sainte-Pierre has been a thorn in our side for too long. We realize now that we should have dealt with him a long time ago, despite the information that he provided. It was a mistake to let him continue unchallenged but we cannot change that now.”

  “The choice is ultimately yours,” Councilmen Elora stated. “The council wasn’t invited, you were. He won’t even entertain the idea of talking to one of us; you earned his respect and trust. Like my esteemed colleague has already pointed out, we would rather not make this an order.”

  “Well that’s funny because he is at the top of the list of people that I don’t trust,” Ethan growled. “And neither should you. Who’s to say that he managed to fix his leak, we could be walking into a trap.”

  “He has assured us that this information is known only to him and two of his top men,” Councilmen Alana continued. “He has pledged on his life and on the honor of his coven that they can be trusted. You know how much that means to a vampire.”

  It was true the vampires held honor in high regard. Unlike past representations of them that showed them as nothing but mindless killing machines, the real truth is that they were beings that had a lot of traditions and complex social codes. Losing your honor was a fate worse than death for a vampire; it could ultimately lead him to be shunned by every member of his species. If someone as prominent as Anton Valentine was swearing on his honor and his life, he would have to be very serious indeed.

  That still didn’t mean that Ethan had to like it. One look at the faces of both Ryan and Tony confirmed what Ethan was thinking.

  “We’ll think about it.”

  “He would appreciate an answer as soon as possible.”

  “By all means,” Jonathan responded. “If that is all?”

  “Think about this,” Councilmen Elora pleaded. “We need to catch Sainte-Pierre, this may be our only chance to do so. I urge you to consider that before you give him your decision.”

  “And if we decide no?” Ethan asked.

  Councilmen Alana narrowed her eyes at Ethan and then spoke in a clear and very direct tone. “I would rather not discuss the repercussions of you failing to follow through on this. We can’t get to him by force, doing so would be dangerously overstepping our bounds, he asked to see your team. Remember what is at stake here.”

  “We’ll take that under advisement,” Jonathan assured the council.

  The council members nodded, which effectively meant that the meeting was over. They filed out of the council chambers and down the hall. Jonathan made sure that they were well away from the council chambers before he turned to Ethan, seemingly barely able to contain his annoyance and anger.

  “I warned you not to do that!”

  “Technically, you warned him not to do that,” Ethan responded, jerking a thumb toward Tony.

  “Do not start semantics with me!” Jonathan yelled. “You knew what you were doing, as soon as they mentioned Anton you agonized them on purpose!”

  “When you make a stupid decision that’s what you get,” Ethan shrugged. “I don’t trust Valentine, not after what happened last time I know that I’m not alone in feeling that way.”

  “Even if you don’t, didn’t you hear what they said? This might be a chance to put Sainte-Pierre away for good, something that you’ve always advocated. You’re saying that’s not something that you want?”

  “You know I want that,” Ethan snapped. “But they haven’t even given us a chance to learn anything from what we took from Daniel’s computer. I don’t trust him.”

  “Your reasons are purely emotional.”

  “Purely emotional!” Ethan shouted. “Thanks to that coward we lost f
riends last time that we trusted him! You’re damn right my reasons are emotional! He betrayed us once, what’s to stop him from doing it again!”

  Ethan was normally cool, calm, and collected no matter what. But this time that veneer cracked, allowing raw emotion to come raging out.

  “Easy Ethan,” Ryan said, placing a hand on his friend’s shoulder.

  “No,” Ethan seethed, shrugging away from Ryan. “I won’t take it easy. I’m not going to put the lives of my teammates at risk dealing with a slime ball like Valentine. He can keep his damn intelligence, we don’t need it.”

  And with that said, Ethan stormed off down the stairs. Jonathan made a move to go after him but was stopped by Ryan shaking his head. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, it won’t do any good.”

  “He can’t just storm off like that. The council all but ordered him to go through with it, surely he has to see that.”

  “Think about it for a moment,” Ryan suggested. “The last time that we trusted Anton people died, including one of our teammates and his best friend. Do you really think that you’d be ready to trust that person again?”

  “The council could suspend him or worse yet remove him from the Guardians all together.”

  “They won’t do that,” Elise said, with a sigh. “They know that he is too good at what he does to be kept on the sidelines, especially at a time like this. They are probably counting on the fact that we can change his mind.”

  “You are failing to see the larger picture here,” Jonathan snapped. “This could be a way to ensure that Sainte-Pierre never has a chance to hurt anyone else again. This is exactly what most of you have been saying for years.”

  “We understand the tactical situation,” Cody responded. “But you need to understand what it means to us. Everyone lost someone that they cared about that day.”