The Guardian Chronicles 2: Dark Horizon

by Matthew Burkey

  And then things went straight to hell.

  His mustang spun as a much larger SUV slammed into him from the rear. Gabriel struggled to get control of his vehicle and keep it from careening into a nearby dumpster. He finally got the car stopped, he shook his head and got out. He was more irritated than worried...at least he was until he saw the six Darklings charging at him.

  “Oh hell,” Gabriel muttered. He was at the disadvantage, his weapon was back at Aegis and he had no idea if he could tackle that many Darklings. He didn’t have that much time to think about it, however, because soon they were on him.

  He ducked under a blow, caught the arm that threw it and launched the attacking Darkling backwards through an abandoned building’s window. He took a hit the face, slicing open a wound on his cheek. Gabriel back flipped; getting himself out of the mass of Darklings so that he had could form a better battle plan.

  Of course the only plan that currently came to mind was surviving. Another Darkling went down when he slammed his fist into its face, snapping the neck on impact. Gabriel blocked another series of attacks, more grabs and clumsy punches than anything, before unloading a series of snap kicks, that knocked another Darkling away.

  He never even saw what took him down. He felt a searing blast of pain and then blackness swallowed him up.

  Gabriel awoke with a throbbing pain in his head. His limbs burned and he could taste blood in his mouth. When he finally got his eyes to focus he realized that he had no idea where he was, save he was in an office of some sort. He had been chained to the floor and stripped down to his compression shorts. For a brief moment a very unlikely situation like something out of Fifty Shades of Gray passed through his mind...however he quickly realized that wasn’t the case.

  The office was large, a lot larger than any of them at Aegis. They were overlooking the Omaha skyline and it was now completely dark outside. A large wooden desk dominated one corner of the room, to his left there was a seating area occupied by two beige leather couches. A low credenza was situated behind him. The doors opened and in walked someone that Gabriel had only seen in images.

  “Sainte-Pierre,” he growled.

  “I’m glad to know that my reputation precedes me,” Sainte-Pierre smiled. “I’m terribly sorry about your clothes but you Guardians can hide the most interesting things in there. We had to make sure that you didn’t have any tracking glyphs on them or something.”

  Sainte-Pierre walked to the credenza and poured himself something to drink before he stood in front of Gabriel again. He didn’t look all that powerful and had Gabriel not been chained up and just tazed, maybe he could have taken him. Then again, he had no idea what Sainte-Pierre was capable of when it came to hand to hand combat. Rushing in like that would have been a good way to get himself hurt or killed.

  “How...”

  “Did I find you?” Sainte-Pierre asked. “Simple, I knew who you were. Sometime ago, I found myself needing information about your organization. Luckily for me I found a party with mutual interest who already had a person on the inside. It was easy enough for me to get your identity.”

  “Are you going to kill me?” Gabriel asked.

  “Oh heavens no,” Sainte-Pierre stated. “I don’t really do that personally anymore unless you’ve upset me, much like that Daniel fellow. You haven’t done anything to deserve my ire I’m merely holding onto you until my partner shows up. He’s the one that wants you alive.”

  “And who is he?” Gabriel asked.

  “Do you expect me to tell you that?” Sainte-Pierre huffed. “You really are new at this whole game, aren’t you? That’s not really how this works, I mean we can stand here and engage in witty repartee if you want but I won’t be spilling any of my secrets too you. What do you know of my kind?”

  “The Unkari?” Gabriel asked. “Usually you guys stay out of mortal affairs.”

  “That’s a fair assumption,” Sainte-Pierre said, as he took a drink. “But more specifically what we can do?”

  Gabriel shook his head. His brain still felt slightly scrambled.

  “You’re in for a real treat then,” Sainte-Pierre smiled. “With a touch of my hand, I can invoke the highest height of pleasure or the most painful agony you have ever felt. What’s even more interesting is that it’s all concentrated in the area that you touch.”

  Gabriel swallowed hard, after that explanation he had a feeling of what was about to come. His heart started racing and he broke out in a sweat. He tried to slow his breathing and concentrate on something else other than what was to come. His body was not prepared for Sainte-Pierre’s touch as he placed it on his right shoulder.

  It exploded in causing him to scream out. It felt like thousands of searing hot knifes ripping through his flesh, tearing muscle and ligament. The pain stayed constant, assaulting him with waves of white-hot agony. He felt himself starting to slip toward unconsciousness, which would have been a blessing but then Sainte-Pierre removed his hand and it was gone just as instantly as it appeared. He looked over, surprised to see that his skin was unmarred.

  His breaths came in short ragged gasps and he hadn’t even noticed the tears running down his face until they dripped to the floor. Sainte-Pierre had started to pace around him.

  “You see what I mean now.”

  “Is...that...all...you...got?”

  “Oh come, come, now,” Sainte-Pierre stated, kneeling down next to him. “That was just your shoulder, think about if I touched you some place a little more tender.”

  Sainte-Pierre placed his hands on both Gabriel’s shoulder, sending another explosion of agonizing pain blazing through his body. Again, he couldn’t help but cry out. The pain was unbearable, stabbing through every nerve with a scorching sensation that threatened to make him pass out. But Sainte-Pierre never let that blessed blackness come; he let go again, leaving Gabriel writhing on the floor.

  “He said he wanted you alive, he didn’t say that I couldn’t have some fun with you until he got here however,” Sainte-Pierre said, as he walked back to his desk. “And it’s been a very long time since I’ve been able to have fun with a Guardian without worrying about what they were going to do to me.”

  Gabriel wanted to form a question but he couldn’t make either his brain or his mouth work. The demon strode forward and knelt down again, placing his one hand on Gabriel’s abdomen and another on the small of his back. Gabriel was sure that everyone in the building heard him scream.

  CHAPTER 11

  Ryan clicked his phone off in frustration. It wasn’t like Gabriel to fail to return text messages or phone calls. He had tried getting a hold of him when he didn’t show for their morning training routine, thinking that maybe he overslept. Then Ryan thought that he would see him at school. When he failed to show there and failed to return a call from both Tony and Cody as well, then Ryan knew something was up.

  A discreet inquiry had revealed that Gabriel’s mother called him in sick, which was weird for numerous reasons. First and foremost the Rite had pretty made him the pinnacle of human evolution, which meant that he had an immune system that should be able to shrug anything but the most lethal pathogens, none of which he had been exposed too. So, by the time the school let out Ryan had gone from frustrated to worried, he now knew how Gabriel felt whenever he forgot to return a text or a call.

  They had left school, still not hearing from him and headed to Aegis. Ryan was tempted to drive by his house and see if his car was there but decided against it. There was probably a perfectly reasonable explanation for why he appeared to have dropped off the face of the earth for the day. He was being stupidly silly of course and any minute now he would likely get a text or a phone call from Gabriel.

  “Maybe he just needed a day off,” Cody offered. They had taken up residence in the lounge.

  “Maybe killing that demon freaked him out more than he let on,” Tony shrugged. “I think you’re being paranoid man, I am sure he is fine.”

  “He always returns calls and texts,” Ry
an complained.

  “Maybe he’s just giving you a taste of your own medicine.”

  “He’s not returning your calls either,” Ryan pouted.

  “Relax,” Cody said. “I’m sure he’s fine. I wonder if they made any more head way finding out where Sainte-Pierre is hiding?”

  “Not so far,” Everett grunted from the door way. He made a bee-line for coffee pot and poured himself one large cup. Clearly, he still wasn’t getting all that much sleep.

  “How are things going with the interviews?” Cody asked.

  Ryan and Tony had been cleared almost right away, like Gabriel they didn’t have access to the high level weapons programs and even if they did, they wouldn’t have known how to smuggle the information out without tripping every virtual alarm. Cody had the clearance necessary to access the files but had been cleared as well.

  In fact every member of their team had been cleared and a good deal of staff as well. That did not leave them with any promising leads at the moment, something that Jonathan was very keen on pointing out. They were facing a mystery on two fronts; first trying to find Sainte-Pierre and now trying to track down the source of the information leak.

  “They’ve almost finished,” Everett stated. “And so far we haven’t come up with anyone.”

  “That’s not possible,” Tony shook his head. “That was clearly our blueprints and our technical specifications. It could have only come from an Aegis facility and since we’re the only Aegis facility that deals in weapons then it had to have come from us.”

  “Could they have remoted in from another Aegis facility?”

  “The systems aren’t linked,” Everett said, with a heavy sigh. “Tony is right; the only way that he could have gotten that stuff was from our mainframe.”

  “That does not make me feel better,” Ryan groaned.

  “Has anyone seen Gabriel?”

  They all turned around to look at Elise as she entered the room. She looked like she had a rough night as well, although not as long as Everett’s. “I’ve been texting him all day long and he hasn’t responded. I assumed he was with you guys.”

  “We haven’t seen him all day,” Tony shrugged. “Ryan here is freaking out about it.”

  “I was not freaking out!” Ryan snapped. “School said he was sick, which would be near impossible after the Rite and he hasn’t been answering my calls or anything.”

  “I hate to say this but I tend to agree with Ryan on this one,” Elise frowned. “It’s not like him to suddenly stop communicating with anyone. Maybe we should drive by his house or something, see if his car is there.”

  “I think you are all overreacting,” Ethan grunted, as he entered the room. “Gabriel is a big boy; he can take care of himself. As you all are so fond of pointing out he did kill a demon.”

  “It still seems weird.” Ryan frowned. “And I don’t like it.”

  “I think that you don’t like the fact that he’s not following you around like a lost little puppy anymore,” Tony smiled.

  “Ok first off, he’s not like that...”

  “Um, yeah he is,” Tony responded.

  “What are you talking about Tony?” Ethan asked, poking his head in the fridge. “He does the same thing to you. I do remember warning you about that.”

  “Even if it is the truth, he’s a cool guy,” Ryan snapped. “A friend and a teammate, I’m kinda surprised that the rest of you aren’t as concerned as me.”

  “Maybe because we trust him,” Cody offered.

  Ryan grumbled again and went off to hit something.

  Gabriel awoke in a state of confusion. It took him a few moments before he put together the pieces of the events of the last few hours. After Sainte-Pierre had some fun with him, at least that was what he called it, he was tossed into this cell and left to sleep. He had expected that they wouldn’t have let him sleep long.

  To be fair, Gabriel wasn’t sure how long he had slept. They had stripped him of his watch so he didn’t have any clue what time it was. He was resting on a bunk, not entirely uncomfortable either. He gingerly sat up and took in his surroundings. He was in cell, not overly large with bars surrounding most of it, save the wall that his bunk was attached too. He couldn’t see any windows outside the cell either, which made him wonder where he was.

  He was surprised at how calm he was, even after hours that he spent underneath the painful touch of Sainte-Pierre. He had no idea what the demon had in store for him and figured that whatever it was, what he endured before was only small taste of things to come. If he wanted to get out of there alive, he would have to keep his wits about him and keep a calm mind.

  They left a robe on the nearby chair. Gabriel walked over and pulled it on, happy to cover himself up. He didn’t relish the idea of standing around in nothing but his compression shorts, although it would have been a great way to keep him off balance.

  Before he tied it up, he gave himself a once over. Nothing felt broken; he had a few minor cuts and scrapes but nothing major. He was sure due to the extreme burning sensations that he felt he would be covered in burns but his skin appeared to be pretty much untouched.

  He had a theory that Saint-Pierre’s abilities actually affected nerve endings themselves, although he had no idea how. That was probably the reason that there weren’t any signs of outward trauma, despite the fact that it hurt like hell.

  He tied the robe shut and started to look around the cell. Ryan and Tony had taught him in situations like this that the more information that you could gather the better chance you had of escape. Gabriel took a look at the bars, as far as he could tell they were made of metal. They didn’t glow like immortal blades or blessed metal so he figured they were made out of more conventional stuff.

  A look around the floor and at the ceiling told him that there weren’t any glyphs, which always glowed despite your attempt to cover them up. He couldn’t see any camera’s either, though that didn’t mean that they weren’t there. They could have several hidden throughout both his cell and the room outside.

  Alright, you don’t see a way out. Not the end of the world, just remain calm, observe everything and everyone that you see.

  Gabriel poked around for a few more minutes, attempting to extract all the information that he could from the small room. Once he was done with that he stretched, warming up his muscles just in case the chance to break free came. Once he was done with that he laid back down on the bunk, using some breathing exercises that Everett taught him in an attempt to calm himself down.

  “I’m sorry about the accommodations.”

  Gabriel opened his eyes and swung his legs out of bed, glaring at Sainte-Pierre.

  “Oh don’t look at me like that,” Sainte-Pierre said, with a wave of his hand. “This is business, pure and simple, nothing personal.”

  “You tortured me,” Gabriel snapped. “How the hell is that not personal?”

  A Darkling came in behind him and slipped a good tray through a slot in the cell. It actually looked pretty appetizing and not at all like something that you would server a prisoner. Another thing that Tony and Ryan taught him was that in a situation like was always to eat; if he needed to put up a fight he would need the energy.

  Gabriel slowly walked over and grabbed the tray. There was steaming hot soup, water, some vegetables, and three pieces of bread. All of it was warm, like it was just cooked. All and all it wasn’t a bad meal and Gabriel would have probably enjoyed it had he not been in the cell of a madmen. Well, probably more like mad demon.

  “My partner was delayed with some other business,” Sainte-Pierre stated, looking at his nails. “He won’t be along until sometime tomorrow to pick you up and lucky for me, he has stated that I could have some more fun with you if I so chose to do so.”

  “Let me out and we can go a few rounds.”

  “Oh no,” Sainte-Pierre smiled. “I’m not stupid, maybe three hundred years ago I would have fallen for that but not today. You are staying right where you are.”

&nbs
p; “Why are you doing this?” Gabriel asked.

  Sainte-Pierre shrugged. “Your kind’s time has come and I like to back the winning horse.”

  “Are you talking about killing off all the humans?”

  “Oh dear lord no,” Sainte-Pierre said, with a wave of his hand. “Believe me my partner has no plans to end the human race, despite my best arguments. What he does have is a plan to end your sanctimonious order.”

  “The Guardians?”

  “Oh you’re very bright indeed.”

  “Why? Because they spoil your business?” Gabriel spat out.

  “My dear boy,” Sainte-Pierre smiled. “Do you really believe that your order is as pure and as innocent as they make it out to be? Do you know anything of your own history? You’ve allied yourself with powerful people my young friend, powerful people that have some very deep and dark secrets.”

  “What do you mean?” Gabriel asked.

  Gabriel had been required to learn a great deal of Guardian history and he couldn’t remember anything along the lines of what Sainte-Pierre was talking about. He knew that they weren’t perfect but he couldn’t imagine them doing anything like what Sainte-Pierre was describing. The Guardians were the good guys, right?

  “They will kill to keep their secrets. My partner knows all about their dark past and has vowed to expose the Guardians to the world for what they really are. And I’m going to help him for the simple fact that your kind has spent entirely too much time hunting my own.”

  “We don’t kill innocent demons...”

  “That is a lie!” Sainte-Pierre snapped. “You destroy us every chance that you get. You slaughter the so called lesser demons at each encounter.”

  “Lesser demons that are trying to eat people,” Gabriel protested.

  “Do you kill a lion if it goes after a person that wanders into his domain?”