Sun Kissed (The Guardian Angel Series Book 2) (21 page)

“I told you I was a possessive man, Ruby.”
Lucian chuckled.

“He’s my creator, I don’t have a choice,” Hunter
begged.

I lay on the ground, crying up to the sky.
Lucian towered over me. “See you when you wake up.” His muddy boot came down on
my face and I was knocked out.

My eyes shot open and I was breathing rapidly.
Sweat beads ran down my face and my hands twitched. I looked around the room, wide-eyed,
making sure I was in my room. My alarm clocked blared, sending me a meter into
the air. I slammed my palm down hard on top of it.

Why was the dream freaking me out so much?
It was, in fact, only a dream. My body ached as I climbed out of bed. My
muscles screamed, informing me they didn’t want to exercise today. I convinced
myself a hot shower would help loosen some of the tension, and it did, whilst I
was in the shower at least.

I rummaged through my boxes and found a
pair of track pants and a pink tank top.
Good enough.

“Right on time,” I mumbled to myself when
Eli knocked on my door.

I opened the door and a smile broke over
his face.

“You’re a fast learner.”

“Kill or be killed.” I shrugged.

Eli’s smile faltered.

“I’m not scared anymore.”

“We’ll see.”

Training was harder than yesterday. We
warmed up with stretches and a jog, and then moved straight on to weights. When
that was done, we practiced defensive fighting. My muscles were threatening to
seize up but I fought against their threats. I needed to be in prime condition,
I couldn’t let anyone down. Our lives depended on it.

“Okay,” Eli began. “I’m going to teach you
some basic defense. If we were under normal circumstances I’d tell you to
defuse the situation, the last thing you want is a fight. However, we aren’t
under normal circumstances and there’s no way you’re going to be able to talk a
vampire into backing off. So first, before the situation escalates, you must
pick the right places to hit before the attacker gains full control.”

I listened carefully, amazed by his
seriousness and professionalism. He was definitely in his element.

“… This doesn’t mean you go into a panic
mode and start throwing your punches into the air like a crazy person. Conserve
your energy when possible, for you need the energy to escape given the
opportunity.”

Eli came within inches of me and my knees
grew weak.

“If I grabbed you by the shoulders,” he placed
his hands firmly on either side, “What would you do?”

I shrugged.

“Ruby, this is serious.”

“I don’t know what to do …”

“Think.”

I tried to shrug him off but I couldn’t. I
punched his chest and he gasped slightly but he didn’t budge.

“This is no time to be civil, remember to
hit where it hurts: the eyes, nose, neck, groin, knees, and legs.”

I swung my leg hard and kicked at his knee
but he dropped his hands and caught it just in time.

“Not bad, but if I was a vampire, you’d be
dead. Next session we’ll focus on strength.”

“Is it my turn already?” Mithras called,
leaning against the same weathered wall as yesterday.

“Let’s just get this over with,” I growled.

He smiled.

Eli stood against the tree watching us as
we meditated under the sun. My skin was hot and my hair stuck to my skin. It
felt gross.

“You know, you don’t need to be trained on
how to control the power.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s natural, whatever you want the power
to do, it will do. If you want it to come out of your hands, it will come out
of your hands. If you want it to come out of your entire body, it will come out
of every pore in your body.”

I scoffed.

“Don’t believe me? Try it.”

I opened my eyes. My hands were resting in
my lap. I thought about the sun and its warmth. Then, I imagined it coming out
of my hands. My palms became illumined with a hot light and I stared at it
curiously.

“Shoot it.”

I extended my hand in front of me and
tensed my muscles. Sure enough, the light shot out from my palm.

“Wow.” I examined my hands slowly. It was
like I was in an entirely different body. My wondrous thoughts were interrupted
as I was shoved over. Immediately I sprang to my feet and poised in an attack
stance. Eli was doing the same thing beside me. Mithras’s palms began glowing.

“You think you can just come in here and
take from me?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Go find your own vampires!” he shouted.

“He’s crazy, remember?” Eli muttered under
his breath.

Mithras had a crazy gleam in his eye. He
was willing to kill his own daughter if it meant he got to keep the vampire
bites to himself.

“I don’t want your stupid bites,” I
snapped.

He screamed. I couldn’t tell if it was
anger or pain, but his whole body glowed.

“He’s going to explode. We need to get out
of here!” Eli yelled. We couldn’t get past him; he was blocking our only exit
back into the gardens.

“Get behind the wall,” I yelled at Eli.

We turned and sprinted away from Mithras.
My hands grasped the top of the wall and somehow, despite my fatigue, I managed
to heave myself over the wall as a ball of sun collided with it.

Please let him explode before he manages to
climb the wall.

Eli wrapped his arms around me and pulled
me close. My head was on his chest and I could hear his heartbeat. We waited for
a few more seconds and nothing happened.

Eli gestured to me silently that he was
going to peer over the wall.

“It’s okay,” he said, taking me by my hand.
“Your friend took care of him.”

I peered over the edge of the wall and Anna
was standing over Mithras, checking his vital signs.

“He’ll be okay,” she said.

“Oh, goody,” I replied sarcastically.

“We should get him back to his room. We
don’t want Lucian to find out about this. If Mithras dies, I’d hate to see what
that means for you two …”

“Why are you helping us?” Eli asked
suspiciously.

“Because I need a favor.”

“No,” he replied dryly.

“Wait, hear her out.”

“If you ever get the chance to get out of
this place, take me with you.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Please, don’t leave me here., I need to
get out of here. Please?” she begged.

I shot Eli a sympathetic glance but his
face stayed hard and tense.

“How do I know we can trust you?”

“Take my hand.” She extended her hand to
me. “I’ll show you.”

I took a few steps toward her but Eli grasped
my wrist. “I trust her.” I pulled my arm free from Eli’s gentle but firm grasp
and placed my hand into Anna’s.

As soon as our skin connected I was
transported to another world. It was night time and I was walking home from the
shops. In my left hand I had a bottle of milk and in my right was a warm loaf
of bread. Someone else was in control of the scene. The road was empty and the earthy
scent of fresh rain hit my nostrils. My heartbeat increased as I turned down an
alleyway. The moonlight cast a murky glow upon everything, making the shadows
darker and more menacing. It smelled strongly of stale urine and trash.

Where am I going?

“You’re about to see how I came to live
with Lucian,” Anna’s voice echoed in my mind. Her memories seemed so real to
me, the smells, the details, even the feeling of the hard ground under my shoes.

I sighed a breath of relief when the
alleyway was well and truly behind me. I climbed a set of stairs and fumbled in
my purse for a set of keys. My hands were shaking, I was still on edge
. I
hated walking alone at night time, especially now with all the strange
disappearances and murders that have occurred
. I could hear some of Anna’s thoughts
from that night.

The door creaked loudly as it swung itself
open.

Strange. My parents wouldn’t go to bed
after sending me out for milk and bread.

“Hello?” Anna’s voice, my voice called.

I ran my hand along the rough wall until I
found the light switch.

Click.
It remained dark.
Click. Click.
Still nothing.

I forced one leg in front of the other
slowly. The floorboards creaked under my feet, forcing my heartbeat to quicken.
I approached the living room door; a faint light glowed through the cracks.

I stretched my hand out in front of me.

“I didn’t want to turn the knob; I didn’t want
to see whatever is waiting on the other side … but I did,” Anna said.

The door opened and another creak sounded
through the otherwise silent house. I tried to squeeze my eyes shut but I couldn’t.
I had to see what Anna saw.

A high pitched scream rang through the
house as I saw two bodies ripped apart and strewn all over the room. I had no
idea where the scream was coming from. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a
glimpse of myself — of Anna — in the mirror. She was the one screaming. I could
feel my heart shatter and my chest squeeze. My knees hit the floor and I
wrapped my arms around myself, curling into a ball to try to ease the ache
within my chest. A cool hand brushed over my hair and I recoiled, crawling
rapidly over to my parents.

A loud chuckle filled the room.

“Now, now, don’t be scared. I’m not here to
hurt you.”

I turned my face toward the door but I
didn’t see anyone. The man hid in the shadows and it frightened me more. I
began chanting in a foreign language, one I didn’t recognize.

“I’m saying a protection spell. It’s Latin.”
Anna added. She was my own personal voiceover.

I didn’t want to do this anymore, It was
hitting too close to home, too close to my mother and what Hank did to her.

Please stop!
I begged her.

The door of the room slammed shut,
separating Lucian and I from each other. It didn’t last long. He kicked the
door down, sending it flying to the other side of the room.

Please, stop! I believe you.

Lucian zipped over to me and as he reached
out his arms, the room faded away. A bright clear sky filled my vision. My
heart beat hard in my chest, and I tried to take deep breaths to steady myself
and return to my own reality.

Eli now stood in between Anna and I, his
warm hands grasped the sides of my face.

“She’s telling the truth. We have to help
her,” I gasped.

“What did you see?”

I shook my head and fought back the tears
that tried to overwhelm me. It was way too personal to share. That memory was
something I could never unsee. It was horrifying.

“We’ll see what we can do,” Eli said to
Anna.

“Thank you.”

Eli and Anna picked up Mithras’s limp body
and dragged it back to the house. Anna said she’d only stunned him and that he’d
be awake any minute. When he did, she said she’d be able to convince him it was
only a dream. I stayed in the rundown courtyard where I trained. I couldn’t
shake the images of Anna’s memory. It felt so real, how was she able to place
me there? Would it work for good memories, too? I thought about the possibility
of reliving a memory with my mother. Seeing her smile and feeling her hugs
would be amazing. I really needed something like that right now.

I picked up a wooden stake from the ground
and slammed it into the dummy.

“You still suck,” I said. I turned my back
to the dummy. I’d try again tomorrow.

So Close, Yet So Far

After a week, my body stopped hating me. My
muscles grew tougher, and my stamina increased. For the next three weeks, I
trained and I trained hard. I still got my ass handed to me by Eli when we did
defensive or offensive techniques but not quite as badly as I used to, which
was something. It took me longer to break a sweat. When I trained with Eli, I
was able to hurt him, and when I was really in the mood, I was able to pin him.
Either I was indeed getting stronger or Eli just enjoyed letting me take
charge. All I knew was nothing made him prouder than to see me try and improve,
becoming more and more able to handle my own. After the day Mithras attacked
me, I no longer needed his help. With his tips I was able to control my sun
power with ease. As for my elements? Well, I can move large bodies of water and
make it do whatever I want. I can fling fire balls and turn a small candle flame
into a large bush fire. I can heal plants and make them grow, and lastly, I
could move the air. Controlling the air wasn’t much, but it would come in handy
if I needed to incapacitate someone temporarily. All of this I learned on my
own, with the help of Eli and Anna, of course. Sometimes If I was really stuck
I’d even ask Hunter for help and he had given me loads of good tips.