The Guardian: Paranormal Fantasy New Adult Young Adult Angel Romance (A Fight for Light Novel Book 1) (18 page)

“What Rhiannon? What is it?” He sounded worried.

It was all related; the feeling of being watched, the attacks on my life, the stories, my special abilities, everything. Even Kellen. I shook my head. It was so simple. Why didn’t I see it before?

“It’s all related,” I whispered.

He looked confused. “What’s all related?”

“Don’t you see?” I asked. “The attacks on my life, the stories, the feeling that I am being watched all the time, my abilities. It all goes together.”

He seemed to be thinking it through. “Yes, ok, but what is it that has you so scared?”

“Something is coming Kellen, something big. Bigger than just that demon. And it’s not good.”

“We don’t know that Rhia, it could be something else.” He was trying to keep me calm.

I finally understood the feeling of being watched all of the time. I had mistakenly thought it was because of Kellen. I was horribly wrong.
It was the enemy
. They were watching me, probably tracking me and waiting for the right moment to pounce, like a cat pursuing a mouse with deadly accuracy. This was bad.

“Then why are you here Kellen? Oh,
Oh
,” I said. Now I got it. It all made sense.

He was watching me closely, not saying anything. He was letting me figure it out.

“The council, the one that sent you and dispatches the Guardians, knows already. That’s why you’re here. But there is something more, something sinister, something big, that is going to happen. Like a battle,” I shook my head and heard him gasp, “I keep having weird dreams. The feeling of danger won’t leave me. We have to be careful. You know what I’m saying.” It was a statement, not a question.

“Yes, I do, but the council doesn’t know everything. I think we should inform them of the current situation. We need to go to my father. He needs to know what has transpired. They must be warned in our world.”

I nodded. I would go with him wherever he wanted, plus I was too chicken to hang out by myself right now. I felt the cold breeze of a premonition dance on my skin, raising the flesh, sending goosebumps along my arms. Danger. It was coming, lurking, growing closer.

“Kellen, this is serious. The enemy is watching me. They have a plan.” My voice trembled. “We need to get out of here as soon as possible. It’s not safe.”

“Yes,” he agreed, “we must hurry now.”

“I’m so afraid. What if it comes after me again?” My voice squeaked a little and I could not hide my fear.

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I need to make preparations. We will leave before night fall. We have to cross the portal before the sun sets.” He kissed the top of my head. “I’ll be right back.”

I watched him disappear, certain my life was in the greatest danger it had ever been in and I had no idea how to process or handle it. I sat there waiting for him to return, anxious and chewing my nails. I looked at the clock on the living room wall. It was already after three in the afternoon. We only had a few hours before the sun set tonight. Not a lot of time for preparation.

I heard a noise and looked up, shaken to my core. Darn. We were not fast enough…

The enemy had found me. Or more accurately, the demon. Black as sin, dark shadow in the night, it called to me, beckoning, pulling me forward. I felt the clawing fingers as they descended on my sensitive flesh, lightly scraping, enticing, alluring. The demon wanted me. It sought me, my soul, my acquiescence, my light, my very existence.

For the first time I felt a sense of desperation. The demon was on a timetable. Only a small window was available where it could steal my being, capture and imprison my soul. I felt the urgency as it reached for me again. It was conniving, trying to deceive me. I felt its hunger. I knew its desire. All of the demon’s effort was concentrated on my obedience.

I felt the first clutches of its evil intent inside my head. It searched, running along the corridors of my mind. Frantic with need, pulling and yanking on the doors of my memories, searching, grasping for something to use against me. But they were locked tight against intrusion.

I was not so innocent and foolish now. I blocked the demon and smiled, the corners of my mouth lifting in triumph. In one swift thought, I pushed the demon out of my head, causing it to cry out in frustration and anger. I would not give it an enemy to fight me. I would not give it the means to destroy me or the medium to use and make into flesh. I understood now how it attacked me before. There was no longer the element of surprise.

For a moment I thought I had won. It screeched and bounced around me, almost smoky in the dim light of the living room. In anger it pulsed and all the light bulbs in the room exploded, sending sharp shards of glass spinning in the air before crashing to the ground. Terror gripped me momentarily and a laugh, sardonic, deep, cruel, filled the room.

A single light from the kitchen flicked on, sending an eerie glow into the dark space. The shadow began to shift and take human form. At first I scoffed at the demon and rolled my eyes. Whatever it was going to conjure, I was certain, positive, that I could destroy it with ease. I knew it sought to deceive me. The demon excelled at that, the art of deception and lies.

I’m not certain what I expected to see. In my naivety I thought the demon would conjure another monster to attack me, but no. It was much more determined, much cleverer than that. It sent a person this time. A single individual. Someone to torment and torture me, someone to test me, someone to break my resolve with a finality that would probably kill me.

I felt the demon’s triumph, its sick and twisted delight as the shadow took on flesh. I gasped in horror and agony as the person in front of me smiled with an evil grin. The flesh now real, fully present, they took a step forward in my direction, the shadow and the man. Oh God, no, anyone else, please.

“Gramps,” I whispered, shock and fear rooting me to the spot.

He smiled, a dark shadow covering his face, and took another step.

“No,” I whispered, “don’t come any closer.”

A blade appeared in his hand, a thick serrated hunting knife, gleaming in the low light, and pointed out toward me.

“Oh God,” I called, “help me.”

The demon shadow screeched from inside my grandfather, walking with purpose in my direction. I took a few steps back and held up a hand. “No, you are not my family. You are a deception.”

An evil laugh filled the air. I thought, mistakenly, that it would change tactics and change its form. It did not. Perhaps I could have remained strong, maybe I might have been able to persevere over the specter of my Gramps, but when he opened his mouth and spoke my name, I was unable to do anything.

“Rhiannon…” He called. “Rhiannon.”

How? How was it
his
voice? Not the demon, not an impersonation, but the actual voice of my grandfather.

My hand clutched at my heart. “No,” I shook my head, “that’s not possible.”

“I’ve come for you, my Rhiannon,” Gramps sneered, “you will meet your fate.”

“No!” I screamed.

Gramps ran in my direction, the blade a blur as it gathered speed, and raised his hand to plunge it down and into my broken heart. All I could do was stand there, immobile, frightened, devastated, and refusing to believe reality.

“Ahhhhhhhh,” the demon screeched, rushing toward me, anticipating my death with delight.

Seconds, a mere breadth of a moment, before the knife plunged into my body, Kellen’s sword sank into the flesh and evil incarnation of my Gramps. I screamed, over and over, my body shaking with the terror and the gruesome reality of his demise. I couldn’t stop screaming, my breath coming fast and shallow, and my heart racing in my chest, my mind grasping for some small measure of sanity and finding nothing. Nothing…

The sword had penetrated the darkness of the shadow and it dispersed, sending the form of my grandfather back into oblivion, destroyed, forgotten, buried in the night. The same as his physical body. Gone forever. I fell to my knees, my hand still clutching my heart. Oh God, not like this. I had lost him all over again.

“Stay with me Rhiannon!” Kellen yelled, his sword facing the demon.

It had returned, quickly, determined to finish its objective, undeterred.

“You will never claim her,” Kellen stood in front of me, “I dare you to face me in your true form. Coward,” he taunted it, “worthless, a pitiful little attempt at murder and evil. You will not succeed.”

The demon screeched, turning from black shadow into flesh, not the flesh of deception, but its true evil form. Black wings sprouted from its back, horns grew from his head, ebony skin stretched taut over layers of muscle and sinew. Red eyes that burned with an inhuman flame stood out in the skull. It was the vision of nightmares. The being that haunted the night. The evil that sought to ensnare the soul.

Kellen faced him, a fierce determination in his eyes. I watched him in desperation, unable to help, all my hope resting on him. He was the only one who could defeat the evil that wanted to destroy me.

The demon laughed sardonically. “I will rip your flesh from your bones and enjoy watching you bleed as I take her.”

My eyes widened in horror. Oh God, help us, I thought. Please help us.

Kellen twirled the sword in his hand and laughed, unperturbed. “You can try.”

Claws extended on the hands of the creature, razor sharp, protruding, as the demon opened his arms wide. With a snarl it ran toward us. Kellen raised his sword and deflected the blow, cutting into the flesh of one arm. The demon spun on him, swiping at Kellen’s chest, one nail cutting into his flesh, streaking blood in a wide arc.

I screamed, afraid for Kellen but he shook his head. “It’s going to take a lot more than that demon.”

He swooped on Kellen, swinging and darting, never close enough for him to slash deeply into the creature’s body. The demon was smart. It kept a distance, only close enough to land a blow, and then spinning in another direction. It sought to confuse him, to disorient him, to keep Kellen from delivering any kind of fatal blow.

“I was right,” Kellen taunted again, “you
are
a coward.”

The demon growled. “Little puny human. You are not a match for me.”

“Prove it,” Kellen challenged, “stop retreating to the shadows in your fear.”

The demon launched his next attack, leaving its torso vulnerable, only a few seconds, but long enough. Kellen spun at the last minute, shoving the sword into the soft flesh of the creature’s abdomen. He yanked on the hardened metal, dislodging it, and shoved again. The demon scratched him, slashing in desperation but it was not enough. Kellen pushed with his weight, plunging the sword in deeper and higher, again and again, until it landed the final killing blow.

In shock the demon stared at the wounds, disbelief on its sardonic face. It collapsed to the ground, thick black blood oozing from its wounds. It screeched in agony, dissolving from flesh back into ebony shadow. Within moments it exploded in a plume of black ash. A cloud of smoke billowed in the air, combining with the ash, like a volcano’s expulsion, causing us both to cough. In disgust I realized I was coughing on the remains of the demon’s flesh.

Nausea rose within my throat. The bile was already lingering in my mouth. I turned my head and vomited, expelling the ash from my throat and stomach, clearing it from my lungs. My shoulders heaved with the exertion. I leaned over, my hands planted on the plush white carpet of the house, and coughed again. Black streaks covered the ground. I shivered, a cold chill running along my spine, only to be replaced with a flash of liquid heat.

“Rhiannon!”

Kellen fell to his knees, blood and black ash covering most of his body, and I ran to him. He caught me, his arms hugging my body tight. His chest lurched with a heavy cough that shook his muscular frame. I started to cry, sobbing into his shoulder, soaking his shirt with my tears. He held onto me, his fingers clutching me closer, as I felt him shudder.

“I’ve got you,” he whispered, “I have you my darling Rhiannon.”

I was unable to answer. My voice would not cooperate. I buried my head in his neck, the tears still falling, rolling off my cheeks. I took a deep breath, then another, frantic to stop the horror of moments ago. I was losing my grip on reality, the sanity fleeing. Oh God.

“It’s gone,” he reassured me, “it’s gone forever.”

“Kellen,” I finally managed to reply. It was all I could do.

“Look at me,” he commanded and I raised my head, “you are fine. I will protect you, always.”

I nodded. My eyes were locked with his, searching, afraid, vulnerable.

“I love you,” he told me, raising a hand to brush along my cheek.

“I love you too,” I whispered back.

He held me close again, his arms holding me tight against the persistent shaking and tremors that racked my body. It took several minutes for the shock to wear off. He never let go. His grip never relaxed. We must have stayed like that for quite some time. The minutes ticked on, the fear hardly retreating, and still he clutched me close, his arms never releasing their hold…