Wilder: The Guardian Series (19 page)

“But he did it to protect you and your mother, to keep you
safe,” he said turning towards her.
 

“And how am I ever going to be safe now? If he had just told
me when I was younger, at least I would have been prepared.”

“It’s not going to be easy Celeste, but you’ll get through
this. We will help you.” He cupped her face in his hands tenderly.

“And who is this someone that is supposed to train me? Don’t
you think I would have met them by now?”

Roman hated feeling powerless. Seeing Celeste so upset and
not being able to do anything to comfort her was killing him.

“My dad was supposed to train me, and he’s gone. How am I
supposed to do this alone?” Celeste wailed.

“You’re not alone Celeste. You have
me and
Nico,
and we can train you. We have both done our fair share of
fighting, and who better to teach you than the enemy,” he said with a smirk.

She couldn’t help but feel a little better any time Roman
flashed that million-dollar smile. As draining as it was for her to fight the
push and pull inside of her whenever she was around Roman, she felt it was
somehow worth it.

“Yeah, I guess,” she said sounding slightly less miserable.

“Come on, there’s still one more place we have to go today,”
he said, taking her hand.

Roman led Celeste through the gray sterile hallways of the
storage facility as the fluorescent motion-sensor lights flicked on upon their
approach. The feeling of desolation that Celeste felt inside mirrored the empty
walkways.

“Well this is it, storage number 99,” Celeste said as she
unlocked the door.

When the door swung open, Celeste’s mouth dropped in shock.
Roman stood stiffly behind her taking it all in. The small storage unit looked
like a military arsenal from medieval times. As she surveyed the room, she saw
swords, crossbows, knives, spears and even wooden stakes lining the walls. Even
Roman was taken aback by the magnitude of weapons.
 
He reached up and removed an iron
broadsword from the hook on the wall to take a closer look.

“This sword is quite old. Judging from the etchings in the
hilt my guess would be sometime in the eighteenth century.”
  

Celeste picked up a couple of knives and said, “Look they all
have the same symbol engraved on them.”

“Do you recognize it?” he asked.

“No, should I?”

“I think it might be the Wilder family symbol. I’ve heard
stories that every hunter family has a unique one.”

“Wait a minute,” she said examining the symbol more closely,
“it does look kind of familiar. Yes! I think I saw it in my dream.” It was the
first dream she had in which her father was training her. She had been holding
a sword with the exact same symbol on it.

 
“All of these
weapons must have been passed down through the generations,” he said.

“That’s pretty crazy, huh? This sword could have belonged to
my great-great grandfather,” she said inspecting it.

Roman looked at the symbol more closely. “I believe this is
from the Phoenician alphabet – that looks like the letter W.”

“And what are those? Swords and a sun?”

“Yes, those are common elements in hunter symbols.”

Roman continued walking around the room to more closely admire
the archaic weapons. As strange as this had all seemed to Celeste when she
first walked in, she began to feel more at ease as she familiarized herself
with her families’ treasures. There was something about being here that made
her feel closer to her father and to all of her ancestors. She felt a surge of
power springing from inside of her as she picked up a small sword with a gilded
handle and the now familiar engraving. As if by instinct, she began swinging it
around ever so gracefully.

“Look at you, you’re quite a natural,” said Roman.

“It’s weird, but I felt something when I picked up the sword
– like it was supposed to be mine.”

“Well then, I think you should take it with you,” suggested
Roman.

“Where am I going to keep it, under my bed? What if my mom
finds it?”

“Celeste, I think it’s time you had a talk with your mother.
From what your father said, it seemed like she may know a little more than what
we think she does.”

***

“Where have you been all day?” asked Nico looking up from his
laptop as Roman shut the door behind him.

“Researching some family history with Celeste,” he said evasively.

“So is everything alright with the two of you now? She didn’t
try to kill you or anything?” Nico asked.

“She’s getting a handle on her urges, yes.”

“And how about your urges, Roman?” He gave his brother a
sidelong glance.

“I’m fine,” he retorted.

Nico looked at him doubtfully.

“I’m keeping my distance, okay?” Roman tried to assure his
brother.

Nico chuckled. “Are you really? If this is keeping your
distance, I can’t imagine what dating would be like for the two of you.”

“Dating? Nico, don’t be absurd. I don’t date, and even if I
wanted to be
with
Celeste, we both
know that’s impossible.” He turned away from Nico, shielding the tortured
expression in his eye.

“Why is it so impossible? You can deny it all you want, but
I’ve never seen you act this way with anyone before. You obviously care about
her, so why can’t you just admit it?”

“To what end, Nico? So that I can torture myself with
something that I can never have? She’s a hunter and I’m a vampire. The universe
certainly likes to play its dirty tricks, doesn’t it?”

“So that’s it? You’re just going to “protect” her and be her
friend?”

“Exactly. And I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” said
Roman, slumping down on the couch. “On another note, I was thinking about what
you said about bringing Celeste to meet Stellan. You were right, and I think we
should go tomorrow.”

***

“Hey Mom, do you have a sec to talk?”

“Oh sure sweetie, I’m just going to pop this lasagna in the
oven for you for dinner tonight, and I’m all yours.” Celeste often wondered how
her mother found the time to still cook dinners for her while pulling
twelve-hour shifts at the hospital.

Celeste went into the living room to wait for her mother. She
considered what would be the best way to tell her that she had been chosen to be
the next Guardian and that she would be responsible for saving the world from
all things evil.
Why don’t they make a
Hallmark card for that?

“So what’s up?” her mother asked as she sat down beside her.

Celeste steeled her nerves. “Mom, remember that key you gave
me for my birthday from dad?”

“Yes, sure.”

“Well the other day, I was looking through the trunk, and I
found a secret compartment on the bottom.”

Celeste paused to read her Mom’s face to gauge a reaction,
but so far it was blank.

“And the key was a perfect fit.
 
I found a note from dad. It was more
than a note; there were actually instructions and a video tape.”

Her mom’s cool façade began to crumble as Celeste continued.
She stood up and walked back and forth in front of the window.

“I watched the video, and it was of dad when he was much
younger, and he told me about our family…uh… legacy.”

At that, her mother broke down and turned to her, angry tears
streaming down her face. “Oh no Celeste, I never wanted any of this for you. I
was hoping that I could protect you from it all.”

“So you knew? Why didn’t you tell me? I’ve been going crazy
for the past few weeks having the strangest nightmares and visions, and
worrying about what I was going to tell you.” Celeste was up pacing now too.

“I’m sorry sweetie, but I had hoped with all my heart that
you wouldn’t be chosen. That you wouldn’t have to bear the responsibility that
your father had to.”

“Well, I was chosen and I do have to. How could you keep that
from me?”

“You have to understand that when I first met your father, he
kept everything a secret from me, but as time went on, it was a secret too
difficult to keep hidden. We tried to protect you from it, to let you lead a
normal life, but when your father was killed…”

A sudden realization hit Celeste like a speeding freight
train. “Wait, Mom – Dad wasn’t killed in a car accident was he? Oh my God,
he was killed fighting, wasn’t he?”

“I’m so sorry, Celeste,” said her mom between sobs.

Celeste felt a horrible tightening in her chest, and a
terrible anger building. “Who killed him Mom?” She was gripping her mom by the
shoulders now and she was shaking her roughly.

Her mother didn’t answer, purposely averting her grief-filled
eyes from her daughter’s as angry tears continued to spill.

“Mom, who killed dad? Tell me, I deserve to know.”

She choked back a sob, looking at her daughter’s determined
face. “I don’t know exactly. All I know is that there had been a series of
supposed ‘animal attacks’ in the area and your father had been hunting a
vampire.”

Celeste took off out of the house with her mother chasing
after her, but it was no use she was much too quick for her. The streets
whizzed by in a blur. Celeste ran and ran until the pain in her chest had
subsided, only to be replaced by the burning fatigue in her legs. She stopped
where she was and flung herself on the grass, staring blankly into the sky as
dark clouds rolled in overhead.

“Cel, are you okay?”

“Brian? What are you doing here?” she asked in a daze. A
tidal wave of emotions hit her at the sight of her best friend.
 
Impulsively, she jumped into the comfort
of his arms.

 
“Whoa, nice to
see you too. Your mom called me in a panic about a half an hour ago saying you
had a fight, so I’ve been driving around looking for you.” He held onto her for
a minute longer before finally letting go.

“Thanks for coming, I’m sorry she freaked out.”

“What happened?”

Celeste wanted more than anything to tell Brian what had
happened over the past few weeks. She had always told him everything, and yet
now it was like an invisible wall had been built between them.

Celeste took a deep cleansing breath, expelling all the pent
up hurt and anger. “Nothing, I just overreacted and ran out of the house. I’ve
been feeling really emotional lately with graduation coming and everything.”

Brian raised an eyebrow at her skeptically.

“Well it didn’t seem like nothing to me. Your mom was
hysterical, and seemed really scared for you. And I know you’ve been crying,”
he said, as he reached to tenderly wipe smudged mascara under her eye. He held
up her chin examining her face worriedly.

 
“I want to tell
you, Brian, but I just can’t right now. There have been some things that I’ve
recently found out about my family and my dad. I’m just trying to work through
them.”

He dropped his hand from her face. “But why do you have to do
it by yourself? I’m here for you, and maybe I can help you get through whatever
it is.”

She just shook her head.

“Why are you shutting me out? We’ve been through so much
together. What makes you think that you can’t let me in on this? I love you,
Celeste.”

Something happened to Celeste when she heard those three
little words that every girl dreams about. She felt a huge weight lifted and
stopped fighting the emotional battle that had been surging inside of her for
days. So when Brian leaned in to kiss her, she let him. There was something so
comfortable and safe about being in Brian’s arms, and the kissing wasn’t bad
either. After a couple seconds of allowing herself to get lost in the moment,
she pulled away, back to reality.

“I should probably get back home. I’m sure my mom must be
worried,” she stammered.

“Sure, whatever you want Cel,” said Brian.

As they drove back in silence, Celeste tried not to think
about the repercussions of the stolen kiss. On one hand, she wished it would be
enough that Brian loved her, and she could be a normal teenager with a normal
boyfriend. On the other hand, she knew it would never be.

Why did I let Brian
kiss me again?

She certainly couldn’t deal with this right now, not with
everything else going on.
 
She had
to focus on becoming a Guardian, training, becoming a skilled hunter and
avenging her father’s death. She would find the vampire who killed him, and she
would make him pay for taking him away from her.

Celeste felt strange as she opened the door to her house:
everything seemed to be tainted by lies. Everyone in her family had kept
secrets from her. She looked at her mother’s tear-stained face and felt a
slight pang of guilt. Her mother wrapped her arms around her tightly.

“We need to talk about this,” said her mother.

“Not now.
Everything’s going to be fine,
Mom.
I just need some time,” she said numbly and went up to her room.

She had left the house in such
a frenzy
that she hadn’t even bothered to take her phone with her. As she glanced down
at it now, she noticed three missed calls from Roman and one from Nico. Celeste
felt torn between the desire to talk to Roman and tell him about her father’s
death, and the terrible anger growing inside of her that a vampire had killed him—a
vampire just like what Roman is.

Celeste pulled the small sword from its hiding place under
the bed and clutched it in her hands. She knew it wasn’t rational, but she was
angry with Roman for being a vampire, and most of all she was angry with
herself for letting Brian kiss her. She had an overwhelming urge to stab
something with her sword. Instead, she attempted to channel her energy and
swung the sword in a few arcs around her bedroom. Her phone rang again, and
seeing that it was Roman, she sent it to voicemail, continuing her swordplay
against an imaginary foe.