Guardian (21 page)

“If you keep feeding us movie popcorn and fast food, it won’t be too long before you’re lifting us into the car,” I teased.

“Not with all the exercise you got yesterday, hefting all those shopping bags,” Rafael tossed right back. “Although I see we didn’t feel like adhering to the dress code today.”

I sighed. “You do realize men typically never notice things like girl’s clothes, or when they get a haircut, or do something new with their makeup?”

“Why would I not notice?” He appeared genuinely surprised.

“I’m just saying that part of being a twenty-first century guy is to be oblivious to these things! If you ever want to blend in, you need to get this stuff down.”

Rafael only snorted.

“I’m protesting the dress code in support of Natalie,” I explained.

Rafael made a
tsk
disgust. “Her mother forgot to wash her school clothes again?”
I thumped the side of the car door. “Seriously, Rafael, is there anything you don’t know?”

“You,” he said, glancing over at me for just a moment. “I don’t know you well enough. Not yet.”

“So, what’s the emergency?” Natalie asked as she pushed into the girl’s bathroom. Behind her, voices echoed in the harsh stone hallways, people shouting their pleasure that the school day was finally over.

I scowled at Natalie and looked down at the counter, digging through the bright blue bag holding all the makeup Rafael had bought me the day before. “I need your help, Nat. What is all this stuff? How do you even put this on?” I held up a stick of eyeliner, squinting at it. How could you not stab yourself in the eye with it?

“God and all the saints, please mark this historic moment,” Natalie said.

When I looked over at her, she had her hands clasped before her, head bowed in fake prayer.

“Oh, please.” I threw a tube of mascara at her and she caught it easily. “Don’t make fun of me.”

“So, what gives? Where did you get all this stuff? That shirt and cardigan are new and totally from Hollister, I’d stake my life on it.”

“My mom was feeling oddly generous the past couple days,” I lied easily, crossing my fingers behind my back. “So, will you help me?”

“You’re actually serious. You want to wear makeup?” Natalie asked, narrowing her eyes at me.

I nodded innocently at her.

“I’ve been trying to make you over for like, four years, and all of the sudden, now you’re ready to try being a girl? What gives, Lyla?”

I shrugged. “I just want to try something new. I want to look… nice.”

“It’s that Rafael guy isn’t it?”

I hesitated, biting my lip, and then nodded.

“Well, I never would have figured you for one to be dating someone so old it’s probably illegal, but I guess you need a mature guy.” Natalie heaved a huge sigh, and then squealed as she darted over to me, throwing her backpack onto the ground without a glance to where it landed. “You know what? Who even
cares
if it means I get to put makeup on you at last!”

“Just a little bit,” I protested, a little unnerved by her enthusiasm. “I want that natural look, or whatever it’s called. I don’t want any blue eye shadow or too much blush or anything like that. Keep it really light!”

“Yeah, I know, you wouldn’t want to look like you’re trying too hard,” Natalie was muttering to herself, poring over the supplies spread out on the counter. “Don’t worry, Ly’s, I’ve got this.”

My initial ‘five minutes, promise’ turned into twenty, and through the clear double doors and windows of the front lobby I could see that the Hummer was the only car still waiting out by the curb. Spurred on by Natalie’s “Knock ‘em dead, tiger,” I headed outside. It seemed that including her on this important milestone had gotten me back into her good graces, at least for the time being.

I got into the car and buckled up, trying my best to act normal. Only when Rafael put a hand under my chin and lifted my face up to look at him did I allow myself to feel a little nervous.

“What do you think?” I asked, swallowing nervously.

“You look very pretty,” he told me softly. “A little more grown up, I think. Natalie did a good job. It’s very subtle.”

I felt relief sweep through me. “You don’t think it’s too much?”

Rafael shook his head. “It defines the true point of makeup; to accent your natural beauty. I never realized you had gold in your eyes, until now.”

I beamed at him. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He started the car and left the school, heading for the park. “I thought we would leave Grace and Colton on a play date and have some time to ourselves today,” he said quietly, glancing over at me. “I know you still have questions about… everything.”

“Who-” I began, unsure of leaving Colton and Grace with anyone, but as we pulled up to the park, I caught sight of Matthias and Naomi. They were standing by our bench, waiting. I sat back in my seat, smiling a little. My siblings would certainly be safe with an angel to watch over them. “Sounds like a good plan to me,” I told Rafael.

Within minutes Grace and Naomi were best friends playing house, and Matthias and Colton were tossing a football. Rafael parallel parked on Broad Street where people dressed in their fashionable business clothes hurried back and forth.

“Why did you come to Columbus, Rafael?” I asked. It was the subject I had chosen for the day. Between remembering Naomi’s kidnapping, Austin’s demon attack, and the apparent danger I was in, I wanted to know the whole story of what I had gotten myself into.

“Business.”

I just glared at him.

Rafael laughed a little bit and then sobered almost instantly. “I’m actually glad you asked. There are things you need to know.”

“I’m ready to hear them.”

“Look around, Lyla. What do you see?”

I gave a cursory glance around the busy streets and sidewalks. “Business people and students going to work and class. A couple homeless people. A
lot
of Starbucks cups.”

Rafael chuckled a little. “I see victims,” he told me. “That man there, in the blue striped shirt? Yesterday he embezzled three thousand dollars from his company.”

I watched the man in shock; he seemed normal enough, walking along with his latte and talking to his companions. “But he seems so
nice
,” I protested.

“He is.” Rafael shrugged. “He has a wife and three children at home. Nice house, nice cars, no outstanding debt, hardly any debt at all, really. They are very good with their money and have plenty tucked away.”

“Then why would he steal money?” I watched the man walk away until he was out of sight, and then looked to Rafael. “How do you know all this? Are you spying on him?”
“We do not spy on people to violate their privacy, Lyla, only to confirm our suspicions. He is a nice man. He is being possessed.”

“Possessed?” I echoed. I craned my neck, trying to catch another glimpse of the man.

“Lyla?”

“Hm?” I turned to look at Rafael, realizing he was wearing his serious face.

“This is where the way you believe or perceive certain things may change,” he told me. “I don’t want to harm your trust in God, your beliefs. They are too pure and uncorrupt. I worry,” he paused and seemed to search for the right words, “I worry about making you falter, Lyla. That knowing too much will make you believe less of God and the decisions He has made. I worry about stealing your faith and making you have doubts, which would be the biggest sin I feel I could ever commit.”

I shook my head. “In for a penny, in for a pound, Rafael. I know what you are telling me is the truth, if just an ugly one. I’m ready to hear it.”
I want to know everything about you
, I added silently to myself.

“Very well,” Rafael acquiesced.

“So,” I said slowly, “the demons outside the cathedral, those are the kinds of things you fight? The kinds that are possessing that man?”

Rafael nodded.

“And do they always do things like that to you? Like kidnapping Naomi?”

Rafael hesitated, then forged on. “No. For the most part, they don’t do anything to directly antagonize us. We’re usually the only ones who can see them, harm them, so they try to avoid us. They usually stick to things like Austin, the night he attacked you.”

The event all came back to me in crystal clear quality, and I remembered how Austin had fallen, but the fight had continued on, and how the small horned thing had sunk deep into the ground.

“Was Austin…” I paused, trying to find the right words, “
possessed
that night?”

“In a manner of speaking. There are different classes of angels; the closer to God, the stronger and more powerful they are. When we fell, the hierarchy, the classes, remained the same. The stronger angels became the stronger demons. The previous seraphim and cherubim, some of the strongest, cause the possessions that you hear exorcisms about or that Jesus cast out in the Bible. Then there are the lesser demons, ones who were just principalities or powers – from lower branches of the hierarchy of angels. That was what entered Austin that night, what made him attempt to attack you.”

I felt a sense of enormous relief wash over me. I had treated Austin the same as always, but always wondered, deep in the back of my mind, why he had done it. “So it really wasn’t his fault,” I breathed in relief.

“Not entirely,” Rafael said, and I looked at him sharply. “The demons prey on the weak willed and the weak of faith. That’s why they can’t even touch you. But when they do enter a body, they cannot necessarily create feelings that were not already there. Austin must have had feelings for you, perhaps even thoughts of a sexual nature, that he kept hidden, and the demon simply brought them to light. That’s why Austin attacked you the way he did, and why he seemed so foreign. Some demons will stay for an extended period of time, making the change slow and steady, until the person has completely changed. Others will stay for a matter of hours, delighting in wreaking havoc for that person to deal with later. I made Austin forget because I didn’t want you to be scared.”

“So all the bad things that happen in the world, they’re all a result of demon possession?”

Rafael shook his head violently. “No. There are people who are
bad
, Lyla, all on their own. Demons may drive them over the edge, or their badness invites demons in to make them worse, but all the bad in the world is not caused by them alone. They only add to the chaos of it, aiding Satan just as we try to aide God.

“Everyone possesses free will, Lyla. The will to do good and the will to do bad. It’s not precisely the demon
making
the person do these things, it’s their influence, the little voice in your head urging you to do it. You already want to steal the cookies from the jar, the demon just convinces you it’s a good idea. These are lesser demons, little ones that never stay in or with one person long enough to need exorcisms or anything of the kind. And they don’t only hop from human to human, like fleas; they can be in objects, buildings, walking along the street causing trouble.”

“Kind of like a poltergeist?” I asked, looking over the streets around us and trying to imagine little demons walking around, weaving through the people already walking there.

Rafael nodded. “Precisely. In a manner of speaking, demons are the poltergeists everyone thinks are out there haunting the world. Your house,” he hesitated and then forged on, “your house is
crawling
with demons, Lyla. That’s why I don’t like to go inside. Most of them are too comfortable to move, that’s why it’s not very dangerous. They’re literally embedded in the walls, content to stay there and feed off of your parents. It’s a wonder you, Colton and Grace haven’t been swamped by them. Your faith has literally saved you, both in the spiritual sense and the sense that it kept you from becoming weak and falling into the ways of your parents.”

I looked down at my fingers, twisting them in my lap. “My greatest fear is that something will happen to make me lose my faith and I’ll end up like them,” I whispered.

I watched as Rafael’s hand entered my line of vision, slowly reached out, took one of my hands into his own, and squeezed it reassuringly. Everything about him seemed so much bigger, so much stronger than me. His long fingers, the small dusting of hair on them, the large veins that clearly showed through his tan skin, even the strength of his grip. It was like iron.

“You will never be like them,” he said, quietly but as firmly as the grasp on my hand. “Never.”

I looked up and smiled at him, blinking rapidly because it was ridiculous to be crying at that moment. “So, you just wander the world, chasing demons around? Is that why you came to Columbus? You were…” I struggled to remember the word he had used, it seemed like so long ago, “hunting?”

“Not entirely.” Rafael looked around the car, and then gently smiled at me as he let go of my hand and used it to turn the key in the ignition. “For this part, at least, what do you say we go somewhere a little more comfortable? There’s a Starbucks down the road in the bank building.”

I shrugged, more eager to hear the story than get more comfortable. “Sure.”

Rafael drove a few blocks down Broad Street and pulled into a space next to the Starbucks. He led the way inside, allowing me to order my drink and a cupcake before we settled into a table near the window in a private alcove. I sipped my coffee and looked at Rafael expectantly.

“We came to Columbus because a member of our flock disappeared here,” he said quietly.

My eyebrows shot up to my hairline. “Disappeared?”

Rafael nodded, his hands cupped around his own coffee, staring down at it with a grim expression. “We were headed to Columbus anyway. An oddly large number of demons seemed to be gathering here. We were going to investigate and see if we could find out why. It usually means a greater demon is here, trying to rally them and cause bigger trouble than usual. Damian was scouting ahead with Daniel and they separated for a short while. Damian never returned to the prearranged meeting place. We haven’t seen him since.”

I frowned, confused. “Don’t you have some way of sensing each other? Knowing where the other one is?”

“No. The Fallen give off a sort of aura. We can tell if a stranger is one of us, but we can’t sense each other over distances. We’ve been looking for Damian for months now – since you first saw me outside the church. We also haven’t been able to tell why there are suddenly so many demons migrating to Columbus. At first, like I said, we thought it was to the beacon of a greater demon, but they are also like vultures. They can sense when something bad is brewing, and they gather toward it. Needless to say, we’ve been very worried about Damian disappearing precisely where this is happening.”