Guardian's Hope (10 page)

Chapter 9

Tyn stood over the crumpled form in the
corner and snarled. He kicked the body again and grunted in
satisfaction when it groaned.

“Good. You’re still alive.” He grabbed the
man by his lapels and hauled him to the corner where he propped him
into a sitting position. The man’s head lolled on his chest and Tyn
back handed him hard enough to split his cheek.

“Did you think I wouldn’t know it was you?
Did you think you could steal my property and then sell it back to
me?”

The man only groaned in response.

“Answer me,” the demon snarled. His claws
were fully extended and his back rippled with the need for release.
He heard a sound from the doorway and turned, ready to release his
anger on anything that moved. Beauty walked sedately into the
room.

“What do you want?” he snapped. “Can’t you
see I’m busy?”

“Anna is dying,” she said without
emotion.

“Who?” He didn’t know any Anna.

“Number Seven.” Beauty stared past him to the
man in the corner.

“What are you looking at?” He hadn’t meant it
as a question, but she answered it anyway.

“The dead man in the corner.”

“He isn’t dead.” He curled his lip. The
stupid bitch knew nothing.

She stared at him or through him until he
moved to the body on the floor and then she stared through the
space where he’d stood. Tyn felt for a pulse. The bitch was right.
The bastard was dead. It didn’t improve his mood.

“Why are you still standing there?”

“Anna is dying.”

“Well what do you want me to do about it? Go
stick a bag over her head and get it over with.” He was losing one
a week and replacing them as fast as they died. They’d stop eating
and sleeping and then stop responding to his orders. And two or
three days later they were gone. After the first one died because
he’d enjoyed her too much, he cut back on his drinking. When Beauty
told him the second one was going, he decided to be merciful and
finish her off quickly. Besides, he was thirsty and he missed the
added satisfaction of draining something dry. It hadn’t worked out
well for either of them. The first gulp made him gag, the second
made him puke. The bitch was rotting from the inside out. He’d left
her to Beauty’s care and hauled the body to the river when it was
over. Now he only drank from the new ones. He turned back to Beauty
who still stood staring at nothing.

“You heard me. I order you to put a plastic
bag over her head and kill her.”

Beauty bowed her head in obedience, turned
and took two steps toward the door. With the third step, she
hesitated. On the fourth step, she stopped. She straightened her
sagging shoulders and forced her head upright willfully fighting
against the power of Tyn’s thrall.

“No,” she said so softly Tyn thought he had
misheard, but she said it again. “No.”

“You defy me bitch?” he asked with the threat
clear in his voice. “I order you to kill her.”

Once again she stepped toward the door and
once again she stopped. The word was little more than a breath.

“No.”

He hit her from behind, sending her through
the door and crashing into the wall opposite. She crumpled to her
knees.

“You will obey me,” he screamed. “You will
obey me or I will bleed you dry.” He gripped her hair and pulled
her head back until she was looking up at him. “You are my minion.
Mine. Don’t think because I favor you I won’t kill you. This is
twice you’ve defied me. That’s two times too many.”

Tyn stormed back into his office and grabbed
the picture from his desk. He came back to her, yanked her head
back and smashed the picture into her face. She hadn’t answered
when he asked her before. Now, by the powers of hell, she
would.

“Who is this woman?”

He felt her lips move against the paper still
pressed to her face. He held it away but retained his grip on her
hair.

“Say it again. Who is this woman?”

“Me,” she said quietly and smiled.

The smile was replaced with a cry of pain
when Tyn swiped his claws across her cheek.

*****

The three women were in Manon’s kitchen where
they usually met, because there was rarely any privacy at the main
House. At night, the men were always about, those who weren’t on
patrol. They were constantly in and out of the kitchen, looking for
food, asking questions, and tormenting Grace with their laughter
and teasing. Hope found this camaraderie strange.

By day, workmen were renovating the house
next door to provide room for their growing numbers and they had
recently begun construction of the passageway at the back that
would join the two buildings. The noise made sleep difficult and
everyone was short tempered. Manon and Grace were supervising the
daytime work so the men could sleep and were grateful when Hope
volunteered to share the burden. It should have made it difficult
for Hope to change over to their upside down hours; sleeping during
the day and going about their business at night. It should have,
yet it didn’t. Within four days of moving in, she was ready for bed
by 8 AM.

I am Alice and this is the rabbit hole. It
wasn’t the first time Hope thought it. She’d been living here for
two weeks and she still couldn’t – what was that phrase that Nardo
used this morning – oh yes, wrap her head around it.

In some ways the House of Guardians was
similar to the Community of Saints. They were a group of unrelated
people who lived like family. Their lives revolved around their
mission and each other. Canaan was the leader here as her father
and his Council of Elders was there. But that’s where the
similarity ended.

No one, let alone a woman, would have spoken
to her father the way Grace had spoken to Canaan. Certainly, if her
father made a mistake, and she didn’t think he ever had, no one in
the community would have the temerity to joke about it. Not so with
Canaan.

It was the morning after the breakfast blow
up, about 4AM and Hope was peeling potatoes for Grace. She’d needed
something to do to keep her awake and making supper was familiar
and comforting. When Canaan entered, she lowered her eyes and
continued peeling, hoping to remain inconspicuous.

“Hope,” he said quietly, “I have something to
say and I’d like you to look at me when I say it.”

She was prepared for him to tell her to
leave. She wasn’t prepared to have the whole House witness her
humiliation. They stood in a row behind Canaan, except for Nico who
stood at his side. Both men still looked battered from their fight,
yet they stood shoulder to shoulder and that hurt more than the
words she knew were coming.

“I was wrong,” Canaan said and bowed. “This
House and the people in it are dear to me and I still carry the
anger at almost losing one of them. That’s a reason, not an excuse
for the way I behaved. I had no right, no cause to attack you like
that. You are welcome in this House and I hope you’ll accept my
apology.”

She could only stare at him and didn’t know
her mouth was hanging open until Grace gently closed it for
her.

“Just say okay, sure, I accept, anything will
do,” Grace said and smiled her encouragement.

“Your kindness is most welcome,” Hope said
quietly. She’d said those words before but had never felt them so
deeply. Tears filled her eyes and spilled over.”

“Aw jeeze, we got another crybaby,” Dov
complained.

“I am not a crybaby,” Grace said indignantly.
“Women show emotion differently than men, that’s all. And here’s
something to think about, you big galute, I never cried at all
until I came here!”

Hope sniffed and wiped her eyes with the back
of her hand. It was the same for her. She couldn’t remember the
last time she cried, yet here the tears had come twice in the first
twenty-four hours and her eyes seemed to fill at the least
provocation.

“Yeah well, she ought to be dancing a jig.
It’s not every day we get to see the big guy eat crow.” Dov grinned
and turned to Canaan. “How’s it taste, Boss? A little tough to
chew? A little salty?”

“You ought to know, Dov. You eat enough of it
around here,” Nardo added.

“I know,” Dov laughed. “That’s what makes
this so special. It’s not me.”

“You’ll see how special it is when I get you
on the mats,” Canaan growled, but Hope could see he wasn’t really
angry.

Dov ran behind Grace and whined, “He’s
threatening me, Mommy!”

“So am I,” she laughed and swatted him with
her towel, “Now get out of here or you’ll all starve.”

“Come on, Col. I can tell we’re not wanted
here.”

“You’re not wanted. I am.” But Col followed
him to the door. Before it closed, Hope could hear them hooting
with laughter.

Now, in the quiet of Manon’s kitchen, she
asked, “Why does Canaan tolerate such disrespect?” then realized
how forward the question was and though she didn’t say she was
sorry, it was in her tone. “It’s not my business.”

“It is your business if you’re going to stay
here. Weren’t you listening to Manon? If you have a question, ask
it.” Grace picked up a pot and poured more coffee. “It’s not
disrespect. They love Canaan and respect him beyond all measure.
They’d die for him, as would anyone in this House. And he would do
the same for anyone who’s under his charge. When you’re here a
little longer you’ll realize those aren’t just words. The
possibility is real and it’s a huge responsibility. Laughter helps
lighten the load. Don’t people laugh and tease where you come
from.”

“Oh yes,” Hope said. “We laugh and joke and
the children play, but I can only say that about the women. Around
the men, it’s different and even more so around my father and the
Elders.” She shrugged. “People tend to act differently around the
Preacher and sometimes around me because I’m his daughter. I can’t
speak to how they act in private. I only know that in my own home
anger is anger and never a joke and respect for my father is to be
shown at all times. I never knew it to be any different and it
wasn’t until I came to the city that I truly realized that everyone
didn’t live like us.”

“I hear you,” said Grace. “I used to think
that everyone felt the same buzzing in their head as I did. I used
to wonder why it didn’t bother them the way it bothered me. Then,
when I realized they couldn’t feel things like I did, I thought
something was wrong with me. Thank God I found Manon.”

Manon and Grace believed that she was a
Daughter of Man, as they were, but to them, the Daughters of Man
found in Genesis weren’t mere women, as she’d been taught, but
something more; something special. Grace left it to Manon to tell
the story.

“When humanity was in its childhood,” she
began, “God sent a sect of his Servants, angels some say, to
instruct those earthly humans in righteousness. According to our
mothers, these Servants became fascinated by the beauty and
comeliness of the Daughters of Man. This fascination soon turned,
as it often does, to lust. In order to lure the women away from the
safety of their families, the Servants gave the Daughters gifts of
abilities beyond the realm of man. The women were beguiled by these
gifts, seduced by the Servants who appeared as men and were taken
as wives. In the fullness of time the Daughters bore the fruits of
their seduction. Their sons were called Nephilim. They were giants
of great power and glory, renowned for their great appetites for
all things of pleasure and the traits of the fathers were passed to
the sons.

“So it was for the women also, their gifts
being passed from mother to daughter so that the lineage of the mix
of Servant and human continued and the Daughters of Man became a
race unto themselves.

“Time passed and the Nephilim lost their way.
They abused their power, took pleasure in pain and torment and
began to feed on the blood of humans. The Daughters who loved them
and had been faithful to them were forsaken. God sent Gabriel to
make war upon them and the Great Flood reduced them further.

“Under threat of annihilation, the
Paenitentia were born. They saw the Daughters of Man as the source
of their downfall and renounced them, severing all ties.

“The Daughters of Man quietly continued,
suffering the indignities of persecution, making their way as best
they could, passing the gifts and knowledge down from one
generation to the next, Daughter to Daughter. They no longer bore
sons.

“They were forced to live the lives of humans
in the human world and learned to adapt to maintain their
anonymity. As we do today. We are their descendants.” Manon pointed
to Grace and then to herself. “We are among the Daughters of Man
and so are you.”

Hope found it hard to believe. It went
against everything she’d been taught and yet it explained so many
things; like why her mother could make the flowers dance and why
things flew across the room or broke when she was upset. While
Grace could feel people’s emotions, she could feel their thoughts.
The two women put no pressure on her to believe and she was
grateful. She needed time to think.

*****

“I’m sorry, Nico, but I got nothing. Zip.
Nada.” Nardo shook his head with regret. “The phone number belonged
to a throwaway. I even tried calling the damn thing. I thought I
could set up a buy and we could do a face to face with the bastard.
Nobody’s home. No voice mail. No call forwarding. Nothing I can pin
and trace. I ran the name and Bobby boy wasn’t lying. The guy’s got
a sheet as long as your arm and kidnapping fits right in the middle
of it, but I can’t find him. Got nothing from the cops, nothing
from the hospitals, nothing from the morgue. That’s not to say he
isn’t using an alias, but I checked out all the ones the cops kept
in his jacket. I don’t know what else to do. The guy has
disappeared. I’ll keep checking. For now, though, he’s a dead
end.”