Guardian's Hope (6 page)

“Name’s Robert.” He held out his hand.

“Oh,” she said foolishly and then remembered
her manners. “I’m Hope.”

Dov started to rise from his chair, but Col
stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Observe,” he reminded.

“And protect,” said Dov through gritted
teeth. “He’s trying to pick her up.”

Col snorted, but he didn’t take his eyes off
Hope. “You’d sleep with a different woman every night if you could.
What’s the difference?”

Dov was offended. “The difference is that I
don’t try to pick someone up ten minutes before closing. I wine ‘em
and dine ‘em and show them a good time and then I escort them home
and show them a better time. I’m the good guy here.” He pointed his
finger at his twin. “And I never, ever make a move on a woman who
isn’t looking to be moved upon. So don’t get all saintly, brother
mine, ‘cause you’ve done your own share of movin’ and shakin’. You
were the one…”

“I don’t think we have anything to worry
about. Shut up and listen.”

“Tha-thank you for the offer,” Hope said
nervously, “But coffee will keep me awake all night and I really
need to get home. If you’ll excuse me.” She gathered up her coat
and headed for the lady’s room.

Before she even reached the door, her would
be suitor had his cell phone out. His fingers trembled as he
punched in the number. “No go. I tried, okay? What the fuck do you
want from me? I found her didn’t I? Okay, okay, sorry. I know. I
will.” He slipped the phone into his pocket and headed for the
door.

The twins looked at each other in silent
agreement.

“Remember he’s human,” said Col.

“I won’t hurt him,” Dov grinned, “Much.” And
followed Robert out into the street.

Robert was turned toward the building, trying
to light a cigarette against the wind.

“Those things’ll kill ya,” Dov said as he
removed the lit cigarette from Robert’s lips and crushed it in his
hand. “Unless I do it first.” He stuffed the loose tobacco and
filter into the breast pocket of Robert’s jacket, patted it flat
and smiled. “We wouldn’t want to make a mess out here on the
street. Let’s you and I take a walk.” He grabbed Robert beneath his
armpit, lifted him to his toes and marched him in the opposite
direction from which Hope had arrived.

A wide eyed Robert sputtered something
unintelligible, but made no attempt to escape. He started to cry
when they turned into the nearest alley where Dov braced him
against the wall and lifted him off his feet so they were eye to
eye.

“Oh Bobby, Bobby, Bobby.” Dov shook his head
in disappointment. “Will you look at that nose? Either you have
really bad allergies or you’ve been stuffing something up there
that you shouldn’t.” He suddenly let go of the now terrified man
and again shook his head sadly as the man crumpled into a sobbing
mass on the ground. “Since you like to stuff bad things up your
nose, let’s see what we can do.” He reached down and picked up a
shard of wood ripped from a packing crate or skid. “Did you know
that you can kill a person just by shoving a stick up their nose?
It’s true. Want to try it? Or,” Dov smiled as if the idea had just
occurred to him, “You could tell me what I need to know.”

Two minutes later Dov was jogging down the
street with Robert’s cell phone in his hand.

Col followed Hope at a discreet distance.
Twice, she looked back over her shoulder, but he was buried in the
shadows and hidden from her view. He thought about using his white
light, the ability born in all Guardians to move at lightning
speeds or remain invisible to humans, but decided against it. Until
you were fully matured in your strength, using white light sapped a
tremendous amount of energy; energy you might need a lot sooner
than expected. He’d learned that lesson the hard way, hard enough
to almost kill him.

Dov came running up behind him. “Hey look
what I got!”

Hope looked back, saw a man running toward
her with his fist raised, squeaked with fright and took off at a
dead run.

Col shook his head. “If brains were money,
you’d be flat broke. We’re screwed.”

“No we’re not. We just run her down.” He
stretched to look around his twin at the disappearing Hope.
“Although she’s moving pretty fast for a human. White light?”

“No.” Col pointed across the street. “We cut
through and cut her off. She’ll never know we’re there.”

They jogged down a short side street, cut
through yards and jumped a fence and ended up where Nico had
originally parked. They looked up and down the street, but she was
nowhere to be seen.

“If she was still running, she’d be here by
now. She must have figured she lost us and slowed down.”

“Ah, Col? I think something might be wrong.
Robert said he wasn’t trying to hit on her. He was trying to keep
her busy until his dealer could get in touch with whoever’s looking
for her. He doesn’t know who, but she’s worth a lot of money to
someone because the dealer promised to clear his debt if he found
her. I got the dealer’s name and the sleazebag’s phone so Nardo can
track him. What if the dealer got in touch?”

“Then we’re fucked.”

They were running now. White light took them
around the corner in time to see a guy pushing something or someone
into the open side doors of a dark van. The van began to pull away
before the doors were fully closed.

“This is gonna hurt,” Dov screamed, right
before he drove his fist through the driver’s window and grabbed
the wheel. Col hauled on the door, using the van’s forward momentum
to force it back along its track. The van careened across the road
and came to an abrupt stop when it jumped the curb and rammed into
a phone pole. The pole tilted precariously across the roof of the
van and wires sparked and sizzled as they were pulled from their
moorings. Lights flicked on in several of the surrounding
homes.

Col pulled a body from the side door and
threw it into the street, then pulled the screaming woman out. She
swung a solid fist into his face. It connected with his nose and he
felt the blood spurt.

“Goddammit, woman, we’re friends!” he
shouted, but he wasn’t sure she heard him through her panic. He
drove his shoulder into her stomach and she buckled over his
shoulder as the breath left her. He straightened with her hoisted
over his shoulder and began to run.

Everything was happening too fast. Hope had
no idea who any of these people were or what they wanted with her.
As her breath came back, she realized she was being carried by one
of the twins she’d seen in the bar. The other was pulling himself
from the van. He staggered, then righted himself and began to
follow. One of her kidnappers, lying in the middle of the road,
pulled himself up and reached into his jacket. He pulled out a gun
and pointed it at the staggering twin.

“No!” she screamed and reached out as if her
hand could stop the bullet that was sure to come.

Dov turned at her scream, heard the report of
the shot gone wild and saw the gun fly from the kidnapper’s hand.
He turned back and ran toward the shooter. A well placed kick
insured there would be no further interference. People were opening
their doors and calling for help. His arm was torn and bleeding and
he thought the door might have crushed a few ribs, but he called
the white light and blew past Col and the woman.

Col felt Hope stiffen as Dov flew by, but
there wasn’t time to explain. He could hear the approaching sirens
of emergency vehicles and they couldn’t afford to be seen. He, too,
called the white light.

Chapter 6

The service alley was neat and
well-manicured, nothing like the one behind the Guardian House on
Hayden Avenue. Dov leaned back against a dog eared privacy fence
with the hand of his good arm splayed against his injured ribs. His
breathing was heavy and he winced with each breath.

“Sorry about that. The idea was to startle
the driver, unlock the door and bring the van to a stop.”

“Who are you people?” Hope asked. She, too,
was leaning against the fence, but unlike Dov, she was pinned in an
upright position by Col’s meaty hand.

“Shit, bro, and here I thought you meant to
wake up half the block. And those electrical wires were a nice
touch. You know how I feel about electricity.”

“What are you people?”

“Fuck you. I said I was sorry. You know I’m
not good at thinking on my feet and I didn’t hear any bright ideas
coming from you?”

“How did you move so fast? What was that
bright light?”

“Dumbass.”

“Shithead.”

“Jerk wad.”

“Gentlemen, language please!” The shock was
wearing off and anger took its place.

The twins looked at her as if they’d
forgotten she was there. They looked back at each other and burst
into laughter.

“She just called us gentlemen.”

“Can we keep her, Col? Huh? Huh? Can we?”

“This may be amusing to you, but it is far
from it for me.” She slapped at Col’s hand and he released her. She
held up her finger like a parent scolding an errant child. “I have
questions and I deserve answers.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Hope almost smiled at Dov’s wide eyed
response, but she kept her face stern and her finger raised. She’d
dealt with boys like these before although the others weren’t quite
as big.

“Who are you? What are you? Who were those
men in the van and what does any of this have to do with me? And
don’t try dancing around the answers because I won’t have it.” The
pointed finger alternated between the two as she spoke.

Dov spoke rapidly. “I’m Dov. He’s Col. We’re
Paenitentia which means we’re not quite human which is why we can
do that white light thing and move really fast. We were following
you…” He saw her frown, “not like stalking or anything. We were
supposed to keep an eye on you, keep you safe, but we fucked up…”
another frown “sorry, sorry. We made a mistake and those guys came
and got you and we don’t know who they are or why they want
you.”

“Dov!”

“What?” Dov asked defensively. “Look at her.
She’s like that teacher we had, An Aldun. It doesn’t matter what we
tell her. She’s not going to believe us anyway. Besides, you’re
going to thump her and she’ll forget the whole thing and then we’ll
go home.”

“Where Nico will beat the crap out of
us.”

Dov rubbed his shoulder and bleeding arm.
“He’s too late.”

“Nico?” It couldn’t be the man she’d met the
other night. “Very kind, tall, um, long dark hair pulled back,
speaks with a slight accent.”

“Except for the kind part, that sounds like
him,” said Dov, but his eyes were on Col. “So, uh, how do you know
Nico?”

Hope flushed a deep red. “He helped me out of
some trouble a week ago.”

“And you remember it?”

“Well yes, why wouldn’t I? I may have been a
little tip… upset, but that’s no reason to forget a kindness.”

Col raised his hand in front of her face. “I
need to touch you.” She took a step back, alarmed. “No, no, nothing
bad. I just need to put my thumb on your forehead. Okay?”

She didn’t answer, but she didn’t move away.
Col centered his thumb above her nose and pressed ever so lightly.
He closed his eyes and felt the push leave him. He opened his
eyes.

“Do you remember my name?” he asked
quietly.

“You’re Col, right? And he’s Dov. I’m very
good with names.” She touched her forehead. “What did you do? Nico
did something similar the other night. It tingles.”

“Holy hellions, Batman, we’ve got us another
one.” Dov was grinning ear to ear.

“Batman?”

“Never mind. You’d have to watch a lot of
late night TV.” Col wasn’t smiling. “Hope, I think you need to come
home with us.”

“No. I’m grateful for what you did, but I
don’t know you and I’m not in the habit of going home with strange
men.”

“I think we’ve proven that we’re not out to
hurt you,” Col argued.

“Be that as it may, I wouldn’t be comfortable
sleeping in a house with two young men.”

“It’s not like we live alone,” Dov argued.
“There’s seven of us if you count Grace. She’s Canaan’s. He’s our
Liege Lord, you know, like our boss.”

“And she’s his wife?”

“Not exactly…”

“Then my point is made. I’ll sleep in my own
bed, in my own home, thank you very much.” She looked around and
pointed toward the nearer end of the alley. “Now, if I’m not very
much mistaken, I need to go about a block and a half that way.”

Dov raised his good arm to Col and moaned
with pain. “Help me up, bro; I don’t think I can make it on my
own.”

“What a wimp,” said Col as he hoisted Dov to
his feet.

“What’s wrong?” Hope asked at the same time.
She peered more closely. Between her initial fear and the darkness,
she hadn’t seen the blood. “Oh heavens, you’re injured. We’ve been
standing here blathering while the poor man’s in pain.” She knelt
beside him to examine his wounds. “He needs a doctor. We need to
call an ambulance. And the police.”

Dov answered Hope with another moan. “Please.
No police. Too many questions we can’t answer. No doctor. No
ambulance. I’ll be all right,” he breathed, gasping for air. “My
arm’s torn up and I broke a few ribs when the van hit me. Oh,” he
groaned and grabbed his arm.

Col rolled his eyes. Paenitentia healed
quickly. The cuts would be healed by the following night and the
ribs in two or three days.

“He’s… OW!” Col grabbed his leg where Dov had
kicked him. Dov turned his back to Hope and winked broadly at his
twin. “Oh,” said Col, catching on, “He needs a place to rest,
that’s all. I’ll never get him home in this condition.”

Hope made the decision. They had rescued her
and Dov was suffering for it. An injured man was different from a
single man. “Can he make it to my house?”

*****