Guardian's Joy #3 (11 page)

JJ rolled her eyes, but when she realized
Nardo wasn’t giving in, she opened her mouth and accepted the
spoon. She decided she was too hungry to argue.

Nardo noticed the change and smiled inwardly.
His wild little filly had just taken the first step toward being
tamed. He wasn’t sure when he decided she was his. Maybe it was the
first moment he saw her. It didn’t make any sense, but there it
was. She was his and he would do whatever he needed to convince her
of the fact. But first, she had to learn to trust his judgment. He
set the spoon in the bowl, picked up the napkin and gently wiped a
drip from the corner of her mouth. She jumped.

“Still sore?” he asked even though he knew it
wasn’t her tender lips that made her uneasy. He continued the
gentle dabs across her lower lip. “I’ll get something for that as
soon as you’ve finished your lunch.”

The soup was finished. She wanted more, but
she was ashamed to ask. People thought, because of her thinness,
that her appetite was small when, in fact, it was the opposite. The
male cops thought she only ate like a horse when they were around
to prove she could compete with them at the table as well as out in
the field and so to avoid bad feelings, she rarely ate in their
company. Women were worse. Some seemed to think she was rubbing
their noses in the fact that she could eat what they could not and
never gain an ounce. Others made sly comments about bulimia and
tape worms. Over time she learned to pick at her food in public and
eat her fill only when she was alone.

Nardo began cutting a sandwich into bite
sized pieces.

“What are you doing?”

“You’re still hungry.”

“No I’m not. Really.”

“Yes, you are. You were disappointed when the
bowl was empty and your eyes keep straying to the ham and cheese.
Now open up.” He held out a piece of sandwich and she obeyed.

“A sandwich I can eat as a lefty,” she said
once she’d swallowed.

“You need someone to take care of you,” he
said, “Besides, it makes me feel useful, so give me a break.”

JJ sighed and opened her mouth for another
bite of sandwich. It felt awkward to be cared for like this. She
wasn’t used to it and she certainly didn’t need it. Her mother’s
free and easy lifestyle had taught her independence. It was all
well and good to eat when you were hungry and sleep when you were
tired if you were an adult. It wasn’t so easy if you were a child
who couldn’t reach the peanut butter jar or had to get to school on
time in the morning. JJ had learned early on that it was best to
take care of yourself. Her mother loved her, but tended to treat
her like a miniature adult and the men who passed fairly regularly
through her childhood were never there long enough to be relied
on.

She’d spent most of her adult life training
her body to be as tough as any man’s and generally, that’s the way
she was treated. She was tough and needed no pampering. Nardo
insisted on treating her like some delicate, fragile creature. It
couldn’t be her looks. On her good days, her looks were passable at
best. Today, well, she didn’t need a mirror to know what she looked
like.

“Why?” she asked aloud, “Why are you doing
this?”

He popped another bite of sandwich into her
mouth and took a bite of his own before answering. He didn’t want
to lie, but he didn’t want to frighten her either.

“You’re my responsibility.”

“Oh,” she said and was a little surprised at
her disappointment. “You mean this.” She showed him her hands. “It
wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know who I was, what I was.”

“But I should have,” he said cryptically.

Nardo stacked the dishes neatly on the tray.
He picked up his chair and carried it back to its original place.
Then he lifted her into his arms and carried her upstairs.

She kept her body relaxed and pretended she
didn’t feel the warmth of his body, the strips of heat from his
arms at her shoulders and knees. She forced her breathing into a
slow and steady in and out and she made sure she didn’t swallow too
deeply. She didn’t care if he thought she was sexually interested.
It didn’t matter what he thought as long as he didn’t recognize her
terror at being held like this.

“Hey,” he laughed, “Relax. I won’t bite.”

JJ’s eyes widened, her mouth opened and her
breath stopped. She slammed her hands against his chest. Nardo
didn’t move, but the force of her hands against him sent her
crashing to the floor. She scrambled backwards until her back hit
the wall, all pretense of control gone along with all rational
thought. There was only a frenzied whisper in her mind. “
Help
me! Help me!”

“Joy, look at me.”

The voice was calm, reasonable, but she
couldn’t take her eyes from the floor. She felt a thumb and finger
on either side of her jaw. It forced her chin up, but her eyes
remained cast down and she stared at the wavering lines between the
narrow oak planks of the floor.

“Joy.” The voice was firmer now. “Look. At.
Me.”

Soft hazel eyes met hers. They crinkled at
the corners.

“That-a-girl,” Nardo said quietly, “Now
breathe. With me.”

She hadn’t known she was gulping air again
until he made her slow to match his deep and even breathing. He
released her chin and slid his hand along her cheek. She leaned
into it and then froze and felt a flush rise to her cheeks, more
embarrassed by this show of weakness than she’d been by her near
hysteria.

“Poor Joy,” he whispered. His hand stayed at
her cheek as the rough pad of his thumb traced her lower lip. “What
did that bastard do to you?”

She couldn’t answer because she didn’t know.
She picked herself up unsteadily and let him help her to the
room.

Chapter 12

Dov hated patrolling in the winter. The
summer heat sometimes brought in demons at a rate of two or three a
week. Every summer night held the possibility of a battle. Late
December? Not so much. Nardo got the last one and they might not
see another until January. Canaan insisted they patrol anyway.
Maybe he could talk Nico into taking a buzz by the skating rink
behind City Hall. They officially closed at ten, but there were
always a few who stayed late. And some of those girls with their
short floaty skirts? Hot damn!

Shoulders hunched, hands shoved deep in the
pockets of his leather bomber jacket, Dov trudged beside Nico
through the streets of the city center. The sidewalk was covered
with a thin film of ice. Snowmelt from the slightly warmer
afternoon sun had refrozen with the setting sun. He took three
running steps and slid the next twenty feet, catching himself on a
streetlight designed to look like a nineteenth century gaslight.
Nico frowned.

“Aw, come on, Nico. Didn’t you ever slide on
the ice when you were a kid?” Dov liked Nico, respected him,
admired him even, but damn, all-business-all-the-time was
borrrring. “Try it. Just once. I dare you.”

Nico shrugged once, looked back over his
shoulder to make sure no one was watching, took a few quick steps
and slid. The smooth soles of his Italian leather boots were
perfect for the sport and he sped by Dov’s lamppost. The mailbox on
the corner saved him from ski jumping the curb. His body stopped
before his feet did.

Dov ran, flat footed, to catch up. He was
laughing at the surprised look on Nico’s face and was about to
shout his enthusiasm when Nico’s hand came up to stop him. The
Guardian’s head cocked to the left, listening. He closed his eyes
and inhaled deeply through his nose. The hand saying stop now
signaled off to the right toward City Hall and the ice rink. He’d
found a demon. When it came to scenting creatures from the
otherworld, Nico was the best.

The two took off at a run, their white light
giving them not only speed and invisibility, but sure footedness on
the icy walks. They covered the four blocks in seconds. Keeping
their white light, they halted at the edge of the rink.

In warm weather, the shallow, cement lined
pond served as a reflecting pool, skirted by a wide path for
strollers and power walkers and the occasional skateboarder who
couldn’t read the signs prohibiting it. The trees shading the
evenly spaced benches were the smaller varieties of their species,
fragrant with blossoms in spring and offering a cooling shade in
the city’s summer heat.

Now, the dark gray bones of the trees stood
in sharp contrast to the white snow and the ice glistened under the
surrounding lights. There were only a dozen or so skaters left and
the same number huddled around the two nearest benches, trading
skates for boots.

Nico and Dov scanned the area, searching for
quarry they could smell but not see. Demons could hold their human
form until they attacked. At other times, only the Daughters of Man
could see them for what they were and if Manon was right, only
those strong in their power. It was a mystery why the Guardians
were denied this advantage.

Dov pointed across the pond. “There.” Two
young women, skates thrown over their shoulders, were heading down
the path that led to the park entrance on the far side. They were
chatting animatedly to each other, completely unaware of the dark
shadow that separated from the others and followed them. “Can I
have him?” he asked.

Nico nodded. “I’ll circle around and get
between you and the women, make sure they see nothing. Make it
quick and clean.” And then he was gone.

Dov sprinted around the pond and slowed when
he came in sight of the monster. There was no doubt now. The
distinct odor of demon permeated the crisp winter air. The demon
waited until its victims were around the curve and out of sight of
the rink before it increased its speed to close the gap between
them.

Once they were beyond the sight and hearing
of those at the rink, Dov wasted no time. He used his white light
and revealed himself only when he was ahead of the demon. It was
smaller than he thought and as it revealed itself, it was nastier
looking than most.

“Hey there, ugly. Why don’t you pick on
someone your own size? Better yet, someone my size.” He wove the
spinning knife through his fingers in a move he’d been practicing
for weeks.

The demon wasn’t impressed. It flew at Dov
before the knife had completed its first circuit.

“Shit!”

The thing hit him like a cannonball. The
knife went flying as the two went rolling ass over teacup. They
rolled down the short slope to the side of the path, clinging to
each other like lovers; the demon’s claws locked into the leather
jacket protecting Dov’s chest; Dov with his arms crushing the demon
to him in a brutal bear hug.

The demon’s stubby tail whipped against Dov’s
legs, bruising his shins, but it wasn’t the tail Dov was worried
about. The creature’s jaws were right beside his ears. Its
slavering snarls echoed in his brain. It was only the pressure of
his arms that kept the demon locked over his left shoulder and
unable to sink its sharpened teeth into the young warrior’s
neck.

They stopped their tumble with Dov on the
bottom of the death grip embrace. He was larger than the demon,
outweighed it by fifty pounds, yet he couldn’t throw it off. The
thing rode him like some sci-fi cowboy.

“Roll,” Nico instructed from a few feet
away.

“Roll? Just stab the fucking thing and get it
off me!”

“Roll to the left. Use your body and its tail
to lever it from your shoulder.”

Dov did as he was told, because he had no
other choice. Fucking Nico wasn’t going to soil his fancy shoes.
The demon was listening too and struggled to correct its position,
but because of the tail, the demon couldn’t follow the roll and its
hold on Dov’s chest broke. This gave Dov the moment’s relief he
needed to gain his feet and grab the tactical knife he kept secured
at his ankle. He barely had time to draw the weapon from its sheath
before the thing was on him again, all teeth and claws.

Fuck! The thing was fast. Dov darted to the
side and lost a chunk of sleeve in the process. He circled, lunged
at the chest and caught the demon’s arm with his blade. He kept
slashing and the demon kept dodging and countering with its own
deadly claws. Dov’s jacket was in tatters, but the demon was
bleeding badly and weakening. Where the hell was Nico?

Nico watched as the demon spun away from yet
another of the trainee’s attacks. Dov finally caught it from
behind, about a dozen moves after he should have, and slit its
throat. He let the demon fall on its face and finished the job of
removing its head. Nico stepped back to avoid the blood spatter.
The boy looked at him, breathing heavily and eyes blazing with
anger.

“What the fuck was that all about? Were you
going to stand there and watch me get killed?”

“If you were killed, the fault would be
yours, not mine.” Nico had no sympathy. “You chose to be an ass and
suffered for it.” He brushed the sleeves of his leather duster and
straightened the lamb’s wool scarf wrapped around his neck and
tucked into the vee of his lapels.

“How is this my fault? I didn’t ask the
frickin’ thing to cling like a leach.” Dov watched the last of the
demon shrivel into dust. He kicked up a cloud of it. “Nasty little
fucker.”

“Yes, you did ask. You engaged it in a
face-off. You wanted to play instead of taking care of business.
You should have come up on it from behind and ended it quickly.
This is not a game, Dov ad Willem. We do not kill for fun or place
ourselves or our partners in unnecessary danger. If you don’t learn
this lesson, you will die and you will die without the black skull
upon your chest. You will never become a Guardian.”

Nico reached out his hand to pull the
red-faced trainee up the last step. “Fate took my youth. I don’t
want you to give up yours, but when it comes to this,” he gestured
to the demon remains, “You must set your youth aside and act like
the man I have seen inside you. You more than others know that
lives depend on it.” He clapped the young man on the back. “Come. I
would not have let you die, my friend. Grace and Hope would never
forgive me.”