Starbright (The Starbright Series) (4 page)

             
“Well, not entirely on your own,” a
deep, amused
voice behind the elderly man called. “You did have
some
help.”
The light had extinguished itself into its human form, and as the boy stepped around the angry man to smile disarmingly at
me, I
took another step back but this time more from surprise than anything else. The boy was perfect, physically perfect. He was
my
age, with
disheveled
dark hair that curled adorably at the ends. His eyes were a piercing shade of honey that would have glowed without his internal light, as it were though, they pierced through the night and found
my
eyes with a locking force that took
my
breath away. His jawline seemed chiseled out of stone and his broad chest still heaved with the exertion of battle.

             
There was no doubt about it, he was an
A
ngel.

             
An actual
A
ngel.

             
My Star C
ounterpart.

             
“No, not on my own, but we wouldn’t even need to be here if it weren’t for the naivety of youth,” the elderly man continued to grumble.

             
I knew I
should be offended after that comment, but
I
was so confused all
I
could do was look back and forth between the old man and the young man.

             
“Where are your parents, child?” the old man suddenly demanded.

             
“Uh, they’re uh, they’re on a mission,”
I
stammered, wondering if they would ever tell
me
who they were.
“They’ve been gone for a couple weeks.”

             
“Of course…. Then this was a thought-out attack. They have been planning this….” He continued to mumble.

             
“Please tell me who you are,”
I dropped my
voice to hide
my
desperation.

             
“Oh right, I suppose it’s too late now to go back….” The elderly man turned his full attention on
me and for the first time I
noticed the color of his eyes were a dull red, as if they had shined like rubies at one time but
were
worn down with age
or exhaustion,
I
wasn’t sure
. “I’m Jupiter, your weapons trainer, and this is Seth. He’s your
C
ounterpart. You obviously weren’t supposed to meet for years yet, but tonight you decided to push up our schedule.”

             
“I didn’t mean to!” I
gushed, suddenly feeling very guilty for saving
my
own life. “They attacked
me
. T
hey came out of nowhere and they just….
g
anged up on me as if
they were
waiting for me to do something! I honestly, I didn’t have a choice.”

             
“Then they must have known already,”
Jupiter sighed and then lifted
his hands to massage
his temples with surprisingly delicate fingers.

             
“That’s what I thought,”
I
agreed, finally feeling as though
I
had been heard. “But wait a second, why are you here? Where is the
P
rotector? Why isn’t she here to save me?” Realization flooded
my
thoughts with questions that
I
should have been asking from the beginning.

             
“You are the Protector, Stella,” Seth answered gently.

             
I
opened
my
mouth to argue but Jupiter cut in quickly, “Sidra is dead. We found her earlier this evening. She….
s
he was murdered.”

             
“And her
C
ounterpart?”
I
gasped, not able to
completely
comprehend the gravity of what they were saying.

             
“Nisroc was murdered right along with her,” Jupiter
replied
in a barely audible voice.

             
“So that really does make me….”
I
couldn’t finish
my
thought.
I
could barely hear them anymore as the
world seemed to close in around
me and my heart pounded out a deafening beat that heated my eardrums and seemed to shrink my lungs
.

             
“The Protector of Earth,” Jupiter finished gravely.

Chapter Two

             
I
stumbled backwards and bumped into
my
ruined
J
eep. Suddenly the effort to stand felt too strenuous and
I
began to sink down to the frozen ground, wondering if
I
w
ould ever find the strength to stand again.

             
Before
I
could make it all the way down, Seth grabbed for
my
arm and stead
ied
me
. His hands were
solid
against
me and I
felt
the
warmth of his inner light radiating through
my
thick coat.
I looked up at him, studying his muscular jaw and angular cheek bones, instinctively leaning in to feel the heat of his light.
His eyes were wide and piercing, the concern he felt for
me shooting
through the darkness and penetrating
my
own consciousness.

             
We
were partners. Counterparts. He was the
W
arrior and
I was
the
P
rotector.
We
would spend the rest of
our
lives together, side by side
, good versus evil, fighting for the lives of the entire human race.
A
nd yet
we
weren’t supposed to meet this young.

             
This responsibility wasn’t supposed to belong to
me
yet.

             
“Well, stand up girl!” Jupiter demanded. “We can’t have the Star of Earth cowering on the ground! There are spies everywhere; it is time to claim your destiny!” This time when Jupiter spoke there was a gleam in his eye, a glint of excitement that
I
found aggressive
,
almost dangerous.

             
I
felt
my
self weaken again at the call to
my
fate.
I
had known since childhood that one day
I
would inherit this planet and yet now that
I
faced the reality of
my
call,
I
couldn’t help but convince
my
self how ill-prepared
I
was.
My
parents had trained
me
in many ways, but the important stuff, the practical training had been pushed
to a later date
in favor of high school.

“
You can ignore all that destiny stuff if you want to,” Seth laughed quietly into
my
ear
, the low timber of his voice vibrating against my earlobe
. “But
it only gets worse with time;
it’s best just to agree with him.”

“Right,”
I
agreed, feeling only half awake. “I mean, of course. This is the day I’ve been training for.”

“Training? Ha!” Jupiter exclaimed. “From the little stunt you pulled tonight, it doesn’t look like you’ve been doing much training at all! Where are your weapons? Why didn’t you at least use a sword?”

“Um….”
I
knew there would be no getting around the truth of
my
weapons experience, or lack of weapons experience, still
I
couldn’t help but be nervous
for
Jupiter’s reaction. “I don’t have any weapons with me,”
I
improvised.

“Well, why not?” Jupiter howled.

“Because, I
didn’t think I would need them…
?
”
I
finished meekly, ending
my
sentence as if it were a question.
             

Seth let out a chuckle next to
me
. He looked down at
me as if I w
as
a
fragile teenager and
I felt
something
grow between us. Something I
couldn’t yet define. Wisps of
my
golden blonde hair escaped from
my
bulky stocking cap and moved
gently in the wind as if defy
ing the angry cold night
, they blew across my face, tickling my nose
.
I
stared
at
Seth
, silently asking him
to
defend
me
from the wild man spitting unjust accusations at
me
even though
I
knew Jupiter meant no harm
. I saw him respond, watched as his eyes changed from sympathy to determination, I felt
his protectiveness over me grow
into something anyone should be scared of, including
H
ell itself.

There wasn’t love between
us
.
Obviously we had just met
. But he was
my
C
ounterpart and whether it was a supernatural calling to stand beside
me
and
guard
me
from the evil of this life, or if it was his own attraction to
our supernatural bond,
something so beautiful, so pure,
I
couldn’t tell. But
I
felt the roots
of
his
protection
firmly make a home inside
my
heart. Roots that neither Heaven nor H
ell could remove.

“You didn’t think you would need them?” Jupiter spat, hardly comprehending the meaning of
my
words. “Of course you need weapons! You
always
need weapons! Surely your parents have gone over that with you.”

             
“Well, not exactly….”
I
started, more afraid of Jupiter than ever.
I
felt
my
self lean into Seth for
security
.
I
knew he
was
my
destined partner, the one that would
stand by
me
in battle, his very life devoted to keeping
me
safe
.
I
hoped that included
keeping me safe from
Jupiter,
my
weapons trainer. “We haven’t actually gotten to weapons yet….”

             
“You haven’t what?” Jupiter shouted in a harsh whisper. “No wonder you lit up like a
lantern! Oh
,
Callisto, this cannot be happening to me!”

             
“Callisto?”
I
repeated and then turned
my
questioning
gaze
to Seth.

             
“It’s one of Jupiter’s moons,” Seth explained in a calm whisper.

             
“He has his own moons?”
I
gasped.

             
“No, Jupiter, like the planet Jupiter,” Seth laughed at
me
again.
I blushed at my own naivety
.

             
“Oh….”
I
sighed and then turned
my
attention back to the person Jupiter who had started to pace frantically.