Authors: Ashley Robertson
UnGuarded (17 page)
All eyes were on me again, and the shorter
vampire repeated, “How is it possible that you love a vampire?”
“I don’t know why I love him, if that’s what
you’re asking.” I shrugged my shoulders. “We don’t choose love, it
chooses us.”
“But you’re an angel. How can you, an angel,
love one of us?” The short vampire stretched his arms, waving at
everyone else in the room.
I stepped forward, taking a deep breath. “It
is forbidden, and I have paid the price for loving him.”
Luke stepped up beside me and tugged his
hand away. There was something harder about him now. “Dustan, I
don’t see how your question pertains to anything. If you have any
real questions, then ask them now.”
Dustan’s head cocked to the side. “How can
you say that? I think it’s very important to know why an angel of
the light is helping a vampire of the dark. We are all risking our
lives for this!”
“No!” Luke exclaimed, pointing his finger at
Dustan. “None of you would be alive if it weren’t for Huron!”
Luke’s finger swung side to side, pointing at every single being in
the room. “Let us remember that when we go to war tonight. You owe
it to Huron to give this battle everything you’ve got.”
Annabel stepped forward, her eyes flaring
the deepest blue I’d ever seen. “But what does Huron owe this
angel? Why would he cash in our debt to help
her
?”
“That’s none of your business!” Huron came
in and stood beside me. His black hair was pulled back into a long
twisting braid. “If you have a problem fighting tonight, then leave
now!”
An eerie silence spread throughout the room,
then Argon said, “We are all here to stand and fight. There is no
trouble. Forgive us.”
Huron smiled. “Good.” He looked over at
Luke. “Are there any other details we need to go over before
leaving?”
“Yes.” My voice was calm but stern. “I can
give us the upper hand by weakening the enemy with my light.”
“Your light will blind all of us! And we’ll
all be destroyed!” That came from a very angry-looking Grote. A
little melodramatic, are we? But with his comment, a hushed
commotion spread throughout the room. All the vampires looked
unsettled, anxious bickering rolling from their tongues.
“That’s not true.” I was trying my best to
stay calm, but Grote was really pissing me off. “To keep your
presence hidden, I am masking your auras. But this will also allow
you to be in the light for a brief time.”
“How can that be?” Annabel’s face softened,
her head tilting slightly to the side.
Grote let out a deep growl. “Her light will
destroy us all!”
“Silence!” Argon swung around, glaring at
Grote, then flashed his fangs at everyone else in the room.
I locked eyes with Argon, nodding my thanks.
“I give my word that all of you will be safe from my light as long
as you are standing by me. If you become a threat, I cannot promise
your safety any longer.”
“What she means,” Luke explained, “is that
if you turn on her and start fighting with the enemies, your light
pass will be expired. Got it?” He looked around, making sure
everyone understood. Their widened eyes and bobbing heads were a
great clue that they did.
“And one more thing,” I added. “My
orbing—”
Luke grabbed my hand, squeezing
uncomfortably, and I stared. Something flashed across his eyes,
warning me to keep silent. I inclined my head, letting him know I
understood. Luke glared around the room, then said, “Angel will be
orbing us to Charon about thirty minutes early so we can all safely
get to our posts. There is an enormous boulder to the north of our
landing point. You can’t miss it. All of you are to head straight
there and take cover. I’ll be helping Angel get into position and
then I’ll come join you.”
Smart move, Luke! He knew I’d need time to
recover from orbing, and he obviously didn’t want anyone here to
know about my little issue. Especially with Annabel hot on my tail,
so to speak. In my haste to get on with things, I’d almost shared a
fatal weakness with every single dark one in this room. Sure, they
were helping tonight, but after that, all bets were off. Thank God
Luke had cut me off. I felt my emotions get tangled in my chest,
and all I could do was squeeze Luke’s hand, hopefully letting him
know how much I appreciated what he’d done.
“When do we attack?” asked Dustan.
“When I give the signal,” Luke replied.
“Listen up, everyone.” Huron bellowed like a
commander in the military. “Luke is in charge. Do exactly what he
says. If anyone screws up, then your debt ain’t paid and you still
owe me. Those who listen and
succeed
are free of my claim to
them. Now let me know you all understand what I’m saying.”
A dozen heads were nodding, even the two
demons in creature form. My mind was reeling, wondering what in the
worlds Luke had done for Huron to earn the debts that all those
dark ones owed, not to Luke, but to Huron. Luke had told me that I
didn’t want to know why Huron owed him, and at that time I’d
thought the less I knew the better. But now my curiosity was
burning a hole in my mind, making me feel I couldn’t live without
knowing the details. It wasn’t a good time to bring this up,
though, so I shrugged it off the best I could, storing it in the
back of my mind for later. Hopefully, once I got Cole back, I
wouldn’t want to know anymore. Hopefully. But I was starting to
doubt my ability to say good-bye to Luke once that time really
came.
I WAS SECURELY TUCKED INSIDE a firm, chilly
grasp while gazing intently at familiar grayish-blue eyes. Darkness
surrounded me, thick and suffocating, with foggy light gleaming
from a few distant stars. The eerie silence was steadily
interrupted by the sound of waves crashing on a nearby shore. It
didn’t occur to me to freak out, mostly because I felt comfortable
with this beautiful, familiar stranger. His fingertips stroked my
cheek, gentle and slow, fending off remnant traces of anxiety.
“Angel, are you with me?” He ran his fingers
through my hair, finding a few tangled spots but kept tugging
through them. “We only have a few minutes, and if that demon shows
up early—”
My breath caught as I pulled myself up,
using his neck as support. “Luke. Where’s everyone else? Did they
make it okay?”
He helped me stand, keeping his arm around
my back. “Yes. They’re in position. Are you ready?”
I gave a slow nod. “I recognized you…knew
you wouldn’t harm me.” I shrugged, stepping out of Luke’s embrace
to face him. “I couldn’t remember your name, but yet I knew who you
were. That’s never happened before.”
“Maybe you’re already getting some of your
powers back?” he suggested, then switched back to the task at hand.
“What will you use as a signal for us to attack?”
“My light.” Then I added, “You won’t be able
to miss it.”
In a whir a motion, Luke’s lips brushed my
cheek, and then he was gone, presumably behind the oversized rock
where I sensed the masked essence of my makeshift army. My thoughts
were heavy, my anxiety back in full force. There was the
overwhelming realization that I was moments away from getting Cole
back. Cole. Oh God, please let him be okay…and in one piece.
Once I removed the mask from my aura, it was
a “hurry up and wait” situation. Silence filled the air, nipping
through my skin, prickling against bone. Unease slithered up my
spine, clenching at the base of my neck, squeezing, taunting. But
thankfully, Limos didn’t take long. All of a sudden, orange smoke
churned the air about ten feet away from me. My body tensed as I
waited for the demon to materialize. At last, he stood in front of
me. His eyes flared red as the trails of smoke faded. “Selene.” His
voice made me shudder. He pulled his cloak’s hood back, folding it
behind him. There was a gray flakiness to his skin, and his eyes
seemed to gleam a brighter crimson.
“Where’s Cole?” Need I say more?
He clapped his hands together, rubbing them,
his claws scraping with the friction. “Straight to the point, I
see.” It didn’t sound like a question. “So be it.” He stretched his
arms, hands rising toward the sky, then started chanting: “Om-ma,
de-le vicci, losa duro mia…”
I glanced around, anticipating the soon
arrival of his summoned minions. They didn’t keep me waiting long.
After numerous puffs of more orange smoke billowing in the area
behind Limos, several demons appeared. Some were in human form;
others ranged from mutated tigers or jaguars—to bull
looking-thingies with too many horns—to some kind of oversized
dinosaur-bird creature. I counted about twenty of them, including
Limos. One of the human-looking demons with dark flowing hair and
obsidian eyes approached, dragging something heavy with silver
chains behind him.
Cole. His name shivered through me the
minute I picked up his essence. He was barely alive, if that’s what
you could even call it. Anger seized me, instantly filling me with
more rage and vengeance than I’d ever felt before. Light burst from
me as if my whole body were a flamethrower. In unison, all the
demons cowered back—except for one. Limos stood his ground, not
even shielding his eyes. His laugh came out loud and sinister, then
he roared, “Backing out on our deal so soon, my child?” He lunged
forward, crashing into me, and rode me to the ground. I broke his
fall, knocking the air from my lungs, but a new surge of rage
flowed through me.
“Now!” I screamed, refocusing everything
inside me on the light. It blasted brighter, radiating neon
yellows, sparkling whites….
Limos struck me across the face, and I saw
starbursts in my mind. “You’re outnumbered. Concede to me now, or
die.”
“You may be able to touch me,” I said, my
teeth grinding together, “but you cannot kill me.” I swung
sideways, throwing Limos off.
I glanced around and saw Luke and the
mini-army fighting all those demons with everything they had. The
jaguar thingy was knocking Annabel around, but then Dustan came to
her aid and twisted its head off, a killing blow since vamps were
the only creatures I knew of that could actually kill other dark
ones without permission. Argon was wrestling with one of the
human-looking demons, and I started to search for Luke when my
senses told me to turn around—which I did just as Limos was
charging straight at me. His hand slashed out, claws ripping into
my face. I cried out, jumping back, then sprang up in the air, my
fist crashing into Limos’ head as I landed. He sidestepped, then
swung at me again, but this time I felt a rush of wind as he just
missed. His eyes glared, his face seething with fury. “You’re mine!
Or no one’s!” In a rush, he was on me; I never had time to get out
of his way. His massive body towered over me, long arms stretched
around me in what felt like a bear hug, but when he squeezed
tighter, I knew he wasn’t hugging me—he was trying to crush my
insides.
I tried to get away, but my consciousness
was starting to waver. And since that had never happened to me
before while fighting a demon, I had no idea what to do. My light
had always been enough to handle any of the dark ones, but now,
because I’d let Limos touch me, he seemed to be immune. But what
could a demon really do to me? I needed to shift back to my angel
form, but I couldn’t concentrate on any one thing long enough to do
it. My breathing grew shorter and shorter, and I felt my light
getting duller, dimmer. Soon, it wouldn’t be enough to hold back
Limos’ minions, and that would put my allies at risk. My spine iced
with violent chills as my head throbbed with panic…and the
possibility of failing.
Soon after that, blackness took me.
“Angel,” came a cool, soothing voice.
My eyes shot open as I turned over, then
started coughing up blood. Stabbing pain shot through me each time
I hacked, and my insides felt like mush.
“Are you okay? What’s happening to you?”
Luke asked. He hovered over me, looking confused and afraid.
I rolled on my side, then pushed up. Sharp
pain shot through my left side and I instantly fell back down. “I
don’t…I don’t know. I couldn’t shift into angel form. That’s never
happened before.”
Luke gave me a hard, penetrating gaze. “Will
you be able to get us back home?”
“Where’s Limos?” my voice laced with
anxiety. “Where’s his army?”
“They’re dead—all of them. We lost a couple
of our vampires and one of the demons.”
“Demon?” Please let it be Grote.
“Yeah, the wicked-looking caterpillar.”
Brief disappointment, then, “Cole! Where’s
Cole?”
Luke looked behind him, then back at me.
“He’s over there, in pretty bad shape. Worse than you.”
“Take me to him”—my words short and
breathless. “Round up everyone who’s left and gather around
me.”
He nodded once and scooped me up in his
arms. My head rested against his shoulder, my whole body throbbing
each time he stepped. “Will taking my blood help you heal?” his low
voice rumbled.
“No, I don’t…” But I’d never tried it
before, so how would I
really
know? I’d always believed
vampire blood to be poisonous to angels, but I never got sick when
Luke had tried giving me his blood before. Would it help me? I
didn’t know. All I knew was that I sure needed something, and I
needed it now. Otherwise, our trip back to Earth might be
postponed. “Can we try?” My question seemed to take him by
surprise, because his grip tightened. “Ouch!”
“Oh sorry, I just…wasn’t expecting you to
say that.”
“Is there any way to keep this private?” The
thought of drinking another vampire’s blood with Cole lying right
there seemed dirty and wrong, plus I didn’t need the other vamps
and demons getting any ideas.
A whoosh of air, then Luke set me down in
front of a small outcropping of oddly shaped rocks. I could see the
rest of our allies standing around a hump of silver chains, keeping
a short, safe distance. Cole. He was chained in silver, and God
only knew what his condition really was. “Is he conscious?” A huge
part of me hoped he wasn’t.
Luke shook his head, then raised his wrist
to his mouth, ripping the skin open with his fangs. He placed the
bleeding wound in front of my mouth, and when I hesitated, he
encouraged, “Go on, before it heals.”
Luke’s blood flowed in tangy, molten globs
down my throat. Hundreds of years of my life, countless memories
with my charges long before Caitlyn was ever born, flashed inside
my mind. Some had died due to disease and famine, some lost their
lives to war, and then there were a few that lived their lives to
the very end—until old age claimed them. Of all of them, there was
never a death where the blame lay fully on my shoulders. Accepting
this was difficult, but it was the truth, and I couldn’t let her
die because of me. Any doubt I had about giving my life for hers
had just been brought front and center in my mind, and guilt seemed
to drive the undisputable answer on home—though I’d wait to make
the final decision once I was in a little better shape.
My thoughts were shaken as Luke pulled me
off his wrist. “You can’t take any more without seriously wounding
me.”
I sat back, wiping the blood from my lips
with my fingers. Surprisingly, I felt better…much, much better. A
wave of elation washed over me, and all the edginess was gone. My
body felt stronger, and it wasn’t hurting that bad anymore either.
Ripples of electricity seemed to flow through my veins, sending
shockwaves across my skin. I could feel Luke’s desire for me—more
intensely than I’d ever felt—and my ability to sense things seemed
heightened too. Feeling overconfident, I tried standing, but my
legs gave out and I fell—though Luke was right there, arm stretched
around me, holding me up. “Thanks,” I said.
His mouth quirked. “I see you’re feeling
better.”
I beamed at him, amazed at how good I really
felt. “I never knew this was possible.”
“Glad to know I made you feel better.” A
pressure thickened in my chest. Luke swooped me up in his arms and
headed toward the others. His steps weren’t torturous anymore, and
it felt like my insides were mending. My cracked bones seemed solid
and unbroken, and it was easier to breathe, even with the tight
chest. Soon, I’d be walking on my own again.
Once we arrived where the others stood, Luke
set me down—very hesitantly. I could feel jealousy swell up inside
him, and as I looked over, I understood. Cole. I crawled the short
distance separating us, my body sinking in the soft, grainy sand, a
few sharp rocks digging into my shins through my jeans. There were
concerns and questions coming from what was left of our army, but
their words faded in and out.
Luke’s aura hardened the moment I reached my
vampire lover. Cole’s face was dirty and smeared with blood,
leaving him almost unrecognizable. I touched his cheek, gently
stroking his dry, cracked lips. “Cole”—my voice was a whisper as I
looked down at the rest of him. His body seemed crushed beneath the
silver chains—bruised, bloody, and with numerous broken bones.
Tears sprang into my eyes and my throat constricted. I stared at
his face, voice soft and begging, “Baby, wake up. You’re safe
now.”
With no response, I flashed angry eyes at
everyone around me. “Help me get him out of these!” I grabbed at
the chains, pulling and yanking, needing a little more strength to
get them off.
All eyes widened. Argon took a small step
forward. “We can’t touch those. They’re made of silver.”
I’d forgotten all about that tiny little
detail. Silver was toxic to vampires, even though alone, it
wouldn’t be enough to kill them. Then I had another idea and waved
my hand at Grote. “Get over here and help me take these off
him.”
“But we’re ready to go home,” came a
high-pitched whining voice. I glanced over to find it belonged to
Annabel.
“We’re not going anywhere until these chains
are off!” was my icy reply, and it seemed to get some action. Both
Annabel and Argon flashed warning looks at Grote, making his
twisted smile fade. He approached, knelt down beside me, and helped
me get the chains off without one single word. Smart demon.
Once we were done, Grote carried the chains
a few yards away. Upon his return, I motioned for everyone else to
approach. Cole would need days to recover, and God only knew how
much blood, but I could sense that his death was no longer a worry.
I still couldn’t get up on my own, so I stayed on the ground next
to Cole. Annabel bounced forward, taking my hand, while my other
one remained on Cole’s chest. The rest of the vampires grabbed onto
each other, and Argon connected our chain by taking hold of
Annabel. Luke was toward the back, searing with jealousy and
keeping some distance between us.
Solving one problem, only to
create another
, I thought, then closed my eyes and focused on
home…sweet…home.