The Guardian's, Book One, Chapter Six

                                                            Chapter Six



      “He won’t budge. Says he’s not leaving her side,” Raj said, referring to Michael, as they headed to the office Gaden and her brother were still in with Blyth.

Gareth grunted, bewildered by his brother’s behavior. He wondered where the strange bond between his twin and the healer had come from. It had been so sudden, but so bright to him. Now, though, he just wanted them both healthy and back on their feet. Thankfully, Holden, who had some medical training from his mother, was watching over them both in the guest room.

      When they walked into the space Gareth had claimed for his own, he was mildly surprised to find that Gaden’s brother was sitting up on the couch, bent with his head in his hands. He looked so thin it was ridiculous. Gareth wasn’t sure how he’d survived, being undernourished to this painful point. Gaden quickly crossed over to them, worry radiating out of her like heat from a heater.

      “He just woke up,” she told them quietly in her whispery voice.

      “Good,” Gareth replied without meeting her eyes. “We have some question for him.” He said and strode past her, sitting on the opposite couch. Directing his voice at Gaden’s brother, his first question was,

      “What’s your name, son?”

      He didn’t get his response immediately, so he waited patiently. Finally, as the silence stretched on, he looked up and met Gareth’s eyes. The black had faded from his eyes and was replaced with a mellow green, softer than Gaden’s emeralds. He decided if his face wasn’t so sickly they would look alike with their jet black hair and strong, chiseled features.

      “Rylan,” the man said hoarsely, “It’s Rylan Rawley.” He suddenly smiled, a mischievous grin that stretched across his face, lighting it up and making it seem much younger. He chuckled a little. “It’s been so long since I’ve used it, I almost forgot.” The dark undercurrent in his voice wasn’t lost to Gareth.

      “We’ll you don’t have to worry anymore, Rylan. You’re safe here with us. I need to ask you some questions, though; if you think you’re up to it.” Gareth said, and Rylan slowly nodded.

      “Do you know who your captor was?”

      “The Kerrin,” Rylan answered in a cold, hard voice that could make the sun shiver. “Some kind of demon sorcerer. She had a human nurse take care of me until she needed me, then she brought out the collar and put me in that cellar. I can’t remember everything, but the things she made me do…” his voice trailed off. Gareth had to throw up a quick mental block to keep from being overwhelmed by the pain in the man’s heart.

      “What did she make you do, Rylan?” Gareth prodded because he needed to, but it killed him. Rylan had been through so much, he hated to make him talk about it. But the people in this house were his responsibility and he needed to know.

      Silent tears leaked down Rylan’s face. When he spoke, his voice was quite and broken, and Gareth’s heart went out to him.

      “The women. I killed so many. There was no way I could stop it, couldn’t stop her. They were so young, so innocent…”

      “It’s alright,” Gaden said, sitting beside her brother, taking his hand in her own. He snatched his hand out of hers and clasped his together, as if he couldn’t bear being touched. Looking stricken, Gaden stood and put some distance between them, giving Rylan his space if he didn’t want her attempted comfort.

      “No, it’s not. She put their hearts in jars to keep them, has them lined up on a shelf, like prizes. She plans on using them to do something big. She’s going to set something free. I heard her and some other thing down there talking about a poem all the time. It was about whatever she was doing, about me.”

      “Do you remember the poem?” Raj asked him, suddenly seeming to come to attention, nothing distant or nonchalant about his expression now. He was all serious.

In that chilling cold, hard voice, Rylan recited,



“Love will fall,

And Love’s own will break.

The first pure heart of a hundred he’ll take.



The song of Truth will unleash,

The Angel Slayer demon beast.



The Earth Angel’s blood will spill,

Light will bend to the Dark One’s will.



The Earth will birth its own end,

The Founder of Evil, the Father of Sins.



But when all else seems to fail,

The love of creation and destruction will prevail



Love and Earth’s vessels must open to all

To become the swords that bring the Dark One’s fall.”



      Gareth was left speechless. At least that was one mystery solved. Rylan, under the control of something called The Kerrin, had been the one to kill all those women. At least they had a name. Eleven poor, unlucky, young women. And that poem sounded suspiciously like a prophecy to him.  But what did it mean?

      “Alright, thanks, Rylan. We’ll let you rest now.” Gareth said, standing. As he left, Raj followed him. Once out the door, Gareth turned to Raj.

      “I want you to find out what that prophecy means. And let me know if you have any others ‘dreams’ about him. I’m going to put Logan in charge of keeping an eye on Rylan. We can’t trust him until we’re sure how he is involved. I’m going to ask Blyth to ask around about the prophecy and The Kerrin, see what he can find out, too. She may come after him, so we need to be ready. I have a bad feeling about all this,”

      “Me, too, man,” Raj agreed. “And I’m on it.” He started to walk off, but stopped short, adding, ‘Tell Blyth to be discreet, at least until we know what we’re dealing with.”

      Gareth nodded and Raj was off, purpose in his quick steps. Alone now, Gareth was left to the thoughts racing in his mind. Deciding he needed some air, to help him think, Gareth made his way to the back of the house. He had had a stairway and a door installed when he’d first moved in, so that he had access to the roof.

      The night sky was cloudless, allowing the moon and stars free reign to shin brightly. He walked to the edge, enjoying the warm caress of the L.A. summer breeze. Since the mansion was pretty much on top of a hill, he could see the lights that lit up L.A. at night like the stars lit the sky.

      The silence only lasted for about five minutes before it was broken by the roof door opening. He didn’t need to turn to see who it was, the nervousness spoke for itself. Gaden had finally come to speak to him.

      He kept his back turned, gazing out over the L.A. lights, and waited for her to speak, knowing he would lose it if he started the conversation. She stopped a short distance from him, also taking in the view. When she finally spoke, it was in the low, whispery voice he was so familiar with.

      “I should have told you, Gareth. I was wrong,” she said, echoing Michael. Her voice seemed so loud in the silent night around them.

      “Then why didn’t you?” he asked, keeping his tone cautiously even and calm while he still could. But he could already feel the anger bubbling up.

      “I-I thought I could handle it without putting anyone else in danger. I had no clue if Rylan was even real, just Gabriel’s word. It could have been a trap for all I knew. We’ve always known what we were going into when we fight, but I knew next to nothing. I didn’t want to lead you all into something blind.” She replied, the words rushing out.

      Gareth spun around, finally looking at her. His face was alive with rage, his livid blue eyes boring down on her, piercing her through to the heart. Pain rode alongside the rage in his eyes as he said,

      “You thought? I think that may be the one thing you didn’t do! I put my life on the line for people I don’t know every day; do you think I wouldn’t do the same for you in a heartbeat? I raised you, Gaden Rawley, and I think it’s time you realized that you mean something to me and the people in this house. We’re a family, rather you want to admit it or not, and family takes care of family.” He paused for a moment. Gaden opened her mouth, but he cut her off, the anger building in his voice as he spoke.

      “Damnit, I’m not done. I sat here for two weeks. Two weeks, Gaden, without any word from you! Any clue the kind of thoughts I had? ‘What if she’s been killed?’ I asked myself over and over. Or caught and tortured for information? You know as well as me that there are a lot of demons out there who’d loved a chance to torture you and get info on the Guardian’s location. What if someone had caught you, Gaden? You didn’t just put yourself at risk, but all of us.” By the time he paused again, he was shouting, needed to release the fear he’d lived with for those two weeks, and the anger at what she’d done.

      Suddenly, Gaden launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around him like she used to do when he would return from a battle when she was young. Feeling all the tension, fear, and anger drain from him, he hugged her back fiercely.

      “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” she said, the tears she tried to hide clear in her voice. The emotions he got from her were so jumbled and confused he could barely read them. He kept his arms around her, comforting her as she cried out the stress she had been carrying around for weeks, rubbing his hands in gentle, soothing circles on her back. He had only seen Gaden cry a handful of times, even as a child she had been strong, so that she was breaking down now let him know how truly upset she was. “Can you forgive me?” she asked him, holding on tightly as if he would leave if she let him go.

      He took her arms and moved her away from him so he could see her face, which was blotchy and red from the tears. As he looked, he saw the stubborn little girl, with crooked piggy tail’s she’d done herself, who he had found living in a park in Downtown, abandoned at five years old by her mother. But he also saw the amazingly strong, beautiful, fearless woman she had become at 21. He smiled down at her and felt the joy wash through her at the simple gesture.

      “I realize you’re a grown woman, but the things you do affect us all, so we need to be in the know when something pops up like this.  I want your word that you’ll never pull something like this again, Gaden, and you have my forgiveness. Deal?”

      She nodded, too choked up to speak, and he pulled her back into the hug, just grateful she was still alive. After a moment, she found her voice and asked,

      “How mad is Michael?”

      The look he gave her was answer enough. She nodded again, with a deep sigh.

      “You know Michael. He’ll come around, just give him some time,” Gareth reassured her, then had to ask, “So, what are you going to do about Rylan?”

      He felt the happiness flow out of her to be replaced by the jumbled, mixed up confusion once again as she answered with her heart, something she rarely showed to people, even him.

      “I just don’t know, Gareth. I’m powerless to change any of what happened to him, I can’t take away the pain and scars. It’s not like he would let me even if I could. He doesn’t want to talk, doesn’t want comfort. I don’t know what I can do to help him, but I want to so bad.”

      “You’ve already helped him, by setting him free. He won’t heal overnight. He was in darkness for a long time, and in the end he will have to be the one to find his way out. You’ve given him life again by saving him, and he’ll either accept it and start new, or let the past destroy him. All we can do now is be here for him when he decides.”

      As he talked, Gareth remembered how he had felt after saving her, Logan, and Raj. They had all been lost broken souls at one point and he had felt the same things Gaden was feeling. But they were all strong people in their own ways, and with a little guidance, they had all turned out okay. They just had to have faith that Rylan would find his way.

      “Thanks for everything, Gareth,” Gaden said, standing beside him, her emerald eyes lit up by moonlight. “What would I do without you?”

      No, Gareth thought as they stood in comfortable silence taking a break from the world, what would he do without her and the others?They may think I saved them, and in some ways I did, but they saved me, too, more than they’ll ever know.