Guardian's Joy #3 (19 page)

She could, however, scrub floors and walls.
She’d done enough of it as punishment back at the compound. JJ
stood back from the sink and stared at her reflection in the
darkened window above the faucet. She didn’t see the short platinum
hair or the mature face of the woman staring back. She saw the girl
she once was; hair so white it was almost colorless, pulled into
long pigtails at the side of her head; eyes that seemed too large
for the narrow face; mouth pulled tight in a grimace of rebellion.
The bucket overflowed with hot, soapy water. JJ didn’t notice. She
was no longer in the kitchen of the House of Guardians.

She saw the wide boards of the floor of the
dining hall, bleached almost white with hundreds of years of
scrubbing. She could hear the swish, swish of the brush as she
dragged it back and forth along the grain of the wood. She
carefully worked her way around a leg of the table that ran the
length of the room and avoided looking up at the woman standing
over her.

“You wouldn’t be here, doing this, if you’d
just do what he asks.” It was Miriam, the oldest of the
priestesses. She was nothing but an old witch woman, handy with
spells as long as she had the power of a coven to back her up. “Any
of the other young women would be delighted to be chosen. It’s an
honor.”

“It’s not asking, it’s telling and I’m only
fourteen.” The young JJ never stopped scrubbing.

“Almost fifteen. Your mother would want you
to do this.”

She wasn’t sure what her mother would have
wanted. She brought Joy here because time was running out and the
compound offered a safe haven where Joy would be cared for.
Originally, her mother was thrilled to have Joy singled out, but in
her final days, she seemed to have doubts. If Mama wanted her to
stay here, why had she told Joy to return to the city of her birth?
The acolyte in charge of her mother’s care said Mama was under the
influence of drugs and was talking nonsense. Still…

“Some women are ready before others,” Miriam
continued, “It’s not unusual.” The woman’s voice was soft and
reasonable. The constant tapping of her sneakered toe gave away her
impatience. “It would be good for us all, your power added to ours.
He could help you develop those powers.”

Joy knew what it would take for her powers to
completely develop. Her mother had been quite clear on that. She’d
also told her what to watch out for. Her hand went to the place on
her back, just over her shoulder, where her tattoo lay, inked as a
portent and a reminder.

“Oh, Mama, a portent and a reminder for
what?”

Water splashed on her feet and JJ jumped back
from the sink, flipping the hot water tap off and grabbing a towel
from the counter to wipe up the mess. She didn’t realize she was
crying until she saw the tears splash on the dried tile floor. She
sat back on her heels.

“Oh, Mama,” she said again, this time in a
whisper of grief and pain. She’d always believed her mother was out
there somewhere, grieving for a daughter believed to be dead. JJ
had searched for the woman for years and often fantasized about a
reunion. Joan Justice was a party loving alcoholic, and unreliable
in so many ways, but she would never have willingly left her
daughter behind. At least JJ had been right about that. On an
agonized moan, she brought the towel to her face and sobbed.

The tawny cat nudged its furry head against
her thigh and purred in sympathy. JJ rolled back on her rear and
pulled the cat into her lap. She ran her hand over the cat’s silky
back in long strokes from ears to tail. She stroked and stroked
until her tears dried and her breathing settled.

“I don’t even like you, you know,” she said
with half a smile as she picked the cat up and brought it nose to
nose. “How did you find me? It’s this house, isn’t it? This is
where you came from and don’t give me that innocent look. I’m a
cop, remember? Those ‘Who me?’ looks don’t cut it. No one here was
surprised to see you.” She settled the tiny body on her shoulder
and nuzzled it with her chin. “So what’s the scoop? Why are all
these memories surfacing now?” And why did they make her so angry?
JJ felt a shiver of fear crawl up her spine. “Now that I know what
happened to Mama, I don’t think I need to remember the rest.”

The cat gave a little hiss and dug its claws
into her shoulder, not enough to hurt, but enough to let her know
it wanted to get down. It gave her a look of disgust as only a cat
can do, twitched its tail and stalked out of the kitchen.

“You need to find Faith,” JJ called after it.
“You two would get along.”

Chapter 19

Nardo stared at the laptop on the desk in his
suite. The screen held a map duplicate to the one that hung in the
War Room. His eyes kept straying back to the two blue dots. There
was nothing to say those markers belonged in the game at all, but
he couldn’t take them off the board. The others were clustered
together within a four block radius and these were at the edge of
the city proper where row houses blended into older two story homes
surrounded by tiny yards. Joy’s house was two streets over from
where the first murder occurred.

Joy’s house. Nardo knew it wasn’t right. It
bordered on stalking, but the woman would tell them nothing about
her past except that she was a cop, a former cop. Beginning with
that, he’d done a search on Joy Justice and found some interesting
results.

She was, in fact, a cop who had tendered her
resignation after a six month leave of absence; an absence that
coincided with the death of her partner, John Shiroski; the same
John Shiroski who previously owned her current residence. It didn’t
take him long to find out she was the sole recipient of his will.
The car was hers, purchased from a dealership eleven months
previously, but she sold a Jeep Cherokee four months ago, soon
after switching the title from Shiroski’s name to hers.

He found her old address and was relieved to
see she’d never shared a home with the guy, but his relief was
short lived. Why else would Shiroski leave everything he owned to a
woman if they weren’t romantically involved?

Maybe that was the source of the tightly
controlled anger he sensed in her; the untimely death of someone
she held dear. It would certainly account for the sadness he’d
glimpsed on the rare occasions when she let her guard down and
thought no one was looking.

A dead lover. He could fight and win against
any human and most Paenitentia males. Shit, he’d been outnumbered
by demons and managed to survive. But how was he supposed to fight
the ghost of a dead lover? There were very few things on earth that
Bernardo ad Tormeo was afraid of. John Shiroski was one of
them.

He wanted to know more about Joy Justice,
wanted to dig into her background and history, to know everything
about her. Where did she grow up? Were her parents still alive? Did
she have siblings? Did she like dogs? Cats? What books did she read
or, maybe like him, she didn’t read at all. He knew she didn’t like
to cook. Grace had let that much slip, but for the rest, Grace and
Hope only laughed at his questions and Manon replied cryptically
that it wasn’t her story to tell.

This was getting him nowhere and the others
would be at breakfast. He shut down the laptop and grabbed a Led
Zeppelin Archangel tee shirt from the drawer. In the bathroom, he
paused as he drew his hair back in the leather thong. He didn’t
even know what kind of music she liked.

All he did know was that he was becoming
obsessed with the woman. He needed her the way he needed food to
eat and air to breathe. He wanted to make her happy, to see her
smile. And yeah, okay, he wanted to feel her writhing beneath him,
screaming his name.

These thoughts brought him back to the same
place he was when he switched to the map and the serial
killer/vampire an hour ago. He thought he could substitute one
obsession with another, but here he was, back to his need for
Joy.

She’d always preferred working the midnight
to 8AM shift and since she could only hunt at night, JJ had no
trouble shifting to the House’s upside down hours. She was up and
dressed and on her way to the kitchen by five thirty, but she
stopped short of entering the hub of the House when she heard
Canaan and Grace talking quietly against a background of sixties
rock. She couldn’t hear the words, but she instinctively knew she’d
be walking in on private time, and she was pinched again by envy
and a touch of grief for John’s loss.

She missed the time they spent together
sharing a glass of tea on the front porch or coffee at the table.
They didn’t do it often enough to be called a routine and it
certainly wasn’t the kind of ritual couples develop. It wasn’t that
kind of relationship. Still, John was the only one who knew her
secret and she was the only one who knew his and she missed him.
Nardo was right about that. It was good to have someone to believe
in and trust.

Dov and Col’s exuberant “Good waking!” let JJ
know the lord and his lady’s quiet time was over. She walked in at
the same time Nardo entered through the opposite door. He smiled
when he saw her and frowned just as quickly when he saw what she
was wearing.

“Going somewhere?”

His eyes locked with hers and she couldn’t
look away. “Y-Yes,” she stuttered and hated herself for it. His
eyes bored into her, such beautiful eyes. She set her jaw and
turned to Canaan. “With my lord Canaan’s permission.” She knew that
was the proper way to frame it though she hadn’t asked anyone’s
permission to do anything since she… left the compound. She smiled
when she completed the thought without hindrance. “I’d like to go
out on patrol with the twins tonight.”

“Cool.” Dov gave her a thumbs-up.

“No.” Nardo took a step forward.

“If I can’t help you here, I can leave and go
out on my own,” JJ said quickly.

Canaan scowled and she almost stepped back.
Almost.

“I don’t take well to blackmail.” He glanced
at Nardo. “And I think the request was addressed to me.”

Nardo almost said, “But the woman is mine.”
But he caught the words before they left his mouth. Instead, he
nodded slightly and said, “I serve at my Liege Lord’s command.” He
couldn’t help it if it was said through gritted teeth.

“I didn’t mean it as blackmail,” JJ was
saying, “You’ve been good enough to let me stay here and I’d like
to stay a little longer, but I’m fine now and I have to earn my
keep. I can help if you’ll let me. Fighting the beasts, the
demons,” she corrected, using their term, “is what I do and I’m
good at it. It’s something I have to do. Will do. With or without
help.”

Canaan nodded as if he understood. “You can
go.” He looked at Nardo. “As an observer.” And back to JJ. “This
time of year, you’re not likely to see much demon action, but if
you do, you follow Dov’s lead. If he says stand down, you stand
down. Because if you don’t, you’ll answer to me.” He gave his mate
a significant look. “And being a DOM won’t save her.”

Nardo waited until after the meal to ask his
questions when JJ and the twins were gone and while he was waiting
for Nico, his partner tonight. Canaan answered before Nardo had a
chance to ask.

“You won’t ever be her partner on patrol,
son. You’d be distracted watching out for her and that would be
dangerous for you both.” He threw his arm around Grace and pulled
her to him while he motioned for the younger Guardian to take a
seat. “It’s not the same as watching your partner’s back. Believe
me, I know. If I had my way, Grace would spend all her time in this
kitchen.”

“Or in his bed,” she giggled. “But I can’t do
that. I like taking care of my family, but I like renovating
houses, too. Big boy here hates it when I’m out alone during the
day with all those big, scary workmen.” She playfully nudged Canaan
in the ribs. “Nico hates it when Hope goes off alone, but she’d be
miserable keeping his house and cooking his meals and it’s more
important to him that she’s happy. JJ was a police officer. That’s
a tough job and she was good at it. Give her a chance to be good at
this, too.”

“I get it. I get it,” Nardo grumbled, “But
whether I’m with her or not won’t make a difference. I’m still
going to worry.”

“Poor baby,” said Grace, but she didn’t look
the least bit sympathetic. “Join the club. You think we women don’t
worry every time you guys walk out that door. We try not to think
about it and we’ve learned to live with it. You will, too.” She put
her hand on Nardo’s shoulder. “JJ needs this. The girl is wound
like a spring. The only time she relaxes is when she’s with Faith
and Hope will tell you she’s always wondering what our motives are.
Dov and Col will make her laugh. No pressure.”

“I don’t pressure her,” Nardo mumbled and
couldn’t see the humor when Grace laughed.

“Your being in the room puts pressure on her.
She’s interested, Nardo, and it scares her. She wants to stay here
and that scares her, too.”

“I’m not sure I like this either, son, but
Grace is right. If JJ can handle herself in the field, she could be
an asset. What I’m concerned about is her lack of trust and it will
be up to you to teach her. You’ll be in charge of her training.
She’s has some martial arts, but she’s not fast enough and other
than handguns, she knows nothing about weapons. You want to keep
her safe? You train her hard.”

*****

“So this is it, huh?” It wasn’t much
different than being a cop waking a beat except the beat was larger
and these guys walked a whole lot faster.

“Yep,” Col nodded. “Nardo’s pinpointed some
areas that see more action than others, so we overlap the patrols
in those areas. We know they use gates to cross over, but the gates
aren’t permanent so there’s no way to shut them down. We’re not
sure how they open them or how they choose the place. Manon says
it’s possible to open one from this side which is what happened
awhile back, but only a witch who’d turned to the Dark would do
it.”