Soul Guard (Elemental Book 5) (9 page)

I felt magic spread from my palm, up my arm, and
throughout the rest of my body. It prickled beneath my skin, warning me that it
was something sinister and unnatural. If there was a sensation for the presence
of death, this would be it.

Darkness swirled around me. Even with my eyes closed,
I could feel it. When the air suddenly felt heavy and stagnant, I pushed the
symbol to the back of my mind and focused on my mother. I imagined her sitting
in her kitchen, her voice, her smile, her tears, and everything else I could think
of about her.

I opened my eyes, even though it was pitch black.
There was a sensation of
her
. I felt like I could find her in the dark,
and the more clearly I concentrated on her, the faster I could find her. Here,
time was nothing.

The darkness finally broke and fell away, leaving me
in a slightly less dark closet. I quickly discovered it was my mother’s closet
when I stepped out into her empty bedroom.
There’s no blood or screaming, so
that’s a start
. I went out into the living room, where Henry was sitting on
the couch with my mother and comforting her. Kyle and Scott were watching them
worriedly from the kitchen table. When he saw me, Scott jumped up and ran to
hug me. I hugged him back, but spoke to Henry. “What happened?”

“It’s hard to explain.”

“Try anyway.” Only then did I see the other side of
her face, which was bruised and scraped. If Scott wasn’t still holding onto me,
I probably would have exploded with fury. Since he was, I did everything in my
power to control myself. The lights flickered and died, and my cell phone
sparked again. This time, it was dead for sure. Scott jumped back.

“What happened?”

“A man appeared in the kitchen… he just appeared out
of thin air,” my mother said. “He made a motion with his hand and Kyle was
thrown across the room. I asked him what he wanted and he said that I was just
a pawn. He said as long as I did exactly what he said, I wouldn’t be hurt. Then
another man appeared, just like he had, and they fought. Then… Kyle was gone
and there was a wolf. I know it doesn’t make sense,” she said apologetically.

“It does, but how did you get hurt?”

“That was my fault,” Kyle said. “They kept getting
too close to her, so I had to push her out of the way and hold her down. When
Henry arrived, they both took off.”

I opened a link between mine and Henry’s mind. “
A
shadow walker showed up to fight another shadow walker
?”

“
I don’t know. I didn’t see anything except for
them vanishing into black shadows. Assuming the shadow walkers will go after
her again, how do we protect her from wizards who can appear anywhere
?”

“
With a guard that can appear anywhere
.”

“
Rocky
?
How are you going to explain him to
your mother
?”

“
I have no clue
.”

Whereas I could always open a mental link to Darwin
or Henry, I could never close it to my familiar. It was probably because I did
it so often with Darwin and Henry that it was second nature to find their minds
wherever they were in the world. My familiar’s presence was always in the back
of my mind and I expected he was always at least slightly aware of what I was
doing.

From my perspective, it was like I was mentally
tugging on his mind, not giving a command but requesting his attention.
Although ours was definitely not the normal wizard and familiar relationship, I
could live with a familiar who could easily end my life since he was literally
keeping my heart beating. At this point, the gargoyle had reluctantly allowed
himself to be used without requiring any of my magic for his own use in return,
but I had a sneaking suspicion my unusual companion was keeping a tab.

After a few seconds, just to prove that he was being
inconvenienced, he responded with an affirmative thought. I pulled away from
his mind and sat next to my mother. “A gargoyle is about to appear in here. I
know this is really confusing to you, but he wouldn’t hurt you. He’s my---”

“I get it,” she interrupted. “I’m used to Star
appearing and disappearing all over the place. She used to pop into my…” she
trailed off as confusion clouded her mind. “I don’t remember. Who is Star?”

“Vincent’s previous familiar,” I said.

“She’s dead.”

“I know. John killed her. You said you have his
power.”

“I’m not like him, though. I have Vincent’s powers,
too”

Her eyes widened slightly. “I guess he was right,
then. You were always a good kid. There were times when I thought Joseph was
going to raise you to be like him, but then you met Astrid. She kept you pure
of heart. You need someone like her.”

Astrid had a very twisted side, though. “Who was
right?”

“John was.”

Before she could say anything else, Rocky appeared in
the middle of the living room. He only came up to my chest with long arms and
short legs, but since he was always hunched over, I didn’t know what his actual
height was. He was also very muscular, had a clubbed tail, and was made of
stone, so there was nothing frail about him. He had massive wings, although I
had no idea if he actually needed them for flight since he could just disappear
from one place and appear somewhere else. His head had a short snout,
resembling something between a human and a dog, with a bat nose, bat ears,
horns, and glowing white eyes.

After everything my mother had been through, I
expected her to at least scream, despite what she said. She didn’t, though. Her
eyes widened with surprise, but there was more awe than fear in them.

“You have a gargoyle,” she said quietly, staring at
Rocky as if she was expecting it to vanish or attack. Scott gave the gargoyle a
wave before wrapping his arms around Henry’s waist.

 “Yes. He’s my familiar, like Star was Vincent’s
familiar.”

“Who?”

“Never mind. He’s going to watch over you in case
someone attacks again.”

“Someone attacked? Are you hurt?”

“No.”

“Devon, she’s not having a good day. Can you do
something to make him less…” Kyle stopped talking when the gargoyle abruptly
vanished. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to upset him. I was just going to ask that
he play statue or something.”

“He’s still here,” I said, easily picking up his
strong presence. “He’s just not visible. He’ll stay and protect you two.”

“I get to go with you?” Scott asked excitedly.

Henry picked him up. “Of course you’re going with us.
How else would I put you in time out for five years?”

“It’s five minutes!” Scott whimpered.

“No, not anymore it’s not.”

*          *          *

On the way home, Henry called Darwin twice, but he
only got the answering machine. I tried to connect with his mind, but he was
blocking me. Seriously worried, I finally called Marcus. “Where is Darwin?” I
asked when he picked up.

“Um… the Galapagos Islands?”

“Tell me where he is or I’ll make sure Stephen cuts
off your internet.”

Whether it was my tone of voice or the threat, he
finally realized I was serious. “He’s with his girlfriend.” That was so
unexpected that I didn’t respond. After a moment, he explained. “We were
investigating some animal abuse from Sunday night until Tuesday afternoon and
were pretty much done, when Amelia called him. I didn’t hear her end of it and
Darwin didn’t stick around to tell me. He said I could finish up on my own and
vamoosed.”

I sighed. “Fine. Call Maseré and tell him.”

“How much sleep did you get last night? You sound
like hell.”

“That’s always nice to hear. I’m going to bed in a
few minutes, so call Maseré.”

“Yep.”

“I mean it.”

“Of course.”

“You’re going to forget in two seconds.”

“I won’t forget. Wait, why do you want me to call Stephen
again?”

I hung up on him.

*          *          *

My dreams were strange. I was in a hallway that was
endless in both directions and there were countless doors, all identical. The
worst part was that the only light was red. “What is this?” I asked. I was
alone, though, so I didn’t expect an answer.

“
This is a prison
.” It was Vincent’s voice,
but I heard it in my head.

“Why am I in prison in my dream?”

“
It’s not you that is in prison
.”

“So I’m here to break someone out?” It was either
that or I was trying to make sure someone was locked up. I didn’t like either
scenario.

“Isn’t it interesting that Astrid is trapped on
Dothra and I’m trapped on Kadin.”

I turned to see Langril standing right beside me.
“You did it to yourself. You went through that door.”

“I sacrificed myself and Vincent to save Earth and
the other worlds from Krechea.”

“Why Vincent?”

He grimaced. “Well, that was a mistake. I made a
choice between vampires and fae and that was wrong. I also… maybe got the doors
mixed up. I meant to enter the fae world and took Vincent so that Krechea
couldn’t get to the last two keys, but I accidentally took us to the vampire
world. Now if Krechea kills you, he can get to me.”

“So you let Vincent go because you realized it was
the wrong door?”

He opened his mouth to answer when I felt something
very strange. It was definitely my instincts, but it was pulling me out of the
dream and into a vision. I was suddenly in Henry’s parents’ house, watching
Luana and Matheus Lycosa sleep in their bed.

Two wizards formed out of thin air. They were both
middle-aged and forgettable in appearance, with black hair and black robes. The
only thing that stood out about them was the silver clasps on their robes.

One of them approached Matheus and put his hand on
the shifter’s head. The other wizard went to Luana and pulled out a knife.

I shouted for him to stop.

*          *          *

My door burst open and Henry quickly scanned the
room, looking for danger. “It was a vision,” I said. I got up and started
dressing while Henry just stood there, trying to catch up. “We need to go save
your parents.”

“My parents?”

“Well, your fake parents. I just saw Luana and
Matheus get attacked.”

“So?”

“What do you mean, ‘so’? Luana is still pregnant.”

“They killed my wife.”

“Luana’s baby didn’t.” I grabbed Henry’s arm and
focused on the symbol of my door. “Picture them.” Henry had pants on at least.
This time, it seemed easier to enter the shadow pass. As soon as the blackness
engulfed us, I reached into his mind and saw some of the horrors of his
childhood.

Matheus used to beat him over anything and
everything, but it was Luana that he hated. Luana was the one who told him
every day that he was a worthless freak. She was the one who burned all his
drawings.

I followed my instincts through the shadow pass until
it vanished around us and we were left in Luana and Matheus’s bedroom. “
They
look fine to me
,” Henry said in my head.

“
I doubt I would have a vision after it’s too late
to do anything
.” I sensed danger and pushed my power into their minds. It
was almost second nature to take control and make them sleep. I pointed to the
closet and we both hid inside.

“
They are jaguars; they’ll sense us soon
.”

“
I have that covered
.”

That was when two wizards appeared out of thin air,
just like they had in my vision. I held up my finger when Henry started to
move, and then focused my magic on them. I knew Henry’s mind and his parents’
minds, so it was easy to single out the two strangers. What I hadn’t expected
was a third unknown mind.

Luana’s unborn baby had awareness.

This distraction nearly resulted in disaster as the
wizards got close enough to the bed to attack the sleeping couple. I let my
magic surround them completely before taking hold. As quickly as I could, I dug
my power deep into their minds. “
Stop
,” I demanded.

Instantly, I felt them struggling against my power.
It wasn’t just them, either; someone far stronger than me had a much deeper
grip on them. Krechea. They were pawns with almost no control over themselves
as it was.

Neither wizard was particularly intimidating. They
both turned to me and I opened the closet door. “Why are you here?” I asked.

“We’re here to kill the female shifter,” one of them
said.

I was surprised he told me, since I didn’t think my
control over him stood up against Krechea’s. My power was slipping. “Why?”

“What is going on here?!” Luana asked, jerking up in
bed. That snapped both wizards out of my control.

They both pulled a sword. Just like Felicity’s sword,
there was no blade until they actually removed them from their harnesses. One
of them went down and started screaming. Super-wizard or not, he wasn’t
expecting to be attacked by a giant, invisible jaguar with saber fangs.

Because that was something someone should always be
prepared for.

The second wizard raised his fists, in which red fire
balls formed. I pulled out my gun and shot him in the head. Since I knew what
would happen, I wasn’t surprised that he dispersed into shadow only to reform a
second later. Shooting him merely served to stop him from attacking long enough
for me to prepare my magic.

I made a swirling motion with my right hand and
turned my magic inward. It was much like I was calling my familiar, except I
was calling something inside my magic instead of my mind. My familiar’s
presence was always in the back of my mind, like I had a mental link to him,
wherever he was, at all times. My wizard’s staff, however, was always a part of
me, just waiting to be called. From what I could tell, it only existed when I
had use of it.