Soulguard (17 page)

Chapter 38

              I still felt something to the north, it wasn’t Demons and it felt more urgent than before. I opened my Inner eye and looked northward. Something tugged at my awareness and I turned my truck north on highway 33 heading out of Knoxville.

              I drove for thirty minutes before I saw a glimmer of light from a very bright soul off to the left. I turned left on a small road and pulled the truck over. A small farmhouse stood in the center of a large piece of land in the distance, and inside that house was a beautiful Soul that glowed brighter than most.

              I drove into the driveway and headed toward the house. As I got out of the truck, a little girl opened the door and looked at me, her aura flowing with awe. Her Soulstream was enormous and her eyes were wide as she walked closer to me.

              “Are you a Angel?” she asked in awe, “You look like a Angel. You’re light is so bright. I prayed for a Angel cause Nana is sick and the monsters are coming to get me.”

              “The monster got my mommy last year. But she got the monster too. Now there’s another monster and it wants to get me.”

              As she said this, I saw the little girl’s memory of a Wraith and a woman Mage explode in a fiery maelstrom of power. The rage began to build and I flashed back to the death of my mother.

              “Ooooh, the monster got your mommy, too.”

              Then it hit me, she’d just read my memory like I do. She can see streams and memories, she’s a Soullord.

              “You’re like me,” I said in wonder.

              “Nuhuh, You’re a Angel. I’m just a little girl,” she shook her head in determination.

              “Where is your Nana now?”

              “She’s inside,” the little girl started, then her head turned to the left and I read fear in her aura, “Oh no, the monsters are coming.”

              I looked the same direction she was and saw a darkness on the horizon.

              “Let’s get inside with your Nana,” I said and pulled my cell phone out to dial headquarters.

              “Yeah, boss?” Rictor answered.

              “Ric we have a code Zulu north of Knoxville, possibly with a Wraith. Get mobile and get here as quickly as you can. You’ll feel it when you get near.”

              “Gotcha boss, we’ll be right there.” the phone clicked.

              I ran to my truck and pulled my twin swords from behind the seat. Then I followed the little girl inside. A woman lay on the sofa, her aura was dim. She was very sick I lay my hand on her shoulder and Pulled very softly into myself and Pushed some life force into her.

              “Ooooh...” the little girl said as she saw what I had done.

              “Can’t do that too much or it will hurt her,” I informed her.

              I anchored to the ground and wove a shield around us.

              “I can do that,” she chirped and a smaller shield began weaving from her stream. “See?” she asked proudly.

              I dropped mine and smiled at the girl, “If you keep that shield in place, the monster can’t get in. Now let me outside of it.”

              “The monsters will get you,” she almost wailed.

              I smiled, “No, if I’m out there I’ll get them.”

              “Scaary Angel,” she said with wide eyes, “Do I take it down?”

              “No, just open a door in the front and close it after I go out,” I knelt in front of her, “The monsters will never get you, don’t be afraid. Just hold that shield up so Nana will be safe. Can you do that for me?”

              She nodded and opened a door for me. I smiled and walked out to stand in front of the shield. I opened my portal to turn on my personal shield and my swords flared with Soulfire.

              “Ooooh...” the little girl said as if she had found a new toy.

              I chuckled, she’s gonna be a handful, without a doubt.

              I saw the darkness grow close and the rage erupted in me. The end of the house was ripped away and the world slowed to a crawl as I began the Dance. In moments there wasn’t much left of the house around us, nor was there much left of the pile of lesser Demons that had ripped through the walls. The little girl stood, wide-eyed inside her shield, unhurt.

              Soldiers loped across the fields toward us and with a savage exultation, I went to meet them.

              “Look, Nana, the Angel is killing the monsters!”

              My swords blurred as I danced the Dance of Blades amongst them and more demons fell. I felt the Wraith before it got there and turned to meet it. I felt the little girl Pull and I felt fear. Fear for the little girl.

              But she was fine. A fireball hit the Wraith in the back of the head and it screamed and turned from me.

              “My Angel! Not yours!”

              It started for her and I leapt in front of it and opened up my Soullance. I still hadn’t perfected it but for sheer power it was unmatched.

              “Not today,” I said and Pulled.

              The power shot straight out the end of the tube in a huge lance of Soulfire. The Wraith screamed and tried to come closer to me. I poured more power into the lance and the Wraith roared one last time before exploding.

              “Ooooh...” she said again.

              Yep, she’s gonna be a handful.

              “More Angels!” she clapped in excitement as Rictor and twenty Guards came bounding across the fields.

              I turned to the rest of the pack of Demons and charged into them. Rictor roared in pure glee as he slammed into the back of the pack of Demons and the Guards went through them like a hot knife through butter.

              In moments it was over, all the Demons were dead and Rictor walked over to me, “You’re a shit magnet, Colin, everywhere you go...” Rictor saw the girl behind me, “Stuff happens!”

              I laughed and turned to the little girl, “Rictor, this is,” I paused, “What’s your name little Angel?”

              “I’m Lyrica Jayne and this is Nana,” she introduced the woman who had managed to sit up on the sofa. “Nana, this is the Angel, He killed the monster and the monster didn’t get us.”

              I nodded to the woman and looked again at Lyrica, “You can take down the shield now, it’s safe.”

              “Did I do good?”

              “You did real good,” I answered and she ran up and gave me a hug. She pulled me toward Nana.

              “Thank you, Young Man,” The older woman said with gratitude rolling across her aura, “You saved our lives and we will be forever grateful. But what do we do now? There will be more of them, there’s always more.”

              “No there won’t. I’ll take you somewhere safe,” I couldn’t think of anywhere safer than the compound in Montana. The Elite Guards were there and Gregor and the Mages were there.

              As I thought of Kyra and Kharl, Lyrica gasped, “You got a
new
mommy! Do you think I can get one? I really miss my mommy.”

              I knelt in front of her again, “I think you may get a lot of new mommies Lyrica Jayne. And I will gladly share mine with you.”

              She wrapped her little arms around my neck and cried for the first time since I’d seen her.

Chapter 39

              Lyrica and Georgia, aka Nana, were asleep in the private cabin, on the plane. I called Gregor.

              “Hello, Colin,” he answered.

              “Greg, I’m on my way back to Montana with someone you need to see.”

              “Really?”

              “Oh yeah, I’ve found someone like me, and we need to figure out how this is gonna work. They are
not blocking this girl.
You know I know how to prevent that, and I’ll show her how. Demons have hounded her since she was born, they killed her mother and I want her trained to defend herself.”

              “Calm down, Col,” He said soothingly, “I can’t guarantee that. But you’ll have to get here first to discuss this.”

              “Just mark my words, Greg, they’ll have to kill me before they block this little girl from the Source. You’ve seen what I can do. Imagine how many lives would have been saved if I had been able to train in Mage craft as well as Guard. I know how many, One hundred and twenty-two lives, Gregor. That’s how many people died at Morndel that didn't need to.

              “This girl will
not
have those lives on her conscience, Greg.”

              “I understand, Colin,” he paused for a moment, “And I’ll back you all the way, boy.”

              “Thank you, Sir.”

              I hung up the phone and dialed another number.

              “Hello, Son,” her voice answered.

              “Hi, Mom, I need a favor...”

***

              As the door opened on the side of the plane, Lyrica peeked out to see seventeen women standing in a line waiting for the plane. The first in line was Kyra.

              There were fifteen female Soulguards at the compound at the moment and all of them had come for this. There were also two Mages, Paige Turner and Nora Kestril.

              Lyrica's eyes went wide as she saw all of them.

              “They’re here to meet you Little Angel,” I whispered in her ear.

              “Me?”

              “Yep,” I nodded, “Go say hi.”

              Lyrica climbed down the stair and walked hesitantly over to Kyra, who reached down to lift the tiny girl into her arms.

              “My Angel said he would share his mommy with me cause the monsters took my mommy. Is it ok?”

              “It’s just fine you little sweetheart,” Kyra answered and hugged her tight. The other women closed in and crowded around Lyrica and her Soul glowed brightly.

              I smiled and felt a hand on my arm. Georgia stood beside me with tears running down her face.

              “Thank you,” was all she said.

***

              “A fireball?” Gregor asked incredulously, “She’s six, Colin.”

              “She’s like me, Greg, She can
see
all of it. She saw her mother shoot fireballs at demons and watched how she did it. I can see myself at her age doing the same if I’d seen Mages do it.”

              “I got the approval for training,” Gregor said, “Mainly because she scares the shit out of them all. She’s got more power in her Soulstream than me and Nora both. The only Mage with more power than her is the Archmage.”

              “And when I hinted that someone already knows how to prevent a block, and might have told her how, they jumped right on the bandwagon. No one as very enthusiastic about having a backlash like a certain group of Mages did.”

              “That’s a relief, Greg,” I exhaled slowly, “I really don’t want to start a war at home. I just can’t stand by and watch history repeat itself.”

              “Have you seen her in the last week?” he asked.

              “No, she’s running around with the Guard,” I laughed, “Mom says she’s been attached to her like a leech since she got here. Once she figures out that she’s really not leaving her she’ll probably be a handful to keep up with.”

              “She got her Soulstream knotted in less than a day and she’s been bouncing around Ky like another youngster she talked about,” he laughed.

              “You’re the one in trouble, though,” He smirked, “You’re her hero and now you have to live up to that status. Never shirk in your hero duties and never show up without a special gift.”

              “Oh crap, what do I give a six year old? Where’s a gift shop?” I was panicking a little and Gregor laughed aloud.

              He handed me a small box, “Chocolate works for girls of all ages.”

***

              “Angel!!”

              A high pitched Squeal assailed my ears followed by a high speed projectile. I caught her with my right arm and held my left behind my back. She squirmed and tried to look over my shoulder.

              “What’s that?” she asked, her neck stretching as far as she could.

              “Stretch your neck any farther and your head might pop right off.”

              “Unh uh” she argued, but she pulled her head back down just a bit, just in case.

              I finally relented and handed her the package.

              “For me?”

              “Yeah, for you.”

              She sat down on the ground and opened the chocolates. She shoved one in her mouth and chewed happily.

              “I have to go back to Knoxville, Little Angel. The Guard is gonna train you to fight like me and the Mages are gonna train you to use the Source. You pay attention to them and learn all that you can. One of these days you won’t need anyone to protect you, You’ll protect others.”

              She looked at me wide-eyed.

              “It’s an honor to become a Soulguard, but there’s a big responsibility that goes with it. You listen to Mom and you’ll do good, ok?”

              She nodded, “Are you going to be someone else’s Angel, now?” she asked in a tiny voice.

              “I’m your Angel. No one else’s. But I still have to go help other people. There are monsters out there trying to get people and I’m going to
get
them.”

              She smiled brightly and hugged me, then ran back over toward Kyra, “My Angel is gonna go chase the monsters away, Mommy.”

              My mother looked at me with a smile, “You don’t need to worry about this one,” She said motioning toward the child, “She’s in good hands. You’ve done a good thing here, Son.”