Guardians of Magic: A Reverse Harem Fantasy Romance (Guardians of the Fae Book 1)

by Elizabeth Hartwell

  Eve’s face brightens, a smile lighting up her beautiful face as she sets her bottle of water down and approaches. “Guys!” she whispers back. “Please, give me a second to explain. I’ve got my chance to finish this.”

  Cole looks at the group and then turns back to Eve. “What do you mean, you have a chance to finish this? What are you doing? We thought you’d been captured by the government . . . or by your partner. But it looks like you’re in command here. What is going on?”

  “Joe’s a good man,” Eve says, glancing over her shoulder. “But guys, I need to see this through. Joe—”

  “Is a dirty cop,” Tyler says. “We saw him at a meeting, Marcus’s coven is planning an attack. Joe was there. He’s a part of it.”

  “I know. Joe told me all about it,” Eve replies, clasping fingers with Tyler. “Oh, Tyler, Jacob, I know I was wrong, but I had to find Alyssa. I couldn’t stand waiting a second longer. She’s safe now, but Joe was undercover. That’s what this team is for. Marcus’s coven isn’t setting a trap. They’re walking straight into one. And this team . . . we’re going to be the jaws that close on them.”

  Noah, who’d been watching the whole team carefully, clears his throat. “There were many there, Eve. This team isn’t enough, I don’t care how trained they are. They’re still human.”

  “This isn’t the whole team,” Eve reassures him. She looks him in the eyes, seeing the deep worry in them.

  A vigilante truck drives down the street, bold in the daylight. “Jacob, Noah, Tyler . . . secure across the street,” Cole says quietly. “They are looking for four, not four individuals.”

  The other three Fae nod, leaving Cole alone with Eve. “I would not trust him, Eve. I was there with Noah. It did not seem an act or undercover.”

  “I’ve known Joe for years,” Eve says. “I can read him pretty well. You know, Cole, you’re cute when you’re being overprotective.”

  “I am only telling you what I saw. I don’t like this plan, nor that we had to find you ourselves.”

  “I had no way to contact you or I would have. And yeah, maybe I had a feeling you’d try to stop me.”

  Cole stops, flummoxed for a moment before sighing. “Eve, we’d decided to help you put a stop to this vampire attack, but watching you prepare and go into battle wasn’t part of the deal. As . . . good as you look in that outfit.”

  Eve bites her lip, looking down. “Cole, I have to do this. I need you to let me do it.”

  Another truck goes down the street, more vigilantes preparing for the night’s ‘fun.’ Eve and Cole glance in that direction before she locks eyes with him again. “The team thinks I don’t know where you are, and you can’t join the operation . . . at least, not openly.”

  “We are Guardsmen. We do not sit on the sidelines, Eve.”

  “I know. I don’t need our bond to see that,” Eve says. “But can you at least just stay close but out of sight, and if shit goes south, do what you do? After tonight, we’ll go to Lunaria. I vow that.”

  Cole clenches his jaw but nods. He understands, even if what Eve wants to do is dangerous. Suddenly, he leans in, Eve meeting him in a kiss through the chain-link fence that leaves them both breathless. “We will watch until it is time to not watch.”

  A call for her from the depot punctuates his words, and Cole watches her nod and leave, crossing the street.

  “This isn’t a wise idea,” Jacob fumes, barely keeping his voice low enough not to be overheard. “Why did you agree to this?”

  “She needs this, Jacob,” Cole replies. “She has a stain on her conscience, even if it’s unwitting. She needs to cleanse herself, not feel guilty.”

  “Guilt, my cock!” Jacob hisses. “She popped a thrall who deserved to die. This is beyond what we agreed, Cole.”

  “You have borne with it thus far, Jacob,” Cole says. “We’ll stick to the sidelines until she needs us.”

  Jacob grumbles for a moment before finally agreeing. “Fine. But I don’t like it.”

  Cole nods. “I don’t either, but she needs this. In the meantime, we have some plans of our own to develop. Let us prepare.”

  Chapter 31

  The Guardians

  The night is cool, with a still-full moon stretching across the sky. On the roof of the New Haven Federal Credit Union, Tyler flexes his fingers, keeping himself limber. While it’s not too cold, it’s cold enough to affect accuracy with his bow if his hands start getting numb.

  Down below, their bodies covered in black, the other three wait, remaining hidden. Linked by the bond that allows them limited telepathy over a short distance, Tyler serves as the eyes and ears of the team.

  Not that Jacob likes it. What the fuck? It’s pushing eight o’clock!

  And it looks like the party is still getting started, Tyler replies. Unclench thine sphincter.

  Jacob growls, turning to Cole. “Now he’s copying you?”

  Cole shrugs, his eyes carefully watching the ceremony. It’s a star-studded affair, from the looks of things, with many of New Haven’s well-to-do and what the Fae assume are celebrities in attendance. Television cameras dot the back of the square, where in front of a statue of a man on a horse, the mayor will make his speech.

  Movement, west side of the square, Tyler says suddenly. Wait . . . vampires.

  Take them out!

  Cole’s command is too slow, as before the thought even leaves his mind, three arrows strike silently, impaling each vampire neatly through the eye and putting them down.

  “That’s too close,” Noah whispers. “The west side of the square. They were less than two hundred feet from the ceremony.”

  Cole nods, worried. If Eve’s team is waiting, knowing the vampires are supposed to be attacking, how could they let vampires get so close? The Fae had already seen at least a dozen, and if there were a dozen they saw, there had to be twice as many still in hiding.

  “This so-called trap is very . . . dangerous,” Cole admits. “To the roof. We need more eyes on the scene.”

  Two minutes later, all four Fae are on the roof, looking over the square. “Cole!” Jacob says, pointing. “Vampire. Shit!”

  “What?” Cole asks, running over to Jacob. He gets there in time to see three police down, vampires over their bodies, feeding quickly before dragging them into the nearby alleyways.

  “Those cops . . . it was like they weren’t even expecting it,” Jacob says, shaking his head. “Cole, this isn’t right. Something’s wrong—”

  “More vampires,” Tyler says, nocking an arrow but releasing tension. “No shot. Two more police down.”

  “Marcus,” Noah growls. “In the crowd.”

  Cole looks, seeing Marcus at the edges of the crowd. He’s smiling, confident . . . and inside whatever perimeter the police have setup.

  “It’s gone south,” Cole says, shrugging off his coat and unsheathing his sword. “Time to engage.”

  “Good, I could use a little vampire—” Jacob says, but Cole cuts him off.

  “No! To Eve. Her safety is our priority,” he reminds Jacob. “If anyone, human or vampire, gets in our way, there will be a use for your blades.”

  Jacob nods, unsheathing his knives. “Fine. We protect Eve . . . and then we do what we do best.”

  Chapter 32

  Eve

  “Alpha Team, status.”

  It feels weird, strapped up in all this high-tech gear, running the operations for the trap. I’d started to resign myself to thinking this would never happen again. That I’d always be a fugitive.

  “Alpha Team, situation normal,” the one group responds back. I’m in charge of four teams tonight, a total of twenty-four SWAT officers total. It’s a lot to juggle, but that’s okay. After tonight, New Haven will be in a better place.

  "Eve, tell me what you need," Devin says. At first, I was unsure about him. I mean, he’s Joe’s new partner, and that was my job. But his boyish enthusiasm and total lack of judgment has helped, and he’s a wizard with juggling the technical side
of things. “You want me to bring up the security cameras?”

  I shake my head. “No, you keep an eye on them, Dev,” I reply. “You sure the chief and the mayor don’t know about this?”

  “That’s what Joe told me,” Devin confirms. “Apparently, he’s worried who could be a mole.”

  I nod. Joe said as much before. We leave the command center to take up a ready position in an old file room in the building that’s at the corner of the square. I’d prefer to be right in the building itself, but twenty yards offset isn’t too bad. Besides, people would recognize me if I was out there.

  The room is dark when we settle in, giving us a maximum view of the square as the ‘social’ pre-party wraps up and I see the mayor take to the podium. Looking around the perimeter, something bothers me. “Devin . . . where’s Bravo Team?”

  “What do you mean?” Devin asks, pulling a pair of binoculars out of his tac vest and scanning. “Wait. There. I see them, by the trucks.”

  I hiss, not happy. They’re eating, for fuck’s sake! “What are they doing? They’re supposed to be securing the area, not securing corndogs.”

  Taking Devin’s binoculars, I can see a couple of the team gathered around one catering truck when they’re supposed to be getting ready for an attack that could come at any moment. This makes no sense. I’ve explained how serious this is and they’re supposed to be professionals.

  “What do you want me to do?” Devin asks.

  “Get on the radio with them. I’m watching the stage,” I reply, focusing. “Get them back in position before they become a blood meal.”

  Devin nods, speaking into his earpiece while I focus down below. The mayor is quick with his speech, the same rah-rah, Haven kicks ass speech he’s been doing since he started realizing that saying things were going to shit wouldn’t help his re-election chances. Wrapping it up, he turns it over to the chief, who has the captain with him. Puffing his chest out in his dress uniform, his hair perfectly styled and looking like he doesn’t have a single worry in the world, the chief takes the microphone.

  “Mr. Mayor, ladies and gentlemen in the audience, my fellow Havenites,” he says, his deep melodious voice ringing out, ever the political animal. “I’d like to thank the mayor for his kind words. I understand that it must be a challenge to deliver such praise after the difficulties of the past twenty-four hours.”

  “I’ll say,” Devin whispers, but I ignore him as I sweep the crowd with my eyes again. I still feel weird. Bravo Team seems back in position, but I don’t like this. It’s like someone told them that this attack was called off.

  The chief keeps going, unaware of what’s going on around him. “Last night, violence erupted in Old Haven, and I understand the issues at hand. Some have said that the 54th Precinct, nicknamed the Paranormal Justice League—”

  “Squad, you asshole,” I mutter. “Justice Squad.”

  Not that the Chief cares. “ . . . immediately deployed, coordinating efforts with local, state, and federal authorities to bring peace and order back to our streets. And in just twenty-four hours, they have. Record numbers of ungrateful, disruptive Paranormal thugs have been arrested. To the citizens of New Haven and Old Haven, I promise you this. Our city will not turn into a war zone. We will not become an armed camp, some battlefield while bloodthirsty gangs roam our streets with impunity. I was elected Chief of Police because I vowed to enforce the laws, and that I will continue to do, with units such as the brave 54th by my side.”

  I’m about ready to gag—the words are pure and total bluster—but the crowd eats it up, more than a few of the people in the audience desperate for someone, anyone, to promise them safety after the past twenty-four hours of chaos.

  Suddenly, a loud voice rings out over the square. “Is that so? I’d like to give an alternative perspective.”

  A powerful figure, dressed all in black except for the red silk tie and pocket square in his suit, makes his way through the crowd. I can see immediately by the fluid, supernatural way that he moves that he’s a vampire . . . but for some reason, many in the audience don’t. Are they blind? Or have they been hiding behind their security walls and on this side of the Haven Bridge so that they don’t even know what one looks like until he bears his fangs?

  I pull my pistol, aiming, when suddenly, there’s a commotion behind me. The door to the room bursts open and I pull up before I accidentally fry someone’s scalp with a UV laser.

  “Eve!”

  I spin around, gawking as my four guardians come bursting into the room, looking ready to kick ass and take names . . . and they don’t have a pen. “What are you—”

  “It’s a setup!” Cole says, pushing Devin to the side as he tries to get in the way. “Marcus—”

  “Who the hell are you?” the chief yells outside. I turn back to the scene outside, looking as the vampire approaches the stage. The chief doesn’t seem to understand he’s a vampire either and keeps going. “I’m sorry, but if you want to interrupt someone, young man, you should be prepared—”

  The vampire—it must be Marcus—closes the last twenty or so feet to the podium in a blink of an eye. Grabbing the chief by the throat, he lifts him into the air with one hand and takes the microphone with the other. “No,” he says, his voice calm and even as the chief flounders, scrambling against the grip cutting off his air as his feet scissor madly. "You should be the one prepared . . . for death, old man.”

  With a twist of his wrist, the chief’s neck snaps like a dry twig, and an instant later, Marcus feeds, ripping the chief’s neck open and bathing in a gush of arterial blood while the entire crowd looks on in stunned silence.

  Finally, some of the cops in the audience start trying to do something, but too many are unarmed. This was supposed to be a celebration, and security was around the perimeter, not on stage. It is a night for dress uniforms and kudos, not a massacre. We knew the massacre was planned, but we were supposed to stop it.

  “Get them to safety!” someone yells as vampires seem to appear out of nowhere. I’m yelling into my radio, but nobody’s answering . . . and suddenly, I see why.

  “Oh, fuck. Devin, look,” I gasp as one of the SWAT officers, who were brought in to defend the party and set the trap, grabs the captain, and sinks his teeth into his neck. “They’re vampires.”

  It’s a trap, all right, only not for vampires.

  For us.

  Chapter 33

  Eve

  “Open fire!” I scream into my radio for anyone who might still be human and listening as I pull my first pistol and run down the stairs. “All units, engage the vampires!”

  Some do, but it’s not nearly enough. By the time I get down the stairs, the square is in chaos. Marcus’s vampires have surrounded the entire square, a literal vampire army closing the trap on their helpless victims. I don’t know how many are down, but the ground is already running with blood.

  My guardians are right beside me, Tyler unslinging his bow and firing in the blink of an eye. “I’ve only got another ten shots,” he warns.

  I raise my pistol and aim at the nearest vampire, squeezing the trigger . . . but nothing happens. “What the fuck?” I ask stupidly as the vampire charges at me. Cole meets him with a swipe of his sword, decapitating him, but as I look around the square, I see the same thing happening again and again. My team, those who are human, at least, are trying to fire, and nothing’s happening. Our weapons are somehow disabled. “Our weapons aren’t working!”

  All around the square, the few cops who have managed to open fire are either ineffective, or if they’re firing bullets, not doing anything except hitting innocents.

  “They’ve been tampered with,” I whisper, horrified. For a day and a half, we prepared, and I loaded a lot of those clips myself. I saw and checked the rounds and verified that the batteries in the lasers were charged.

  Something must have happened. The weapons must have been tampered with. How . . . I don’t have time to think about the ramifications. I point my weapon agai
n and pull the trigger, but again, nothing.

  Devin, who’s followed me downstairs, looks desperate. “What do we do?”

  Noah solves the problem by picking up a nearby wooden chair and breaking it over the head of a vampire. The chair shatters, and Noah takes one shard and stabs the vampire through the eye with it. Pulling the gore-covered stake out, he tosses one to Devin and the other to me. “You remember the face of your father and fight. Don’t forget, with that, hit the heart or brain.”

  Noah’s example spreads, and people start fighting back as we charge the pack of vampires, staking every single bloodsucker we can. Jacob, who’s stayed next to me every step of the way, smirks and hands me one of his knives. “Here. It’s enchanted. And a lot better than a chair leg.”

  Jacob moves like a ninja, two more throwing darts appearing almost out of nowhere to bury themselves into two vampires.

  The five of us penetrate deep into the killing field, fighting our way toward Marcus, who stands on the podium like a father watching his children at play . . . and despite his teenage-looking face, I guess he is. Two brave SWAT officers, in a suicidal attack, charge him from each side, each holding a wooden stake like a spear.

  “Die!” one screams, thrusting forward and catching Marcus in the back. It pierces him, but Marcus casually turns and with one swipe nearly takes the guy’s head off.

  Marcus turns around, grabbing the other officer by his throat and lifting him up like he did the chief. “Stupid human. I’m far too powerful for this. Now, you shall die.”

  I’m still thirty feet away when Marcus squeezes his throat and tosses him away like a ragdoll. I turn to Tyler to tell him to shoot Marcus, but he’s out of arrows, using his backup weapons.