Guardian

by Sam Cheever

  No one tried to stop him. It was a small miracle that they had gotten him there in the first place. He never strayed far from his underworld kingdom, or Persephone, his extremely possessive wife.

  Almost as a single unit, the gods watched Hades leave and then swung their collective gaze back to Zeus. He fondled his gavel for a moment and turned to Keane. “Address the council, Keane Warrior Monad.”

  Keane stood and I stepped back, allowing him to take the spotlight…and the heat…for a while.

  He bowed low to the council. “Majesties.”

  They stared back at him, arrogance painting their beautiful faces.

  Aphrodite leaned forward, smiling a secret smile at Keane. It was fairly well known that she had designs on him. So far he’d managed to sidestep them. But from the look of pure lust she was throwing him at that moment, I seriously doubted he was going to be able to hold her off for much longer. Keane’s body stiffened visibly, nerves kicking in under her clearly sensual appraisal. “Tell us what you know of this Monad’s character, Keane of the Emerald Isle.”

  Someone gasped and I jerked in surprise. It was as near a term of endearment as the gods would give in public. An acknowledgement that she knew of his roots, his life as a human. Keane had been the fiercest of all warriors in ancient Ireland, respected by his peers and his enemies alike. And, at six foot three and two hundred pounds of pure muscle, topped off by shiny black hair that curled softly over his shoulders, sparkling eyes the blue of the ocean, a strong, square jaw and soft, kissable lips, he was as legendary for his skill with the ladies as he had been with a sword. Aphrodite had…apparently…done her homework. For her to put that much effort into him spoke volumes.

  To his credit, Keane’s voice when he spoke was clear and strong. “Nuria, Warrior Monad is an exemplary warrior with a clear record. Her success rate is unmatched in the force. She has never done anything to make me think she would put a partner, no less a guardian, in danger. I believe her account of the incident…without hesitation.”

  As a result of Keane’s ardent support, Aphrodite cast a speculative glance toward me. It was obvious she was assessing me as a possible rival for Keane’s affections. Apparently she wasn’t concerned by what she saw. Her beautiful violet eyes swung away from me dismissively.

  Frowning slightly, I resisted the urge to fluff my hair. I wasn’t that unattractive surely.

  Zeus banged his gavel and Keane stepped back, placing his arms behind his back and standing, warrior-like, with legs set in a wide stance and back rigid. I risked a glance at him and his eyes sparkled. One corner of his generous mouth tilted upward.

  I grinned back. Keane would be all right. I wasn’t going to waste any worry cycles on him.

  The huge golden doors swung open again and a Page strode quickly into the room. She was hourglass shaped, pleasantly padded, with auburn hair that ended in soft curls at her tiny waist. She had bright green eyes that swung to Keane and widened slightly as she stepped before the Council and turned to give the customary bow. “Your Grace, I bring the news you seek.”

  Zeus looked at us. “Step outside the Council chambers while we discuss this news.”

  I bowed and turned away, striding quickly toward the golden doors. Keane and Etta were hot on my heels.

  When we stood in the vast, marbled hallway outside the chambers I turned to Etta and poked her in her nearly flat chest with a finger. “If you ever…ever…stick that wing in my face again I will cut it off and feed it to a gorgon. Are we clear?”

  Her beautiful dark eyes widened and she glanced at a guard standing down the hall from us. Unfortunately for her he was too far away to have heard me. Finally she gave me an evil grin and shrugged.

  I turned away from her, in a huff, and began to pace in front of the doors. Keane joined me. Etta clasped her small hands at her waist and watched us carefully.

  “What news do you suppose the Page brings?” My gaze found Keane’s and it was filled with more than the simple question.

  He gave me a slow smile. “I can only guess…of course…but I believe the Page was sent to the Watcher to find out about an Earthly plot of some kind.”

  I nodded. “That makes sense. The human woman’s behavior was strange at best. I knew something was wrong…I just didn’t know what it was until it was too late…” My voice wobbled as I thought of Mack, and the killing blow he’d taken for me.

  Keane placed a hand on my back and leaned close, cutting Etta out of the conversation between us. “He was a guardian, Nuria, it’s what they do. He would do it again should the opportunity arise. He’s in a better place now.”

  I nodded, knowing he was right, but not feeling any better for it. I didn’t want anyone to take my burdens from me. Either in the form of my guilt…or my death.

  The golden doors opened again and we were ushered in by the pretty Page who’d arrived with Zeus’s news.

  She stood to the side of the doors as we entered the chambers. Her gaze never left Keane’s as he passed by. They exchanged a smoldering glance that told me all I needed to know about their relationship.

  Aphrodite would not be pleased.

  When we stood in front of the Council table once again, Zeus fondled his gavel and glared down at us. “The Watcher has discovered a human group that needs to be examined closely. Their leader is unknown to this Council.”

  He looked at me. “Nuria Warrior Monad, I wish for you to return to Earth and find this group. Do whatever is needed to discover what they are about. Pay particular attention to its leader. We need to learn what he knows of us and why this group apparently means us harm. When you have learned all you can learn, you must kill the leader. You will not return to Olympus until he is dead. Is that clear?”

  “Yes.” I gave a small bow. “May I ask what you know of this group, and this man, your Grace?”

  “No. You may not.”

  Considering me dismissed, he turned to Etta. “Etta, guardian of the first choir, step forward.”

  I jerked around just in time to get smacked in the face by an errant wing. Etta cast me an innocent, theatrically apologetic look.

  This time my hand rested on my weapon and grasped it convulsively. A grinding sound filled the silence of the room and I forced my jaw to unclench. I don’t know how the council could place any weight at all on the woman’s opinion, since, at nearly four hundred years old, she was apparently still unable to control her wings.

  Etta glided toward the Council table and curtsied prettily. The assembled gods smiled down at her fondly. The grinding sound returned as I fought an eye roll. How was it the Council couldn’t see the horns sticking out of the woman’s head or the long, forked tail swinging from her pert little buttocks?

  Zeus leaned forward, abandoning his gavel for a moment to smile at my arch enemy. “Etta, guardian, you have been selected to accompany Monad Nuria on her mission to Earth. I wish you to observe, help where needed, and report back to me.”

  Shit! I turned to Keane, my face heating in anger at this show of distrust.

  He frowned and shook his head in disgust.

  Etta’s cheeks pinked softly in apparent pleasure. “I…I don’t know what to say, your majesty. I’m honored by your trust…”

  Just like that Zeus lost interest in her. He straightened and banged his gavel. I couldn’t see Etta’s face but I could tell by the stiffening of her shoulders that she was not pleased by Zeus’s dismissal in the middle of what had promised to be a truly nauseating and obsequious speech.

  Despite my dismay at the fact that Zeus had stuck me with my arch enemy for the mission, I couldn’t stop a mean, little smile as Olympian ADD took the wind out of the monster’s wings.

  Then Etta was striding toward me with blood in her eye and my grin slipped away. Shit, damn, and maggot shoes.

  I was most certainly headed for the lowest circles of Hell.

  Chapter Two

  Surprises and Conspiracies

  The shadows jigged and swayed, dancing to the tune
played by a swinging lamp overhead. I squeezed my eyes hard against the distraction of the wavering light and yawned widely. I was exhausted.

  I’d searched for the leader of the human hostiles over half the Earth and even across time. I finally thought I’d run him down. But I wasn’t sure. This time would be too young for the current problem. The human too old in the time I left.

  Unless, as I was beginning to suspect, he knew how to breach the layers of time.

  The tavern across the way had dusty windows that rolled the light in funny ways. But inside the atmosphere was raucous and the inhabitants rowdy.

  Spirits of the liquid kind apparently dominated.

  I’d been standing in the shadows for hours, my feet screaming in my soft boots and my lower back threatening to take me to my knees on the hard, filthy ground. My spies told me the leader had gone into that tavern. But, unless he was a woman, walked with a severe limp, or was ninety years old, he hadn’t come out yet.

  In my exhausted mind, the human had become spirit-like. Though I’d followed him for weeks, I’d not been able to cast eyes on him once. He’d always stayed just that far outside my reach. I sighed and leaned against the damp wall at my back. I was starting to think he was a figment of everyone’s imagination.

  I was seriously considering entering a wrinkle and going into the tavern after him when the door opened again and a man and a woman emerged from it.

  The woman was small. Tiny really. She wore a long, light colored dress that skimmed her arms just below soft, white shoulders and dipped low into her cleavage…what there was of it. The man was tall and dark, with a wide-brimmed hat pulled low over his face.

  His rough looking shirt stretched tautly around his massive forearms as he reached to tuck one of the woman’s curls behind a pearly ear. Giggling sounds emerged from beneath a truly ridiculous hat, which featured tall feathers of some sort and a bunch of fruit shaped items on one side.

  He leaned down and pulled the woman’s glove encased hand to his lips. “Are you sure you aren’t cold? The night is damp.”

  The woman shivered theatrically and I rolled my eyes.

  Then she spoke, and the voice emerging from beneath the stupid hat brought my hand to my weapon. “I trust you can keep me warm. I have a yearning to stretch my legs and clear my lungs of dust. ‘Twas a long and tiring journey this eve.”

  Etta. Damn her to Hell. She’d gone in without talking to me first. I was gonna filet her wings and eat them for my evening meal.

  Despite my resolve, a sound of murderous rage flew from my throat and the man’s head came up, the face unreadable in the shadow thrown by his hat. But I swore I could see his eyes shining from beneath the hat, the glint of lamplight flickering angrily there.

  “Who is it? Show yourself.” He reached for something behind his back.

  I sighed, and stepped from the shadows. “Ian Lavelle?” I kept the shadows around me so that he wouldn’t notice my strange clothing. I hadn’t taken the time, as apparently Etta had, to clothe myself in period dress.

  He cocked his head and the hand came out from behind his back. It held a long, deadly looking knife. I relaxed. A knife wouldn’t kill me. It would hurt like hell. But it wouldn’t kill me. “Who asks?”

  Etta had turned to me and was making go away faces with a non-verbal emphasis that was very entertaining. I studiously ignored her.

  “I am Nuria. I need to speak with you.”

  Finally Etta gave up on non-verbal communication and scoured me with her shrill tones instead. “The gentleman and I are busy, strumpet. Go away and let us be.”

  I kept my gaze fixed on the “gentleman.” He stood tall and looked wary, but he held the knife comfortably against his thigh and watched me, seemingly relaxed. “What would we have to discuss? I don’t know you.” He took a step toward me, ignoring Etta’s tiny hand on his forearm, and pulled the hat from his head. “Or do I? There is something very familiar about you.”

  I shrugged, trying for nonchalant as my body tightened against a wave of pure lust. He was beautiful. His face was golden brown, with a square jaw and almond shaped, dark brown eyes. His nose was long and narrow, with a slight bend in the middle that might have come from having been broken at some time. His mouth was twisted in a wry smile at the moment, but was wide, with full, sexy lips that begged to be nibbled. He strode toward me on legs that were long and densely muscled. His massive thighs strained tight, well worn pants, which he wore tucked into high, black boots. The boots were dusty and well-worn. As if he’d traveled far.

  He stopped in front of me and reached out, taking a strand of my waist-length, white gold hair between his fingers. “You don’t exactly look like you belong here.” He said the words without surprise, confirming for me that he was a transplant into the eighteen hundreds himself. His eyes slid down my body, taking in my soft, black sweater and skintight black leather pants. Where his eyes touched, my body hummed and warmed so that, by the time he’d assessed the soft leather of my boots, I felt as if it might be prudent to just pull him into the shadows with me and find out if he was as yummy beneath the rough clothing as he appeared from the outside.

  Before I could push past my unrestrained lust and respond, the knife was at my throat and I was pressed tightly against him. I gasped, feeling the long, impossibly hard length of him pressed tightly against my chest, groin, and thighs.

  He looked down into my face, mere inches away. His eyes were deep pools of emotion which I couldn’t quite decipher at that moment, with his yummy self all pressed against me. “Who…or should I ask…what the hell are you and why have you followed me here?”

  “Damn it, Nuria. I had it under control. Why did you have to interfere…as always?” I glanced past Mr. Lavelle and looked at Etta, now standing just behind him with her arms crossed over her flat chest, her tiny monster face folded into a scowl.

  “Hello?” I said to her. “Knife…throat…danger…”

  She flicked a dismissive hand toward me. “Serves you right. Stupid Mon…”

  “I demand you release me immediately, Mr. Lavelle.” I interrupted Etta with a pointed look. “I assure you I wish you no harm. I just have a few questions for you.”

  He looked down at me, his soft lips parting slightly as if he were considering nibbling something. Something nearby. Something that wouldn’t at all mind being nibbled… My lips opened in anticipation before I realized what I was doing. I slammed them shut and shook my head, working hard not to be drawn into his irresistible web.

  He laughed softly, the sound rumbling through my chest and down to my special place.

  I fought against a shiver of delight.

  “Hurt me? Do you really think you could?”

  I frowned. Now that just pissed me off. “I could definitely hurt you, Mr. Lavelle. In many ways.”

  He searched my face for a moment and the smile finally slid away. “Yes. I believe you could. In many ways.” He released me finally and slid the knife back into the spot at the small of his back where he kept it. He turned to Etta. “So, I guess you two work together?”

  I sighed and Etta scowled.

  He looked from one to the other of us and nodded. “But you’re not happy about it. Okay. So, what do you want from me, Monad?”

  I jerked in surprise. Etta’s pretty eyes widened in alarm.

  I forced my face to blank out and looked at him. “What did you call me?”

  He chuckled huskily, forcing me to squeeze my thighs together in self defense. “I recognize your electronic signature. You needn’t bother denying it.”

  “Well, that answers my first question.” I murmured.

  He grinned. He had pretty, white teeth.

  The better to eat you with my dear.

  I smiled at the unbidden thought. The tavern door opened and two men stumbled out, leaning heavily against one another and singing drunkenly. I glanced at them and then back to Ian Lavelle. “Can we go somewhere else? I feel like a fish demon out of water here.”

&nbs
p; He grinned and shook his head. “I don’t think so. He reached up and dropped his hat on his head and stepped away from us. Before I knew what he was doing he’d turned and was walking down the street. “G’night ladies.”

  Suddenly the night air sparked and wavered and he was just…gone.

  ~ ~*~ ~

  “What do you mean you lost him?” A drop of spit hit my forehead as the Watcher screamed, flinging his monkey-like arms into the air. He sat on a tall stool with a large pool of water glistening in a stone basin in front of him. Flickering scenes of life on Earth played across the surface of the pool.

  I shrugged. Whatever this guy is, he’s not just a regular human. Unless he’s found a pathway through time, he’s using magic to move around.”

  The Watcher turned to Etta. “What’s your take on this?”

  I bristled but he flipped a hand at me. “Chill out Monad, she might have seen something you didn’t.”

  Etta chewed her bottom lip as if she was reluctant to speak against me. I knew she was just fighting a triumphant smile.

  A familiar grinding sound filled the silence.

  The Watcher glanced at me. “Settle down, girl, or you’re not gonna have any teeth left by the time you reach a thousand.”

  I forced my teeth apart and glared at Etta.

  The pretty guardian smiled sweetly. “He has faery dust.”

  My mouth flew open.

  The Watcher swore. “How the hell’d he get that?”

  Etta just shrugged prettily, studiously avoiding my hostile gaze.

  I wanted to disagree but I realized she was probably right. I’d seen the telltale sparks in the air but, in my shock at Ian Lavelle’s disappearance, it hadn’t registered. Finally I sighed. “She’s right. He must have dust.

  Etta looked smug.

  My hand clutched my weapon.

  The Watcher glared at me. Sometimes I thought the man could read my mind. Then he swiveled his stool around and reached toward the pool. He touched a finger to the water’s surface and it began to swirl wildly. I moved closer, fascinated by the Watcher’s special magic. Etta moved up on his other side, apparently she shared my interest.