by Lola St. Vil
GUARDIANS: THE NYCREN
By Lola St.Vil
Copyright © 2014 Lola St.Vil
Formatting by Dallas Hodge, Everything But The Book
Author's Note
It has taken six years to finish this story. In that time, The Guardians have become more than characters; they have become family. I couldn’t imagine finishing the story and letting them go. However, today I am okay saying good-bye to them because I am leaving them in safe hands. I am leaving them with you.
Xo
Lola
“I hope that real love and truth are stronger in the end than any evil or misfortune in the world."
—Charles Dickens
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PROLOGUE: MARCUS SPEAKS
CHAPTER ONE: THIS TIME
CHAPTER TWO: ONE MISTAKE
CHAPTER THREE: WALKING WINTER
CHAPTER FOUR: THE GIRL (MATURE CONTENT)
CHAPTER FIVE: EASY
CHAPTER SIX: SOME KIND OF JOKE
CHAPTER SEVEN: THE ONLY WAY
CHAPTER EIGHT: MINUS ONE
CHAPTER NINE: THE DEATH OF MIKU AND JAY
CHAPTER TEN: ANORA
CHAPTER ELEVEN: A GIFT
CHAPTER TWELVE: THIS IS WHAT WE DO
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: ROKI
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: THE FAVOR
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: HIDEOUS
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: DELUSIONAL
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: NOWHERE
CHAPTER NINETEEN: JUST THIS LAST TIME (MATURE CONTENT)
CHAPTER TWENTY: HEARTBEAT
CHAPTER TWENTY‐ONE: LIFE IN THE ZOO (MARCUS)
EPILOGUE: DEATH SPEAKS
PROLOGUE:
MARCUS SPEAKS
“Marcus, I don’t have all day,” Damien says as he stands over me.
I don’t look at him, hoping that will make him go away. No such luck. He remains standing above me. His tone is official and firm. I don’t address him. I just look out onto the mountain range. I beg and plead with them to answer my question. The same question that I have been asking since this all began: What could I have done differently?
The mountains have no answer for me. The sky is soundless and the wind won’t so much as whisper. The earth and heavens are giving me the silent treatment. That doesn’t stop me from asking them over and over again in my head.
He’s getting impatient. He shifts his weight. His large wings hover above us. I turn towards him and look into his face. He’s over six feet tall and has pensive dark eyes that grow increasingly moody. He furrows his brow and tightens his lips.
“Marcus, standing here won’t change anything,” he assures me.
I can’t find the words to reply so I just turn my attention back to the mountains. He sighs in frustration. I ask the mountains again. They again won’t answer me. Why won’t they answer me?
“Marcus, let go,” he pleads.
“I can’t; I won’t,” I reply.
“I don’t have time to hold your hand, Guardian,” he replies.
“I don’t need you to hold my hand; just get the hell out of my face,” I snap.
“You will do what is required of you and you will do it, now!”
“NO!!!” I roar as I grab him by his throat and throw him to the ground.
He gets up and tackles me. He quickly gets the upper hand, grabs my head and forces me to look down at the valley below us.
“Look at it, Marcus,” he dares.
I look down and see a slew of Paras, Angels, and Guardians gathered.
The sorrow weighs so heavily; I don’t struggle with him anymore. I stay down. He studies me then softens his tone.
“You have not finished your mission. If you don’t gather your courage, you will doom us all. Do you hear me, Guardian?”
I look in his eyes. He is sincere in his warning. But along with sincerity, there is something alarming: fear. He is afraid we will fail to put the Shoma back together; like every Angel we have encountered.
“Marcus, you and your team are all that stand between us and oblivion. If you don’t find the strength to get up, we will all fall.”
I don’t even know how I am able to stand given the massive weight of sadness and guilt that’s overtaken me. But I do; I do get up.
I stand tall on the edge of the mountain and look down at the gathering of Angels below.
I look at the new Taker and brace myself to do what he’s been pleading with me to do.
The thing I’m sure I’m not strong enough to do: say good-bye to yet another member of my team…
BOOK I:
MARCUS CANE
(WEEKS EARLIER)
CHAPTER ONE:
THIS TIME
I’ve seen Rage in some intense battles. The First Akon’s blast is ferocious and often deadly. But when Tony marches into the Villa and tells us that Ameana and Wolf are married, Rage reaches a level of fury we have never seen in a demon. He is so enraged that the flames spring up from his palm and consume him. He is no longer shooting fire; as of now, Rage is fire.
“Rage, no!” Emmy shouts as the Akon blows out every window and door in the Villa.
We are forced to take cover from the shards of glass raining down on us. The team and I take to the air and try to tackle him; the flames are too intense. We can hardly make out the outline of Rage’s body anymore. He’s a wall of flames and with the fury of the Goumy, he heads for the village below us.
I order Jay and Miku to start evacuating the villagers. I tell Tony to take Emmy and head to safety. Naturally Emmy fights my orders. She tells Tony to hide without her. She then takes off running after the inferno that Rage has become.
“No, get back!” I order from the sky.
“Don’t hurt him,” she shouts.
“Damn it Emmy, stay away,” I order.
“No, he’s just angry,” she replies.
Argh! I swear to Omnis one day that girl is going to get herself killed.
Just the thought of her getting killed makes my chest tighten. I make myself shake that horrible thought from my mind and focus. Rage is now only a mile away from the village. I can hear the humans screaming from up here.
“Rage stop, please!” Emmy yells up to him.
Rage does not respond. He continues heading for the humans.
Jay glides up to me with a grave expression on his face.
“Yo, we won’t get everyone out in time,” he warns me.
“Then we have to take Rage down. He can’t be allowed to get to the village.”
“Whatever we do, we need to do it fast,” Jay replies.
I can see what he means: Rage is getting closer. The humans cry out and scatter in fear for their lives. Miku tries to herd them away from danger but some are actually drawn to the flames out of morbid curiosity.
Emmy races towards us shouting for Rage to stop before it’s too late. Jay and I exchange a look of sad acceptance. There’s nothing we can do now but stop Rage.
“Jay, glide around him fast enough to cause a wind tunnel. That should diminish the flames,” I instruct.
Jay glides around Rage at top speed. The wind tunnel does drain some of Rage’s powers but it in no way stops him. I tell Jay to glide again and keep gliding. I wait a few seconds until the flames are somewhat diminished, then I yank a streetlight up from the ground and swing it at Rage, hoping it will push him away from the humans. It works, but only for a few moments.
“We have to put out the fire, there’s a fire hydrant near the—” Miku starts.
“—At this point Rage and the flames are the same, there’s a chance taking out the fire could also take out Rage—for good,” I reply.
“It’s him, or the humans,” Miku says.
“Damn it!” I roar as the
Akon lands in the center of the Village.
While a majority of the humans have wisely fled, there are dozens that remain. I reluctantly order Miku to head over to the fire hydrant and await my signal. This is the last thing I want to do but Rage is leaving us with no choice.
“Marcus!” Jay calls out.
I follow his gaze and I see Emmy standing directly in Rage’s path.
Damn that girl.
“Emmy, move!” I demand as I fly down towards her at top speed.
She stands where she is, pleading with a sea of flames. I land beside her and try to remove her but she won’t budge.
“Don’t make me carry you,” I warn her as Rage approaches us.
“We have to help him,” she pleads.
“We are out of time,” I reply as I look up to give Miku the signal.
“Rage, it’s not over; you can get your family back,” she begs.
And for the first time since Rage went into supernova mode, he pauses. The flames don’t die down and things continue to burn around us. But the ocean of fiery waves is still. I signal to Miku to hold off on the water. I encourage Emmy to keep talking to him. But I keep a protective arm around her in case I have to pull her out of Rage’s path.
“I know you’re angry but this isn’t the way to get them back,” Emmy tells him.
“She’s right. You have to stop or we will stop you,” I caution him.
Suddenly, without warning, the flames rage on once again. I have only a fraction of a second to pull Emmy away. The spot where we stood just moments ago is now scorched.
Rage now heads directly for the humans.
I’m about to give Miku the sign to release the water when a thought pops into my mind. I shout out to Rage in a last ditch effort to save him.
“THOMAS, THIS ISN’T LIKE BACK WHEN YOU WERE HUMAN. THIS TIME YOU ARE NOT ALONE; YOU HAVE US.”
Finally, the First Akon’s flames begin to die down…
Emmy takes Rage back up to what’s left of our villa to keep an eye on him. We call Ameana on her cell several times and it goes straight to voicemail. The only good thing is that she is with Wolf and he would not harm her. Not after going through this much trouble to be with her. We also check on Tony. He has sworn off hanging out with us after almost being set on fire. I am sure he will stay away from us for about five minutes or so, and then he will be back.
It takes a few hours to get the situation in the village under control. While no humans were hurt directly, many had lost their homes and property. Jay had to convince them that they didn’t see what they saw. We didn’t finish with the humans until nightfall.
Once done, we head up to what’s left of the villa. It looks like a disaster area. Rage paces back and forth in the middle of what was once the patio. Emmy tells us that he hasn’t set fire to anything since the two of them have been there. Still, Rage is nothing short of livid.
“Why the hell would she do that? Why would she marry him?” Rage asks us.
“She must be doing it because she thinks it’s the only way to save her son,” Miku says carefully.
“Aaden is my son too. I have a say in what happens to him. She had no right to do this!” Rage snaps.
“You’re right man, she did you dirty; she should have talked to you first,” Jay adds.
“We did talk. We talked all night. I told her I would take care of us but then she just went and…” Rage couldn’t bring himself to finish.
We exchange a look of sympathy amongst ourselves for the demon.
“We should give her a chance to explain,” Emmy says.
“Explain what? I love her. We were supposed to get married and now she’s married some other guy. And she’s taking my kid from me,” Rage says, growing angry again.
“Let’s calm down. Rage, have you tried her cell again?” Miku asks.
“It’s still off. How could she do this? She knows how I feel. She knows that I love her, how could she leave?” Rage pleads.
“They don’t care. They say they love you and then they walk away,” I reply before I can catch myself.
“Excuse me?” Emmy says, looking at me.
“Never mind,” I reply.
Everyone turns towards Emmy and me.
“Yo, son what’s going on with you and Em--?” Jay asks.
“--Not now,” I reply quickly.
“Are you guys fighting?” Miku asks.
Emmy and I exchange a look of discomfort. Neither of us wants to discuss it.
“Okay…so that’s a yes,” Miku says to Jay.
“We’re not fighting. We…” I start but can’t finish.
To be perfectly honest, I knew Emmy and I were over the moment I saw her kiss Alex. That’s not to say I wanted to let her go; in fact I wanted to hold on to her more than ever. But I know Emmy. She has a good heart. She won’t just kiss another guy for the hell of it. This guy had something she wanted; something she needed.
I knew I had to ask her about wanting to be with humans but I kept putting it off because Iknew the answer. I wasn’t just upset because they were kissing. I was angry because Irealized Alex could give her what I couldn’t: A human life. And judging by the kiss, shelonged for it. How could I deny her that?
The last time we were in her room making love, I knew it would be the last time. So, Imemorized her curves with my fingertips and drank as much of her in as I could. Whenshe is no longer mine, there is no end to the list of things she does that I will miss:
The way she sighs helplessly and tilts her head when I graze the nape of her neck, or thesparks that ignite and cause her to bite her lower lip when I kiss between her shoulderblades down to her lower back. Or the way she blushes when I watch her walk across theroom with nothing but a towel on.
Over time she had come to learn my body as I had come to learn hers. She knows whereto kiss and explore to get a reaction out of me. Still she is wrong about one thing: Shethinks I need her to wear a revealing dress like the one she had on at the ball in order tobe excited. The truth is seeing Emmy in a plain tee shirt and jeans excites me more than aroom full of naked girls ever could.
Emmy has become nothing short of an addiction. If it was just physical, I could get overit. But it’s so much more than that. It’s the way she makes it her mission to find hope inevery possible situation. It’s the way she stands up for everyone; even a demon. She alsohas a talent for finding pleasure in the smallest of things. All of these things make itimpossible to live without her.
The next morning I was certain I wasn’t going to ask her. I couldn’t take the chance thatshe would say, “Yes, Marcus I need to be with a human.”
So, I decided I was going to keep my mouth shut. Then I looked over at her. She wassleeping with her head on my chest. Given everything she had been through, it would beunderstandable if she were mistrusting or cold. But she wasn’t. She lay in bed with me,confident that I would protect her.
Yes, if evil came for us, I would give my life to ensure she got away. But that’s not theonly kind of protection she deserves. She shared things with me, did things with me that agirl only does with a guy she loves and trusts. She trusts me to look out for her. Not justas First Guardian but as her future husband.
That’s when I knew I had to ask her. I had to make sure she thought about what it wouldmean to marry an Angel. I had to know if she was certain about giving up on everyhuman guy and being with me; only me. Was she really ready at only seventeen?
So, I made myself ask her. When she actually said the words “Marcus, let me go” I died. Again. I didn’t even realize that tears had been shed until she touched my face. Bluetears.
Damn.
I felt so many different things. I was pissed at myself for asking. I hated that I loved her. Iwanted to fly away, yet stay with her as long as I could. She was my strength and thatwould prove to be my weakness.
Holding her the last few hours in her apartment, I could feel happiness, being drainedfrom me like I was inside a Soul Chaser. The situation was strippi
ng away any reason forliving I had. We held on to each other for days, and then it was time to let go.
Time to let go of Emmy; let go of my wings…
“Hello, earth to Marcus,” Miku says pulling me out of my thoughts.
“What?” I ask.
“Don’t avoid the question, Marcus: What’s going on with you and Emmy?” Miku pushes.
It’s been a few days since Emmy and I called it quits. I have been processing it for days now so it should be easy to say out loud but it isn’t.
“Yo, for real, what’s up?” Jay asks growing more and more concerned.
“Marcus and I…we broke up,” she says, sounding more okay with it than she should in my opinion.
“Well, it’s nothing new. You guys will be back together in a day or two,” Miku says smiling brightly.
“No, Pretty, we won’t. This time it’s different,” she replies.
“Why?” she wonders.
“This time, we both agreed to walk away,” I reply looking at Emmy.
“Wait, why? You two are finally on the same page,” Miku reminds us.
“Look, we can talk about this later,” I offer.
But the way Miku is looking at the both of us, we know that she will not settle for later.
She wants the details and she wants them now.
“I’m gonna just see what happens—if anything—with humans,” Emmy replies, not really sure what to do with her hands.
“What human—Alex?” Miku says.
“Yo Em, you date’n Alex?” Jay asks.
“Well, I…it’s…I’m not sure…I mean…” Emmy mumbles.
She looks to me to help her avoid the questions but the truth is I want to know too. I have been going over these questions in my head for days and it would end the torture to have some answers.
