Guardian (Hidden Book 6)

by Colleen Vanderlinden

  How many others would arrive? How many more would seek me out?

  “Listen,” I said, and they leaned in. “There is a farm field just outside of Kenmare, about two miles west, down the road. You will find two others like you there. They are with me as well,” I said, grimacing. “Find them, and wait with them for me. I have something I must take care of.”

  They nodded, then turned and walked away, the way they’d come.

  “I cannot believe this,” I muttered to myself. I looked up into the sky. How I longed to be there, soaring, away from whatever this insanity was for a while. Unfortunately, it would have to wait for another day.

  I focused, rematerializing at the inn, where I was relieved to find that Brennan had not yet returned. That gave me more time away, without him asking too many of his questions. The way he studied me made me feel as if he could see right into my soul, and I was not ready to be studied quite that closely, considering that I’d decided to keep a pretty major secret from my best friend and Queen and everyone else, at least for the time being.

  Was this what it felt like to have a guilty conscience? I wondered.

  I grabbed an apple out of the bag of groceries Brennan had left on my dresser and ate it while checking my email. Hephaestus had sent his almost-daily photo of his son, and I laughed at the ridiculously happy expression on the immortal’s face as he mugged for the camera with his little boy. It was beautiful. He’d had centuries of misery, married to the Goddess of Love, Aphrodite, who was among the absolute worst beings I have ever known. She had treated him like garbage, rubbed his nose in the fact that he was true to her while she galavanted openly with Ares. How many evenings had Hephaestus and I spent in the mortal realm, sitting overlooking one city or another with him pouring his heart out to me? How many times had I wondered at the insanity of bonds like the one he was trying, and failing, to honor?

  I’d listened, and I’d commiserated, and I’d acted the part of a Guardian, a normal Guardian who knew nothing about things like heartbreak and unrequited love. After she’d given birth to Eros, I had tracked her down and beaten the unholy hell out of her.

  The memory of it still made me smile.

  Needless to say, I was unwelcome in her presence after that, but somehow I managed to go on.

  I finished my apple, sent a quick note to Hephaestus about how cute Michael was and that everything in Ireland was fine. I was about to close the laptop when I looked at the photo again. He’d had so much misery, and now, he had this. Happy as I was for him, it still looked, to me, like a form of insanity to give one being that kind of control over your emotions. How could you ever let yourself relax under those circumstances? Madness.

  I shook my head, closed the laptop, and focused. I rematerialized again, appearing near the dilapidated barn at the abandoned farm where I’d left Quinn and Mary. I glanced up at the sky longingly. Flying would have to wait a while longer, I thought with some sadness.

  I felt them nearby. Quinn, Mary, and my new additions.

  I walked across the field toward where they were. The four women sat on the fallen log where we’d sat the day before, and Quinn stood off to the side, arms folded across his chest, watching me walked toward them. The grass crunched beneath my feet. Apparently, there had been a frost. The sound satisfied me, for some reason.

  Or perhaps I would just have rather focused on the sound of crunching beneath my feet than what I actually had to deal with just then.

  I looked up and met Quinn’s gaze. He nodded at me, then glanced at the newcomers.

  “Are you going to say ‘I told you so’?” I asked him.

  He shook his head. “No need. I wonder how many more there will be.”

  “As do I,” I said. “They are like you. My Queen knows nothing of them. They were not on my list.” I paused. “They also died violently. That, so far, all of you have in common.”

  He nodded.

  “They have all been holding souls who tried to escape their capture by my kind or the crows,” I continued.

  I thought of Mollis again. This was the kind of thing she would get behind, if it was true. If their entire purpose was working to detain souls who tried to escape their judgment, she would welcome them.

  “All right,” I said. The women all looked up at me expectantly, and Quinn stood where he’d been. “Our situation here is… it is not the type of thing I have dealt with before,” I said, meeting each of the women’s eyes. “Other than Mary, none of you is known to my Queen, the Goddess of Death. That is unheard of. That is wrong in every way I can think of. I do not know how to explain you.” I paused. “You say you felt compelled to find me. I cannot understand that, either. I am merely one of my kind. We were all created the same. Why you should seek me out makes no sense at all.”

  “And yet you can see us when the others couldn’t, lass,” Quinn said. “Tells me maybe you’re not all as alike as you’ve believed.”

  I did not answer. It echoed too much of what Brennan and I had talked about, and that was something I had no interest in pondering just then.

  “I am less concerned about why you are coming to me than why it is that my Queen does not know about you,” I said. “If she knew about you, I would know. As it is, I am only able to learn your names and the conditions of your deaths after you’ve made yourselves known to me. The fact that she does not know about you is wrong. And I do not know what to do about it. She will not be happy to find out about you.”

  “What will happen when she does?” Erin asked, watching me with a worried look on her face. “I mean… she’s not evil, right?”

  “She is definitely not evil. She is the exact opposite of evil. But she is also brutal and will do whatever she feels is necessary to protect this world. She has done much already that no one ever would have imagined.” I paused. “I need to figure out how to tell her about you without her jumping to the conclusion that you are a threat of some kind. Before I can do that, I need to find out for myself how much of a threat you are.”

  “We’re not a threat,” Quinn said gruffly. “Other than to those who try to escape their judgment.”

  “We shall see,” I said. “But I cannot afford to be wrong about this.” I looked up into the bright blue sky, fluffy white clouds traveling lazily overhead. I had to know they weren’t a threat so I could accurately present the situation to Mollis. But if they were a threat, I was hiding them from my Queen and by the time I realized it, it would be too late. Yet if I told her now, she would demand that I bring them in. And I knew how they would be dealt with then, because I have seen it before. The Furies are merciless if they believe they are in the right.

  And let’s be honest: as far as the Furies are concerned, they always believe they are in the right.

  “Know this. I will be watching you. I will be ready to act the instant I believe you have not been forthright with me. So if there is something you fear I may discover about you, this is the time to tell me.”

  I looked at each of them in turn.

  “We don’t understand it either,” Cathleen said. “One day, I was here. I was alive. I was working in an inn as a serving woman, and one of the customers decided he wanted more than just a meal. He took me, and he did unthinkable things to me, and then he cut my throat,” she said, putting her hand to her neck. “I followed him for years. I do not know why. I was obsessed. Full of rage, unable to get any kind of revenge for the things he’d done to me. And I watched him do the same to others.” Her eyes had a faraway look to them, caught in her memories. “And then one day, he got into a fight with someone who could fight back. And he was left bloody and dying in his home. I watched him die and there was some satisfaction in it. And then he tried to run, as if he could sense someone coming for him.”

  “Of course he did. Souls always know there will be someone there to collect them.”

  “I didn’t,” Quinn said, and the women, other than Mary, each nodded.

  “Interesting,” I muttered. “Go on,” I said to Cathle
en.

  “He knew someone was coming for him. And he did not want them to take him. He decided to run.” A cold smile spread over her lips. “I am happy to say that in death, I was much more of a match for him than I was in life. He struggled and fought and tried to run, but it did him no good. He cursed and screamed, and finally begged me to let him go, just as I had once begged him to let me go. I laughed.” She said, her eyes bright with angry tears. “I laughed, and I could not stop, and even as I watched the women like you take him away in chains, I still laughed and they never knew I was there.”

  “And after?”

  She shook her head. “After he was gone, it was almost as if I lost all purpose. I drifted. I wandered. I travelled the world and found I only wanted to be here. And in Dublin, I came across another soul trying to escape his fate. And I held him and watched the winged ones take him away, and I knew what I was meant to be doing.”

  I crossed my arms. “Have you come across others like yourself?”

  Claire shook her head. “Jus’ these two,” she said, nodding toward Erin and Cathleen. “And that was by accident. They were just outside Dublin, and we all ended up chasing the same soul. Jus’ decided to stay wi ‘em. The solitude was makin’ me crazy.”

  “Solitude never bothered me any,” Quinn said. “I still don’t understand why I’m even here. I just know I should be.”

  I stood, thinking. “All right. Here is what we know. Twenty-seven souls escaped while awaiting my Lady’s final judgment and their punishments. Mary,” I said, gesturing toward her, “was one of them. Her escape was a mistake, and she has personal reasons for wanting to help me track one of those who escaped.”

  “Indeed,” Mary said.

  “You four,” I said, glancing first at Quinn and then at the three women who had sought me out, “will stay at my side. You can help me hunt the twenty-four who are still out there. And we will see what more we learn about you along the way.”

  “So, these souls,” Quinn said, and I glanced to my left where he was still standing. “Escaped? How is that even possible?”

  “It is not. They had help from the outside. Another mystery that needs to be solved,” I added. “There are others like me, as you already know.”

  “Not exactly like you,” Quinn pointed out, and after a moment, I nodded in agreement.

  “Not exactly, perhaps. But close enough. They look like me. Sound like me. They were created with the same purpose I was, to collect the souls of the dead and bring them for their final punishment.” I paused. Did I really want to do this? Did I want to share the failings of my family with these strangers?

  “They are traitors,” I said softly, hating it. The word was like hot bile in my throat. “They went against everything we are supposed to stand for. They have kidnapped and tortured innocents. I believed them dead. I have reason to suspect that not all of them are. I do not know how many,” I added, guessing Quinn’s next question. “There were thirteen of us. I do not know how many managed to escape death. Or how they managed it at all.”

  “So what you’re sayin’ is that this is fucked up in about a dozen ways,” Quinn said.

  “It is.”

  “Perfect,” he said, and when I glanced at him, he was studying me. “And if your boss, your queen, finds about about us, that would be bad.”

  “For the time being, yes,” I said, not really wanting to discuss Mollis and her mental state with these souls.

  “So you’re lying to your boss,” Quinn pressed.

  “I am,” I said, meeting his gaze. “Am I going to get a lecture on honesty now, or shall we move on with more important things?”

  He waved as if to say “floor’s all yours” and I watched him for a few more moment, until he clearly became uncomfortable under my gaze and looked down. Only then did I look toward the other souls.

  “You will all travel with me. We need to take Mary to the United States so she can begin tracking the soul she seeks. Do you want backup?” I asked her.

  She shook her head. “I want the satisfaction of finding the bastard to be all mine,” she answered, and there was a feral tone to her voice that I could appreciate.

  “Very well. We are going to travel now. Take my hand, join hands so all of us are connected. Soon, you will learn how to do this on your own.”

  “Do what?” Claire asked as she joined hands with Mary and Erin.

  “This.”

  I closed my eyes, focused. He’d died in Florida, so I would take Mary there, to the town in which he’d died. She would track him from there.

  When we appeared in a small town in Florida’s panhandle, the souls who travelled with me each looked to be in various states of distress. Quinn, Erin, and Cathleen all seemed like they wanted to pass out. Mary looked confused and a little nauseous. Claire and I exchanged a glance, and she shrugged.

  “That was quite efficient,” she said, and I nodded.

  “He died here,” I said to Mary. “You undoubtedly know what he feels like after so long.”

  “Unfortunately,” she said wryly.

  I walked a bit away from the group and motioned that she should join me. “Do not try to apprehend him by yourself. Find him, and contact me.”

  “How do I do that?” she asked.

  “We… my kind, respond to telepathic calls. It is how we are able to stay in constant contact with those we serve. Practice it with me now. My name is Eunomia. Focus. Think it.”

  “I am not a telepath.”

  “It does not matter. All that matters is that you focus and think my name, over and over again if you must. Do it.”

  “Like a litany,” she murmured, and I decided not to bother arguing with her. I watched as she shook her head a little and closed her eyes. She seemed to scrunch her eyes a little after a few moments, and soon I could hear a very, very faint echo, my name.

  “Focus harder,” I said, and she gave an irritated sound, but within a few moments, her voice calling my name went from a watery-sounding echo to a clear sound.

  “Perfect,” I said after a few more repetitions.

  “You heard me?” she asked in disbelief, opening her eyes to stare at me.

  “I told you I would.”

  “Yes, but… You are spooky.”

  I felt a wisp of a smile on my lips. “So I have been told.”

  She laughed then. “I’ll find him. And I hope to hell I get to see you hurt him.”

  “You will,” I said. “It is painful when I take them. I can make it even more painful when I have a mind to.”

  She gaped at me, and I continued. “When you find him, call for me like that. I can be here within seconds. Do not confront him. Do not try to capture him. If you see him meeting up with any other souls, or anyone who looks like me, contact me.”

  “Yes,” she said, nodding. “I will. Thank you for giving me this opportunity, Eunomia. I will not let you down.”

  “He will be punished,” I promised.

  “Thank you.” With that, she turned and headed toward the last known place Bates Downing had been in this realm. I watched her go, then turned to the remaining four souls.

  My souls. The thought came to me unbidden, and I was not happy with it. I had no interest in having them as my own.

  “Back to Ireland. I may be away for a day or so, but I will return to collect you as soon as I am ready.” I took them back to Ireland, then I returned to my room, preparing myself to tell Brennan that it was time to return home, and pray that he did not realize there was something I was hiding from him.

  Chapter Ten

  When I appeared in my room at the inn, I could hear Brennan in his room. I took a breath and lightly knocked on the door between our rooms.

  “Come on in,” he said, and I turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. He was wearing his usual suit, having met with another of his contacts that day, and was in the process of loosening his tie. He had his laptop open, and on the screen, I could see Sean’s face as he talked to his father. Brennan held up
a finger, asking for me to hold on for a moment, and I nodded and sat down on the other end of his bed.

  “Have you been good for grandma?” Brennan asked Sean.

  “Yes,” Sean answered.

  “Really?”

  “I was mostly good. Gramma yelled at me for pulling Zoe’s hair though,” Sean said, and I hid a smile at the indignation in his voice.

  “Well, did you pull Zoe’s hair?” Brennan asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “You know you can’t do that, man. She’s littler than you. And she’s a girl. We talked about that.”

  “Yeah but you hit Molly.”

  “Only when we’re sparring. That’s different. And Molly is fully capable of beating me up. Someday, Zoe’s going to be able to beat you up and you’re gonna be sorry.”

  Sean let out a sound of utter disbelief. “Zoe is not gonna be able to beat me up!”

  “We’ll see. Either way, you can’t pull her hair. Or hit her. Be nice, man,” Brennan said, and I hid a smile at the stern tone of his voice.

  “She’s bad, papa,” Sean said.

  “She is not.”

  “She bugs me and she messes with my stuff.”

  Brennan sighed. “She’s littler than you, Sean. And I know for a fact that you do the same to her stuff. Remember that doll you destroyed last week?”

  “Only a’cause she lost my Iron Man.”

  “Sean.”

  “Okay. But she still bugs me.”

  “I know, buddy. Be good though, okay?”

  “Okay. When are you coming home?”

  “We should be back in a little while. I love you,” Brennan told his son, glancing at me and raising his eyebrows as if seeking affirmation. I nodded.

  “Love you too, papa. Bye.”

  “Bye,” Brennan said, and he watched as his son left, and Artemis gave him a wave before disconnecting the call. Brennan shook his head and closed his laptop.

  “Hey,” he said in greeting. “He does that sometimes, drives Artemis nuts until she lets him FaceTime me.”