The Wardens Boxed Set

by Heather D Glidewell

  “So you thought you could just come here and everything would be fine?” I spat, calming down enough for my father to let me go.

  “I wasn’t expecting this, that is for sure,” he said, glancing at Wesley. “How do you know this boy?”

  “I’m her boyfriend,” Wesley growled. He was still pacing but at least his eyes had lightened.

  “Boyfriend, huh?” He looked back at me. “You are pissed off that I was working for Sheridan but your boyfriend was Lilliana’s lapdog.”

  “You seem to have missed something, Peterson,” Wesley said, grabbing my hand. “She is the reason I’m no longer there.”

  “You were always weak,” My stepfather said. I didn’t stop Wesley when his fist collided with my stepdad’s face.

  “Why are you here?” my dad asked, amused by this display of anger.

  “I want my wife back.” He brushed the trail of blood from his face with the back of his hand.

  “Do you really think that is going to happen now?” I asked.

  “I don’t know, Dawn. I left when I learned what was happening.” He lowered his head and looked up at us.

  “What happened?” My father raised an eyebrow and took a drag from his cigar.

  “I was told to stay low. So I did.” He paused. “Sheridan had me meet with her daughter outside of New York a few months ago. Lilly gave me an envelope with instructions from her mother. She sent this boy with me back to Iraq to make sure that I followed orders.”

  “What were they?” I looked at Wesley, fuming.

  “He was supposed to set up a safe house in the desert for Sheridan. Lilly met us there. He was told to stay put.” Wesley growled. “I’m wasn’t happy about going with him but as you know I was bound to her.”

  “They left two days later and I was alone. We spoke by phone and Skype; she said that there were some people coming to me. I didn’t know who the hell they were.” He frowned. “When they showed up they were talking about the attacks in the States. That they were taking out the carriers to weaken the wardens.”

  “You knew?” I screamed. “Did all of you know before I did?”

  There was an uneasy silence. When my mother left me with my father she wasn’t leaving me because something was after her. She was leaving because something was after me and she wasn’t sure she could protect me.

  “I didn’t really know until Miranda told me. Still, I think it was before you knew,” Wesley said. “The day that I called you was the day that I found out.”

  “Did you really think that Sheridan was going to be a compassionate employer?” my father laughed.

  “I was following orders. I am only one of many and I’m not as strong as the others,” he answered. He glanced at me, pleading with his eyes again.

  “Why did my mother marry you?” I asked. I was finally calming down.

  “She was trying to throw something off its path,” he said, looking at my father.

  “Is that why she left me with my father and had little to do with me?” I pressed. I felt Wesley’s hand squeeze mine. At least someone seemed to be on my side.

  “Yes. She knew that Damien could protect you better than she could from it.” His face fell and he paled.

  “What was it?” I asked, my voice shaking.

  “We don’t know. As soon as you were with your father it never surfaced,” he answered me.

  “So it was after me,” I groaned. “Why am I so special?”

  “It wasn’t the warden gift that it wanted.” My father sighed.

  “Then what was it after?” I demanded, my heart racing.

  “You were blessed.” My father frowned. “Not just by God.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” I screamed. Wesley pulled me closer to him. “He comes back and now all of a sudden all the lies are coming out.”

  “Chase may be a dumbass for following Sheridan but at least he got away,” my father sighed.

  “Where’s Nick?” I demanded. “Do you think for one second I’m not going to hold you accountable for that debacle?”

  “What about Nick?” He asked, his eyes shooting up to my dad’s.

  “Oh well, you missed that tidbit of information then didn’t you,” my father laughed.

  “Tell me,” he pleaded.

  “Your family flopped sides.” My father smiled at him as his face fell into despair.

  “Not Mary. She would never.” He defended them.

  “She did,” Wesley mumbled.

  “Why?” He was confused now.

  “Family. So while your nephew so nicely got the wardens together he then tried to tear them apart.” My father took the cigar out of his mouth and stomped it out.

  I heard the door open but my head did not turn. I was not taking my eyes off the man. I had a feeling that, the moment our vision shifted, he would be gone. The steps were light as they came towards our group.

  “What’s going on?” my mother’s voice asked as she came up behind us.

  I jumped and looked at Dad. He glanced back at me and gave me a half smile.

  “How you doing, Angie?” My stepfather’s voice said, and I heard a gasp from behind me.

  She pushed past me with the fury of a woman scorned. Her eyes were white and heated, her mouth was set in a scowl. I didn’t think that this woman was the one he thought he was coming home to. I watched him wince as she hit him.

  “You son of a bitch!” she screamed.

  “Like mother like daughter,” I heard Edmund say under his breath. He looked at me and grinned from ear to ear in amusement.

  My father put his hands on my shoulder and I looked at him.

  “I think it’s time we went inside. This is going to take a while,” he said, turning to leave the brawl. Wesley and I both shrugged and followed him inside. The only one that remained was Edmund, and that was out of pure entertainment. It wasn’t every day you saw a protector beaten by an angel.

  “Dad,” I said as I made sure the door latched behind us.

  “Yeah, honey?” he said, turning and looking at me. His eyes had returned to their chilling brown.

  “Why are you still hiding things from me?” I asked. I felt Wesley stiffen.

  Had my father confided in him the secrets that were my existence?

  The way it looks, honey, you by far are not the only one in the dark. Prudence’s voice rang through my head and I groaned out loud. Of course she would answer my inner thoughts with her own opinions.

  “Some things are better left unsaid for now,” my father said, turning to leave again.

  “No, Dad. I believe I deserve answers,” I demanded.

  “I am bound to my secrets, Dawn. You have to understand that. You should understand that. Remember when nobody could say your real name?” he asked and I nodded at him. “It’s like that. Even if I wanted to, I’m bound so that I cannot.”

  “So there is more then. Am I some sort of freak?” I asked, my hands on my hips. I was fuming and surprised at the same time that I hadn’t burst into flames. Maybe I was getting better at controlling my emotions.

  “Not a freak. You are one of a kind,” he said. Instead of walking off he just vanished into his black smoke. The smell of sulfur made my head swim.

  “Do you know about this?” I asked Wesley. He looked at me, wide-eyed.

  “I have no clue what you are talking about,” he lied, and hurriedly left my side, leaving me alone to the sounds of screaming beyond the back door.

  Chapter Nineteen: Orders

  I was sitting in my room alone, writing frantically in my journal when my mother entered the room. She looked calm but unhappy. I had been waiting for her to find me. I knew we had a lot to talk about now that Chase was back in our lives.

  “Looks like we have a few things to talk about,” she said like she was reading my mind.

  “Yeah, apparently,” I said with an attitude. I finished my sentence and slammed the book shut. I wasn’t mad at h
er but Lord knows I wasn’t happy either.

  “So Chase is going to be staying with us for a while,” she said, putting her hands together and slowly walking towards the bed.

  “Great. Now you and Dad both have your loved ones here,” I grumbled.

  “Chase didn’t know, Dawn.” Had she really just said that to me?

  “I don’t care. He let us think he was dead,” I said angrily.

  “But he wasn’t, don’t you understand?” She sat down on the bed and grabbed my hands. “He wasn’t dead.”

  “He made us think he was,” I repeated. The tears were swelling again.

  “He came when he heard we were in danger.” She gripped on to me tighter, even when I tried to pull my hands free from hers.

  “He hurt you,” I sobbed.

  “He hurt you, too,” she said. Her face was frozen in pain.

  “I can’t do it again,” I said. My heart was slowing.

  “You can’t do what?” She sounded even more in pain than before.

  “I can’t watch him do all those things to you again,” I sniffed.

  “Oh, sweetie.” She put her arms around me. “He isn’t going to hurt me.”

  I pushed her away. “I have more,” I said through clenched teeth.

  “What?” She was confused. I had never pushed away from my mother’s embrace before.

  “When were you going to tell me?” I demanded. Out of all this fuss I had nearly forgotten what my father had confirmed for me this morning.

  “Tell you what, honey?” The look on her face was utter confusion. She honestly did not know what I was talking about.

  “I know that I was in some form of battle mode that day in town but you flew in and took Helen.” I eyed her suspiciously.

  Take that!

  “Oh. I was hoping that you wouldn’t remember or that I could blame it on some nonexistent fever.” She laughed nervously.

  “So tell me, Mom, when did you get your wings back?” I gave her a stern look and waited for my answer.

  “When Ramiel came and saw me.” She blushed.

  “The day that Adam was touched? Mom, what did you do?” I demanded.

  “I didn’t do anything. That was not my doing in the least. God chose him, not me.” She put her hands up defensively.

  “Still, he welcomed you home.” I waited for further explanation.

  “Not so much welcomed me home. He appointed me leader of the light.” She sighed. “I earned my wings, but not my spot in heaven.”

  “Either way, Mom, you got your wings,” I said. I was having a confusion of feelings at the moment. Anger about Chase being back in our lives and happiness for my mother’s new acceptance.

  “Yes, I have my wings and I have my husband. Everything is coming up roses.” She gave me a beaming smile.

  “I will admit I was holding out hope for you and dad,” I said in a monotone.

  She gave me a horrified look.

  “I adore your father in many ways. He will always be my one greatest love. However, with circumstances as they are it is an impossibility for the two of us to ever be together again. Not to mention Mona and Chase.” She gave me a warm smile and a pat on the knee.

  “If you say so,” I grumbled and grabbed my pillow next to me, holding it close to my chest.

  “Imagine this.” She looked at me, determined to make a point. “Let’s flip Wesley and Aaron. You are madly in love with Aaron but something happens.”

  “Like he gets attacked by a pack of carnivorous whatever the hell they were,” I pointed out.

  “Sure.” She shrugged. “You cannot be with Aaron because he is unavailable. However, you have Wesley so you stick with him. You have feelings for him and in a way you love him. He may not be that first great love but he is a love.”

  “I think you chose the wrong two people to compare,” I groaned. “I’m with Wesley not because Aaron is unavailable. I’m with him because I do love him. I have my great love.”

  And how much of that do you think is true? Prudence was in the back of my mind lurking again.

  Will you just shut up! I yelled at her.

  “You know, we were shocked that Adam and Rose hit it off so well. I mean, there is a bit of an age difference,” Mom pointed out.

  “Yeah, well, she is willing to look past it and he turns nineteen in a month,” I pointed out.

  “His father told me that his ex-wife held Adam back for one year so that he could be one of the older kids in the class and not one of the youngest. Totally makes sense to me, but still,” my mother said.

  “What does that have to do with anything?” I asked her.

  “I have absolutely no idea,” she smiled. “I’m not asking you to be happy that Chase is back. I just ask that you do not tear his throat out if he talks to you.”

  “Where is he staying?” I asked quietly.

  “Your father and I agreed that he should stay in the downstairs bedroom that has the outside lock.” She frowned. “At least for a few days. We want to make sure he wasn’t followed before opening our arms to him.”

  “So you are locking him in a comfortable prison,” I laughed.

  “Well, honey, that is what it would look like.” She gave me a smile. “Promise me you won’t beat the hell out of him again?”

  “I don’t know if I can keep that promise, Mom,” I said roughly. “If he says one more thing that I don’t like I will rip out his tongue and feed it to one of the werewolves.”

  “Always with the dramatics,” my mother moaned.

  “So tell me something else.” I hugged the pillow tight to my body.

  “Anything,” she said.

  “Why did Dad call me one of a kind?” I watched as the color drained from her face.

  “Before you were born I was blessed by God and Lucifer both. Each bestowed some of the greatest powers directly on to you. They said that one day you would need them. That, when you did, they would present themselves.” She didn’t seem to want to say any more.

  “You actually allowed Lucifer to bless me?” I was in awe of this. She had actually stood in the presence of all things that angels stood against and allowed this being to bless her unborn child.

  “It is why you can alter your appearance. Lucifer gave you the ability to morph.” She frowned. “I didn’t believe that it would actually work until the day that I saw you as Prudence.”

  “Yeah, well from what Edmund says she looks just like me anyway,” I sighed.

  So many things were not making sense to me. First all this crap with Prudence, then Chase, now this. What else could possibly be brought up?

  “I never knew the woman,” my mother said, shrugging. “I couldn’t tell you if he was right or not.”

  “I think I need to process all of this.” I shook my head back and forth.

  “Of course, honey. I need to get back to Chase. He really had no clue what he was getting into,” she said, getting up from my bed.

  “Where is Wesley?” I asked before she could leave the room.

  “I sent him to town to get some stuff.” She turned back towards the door. “We both thought you needed some time to think.”

  “He better not be here on some mission from the queen,” I yelled, not sure if she heard me.

  So I was blessed by the creators. No wonder everyone wanted me dead. I laid down on my pillows and stared at the wall. The white dots grew blurry and then finally I let the world go dark. Things were getting weird and if I didn’t watch it I was going to be circling in an unknown hell for the rest of my life.

  ***

  “Babe.” Wesley’s voice was calling to me. I opened my eyes and saw him standing over me in his basketball shorts and no shirt.

  “Hey,” I said sleepily.

  “How you feeling?” he asked, caressing my face.

  “Better,” I said, stretching. “Where’s your shirt?”

  “I got blood on it,” he said.

&n
bsp; “Well that’s comforting,” I laughed. He gave me a warm smile and sat down on the bed next to me.

  “Your mom said you two talked.” He touched my hand and my heart started to pound.

  “Yeah. I think I got some answers that I really wasn’t meaning to get,” I yawned.

  “That was why I had to get away. I wasn’t sure if you were going to explode all over the place. I would prefer not to be here when things go up in smoke.” He gave me a nod. “You know the whole vampire and fire thing.”

  “You aren’t a complete vampire,” I pointed out.

  “True, but there are other things in my blood that don’t like fire as well,” he corrected me.

  “Do they know what it is?” I started tracing the scars across his chest.

  “Not all of them. We know of a few.” He closed his eyes.

  “How is it possible?” I asked. His skin was cool to the touch. The scars lay soft and flat against his body.

  “How is possible for Sheridan to have as many bloodlines as she has. She’s angel and vampire; two things that aren’t supposed to coexist in one body. Then she gave birth to a half demon child. Blood tests would show that Miranda shares no angel bloodline. It was like Xic just totally nixed it.” He shrugged.

  “Does that make her like me?” I felt pity fill my heart for just a moment for the girl. She wasn’t as bad as I had thought. Then again, she didn’t know that it was me she was talking to. I’m sure I would have seen a whole other side of her if she did.

  “No. You and the others’ parents are products of angel and demon, not hybrid angel and demon,” he said. “She was also never blessed as you were.”

  “So what do they think is in there? Mixed in all that blood and bone.” I continued tracing the scars and looking at his face in awe. Even though I knew what they were, I still found beauty in them.