daemonum angelus: Discovery of the Guardians
Unum

2014

The late January snowfall transformed the East, Hudson andHarlem Rivers that bounded Manhattan Island, into grey mirrors that reflectedthe busy streets of New York City.

It also turned Kiara’s fingers into clumsy icicles and shefumbled with the keys to her apartment on the eleventh floor of the Camarguebuilding in the Upper East Side.

When she finally managed to unlock the front door, shestaggered inside and dropped her pastel-coloured shopping bags on the darklaminated floor,

She’d used the money her father had transferred into hersavings account to buy herself more than a few birthday presents.

The living room that spread out in front of her wasimpeccably decorated. Tan-coloured couches bore cream pillows around a hairyrug with a glass coffee table in its centre. An extravagant white-orchidcentrepiece and golden curtains tied the room together.

I’m starting to soundlike my mother.

The room smelled of fresh cinnamon and lemon-scented roomspray. It brought back memories of all Kiara’s years in the apartment.

Moving into the modern kitchen, she deposited her keys andhandbag onto the stainless steel counter and reached for a glass.

The dark wood cabinet was high above her head and when shefinally managed to grab hold of a tumbler, it slipped. Kiara yelped and threwher arms up to shield her face from the hundreds of shards that would rain downon her. The glass broke over her forearms with a crash.

When the danger had passed, she swore and looked down at herhands. Dozens of glass fragments were embedded in the flesh.

Then she frowned.

There were so many cuts… But she wasn’t bleeding at all. Andshe didn’t feel any pain.

She gingerly removed a shard from her left hand and wasshocked to see that the skin was smooth. No wound.

After extracting the remaining glass pieces and sweeping thefloor, she risked another venture into the cupboard and finally managed to pourherself a glass of orange juice.

Still scowling at her hands, she made her way into theliving room. As she flopped down on one of the couches, the apartment door flewopen.

It was Virginia Kent, soft orange curls piled into ahastily-tied ponytail and portfolio in hand.

Virginia didn’t, as most mothers would have, comment on thefact that the door was unlocked or that there were parcels spread out on thefloor next to the entrance.

Instead, she took a seat next to her daughter, set herthings down on the coffee table and kicked off her ankle boots.

Everyone was always telling Kiara what a stunning mother shehad. It was true, really. Like her fiery hair, Virginia’s rich brown eyesdemanded attention. She was also one of those people who loved exercise – muchto her only child’s dismay – and it showed.

“Hey, Mom. Did you get another job?”

Her mother nodded triumphantly. “They want to redecorate theentire home and I nailed the presentation. What about you? How was your lunchat Café d’ Alsace?”

Kiara unpinned her dark brown curls and ran her fingersthrough them. “It was great. The girls arranged for a birthday cake and I got aton of presents. And then I went shopping and blew all Dad’s money.”

Virginia chuckled and patted her daughter’s leg. “That’s mygirl. Speaking of birthdays, I have a little sweet sixteen gift for you too.”

She shrugged. “That is only to be expected.”

Her mother rolled her eyes and disappeared into the closetacross from the kitchen. She emerged a few minutes later, bearing a silver giftbag.

Kiara snatched it away and jammed her hand inside,extracting a journal. It was A5 and one of those really flexible ones with the softleather covers. Stamped on the front, in flowing letters, was her name: KiaraWestwin. She flipped the journal around in her hand and clutched it to herchest.

“Thank you, Mom. I’ve always wanted one of these notebooks.”

“I’m glad you like it.”

They embraced and her mother refused to let go, patting herdaughter’s hair delicately. Kiara felt Virginia’s body spasm in a sob andpulled away. The other woman’s eyes were wet with tears.

“Mom, what’s wrong?”

Her mother avoided the question. “Did anything strangehappen today?”

Kiara’s thought flashed to the shards of glass stuck in herhands. She looked down at them now; they were still unscarred.

She shook her head nonetheless. “Not any stranger thanusual.”

Virginia nodded and sniffed once. “I’m going to take a bath.There’s lasagne in the fridge. Don’t go to bed too late… Tomorrow is a very bigday.”

Kiara frowned. “What’s happening tomorrow?”

She never got an answer; hermother shut the bathroom door with a bang!

Kiara’s ears were impervious to the noises of the bustlingcity life outside her window. Growing up in the most densely populated of NewYork’s five boroughs had forced her to become a heavy sleeper.

So, what woke her up the next morning wasn’t honking cars orshouting pedestrians, but the sound of a woman’s pained shrieks coming fromtheir living room.

She sat up with a jolt and, even through the blurry visionof just waking up, noticed that something in her room was out of place.

Her dresser drawers had been yanked open and emptied. And agiant luggage trunk stood ready next to her bedroom door. Its belly bulged andthe zipper fiercely struggled to keep the contents contained.

She heard another scream and was out of bed in a flash.“Mom?” she called out, but there was no reply – only the sound of somethingbreaking.

Her body seemed to move by itself and before she knew it,she was out in the living room. Her jaw dropped.

Their perfectly designed apartment had been turned into acrime scene:

The couches’ brown cushions were ripped apart, stuffing peelingout like intestines. In the far left corner of the room, a painting layshattered, and all the furniture had been flipped over. Pools, smears and spatsof scarlet stained the floor and walls.

Virginia stood in the centre of the space and Kiara wantedto scream, but her voice had vanished. Her mother was crouching and her lipswere drawn back in a snarl. Her body was so torn and bloodied that it was hardto tell which sections were wounded and which weren’t.

Then Kiara laid eyes on the attacker and she suddenlyregained the ability to cry out in disgust. It was built like a human, but itsclothes were shredded and its body parts were undergoing various stages ofdecay. She had never seen a creature like this and she did not have the desireto do so ever again.

It paid no heed to her as it advanced on her mother. Kiarafroze in place and was forced to watch as the thing closed its bony fingers around her mother’s throat, liftingher into the air. Virginia, who was usually a formidable figure, dangled fromits grip like an abandoned rag doll. And then she was flung across the room,hitting the right wall with a crack.

She crumpled to the floor, motionless and unconscious.

“Mom!”

The thing’s head shot up, rotting face turned to Kiara. Thecorners of its mouth curved upward in a sadistic grin.

Kiara backed up against the wall next to her bedroom door.She knew that escaping through it would be futile; the creature would onlyfollow.

It shuffled towards her slowly, extending its disgusting armto point a finger at her. The gesture sent an involuntary shiver down herspine.

She reached down to close her hands around the glass vaseshe’d been eyeing through the entire encounter. Relieved to finally have aweapon, she straightened and faced the creature with as much courage as shecould muster.

Finally, when it came close enough for her to smell itsdecomposing flesh; she hurled the vase at the thing’s face. It broke over thecreature’s head, glass fragments sticking into its cheeks.

It didn’t even flinch.

Her mother’s attacker was now only two feet away, but Kiarawas too shocked to move…

And then it was on her, sinking its teeth into her rightarm. She expected pain and blood to explode from the wound, but neitherhappened.

She was startled out of her reverie and kicked out with herleft leg, connecting her bare heel with the monster’s abdomen. It was pushedback and ripped free of her arm, but it was clear that the creature felt nopain whatsoever.

But neither did she. The skin on her arm was smooth.

The thing advanced again and Kiara accepted the fact thatthere was no escape.

I’m going to die here.

She let out a sob and slid down the wall, sitting with herknees pressed up against her chest. She bit down on her bottom lip andscrunched her eyes shut, waiting for the thing to kill her.

Please just let it bepainless.

But the monster’s suffocating stench had disappeared and sohad the ominous sound of its shuffling.

Kiara opened her eyes cautiously, half expecting to bemurdered violently at any moment. But the thing was gone – vanished.

In its place stood a tall Asian man dressed in all black.His raven hair was cropped short and there was a bloodied axe in his left hand.

She gasped and hauled herself closer to the wall. The manlooked down at her with kind, slanted eyes, hooking the axe into the weaponsbelt at his narrow hips.

He knelt down and Kiara’s breath caught in fear. “Are youalright?”

She looked at her forearm and was unsurprised to replace thatthere was no wound. “What was that?”

The man sighed. “A zombie.”

Her silver-green eyes widened. “A what?”

“A zombie.”

“Assuming that I’m not completely insane; what the hell wasit doing here? Why did it attack us?”

He shook his head. “I’m not entirely sure, but it’s deadnow. I’ll explain everything in a minute. I just have to check on Virginia.”

She’d forgotten all about her mother, who was passed out onthe dark floor. She leapt up and bounded to the woman’s side, checking for apulse.

Having found one, she sighed with relief. “She’s alive… Wehave to get her to a hospital.”

The man was suddenly behind her. “We don’t have time forthat. I’ll phone an ambulance. You go get your luggage and get dressed.”

She rose, trying not to think about the fact that she waswearing pyjamas in front of a stranger. Her head was on the same level as hisshoulders. “What? We have to make sure she’s okay.”

“Please just trust me on this.”

She shook her head in disbelief. “Trust you? I just metyou.”

He sighed heavily. “My name is Naru Ishida and I work forthe Guardians.” He held out a strong hand.

She didn’t shake it, but rather put pressure on the wound onher mother’s stomach. “I don’t give a rat’s ass about who you are or who youwork for. Did you come with a car or do I have to phone the hospital?”

He grabbed her arm and said, “Please. I know your mother. Weused to be friends. Trust me when I say that I will take care of it while youprepare to leave.”

She looked up at him and crossed her arms over her chest.“Who’re the Guardians?”

“Certain families’ children between the ages of sixteen andtwenty-one are charged with the responsibility of protecting mankind and theworld from supernaturals –’’

“Supernaturals?”

“Witches. Vampires. Warlocks. And many more. All of them arereal. Your mother was a Guardian and, now, so are you.”

She rolled her eyes. “I am really going crazy.”

He smiled. “This is not a hallucination. It’s very real.”

“Okay, so where do you want to take me?”

“Insulam autemCustodes.” Oddly, she knew that that meant ‘Island of the Guardians’. “It’san island just south of the Lesser Sunda Islands, northwest of Australia, wherethe Guardians live and are trained… Yesterday was your sixteenth birthday and Ihave come to take you to the Island now. So you have to go get ready and I haveto call for an ambulance.”

She shook her head. “This is absurd…”

“I know it’s a lot to take in. But the longer we stand hereand argue about it, the lower your mother’s chances of survival are.”

Kiara finally gave. “Promise she’ll be okay?”

“Promise.”

She nodded, against her better judgement, and went to herroom. Even though Naru’s explanation sounded crazy, Kiara believed every word.But how could she not, after what she’d just experienced. Her brain still hadtrouble processing it, though. Whose wouldn’t?

She dressed almost mechanically and dragged the trunk withher things into the living room. Her mother must have packed it while she wassleeping.

Naru was waiting, leaning against one of the kitchencounters. “Ready?”

She shrugged, becoming aware of the fact that she wasmercilessly gnawing at her lower lip. “The ambulance?”

“They’ll be here in fifteen minutes. Now press your palmagainst a wall and think of a door.”

Kiara cocked an eyebrow. “Okay?”

She did as she was instructed and yelped when the wallstarted to ripple like the surface of a river in a storm. And, suddenly, a palewooden door appeared out of nowhere.

She gasped and stared up at him. “What did I just do?”

He flashed her an amused smile. “You just created a portal. It’s one of the Guardians’ powers.”

“What are the others?”

“You’ll be able to understand Latin now. Guardians alsocan’t be hurt or killed, except if their hearts are ripped out.”

Kiara was horrified. “Their hearts ripped out?”

“You’re about to enter a dangerous world, Kiara. Today’sattack was only the beginning.” He leaned toward the portal and whispered, “Insulam autem Custodes.”

The door opened, revealing never-ending blackness. “Yourmother will be alright… Now, after you.”

She took a steadying breath, closed her eyes and plungedinto the darkness.

1994

The red wall of her bedroomwas illuminated by the blue moonlight filtering through the window behind themahogany bed.

Virginia ripped open hercloset doors and hurled her belongings into a weathered grey suitcase. Shehated the way the room smelled like home – apple-scented shampoo and deodorant.

And she hated the fact thatshe was being forced to leave.

She wanted to rip thecloset, the room, the entire college apart with her bare hands and she wantedthe headmaster to beg for her forgiveness. But she’d never give it to him. Hedidn’t deserve to be forgiven.

Paulina was next to her,black hair braided and eyelids swollen from sleep. “Surely they didn’t intendfor you to leave in the middle of the night?”

Virginia tried her best tohide the bitterness in her tone, but didn’t succeed. “Oh, they meant immediately. I can’t believe the Meeting would justthrow me out like this. I am a Guardian, and a damn good one at that.”

Paulina shrugged with frailshoulders, a scowl contorting her sharp features. “Well, you are breakingalmost every Guardian rule ever created.”

She stopped her packing toglare at her roommate. “It’s not that bad.”

“Not that bad? Virginia,you’re turning your back on everything we stand for, everything we believe in.What happened to ‘Nos sunt semper contro malum’?”

Virginia felt her bottom lipquiver, but refused to show any emotion other than anger. “What happened toundying friendship?” she spat.

Silence.

She zipped up her case andmade her way to the door. “It’s not like I’m joining the evil forces. I’m notturning my back on the Guardians; you’re turning your back on me… Goodbye,Paulina.”

Her former good friend’svoice was void of sadness as she said, “You’re going to regret this, Virginia.And don’t come running back to those who were only trying to protect you.”