Bound by Revenge (Guardian Series) (4 page)

The silver Lexus sparkled in the sunlight, as if an invitation to drive. Forget the enemies, Abby was gonna have to fight off the jealous masses. Anyone with half a brain, hell, any brain at all, would kill for this kind of ride.

Sam brushed past Abby to get to the car. As soon as she opened the passenger’s side door, the clean leather interior infiltrated her senses. There was no dirt tracked in and no stains on the carpet. No papers tucked under visors or between the seats.

The only indication that the vehicle wasn’t straight from the dealer was a silver necklace hanging from the rearview mirror. A small multi-faceted red stone dangled in a tear drop from the chain. And as Sam shrunk into the plush leather seat, she instinctively reached out to touch the stone and examined it in the light.

“This is beautiful.” Sam dropped the necklace back into place to swing freely from the mirror.

“Thanks,” Abby shifted her weight from one foot to the other and back again. “My grandmother left it to me when she died. My dad got mad when I told him I wasn’t gonna wear it.” She snickered inaudibly. “But I never liked wearing jewelry. This was the only way I could think of to make the argument go away. Plus, I like it here. I figure it’s something special the way my father went on about it.”

No doubt the piece was special. Bradley had no mother. Never did, since Bradley had been a first generation guardian. So Abby’s grandmother was probably another guardian. No relation to Abby. It was a common practice for immortals to use family as a guise for their relationships. Heck, that’s what Sam was doing right now. Humans were more willing to accept the recognizable bond and once you worked closely with someone for centuries, you tended to behave like family anyway, so who would know?

Sam looked away to hide the way her mouth drooped in a frown when the information began to click. Most humans had no concept of the power of a talisman. And Sam was willing to bet that this particular talisman held an extraordinary power. Otherwise, why would Bradley have pushed it on his daughter? Fashion didn’t really come off as the head guardian’s forte.

“I think that you should put it on. It would look great on you.” Sam gently unlatched the chain and cradled the necklace while holding it in both hands in presentation to Abby. Abby chuckled at Sam, walked around the car and slipped down into the driver’s seat.

“Nah, jewelry doesn’t look natural on me.” Abby tilted her head down and looked up at Sam, just asking for that boost of confidence to push her over the line.

“It definitely suits you. It’s like it was meant for you.” Sam was pretty damn sure that it was.

Abby beamed as Sam hooked the chain around her neck, letting the ruby dangle just below Abby’s collar bone.

The ride down Abby’s road was a study of monotony. Each house was an exact replica of the one before. All except for color, that is. Still, they were only a variation of pastels that were muddled by Sam’s eyes as they passed.

The cookie cutter houses seemed even more alien as the suburban neighborhood diminished, replaced by a long stretch of pine trees that flanked both sides of the road.

“Not much around here is there?” Sam asked. Her eyes strained to focus against the passing trees, searching for any sign of life in the woods. The best she could do was to pick out a couple of birds in the sky and some squirrels scampering around in the undergrowth.

“I don’t like to live in the middle of things. Peace and quiet can be a hot commodity working with my family.”

Everything about the way that Abby lived her life, from her home to her family, was exactly what Sam had dreamt of during her whole existence. The quiet neighborhood in the outskirts of town could have been stripped out of a fifties sitcom. Her close knit family and easy flow of money were the kind of thing even humans dreamt of.

A wave of nausea hit Sam as she considered the tailspin that Abby was going to face. It would be hard for even the strongest willed to recover. And Sam hated the thought that she was going to play such a big part in tearing this utopia away from Abby. But Abby had to know the truth. She wasn’t human.

That’s what Sam told herself, anyway. It eased her conscience a bit to let her mind frolic in images of a different life. A life made available through the same events that were about to destroy Abby’s perfect life, the transition to being a guardian.

This part of town was bigger than Sam expected. It bore no resemblance to the area she’d seen by the train station. Businesses lined the side of the road, stores, restaurants and offices replaced the forests from the outskirts of town.

Ruthers was a midsized city. It had all the comforts that a person could want and lacked the abundance of major crime that was so commonplace in the larger cities. Human crime, anyway. Supernatural crime was another story.

Demons had been influencing people and getting them to misbehave since the species was first created but over the years small factions began forming. These demons disregarded the edict to keep balance. They did what they enjoyed, and that just happened to be causing chaos. The humans simply became pawns for their games. Demons used them to go after each other and any other species that cross their paths, without the humans even knowing they were being manipulated.

Abby drove past all of the buildings along the main road, taking no interest in the modern city.

“We’re heading off the main drag. Just down that road, is the lake.”

Abby pointed to the side road up ahead, flipped on her blinker and leaned into the left hand turn. The road was lined in businesses, like the main road, but instead of the large, modern buildings, there were lines of monuments to the past made of old brick and clapboard, housing businesses that had been around since before Abby was born. The last of which capped off the dead end. There was a massive lake with a large brown building right on the edge. A wooden sign hung from an iron pole that greeted the girls at the edge of the lot.

The Lake House. The words spelled out in black scroll.

Abby pulled the car into the first open space in the lot, pulled out her key and eased out of the car. Sam followed suit and closed the door quietly behind her.

Sam stared across the parking lot through the large windows adorning the front of the building that looked like it had been recently remodeled. White linen covered the tables with blue cloth napkins folded accordion-style standing up on each place setting. This was a hangout for business men and other professionals. This is where people held important meetings, both on the up and up and otherwise.

Sam suddenly felt underdressed. She looked down at her sweater and khakis and realized they might make her stand out in a room full of briefcases and fancy suits. When Sam didn’t make any progress towards the building, Abby walked over to her and bumped her playfully with her hip.

“Don’t worry. It’s cool here.”

“Right, last time I ate someplace like this, I was meeting with the mafia.” Sam said out of the corner of her mouth.

Abby laughed so hard, Sam could see tears well up in her eyes. Funny thing was Sam was completely serious. Strange how sometimes the best way to keep a secret is to say it out loud.

Abby glided into The Lake House with the stature of a woman who belonged in this world and paused in front of the hostess, just long enough to get her attention.

“Good afternoon, Ms. Andrean. Your father is already seated.”

The young hostess walked both women over towards the farthest corner to give them a secluded area to speak. Glancing around the room as they walked through, Sam spotted a beautiful blonde in the corner farthest away from Bradley. The woman tilted her drink towards her and smiled in greeting. Abby caught the motion from the corner of her eye and turned to stare at the woman to Sam’s dismay.

“You know someone here?” She questioned Sam as she studied the stranger’s features.

“No. She must have me confused with someone else.” The words barely peeped out from between Sam’s lips.

Honestly, Sam was surprised to see Morgan sitting in the restaurant, talking with a young human and acting as though she’d been in this town for years. She was definitely not ready to explain who, or what, Morgan was to Abby this early in the game.

Anywhere Sam went, they followed. She was lucky if she had a few days before bumping into a demon. It was something she’d grown accustomed to after her first few moves. There was no reason to question the nature of the universe. Anywhere there was good, there had to be evil, so the two groups traveled together, in a constant fight for balance.

And Sam had seen firsthand that no one in the world better personified evil than Morgan, the woman who now sat across the room who also happened to be one of two demons always on Sam’s tail. Vance was the other.

Vance was the stronger of the two, standing 6’4” with dark brown hair and blue eyes. Like all demons, he was the epitome of physical perfection. Toned and tan and absolutely irresistible to most human females. Actually, he was almost irresistible even to Sam.

Morgan was a petite blonde. Only about 5’2”, it was easy for her to deceive anyone and convince them that she was harmless thanks to her small frame. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, Sam has seen what Morgan was capable of and she knew better than to disregard her enemy. Morgan didn’t have the physical strength of most demons but she made up for it with cunning manipulation and masterful battle skills. Her powers weren’t too shabby, either.

Sam had gotten to know both the demons fairly well from the perspective of rivals. Working alongside the demons was always part of her job since they both shared the same ultimate goals, to keep the universe in check and to never allow a slip in the balance between good and evil. And she looked forward to seeing Vance, every time she moved on to a new location and a new charge. She’d await his arrival with anticipation, wondering when he’d pop up, who he’d claim to be and how he’d present her with a new challenge.

There was something about the demon that drew Sam back every time. She knew better than to let her guard down anywhere near the stunning creature but most of the time she just couldn’t help herself. She felt an unnatural pull to Vance and she fought that attraction every day.

Her self-restraint had held strong over the years and she’d yet to give in to the temptation. It was both a point of pride and an unrelenting disappointment in her otherwise controlled life.

Morgan certainly did her part to quell the temptation. Whenever the two worked as a team, Vance changed somehow. He’d take on more of the demonic traits that Morgan firmly represented and hide many of the human-like traits that he unintentionally embodied.

Morgan had difficulty walking that line. There’s a very small gray area that was the realm of both angels and demons. It’s the ground they all treaded carefully for the good of the planet. Morgan was always on the far side, endangering the entire universe with her proclivity towards evil.

Instead of being a force of influence, Morgan was a force unto herself. Sam had her job cut out for her whenever she faced her nemesis. She had to work exponentially harder to keep the appropriate balance.

It was very unlike Morgan to sit so quietly, blending in with the locals. Her presence in town wasn’t the surprise, but it was her demeanor that shook Sam as she walked by. Sam knew the demons would follow her. Not realizing she’d been called in by a guardian, they’d expect to challenge her and her new charge. But Morgan hadn’t
followed
her to Ruthers this time. She had actually been there first.

Sam focused on the far wall as she concentrated on getting beyond the distraction. She wasn’t about to call Morgan out in front of a bunch of humans. And it didn’t look like Morgan planned on wreaking havoc in the middle of the restaurant.
I have to keep my head in the game
, Sam thought as she approached the guardian’s table.

Abby’s father stood up as the girls came up to his table. To a witness the move looked like an innocent greeting but Sam understood the real intention. She could feel his powerful presence and accepted his posturing as assertion of his leadership over the girls.

“Daddy, you remember Sam.” Abby gestured to Sam a la Vanna White.