Hullo all.
Well exams are done with for a month which gives me time to do something other than procrastinate. I can actually be constructive for a change!! Thank you to those who emailed me encouragement (and luck THANK YOU). Here's the next part, hope you all enjoy
Draegyn
The Guardians of Selene: four
The second in the Book of the Renewal
By Draegyn
Dragynne2000@yahoo.com.au
She perched on the large hunk of rock that floated in one of Jupiter's thin rings and looked down at the planet that had become her hobby. Not long ago she would have honestly been able to call in an obsession but that was before she'd been to Earth. Each world had its own beauty and magic but for some reason Earth held a special attraction for her.
He was there. A fragile mortal man but he was more than strong enough to carry his world on his shoulders. She had missed him ever since she had left him but they were not destined to be together. Her true mate would be immortal so he could stand by her side should she live to succeed the Speaker. He would be powerful enough to protect her and that power would glow gold. He would complete her.
So why did she dream of a human?
Why was it his ocean-blue eyes that haunted her nights? Why was it his silky hair that she yearned to run her fingers through? Why could she imagine no one but him ever filling the emptiness within her?
He was not the one but why did she wish he were?
The asteroid rocked as someone knelt behind her and arms snaked around her. His breath tickled her ear as he whispered, "I'm glad you came back."
She twisted slightly so that she could meet his eyes. "So am I."
***
Serena stretched lazily and rolled over to bury her face in the pillow. Darien's scent surrounded her and she luxuriated in the simple pleasure that waking up with it gave her. Amusement hung in the air and she lifted her head high enough that one eye could look over the pillow. The small black cat that was her friend's current form watched her with patient enjoyment.
"Having fun Princess?" the cat snickered.
She blushed when she realised exactly what she was doing. Then the thought of the human man reminded her of what had happened between them and she began to worry about him. Even with the length of the apartment separating them she could feel Darien's slumbering presence. Instinctively she attempted to reach out to his mind but her own magical senses were still too raw from her battle with the spears and backlashed. She winced as her head began to pound and Luna sighed in exasperation.
"Silly child, you must refrain from spell casting for a time yet," she scolded as her own power soothed the pain from Serena's mind.
"I was doing fine yesterday," Serena whined and winced again.
Luna's expression was knowing as only a cat could be. "I imagine you were occupied with other thoughts when you worked any magic."
It took Serena only a moment to quickly catalogue the previous day's events and she was forced to agree with her friend. When she conspicuously didn't answer Luna chuckled again. "Ah well Princess, you will just have to pace yourself more carefully until you have fully recovered."
"But that'll be days!" Serena blurted in consternation as she hastily performed a quick self-examination. Until she was fully healed she was virtually helpless. She would have to rely on Luna and Darien to protect her, not that she didn't trust them but she hated the knowledge that they would be risking their lives for hers.
"As you are restricted to quarters until the spears have all been destroyed I don't see the problem." Serena glowered at the black guardian who had easily read her mind. "Sulking won't change anything," Luna reproved and with a flirt of her tail she curled back into a ball and went back to sleep.
For a little while the blonde Lunarian just laid in bed, enjoying the rare moment of peace. Luna's steady breathing and soft purr were almost hypnotic. If Serena's stomach hadn't started to make its demands known loudly then she would have been more than happy to join Luna in further slumber. Instead she stretched again and forced herself out of bed.
With a light step she padded from her borrowed bedroom towards the kitchen but a soft snore sounded as she passed another door on her way. She looked through to find her host draped over a couch with one arm behind his head and the other thrown over his eyes. With his blue silk boxers, white t-shirt and flyaway hair he looked remarkably innocent and she allowed herself to be sidetracked.
Darien didn't stir as she walked up to the couch and showed no sign of doing so even when she leaned over to brush some of his overlong black hair away from his face. She wondered if he truly was coping with the revelation of what she had done to him as well as he made out as well as why he had taken so long shopping the night before. Cautiously she perched on the edge of the couch and contemplated her next move. If she truly wanted to find out all it would require was a touch and she would have access to his mind. That was something she was capable of even in her current state but would her would-be protector object to such an invasion of her privacy? Among her own people she was allowed such liberties freely but she was a healer of the soul as much as a healer of the body and it was expected of her. Darien came from a completely different culture than she did…
Softly she caressed his cheek, wishing that there was something that she could do to help him and then she regretfully started to draw away. For a moment it seemed like she had gotten away with it but before she could move back his arms circled her like iron bands. She did not have the opportunity to think. One moment he was sleeping and perfectly still, the next he was kissing her, only half awake. Several seconds and a minor tussle later he was half on top of her and both of them were on the floor.
Finally he woke from whatever dream had ensnared him and he looked at her blankly, his eyes showing no hint of recognition. Reflected in his eyes she saw the human disguise her brother had created for her, using the twinbond between them to alter her form and so she understood his abrupt switch from amorous to confusion even though it disorientated her slightly.
"Who are you and what are you doi…" he stopped mid-word and shook his head. "Sereni… Serena. I'm sorry, I didn't know…"
She smiled easily and briefly squeezed his hand before drawing away. "It's okay Darien, you were just dreaming. I shouldn't have disturbed your sleep."
His eyes narrowed as he sat up. "Why did you wake me?"
"It was an accident," she replied defensively and started to stand. He caught her wrist and once more their thoughts became open to one another. She felt him lock away his own tangle of emotions while simultaneous searching out her thoughts. Firmly she deflected his probe and sent one of her own at the morass of feelings he was attempting to hide from her. He abandoned his attempts to read her and concentrated all of his efforts to build a clumsy shield around his inner self. It wouldn't have been too difficult for her even then to find a way through it but she acknowledged his right to mental privacy and withdrew her own probes.
For an instant she stared at their still joined hands and shook her head. "You are becoming entirely too adept at that."
"Adept at what?" he asked and let her go.
She sank back to the floor and smiled crookedly at him. "Reading my mind."
"Is it my fault if you have such simple mind Meatball Head? It's not so much like reading as looking at pictures drawn in crayon!" He raised an eyebrow and she recognised his old insult mode.
It took her less than a second to decide that if arguing with her would help him adjust to their situation then arguing it was. She screwed up her nose and donned a sulky expression. "You're not even supposed to be a telepath Mamoru! And don't call me Meatball Head!"
He shouldn't have been but it was blatantly obvious that, no matter how inexperienced he still was, his mind was blooming like a rose. Even as she passively examined his aura she could see the petals of power unfurling, her presence acting like the warm sun and speeding the process. Soon all of that latent magic she had found in him years before would be fully awakened and she made a mental note to talk to Luna about it. An alpha level mage was too rare to be blinkered, no matter what the law might command.
While she had been analysing the changes in him Darien had jerked his head up and stared at her in shock. She looked back at him strangely, what was wrong with him? "Darien?"
"What did you call me?" he demanded.
She stared into his indigo eyes, perplexed. Oh! "Mamoru!" she whispered in realisation and blushed slightly. Damned human physiology, what she wouldn't have given for a disguise with blood that didn't practically glow when it rushed to her cheeks. "Ah… it's kind of a use name," she stuttered, his serious gaze unnerving her. "It means-"
"Protector," he finished for her and she stared at him in surprise.
"Yes. How did you know?"
Instead of answering he moved to his knees and gently stretched out his hand to cup her cheek. "You really think of me as your protector?" His eyes were so tender that she couldn't move away and a spell formed of something other than magic began to be woven between the two of them.
"You guard the Earth…" she murmured softly, "And… me. Even though you did not like me you always kept me safe…"
"Darien!" a new voice exclaimed in shock and destroyed the rapport that had been forming between the pair. Serena and Darien broke apart with a gasp and, before the new arrivals could blink, both were on their feet. Without a thought Darien placed her behind him and, to her own surprise, Serena let him but that didn't mean that she wasn't prepared to fight on her own behalf.
*Serenity?* Luna's telepathic demand helped the Lunarian recover from her startled state.
At almost exactly the same time Darien realised who his new guests were and the tension vanished from his stance. She straightened slowly and peered over his shoulder. Six strangers stood in the entrance to the apartment, two women and four men. Their ages ranged from several solar years older than Darien to a youth roughly the same age the scouts would be. The really interesting thing about them though was the magic that each of them radiated.
*Ahh… I don't think that you need to worry Luna. I think the rest of the reincarnates just showed up…*
*She's right lady Luna. There's nothing wrong other than their consistent lack of manners.* Darien's mental complaint accompanied an audible sigh of irritation.
To Serena's amusement, the six continued to stand motionless, gaping at the pair. "Um…" she whispered loudly, "Are they alright?"
Darien snorted. "Depends on what you mean by alright." He glared at one of the two blondes in the group and commented acidly, "Don't you ever knock?"
The blonde in question shook herself and grinned. "But Coz, there was never reason to knock before. I could hardly have expected to find you with such lovely company now could I?"
Irritation rippled through Darien's frame as well as disgust. Serena saw his anger at himself for what had just happened and projected calm into his mind. It had been as much her fault as his but having been caught in such a position by his friends made it infinitely worse. He turned to growl at her but she poked him in the ribs and dodged nimbly around him as he recoiled.
"You're supposed to tell them to come in and introduce me too Frog-face!"
*Meatball Head…*
She ostensibly ignored him and motioned the others to come the full way into the apartment. One by one they came fully into the room and the Lunarian was able to get a good look at them. There were two blondes, one male, one female, of roughly the same age. The man had green eyes and although Serena got the impression that he was possibly the most amoral person present in the room that was not saying much as it was only in comparison with his companions. The woman was more interesting for she possessed the same pointed chin and indigo eyes as Darien and Serena had an intense curiosity about anyone who was so obviously related to her host.
She smiled cheerfully at the other blonde and held her hand out. "Hi. I'm Serena. I take it you and Darien are related…"
The woman in question smiled lopsidedly and shook her hand. "Yeah. I'm Alex Ten'ou, Dare's cousin." Alex looked from Serena to Darien. "Shame on you Darien. Your manners are appalling, why haven't you introduced this enchanting creature to us before?"
"Can't possibly imagine," Darien growled and Serena frowned at him. Why was he so mad? Then she caught him giving not just Alex but also the four men death glares and she realised that she'd forgotten human standards of dress again. It wasn't that she was indecent, the shirt she was wearing did cover everything, but it did encourage people to get the wrong idea of her relationship with Darien. Then again, they wanted people to think that they were lovers. The real question was should she and Darien go through with it for his friends' sakes? Especially if it would cause him pain.
Darien heard her last thought. She was certain of that because suddenly he eased and grinned boyishly as he swung her into his arms. Why else would he act so uncharacteristically in front of his friends?
*Why else? I couldn't possibly be attracted to a demi-goddess disguised as the most exquisite blonde on Earth!* he murmured mentally, his tone slightly bitter.
She laughed aloud but her telepathic response was somewhat different. *Darien...*
*Call me Mamoru damn it!*
His response shocked her but she understood the reason for it without intruding on his private thoughts. He needed to know that he meant something to her other than just a convenient native guide. If it couldn't be a lover then being the one that she trusted to keep her safe was the next best thing.
*Mamoru I don't…* she didn't know how to finish the thought. What could she say to him? I'm sorry for screwing up your feelings with a magic that will probably never be under my control? I wish I could do something to help you get over me, why don't you let me set you up? Nothing she could do would help him and anything she said would only make him think that she pitied him and that was something that she'd never do. Not for this. For this she only felt guilt.
*Don't worry about it princess. I'm sorry I snapped…* He made a deliberate effort to brighten his mood. *Not that they expect that from me either,* he added wryly and allowed her to view a little of his recent history directly from his mind.
She sent him the image of a raised eyebrow, one that looked suspiciously like his own when he felt superior. *You have been a sour old man lately haven't you?*
He declined to answer and that was answer enough. *Come on Meatball Head, it's time to put on a show for the boys and girls.*
He swept her in front of him, pulling her close so that her back rested against his chest, and then rested his chin on her head before he returned his attention to his visitors. "My sincere apologies Alex," he drawled in an outright lie. "Serena these are my friends. Alex has made herself known to you. The lady with the chestnut hair next to her is Michelle Kaiou, Alex's girlfriend. Jyp Green is the blonde man with trouble written all over him and Isaac Smithsen, or Zack as we call him, is the once with the ponytail." *Also known as Sailors Uranus and Neptune and the generals Jadeite and Zoisite,* he added in the privacy of her head.
He nodded at the youngest man who had light brown hair, hazel eyes and a slight build. Serena's eyes met the boy's only long enough to nod a greeting but that was more than enough to sense the almost fanatical devotion that he felt for his friends. The two main focuses for the font of loyalty were the silver haired man behind him, whom Serena guessed to be the kid's chosen leader, and, surprisingly, Darien. The part of her that was eternally the Guardian wondered why Darien?
Darien continued the introduction and Serena felt him listening in her mind for her reactions. "The man with the brown mop is Maxfield Nicholas Stanton the third and last but not least is Kian who has dispensed with such frivolities as surnames quite contrary to Nick's obsession with them." *Nephrite and Kunzite.*
The man with the wavy, long brown hair radiated a sense of amusement behind his shock and neither emotion concealed the strong streak of condescension that he felt towards the world in general from the Guardian. The last man was also the eldest by several years, probably nearer to thirty than twenty solar years and the coldness he radiated well suited his white hair and icy eyes to Serena's mind.
"Hi!" she chirped sunnily and tried to ignore her uncomplimentary initial impressions. *Hey Mamoru is it just a coincidence that their general names all start with the same letter as their everyday names…* She trailed off when she sensed his wordless demand for what she really thought and was tempted to curse his growing ease in her mind for real. *Um… They all strike me as… Well…* She groped for an inoffensive manor to relay her feelings.
*Unstable? Slightly sinister?* Darien answered for her readily and she indicated her agreement. *It's only to be expected,* he told her, *I don't know how much Andy told you about them… I don't know how much he even knows about it but Beryl left her imprint on them and they're still healing. The rest of us are helping though.* She sent a wordless burst of interest and he expanded. *The outers, Alex and Michelle, are teaching them strength without cruelty while the inners show them softness without weakness.*
*And you?*
*I'm not sure…*
She couldn't believe it. Surely he understood that, if nothing else, he was the living embodiment of honour. *Darien-*
"-Darien?" They both realised they were being addressed and Darien's head jerked out of the curve of her neck where it had fallen during their quick conversation.
"Ah," he stuttered, "And this is Serena…"
"So she's already told us," Jyp drawled. His eyes travelled up and down her form and Serena had to force herself not to inflict any bodily harm in retaliation for the leer on his face.
Darien felt her growing irritation and snapped, "Stop ogling her you pervert and someone close the door." The blonde man flushed in shame and hurried to obey the command. Darien watched him with a frown and asked softly, "Sere why don't you get dressed?"
His concern was misplaced. Unlike him she could feel Jyp's genuine contrition and saw no reason not to forget the incident. It wasn't like the man had intended to be rude. It had just been a muddled attempt to irk Darien that had backfired on him. Her stomach reminded her of the reason she was even out of bed and she took the chance to change the subject.
"Actually, before I got sidetracked I was just going to get something to eat …" she trailed off with an abashed smile to her new acquaintances. She looked at him over her shoulders with a pleading expression and he softened immediately. Serena managed to restrain her triumph to a small smile but that was pointless when he felt it directly from her mind.
"Why am I not surprised?" Darien asked sardonically and commented to his friends, "Serena's a hum… a virtual vacuum cleaner when it comes to food."
He corrected himself mid-sentence and Serena gave him the mental equivalent of a poked out tongue. He just chuckled lazily in response. She twisted in his arms until she could face him front on and poked him in the chest. "Don't start with me mister! You were eating just as much as I was yesterday and don't deny it!"
"Why should I?" he retorted self-righteously, "I'm a lot bigger than you are, I need more fuel-"
"Hah! You're not that much bigger now…" Her Serena disguise, though otherwise similar, was nearly half a foot taller than Bunny's mere one hundred and fifty centimetres but that still left her over twenty centimetres shorter than Darien.
"Go get dressed Meatball Head," Darien told her, "I'll make us up some breakfast…" He glanced at his friends from the corner of his eye and she felt the mischief in him grow. "Besides, only I have the right to see you without clothes on…"
She laughed and kissed his nose before obeying. The expressions on the other reincarnates' faces were something to behold.
***
Darien forced his face into an expression that he knew that his friends would consider rather foolish. He couldn't act like himself around her, she didn't deserve the treatment that the Darien he'd become over the past few years would normally give her. Besides if he acted like normal her cover as his girlfriend would never be believed. He had to give them the impression that he was in love when he'd had absolutely no experience with the state. What that left was acting like Andrew when he was around Rita, which was strangely easy for him to do. He reminded himself that it was an act to hide her from the monsters out to kill her. He shook off the sudden disquiet that flashed through him and turned towards the kitchen. Both Andrew and Rita had given him strict instructions on how to make sure that Serena recovered quickly and foremost was to make sure she ate in quantity.
His mission defined, Darien started towards the kitchen with what he hoped was a love-struck smile and his friends followed in his wake. Alex and Jyp hurried to flank him, each with positively evil grins on their faces. For the first time the sight of them with those particular expressions did not aggravate the dark haired man, instead they inspired only amusement.
"Darien, do you know that you're smiling?" Alex exclaimed in mock surprise.
"Does it hurt?" Jyp quipped and Darien rolled his eyes.
"It's not like I've never smiled before," Darien retorted, "I'm not always grumpy."
There were a few suspicious sounding coughs from behind him but only Alex responded. With her typical insouciance she commented, "In the last three years I've seen you smile exactly four times and I've never heard you laugh. Not even when Raye set Jyp on fire. So when we not only find you in a compromising position with a girl but also grinning like a loon allow us a little bit of fun."
Darien snorted as he entered the kitchen and headed straight to the fridge. He opened the door and began a search through the contents while he replied, "I have no doubt that you are all dying of curiosity but, do you know what?" He pulled out milk, butter, bacon and eggs and turned to grin at his friends with his arms full. "I'm not telling you anything!"
"You're not playing fair!" Jyp burst out.
"I'm not?" Darien asked mildly and shoved some of the food at the blonde man.
Jyp absently accepted the burden as he argued. "No! You're supposed to be all embarrassed and we're supposed to be able to give you a hard time! You're not reacting properly…"
"She seems to have mellowed you," Kian commented calmly from where he was seated at the table.
"That's not possible!" Jyp denied emphatically and dumped his load on the bench near the stove. "It's been less than a week since we saw you last. No girl can change you that much in that short a time!"
Darien dug out a frying pan and reflected that Jyp had no idea of how wrong he was. The first time he'd met her it had taken Serena just eight days to change him for life. This time she'd had over half a week for her presence to literally work its magic again.
"He could be a clone," Michelle suggested as a joke and Jyp latched on to the idea with a surfeit of enthusiasm.
"Yeah! That'd explain everything. I mean the real Darien would never be caught dead in his pyjamas-"
"Why not?" Darien enquired as he threw some bacon into the sizzling pan. "I am in my apartment, I can wear what I like. How do you know that I don't walk around stark naked when no one else is around?"
There was a silence broken only by the sizzling sounds of bacon and eggs cooking as everyone considered it. Darien smiled to himself. He had never been able to relax enough to enjoy bantering with any of these friends before and now that he was trying anyway he found it strangely enjoyable. He wondered if he could come up with anything to really shock them speechless.
"You are a clone!" Alex declared with a delighted expression. "Darien's been replaced by a pod person!"
Zack scowled. "Alex stop fooling around."
She grimaced at him and groaned. "Come on Zack, Darien would never say something like that unless he was sick."
"Oh but I am sick." Darien turned and fluttered his eyes at her before finishing, "I'm looovee-sick!" Alex shuddered at the same time as she started to laugh. Zack looked at him in disbelief, Nick, Jyp and Michelle attempted to hide their laughter while Kian merely smiled slightly.
*You're having fun I hope Frog-face?*
He replied with a wordless affirmative and turned back to his friends, the smile on his face feeling less forced by the minute. That ease faded when he realised that there was something that he had to straighten out before she joined them again. His friends weren't in the habit of just dropping by en masse, especially not with him. He had always kept slightly aloof from them, even Jyp and Alex, and as such there were certain formalities such as phone calls to warn him that were always given.
"So," he said after a minute, "Why are you all here?"
Everyone, even Alex, looked to Kian, giving Darien a rough idea of what was going on. If had been personal then it would have been Alex or Jyp sounding him out. Kian was only the speaker if the problem was professional.
The silver haired man looked to the door, undecided. "Is there a way we could speak to you alone Darien? Without the possibility of interruption?"
Bingo! "I can't leave her alone," Darien informed them, "Anything you want to say can be said in front of her."
"But…" Nick started and Darien shook his head.
"No buts. She knows what I am and I couldn't hide anything from her anyway." He was adamant about this. She had given him her trust and he would not betray that. Not that he could have hidden it anyway but it saved time and effort to not even try.
Kian looked at him closely and frowned.
Darien frowned right back. "Trust her," he demanded, "Or if you can't do that, trust me."
Nick seemed to stare through him, seeing something that was visible only to him. "And when she leaves?" His eyes focused on Darien again. "And she will won't she? Well, what then?"
Darien's jaw clenched but he forced himself to answer. "Can you still trust her? Oh yes. Believe me when I say you can trust her to the ends of eternity and back." His eyebrows lowered as another thought struck him. "Or do you mean me? Well I expect that when she leaves again the other Darien will return. With a vengeance."
"So you're telling us that we should let her in on our secrets just so that she can keep cheering you up?" Alex looked at him and Darien could see that she was genuinely trying to understand.
He shook his head. "No I'm telling you that you should let her in on your secrets or consider Tuxedo Mask on leave until she's gone." He turned back to the frying pan and removed the almost burnt bits of bacon and added new strips to the pan while the others sat behind him in silence.
A sweet voice came from the doorway and Darien's mood lightened just hearing it. "All so serious? Mmmm, bacon!"
He tossed the egg lifter onto the bench and turned to her. She surprised him by crossing to him and easily hugging him, her mind instantly trying to soothe the agitation in his. Within instants she found the cause of his tension and she attempted to ease it away. *It doesn't matter Frog-face.*
*Yes it does, they should trust my judgement.*
*Be honest, would you immediately accept any of their new girlfriends?*
*Yes.* His reply was sullen but he had to admit the only reason it was positive was because he could not imagine ever needing to. Part of the consequences of Beryl's short stint at conquest had been the instilling of a deep and abiding distrust of women into the four men. So far only Alex and Michelle had managed to get past it… although there had been definite spark of attraction between Rei and Jyp when they had met.
She saw this and her scolding was coloured by her delight at the minor piece of gossip. *Any new friend then. Be honest Darien.*
*Fine!* he admitted, *But there's more to it than that Meatball Head. I am being difficult I freely admit it but…* He tried to straighten it out in his own mind so that he could explain the idea that was slowly forming.
He didn't need to, she understood almost straight away. *You were hoping that I could make them stronger the like what happened with the scouts without doing to them what I did to you.*
Her words were blunt but fundamentally correct. Both he and the inner scouts had grown stronger after their short association with her but only he had felt as if a part of him had been killed without her there. That might have had something to do with his recent discovery that he was attracted to females with wings but he doubted it… just as he was coming to doubt her belief that his feelings were solely inspired by magic. Or perhaps that was the wrong way of putting it. She was magic and could not be separated from it. A more accurate way to phrase it would be, he doubted that his feelings were less real because of that. Not that it made a solid bit of difference considering what he had learned about her from her brother.
Angrily, he pulled himself back on track, glad that he wasn't the only one that had been lost in thought. *Something like that,* he agreed and waited for her response.
What she had been thinking about became obvious as she answered, *It's not as simple as you think. A lot of it had to do with the fact that you all helped me to use the Imperium Silver Crystal. That catalysed you all much the same way that the mind-link we accidentally formed on Rubius' ship did to you yourself.* She paused for a moment and he felt her thoughts ordering themselves before she went on. *That mind-link was probably the real reason you…* She faltered and quickly skipped over what they both knew she was thinking. *The rest of it was just that you were all stretching your abilities within the radius of my… presence I guess. I… change things just by existing. It's not exactly something I can control.
He didn't like the shame he felt in her mind and tentatively attempted to lift it from her. *You don't have to feel like this,* he told her as he wove his magic in a spirit still bruised from the events that nearly caused her death. *It's not your fault. It's not really even a bad thing, it just is. I don't know about the Moon but on Earth unrequited love is well documented… without the magic/angel/goddess aspect of course… although I think there might be a few fantasy authors who've thought something like this up but that's not the point. I don't have the time to prove it to you right now but I will just as soon as I can.* He cringed at how inadequate his words felt to him. Inadequate or not the shame in her mind faded under the balm of his logic and magic and she smiled at him.
*That's the thing about telepathy,* she replied and stepped around him to pick up the abandoned egg lifter. *Aside from the fact that it means I know that you're telling me the truth it's also instantaneous. As far as your fellow reincarnates are concerned we just hugged for a moment. No problems. By the way don't worry about making them trust me. As long as you tell me what's going on I'll be happy.* "Now go and get dressed, I'll look after breakfast." She smiled at him sweetly and he saluted, most of his concerns about her allayed for the moment. It did not strike him slightly funny that she had very similar worries for him.
"Yes milady. I suppose you know how to cook?"
"Of course!" her tone was insulted.
He nodded in relief when another thought occurred to him. "Can you cook well?"
"Well there's the thing," she replied with a grimace. She was only able to hold the expression for less than a second in the face of his trepidation before it split into another smile. "Go on," she repeated. He stared at her anxiously. She rolled her eyes. "Don't worry Darien, I'm sure at least one of your friends knows where the fire extinguisher is."
He chuckled helplessly and left the kitchen. The last thing he heard before he was too far away was Serena saying, "So is anyone else hungry?"
***
Tranquillity frowned as he watched the pedestrians from his perch three storeys above them. The spears could be anywhere and all of those humans were absolutely helpless. Unhappily he wrapped more spells of confusion and disguise around himself so that he would appear to be no more than a part of the building.
On the skyscraper across the street from him he saw through his mate's spells to where she balanced on a flagpole, her seeker's magicks questing in search of the exact location of the spear they knew to be close by. It had taken them the entire night but they had eventually narrowed Anger's location down and now they just had to chase him out. So there they were, in the middle of Bethlehem, waiting for a monster to make itself known. A flash of white caught his eye and, with a grim smile, Tranquillity acknowledged Artemis who floated, invisible, above the crowded street.
Raised voices drew the Lunarian's attention downwards once more as three men abruptly began to brawl in the middle of the street. There was so much anger and violence pervading the streets that none of the guardians had been able to pinpoint the spear. They were forced to endure the oppressive atmosphere while the humans around them began a cycle of destruction that, if not stopped, would leave their entire homeland devastated.
More shouts came and more people joined the fight, even the women setting aside cultural conditioning to join the mêlée. Briefly Tranquillity derided the mortals below them for not showing even a fraction of the character that Darien had when under a similar spiritual attack and then he berated himself. In the last few hours he had pondered the human's extraordinary defiance of Lust's spell and had come to the conclusion that Darien and most likely the other reincarnates as well, probably should not be grouped with this era's humanity as a whole. Humans seemed to have gone down a different evolutionary path than had Terrans before the Fall.
A shadow passed over the area and Tranquillity restrained a shiver. Abandoning his musings, he glanced upwards and froze as the shadow resolved itself to his mind.
"Stars, where're they when you need 'em?" he breathed, horrified by the sight before him."
How can anyone describe evil? It is not necessarily big or scary. In fact sometimes it could be seductive. Yet right at that moment it could simply be described only as horrible. There was no mincing of words in Tranquillity's mind. The monster in the sky above him was awful and he was about to face it. Not to mention that he intended to do so with only one warrior and a seeker for help. This was a creature that even his sister would have needed a dozen allies to fight and he intended to do so with only two. Maybe he should get his head examined.
*There had to be a better way to do this,* he complained to the other guardians.
Artemis' mindvoice was grim when he responded, *If there is I'd like to know. Facing this lot the first time was more than enough for this Lunarian.*
*Here, here,* Reika agreed.
Tranquillity felt a sudden stab of fear. Reika was a seeker, not a fighter. She was not trained for battle and, even if she was, she was no alpha level mage to enter this particular battle with any confidence of walking away afterwards.
*Speaker, let this go right,* he prayed and then launched himself into the air. Humans on the street below grabbed at their belongings in the sudden gust of wind which swept around them but not one of them saw the Lunarian angel ascending to battle for their souls.