�Ungggggggghhhhhhh.� I stretched my arm upwards, placing my palm against the headboard and tensing my muscles to stretch them.
The headboard felt different. This wasn�t my room. My heart pounded and my eyelids snapped open as I realized where I was. My old apartment was gone, this I knew.
I looked around the room, taking it in as I sat up.
It was nice, furnished like a small apartment or large hotel room. A table sat off to the side, and it was laden down with clothes and things. A laptop, cell phone, my hiking machetes that I used as swords. Leathers, dark burgundy in color, monochromatic and sleek. A talis dagger with a sheath that would strap to the thigh. A weird shoulder bag made from the same burgundy leather. Luggage, with a large amount of clothes--all things that I liked.
It was then that I notice what I was wearing. A red silk slip. Overlaid with black lace. Spaghetti straps. Empire-waisted. It barely reached halfway down my upper leg. I suddenly felt very self-conscious. I checked the room twice to make sure that it was empty, looking in the kitchen and living room, and bathroom.
I was shocked by my image in the bathroom mirror. My face had changed�not terribly, not a lot, but my features looked more streamlined. I leaned in close to the mirror, brushing my fingertips across various parts of my face, making sure that I was still solid. I noticed then that I had fangs�..like vampire fangs. I put my index finger on one and pushed. They were mine. My eyes had changed color too. They were dark red, swirled with bits of silver. I backed up from the mirror and felt a piece of paper stick to my hand.
I pulled it off my sweaty palm and read it.
Nenona,
As of now, this is your apartment. I did give it to you last week, but the paperwork�s been done now and it belongs to you.
As leader of the Guardians, you will be their decision-maker, and their general. As fire guardian, you will dive deeper than the rest for your powers and their source.
The cell phone is wired to work off our network, so it should work anywhere in the world.
The leathers are your uniform and armor. Wear them proudly.
In two days you will begin training for missions, with Bethany.
Also, if you were wondering about your clothes, you can get more with any of the cards you have, and also anything else you need the hotel will provide. The Wardrober picked out your things, or you did, so I hope that you like them.
--Michael
P.S.-I almost forgot�your eyes should have changed color, and you should have fangs. Don�t worry, these are just a side effect. Focus and they should go away.
I placed the note back on the counter. I felt slightly violated. In the past week, I had been groomed, trained, and poked at for about 168 or so hours. Basic combat, meditation and focus techniques, a fitness test, group exercises, and last but not least, a �makeover�. I lost everything when my apartment in Mississippi blew up, so my grooming stuff all had to be replaced, plus the girls I associated with dragged me to a salon. I refused a mani-pedi, and my long brown hair stayed long. I agreed to a trim, and dark red highlights. Shaking my hair over my right shoulder, I ran my fingers though it, watching the dark red highlights in it.
I could barely recognize myself. My overall shape was the same, but I was different. More athletic. Possibly me, myself, but epitomized?
On the beside table, there was a telephone with a note stuck to it:
Everything�s taken care of.
Menu in the Drawer.
Enjoy your two days off.
I crumpled the note up and threw it into the wastebasket, then pulled out the hotel�s menu book. After ordering something for lunch, I began sorting through the clothes.
I found plenty of stuff, including a set of workout uniforms, cross-trainers, and kickboxing shoes. I moved onto the leather shoulder bag, finding my wallet, ID, security badge, passport, cash, a debit card, and several lip balms(I had expressed my fondness for them earlier this week), pens, post-its, a notepad, and an address book full of contacts�
I was lying on the bed, on my side, both hands tucked under the pillow for warmth, when I suddenly became aware that I was awake. I stared straight ahead, not moving, waiting for my thoughts to organize themselves.
This last week.
The Guardians.
Nenona. Our Leader.
I looked at the digital clock. 10:45 AM. I sat upright and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. After stopping to stretch, I sat there, taking in this last week. Nenona. Aimee. Marco. Bryan. Andrew. New names that were cemented into my mind. The training I had received in the past week. Learning to find the weak spots on an opponent--again. Finding out that I would no longer be a loner, but part of a team, a family. One screwed-up family, but the first one I�ve belonged to in a long time. I knew when I left behind London, things would change. New Country, New city, new people, new situation. I hadn�t slept in six and a half days, not since I had signed the contract and waiver-release to become a guardian. I vaguely remembered Michael, our boss, telling us that we would pass out for a while after we first we possessed�.so then I really am a guardian now�..
I got up and went to the bathroom. I stared at my reflection. I had fangs. My irises, normally gray, were black. A note near the sink caught my eye, and I picked it up, unfolded it, and read:
Erik.
You are now truly a guardian. Nenona is your leader and she has named you second-in-command. Aimee is third. You have two days off until you begin your true training. Enjoy them, and if there�s anything you want to know, call me.
--Michael
I put the note down, and left the bathroom, sitting at the foot of my bed. I sorted through my luggage and clothes. Although I didn�t have to get everything replaced like Nenona, I still hadn�t brought much with me from England.
New, black leathers, tailored to fit, were folded into a box with tissue paper packing, underneath which was another box that I surmised held knee-height boots. Two black gauntlets with carbon spikes lay next to the boxes. A black cell phone, ID, passport, etc were all in a soft black leather shoulder bag.
I picked up one of the spikes and threw it into the opposite wall. It went in � of the way in and stuck there. I had to grin
I rolled over and stretched my arms out at the same time, taking in my first real apartment.
I had always lived with my parents before, Mom and Dad guiding me through my extreme sports and such. Now I was on my own, in the middle of the US�.an earth guardian.
The past week had been spent in training. The entire team had been there, but we hadn�t talked much, nor had we said really anything at all. Sleeping between workout sessions was something I�m used to, and even though I was a rock climber, nothing could prepare me for combat training. My body ached, and Karis, our doctor from now on, had been kind enough to show me a few non-med ways to relieve the pain, and gave me a shot kit in case I did need a little help.
The good news is that my endurance was better than the everyone else�s, probably cause that�s your main aspect needed for rock climbing.
I sighed and sat up. I miss Australia. I�ve barely been gone for two weeks, though, and I know I�ll have some amazing adventures here with these people.
A note was taped to my headboard. I snatched it off and scanned it.
I was third in command�.wow. Plus I had two days off, and an unlimited account with room service. I pumped my fists into the air.
I never awake with a start. Well, almost never. My sleep is odd. A half-awake, half-resting state. I hardly ever feel truly tired. My parents were always the same way. All three of us barely sleep, which always came in handy back in Africa. They had raised me together, eighteen years, both of them ingenious doctors, and good friends. I had traveled with them, lived with them, as the traveled all over the continent, healing and curing with their own �magic�. I was home schooled by my mother, and I knew several different languages. I had helped with operations, administered vaccines, even sat with people as they lay on their death bed.
But none of that could�ve prepared me for�this. This job, this post, these abilities most daren�t dream of. It was only three weeks into my learning about the underworld, the one beneath the shiny surface of the UN�s supposed control. I found out that the rabbit hole goes all the way to hell.
So I joined the PO, Paranormal Org, or by their business name, Norton and Firenze.
Two days after I joined, I was brought to see Michael, my boss now. He is a member of the council that runs N&F. I arrived in his office, half terrified, and was surprised to see five other new arrivals, each just as scared as I was. He introduced them as Nenona, a tall, hippy brunette with long hair that reached her lower back.. I placed her as the youngest, watching her sit to one side, wearing jeans and a t-shirt with slip-on shoes.
Erik, also tall, rather lean, but still strong. He was wearing motorcycle leathers, so he rode. He watched everyone else with slight disinterest, his gray eyes giving very little away.
Aimee, a preppy Aussie with shoulder-length blonde hair. She was slightly short, petite, but her handshake and stature revealed that she was no weakling.
Bryan, and in all respect, a true surfer, with brown hair half-bleached blonde and wearing a rash guard over khaki cargo shorts.
And Marco, a big, tall guy wearing a gray t-shirt and jeans. I remember him looking at me, the weird, pale, redheaded guy wearing hiking boots and safari clothes.
Michael then pulled out six folders that were shut with string, started a powerpoint presentation, and dimmed the lights in the room. He directed us to sit down at the meeting table to one side. We chose various seats and settled in.
He began explaining.
�As the six of you already know, demons, and vampires, and many other forms of the supernatural exist.� He passed out the files to us all, and sat at the head of the table.
�You joined N&F under the impression that you would be fighting these monsters.� Nodding heads and agreements all around.
�Well, I�m here to offer you six the ultimate in fighting for your planet. I�m offering all of you a chance to become The Guardians.�
I expect our stares were blank, so he began to tell us the history of our soon-to-be powers.
�Truly said, we know not where the demons that wield these powers came from, just that they rose to power at the end of the dark period, and in one time, ruled over a large part of the world. The leader of the group was a cruel demoness, Navisa. She lost power eventually, as her comrades fell one-by-one to humans of the era. Bound for eternity, to serve the humans. Every few hundred years or so, a group of kids prop up, with the abilities to control the demonic powers. They alone can wield the abilities of The Guardians, and as a team they tackle the evil to come forth.�
He sighed and looked at each of us.
�We believe that you are those kids.�
I couldn�t help but gasp�.me, a wielder of an ancient and once-evil power?
Everyone glanced at each other. This was something you�d never predict for yourself.
I woke like I usually do. I felt my head pounding, either from the migraines I usually got when I didn�t watch my blood sugar or a massive thrashing from the week before, when I had barely slept six hours the whole time. I placed both hands on the mattress, palms down, and pushed myself upright. I blinked and waited for my eyes to focus.
I couldn�t hear the surf, not like I could when I used to live in Hawaii, right on the ocean, in a group home with about a dozen or so fellow surfers. I was kicked out last week. I survived something that no one does, and I was voted �out of the tribe�. Heh heh. I guess I didn�t get the short end after all. I was now involved with a major corp, Doing some unbelievable things for money that I probably couldn�t even dream of in my past life.
I did miss Melody, though. She had been my one constant from problem to problem. After I lost my parents, she had taught me the ropes of living away from the law, dodging the social services people until I was eighteen. Now, I�m twenty, an adult, in a sense, but I still needed people, I still wished I could have done something to keep her with me.
I lowered my legs onto the floor and rested my elbows on my knees, looking at the piles of stuff on the table in front of me. A set of dark blue motorcycle leathers caught my eye. I could guess what those were for.
Michael had mentioned that the guardians would do some of the odder jobs, things that the paperwork for would be pointless. I think that since we wouldn�t be doing normal stuff, that we wouldn�t have a normal uniform for it, either.
I suppose I should�ve been surprised. The last thing I remembered from the night before was the white mist, rising up from the stone at my feet, and coming towards me. I knew what the mist was, what it symbolized, what it meant for my future days as a possessed person. I gladly welcomed a chance to help. I had been there, I had watched as my crew back in Brazil had been slaughtered by�.monsters. I gripped the edge of the mattress, making my knuckles turn white. It had been only a week ago, when I had been offered a clean record and a slot in the team. I was sitting in the jail, contemplating all my losses, Danica, my sister, and Toro, the leader of our little ragtag group. I guess I could�ve done something, but I doubt that I would�ve survived the raid. And instead of getting up, I just lay in bed, watching the hours on the clock tick by.