Chapter One

Chapter One

 

The wind bayed devilishly as the rain spewed forth from the morbid sky. Crys awoke with a start as a forceful explosion of thunder rocked the earth, and realized her bedroom window was swinging cogently in the wind. Her tired eyes squinted as her sleep-riddled brain tried to register why the window was open. She was sure she had closed it when she went to bed. Her eyes shot a glance at her alarm clock. It read 2:30. Subconsciously pushing a straying strand of her mocha brown hair out of her face, she forced her body out of bed and padded over to the window, shivering from the cold.

She snapped the lock in place and then froze, certain that she had heard something move. After a few more moments of silence, however, she shook her head and padded back over to the warmth of her bed. She sat there for a while in silence, mulling over in her mind the recent events. After two years of silence, her father had abruptly called her home, claiming it to be a matter of life and death.

 

Swallowing her anger, she had made the trip back home, where she was greeted with tears and hugs. Overwhelmed though she was, she wanted answers. Her father promised he would provide them. He had wanted to make sure she would come first. He had left that night only a few hours ago, to retrieve her mother and sisters. Then, he said, he would give her the answers. Then, he hoped she might forgive them. She had looked at him wryly and asked if he was going to come back this time. He had looked at her with remorse and resignation, and promised he would return.

 

She softly rubbed her thumbs against the sides of her head. So much was happening, she couldn’t process or think straight. She needed more sleep. She pulled the covers over her head, and moments later, she was drifting back to sleep. Her sleep was interrupted by a sudden sense of movement and then the muffled sound of a body falling to the ground. She sat up with a jolt; saw a man standing at the foot of her bed, and then another figure lying next to her on the floor.

Her mouth opened to scream but no sound came forth. She was momentarily paralyzed, and while it was only briefly, it was long enough for the standing man to rush to her side, clamping his hand over her mouth even as he started to speak. “Please, don’t say anything. Please, please, listen to me and give me a chance to explain or nothing will make sense at all. Above all you must be quiet… there may be more of them.”

He finished speaking and slowly removed his hand from her mouth. Crys’ fingers automatically shot up to touch her lips, massaging them carefully, slowly, contemplatively, watching him tie the limp figure on the floor with a cord he produced out of his pocket. That voice; it was strange, and yet, it was familiar.

They sat in silence for what seemed like hours, but according to Crys’ clock was only ten minutes. Finally, gently, the stranger got up and silently, seemingly motionlessly peered into the screaming black of the night storm. After what seemed like another hour�"but was really only another minute�"he turned back to Crys, his face relaxing. As the moonlight illuminated his face, Crys let out a gasp.

“Drake! What, what are you, what, what’s going on?!” she stuttered.
“I think we’re safe, for now. They obviously weren’t expecting him to fail in his mission. If you like, I can explain what this is all about now,” he said, a hint of a smile playing on his lips. Crys didn’t see how anything could be even remotely comical or amusing.

Someone had broken into her room and now lay unconscious on her floor. She still couldn’t process how Drake had arrived so soon; how he had gotten into her room. His eyes glinted dangerously. There was nothing of the Drake she had come to know and love for the past two years. There was something dark about him; something cold.

 

She shivered, throwing her covers back and getting out of bed, careful to avoid the lifeless body on her floor. She shivered again, subconsciously. It was really far too cold to be running around in a tank top and sweatpants alone. She needed socks, thick ones, and a sweatshirt. Unbeknownst to her, Drake was watching her with half-amusement, half-appreciation, as she moved around in the darkness with ease, avoiding obstacles with little difficulty, but then hopped around like an injured rabbit as she tried to put her socks on.

“Drake… I… you want something to drink?” she asked, opening the bedroom door. “I�"I could sure use some coffee, you want some too?” she added. He nodded, following her into the enormous kitchen. She got the coffee machine going and pulled out some scones and peanut butter before she thought to turn the lights on.

“You’re comfortable with the dark." Crys shrugged. 
“I like the dark. I don’t know why. Storms like this… nights like this… there’s something powerful, mysterious, exciting about them. They intrigue me. I feel at home in them, and I don’t even know why.”

Drake smiled as he answered, “I know.” Crys stopped piling peanut butter on her scone for a moment and cast him a curious look, but he said nothing more. Sliding the peanut butter jar to the side, she reached for the honey jar and added a generous amount on top of her leaning tower. Flipping her spoon to the shallow side of the bowl, she mixed and spread her little mountain around the crumbling scone and took a bite.

“Oh, sorry. Want some?” she thought to offer in between her chewing. He merely shook his head with that confounded half-smile still playing his lips. “Do you want to at least sit down?” she pointing to the high chairs on the other side of the kitchen counter. Again, he shook his head. She tried to continue what she was doing but then dropped her spoon against the table.

“I�"this is crazy Drake! I feel like I’m talking to a stranger. It’s your face but that’s the only thing familiar about you! What’s going on?” 
“I’ll explain. The coffee’s done. Want me to get it?”
“Uh, no that’s fine. I’ll get it.” She handed him his coffee and then started walking toward the living room. Drake followed her silently. He waited until she had picked a spot to sit down, and then sat on the chair opposite her, pulling it closer.

Crys took a moment to pull a blanket off the back of the couch and wrap herself up in it, before turning expectant eyes on him; eyes that hovered over the rim of her coffee cup. “Okay, I’m ready. Explain. Explain why there is a figure on my bedroom floor and why you were there to intercept it, how you found out where I was and how you got here so fast and why you’re acting so strange!”

He gave her another crooked grin. “Well the figure on your floor was trying to kidnap you, and the rest is more complicated than that.”
“Well I have all day. The past fifteen hours have been the most ridiculous of my life. It can’t get any more batshit crazy than it already is, so, go ahead,” she waved her hand at him and took another sip of her coffee, waiting for him to start.

“Well, to start out, I’m from the elite Band of Reidar. We are those of the bloodline of Reidar Stire. Elite warriors of our world, Vame Haven. We’ve been at war with the Restok for years now, but lately they’ve been winning. Our forces are weakening, and the hardest part is trying to keep our struggles in the background, as the rest of the world above goes on in bliss innocence. In fact, no human has ever found its way to our world before, except for one.

"While he was there, he became good friends with one of the children there… a boy. When he returned to his home, he took the boy with him and as far as we knew, raised him. It’s been said that his bloodline continued on earth, and half-breeds are said to be more powerful than pure-breeds. This half-breed is what we are looking for. Sadly, so is the enemy.”

Drake seemed finished for the moment, and Crys wasn’t quite sure whether to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all or take him serious. “And when did this boy supposedly return to earth and produce this line?” she finally asked.
“About two thousand years ago."

Crys choked on her coffee and sat coughing for a moment. “Oh, come now!” she sputtered between coughs. “Drake. Not even in my sleep-deprived and overloaded mind’s state can you expect me to believe this. Two thousand years? He’s dead. The bloodline has thinned out.”

“You don’t understand. We live longer than you humans. We’re nearly immortal. A half-breed wouldn’t be nearly as immortal, except for certain circumstances, but would have twice the strength, abilities, and senses of a pure breed. You’re going to have to believe me Crys; your father is the boy who ran away.”

“And that would make me your amazing talented warrior?” asked Crys somewhat sarcastically, catching Drake’s point. “I beg you. The best I ever ran was a nine minute mile. And I thought I was going to die of lung collapse afterward. So tell those Re�"Restak�"Restaok�"whatever to get off my back, because I’m not who they’re looking for.”
“Listen, Crys, and I want you to listen closely. I love you. I love you more than anyone could ever love another person. I want you to listen to my explanation, and let me finish, and understand. I found your father two years ago, just as the Restok did. That’s why they disappeared so abruptly. They didn’t have time to take you. They had to leave. Your dad asked me to stay behind and watch out for you to make sure nothing happened.”

 

Crys sank back against the couch, her mind reeling. “What�" what did you say?” Drake took a deep breath and reached out for Crys’ hand. “I knew why your family left. They asked me to watch out for you.” Crys didn’t respond. She sat in stunned silence, gripping the coffee cup. It fell to the floor with a shatter as she suddenly stood up.

“You lied to me. All these years, you lied to me! Why? Why would you�"how could you lie to me like this? I thought my family was dead, for two years! Suddenly my father calls me up telling me he has to talk to me! I get attacked in my sleep! You appear out of bloody nowhere and I didn’t even recognize you! I didn’t even recognize your voice! Your eyes don’t sparkle anymore! It’s like you’re a different person! Now you come in with this outrageous bullshit about enemies and humans and Restrocrap and as if that weren’t enough�"as if that weren’t enough�"you tell me you not only lied to me for two years, but you simply didn’t tell me things I should have known. I should have known what happened. You�"you�"you lied to me!”

 

She sank to the floor, trembling and crying. She was too exhausted, too shattered, to push Drake away when he knelt beside her and put his arms around her shoulders. “I know. I know you’re upset. I know you’re angry, and hurt, and I know you have the right. But you have to let me explain. You have to believe me. You are in danger and silence was the only way to protect you. Your father ordered me to remain silent. You may not understand, but when I am given an order to remain silent, I have to follow it. I cannot break it. I didn’t have a choice.”

 

“Bullshit!” Crys sputtered in between broken sobs. Drake sighed and grabbed her shoulders, turning her to face him. “Crys. I’m going to try and make this as simple as possible. I’m not human. I may look like a human, act, eat, and live like one. But I am not. I am a guardian. One of many. Our sole purpose in life is to protect humans, not only from the Restok, but from any danger in life.”

 

She wanted to fight him. She wanted to push him away and tell him to leave her alone, to never come back. But he was forcing her to look into his eyes, and resistance faded. Part of her was sure that he was controlling her emotions with his eyes, and tried to break eye contact, but another part of her wanted to believe that he was telling the truth; wanted to believe that he loved her and wanted him to hold her like he had so often in the past. She wanted to trust him.

 

She sighed with resignation. “What�"what do guardians�"tell me more?”
“When you are first born, guardians can see snapshots of your life reflecting in your eyes. Based upon what we see, we choose our charges. Once a charge has been chosen, a guardian will protect them for the rest of their life. Only after they have died, will they choose another charge.”
“How many of you are there?”
“Too few.”

“Do your… charges… always meet their guardians?”
“Never. I would have gone on protecting you in the background for the rest of your life. But then I discovered who your father is, and protecting you from the background was no longer possible. To protect you from the Restok I had to be physically near you as much as possible.”

“Then why did you leave? Why did you move away?”
“Our scouts thought they had stumbled across the leading band of Restok. I asked another guardian to watch you in the shadows, hoping we could gain more information on the strength and number of the Restok army. Your father contacted me right before speaking with you. I came back as fast as I could.”
“What does my father want to tell me? Why does he want to explain, after all this time?”

Drake sighed again and was silent for a few moments before answering. “In order to understand this, you need to understand the weight of being half-guardian and half-human. If you are the half breed, the Vamean, then the Restok will not rest until they have found you. Your father disappeared without a trace, hoping they would not trace him as the guardian who disappeared so long ago. And for as long as they didn’t know who your father was, you were safe. You see, for a guardian to forsake his family, well it just isn’t possible. Packing up and leaving you behind without a word or explanation, was the best protection they could give you.”

“So what changed?”
“They found out anyway. Once they discovered who he is, they started searching for you. So your father called you. You need to be put under protection of the guardians. We need to take you to Vame Haven.”

“Why�"why me? I mean, what about my sisters? Why didn’t they take me too? Wouldn’t I have been safest with them?”
“Your sisters are just like normal humans. Only you carry the traits of both, as first born. And, as I explained before, there wasn’t enough time. With the Restok it is never a matter of hours and days, but a matter of seconds and minutes.”

Crys shivered as the information ran through her brain, slowly sinking in. She wasn’t sure why she was accepting his explanation; why she was no longer angry. It may have been instinct, or Drake’s influence. She sighed with resignation, and accepted his words. She looked up with one last question.
“Drake? Why did you choose me?”
“When I looked at your eyes, I saw nothing; nothing but endless blue.”

They sat in silence for a long while, before Crys slipped her arm around Drake and hugged him. He felt her tears seeping through his shirt; tears of relief. He pulled her closer to him and let her cry the confusion, anger, hurt, and pain away.

When she stopped and finally looked at him again, her face seemed brighter, and he recognized bits of the old Crys in her eyes. “I’m really hungry. Are you hungry? I could really go for some peanut butter and honey scones, and coffee.”
“Coffee, yes; I’ll pass on the sconed horror though,” Drake replied.
“Someday I’ll get you around. You should at least try it,” Crys insisted as they walked toward the kitchen again.
“No thanks, I choose life.”
“If you’re not nice I won’t give you the coffee.”
“Speaking of, I have one question for you.”
“Oh?”
“I have sparkling eyes?”
“That has nothing to do with coffee, so you can’t say ‘speaking of’. That’s grammatically
incorrect.”
“Never mind. Do I?”
“Well… yes.”
“You pay attention to my eyes, really?”

“Here’s your coffee.”
“Do you like my eyes?”
“Drake I’m beginning to miss your aloof mysterious personality.”
“Oh fine. Hey, when is your father coming back?”
“Supposedly this evening, why?”
“have to figure out what to do. The Restok are after you and we really need to bring you to Vame Haven as fast as possible. They’ll come back. They’ll try again.”

“Oh now you’re just trying to scare me.”
“I wish that were so. At least I don’t think you have to worry about them attacking in broad daylight. They like to wait until it is dark, when their senses function at higher levels.”
“Well you’re still not going to leave me alone until he comes back, are you?”
“No. Absolutely not. Now that they know where to find you the smartest solution would be to take you away to Vame Haven at once. I loathe waiting even until this evening. It’s too dangerous. I don’t like it one bit.”
“Aw come on! You can take them!”

“I may be able to defend myself against a number of them, but it’s not that easy when you’re trying to protect someone as well as yourself. I have to keep them away from you and me. And once they have you and are holding a knife against your throat, what can I do?”
“Wait for me to kick his balls and then bust his head in!” Crys replied, thrusting her fist into an imaginary head.

Drake mentally shook his head at her naïve ignorance. She really didn’t know how dangerous the Restok were. They were ruthless, cold, with nerves of steel and fire. 

“Well, bring on the coffee. And do you have anything decent to eat? No, get those icky scones away from me! Crys, I mean i�"no! Are the words bread and cheese even in your vocabulary?! Ah! This is going to be a long day.”