⚜Guardian⚜

Chapter Three

Sorry babes this is a short one! XOX

Lacey was bored out of her mind. She hadn't slept for a while, and it was already 6:00 in the morning. She decided she would go exploring. She showered and changed in record time, deciding she would go to the library if she could find It. She saw a sign that read LIBRARY followed by an arrow pointing upstairs. She tiptoed up the steps, surprised when it came to choosing where to go. She could go left, down a very suspicious looking hallway, or right, to a brightly lit lounge that clearly led no where. She sighed, assuming she had to go down the other hallway. She passed several rooms that vaguely reminded her of the girl's dorms, and was almost down the hall when she passed a door that was open, her curiosity got ahold of her and she peeked in. Asher was in a towel, his body glistening with post shower jewels. His back was turned, though, so she couldn't see his muscled torso.

"Why, for heavens sake, would you turn the shower water cold? What joy does it bring you? You know this is but a vessel!" Asher screeched. Lace stopped breathing. "But a vessel"? What did that mean?

"I was in the middle of calling a friend. I apologize if the call interfered with the temperature of your shower, although I can't deny it brings me some pleasures to see you displeased," Theo grinned, tossing an object back and forth between his hands absentmindedly. Upon further gaze, she saw if was a small silver mortar and pestle, except the pestle was a tiny dagger.

"A friend?" Asher seemed pleased for a moment before the color drained from his face.

"For the THOUSANDTH time, you can't summon your little friends. Not here, not at a school!" Asher seethed, his voice a whispering yell. It conveyed all the menace he could color his tone with while keeping his tone quiet.

"I will do whatever I want. It's part of the perks I get by being divorced from papa and the smurfs," Theo mused back, smiling a little as his tone inflicted a small amount of color to drain from Asher's face.

"You take that back! Our father has done nothing but to help you! To guide you in the right direction! How dare you pity me! How dare you envy him!" Asher shot. Lacey detected a strong edge of loyalty in Asher's tone, and that shook her a little.

"I do not envy him! I pity the fool!" Theo retorted, slamming the small bowl down on the nightstand. She saw the enscription on the side- "To Lucy, my dearest friend. Welcome to your conquests on the right side. From Gabriel." She couldn't understand why a call would affect Asher's shower temperature, or why Theo needed a bowl and dagger to call someone. She also didn't comprehend the inscription at all. Who was Gabriel? Who was "Lucy"? Was she a past girlfriend? What side had this "Lucy" joined? And why did Theo have her bowl?

"How can you say that? He's done everything for you!" Asher was shaking visibly now, the anger contorting his muscles in ways that made a sudden hunger gnaw it's way into her heart.

"HE HAS DONE NOTHING FOR ME!" Theo roared. Asher slapped a hand over Theo's mouth, and Lacey moved behind the door, praying to be invisible. She could practically feel their glances towards the door.

"We both know that isn't true."

"I'm tired of fighting, lets just sleep, brother," Theo said. A large creaking sound told Lacey that he had jumped onto his bed. She heard Asher sigh, before moving and sliding open a drawer. Lacey felt her heart stop then, knowing he would be getting changed. She wanted to look so badly it hurt, but she forced herself to look away, slowly edging away from the room on tiptoe. She was being pretty quiet. She had made it two feet down the hall when she tripped over something and went sprawling for the floor.

"The luck of the Irish," she muttered to herself, looking to see what she had tripped over. It the small black bowl she had seen in Asher's room! How had it gotten to the hallway?

"Maybe there its a different cup." she thought, feeling the side of it. But the engraving was still there, carved into the side of it. What was going on!?

"Did you summon a demon?" she heard Asher curse under his breath. He seemed to be getting changed quickly.

"What? No," Theo responded. Lacey knew this was her cue to run, and she bolted, leaving the cup in it's place. She made a mental note of how it had felt like there was an engraved picture of wings on the side.

She ran as fast and as hard as she could while trying to remain quiet. The effect was like hearing a cat scamper across the hallway- suspicious but not note worthy. Just as she was opening the doors to the staircase, she saw Theo walking into the hallway and picking up the cup. He didnt seem surprised at it's location. The door Lacey was holding creaked, and she flew down the stairs with one last glance at Theo. A cold sweat broke out in her palms as she realized he had seen her in perfect detail.

At 10:00 the next morning, Lacey woke and dressed. It felt good to be medically handicapped, as this allowed her to do as she pleased. She had a small headache today, but she took two aspirin before heading to the library. This time, she had a specific goal in mind. After asking Alyssa for directions before she had left that morning, Lacey now knew that you had to go through the boys dorms to get to the library.

When there, she logged onto a computer, asking the librarians to help her log onto the Internet. When they asked why, she simply told them she was to research concussions. Luckily, none of them had received so much as a day of medical training, and so they let her online. She quickly went to a search engine and typed in,

"Black engraved cup with angels wings." What came up was mostly custom engraving sites, so she tried again, typing,

"Lucy's Black cup." What came up again wasn't what she was looking for, and she drummed her fingers in frustration. How could she explain what she was looking for? She thought back to everything that she had heard that night. She remembered how he had said he was going to use it for a call. This time, she typed in,

"Lucy's black calling cup." This time, she clicked the first link, and the exact cup she had seen was sketched into the page. It read, LUCIFER (or Lucy) WAS GIVEN THIS CUP BY HIS BROTHER, GABRIEL, WHEN HE ANNOUNCED HIS EXILE FROM HEAVEN. THE ENGRAVING OF ANGEL'S WINGS IS ASSUMED TO BE SADISTIC COMEDY. THE CUP IS USED FOR CALLING AND SUMMONING THE DEMONS THAT LUCIFER HIMSELF CREATED. TO COMPLETE A CALL, LUCIFER MUST SACRIFICE THE BLOOD OF HIS VESSEL AND THE BLOOD OF A VIRGIN. " Lacey gaped, unable to process this. Theo couldn't be Lucifer. She typed in a search on Lucifer and found many sites about cults worshipping him. She found one randomly and clicked it.

"Lucifer was cast out of heaven after he announced his envy of Our Father. When he fell, he took 24 angels with him, and created a new race; demons. He was cast into Hell and made that his home, making an entirely new, evil species to inhabit it with him. Lucifer himself is the epitome of evil- while he may seem joking and friendly, this is just an act he puts on. He would sacrifice his own family if only to make himself stronger." Aghast, she felt the color drain from her face. What did this mean? Was she going to school with the most evil thing ever to walk the Earth? She looked back into the text, remembering her unanswered question from last night. Her shaking hands fell upon the keyboard, and she typed in, "Lucifer's vessel."

It read: Lucifer's true vessel is one who's blood runs pure with evil ancestry, relating back to Lucifer in some way. Any other vessels he takes are temporary and will break down from the sheer force of his power. When possessed, the human brain still functions as normal. It can still see and feel everything, but is powerless to do anything." Numbly, she gripped the desk. So the body that Theo/Lucifer was possessing could see and feel everything that he did? She swallowed back the bile that rose in her throat. This was crazy! She thought. There were no such thing as angels! But if there were...what did that make Asher? Her next search was,

"Lucifer before he fell." She found a picture that looked like it belonged in the bible. It depicted many angels in heaven, and each one named. She saw none that looked like Asher, and a sickening thought occurred to her. Was he possessing someone's body, too? Was he rendering someone helpless in their own skin? She heard footsteps from behind her and she kicked the power cord. When the monitor went black, she relaxed, standing and stretching before exiting the library. The librarian's waved goodbye, and Lacey made her way back to her room slowly, her head pounding. She suddenly wanted nothing more to do with this. What were Alec and Theo? If Theo was really Lucifer, what did that make Asher? Had Asher fallen, too? Her mind buzzed with the unanswered questions. She knew one thing that was positive- Theo and Alec were catastrophically dangerous, and she knew she had to stay away from them at all costs.