Starlight

Chapter One

She couldn't remember when she had fallen asleep, her book still open, her lamp still on, but she had expected the sun to be shining when her eyes finally fluttered opened. It wasn't, the window still displayed the dark early morning sky. So why was she awake?

The knock at the door answered her own question. Wrapping her wool cardigan around her, she made her way down to hallway to the front door of her apartment. 

"Don't open that." the deep growl from the corner of her living room made her jump. 

"Who the hell are you?" she just about screamed, a large hand coming down to cover her mouth before she could finish her sentence. 

The voice was at her ear this time, its owner pulling her flush against him, large arms keeping her in place and quiet. "Your guardian angel, princess. But I'm going to need you to be quiet, can you do that?" His accent one she couldn't quite pinpoint, but obviously European. 

She nodded in response, watching the hand drop from her mouth before using her full force to stomp her foot on his. Turning around in his arm she brought her knee up hard, the impact rattled through her leg as the man fell to the floor. Just as she grabbed her cell from the charging dock on her kitchen counter, two large men burst into her apartment, ripping her wooden door off its hinges. 

Without a second's hesitation, she bolted for her room, slamming and locking the door before dialing 911. Her back to the door she held her phone to her ear, confused as to why she heard no sound from the device. Looking down she saw the No Signal in the left hand corner of her screen, Fantastic, she thought. She could hear her attackers pounding on her door, trying to break the lock free. When she felt the door budge she made a quick decision to leap over her bed and close herself into her closet. The door to her room burst open as she simultaneously heard two guttural groans. 

"Its alright princess, you can come out now." that familiar voice called out to her from her doorway. Hesitantly she opened the closet, confused as to why she was complying, but sure that the threat was gone. 

Climbing out of her hiding place, she looked up to see the shadow figure of the man, arms outstretched as if in a trance of self righteousness, and the bodies of the two attackers at his feet. 

"Now then, I do believe a conversation needs to be had about all of..." he waved his arms around vaguely, and she noticed that in each of his hands he held something, unable to be made out in the darkness of the hallway. 

She scoffed, "Who are you?" 

"Like I said, darling, I'm your guardian angel. I will answer all of your questions once we are in the car so grab a quick bag and I'll meet you in the den." He dropped the objects in his hand with an unusual thud, before pulling a withe handkerchief from his breast pocket, using it to wipe his hands as he walked to the living room.

"Wait, where are we going?" she called back. He didn't answer, but the longer she looked a the bodies, the more she realized that she definitely needed to get out of there. She grabbed an old gym bag, packing the first things she touched until no more could fit. In a mad dash to her bathroom she grabbed her toothbrush and paste, before picking up the phone she dropped just in front of her bed. 

When she entered the living room, bad slung over he shoulder, she was met with the low glow of a living room lamp, showering the man in its off gold light. He was tall, something she had already down from just seeing his dark figure, but she hadn't expected him to look so....

To be honest she didn't know what she was expecting, but this man, with golden eyes and dark olive skin. Dressed in a dark suit, and almost a hint of stubble gracing his jaw.  As cliche as it was, and she'd never admit it, the man who saved her was pretty good looking.

"I expect that you're ready?" he asked, eyeing her carefully. Before she had a chance to open her mouth he was in front of her, taking the bag from her shoulders and making his way to the door. "I'll answer all of your questions...well most of your questions in the car. But we have to get out of her first before she saved others." 

Without a second look he walked through the threshold of her apartment, not waiting to make sure she was following. 

Taking a deep breath and a quick look around the now mess of her apartment, she willed herself to make a choice. Yeah because following a guy who just broke into my house and killed two guys is definitely a good decision. Shaking her head she took a step, and then another, and another until she was jogging to catch up with him.