Night Guardian

Chapter 4, Part 4: Meet the Family (Part 2)

Poor Enrique had been left alone to guard Damien for a couple of minutes while Cleo stepped out of the room. Damien managed to overcome Enrique. They found him bound by enchanted rope, screaming for help and stuffed into the chimney chute. Janet regretted leaving those two with him, however the situation was hilarious now that Damien no longer was a threat. They would never let him live the moment down!

The laughter was short-lived, however; Carlos still needed to be apprehended.

"Sondra, take the Mayor back to his home so his wife will not suspect anything. If she reports him as missing, Carlos will know we found him. Make sure they both do exactly as you say." Michael instructed.

"It will be my pleasure to boss him around," she smirked, picking Tom up by his shirt collar and setting him on his feet.

"Let's go," she shoved him forward, thrusting his wrinkled jacket into his arms.

He took one last look at them all before shuffling out of the door.

"But what about Damien? Carlos will know when he doesn't return that something is wrong." Gil said.

"Sondra will make Sneddon go to Carlos's hideout and say Damien went on his own path. It wouldn't be hard to believe that Damien wouldn't listen to Sneddon, he hated humans." Michael replied. "Tonight, we go and see where he's hiding in order to make up a plan. Carlos is arrogant, he doesn't believe anyone would find him."

"I for one am tired of him always being one step ahead of us. He needs to stop being a coward and show his ugly mug!" Flaen complained.

"Well, we know where he is now."

They were shocked upon learning that Carlos and his servants had been hiding underground, beneath the dead oak tree base they'd first investigated. It was the source of all things foul, and the last thing they'd expect to find a fugitive.

"Michael, I do not think we should wait. We should take our chance now before Carlos discovers us and flees to another location. Then we'd have to dedicate even more of our time to stop him."

"What if he already knows?" Michael responded. Maybe he's waiting for us to come to him."

He suddenly found himself entertaining an alarming realization. Sneddon wanted to be found, regardless of whether Damien knew about his plan or not. He used Damien as a way to get inside the house to Kayla, knowing that killing her would weaken him.

Damien was indeed being used more than I realized, he thought.

"Gil, Cleo, can you make sure nothing happens to Sondra? I think she may walk into a trap."

Michael beckoned Kayla over to him. "I want you to stay beside me while we search this house, just in case Sneddon was able to plant anything dangerous in here before he left." He took her hand. Together, they searched the mansion top to bottom, even outside and the attic. Kayla was kind of creeped out knowing that for some reason, Michael had a bunch of old dolls stored away up there.

"My mother had a fondness for dolls," he explained. "I've kept a lot of things from her up here since she passed."

"Oh." She breathed a sigh of relief. "You're not creeped out by them?"

"Not really. I know this sounds weird, but when I was a child I used to talk to them. I thought they were real babies." He chuckled, examining them closely. Each one started to bring back bittersweet memories. He sensed that Kayla was becoming thoroughly creeped out by the dolls, so they left the attic.

As they walked downstairs, Kayla noticed that Michael had retreated into a pained silence. She could always tell when he was hurting, no matter how good he was at hiding it from others. She knew he missed his family, the ones who were murdered or passed away. Losing her dad three years ago, right before she graduated from undergrad school was one of the most traumatic things to ever happen to Kayla, but she couldn't even imagine how Michael felt, having lost so many more family members. The pain from one death alone nearly sent her into a catatonic state. Michael didn't seem too eager to tell her about how some of his family members died, so she didn't press the matter. He would tell her when he was ready.