Guardians of the Light (Book 1: Rebirth)

Chapter 11

Once the light had died down, James knew exactly what had just happened even before he had opened his eyes and turned around because he had been in Sara’s shoes once before. When he turned and looked before him, his thoughts were right; Sara had unleashed her light energy. The event had been too much for Sara as she had passed out after using her light energy for the first time, this had happened to James too the first couple of times he had to use his light energy.

James shifted his focus to where Lillian was kneeling beside the still body of Ronin. James rushed as fast as his feet could take him to their side, standing beside Lillian, looking down at Lillian, “Is he?” Lillian shook her head before James could finish, thankful that Ronin was still alive but James could tell by his injuries he needed medical help fast.

Lillian had taken off her sweatshirt to use as a bandage to apply pressure to the wound to stop the stream of blood that was pouring from it. “I know somewhere we can go to get help”, he ran off to pull the car around and was about to help get Ronin into it, when a ring of flames appeared, James couldn’t handle any more fire demons not on his own but when Pyrros stepped through, James sighed with relief he was glad to see this fire demon.

Pyrros looked at James then to Lillian and finally Ronin, “I’ll help you get him into the car”. So together the both of them lifted Ronin into the back seat, laying him down, Lillian crawled in with him. Pyrros went back to help Sara at the spot she had fainted but when he bent down to lift her into his arms he quickly stepped back, burns appearing on his human form. He

didn’t even need to say anything, the fire demon had been around for centuries and could tell when a person had unleashed their light energy and become a Child of Light, it was the reason he had gotten burned when he touched her.

“I’ll take her, thanks for coming to help. I’ll make sure they both get to the Sanctuary”. Pyrros nodded his head, summoning a fire portal and disappearing through it; James picked Sara up and tucked her into the passenger seat, before heading away from the burning house behind them. The quickest and safest way to get to the Sanctuary was through the tunnels located under Moonlight Diner.

Vincent had placed them there several months ago in case the Guardians ever needed safe passage in an emergency. James just hoped that Vincent or someone was still at the diner this late at night. Silence fell inside the car as he drove until Lillian spoke first, “I remembered something back there, when everything happened so fast, that bright light came from Sara didn’t it”, when James looked back at her through the rear view mirror and nodded she continued, “I remember meeting Ronin, that I was part of something greater that I was a protector, a Guardian of sorts but I can’t seem to piece anymore together. I just know now that I have to protect Sara and that I have a deeper connection to Ronin”. James could not tell her more it didn’t seem right but looking back at Lillian stare at Ronin he knew it was only a matter of time before Lillian remembered everything about her past.

“I don’t have all the answers for you, but I can tell you that the place were going will be able to help you with what you seek”, it was the only advice he could give her and with that silence fell between them again. The drive to the diner was short because once again James was speeding to get there, safely of course because of the injured body in the back and the passed out girl in his passenger seat.

He really hoped any police did not stop them and if they happened too, it was an officer who knew about the Guardians. Only a few members of the New Haven Police Department were trusted with the information regarding the secret world going on in New Haven. As he pulled up to the diner, the neon sign blinked closed, James cursed quietly to himself before letting Lillian know that he was going to try the door hoping that someone was around even if it wasn’t Vincent maybe one of his pack members was working late. The last thing James wanted to do was break in because the only way to access the tunnels was through the Guardian passage located inside the diner.

There was no access point outside; avoiding any humans wandering down the tunnels and getting lost. They would never find the Sanctuary though it was guarded by magic only visible to Guardians and Children of the Light; to a human it would just look like a blocked dead end in the tunnels, but they could get lost finding their way back because it was a maze of tunnels only to those who don’t see the light.

James reached the front door, knocking once than twice before waiting to see if anyone answered. It did not take long before James spotted movement through the diner window, the front door swung open and Vincent stood there looking down at James.

Vincent Wolfe towered over James, was built like a mac truck, short brown hair and full bread, a small yellow ring hinted in his eyes, a clear sign of being a Sliverbloods highborn werewolf. If James did not know Vincent, he might find his demeanor freighting or that Vincent was not the good-natured man he knew him to be. James quickly filled him in with the situation and the status of everyone in the car.

Vincent agreed to help James carry Ronin while Lillian took care of Sara. They traveled through the diner, into the kitchen and hidden passage down the long tunnel way. There were no words between the party until they came to the end of the tunnel and Lillian turned around, Sara in her arms, “It’s a dead end, what do we do now?” James shook his head and helped Vincent shift Ronin so that James was now supporting him, as Vincent could not enter the Sanctuary. While he might be a friend because he was a werewolf, the species was considered unholy and thus unable to cross the holy border surrounding the Sanctuary.

“All you have to do is walk through”, he spoke to Lillian, and the look on her face told him that his statement confused her. He could see she was going to ask him something but he just nodded his head again in the direction of the rock wall, “Trust me, just walk through don’t even think about it”. Lillian nodded, took a deep breath and walked through, James following behind them.

Passing through the barrier, they reached the main hall of the Sanctuary. People were coming and going completely unaware of the four of them there until James opened his mouth yelling at the first Guardian he recognized. After that moment it was all hands on deck, Guardians were coming from all different corners, several took Ronin from James carrying him off to the Infirmary. James promised Lillian that he would be in good hands and that she could visit him later but right now she needed to go be there when Sara woke up.

She nodded her head before giving him a hug something he was not expecting from her, a few minutes went by before she let go, turning to follow the female Guardian holding Sara and leading them towards the chambers Lillian and Sara would be staying in. James turned his attention to a Guardian approaching summoning him to Guardian Master Thaddeus study. James knew the Guardian Master would have questions for him and would want James to retell the events that had taken place tonight.

Not only had there been an open attack by demons on a human place, there had been an awaking of a Child of Light and one of their top Guardians had been injured. It worried James that the demons would be so bold as too attack such an open space with so many humans around but it had also been the prefect time to grab both Children of the Light because they had been left unprotected with only one Guardian there as support.

This also seemed to worry Master Thaddeus after James spoke to him, after gathering information from him the Master Guardian sent him on his way. James first thought was to go check on Ronin and he was half way there when he remembered that he had wanted to ask Master Thaddeus what had happened to Guardian Ashley who had protected him and Sara during the demon attack. He would have to ask him later there were more pressing matters to deal with.

The distance to the Infirmary was a short walk from Master Thaddeus study because in no time James had already arrived there.

Two Guardians were stationed outside the room; they nodded to James and let him pass. When he entered, he got a quick glimpse of Ronin lying on the table as Guardian Healers worked to stop the bleeding, bandage his wounds before they did more damage.

James tried to move closer or at least offer to help them in any way, but he was stopped by an Elder whose name he didn’t know, “You don’t want to see this my son”, James wasn’t sure what he meant but he respected the Elders wishes, leaving the healers to do their work. As James was walking to his own chambers it struck him odd that the Elder had spoken English not Latin too him, he shrugged it off, these last few hours had left him tired and he needed some rest before he would have to sit down with Sara when she woke up and explain this new life to her.