Guardians of the Light (Book 2: Revision)

Chapter 4

The trip back to New Haeven had been met with danger and silence between Nicole and Lillian. They both had had to walk through the magical barrier and the long trek to a parked car waiting for them. Nicole had no idea what faced them once they arrived back in New Haeven, she had received a phone call from the Madam Mayor, she hadn’t gone into great detail only that New Haeven was in trouble and she needed the Guardians help. She didn’t know how much help just her and Lillian would be if the situation in town was that bad but the two Guardians would still help out where they could. Staring out the window as Lillian drove Nicole’s mind drifted back to the horror of watching Elder Theokritos death, it was something she had not had the time to deal with or process the fact that he was gone. 

Nicole hadn’t realized she had fallen asleep until she flung forward in the passenger seat gasping for air. A hand clasped her shoulder sending Nicole on edge until she glanced over to meet Lillian’s soft expression, “If you want to talk, I am here for you”, a simple nod let the other Guardian know Nicole was thankful for the gesture but she wasn’t up to talking about the events just yet, everything was still fresh in her mind. It was evident how much New Haeven was in a state of chaos as they drove through the city. 

Many of the buildings had been reduced to rumble, many different demons roamed the streets there didn’t seem to be a single sign of any humans around. Likely the Mayor had had all the humans leave town with some type of believable fake story. When they arrived at City Hall both of them took a moment to make sure the coast was clear before exiting out of the car, making a mad dash for the front doors of the building. Everything around them was pitch black minus the flickering light casting off the wall from the many candles lining the hallway. 

Moving forward Nicole and Lillian stuck close together, weapons at the ready, until the hallway opened up into a large open room. Candlelight was the only source of light in the room making it hard to see all the faces of the group standing in the area. Madam Mayor Sophia Hammond approached them first, “Thank you for coming. As I am sure you both know of the current state of New Haeven. I made sure that all its residents were evacuated and only myself and some trusted members of the New Haeven Police Department stayed behind”. Nicole’s eyes scanned through the different faces of the cops dressed in full police uniform. 

She counted five in total which wouldn’t be enough to push back against The Darkness forces within the city. The fifth cop turned around, those unmistakable blue eyes glancing back at her even in the pale light Nicole knew it was Noah standing there. She couldn’t help her heart skipped a beat when a smile appeared on his lips when he too recognized her. He took a few moments before walking over to her, Lillian was busy talking with Sophia which left Nicole alone with Noah. She half smiled in his direction and simply said, “Hello Captain Phillips”. 

Not that she would admit it out loud but he did look quite good dressed up in his Captain’s uniform. The smile shifted from his face into a frown, “Please just Noah is fine. No need with the pleasantries, I hope we can one day get past that. Although I must say it is good to see you again Nicole, even given the situation of us meeting again”. Nicole tried to hide her blush, a rare thing for a strong woman like her. Why on earth did this man make her feel this way. Pushing these thoughts racing through her brain, Nicole focused on what was important right now in this current moment. 

Scanning the room once more before turning to face Noah, “So has the Madam Mayor spoke about what her plan is”, Noah’s mouth opened to answer but a female’s voice spoke before him, “I’ve finished speaking with your friend Lillian on a plan to take back what we can of the city. Everyone will be assigned to different groups. Lillian will lead Team One with Sergeant Reed going with her. Team Two will be Lieutenant Perez and Officer Garcia. Noah is in charge of Team Three and will be taking Nicole with him”, Nicole gave him a side glance when she heard this but he ignored her look as the Madam Mayor continued, “Finally Corporal Owens agreed to stay behind with me as protection and to man the command post here at City Hall. I’ve provided each team with a set of radios to be able to check in with command in case of emergencies and you’ll find plenty of gear and weapons for your choosing. I wish you all the best in your missions to take back New Haeven from those that threaten to destroy it”. 

All of them disbanded from the meeting table to regroup in their assigned teams, Noah made a comment that he would be right back, he was just going to change out of his uniform into something more suited for the environment they were about to face. Nicole just nodded her head not really listening as she glanced over the pile of weapons in front of her. None of them would do any real damage to any unholy creatures they might face, only weapons crafted for The Guardians and blessed with holy light could kill them. Modern weapons would only slow them down or cause some harm but not enough to truly kill them properly. 

Nicole could see the hope in the police officers eyes, she knew the real truth of what faced them out there, none of these cops including Noah knew of the horrors running wild in New Haeven. This was beyond a simple cult as she had told Noah since the beginning, a simple lie to get her out of trouble and now he still didn’t know the real truth. Nicole hated to think about what if something happened to Noah because she had lied to him, would she be able  to live with that for the rest of her life, his blood on her hands. While everything told her not to blame herself for Elder Theokritos death Nicole still felt deep down the guilt of his death and his blood on her hands, she could not be held responsible for two deaths. 

For all Nicole knew Noah could have a family and parents that were still alive, fact of the matter was Nicole knew nothing about his personal life, she couldn’t take someone as good natured like Noah away, with his whole life ahead of him. Her thoughts were pulled away when Noah returned dressed in full police tactical gear, picking up a Glock 19 from the table with the weapons and slid it into one of his leg holsters. “You don’t have to tell me the truth now Nicole but I need to know what I am facing out there. This is much bigger than some crazy cult it’s it?”. Nicole wanted nothing more than to tell him everything about The Guardians and The Darkness and the supernatural world that was out there, “I promise I will tell you everything Noah but right now isn’t a good time. You’ll just have to trust me that I know what we're up against and follow my lead”. 

Nicole was already equipped with her chosen Guardian blade, Noah simply nodded his head adjusting the AR-15, a lightweight semi-automatic rifle, across his back. That simple nod from him told her that he trusted her word on the matter and that he was ready to head out when she was. Before they left Nicole made sure to hug Lillian goodbye, wish her luck, thanked her for everything and told her that they would meet again soon. Deep down Nicole knew nothing would happen to the Senior Guardian, that Lillian had already been through enough in her lifetime, she was strong so Nicole had to be strong too if everyone was going to make it through this and hopefully her and Lillian could reunite with Sara and James in the Holy City once they knew New Haeven was under control. 

All the groups headed through the City Hall to the back entrance then each team split and went their separate ways to span across the city. Each team was assigned to a different section of New Haeven to assess the damage to the city and deal with any problems that they may come across along the way. Their mission was to observe and report back to command but Nicole knew very well the trouble both her and Noah were going to face along with the others heading out. Noah led the way with Nicole following close behind, her hand never leaving her side where it was gripping the knife attached to her side. 

Buildings all around them were either reduced to rumble or missing large amounts of steel and brick. Personal items were scattered across the streets and cars left abandoned behind with no signs of human life around. The scenes around Nicole reminded her of those painting of the end of times or a scene out of a movie about the end of the world. Noah’s hand suddenly came up in the air, signaling her to stop, Nicole spotted it even before he could say anything, the grip on her knife got tighter. 

Up ahead thick black smoke started to roll a few meters from where they were standing, Nicole knew what was going to happen next, she quickly turned to Noah, “Run!” was all she shouted to him. If they didn’t move now, they both would succumb to the hellish smoke of the Smoke Demons coming into view.