Ivory Guard (4 page)

Her gaze darted
around. And she forced it not to linger on the keys lying innocently in the bowl on the cupboard which was just a few steps away from her. Her heart thumped in her chest as another burst of adrenaline rushed through her. Lillian remembered her mother telling her to have her keys in her fist - flat against her palm with two key heads slightly showing on each side of her middle finger - whenever she was wandering around alone at night. It was a good weapon, better than nothing at all. A little more to the left and she could grab them. She was still amazed that she wasn’t panicking at the reality of being slowly surrounded by demons.

“So you see
, it’s really not my fault. They practically hand you on a silver platter. It would be incredibly rude of me to refuse that… offering.” The sexy demon’s eyes really started to flicker eerily, as if flames crackled behind them. Maybe there were. “Any last words?”

Trying to seem scared – which really wasn’t hard – and acting as if she was backing
away from him, Lillian had crept closer to the cupboard. “Actually, yeah…” In a swift movement she grabbed the keys and screamed at the top of her lungs, “Amber!”

The demons jumped her.

Instinctively she ducked away from the demon charging her from the left and struck out at the lower regions of the one coming from the right. He howled in pain, and chaos broke out as her parents fought against the distracted creatures holding them. She heard laughter ring out but couldn’t pay any heed to it. Her next punch didn’t get far since the first demon managed to wrap his arms around her, his grip as unyielding as a vise. Her ribs screamed in protest and she cried out with pain. The set of keys fell out of her hand and to the floor in a hard, clanking sound. Where was the sexy evil demon? Were her parents…

Before she could even finish the thought t
he other demon hit her face and it was like a bell going off in her head. Very loud. Maybe she was out of it for a second there. Then the pain hit her as she tasted her own blood in her mouth. Another blow, and her eye felt as if it had busted. The pain was killing her.

A flash of white.
Whether in her head or in the room, she couldn’t say.

Her head
not quite obeying her to stay straight on her shoulders, Lillian tried to bring the demon punching her back into focus. What she saw next would be branded into her memory forever.

Amber, a blinding angel of light and fury and breathtakingly beautiful, cleared the demons head of his shoulders
with a sword at the same time as a blackness came out her chest, piercing her heart.

The
smell of sulfur exploded around the room and the demon’s black blood spattered out of his neck. Stinking and mocking fireworks going off while Amber looked down at herself, disbelief in her eyes. Then she looked at Lillian, her stunned expression turning into one of regret.

“I’m sorry.”

Utter fear and terror filled Lillian as she felt the angel vanish, as she saw Amber’s body fall to the hard floor, the rustle of wings deafening in the silence of her mind. The angel’s eyes became vacant. Dull. “Noooo!”

Evil laughter rang out and made Lillian’s head snap up.

Sexy demon stood in front of her, a blade of some kind in his hand. It moved and reminded her of shadows. The blackest shadows she had ever seen. Looking at them she realized the blade was writhing, and it made her wonder whether it wasn’t alive somehow. She couldn’t take her eyes of it. Whatever it was held power and darkness. A darkness that made her want to cry…made her want to die.

“Today seems to be my lucky day.
An Ivory, plus an angel.”

Finally ripping her gaze away from the blade
Lillian straightened as much as she could while still being restrained, and spat at the demon. It felt incredibly satisfying, seeing the mix of saliva and blood running down his cheek. Especially since he didn’t seem too happy about it. She wouldn’t go down cowering.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

Lillian closed her eyes as that deep timbre of a voice rushed through her and with it a wave of relief and hope.

Raz.

She would never have thought she’d be so damn happy to
see the disagreeable, sarcastic angel. This might not be her end after all.

Another flash of light blinded her. After blinking her eyes until she could see a little again, she noticed that she wasn’t restrained anymore. Her mother and father came rushing to
her, hugging her with nearly as much strength as the demon before. But this time she didn’t mind it at all.

“Baby, are you okay? Oh God, what did that thing do to your face.”

“I’m okay. I’m okay.” She drew away, to look at her parents. Some bruises, nothing that wouldn’t heal. Then she looked about the room.

Black blood and y
ellow dust covered the wooden floor. No demons remained. Then there was Raz. The angel’s face, arms and chest were covered in black splashes. Demon blood.

“One got away.”

His eyes were dark and fierce. He looked magnificent, like a warrior of old. Lillian almost shook her head at those ridiculous thoughts considering the circumstances. Even more so when her gaze fell upon Amber.

She fell on her knees and scooted tow
ards the angel. The angel couldn’t be dead. How could the angel be dead? They weren’t supposed to die!

“We have to act fast,” she heard Raz say but didn’t really care. “Lillian. Lillian!”

Moments ago everything had been so clear in her head. Now it all tumbled into a mess she had no idea how to get out of. She was numb and yet not. Then someone clasped her shoulders and hauled her up to her feet. When she found herself staring into Raz’s fierce, gray eyes she said dazed, “She’s an angel. She can’t be dead.”

“
She can and she is.”

Suddenly bright red flames started to dance upon the black blood and ate away what was left of the demons, and before it could even fully register Amber’s dead body dissolved into a cloud of foggy light, leaving only the fresh scent of rain behind. Was it heaven crying for the one they lost?

Still holding her up, Raz addressed her parents. “Change your clothes. Take only the stuff you need. Keep it to a minimum. Burn down the house, with all the bloodied clothes inside! And then get the hell away from here. Ditch the car as soon as you can. Get a new one. Start over somewhere else. Understood?”

Lillian’s father nodded
but asked, “What about Lillian?”

“As planned. Don’t worry.”
Without another word Raz grabbed Lillian’s hand and pulled her up the stairs, heading for her bedroom. “Ah, good, you’ve already packed. Take what you need and then let’s get out of here.”

Lillian nodded and
moved towards her bed, her movements automatic. Her head was slow and couldn’t keep up with what was happening. Her gaze fell on the letter and gift-wrapped box on the bedspread. It was another punch to the gut. A lifetime had passed since she had put them there. As she reached out she noticed her trembling hands. Black blood was drying on her skin.
Demon
blood was drying on her hands. She drew away.

Feeling Raz’s eyes on her, she clenched her jaw and
only grabbed her bag before walking out of her room without turning around. “Let’s go out the back.”

FOUR

They had gone out the back without saying goodbye and driven off in her mother’s car.

But befor
e getting into the car Raz had gone back inside. He had watched Lillian in her room, and he had seen the letter and gift she had put on her bed. Probably when she had been waiting on Amber and him to pick her up. He had seen the anguish inside of her. She wasn’t the only, and definitely wouldn’t be the last, Ivory to be attacked by demons and to have to leave behind everything she had known. She should be lucky she and her parents had survived actually. Others hadn’t fared as well. And yet he hadn’t liked seeing her so torn up. Without really realizing what he was doing he had told her something about having forgotten the keys and had gone back inside and let her parents know what their daughter had left for them before they burned down the house.

He and the girl
had been on the road for nearly three hours now and he still wasn’t sure why he had done it. His duty was to pick her up, get her the training she needed and let life take its course. Nothing more and nothing less.

Raz
glanced at the girl beside him, sitting absolutely motionless and still, silently looking out the window. For a moment he wondered whether she even noticed the gradual changes in scenery despite the darkness surrounding them. The rough mountainous horizon slowly turning into softer slopes. They had taken the back roads and though he hadn’t exactly driven in a straight line it was clear enough that they were soon leaving Montana behind them. She hadn’t asked a single question as to where they were going like he knew humans normally would do. When a sign came up announcing a big supermarket he gladly pushed those thoughts away. He needed to concentrate on the girl and the task at hand. Nothing more. And he had some grocery shopping to do.

Following the indications on the sign Raz turned right
. He had wanted to get everything they needed to the safe house after being summoned, but when he had come back and felt Amber’s death, the plans had changed.

After
he stopped in the lot that was thankfully nearly empty, he turned towards Lillian. “I need to get us some stuff.” When she didn’t seem to hear him, he said little more strongly, “Lillian.”

Her head snapped around.
“Huh? What?”

Strands of dark hair that had escaped her braid framed her face, making her big eyes stand out even more. Those incredible
light green eyes had sparkled with life and anger when he had seen her for the first time, now they looked haunted and staggeringly sad. She blinked a few times, as if coming out of a deep sleep and fighting its clinging fingers, and looked around her, apparently noticing only now that they had stopped.

“I said
I need to get some stuff. We’ll be on the road for a while so maybe you want to freshen up in the meantime?”

“
Um…Yeah, sure…thanks.”

They got out of the car together and walked into the superstore. When Lillian wanted to head o
ff towards the restrooms, Raz stopped her. “Promise me something. As soon as something seems off…the tiniest thing or even nothing at all, you call for me. Trust your instincts. They will keep you alive better than anything else. Okay?”

She
swallowed and nodded, “Okay,” and then she turned away from him.

Sighing Raz went the other way, heading for the seemingly endless rows
of shelves, quickly searching for and finding the items he had already listed in his mind. He didn’t like leaving the girl alone but he guessed she needed the time. Though he had to admit that when she didn’t snap out of the stupor soon that shock had clouded her in, he would have to talk to her. It wasn’t something he was looking forward to. That stuff had been Amber’s specialty. Well, he would deal with it if push came to shove.

All the way, heading
into the store and then towards the restroom, Lillian felt like walking under water. Every step exhausting, the noise subdued. As if she had stopped being a part of the world and was stuck under a glass bell jar.

She had intended to head straight for one of the stalls
, but then, out of the corner of her eye, she caught a flicker of her reflection in the mirrors covering the tiled wall to the left. Abruptly she stopped and turned fully towards the mirror. Her face was a mess. She didn’t remember crying, but her smudgy mascara told her otherwise. Bruises, glaringly red and violet under the harsh neon light, covered the left side of her face from her eye down to her jaw. Her eye was swollen and she wasn’t able to open it fully. Her hand reached up to gently probe it before she knew it and it was then she realized that she had moved to the sink so she could have a better look at herself. As if realizing the extent of her wounds had called for it, a dull pain suddenly started to make her entire head throb.

Stari
ng down at her bloodied hands she remembered how they had gotten so. In slow motion her mind played that one scene she so badly wanted to forget over and over again. The demons punching her, wanting to kill her. And then Amber, that beautiful, avenging angel. The black shadowy stuff piercing through her chest, instantly dimming the light of life in Amber’s green eyes. Her blood staining her teeth. The shock on her face as she realized that she was about to die.

Whirling around Lillian barely made
it to the toilet before throwing up.

When her stomach had emptied and the dry-heaving ceased she flushed and got up on shaky legs and walked
back to the sinks. Turning on the water she started fiercely scrubbing her trembling hands and face despite the pain. Her life had been normal only…what, twelve hours ago? Not even a day had passed. This wasn’t her life, or even
a
life anymore, this was a nightmare she really wanted to wake out of.
Now
.

A knock pulled her out of her thoughts and away from
the face reflected in the mirror that wasn’t, couldn’t possibly, be hers. “Hey, it’s Raz. You okay in there?”

Lillian
almost snorted at that. Okay? No, she really wasn’t okay.

In the last twelve hours she had found out that she was the daughter of an effing
angel, that she was born to guard hellholes, had been attacked by demons, and watched a woman die in front of her eyes. And she had had to leave her parents and home behind. No, she was a long way from okay and heading for the land of insane hysteria.

Closing her eyes she took a long, deep and calm breath.
She needed to put on the brakes and clear her head before the mad laughter lurking inside of her could pull her under.

Apparently she had two
options. One, go crazy and end up stuck in a padded cell. Or door number two, accept her fate of being an Ivory who was born to fight demons. And as unbelievable and insane as it sounded, the reality of it had just kicked her in the teeth.

Pros and cons.

Lillian had to take back control over her life and
that wasn’t exactly something option one easily permitted to do. Door number two also had the benefit of her being able to kick some demons’ asses for what they had done, especially the one that had gotten away.  Which meant she needed training first.

Taking a deep breath and one last look at herself Lillian walked over to the door and out to meet up with the angel.
He looked her over, his brow furrowing, but didn’t say a word.

They silently made their way
into the night outside. She frowned when he stopped by a car that wasn’t her mother’s. This was a blue 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS, and
not
her Mom’s Toyota Corolla. With a shrug she got in while he loaded his grocery bags in the trunk. Then he got behind the wheel and drove off.

Over the next half hour s
he sensed him glancing at her from time to time and an angry tension started to pour off of him for which Lillian had no explanation. When he started to drum his fingers against the wheel she caught his gaze with her own and saw something between annoyance and unease in his frown.

Frowning she asked, “Is something wrong?”

“You okay?” he countered, a little gruff.

“
Yeah. As much as I can be, I guess. I’m working on it.” Apparently that was a good answer since his eyes started to soften somewhat with sympathy.

She knew that a
t some point she had to jump into that weird, new world she had to call her own now. Inwardly bracing herself, she added, “You said one of them got away. One of the demons at my parent’s house. Which one?”

A
t her question any remnants of his weird mood and the tension in his shoulders vanished entirely and were replaced by surprise. He even seemed relieved as he relaxed back into his seat though she had absolutely no clue as to why. Her frown deepened.

Obviously catching the unspoken meaning
of it Raz explained, “I just thought I would have to talk with you about what happened back there. You know, in a way like Amber would have done? I’m not good at talking about…that stuff.”

Right, that stuff being her feelings and a rather traumatic experience. But unbelievable as it might seem,
Lillian understood the angel and showed him by trying the ghost of a smile and rolling her eyes at him. “Who’d have thought?”

Silence descended upon them
, the awkward kind that could feel almost like a growing being in the close confinements of a car, as Lillian’s mind once again was flooded with images of Amber. She turned her head away, looking out the window without seeing anything.

“She died trying to save you.”

“I know.”

“Don’t let that sacrifice go to waste.”

“I
know
. Dammit.” She took a shaky breath and then promised with strength in her voice, “I won’t.” Wiping away the tears that had sneaked out, as if to prove her point, she asked, “Where are we going anyway?”

“Iowa.”

She stared over at him. “You want me to guard a hellhole in Iowa?”

“Not quite. I want to train you around
hellholes
, plural, in Iowa.”

“How many are there?”

“In Iowa? Or in general?”

“Both.”

“There’re three at the moment in Iowa and about twenty all over the States. Hard to keep track actually. They can pop up nearly everywhere but don’t necessarily stay. They can move around or close up if the picking’s not good.”

“Huh?”

“If there aren’t enough souls around.”

Right.
Weirdest conversation ever. She had the feeling they would have a lot of those. Frowning as her mind still struggled against this new reality Lillian tried to absorb all the information.

“So, what about the one that got away?”

A muscle jumped in his jaw. “The demon leading the attack.”

Ah shit.
“The evil, sexy guy?” She had hoped it had been one of the others. But of course, it kind of figured. He seemed the type that would sneak out the backdoor while his buddies became black ooze on her parents’ hardwood floor.

Raz shot her a sideway glance. “You find him sexy?”

Her brow knitted as she called an image of the guy back to mind. “No and yes. Since he didn’t give me a name it was just what I called him in my head. You know, in contrast to the ugly whatever-they-were also present. He was good-looking. A little too good and too hot actually. Everything about him seemed evil and calculated.” Realization hit. “Ah, let me guess. Being seduced by him equals losing one’s soul or something?”

The angel
’s face nearly made a Christmas tree look bleak as he smiled at her. Lillian had never seen him do more than frown or scowl and discovering that Raz had the cutest hint of a dimple on his right cheek, had her swallowing. Wow. Talk about hidden assets. 

“Exactly.
Incubus. He flew out of there the moment I got there.” He looked at her as if there might be chance for her to survive the next day. “Not bad at all. Really, not bad at all.”

Lillian tried to smile back but was sure it didn’t look like it. Thinking about the demon had her thinking about Amb
er as well. “Did you just say ‘flew’? He had wings?”

“He’s
an Ebony. Kind of your counterpart. We’ll get back to that later once we start your training.”

“What was that thing he used to…kill her
with? I kinda assumed angels couldn’t die.” And what a kick to the gut finding out the truth had been.

Raz focused his attention back on the road and explained in a serious tone, “The weapon he used is the only thing that can kill us.
Angels as well as Ivorys. The dagger is called shadow dagger or shade.” He glanced at her. “Does the name Abaddon sound familiar to you?”

“
Actually, yes.” A crease formed between her brows as Lillian tried to remember what she had read about Abaddon. “It’s not quite clear whether he’s an angel, or the Devil himself. He’s also called the Destroyer.”

The angel nodded.
“Yeah. Abaddon is an angel, whether fallen or not is for God to decide. The Bible calls him the destroyer, the angel of the abyss, or the angel of the bottomless pit since he holds the key to the pit that held locusts and well, evil. The bottomless pit is a chaotic, evil place where blackness reigns, contrary to hell that is also evil but lawful in its own way. Thing is, when the pit was opened not only prisoners but also some of its darkness escaped.”