Starbright (The Starbright Series) (6 page)

Another quick breath and
I
knocked quietly on Annabelle’s door before turning the handle and letting
my
self inside. Annabelle had watched
me
from
my
first year of life, every time
my
parents went out of town. She was as much a part of
my
family
as
anyone else and the main reason Tristan
and I had become such good friends
.

“Annabell
e
….”
I
whispered, knowing the old woman was a light sleeper. She stirred under a heavy quilt that she, herself
,
had made for
my mom
, and groaned something indecipherable. “Annabelle….”
I
whispered louder and this time Annabelle lifted her head off her pillow and brushed gray curls away from her face.

“What is it child?” Annabelle asked, immediately concerned. Her soft, wrinkled face peered at
me
through the dark,
her
gray eyes filled with caution.

“I’m sorry to wake you,”
I
tried to quickly explain so
I
wouldn’t worry
the elderly woman
. “I’m late coming home because some old friends of our family surprised me tonight by coming to town and I had to meet them so I could bring them here,”
I
explained, using half lies
and rambling
.
I
generally didn’t like to
hide any truth, lying was one of those things
I
just could not stand.
I
had even explained to Tristan a long time ago exactly who
I
was and why, at certain times….
I
glowed
, just so
we
could continue
our
friendship without any secrets
. “They are staying with us
for a while
. There are two of them, Jupiter is your age and Seth
, his uh…. grandson
. He’s my age. Anyway, I’ll let you get back to
sleep;
I just didn’t want you to freak out in the morning.”

“All right, child. Get to sleep now,” she admonished before rolling over in bed. Her robust frame caused the double bed to
creak beneath her and as I
slipped out the bedroom door
I
could hear her mutter, “What kind of name is Jupiter
?
”

I laughed to my
self as
I made my
way back down the servant stairs.
I
paused in the hallway to adjust the heat, noticing how cold Annabelle’s bedroom had been.
My parents and I
had to be particularly careful about the temperature of
ou
r house when human guests were over because when
ou
r powers were not restricted
,
ou
r internal warmth kept
us
comfortable. Sometimes
,
in the winter, it would be several nights in a row before
we
noticed the frost on the inside of
ou
r windows and not just on the outside.
My father loved how low we could keep our heating costs.

In the kitchen Jupiter and Seth sat eati
ng left over potato cheese soup
Annabelle made for dinner making happy murmurs of approval for the skill of
my
guardian.
I
got
my
self a glass of water before joining them at the table. As much as
I
longed to find
my
bed right now,
I
knew there were still things that needed to be discussed.

“This is so good!” Seth declared, lifting his eyes from the soup to
mine
, proving how in love with the soup he really was. “Usually we eat…. I don’t know what we eat, but it is never as good as this!”

“You’re certainly not starved, boy,” Jupiter grunted.
I laughed
at what had clearly been an insult to Jupiter’s culinary skills.

“Annabelle is an amazing cook,”
I
agreed, knowing what it was like to not eat this good on a regular basis. Stars weren’t exactly born domestic and although
my
mo
m
tried to familiarize herself with the kitchen, things usually ended….
i
nteresting. And since
we
lived so far out in the country
,
take-out was almost never an option. Although the gas station did have hot pizza.
Not good pizza. But at least it was hot.

Jupiter made another grunting nose, but continued to shovel the spoon from soup to mouth without slowing down.
I
sat quietly while the two of them finished their late night meal. They stayed absorbed in their soup, so
I
had the opportunity to study them
under
light.

Jupiter was old. Not just by human standards, although
I
knew th
e human eye wouldn’t place him later
than seventy, but old…. r
eally old.
I
could tell.
I
could also feel how other-worldly he was
now that
I
spent some time with him
.

As if the fact that he could fly wasn’t a big enough tip that he wasn’t from around here….

My
ability to detect the nature of someone’s essence had been with
me
since birth, but this was really the first opportunity
I
had to use it other than the every once in a while Shadow
that crossed
my
path
.
I
couldn’t place his exact age, but it was definitely old, hundreds of years old. And he definitely wasn’t human, although other than the dull red of his eyes, he appeared to be
Homo-S
apien
in every other way. His tanned skin was wrinkled and weathered and his gray hair fell in disheveled short tufts of rebellion.

             
Even without ever hearing him talk,
I
could have assumed he was a tough man, and that had nothing to do with
my
ability to feel out the foreign. He had deep frown lines, and his permanent scowl wouldn’t invite any stranger into a random conversation. He wasn’t exactly an imposing man, just a few inches taller than
me
and probably barely making six feet, but his very presence was intimidating.
I
could bet most humans ran from him as quickly as they could, and suddenly
I
felt a deep pang for the humanity
I
had come to love. Whatever happened to Jupiter’s home planet,
I
wasn’t sure
E
arth deserved him as punishment.

             
Seth on the other hand was the very opposite, and not just in age. He was the kind of guy that strangers would trust to hold their babies or the police would ask to be a witness in a crime even if he w
ere
holding a gun and covered in blood. His dark hair was unruly and wild, but his amber colored eyes were inviting and soulful. His smile reached from ear to ear and the angular shape of his face didn’t exactly scream out trustworthy, but it did cast him
in
such a way any woman would toss
caution to the wind and
throw themselves at him.

             
I
couldn’t help but smile at him. His golden-toned skin, his muscular body, his carefree recklessness….
I
didn’t have many feelings for him yet, but one that shone brighter than the others resonated as pride.
I
was proud to have him as
my
C
ounterpart. Already
I
could tell that
I
could trust him, and not just in battle. Plus, saving
my
life once already definitely spoke volumes about
ou
r future together.

             
Our, uh, professional future together. Not the other future…. that I wasn’t exactly ready to think about yet.

             
“So, when your parents get back, we will discuss finding our own place,” Jupiter broke the silence
after scraping his bowl clean
and giving a tentative glance back at a Tupperware still half full of soup. “Until then, I think it will be safer if we stay with you. If more Shadows come to find you, it will be better if we’re with you, especially with your….
q
uestionable training.”

             
I
smiled at his polite way of referencing
my
actual lack of training
, I felt like that was as nice as he was going to get
.
I
wasn’t embarrassed
of my lack of skills
though. Even if tomorrow
I
faced an army of the Darkness,
I
wouldn’t regret the life
I
’d lived so far. Experience had to count for something. And
I
had plenty of life experience. Well, at least sixteen years of it.

             
“Will it be hard for you to move?”
I
looked to Seth, wondering if he was as regretful about leaving typical high school life behind him as
I
was.

             
“No, why would it be?” his eyes turned curious and his spoon suspended itself midway to his mouth.
             

             
“Oh, I didn’t know if you were leaving behind a lot of friends or something,”
I
tried to explain without looking at Jupiter, but heard his mocking grunt and couldn’t help but turn to him.

             
“Unlike you, Seth has focused on his training,
real training. We chose
to abstain from unnecessary human interactions,” Jupiter explained in the most condescending voice
I
had ever heard.

             
Seth set his spoon down, ready to
stand up to
his mentor.
I could see how he
respected Jupiter more than anyone else in the universe, but
there was also the overbearing instinct to protect me
.
I knew he felt because
I
felt it, like the hottest, most honest kind of liquid truth running through my veins. It was consuming and bonding at the same time.

Seth
shot a warning glance at Jupiter that sent the message he would
n’t stand for any
more. The look of pride and
slight excitement Jupiter returned with was surprising, but
I wondered if Jupiter had been goading Seth to see if he could get some kind of reaction like this, just to make sure the bond between us existed.
Plus,
I
suspected
Jupiter
was always looking for a good fight.

             
No other Star and Counterpart h
ad been raised the way Seth and I
had. Usually, they grew up together,
paired together at a young age from a natural bond
.
The Elders watched every
A
ngel’s training and p
aired
them
with a Star
accordingly.

But
ou
r case was different. Hell,
ou
r case was an experiment. As E
arth remained the sole remaining planet with sustainable life left in the galaxy, the
E
lders had decided it was time to try a different tactic. They decided
Seth and I
would be raised on E
arth, with humans, immersed in the culture and able to call the planet they protected home. Because of the danger of living not only amongst humans, but also surrounded by the
D
arkness, it
was
decided to keep
us
separated for the sake of secrecy until the time when
we
would take over together.

             
The
E
lders had relied on destiny and the natural order of their way to keep the bond between Star and Counterpart intact. It was a risky thing to do. Not meeting each other until the night of battle could have had dire effects, a team not willing to bond, or able to get along. But as Seth gazed across the table at
me, filled with the same
fierce desire to lay down his life for
me that I had for him, I
knew they had gambled with success.