20 16| Clare

"Just to clarify," Luca questioned, his face earnest, "was the dress silk or leather?"

A crease appeared between my eyebrows. "I—I don't remember? Probably cotton."

He sighed, disappointed. "I guess it's for the better. Leather clings to the body in an ungodly fashion, and it really does hide all the wonders a woman's body has. Silk, on the—"

"Luca."

He pressed on, unperturbed by my tone. "—has this way of clinging loosely to the body," he continued. "It's like a tease, except a touch-tease. Enough to start a flame but not set fire. It's way more—"

"Can we focus on what's important?"

He grinned. "The delicacies of clothing is very important, Clare. Wars were fought over silk and such."

I swatted at him. During my nap, I dreamt about Mother again, and I was trying to tell him about it, but he had focused on all the wrong details. "Okay, well, we can talk about the fine linens all you want after I get this off my chest." Because, like all Mother dreams, I needed to talk it out to make sense of it.

He heaved a deep breath. "Promise?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes." I handed him my hand. "I don't feel like explaining it when you can see it how it happened."

"You know, I don't have to hold your hand to see your memories."

I smiled. "I know."

No blood, no guts. A blue sky, a calm beach. I wrapped my arms around my legs, looking toward the sky, waiting for it to turn dark. This dream had the essence of Mother, and she always came showing her ass and throwing her evil ways around.

Darkness waited in the corners, tendrils ready to latch on.

I hadn't meant to fall asleep, but Luca had put on a movie. Unless I was in the movie theatre, I had a hard time staying awake. Not when Luca was so comfortable, and the blankets were so warm.

It had hard to focus on the movie anyway with that Honor told me. My brain was still trying to wrap itself around it. It was true; it made sense why Mother wanted us, why some of my family members saw things and felt things others didn't.

I was one of the Guardians. Rather, it was my destiny to become a Guardian. Athena and I had the same birthday. The original Guardians of Gabriel were twins. Gabriel and Gabriella.

The idea of protecting the world from evil pleased me. It was right on par with my childhood dreams. Holding a weapon, having superpowers, however, scared me. I had missed years of training—training I would obviously need to survive this Mother situation. And what if I couldn't do it? How long would it take until I was able to defend people? How did I even use a damn saber?

And Athena. How much did she know? Possibly more than me—but, if she did, why hadn't she texted me back? Could she fight? I was afraid to talk to her anyway. She had always been infinite amounts cooler and braver than me—a whole lot meaner, too. She was the only person I knew who stood up to Bella, ignored Bella, and even fought with her. My earliest memory of Athena was her with a wild snake around her shoulders.

What did the job of a Guardian even entail? How often did I fight demons?

Was it possible to get a headache in a dream? Because I had one.

Voice distracted me from my inner woes. Expecting to see Mother, I snapped my head up. Instead of her long black hair and hellish face, I saw myself. I wore a pale pink dress that hugged my chest but flowed past my waist. The ocean breeze ruffled the bottom. I tilted my head up and smiled, the sun kissing my bare face.

Coming up behind me was Luca, wearing a pair of khaki pants rolled up to mid-calves. He was barefoot, and he had his button-up shirt tied around his waist, blonde hair down and flowing. He looked down at me, grinning, and grabbing my hand. He stopped, twirled me around, and stood in front of me. I couldn't hear his exact words, but I knew what was going on when he dropped to one knee.

Dream me shrieked, jumped in the air, and threw my arms around him. We disappeared.

Too positive for a Mother dream. Maybe Honor and Elias's marriage was on the brain. Her announcement had worried me a little bit—I loved Luca, wanted to marry him if we survived, but if I was truly a Guardian dedicating my life to fighting demons, how could we work out? But Honor was a Guardian, and yet she married one of the ultimate demons.

The sand underneath me shifted, and a castle appeared before me. It was fairly modern, built in front of the Mississippi River. Around me, buildings had been destroyed and burned down, some of them still smoldering. An empty black throne awaited someone in front of the castle. Another me stepped forward, dressed in a tight black dress, a huge black ring on my hand and stilettos—how I knew it was a dream because I would never wear those—and sat down in the throne. I crossed my right leg over my left one, smiled a chilling smile. Luca came toward me first, kneeled before me. "Wife," he murmured.

Suddenly, dozens of people appeared, all of them offering me things—food, jewels, animals. They looked terrified, but they kneeled before me. Called me their Queen, as they trembled. I smiled at them, the Dream me did. The real me was disgusted. I would never act like, never command people to give me what looked like their last.

The dream switched, and I was back on the beach, alone. This time I stood in the water, which lapped over my bare feet. It was going to take me a few months before I went back to the beach, that was for sure.

"You know, you have always been kind-hearted, Clare," said a voice from beside me. It lacked the chilling tenor or the undertones of utter evil. I turned and saw Mother standing next to me. Her eyes focused on mine, and she didn't look as threatening but more rigid. Like an evil stepmother instead of a Greater Demon. "That is why I love you more than Athena."

I gave her a grim smile. Was someone like her capable of love?

"Of course I'm capable of love," she responded, reaching toward me. I didn't flinch, just let her grab my hand. "This is not a usual visit, Clare. I have come to show you what you could have if you just give Athena up."

But giving Athena up meant ending the world. Her touch was chilly. I felt it in my soul, a cold that sunk farther than my bones. "I can't. The world will end."

"As you know it, dear." She reached over with her free hand and pushed my hair back. "See, my intentions aren't to end the world, just change it a little. With everything that goes on, you can agree the world needs a little changing, can't you, Clare?"

Yes. "Not the change you're trying to enact."

She smiled at me before taking a step back. "You haven't heard my pitch yet." She didn't wait for me to ask for it—personally, I didn't care—before she continued. "All I want, Clare, are children of my own, but I was stripped of the ability to have them a long, long time ago."

"By who?"

She chuckled. "I suppose I could tell you—after all, it's not like you'll be able to defeat me, even if you did know. I'm the greatest demon to ever grace any of the realms. Still, I like to watch you all run around, hunting down clues given by that annoying little blonde psychic—ah, did you know she, too, was a Guardian, of course not because you just found out what they were yourself."

Blonde psychic? She must be talking about Hillary.

"I forget what you don't know, Clare. See, I've been watching both you and Athena, and the two of you know either side of the coin, but neither know the whole part of anything." She sighed, still looking at me affectionately. "I'm not here to scare you this time or threaten you. I have tried, and you refuse to come to me. So maybe I can persuade you to see my point with niceties."

I was not sending my cousin to the slaughter, nor the world for whatever changes she wanted to make. I would live a good life but about my parents? Chloe? Bella? My friends? Other cousins?

"I want what was taken from me—children to love and hold on. My freedom. All because I refused to submit," she said softly, looking out into the ocean. "Women weren't meant to submit, Clare, and that is what I want for this new world. I want women to lead, pushing these silly men out of their positions.

"All they do is create danger and war. I don't want that." She turned to me, a gentle look on her face, a storm in her eyes. "I want you to help me lead it, Clare. You can do it—the way you love people, it will make them submit easier."

I shook my head. "I don't want people to submit to me." I was born to be a defender of humans, not leader of them. "I save people—from demons like you."

The storm blazed brighter in her eyes. "Clare, listen to me—"

I cut her off. I would get no answers from her, no hints. All she wanted to do was push her agenda on me. Also, she was lying to get me on her side. "No. We're going to defeat you," I said stubbornly. We were because we had to. We were because Luca loved me, and love conquered all. Or so Mom had to said to me.

The breeze turned into a strong wind whipping across me. Mother laughed—shrilly. "Clare, I have given you time and time again to follow me—but if you won't, your death will surely follow. I've slaughtered the Guardians of Gabriel's Angel once before, and I will do it again," she growled.

I tried to ground myself into the water since the wind was flying at me, but it was hard. It was becoming too hard for me to breathe.

This is just a dream, Clare, I reminded myself. She couldn't kill me here.

"Gabriel and Gabriella were the first—a set of twins, born when the sun was high in the sky, just like the rest of you brainless, submissive twats," she snarled, flinging her hand out. The wind swiped at my legs, sending me to my knees. "The boy, Gabriel, he reminded me of you—gentle, kind-hearted, always wanting to do the right thing. But the girl, she was wild, selfish, and impulsive like your cousin. It was her I really wanted.

"See, it's Gabriel's blood that binds me to this barren land, and it's Gabriel's blood that releases me." She put her hand around my throat, tightening her fingers until I definitely couldn't breathe. "See, you silly, silly girl, you could've had it all—the man, the riches, the subjects… but you want to be like Gabriel! You want to help people that won't know it, or even appreciate it if they did. You stupid blessed Guardians, blindly following those stuck up angels!"

She lifted me into the air, and I stayed still, knowing I couldn't fight her.

"I have tried and tried with you, Clare, wanting to spare one of you—I loved Gabriel, as I love you, but spoiled children must be beaten." She flung me into the water, standing over me. Now the sky rumbled, and the water turned to blood, rushing over my skin. I gasped, inhaling. I was sure when I woke up, I would have finger-shaped bruises around my neck. "At least Gabriel knew how to use his powers as the Protector. You don't even know what yours are."

Powers? I had them?

"Of course you have them, you fool. As does your stupid little cousin," she scoffed. "The Protector and the Destroyer, the best and worst sides of Gabriel himself."

She looked up as the sky crackled, opening up. "It's time to go. Time is running out, Clare." With that, she left. The water remained bloody, the sky dark. The wind whipped at me.

The Protector and the Destroyer.

I remained like that until Luca shook me out of my sleep.

Luca frowned. "The dress was cotton."

I resisted the urge to strangle him, even as he smiled at me. "Is there a reason you've been like this today? Like super annoying?" I demanded. It was more playful. Luca seemed like he was more joyful than usual, almost freer.

He smirked. "I'm not carrying around such a big secret anymore. Secrets have a way of weighing you down. " He released my hands, leaning back into the sofa with a yawn. "Do you think that dream gave us any more information on her?"

In the thirty minutes, I had been awake, it was all I could think about it. I received nothing from it, though, except that she was royally pissed off and didn't want to make the world a better place—she wanted to rule over it. I, too, believed that more women should be in positions of power, but more like governors and presidents, not dictators.

She had also killed Gabriel and Gabriella, and she planned on killing both me and Athena, too. Because she could. She wanted both of us because I had pissed her off. But what was I supposed to do? I couldn't double-cross my cousin, and I couldn't trick Mother. She read minds, and she obviously had ways to get to us even from where she was. A barren land. Nope, didn't ring a bell. A dessert maybe?

"Nope, nothing on her besides she's a psychopath, but we knew that." I leaned into his side, folding my legs up under me. Luca put his arm around me. "I think her affections for me have left."

He smiled at me, eyes drooping low. I wondered when was the last time he had slept. "Impossible. You're Clare Walker, no amount of stubbornness could diminish anyone's affections toward you."

I doubted that. Mother's affections weren't based on love anyway, just a cheap imitation of it. She wanted someone she would boss around. I was Clare Walker, Guardian of human, bad demon banisher, the Protector with superpowers and a saber. I had been given the tools necessary to defeat Mother, along with my cousin at my side.

That sounded really good until I reminded myself that I didn't know what to do with my powers or how to even access them. Or what they were. Also, how did I use a saber? And what was it?

"Talking about Mother at this point is like beating a dead horse—we've killed every possible detail we know about her," he added.

He had a point. Besides now knowing why she needed us dead, we had nothing else. Zilch. "What do you think about Honor and Elias?" I asked, changing the subject. "Are you upset you didn't attend his wedding?"

Because Chloe would kill me if I got married in secret, especially to Luca. Then again, he didn't have the best relationship with his brothers. Although, he had said nothing wrong about Elias, if I recalled correctly.

"I wouldn't be upset if I didn't attend any of their weddings honestly. Except maybe Wrath. I want to see the guy that actually got her to settle down," he joked. "I also actually like her more than the others. Despite her anger, Wrath has a certain appeal to her."

Hm. I thought about her picture, the sharp-faced girl with the tornado in her eye. She kind of scared me. Maybe her appeal to him was the fact that she had been protective and kind to him. The irritation on her face made me want to go the opposite way, demon or not.

"Elias—you said he got that charm from you. It's because he can mimic powers, right?" I clarified. I saw no charm in him earlier. I saw nothing in him actually except that humorless amusement in his eyes.

Luca nodded. "Each sin can do two things—except him. He gets jealous because he can only do one, which is mimic powers." He chuckled. "It upsets him that doesn't have anything of his own."

I could see that—a family full of talented, powerful demons all with their own thing to learn, and he didn't have a single thing that set him apart. "What about Honor? How long have you known her?"

I was interested in his world. Our world now, I guessed. Interested in the people he knew and how he knew them. Not so much his siblings—that would come to me in time—but the other people. The people like Honor that, oddly enough, belonged to me in a way.

"I only met Honor a few weeks ago," he explained. "She had no reason to come to me before then, being that her business was simply banishing a few unruly demons. Then she saw me hanging out with you, and she would've attacked me had I not read her mind."

I frowned. "I thought you didn't read minds."

"She looked suspicious. I could see the dagger sticking out of her bag, the look that Guardians have when they attack. I could also hear her whip sizzling from a hundred feet away," he answered, yawning again. "I had to see what was her—how did you put it that one time? Beef?—"

I giggled. "You sound so old."

"I have about one hundred years on you, give or take three," he teased. "I read her mind and realized she knew my brother. I didn't need to reach out to Envy, though, because he called me a few minutes later. I officially met Honor later that day, and she pledged her loyalty to me to keep you safe and alive. I think she's cool, if not a little intense."

My thought exactly. Even when she was bubbly, she possessed a burning intensity behind her eyes that didn't quite match the smile. "Yeah, she was super intense when she was talking about the Guardian stuff."

The Guardian stuff was a super intense conversation, though. How did you lightly drop in the conversation that someone was descended from a long line of angel blessed people that swore to protect the humans of the world, they had superpowers, and there was a magical weapon they could use that was meant specifically for them? Oh, and you had no guidance because the last living people in your line died about three hundred years ago?

He arched an eyebrow. "What did you two talk about?"

I wanted to sum it up in a sentence or two, but that seemed impossible. "A lot." Technically, we only talked about two or three things: her coming to New Orleans to banish demons, her following me around to protect me, and my status as a would-be Guardian and what it meant. It wasn't a lot of topics, it was just a lot of information.

"Anything that can help us defeat Mother?"

I shook my head. "I mean, well, I dunno really. It might."

"Spit it out, Clare."

I just didn��t know how. "Do you know what Honor is?"

"A girl? My sister-in-law?"

I couldn't contain my eye roll. "No, a Guardian."

"Ah, the descendants from our archenemies, the Seven Archangels of God. They run around the world with talking weapons and superpowers, ridding it of evil." He had a laugh in his tone. "They don't make as much of a difference as they used to. The world is much bigger than it was when they started off."

His reaction made my skin bristle. I might have just found out, but still. My ancestors had been some of the most powerful people, Honor had said. "Well, what about the First Blades? That makes sense."

"Of course it does. The First Blades were created for humans, which would make sense because those pretentious ass angels won't drop down from Heaven." He sounded disgusted by them, which made sense because, like, demons and angels were sworn enemies. "So they hired humans to do their dirty work."

It didn't sound like the story Honor had told me, even if she didn't know the origins. I couldn't believe the angels just wanted someone to do their dirty work. It could've been done a lot easier than creating a race of Guardians.

"At the very least, Guardians are stronger and faster than your average human; albeit, they train from the moment they can walk, so of course they'll be." He stared off into the distance, shaking his head in amusement. It seemed like the joke was in his head, though. I found nothing funny about the situation or the conversation. "Anyway, why do you ask? Did she try to convince you she was special?"

No. More like I was special. I sighed heavily. "Not really," I responded, not sure how to continue. Now it felt silly to tell him what I had hoped was true. What I had felt was true. "It was just—interesting you know?"

He nodded. "You're new to this world. You'll soon learn the difference between campfire stories and the Origin Stories."

Origin Stories?

He must've seen the question on my face because he elaborated, "Much like the Bible, the Origin Stories is a book of the Beginning of our kind. It's in an ancient language that even I don't know." He gave my shoulder a squeeze. "I do know some of the stories, though."

I chewed his words over. Something felt… off. Not like Luca was purposefully misleading me, but like he was anyway. He thought he was right and that Guardians were useless—although, he made points. But Honor also felt like she was right, and she was proud of her heritage—our heritage. My purpose, which I had always thought was to change the world, was to protect people. What was the truth? Did we need Guardians or did we not?

Luca tilted his head to the side. "What's on your mind, Clare? You look worried."

I shrugged. "It's just a lot—like you said, I'm new to this world." I gave him a big smile so he wouldn't push me further. I would just explore this on my own. "I'm curious, though, do you know where the First Blades are?"

For a second, Luca looked like he didn't believe me, but he let it go. "I have one here—a saber. Why? Did Honor say something?" Suspicious laced his tone.

Did I come clean? He wouldn't read my mind, I knew that much. "Honor said something interesting, that's all. I want to confirm it." A saber. My saber. "I just want to see it. I don't even know what a saber is." Which would be very hard to learn how to use. It had to be my First Blade, though. Sabers weren't popular. Or maybe they were, and I had just been in the dark about them. It wasn't like I had a reason to know what they were before today.

He removed his arm from around me and stood up. "Come on. I have it hanging up with the rest of my weapons in the back." He stuck his hand out, and I clasped it, letting him pull me up. He didn't let go, just tugged me along with him through the hallway and to the last room. He opened the door, showing me a closed-off room filled with half a wall of weapons on it. "Sloth has the most weapons of us all. I only keep the ones I think are pretty."

Sebastian seemed like he had the most weapons of them all.

Stepping into the room, I looked along the wall—he only owned about thirty weapons—but then I saw it. Without needing to even know what a saber was, I knew. There, three rows down, four from the left, three to the right, was my First Blade. It had a long, curved blade made of a translucent white, almost a pearl. The hilt of it was white gold, swirls and lines, and maybe ancient letters and symbols engraved into it. In the middle was an opal jewel. It winked at me.

Without noticing, I was moving toward it, my hands outstretched.

"How did you know which one it was?" Luca asked, still amused.

It was the only one with a blade that beautiful—but more than that, it was a connection I felt with it. I wrapped my hand around the hilt, an electric hum running from the tips of my fingers to the soles of my feet. Touching the blade grounded me. This is yours, it whispered. This belongs to you.

Ancient energy zipped through me.

I pulled it down slowly, drawing it to me. I let it drop to my side, brush against my leg. Then I brought it back up, holding to my face to inspect it. It had been recently polished. "Where did you find this? How long have you had it?

The blade was angry. It hadn't wanted to be with him of all people.

"It was in a church about twenty minutes from here," he replied, giving me a curious look. The amusement had fallen from his face. "I didn't find it, though. Sloth did. I've had it about a week."

Ah. "You cleaned it." I knew he did. Nobody else would've. I put it down, looking at him gratefully.

"Of course."

I glanced back at the saber. It demanded I used it, despite not knowing how. "Can I look at these a few minutes?" I asked him. I didn't add the 'alone,' but I didn't need to. Luca got it.

"Yeah, sure. I'll go take a nap."

I smiled. Thank you.

Luca left, closing the door behind him.

I took a very deep breath, feeling silly. I waited until his footsteps had faded from the hallway. "So… ancestors… what's up?" I didn't know exactly what to say or how to say it. How did you contact dead people through a weapon? How did I know they would even answer me?

There were a few seconds of nothing, and then a chuckle. You don't have to speak aloud. The glory of the Blade is that it connects us through spirit.

Oh. Who are you? The voice was deep and smooth, male. It had an old lilt to it like he was not of this era. There was also an accent, although I couldn't place it. It wasn't very rich, though, less like coffee beans, more like cocoa.

Samuel, the last living owner of Truth Seeker. Twin of Samia.

Samuel. Samia. You disappeared.

That is a nice way of putting it, he answered, sounding sad. My sister and I are the last Guardians of the Blessed Line of Gabriel. Our story was foretold hundreds of years before we were even born, the Disgraced Twins.

Disgraced Twins. Why were you disgraced? There was knowing you had ancestors that disappeared, and you weren't able to find out what happened—then there was realizing they weren't lost but had fallen from the grace of the angel. They had done something shameful. Or bad.

It is not my story to tell. He took a deep breath. Our story, our explanations, they are all written down in my journal, her diary. We are not here to tell you Origins or stories, but to aid you in your training.

That was better than nothing. You can teach me to use my powers? I sat down onto the ground, the saber still clutched into my hand, held tightly. I didn't want to let it go. Ever. I knew I couldn't bring it home, though, not without Chloe finding out. Or my parents. I didn't have an explanation for that. I rested my head against the wall behind me and closed my eyes.

No. Tell me, what is your name?

Clare. Clare Walker. I frowned. Did I have the right saber? Did this one belong to Athena? It couldn't. The way it settled in my hands, the heavy but light feeling it gave me—this one was mine.

Nice to meet you, Clare Walker. He paused. Yes, you have the right saber. Truth Seeker belongs to those who are kind. Passionate. The ones who seek truth and justice.

I needed to know how to use my powers, not a saber. Truth Seeker?

The saber. Yours is called Truth Seeker because, as long as you have it on you, anyone you talk to will tell the truth. His voice swelled with pride. The voice of someone who had once held Truth Seeker and used it to the best of its abilities.

Ah, my magical weapon power. A small part of me wanted to use it to see what I could learn from people, but only a small part of me. And the other? Do you know the name of that one?

Of course. It is called Trespasser.

Why?

Because it unlocks anything—safes, doors, windows, secrets. Only someone with a cunning mind can handle the energy that Trespasser radiates. He sounded amused, probably remembering his twin and their memories. Clare, there is something you must do, I need you and the wielder of Trespasser to do. You must free my sister and I.

Free them? Free you? Where are you?

Seconds of silence before he finally answered. I am in neither Hell nor Heaven, but a place in between. It is dark here, and there is no one to keep my company. Until what was wronged is right, we can never be free.

What was wronged? We didn't need another mission. Not with Mother hot on our heels. I hadn't even used my powers yet. Or even used this stupid saber. And why can't you teach me about my powers?

He didn't answer at first. More seconds passed, and just when I was about to put the saber down and give up, Samuel said, Your powers and mine are not the same. His energy disappeared from the blade.

I opened my eyes and looked at the empty room. A new mission. Disgraced ancestors. A Protector and a Destroyer with no idea how to use their powers. At least I had no idea.

Standing, I gave Truth Seeker one final look before placing it back on the shelf. I exited the room to find Luca, but he was asleep on the sofa. "Luca?" I stage-whispered, walking around to the side of the sofa. He looked so tired, I almost didn't want to wake him up. I needed to go home, though. "I'm gonna call an Uber."

He made a protesting noise. "Grab my keys and take the Corvette," he muttered, pulling at the blanket further up toward his chin.

The Corvette? "That's a really expensive car."

"Cheapest one I have." He had one eye half-open. He was barely awake.

"I'm not on the insurance, Luca," I protested feebly. I really wanted to borrow his car.

He sighed, rolling over. "I'll add you when I wake up." Both of his eyes were open now. He looked amused. "Clare, take the car. I'll see you later?"

I nodded, looking over at the key rack. "I won't drive too fast."

He grinned. "Please do."

He was asleep again before I even closed the door.

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