ONE

CHAPTER ONE

It was a lazy midsummer afternoon, one where you never expect much to happen. I took an equally lazy sip of iced watermelon juice from the can in my hand as I observed my neigbhor trying to mend her broken hose in vain. She sighed in frustration and tossed it aside after a while, deciding to cut off the broken part.

She was a young woman in her twenties and seemed to be staying over with her parents during the summer break from college.

As far as I could see, she was pretty attractive, with long black hair and a pair of wide hazel eyes. She looked over at me and leand on the fence seperating our houses with a flirtatious glint in her eyes.

I smirked internally. Of course she would think I am attractive. I smiled politely at her.

"It is hot huh?" She said.

"Very, exactly why I think you should go back inside in my opinion", I said like the gentleman that I am.

She had a glazed look in her hazel eyes as she nodded her eyes and obediently walked back to the front door.

I took one more sip as my attention returned to the house opposite the street. I lived around the end of the street too so that I could have a clear view of why I hve been living in this suburban street for two years now. It has been around for at least a hundred years it seems. The paint used to be white I think. No one owned it, so nature naturally took over. It seemed like a normal ordinary house that was abandoned from outside.

Other than some teenagers who snuck in once in a while, and disappeared forever, nothing much happened. The kids disappearing seemed to have slipped the mind of the people though, it was like there was some kind of memory erasing magic in it. I can't even do anything about that.

A shadow flitted across the usually quite dark windows. A normal, unassuming human would never notice what I just saw. That's indeed suspicious. Time for me to make a move.

I silently swooped my long legs,uncrossed them and stood up, tossed aside my drink with a clang and sauntered to the opposite side of the street.

The house had peeling paint and overgrown weeds, slowly creeping up the walls as if trying to hold up the already crumbling basement. I wondered if there are snakes and creepy little stuff writhing around in the overgrown grass.

The door seemed to be falling off the hindges, but the moment I placed my hand over the knob it smoothly slid aside for me to enter.

The insides were just as dilapidated as the outsides, with an unsafe looking spiralling staircase and an old, but huge livng room with stained glass windows casting bits and pieces of dirty sunlight over the moth eaten carpet. Time to do some work. I rubbed my hands together and took in the scene. An idea popped into my head.

I frowned and looked at my reflection on the window pane and pretented to admire myself. I noted my tall stature and had deep brown eyes, with really sharp features, no wonder the girl from next door seemed to have a thing for me.

I caught the moving reflection that I have been waiting for.

"Come out if you want this to be easy", I murmured.

Of course it wouldn't come out that easily.

I took out my dagger and was about to draw a rune on the floor when I heard the front door creak. I quickly hid myself behind the sofa to see the intruder. I could still feel the presence of the other spirit, luring somewhere. These spirits couldn't harm the guardians that easily, so I was safe as long as it was curious to see the other person who just entered. I looked around.

The girl from next door, I think her name is Margot, gingerly stepped over a crack on the floor. Hmm, a crack on the floor? I shook my head off to focus on more pressing matters. This girl just followed me in here.

"Alex, I saw you come in here", she called out. I knew it, my compulsion disappeared as soon as she got out of my sight. This wasn't the best of times for us to chit chat and I didn't want her to see me doing my job.

This house was a portal, into the parallel world people like me, spirit blessed guardians kept watch of. This was one of the most recent and minor of all portals. And basically being spirit blessed meant that when my mother was pregnant with me, she came across a spirit who wanted to make me a guardian or she wandered into a portal, it wasn't a genetic ability anyways.

And this girl just walked into one. I couldn't do anything about the teenagers that trespass, even guardians had weekends, but she was right in front of me. Just as I made an indication to get up from behind the sofa, the spirit from earlier, a black form, swooped past me and fell right on top of Margot. She screamed at the top of her lungs, but no one but a guardian was going to hear that.

I quickly got up and strode over to Margot. She was lying on the floor and writhing, her whole body was covered in black, bulging veins. She seemed to be struggling to breathe. The spirit was trying to possess her, I am pretty sure.

I didn't want to draw a rune on her skin, it won't work without my magic anyways. I crouched down and quickly drew a rune on my hand. I placed the fresh cut over her forehead and chanelled my energy into her body, trying to banish the spirit. The rune glowed golden on my skin as the cut healed fast too. She writhed for a while and then went motionless . The spirit pooled out of her mouth. I had done this before, so none of this fazed me that much. Life was a lot quiter now.

I tapped on the rune I made on the floor earlier, the moment it got activated, the spirit burst into flames, letting out a screech normal humans wouldn't be able to hear.

I sighed in relief. Was I that attractive that this girl would follow me into danger? I knew I am though, I smirked at myself.

My hand was still on her forehead. The blood was gone. I frowned, I could feel it, only faintly as my magic was slowly sealing itself back. Margot was pregnant, and it seemed like its been a while. Great, no wonder she was attracted to the portal, it wasn't me she was into. Portals usually wanted pregnant young women to go in there, so the spirits could prey on them. Those who weren't preyed on became guardians, like me.

I gently set her down on the sofa as I examined the room around me. I just needed to make sure of something before I went back. It was never a good idea for a normal human to go into a portal, they might wander into the other place. But I could sense the thin barrier that separated us, and I would be steering clear of that for now.

I made my way to the barrier, it was upstairs. The stairs were silent under my feet as I walked up. The hallway upstairs was filled with cracks on both sides. I let out a small gasp. What was this? I have only heard of such cracks, never thought I would sew them. This meant I really had to write a letter to the Council, let them know.

I ran my hand over one of the cracks, sealing it. The cracks collectively seemed to shrink under my touch, but this was only temporary, the Council will have to find a more permanent solution for this later on. With one last look to make sure everything was alright, I went downstairs.

I picked Margot up in my arms from the sofa and walked out of the door. The street outside was as unassuming as ever. I

carefully walked over to the other side and into Margot's lawn.

I rang the doorbell and waited for a minute. A lady who looked like an older version of Margot appeared. She smiled when she saw me, of course we've been neighbors for two years now. I've never even made a move on her daughter. Maybe she wanted me to? I don't know.

Her eyes widened when she saw her daughter in my arms.

"Oh, Mrs. Holler, Margot fainted on the sidewalk, so I picked her up", I said simply.

"Oh, my God what happened? Just set her down here", she pointed to the couch on the porch. I gently set down the unconscious girl and straightened.

Mrs. Holland leaned down and felt her daughter's forehead.

I was just about to leave when I remembered something.

"Oh, Mrs. Holland, I don't know if she mentioned this to you, but Margot is pregnant", I said casually.

The expression on Mrs. Holland's face was priceless. Margot will have to deal with the consequences later. But at least she would stay away from the portal. Before Mrs. Holland could say anything, I sauntered out of their porch with a smirk on my face. I enjoyed wrecking havoc, but this was a necessary evil. Only a mother can protect their daughter from the portal.

I went out to the street to head back home when I stopped short. A tall young man, with long black hair and cat like golden eyes, was standing on front of my house. I grinned when he turned around to meet my gaze.

"Oh, hello Silas", I said.