Flames and Starlight

Laura, Ruben, and Hannah sat in the lobby at the Guardian Station in tense silence. They had arrived thirty minutes earlier and approached the Guardians at the front desk to tell them why they were there. The Guardian had appeared alarmed when they got through explaining and had the three of them sit down and wait until they were called back.

Laura and Ruben held hands as they waited. She was nervous about going back there to speak to a Guardian even though she knew it was the right thing to do but being here in this environment made her nervous. Ruben’s face was calm and impassive but she knew him well enough to know he was nervous too. She squeezed his hand and he gave her a small smile.

Around them, Guardians moved around, dressed in their all-black suits with the purple raven symbol that had the silver star on its chest representing their territory. Laura watched them closely. Guardians were the law enforcement of the Eternal World as they dealt with crimes within the city and served to protect the world and Queen Lilith and all the beings that lived here.

The three of them tensed as the front doors opened and three Guardians led two vampires in iron shackles through the lobby. The vampires were covered head to toe in blood. Laura felt bile rise inside her throat and she didn’t want to know what happened there.

Laura tensed when one of the vampires turned her head and stopped and gazed at her with hostility. Her fangs dropped down from her lips and she took a step toward her. She braced herself for the vampire to attack and sensed Ruben tensing beside her.

The Guardians nudged the vampire forward, forcing her to keep going, and led her out of the room. Laura didn’t relax until the vampire was completely gone and she released the breath she’d been holding. Damn, but that was intense. She was sure she could handle a vampire and Ruben was there to back her up but she still didn’t want to have to deal with an altercation.

She looked over at Hannah and saw her eyes were nearly bulging out of her head from fear. No doubt being new to the Eternal World and being up close to the huge and imposing Guardians was nerve-wracking enough, and almost being attacked by a deranged vampire obviously didn’t help matters.

To Laura’s relief, a Guardian approached them right then and said, “We’re ready for you in the back. Follow me.”

The three followed the Guardian to the back. They followed him down a cold, long, winding hallway. Laura glanced at Hannah and saw that the other girl’s face was pale with fear. It seemed like the girl was having a rough day and Laura gave her what was hopefully an encouraging smile though Hannah wasn’t paying attention to her.

They reached a room and the Guardian gestured for them to go inside. The three of them sat down at a table and the Guardian sat down in front of them. He was a large sorcerer with greying blonde hair and piercing silver eyes.

Laura’s stomach was doing somersaults from nerves and she silently told herself to calm down, that there was no reason to be nervous but it didn’t help.

The Guardian leaned back in his chair and got right to the point. “So what have you seen of the hooded figure?”

Ruben went first and explained seeing the hooded figure in the men’s restroom at RCU, Laura gave her account of seeing the hooded figure in the RCU cafeteria even though the Guardians were notified of the incident but welcomed any statement about the case, and Hannah spoke about her visions and showed him the sketch she made of seeing the hooded figure in the store.

The Guardian took Hannah’s sketchpad and examined the drawing closely. Laura felt Hannah twitch beside her and Laura could sense Hannah felt uncomfortable at having her sketchpad in the hands of a total stranger.

“Is this the first vision you’ve had of the hooded figure?” the Guardian asked.

“Y-yes sir,” Hannah stammered.

The Guardian nodded. He closed the sketchbook and handed it back to Hannah. “Thank you for showing this to me, Miss Carson. This will be brought to our attention. We are doing the best we can to figure out who is behind this and if anything else like this happens please come back and let us know.”

Hannah nodded and stuffed her sketchpad back in her backpack. The Guardian stood up and opened the door and led them out. Laura was shocked at how quick and easy that was and wondered why they weren’t questioned more.

Once they were outside, they stood in silence for a moment, the three of them wondering what to do next. Laura couldn’t believe the way the events of the day went down, at how what was seemingly going to be a normal day turned into…this.

Laura closed her eyes for a brief moment and brushed her curly hair out of her face. She and Ruben looked at each other and then at Hannah, who seemed lost and confused. They exchanged a knowing look and Laura softly asked, “Would you want us to go with you back to the shelter?”

Hannah seemed to relax a little. “If you don’t mind.”

They got the next available bus and sat with Hannah on the ride back to the RCU area. The ride was completed in silence, no one knowing what to say.

When the bus pulled up in front of the shelter, Hannah stood up and looked at them. “So. . .what now?”

“What do you mean?” Ruben asked.

“Well, since today, I was wondering, where do we go from here?”

Laura and Ruben looked at each other, neither of them knowing how to respond.

“I’m not sure,” Laura said honestly. “I guess we’ll see you around?”

A brief look of disappointment crossed over Hannah’s face but she nodded and said, “Sounds good.”

They watched her get off the bus and wondered what was going to happen next. Laura exhaled slowly and leaned back in her seat, wondering why her life was so complicated.

Silence weighed on them when the bus pulled away. She glanced at Ruben and saw how tired her boyfriend looked. She held his hand and debated whether or not to say what she wanted to discuss with him before the events of the day took place. After a second she decided to go through with it. She couldn’t keep it to herself for a second longer.

“Ru,” she said and he looked over at her with raised brows. “I want to move in with you.”

Surprise filled his expression. “Really?”

She nodded. “You were right. My mom and my sister are way too toxic and it’s draining me and I need to focus on myself and our relationship.”

He smiled for what felt like the first time in forever. “You don’t know how happy that makes me.”

She smiled back. “Yeah. When can I move in?”

“As soon as you want.”

“And you’re sure Mark won’t mind?”

“Not at all. He loves you and he even gave me his blessing to have you move into our house.”

She nodded. She felt a huge wave of relief but at the same time felt terrified, a combination she had no idea could exist. She was excited to move in with Ruben and get out of the toxic environment her mom and sister had created. However, she was scared about how they were going to react and leave her childhood home and start a new chapter in her life.

The bus pulled up to Ruben’s stop. He pressed a quick kiss to her lips and stood up. “Let me know when you get home and be careful, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Love you.”

“Love you too.”

She watched him get off the bus and they waved to each other as the bus pulled away. She stared out the window as the bus drove to her stop. She thought over the events of today and wondered what would happen now.

She wondered about her future with Ruben and what they would do with Hannah going forward. She didn’t know how to feel about Hannah and wondered how things were going to change between them. She felt slightly guilty for her vague comment to Hannah when they parted ways but she honestly didn’t know what else to do.

“Laura?” the bus driver, Jackie, called out to her and Laura jolted back to reality. They were at her stop.

“Sorry,” Laura called back, grabbed her stuff, and quickly got off.

She walked to her house and was about to open the front door but paused. She could hear Alison and her mom arguing and she groaned. She knew for sure she wanted to move as soon as possible. She didn’t know how much more of this she could take.

Laura slowly unlocked the door and stepped in. Alison and her mom were in the kitchen screaming at each other. She shook her head and walked past them and into her room. Before her relationship with her sister and mom got so bad, she would go in there and try to go in there and calm the situation down but now she didn’t care. She was too tired to care.

She locked the door behind her and didn’t bother turning on the light. She set her purse and assignments from RCU down on her dresser and laid down on her bed, too tired to change into her pajamas. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and texted Ruben that she was okay. As exhausted as she was, she called Peter to check on him but his phone went to voicemail.

She sent a message and told him to call her back and closed it. She pulled her blankets over her and immediately fell asleep, unaware of the hooded figure standing in the corner, watching over her.