The Guardian's Mark

Sundays were always my least favorite day of the week. They generally were unproductive and the fact that Monday followed sometimes saddened me. Not because I didn’t love my job but because I had been enjoying my weekend. This Sunday in particular I felt a rare spark of excitement for. I’d spent the entire day running errands and cleaning my apartment. It was now almost seven and I was meeting Gavin in an hour at a coffee shop he had chosen. I’d kept myself busy with errands throughout the day to avoid thinking too much about this meeting but the antsy feeling was now beginning to creep up on me.

I was finally going to find out who Gavin really was and what had happened that night.

My outfit was casual, jeans and a nice thin cream sweater, but I couldn’t deny the fact that I’d spent a little more time on my hair and make-up. I’d finally mastered the beach waves in my dark brown hair and my skin was looking particularly glowy. I’d kept it simple and yet secretly hoped Gavin would notice. I did feel guilty about Carter however. There wasn’t anything sure between us but after the previous night he wouldn’t feel too thrilled knowing that I was meeting up with Gavin again. What he didn’t know was why, and that was what kept the feelings of guilt at bay. My little crush might soon fizzle out and be a distant memory anyway.

I’d decided to walk, forgoing the subway. The night air was warm and a light breeze traveled through the streets. The city was bustling as usual and I loved the instant buzz I got from it. I was feeling energized and happy by the time I was around the corner from the coffee shop. The mild anxiety had left and confidence had taken its place.

The coffee shop was located on the corner of a quieter street, the mass of people dispersing the closer I got. Unbeknownst to me, I would never make it inside.

“Good evening, Ava.”

I halted in my steps, turning to look down the dark alleyway I’d been walking past. I knew it wasn’t wise to spend any length of time near an unlit area in the city but the voice had startled me. It was a deep one, sinister and unfamiliar. I didn’t speak, watching the shadows dance as I searched for signs of life.

“I’m sorry it took me so long to find you...you had me fooled for a moment....”

Goosebumps traveled up my arms, my senses heightened. I couldn’t tell where the voice was coming from but I knew it wasn’t friendly. I needed to get out of there.

“I don’t think you even knew it.”

The voice was suddenly only inches away, a shallow breath on the back of my neck. I turned around, attempting to step away but was grabbed by the arm and thrown back into the alley, landing on my back. I quickly scrambled to my feet, my heartbeat racing as I struggled to control my breathing. “Leave me alone!”

A figure emerged rapidly from the shadows, theirnhand going for my neck and slamming me back into the brick wall. The face was one I recognized instantly, one that filled me with panic.

It was the man from that night. The man who’d stabbed me.

“Remember me?” He asked, his hot breath dancing across my face as he stepped closer, his eyes glowing red. He looked exactly as I remembered him. Black gelled hair, rough caramel skin, wearing a black peacoat over a black suit as he had been then.

“Who are you? Let me go!”

He put his free hand over my mouth, the rough skin smelling rotten. “Ah ah ah. Let’s not bring any attention to ourselves. Don’t worry. This wont take long and soon you wont be a danger to us any more.”

A danger? What the hell was he talking about? “Mmph!” I tried to scream against his hand but it stuck in my throat. My left arm had been scraped in the fall and stung as it was pressed against the wall by his elbow. My free hand wasn’t of much help either, barely able to budge his insanely strong hand as I clawed at his fingers.

He reached down into his pocket with the hand that had been holding my mouth and retrieved a thin dagger with sinister seeming carvings.

He was going to kill me.

I began to panic, my heart rate accelerating again. He was too strong for me to fight and as soon as I screamed he would plunge that knife into me and it’d be over with. I wondered briefly if it was the same knife he’d used outside of the club.

It was at that moment that I noticed a person approaching from the shadows ahead. I didn’t know where they had come from but as soon as I spotted the red hair I realized whom it was.

Gavin grabbed the back of the man’s neck and pulled him back, using his other hand to grab the arm holding the blade. The strange man’s hand was ripped away from my throat and in a second the knife was being plunged into his chest.

I screamed and side stepped them, watching with wide eyes as the man let out a gut wrenching cry, his eyes flashing a brighter red as he fell to the ground.

Gavin stepped back, releasing the man’s now lifeless arm and surveyed his handiwork before turning to me. His breathing was undisturbed as if the task had used hardly any of his energy. “Are you alright?”

He had taken a step forward to which I had taken a step back, gasping to recover from the restriction to my throat and somewhat in shock. “You killed him.”

Gavin looked unsure of how to respond, pausing in his footsteps. “He was going to kill you. I had to.”

“Why would he want to kill me? Who the hell was he?” I was never one to use foul language. In fact, I thought of it as a repulsive habit but at the moment I wasn’t really concerned with being well mannered. I wanted to know what the heck was going on and I wanted to know now.

“I’ll tell you everything you want to know but right now we need to go. He could have had someone with him.”

More than one scary man in black? I wanted answers but I didn’t want to stick around and find out whether or not the man in black had friends. “Fine. We can go to my place. But we’re taking the subway.”

It was a ten minute ride to my apartment, every second as awkward as the last. We were surrounded by people and so fell into an uncomfortable silence, only sharing a look every few moments. I was almost afraid to show him where I lived but there was no turning back now. I hoped to God I could trust him.

I rushed up the stairs to my floor and tried to stop my hand from shaking as I opened the door. Gavin followed me quietly into the apartment, shutting the door as I flung my purse onto the couch and whipped around to face him. “You’d better start talking now.”

“I’m not human and neither was he.”

Um...come again? I hadn’t been expecting such honesty so quickly...or lies. Which one I was unsure. “What do you mean?”

Gavin blew out a breath, his feet rooted to the floor. It seemed he knew he had to keep his distance for the time being until I was less upset. “I’m not a mortal. I’m a spirit temporarily in this realm. I was sent to protect you. I’m your guardian. And that man was a malevolent spirit sent to hurt you.”

He had spoken at a normal pace but his words had whipped through my mind. Guardian? Malevolent spirit? With what’d I’d seen just twenty minutes ago and with what had happened a week ago, it didn’t seem insane. Then again it did seem insane. I was religious but I had a hard time processing the idea of an angel being sent to earth to protect one human. And me of all people. “Malevolent spirit? You mean demon? Who would want to hurt me?”

“A lot of people surprisingly. You’re the key, Ava. The key to ending all of the evil in this world. Demons exist and a lot of spirits like the one we encountered tonight know who you are now. It’s only a matter of time before they find you again.”

I leaned onto the back of my couch, my legs unsteady. As much as I wanted to call him crazy and tell him to get out of my apartment, a part of me felt it was true. Knew it was true. Deep down I’d always known there was something else out there. I just hadn’t experienced it in such a magnitude. And now it was staring me right in the face and I wasn’t so sure I wanted to know it existed anymore. “How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

“I’ll show you.” He reached down to roll up the right sleeve of the light grey collared shirt he wore, stopping once it reached his elbow. He closed his hand into a fist and held out his forearm.

I slowly pushed myself away from the couch and watched his arm, glancing up at his face. The goosebumps on my arms were lifting and I could feel myself holding in the next breath as if a release of oxygen would disturb the moment.

We were both silent for a second, me waiting with bated breath and him concentrating. Suddenly a low blue light cast a glow over his arm. A line appeared, dancing and swirling itself along his pale skin as if being drawn by an invisible brush. It moved in a quick fluid motion and was complete in a few seconds, flashing bright before dimming. I wasn’t quite sure what it was but I had a feeling it was a symbol of some sort. I recognized it from what little I’d learned as a kid in Catholic school before begging my parents to send me to public school. There was no explanation for what had just happened. Even the greatest magician wouldn’t have been able to pull off a stunt like this.

“This is the mark of a guardian. It isn’t visible to the human eye and can only be seen by the person assigned the guardian...which would be you....”

I moved a step closer and slowly reached out, tracing the sapphire line on his arm. His skin was warm and the design felt just as a tattoo would. His skin was also still elevated as if he’d just gotten it. I looked up at him, our eyes locking. “So say I were to believe you...what happens now?”

“You can’t stay here anymore. You have to leave. The spirits after you will stop being so shy and will start being a bit more bold in their approach.”

“I could stay with my friend. Harper would let me stay with her.” I removed my finger from his arm, realizing I had been touching it for too long.

“You don’t want to involve anyone you care about. They’ll only use that as leverage. You can stay with me.”

Well I hadn’t been expecting that. And yet I felt the tiniest bit of delight at that statement. I knew it was wrong but I was only human. Guardian or not, Gavin was attractive. “What about all of my things? What do I tell people?”

“Nothing.” His tone was curt but kind. “No one can know what’s going on. Do you understand? The less they know, the better.”

“What about work? Can I still go to work? I can’t just disappear.”

“I don’t think that’s the best idea. We’ll figure it out. But right now we need to go. Just grab what you can. Ten minutes. Alright?”

I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat. I didn’t know why I trusted him but I just had the feeling that I could. “Okay.”

He reached out to touch my arm, his bright green eyes mesmerizing and earnest. “I’ll protect you Ava. I wont let anything happen to you or the ones you love.”

I nodded, astonished by the warmth he emitted from just the touch of a hand. “I know. I don’t know why but I do.”

He nodded, the corner of his mouth lifting. “Good. I’ll wait here.”

I turned and headed for my bedroom, my heart rate still off the charts. Any normal skeptical person would be calling the cops right now. But I’d always been a believer in what couldn’t be seen. An optimist and a hopeless dreamer. I had all the evidence I needed. Gavin had saved me from an attempted murder and had already showed me the impossible. I didn’t have time to over analyze; I merely needed to act in the moment.

The place we pulled up to was not one I had been expecting. Instead of a Manhattan apartment similar to mine, we pulled up to a duplex neighborhood in Brooklyn. The houses were all connected brick, the streets lined with trees, a few of them wrapped in lights to add a bit of cheer to an otherwise simple street.

Gavin managed to find a spot only feet from his duplex, an impossible feat in New York. He pulled my suitcase from the back seat before I could get to it and led the way up the stairs.

I followed him, my senses still sharp as I scanned the street around me. I was paranoid now and afraid that at any moment I would be attacked and Gavin wouldn’t be quick enough to stop it.

As soon as I stepped through the door, I felt the tension in my shoulders dissipate. The duplex was incredibly nice inside compared to the exterior design. The decor was homey although everything was brand new. It almost looked as if it had been prepared for an open house, rather than an occupied home. I walked slowly into the spacious dark wood paneled living room and paused in my footsteps as Gavin went to flip on the lights, throwing his keys on the counter.

“Are you hungry?” he asked, walking over to me.

I shook my head. “Not really.” My appetite had left me quite a while ago. With so much going on, I mostly felt on edge and mentally exhausted.

“Alright. A few fellows are going to meet us in the morning-”

“What’s a fellow?”

“Fellow guardian.”

Oh.

“Okay...”

He began to head for a door I assumed led to a bedroom then stopped and turned back to me. “You can sit down.”

“Oh. Right.” I hadn’t realized I’d been awkwardly glued to the floor of the entryway, which probably looked strange.

He smiled lightly then disappeared through the door with my suitcase.

The apartment was massive in height, the ceiling at least twenty feet high. The furniture was all gray, white, and brown, the white walls in deep contrast with the wooden floor.

I took my shoes off and left them beside the door, padding over to the white couch before sitting down and retrieving my phone from my bag. Three texts. All from Carter.

Hey, are you home?

Just stopped by and you weren’t there. Call me when you can.

Ava, call me.

What was so urgent that he needed to send back-to-back texts for? I didn’t know what to say to him. I had no idea of how long I was going to be gone and I couldn’t tell him where I was. For now I’d just have to ignore him, as much as it pained me to do so.

“How are you feeling?”

I startled and looked up as Gavin entered the room, his bright green eyes trained on me. “Fine. Just...confused.”

“Well maybe I can help clear up the confusion.” He moved to sit on the couch and faced me, resting one arm over the back of the couch. “What do you want to know?”

So much. Where was I supposed to start?

I shut off my phone and set it on the coffee table, turning to face him. “So, you’re a guardian angel...”

“Your guardian. Yes.”

“Right. And do you have any...I’m not sure how to word this...powers?”

He smiled. “I do. I’m not as strong as I am in my angelic form but I still have most of my abilities.”

“Like what?” I wasn’t so sure I wanted to know but ignorance was not bliss contrary to popular belief.

“Well...I can manipulate anything in a person but the emotion of love and willpower. I can make someone see what isn’t there.”

“You mean hallucinate?”

“In other words, yes.”

“Have you done it to me?”

“No, of course not. I’d have no reason to.” He almost sounded offended by the question.

I nodded. “What else?”

“I can also manipulate malevolent spirits but only once I’ve extracted them from the host. There’s not usually a need to manipulate them though. I just send them home.”

I didn’t need to ask where ‘home’ was. I had a feeling I knew. “So why didn’t you do that with the guy that attacked me?”

“Because that host was already dead.”

I felt a sadness when he said that, for the man whose body had been used for evil. I couldn’t imagine the experience of possession. I’d always thought it might be real but this confirmed it. “That demon possessed a dead body?”

“No, he died while possessed. That’s why you smelled rotting flesh. He must have been terminally ill prior to and passed just a couple days ago.”

I didn’t want to think about this poor man and the way he’d spent the end of his life. I only hoped he was unaware of what was going on and instead was in a dreamlike state as the demon controlled his body. “Do people usually die during possession?”

“Not always but most do.”

I almost wished I hadn’t asked.

Gavin sat up, tapping his hand on his knee. “Let’s talk about something else. You don’t look too good.”

I felt sick. Why had I even bothered to ask a question I didn’t want to know the answer to? “Thank you. I’m sorry. It’s just kind of a lot right now.”

“I know. It’s okay to feel overwhelmed.”

I inhaled slowly and then exhaled, training my eyes on the floor before returning them to him. He was watching me patiently, sympathy in his eyes. I sat up and placed my hands in my lap. “So you have the power to heal people then.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement. I already knew the answer to this one.

“I do. And I know what you’re thinking. I healed you outside of the club. You didn’t pass out from alcohol poisoning, you were stabbed.”

I didn’t bother asking how he’d known about my diagnosis at the hospital. I had a feeling he knew a lot of things that were unexplainable. “I know. So why am I the only one that remembers?”

“One of the requirements of being a guardian is that you keep your existence unknown. I came to you in my angelic form and had to create an illusion for the crowd around us. To them, I was just a man on the street coming to the aid of someone who had passed out. To you...well, you saw my true form.”

Except I hadn’t. I’d been in a daze and had only seen his face. This bothered me somewhat, the fact that I’d missed out on something magnificent. “Thank you.”

Gavin looked taken back, an emotion he didn’t seem familiar with. “For what?”

“For saving me. Twice now.” I smiled, holding eye contact. “I didn’t say anything before because I thought I might be crazy. Now I know so thank you.”

He returned the smile. “You’re welcome.”

“So...what did you mean by I’m the key?”

The smile disappeared as quick as it had come, a more somber mood filling the room. “You’re the chosen daughter of God, Ava. Only one person can close the gates to hell and that person has to be blessed by Him. From the moment you were born, you were watched over. When one is chosen to have such a mission bestowed upon them, they have to choose their path. I couldn’t have intervened until you asked me to. Or until I was forced to.”

“So you only came because I was attacked?”

“Yes, otherwise you wouldn’t have known of my existence.”

If I could go back, I would erase the entire event from ever happening. But I was also glad it had happened. I’d gone my entire life never knowing I’d had someone watching over me. Now I knew. I didn’t want to take that back. “And you said there are other guardians?”

“Yes. Each person has his or her own guardian. But very few ever learn of their presence until the afterlife.”

“So what if I hadn’t been attacked?”

“Your life would have continued as normal. And we might have never met.”

I felt disheartened by his statement. I was glad I knew him now but sad to think of how much sooner we could have met if I’d only known he was there. “So you’ve guarded me my entire life?”

“Only for the last three years.”

“What happened to my last guardian?”

He hesitated. “He was relieved of his responsibility.”

“Why?”

“For conspiring to kill you.”

Well this conversation wasn’t heading to a lighter side anytime soon.

I tried to mask the fear that filled me at his words. Knowing the angel that had watched me for most of my life wanted me dead was a weird feeling. “I don’t understand. Aren’t angels supposed to be good?” An elementary question, I knew, but I wasn’t sure of how else to put it.

“They are. But it is believed he had been poisoned by Lucifer’s influence. Lucifer knows of the anointed child of God and is always waiting for his opportunity to stop any attempts to close the gates.”

“So he’s real...” The fear had magnified tenfold now. A belief I’d always struggled with was the existence of Lucifer, the devil. And now I had an angel before me, confirming that he was indeed alive...or undead, and wanted me dead as well.

“He is.” Concern had etched itself around Gavin’s eyes, the corners creasing as he watched my reaction. “He wont get to you though. I won’t let him. Neither will the fellows. We’re stronger than him and he knows it. That’s why he sends his minions. They’re expendable.”

I had reached my limit of new information. I needed some air.

I nodded, closing my hands into fists. I waited a moment before standing abruptly and struggling out, “I need a second,” before speed walking across the room to the balcony I’d spotted over his shoulder. I pulled the sliding glass door open with more force than intended and reached for the banister as I stepped out into the cool night air, my legs buckling beneath me. I was barely able to hold myself up as I felt the onset of a panic attack grip me, my breathing shallow and ragged. Tears prickled at my eyes as I stared out before me, almost unable to appreciate the city view. I hadn’t realized we’d been on a hill, seeing as how most of New York was flat.

Massive skyscrapers littered every inch of the view across the water, the lights glimmering in the darkness. It was a beautiful sight, especially at night, but its wonder was lost on me. All I could focus on was what I’d just learned. The horrible truth that scared me deeper than anything ever had.

The devil himself wanted me dead.

The wooden balcony creaked as Gavin stepped out to join me, slowly walking over beside me and placing a hand on the low of my back. He didn’t speak for a moment, looking out at the view.

I felt ridiculous acting the way I was but he didn’t seem to mind. His hand felt warm and comforting on my back, pulling some of the anxiety from me. Gradually I felt my breathing slow and the tension in my body disperse as if being extracted by the touch of his hand. And then I realized that it was. He was using his power on me. A few moments later I was relaxed and let out a tranquil breath.

Having a guardian angel had its perks.

“Thank you.” I righted myself, facing him as his hand dropped from my back, a cold gust of wind rushing to fill its place.

He turned to face me, his arm resting on the banister. “No need to thank me. It’s what I’m here for.”

“I know. I’m glad you’re here.” I wanted that physical contact with him again but I wasn’t sure of how to initiate it. I also didn’t want to overstep my boundaries as much as I craved it.

His green eyes sparkled at me as if livened by the city lights. “I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”

Deep down I knew he was telling the truth.

The rest of the night we spent talking, about my life and what he’d learned from guarding me. I wanted to ask how he’d come to be a guardian but felt it was too soon to ask such a deep question. Even if the answer was a simple one. He told me more about the guardians he knew and the people they guarded, only a few of them aware of their presence. They all knew about me and were eager to meet me. The girl who would save the world. A heavy burden that weighed on my chest now that I knew of it.

But apparently I had a choice. I could choose to close the gates or I could choose to let the next chosen child take on that task. Either way, I still had my free will. For that I was grateful...And yet I had a feeling I already knew what my choice would be.