Garda - Welcome to the Realm (10 page)

As we rode down the elevator, I was still thinking about what Brock had whispered in my ear. “David, can I ask you something?”

“Sure, anything.”

The elevator door slid open, and we walked out a door I had not seen before. A stone walkway led towards the water. I fell into step beside him, trying to figure out what I really wanted to ask. He was patient and waited for me to speak again.

“What’s Brock’s story?” I finally spit out as I scanned over the horizon. The sailboat appeared much further out from here than it had from my balcony.

“Okay, anything but that,” he laughed and shook his head.

“What do you mean, ‘Anything but that’?” I stopped and stared at his back as he continued to walk. When I didn’t catch up right away, he stopped and turned.

He contemplated the ground as if debating what to say. “Coralenna, I can’t tell you about your Garda. Only he can tell you about himself.”

“Don’t you know anything about him?”

“Sure, I know a lot about him, but I’ve been working with him for a long time. Unlike on Earth, we don’t gossip about people here. If you want to know about someone, you have to ask him or her. Sure, we’ll tell you some things. For example, see that guy over there?”

I turned and followed his line of sight. A shorter man with very dark olive skin stood by the ocean, his arms held wide and above his head.

“That guy is Tash. He helps to take pain away from people. Right now, he is helping one of his charges at a funeral. I know what Tash is able to do, but I don’t know his story. He has never shared it with me. He might have shared it with others, or maybe he doesn’t remember it, but he has never graced me with his story if he does know.”

“Wait, back up. You guys don’t ever talk about each other?”

“Nope.”

“If you guys never talk about each other, then why did you all know about me?”

He burst out laughing and started walking again, waving his hand forward to encourage me to follow. I did.

“I told you before, you’re special.”

“Do you guys know my story?” I asked as I caught up to him.

“Some of us do. Only Brock knows your whole story. I know about your martial arts training, I’ve helped to guide you, encouraged you over the years, but I don’t know much about your personal life or your life before you started studying Tae Kwon Do.”

“Why is that?”

We reached the edge of the beach, and I kicked off the leather flip-flops I had slipped on. David kicked his off, too, leaving them next to the path, and we stepped out into the sand.

He shrugged, “That wasn’t my purpose. My purpose was to make sure you were strong, that your mind and body were one—that you have the perfect yin and yang.” He gave me a lopsided grin, “I must admit that I did a good job.”

“You’re not allowed to gossip here, but you’re allowed to be vain?” I laughed.

“Not vain, just humoring you,” he laughed along with me for a moment, and then we both quieted as we approached the edge of the water.

“Were there others that helped me?” I crossed my arms over my chest and stared out over the gentle waves.

“Sure. There have been a lot of Gardaí who have watched over you, although Brock has been with you for several years almost all the time.”

I shivered to think about him watching me. That fierce gaze with which he pierced me made me uncomfortable.

“What’s wrong, Coralenna?” David asked from beside me.

I hesitated to answer him, not sure I even knew what to say. I shook my head and turned to walk along the edge of the water.

“I don’t know. Brock just puts me on edge. The way he stares at me, the way he moves and just shows up places, it gives me the creeps.”

Almost instantly, David appeared in front of me.

I jumped back, “You can do it, too?”

He laughed so hard, he had to lean over and put his hands on his knees. I stepped around him and kept walking down the beach, not seeing the humor in it.

“Wait,” he called out between laughs, “wait, Coralenna, I’m sorry, it was only a joke.”

I didn’t stop. He ran up to me and grabbed my arm to stop me. A sizzling burst of energy raced up my arm, and I jerked it out of his hand.

“What the hell was that?”

He smiled down at me. “That was not any part of hell. That is a piece of our heaven.”

“I noticed that when we were sparring and we made contact I felt the same energy then. Is it just because we, you and I, are touching or does that happen to everyone?”

“Different types of current will flow between different people. What did you feel when Montgomery touched you?”

I thought about it. While it seemed only a few hours ago, it felt like weeks had passed since he had taken my arm and led me from the accident scene.

“Compassion, strength, serenity—he made me feel calm.”

“Not surprising, I feel the same thing from him. He helps people to calm themselves. What about when I touch you? Other than the energy shock, what does it remind you of?”

He reached out and gently touched my arm with his palm; soft energy flowed from his hand and straight to my heart, not in a tugging way, but in a soft caring way, like the way a friend would hug you when you were feeling down.

“I feel friendship,” I smiled.

“Good. That’s good! You and I are going to be great friends. Now what do you feel when Brock touches you?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged and started walking along the sand again.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” He caught up.

“I have no clue what I feel when he touches me. He’s never done it.” I peeked up at David and saw both of his eyebrows arch high over his lids.

“Wow, okay, so when he does, you let me know,” he sounded like he actually giggled beside me, “because I think it might be like an explosion.” He threw his arms up in the air as he made the sound of a bomb exploding. I shook my head at his antics. Was an explosion good or bad? I wondered. Either way, I was afraid to find out.

~ Brock ~

It had not gone as bad as I had expected. He had understood my decision, although the Maker had stressed that his plans were for a reason. He decided that I would not be given any particular punishment at this time, but that I would have to deal with the change in the situation.

I had no idea what that meant, and he didn’t feel the need to explain. His innuendo made me think that it had something to do with Coralenna and her past.

I phased back to the Realm and reached to feel where she was. David had her working out intensely, and I phased to the basement and the martial arts room.

Inside, thirteen people stood and watched the fierce sparring match. Coralenna and David held nothing back, and I could feel their energy trying to burst through the walls.

With one last sweep, she knocked him to his back and fell next to him. So intent was she on her partner that she never noticed anyone else. She would have to change that. She could never let down her guard.

I left her to take a walk by the water, dwelling on what the Maker had told me.

He stated that since I had taken Coralenna from the Earth early, she had unresolved business that needed to be dealt with. Before he could send her out on a true assignment, she would be given a chance to clear some things up and, depending on her choices, she would continue to train as a Garda or she would move out of the Realm and into heaven.

I had no idea what she would have to do; the Maker didn’t feel it necessary to explain further. It would be told to her and if she wished to speak to me about it, she could. I could not imagine what business she had left unresolved unless it had something to do with Mitch.

I stopped and stared out over the water. Dammit! It had something to do with Mitch—it had to, but what?

With the memory of her in his arms, I phased up to her balcony, feeling the need to be close. I knew she was in the shower, so I stood at the railing, staring out over the land, lost in memories of her from the past several years. I was trying not to think about the intense longing that had grown inside of me as she had lived through that part of her life.

“What are you doing here?” her voice wasn’t angry, but she wasn’t happy with finding me here. I turned to find her inner beauty hugging her so brightly that it broke the seams of her clothes—oh man, how nicely it hugged her.

The urge to pull her close to me and touch those curves was powerful. I reined in the feeling. “Did you enjoy your workout?”

 “Yes, I did, thank you. Now tell me why you are in my room.” Her back was straight, and she faced me for the first time with the intense strength that I knew she had within her.

She unnerved me, and I turned from her. “I’m just checking the view.”

“What, you don’t have a view in your room?” She stepped up beside me.

I had no power over the husky tone in my voice when I spoke. “Everyone has a view, but some are just more beautiful than others.”

“Why are you here, Brock?” The regard she gave me was intense.

 “I’m dead just like you. That’s why I’m here.” I knew that was not what she wanted to hear, but how could I tell her that I couldn’t stay away now that I could finally speak with her?

“That’s not what I meant.”

Was that pain in her voice? I didn’t want her to feel pain. “Relax, Coralenna, I’m just checking to see if you need anything.”

“Why did you think I was here?” I watched her as she faced the water, her inner beauty could outshine the sun. My fingers itched to touch her and moved on their own towards her, but fear of what would happen held me back. What if the connection wasn’t what I had pictured it would be?

“I guess I have everything that I need, thank you.” Her voice was soft and carried over the light breeze to me, pulling me towards her.

“Not everything,” I whispered gently into her ear, so tempted to lean in and kiss her sweet lobe. I saw the shiver just as I felt David’s presence and phased away.

Damn David and his timing! Back in my rooms, I dropped onto the couch, throwing one arm over my face, the other lying over my stomach. My body ached to touch her, to know if what I had dreamed of since first seeing her would be there.

Would that all-encompassing passion sweep through us? Would we be unable to deny the feelings that electrified us when we touched? I had seen it before: two Gardaí who could touch for the very first time and instantly be entwined in their destinies forever. They were rare, but they did happen. Would she be mine as I had dreamed?

~ Mitchell ~

The hour was late when I pulled my motorcycle into the driveway and turned off the engine. The effort it took to lift my left leg to climb off was almost painful.

All of the lights were off in the house except for one in the upstairs hallway. Enough light fell into the foyer down the stairs that I could walk into the living room and collapse into a chair without bumping anything.

I wanted to sleep, but fear of being dragged back to the scene in my dreams kept me wide awake. The creak of the floor above me alerted me to someone walking around. I listened to the soft rustle over the carpet as Beth descended the steps and came towards me.

I wanted to get up and run away from her, but I could not move. She stopped in front of me, and I fixed my eyes on the window, her shadowed body standing just to my side. I did not want to see her face.

Her hand touched my arm, and it took all my willpower not to push it off.

“Mitch, I heard about what happened today, I’m so sorry.” Her voice was kind and soft, yet it angered me.

“Who told you?” the words left my mouth tensely.

“Joe stopped by to check on you. He left just a little while ago. He thought maybe you had gone out to one of the bars, so he went to find you. I should go call him and tell him you made it home.”

How nice of Joe to stop by and worry about me, I thought sarcastically. For some reason, that pissed me off more than Beth’s talking, maybe because of some of his earlier comments, or maybe because I didn’t trust Beth around him.

I shook my head as I heard her step into the kitchen and lift the phone off the wall. Like I have anything to say about Beth’s past! Please! Wouldn’t she be surprised to find out I was in love with another woman, a woman whom I had killed today.

I closed my eyes quickly, trying to block out the visual that came with that thought.

I heard Beth talking softly in the kitchen and the sound of her bare feet on the wooden floor in the hallway.

“Joe wants to know if you want him to come over.”

I ground my teeth, “No.”

“Are you sure, Mitch?”

I slammed my arms down onto the armrest of the chair and stood up quickly, “Yes, I’m sure. I just want to be left alone.”

I knew my voice was harsh, and she took a step back. I shook my head and walked to the stairs while I heard her whispering into the phone again.

With shorts in hand, I walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. With my arms resting on the counter, I hung my head and stared at a dollop of mint green toothpaste stuck to the bottom of the ceramic sink near the drain.

I shouldn’t have growled at her, I knew that. I just didn’t want to be here—with her.

The squeak of the bed reached me, and I knew she was climbing in to wait for me.

I pulled off my shirt as tendrils of steam started to fill the small room. My jeans and boxers fell to the floor. I stood as still as a statue under the hot water and wished to just be washed down the drain.

The steamy water rained on me and released the tension in my shoulders and back, but not my heart. My head hung and drops of water fell off the planes of my face, a waterfall of salt-less tears.

Why did I have to see that car today? Why had God been so cruel to put her in my life and so harshly take her away? What purpose was there for that—except to torture me? Anger coursed through me as I questioned a God I had believed in but that I felt had wronged me.

The water grew lukewarm and then cold before I turned it off. The towel felt like sandpaper on my skin as I rubbed myself dry. I felt raw, inside and out. Donning my clothes, I stepped into the bedroom and climbed into bed, facing the wall, as close to the edge as I could get.