Son of Eden, a Paranormal Romance (11 page)

An involuntary chuff escaped Emily’s lips at the lunacy of his words. She stared at him, anger and doubt marring her features. “So…” She couldn’t believe what she was about to ask. “What, you’re some sort of guardian angel?” It was complete nonsense, and the tone of her voice showed her frustration.

“I am just a Guardian. I’m not an angel. Angels have different responsibilities and duties entirely. We are two separate beings. Guardians are here for the sole purpose to protect and guard their Travelers. We are only to intervene when directed. For the most part we just watch and wait.”

Emily looked down and tried to process all the information she felt had just assaulted her. “
It does explain some things, like his astounding knowledge of history, the way he answered the questions I had asked him…And, why I feel so safe around him. But still this is nuts. He must be nuts. That’s great I have attracted some sort of psycho, some guy who believes he is a guardian that’s here to protect… what was that word…”

“Travelers?” Emily spoke the word out loud not realizing she had done so until it had left her mouth.

“It’s the name we use for the humans we protect.”

She looked away searching for a moment to sort through her thoughts.

“This is absolute insanity
.
There is no way this is possible. This is the kind of stuff that’s in movies and books, not in real life. Why would he lie to me? Is there a reason for him to lie to me, with such a bold and exaggerated story?”

“Alexander, I can’t believe this. It’s so… It’s not possible.” Emily could not push aside all the logic and doubt that was filling her mind. How she wished she could believe his little fairytale were true. But that wasn’t an option. Instead she was now confronted with the problem of deciding how to reason with such a delusional person. Her image of Alexander was dashed to pieces. She was devastated. Up until this moment he had been so perfect.

“It’s a lot of information, I know. Before I spoke, the world stood as you knew it. Now you are discovering that there is more to everything than you previously knew. I have introduced an unseen and unheard part of this world.”

“If you’re a Guardian, then what are you doing here with me? Why aren’t you with your, your Traveler?” Emily was expressing her doubts vocally now. She knew she was bound to find a hole in his tale, a way to point out that he was insane, that he needed help.

“Emily…” Alexander chuckled. “You are my Traveler.”

Emily had not expected that. Flashes of all the moments she was with Alexander raced through her brain like snapshots from a camera. Her very first memory of Alexander was of him saving her. But this was still all too unreal.

Alexander could see she was still struggling. “Emily how do you think my timing was so perfect when you were attacked two weeks ago?”

“Not perfect.” Emily barely whispered as she put her hand to her forehead. She felt a small spark of fear begin to grow. Alexander was not giving in, he really believed what he was saying and there was nothing Emily could say to convince him otherwise.

Alexander gave a visible grimace. It was obvious that her words had hurt him.

“I am only allowed to intervene when instructed. It is very precise timing and sadly I was not to help until the moment I did. But do you remember what I said to you in the diner?” He searched for Emily’s eyes.

She gave no response.

“I said that experiences, traumatic or not, are usually to teach you something. Your purpose on this earth is to learn and progress and I am not to interfere with the process. Sadly, even when that process can cause you some pain, physically or emotionally. I can only help when it will ensure that you stay on the path you are to take in this life, but I am not to change the course. Sometimes doing something even a split second too early can change the way an event turns out.”

Alexander moved his feet for the first time, taking a few steps until he was near the couch.

“Emily, you don’t know how painful it was for me to watch that man attack you. I saw him coming long before you did and I knew his intentions. It was the hardest moment in my existence to just watch and wait for the prompting that would allow me to rip that monster off of you.” Alexander’s voice broke and Emily could hear the rawness of his emotion.

“You were watching? How long were you there? Why didn’t I see you?” Emily looked back up and into his eyes, searching for sincerity, for honesty, she wanted to believe. No, she absolutely needed to believe.

“I’ve been watching for a long time. You just don’t see me because you’re not supposed to. For just over two years, I have not left your side. Not once.” He let his words penetrate and then continued. “I was there the night you lost control of your car and slammed into the guardrail.”

Emily’s eyes went wide, showing her skepticism in what he had just said. “How did you… I never told anyone about that. Not even my father…I… didn’t tell anyone,” Emily said in a vulnerable whisper. Her face was pale; she was completely startled with this new revelation. No one could have known about that night, she was sure of it.

“What do you think stopped your car from going over the edge? Or I guess I should ask,
who
do you think stopped your car?” Alexander could sense that something had changed within Emily. She was beginning to believe. He sat down beside her and placed his hands on top of hers.

There was a long silence, and then Emily finally broke free of her blank stare and spoke up. “It was you? You stopped the car?” Emily slowly shook her head as the memory of that night came flooding back and consumed her mind. “I was headed for the edge at such a frightening speed. When I got out to examine the rail, it had completely broken free of the posts. The rail was not what stopped me, I always knew that much…So it was you then, you saved me.”

Emily looked straight into Alexander’s greens eyes and in that moment knew that everything he was saying was true. However shocking it all was, it was true.

“That was only my second night as your Guardian. You sure know how to give a guy a welcoming. I’m not sure anyone has ever needed my help so soon after me being assigned to them.” Alexander smiled, his humor slowly resurfacing. He could tell she completely believed him.

Emily weighed all the incidents that had happened in her life and whether it seemed like there was divine intervention or not. Alexander had said that he had never left her side.

“Have
I always had a Guardian? They’re always there just watching? All the time? That is so crazy. So not private, really not private at all!”

“So you said you’re always watching and that you haven’t left my side since you became my Guardian. How come I couldn’t see you then but I can see you now?” Emily could hardly keep up with the questions that began to snowball in her mind. She had a million things to ask Alexander. But a few that she absolutely needed to know at this very moment.

“I have never tried to explain this to someone before so forgive me if I lack the proper vocabulary. You don’t see me unless I choose for you to see me. Otherwise, I exist as finer matter that is too hard for the human eye to view.”

In that very moment Alexander completely disappeared, he was gone. Emily jumped and let out a slight shriek when it happened. She glanced around nervously, but as soon as he had vanished he reappeared and began his conversation exactly where he had left off, without skipping a beat.

“When I choose, I materialize into a more solid form, a human. We materialize more than people realize. Sometimes when we are to intercede, it requires we have a body; as when I intervened with your attacker. If a mysterious force had beaten up that man it probably would have left you scarred for life. You would hear of millions of freak experiences all the time and people would begin to question things more than they already do. When we act as humans people assume we are just good citizens who coincidently are in the right place at the right time. Just as I’m sure you thought when I saved you.”

“Yes that makes sense I guess.” Emily felt like each and every nerve within her had large volts of electricity charging through them causing a nervous rhythmic pulse in her body. It was an odd sensation, obviously caused from the shock she’d just experienced watching someone disappear like that. She took a cleansing breath, forcing herself to stay calm and just keep moving forward, like more answers might calm the feeling of displacement and disbelief she was experiencing right now.

Emily hesitantly continued. “But… um… when you aren’t in human form, you’re what, a cloud of matter or… I don’t get it, how are you always watching?” Emily had never been so curious in her entire life.

“I’m not some misty cloud of dust. How can I explain…?” He paused to think. “It’s like a microscopic organism. You can’t see them with your naked eye can you? But, just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it dissolves into some shapeless blob. It is always in its form but you can’t see it until you use a microscope. I always look like I do now. My body is as real as any human’s. It is just made of a finer, more delicate matter that cannot be seen with the naked eye. When I materialize it’s like using a special microscope to see me. Does that make any sense?” Alexander questioned, raising his eyebrows.

“I think I get it now.” Emily had an improved understanding, but it only confirmed a fear she had growing inside her, one that she had to ask about.

As a young adolescent Emily had made a decision. Exchanging a sweet kiss with someone she loved was as far as anything would go for her before she was married. It might seem like an old fashioned or ridiculous notion for most people but, it was important to Emily. She cringed with the thought that there was now a possibility someone had seen her in a more intimate setting than she wanted.

“So if you’re always watching then, umm what about… well… you know when I am getting dressed?” Emily felt her flush reach clear into her ears; she dropped her eyes, totally mortified.

Alexander laughed, amused with Emily’s chagrin. “I’m a Guardian, not a peeping tom.”

“But you said you were always watching.” Emily was more embarrassed now over the assumption that Alexander had seen her without clothes.

“We leave our Travelers their private moments. Besides, there are some things we do not want to see anyway, believe me.” Alexander’s laughter rolled freely from his barrel chest, as if there was some joke Emily was not getting.

Relief washed over her. Alexander hadn’t been there to witness every personal detail of her life. Maybe the ‘no clothes’ thing was silly to worry about but Emily wouldn’t have been able to relax around him if she was clueless as to how much he had seen.

Just then there was a rattling at the front door. Emily knew the sound. It was the sound of her father’s key turning the lock.

“Oh no, how can I explain Alexander here. Daddy is going to freak out!”
Emily jumped up from the couch to assess the front door. She turned back toward Alexander. “You…” She stopped her sentence. Alexander was gone.

“
That is amazing… and convenient
.”

Her father walked through the door.

“Hi sweetie.” He put his stuff down and began to look around the living room with a questioning look. “Is Candice over? I thought I heard laughing.”

“Nope, I just had the TV on.” Emily glanced at the black screen. “But, um it’s off now.” She wasn’t exactly in the right position to be viewing the television screen, but it was the first thing that came to mind.

“Actually, I was conversing with my Guardian who has now gone invisible. His name is Alexander. Doesn’t that sound like a more sane explanation?”

Emily’s heart was pounding. She was still having a hard time grasping all that had just transpired.

“Oh.” Her father seemed satisfied with the explanation and moved into the kitchen. When he spotted the violin case he turned back to Emily. “You got your violin back. How is it, did they do a good job?”

Emily came over and opened up the case to show her father. “I think he did a great job. And it sounds absolutely breathtaking.” Emily was lost in the memory of earlier that day when Alexander had played.

“Really? Well maybe you need to take up violin so I can hear this old thing play.” He held out his hands indicating that he wanted to inspect it.

Emily handed it over and watched her father carefully examine the violin.

“Did the man tell you what on earth the letters EH stood for?” Her father asked as he carefully eyed the black mark.

“No, actually he didn’t. I’m not sure I will ever know what those letter stand for,” Emily responded.

“Maybe it’s the initials of the person who owned it before or something,” Her father suggested.

“Yeah, maybe.”

Then it hit Emily.

“Initials. Of someone’s name. Someone who played the violin. EH. Edmund Harris. It couldn’t be. Well it’s not like that would be shocking at this point.”

Emily decided it was plausible and put the subject at the top of her list of things to ask Alexander. She glanced around at the thought. He was probably around here somewhere, watching them.

“What should we do for dinner?” Her father said, snapping Emily back to the present.

While they prepared dinner, her father mentioned that Rob had asked about her and that he was looking forward to seeing her at the banquet this Friday night. Emily had completely forgotten about Rob. She wondered how he would feel knowing that she was utterly engrossed with Alexander.

Emily tried not to seem anxious at dinner or afterward when they watched their favorite TV show together. She was only going through the motions, so not to draw any questions from her father. All she wanted was to get to her room where she had some privacy and hopefully could talk with Alexander more.

By eight o’clock Emily felt she had waited to a completely suitable time. She said goodnight to her father and made her way to her bedroom.

She decided she should ready herself for bed first and then wait to see if Alexander would show. Emily couldn’t help but give an uneasy glance around as she undressed and changed into her pajamas. She knew Alexander was being honest in saying that he didn’t just sit around and watch her change. But, that didn’t keep her from feeling a bit self-conscious.