The Guardian (Callista Ryan Series) (32 page)

             
“He only wants to help. I think that he is reluctant to miss the action, honestly,” Alex said with a small smile.

             
“Alright,” Emeric said, turning and offering Callie his hand. “We shall go over there at once.”

             
Callie didn’t know what was going on, but she took Emeric’s hand and stood up. Alex drew a breath when she touched Emeric’s hand, and Emeric looked at him in question.

             
“Yes, Alexander?” he asked.

             
He hesitated, and then said, “Is it wise to bring Callie, Emeric? You know how Serena can be, especially now that he is in town.”

             
“That is exactly the reason I want Callista to accompany us,” Emeric said, his authoritative voice having reappeared in full force. “I would like to remind Serena of her recent transgressions. Perhaps it will stop her from causing a riot.”

             
Alex winced, and Callie suspected he was not savoring the thought of using her as a weapon. But he did not protest further, not even when Emeric swept Callie into his arms and carried her right past him.

             
Callie looked over Emeric’s shoulder as they flew from the house, and saw that Alex stood in the doorway for a long moment, watching them. He looked stunned again, and a little sad. His eyes connected with hers momentarily, and she thought that she saw faint traces of accusation there. But that was all Callie saw before he was hidden behind the trees.

Chapter Seventeen

Trojan Horse

              The shattering o
f
plates, a familiar sound to these parts of the forest, preceded Serena’s cottage in breaking through the trees. Callie heard the commotion before she saw it. When she saw Serena’s house, she had barely laid eyes upon it for a second before Emeric jerked suddenly to the side, and Callie felt the sting of whistling air brush her arm as they narrowly avoided a piece of china.

             
“How does she have anything left to
throw
?” Callie asked.

             
Emeric chuckled, and they landed in Serena’s doorway. Serena was standing at the kitchen cabinets, glaring at a man who stood in her living room. The man was saying something, but before he was finished, Serena shrieked and reached for another plate. She was about to throw it at his head when Emeric’s voice boomed, “
Enough!
”

             
Serena froze, her arm stalling mid-pitch. Callie observed the man in the living room as Emeric set her on her feet. He had massive wings, tainted copper around the rims, the white coloring rubbed out into a shade of cream. He was definitely a Guardian, and Callie suspected that the staining on his feathers was a result of age.

             
He grinned at Emeric, seeming unaffected by the situation he was in. His cocky, sideways smile and deep, playful dimples were not those of a man who’d been the target of Serena’s attack moments ago. Callie took in his curly, ruddy brown hair, the exact color of red brick. That, coupled with the burnt orange freckles on his sun scorched skin, told Callie that he was Irish. He wasn’t very tall, only a few inches taller than Callie, but he was broadly built. His shoulders sat widely atop his muscular frame, reminding Callie of a football player.

             
Emeric strode into the room, his footprints making resounding smacks against the hardwood floor. “Serena, put your dishes away,” he said calmly. Serena looked at him in fury, but then her eyes flickered towards Callie, and she slowly lowered her arm. Emeric turned to the man in the living room. “I see that
you
remain as much a disaster as ever,” he said, though there was affection behind the words. “Feeling well, friend?”

             
“Ah, yeah,” he said, patting his stomach with a large hand. Callie looked at the shirtless chest, and saw a faint pink firework darting out below his rib cage. “The bomb went right through me. Guts everywhere. It must have been pretty awesome. I couldn’t stay awake to watch. But the doc did a good job—you can barely tell I was walking around like a hollowed out pumpkin a few days ago.”

             
The man walked up to Emeric and clapped him on the shoulder jovially, apparently numb to the thick tension in the room. Callie watched in fascination. True, if a bomb couldn’t kill him, a little china couldn’t. But still, it was odd to see someone so happy in the face of an attack.

             
“And if you’d known what was good for you, you would have
stayed
hollowed out in those Godforsaken valleys!” Serena spat. The man rolled his eyes, his grin turning indulgent.

             
“Serena,” Emeric warned, a cool caution against further bad behavior.

             
Callie felt a gust of wind at her back, followed by a wall of warmth. She turned and was surprised to find Alex, standing so close to her that she had to tip her chin up in order to see his face. Immediately, involuntarily, her pulse fluttered at his proximity.

             
She had to consciously keep herself upright, so that she didn’t lean back right then and nestle against him.

             
“Emeric, he shouldn’t even be back,” Serena complained. “He’s fine now. Shay cleared him. He can go.”

             
Emeric turned to the man. “She makes an excellent point, I must admit.”

             
“Aw, come on,” he said. “Lennie’s just mad because—“

             
“Do
not
call me that,” Serena hissed.

             
“—the last time I saw her, I teased her about that Trojan war thing. You know how touchy she is,” the man said.

             
“I’ll show you touchy,” Serena said, taking several violent steps towards him, wielding her plate like a sword. The man picked up the coffee table and held it before him as a shield. He didn’t strike Callie as afraid; more likely he was simply egging her on.

             
Emeric stopped her with an upraised hand. The man laughed at her threat; not cruelly, but as though she were a kitten clawing at a tiger.

             
“Trojan war?” Callie whispered to Alex.

             
“It’s a long story,” Alex whispered back.

             
Emeric said to the man, “You realize that you are not to stay here. It is your mission to return to Afghanistan. The American troops are quickly running out of manpower on the ground—“

             
“Tell me about it,” the man interrupted. He put down the coffee table and flopped onto the couch, crossing an ankle over the opposite knee. He folded his arms behind his head, and said, “I’m the one redirecting the routes of the bombs these copters are dropping. Hand to God, I don’t know how the humans think they make their marks without divine intervention. I just let go of one of ‘em a little too late, that’s all. But now that I’m here, I might as well stick around. From what I hear, you guys need me more than Uncle Sam does. When’s the good stuff start?”

             
Emeric sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Too soon, I fear. Even just today, they—“

             
“Wait, he gets to
stay
?” Serena cried. “I have been working my ass off for decades on this job. I’m the best shot you’ve got at winning this thing. And you’re inviting
him
to take part in it? No way, Emeric. I won’t do it.”

             
Emeric glared menacingly at Serena, holding her gaze for a second too long. Callie realized he was trying to remind her of the favor he was doing her by letting her stay in the forest. Undaunted, Serena stared evenly back at him, crossing her arms.

             
After a long moment, the man laughed and stood up, clapping his hands in applause. “Well done,” he said, his voice thick with amusement. “I haven’t seen a pissing match this intense since…well, about a week ago, actually. But at least
they
had heavy artillery. Lennie, you haven’t changed a bit.”

             
“Don’t call me that,” Serena replied, still staring at Emeric.

             
Emeric exhaled harshly, and turned to the man. “Zeke, given recent events, I would be glad to have you around. We’re going to need all the hands we can get.”

             
Serena gasped in outrage.

             
“As for you,” Emeric said to Serena. “You have a very precarious position in this canopy right now, and if you push me very hard I am sure you will lose your balance altogether. Do I make myself clear?”

             
She narrowed her eyes, but reluctantly, angrily, nodded.

             
“Good,” Emeric said, the matter decided. “Zeke, follow us. I will not have premature war in my village.”

             
The man, Zeke, sighed dramatically. “But things were going so well,” he protested.

             
“Zeke,” Emeric drawled, and Zeke grinned again.

             
“Sure, boss, whatever you say,” he replied. Emeric nodded. Barely a moment after Emeric turned and glanced at Callie, Callie felt herself being lifted smoothly into the air. She gasped and grabbed his neck, unsure how the floor had suddenly disappeared from beneath her.

             
She felt a swiftly flowing breeze on her face; Emeric was flying much more quickly now. She was about to wonder if the others would be able to keep up, when suddenly Zeke darted out in front of them, twisting through the air in a horizontal circle before sinking into the trees. Callie looked to the right, and saw that Alex was keeping pace at Emeric’s side.

             
Minutes later, the trees gave way to the shoreline, the beach stretching out in a pale line along the horizon. Emeric slowly descended, and Callie saw that Zeke and Alex were already standing on a boulder below.

             
Emeric set Callie down, and she turned to him curiously. “What are we doing here?” she asked.

             
“Acquainting you,” he replied. “Zeke is the best war strategist I have met. He will know how to best use you to our advantage. Zeke, this is our newest weapon, Callista Ryan. Callista, this is Zeke.”

             
Zeke smiled at her and extended a hand. “Pleasure, lady,” he said in the olden way of a cowboy. Callie shook his hand hesitantly. She wasn’t sure yet if he was insane. He definitely acted as though he were; his response to Serena’s welcome had been unhealthy, to say the least.

             
“Zeke,” Emeric said, “Callista possesses the rare ability to Perceive upon not only Guardians, but upon Sirens as well.”

             
Zeke’s eyes widened as he swallowed that. He seemed impressed, like Emeric had just told him she were capable of doing a two-minute keg stand. “How’s that going for you?” he asked sarcastically.

             
Callie raised an eyebrow at the prodding. “How’s being back home going for you?” she returned.

             
Zeke seemed surprised for the barest fraction of a second, and then burst into huge, belly-deep laughs, and slapped Alex on the back. “I take it she’s yours?” he asked. “You have found yourself a tough one, buddy.”

             
“Hey,” Callie said defensively. “I’m not
his
. You lived through the feminist movement, didn’t you?”

             
Zeke smirked. “Are you boys sure she’s not a Guardian?” he asked. “She’s sure got the balls of one.”

             
Callie understood that the comment was supposed to shock her, and she crossed her arms. She got the feeling that they were testing each other out, seeing where the limits were. He was harmless, she realized. Despite his immortality, he seemed little more than a frat boy. “And from what I hear, all you ballsy Guardians are afraid of a bunch of
women,
right?”

             
There was a pause, and then Zeke’s smirk grew into a grin. “Cal,” he said, “I think you and I are going to get along just fine.”

             
Callie smiled in reply, and the tension was broken.

             
Zeke turned to Emeric. “Give me a few days, chief, and I’ll have her fitting into the line-up just perfectly.”

             
Emeric nodded. “Thank you. And now if you will all excuse me, there is a bit of a mess to clean up with our liaison to the Siren community.”

             
With a pointed look at Zeke, Emeric unfolded his wings, and stepped into the air. As he flew away, Alex and Zeke took a seat on the boulder. Callie joined them, sitting on the smooth stone surface of the grey rock.