The Guardian Chronicles 2: Dark Horizon (12 page)

“Lesser demon being animal like, right?” Gabriel asked.

“Very good,” Ryan nodded. “There are literally thousands of those, like the ones that attacked you. They can be called forth by mages, although most come through a hell rift, an opening that occurs naturally in our world.”

When Gabriel looked down at his tablet, he realized that it had opened an app that was highlighting most of what Ryan was saying. The application was titled Codex and seemed to have thousands of entries, prompting Gabriel to realize that he had a lot to learn.

“Portal to hell?” Gabriel inquired, his eyebrows shooting up.  “Can you shut those kinds of portals?”

“We can,” Ryan nodded. “But you can never truly destroy them.”

“Why is that?”

“It would destroy the world as we know it,” Ryan said, with a shrug. “The Guardians and others have tried to destroy them before, usually with some pretty bad results. It seems they are anchored to this world, destroying them would tear apart the fabric of space and time, at least that’s what Everett keeps telling me.”

“So, there are different kinds of demons?”

“Yeah,” Ryan nodded, tapping his tablet a few times to change the screen. Gabriel noted that his screen changed as well. “Greater demons are a lot like us, except the fact that they are, you know, demons. Typically speaking they are stronger and faster than normal humans.”

“Are they all evil?”

“You mean are all of them out to steal your soul or eat babies?”

Gabriel grimaced Ryan’s wording. “Um...yeah.”

“No,” Ryan responded, shaking his head. “Some actually a lot just want to live a normal life. There are some, like Sainte-Pierre that choose to make a living doing less than honorable things. Others actually help the Guardians from time to time.”

“And how do you kill demons?” Gabriel asked.

“Demons can only be killed by blessed metal. You can use conventional weapons to wound them, even blowing them apart with a rocket launcher doesn’t kill them, and it just takes them longer to reform. The only way to truly destroy a demon is with blessed metal.”

“And you can’t create blessed metal bullets?” Gabriel asked.

“Blessed metal doesn’t react well to the chemicals in modern firearms. We’ve been studying it for decades and can’t figure it out.”

Well, there goes the idea of mowing them down with a machine gun, Gabriel thought.

“Now, vampires are another matter entirely,” Ryan went on. Gabriel turned his attention to his tablet, tapping the screen and bringing up the information on vampires that had appeared in his Codex.

“They have an extreme allergic reaction to silver,” Gabriel read. “So you can shoot them full of silver bullets?”

“Sure,” Ryan shrugged. “Enough silver will kill them. Otherwise completely destroying their heart is the only way to go and taking their head off works too. They can’t enter hallowed ground though, so there are some grains of truth to the myths about them. They’re fast and strong, too but nearly as fast as the lycans.”

Gabriel took note that there was a lot more reading material on them; including various known covens. He had a feeling that he would be coming back to this text and reading through more than once.

“Do they sparkle?”

“Vampires don’t sparkle and unless you want your ass tossed across the room you will never, ever ask one that question,” Ryan continued. “Next we have lycans.”

“Werewolves?” Gabriel asked.

“Yup,” Ryan said. “Generally speaking most of the myths about them are true, except that they don’t need the moon to change into their feral forms anymore. Also they aren’t nearly as blood thirsty as books and movies make them out to be. Guardians have more trouble with vampires than they do with lycans. If you have to kill one blessed metal works just as well as silver.”

“Wait, do they really turn into half man and half wolf?”

Ryan smiled at that comment and shook his head. “Not at all, that’s a Hollywood myth. When they do turn they turn into a large wolf, most are at least shoulder height to me.”

“Do they always turn into a wolf? I mean what’s the advantage of turning into a giant wolf when you can just use a machine or explosives?”

“The lycans are extremely deadly in their wolf forms,” Ryan went on. “They are twice as fast as the vampires and twice as agile. In wolf form they have an extremely high healing factor They’re greatest assets is their speed and agility, trust me you don’t want to get on their bad side, their claws and teeth can rip through some of the toughest body armor.”

Gabriel nodded again, soaking in the new information. “What about ghosts, are they real?”

Ryan nodded. “Yes, there are a ton of different spirits.”

“And psychics?” Gabriel asked.

“You mean like the kind that you see on TV? The ones that claim to read your future or your palm or something?”

“Yeah, those,” Gabriel nodded.

“No way,” Ryan said, shaking his head. “There are psychics in this world but none of them use their talents commercially, most help the police and other law enforcement agencies by acting on their talents in disguise, you know like just being a really observant private investigator or even law enforcement officer. They prefer not to broadcast that they are different.”

Gabriel could certainly understand the feeling; he had been wishing that he could fit in ever since he came out. Most people wanted to stand out but he preferred that it had nothing to do with who he found attractive.

“Telekinesis?” Gabriel asked.

“You mean as in people or as in the actual act?”

“Both?”

“Then yes,” Ryan answered. “Telekinetic force is real, just ask Tony, poor guy nearly had his family jewels crushed form across the room after he gave a pretty hot girl a look that was all smoldering, she didn’t take to kindly to that. I have no idea why though, really women are usually throwing themselves at Tony.”

“Ouch,” Gabriel winced.

“Mages can use it, it’s a pretty easy spell actually,” Ryan continued. “There are others that are born with the ability, certain demons, lycans, even a few humans and vampires. It’s pretty uncommon though.”

“Unless you are mage?”

“Right,” Ryan nodded.

“So, you survived?”

Both Ryan and Gabriel turned around to look at Ethan striding toward them. He was still dressed in the worn leather jacket and dark jeans, which once again, Gabriel noticed clung to his body in a very attractive way.

“Ask me again in a few hours,” Gabriel grunted.

“We’ll go a little easier on your tomorrow,” Ryan added.

“He’s lying, they won’t.”

“Did you come out here just to annoy me?” Ryan asked. “Or to bother both of us?”

“A little of column A, a little of column B,” Ethan stated.

God, Gabriel hated that smiled, it made him want to do whatever it was that Ethan said.

“Besides, you weren’t doing anything but going over the boring stuff,” Ethan huffed, taking a seat. Gabriel scooted away slightly from him, Ethan didn’t appear to notice.

“Boring but important stuff,” Ryan tossed in.

“But boring,” Ethan added. “I hear you got a sword, can I see it?”

Gabriel pointed to where Aequitas was resting against the bench. Ethan hefted the blade and inspected it, unsheathing it and swinging it through the air a few times. Gabriel still marveled at the lightness of the weapon as well as the glowing metal of which the blade was composed of. Ethan sheathed the blade before handing it back to Gabriel.

“Imogene still does fine work after all these years,” Ethan said. “Here’s a tip, don’t ask her how old she is unless you want her to totally kick your butt.”

“You asked her how old she was?” Gabriel remarked, brow rising. “That seemed like a bad idea.”

“You’re telling me,” Ethan grunted. “But I was curious.”

“Do you always indulge your curiosity?” Gabriel asked.

“More often than not,” Ethan smiled.

There it was again, that sly smile that made Gabriel blush before he even realized it. He mentally slapped himself for such an act, this was the kind of distraction that he didn’t need. He turned his attention to Ryan instead who was idly swiping the screen of his tablet, trying to ignore the apparent interruption.

“Are you done bothering us now?” Ryan asked.

“I was never bothering,” Ethan smiled. “But you two are done with this boring old outing that’s for sure. Come on, let’s go someplace more entertaining. Tony’s downtown now hitting on chicks. I’m sure we could find a guy for Mr. Vibrant eyes here.”

That was the first time that Ethan mentioned his eyes; probably his one very distinct feature. He hoped that it was a compliment but he was beginning to understand that with Ethan there was probably a double meaning to everything he said.

“He needs to get through this stuff…”

“You guys can help him get caught up on all this stuff later,” Ethan said, with a wave of his hand. “Besides, you were the one complaining that you hadn’t had any fun, if you get my drift, for a while.”

Ryan looked like he was going to leap over the fire and strangle Ethan.

“Look, I bet he already knows way more than he needs to,” Ethan shrugged. He took the tablet out of Gabriel’s hands and set it down.

“Ethan…”

“Come on,” Ethan snorted. “It’s Saturday night, we are not going to spend it sitting around a fire playing around on tablets unless you guys wanted to look up some more entertaining.”

“I don’t think I want to know what he means by that,” Gabriel said.

“Trust me, you don’t,” Ryan sighed. “Alright fine.”

“I’ll meet you out front.”

“Does he always get his way?” Gabriel asked, as Ethan walked off.

“Generally, yeah,” Ryan grunted. “It’s really annoying sometimes.”

“I can see why,” Gabriel admitted, standing up. His legs still felt like jelly and he actually swayed a little before he started walking again.

“He was right about one thing though,” Ryan said, as they started toward the house. “You do have really vibrant blue eyes; you should be scoring guys like Tony or Ethan scores girls with eyes like that.”

Gabriel didn’t know what to say; it was weird enough that he was getting complimented even weirder still that it had come from another guy about his looks. Gabriel shook his head, and followed Ryan out to his truck.

Gabriel was aware that there was a thriving downtown scene, even for teenagers, in Omaha. What he wasn’t aware of was just how packed the places that teens frequented could be. After having to park several blocks away, he and Ryan met up with Ethan and Tony near Club Luna, a venue designed specifically for teens. No alcohol was served, although he was pretty sure that it got snuck in on more than one occasion.

“Come on inside,” Ethan gestured.

Gabriel had never been to the club, although he knew that Sean and Tim frequented the club. They always spoke about how much fun it was and had tried several times to convince Gabriel that he should join them. Gabriel turned them down all the time, even after Sean pointed out that he probably would have had a good time considering the fact that he was one of the few guys that could actually dance.

The club was loud and fairly busy on the inside. The main floor had a huge dance area, a juice bar, and several other small seating sections. Dance music flooded through the air and Gabriel caught site of several kids from his school and other his age out on the dance floor…with very little, if any space between them. Gabriel turned away, he had never danced with anyone like that and wasn’t about to start.

“Glad you guys could make it,” Everett smiled, standing. He was at a booth surrounded by several girls, all of whom were gorgeous. Gabriel was starting to think that it was a Guardian thing; maybe they all gave off some pheromone that subtly attested to their James Bond like status.

“Had to pry these two away from Guardian 101,” Ethan said, jerking his thumb toward Ryan and Gabriel.

Ryan responded to Ethan with by giving him the bird. Ethan appeared not to notice; no doubt that particular gesture lost its sting long ago. Gabriel noticed that Cody, Marissa, and Elise were sitting at the next booth. He was relieved when Ryan steered him toward that booth instead of the one with the gaggle of girls. It was close enough that they could converse with the other booth if they wanted, which was probably why Ryan took it.

“So you survived?” Elise asked, as they sat down.

Gabriel nodded, although he could already feel his muscles starting to get more than a little annoyed with him and the fact that he was moving around and not soaking in hot tub somewhere. He tried to push that thought out of his mind and focus on the conversation and not the pain that was starting to creep into every fiber of his being.

“I guess so.”

“Oh I am not that bad,” Ryan grumbled, rolling his eyes.

“No but Tony is,” Cody pointed out. “Where is he anyways?”

“Where do you think?” Ryan responded, gesturing toward the dance floor.

All eyes turned toward the mass of people on the dance floor. Gabriel had known that Tony was popular with the ladies and by the way that he was grinding up against one particular blonde on the dance floor, he could understand why. She didn’t appear to really mind either.