The Watchers (28 page)

In the distorted haze of color and movement,
I saw three human figures and two Nightstalkers. Two of the three
human figures were exceptionally tall and lean. The third was
stooped but broad shouldered – a result of years of hard labor and
unyielding hard knocks. Their faces, because of the distortion, and
the distance, were fuzzy and difficult to see. I thought one of the
tall figures had to be a woman, because of her curves and the
blonde hair down to her waist. The other tall figure appeared to be
a man with short brown hair. The stooped man had his back to us,
and I couldn’t see anything beyond his shoulders and short grey
hair. Susan held her breath and listened.

“Marcus doesn’t care about your excuses, old
man. Marcus cares about results. Selene had to kill that man
because of a moment of carelessness on your part, and now more
humans are on to us. You have risked everything we’ve spent the
last two years building. Two years of following the girl almost
ruined! You have yet to prove to us that your promises of capturing
and learning more about the girl are real. Is this how you repay
the gifts we give? Or have you simply outlived your
usefulness?”

The voice was smooth and honeyed. It was a
poison that tasted sweet until the bitterness of death consumed
you. It was issuing from the blonde woman. She shifted like a lion
on the prowl as she spoke, her anger obvious. From the way she
moved I could tell she was a Watcher. Her grace was too alien, too
precise, to be human.

“Lady Cassandra, she is being protected!”

A sliver of fear the Forest Ranger didn’t
know went through me. I knew that voice! It was the voice I had
been hearing all over the place. It was the voice that hungered for
my death.

“Enough with your excuses! If we find out the
fire at that school was you, we will not be happy,” the
brown-haired Watcher said. “You were sent to watch – to find a way
to get close to the girl – not to extract your own form of justice.
You had best remember that.”

“I am loyal to our cause,” the old man said.
He shifted his weight uncomfortably. “I would never risk what we
are working for in a moment of anger.”

The old man must have had some ability to
block them out at will, or had learned it, because they obviously
weren’t reading his thoughts. From the tone of their voices, this
fact irritated them. But then why had I heard him? More
importantly, why did he hate me so much?

“You had better be certain of that,” Lady
Cassandra warned in her viciously sweet voice.

“I am, Lady! Most certain!”

There was a pause in which the demons behind
the Watchers shifted hungrily. Their red eyes trained on the old
man with a blood lust that chilled me to the bone.

“Mistress, can I ask…why are we watching her
or bothering to learn about her at all? Why not just kill her? I
heard Marcus say…”

“You do not speak of Marcus!” she hissed.
“You are not worthy to even utter his name in your most desperate
hour!”

He flinched. “Sorry, my lady.”

She started pacing like a lion trapped
in a metal cage
.
“Marcus has
his reasons. He has a reason for everything, even if he doesn’t
choose to share it with you. Your job isn’t to question that
purpose, but to obey. That is the price you pay for the gifts we
have given you.”

She didn’t know either. This Marcus didn’t
give her explanations, just orders.

“Of course,” the old man said. From his tone
of voice, I knew he wasn’t fooled.

“Now go!” Lady Cassandra commanded. “I want a
way to get close to her by tonight. Do not fail me…”

“I won’t fail.” The old man bowed low then
walked off through the woods. I cursed the memory I was in, wishing
I could see his face. See the face of my enemy.

“What would he say if he knew where we had
gotten that blood from?” Cassandra’s counterpart asked with mocking
laughter in his voice.

“He is not to know,” she hissed.

“I know that,” he retorted, his veneer
of malice replaced by petulance and a bitter sarcasm. “Do you
really think he will find a way? He’s crazy…and not to be
trusted.”

“We have our orders to stay back and not get
involved. Marcus said to trust the humans in this.”

“Perhaps, the old man was right…can’t we just
kill the girl? She doesn’t seem that special to me. More like a
hassle than any kind of ‘new beginning’.”

“Are you questioning Marcus?” Her anger
increased. “Are you questioning me?”

He bowed mockingly. “No, my Lady
Cassandra.”

One of the Nightstalkers nuzzled the woman.
She touched it fondly, stroking it on the snout. Her anger
disappeared at the touch. “Quite right, Selene,” Cassandra
said.

“What does she say?”

“She says we should stop arguing, and let her
have the human at the top of the hill.”

“Of course. We let it linger here too long.
And I know how your mother loves a fresh kill.”

The man was laughing at the thought. That
beast was Cassandra’s mother?

I couldn’t see their faces, or any other form
of precise detail, but I could see Cassandra’s eyes when she looked
up at Susan. The Ranger’s memories were strong on that point. They
were coal black and deader than the darkest pit of hell. They were
the only vivid thing on her face. They burned into my brain,
etching lines of terror into my memories. Susan scrambled away from
the ground and started running. She didn’t understand what was
happening but knew that death would arrive on swift wings if she
didn’t get away.

Daniel dropped his hand and I gasped. My
return to the present was not as smooth as previous ventures into
the past. “I think I’m going to be sick,” I warned.

Susan’s fear was just too immediate, her
emotions having merged too much with mine. Adrenaline pumped
through my veins, and my muscles tensed around the churning in my
gut.

“Take her outside,” Margaret demanded.

Daniel rushed me to the door. Pulling me into
his arms, he leapt to the ground and gently set me down again as
soon as he landed. I immediately collapsed to all fours and threw
up.

When my lunch was on the carpet of pine
needles, I sat back on my haunches. I turned to stare at Daniel,
appreciating his dark features, taking courage from the pain he had
endured over long years. Needing comfort, I pulled him into my
arms. He held me tightly creating a shield against the world.

“They’ve been hunting me for two years! What
if they hurt Ellen…what if they hurt you? They’re going to figure
out all they have to do is threaten you to get whatever the hell
they want.” I pushed him away. “I can’t let them do that!” Backing
away, my eyes wide with fear I continued, “I won’t let them hurt
you! We can’t be together anymore…if they see how crazy I am about
you…”

I felt a weight in my chest, and I wondered
if I could follow through with what I was saying. A part of me
doubted it. But another part, a part that wanted to do everything I
could to protect him, told me that I would at least try. Daniel
grabbed my arms to stop my retreat.

“I didn’t have to show you that, but I
thought you should know. I thought
we
could decide what the best thing is to do. I
thought I would give you that chance. If you leave me, because
you’re afraid they’ll hurt me, you’ll end up killing me
yourself.”

Some of my fear lessened at my skepticism.
“You won’t die from heartbreak, if that’s what you mean. That’s
ridiculous.”

He ignored my comment. “We know they want
you, we know that they are willing to do anything to get you. But
we also know they want to study you rather than sell or kill you.
That gives us time to form a plan to take them out first. If we can
figure out who this stooped man is, what his weaknesses are, we can
find a direct line into what they want.” He shook me in
frustration, and I felt my brain rattle. “You can’t be Ms.
Independent and shut me out, not now. Not after I finally found
you.” His usually melodic voice was rough with anxiety.

I reached up and touched his face, surprised
by the hint of dark stubble. He was letting his normal look of
perfection slip a bit. I rested my hand there for a moment then
gave him a light slap, knowing it wouldn’t hurt him.

“Don’t shake me like that again,” I
warned.

He started laughing. “I’ll take that to mean
you’ll help me figure this out, instead of running away?”

I thought about it, trying to decide what was
best. “Yes...Thank you for being honest with me.”

He shrugged. “I respect you too much to lie,
and keeping secrets only keeps you ignorant. And keeping someone
ignorant isn’t protecting them.”

“Amen,” I agreed. “What’s our first move? How
can we make sure everyone stays safe? How do we find out what these
people want without letting them get close?”

“They aren’t the only Watchers in town,”
Daniel said emphatically. “Whereas they only know how to hunt and
use people for their ends we know…” he picked up a rock off the
forest floor and made it disappear, “magic.”

Jackson and Margaret dropped down behind
Daniel. “Beatrice and Han have also agreed to put away their
science and watch over your mom and the other humans you have
befriended, until this situation is resolved,” Jackson said to
reassure me. Pretending to swing a bat he added, “So, we’ve got all
the bases covered.”

“You’ve got to go back. The bell is going to
ring in five minutes and thirty-two seconds.” Margaret said.

“I know,” Daniel agreed.

Jackson gave me a funny little wink before he
and Margaret walked off in the opposite direction of the school. I
spotted two four wheelers in the distance and was instantly jealous
about their mode of transportation.

“Five minutes and thirty-two seconds?” I
asked sardonically.

“Internal clock,” Daniel said. “You have no
idea what a century is like with an internal clock.”

I shivered at the thought.

“How do you know them? Jackson and
Margaret.”

“Ran into Jackson during the 1940s.
Literally. The first time we met he knocked me down. Accidentally,
of course. He’s been a good friend. He found Margaret a little
later. They help me protect people; call me when strange murders
happen elsewhere and they need help... or don’t have the time to
look into it. They don’t stay here very often. They prefer cities.
But…”

“They’re helping you protect me,” I finished
for him.

“I can’t be everywhere at once. And I trust
them to do what needs to be done. I trust Beatrice and Han with my
life, but they’re pacifists. I hate to ask them to fight.”

“Pacifists? Really?”

“They don’t like violence,” he said.

“I can see why,” I replied.

“Non-violence is good, but sometimes you have
to fight…if the cause is a good one,” he said firmly.

“I know,” I said.

He smiled and put his arm around my shoulder.
I glanced back at the tree house, wondering how such an assuming
structure could house so much change. As I stared, a strange
feeling of familiarity settled into my stomach.

Our thoughts on what lay ahead, we walked
back to school – and our very normal literature class – where scary
monsters and terrifying demons didn’t exist. Not for real, at
least.

Chapter 14

We got back just as lunch was letting out. We
merged quietly into the chattering crowd, no one noticing we hadn’t
been there all along. Daniel kept his arm around me possessively as
the others swarmed around us. It was obvious he was worried about
my earlier reaction, worried that I might run off and leave him. To
be honest, I was still considering it. It would solve so many
problems. But deep down, I knew that running was the wrong thing to
do. Not only would it put me in danger, but it would endanger
everyone else I cared about. The only thing that made sense was
finding more information…then deciding whether or not running was
right.

I thought about the conversation Daniel had
stolen from Susan as we walked. As I did, another conversation came
to me. I ducked out from under Daniel’s arm as he stopped to buy me
a soda from one of the vending machines. I took the soda then
grabbed his hand, lacing our fingers together, so we could talk
privately.

Impressions of my face and him holding me in
a dark room swirled around my brain. The image shifted to us out in
the forest, under a starlit sky, the moon very close as we gazed
up. I knew it was either a daydream or a vision of the future.
Either way, I wasn’t complaining.

Daniel
? I asked
tentatively.

Yes, Clare?

I was just thinking…

I’m proud for you.

Won’t you get in trouble for protecting me?
You said you thought those Seekers were from that guild thingy, and
the only reason you were left alone was because you didn’t
interfere with them. Won’t they come after you for this?

His hand tightened on mine. We paused under
the pretense of letting a girl on crutches walk by.

I don’t care if they do. Even if they sent a
whole army, I wouldn’t stop protecting you. Do you understand that?
Even if I stood alone against millions, I would keep fighting.

I couldn’t answer right away. The venom and
the passion in his voice were shocking. The vision of him standing
in front of a legion of demons swirled up. Did he mean that
literally? We started walking again, and I refocused.

I didn’t think you would actually come with a
protection guarantee.

It’s a two year warranty.

Drat.

Drat? Who says drat anymore?

People…
I eyed
him more seriously.
I would do the same for
you, you know. But…I don’t want to get your family in trouble.
Margaret said…