Guardian Angel (14 page)

Memories of the previous night flooded back to him, how they had lay there staring at each other, not speaking any words but saying more than an entire conversation. A pang of nerves made his stomach spasm uncomfortably. Would Jasmine get in trouble for being so intimate with him? Would she end up getting reprimanded like Jazen?

What worried Michael more was his own feelings. He had grown very attached to Jasmine in such a short time, and now those feelings seemed to be growing stronger. He pictured the whole relationship in a few moments, running through all the possible futures in his mind. All the joy, all the private moments, the way she looked na….

 
He shook his head violently, breaking his chain of thought. That kind of thinking really wasn’t the best right now. They couldn’t be together. She was his Guardian, he was her charge; it was a friendship at best, and a business relationship at worst. Michael looked again at Jasmine as she slept, and watched her for a good couple of hours. She sighed softly in some dream.

He decided to get up, swaying slightly as his tired limbs protested at the movement. He stretched a little and tip toed to the kitchen to prepare some food. He looked back a couple of times to make sure Jasmine had not woken up. But she lay there silently,  her eyes closed.

Michael checked his answer phone for any new messages. The light flashed a couple of times to indicate no, but then changed and showed a single unlistened-to message. He shrugged and played it. The message played, but some words seemed distorted and hard to hear.

“
Hello Michael, my name is Lil***. I am phoning you on behalf of Gar****d. Please listen carefully to my w**ds.
Lustful, inflammar, passionate
. Tha** you for your time.” The message was somewhat confusing and garbled in parts. Whoever the caller was must have used a mobile or had a bad line.

 
Was it just a sales call? It may have been, but listening to it made Michael feel a little strange. Images of Jasmine, and even Claire, kept flashing into his mind, some a little X- rated.

He shook his head but couldn’t stop the images flashing into his mind; he almost took a step back to the bedroom on instinct, before he caught himself.

“
What on Earth has got into me?” Michael decided to skip breakfast and go straight in for a cold shower.

***

Outside, near a payphone, two women stood staring up at the apartment. The woman who had made the call grinned widely, while the other, standing near her, kept getting distracted by every man who walked past. She winked seductively at them, pouted, even went so far as to bend down and show some cleavage. One man stared so much he ended up bumping into a lamp post.

“Eldith, focus. You had your fun last night. We have a job to do.”

“
Oh come on, Lilith, just a few more. I don’t feel satisfied yet, and it’s not as if we haven't got time to kill until tomorrow. Your lustful enchantments aren't going to work on them; I can feel the resistance from here.” Eldith stretched so that her chest thrust out for all to see.

“
It’ll do for now" Lilith pouted. "It doesn’t have to get them jumping into the sack, just fan the flame they've already started. Lust and love are so similar, it's just that lust is much more fun. Eh, Eldith?”

 
Eldith grinned widely, her eyes trailing a group of older teens pass by. The boys stared at them both, while the girls looked increasingly jealous. She pulled herself closer to her sister, running her hands through Lilith’s long, blonde hair. She kissed her passionately.

Lilith leaned in, stroking her sister’s back and watching as the teenagers jaws dropped. The men stared with barely contained lust, while the girls' faces turned red. They tugged their boyfriends or suitors away, clearly jealous of the attention being paid to the other women.

Eldith broke the kiss and laughed as the group passed them by, performing a mock bow to incite further staring. Lilith grinned widely and sighed at her sister.

“
Well, I guess a little more fun couldn’t hurt; the spell did drain some of my power." Lilith said whispering seductively into Eldith’s ear.

"
We still need to set things up for tomorrow, though. Garamond won't be happy with us if we mess this up. This could be our big chance to gain more power.”

“
YAY!” Eldith squealed. “You're so nice to me, Sis. Let's go find us some footballers to corrupt; they're always quick’n’easy! And then maybe someone more satisfying. A rugby player, or fencer, or athlete would do”

“
You’re so single minded, Eldith.” Lilith shrugged, before taking her sister’s hand and skipping off down the road.

***

The shower helped to cool Michael’s head a little, decreasing the risqué images a little bit but not stopping them entirely. He took the opportunity to shave and clean himself up after, no point in looking sloppy.

As he stepped out of the bathroom, Michael smelled something coming from the kitchen. Jasmine must have woken up and decided to make herself some breakfast. Did Guardians actually need to eat? He'd find out soon.

 
He shut the bathroom door behind him and ambled over to the kitchen to find the source of the delicious smell. He walked through to the living room, tripping over a small box he had left to sort, and stifled a swear-word when he realised it was his own fault for leaving it there. In the kitchen, Michael was met with a surreal sight.

Jasmine stood near the table, wearing a green apron over her usual regalia of white robes. It had been a gift from Michael’s mother but, not being one for housework, he had never bothered to wear it. The table had been set neatly, laid out with cutlery and a glass of orange juice next to a plate.

“
Morning. I thought I would fix you some breakfast while you were in the shower,” Jasmine's usual chirpy voice tinged with nerves.

“
Uh...thanks. Aren't you making yourself some?” Michael asked as he sat down.

“
Don’t be silly, we don’t need to eat. Well not unless we want to,” Jasmine had made him a traditional English breakfast, placing it in front of him with an expectant look.

The sight of it made Michael salivate, he hadn't been cooked for since he lived at home. He hungrily shoveled the food down his mouth. The toast was fine, lightly buttered and tasty, but when Michael got to the cooked foods, the taste was something akin to charred rat.

 
Jasmine beamed at him from across the table, watching him eat and clearly waiting for an opinion of her cooking skills. Michael’s first thought had been “
Don’t give up your day
job
,” but he couldn’t find the cruelty to say such a thing. Instead, he forced down his mouthful of food, and tried not to pull a face.

“
How is it?” Jasmine asked, leaning forward.

“
Yeah… it’s great... Really tasty,” Michael managed, finishing off the toast and staring at the rest of the meal, while worrying about how he could avoid eating it.

“
Oh great!" Jasmine squealed enthusiastically. "I'm so happy you like it. I made sure to use loads of Earth spices in it. Tons of pepper, salt, cinnamon, garlic and sugar! I haven't really cooked before, but I knew I could do it.”

Michael smiled and nodded, he would probably have to eat more of the offensive mishmash to avoid hurting Jasmine’s feelings. He managed another bite, this time of bacon, trying to stifle a retch from the flavour. He pushed the plate away slightly and rubbed his stomach, drinking deeply of his orange juice. Thankfully Jasmine had not decided to spice his drink up any.

“
Finished already?” Jasmine asked.

“
Yeah, I'm not very hungry just yet. Perhaps I could cook us something later, or we could go out to eat!” Michael tried to be subtle but was aware of sounding a little strained.

“
Oh, ok. Well, I guess that’s understandable after everything. Hope you enjoyed it!”

“
It was definitely unique, Jasmine. Excuse me a moment, I just need to go to the loo,” Michael muttered as his stomach clench from all the pepper. He jumped up and left the table. He had to teach Jasmine a little about human cooking, or at least keep her away from the kitchen.

***

  After he had gone, Jasmine pulled Michael’s plate over with a puzzled look on her face. She sniffed it, then took a cautious bite of some egg with a little bacon. Her face twisted into a mirror image of Michael’s when he had first tasted the food. She managed to swallow her creation but took a sip of the remaining orange juice to wash the taste away.

“
Humans really do have some strange tastes,” Jasmine commented, oblivious to her culinary failure.

***

 
Following Jasmine's dodgy breakfast, Michael got dressed and decided to pop out for a walk. Right on queue just as he was about to leave his mother called to check up on him. With not much to say beyond “I‘m fine.” and the usual “How are you?” the conversation didn't keep him too long. He wanted to discuss his recent special situation but felt it best not to, his mum would probably think he was crazy.

 
Michael had no work and wasn’t meeting Claire until the next day. He felt at a loose end with not much to do, and so, like every time he felt that way he went out. Naturally, Jasmine went along as well, after having disposed of her breakfast feast into the bin. She almost forgot to take off the green apron. Would people see the apron floating around on its own? . She took it off, though, and left it in the house before Michael could ask.

 
As they walked along the road, Michael noticed a kind of tension between them. Jasmine would have previously grabbed and held Michael’s hand. This time, she seemed to pointedly avoid even brushing up against him, though he felt somehow she wanted to. Michael thought of making the move himself, but a pang of nerves struck him every time he thought about it. He felt like a teenage boy trying to ask out a girl he liked.

 
It didn’t help either that the x-rated images kept flashing into his mind. He couldn’t work out where they were coming from; he certainly didn’t remember having such vivid thoughts before about any girl, even those he fancied like crazy. It felt as if he and Jasmine had grown much closer but had somehow hit a wall, or pushed past the comfortable friendship zone and into something deeper.

 
Michael decided to head down to the High Street. He couldn’t be bothered travelling further afield and certainly didn’t fancy the idea of getting onto a crowded bus or train. It wasn't that far and he was looking forward to the mundane routine of browsing through some shops for goodies like dvd's or food. A taste of normality was just what he needed.

Many of the Guardians around people looked normal, hovering close with a look of care or concern on their faces. However, Michael also noticed a large proportion of angels who seemed haggard or worried. This made him feel a little on edge himself. Their charges looked normal however, none of them seemed particularly aggressive, angry or evil, but then the old adage “
Looks can be deceiving
,” sprang into his mind.

As they walked, more and more Guardian's appeared distressed. On instinct, he checked Jasmine was okay. Aside from the strangeness between them, she looked fine. However, the worry didn’t diminish. Something strange was definitely going on, he could sense it.

Michael hurried along the street, feeling he should run but having nowhere to escape to. He bumped into someone at the edge of the road, stopping him in his tracks. He made a quick apology and took a deep breath to calm himself down. “Panicking won't do me any good, there's nothing going on, just relax.” He muttered under his breath.

Something was familiar about this place. He was standing only a few feet away from where the accident happened. The accident that had changed his world completely, that had allowed him to meet Jasmine for the first time. All around him, worn-out angels moved with their charges. The sense of worry exploded into full-blown anxiety as his instincts took over. Something was very wrong here.

Michael began to shake and had to shut his eyes and clench his fists to keep control. He must be having a panic attack brought on by the overwhelming sense of wrongness around him. The thought that the accident must have had an ulterior motive behind it, beyond just himself, made him sick.

***

  Jasmine saw her charge suffering and hesitated for a moment, remembering how she felt whenever she touched him now. She had already broken so many rules as well as letting Michael down so many times. Instead of spurring her forward, it kept her from comforting him. She swallowed hard, not sure what was troubling Michael, but hearing a discordant note in the heavenly symphony which seemed to spring from the site of the accident.