The Guardian Lineage (20 page)

 

 

“Mom?” Mike spit out. And Garzan was her father… Steph was a Slayer
and
a Guardian?

“You must be Mike,” the woman deadpanned. “I've heard so much about you.”

Well, this is a nice surprise. Or not.
“Nice to meet you too…?”

“Cassandra.”

“Right,” Mike said. “Anyway, we were wondering if you could help us a little.”

Cassandra's eyes narrowed. A thin smile etched itself on her lips, making Mike uneasy.

“Why should I trust you and your Guardians, Mike Prior? We have been enemies for hundreds of years, you and I. Not to mention that after your
Headmage
agreed to renew our alliance, he promptly murdered our greeting party as a pretense to back out of our agreement!” The veins bulged out of the side of Cassandra's neck as her face grew red. “And now you come to us, seeking our help? Give me one reason why I should assist you.”

Mike felt his ears get warm with anger. “No offense, but the
Headmage
didn't murder your greeting party. We have a common enemy—”

“Do not feign ignorance! Garzan agreed to hand over the Book of Lineage as a gesture of goodwill. We sent out a party to accept it, you killed them as a pretext for war!”

Something clicked in Mike's mind. Stockton had said something that first day, in his apartment in Queens, which had freaked out his mom.
They have the book, Sepulchra
, or something like that. He must've meant the Book of Lineage. And his mom had mentioned afterwards, in his room, something like…
if they have the Book of Lineage, every Guardian family will be tracked down and killed.

So
that
was how the Book of Lineage had been lost. The Guardians had trusted the Slayers enough to give them the names of every Guardian family, only it had never gotten there… both parties had been murdered before the agreement was finalized, pissing off both the Guardians and Slayers… and with that information, the Brethren had started a new war against the Guardians and gargoyles of Windham Manor…

Mike's mind raced. The Brethren were behind this, obviously. If the Guardians and Slayers had been ambushed separately, before the peace agreement… that meant the Brethren had information on both sides. A spy in both Windham and Slayerland. From someone who was both Guardian and Slayer…

Mike's head snapped over to Steph, who was watching the exchange with intent. He seethed with raw emotion. So it
was
her…

Just then, Groundhog's voice spoke in his head.
There are Vampires advancing on your position, Michael!
I think there is a Necromancer among them!

Mike swore in his head. He would deal with Steph later, after they sorted out this little problem. Zachariah had been right – they
were
going to be attacked here.

Just not by who he'd thought.

Well, he'd gotten them into this, and it was his job to get them out. Mike formulated the simplest of plans, knowing that if he played this wrong, he would have to fight vampires, Brethren,
and
Slayers…

“Uh, we have a slight problem.”

“Is that so?” Cassandra inclined her head, and the crowd tightened around the Guardians.

“Yeah,” Mike rubbed his chin. “You see, the Brethren are right outside, as we speak.”

“What?” Aaron and Zachariah said simultaneously.

A commotion broke out amongst the Slayers.

“If we leave now,” Mike continued undeterred, “They'll probably kill us. And that'll leave nobody to protect you and your hideout, or whatever you call this magnificent place you got here.” His eyes narrowed. “You
need
us.”

“Liar!” Cassandra snarled. “Do not play games in an attempt to win my favor!”

Mike shrugged. “See for yourself.”

Cassandra hesitated, then nodded at one of the Slayers. He ran out through the swinging doors, only to return a second later with a fearful expression on his face.

“They are in the warehouse, my Queen!”

Cassandra threw the cat off her lap and jumped to her feet. “Weapons at the ready, lethal force is permitted!” She ran out with most of the Slayers, leaving Mike and the Guardians alone in the throne room.

Mike wasted no time. He went over to Steph and grabbed her by the wrist. His eyes burned as they stared into hers.

“You have a lot of explaining to do,” he said, his jaw squared.

Steph made to pull her wrist away, but Mike held tight. She stared at him, her eyebrows slanted, mouth open. “Do not judge me, Michael Prior. You think it's easy to split time between your parents when they hate each other with a passion?”

“I'm not talking about your mom, Steph.” Mike lowered his voice. “If you bury us out here, I'll make sure the last thing I do is put an electric charge through your head.”

“Mike, what's going on?” Kiva said from behind.

Aaron said, “Have you lost your mind? Let her go, man!”

Steph drew her hand away, a horrified look on her face. Mike let her go this time. “What are you talking about,” she whispered in a genuinely surprised manner.

Mike didn't have a chance to respond. A sea of vampires burst through the swinging doors, screaming like an angry mob.

Zachariah screamed, “Look out!” He shot a volley of flames towards the vampiric host, engulfing some of them in fire. Mike uses his telekinesis to clear two more vamps out of the way. Light bulbs shattered, and Aaron's hands filled with electricity. He shot bolt after bolt at the invaders, connecting every time he fired.

But there were so many more. The Guardians bunched together in tight formation. The vampires snarled, spittled, tried to get close, but every time they were thrown backwards by some Guardian weapon. Unfortunately, none of the Guardians had brought stakes with them, and the difference between maiming and killing them was starting to get important.

Suddenly, Slayers filled the room from all sides, charging out of hidden doors in the walls. Mike noticed Cassandra leading a battle at the front. Steph cracked a light bulb and shaved a path to her, leaving her Guardian brothers behind. Mike was about to stop her, but thought better of it. It was her mother; this wasn't about choosing a side.

The vampires changed their focus and engaged the Slayers. That allowed Mike to turn back to his group with an idea.

“Can you make icepicks for all of us?” Mike yelled at Annabella. She nodded, pulling a bottle of water out of his pocket and spilling out its contents. Annabella immediately froze the water before it hit the ground, then pulled off shards of ice and handed them out.

Mike grabbed one of the frozen stakes –
jeez
, it was cold – and peered at the battle. It didn't seem to be going all that well. There were a ton of vampires who looked like they hadn't drank blood in days. Mike held the spike in one hand and grabbed flame from Zachariah's lighter in the other, careful to keep the two apart so that the fire wouldn't melt the ice.

“Come on!” Mike charged into the corner, using his makeshift flamethrower to break a path through the vampire mass. Screams filled the air, not unlike the one that Sylvan had uttered when Mike had blown up his face. Mike thrust his pick into the first vampire he saw. The body disintegrated, like Mike had seen before, but the transformation still caught him off guard. Mike's eyes were clouded with dust, and he was momentarily blinded… he tried to wipe his eyes clean…

Then he was shoved to the ground.

Mike flailed as something jumped on him from behind. He succeeded in flipping his assailant off, then rolled backwards, only to see the ugliest piece of vampire breath a foot away from his face. The creature lunged for him. Mike grabbed the vampire's throat, trying to push him away, but it was too strong… he pressed on the creature's Adam's apple, scratched at his face… but the vampire kept coming, his mouth getting way too close to Mike's skin…

Foosh
.

Out of nowhere, the body disintegrated into ash. Mike coughed and spit and rubbed the soot out of his eyes. When he opened them again, he saw a hand reaching down, offering to pick him up.

It was Laura Stetson's.

Mike took her hand and let her pull him to his feet. They stared at each other for a moment.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

“Look out,” Laura yelled, and thrust a knife right past Mike's ear. Mike ducked, only to see the knife wedged in some vampire's forehead. Laura thrust a stake into the guy's heart, and he disintegrated.

“Later?” Mike suggested.

Laura nodded. And even smiled a little. “Yeah, later.”

She ran off towards another group of Slayers who seemed to be having trouble, and left Mike standing all by himself in the corner, as if he was the school bully who'd done something bad.

All of a sudden, the wooden doors splintered. In walked a man wearing black robes like he was at graduation, except without a tassel. He thrust a hand forward, and black ooze shot forth. It nailed a Slayer in the back, causing his limbs to jerk forward uncontrollably. Mike's eyes widened as the kid screamed, the ooze eating its way through his flesh.

Mike snapped to attention. He grabbed his necklace and screamed in his mind,
Get out, the Brethren are here!

We can't just leave the Slayers, Mike!
It was Zachariah's voice. Which was actually a mild shock.

Fine, just get over here and help me with this guy!

Mike released his Amp and threw a hand at the robed intruder. The magician must not have seen it coming, because he flew backwards, slamming into the Slayer throne.

Not waiting for the guy to get up, Mike grabbed electricity from above in his mind and directed it at the magician. But it was the first time he'd ever done it. He missed his target by a mile—

And hit the silver throne instead.

The chair caught and electrified, sending shockwaves throughout the sorcerer's body. He jerked uncontrollably and fell off.

Then he was still.

“Seems you can handle him by yourself,” Zachariah said as he and Annabella came running up. Annabella went to check the guy's pulse. She waited for a minute, then shook her head.

“You got him,” she said, and shrugged.

The magnanimity of what he'd just done hit Mike in the face. He staggered for a moment… he'd just
killed
somebody…

“I didn't… I didn't mean to…”

“What, kill him?” Zachariah said. “What would you have preferred? You wanted him to kill you?”

Mike looked around, not wanting to think about it. He'd ended a life… and yes, the guy wouldn't have hesitated to end his, but it was still somebody's brother, son, maybe father…

No.
He couldn't think like this. If he was going to be an effective soldier – no, if he was going to
stay alive
– then he had to forget these kinds of emotions. The Brethren were trying to kill him. For no other reason than because he was a Guardian. They were trying to
kill
him…

Mike repeated that thought in his brain until it was crystal clear. If the options were either to kill someone or
die
– especially if that someone was trying to kill him first – Mike would take the former a million times over.

The defeat of the Brethren warrior seemed to take the wind out of the vampire hordes. Some ran for the doors. Others were distracted enough to get vaporized by the Slayers. Finally, the battle died down, until the only ones left in the room were Guardians and Slayers.

Mike counted eight bodies on the floor, not including the dead Brethren warrior, who Mike still couldn't bring himself to look at. None of the bodies were Guardians. Steph was already going from person to person, seeing if there was anything she could do for them. She spent several seconds uttering spells. Within moments five of them were sitting up. Three of the bodies she left alone. The guy who had been hit with the black goo was literally gone, his body devoured up by the horrific spell.

Mike went over to one of the bodies, which was facedown on the tiled mosaic. Pangs of grief hit him in the stomach as his thoughts turned to Toad. Then, to his own surprise, Mike found himself uttering a small prayer. He wasn't even sure to whom. He just asked that this kid's soul – and it looked like a kid, maybe his age – be ferried across to whatever land it was supposed to go, to be treated with respect and honor. And somehow, tears came to Mike's eyes, and he got all choked up. This could've been him. He could've been born into a Slayer lineage, instead of a Guardian one… Mike's chest burned, as if something deep inside was reminding him why he was put into a Guardian body. To be able to help. To protect Gargoyles. To save people like the kid on the floor.

Mike heard a snort from behind him. He looked up, only to see Cassandra standing over him, a snarl on her face and a small blade in her outstretched hand, pointed at Mike. “Before I kill you for leading the Brethren to our hideout… leave this place. And never come back.”

Mike rose slowly. The blade wasn't exactly at his throat, but it was pretty close, and he had no doubt that Cassandra could wield that thing like it was attached to her hand…

“Are you insane?” Zachariah came over. “What exactly would you have done about that guy over there?” Zachariah pointed towards the dead Brethren warrior by the throne. “You should be kissing our feet for saving your asses!”

“Or slitting your throats for leading them to us,” Cassandra snapped, refusing to sheathe her weapon. She stepped over a dead body to get to her throne, then sat down gingerly. Steph made her way over to her mother and ran her fingers over the afflicted shoulder.

“Finish the spell, then leave with your clan.”

Steph looked at the floor, obviously hurt, but she finished her incantations anyway. When she was done, Cassandra tried out her newly-repaired shoulder. “Thanks, dear.” Cassandra stroked Steph's hair in a creepy sort of way, her designer-long fingernails scratching their way through Steph's dirty-blonde locks.