Page 16 of Guardian
“What are you not telling me?” she asked.
“A lot, I admit. Some of which I can’t share with you. But this I have to, since you already saw it. I didn’t disappear. I was still there, but I made myself invisible so the demons would have a harder time fighting me.”
“Invisible?” she echoed, pressing her hand against her chest. “Like in the movie The Invisible Man?”
He nodded. “It’s a skill we have.”
“We?”
“My people and I.”
Instinctively she edged away from him, her heart thundering now. “Who are you? What are you?”
He lifted one hand from the steering wheel and made a calming motion. “I’m an immortal warrior. We call ourselves Stealth Guardians. We’re the defenders of the human race. Our only purpose in life is to protect humans from the influence of demons. We’ve been doing so for centuries.”
She swallowed, let out a breath. “Immortal…”
“Yes. I’m two-hundred years old.”
She shook her head in disbelief. But she knew it was true, felt it, just like she now knew that the demons of her nightmares—no, visions—were real. So why shouldn’t immortal warriors be real too? At least that would level the playing field.
“I’m sorry. I know this is a lot to take in. I wish I could have given you more time to digest all this, but the attack took me by surprise. We weren’t aware that the demons had already locked onto you. We only discovered your existence this morning.” He stopped abruptly, as if the conversation was heading in a direction he’d rather avoid. “Anyway, it’s a lot to take in.”
“You knew I was a psychic when you came to my shop. You didn’t really come for a reading,” she said. It wasn’t a question, just a statement she made to order her own thoughts. “How come I didn’t know that I’m a psychic? That I have visions?”
“Most psychics, while naturals, need some guidance, some help so that they can master their gift. It’s a powerful skill, one that can overwhelm a person. And the visions can indeed feel like nightmares. You saw demons, didn’t you?”
She nodded. “They frightened me. I felt that they were coming for me. Their green eyes… when they looked at me with those poison-green eyes, my blood froze in my veins. I could feel their evil intent. I’ve never been so scared in my entire life.”
“I understand. No wonder the visions felt like nightmares. But now you know better. You’ll be better prepared next time it happens.”
“Next time?”
“Your visions won’t stop, just because you know they’re real. Nightmares might stop once you’ve worked through the issues that cause them. Visions don’t work that way. They’re part of you. You’re special. That’s why the demons wanted you, so you can help them defeat us.”
She frowned. “What?”
“You also saw other things in your visions, not just the demons. You saw our weapons, our strongholds. You can find us. And that makes you valuable to the demons.”
“But I can’t. I don’t know anything about you and your people,” she protested.
“You do. Even though you might not realize it.” He put his blinker on and turned into a street that led into a park. “You drew things that could be used to identify us. In your shop hangs a drawing of a dagger. It’s one of ours. And another drawing depicts the Callanish Stones, the place where one of our compounds was located. You drew those things without knowing their meaning, but the demons, they’d be able to put two and two together.”
Winter put her hand over her mouth. “Oh no. But I didn’t mean to. The psychiatrist… he said it would be good to draw what I see so that I could get over it.”
To her surprise, Logan reached for her hand and squeezed it. His warmth was comforting.
“Don’t beat yourself up. You couldn’t know. And I got to you just in time.”
“About that—”
“Later,” he interrupted and stopped the car in a small deserted clearing with a bench and a hut that she identified as restrooms. “We need to get changed before we go any further.”
“Changed? Why?”
He pointed to the green stains on his shirt and then to her. She looked down at herself and saw the same spots on her clothing.
“I need to bring you to a safe house. But to do so I need to make us both invisible, and—”
“Invisible? You can make me invisible?”
“Yes, with either my touch or my mind. But one substance defies my skill.” He pointed to the green splotches. “I can’t make demon blood invisible. If I made us invisible now, people would still see the blood on our clothes. And if demons were in the vicinity, they would find us. I can’t risk that.”
She nodded. “I understand.”
He motioned to the restrooms. “I’ll make sure nobody is inside. Then you’ll go in and change, and I’ll change out here, making sure nobody approaches. You’ll be safe.”
She looked into his eyes and knew he spoke the truth. Logan would keep her safe.
