“The angel needs our help,” Kyoko screamed trying to wiggle loose from Tasuki but he was too strong. Seeing her grandpa step in between her and the statue, she cried out not understanding, “There are demons inside that statue and they’re going to hurt him. You fight demons… go help him… please!”
Leaning back against Tasuki, she sobbed when she saw that fearful expression once again cross her grandpa’s face, except this time it was much worse. “You can’t… help him?”
Grandpa Hogo turned around and looked inside the shrine. The barrier scrolls he’d placed all over the inside of the small structure were still smoldering, now mostly ash. Backing out of the shrine, he glanced at the young boy that was holding his granddaughter and felt chills crawl up his spine. Tasuki’s eyes were normally a soft brown… not the angry amethyst he was now using to glare at the statue.
His blood had ran colder than ice when he’d witnessed the connection Kyoko made with the Maiden Statue and Grandpa knew their time had finally run out. The appearance of the crystal was bad enough, but seeing it shatter like that filled him with dread. He also hadn't missed the fact that a piece of the crystal had slammed into young Tasuki’s chest.
“The scrolls were right,” he whispered hoarsely, wishing it had been a lie.
Grandpa Hogo lifted his eyes skyward and sent a silent prayer to whatever deity was listening to guide him. He needed to get the children away from here and, more importantly… he needed to get Kyoko away from Tasuki. Without meaning too, that boy would lead the demons right to Kyoko, and the guardians of the crystal would soon follow.
Tasuki flinched when Kyoko was pulled out of his arms. He turned his amethyst gaze on the one that had taken her from him… her grandfather. He really shouldn’t be gripping her shoulders like that.
“Tasuki, you shouldn’t be out here after dark. If you don’t want me waking your father, then I’d advise you to go home. Now,” Grandpa Hogo demanded in a harsh voice. He shoved Kyoko into Tama’s waiting arms and turned on the two grandchildren that had been left in his care.
Tasuki stared at Kyoko, watching as she buried her face in Tama’s chest and continued to cry for the angel that she was sure had been killed by the demons.
“Kyoko, I’ll be waiting to walk you to school in the morning,” Tasuki stated and sent one last glare at the shrine before heading back toward his own home.
Grandpa Hogo waited until Tasuki crawled back through his bedroom window. He took a deep breath knowing he was going to be in for a severe tongue lashing once his grandchildren understood what they were about to do.
“Pack up kids… we are leaving within the hour,” He instructed.
*****
Present day… PIT Headquarters, the Castle.
Storm leaned back in the chair and stared up at the ceiling, lost in his own thoughts about the guardians. The legend behind the original guardians told of a strange love story that was paradoxical in nature.
He had become curious after finding the strange legend and traced it back to a powerful crystal known as the Guardian Heart Crystal. That alone had been no easy feat seeing as how the legend would be written on paper or carved into a stone one minute and gone the next, leaving no proof that it had ever even existed. It was an enigma even to a Time Walker.
The oldest legend he’d found on the dimensional crystal told the story of guardian twins, two immortals that protected all of the human parallel worlds from overlapping into the demon realm. These two powerful immortals had fallen in love with a human girl that had come through a tear between the dimensions with the help of a crystal her father had created.
The two guardians had fought over her, almost destroying the seal they were supposed to be protecting.
One of the twins had sought to end the dangerous conflict by taking the paradoxical crystal and merging it with the girl’s soul along with a statue he’d created of her that was made out of the fabric that separated all dimensions. He thought that by merging the three, she would appear in every parallel world they protected.
He had intended to then shove his twin brother into one of those parallel worlds and seal it off from the demon world so that they could both have her. Things didn’t go as planned though. When the girl, the statue, and the crystal had merged, she’d suddenly disappeared from the demon realm and the rip was once again sealed.
When the other brother found out what his twin had done to separate them from the girl, he’d flown into a jealous rage and killed his brother, shattering both of their souls. Because they were immortal and can never truly die, the souls reformed and five new guardians had stepped forward still feeling the pull of the girl who now existed in all parallel worlds.
He looked up at the ceiling knowing those were the same five guardians that had taken residence on the third floor of the castle.
The riddle was hard for Storm to understand, because not only did the crystal shift space and time… it also shifted dimensions. He’d learned a long time ago to just stay out of things that were beyond a Time Walker’s ability to manipulate. With the demons invading LA and his powers already on the fritz, it wasn’t the best time for him to be pressing his luck unless he wanted to wind up in a parallel world with no way back to this one.
Nope… the guardians were on their own.
Chapter 2
Tasuki’s mood hadn’t improved much since returning to the station. All the way here, he could hear other officers over the radio reporting in on demon sightings. It kept reminding him of the first time he had ever seen a demon… the same night Kyoko disappeared.
He touched the place on his side where the light had entered him that night and frowned in remembrance of his fear and disappointment when he found the Hogo family gone the next morning. He’d showed up to walk Kyoko to school like he had promised, only to find the house abandoned.
It was something that had haunted him for a long time and he still hadn’t gotten over it. Hell, he still had Kyoko’s birthday present. It was a small golden promise ring that his grandmother Mrs. Tully had helped him pick out.
For the last eleven years, he’d been having dreams about Kyoko and demons. Strangely enough, as he’d grown up, so had she in his dreams and the dreams were getting more frequent and disturbing. The thought of her out there somewhere in danger was what kept him up at night.
Sighing, he pushed Kyoko from his mind and watched as four of the five guards from the raided warehouse were taken across the street to the precinct so they could be questioned by Boris and his crew.
The guard that had almost shot Micah was going to be placed in the special interrogation room right here in the detective’s department. The room had been set up and reinforced just in case they brought in any type of paranormal… even some low level demons if they had to.
Looking around at the SWAT team, Tasuki almost snorted at the way some of the officers were acting all proud of themselves, puffing out their chests and patting each other’s backs for a job well done.
Personally, the only thing Tasuki thought they’d done was save three of the many kidnapped women and capture a few guards that were more muscle than brains. He wasn’t going to even consider celebrating unless one of those guards spilled the beans on where Lucca was holding the rest of the captives. He seriously doubted these lackeys knew much outside their own little jobs and their next cigarette.
He leaned against the wall watching as the big van backed up into the side garage of their building. His guess was that it would be Titus overseeing the removal of the she-wolf from the back of the van… Titus being Alpha and all. If it had been up to him, she’d walk into this building on her own two legs… or four… either way it would be her own choice.
As it stood now, her rescuers were keeping her just as much of a prisoner as the slave traders had done.
Tasuki