The Curse of the Guardian

The drive to Memphis was as comfortable as it could be. Mia and Laura were driving together in one car, presumably so they could talk about the upcoming meeting with the lawyers at Smith and Associates law firm, while I was driving the kids. We were having a fun ride filled with children’s songs, car games and some serious conversation about magic and the bad people who want it. We arrived a few hours early because the kids have never been in Memphis so I suggested we make a day trip out of it and visit some of the attractions. Andrew Smith, the lawyer we had a meeting with, asked if we could meet in the late afternoon, once the bustle and hustle of the day calms down. We preferred it that way anyway, because now we had time to visit several museums, a zoo and even a Pro Bass pyramid, the only pyramid in the area. The kids had a blast and even Laura relaxed for a couple of hours.

The building where we had our meeting, was quite tall and intimidating, made with mostly steel and big glossy windows. It was a relief to walk from a hot, humid day to the lobby of a perfectly chilled building. A middle aged lady sat behind a desk, looking at us with curiosity.

“How can I help y’all today?” She said with a perfect southern accent. She was quite beautiful with her graying hair pinned perfectly on the nape of her neck and small glasses at the end of the nose. She reminded me of a librarian, except that she was dressed in tight slacks that fit her figure perfectly.

“We have a meeting with Mr. Andrew Smith?” Mia said when she noticed that Laura looked like a deer caught in headlights. I was holding the kids’ hands tightly so they wouldn’t run around and make a mess. The lady looked at us as if we were lying, but eventually she picked up the phone and called someone, alerting them that our group had arrived.

“I thought she would have at least asked our names,” Mia leaned and whispered to me.

“Is she human?” She asked, eyeing the lady suspiciously. I took a closer look at the receptionist and whispered back.

“No, she might have some demon in her, but I don’t think she has any serious power.” Shawn caught my sentence and looked at the lady with fear in his eyes. Receptionist finally put her phone down and told us to sit down on the bench on her left.

“Please sit down, someone will come and collect you as soon as possible.” I was trying to get the kids to settle down, but she called up to them and offered some lollipops. Laura was not sure about it, but I told the kids to go get the sweets. They thanked the lady and she smiled at them, but looked at me with curiosity in her face. Mia finally managed to get Laura to relax, but she looked like she was walking to her execution.

The ding that the elevator made when it reached our floor scared Laura so much she almost screamed. We all turned toward the elevator and gasped. The man that came out was at least 7 feet tall and he looked like he eats kids for breakfast. Tall, muscled, shaved head and visible tattoos and the perfect, most expensive suit you can find. He was a complete package that said, I’m a badass, don’t make me mad. I couldn’t help myself, I looked up into his dark eyes, that I swear flashed red when he saw me, and whispered.

“Duuuude.” The kids were as in awe as I was, Laura cowered behind Mia, and Mia simply walked up to him and offered him her hand, introducing herself. I wanted to tell her not to do it, because I could smell the demon power coursing through him, but what is he going to do, blast her in the middle of a very important building? I shut my mouth and grabbed the kids hands, so we could march toward Mia and the giant.

“Mr. Smith will see you now,” he announced with his booming deep voice that had some kind of magic and I had no trouble believing that when he yelled he could push people away with his voice alone.

“Please follow me to the elevator.” He moved aside and let us pass. Laura had a little bit of trouble walking past him, and I realized she was annoying me more and more with her fear. We were doing all of this so she and her kids could be safe, but she acted like we were forcing her to be here. Before Mia talked her into visiting the half demons, her plan was just to stay in the house and rely on us to defend her from everything. And I mean everything. It took several hours to convince her that we don’t know how to protect her from all the bad things that are coming her way. After that she apparently cried for several hours, asking why so many bad things were happening to her and why the world was so hell bent on killing her family. Mia told me it got so bad that the children had to console her and convince her that maybe talking to more powerful people would be better than staying in the house until their father gives up, if he ever gives up. So there we were, in a big comfortable elevator with a giant, going to the 17th floor to meet the big bad half demon leader of Memphis.

“I’m Shawn,” Shawn said to the giant, offering his hand. The giant was visibly surprised at the gesture, but he shook his hand and solemnly said.

“I’m Jason, the head of security.” I almost snorted, of course he is the head of security. Shawn pulled his sister upfront, but she hid behind him.

“This is my sister Sarah, and that is my mom. Her name is Laura,” he pointed toward Laura who was as pale as a sheet. Jason nodded his big head to Laura’s direction and asked about us.

“And the lady that is with you?” I smiled, when Shawn looked at me.

“That is Sasha and she is our guardian!” Sarah found her voice and loudly proclaimed my role in all this. I offered my hand to the giant as well. Can’t be seen as a coward in front of the kids.

“Nice to meet you,” I said, realizing that my accent surprised him.

“Nice to meet you too ma’am,” he replied. He offered me nothing more than a glance, focusing on Mia more. He either saw her more as a threat or he liked her. Based on his scent, it was both. I almost giggled to myself but that would cause a whole new series of questions from the kids, and I did not want to explain how I can smell the man’s arousal every time he looks at my cousin.

Finally we arrived at the 17th floor. The reception and the offices seemed empty so we relied on Jason to lead us to the correct office. Jason turned toward Laura and pointed to a door in front of him.

“If you wouldn’t mind waiting here please. Someone will come right along to talk to you.” Laura looked at Mia in fear, but she wasn’t given a chance to complain. Shawn went and grabbed her hand, opening the door with the other.

“Thank you Jason, for taking such good care of us.” He said with the confidence of a much older man, dragging his mother in the bright room, that was clearly meant for children. As soon as Sarah saw all the toys and brightly colored walls she squealed and ran in the room behind them. Jason closed the room and turned to us.

“Please follow me, Mr. Smith is waiting in his office.” We followed him to the end of the hall. He opened an office door and motioned us inside.

“Miss Mia and Miss Sasha are here for you sir.” He said to the room and almost pushed us inside.

Mr. Smith was not as I expected him to be. I expected an older gentleman or at least middle aged, but he looked as young as us. Mid 30, tall and well built, with dark blond hair and glasses that hid his brown eyes. He assessed us and got up from his office chair, fixing the jacket as he walked toward us. Mia was in front of him first and we repeated the greetings. Mr. Smith offered us seats that we gladly took while Jason was standing outside of the door, close enough that if we would threaten his employer he would hear it. Of course I had no doubt that Andrew Smith could defend himself, because he was dripping demon magic with every fiber of his being.

I can deal with vampires, because they are fast but one hit from me and they are hurt enough to slow down or die. Witches can hardly hurt me with their magic, even fire wouldn’t do any real damage to me and other shifters, I have no doubt I would win almost any fight. But demons? They freaked me out. Half demons even more so. I heard that if demons do manage to impregnate a woman most of them die either while carrying a baby or during birth. Then at least a quarter of those children are so filled with magic that their human body can’t handle it so they explode while still a baby or toddler and another quarter die by the time they are teens due to unknown causes. Those who survive have an extremely high chance of going insane or of losing their soul, which makes them psychotic and have to be put down like rabid dogs, because that’s exactly how they are, rabid. However those that survive all of their trials, are the cream of the crop, so to say. They are strong, nearly indestructible and each specialize in magic that they have complete control over. Basically they are the super hero or mutants that you see on the tv, except that all of them are hard to kill because even if you shot them, you won’t do nearly as much damage as you would do to any other creature.

The more I looked at Andrew Smith, the more I knew I never ever wanted to meet him in a fight. I wanted to alert Mia to be careful, but I didn’t know how to do that without alerting the man in front of me that I knew, just how powerful he was. No wonder the vampires in Memphis had such a problem with keeping control over the city.

We sat for a little while, staring at each other.

“A mutual friend of ours said we might be able to help each other out,” said Andrew. Mia was busy twirling the black bracelet in her hands so I was the one that replied.

“How much has Sebastian told you?” He fully expected Mia to reply to his question and was surprised when I was the one that spoke.

“He said that there is a witch kin woman with two witch children, who were being persecuted by what could be considered a demon. He mentioned that they might be agreeable to a contract in exchange for their safety.”

“That is all he told you? And you just agreed to a meeting?” I was curious. Andrew Smith sighed loudly and leaned over his desk.

“I owe Sebastian a big favor, so I would have done the meeting even without mentioning the demon. But as half demons I do believe that we are responsible to keep our kin in check so they don’t harm anyone, especially children, for they are the most precious. We are also always on the lookout for a capable witch that would be willing to work with us, and we discovered that it’s best to simply raise one yourself since that way we can make sure they are loyal to us.” Mia was upset about something and she voiced her opinion.

“So your plan is to raise the kids as your own personal witches? What if they don’t want to work for you?” Andrew shrugged.

“That is their choice. You have to understand that since we started these kinds of contracts we haven’t had a single witch who would leave before the contract is up. We offer a lot of money, schooling and protection for a couple years of work for us. If they want to work after the initial contract is over, that is their choice.”

“So you will offer your protection to Laura and she will have to sign a contract that the kids will come to work for you? Would that be as soon as they come into power or later in life?” I asked, trying to calm Mia down.

“When they see themselves capable of helping of course. We prefer that they finish some kind of university, but some kids don’t do well in school so once they come of age they can decide what to do. We don’t force anyone to work for us, but like I said already, the offer is quite hard to decline.” He smiled and he looked almost normal, like a boy next door, offering you a deal you can’t refuse. I sighed, looking at Mia, who looked thoughtful.

“So Sebastian didn’t tell you what we have been dealing with?” Andrew shook his head.

“He didn’t mention any specifics, except that a friend of his got hurt quite badly and was on the verge of death.” I didn’t correct him that I actually died.

“I would like to know more details, if you don’t mind though. If the kids will be under our protection we would love to know what we are dealing with.” It was Mia’s turn to lean closer to the table.

“To be honest, the problem is, we don’t know much. We know what Laura told us, that she belonged to an old witch family who sold her to a sorcerer and they made a deal. Any girls born in the marriage would go to the family of Laura and any boys would stay with the sorcerer. Laura says that she was spelled most of the marriage and she has barely any recollection of anything, but she does know that both children were conceived in a magic circle of sorts.” That seemed to surprise Andrew. He leaned back, hands in his lap.

“When she was pregnant for the second time she finally woke up from the spell and escaped. After several months of running with two small kids she found us and our bakery. I knew she needed help as soon as she stepped in so I offered her a creation of mine, a spell called Hideaway, that hides your magical signature. It offered her enough respite that she managed to get a house and start to live her life, but recently kids have been having nightmares of their father that he is searching for them and a week ago they were attacked by a shadow that tried to kill little Sarah.” Andrew lifted his arm a bit, indicating that he has a question.

“May I ask, what do you mean by shadow?” Mia looked at me, wanting me to answer the question.

“I don’t know what else to call it, except shadow, for it looked like one. It was humanoid shape, non corporeal and see-through and its goal was to eat Sarah’s magic. I managed to hurt it enough that it was dying and with its last thought the shadow connected to me and revealed some information.” Adam was clearly confused by something, but he let me continue.

“It said that it was created to steal the magic and life force of children, and that its creator was not the one that was controlling it. There was one who made it and one who was using it and collecting the magic to make itself stronger.” I didn’t know how else to explain it, but he used my pause to ask me.

“I thought Mia was the witch. How did you fight a shadow that was non corporeal?” The question caught me off guard.

“She is a shapeshifter, but she is bonded to me, and that came with certain perks, including astral projection. Except that her astral projection can actually hurt and fight, not just observe.” Andrew’s eyebrows shot up and he looked at me with new appreciation.

“When Sarah was attacked she magically sent an SOS to everyone around her. I was just lucky enough that I was the first one there, because sometimes evil can hijack the SOS and then you are in double trouble.” I shrugged, not wanting to discuss my status as a guardian.

“So you killed the shadow?” He asked, clearly wanting to know more.

“No, while it was dying it revealed to me how it was created and in death, the essence would return to the creator who could simply remake the shadow. When it told me how it was created I found the essence and released it though, so they did lose a minion.” I took a breath before I continued.

“The essence of the shadow was the soul of a newborn, killed as soon as it took its first breath and then made into a weapon.” I was still angry about that poor soul even though I knew it was in a better place now. I just hoped that the soul will be reborn and that it won’t resent me for placing it in the servitude of a goddess.

“How did you release a soul? Did you destroy the body completely?” I was getting a bit uncomfortable because I didn’t want to discuss Morena, so I looked at Mia, asking for help.

“That doesn’t matter now, what matters is that it was done, the shadow will no longer bother anyone. We can only hope that it was just that one, but realistically its creator could have an army of shadows sucking the magic of the world.” Adam nodded, looking beyond us now. Mia was the one who continued.

“We decided to redo her protection in hopes that it will be enough, but on the day that I was supposed to do the circle they were attacked again. This time it was… a massive cloud of darkness that ate my magic as I was casting it. We would have all most likely died, if that one,” she glanced at me,

“Didn’t jump inside of the damn cloud and touched its core. That gave me a foothold and I claimed it as mine. The fact that I could claim it as mine is still a big mystery but the more I look at it, the more demonic in origin it seems, and now it is linked to me.” She said distastefully. She took the bracelet off, the one that contained the minion and gently put it on the table between us.

“I bound it in the stones, but I used up all the magic that it had collected so that I could heal Sasha, but its essence is still there.” Andrew looked very intrigued and as he was leaning over to pick it up, Mia warned him.

“Be careful, I have no idea how it will react. It likes Sasha so the two of us aren’t in any danger, but you are a stranger and I don’t want to be responsible if something happens.” Andrew looked at us with an odd expression and instead of picking up the bracelet he picked up the phone.

“Trudy darling, would you please come to my office? I have an object that I would like you to look at and bring some gloves.” The phone went back, but the conversation stopped.

“So this is the reason why Sebastian wanted me to get involved?” He finally asked.

“I believe so,” Mia replied.

“I think the bigger problem is, we simply don’t know who is targeting her. The most obvious culprit is, of course, her husband, the sorcerer. But we don’t have any definite proof that it is him and with all the weird magic eating entities coming around their house, Mia and I simply can’t protect her anymore. Unless we would move in with her to keep her safe 24/7 but even that is not a solution. We were discussing killing the husband, however that would be a last resort.” I said once the silence became uncomfortable.

The knock on the door startled me. I turned around to see a young woman in her early twenties come in. She was dressed in a classic lawyer outfit, suit with a white shirt. Her big smile diminished as soon as she saw us, but seeing me startled her enough that she stopped walking toward the desk.

“Trudy, these are Mia and Sasha and they have come with an object I would like you to see.” That seemed to have woken her up as she walked toward the desk. She nodded to us, trying to be friendly, but ignored us nonetheless. As soon as she saw the bracelet she stopped and put on some black gloves.

“Do not touch that,” she whispered to no one in particular as she slowly crept closer.

“That is the most foul thing I have ever seen.” She finally said, glancing at Andrew.

“Is it a demon?” He asked her.

“I am not sure, there is definitely some demon essence in that, but it is all twisted and wrong.” Andrew looked concerned and he explained about my encounter with the shadow. Slowly but surely, Trudy was backtracking away from the desk.

“That might be what happened to whatever this creature is. I think it used to be a demon, but someone twisted it and changed it into… something else?” she offered an explanation.

“Could a sorcerer do this?” He asked, not looking at us.

“I have no idea. I don’t even know how this is possible, but I do know that if you touch it, it will escape out of that gem and I am not sure what it will do once that happens.” Mia took the bracelet and put it back on her hand.

“It bonded to me, so other than coming out and hiding behind me, it would be harmless.” She was almost pouting when she said that.

“Did she create it?” Andrew asked Trudy. Mia looked insulted and I had to give him props for asking the question in front of us.

“No.” Trudy then excused herself and left quickly, not wanting to look at us anymore.

“Well then, it does seem to be demonic in nature and you have not created it, which means we have a rogue warlock or sorcerer who knows how to subjugate demons. Both options fall under our domain, so we will be looking into it. Since the creature seems attached to you, do you have any plans on what to do with it?” Andrew was writing something on the laptop in front of him while talking.

“I was hoping you would know how to set it free?” Mia said quietly.

“It does act as a familiar but every time a witch inspects my aura, all they see is a demon familiar and that is making me quite the outcast.” I looked at her in surprise, because she never mentioned anything like that to me. Andrew looked at her thoughtfully.

“I have several experts on call that might be able to help, so we can arrange another date for your visit, if you don’t mind?” Mia agreed that she would love to visit again if it solves the issue.

After exchanging phone numbers, we were dismissed and Jason escorted us in front of the room where Laura and the kids were talking to another lawyer looking lady. Laura looked happy for the first time since the troubles started and I guess they came to an arrangement as well.

Laura and the kids stayed in Memphis under the care of the half demons since they deemed that going home to pack wasn’t safe enough and Mia stayed with them, to see them settled and to make sure that they would be alright. I said goodbye to the kids and left to go home, hoping that our troubles are over now and I can return to baking some nice muffins and hopefully to another movie night with Tim.