Chapter 8 “Disturbed”

Chapter 8 “Disturbed”

Kyoko woke slowly the next morning to find she couldn’t move. Opening her eyes, she saw ebony hair with silver streaks lying across the pillow and knew Toya had joined her. She smiled softly, wondering why he always did that. She was facing him but oddly enough… there was someone pressed up against her back.

Becoming more alert she frowned. Seeing the long silver hair that had strayed across her neck and arm, her eyes widened knowing Kyou was also with her. She was sandwiched between him and Toya.

Looking toward the dresser, she confirmed more than she had bargained for as the mirror gave her a wide view. Kamui was lying across the top of the pillows above them with his face buried in her hair. Shinbe and Kotaro were both sprawled at the outer edges of the mattress.

Seeing movement beside the bed, she noted Tasuki sitting in the overstuffed chair with a pillow and blanket… watching her with disturbed amethyst eyes.

She frowned wondering when she had sent out the memo for a sleepover. At least they all had their clothes on. She cringed realizing her nightgown had ridden up to her hips and her legs were tangled up with both Toya’s and Kyou’s. She bit her lower lip wondering just whose hand was cupping the inside of her upper thigh.

Her gaze flew back to Tasuki’s as she felt heat rise into her cheeks.

Without warning, she pushed against Toya, inadvertently pushing against Kyou at the same time. It was followed by two heavy thumps… one on each side of the bed and Tasuki almost falling out of his chair in a sudden fit of laughter.

Kyoko quickly sat up and looked around seeing Shinbe pop up from the floor like a jack in the box. She silently decided the other thump must have been Kotaro, but she forgot to look when she heard Suki yell, “Get off of me, you pervert!”

Her head did swivel to the other side when she heard Amni add, “How do you think I feel?” He and Kotaro both slowly stood up at the same time, looking a bit pale.

Not known for his tact, Toya placed his palms on her shoulders and turned her back around to face him. “Where were you last night?”

Kyoko’s lips parted, then she snapped them shut as all the color quickly drained from her face. Things came back to her in quick pops and snaps, making her flinch. Her psychic powers had never latched on so strong. Looking down at the cover, she let her hair fall in front of her face so she could hide her thoughts for a few moments.

“So that’s why everyone slept in here like a litter of puppies,” she mused to no one in particular.

It was Kyou who reached for her chin to bring her gaze up to his. “Give us a minute,” he said to everyone that was listening.

“She shouldn’t be left alone,” Toya insisted as the others started vacating the room.

“Do not defy me,” Kyou growled as he caressed her cheek with the pad of his thumb. He let go of her and turned his back, letting his long hair fall like a curtain between them. He raised an eyebrow at Toya, seeing he was the only one left in the room. He hid his smirk when Toya clenched his hands into fists and stormed out of the room.

Slipping from the bed, Kyoko pulled the nightgown from her body then opened the closet door. Seeing Kyou’s reflection in the mirror that covered the inside of the door, she asked the one question that was bothering her most.

“Why does Darious call you and the others… Guardians?” she sighed when his golden eyes snapped up to lock with hers.

She stayed perfectly still as he rose from the bed and started toward her. Still watching his approach in the mirror, her arms came up to cover as much of her body as she could. She didn’t say a word as his hands slid over her arms to join her and he drew her back against him. Never breaking eye contact, his fingers laced through hers, touching her skin.

“Because that is what we are,” he whispered next to her ear. “And it is time that you remembered us.”

Kyoko couldn’t help it as she leaned her head back against his shoulder, feeling every inch of his body against hers. She could feel her heartbeat thumping hard just under her skin, setting off a chain reaction as her blood heated and her lips parted.

Just like with Darious, she could feel fleeting caresses all over her body, even though his hands were still.

“Open your mind to me,” Kyou requested, relieved to finally let her see him for what he truly was. Golden feathers showered the room as he revealed his true identity. He could already feel her psychic powers pulling at him and this time he would not hide. He and his brothers had hidden themselves from her for far too long.

Whatever had happened to her last night had shaken her dormant powers and awakened demons that had no right to be awakened. Even now, he could feel them stirring from what seemed to be a very long sleep.

Kyoko could once again hear the static within her mind as sound, vision, and thought began to meld within her mind’s eye… the pull of information was so strong that it frightened her. She tried to pull away but Kyou held her in a firm grip.

She could see it now… through his eyes. Ever since she had been born, the brothers had been near her. They had tried to protect her from her own powers, even from a distance while she was but a child.

One memory stood out however, one she hadn’t thought about in years. She’d been five years old at the time and wandered off from her mother. She remembered being scared and alone, silently crying. A man with long white hair and kind golden eyes stopped to talk to her but she hadn’t said much because she wasn’t supposed to talk to strangers.

The man continued to stay with her, talking to her until another man with black and white hair and silver eyes showed up with her very worried mother. She hadn’t known it, but her power had been spiking with her fear and it had alerted the guardians.

Since her sixteenth birthday the guardians had felt her calling the master demons and their underlings from their sleep to the city. The guardians had set up the agency and hired her so that they could keep watch over her and try to keep her powers tame and a war from starting.

Kyou tried to pull away from her to sever the connection, but Kyoko held onto him as she watched him through the mirror… no longer seeing him but his knowledge of all that had come before.

They had bided their time, defeating the weaker demons and keeping Kyoko from having to use her powers as much as possible. They had also tried to keep her sexuality from awakening because as long as she was innocent, the master demons could not find her.

As long as her blood-bond was not broken, the masters could only use their weaker minion against the humans. Sending their puppets out to plague the city was nothing compared to what they would do when the true war started.

“Let me go,” Kyou growled into her ear, trying to withhold information from her, but her priestess powers had surfaced and until it was satisfied, he could not break free.

Kyoko gasped seeing the truth. His mind was like a riddle but she deciphered bits and pieces quickly.

To keep her from craving a lover… Kyou and Toya had secretly crept into her dreams and made love to her many times without the other guardians knowing… satisfying her need and cooling her blood, though the memories had remained lost within her dreams. They had done everything they could to keep her power under lock and key because it was those powers that would summon the real beasts from their sleep.

If the masters ever found her, they would try to drag her into the demon world and chain her there for all eternity… the same as they had done with Darious. She didn’t want to think of what they would do to her and wanted to shiver.

Kyoko could feel her psychic connection dipping deeper into Kyou’s past… searching for something that he was trying so hard to hide from her. As she tapped into the secrets, she could feel Kyou’s fury at the invasion, but she couldn’t stop until she knew the truth. She listened to his soul as blurry images accompanied the distant sound.

She had already lost her life once so long ago but Kyou doubted Darious remembered this. He wasn’t even sure what the black winged angel would do if he did remember her sacrifice. It had been the priestess who had broken his chains of eternity that night he had fought his way out of hell.

The guardians had wished to be there at her side, helping her, but the fates had chosen their path. They could not dive into the pit… it was forbidden. When the demons had killed the priestess, Kyou and his brothers had been banished from the mortal plane so that they could watch over her soul until her rebirth.

Darious was a guardian… but he was not one of them. He had come before them and had stood alone against the demons. Even the guardians had only heard of him as legend and prophecy. It had been the priestess that had sacrificed herself to free him from his bondage. She had been the lover of all the guardians, as it should be, but her soul had reached for Darious and they had all lost her in the process.

Kyou could only hope that history would not repeat itself. He had not even known for certain that Darious was still within the mortal plane until he had seen him fight the hell hag last night. The centuries he had been held captive and never knowing the love Kyoko had offered was too much for Kyou to comprehend.

However, what worried Kyou the most was the fact that Darious was just as powerful as all the guardians put together, if not more so. It was Darious's untamed fury and, from what he smelled on her skin last night… desire, that was awakening Kyoko’s powers. It was dangerously arousing the master demons from their sleep.

This was setting into motion a demon war that could destroy them all and leave the mortals without protection. Armageddon would come in the form of the monsters the humans had forgotten to fear by turning them into fiction.

It often made Kyou wonder if those same fiction writers had not encountered demons sometime in their lives. The descriptions and actions of the monsters within the pages were very uncanny. Yet each told of a hero, an avenging angel that saved mankind from such evil and tyranny… Darious.

Darious was not invincible and that had been proven when he'd fought the masters and been captured the first time. He would not let Darious have Kyoko, even if it meant sending him back into the pit he had crawled out of. Kyoko had lost her life the first time to free Darious… it would not happen again.

Kyou staggered back from Kyoko, angry that she was taking secrets he had not offered… siphoning too much for her own good. His illusive wings vanished when she turned on him in what Kyou was sure to be something akin to disgust or even outrage. Actually, he didn’t know what he had expected, but seeing the tears glittering in her eyes had him taking a step toward her, only for her to throw her hand out in denial.

Kyoko felt something slam through her body and out her palm with enough force to toss her back on the bed and Kyou against the wall so hard that the plaster cracked and caved in, leaving his imprint in the wall.

Placing her hand over her mouth in horror, Kyoko cringed as Kyou slid down the wall with a shocked look on his face. They stared at each other unblinking and Kyoko was sure Kyou would definitely hate her now. She’d never attacked any of them before. She mistook his shock for anger and lowered her head to hide her tears.

The bedroom door was flung open to reveal the other guardians as they rushed into the room. They stared between Kyou and Kyoko, wondering what had happened. Kyoko looked up at their entry, but it was Toya whose gaze attracted her attention. As soon as their eyes locked, her power quieted and she reached out her arms for him.

Toya paid no attention to anyone else as he lowered himself in front of her, letting her wrap her arms around his neck and hide her face from the world. Wrapping an arm around her, he gently lifted her so he could climb on the bed with her and hold her at the same time. Her silent tears began soaking his shirt but he didn’t give a damn.

He could understand why she needed him and only him right now… it had always been this way. She was the only one who could cool the fire within him and he was the same for her. In the past when something had gone wrong… their souls would call out to each other and would not calm until they were together.

Toya ran his other palm up under her hair to caress the back of her neck soothingly as he silently indicated with a nod of his head that the others should leave. He could feel the mixed emotions coming from Kyou as he picked himself up off the floor, but he didn’t care. If he had to, he would smash his brother against the wall a couple more times just to get him away from Kyoko… if he had to.

He would have smiled at the thought of Kyoko doing something that he had wanted to do for years now, if the fact that her using her powers wasn’t as dangerous as it really was. He closed his eyes and waited for the click of the door shutting before tightening his hold on Kyoko, savoring her for a moment, then nudged his cheek against hers to get her attention.

“You can come out of hiding now. They’re gone,” Toya whispered.

***** Kyou stormed into the makeshift meeting room where everyone was waiting. He didn’t know who he was madder at… himself, or Kyoko for looking so deeply at something she shouldn’t have.

Some secrets where never meant to be told, yet she had pulled unwilling confessions right from the very depths of his soul. She’d always had a knack for doing things like that. Even in the past nothing had been a secret from her… except perhaps the love the guardians all shared for her.

He slammed the door behind him and paced back and forth in front of several sets of waiting eyes knowing things would never be the same. Kyoko now knew what they were, how they’d gotten here, and where they came from. She also knew the true meaning of her own existence… and this was far more frightening than her knowing about them.

He glanced sideways at the mortals among them, wishing he could count them out of what was to come, but he knew they would never accept it. Everyone in this room had been chosen due to their connections with each other in the past. Even Kyoko’s idiot grandfather had a connection to all of them, though he was not present.

However, Kyou knew the older man would stick his nose into their business again soon enough and the golden guardian was surprisingly not adverse to the idea. The human was actually rather clever and had a vast knowledge of demons, though he hid it behind the mask of a prankster and idiocy.

Kyou finally stopped pacing and looked directly at everyone in the room, making sure to establish eye contact with all of them.

“Kyoko is aware of certain information which is vital to us,” he began. “Some of you are aware of what this information is. Those of you that are not… just know that it is of great importance and could tip the scales drastically in our favor or just as easily turn them against us.” He took a deep breath.

“I cannot stress enough that Kyoko’s continued safety is our prime objective. We must keep this Darious away from her at all costs or it could trigger a massive war between the demons and humankind. You know the history as I have drilled it into all of you and made the tomes accessible in the library. This is not some horror novel, this is real life.”

“What if they get her?” Kotaro had to ask.

“Then we get her back by any means necessary,” Kyou stated. “Our continued existence in this world is no longer important if Kyoko is killed… like before.”

Everyone felt the chill enter the room and all eyes turned to Amni and Yuuhi as the psychic brothers reached out and laced their fingers within each other’s, combining their powers. All light and heat seemed to be sucked toward them as if to spotlight the words they spoke in union.

“The child of melancholy has now become the angel of fury… the blood red eyes of the masters have opened, leaving gifts of the dead to lure the angel who has lost his wings… the chains of eternity rattle as they wait to reclaim the one that was stolen from them… the shackled split and separate within the pit as the masters turn their heads toward the priestess.”

Their voices became strained as their grip on each other tightened, “There is something down there that is not a demon… it is he who is the most dangerous to us. He knows we can see him.”

Their powers were severed as Amni and Yuuhi where ripped away from each other as if a small bomb had been set off between them, sending them slamming into opposite walls. Yuuhi’s small body crumbled to the floor unable to withstand such abuse but Amni remained conscious as he slid down the drywall, falling to his hands and knees.

His dazed blue eyes showed the fear he felt as the words tumbled from his lips. “The masters are together, shaking off their remnants of sleep. Their minions are scurrying toward them, fulfilling wishes of blood and gore. They’ve seen us watching them and they know the priestess is among us. They are under the oldest church in the city and Darious is closing in on them. But if he fights them alone… he will not win.”

Amni coughed up blood as his eyes turned white then flashed back to startling blue. “It’s too late!” he cried out in anguish.

A dark blur streaked by the large window that had been replaced between last evening and this morning. Everyone shot to their feet as a second and third one went by at amazing speed. Suddenly one of the blurs of movement changed course and flew straight at the window.

The demon clung to the glass, baring unsightly teeth at them. Muscles flexed beneath its leather like skin that appeared to be a cross between reptile and human. Leathery wings beat against its back while the claws on its hands and feet struggled to pierce the glass.

Suki involuntarily yelped and Shinbe quickly moved to stand in front of her. Kamui calmly closed his laptop and stood side by side with Kyou. Tasuki and Yohji had drawn the handguns from their holsters and held them up, ready to start shooting, while Kotaro merely sent them a halfhearted glare.

“Guns won’t work against gargoyles,” Kotaro stated.

Amni slowly rose to his knees and grasped the nearest pant leg to him, tugging on it weakly. Kotaro looked down and saw the fear in the psychic’s eyes.

“Kyoko,” Amni whispered.

Every window in the building suddenly shattered, raining glass on the occupants of the room and every office below them. The iron beams of the architecture groaned with added stress as the floor shifted under them.

“Holy hell!” Kamui whispered, looking down at the floor that was literally wobbling.

The gargoyles that had been flying around outside flew through the now open windows of the conference room and landed on the floor with a stony crunch. Drool poured from the corners of their fanged mouths, which were drenched in blood and other things the mortals and guardians alike did not want to study closer.

“Get them out of here!” Kyou ordered, picking up a still unconscious Yuuhi and reaching for the doorframe.

Pulling himself into the hall, he watched their backs as his teammates rushed out of the room after him. Tasuki took Yuuhi from him as he went by and, for once, no one questioned Kyou’s order. After the last person vacated the room, Kyou quickly slammed his open palm against the doorframe, creating a barrier against the monsters.

He stepped back when one of the gargoyles ran at the barrier, intent on breaking through it. The creature roared in pain as it was blown backwards and hit the floor. Kyou only stayed long enough to see the monsters pacing the conference room before flapping their wings and flying out the window.

Kyou quickly ran down the hall and toward the stairwell seeing that the emergency door stood ajar. Deciding to take the short route, he leapt over the railing straight down the long shaft. He landed hard on his feet a few floors down from the rest of them and rushed down two more flights to the accommodations level.

Kicking the door open, stumbling when the entire building shook right down to its foundations. He looked back in time to see the rest of the team emerging.

“Evacuate!” he shouted. “Kotaro, Shinbe, Kamui, get them out of here now!”

The three guardians nodded and steered everyone back to the stairs. Kyou knew the humans were safe for the time being. Now he needed to evacuate Toya and Kyoko.

Now that there were no humans to witness him doing it, he traced down the corridor in a blur and rounded the last corner, growling when he saw Kyoko’s door hanging open and deep claw marks in the wood. The barrier seal he’d placed on it for protection was destroyed and claw marks also marred the granite walls.

Pausing in the doorway, his heart stopped beating when he saw half of the room missing as if something had taken a bite out of the building. Toya stood in the mouth of the opening and Kyoko was nowhere to be found. The floor shifted once more and Kyou moved again. Taking a bleeding and shell-shocked Toya by the arm, he threw the silver guardian over his shoulder and leapt out of the window.

Translucent golden wings shattered from his back just as the ceiling of Kyoko’s bedroom began to collapse. He landed safely on the roof of a bank a couple blocks away and looked back just in time to see the agency building crumble to the ground.

Placing Toya on the roof floor, Kyou’s wings vanished and from his vantage point, he searched for the other members of the agency. A smirk appeared on his face when he saw the two hummers in their fleet speeding down the road toward his location.

The enemy had Kyoko but the guardians knew where she was going and why. This time they would not be trapped in another dimension, powerless to do anything but watch. This time they would be there to stop the atrocities of the past from repeating themselves… they would get her back.

***** Darious had been so angry. Not at her but at himself. He was a fool for even trying to form some kind of bond with a human. Yet something about her called to his very soul and would not relinquish its hold on him.

Not wanting to see the guardians consoling her, he had left and now found himself on the other side of town… the harsher side, just like him.

The look of horror in her eyes had been seared into his memory. He could still smell her scent on his body and he knew only one way to get rid of the rage that was building within him. He needed to find a demon… or even a hoard of them would work with the mood he was in.

Darious glared up at the blistering sun knowing it was his fault that November 1st now would hold a record high. Since leaving Kyoko, he had felt a shift in the air. He didn’t know what had caused it, but it felt as if evil was slithering in the hot wind.

“Let it come,” he whispered darkly.

The humans milling around would think nothing supernatural could touch them in the light of day, but then they were also foolish enough not to keep their guard up during the darkness at the end of it. They were safe during neither.

Inhaling long and hard, he knew he would have to search deep to find the demons that were strong enough for him to unleash his fury on and make it count. He was tired of the masters hiding from him and only sending their toys out for him to step on. Catching the scent of old blood and rotting flesh, he looked across the rooftops of the buildings that littered this side of town.

In the distance, he saw a large rundown building that had once been a grand structure. A dark ominous cloud hung above it and dark shadows drifted around the building. Wanting to feel the rush of the wind, Darious took off at a run, jumping from one building to the next with a sense of freedom that he knew would not last, as he grew closer to the stench.

Landing in a crouch on the vaulted roof, he turned around in a fluid movement and crawled back toward the center of the arced building where a huge multi-hued skylight had been placed.

Seeing the shadow of a cross cast over the shingles beside him, Darious glanced up at the iron cross. He shook off the feeling of déjà vu, knowing there was no such thing as a safe place from demons. They had come up through the sacred ground of a monastery and now they hid within abandoned churches. It appeared that not even the human’s God could save them at this point.

Looking down into the sanctuary, he could see that it was mostly empty. But looks could be deceiving as he nearly choked on the smell of rotting corpses that had been tossed aside and left unburied. The demons had been busy within the city.

Stepping onto the glass, he smiled as it shattered, sending him and a spray of shards straight down onto the pulpit. Darious didn’t even slow his fall, wanting to feel the pain of the impact as he landed on his feet, bringing himself into a crouch as the rest of the shards sizzled through the air… some of them imbedding themselves in his clothing and deep within his skin.

The blood and pain helped to center his thoughts on why he was here. The torture he had received at the hands of the demons made this sharp pain feel more like a gentle caress. He fed his fury off the agony of the glass working its way back out of his skin and falling to the dusty hardwood floor knowing it had always been this way.

No matter how much damage the demons had done to him, even when they’d stripped the skin from his body… he had always healed, but he’d felt every moment of the injury.

His eyes were hooded and dark as he looked around him at the painted scenes on the church windows. Winged creatures stared back at him, making his heart twist at the memory of his own wings that had been ripped away from him. It was the one injury that had never healed.

His breath stilled in his throat when a sound rumbled from deep within the bowels of the church… he had heard it before. Echoing voices surrounded him, giving the church a feeling like it was coming from the walls themselves. Monks praying for salvation, but this time the words were tainted with darkness.

Cloaking himself within an invisible shield, Darious rose from his crouch and quickly descended the stairs.

He had been within these rooms before… their familiarity reached for him like a long-lost lover. Some of the stones used in the foundations had survived the test of time and were made into a part of this structure. This was the very place he had found the scrolls… and he had ignored many of them.

The tainted song led him deep into a maze of catacombs and tunnels that opened up to a massive underground cathedral. Darious realized the original monastery had been covered over with mounds upon mounds of dirt, hiding it and the secrets it contained from the rest of the world. The new cathedral above had been built with the tools available, stones from the original structure being among them.

All corners of the room were packed with demons of every kind. Their gazes were riveted on a circle of priests with ebony eyes. Darious recognized their possession but the main part of his attention was the giant water-filled hole they were positioned around. The water was completely calm, very mirror like and Darious felt something spike inside of him, causing a bone deep chill throughout his body.

More demon minions of all breeds littered the floor, walls and even the ceiling. Wicked mutterings could be heard below the chanting of the priests and Darious took advantage of their inattention to take it all in. Turning his head to the side, he nearly growled upon realizing the underground cavern stretched for miles into the rock and toward the heart of the city.

Darious then knew if he revealed himself he would be overrun. Even his fury would not win against such numbers and if his instincts were right… the master demons would soon emerge from the water.

Almost as though his thoughts had been heard, the water began to ripple and slosh onto the cold marble floor at the feet of the priest. Large blobs of water started to rise up and take shape. The demons closest to them moved back, bowing hurriedly as if asking forgiveness for even being in their presence.

One of the blobs formed legs and stepped onto the floor, slowly becoming solid. When the transformation was done, a large Chimera demon stood in their midst. It roared and all those present quickly bowed low on the floor to pay homage. One demon was slow to respond and the Chimera was on it, ripping the creature into several pieces before it began feasting.

The Chimera demons were the chosen protectors of the demon masters and their coming signaled that the masters themselves would soon follow. Darious knew that one more evil would emerge before the masters crossed the gate. The very guardian of their realm, the gatekeeper whom legend told had many forms.

The remaining Chimeras slipped from the water and stepped away from the priests, growling low in their massive chests. Even now Darious watched as the powerful minions clawed their way through the throng of lesser demons, joining the ranks to await Armageddon.

The last time this occurred, Darious had stood a chance because the masters had scattered across the earth and taken their minions with them. Hunting them separately or in small groups had rid the world of most of the demons. However, those remaining had done what he believed nearly impossible and brought forth his greatest fear. They had put aside the differences of their rank and pooled their powers together in preparation to once again open a portal into the demon realm.

The image of Kyoko lifeless and bloody seared through his mind, causing his hands to fist at his sides.

Unable to watch the proceedings further, Darious turned and fled the catacombs. Several demons were unfortunate enough to arrive late to the congregation. Without stopping, Darious beheaded the creatures by focusing power in his hand to a razor sharp point. The stench of black blood rose up around him and he knew it wouldn’t be long before some of the demons gathered caught the scent and came to investigate.

Tracing back to the main room of the church, Darious leaped up and out through the skylight that he had entered originally. In the short time he’d been within the church, a storm had gathered and it was now pouring rain. In the distance, he watched with morbid fascination as three twisters reached their destructive fingers down from the sky and began their demolition of the city.

His anger and fear was so high, he felt like he was going to explode. His head felt light and his heart was beating unbearably fast. Hearing a distinct whimpering cry on the wind, Darious looked away from the twisters across the city and spied a small army of gargoyles coming to join their brethren below.

His breath caught in his throat when he saw one of them holding something… a human. Narrowing his eyes, he growled when he recognized the human who was struggling within the grip of the massive claws.