Chapter 9 “Unwanted Sanctuary”
Grandpa Hogo had been relaxing at home watching his favorite talk show. Today there’d been a woman who’d cheated on her husband of fifteen years with ten different men. What the wife didn’t know was the husband had also been cheating… with her sister. A good catfight had just started when the emergency alert system interrupted his television time.
The emergency news broadcast was showing a building close to downtown. The reporters were saying that all of the windows had blown out and that the foundation was shaking dangerously. The cameras from helicopters zoomed in on two hummers that tore out of the underground parking garage and took off down the street.
Grandpa Hogo watched in horror as the building collapsed and immediately got up from his place on the couch. He kept the volume turned up, listening for anything further. The reporter’s calm voice abruptly turned to screams and Grandpa went back out into the living room to see what was happening. A different camera on the ground showed the horrific footage of the helicopter being ripped apart by a tornado.
“Just like the legends,” Grandpa whispered before returning to his bedroom to finished gathering the few items he needed. Slinging the small pack over his shoulder, he ran out onto the tile-covered grounds of the shrine and stopped next to a slightly discolored tile. Pulling it loose, he moved it away and lifted out a small box.
“They’re gonna need you more than ever,” Grandpa stated and lightly dusted the top of the box off.
“Grandpa, what’s going on?” Tama yelled from the doorway of the house.
“Get your mother into the basement and don’t come out until I get back!” Grandpa yelled back.
“But what--“
“DO WHAT I SAY BOY!”
Tama’s expression melted into one of panic. He knew that tone very well and knew not to disobey it. Slamming the front door closed, Grandpa nodded in satisfaction when he heard Tama yelling for his mother.
Getting into his beat-up pickup truck, Grandpa cranked the engine and burned rubber down the street.
***** Kyoko whimpered as she stared up at the faces above her. Long sharp teeth jutted out of drooling lips on faces she had only seen cast in stone resting on top of buildings. There were ten gargoyles, all of them around seven feet tall and full of nasty bunching muscle and claws like razors.
They’d simultaneously burst through the outer wall of her bedroom. Toya had fought to protect her, but he’d been pushed aside by the enormous claws and held down while the rest descended on her. The biggest one had grabbed her and flown back out the whole it had created.
She had screamed when the gargoyle holding her only by her ankle hefted her up and grabbed her shoulder with its other clawed hand and shifted the first hand to her thigh. It was only then that Kyoko noticed the monster wasn’t using its claws, though they did dig a little whenever the wind picked up or she tried to struggle.
Kyoko’s only saving grace was knowing Toya had not been truly harmed when they’d grabbed her. Since the one carrying her had his grip on her shoulder and thigh, she let her head dangle trying to see where they were taking her. The raging storm made it hard to see through the sheets of rain.
Watching the rooftops fly by below was starting to make her dizzy. Lifting her head a bit, something in the distance caught her attention and her gaze narrowed. Darious? She blinked to get the water out of her vision but when she opened them the image was gone.
***** “What the hell happened?” Kotaro demanded, getting out of the hummer and approaching Kyou and Toya. “Where’s Kyoko?”
Kyou had gotten Toya down to the ground via the elevator in the building and waited for the rest of the team to find them.
“Kyoko has been taken by the enemy,” Kyou stated. “We need to formulate a plan before approaching their stronghold.”
“Plan my ass!” Tasuki yelled surprising everyone. “This is Kyoko we’re talking about here. Have you heard the news on the radio? Tornadoes are touching down all over the city. The agency is gone and we’ve got nothing to go on except a very vague idea of where they’ve taken her. We wouldn’t even have that if it wasn’t for the psychics.”
A pickup truck suddenly slammed on its brakes next to them, actually driving partially onto the sidewalk in an attempt to stop. They watched as Grandpa Hogo slammed the vehicle in park and got out with a small backpack.
“I swear you all stick out like sore thumbs,” Grandpa said and looked at Toya. “What’s with him?”
“He was in the room with Kyoko when the enemy took her,” Kyou answered.
Grandpa’s face scrunched up in anger before he punched Toya in the head. “Wake the hell up boy! We got my granddaughter to save and I’ll be damned if you’re going to stand there and feel sorry for yourself.”
Toya held the side of his head and stared at the old man. “What do you mean ‘we’, you old geezer?”
“Exactly what I said,” Grandpa retorted. “You don’t know shit about what’s going on, do you?”
“And you do?” Yohji demanded.
“Listen to him,” Amni said softly. “He knows.”
Kyou met the elder’s gaze with his own and nodded his head. Grandpa’s shoulders drooped a bit in relief and he knelt down at their feet. Opening the pack, he pulled out a piece of folded paper and spread it out on the sidewalk. Reaching inside once more, he also pulled out an old scroll and hesitated a moment before pulling open the wax seal.
“Take a look at this,” he ordered and everyone crouched down next to him. “The big church in the slums is actually the exact center of where an old monastery used to stand. The outer walls of it stretched for miles and would have covered the heart of this city.” Grandpa took a folded up piece of paper out of his pocket and laid it over the monastery layout. “See how it all works out?”
“You had too much free time on your hands… didn’t you?” Toya asked.
Grandpa glared at the silver guardian. “My great, great, great something grandfather was one of the monks killed when Darious returned to this world. The extended families of those monks have been the safe keepers of this knowledge for almost four thousand years. So for once in your life, shut your trap and listen.”
Toya glared back but didn’t say a word.
“Good,” Grandpa smiled inwardly, glad that Toya was now back in the game. He was their power house and didn’t need to be walking around in a daze. “Now then, I was listening to the radio on the way here. The paths of the tornadoes are following the exact path of the outer walls of the original monastery. The demons are looking for something… something big.”
“And you know what it is,” Kyou concluded.
“You bet your winged ass I do,” Grandpa stated.
“Wait a sec,” Kamui stammered, “How?”
Grandpa smiled, “Didn’t any of you ever question why I was so gung-ho about Kyoko going to work at the agency? I might be a prankster and not act my age most of the time, but I’m not stupid. A priestess should always be surrounded by her guardians… no matter how many times she is reborn.”
Suki, Tasuki and Yohji were confused but remained silent. Hopefully their questions would be answered later.
“All right then,” Grandpa continued. “Now as for why the demons took Kyoko, they think the priestess is the only one that knows where the key that opens the portal into the heart of the demon realm is hidden since she was the last one to use it. But the truth is… she doesn’t have a clue. I’ve kept it hidden from her all this time.”
He reached one last time into his pack and pulled out a small black box that had sealing scrolls plastered all over it. “This is what they’re looking for. The only catch is Kyoko is the only one that can open it. This is what the demons were after when they breached the portal and decimated most of the humans on this plane.”
Kyou held out his hand to accept the small box which Grandpa placed it in almost reverently.
“So they think she knows about what’s in the box and will open it for them?” Tasuki asked.
Grandpa nodded, “Yes! They tried to find her the first time but failed because she wasn’t even on this plane… she had crossed over into their world without their knowledge. She’s the one that released Darious from his confinement and lost her life in the process. Stupid fool doesn’t even know how he was freed.”
“This is not the only thing they want,” Kyou stated.
“No it’s not,” Grandpa said sadly. “The storms are only tracking the monastery walls now. Soon they’ll move to the inner area of the city and flatten everything here.” He took a deep breath. “When Darious defeated the demon hordes and rose from the pit, the revered maiden statue appeared before him. Not understanding, he ignored her offering and instead, slammed the portal shut behind him and began extracting his vengeance on the demons all by himself.”
“The demons… they’re looking for the Heart of Time,” Kamui whispered in awe. “If they find the maiden statue… there’s no stopping them at that point.”
“Ordinarily they wouldn’t be,” Grandpa said. “But they need the thing in that little black box to succeed.”
Kyou’s eyes lit up and he smirked at the elder man. “We will need a guide.”
Grandpa returned the smirk, “Thought you’d never ask.”
***** Darious growled at the demons carrying Kyoko so precariously. He could hear the howling below him of their brethren waiting for the arrival of the priestess. If his hunch was correct, Kyoko would have no knowledge of what they were searching for. Hell, he wasn’t one hundred percent sure himself, but he’d heard the demons whispered plans during the centuries of his confinement.
The Guardian Heart Crystal was the object they were searching for. It was an item of great power that could reconnect the demon realm with the human one and give the demons untold power. It was said to rest in the hands of the maiden statue. This gave Darious pause… the crystal had not been in the maiden’s hands when he’d caught a fleeting glimpse of her that fateful day.
“So that is your plan,” he whispered.
He teleported from the roof of the abandoned church to another roof, then another, following the flight of the gargoyles. Teleporting one last time to the roof of an apartment building, Darious crouched down. Lifting two fingers toward the sky, he gathered the elemental energies around him into the appendages and watched as a tiny ball of lightening formed at their tips.
Just as the monsters flew overhead, he released the energy in a great bolt, severing the arms of the gargoyle holding Kyoko before it zigzagged past frying two more of the monsters that were in its path.
Darious wasted no time in rising from his crouch and tracing across the roof. He flung himself from the building and into open air. He caught her in mid-fall and teleported one last time.
Kyoko screamed when the hands holding her were severed by a streak of lightening and she started to fall. She saw some of the gargoyles swarm on their comrade, ripping it apart while the rest descended on her. She screamed again and kicked her legs in frenzy as strong arms folded around her from behind.
Light so blinding she could still see it with her eyes squeezed shut erupted and her skin was suddenly flooded with warmth. The roar in her ears abruptly vanished and peace seemed to fall over her. The scenery changed altogether and Kyoko found herself immersed in warm water. Kicking her feet she swam to the surface.
Kyoko came up gulping for air and trying to get the water out of her eyes. The image of Toya flashed in her mind like a searing pain. He must be frantic by now, thinking she was in the hands of the demons. The gargoyles had taken her right in front of him. Toya had fought them but there were too many and they had caught him by surprise.
As she’d been carried off, she had turned and looked back seeing him through the opening in the wall. Toya had been left standing there covered in blood but his voice had been strong as he screamed her name. Kyoko’s heart pounded hard with the need to get back to him and make that frightened look that was on his face go away.
Spinning around in the water, she pushed against Darious with her feet and hands then blinked wondering where he’d come from.
Kyoko's lips parted in awe, seeing nothing but clear blue sky above her. Where had the storm gone? Jerking her gaze back to Darious, she noticed the pain of rejection in his expression as he swam away from her and it gave her pause.
The water she was treading in was heated but it wasn’t a swimming pool… more like the most magnificent hot spring she had ever dared to hope existed. It was crystal clear and she could see the golden sands on the bottom even though the water was very deep. They were surrounded by forest on all sides, with trees bearing ripe fruit and the tinkling sound of a waterfall could be heard from somewhere close by.
Darious stalled at the edge of the deep water, watching her over his shoulder. Seeing the awed expression on her face made it worth bringing her here to his secret place. His eyes lightened as he looked around, seeing what she was taking in. When he got frustrated with tracking the demons… he had always retreated back to this place.
He had even left the human world in the middle of a fight once and to his surprise… when he had stepped back into the human world, not a second had passed and he could finish the fight feeling refreshed. He had been away from the battle for months but not even a second had passed in the human world.
Time had no meaning here. This was his sanctuary… his paradise.
His eyes returned to her as they darkened attractively. He could keep her here for a thousand years and they could still return and watch Armageddon take place on the human plane… or he could simply keep her here forever. She was the only human he had ever felt any kind of bond with. With every second that passed, he could feel that need growing… the need to not be alone anymore.
Glancing back toward Darious, she watched him climb out of the water. She could see the sleek muscles working under the clinging material of his shirt as he pulled himself up on an area of soft-looking moss that was in the shadows of a large overhanging rock. He kept his back to her as he stood.
Not knowing what else to do, she swam toward him and laid her hands on the rim of the oasis. She stalled there for a moment, feeling overwhelmed. Where the hell was she now? Her heart was still kicking wildly against her ribs from what had just happened… from everything that had happened within less than twenty-four hours.
She closed her eyes, remembering Kyou’s alarm when she had taken some of his memories. She knew they were real, but the edges of the memories where still too ragged to fit together and complete the puzzle. She hadn’t had any time to sort them out in her mind and it all had left her feeling lost.
While Darious was giving her the moment's peace she needed, Kyoko kept her eyes closed and let her body relax as she shifted through the tangled mess of memories… some hers and some not.
She’d loved the guardians… all of them. To be truthful with herself, she acknowledged that she still loved them dearly. She had even been their lover in her past life. Her priestess powers had made it right somehow… sharing her body with them. Her cheeks heated at the memory but it was the reason behind it that she was focused on. Not only did being lovers with them unlock her powers, but it also heightened theirs.
In her past life, she and her guardians had sent almost all the demons of this world into the pit, but Kyoko could hear someone calling out to them. That was when she had started dreaming about Darious. When she’d told the guardians about the visions, they had forbid her from trying to reach him saying it was too dangerous. But his cries had haunted her… cries that he didn’t know anyone could hear.
He was stronger than the other guardians… that much she had gotten from Kyou’s memories. She remembered now… because he did not have her with him, Darious had been overpowered by the demons and dragged into a place where only pain, blood and fear existed.
When she’d run away from the guardian’s watchful eyes and summoned one of the most powerful demons from the pit, she’d struck a bargain for a chance to free Darious. She hadn’t understood that by breaching the barrier of the pit, her soul would rip a hole in the seal and release hell on earth.
But the deceptive demons had known and even agreed to show her the way to her lost guardian, as long as she could defeat the demons that stood watch over him.
She had fought numerous horrors as she descended lower into the pit, thinking she would never reach the bottom where they held the soul that was covered in pain. By the time she had found him, her own power had waned and she had been injured beyond her ability to heal. She had been away from her guardians for too long.
Using the last of her priestess powers, she’d broken the chains and reached out to touch him. But the demons had dragged her away before he’d even known she was there.
She blocked out the memory of what the demons had done to her before she’d willed herself to die. Instead, she blinked away the tears and smiled knowing she’d done the right thing… she had freed him. In return, he’d been unknowingly returning the favor several times within the last twenty-four hours.
“You saved me again,” Kyoko whispered. Her eyes snapped open when he grabbed her wrist and pulled her straight up from the water as if she weighed no more than a feather.
“I have saved no one,” Darious growled as he set her on her feet. Keeping her arm stretched above her, he let his gaze roam her body for injury. Seeing the white gown she was wearing clinging to her wet skin, his gaze traced the rips in it that were made from the claws of the gargoyle, probably during her kidnapping.
The breath left him in a rush, seeing the pink hue circling her hardened nipple through a long open slit in the cloth.
The heat of his eyes scorched her, making Kyoko feel her heartbeat pound between her legs. The memory of her past life flashed through her, knowing she’d had five lovers in the past. She had welcomed them into her body with a powerful need that was resurfacing with a vengeance. But in this life, she was a virgin and had been brought up differently.
This time she wanted only one lover and he was towering over her like a wall of dark seething fury that wanted to devour her.
“You saved me from those monsters and brought me here,” Kyoko corrected him softly as she tried to control her breathing along with the need that was building. “Why?” She didn’t think he was even aware of it, but the dominance within him was calling for her submission. While he was touching her she used her powers to read his true thoughts.
Darious inhaled the pheromones she was sending off and realized he had yet to let go of her wrist. She was so tiny compared to him and he wanted to protect her from everything in her world. He could feel himself harden at the thought of her being trapped here with him where no one could steal her away and she could not run.
“The demons cannot come here.” He hadn’t meant for his tone to be as harsh as it was, but it wasn’t like he’d had much practice. It still amazed him that he felt the impulse to talk to her at all. There had always been an invisible line between him and all humans, but with her, the line was not there. It was as if someone had turned the magnet back over and instead of being pushed away… he was now pulled toward her.
He didn’t know why he had brought her here, but at the same time he had wanted her to see it. He wanted to be here and for once… not to be alone. It was the closest thing he had to a home and it had always been his secret place… a place even the other guardians would never reach. This was where he had lived as a child before he’d grown lonely and left the sanctuary.
He could feel his life force already reaching out and licking at her… tasting. Letting go of her wrist, Darious turned away from her remembering the look on her face the last time he had touched her.
Kyoko slowly lowered her arm, looking around at the heaven he had left only to be dragged into a place so dark. He had only been a child. Glancing back at him from under her long eyelashes she knew he was a child no more. Now he had a sleek predatory grace that was both dangerous and sensual as he walked over to a flat, moss covered stone that stood about waist high. He rested his palms on the top of it as he leaned toward it letting his hair fall forward to hide his face from her.
Biting her lower lip Kyoko followed him and climbed up on the rock letting her legs dangle beside him. She leaned back on her arms marveling at the softness of the moss. Really, she had felt beds that where harder than this. It felt like the softness was a foot deep as she sank into it.
Letting her head fall back on her shoulders she moaned at the feel of her hair whispering around her arms in the soft sunlight. This must have been what Eden was like.
Darious raised his head to look at her, hardening even more if that was possible. The slice in her gown was pulled apart exposing one of her breasts to his hungry gaze and the rip opened all the way down to her navel. His eyes lowered seeing the cloth had ridden up her thighs and her legs were slightly spread. Her soft white panties where wet from the water and he was a man dying of thirst.
Kyoko whimpered knowing she couldn’t stay here… not when Toya and the others were left worrying about her. Something about this place had drained the fear from her and she had to concentrate just to hold onto reality. Before the gargoyles had come, she had felt something in the air within the city that was pure evil… all her friends were still there within that malevolence.
She felt panic gripping her. Darious didn’t know what she was and this place was trying to make her forget.
“I need to go back,” Kyoko sat up and watched his gaze slowly lift to hers. There was a light in his eyes that added a savage, fierce look to him that sent a warning through her. He may be a guardian but he was still very much a stranger to her. Scurrying across the rock away from him, she lowered herself down on the other side to put distance between them now that she had had time to come back to her senses.
“I have to go back and help them,” she said more firmly.
“Them,” Darious repeated her word making it sound more like a curse. He knew she was talking about the guardians but was being with them during a demon war better than being here with him? “That city is lost and soon the plague will spread… not even your precious guardians can stop it now.”
The way that he had said the word guardians… she could hear the self-loathing that he hadn’t bothered to try to hide thinking that she didn’t know what he was.
It sounded like he had given up his battle with the demons, but why? He knew something he wasn’t telling her but how could she get him to confess without admitting she knew who he was? She felt fear seep through her at the thought of him finding out she had sacrificed herself to free him. She didn’t want him to know she had seen his pain and torment.
Kyoko couldn’t help the flare of power that illuminated her emerald eyes as she looked around for a way out of paradise. If he wouldn’t help them then she would do it without his help.
Feeling the walls of the dimension he had brought her to flex and start to open, Darious reached out with his mind to cancel the doorway out. Seeing her back away from him, he quickly closed the distance, caging her with his arms and leaning her back against the same rock she had been sitting so seductively on a moment before.
“What are you?” he demanded as she tried to crawl backwards. Placing his fist on the moss above her shoulders so she couldn’t escape him, Darious leaned his lower body against hers, efficiently trapping her. “And don’t tell me human.” His lips hovered above hers so that their breath mingled into one… becoming as arousing as sex.
“I belong to the guardians,” Kyoko pressed her hands against his chest, but he didn’t budge even a little. Getting frustrated she growled then cried out, “Without me they can’t win.”
Darious caught her wrist and held them down. “You do not belong to them!” His anger spiked, then he realized what else she had said. “What power do you hold over the guardians?”
Kyoko felt like she had been caught in the headlights of an oncoming semi and it left her frozen. Would he even know about her if she told him? He had never known the priestess? It would just be one more thing on the list of things that had been taken away from him.
“I don’t want the demons to win,” she felt a hot tear slide down her cheek.
Darious could feel her sorrow and it calmed him for a moment. He loosened his hold on her, wanting the tears to stop. “They won’t win or lose as long as you stay here with me because time cannot move forward until we leave the sanctuary.”
“They’re frozen?” Kyoko asked, not understanding.
“No,” Darious smiled at how naive she was and for the first time he didn’t feel angry. “Time didn’t stop for them but it was severed for us. The moment we go back, is the same moment we left.”
Kyoko’s breath was taken when he smiled. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen and she couldn’t stop herself from returning that smile. She had time… she didn’t have to worry about the demons killing everyone while she was here with Darious.
Darious let go of her wrist and took a step back from her. “Does that mean you will stay and keep me company for a while? I think we need to talk.”
Kyoko nodded as she slowly slid from the rock. His smile was gone but his eyes were still soft and she wanted them to stay that way. “So this is where you lived as a child?” She asked then realized he hadn’t told her that. The old saying came back to haunt her, ‘open mouth, insert foot, and you get a bad case of athlete's tongue.’
She took a couple quick steps toward the water so she wasn’t within his reach, although she was pretty sure that wouldn’t save her if the need arose. As she looked out across the water she realized she didn’t want to lie to him. If this was a part of heaven… then lies didn’t belong here.
“I have never told anyone that,” Darious watched her glance back at him, blush, and then look away again. “You said you belong to the guardians…” he prompted her almost wanting it to be true.
“We… belong to each other,” Kyoko explained.
“You are more than a mere human,” Darious said. “I will have my answers before we return to the human realm.”
Kyoko wanted to stick her tongue out at him but stopped herself when Darious turned away and began removing his shirt. She watched in rapt fascination as the material slid from his body. Kyoko couldn’t hold in the gasp when she saw two huge scars on each side of his back. She stepped forward and let her fingers graze over the scar on the right side.
Darious froze when he felt the butterfly touch but didn’t pull away. Wondering what she was thinking, he used a power he hadn’t used in forever. He had grown tired of seeing into the minds of demons and forgotten the ability. Closing his eyes, he dipped into her mind only to see his worst nightmare being relived… the spray of blood as they ripped his wings out of his back was not his own memory but that of someone who had been there watching.
With the pain of the memory, an inhuman scream escaped him and power erupted from the scar, thrusting Kyoko backwards and causing Darious to fall to his knees.
As Kyoko was flung backwards through the air, she watched his angry eyes turn toward her and knew he had seen her memory. Just before she impacted with the water behind her, she closed her eyes and reached out for Toya.
Darious stood up and shook off the remaining electricity that was humming over his body. “Oh no, Kyoko, it’s too late for you to run now.” With those dark words Darious vanished.
