Guardian of the Sacred Fire Ch. 01

I wrote this back in 2012. It has a slow start and I have no editor. So if there are any mistakes they are mine and mine alone. This is a novel I wrote and I will try to upload a chapter a day if even one person wants more. This is my first upload on this site. It isn't themed around sex but there is sex in it...eventually.

*****

Chapter One: Mundane

I live everyday like you do, get up, go to work, go home. It was the same thing every day. I longed for something different. I felt like I should be different, made for something more. At 22 years old I highly doubted something would happen now. In movies things always happened at 16 or 18 right? 22 was not a special age at all. Felt the same at 21.

Well today was no different, except I worked the night shift. The girl I was covering had a sick baby at home. I had nothing better to do so I told her I could. I had no friends really. I really didn't bother to make any. I had originally come from a big city; I had tons of friends then. When I was 17 I decided to move in with my mother. My father had pretty much ignored me since the divorce when I was six. When he remarried life became hell for me. Wicked step mother and all that. I moved out on my own a month before I turned 19 and have been on my own since. I had managed to buy a small fixer upper house a couple of months ago and loved it.

I had decided to take a break from school. Well that break lasted longer than I wanted. With the economy so bad I pretty much had to be an unwed mother or disabled to get a grant, and I couldn't afford a loan right at this moment. But anyways, let us get to my story.

It was another boring night closing the small town grocery store. I stood flipping through a magazine at my register as the doors automatically slid open. I glanced up and put on the fake smile for a greeting that I did every day for the past three years. No one walked in. A stray cat probably. The large orange one was always getting inside and hiding in the pet aisle.

I sighed and turned back to my register and jumped. A man stood there with only two things in his hands. My heart was pounding as I took the can of cat food and a water bottle to scan them. I snuck glances at him as I did my job and bagged the items.

"$3.22." I said quietly. He handed me exact change and smiled. He had sandy blonde curly hair and -gasp- my only weakness, blue eyes. Cerulean blue eyes to be exact. I handed him his receipt and he quietly left. I watched as he opened the pull tab can and set it on the ground. He poured water in a bowl that we kept out there for the cat. We cashiers kind of adopted him.

I noticed behind him that snow had began to fall again on the already snow covered ground. It was unheard of in southwest Oklahoma, but hey, weirder things have happened. As the quote goes, "if you don't like Oklahoma weather, wait five minutes." I groaned and thought that I had lent my brother my car for the evening to take a girl out on a date. They were probably too preoccupied in my spare bedroom for him to remember to pick me up. I knew it wasn't that far of a walk, half mile, but I'm not a fan of the cold. I like spring and fall, if it would only stay seventy degrees all year round I would be a happy camper.

The clock finally hit 11 o'clock and I locked the doors. I hadn't had a customer since the mysterious man anyways. I tried calling my brother but alas, the dreaded voicemail after six rings. I waited for ten minutes with my teeth chattering and snow coming down in large flakes. I finally gave up and started walking.

The snow crunched under my feet and soaked into my shoes. Non slip shoes means non slip, but they don't fare well when they actually get wet. I carefully walked across a patch of ice and thought to myself I must look like an idiot for holding my arms out for balance. Good thing there was no traffic. Again, small town, traffic dies around nine-ish. This is what I called the god forsaken time. From 10-5 there was no traffic except the one straggler who is using the highway the cuts the town in half.

For some reason my mind wandered to the strange man as I walked. I knew all the 957 residents in this town and they all knew me, who my mother was, grandparents, great grandparents...yeah that small of a town. His eyes stuck out to me most. Most the guys I ever dated had blue eyes. Robins egg blue, sky blue, forget-me-not blue, (I know blue) but his cerulean held a glow to them. Like the eyes possessed a light of their own. I walked across the highway and tripped on the curb. Damn snow banks. I picked myself up and brushed the snow off my knees. My fingers felt frozen from being exposed to the cold for the few seconds of time. The bank flashed at 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Did I mention I hate the cold?

I stood up straight and sighed and continued on. Just a couple more blocks. The orange of the street lights lit my path as I finally reached the bright light of the gas station. A cat stood at one of the pumps staring at me. I smiled at it and went over to pet it. I'm an animal lover, what can I say? It purred under my touch and I started walking again. I hesitated like I always did at the dark neighborhood streets. They weren't lit like the highway was. I heard the ding of the gas station door as the man walked out with a bottle of water. I watched him go to the cat and pour some in a small bowl he pulled out from his coat pocket. He pet the cat and stood up. At least I'm not the only one nice to strays it seems.

I walked down the dark street and felt more uneasy than usual. I'm afraid of the dark, well not afraid of the dark per-se but afraid of what's in the dark that can see me but I can't see it. I have always been that way it seems. Even at home I sleep with the hall light on shining into my bedroom. My brother always made fun of me for it.

I heard someone behind me and I stopped and turned, no one was there. My imagination was getting the better of me. It always does. My mind likes to make scenarios which I know could never happen, but hey, Einstein said a great imagination is a sign of a genius. No wonder most guys shied away from me. I made most of them feel stupid. I graduated with honors from high school and ended up working full time at a grocery store. That's a small town for ya. I continued walking and I heard someone's steps echoing mine. This time before I had the time to turn I was on the ground with someone on top of me. Hands were pinning my wrists to the ground. Being so dark I couldn't make out the face but I could smell blood. Copper and salt. Reminded me of an old penny. I screamed out and head butted him. He wasn't expecting that. My daddy was a marine. He taught me things. He groaned and hissed in my face. It wasn't a human sound. He head butted me back and I saw stars. Pain entered my neck and I lied there stunned. Next thing I knew the guy was lifted off of me and thrown into a tree. Something warm was placed over me and I could hear fighting and hissing. They weren't human sounds at all. I started to roll and stand up when everything started going hazy around the edges. Something warm dripped down my neck onto my hand. I lifted my cold fingers to a wound and came away with a black substance. At least it was black with no light around. What the fuck? Someone attacked me just to bite me? The warm coat fell off of me as I stood up. A hand was suddenly there helping me steady myself. I saw blue glowing eyes before the haze completely clouded my vision.

I woke in a motel room. My neck was on fire. I just knew that I was warm. Incredibly warm. My hand automatically went to my neck and I felt a bandage there. My eyes scanned the room and I saw a sleeping man in a chair next to the bed. He had his coat over him. I sat up and felt a breeze. I looked down and quickly covered myself back up. I was still wearing my pants and bra at least. I waved my hand in front of the guy and he gave no response. I got up and went to the bathroom. My shirt was hanging on a hangar on the shower rod, damp. He had tried to wash the blood out. Another shirt was sitting on the sink with a note.

Didn't get to it in time so it stained. This will be a little big, but hey, it's a shirt.

I put the shirt on and it smelled like cologne. Like the coat last night. I walked out of the bathroom and went to the window and looked out. I groaned quietly. A blizzard had moved through. I heard about it on the news, but usually the news is wrong. Guess we did get four feet of snow during the night, and it was still coming down in a white wall. It was already to the bottom of the window.

"No use trying to get out, you'll get hypothermia before you get home, and cars can't make it through this." a man's voice said from behind me.

I turned and he was looking at me. He was still covered in the black coat. "Sorry about your shirt." he said quietly.

"It can be replaced; I think you saved my life last night. Thank you." I looked at my feet.

"You're welcome." he said.

"What was-?"

"A vampire." he answered before I finished.

"But that's impossible." I told him.

"You felt him before he attacked you, you sensed him. How?"

"I don't know." I shook my head and just stared at him. I pretty much plastered myself to the door. He was suddenly in front of me pinning me to the door. He wasn't much taller than me. Only a couple inches.

"I'm Anastasia." I said hoping to ease the tension. "My friends call me Anna." I looked away. "Well they would if I had any." I muttered to myself. He smiled at that. I could see it in the corner of my eye. "Why didn't you let it kill me?"

"Because, well hell I don't know. I couldn't bear seeing someone killed by one of our kind degraded lower than an animal." he sighed and moved away from me.

"What's your name?" I asked as my heart beat tried to return to normal.

"Azrael." he answered without looking at me. I watched him as he sat back down in the chair. He watched me watching him. I was still plastered to the door. I could feel the cold from outside.

"Very few humans have a gift. Some" he put up air quotations, "'psychics' call its E.S.P, the 6th sense, whatever you want to call it. They can sense things that shouldn't be there. That shouldn't be felt. They can locate us and kill us all while we sleep. One woman did that many centuries ago. My coven leader is going to pissed that I didn't kill you."

I felt something then, like my paranoia of being watched. I went to the window and opened the curtain. A man was standing there and I jumped and squealed. I backed away from the window and Azrael was suddenly there, his arms wrapped around me and before I knew it we were in the locked bathroom. I could hear the door being broken in out in the main room.

"Come out little girl, I won't hurt you." a sinister voice said. I know, how can someone sound sinister? Well this man did.

Azrael slid open the small window and pushed me out of it and followed me. We were both out in the blowing snow with no coats. My auburn hair blew around me in a tangled mess. He picked me up and ran, the streets were a blur, but the cold was starting to get to me. It wasn't only snow that was falling but ice. Within three minutes we were at my front door, it had been broken into as well.

"Grab what you can." he said.

"Why are they after me?"

"I don't know." He answered

My only thought was my brother. I ran to his room and saw it empty. A note lay on the bed saying he went to his girlfriend's for the night. I ran across the hall to my bedroom and just grabbed another coat and my wallet. I left a note on the fridge for my brother saying I would contact him when I could. Azrael was standing outside waiting for me. I guess the cold didn't bother him. He looked at me for a brief second, sorrow in his eyes for some reason and then picked me up again. He was running again. I closed my eyes to shield them from the cold and buried my head into his chest. It was so damn cold! Give me flip flops and a sunny day and I would be happy! We finally stopped in a larger town. We didn't go to a motel but to a small house. He knocked on the door and a tall large man opened the door. He was at least 7'0" and had long brown hair.

"Azrael, what have you done?" he asked but ushered us in.

"Can you shield her?" Azrael asked. He didn't set me down but held me close in his arms. I tapped his shoulder and he looked at me. He set me down on my feet and I shivered, covered in snow. The large man led me to a fire place with a fire already going.

"I can for a little while, but they might be able to track your scent. I don't know for sure, never had snow like this before here." the man answered.

I sat in front of the fire warming my hands. I did circles in front of it when one side became too warm. A kitten came up to me and mewed quietly. I picked up the gray tabby and pet it gently. Cats were always drawn to me, just so you know.

The men were talking quietly until the big guy broke from him and came up to me. I didn't get any weird vibes from him.

"Beast here is an aura blocker. He is like you, but instead of a flame like you are, he is a snuffer." Azrael said.

"Beast?" I asked.

"Nickname sweetie." he said and sat down on the couch.

"I see." I sat down in the floor with the kitten and let it play with my coat strings.

"Beast, I have to get some sleep, I-"

"Back bedroom, you know where it is." the large man said.

Azrael left the room without another word. "I know you are itching with questions." he told me. The kitten had fallen asleep on my lap. It was purring contently.

"Is this all really happening to me?" I asked and stroked the grey fur.

"Yes Anna, you are what the vampires call a Flame. They believe you were sent by god to wipe out the devil's creation. The flaming sword of god. Demons, vampires, witches, lycanthropes, they all exist, and you have just been thrown into their world. Everything you thought was a faerie tale is in fact true." Beast said.

"Is that why they're after me?" I asked.

"Could be."

"But how do they keep it a secret?" I asked.

"The human mind is such a fragile thing, it sees what it wants to see, believe what it wants to believe." he answered.

Just yesterday I was a cashier for a grocery store in a small town. Today I'm the Flame of God. It kind of made me wonder if I was dreaming.

"Go get some rest sweetheart; you're going to need it. Just follow the hallway all the way down. Sorry this is only a two bedroom. You will have to bunk with Azrael."

"Somehow that did not surprise me." I said quietly and stood up. I cradled the sleeping kitten and walked over to Beast and handed the grey ball of fluff to him.

"Cats are familiars; they can be your best friend when the rest of the world walks out on you." He said quietly. He made me wonder what he meant by that remark.

I walked all the way down the hall and opened the door. Azrael was already asleep on the bed. He looked peaceful. His curly hair was short but fluffed out on top of his head, it suited him. His skin was pale and he had a 5 o'clock shadow growing. His breathing deepened and he opened his eyes. He moved over and patted the bed next to him. He truly looked tired. I took off my coat and put it on the dresser and slipped out of my shoes. I climbed into the bed next to him and he held up the blanket for me to get under. He covered us and I closed my eyes. I lied there a while before sleep finally came. Azrael had passed out not even a minute after I laid down. He scooted over to the other edge of the bed to give me more room. I was thankful for that.

I woke up confused at where I was. A grey kitten slept next to my head and I remembered. I felt safe for some reason. I could hear snoring down the hall. The alarm clock next to the bed read 4:46. Was it morning or afternoon? I looked back at Azrael, he was still sound asleep. I went to the living room and looked out a window. It was dark outside and it had finally stopped snowing at least. The snow had come all the way up to the middle of the window. There was no getting out in this. At least not for normal humans. Oklahoma had never had this much snow in its history of being a state. I felt Azrael before I heard him. He gently turned me around and I looked up at him.

"I want to apologize for you having to go through this."

"It's not your fault Azrael. It was going to happen. If I am what Beast says I am, then it was going to happen and if you weren't there, I would be dead right now."

My stomach had decided to growl and ruined the moment. He laughed headed toward the kitchen. I followed behind him and watched as he started making pancakes. He handed me a plateful with a fork and syrup. I happily dug in and scarfed them down. I didn't realize I was so hungry.

Beast came in and yawned in mid wave and helped himself to a plate. I noticed Azrael did not eat. He washed dishes as we finished up. At least he cleaned his mess. Most men wouldn't. We watched the weather channel when we were done. The snow had moved out for now but another system was moving in tomorrow, they were predicting another foot of snow. This year was just crazy with the weather. Beast went back to bed after a few minutes.

"He doesn't cook much." Azrael explained quietly. "Wouldn't turn down a cooked meal." He said as I watched the sky get lighter. "I have to go find myself food."

"I thought you couldn't go out in daylight." I said ruining the moment.

"We can, it just hurts. You know when your leg goes to sleep and you get that painful pins and needles feeling? We get that all over our body. Too much sun can hurt us yes, but we can go out in it for an hour or two before it becomes unbearable." He answered.

I could feel him watch me as I started washing the dishes he used. It was the least I could do. The day dragged on but Azrael never went for food. We all sat and watched the weather until the power went out. Beast and I started playing a card game called Egyptian Ratscrew. It was a form of the game War, but different variations. My friends at my old school made up the name. I was shocked Beast actually knew it.

Night fell and it was too cold to sleep in the bedrooms. Beast fell asleep on the couch and I sat in a recliner. I watched Azrael play with the kitten. He was dragging a string across the carpet. The boredom dragged me into a dreamless sleep.