Part Two

The Beginning

Part Two:

The Beginning

November 16^th, 1492

I died. I bloody died. The Death Fairy gave me a choice to become a Guardian; I thought they were a myth. But I took the chance.

My need for revenge so great, I have a feeling I may regret this choice. When I woke up, I had an understanding of the languages I had been trying to learn for the bit of time I have been in this new world. I could hear for miles, and though it was pitch black, I could see.

The Death Fairy had told me there were benefits to my death and rebirth. The Natives told me that the death fairy made me the Guardian of the land, and they were to protect my body for me, as a repayment for killing the Wendigo- at least I know what the thing that killed me is now called, and I vaguely remember setting it on fire by sticking a flaming arrow into its chest.

I am now forever 20, immortal. I went to hell for a year, time moves different there though. One day on Earth is about 183 days in hell or about 15 years for one Earth month. So, I was in hell for 180 years. I was tortured I remember that, but I did not cry out in pain. It is the first step of changing the soul and body into that of a Guardian. Hell, for a year; if you stand up to the torture, you are made a Guardian. You can scream, you can curse, you just can never, ever, take a deal to stop the torture.

But the pain I carry in my soul, the need for revenge hurts more than anything they could ever do to me in hell. Found out there are rules for this curse, or as the Death fairy called it, this blessing.

The rules for being a Guardian. There are not many; I will write them down in the cover of this journal.

The largest thing is that you are immortal, your soul can be bargained for time in hell, but you can never truly die, except for one way that includes a ritual and bloodletting.

Right now, it is just a gift; I will be able to hunt that bloody demon that killed my family. It destroyed my life, my soul, my heart. I will destroy it.

Present Day

I sat there and watched the Wendigo, this one a mix of man and wolf, and thought it was a pity that a human could be driven to this life. I knew my shot had to be incredibly careful; I had to hit the exposed heart exactly right. I knew my shots are sure and accurate, but there is a complication.

Go figure, it would be just my luck that they would be there. I did not ask for much from this life that I am cursed to live, but it did break my heart that they were headed down the same road. I sighed and waited for them to move. I aimed my shot and was about to shoot when I hear something behind me, I turned quickly and was able to stop my arrow from flying but just barely. “Damn it, Colt, you about got yourself killed!”

     “Nah,” he said as he leaned against a tree, the only thing that gave away his age was the grey in his hair, without it you would think he was only in his late twenties or early thirties. “You wouldn’t have killed me.”

     “James Colt, listen to me, I can’t have you turning up everywhere, and I am not about to accept your proposal!”

     “I am not here about that. I need your help.” Colt pulled out a cigarette, and put it too his lips, he was about to light it when he caught my glare, and he put it away.

     “You are not immortal James.” I let the sentence trail off; I knew if I were selfish enough, he would be. “What do you need my help with?”

     “My sons can handle that Wendigo; you don’t need to keep protecting Asher and Killian you know? There is a Demon Lord, a bad one.”

     “I know I don’t, but,” I sighed; it would be so much easier if I did not know of them.

     “You love them.”

     “I was there when Asher was born; I am older than any of you will ever be. Yet, they are connected to my soul, it is not fair. And to have you connected is even worse. It is one thing to curse my life, but to curse another’s… I wish I had known of that clause when I agreed to this blessed curse.” I sighed and turned back to the Wendigo, Asher, and his brother, Killian. “They are great hunters, you trained them well, but they are so,” I was afraid to say the word. “Mortal.”

     “We wouldn’t be if you just,” Colt started, but I turned back to him, fire in my eyes.

     “I don’t even want this life! I chose it, seeking revenge! I was blessed with this curse so I could seek my revenge on the Demon that destroyed my family! I will never die! I will be a Hunter until the end of time! I don’t want that for Asher! I don’t want that for Killian! I don’t want that for you!”

     “Shouldn’t we be given a choice?”

     “Asher and Killian are given a choice; you would be stuck with me forever! I am no catch, Colt! The moment I saw you, I knew who you were, I knew that death came only for your wife and sons. I know that! The moment Asher was born, his soul was so white! It hurt me when the connection was made. So white, the soul, was so white! It hurt me because the black of mine! You know all this; we have been through this!”

     “Don’t sell yourself short Kari, you are a seasoned Hunter, and a fine woman, and I know of things you have done is because you love us.” He came up to me and places his arms around me. “You love me, as I love you.”

     “I am a Guardian. We become one because our thirst for revenge. It blackens our soul. It kills us; we are just like any demon that roams this Earth!” I removed myself from the comfort of his arms. I was so mad I brought my bow up and turned and caught sight of the Wendigo’s heart and shot my burning arrow right dead in center of its heart. I watched as Asher and Killian were confused where the arrow came from and knew they would search for the source. “I would leave Colt.” And I turned and ran.

     I did not see Colt again for a few days, but I knew he was not far, he knew I was following his boys; I had watched them grow up. To me they were mine. They saw me as their mother. It was hard not to be drawn to Asher and Killian, and then of course they grew up to be hunters, all because Colt glimpsed into the darkness that hides in the corners of life. I was mad at Colt. If he had just turned a blind eye that night, if he had just told himself it was his imagination. If he had just taken the miracle, I gave him.

     I sat and waited, I knew Colt was coming; he had been seeking me out more and more, trying to convince me to marry him, and I took myself back to when I first met him; right before his son Asher was born. Right before my existence became more about hunting every damn demon on the Earth, and about existing because of Colt. I had to make money and with all my time, I had earned myself quite a few degrees, and was a doctor at the hospital the night Asher was born.

2000

     Colt had come in screaming he was in an accident with his very pregnant wife and five-year-old son Killian, something had come from nowhere and jumped in front of them. I ran past him and went straight towards the wife; the baby drew me toward them, it had to be his white soul. I was drawn to Killian as well for the same reason. And Colt, well the second I saw him, my soul burned because it was close to another part of it, it only burned like that once before, and I denied what that could mean. It had been a long time since I did any OB work, but something told me I had to take care of this woman and her child. They were dying; I could smell death as he lingered over them. Death always made his presence known to me; ever since I cheated him and became a Guardian. He smiled of thunderstorms, mowed grass, and a coming snowstorm. He smelled like ending and beginnings.

     I whisked them away into my ER room and started to work, I knew that if the child was not born soon, they would both die, but I had a chance to save the child. I blocked the door, I was a powerful Guardian, and because of that I had a few strings I could pull. I had magic, I had connections, I ,may not be the oldest Guardian, but I pushed my mind, body, and soul to be the best.

Nobody could watch, as the creature I was calling, though translucent, those close to death or around a reaper could see its glow, but it could only be used on one being within twenty-four hours. I had to choose the baby or the mom. The mother’s soul was muddy, as if she had a secret, a dark one. So, I would choose on the color of the soul, I told myself, but, I knew I chose that baby before I even felt the burning white of his soul.

     I called the creature, I called the fairy, and told her that the child must live, he must be given life. In exchange for this spell I had to give something, and the only thing I had was my soul. In exchange for his life, I would spend two Earth years in hell, or three hundred and sixty hell years in hell.

Colt did not know, to this day, about that part of my deal, he just knew I made a deal to save his son. Colt knew of our connection and he was not happy I refused his love- for that reason we mostly kept our distance. Well, nowadays, before he hunted me, to kill me. My love for him hurt me so after his witnessing of my saving his son over his wife, it just made him hate me, and that pain followed me through hell. It was my hell. That is why he started hunting.

     So, how did we end up here, well back at the hospital I made eye contact with him and took a sharp intake of a breath and I knew he saw me for what I was, or what he thought I was, as the fairy was not the most beautiful creature, they are small demons, but so useful. I knew he would hate me for not saving his wife. I gave the baby to the nurse that walked in behind him- he never got a chance to voice his rage. I left and the chase started. Well, for him, for me I spent the next two years in hell, being tortured, hourly, but the pain was no match for the pain in my heart and soul. The pain of knowing I just caused my soul mate to hate me.

2005

     When I came back from hell, I had a job to do, I was a Guardian after all, and for about three years I just followed him, and worked adjacent to his hunts, but then he started to get in my way. There was one practically nasty demon that I had been chasing for a few decades, when Colt discovered his pattern and came to investigate. I just sighed to myself and kept an eye on him to make sure he was not possessed or killed.

     But I had to get closer to him, so I dyed my hair back to my originally dark brown color and stopped wearing the icy green contacts and let my natural brown eyes show. I figured since the first time he saw me I was blonde and had green eyes, he would not know me from Eve.

     I ‘ran’ into him at a gas station, he was trying to use a fake credit card; I just rolled my eyes and went to warn him about using fake credit cards in the state. “I wouldn’t do that.”

     “Do what?” He asked, as he looked at me with a confused tilt of his head.

     “Use the fake credit card; they catch ninety percent in this gas station.”

     “Umm… Thanks.”

     “No problem; let me get that.” And I paid for both of our fill ups and he did not say anything more until I stopped next to his truck.

     “How did you know my card was fake? You look familiar do I know you? By the way I am James Colt.” He asked as he leaned against his truck and checked to make sure his gun was loaded. Damn, that man was sexy.

     I swallowed, “no, you don’t know me. I am Kari.” It really was not a lie; he just knew of me. “And anybody in the game can tell you are a Hunter; most Hunters don’t have jobs and use fake credit cards all the time. So, what are you hunting?” I tried to shock him by letting him know I knew he was a Hunter.

     “Right now, a nasty demon that is killing kids. You?”

     “Same. We should team up for this one, I seen the crime scenes, and just because he likes kids doesn’t mean he can’t kill adults.”

     He paused. “Ummm… Don’t take offense pretty lady, but I don’t know you. How do I know you aren’t the demon?”

     “You don’t, just as I don’t know you are not the demon.” I said with a smile. “Feel free to test me.”

     “You are telling me I can give you a shower in Holy Water?” He asked with a twinkle in his eye.

     Shock filled my eyes, he was flirting with me, it had been only five years since his wife’s death, and he wasn not wearing his ring and he was flirting with me! “Oh,” I swallowed again loudly, as desire for this man filled me. “You could but it won’t do much but waste Holy Water.”

     “Forgive me but I have to be sure.” He stated as he dumped a bottle of Holy Water over my head and said “In nomine Dei.”

     The cold caused me to take a sharp intake of breath and I saw the flash of a memory in his eyes, because I knew I gave myself away.

     “You!” The rage in his eyes told me to run, but I could not, his soul held mine in place.
     “I…” I did not know how to explain my actions to him, and then I saw confusion in his eyes.

     “You are not burning. What are you?”

     “A Hunter, a Guardian.”

     “They are a legend.”

     “So are the things we hunt.”

     “You killed my wife.”

     “No, the car accident did, I could only save one. I chose your son.” And I knew why I had because my half soul wanted James Colt.

     “But I saw you call the death fairy.” He now had his gun pointed at my gut.

     “They can give life, once in a twenty-four-hour period. But at a heavy price.”

     “What price did you pay?”

     “That is my business.” I never wanted to tell him I suffered through years in hell for his son to live.

     “Why pay a price for someone you didn’t know?”

     I swallowed; I knew at this time I could not tell the truth. “Your son’s soul was white. I hate letting death win a white soul.”

     “Why my son not my wife?”

     “Her soul was muddy.” The truth slipped before I could stop it, he was closer to my face now, he whispered in my ear, asking the questions he was afraid to ask out loud, the gun pushed into my stomach.

     “Muddy?”

     “Not pure, holding on to a dark secret does that, doesn’t mean she did the dark deed, but she knew of it. But your son, so young so pure.” I swallowed again, he was so close to me, our bodies nearly touched, and if it were not for the gun you would think we were having an intimate moment. “So full of promise.” My breathing had picked up; he must have thought it was fear.

     “Afraid of death?” He whispered, in my ear, adjusting the gun.

     “I,” I was so filled of desire, my soul tingled at the thought of joining with his, I snapped myself out of my desire filled fog and remembered I did not want this life for my soul mate. “I am dead. I am nothing. I have half of soul. I have my duty, to rid the world of demons.”

     He was shocked at my change of demeanor and stepped back keeping the gun on me. “So, you are a demon?” He asked as he leaned back towards me.

     I focused on the cold tip of the gun against my skin to answer him. “No, not a demon.” The fog started to come back; I had to get a hold on it. “I am a Guardian, as I said.”

     “So, what, a very old powerful demon could say that you may have protection against Holy Water.”

     “How do you want me to prove it?”

     “Get in my truck. And don’t do anything funny?”

     I had to get him to trust me; at least this demon had it out for me, and with James Colt focused on me; the demon I tried to destroy every decade would not hunt him. “Fine, same to you, Colt.” I tried to shock him by using his last name only.

     “Just get in,” he said as he removed the gun from my stomach. I slide into his truck as he hooked up my car to tow it behind the truck.

     I sat in silence as I watched him drive. I could not believe how young he looked; he looked barely older than I was when I started to hunt. I had just turned seventeen; I thought I knew it all. After all, I looked like a killer, I could do manual labor, I could shoot, I could kick ass.

1490-1492

My father had raised me and my three brothers. And he taught us to be soldiers. After all he fought in our Army back when we were younger and losing our mother in childbirth with his last child, it broke something in him.

He never let his children out of his sight, teaching them to be soldiers, teaching us our family trade. I never thought there was another war going on out there in the world, I was preparing to join my own, at sixteen, when I was from it was time to join the military and put your life on the line for your country. Female or not, it was my duty.

The night before I was to report, I finished putting my baby brother to bed, I checked to make sure my father, had not fallen asleep with his head in his drink.

     I was in the kitchen preparing simple instructions for meals, so the boys and my father would not starve to death while is served my years. When I heard it, a high-pitched growl just out the window. I did not know what it was, so I went to investigate. I stepped into the bedroom and there was blood everywhere. I gasped, in fear, there was a being, it looked human like but its eyes glowed black and red. I locked my eyes with it. I knew it was a demon. How I knew I do not know; we were not told the legends of the demons and gods since before my mother died. It walked away from the dead bodies of the only people I had ever cared about in life, I am, well I would have been, what they now call a sociopath without them. It walked right up to me and smiled into my face.  “Kill me,” I asked of it.

     It shook its head and smiled at me with a mouth full of sharp teeth. “No,” it said then disappeared.

I ran to my father’s shed and pulled every knife, every weapon, and every dollar we had left. If it would not kill me, then I would kill it. So, I started my hunt. I never went to war for my country; in fact, the news was the whole family was killed by a wild animal. I was as good as dead in the eyes of my country.

     I had been chasing it for about two years, all around Europe and Asia, when I heard of a ship leaving from Palos de la Frontera and I took my chance. The captain was going to the edge of the world and I swore I would go to the end of the Earth to find the demon that destroyed my soul. I became a stowaway. I never imaged there was a new world, but this world had a whole new set of demons, so I hunted them.

Then I ran into my first Wendigo. I died. I never got my revenge, and a death fairy took that advantage. Hunters are made Guardians upon their death; they want revenge more than peace. It offered me a chance I could not turn down. I could become a Guardian, and by doing so would be immortal. All I had to do was spend one human year in hell being tortured. I had already been living in hell. Most importantly, I would gain some supernatural powers of my own to hunt. I would get my revenge. I took the offer. I would have a soul mate to spend my years on Earth with; any children of the soul mate’s or mine would also have a chance to be a Guardian. Without all the death and burning in hell. Of course, I didn’t know that until I made my choice to be a Guardian.

2005

     And that is how I ended up in the truck of my soul mate, who wanted nothing more than put a bullet in my head. “So, tell me why follow me into ER room?”

     “It was my wife and child. I didn’t know what type of doctor you were. You really a doctor?”

     “Yep. Have a whole lot of other degrees as well, a perk of an immortal life.” I stated, but even he could not miss the sarcasm of my voice when I said it was a perk of an immortal life. It was not a lie I got my medical degree in 1939. And many other degrees over the centuries.

     “So, you were a hunter as a mortal?”

     “Yes.”

     “Why?”

     “Demon killed my soul.”

     “What happened?” He asked as he pulled into the parking lot of the hotel he was staying at in this town.

     “Aren’t you going to invite me in?” I asked, not wanting to bring up the painful past.

     “Sure, come on in.” He said as he got out of the truck and trained his gun on me.

     I walked in and stood in middle of the room and waited for him to speak. He slowly locked the door and then turned on the television.

     He turned to me. “I really want to shoot you.”

     “I know. I know how you hate me.”

     “Tell me how you know?”

     “Weren’t you going to test me?”

     “Tell me,” he demanded.

     “My life is personal.”

     “Tell me.” He came up to me and pushed me against the wall, his hands on either side of my head, holding me to the wall with his body.

     He towered over my five foot three inches, by a good foot, but I could have taken him. “No.”

     “Tell me.” He whispered in my ear. “Instead, why do I want to take you here and now? Tell me why I am torn between shooting you and kissing you. I wonder which will get you to spill your secrets. The gun or…” He let the sentence hang, as I felt the stubble of five o’clock shadow against my cheek. I longed to tangle my fingers into his dark, almost black hair.

     My mind was fogging, “I told you, a demon destroyed my soul.”

     “How?”

     “No,” the fog clouded my judgment I wanted to spill those secrets.

     “Why?” He places his hand on my cheek and used his thumb to rub my check. “You feel human.”

     “I am human.” I struggled with my words. “I just am immortal.”

     “How?”

     “Demon.”

     “Yes, you told me a demon killed your soul. How did it kill your soul?” James Colt did not even seem frustrated by the closeness as he used his body continued to hold mine to the wall.

     “Killed my father and brothers.” I told him; I have never told anybody how I started to hunt. Not a single soul, not even John really, and he helped me survive the first months of my living hell.

     “Why?”

     “Why what?”

     “Why not you?”

     “Don’t know. I begged for death.” I could not keep my secrets.

     “Begged?”

     “They were my life. All I had.”

     “Why didn’t it kill you?”

     “Don’t know. When I asked it to, it smiled at me and said no. I didn’t think. I took every weapon my family had and set out to hunt it down.”

     “How did you become a Guardian?”

     “No.”

     “Tell me, please?” He whispered into my ear.

     “I died.”

     “And you became a Guardian? Is that what happens to Hunters?”

     “No, I died without catching my demon.”

     “What killed you?”

     “A Wendigo.”

     He laughed. “You got, got by a Wendigo?”

     “Don’t laugh it was the first time I ever even heard of a Wendigo, my first time in the new world.”

     “How old were you?”

     “Twenty.”

     “When did you start hunting?”

     “Just after I turned seventeen.”

     “How old are you?”

     “Older than you.”

“How old are you?” He asked again as his hand slide down my neck.

     “I was born All Hollow’s Eve, 1472.”

     I heard the intake of his breath. “Where?”

     “Somewhere inside the British Empire. Don’t really remember where, the name of the locations changed so many times, but it was somewhere close to Germany.”

     “How did you get here?”

     “I was a stowaway on the Santa Maria.”

     “The Santa Maria?”

     “Yes.”

     “You didn’t have Wendigos in Europe?”

     “Never saw one or heard the stories.”

     “Didn’t anybody help you?”

     “I was always alone.” Well ever since one fateful night when I met my demon a second time. The third time I killed it.

“How did it kill you?”

“I was hunting, and it came out of nowhere.”

     “And it killed you?”

     “Yes.”

     “Then what?”       

     “Before the Reaper took my soul, a death fairy offered me my choice. Become a Guardian and hunt forever, getting my revenge, or die and be judged.”

     “You chose Guardian?”

     “Yes, I was young. Wanted revenge more than peace.”

     “Do you regret that choice?”

     “Yesss,” I hissed out, before blinking. “NO!” I didn’t know anymore; his closeness was confusing me.

     “Which is it darling?” His lips were remarkably close to mine.

     “I got my revenge about twenty years after that fateful date. I thought, I would be satisfied and part of me was; the other…”

     “The other part, what?”

     “Was tired, and alone.”

     “Have you had nobody in your life?”

     “Not since my father and brothers. Other Hunters were my family when I was mortal. But nothing since, I mean it isn’t something you share with your one night stands.”

     “Not even a lover?” He whispered in my ear, his hand that had been trailing down my body now rested on my hip, the other supported his weight on the wall.

     “Sex, yes, someone who fits the true definition of a loved, no. And not since I came to the new world.”

     “So, you are telling me that you never interacted, truly, with us mortals in all this time, you are over five hundred years old.” Shock was evident in his voice and his eyes, which were so blue; I could lose myself in them forever.

     “I…” I did not know how to tell him, before I saw him, I never even felt desire to have more than an orgasm. All these emotions were new to me.

     “Well?”

     “I never felt a desire for more than an orgasm, before you. An I haven’t even felt that need since I first died.” I bluntly told him the truth.

     He pulled back from me in shock. “But” he was at a loss for words. “How?”

     As he pulled away from me, I groaned; I did not want him so far from me, my soul burned. “How what?”

     “How does a woman that looks like you do not have a string of men licking your boots at all times? Giving you what you want?”

     “Look like me?” I did not understand, the years of hunting had left their mark, I had bags under my eyes, scars, faint, but still there and I knew what men thought was beautiful in this day and age, and it was not someone like me.

     “You are gorgeous.”

     “No,” I was confused. “What game are you playing? I know you must notice how you affect me. I thought you wanted to kill me. How do you know I am not a demon?”

     “That part that wants to kill you, it is so small, it is fading.” Colt was confused by his own emotions.

     “Shoot me.”

     “What?”

     “Shoot me.” I repeated.

     “I,” he just looked at me, the gun still on the bed where he threw it.

     “SHOOT ME!” I yelled at him, I grabbed the gun and handed it to him. “Just bloody shoot me! You hate me! I didn’t save your wife! I chose your son over her, because…” I almost let it slip, the guilt that ate me, that I chose his son before I even glimpsed his white soul. I knew his soul could have been born black and I would have chosen him, I wanted James Colt.

     He held the gun but looked into my eyes and asked the question I did not want to answer. When I answered he would know how selfish and horrible I really am. “Why did you choose my son?”

     “Because of you.” I sat down on the bed defeated.

     “What do you mean?” He sat down next to me and stared at the T.V. not seeing it.

     “I want you. My half soul knew it even before my body did; before my heart and mind did. I try to tell myself I chose him because his soul is white, but I know I wouldn’t have cared if his soul was black.”

     “So..”

     “With no wife I would have a chance, but one had to die, either your son or your wife. I could give you a million good reasons why choosing your son was the right choice. Hell, I could give you a few million, but that doesn’t make me any less selfish and guilt ridden. I don’t want,” I sighed and stopped.

     “Don’t want what?”

     “My existence would be better if you continue to hate me, want to kill me, not kiss me, and not want me. Painful, but better.” I said in a whisper.

     “Why painful?”

     I sighed. “Do you really want to know?”

     “Yes.”

     “The truth?”

     “Yes.”

     “Every Guardian has a salvation, to keep them from turning into a Demon, there is always that risk. A soul mate to remain with them as they hunt until the end of time, they can have a family, everybody from the soul mate’s family gets a chance to choose to become a Guardian. A family of Guardians.” I laughed, but it is pained.

     “Soul mate?” Colt asked out loud, but I knew it was not an actual question.

     “But they have to marry, join with their soul mate, and their soul mate would become a Guardian.”

     “How do they join?”

     “There is a marriage ceremony; there is no real specific one, just follow the religion of the Guardian and the soul mate. Then the joining, is just consummating the marriage. Of course, it doesn’t have to be done in any order. Either can come first.”

     “And you have a soul mate?” Pain was in his voice.

     I sighed. “You, I am sorry.”

     “I…” I knew it was a shock. “So, is that why I can’t pull this trigger?”

     I stood up and stood in front of him and pulled the tip of the gun and laid it flush with my heart. “Shoot me.”

     “But…”

     “That part that hates me, that part that wants to shoot me will grow larger if you don’t shoot me!”

     “What will happen?”

     “The bullet will go through my chest, and overnight I will be dead. The next night, well, it will be like it never happened, except for the evidence on my shirt.” I take off my shirt. “There now there won’t be any evidence but some blood, but that can be cleaned.”

     “But” Colt just stared at me. I never wore a bra, so I was half naked standing in front of him.

     “SHOOT ME!”

     “I can’t. Part of me wants to but I can’t!”

     “SHOOT ME!”

     “No!” Before I could figure out what had happened, he had dropped the gun and grabbed me and pulled me on top of him and he kissed me.

     At first, I fought the kiss, but he kept kissing me, and he moved his calloused hand up my side to cup my breast, and I gasped. He took that moment to deepen the kiss. And I stopped fighting. I kissed him back. Shit, it had been so long since I felt another touch me like this, with passion and desire.

     He laid back and I followed, he rolled me over and I was on my back, I wrapped my legs around him and kissed him with everything I had. I did not even notice the knife until the tip of the silver blade, that entered my skin, pierced my heart. I gasped, then I was silent. Blackness over came over me and when I opened my eyes the demon that loved to torture me was standing over me with a smile on its face. One day dead on Earth was about a hundred and eighty-three days in hell after all, and that gave it time to try and make me scream.

     I awoke back on Earth the next day (or one hundred and eighty-three days later), it was dark out and there was no light, the only noise, besides my own breathing, was James Colt’s breathing. I sat up with a start as the pain of my heart starting back up hit me. “Damn,” I took deep breaths in and exhaled them out slowly to start my circulation back up.

     “Took you long enough.”

     “You stabbed me!” I noticed I was lying on the bed, but I was cleaned up and one of my flannel nightgowns was placed on me.

     “Stabbing is cleaner. Didn’t expect you to die so quickly.” There seemed to be a sadness in his voice.

     “Well, the second you hit a Guardian’s heart they die. If you wanted me in a little more pain, you should have sliced me up a little bit more.” I said with a nasty bite to my words. Damn coming back to life with a raw soul hurt. I looked down and into my shirt to see check the wound.

     “It closed up as soon as I took the knife out; there was a faint pink scar.”

     “Not my first,” I sighed; at least he did not stab me or kiss me again, and I felt guilty enough about his wife’s death I could not blame him for stabbing me. I even had a faint smile, as I remembered the demon as it tortured me, it was frustrated that it could not get me to scream in pain, to beg for it to stop, the demon thought maybe I would finally break, but in all the time I have spent in hell I have not broken once. I silently took my torture, no moans, no tears, no nothing, as the demon performed acts of torture the world has never even seen or thought about.

     “What is with the smile? You should be mad at me!” He jumped up from his chair and joined me on the bed; he grabbed me and held me in his arms.

     I pushed at him, though I felt like I deserved to be sent to hell repeatedly by him, I just got back, my soul was still very raw and scared. “No,” I whispered. Anybody could hear the fear in my voice, why could this man bring about a fear I let nobody ever see.

     He did not give up, he pulled me toward him, and I was too weak to fight him, my soul was still healing. “I am not going to stab you again. I underestimated how much it would hurt me to stab you. You were right about one thing though.”

     I still was tense in his arms but stopped struggling I did not have the strength. “What about?”

     “As soon as I killed you,” he paused and made a face of distaste. “I no longer wanted to kill you; that desire disappeared as soon as I felt that knife enter your heart.”

     “Completely gone?” I had to ask, I did not know if I could do another hundred and eight three more days in hell, after just have gotten back.

     “Completely. But one desire still remains.” He said as his fingers started to trace my back.

     I swallowed. “Umm…”

     “I am not going to push you into anything, but I can see you want me too.”

     “I can’t right now, still weak. It hurts when the body comes back alive.”

     “Where does your soul go when you are dead? Is it trapped in your pretty body?” He pulled me closer to him, and placed one of my legs over his, we were so close.

     “Umm,” I never had been asked this question before, and I did not want to let him know I was sent to hell, it was part of the curse.

     “I killed you. Where did you go? Some type of limbo?” He asked, as he placed his mouth on my neck, and placed a light kiss upon my exposed skin.
     “No.” I did not want to tell him, but I felt I could not lie to him; I did not even take the excuse he gave me.

     “Where were you? Where was it that makes you so afraid, I will kill you again?”

     I winced; he had noticed my fear. “It is because of the pain.” I told a half truth.

     “Of coming back to life? Does it hurt a lot?”

     “Yes, the body has to kick start back up, and the soul must heal as well.” I told him before I could stop myself.

     “Heal from what?”

     “Nothing.”

     “Kari, tell me. Please?” My name on his lips sounded so good.

He looked me in the eyes, and even in the darkness of the room, I could make out every line on his face, ever scar, every worry. I did not want to add to that, but a small part of me wanted to hurt him for sending me to hell, though I thought I deserved it. “Hell.”

He sat up suddenly; he pulled me up on his lap. “Hell, I sent you to hell?” He demanded of me.

“Yes, my soul spent one Earth day in hell.”

“What happens to you in hell?” I was straddling him, and he pulled me closer to him, as if he was afraid if he let go, I would disappear.

“NO!” I tried to move away from him, but he held me on his lap. I would not tell him that, it was bad enough I told him where I was, I would not tell him what happens to a Guardian in hell.

“Kari, tell me.” He said as he buried his face into my neck. “I need to know, what I have done to you.”

“You extracted your revenge on the being that you thought killed your wife.”

“But what did I do to you? To your soul.”

I sighed and clung to him. “I don’t want to give you knowledge.”

“Tell me Kari.” He said as he looked up into my eyes.

“No.”

“Tell me!” He laid back down and rolled on top of me.

“No.”

“What was your punishment in hell?” He looked down into my eyes.

“I was tortured! There are you happy?” I yelled and struggled to get up.

He jumped off me, looked at me in horror and ran from the room. He did not say anything, he just left.

I sat there for a moment, holding my head in my hands. I turned to look toward the door and noticed it was close to three in the morning! Devil’s Hour! I panicked. I jumped from the bed, any demon in the vicinity would be out at that time of night, and I saw Colt had left his bag of weapons. And my bag was on top of the T.V. I grabbed a shirt and pair of jeans and dressed quickly and ran out the door after him.

“JAMES!” I yelled, I hoped he would hear me and come back. His truck was still there. I started to panic. He should not have been out at that time of night; he was a Hunter and a prime target. “JAMES!” I ran down the parking lot and into the road screaming his name over and over again. About a mile down the road I fell to the ground my throat hurt from the screaming. “James, come back, please.” I whispered.

I knew I could not stay there, from the position of the stars and moon, I knew that the Devil’s minions had about a half an hour left at their top power. I picked myself back up. My body though had been dead a day, my soul had been dead for a lot longer. It was hard to get moving again. But I had to push myself. My pride, my heart, my soul, it was all on the line.

I slowly walked back to the hotel; I would try the other direction this time. He had to be somewhere. He had to be okay. I walked and walked, I do not know how long it was, but I went past the hotel and kept going, as I saw his truck still there. I knew I should get into my car and drive, but I was able to keep an eye on my surroundings a lot better on foot.

I was about to turn around when I head a twig snap to my right. I picked up my arm, I only had Colt’s gun with me, I did not know what it was full of, but I did know that whatever it was would go straight into the beings heart. I moved to my left and disappeared into the woods. I made a circle and came back up to where I heard the twig break. I decided to climb the trees and move from tree to tree and see if I could see what the being was that I now hunted.

I saw a faint light. It was about a hundred feet from where I was hidden in the trees; I carefully moved toward the light, it was so faint, and moving. Dawn would come soon, so I had to hurry. I jumped down from the trees and ran toward it. I was going to shoot when the being came into view. It was James Colt and the faint light was a cigarette. “James! You scared me running out like that!” I put the gun down and fell to my knees, exhaustion was finally setting in.

“Kari! What are you doing here?” He came up to me and picked me up and held me up against him.

“You left during Devil’s Hour; you could have been killed.” I hide my tears by burying my face into his shirt.

“I didn’t notice. I had to get away.”

“Sorry. I will leave.” I turned to leave, but he grabbed me and held me to him.

“No, I am sorry.”

“About what? You had a right to your revenge.”

“But I never imagined that it would be torture. I am sure demons in hell have a lot of tricks up their sleeves. I have seen what demons do on Earth; I can’t even imagine what they can do in hell.”

“I have endured more time than that in hell, one h…” I stopped I almost gave away that time moves differently in hell.

“What were you going to say?” James looked down at me.

“Nothing. One day in hell is nothing.” But nobody ever went for just one day, it takes a day just to string a person up the way they wanted them.

“Kari, you have to tell me, I am going to find out anyway.”

“It is nothing, time just moves a little different in hell, one day is like an hour.” I said in an offhanded way, as I tried to get him to drop it.

“Yeah. Sure.” James pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. “I am going to get an honest answer since I can’t seem to get one out of you, honey.” He kept his other arm around me, as he held me to him.

“James Colt, please drop it.” I did not want him to know. I deserved it, so I told him so. “I deserved it.”

“No, if you were a demon, if you actually killed my wife than you would have deserved it. My anger was fueled by my guilt and grief.”

“No, really I saved your son for every selfish reason in the world. For myself. I made a deal with a death fairy to save him, not your wife, I could have chosen her!”

“NO! You did right by choosing my son. My wife and I had been drifting apart, married for the kids. I wanted another,” then something I said registered with him, though I had told him before, it must just have hit his mind. “Deal? What deal did you make? Did you offer my son for something?” Rage and anger were returning to his eyes.

“NO! I would never! Asher and Killian are particularly important to me!” I was mad that he would believe I would hurt Asher, though my love of Killian was just as deep, Asher was branded on my soul. “Anyways you can only deal with what you have, not what another soul has, you can deal with your soul, your body, your gifts, your life, not another’s.” I did not tell him I could have bargained with his, but I never would, never, I lost him once before, long before he was reborn again. It was why I recognized his soul right away. I could not go through that pain again. I pulled away from him, still weak, but I was able to hold myself up.

“Tell me something, what was the deal.” The rage left his eyes, guilt replacing it; I knew he thought about killing me again. “Why you would make a deal for a stranger?”

“You, of course. Losing a child is not an easy on any soul, I have seen it to many times, and I know I have never lost a child, but I lost my brothers and I raised them.” I walked up to him again, his rage was gone, and the information he wanted was not something I was ever going to give him.

“What was your deal with the death fairy?” He asked, and pulled me back into his arm, and pulled me up against him.

“That is personal.”

“Not to me.” He said with a smile. “I am your soul mate remember?”

“Not now, please,” I begged.

“Fine, but I will find out one day. But for now, it is time to find out exactly how time works in hell. And I just so happen to know a hunter who has been there, of course he never said how or why he came back from hell, he doesn’t talk about it.” James Colt said as he dialed a number in his phone.

I knew who he was talking about before he even stated his name, Viktor. I saved him from hell. He had saved so many people. So, I bought out his contract, in exchange for ten Earth years in hell. The demon that so loved to torture me had held the contract for his soul and was more than agreeable to accept my terms and release Victor’s soul and sent him back to live on Earth. I sighed; I should have known that James Colt would know Viktor Bretta.

“Hey Viktor. Colt, here. I have a question for you.”

I could not hear Viktor’s side of the conversation, but I could hear James’s. And I knew this would not be good.

“So, Viktor, I have a person here, she says she is a Guardian.” He paused to listen. “I know you said you met one before.” Another pause. “Her name? Kari.” James paused and listened. Then he handed the phone to me. “Viktor wants to talk to you.”

I took the phone, “Viktor.”

“Kari. I heard a rumor you were in hell again. Giving your soul again for somebody?”

“Yes, a baby.”

“Doesn’t surprise me. You are a good person.” Viktor’s southern drawl came out when he was not hunting.

“Whatever, I guess you are not out on a hunt.”

“Seriously, you judge yourself too harshly. And I am spending the weekend with my wife and grandchildren. So, you are right no hunting this weekend.”

“Where was I when I met you?”

“Yeah, but you were there because you were killed by a werewolf.”

I sighed, “yes, but…”

“You saved me; you saved a baby, and countless others. If I didn’t know any better, I would have said you spent more Earth years in hell then on the Earth.”

“Good to talk to you too.”

“Should I tell him the truth?”

“Yes.”

“About whatever he asks?”

I sighed, but James had the right to know. “Yes, he will just find out some other way.”

“It was his kid wasn’t it?”

“Yep.”

“Damn, why?”

“Baby had a white soul.”

“Sure, whatever, that hadn’t stopped you before, from letting the fates taking a child home.”

“He is…”

“Your soul mate?” Viktor yelled the question.

“Yes.”

“Out of all the souls on Earth your soul mate is James Colt!” Viktor started laughing; “about damn time you found that man. You deserve happiness.”

“I am not going to marry him.” I said with a glare on my face.

“We will see about that.” James said, as he held me to him, trying to listen to conversation.

“He is right you know; he won’t give up now. I take it you told him.”

“Yeah.”

“No wonder he hasn’t killed you. And when that man makes a commitment, he keeps it. Let me talk to him.”

I handed the phone back without correcting Viktor. “Here you can ask your questions now.”

“How does time differ in hell from here Victor?” Colt just jumped right into his questions; he paused only to listen. “WHAT?” He paused and listened some more. “I did kill her. Knife to the heart.” He listened to the yells at the other end; I knew Viktor would be furious. “I regret it now. The second it happened, I felt like I was going to die, I did CPR for about an hour before I gave up.” He listened some more. “What type of deals do death fairies actually do? I have only ever seen the one.” He listened and I knew Viktor had told him the three types. Death fairies only created Guardians, which is the primary target, the second is for your soul, even temporary as in my case, for another’s life or soul, and the third was for your life for another life. After what seemed like forever, he asked the question I knew he would ask. “How did you escape hell you didn’t become a Guardian, did you?” I watched his face as he listened, in his eyes I saw shock, rage, denial, and a whole bunch of other emotions, some I could not even put a name to, as Viktor told him how he escaped hell. “Viktor, I will have to call you back another time.” James stated and he slapped his phone shut and just stared into my eyes.

I stayed still in his arms, prepared for anything. I saw so many emotions play across his face. The silence filled the dawn air as he held me in one arm, the other holding the small flip phone, much better for Hunters, though some had smartphones and laptops, most stayed off the grid with prepaid flips. I did not want to say anything; I knew he knew that one day on Earth was like a hundred and eighty-three in hell. He also knew I spent a lot of time being tortured. I stayed silent, and then he did something I did not expect.

He dropped to his knees and hugged me to him. “I am so sorry. Please, angel, please, my angel, forgive me.” He begged, tears in his eyes. He must have figured out I spent time in hell for his son; he could not be that stupid knowing how the death fairies now worked.

I ran my hands through his hair and just held him to me. “Why? You have nothing to be sorry for, you did what you needed to do.”

“But…” He looked up to meet my eyes.

“No buts, you wanted revenge on the creature that you thought killed you wife. You needed that. So, you killed me. I spent my time in Hell and now I am back. It is over with.”

“Viktor told me you took his place. You bought out his contract; you spent an Earth year in hell for him. You did that for a stranger. You paid a price for my son, so he could live. I know he told me there are only three different deals that death fairies make, but they must make another with Guardians. Your soul cannot be given, as it is a half soul and it is already owned by God. Viktor told me.” He said answering my unspoken question. “I doubt you can become a Guardian twice, and I am sure they know that your life for another would be fruitless. So, you have yet to tell me what the deal was, but I will find out. You have no hate for me, though a demon, one which I am told has a particular fondness for…”

I stopped him, “I know what it has a fondness for; I have suffered through that fondness.”

“The way Viktor tells it this demon has a fondness for torturing you.”

“Well, I did send it back to hell.” I say with a sad smirk.

“The demon that killed your family?” James laid his head back on my stomach.

I just played with his hair, breathing in and out slowly. How did I tell him the truth about that demon? He would just find out sooner or later anyways, as long as he never found out the price I paid for his son’s soul. “Yes.”

“Why is it so fond of you?”

“Let’s go back to the hotel I will tell you everything on the way.” I sighed and pushed him away.

James stood up, “fine.” He took my hand and we started to walk back toward the hotel. Along the way I told him my story.

“My mother, though she was really my step-mother, she died in childbirth, the youngest, my baby brother, he lived. I found out the mid-wife, killed my mother, then she disappeared. I didn’t ever know the whys, until much later. I raised my brothers; in fact, I named my baby brother. I was eleven when he was born. Donatello. Of course, my father took to drinking after my mother’s death. I took care of them all, even lying and preparing to go to war in place of my father. I was set to ship out, so to say, the night it happened. The demon as I said came and killed them. I begged for death. The demon smiled at me and said no and then left. I started hunting. As I said I came over on the Santa Maria, well within a few months here I ran into the Wendigo, it killed me. The death fairy came gave me a choice. Death fairies give few choices and can be bargained with only over certain things, as Viktor told you. I took it; I didn’t listen to all the conditions. I jumped at the chance to continue the hunt on the thing that killed my family. I spent an Earth year in hell, it wasn’t so bad, and after all I had already been living in hell. About twenty years after that I found the demon and the world, I thought I knew fell out from underneath me. The demon was my birth mother. I hadn’t been told the lie like I thought, the demon found me before I came over from the main land. I tried to kill it. Instead it killed my friends, Philip and Mary. Well, it allowed Mary to be turned into a vampire. She destroyed my life after that. She told me she was my mother, and the midwife was a hunter. I thought it was a lie. But that is why my mother died. Because my father married a mortal, her children were mortal, loved, and a chance to go to heaven. It pissed her off, especially since her human body was destroyed, with my birth, and father didn’t wait long to remarry. She waited four years before coming and destroying her husband and his sons. I found out she did not kill me because she wanted to torture me for not being like her. For not becoming a demon, becoming evil. I sent her back to hell; of course, the fight took me as well. She made deals with about every evil demon down in the bowels of hell to be the one that tortures me anytime I am there. She can never leave hell again, so the only pleasure she gets is torturing me. Of course, I try not to go to hell.” I finished my story as we reentered the hotel room. I was exhausted, the waking, the run, the panic, the fear, it had drained me. I sat down on the bed and put my head in my hands. I had told this man almost everything about me. There was only one thing he did not know. And I never wanted him too.

He came and sat next to me. “My angel, travel with me down the dark unknown road that we call life.”

“I do not believe I have a choice.” I whispered into the dark. And I laid down into his open arms and soon we both were asleep.

Present Day

A snap of a set of fingers alerted me to where I was. I sighed and looked up at that man who stole my heart from me twenty years ago, when I first saw him in that hospital. “Colt.”

“Kari,” He said with a smile and sat down next to me. He slid a folder over to me. “Here is the information I could find about the demon. Where were you just now?”

“Memories,” I said then frowned at the information he handed me. “Colt this can’t be real.”

“Why is that?” He asked as he signaled the waiter over.

     Colt, this can’t be real!” I stood up and moved from him. He had to be playing a trick on me.

The waiter came over before he could respond; Colt looked at him and ordered. “Bring me a bottle of tequila.” The waiter left, and then Colt pulled me back toward him, and pulled me on top of his lap. “Now tell me why this can’t be real,” he whispered into my ear.

“Colt, this demon, this pattern has not showed up for a very, very, long time. Remember what I told you fifteen years ago? The demon?”

“Your mother?” A frown crossed his face; he has always had problems believing that I was born from a demon.

“Call the boys. They can’t be away for us if this real. We are going to the safest place I know.”

That got his attention. “They are in danger?” He stood up and threw a hundred down on the table.

“If this is true.” I paused, the fear in my eyes evident. “We all are, and I am not going to lose my family again.

James grabbed me to him and kissed me quick. “Don’t worry, angel, everything will be alright. Where should I tell them to meet us?”

“Waterloo, Iowa, east side. There is an old abandoned church. I bought it a while ago, made it livable. We will meet there. It is called St. Christopher’s.”

“A church? Why?”

“Don’t ask questions, get the boys there.” I said and walked away. “Be there by sundown.” I yelled as I got to my car.

I went to the place I was staying in town and packed everything and got in my car and drove. I drove all the way to Waterloo and parked in front of the old run down church, my boys already inside. I laid down a traceable path to find me, as someone had hunted me as well. I knew that I had to verify that my mother was no longer in hell and the only way to do that was to visit hell. And I knew my boys would not kill me. I preformed the necessary spells to lock them in and the demon bent on destroying my life out. And I walked in and prepared myself for death. Only one way to make sure the demon we were dealing with really escaped from hell.

James came up to me and grabbed me. “What is going on, angel?”

“Where are the boys?”

“Here, we are. Dad, Kari, what is going on?” Killian stood up and asked,nhe grew int am very fine twenty-five year old Young man.

“Yeah, you guys never call us off from a hunt.” Asher stated and came to over to us. “What is going on?”

I could not control the fear in my eyes. “A demon.” The fear showed in my voice.

“Mom,” Asher, always called me mom, I did help James raise him. Killian called me Kari; after all he was ten when I met him, and he had memories of his mother.

I knew I had to control my fear, my boys depended on me. “If I am right this demon will come right for you three. I am not going to let that happen.” I swallowed. “But I have to be sure.”

“How?” Killian came up to me; already he knew where this was going.

“My smart boy, you already know.”

“You can’t. No. NO!” James stated, he grabbed me up into his arms.

“There is no other way to check.”

     “Mom, there has to be.” My boys knew what happened when I die, and I blamed myself for that.

     “Yes, there has to be another way. Kari, you are our mother, we will not kill you!”

     “I won’t either. No, I will not be responsible for sending you to hell again,” James stated.

     “Let’s get a good night’s sleep.” I stated and went and sat in a pew; I left them to try to figure out something to prevent me from going back to hell. My memories took me back once again to the past.

The Past

     James kept me close to him; he introduced me to the boys that I fell in love with from a distance. We hunted as a family. With me around, James was able to spend more time with the boys and still hunt.

One demon had beat James up exceptionally bad, and I was furious. I had told the boys to salt the windows and the doors again after dragged James into the hotel room. “Boys, the salt, make sure you get every opening. I have to help your father.”

     I knew I should have checked their work, but I did not get a chance. The demon and followed James’s blood trail and broke through the bathroom window. It was mostly bones, with blood red eyes, its sharp fangs dripped with blood. And its clawed hands had reached for my boys. I jumped on it. I grabbed a knife and stabbed it, but it just made it mad; there was only one way to send this demon to hell, I had to drag it back. I locked eyes with my boys. “Killian, Asher, look away, please babies. Take care of your dad. Listen to your dad.” I performed a quick spell and I latched onto the demon’s soul, and I slide the knife in my other hand into my heart. I gasped and then again there was blackness. When I awoke in hell, I had the demon that tried to kill my boys. I smiled, as the demon that was my mother smiled over me.

     I woke up two days later, two days because I killed myself, to James as he slept next to me and the boys curled up between us. I sighed; James must have explained things to them. I sat up and took a deep breath, my body came back to life.

     “Mom!” Asher woke up with my movement. “Dad said that you were only temporarily dead, but he was worried because you didn’t wake up yesterday! You are okay!” Asher jumped up onto my lap, and I hugged him to me.

     “Baby, I am fine. Shush, don’t wake your brother or father.” I looked over at the clock and noticed that it was almost dawn. “Do you want to help me cook some breakfast?”

     Asher jumped down. “Yes! Can we have pancakes?”

     I stood up, weak but happy, my boys were okay. “Yes,” I turned and kissed Killian on the head, and checked James’ wounds.

     “Mom?” Asher was already in the kitchen he grabbed what he could reach from the cupboards and the mini fridge.

     “Yes, Asher?” I asked went over and helped him and then got the skillet out of the stove, where I stored it.

     “Where did you go? Your soul? Daddy wouldn’t tell me.” Asher asked, with the same curious tilt of his head that his father had, “I was so sad when I saw the demon kill you; I thought I lost you forever. Never go away again, please.” Asher grabbed a hold of me and cried into my side.

     I got down on my knees and looked him in the eye. “Baby, when it is my life or yours, I will always choose yours and your brothers. Your dad, you, and Killian, you guys are my soul.” I used the corner of a dish towel to wipe his eyes. “I love you all, you three you are my life, my soul. Don’t forget it.” I hugged him and then picked him up and sat him on the counter to start breakfast. That is when I noticed Killian was up; “Killian, honey, want to come help us?”

     “I heard dad on the phone last night to Viktor. He was worried the demon had you trapped in hell. You hadn’t woken up. You left us. You left us.”

I went over to Killian and picked him up; he struggled for a moment but accepted my help to sit him on the counter. “Killian, sweetie, I didn’t want to go, but I didn’t have time to do an exorcism, I did the next best thing and dragged him to hell.”

     “So, you were stuck in hell?”

     “Only for a couple of days, but it was to save you three. You boys are my life.” I looked at my boys as they sat on the counter and knew that no matter what that demon, that was mother, did to me, they were worth it all. Never again, did I feel like I would be a mother, but here I was, a mom once again. “Now we are going to make some breakfast before your father gets up. He tried to take that demon on, such a silly man;” I said with a smile.

     By the time James woke up, Asher and Killian were aware of where I went and how time moved there. I sighed, but it was better they knew the truth.

The Present

James slide into the pew next to me and brought me back from the memories of the past. “My angel is there no other way?”

     “It is one day if one of you kill me, if I kill myself it is two, I can’t leave you for two days. Not if it is…” I could not complete the sentence; fear filled me that I would lose my family.

     “You know I am here; you are here, the boys are,” James started.

     “No,” But I knew it made sense; it would mean I would not lose them, no matter what the demon did, that it would not be permanent.

     “Kari, angel, you know it makes sense, that is the reason you are not storming out right now.” James pulled me onto his lap. “Marry me, my dear sweet angel.”

     “James Colt, we have been through this,” I sighed. “Let me think about it. But now is the time to send me to hell, while the boys are sleeping.” I looked over at Asher and Killian and they have bedded down for the night.

     “No, I can’t send you to hell again,” James stated.

     I was about to respond when I heard something; somebody had entered the building. Perfect timing. “Shush,” I grabbed my knife and went in search of the noise. I got to the church doors when they opened and a priest that I knew stood before them. “Shit;” I said before his bullet entered my chest.

     I was in hell when I opened my eyes. I sighed I knew my boys would beat the shit out of that priest, but in the defense of Father Paul Fawkner he did think I was a demon. I searched for the demon that tortured me. I searched for my mother, talking to demons along the way. And as I feared she escaped. I stopped and talked to Lucifer himself. “How? I know the rules, I destroyed her. How did she get back?”

     “Deals, we are all about deals. You sure you don’t want to make a deal with me?” Lucifer grinned with his bright white teeth.

     “Lucifer, don’t get me wrong you are handsome, you are powerful, but my soul in the end belongs to whoever St. Peter judges it to belong to, and I love my soul mate.” Neither of us mentioned that little loophole of a mortal soul mate was given, yes, but there was only one eternal soul mate; and it was not always the mortal soul mate.

     “But I could make the torture stop.”

     “It seems to have stopped with my mother on Earth again.”

     “I am sure you will drag her back. I can’t believe Lilith made that deal with her. Just because she wanted a soul of a hunter.”

     “A hunter is here?”

     “Dragged down with the demon she destroyed.”

     “Who?”

     “Sarah Rosenberg.”

     “She deserves hell. She killed innocent humans.” I felt no pity for her; she had killed humans and demons alike.

     “Yeah, she took the deal to torture, instead of being tortured, in like a day.”

     “Figures, you going to make her a demon?”

     “Maybe,” Lucifer had a glow in his eye, he felt a deal coming on.

     “What are you thinking Morningstar?” I reminded him I knew who I was dealing with; after all, he was right, deals made Hell run efficiently.

     “Well, I might just torture her instead, if the price is right.”

     “Sorry, I am not spending any more time here than is needed.”

     “How about your family?”

     “Never,” I said with a growl. My growls were a scary thing to behold, so I am told, especially when I am in hell. They never seem to sound human. They never had, it must be something to do with the fact I was half demon; my mother ha been one of the original fallen.

     “But you won’t marry him.”

     “Cursed to walk the Earth forever?”

     “Yeah, but you would have them.”

     “Have them sent here if they were killed?”

     “I could make sure they are never tortured.”

     “How?” With that question Lucifer knew I had already, in my own mind, agreed to marry James.

     Lucifer sighed; “When you bring your mother back down.”

     “I am listening.”

     “You torture souls.”

     I was shocked, I never imagined that deal. “You want me to be more like you.”

     “Just a few souls that deserve it. Maybe your mother.” Lucifer smiled; his blonde hair glistened. His hair color always seemed to change, but his eyes were an icy blue. Always an icy blue. Even through the heat of hell, I felt coldness when I looked into them.

     It was a tempting offer. After all, my mother was demon. But she was once a mortal soul. I wanted paradise at the end of time and giving in would not get me that. “How about I stay and let you torture me. They die you take me for the day. You can prefect your torture methods. Practice on me instead.” I would take pain instead, never my boys, now they were to be Guardians.

     “Tempting;” Lucifer tapped his lips with his clawed finger. “You know I have yet to torture you, though it is my right. How about you are my wife while down here instead? Forget that soul mate of yours.” He tried one last time to talk me out of marrying James.

     “Never.”

     “But you are so are my favorite soul. You have never given in, you have never even cried out in pain, and you have spent centuries in this hell being tortured. And by some of my worst demons, hell, souls of those you at one time saved have tortured you, yet you refuse to cry out in pain, or torture another soul.”

     “I don’t care if I am your favorite.” I chose not to think about the souls that my mother had torture me.

     “I will fight God over you when the end comes. You would make a fabulous wife for me. You are cold and calculated; there is a darkness that wants to break free. And, after all, what if St. Peter decides your boys belong here?” He also let me know, that he knew, I would always choose my boys over myself.

     “I am sure you will play dirty. And my boys have white souls.” I ignored his words about the dark side of me. I knew it was there, it has come to the surface many times in the last five centuries.

     “You know me too well. Be my wife. Live in comfort.”

     I laughed. “You know me better, Lucifer.”

     He sighed; “I do, fine, you have my word your family will not be tortured when they are killed.”

     “What is the price?” I was willing to pay almost anything to prevent my boys from suffering the things I had in my time.

     “Bring your filthy mother back, she broke the rules and I plan on punishing her.” He said with an evil smirk.

     “That I can do.” I said and walked away, I used my time in hell to learn everything I could about my mother, what knew tricks she had up her sleeves. And one hundred and eighty-three days later I woke up to my boys.

     I sat up in a start as my heart started up again. “Don’t look so upset boys.”

     “Did you call the priest?” Killian was mad at me.

     “No, he has been hunting me. Thought I lost him.” That was a lie; I did everything but call him and tell him where I was hiding. “Where is he? I was not tortured this time. She is loose.”

     “He is over there, Dad has him tied up. Killing our mother is not a very smart move.” I was shocked when Killian answered, he never let on that he thought of me as his mother.

     “You didn’t hurt him did you boys?”

     “Well,” Asher started. “Maybe a bit.”

     I sighed; “help me up.” Asher took one hand and Killian the other and they pulled me to my feet. “Damn, you know sometimes this part is the worst. At least you didn’t kill the bloody bastard. We are going to need him.”

     “You finally going to marry me, my angel?” James asked as he came up and pulled me to him and kissed me.

     “I guess I better, after all I have a feeling this family would be safer if they could come back from the dead. It is her, James; I am going to drag that bitch back to hell.”

     “And we will help you.”

     “About time, you marry my dad.” Killian said with a smile. “Now where did I put that bottle of tequila? Oh, that is right I don’t have any because someone put a bloody spell on the place that prevented us from leaving!”

     “Sorry but the demon can’t enter a church.”

     The priest came up at that point. “That is right; I should have realized that you were not a demon by being here when I shot you.” James must have untied him.

     “No problem, needed to take a trip to hell anyways.”

     “Your man told me about that. You really a Guardian? I thought they were a myth.”

     “There are only seven; well after you marry James and I there will be ten.”

     “Marry you and James, he is a mortal you are something that spends time in hell!”

     I pulled from James and slammed Father Fawkes against the wall. “I don’t have a choice! I keep the world safe from the demons that would destroy it! Guardians are chosen for a reason. That is why there are so few of us. I won’t deny there is a blackness to my soul, and if I could think of another way to keep my boys safe then I would take that out! You will marry James and me! I am not evil! I am not!” I fell to the ground. “I am not.” But the words of Lucifer filled me, a hidden darkness. Would I end up killing my family? Is there really a darkness that Lucifer finds pleasing inside of me? A darkness so dark that Lucifer wanted me as his wife.

I laid there for I do not know how long, I heard my boys trying to talk to me, trying to get secrets from me, when the ground started to rumble. It brought me out of my despair. “What? No!” I went to my bag and grabbed the ring I have held on to for James, it was my father’s ring, it once served as a reminder of the pain I felt, the revenge I needed. Now it served as a reminder that I had family. “Father, marry us now!” I went to James and stood in front of the priest.

     I barely remember the words, but I soon the priest said James could kiss his bride and he did. The death fairy came, with a pleased smirk on its face.

     “You finally married him! Perfect, since your joining was completed a long time ago, I waited for this, James Colt you are now a Guardian! Asher Colt, Killian Colt what is your choice? Guardian or mortal?”

     “Guardian,” I heard both the boys state, and a bright light filled the tiny church as the death fairy gave them the power of being a Guardian, and she was gone.

     The church rumbled again, as the demon outside wanted in. “Honey, the honeymoon will have to wait.” I told James. “Time to drag that bitch back to hell.”

     I quickly moved; the window that we had was small, and we had to act fast. “Mom, what is the plan?” Asher asked as we looked out the windows of the church.

     “I am going to drag it to hell, and you three will distract her while I perform the spells needed.”

     “You are taking her yourself?” Killian asked as he handed me my journal.

     “Yep, and boys please try not to die.”

     “Will do,” my boys responded.

     James came up behind us. “I don’t like this plan.”

     “It is the only one that will work.” I stated as I handed him a gun full of salt rounds.

     “Are you sure?”

     “It was the way I brought her down last time.”

     “That pattern I found has been going on for five years. Why wait?’

     “She had to find us.”

     “What?”

     “We move around so much, and use a lot of fake names, even a demon has to do research. And of course, she would watch me looking for a weakness. And with the last few years of our dividing up on hunts, it would have taken her this long to figure out you guys are my family, my soul, my salvation.”

     “So, she doesn’t just want to kill you?”

     “What good would come from that? I come back to life. She wants to kill you three. She doesn’t know you are now Guardians.”

     “Well this better work.”

     “It will.”

     “I don’t want to lose you even for one more day.”

     “My life for yours, my soul for yours. That is how it is in my book.”

     “Don’t you think I would do the same?”

     “You will never have to.”

     “Kari, please there has to be another way!” James stated as the church started to fall around them.

     “Hang on the for the ride, love!” I kissed James and then ran outside.

     I looked at the true form of my mother. She was a little taller than a normal human, her eyes blood red, her skin black from the years in hell; her hands were more like claws, and her teeth fangs that dripped with blood.

     “Oh, mommy dearest!” I called out, that got the demon’s attention.

     “Kari, my sweet. Are you ready to watch them die? Your new family? I think they would make an exceptionally fine addition to hell, and I will make sure you can’t deal for their souls, like you have done others.”

     “They won’t die today. And you are going back to where you belong. I think Lucifer wants to have a meeting with you.” I smiled at the demon, I circled her. I had to work quick as I made the pentagram of salt.

     “I don’t think so. I didn’t trade all my souls, except yours of course, to come back to Earth, just to go back.”

     I just smiled, there was another reason I chose this location for another reason besides that fact it was a location of a church, under the church was also a doorway to hell itself. If needed I would open it and jump in as I dragged this bitch back to hell.

     “Why are you smiling? I am going to kill those you love.”

     “We shall see.” I stated and sent the signal to my boys, to come out and join the fight. “But for now, I am going to drag you back to hell!”

     I do not know really what happened in the battle everything happened so fast. Bullets were flying, curses where flying, everything thing possible to bring down a demon was thrown at it. I did the spell needed to attach my soul to my mother’s. I only hesitated for a moment. A moment I thought my life would end. My mother had gotten a hold of Killian and stuck her claw into his back. She had killed my son. I jumped on her; I jammed my hand into her chest. “Hold on bitch!” I yelled at her as I prepared to slide my knife into my own heart, I did not get the chance. The priest saw what I was about to do and shot an arrow straight into my heart.

     I felt it this time as my soul slammed down on the floor of hell. “Damn,” I sat up and saw my mother was just a couple feet from me. I stood up prepared to fight her.

     “YOU!” She stood and started to run at me, but Lucifer jumped in between us.

     “No,” He simple stated.

     “Her soul is still mine.” My mother stopped, but she wanted to rip me limb from limb.

     “No, you left, and forfeited her soul. I have the right to take any soul. I take hers as well as her Guardian sons and soul mate. They will not be touched here.” Lucifer looked back at me and winked.

     I sighed and shook my head but said nothing.

     “You, however, are now mine, to play with.” Lucifer said and snapped his fingers, and my mother disappeared, I did not even want to think about where she went. Lucifer turned to me; “I know you married him and all but are you sure you won’t consider being my wife while you are here in hell?” I just looked at him. “I can see no, but at least you brought your mother back. I think I shall go practice a new torture technique I thought of, while sitting on my throne.” Lucifer turned to leave; “by the way Killian Colt is over there in processing.”

     I went up to the processor. “Well, Charon, I would say nice to see you again, but we both know that is a lie. Where is my son?”

     “Son?”

     “Killian Colt, new Guardian.”

     “Figures it would be your boy. He is over there fighting with the minor demons. I tried to explain to him it would not help. They cannot touch him. What deal did you make with Lucifer for that?”

     “That is between the Morningstar and myself.” I turned and left and walked to where Killian tried to kill the demons of hell. “You know that won’t work.” My voice got him to stop.

     “Thank God!” He rushed to me and grabbed me in a hug. “What is going on? They said something about a special soul when I got here.”

     “Our souls belong to Lucifer himself when we are here, but he won’t touch us. No torture for you or Asher or your father.”

     “What about you?”

     “Well, it is Lucifer’s right to torture me, but he won’t. At least for a few centuries, he is busy torturing your grandmother.”

     “I still can’t believe you were born from a demon.”

     “Yeah, well stranger things have happened.” I walked with Killian until just moments before I woke up, he left right before I did.  

     I sat up with a start; “Killian!”

     “Right here;” Killian sat up. “Damn, you weren’t kidding about the pain of the body coming back to life.”

     I stood up and looked around. I did not know this place. I did not see James or Asher. “Where are they? Where are we?” It was dark.

     “I know this place.” Killian came up next to me, as I looked out the window. “This was our house before my mother died.”

     “Okay, but where are your father and brother?” Fear started to rise in my soul.

     “I don’t know let’s check upstairs.”

     “Fine. You search down here, don’t leave the house.” I walked upstairs but it was empty, it was not a very large house, and did not take long to check all the rooms.

     “Phone?” I asked Killian as I checked my pockets for mine for the millionth time.

     “Yeah, dead battery though.”

     “Great;” I went and looked outside again, it was dark. “You stay here.”

     “Oh, no you don’t. I am coming with you.”

     I sighed, or someone not born of my blood he was as stubborn as me. “Fine. Weapons?”

     “Yep, knives.”

     “Good.” We left the house. I tried to sense my family, but I got nothing. The car was here though. “Maybe they are on a hunt.”

     “Maybe. Where to?”

     “Look a gas station. They must have a phone.” I pointed to the gas station down the block. We walked there, trying to get our circulation back to normal. We tried both Asher’s and James’ phones, but both went to voicemail. I called Viktor; “where are they?”

     “Kari, nice to hear from you.”

     “Where are they?”

     “Here”

     “With you? In New York? We are in Texas.”

     “I called them last minute. I knew you were with Killian, but still took me a while to get James and Asher here.”

     “Why?”

     “When you dragged your mother back to hell, you opened the door for a brief moment. About a buck to buck fifty got out.”

     “That is bloody perfect.”

     “Meet us here.”

     “Put James on.”

     “Yo, James your wife wants to speak with you!” I heard Viktor yell at James. And it hit me, I really was his wife. My family was safe.

     “Kari. My angel, you and Killian okay?”

     “Great. You left us no note?”

     “I figured Killian would understand when I put your bodies in our old home. We didn’t have time to arrange coffins for you and him. There are some pretty nasty things going on in the world. The Hunters are meeting in New York.”

     “Be there soon. Don’t start the meeting without me. I will call the Guardians.”

     “Love you my angel.”

     “You too.” I said and hung up the phone.

     “What is going on?” Killian asked.

     “Time to get to New York.” I told him as we walked back to the car.

     “Road trip with my new mom. This is going to be fun.” Killian said and got in the passenger seat.

     I laughed; “buckle up.” I said and whipped out of the driveway and speed down the road toward my family. And fifteen hours later I pulled up in front of the bar Viktor owned.

     I walked in with Killian behind me. James immediately came and grabbed me. “My angel!” He kissed me, like a drowning man drank water.

     When the kiss broke, I heard Asher. “Dad let mom breathe. She might want to know what is going on.”

     James let go of me. And Asher dove right into my arms. “Whatever son, you just wanted to see your mom.”

     “Asher is right. What is going on?” I pulled myself from Asher and we walked up to the bar, which was full of Hunters. Asher was already trying to get information about hell from Killian.

     “Well, as Viktor explained the door of hell was open for a few minutes.” James started and I listened to what happened after I dragged my mother back to hell. The door was open for a few moments, and it allowed some bad demons out of hell.

     “Did you call the other Guardians?” Viktor asked, as he placed a drink in front of me.

     “Yep, they gathered the Hunters in their countries. Good thing there is one in almost every country.”

     “Really?” Viktor was always interested in the secrets of the Guardians.

     “Yep, there are ten Guardians, four here in the states. The other six, one is in London, one in Tokyo, one in South Africa somewhere, one in Brazil, one is even in Antarctica right now, she will move back to Australia, another is in Norway somewhere, and he can handle the Arctic Circle. But they move around a lot. Who knows where they will be if we need to call upon them.”

     “So, we are going to war?”

     “We have been at war; it is just the ending.” Another Hunter said at the end of the bar.

     “Sorry, but it looks like the War is just beginning.” I stated with a sad smile. What would the cost be of this war? They all looked at me, fear they hid from the world in their eyes. The weight of the world was no on my shoulders. Would I be able to save the world from the destruction I brought upon it?