20 guardian

Raige

After sending Aliyah a message about something coming up and our meeting at the school party, I contacted the guards I had assigned to her, discreetly, of course.

I wouldn’t let my guard down, even for something as important as this. I made sure to send only the most trusted and strongest vampire guardians to look after my precious girl.

“Sir, we’re here,” a message from the guard leader flashed across my screen.

I scanned the room, my gaze sweeping over the sea of people. My eyes finally found her, standing with her best friend, and a smile bloomed on my face.

“Raige, look at me. We’re a match,” she said, her voice tinged with a hint of mischief.

It was Xenon again, and since she’d found out I was staying for good, there wasn’t a single day that she didn’t annoy me.

“Can you at least smile for a second, or pretend that you’re happy to see me?” she said, her voice dripping with false innocence.

I plastered a smile across my face, just to shut her up.

“There, happy? So can I excuse myself?” I asked, my tone impatient.

I excused myself from Xenon’s incessant chatter, eager to greet Aliyah.

She was so beautiful. If I could just keep her in my pocket, I would in a heartbeat.

“Let’s eat?” I said, offering a sheepish smile as I apologized for not picking her up.

Aliyah stared at me for a moment, her expression unreadable, before her friend pulled her wrist, urging her toward the buffet. There was a lot of human food there, as about 75 percent of the students at this school were human.

I scanned the room, securing the perimeter. I knew that later my kind would inevitably be looking for a target. Personally, I was against it, but there was nothing we could do. We starved if we didn’t drink blood. Sometimes we could change our diet to animal blood, but it didn’t give us the same energy. We needed human blood to satisfy our needs.

What I was against in this system was the fact that we couldn’t always avoid killing the humans we fed on. Some of us, unintentionally, killed the humans we were feeding from.


I walked past Aliyah, professing that I was getting some food. Though I ate, I didn’t eat much, usually just a few bites, and I was satisfied.

"Let’s sit over there?” Aliyah’s friend, Aria, suggested, and I followed them, navigating through the crowd. Many people reached out to shake my hand, but I managed to stay close to the girls.

We started to eat, and Aliyah looked at me, her expression serious. “Why didn’t you care about your visitors, Raige, instead of following us? Besides, they’re here for you. And I’m with Aria, and plus, we’re eating. I told you, I don’t want to be the center of attention. But look at them, their eyes are on us. Not exactly my plan, Raige.”

I sighed. Here we go again. She was pushing me for the same reason, over and over. If only she knew that being with her was a warning to the others that they couldn’t touch her.


I wallowed in frustration. If only I could tell her, if only I wasn’t afraid of her rejection.

“Fine. But if something comes up, whatever it is, just call my name. As long as you’re within my periphery, I’ll know where you are,” I said, trying to sound confident, but my voice wavered slightly.

Aliyah raised her eyebrows, clearly skeptical.

I shook my head, unable to explain the truth. I walked away, but not before signaling to my trusted guard to keep an eye on her.

*******
Other side POV

A jolt of adrenaline shot through Ryan as he abruptly woke from a deep sleep. The faceless woman in his vision, the woman who had haunted his dreams for as long as he could remember, suddenly had a face. It was a strange sensation, an odd occurrence. For all his years as a guardian, as a protector of the precious one, this was the first time he’d clearly seen the woman’s face.

The myth, passed down through generations of his family, stated that they would know when the one they were destined to guard was born. They would know if she was in danger, if a vampire was responsible. And now, she was crying for help. A group of vampires were closing in on her.

"I have to find her," Ryan muttered, his voice tight with urgency.

"Who are you going to find, Ryan?" his roommate, Jopeth, asked, his voice laced with concern.

We were here, in the Saveire camp, the training ground for the next generation of guardians. Our ancestors had been waiting for centuries for the girl who drank the elixir hundreds of years ago to be reincarnated. The book of guardians stated that the chosen guardian would feel the precious one's presence for a moment, and then she would disappear, leaving no trace. And that’s how it had always been, until this day.

"Hey, are you okay, Ryan?" Jopeth asked, his voice laced with concern.

I nodded, forcing a smile. I needed to talk to Solem, the headmaster of the camp, but as I knocked on his office door, his secretary informed me that he was attending a huge party and wouldn't be back until tomorrow.

What was I supposed to do? I needed to find the woman in my dream. She was in grave danger.

Do I have to go out on my own?

But I'm not sure yet if the woman I saw in my dream is the one I'm destined to protect. And I still haven't asked Solem for permission to leave the camp.

It's a tough situation, Ryan. You have a responsibility to protect the precious one, but you also need to follow the rules of the camp.

What if she disappears again before I can find her?

This is serious. I have to go.