Excerpt: Blood of the Guardian - Part Two

“It’s about time you woke up.”
Matt slowly sat up in the bed. Chandra was standing over him with a look of rage in her eyes. He rubbed his face trying to wake himself up and figure out where he was.
“You’re lucky that boy knew who to call or you might be dead!”
“He called you?”
“Yes he did. He’s resting in the living room. Do you have any idea what you did?”
“I took care of some trash.”
“You also destroyed an entire neighborhood!” Chandra was nearly shouting as she paced in the room, “You hurt at least two other people and God only knows what happened to the people in the house with you!”
“Are they dead?”
“There was nothing left of that house. I would assume you killed them!”
“Good!”
“Good?!? Matt, you can’t go killing people!”
“Do you know what they did?”
“Does it matter?”
“They desecrated Evelyn’s grave! And if that wasn’t bad enough, they led those demons after Ryan straight to his house. They were trying to kill him! You saw what they did last time!” Matt’s strength was still waning, but his voice was as loud as ever.
“And that gives you the right…”
“No! It doesn’t give me the right. I had to eliminate that threat or that boy sitting in the living room will never be left alone!”
Chandra sighed in frustration before she spoke, “Did you ever stop to think that if you didn’t show up, those two would have never done anything to hurt that boy and we wouldn’t be where we are now!”
“The demons found him first! I had to save him”
“Don’t go kidding yourself. You’ve always been a bad omen for anyone around you!”
Matt sat up slowly, “Are you asking us to leave?”
“Not us…just you.”
“What about Ryan?”
“I’m taking him back to his mom tomorrow morning and then I asked Nick to come in to arrange for protection until those demons lose interest.”
“When do you want me to go?”
Chandra sighed again, “You’re still weak. I’ll give you a couple of hours and then I want you out of my home and I don’t ever want to see you here again. Are we clear?”
“Crystal clear.”
Chandra opened up the door to the bedroom, “I bandaged your hand as well. It should be okay by tomorrow.”
She shut the door and left Matt to his thoughts. He did feel bad about causing so much damage and killing people, but he didn’t know what else to do. Chandra may not have thought they were a threat, but he knew better; and they got exactly what they deserved. Matt began to think about his next steps. If Nick was coming into town, he would be able to cash-in on his part of the deal.
“Can I come in?” a timid voice on the other side of the door spoke.
“Yeah.”
Ryan stepped into the room very slowly. Matt immediately saw the fear in Ryan’s eyes; it was the first time he felt any guilt over what had happened just a couple of hours ago. Ryan asked, “H—h-hh-how are you feeling?”
“I’m okay. How are you?”
“I’m okay too….”
“Ryan, I’m sorry you were there to see what happened.
“How did you…I mean…that tornado! Did you…did you kill them?”
“I don’t know…probably.”
“Good!”
“No, Ryan, I let my anger get the best of me. There were a lot of other ways I could have handled them without killing them.”
“They deserved it,”Ryan had tears streaming down his face, “After what they did to my grandmother!”
“Your grandmother would have handled it so much better than I ever could.”
The two sat in silence for a long time. Ryan turned his head away several times to wipe away his tears. That’s when Matt noticed an odd watch on Ryan’s wrist.
“What’s that?”
“What?” Ryan turned
“On your wrist. Where did you get that watch?”
“I…I found it.”
Matt stared into Ryan’s eyes, looking for the truth. Ryan couldn’t stand the look for long, “Okay, someone gave it to me.”
“Someone?”
“At their house. Something…weird happened.”
“What do you mean?” Matt sat up in the bed
“I don’t know…it was just weird. This stranger appeared and gave me this watch. He told me my grandmother wanted me to have it.”
“Can I see it?”
Ryan cautiously approached Matt and held out his wrist. Matt gently took his wrist and examined the watch. It had a black leather band with the face being made of metal. Inside the watch face was a foggy type substance inside that was glowing with a brilliant blue hue. Even with the foggy substance, he could still see the time.
“It’s my favorite color…I think that’s why my grandmother gave it to me?”
“I’m sure. Evelyn always gave out the best gifts. Did the guy tell you his name.”
“No, he disappeared.”
“Disappeared?”
“Yeah.”
Matt knew it had to be the same stranger who was at the graveyard and then at Ryan’s house the night before.