Broken Read online

  I was barely at the door when Davian hammered his fist against the wall. It was merely to rouse me, but I could hear the plaster cracking under the weight of his hand.

  “Are you fucking ready or what? Get your panties on and hurry the fuck up!”

  I pulled the door open and saw Davian staring back at me, along with two more guardians. They had paid me the respect of decency at least, though I couldn’t say the same for Hunter.

  “Where is Hunter?” I asked.

  “He ran out to buy tickets for the cocksuckers convention,” Davian snapped. “Where the fuck do you think he is? Briggs and Mac have taken him up to the ship. We’re going too. Move your ass.”

  There was no room to argue with Davian and his sailor mouth. I walked past the shattered front door and out the apartment. Two guardians were waiting for me in the corridor. They started walking and I followed, flanked by Davian and the other soldiers. The unit headed up to the roof, which was empty by all appearances.

  I wondered if they were playing some stupid joke when a futuristic looking ship suddenly appeared before me. The air rippled at first, like water flowing over glass, and then the sleek black craft materialized from thin air. The thing looked like it had come straight out of a sci-fi movie.

  Davian just smirked at me as he walked by. The look on my face was clearly amusing to him. “What’s the matter, doll face?” he said. “Never seen an invisible ship before?”

  “Sir, that’s a fucking dumb question sir,” one of the guardians said. “How could she see an invisible ship?”

  “Shut the fuck up, Hammer,” Davian said, but he laughed to himself.

  “Just who are you people?” I said to Davian. Super-soldier vampires were one thing, but invisibility cloaks and futuristic fighter planes?

  “We’re the guardians, darling.” Davian threw his cigar to the floor and crunched it under his large black boot. “Now get the fuck on board. We’ve got a planet to save.”

  “Doctor Rachel Stone, welcome to Sparta.”

  I took the hand of the faceless guardian as he helped me off the aircraft and I found myself standing in an underground air hanger. I’d had no chance to see the HQ from the air, but I got the distinct impression that most of the building was hidden underground anyway.

  The guardian lifted his visor to reveal another strong-featured face. Long dark curls and a strong roman nose reminded me of someone.

  “Name’s Rocky,” the guardian said as the others unloaded from the plane. I was nervously scanning for any sight of Hunter, but I couldn’t see him. Davian was on the other side of the landing area, shouting orders at his men. Rocky offered his hand and I took it.

  “Like the boxer?” I asked.

  “Everyone gets a nickname when they enter the unit, that’s mine. I’m the tech guy really, but I go into the field when I’m required.”

  Sizing Rocky up I estimated he had to be the biggest ‘tech guy’ on the planet. He was just as tall, broad and muscular as his colleagues, but I could tell he didn’t have the same meathead attitude as the rest. He was a little more softly spoken and I hadn’t heard a cuss yet.

  “What does tech support involve for the guardians? Showing them where the space bar is on a keyboard?”

  Rocky laughed. “They might look stupid, and they certainly act dumb, but I can assure you most of it is for show. You don’t get into the guardians on brawn and alpha prowess alone, they want soldiers with brains too. Most of the guys here had a GPA of 4.0 back in the real world. Heck, Charge is the fucking dumbest guy in Xerxes unit, and he’s got a PhD in chemistry.”

  “Hey, fuck you too!” a guardian said from across the landing pad. “You’ve got to know a thing or two about chemistry when you’re blowing shit up all day.”

  “Xerxes unit?” I asked. “What’s that?”

  “That’s our unit within the Guardians,” Rocky explained. “Guardians work in small units, usually around six, but there’s ten big fucks in Xerxes unit.” He leaned in, pretending to whisper. “That’s because Xerxes is the best fucking unit in the whole Guardian organization.”

  “Best at always fucking things up,” a voice said from behind us. Looking around I saw another huge vampire approach. He had medium length blond hair which was slicked back. He was all testosterone, just like the other guys, but I got an unsettling feeling from him. “And then Cerberus unit has to come in and clean up your shit.”

  “I take what I said back,” Rocky said to me. “This is the dumbest guardian.”

  “Take no notice of dick lips here,” the guardian said, he thrust his hand forward. “Name’s Chase, I’m top dog in Cerberus. You must be the girl everyone is talking about. Let’s see this amulet then.”

  “Back to fucking work!” Davian roared as he came barreling over. Rocky and the other guardians instantly stood up straight as their superior approached, but Chase hardly took notice.

  “What the fuck are you doing here, soldier?” Davian said to Chase.

  “Just making sure the most retarded unit got in okay, sir,” Chase said.

  “This area is strictly off limits to all guardians outside of Xerxes unit, and you know it. Now get your ass back to Commander Gavel and make sure I don’t see you again.”

  “Sir, yes, sir,” Chase said before slipping away. He left but made sure to look at me one last time.

  Chills swept over me.

  “What the fuck is he doing here?” Davian said to Rocky, who just shrugged.

  “Beats me. Cerberus team is supposed to be dealing with a wolfen outbreak in the forest. I thought Chase was with them.”

  “Get her back to the chapter now,” Davian said, referring to me. “I don’t want that pig-fucker Chase to see her again. Clear?”

  “Crystal sir,” Rocky said.

  As Rocky escorted me, he told me a little bit more about the guardians. On a regular day soldiers would work together in small groups of one or two, but they all came from a single unit that was like a family in the organization.

  “Xerxes unit is the top drawer in the Guardian organization,” Rocky said as we walked down gun-metal hallways. “I’m not bragging, it’s just fact.”

  “And Davian is your leader?”

  “Davian is the Commander, he used to be a field soldier himself back in the day, but now he’s older he’s taken on the role of a Commander. Every unit has a commander. They’re sort of like a teacher. They’re supposed to keep us in check. Each unit is formed with chemistry and purpose in mind. Each guardian has a unique specialty.”

  “And you’re the tech guy?”

  “That’s right. Oh, take this turn here,” he said, and we cut down another hallway. “Everyone in Xerxes has a specialty. Briggs can fly or drive anything. There’s Charge, you met him on the landing pad. He’s the explosive dude. Mac is the best in hand-to-hand combat I’ve ever seen, Zero is basically a fucking ninja, Hammer—”

  “Hold on a second,” I said. “You’re running a lot of names by me here. You expect me to remember all this?”

  Rocky laughed. “Sorry. I spend a lot of my time in a room alone with a computer, so I tend to ramble when we have new company. I can stop.”

  “No, it’s okay,” I laughed. “I just hope there’s a chance to take notes before the main test.”

  “Hammer is the big guy. I know that doesn’t help much when we’re all this size. You can tell him apart from the rest because he’s usually got a huge fucking mallet on his back. That’s his weapon of choice.

  “Then there’s Ash. He’s probably the weakest out of all of us when it comes to fighting, but he’s still a unit, obviously. He’s the pretty boy. He can talk his way around anything.”

  “Let me guess, he’s the one you go to for dating advice.”

  “Ha,” Rocky laughed. “As if I need advice. Striker is the last one. He’s technically in our unit, but he’s a bit of a lone wolf too. He’s more of a survivalist. Likes to live on the fringe. He runs around with a fucking bow, but he’s deadly with it. That�
��s everyone.”

  “What about Hunter?” I asked.

  “Oh, well, he’s our leader.”

  “I thought Davian was the leader?”

  “Davian is the Commander. He makes sure we don’t break too many rules. Hunter answers to him and takes the blame if we step out of line. The rest of us take orders from Hunter. Anyway…. that’s everyone, and this is our chapter.” Rocky stopped in front of a huge metal door. A thin line ran down the middle of the door. It also divided a large emblem that had been etched into the metallic surface.

  In the circle was an illustration of a musclebound figure sat atop a throne. He had a scepter in one hand and a curved blade in the other.

  “Xerxes himself,” I said.

  “Our namesake,” Rocky said. “Every unit has an individual identifier and emblem. This happens to be ours.”

  “The giant. The king of kings. Not exactly subtle.”

  Rocky shrugged and held his wrist over a keypad. “Did you get the impression anything about the guardians is subtle?”

  “Fair point.”

  The blast doors opened to reveal a giant common room. Rocky gestured for me to step in and followed.

  “This is our chapter. All units have their own living space. We have individual rooms that link around a central common area.” He pointed at various corridors branching off from the large and bright room. “The only guys in here are from Xerxes unit. No dicks like Chase in here. You’d have to head down to Cerberus chapter to find him. Probably jacking off in a mirror.”

  “Great mental image. Thanks.”

  “Let me show you around,” he said, and I followed Rocky into the room as he lapped the space. There were pool tables, couches, flat screen televisions, a nice kitchen, and even a couple arcade machines. It was definitely a living space shared by ten big dudes.

  “Now we mostly only use the kitchen for blood, but you can put an order in with catering to get food delivered. You might want to do that if you’re going to be staying here with us.”

  “Why are you telling me all this?” I asked as we stopped by the kitchen. “From the way you’re talking you make it sound like I’m going to be here longer than a week.”

  Rocky turned his head and looked back at me. “I’m not sure actually, I’m just trying to be helpful. I look at you and get the impression you’re sticking around. Maybe you’re the girl that finally grounds Hunter.” Rocky burst out laughing. “That would be something.”

  “Where is he? Can I see him yet?”

  “No, you fucking can’t,” Davian said as he came around the corner. “Let me show you to your guest accommodation. I’d like you to talk us through everything that’s happened so far. You’ll be staying the night here while we have Hunter go through a psych debriefing to make sure he’s not lost his fucking marbles. Follow me.”

  Davian led me to the small guest room. “The doors open with a keycard, yours is on the table there. Don’t fucking lose it. You’ve got your own shower and there’s a free laundry service. I’ll get some clothes brought up for you in case you want to change. Any questions?”

  “Can I shower before we sit down and talk?”

  He glanced at his watch in an irritated way but nodded. “You’ve got twenty minutes. I’ll go and grab you a change of clothes in the meantime. After that we get down to business. Clear?”

  “Sir, yes, sir,” I said sarcastically.

  “Just what I fucking needed,” Davian said as he walked out of the room. “Another smart mouth!”

  Once Davian was gone, I made sure the door was locked and I undressed. I felt slightly more trusting of the guardians now, but I still had to be cautious and wouldn’t relax until Hunter was back at my side.

  I took the amulet with me into the bathroom and showered quickly. The hot water beat out the stress and stripped away the dirt from my body. I almost felt human again. When I was back in my room there was a knock on the door and Davian thrust a laundry basket of neatly folded clothes into my arms.

  “Hurry up and dress,” he growled before turning out the door. “You’ve got five minutes!”

  I looked through the clothes and realized it was the same outfit but in three different sizes, I found mine, dried off and got dressed. Looking at myself in the mirror I didn’t see a historian, I looked like some rock-biker chick.

  The outfit comprised of sleek-black trousers, which were form-fitting. There was a grey t-shirt and a leather jacket. Huge black boots finished the look. I pulled my hair up into a messy bun and contemplated asking Davian if he could issue any guardian-standard nose rings.

  Something told me he wouldn’t appreciate the joke.

  I decided to wait outside the room to rob Davian of the satisfaction of smashing his fist against the door. He came around the corner almost as soon as I stepped into the corridor.

  “About fucking time!” he growled. “Let’s go!” He turned on the spot and I hurried after him.

  We ended up in what looked like a small interrogation room. A metal table with four chairs was in the room’s center and a one-way mirror filled the wall to my right.

  Davian instructed me to sit and he sat down on the opposite side with another guardian. The guy next to him was huge—following the trend—with short blond hair, large red eyes, cut cheekbones and an almost-perfect nose.

  “Name’s Ash,” he said and held out his hand. “You must be Hunter’s mate.”

  “Mate?” I said as I shook hands with him. Ash and Davian just looked at one another.

  “Oh. Well, I mean. Friend. The one from the museum, right?”

  “Care for a coffee, Doctor Stone?” Davian asked. It was probably the most civil thing he had said to me so far. I wondered who was standing on the other side of that mirror, and if Davian was putting on a face now to butter me up for questioning.

  “I’d love a coffee,” I said. “Could I get a Latte?”

  “What do we look like? A fucking coffee shop?” Davian began, but then he stopped himself. “I mean, of course you can get a latte, we’re the goddamn guardians. Let me see if I can remember where the coffee machine is.”

  He left the room, leaving me alone with Ash.

  “You know,” he said, “I think I would have ended up as a historian or archaeologist if I didn’t become a guardian.”

  “Really?” I asked. “You like history?”

  “I know you might not think it to look at me, but I was an academic once upon a time. I didn’t always look like this. Becoming a guardian changes you, physically and mentally. Would you believe I once weight 150lb and read Shakespeare in forests?”

  I laughed. “No, not at all. You look more like the type that would make trouble in a bar.”

  Ash smiled. “More often than not that’s what this job requires. What’s your historical area?”

  “Greek mythology has always fascinated me,” I said, “but my professional career so far has specialized in ancient Chinese culture.”

  “I love it all,” Ash said. “I’ve always had a fondness for ancient Egypt myself. I think a lot of people don’t realize that historians like you have the most important, and maybe the hardest job. You guys don’t get enough credit.”

  I felt myself warming at his compliment. “Well I’m not sure about that, I—”

  “No, it’s true,” he said. “Don’t you agree? The only way to plan for the future is by studying the past. The world couldn’t exist without people like you, Doctor Stone. Academics like you deserve so much more credit.”

  “I’d never really thought of it that way, but I suppose you’re right.” This was strange, I had come here expecting some interrogation, but now I was floating with self-importance. Then I remembered something Rocky had told me on our walk over here.

  “Then there’s Ash. He’s probably the weakest out of all of us when it comes to fighting, but he’s still a unit, obviously. He’s the pretty boy. He can talk his way around anything.”

  “Ah,” I said to myself. “The pretty boy. You’re
charming me.”

  Ash smiled and sat back in his chair, acting like he was surprised. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You’re so into ancient Egypt, right? Can you tell me the name of an emperor?”

  “Uh… Cleopatra?”

  “Anyone else?”

  Ash drummed his fingers on the metal table before laughing. “Okay, fuck. You got me. I’m just trying to make you feel at ease. If Davian had his way, we’d both be playing bad cop.”

  Davian came back into the room then. He put a cup of black coffee on the table, sat down and pulled out a cigar.

  “Machine’s broken,” he grunted. “Shall we begin? I’d like you to talk us through everything that’s happened so far.”

  I started at the beginning, being the point when Harkin had opened the tomb and Hunter dropped down through the ceiling. I left out a few details, namely the parts where we had fucked, but for the most part I told him the truth.

  Davian and Ash just listened, for which I was grateful. It felt good to get everything off my chest.

  “What about the amulet?” Ash said as I finally caught up to the present moment. “How are you getting on with that?”

  “I’ve heard Halo’s guidance a few times. It told me to throw the amulet at those bikers and then it exploded with light. Then it told me to trust Davian and the guardians.”

  Davian looked surprised; Ash just laughed. “Damn,” Ash said. “Maybe we should question Halo’s judge of character?”

  “Go fuck yourself, soldier,” Davian said. “Did Hunter explain how the amulet works? That it’s a way to find Halo’s hiding place?”

  “He did, but I haven’t been able to figure anything out so far. “Should I—” I reached into my pocket to pull the amulet out when Davian stopped me.

  “No!” he shouted. “What the fuck did I tell you about pulling that thing out around us? There’s no telling how we’ll react.”

  “Sorry, I thought it would be helpful.”

  “Keep it to yourself for now,” Davian reminded me. He looked at Ash and then at the mirrored wall. “I think we’ve got everything we need for now. We’ll see if your story syncs with Hunter’s. If he passes his psych evaluation tonight, you’ll both be reunited tomorrow.” Davian stood up from the table and Ash followed suit. I joined them.