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Introducing the Lookout Guard: PART ONE |
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Joshua Scott was the kind of guy who was inclined to be pretend that he was a normal guy. But the problem with that was that he was anything but normal. He was a magical. He could pretend as much as he wanted to. He looked the part well enough. He had average blonde hair that was neatly cut. Everything about him was neat; he was a little obsessive about it. He was insane about keeping clean and he knew it. That’s why he was always looking in mirrors; it wasn’t because he was vain he just wanted to check to see if he had dirt on his face.
In fact at the very moment he was looking in a mirror. He was getting ready to leave work for the night. Again he would prefer a normal job but in his way he liked his job. He stared at his reflection with a sigh. Every girl he knew said he looked handsome. He was still young but his features were already well chiseled and he had, apparently, intense hazel eyes. He much cared how he looked as long as he was clean. Today he was dressed in a dark pair of jeans and a red t-shirt with some random faded logo on it.
There was a knock on the door to the bathroom. Josh jumped at the sound of it. He realized that he’d been staring off into space as he’d washed his hands.
“Hurry up,” called a voice from outside.
“Sorry,” said Josh as he turned off the facet and dried his hands. He turned and opened the door. Standing there was another young man. His name was Andrew Pillar. They looked similar in their own way. Everyone said they could easily pass for brothers or more likely cousins considering that they were the same age. It was understandable. They basically had the same nose and fairly similar ears. But their eyes were as different as they could be. Josh’s intense hazel eyes were a stark contrast against Andy’s pale blue eyes. Andrew was a little taller than Josh and his hair was longer and a lighter blonde.
While Josh was meticulous about keeping himself clean, he was more lax about his clothes. Andy was the opposite. He was always dressed in a nice neat black. He wasn’t a Goth or anything. He was always presentable, clothes always lent and dust free and well-ironed.
“Let’s get going,” said Andy. Josh grabbed his jacket and stepped out of the bathroom and into the office. Josh’s office was anything but clean. There were stacks of paper on every flat surface in the place. There was no space to breathe in it. Andy couldn’t see how Josh could function there. The spot on the floor that weren’t cluttered with things that he’d brought had trash in their places. Andy had this crazy theory that there was a desk somewhere in that mess.
“Fine, fine,” said Josh. They made their way to what Josh considered the clean area. It was relatively clean compared to the rest of it. There was only one door in the office. It separated the bathroom from the office itself. There was no way in or out. This was because it was magically hidden, the only access was a portal. It was in the wall.
He and Andy pressed their hands against the spot. In a flash of light they vanished and the next thing they were standing next to a tree in the middle of a forest. They were used to it by now. They worked for a magical organization called the Lookout Guard. The forest was full of them. They used the trees as portals to hide their headquarters.
“Where do you want to go?” asked Andy, “Home?”
“I’m hungry.” They began walking down the path back to town.
“The Diner then?”
“Where else?” asked Josh as they cleared the woods. As soon as they did so the city came into view. It was night out already and Josh didn’t envy those on duty tonight. It was cold out as summer was near its end and autumn was beginning to take control of the weather. He had the feeling that it was going to be a lousy night and he didn’t fancy an all night stroll through a graveyard. He looked at the city’s limits. The taller buildings of the downtown area were far away and he could really make them out except for a few distant lights. Most of the buildings nearby were houses. The Lookout Guard and their families mostly inhabited them, not liking to stray far from the forest. There were other things like The Diner, which was run by an ex-member of the Guard named Holly O’Keefe. She’d quit a few years back to take over The Diner from her father. She was in her early twenties and nice to pretty much everyone. Guard members got special discounts and everything. She was good a keeping her ear to the street and knew all of the magical news.
Josh and Andy walked down the street. It was deserted as it always was at the hour. They didn’t even see it coming. If they’d been paying attention like they should’ve they might’ve been prepared. But they weren’t paying attention so they weren’t prepared for the attack. Four vampires shot out of the shadows and grabbed them. They were thrown against a wall before they could even try to react. They were completely pinned in a matter of seconds.
The entire situation was chaotic. The vampires were growling loudly and basically they were screaming. Neither Josh nor Andy had ever been caught so completely off guard before. They both instantly lost their heads; they were too surprise to focus. They couldn’t fight or cast a decent defense spell. They were in no condition t fight them off.
Just when Josh thought that they were done for sure, the vampires exploded into dust right before them. He was so shocked at first that he couldn’t move. He couldn’t even register what had just happened. One minute ago he’d literally been inches from death. That vampire’s fangs had been not even a inch from his jugular. And then suddenly the pressure from the vampire’s restraints had lifted and then it had turned to dust right before his eyes. He took a few breaths to steady himself and heard Andy doing the same. He forced himself up and saw a girl.
She was just standing there, in the middle of the road. She was dressed in worn down pair of black jeans and a black coat with the hood thrown up. She was holding a crossbow in her right hand. It was pointed at them or rather, as Josh hoped, at where the vampires had just been. She looked at him. Her eyes captivated him instantly. There was something absolutely startling in those deep, dark brown eyes. For the first time he believe that the eyes were the windows to the soul. He stared at the girl. She was a strange sight. Underneath her hood he could see what appeared to be long black hair. She had pale, porcelain-like skin. She was thin and a little of on the short side. She appeared perfectly normal, with maybe the exception of the crossbow but Josh had seen enough of those in his job, but there something just odd about her.
Without taking her eyes off of him, she took her crossbow and pointed it directly behind her. She fired only once and a fifth vampire that had been hiding in the shadows burst into dust. Josh swallowed loudly and Andy was gawking, open-mouthed like an idiot. They were obviously thinking the same thing. Neither of them had any idea how she’d pulled that off.
The girl lowered the crossbow back to her side. She tore her eyes away from Josh’s and then walked away without uttering a single word. In fact the only noise that has come from her had been the sound f the bow firing its shafts. She rounded the corner and disappeared out of sight. As soon as she was gone Josh snapped to his and jumped up. He rushed around the corner. He saw the girl walking calmly down the road and chased after her.
“HEY!” called Josh and she stopped and looking around without noticing him, “HEY!” This time she turned around and spotted him. She looked at him with slightly puzzled expression. She appeared to be surprised that he was talking to her.
“What?” asked the girl as she looked him over. She shrunk back into herself the closer he got and back away slightly as he approached.
“We need to talk…about what happened back there.”
“Why? Are you injured?” Her voice was surprising rough for such a petite girl. It had an unusual darkness about it that was in a way deep.
“I’m not hurt.”
“Then there’s nothing to say.” She turned and started walked.
“But -,” said Josh and he looked back to where he’d been attacked. He returned his attention to the girl only to find that she’d vanished. He looked all around the abandoned street but found nothing. There was absolutely no trace of the strange girl who’d just saved them. There were no subtle signs of her presence like a discarded piece of trash or a careless footprint. There was nothing, so he ran back to check on Andy.
“What just happened?” asked Andy, shakily.
“I’ve no idea. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. You?”
“No problem. Let’s just get out of here. Maybe Holly can help.” Andy shook himself and regained his composure. He nodded blankly, only concerned with the thought of the safety of The Diner. They took off to The Diner again this time a little faster as they weren’t in the mood to stick around.
They calmed down once they got inside The Diner. It was a friendly place everyone felt welcome in “O’Keefe’s”. The sign out front merely bared the named of the family that had always owned and run The Diner, as it was more commonly called. It gave no hints to the purpose of the restaurant not even mentioning the food they served.
Everything about The Diner had a familiar feel about it; from the grey and red checkered floor tiles to the stainless steel tables, mismatched chairs and red leather booths. Everything about The Diner was worn from use, especially the counter that stretched along the back wall and was lined with exhausted-looking stools. The smells were strong and were that of burnt burgers, frying fat and day-old disinfectant. It was loud with noise composed mainly of customers talking loudly amongst their selves, waitresses calling orders and the cook shouting back at them. The place was mostly empty since it was so late but it still did good business as magicals preferred to come out at night as they slowly evolved into strange nocturnal creatures. It had a fair decent amount of smoke too both from cigarettes and the kitchen barely managing not to go up in flames.
Josh and Andy took seats at the counter and waited to be served. For the most part they’d managed to process what had just happened. Josh looking into the stainless steel napkin holder to make sure that he didn’t have any vampire dust on him. As they waited he thoughtlessly began to run his finger through his loose hair his fingertip dancing lightly on his scalp, helping him think.
“You shouldn’t do that,” cooed a strong female voice. Josh jumped ad turned around. Standing next to him was a young woman with a large smile on her face, enjoying his startled expression no doubt. The broad smile complemented her fiery red curls and bright green eyes. She was twenty-three and naturally tall so that even though he was sitting on a raised stool his eyes barely met hers with a straight glance. It was Holly O’Keefe. She ran The Diner.
“What’s that, Holly?” asked Josh.
“Stop messing with your hair. It’s a nervous habit of yours that I’ve noticed. It’s considered a sign of weakness so you shouldn’t do it anymore.”
“Thanks,” said Josh sourly. He wasn’t in the mood to be teased at the moment.
“Speaking of it, why are you so nervous?”
“We were attacked,” said Andy.
“WHAT? Are you okay?”
“We’re fine,” said Josh.
“What happened?”
“Five vamps jumped us out of nowhere.”
“You dusted them?”
“We didn’t have a chance to,” said Andy “We were completely pinned in a matter of seconds we couldn’t do anything.”
“Then how -?”
“Some girl saved us and walked away” said Josh grumpily.
“Girl? What girl?” Before either of them could answer Holly’s question a bell rang throughout the throughout The Diner, signaling that the door had been opened. They turned and saw a tall figure sweep itself into The Diner. Whoever it was, was dressed in a dark burgundy cloak with the hood thrown up, cover their facial features. Despite that everyone there knew who it was underneath.
“Seer?” asked Andy. The woman turned and looked at them. She walked over to them and threw back her head revealing her face. It was surprisingly stunning. She had the dark skin of a strong African woman. She was older, in her late forties at least, and supremely tall. So much so that it had the effect of making everyone else around her feel small. That, coupled with her all-knowing gaze, could make any person feel horribly insignificant in comparison. She had a sharp, pointed chin and strong jaw. Her deep black hair was in shoulder-length braids. She had flawless sun-kissed skin. Her most prominent feature was, of course, her black eyes. They were beyond any normal intensity and they reminded Josh of eyes of the strange girl who’d saved them.
“What brings you here?” asked Holly.
“The Wings of Fate are blowing strong tonight” said the Seer in her usual misty voice. They all stared at her incomprehensively. Everyone who’d ever talked to the Seer for more than five seconds became used to her ever annoyingly cryptic statements and so after a while they became more tiresome than helpful.
“Is that so?”
“Something strange has come to these parts on this night, something strange indeed.” She turned and stared at Josh.
“What?” asked Josh uncomfortably as he wished with all his might for her to blink for even a second.
“Destiny has been set in motion I see.”
“Destiny?” asked Andy.
“Yes, she’s come at long last. You’ve finally met her.”
“Met who?”
“The girl! She’s finally arrived. I’ve waited a long time to meet her.”
“What girl? You don’t mean the one who saved us earlier?”
“Saved you? Not yet. I can speak of tonight’s events but you’ve encountered someone very important this night.”
“I don’t understand,” said Josh.
“You would do well to find her again.”
“Seer -.”
“Oh this is the Hand of Fate at work. You should remember this, boy: strange as she maybe, she has something important yet to do. You must protect her.”
“The girl I met needed no protection.”
“Not for the body, I’ll leave you with that,” said the Seer and she abruptly left.
“She’s always creepy, that one,” said Holly.
Josh left The Diner almost immediately after that. He went straight home. The Seer’s words ran through his head, disrupting his attempts towards sleep. His thoughts were consumed by the strange girl. Despite what The Seer had said Josh had absolutely now idea how much that chance encounter would change his life. Because although he didn’t know it yet, he’d just met the Legendary Kit Thompson.
 Zegwarian310 · Tue Jul 24, 2007 @ 04:59am · 2 Comments |
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