Her Guardian Angel (Part 4)

“Kid, you’ve got to talk to somebody.” I followed Caroline as she stormed through the house trying to avoid the subject. “No, I don’t.”

“You do. Just say ‘hi’ to someone. You need friends your own age.”

“Why do I?” She spun to face me. “Why? I’ve got you. Are you planning on going somewhere?”

“No, of course not. I’ll always be with you but you should have more than me. You deserve more than me.”

“I don’t want more. I’m happy how things are. Besides, people are assholes.” I couldn’t disagree with her there. “Look. Just.” I stumbled over my words. “Don’t you want to go out and have fun?”

“We have fun.” She had that stubborn look in her eyes. Crap, this was going to be harder than I thought.

“We do have fun. I love hanging out with you but I just think …”

“Well don’t ‘think.’” Even with that look in her eyes and her lips firmly pressed together, her brow creased in a frown, she was beautiful and I knew as soon as she stepped foot on that campus guys would be all over her. And as someone who’d spent centuries charming gorgeous women into his bed, I knew every trick they’d pull to get her. It pissed me off just thinking about it. At least I’d be there to look out for her. But that wasn’t the issue at the moment. “I don’t want you to be ‘the odd kid.’ It could make college difficult for you. I want you to have friends. Human friends.”

“Well I don’t.” This back and forth went on for days although it felt more like years. We’d never argued about anything before. It was always me and her against the world, nothing divided us but as she started approaching adulthood I figured some friends would be handy, you know? I don’t know why; I suppose I thought been friends with the damned wouldn’t help her get the most out of life, wouldn’t be enough.

To my surprise, a few days into the first term she actually did speak to someone. Although I have a strong feeling it was more for me than herself. It was morning class, again the angels and I weren’t allowed to do anything other than stand at the edges of the room, and a girl sat next to Caroline. Her blonde ponytail sat high on her head and her glasses were framed by electric blue rectangles. She energetically introduced herself as Mindy and hurriedly got various books and pens out of her bright pink rucksack. Caroline forced a polite smile and told bubbly Mindy her name. There were occasional words exchanged and it looked like it was going well until she asked which angel was hers. Crap. The Kid happily obliged in pointing me out and Mindy’s giant smile dropped momentarily when, instead of seeing a tall, white haired asswipe with giant wings, she saw someone who looked like a reject from a rock band, a devastatingly handsome reject but reject nonetheless; dark, shaggy hair, ripped jeans, leather boots and one of those barbwire tattoos that were trendy a few decades ago; got talked into that by a waitress one very very drunken night. Mindy wasn’t discouraged and her smile returned as she waved enthusiastically in my direction. A frown appeared on an angel who stood a few metres away and no doubt she’d get a lecture later about the dangers of my type. The rest of the class dragged on. Over the bell and sudden burst of students talking at the end, I heard Mindy say something about meeting up sometime and Caroline reluctantly agreed. Luckily her hesitation and awkwardness would be chalked down to first week nerves. Caroline hung back waiting for me to join her. Mindy threw another wave my way and I gave her an acknowledging nod before she disappeared into the crowd that pushed its way through the door.

“It didn’t work, Kid.” I informed her while we walked to the next class. “What?”

“You were hoping I’d put her off.” She gave me a sideways glance and smiled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I laughed. “Yeah, sure you don’t.”

The friendship with Mindy slowly blossomed, very slowly blossomed. But four months in, Caroline had been persuaded to go out with her three or four times and they we sitting next to each other during lectures. I’ve got to admit I kind of liked Mindy. Sure, she was far too cheerful at eight in the morning and she was a ‘hugger,’ even trying to hug me a couple of times and she was sort of a geek but she kept out of trouble and was good to Caroline and that won points in my book. As predicted, Caroline was getting plenty of attention from her male classmates, all of which she blew off but one night Mindy had a date and begged Caroline to go along to meet the guy’s friend. She got on with him and things escalated into a relationship. She made it clear she wasn’t ready for anything physical and he said he understood and that he didn’t want to rush things. Travis was around for a while. I didn’t like him too much but I tolerated him. He treated Caroline well; took her out, held the door for her, never stayed overnight because he was needed at home to help take care of his Grandfather which seemed like a nice guy thing to do, he bought her gifts every now and then and waited for her after class. Caroline seemed happy.

It was around 9pm and I’d left Caroline in her dorm to go acquire some cash. On the way I came across Travis. He muttered ‘hi’ as he rushed passed, pulled up his collar, glanced back and ducked down a secluded lane. It was weird for him to act edgy and not to burst into an overly friendly conversation. I thought maybe he was in some kind of trouble so I followed him and his angel, who stayed a couple of steps behind him. It was already dark and the lack of street lamps down there meant I didn’t need to worry about them seeing me, I just wondered along at a safe distance. The lane let out straight onto the main road that ran through the middle of town. It was pretty quiet but the bright street lights made it harder to follow them. Luckily, they didn’t go far. Travis stopped at a block of flats just down the road and pressed a button on the intercom. A short buzz followed and he yanked the door open. Thanks to the vast amount of windows, I was able to watch him climb the stairs and knock on a door that quickly opened. Third floor. I jogged across the road and around the back of the building looking up for an entry point. I saw it, an open window into the flat he’d gone in to. Perfect. I climbed up with ease. Perks of been a demon. I didn’t need to go through the window to find out what was going on, the noises coming from inside were enough. Motherfucker. It took all my strength not to go in there and end that little shit. But I decided to wait. Bide my time. Over the next two weeks, I followed him at night. Turns out, he lived in a five bed town house with a rich Mummy and Daddy and no Grandfather. On a Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday he was banging some blonde on campus and Monday and Saturday were reserved for some red head in town. No wonder he was so relaxed about Caroline not wanting to get physical, he was getting plenty already. Caroline had no idea what he was up to or that I was keeping tabs on her boyfriend but it wouldn’t matter soon enough.

It was the beginning of March and colder than you’d expect. Travis headed to the red head’s house with me trailing behind. I stopped at the mouth of the lane and watched as he disappeared into the flats. I lit up a cigarette and lingered on the edge of the deserted street. The angel always left a few minutes before and waited for him at my side of the road. When I saw him coming, I took a step back into the shadows. Always deal with the angel first. They’re easy to pick off and just generally annoying while you’re trying to kill their human. I flung his body into the bushes and waited to deal with lover boy. There he was. Crossing the road, adjusting the collar of his designer jacket. I flicked my second cigarette, half smoked, to the ground. “Hi, Travis.” He stopped dead in his tracks. He looked rattled to see me. “Oh. Hi, Adam.”

“What you doing?”

“I was just …” Here comes his pathetic attempt at a lie. “… visiting a friend.”

“Hmm. A friend, huh?” I didn’t hit him hard enough to knock him out. No, I wanted him conscious for the next part. He fell into the road and tried to scramble to his feet. “What are the hell, man?”

“Shut up. We both know what you’ve done. Now you’re going to pay for it.” I grabbed the back of his jacket and dragged him along the tarmac. “I’m sorry. I’ll tell Caroline everything. I promise.”

“Not good enough, Travis.” Was this guy actually crying already? Jesus fuckin Christ. “You don’t screw with my kid and get away with it.” He tried to get up, feet scraping against the ground. “Please. I’ll do anything.”

“Bite it.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Bite it.” His sobs were getting louder and more annoying. “No. Please. I don’t want to.”

“Bite it!” He surrendered sooner than I thought he would. His body shuddering, he slowly leant forward and bit the curb as I let go of his jacket and straightened up. I savoured the moment. Cracked my neck, releasing the tension that had built up over the past few weeks. And with one swift stomp to the back of old Travis’ head, the problem was dealt with. I lit another cigarette, threw his body over my shoulder and wondered into the darkness.

Copyright Anna Smith 2020