The Dark Guardian

Chapter 4

The rain pounded against the roof of the house. Lightning lit up my bedroom followed by the scream of thunder. The storm was right above us.

I groaned, rolling onto my back and staring at the ceiling. It was approaching 3 a.m. and I still hadn't slept. The words in Grandma's journal bounced around my head. Whose blood must be given? Who were these people, the "product of worship" as my Grandma phrased it? And who were all these dang people in the photographs?

I pulled a pillow over my face and screamed into it, but my scream was masked by thunder clapping immediately overhead.

Hopping off my bed, I wandered over to my desk. Books and papers covered the surface, but I slid all those to the side and pulled one of Grandma's journals from the cardboard box. The journal was a beautiful deep purple colour and felt velvety to the touch. A small silver clasp held the thick journal closed. I ran my fingers over the cover gently before pulling the clasp apart and flipping it open.

I skimmed over the pages until something caught my eye. A small, gem-shaped stone was sketched in the middle of the page with the words "Blood Ruby" scrawled underneath it. I studied it intensely, wondering why it looked so familiar. I pulled Grandma's necklace out from under my shirt and unclasped it before laying it beside the drawing. The ruby in my necklace looked identical to the drawing.

I frowned and started flipping quickly through the journal, looking for any mention of the "Blood Ruby". After finding nothing in that journal, I grabbed the next one from the box and scrambled through that. No success. I continued on like this for nearly an hour, frantically scanning the pages of each journal, trying to find out what the Blood Ruby was.

I reached for the last book in that box, a thick, old looking photo album. Most of the photos were of landscapes, mountains, fields, lakes. I paused on the last page, a colour photograph of a group of people who looked familiar. They all had blond hair, blue eyes, pale skin, exactly like me. Some looked very old, almost like death had taken them and returned them for a moment. Others looked very young, my Grandma included. I could tell her apart because of the giant smile painted on her face.

Grandma stood in the middle of the group, in front of a woman whose hand rested gently on her shoulder. This must have been Grandma's mother, and she wore the necklace. It peeked between the folds of her shirt, glinting in the sunlight.

Tenderly, I pulled the picture out from its pocket. On the back of the photo, Grandma had written "A gathering of the advisors" in dark ink. There was no date, no names of the other people present in the photo, no indication of where they were.

I stared at the photo for a couple moments longer, admiring the necklace that adorned my great Grandma's neck. She was beautiful, but her face was darkened with a stern look. Her eyes glinted with centuries of secrets. I never met her, she had passed away long before Alejandro or I was born, but I could tell by the way she stood that she was a strong woman.

I flipped the picture over again, studying the writing. What were they the advisors of? Who did they advise?

I closed the photo album, still holding the photo. It didn't belong in that album, so I tucked it into Grandma's Bible instead.

Slowly, I started cleaning up the mess of journals of albums, placing them carefully back into the boxes before shoving the boxes into the back of my closet. Lightning flashed outside, illuminating the room for a brief second. A photo was laying on my desk.

"Hmm, you must have fallen out of one of the books," I muttered to the photo, picking it up. It was a photo of my Grandma and another woman who I didn't recognize. This woman was elderly, the same age as my Grandma, and had a broad smile on her face. Laughter danced in both of their eyes as they stood there, arms around each other. They stood in front of a bookstore, the tall bookshelves visible through the window. The store looked familiar, in fact, I think it was just downtown. Grandma's writing decorated the back of the photo.