Finding Grace: The Guardian Chronicles Book One

Chapter 50. Home*

Chapter 50. Home by Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeroes

The sun was rising through the lingering haze of smoke from the pyre as the small group gathered necessities from around the house and barn. Working through the night, Emil had directed Aiden and Xavier to load weapons and electronics into separate vehicles from the barn. He and Tourneau had gone inside and gathered personal items from their quarters and packed them into the Hummer. The roof of the truck looked as if a giant can opener had ripped the top off. Emil and Tourneau had completed the task, still causing Evan to gasp in awe at their display of strength. Evan and Nathan were watching helplessly, having been told to stay in the house where they would be safe. She hated feeling useless, not something she was accustomed to. Nathan looked insulted at being told to stay inside.

Trying to bolster his mood, Evan said, "At least Emil let you have a gun so you could protect us if they come back."

"Yeah, I guess, but I should be out there helping. I'm not much good to anyone in here."

"What am I? Chopped liver?" Evan said as she nudged his shoulder with her elbow.

A crooked smile crossed his thin face. "No. I told Emil I'd keep you safe."

"Really?" Evan asked with surprise. She didn't know how she felt actually being placed in the hands of a fifteen year old.

"I can handle it. I showed you earlier, remember?"

Evan nodded, realizing he was more equipped for this type of situation than she was. She knew how to fix broken bodies, not actually break them. They waited in the kitchen, ready at a moment's notice to flee to the safe room if the alarm went up.       

Emil had decided to pick up the wounded at the hideout then go on to his apartment in the city. He and Tourneau had kept its existence a secret, for situations such as this. They thought it would be a safe base of operations until they had more information on what was going on. Emil began to worry about Marie. He had not come across her body at the Enclave, and Tourneau had denied coming across other humans, as he had never met Marie, he did not know what she looked like. Emil could not stomach the thought of the way she might be misused at the hands of the traitors. He vowed to look for her once Evan and Nathan were safe. He also hoped Marie had not given away his downtown location. All she knew was that he was a music editor and had clients from all over the world. He had given her some story about needing secrecy about his apartment, not wanting clients to know where to find him after hours. He had not seen her in several days. In fact the last time he had talked to her was the day he had rescued Evan from Matt Thomas.

Inside the house, Evan avoided looking toward the living room. It was scattered with debris and covered in a fine layer of drywall dust from the attackers blowing the door apart. She had sweet memories of time spent with Emil in front of the fireplace. As long as she ignored that room, she could almost imagine the house was unchanged. In the short amount of time she had been with Emil, she had fallen in love with the old country house. It seemed that everything she loved was becoming tainted and it broke her inside. First her lovely brick home that had belonged to Emil's family so many years ago, now this. She wasn't sure she could take much more.

Restless, Evan wanted to get moving, get on with things, and put the heartache behind her. Laughing to herself, Evan thought of the utter boredom that had encompassed her hours away from work just a month ago. Her work had been her entire life, a place where she could lose herself in each patient's story as she strived to do her best to help each one. Emergency trauma medicine allowed her to challenge her mind every day, while not forming long term relationships with people. Her gift of intuition had helped her save the lives of many, and had helped her make difficult diagnoses. It had made it nearly impossible for her to make friends over all these years. The reappearance of Reginald had been proof of what most people thought about people with her abilities. Now it was worse. Not only could she feel others' energy, she now saw what was in their hearts. Evan did not see ever being able to practice medicine again. This realization hit her hard, causing a physical pain as the knowledge that even if she wanted to go back, she was a vampire. Surely those whom she worked with would be able to tell she was different, no matter how well she tried to hide the fact.