Moonlight

Chapter 19 (Aftermath)

A cool breeze washed over me. I was still waiting for the pain of the sword's impact, but none came. I slowly opened my eyes, and in front of me stood my dark angel. Malum. He was here to save me.
His outstretched hand was glowing purple, and only a few inches in front of him was the sword, hovering in mid-air. Malum's magic abilities were amazing to see in action. He turned his head slightly towards me and smiled. My heart skipped a beat.
"Don't worry Grace. This will all be over soon."
He turned his head back to face the Guardian, which was now walking towards us. Malum rotated his hand, and as he did the sword was now pointed at the approaching guardian. With a flick of his wrist the sword sprang forward and hit the guardian square in the chest, it pierced right through it and the guardian began to fall. It's hard, stone body crumbling into tiny pieces.
A cloud of dust sprang up from where the now still guardian lay. There was no movement from it anymore. I let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness that was all over. Malum turned around and ran towards me. I was quickly embraced in his arms. His body was radiating a soothing heat that calmed me.
"Grace. I am so sorry. I didn't realize my return would put you in this kind of danger. I have no idea why the Guardians tried to kill you, but they are gone now and won't bother us ever again."
I gave a slight smile, but then quickly remembered something.
"Malum, there were two of them, did you kill the other one?"
He smiled. "I did. I have fought Guardians many times before. They do not pose a huge threat to me. I fought the ax wielding Guardian first, but while I was in battle the other one ran off to chase after you. Once I destroyed the one I was fighting I chased after the other Guardian, which luckily led me to you. I was so close to not reaching you in time, but thank goodness I did."
"I'm glad you did. Honestly, I am too young to die."
He smiled, and so did I. We were staring into each other's eyes. His eyes were now back to being gold. Like my two golden suns. He brushed a strand of my hair back behind my ear.
"Sorry, I just really love touching your hair."
"It's okay. I don't mind." I let out a small giggle.
His hand reached under my chin, and his thumb brushed against my lips. Our eyes were locked into one another's now. I was barely breathing. I loved him.
"Malum, I love you." I whispered.
Malum smiled. "Grace, I love you too."
His lips touched mine, and sparks flew. Our kiss was passionate and soft. It lasted for what seemed like forever. I did not care. The world could be destroyed and I would not have noticed. As long as Malum and I were like this, that is all that mattered to me now. He was everything that I didn't know I needed.
Eventually, we did need to resurface for air. I slowly broke our lips apart, my body shaking from the passion that was flowing through me. I reached for Malum's face and stroked his cheek. Such smooth skin for someone who is supposed to be pure evil. He smiled and stroked my hand.
"This is not how I imagined our first kiss would be. I thought we would be somewhere romantic, not standing in the middle of the woods after just having been attacked by two very large creatures."
I giggled. "Yeah, this definitely was not a first kiss situation I had thought of either."
"Oh, so you had been thinking of what our first kiss would be like too? I am glad that I wasn't the only one."
I knew that I was definitely blushing. "Ummm... no, maybe, okay, yes I had thought about it a few times. A girl can dream." I said.
Malum smiled. "Well, I hope that I made your dream come true."
"You definitely did. Shouldn't we get out of this dark and scary forest though? I'm getting kind of tired and need to sit down."
Malum nodded his head. "Yes, lets go my love. Hold on to me."
I wrapped myself around him, preparing for the teleportation that was about to happen. He kissed the top of my head and squeezed my arm. He raised his other hand and in a flash we were engulfed in the purple smoke. I closed my eyes. My body was being sucked away by an invisible force. I felt the air briefly leave my lungs, and then in a moment it was all over. We were now standing in the park we had talked in earlier that evening.
Even though it was only a few hours ago, it felt like his return and our conversation that followed happened weeks ago. Before the Guardians, before I knew the complete truth about Malum.
He brushed my cheek with his hand. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, or at least, I will be. Can you take me back to my place?"
He smiled. "Of course."
His car was still parked where had left it. We made our way over to it. He opened my door for me and I slid in. He then shut the door and he was in the driver's seat in the blink of an eye.
We drove in silence for a while. He had turned the heater on for me, which was nice because I did not realize how cold I was. I looked down at my dress and realized that part of it was torn up. It must have happened when I was running and then fumbling around in the woods. Damn it. I really hope my parents didn't notice.
He glanced over at me and smiled. "I can fix your dress if you want."
I looked over at him and gave him a disgruntled look. "Can you actually read my thoughts?"
He chuckled. "Only sometimes. I can't always read yours for some reason. Every other human I have encountered I am able to with no trouble, but yours are more guarded. It's quite interesting. I can only pick up on bits and pieces of what you're thinking, but not everything. I guess I will just need to try harder."
"Well, I'm glad that you find my mind interesting and I'm giving you a good workout. Honestly, I'm happy you can't read my mind all that well. I deserve some privacy."
He reached over and put his hand on my leg. His hand glowed purple and suddenly my dress was no longer torn up. It looked brand new.
I was flabbergasted. "Wow, that was cool. Thank you."
"You're welcome. There was no sense in having such a gorgeous outfit go to waste. Even though anything looks amazing on you.
I was definitely blushing. "You're such a gentleman, but also very overly romantic."
He let out a small laugh. "I try. And Grace you're right, you do deserve privacy, but I am just so curious about what goes on in that head of yours. Forgive me my love."
"It's okay. I'm sure I will get used to your weird, but awesome super powers soon enough. I mean, without them we would probably be dead right now. Thank you for saving me by the way. I usually can handle myself, but giant stone warriors, that is out of my league."
He smiled. "I will always be here to protect you. Nothing will ever harm you as long as I am around. I promise. You are my life now, and I will do everything in my power to keep you happy, healthy, and safe."
I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. His hand moved from my leg and found my hand. Our fingers now intertwined, and everything felt right.