The Mark of Love & War [HOLD]

Chapter 5 - The Start

"Give me a hug already!" Kim came forward and engulfed me into a large hug. I was shocked at first. I couldn't even bring myself to hug her back. 

"Kim," I said. 

"Oh, honey are you surprised? Cameron said you would be. And so did Jackson actually." She let go of me and turned me to the bear of a man next to her.

He grinned down at me and opened his arms. "Come here!"

A puff of air left my lungs as the man picked me up and squeezed. "It's so nice to meet you at last. After Kim talks about you twenty-four seven it's nice to put a name to a face!" I detected a slight accent in his voice. Tennessee? It wasn't heavy but it was there. "My names Jackson. I found this little lady wandering around the Angelic World clueless two years ago. She had me at, 'Hello.'"

I smiled. The two did look perfect for each other. Most angel couples do. Angels... Kim's an angel. Looking at her now she did still have some of the same facial features. The mouth, the shape of her eyes minus the colour of them. Her blonde hair was a shiny almost white. She probably hadn't done too much in the past two years.

"How... What...?"

She grinned. "Want me to explain everything? We do need to catch up."

"Please do explain." I insisted. 

She and Jackson led us into the living room. Bonnie sat with me opposite Kimberly and Jackson while Cam sat on the single seat.

"First things first," Kim smiled at me. It was so weird seeing her smile at me genuinely. We used to throw insults at each other like there wasn't a tomorrow... Now look. "Thank you."

"For what?" I asked as I looked down at my hands.

"For trying." She replied.

I parted my lips as I shut my eyes. The memory shall never fade. She didn't deserve to die that day. He shouldn't have killed her. He shouldn't have been able to get that close to her.

That man. Grigori.

My hands clenched into fists and Bonnie's hands landed on mine. 

"You already thanked me." I looked back up at her.

"Not in person." She said as she glanced at Jackson. "In soul, yes. After you talked to me at my funeral I went through a tribunal because of the way I died. I ended up here for a while. Doing nothing. It was six months before I went back only to be told I'll be a guardian to a little girl. Everything about me changed. My mind was erased, my appearance was one of a new angel, white hair and pale blue eyes and my duty was to that little girl as Bonnie's is to Jay, right?"

I glanced at Bonnie's nodding form and back to her. "If your mind was erased then how...?"

"I'm getting to that. At first I had no idea what to do. I wandered the Angelic World, my wings still growing but the pain unnoticeable. And then Jack found me. I'd greeted him in Enochian and he grinned like a Cheshire cat." His fingers found hers. "Told me he'd take me to the child. I watched her for a year with fascination. Helping her. Elders gave me the power to shift so I could watch her easier; I could shift into a white eagle if there is such thing. Bonnie, you can shift too right?" Bonnie nodded again.

"Not all guardians have the power to shift. It's more of a gift, like how you can read minds and manipulate fire. Yes, I know all about your fire trick." She winked. "I was in Paris watching her grow. Her parents were... Evil people." Her eyes suddenly turned sad. "She died before she turned five. A part of me died with her. It wasn't voluntary but the bound I had to her was unbelievably strong. The bound any guardian has to their human or angel in your case is strong. Death for your human feels like death for the guardian. The bound was broken and my memories returned. Jackson came back for me no more than five minutes after Arianne's death. He comforted me. And we've stuck together since."