When Alex came back into the bedroom, Gabe was alone, sitting on the edge of the bed. She tried to take a graceful seat next to him, but landed with a thump instead.
"Sorry about that," Gabe said. "It's my job to apologize for Rile. My unwelcome job."
Cale walked into the room. When Alex evaluated him with a wary glance, Gabe explained, "This is my brother Cale, who is known for his wisdom. The rude one was my brother Rile. If he's not offending you at the moment, you can tell him by the red tint to his golden hide.
"Please don't confuse us." Cale grinned. "I do not need to be blamed for anything Rile does, thank you very much. I came to tell you that breakfast is ready."
"I like the green tint to your golden hide," Alex said and frowned when Cale's eyes widened in shock. "I'm not teasing you," Alex said and was glad when he relaxed. She stood and was grateful for legs that didn't wobble. She made a mental note to ask Gabe later what was wrong with liking green.
Cale bowed and lavishly gestured for Alex to precede him out.
"No princess jokes," she said as she passed Cale.
"Good morning, Princess," Rile said when Alex entered the kitchenette. He sat at a battered linoleum table.
"The princess who saved your brother." She took the seat farthest from Rile.
The chairs were mismatched with their vinyl cushion tears taped shut, but they were clean. Cale placed a plate with sausages and a stack of pancakes in front of her. Four glasses of orange juice were already poured in mismatched glasses and there was a folded copy of The Times-Picayune weekend edition on the table.
"You can cook?" she asked.
I expected to be served beignets.
Cale walked to the kitchen counter and held up a carton. "The pancakes are stored in this container. I pour it onto the pan on the iron circles of fire and they cook."
"You should taste the green slime he learned to make," Rile said.
Alex grimaced and inspected her food closely for any taint of green.
"Tell us, Warrior Princess, how you saved our brother." Rile jerked his head at Gabe.
"It was a joint effort," Gabe replied. "We helped each other."
"I thought I'd even the odds." Alex shrugged and looked down at her
plate.
No signs of green slime.
"I took out one, he took out one. That sort of thing," she said.
"What sort of thing? What happened next?" Rile shoveled the pancakes into his mouth, but at least he chewed with his mouth closed.
"I grabbed Gabe and flew off. It seemed logical at the time."
"How did you counteract the poison?" Cale asked.
"I saw the tranquilizer guns and darts. I counteracted the symptoms of sedation," Alex took a bite of sausage to forestall more questions.
"How?" Rile stopped shoveling food to fix Alex with his gaze.
Alex blushed, but steeled herself, and said, "You've seen it already. I used a low energy discharge. See?" She let her fingers spark briefly. "I used in on Gabe, and it helped. That and keeping him warm."
They probably already know that I slept next to him to warm him. Terrific. Was that better or worse than climbing into their group bed? Doubly terrific.
"Why did you risk your life for a stranger? What's your angle?" Rile asked.
"I'm a superhero," Alex replied in a mock baritone as she straightened and put her hands on her hips in Superman pose.
"Please." Rile didn't hide his disbelief.
Alex dropped the pose."At first, I thought it was a mugging, and breaking that up is my specialty. Secondly, it ticked me off to see someone ganged up on. Even if that someone isn't human. Especially if that someone isn't human. I have no species loyalty. Not after Morgan."
She didn't tell him about the need to help that drove her mercilessly. One time when the streets were quiet, she had climbed onto Mrs. Bonifay's balcony to weed, water, and feed her plants. It had been a small good deed, but it had quieted the clamor in her head.
"Who's Morgan?" Rile's question brought Alex back to the present.
"Another thug," Gabe cut in so quickly that Rile looked suspicious. "I took care of him."
"You? What about her? Didn't she just take out those men because you had been shot? Why did you have to do it?"
"Drop it, Rile," Gabe ordered.
"Tell us about yourself," Cale, ever the peacemaker, said.
Alex twiddled her fork and stared at her pancakes. "There's not much to tell, and it's very boring. I'd rather hear more about you." She looked up.
"We asked you first," Rile replied, not about to be deterred.
Alex chopped up her pancakes savagely with her fork. "I wasn't exaggerating when I said there wasn't much to tell. I can only remember the last few months of my life. I have some blurry images from my childhood, but other than that, zippo. I woke up one morning, and I was in an apartment. I didn't know where it was, what I was doing there, I didn't even know my name. Only a huge, healing incision on my head that was throbbing like an earthquake." Alex touched the scar under the stubble of her hair on that side of her head. The plain brown hair on the other side fell straight as a curtain to her shoulders.
When she was silent, Rile prompted, "And?"
"This guy comes in, Morgan." Alex scowled at the memory. "He starts talking about how he 'rescued' me." Her bitter tone told them what she thought of that. "He tells me a little about my powers, and that some crazy government scientists are after me, but that he's 'helping' me. But this Morgan, he's a major creep, and makes sure I know how very indebted I am to him."
No way am I telling them how Morgan took his payment.
"Why didn't you blast him?" Rile asked in the overly patient tone of an exasperated schoolteacher. He bit a sausage in half and chewed it slowly, staring at Alex.
"I didn't know how to activate those powers until I escaped," Alex lied. She picked up her own sausage and bit it in half as well.
My teeth work, too.
"We shall help you learn more about yourself," Gabe said.
"Why would I want to do that?" she asked in genuine confusion. "No thanks."
"You don't want to know about your past?" Cale looked at her quizzically and tilted his head in a way Alex found adorable.
"How can you not want to remember your past?" Rile demanded.
Alex slapped her hands flat on the table and stood up, flaring with anger. "Because he wants me to remember." She closed her eyes and the voice that haunted her snarled in her mind, calling her whore and worse.
"Shut up, Rile," Cale and Gabe said together.
Alex slumped back in the chair, eyes still closed. "What do I have to look forward to? I'm a freak with strange powers and a big ole scar on my head. How could my past be anything good? Family? Friends? Morgan was a terrific example. These powers are definitely weird. I didn't get them at a local store. I don't want to meet whoever engineered them and left me with this scar. They can't be happy I ran off. Suppose I find out I'm not even human. Sorry, you know what I mean. Any news I find out is bound to be bad," she said with finality and opened her eyes.
"How can you elude your enemies if you don't know who they are?" Rile asked.
Gabe and Cale stayed silent, exchanging furtive looks and pushing around their food.
"I assume everyone who isn't a victim is my enemy. I change my name and move every two weeks or so, depending on how long my latest temp job lasts."
"What kind of life is that?" Rile made it sound like an accusation and pointed his fork at her.
"My life," Alex growled. "Mine and no one else. Not Morgan's. Not whoever gave me these powers. Not even the idiot I used to be, who got me into this mess. I fight until I die. It'll be a short life, but it'll be mine."
In other words, don't get close to me for your own safety. I'm hunted and hunter. Not safe to be around.
They ate in silence for a moment.
"I admire you," Cale said. "You've been experimented upon and have survived without a scrap of help, yet your spirit is unbroken and you continue to help others."
Alex blushed up to the roots of her hair. "Your turn. I told you all about me, please go on," Alex prompted.
"I don't know that you told us all about you," Rile started, but Alex cut him off with another question.
"Gabe said I could see your true faces. What's that about?"
"We have a limited ability to disguise ourselves, a gift from the one who Called us. It works best in large, open places, out on the streets, in stores," Cale answered.
"I wondered how you shopped for groceries. People on my world don't go around shooting each other with tranquilizer guns. How did those riflemen know what you were?" Alex asked.
"Agents of The Adversary can see through our disguises. As can those with close, personal contact. Which one are you, Princess?" Rile sounded like he believed both options.
Alex squirmed until she thought of a good answer. "I saw Gabe's true face right away. After what I went through for him, I hope you aren't accusing me of working for your enemy."
"Allies and other Guardians can see through our disguises as well," Cale said, "Once we realized you were helping Gabe and us, we weren't suspicious of you anymore."
"Speak for yourself," Rile replied.
"Guardians?" Alex cut across his words.
"What we are," Gabe answered, but glared at Rile when he scoffed.
"Who is your adversary?" Alex asked to avoid a fight over the 'Guardian' issue.
"The Adversary," Cale corrected gently.
When Alex showed no signs of recognition, Rile said, "There's certainly enough evil on your world for you to know of him."
Cale elbowed Rile. "He's known by many names, but he is always the author of evil."
"It's Cale's job to smooth over Rile's rough words," Gabe explained.
"My unwelcome job," Cale added.
"Two of you have that job? Lucky you. We'll stick with 'The Adversary' label. So, how did you get here?" Alex continued her interrogation. Now she had to remember to ask more about the 'Guardian' bit and 'The Adversary' bit and the liking green bit.
"We can't explain exactly how we came here," Cale said. "We traveled through a portal. I don't know how it works."
"Where are you from?" Alex imitated Rile's overly patient tone.
Men. Always so taciturn, no matter what the species.
Gabe shrugged. "It's a name that means nothing to you, just as the name Earth means nothing to us."
"It's called Olam and we call ourselves Agama," Cale said.
"What's it like?" she persisted.
So they're aliens. That's why I can't classify them as dragons or humans.
"The sun and the moon look similar," Rile said. "Blue sky, green plants, brown dirt, all that's the same. But where is it in relation to here? We don't know. Is it the past of this planet? The future? Another planet? Another universe? Who knows?"
Gabe scowled. "My brother watches too much TV."
"You explain it, big brother," Rile hissed.
Gabe thought a moment. "It was an adequate description."
Rile looked triumphant and flicked his tongue out at his oldest brother.
"What about your family?" Alex asked.
Getting information is like pulling teeth . . . just like from me.
No one answered and the tension made Alex regret the question. Rile stood up from the table and stalked over the window. Gabe stared at Rile's back while Cale looked anxiously from brother to brother.
"We were on a hunting expedition. When we returned, everyone in our clan had been murdered," Cale said.
"Everyone? That's awful! Who killed them? Who could kill all of them?"
Rile kept his back to them and continued to look out the window, at the sight of the huge oak trees that overshadowed the streets and houses. Cale looked down at the table.
Gabe was left to answer. "We never found out. After four days, we entered the portal through the flash of light, and here we are."
Alex frowned. "That's it? And you complained about me not telling you enough?"
"It is not unheard of in our world," Gabe said.
"Really? Flashes of light and people go missing? Or entire clans being slaughtered? Nice place."
Rile hissed and Gabe threw him an unfriendly look.
"Tell her the rest." Rile turned back around.
"No one has heard of an entire clan being cut down like ours was. As to the portal, it's considered being 'Called'. Called to be a Guardian by the Portal Guardian, to protect others, to win the wars that need winning. Some return with strange stories, some are never seen again. There is always a purpose," Gabe said.
Rile hissed again and Alex sensed an old, old argument stirring to life.
"Too bad we weren't 'Called' to save our own family." Rile's pain and anger were bald, his hands fisted and the hard lines around his eyes intensified.
"That is not for us to question." Gabe sounded like he had said this many times.
"Maybe it is. Maybe we should. What have we done here? Stopped some petty crimes? Our clan is dead, and here we are, cleaning up muggers and other filth," Rile challenged.
"You saved my life." Alex's voice was quiet.
I hate stepping into an old family fight.
Rile turned back to the window.
"And you helped save mine." Gabe searched her face. "There is always a purpose."
"Your god is this Portal Guardian?" Alex asked, eager to change the subject. "Let's hear the mythology. I love mythology."
"No, she's not a god or goddess, and it's not mythology. It's theology," Cale answered.
Alex perked up. "She? The Portal Guardian is female? This could be good. Go on."
"She's a higher level of Guardian than us," Cale explained. "There is only one God, the Creator of All."
"The Portal Guardian is the one who Calls us specifically," Gabe said.
Rile hissed softly this time and Gabe glowered at him.
"What is our Calling here, mighty leader?" Rile asked.
"We'll find out," Cale consoled. When Rile made another noise, Cale turned to him. "In the meantime, we are doing what we are supposed to be doing. 'Cleaning up muggers and other filth'."
Alex noticed that Rile was studying her. If Gabe's soft eyes were that of a Labrador retriever, Cale's of a Cocker Spaniel, then Rile's were that of a German Shepherd. A police German Shepherd.
A police German Shepherd watching a criminal.
To break the tension, Alex said, "Gabe said he would tell me the story of how your kind lost the use of your wings."
"You showed her your wings? Bold move, bro." Rile grinned impudently.
Gabe's posture stiffened and his claws raked the table. "I did not."
"Whoa, I was checking for injuries," Alex said. "Sorry for the intrusion on your personal space. Definitely nothing else meant. Your brother was knocked out, Dragon Boy."
"We believe you." Cale moved to Gabe and ran gentle claws up and down his arm. "Your actions have spoken of honor."
Alex felt guilty that she had crossed some line of intimacy, an unwelcome crossing, judging by Gabe's reaction. Her mouth went dry and her stomach churned that she had violated his ethics and had enjoyed touching him. Pressure filled her head and drowned out the small voice of reason crying that she never would have if she had known, she had been helping him, and she certainly would not have enjoyed it if she had known. She squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed her temple with one hand and fisted the other.
Not a short circuit. Not now.
"What's wrong?" Cale asked.
She felt his hand close gently over her fist.
"Nothing, just a headache," she mumbled.
Rile took her chin, almost as gently, but with firm pressure turned her face up to his. Startled, she opened her eyes.
"What's wrong with your eyes?" he asked, searching her face. "They're a normal brown in the center, and surrounded by white like other humans, but they're jiggling slightly."
"The implants in my head act up from time to time. I call it a short circuit," Alex sighed in defeat.
Alex felt his fingers trace up her face to her forehead and he laid the back of his hand against it.
"You're very warm," Rile said. "An Agama would be sick at this temperature. Are you?"
To her relief and considerable surprise, the pressure in her head and the growing short circuit subsided at his touch. "I don't want to talk about it," Alex said.
Gabe grabbed Rile's wrist. "Do not presume to touch Alex," Gabe told his youngest brother, who hissed menacingly.
"Please, I'm normal temperature. Please, tell the story," Alex begged. "You two fighting will only make the short circuit worse."
They would fight over me? That makes me a toxic waste dump to them. How can I prevent that?
Rile flung himself onto a chair, legs over the side. "Cale tells theology. Tell her the story."
"It's theology?" Alex looked at the smallest brother.
"Everything is ultimately theology," Cale said with a small smile.
Cale sat on the couch and patted the cushion next to him. Alex pursed her lips but sat next to him. Rile hissed softly at Cale, who flicked his tongue out at him.
"When the Agama were first created as Guardians, they were all male and could fly. They were promised mates, but they grew impatient and decided to find their own. When some took females against their wills, the Portal Guardian rounded up all the Agama for judgment. She told them must forego the ability to fly if they wished to continue as Guardians. They could keep their wings as a promise that one day they would fly again. The Adversary told them they could keep flying if they served him. Those that chose The Adversary, the Creator cursed. Their bodies and faces were elongated, some lost the ability to speak, and their hands twisted into reptilian claws. The Adversary gifted them flaming breath as a sign that they served him."
Alex walked over to the table, picked up the newspaper, and flipped through it. She found an ad for a fantasy movie with a dragon prominently displayed. She showed it to Cale first, then the other brothers.
"Some of the cursed ones made it here," Cale said, tracing the picture with a neat talon.
"They're considered myth. Tales of knights hunting dragons, mostly," Alex said. "I suppose myth has a kernel of truth in it."
"So they were hunted and killed." Cale stroked his muzzle in thought. "No more returned to Earth since they're considered myth. I wonder if we're the first Guardians, Agama or otherwise, to come here since those cursed Agama long ago."
"Who cares?" Rile snapped.
"Other species can become Guardians?" Alex asked.
"Of course," Cale said. "Anyone can serve the Creator of All."
"No mysterious flash of light for me. Just waking up from the darkness to a whole lotta pain. Guess I'm not good enough to be some almighty savior of the universe. I'll stick to beating up muggers and pimps." Alex sat down at the table with the newspaper and turned to the classifieds.
Telling them that I'm below their level should push them away.
"Of course you're good enough," Cale said, and Alex felt like slapping her face. Instead, she ignored him, so he asked, "What are you looking for?"
"A new apartment or room to rent. Morgan found my place and I'm not going back. Ever." Alex turned the page.
"What about your belongings?" Gabe asked.
"Nothing worth the risk of seeing him. It's not like I have any treasured mementos from the past. I move every few weeks." Alex ran her finger down a column.
Get the hint, boys, I'm a transient. Not worth your time.
"What about your job?" Rile demanded.
"Not going. He could have tracked me from there." She looked up at their silence and felt her defenses rise. "It was a temp job anyway. What does it matter to y'all where I work or live?"
"This Morgan should not take everything you have. We'll retrieve your possessions," Gabe said.
Now I feel bad. They're only concerned about me. Must be that Guardian of the universe thing. I'll try harder to push them away.
"It's not worth the risk for a few clothes and lots of books. Leave it." Alex returned to the paper.
Rile grabbed his staff and sword and sheathed them in their carriers on his back. "Some risk. I'm off. Toting someone's stuff, that's what I was Called to do."
"You'll need me to direct you." Gabe stood up and followed suit.
Cale started to stand up, but Gabe shook his head and Cale sat back down.
"Hey wait," Alex said. "If you're going back, please take the bags of cat food to Mrs. Bonifay on the third floor. She'll feed my feral cat colony. Heck, give her all my food. She could use it."
***
A/N: Thanks for reading! Please vote if you liked it and comment! I love interacting with my readers! What did you think of the brothers' backstory?
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TillyB789
Dedicated to
Major edit dedicated to
Thanks for letting me use your line as Cale's dialogue!