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Jaded Blood

Blood Bound Series Book 10

Amy Blankenship, RK Melton

Second Edition Published by Amy Blankenship

Chapter 1

Eleven years ago… LA, the Hogo Shrine.

Tasuki listened to the silence of the house and it was slowly starting to drive him crazy. He couldn't sleep right now if his life depended on it. Getting out of bed, he flipped his bedroom light on so he could see the picture tucked into the rim of his dresser mirror. The picture was of his best friend’s sister Kyoko and he’d taken it from their house when no one was looking.

The photo had been taken at the perfect moment, catching her beautiful emerald eyes in the sunlight. The day it was taken must have been windy because it looked like her hair was lifting around her to frame her sweet face.

He’d never wanted a girlfriend before but the little girl staring back at him from the photo was all he could think about. Reaching for the picture, his hand stilled when he saw something white moving in the reflection behind him. Turning, he went to the window to gaze out at the house next door.

He frowned seeing Kyoko wearing a white nightgown and standing out on her balcony. What was she doing outside at this time of night? Tasuki unlocked his window hoping he could get it raised without the creaking sound waking his father up. He groaned when it stuck about halfway and he had to push harder only for it to then fly up with a loud thud.

Kyoko stepped out onto the small wooden deck that was connected to her bedroom on the second floor. The cool night air felt good as it rustled around her knee length nightgown and blew her long auburn hair back from her face. Emerald eyes stared up at the stars and her lips formed the kind of smile that only a happy little girl could make.

It was close to midnight and she couldn’t sleep. She was too excited. It was almost her birthday and she would be ten years old. All her friends from school were coming to her party, even some of her brother Tama’s friends. Tama was a year younger and already so much taller than her, but she wasn’t jealous at all. She loved her brother dearly.

Tama had taken up for her the other day while walking home from school. Some of the boys from school had started teasing her, saying she was being raised by a crazy old man who went around telling everyone that demons were real. One of them went as far as to say he’d heard his father telling his mother that it wouldn’t be long before the people from the insane asylum would be coming to haul her grandfather off in a straitjacket.

Kyoko had thrown her book bag on the ground and tackled him for lying. He was a bad boy that Yohji!

The bullies hadn’t stood a chance when Tama and Tasuki suddenly appeared. Tasuki had jerked her out of the fray and pushed her behind him while Tama grabbed up a big stick and held it like a baseball bat.

Yohji had only laughed feeling brave in front of his friends and accused Tama of being just as much a freak as his sister. Tama whacked him good across the arm, making Yohji grab his arm and fall to his knees in pain.

When Yohji’s big brother moved forward to retaliate, Tasuki didn’t hesitate and decked the bigger boy making him crash backwards into his brother. Kyoko thought the fight was over and was glad… but Tama wasn’t happy yet.

Her brother had turned on Tasuki and yelled, “I am her protector… me! Not you!”

Kyoko giggled at the memory of the furious look on Tasuki’s face. It was that look that had really scared the bullies away. She’d had to step in to break up the fight between her brother and Tasuki before it was all over. They were best friends for heaven’s sake, and to see the two of them fighting like that was just wrong.

In the end, they had both agreed to be her protector from then on. They were now calling themselves her guardians… they made a blood pact and everything. At least that’s what Tama told her.

Just the thought of guardians surrounding her made Kyoko feel so warm inside that she didn’t think anything would ever get her. With Tasuki living in the house right beside them, they could always walk to and from school together and the bullies would leave her alone.

Her smile got even brighter when she vaguely heard the big old clock downstairs chime twelve times. It was after midnight now and that meant she was officially ten years old.

She glanced toward Tasuki’s house and smiled when she saw him standing in his bedroom window watching her. She started to wave, but he suddenly looked behind him and his bedroom light went out just after he disappeared from the curtains.

Kyoko bit her bottom lip wondering if he’d gotten caught by his dad for being up so late. She didn’t understand why Tasuki had a bedtime. He was twelve years old and, in her eyes, a big boy. When she grew up, he was going to be her boyfriend… he’d told her so just today.

She looked out at the pond that lay just beyond her grandpa’s shrine house and sighed softly when she saw the reflection of the moon on its calm surface. Kyoko tilted her head a little when something from the shrine house caught her attention and she wondered if her grandpa was inside the wooden walls. She could have sworn he was in bed.

Staring hard at the building, she could see a blue glow coming from the inside. She chewed her bottom lip as she leaned over the banister trying to get a better look. The light showing through the cracks in the wood was… like a black light but bluer. Her emerald eyes narrowed when she thought she saw a shadow move across the light making her want to go down and get a better look.

Making a face, Kyoko blew her dark bangs out of her eyes remembering what happened the last time she had dared go near that sacred shrine house. Her grandpa had gone inside of it leaving the door cracked open just a little. All she had done was peek inside and he had flipped his lid.

“I don’t see what the big deal is… it’s only a statue of a princess,” Kyoko whispered the same words she had that day.

Grandpa had responded by slamming the door shut and padlocking it. He had looked so frightened when he’d turned around and told her to never, ever go in there. She’d readily agreed because something that would scare her grandpa like that… she didn’t want anything to do with. That had happened a couple months ago though and her curiosity was slowly starting to eat away at her.

Smiling mischievously, Kyoko looked over her shoulder into her bedroom to make sure the coast was still clear before climbing up on the banister rail and daggling her legs over the side of it. If anyone had been awake to see her do this, she would have been in big trouble. But sitting like this was worth the lecture on safety. With everything behind her so she couldn't see it, sitting up here made her feel like she was floating in the night as she looked out over the water.

Her attention turned back to the shrine house when that blue light suddenly got brighter like a star being born. In a blinding flash, the light soundlessly exploded outwards. The door of the shrine house fell off its hinges with a soft thud followed by a big splash.

‘A splash?’ Kyoko thought to herself.

She jerked her gaze back to the glistening water of the pond seeing the ripples growing into bigger circles where something had just fell in. Without thinking about the dangerous height, she turned around on the banister and slid down one of the metal poles that held the deck up.

As soon as her small feet hit the grass, she took off running thinking grandpa had somehow been blown into the water. Using the small bridge, Kyoko jumped into the water aiming for the center of the ripples. She didn’t have time to think about the icy pinpricks of the cold water surrounding her as she kicked her way down into the deepest part of the pond.

She knew it would be too dark to see anything, but she opened her eyes under the murky water anyway. Her grandpa was down here somewhere and she had to help him. Her lips parted in awe when she did see something in the water… something so bright it was almost blinding. Right there in the center of all that light was an angel and he was sinking slowly to the bottom of the pond.

She could feel the icy water rushing into her lungs as she desperately reached out for the glowing hand. He was beautiful and looked like he was sleeping. Wings… he had silver wings. Grabbing a hold of his hand, she pulled as hard as she could but it only made her come closer to him. She tried to cry out for him to wake up but more water rushed in filling her up. It didn’t hurt but she felt cold… and she was so very sleepy.

Kyoko felt his fingers tighten around hers and her last thought was that an angel had come to take her to heaven so she could be with her mommy and daddy again.

Toya jerked as consciousness crashed back into him and he opened his eyes. Water? Why was he in water? He felt someone touching his hand and turned his head to see a young girl in the water with him. Her floating hair framed the sweetest face but her eyes were closed and her heart shaped lips were parted.

Realizing what that meant, Toya pulled her into his arms and shot out of the water so fast it left a waterspout trailing behind them.

Looking down at the small bundle in his arms, his own breathing stopped… she was beautiful and so fragile looking. Folding his wings upward, he descended onto a soft patch of grass and gently laid her down. Placing his hand over her heart, Toya prayed to feel it beating.

His golden eyes widened and his own heartbeat sped up as he felt his guardian power pooling into his palm. Hot tears sprang to his eyes making her image swim within his vision. His golden eyes widened when he felt his guardian powers were reaching for her.

“Kyoko?” Toya could feel her power mingling with his, centering between his palm and her heart and he knew he was right. He had finally found her again, but in this world she was just a child. He raised his eyes to the heavens and pleaded, “You brought me here for a reason… didn’t you? Please tell me it wasn’t to watch her die again. I can’t do it… I won’t.”

When nothing happened, Toya pulled her into his arms and the echo of his forlorn whimper could be heard when she remained limp. He pressed his face into the arc of her neck and pushed his chest tightly against hers wanting her heart to feel his beating.

“Damn it Kyoko, I’m here… feel me.” Toya's nerves shattered with every passing second until he couldn't take it anymore and screamed, “Please… let me save her this time.”

As if on instinct, he turned his tear filled gaze to the small structure only a couple feet away. There… just inside the open doorway was the Maiden Statue. Seeing the glowing gaze of the Heart of Time, Toya felt himself fall from grace as his anger surfaced.

“I don’t care if the demons are coming and you can have your damn crystal. Neither one of them matter… she does! I love her. I have always loved only her. Don’t you dare take her from me again.”

The statue’s glowing eyes seemed to regard him for a moment then a soft burst of light shown from them. Without hearing a voice, Toya knew what the Heart of Time was asking. He felt a sense of calm wash his anger away and he pulled his gaze from the statue to look back down at the dying child in his arms.

“If that’s what it takes,” Toya whispered willing to sacrifice anything if only she would live. Her small body began to glow in sync with his and the soft blue light expanded around them. Lowering his lips to hers, Toya gave her his breath… sealing their fates as her heart kicked back into rhythm.

The water in her lungs evaporated as Kyoko inhaled the warming air and fought her way up from the drowning darkness that clung to her. Warmth, she was surrounded by it. She struggled to open her eyes remembering the angel she was trying to save.

Blinking the water from her dark lashes, she waited on the blinding blue light to die down. When it finally faded, she found herself in the arms of the angel and he was watching her. Feeling her lips tingling, she touched her fingertips to them in wonder.

Toya couldn’t take his eyes off her as she opened those emerald green eyes that glowed with warm curiosity and intelligence. He felt his chest constrict painfully when she smiled up at him. He felt the bleeding wound of it all as she innocently reached up and pressed her small fingers against her lips as if she could sense that he’d kissed her.

“What would make an angel cry?” Kyoko asked as she watched tears run trails down his cheeks.

Toya saw her smile start to fade and realized… he was crying. “I’m not,” he blinked back the tears and wiped his arm across his cheek. He had to wipe more tears away unable to stop them. “Just promise me you won't go back in the water until you learn how to swim.”

He could already feel himself disappearing from this world… but if she lived, he didn’t care.

Kyoko rose up in his arms and looked at the pond then back at him. “I forgot I couldn’t,” she whispered wondering how she could have forgotten such a thing.

Toya could see the glow of the statue over her shoulder and knew his time was running out. The Maiden’s hands had begun to glow brighter and in the distance, he could hear the monsters of his world trying to break through the rift. The barrier between worlds was always the weakest where Kyoko could be found.

Without warning, he reached out and pulled Kyoko into a tight embrace already missing her. Rubbing his cheek against her auburn hair, his voice shook as he whispered, “I have to return to the other side and keep the demons from coming here.”

“You sound like Grandpa… he knows all about the demons,” Kyoko said pressing her ear against his chest so she could listen to his heartbeat. She slid one of her arms around his back and wondered why she couldn't feel his wings even though she knew they were there.

Glancing back down at her innocence, he cupped her chin and turned those stunning emerald eyes up to his. “Do not fear the demons Kyoko… you have the power to send them out of this world.” With that confession, Toya glanced toward the maiden statue. He could feel the demons coming through the Heart of Time at a dangerously rapid pace.

Setting her on the grass, Toya stood up and moved toward the statue, drawing his twin daggers as he went. “And I am not an angel… I am your guardian. My name is Toya.”

Still kneeling in the grass, Kyoko leaned forward watching as he entered the shrine house and it lit up in a blue mist. She screamed when a set of arms suddenly reached out of the light and gripped the angel then several more demons emerged around him. As her scream and the angel’s roar rang out in the night, the light from the statue started imploding backwards as if being sucked up by a vacuum cleaner

Kyoko could hear the back door of the house slam but she couldn’t take her eyes off the angel and demons. Stumbling to her feet, she took off running toward the open doorway of the shrine house. She could hear her grandfather and brother screaming her name but it was Tasuki that was closing in on her.

Just as she reached out to grip the angel’s hand, Tasuki’s arms went around her, hauling her into the air a second too late. When Kyoko’s index finger barely brushed the outstretched hands of the statue, it caused large beams of light to erupt from the exact spot she had touched. To Tasuki, it looked as though a barrel of Fourth of July fireworks had just been set off right in their face.

One of those beams of light hit the left side of Tasuki’s chest making the twelve year old wince in surprise. Instead of pain from the impact, he felt the sensation of something rushing in to fill him up… like he’d been missing something all his life and it had finally come home.

His eyes widened when he saw a beautiful ribbon of florescent blue light still connecting the hands of the statue to Kyoko’s fingertips as though it were trying to keep them linked together. Tasuki blinked when, for a split second, he saw a beautiful crystal spinning around inside the ribbon. Wanting Kyoko away from it, he stumbled backwards with her held tightly in his arms.

The crystal spun faster and faster until it exploded, sending more shards of light straight up this time and out across the city… looking like a beautiful starburst in the dark night.

Tasuki breathed heavily. When he had snuck back to his bedroom window, he’d seen the strange man with Kyoko in his arms and panicked seeing that she was limp. He wasn’t sure what that man had done to her but he’d felt satisfaction when that light had sucked him up and taken those red eyed demons with him.

“The angel needs our help,” Kyoko screamed trying to wiggle loose from Tasuki but he was too strong. Seeing her grandpa step in between her and the statue, she cried out not understanding, “There are demons inside that statue and they’re going to hurt him. You fight demons… go help him… please!”

Leaning back against Tasuki, she sobbed when she saw that fearful expression once again cross her grandpa’s face, except this time it was much worse. “You can’t… help him?”

Grandpa Hogo turned around and looked inside the shrine. The barrier scrolls he’d placed all over the inside of the small structure were still smoldering, now mostly ash. Backing out of the shrine, he glanced at the young boy that was holding his granddaughter and felt chills crawl up his spine. Tasuki’s eyes were normally a soft brown… not the angry amethyst he was now using to glare at the statue.

His blood had ran colder than ice when he’d witnessed the connection Kyoko made with the Maiden Statue and Grandpa knew their time had finally run out. The appearance of the crystal was bad enough, but seeing it shatter like that filled him with dread. He also hadn't missed the fact that a piece of the crystal had slammed into young Tasuki’s chest.

“The scrolls were right,” he whispered hoarsely, wishing it had been a lie.

Grandpa Hogo lifted his eyes skyward and sent a silent prayer to whatever deity was listening to guide him. He needed to get the children away from here and, more importantly… he needed to get Kyoko away from Tasuki. Without meaning too, that boy would lead the demons right to Kyoko, and the guardians of the crystal would soon follow.

Tasuki flinched when Kyoko was pulled out of his arms. He turned his amethyst gaze on the one that had taken her from him… her grandfather. He really shouldn’t be gripping her shoulders like that.

“Tasuki, you shouldn’t be out here after dark. If you don’t want me waking your father, then I’d advise you to go home. Now,” Grandpa Hogo demanded in a harsh voice. He shoved Kyoko into Tama’s waiting arms and turned on the two grandchildren that had been left in his care.

Tasuki stared at Kyoko, watching as she buried her face in Tama’s chest and continued to cry for the angel that she was sure had been killed by the demons.

“Kyoko, I’ll be waiting to walk you to school in the morning,” Tasuki stated and sent one last glare at the shrine before heading back toward his own home.

Grandpa Hogo waited until Tasuki crawled back through his bedroom window. He took a deep breath knowing he was going to be in for a severe tongue lashing once his grandchildren understood what they were about to do.

“Pack up kids… we are leaving within the hour,” He instructed.

*****

Present day… PIT Headquarters, the Castle.

Storm leaned back in the chair and stared up at the ceiling, lost in his own thoughts about the guardians. The legend behind the original guardians told of a strange love story that was paradoxical in nature.

He had become curious after finding the strange legend and traced it back to a powerful crystal known as the Guardian Heart Crystal. That alone had been no easy feat seeing as how the legend would be written on paper or carved into a stone one minute and gone the next, leaving no proof that it had ever even existed. It was an enigma even to a Time Walker.

The oldest legend he’d found on the dimensional crystal told the story of guardian twins, two immortals that protected all of the human parallel worlds from overlapping into the demon realm. These two powerful immortals had fallen in love with a human girl that had come through a tear between the dimensions with the help of a crystal her father had created.

The two guardians had fought over her, almost destroying the seal they were supposed to be protecting.

One of the twins had sought to end the dangerous conflict by taking the paradoxical crystal and merging it with the girl’s soul along with a statue he’d created of her that was made out of the fabric that separated all dimensions. He thought that by merging the three, she would appear in every parallel world they protected.

He had intended to then shove his twin brother into one of those parallel worlds and seal it off from the demon world so that they could both have her. Things didn’t go as planned though. When the girl, the statue, and the crystal had merged, she’d suddenly disappeared from the demon realm and the rip was once again sealed.

When the other brother found out what his twin had done to separate them from the girl, he’d flown into a jealous rage and killed his brother, shattering both of their souls. Because they were immortal and can never truly die, the souls reformed and five new guardians had stepped forward still feeling the pull of the girl who now existed in all parallel worlds.

He looked up at the ceiling knowing those were the same five guardians that had taken residence on the third floor of the castle.

The riddle was hard for Storm to understand, because not only did the crystal shift space and time… it also shifted dimensions. He’d learned a long time ago to just stay out of things that were beyond a Time Walker’s ability to manipulate. With the demons invading LA and his powers already on the fritz, it wasn’t the best time for him to be pressing his luck unless he wanted to wind up in a parallel world with no way back to this one.

Nope… the guardians were on their own.