Your Guardian Angel

Natasha woke up to the smell of food. She had removed her t-shirt from the previous night when Caleb had gone to the guest room, feeling more comfortable in her sports bra and shorts. Grabbing up her shirt from the floor, she threw it over her head, leaving her room and heading down stairs. The large grandfather clock read eleven and she couldn’t believe she’d slept late.

“I was wondering if you’d smell the bacon,” a male voice brought her attention to the kitchen. Caleb was wearing the same clothes as last night and was wielding a spatula. He had his back to her and a plate of bacon was sitting on the island. She sat down on one of the stools and watched him pour a glass of orange juice and set it front of her. “I was about to drag you out of bed.”

“Why? It’s Sunday, I don’t have to do anything today.”

“You don’t want to sleep the day away, and you do have something to do today. There are a couple of people I want you to meet, among a few other things,” he told her, setting a plate of eggs in front of her. “Eat, and then go get ready. We’ve got things to do.”



“You’re taking forever!”

“Shut up, I’m almost done!” Natasha hollered through her closed door. She buttoned the front of her red and white striped cardigan and slipped on her silver flats. Making sure everything was in place and her hair had no bumps in it, she opened the door.

Caleb was shocked at how amazing she looked in something so simple, but he collected his thoughts as they walked out the door. He got into the driver’s seat while Natasha got in to his right.

He wouldn’t tell her where they were going the whole time, but by heading east, she knew they were heading towards Atlanta. She watched as the skyline of the city got bigger and bigger until they were passing Turner Field on the right getting onto the connector to I-85. Maneuvering his way through the traffic, Caleb took an exit to go downtown and was able to find a place on the side of the street to park. He placed change into the parking meter and helped Natasha out of the car. They walked a block to a restaurant, Tap, and entered. Caleb waved off the hostess and walked to the right where two people were sitting at a booth.

Natasha recognized the female from the day before at Ben’s house. She was a beautiful, medium-height Asian girl that Caleb said was Ben’s Guardian Angel. Her dark hair fell in waves around her oval face. She had a smile on her face as she talked to the guy beside her. He had short hair and a scruffy beard. His smile was warm as well as he turned towards the couple walking towards them. They stood up as Caleb introduced them.

“Natasha, this is Isabel and Adam,” Caleb announced pointing to the respective person.
Adam shook her hand but Isabel pulled her into a hug. Awkwardly, Natasha returned it and listened as the girl let out several sentences at once.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you! I’m sorry for the way I acted yesterday, I didn’t know the circumstances. I’m a Guardian Angel, too, and you can call me if you ever need me or if you just want to go shopping or something. It feels so good to finally be able to reveal myself to someone. This is going to be great! I can’t wait to –”

“Isabel, maybe you should calm down now, and let them sit,” Adam said, placing a hand over her mouth and smiling at Natasha. Isabel took a deep breath from behind his hand.
Caleb motioned for Natasha to slide into the booth and Adam did the same for Isabel. They were about to start talking when a waitress appeared out of nowhere. They ordered drinks and the waitress walked away. After she had come back with their drinks and they refused food, they began talking.

“I’m bringing you to meet Adam and Isabel because there are going to be times when I won’t be available and I want you to know who they are.”

“Why wouldn’t you be available?” Natasha asked, confused.

“There are different things I do, not just guard you. We have an army that fights demon attacks; Dante is in constant battle with us trying to overthrow the Angels to regain control of Earth. I’m one of the generals, and as such, I’m called if there’s a huge battle. You’ll know the battles by the storms. When I’m called-”

“Wait, ‘storms’? What do you mean by storms?” Natasha said, interrupting him.

“You know, storms. Thunderstorms. With lightning and thunder? Hurricanes, tornadoes, storms of any kind, really.”

“I still don’t get it,” Natasha said, taking a sip of her drink.

“We use storms to cover up the fighting that’s going on,” Isabel clarified. “If there’s a fight closer to earth than we want it to be, we bring clouds in to cover it up. Thunder signifies a hit, the lightning is our powers. We had to find a way to cover everything up so that humans couldn’t see what was going on.”

“What about rain?” Natasha asked.

“That’s natural. If there’s a storm already there, it doesn’t necessarily mean anything. We very rarely have to create storms. If an angel and a demon are in the same vicinity, clouds automatically roll in just in case,” Isabel finished.

“So the other night at the carnival…that’s where the clouds came from?” Natasha turned asking Caleb.

“Yes, as well as last night downtown. It’s an automatic thing.”

“So if the storms hide the fights and angels don’t want to be seen by humans, why are you able to be here right now? Why aren’t you hiding from the waitress or people in the restaurant? Better yet, why are you revealing yourselves to me?”

“You’re an exception we hadn’t planned on,” Adam said. “Gabriel doesn’t know-”

Caleb cleared his throat, interrupting Adam. Caleb threw him a dirty look and finished, “You are an exception. There are times where we are needed to actually blend in with humans. We can get closer to our charges that way. We are revealing ourselves to you because first of all, you can see us, so it wouldn’t matter if we had our powers up or not. Secondly, I want you to feel safe, even if I’m not with you. The only catch is, you can’t tell anyone. Ben knows about us, so you can tell him. Callie, Elizabeth, Jenny, or Jeremy cannot know about us.”

“Well, that’s easy considering I’ve only talked to Callie the past two weeks. The others have seemed to drop off the face of the planet.”

“Well, you get what I’m trying to say,” Caleb said.

“Another thing I don’t understand is how he’s supposed to control me,” Natasha said, finishing off her drink. “Is he going to like hypnotize me or something?”

“That, unfortunately, we’re not sure about. We’ve seen him do different things: spells, possession, mind control, torture…any and everything, really,” Isabel said.

“So, you know he wants me, don’t know where he lives, don’t know what he plans on doing or how he plans on doing it, and you’re trying to keep me from him?” Natasha asked.

They were stopped in their conversation as the waitress came back to grab empty glasses and fill them. She asked if they wanted anything to eat in which everyone declined, again. Once she had left, Caleb spoke.

“Pretty much. There hasn’t been a case like this before. Sure, he’s taken charges and made them part of his army or whatever, but you’re the first real important charge.”

“Isn’t that just peachy,” Natasha grumbled.

“I’ve got to go to the bathroom,” Isabel announced. She looked towards Natasha. “Come with?”

Natasha had never understood why girls go to the bathroom together. Sure, if two girls had to go to the bathroom at the same time, she understood, but if only one had to go and they asked another girl to go with them…that made no sense. She was just about to decline when she saw Isabel’s look. She assumed Isabel wanted to talk to her alone, and smiled at Caleb who stood up. She watched as Adam kissed Isabel, a dozen more questions coming to her mind.

“Are angels allowed to have relationships?” She asked Isabel as they walked towards the back of the restaurant.

“With each other, yes. It’s forbidden to have a relationship with a charge.”

“So you and Adam didn’t…know each other before? I’m not sure I understand everything still.”

“For someone who’s just been told about the guardianship, you’re taking it very well.”

“I laughed when Caleb first told me. I guess it was what had happened to me mixed with his serious tone that made me just shut up and be open-minded about everything.”

“Well you’re taking it very well, I would say. People become guardian angels because they’ve done something in their life to deem them an asset to the guardianship. I’m one of the youngest guardians, as far as years of being a Guardian are concerned. Adam and I were actually on the Titanic when it sank.”

“Oh, my gosh!” Natasha said, holding the door open for Isabel.

After checking to make sure that no one was in the bathroom with them, Isabel continued. “Adam and I were both on board. It wasn’t a love story like with the movie, but our families were friends. We had known each other since we were little. He was on one side of the ship helping women and children into boats when the ship severed in two. He was thrown into the ocean and drowned. I was helping others get into the boats and was on one of the last ones to be lowered down. A little girl couldn’t find her mother and was sitting with me. We watched as the ship lowered into the ocean, and when a wave came towards us, the little girl freaked out and knocked me over. I hit my head on the side of the boat, and when the wave crashed over the boat, I was thrown under, also drowning.”

“My God, that’s so sad!” Natasha said, genuinely sad for this girl.

“I promise you, I’m well over it. I feel like I’m better off,” Isabel said, exiting the stall to wash her hands.

“What about Caleb?” Natasha asked.

Isabel stiffened. “That’s a story he’ll have to tell you. I’m not even sure of the details, myself. I’ve worked with him since I became a Guardian, but he’s a relatively reserved guy. He doesn’t talk about himself much.”

They made their way back to the table, and the foursome remained there for another hour, talking and drinking. Finally, Caleb said that it was time to go, that they had more things to do. With a promise to see her soon, Isabel and Adam said goodbye and were out the door.
Caleb led Natasha back to her car and headed towards his house. He explained that it was necessary to keep up pretenses if he had a house. If necessary, he would reveal himself to people close to her and wanted to make sure that he seemed like a legitimate human to them. He also explained that yes angels do eat, and everything else that a normal human would.

“What about sex?” Natasha asked, curiously while playing with her phone. She looked up as the car suddenly swerved in the lane.

“What about sex?” Caleb asked in a shocked tone.

“Well, can you have it?”

“Are you offering?”

“Absolutely not,” Natasha said, looking from him to her phone. Caleb just smiled.

“It’s possible with a mate, but not a charge. Apparently it’s unbearably painful for an angel to even attempt. The pain makes it impossible to have any kind of sexual encounter with a human.”

“That seems a bit much. So you’ve never tried?”

“No, I have not. For there to be speculation, you know there had to have been one idiot that tried. Who are you talking to?”

Natasha glanced at him, confused and he pointed towards her phone. “Oh, Justin is texting me. Apologizing for Friday night, asking if I’m okay, how I got home, that sort of thing.”

“What are you telling him?”

Natasha noticed Caleb’s hands tightening on the wheel and how his knuckled became whiter. “Uh, just that I called my brother and he picked me up.”

“Good,” Caleb said, tightening his grip on the steering wheel. “I don’t like him. I don’t think you should go out with him anymore.”

“You’re not my father; you can’t tell me who I can and can’t go out with,” Natasha said, laughing at him.

“Natasha,” Caleb started.

“No, Caleb, I understand that you don’t like him. I get it. I get that you’re looking out for my safety and everything, but I want to live a normal life, okay? If there’s a guy that wants to go out with me, I feel like I should go out with him. I’m going to grow up and get married, right?” At Caleb’s shrug, she continued. “If I’m going to get married when I get older, I’ve got to find him. I won’t be able to find him if I’m not trying.”

“I get your point, but I just don’t think it’s a good idea. Something’s not right about him.”

“Well, until he proves himself to be a bad guy, I’m going to continue to see him. He did try to stop those clowns, they just knocked him out.”

“Sounds like he’ll be able to protect you,” Caleb said with a smirk. Natasha rolled her eyes.

“It doesn’t matter, does it? You’ll be there and invisible to everyone. You’ll be able to keep an eye on me, won’t you?”

“Doesn’t sound like a very romantic date to me,” Caleb grumbled, turning onto a road Natasha had never seen before.

Years ago, when she and Callie had gotten their driver’s licenses, they’d spend hours riding around, wasting gas, learning every back road from Atlanta to Carrollton and back to Douglasville. This road, however, was on the other side of the city and she hadn’t been here, unless she was going up towards South Carolina.

Caleb rolled down his window and punched in a number to a gated community. Natasha watched his fingers and then turned towards the gates, watching them open. Huge houses, almost as big as her own, were in rows with exotic looking cars sitting in the drive ways, looking intimidating. White-wash and brick flew through her brain as they finally pulled up to a white-brick two-story house. Pulling a remote out of his pocket, Caleb pressed a button and one of the three bay doors opened. He put her car in park and got out. Natasha was in awe as she opened her own door, getting out. Caleb made his way through the garage to the door. He opened it and moved aside to let Natasha go first when he realized she wasn’t there. He turned around and saw her staring at his car. The look of longing on her face made him smile.

“You like it, huh?” he asked her.

“Are you kidding me?” Natasha asked, taking her eyes away from the car. “Caleb, that’s a brand new Mustang GT500 Super Snake.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“Caleb this is my dream car!” she almost yelled, slowly walking towards the jet black Mustang. She lightly ran her hand over the body, making her way to the front of the car.

“Come on, you can drive it later,” Caleb said, pulling her away from the car. Her head was still turned to look at it.

“You’re serious? I can drive it?!”

“You can drive a stick, right?”

“Obviously, since my car is a straight gear.”

“Then yes, you can drive it.”

The goofy smile remained on Natasha’s face as Caleb gave her a tour of his house. A giant living room and dining room greeted her. He took her through the kitchen and into the main foyer to the stairs. He showed her around upstairs. There was one door left, and Natasha stopped in front of it, watching Caleb walk towards the stairs.

“What about here?”

Caleb stopped at the top of the stairs and turned around. Instantly, she could tell a difference in his facial features. She immediately wished she hadn’t asked.

“That’s my room.”

“Well, aren’t you going to show me there, too?”

“You can see it when you need to see it.”

Natasha just nodded and walked towards him. He turned around and walked back downstairs. As she descended the steps, she couldn’t help but turn around and look back at the door, wondering what was in there.