The Last Guardian

Chapter_37: The Rise of the Bratva

Johnathan hurried in and woke up Lisa. She opened her eyes- dazed and confused. She noticed that the floor in her room was cracked and had several holes in it. Jonathan explained everything to her from the beginning-

“What? So you’re saying that an actual Angel was in my house and you fought him?” she asked in utter disbelief.

“Yes, that’s true and I fought him hard in your front lawn and then poof! he was gone-”explained Johnathan.

Lisa shook her head in confusion.

“But I was only napping in my couch- why did I not wake up?”she asked.

“Because he enchanted you somehow-didn’t you call and text me earlier?” he replied.

“I called you in the morning because I wanted to talk to you about what happened earlier that night in Cooper’s town...I never texted you-”she said standing up and looking at the mess in her room.

Johnathan scratched his head in embarrassment, he thought she wanted to hang out- he noticed that the food and drinks that he had previously seen on the table were all gone, apparently they were a hallucination too. He looked at Lisa- she was pissed that there were scratches and holes on the floor of her drawing room- she held her hands behind her hips and surveyed the damage.

“So... I think I should leave-I will call you in the morning I guess-”he said sheepishly.

“Huh? Yeah-yeah, okay-”she replied absent mindedly.

“I could help you with that if you want?” he said pointing at the broken floor.

“You should leave-it’s midnight already-”she replied.

Johnathan said goodnight and drove off. He felt stupid for having such high expectations from Lisa, why did he think that she might be even remotely interested in him-but then a voice in his head echoed -Believe! Someday she might actually go out with him, he thought hopefully and drove off into the night on the deserted streets of Athena towards The Lucky Shop-he couldn’t wait to tell them that he had defeated the pompous winged son of a gun!

It was 1.00 a.m. now and behind some dark alley lay Shemyaza barely alive. He had no visible injuries or wounds but he was growing weak by the second. He realized that his powers were fading away and he was turning into a mortal like the rest of the ‘monkeys’ that he hated so much. In one last desperate cry for help he thought of Sarah-his only disciple and called her out telepathically. It squeezed out the rest of his energy but he somehow managed to send a message to Sarah, letting her know of his location and then he collapsed. As he was blacking out from fatigue and exhaustion, he kept whispering repeatedly-

“Why Father, why? Why have you forsaken me?” and then he fell unconscious.

Johnathan reached the lucky shop within an hour and went inside to see Billy and Farid anxiously waiting for him.

“Where the hell were you?” asked Billy as soon as he entered through the door, ”Why won’t you answer your phone?”

“Well I was busy fighting that stupid angel, so pardon me for not being able to recieve your call-”he smiled sarcastically.

“What? You fought him? On your own?” asked Farid curiously.

Johnathan then explained the entire incident to them and Farid sat down in disbelief while Billy looked at him with his mouth open in awe.

“Do you realize boy, what had just happened to you?” asked Billy.

“What exactly?” Johnathan asked back.

“Providence! You’ve just witnessed His holy hand-”said Farid looking upwards in devotion.

“What?” remarked Johnathan.

“He means that you were helped by none other then God himself!” explained Billy.

“What the!!”cried Johnathan.

This was too much for him, he could understand battling off demons and monsters but God himself saved his life today? This blew his mind – this would mean that someone out there was truly watching out for him- someone high up in the heavens has got his back! This meant that He truly exists, but then if angels and demons could exist, so could He! Johnathan quietly sat down on a chair and tried to comprehend the entire incident...

The Next Day, around noon-

In a secret underground location, somewhere in the city sat three men around a table smoking cigars and drinking wine. In the middle of the table was a candle stand with three candles on it. The men looked worried and tense. The one in the center was Presnyakov- Dmitri Presnyakov, cousin brother of the deceased Ivan- the former leader of the Russian Mafia. They were discussing how their business was in shambles after the death of Ivan. Dmitri came down from Russia in order to handle affairs here and also to avenge his brother’s death.

The other two sitting on the table were the goons who worked for Ivan and barely escaped after Johnathan went ballistic with his powers. They tried to avoid eye contact with the new boss and silently drank their liquor.

"So you say that one man took on twenty of you and killed Ivan with his bare hands?" asked Dmitri.

"Da! We could hardly believe it, but he was so powerful that he could take on an entire army all by himself-", said one of the goons.

"Nonsense!", said Dmitri slamming his fist on the table in anger, "You couldn't protect my brother and now you're making excuses? Cowards!!"

"We're telling you the truth Sir- we have collected information about him- he's someone called the 'Guardian' and he's ruining our business-" said the other goon.

"Guardian-"Dimitri's eyes lit up, "Haven't heard that word in a long time- if he's really a Guardian then I shall deal with him differently- he needs special treatment- Bring me the book!", he ordered one of his bodyguards.

The guard brought him a huge ancient book covered in dust.

"What's this?" asked one of the goons.

"The Necronomicon!" replied Dmitri, "It's time we showed the guardian our true powers-", he said and flipped open the book.

The men looked curiously as Dmitri scrolled through it looking for something special.