Chapter 5

Cedric McLain.

"What the hell are you doing?"

McLain literally shook at the sound of my voice and the grin disappeared instantly.

"Get up!" I screamed. I wanted to run him over with my car so he had to get up before I actually did it.

He shot up immediately with a wary look.

The crowd had fallen silent and I immediately became conscious that I was the only one talking.

I grtted my teeth and hissed, "Get in the car."

I got in before him and settled down. He got in and regarded me silently.

I drove away from the crowd silently wondering how anyone could do a thing like that. I thought he was dead!

"Are you gonna say something or we are just going to be like this the whole day?" He finally broke the silence.

"I thought I had killed a man!" I cried throwing him an furious glance.

"I can imagine your disappointment when you saw that it only a werewolf." He said clearly trying to lighten the mood by my dark mood was nowhere near light.

"This isn't funny, McLain. What were you doing?" I asked scrowling.

"I was trying to get your attention. Besides I have always wanted to get hit by a car. I'm fine by the way, thanks for asking." He said with a grin.

"How old are you? Seven?" My scrowl deepened. "Don't ever do that again, you hear?"

He shrugged. "Does that mean I'm forgiven?" He smiled.

"No! And you left school? Do you have any idea how much I panicked?"

"That I will not apologize for. I hate teaching. I don't know why I couldn't just be a goddamn student." I mumbled the last part.

I glanced at his broad muscle ripped chest. He wouldn't be a convincing student. "It's because you are too much of an idiot." I told him.

He laughed. It was infectious because I found myself chuckling too.

"Where are we going?" He suddenly asked.

"To my house." I told him.

"No. I have to talk to you guys and we need to go somewhere private. Is Finn still in school?"

"He was going to meet me at home to talk about you." I replied in a deadpan voice.

"Well, call him and tell him to meet us here." He handed me an address written on a piece of paper.

"Do you always write your address on pieces of paper?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yes." He said seriously.

I called Finn on the car phone to give him the address then I let McLain direct me to the house.

It was a cute tiny cottage that was a little isolated. I assumed it was because of its size and nature because the houses surrounding it were big and it just sat there looking gray among bright houses. I liked it. It was kind of like me. An outcast because of my nature but I drew attention anyway because I was too different.

I parked the car and we exited.

"This where you live?" I asked.

"Sure. For the time being. Come on." He led the way into the tiny cottage.

Funny, I felt very comfortable around him considering that a few days ago he was a stranger to me. Now it was as if I knew and trusted him all my life. It was really strange.

I went with my gut and followed him into the cottage. About fifteen minutes later, Finn arrived.

"I thought you said he left." He said as soon as he walked through the door.

"I thought he'd left and then, you will never guess what he did." I reported.

"What?"

"He jumped right in front of my car and I hit him!" I said wondering if he would believe it. It sounded pretty ridiculous like who would jump in front of a car.

"He did?!" My brother looked at McLain incredulously who nodded with a proud grin. Finn laughed and bumped fists with Mr McLain.

I rolled my eyes. "Dimwits." I mumbled.

"Did it hurt?" Finn asked leaning against a couch. There was a small kitchen and a living room in one space and almost hidden was a door which I assumed led to the bathroom and bedrooms.

"It did at first but she didn't hit me too hard so it stung for about fifteen minutes. I was awesome!" Then McLain glanced at me. "She totally lost it though."

"I didn't loose it. It was a perfectly normal reaction. I thought I had killed someone!" I defended myself hotly. I was totally justified for my reaction.

Both guys laughed and I felt oddly outnumbered.

I stood up from the couch arm I was sitting on and walked over to McLain and punched him with all my might in the chest.

"Ouch!!" I screamed shaking my fist. Damn, it was like hitting a rock.

"Santana!" Finn said grabbing my self injured hand. "Why did you hurt yourself?" He asked examining my hand which was starting to turn an angry red.

"She was trying to hurt me." McLain said with an amused look. "You might not want to try that again." He told me.

"You think?" I spat sarcastically. "Are all werewolves rocks?"

He chuckled. "Yeah, mostly." He eyed my poor hand. "It doesn't look broken but you might wanna put some ice on that."

"Really?" Again with the sarcasm.

He smirked then the walked to the fridge to get some ice. Coming back, he handed the ice to Finn who pressed it on my hand. I squirmed in pain.

McLain suddenly looked at his watch then turned serious. "We don't have much time, let's get down to business." He said sitting down.

I took the ice pack from Finn then we both sat down too and waited for him to start talking.

"We have a leader a Queen if you may or a Chief as I told you yesterday. She is absolutely magestic. You know there is something about her that just demands respect." He was smiling as if he could see her right in front of him. "She's like the best person you can think of. She's awesome - literally. Everyone adores her."

He paused for a moment his face growing dark. "Twelve years ago, she disappeared and I can't tell you the amount of chaos it caused. It was as if the whole system had collapsed."

"Was she...killed?" I asked in a whisper.

"No. She's was kidnapped. We have been searching for her for about three years now." He replied.

"Three years? Why didn't you start searching sooner?" Finn asked.

"We thought she was dead but it came to our attention recently that she wasn't. Its very important that that we find her." McLain said looking right into my eyes.

"But you have been searching for three years what makes you think you will find her now?" I asked.

"We couldn't find her because the Guardians were incomplete. When Guardians come together, they gave their maximum power and with that power combined. We will definitely find the Chief."

"Well, how many Guardians should there be?" I asked my eyes wide.

"Three. You are the third and final link." He said solemnly.

My heart slammed against my ribcage. "Are you sure?" I breathed.

He smiled. "Yes. Its definitely you. I felt it the first time I saw you. And I felt it again when you had me against the wall."

I needed air.

I stood up and walked to the door.

No, water. Water was better.

I turned to the kitchen and filled a glass with water and drank from it. I leaned against the sink for a few minutes taking advantage of the silence, I got lost in thought.

Finn cleared his throat breaking the silence. I went back to sit on my couch.

McLain was watching me closely.

"What's the criteria they use to choose Guardians?" I asked.

McLain seemed startled. That clearly wasn't the question he was expecting. "No one chooses, Santana. We were all born this way except maybe for the werewolves who get bitten."

I nodded quietly.

"A lot for supernaturals are counting on you, Santana. You are our only hope." McLain's eyes were pleading.

I swallowed hard. "Mr McLain, my life expectation is to be invisible and I'm good at it. Can I just be invisible?" I said my eyes equally pleading.

"You can't be invisible. You were born to be a Guardian." Finn said taking my hand.

"I don't know how to be that." I whispered to Finn.

"You will learn. Don't worry, you were born with it. It will come naturally." McLain interjected.

I looked at Finn dubiously and he nodded. "You can do this. The other Guardians can help get her stronger, right?"

"They can't wait to meet her." McLain smiled.

I shook my head. This isn't what I wanted for myself. It might be a little selfish but people could be cruel and I preferred to avoid them. Now I had to give up all that I had planned for myself for the year few months or years. Yet they needed me to find their Chief. I had to help then maybe afterwards could get back to my life ambition. I could at least die knowing that i helped some people get their happiness and lives back.

"Where are they? The other Guardians?" I asked.

"We have a mini base about three hours from here by road."

"Will Finn come too?" I asked and McLain visibly relaxed.

"We need him too. He is the only seer in the region." McLain said training his eyes on Finn.

"You are going to be a great Guardian, Santana. I saw it." Finn said matter of factly.

"Let's hope your seeing is better than your algebra." I said attempting to lighten the mood. He was terrible in algebra. They just smiled.

"Are you saying you are coming?" Mr McLain asked.

"She has to be found, doesn't she?" I said tiredly. I was really hoping I wouldn't disappoint anyone.

A huge toothy grin spread across his face. "Great! We don't have any time to waste, let's get going now." He said standing up.

"Now?" Finn stood up as well. "We have to break this news gently to our parents. Believe it or not this is alot to take in."

McLain's eyes widened. "No, I can't let you do that. Please, you have to trust me on this." Me put his hands together in a praying gesture.

"Why?" I asked my eyes wide too.

"Please, just trust me. You can text them anything you want but I promise that I will bring you back tomorrow if you want to come back." He pleaded.

I glanced at Finn who looked as calm as always.

He nodded. "Okay."

"Wait, what? No. Of course we have to tell mum and dad. What do you mean okay?" What was he talking about? We couldn't just go!

"Santana, think about it. If we tell mom and dad its going to take a while to explain it and even after we explain, they still might not allow us to go." Finn tried to reason with me.

"The least we can do is try. We can't just walk away." I shot back.

"Mum and dad probably knew about this and they had their reasons for not telling us and they might use those reasons to keep us here!" Finn argued.

I opened my mouth ready to argue again but closed it again. He had a point. Who is to know why they hasn't told us about this? And they would obviously try to keep us from going. But running away just didn't seem right.

"Fine. We will go but tomorrow we will come back here and give an explanation." I compromised.

Both guys seemed satisfied by my decision.

"Shall we go now? Are you hungry? We will grab something on our way. We take both cars." McLain said picking up an already packed bag. "Just a minute." He disappeared through the door.

"Are you sure we are making the right decision?" I asked Finn worriedly.

"We'll see." He mumbled.

Was that supposed to be reassuring? I really hoped we were making the right decision.I mean we didn't even know this guy and we were running away with him. Not to mention that I had decided to be some Guardian and I had no idea whatsoever how to be that.

This was terrifying.

Mr McLain emerged carrying another small bag. "Let's go."

"Wait, aren't we gonna get our stuff?" I was starting to panic a little.

"There's more than enough supplies at the base for both of you. Come on." He replied opening the door.

We filed out of the room and headed to the cars. I insisted on driving alone so Mr McLain and Finn had to ride together in Finn's BMW. Though my car was bigger. They took lead and I drove a safe distance behind them.

I needed time to clear my thoughts and prepare myself mentally for what was about to come in my life. I was about to be some kind of a leader. I had never even been a group leader in class and now so much power was about to be thrust on me. I took a deep calming breath. It will be fine, Santana, I told myself. Finn will be there and so will Mr McLain. It should be alright.

We had been driving nonstop for about two hours, the dread I had been feeling was now quickly being replaced by unexplainable excitement. It was a kind of euphoric feeling mingled up with nervous expectation. I couldn't wait the get to the base. All my previous fear was forgotten and all I could think of was what was ahead.

Half an hour later, we arrived at a enormous property and waited a few minutes for the gates to slid open. It was beautiful. A lot more beautiful than my father's property.

I felt a strong feeling of contention as we drove slowly deeper into the yard.

It felt like...I had finally come home.

I was home.

It seemed quiet. No one hanging around outside which was pretty great for me. Meeting new people was always hard for me.

We finally got to a garage and we parked our cars. I took my time leaving the car as I braced myself for a new environment and new people.

Finally stepping out, McLain smiled at me.

"Welcome home." He said holding his smile in place.

The house - no mansion was huge! It looked like a hotel.

"Its beautiful." I muttered.

"It puts our house to shame." Finn put in he too taking in the surroundings.

"Mr McLain, do you also live here?" I asked.

"Stop calling me that. Its Cedric. Please." He enunciated every word.

"I will have to think about that." I replied.

"Come on, someone really wants to meet you." He said leading us to the front door.

He didn't knock, he merely opened the door and we followed him inside. The inside was even more glorious than the outside. All the furniture was classy and expensive vintage. It was absolutely gorgeous.

We walked through the entrance hall and reached an archway and he lead us into the room.

My attention was immediately drawn to the silhouette of a man who was standing with his back to us in front of a window.

My heart was beating erratically in my chest. I wanted to see his face. It was almost like a desperate need. Why won't he turn?

"Gabriel. She's here." Cedric spoke softly.

It was then that he turned.