Page 19 of My Guardian Demon

"Booyah! I win!" I jumped up from the couch and did a victory dance.

Onyx laughed. He gathered the cards off the couch and laid them on the coffee table. He stood.

"I know tomorrow is your first day of classes. What time will you be in tomorrow evening? I want to show you a few self-defense moves."

"I should be done in the early afternoon. How about 7? We can order food and practice while we wait."

Onyx nodded. "Very well." He headed toward the door. He looked at me hesitantly. "Good night, Wynn."

"Stop sounding so formal. See you tomorrow. G'night, Onnie."

Chapter 9

Onyx

I slammed my hands on the desk of the clerk in front of me. "Fix this. I'm assigned a guardian angel's job. I'm doing my best but I'm a demon. Protection's not my job. I'm probably corrupting your human."

The small green goblin squinted at me from behind the glasses perched on the edge of his nose. He wore formal clothes, including a tailcoat, and had long hair. "Sir, please keep your hands to yourself or I will be forced to call security."

I sighed and settled into the chair in front of his desk. I sat in a room full of desks with similar setups — desks, chairs, and computers — occupied mostly by goblins with a few different species mixed in. I wrapped my hands around the armrests of my chair to prevent another outburst. "Sorry. This needs to be fixed.”

"Let me check the status."

The goblin typed something into a keyboard and read information off his computer screen.

"Your request is still listed as pending. A decision on your appeal has to be made. It's out of my hands."

"How long does a decision take?"

"Usually takes 2-5 business days."

I sighed. "Who decides? Is there someone else I can talk to?"

"Sorry, sir. There's not. Wait for a decision to be made."

"Is there any way to prioritize the request? As instructed, I'm making sure nothing happens to her. But my methods differ from an angel's methods. She's going tolearn to protect herself, life or death, and I doubt your angel will teach her any of that."

The goblin shook his head. "I'm sorry, sir. There is no prioritizing the tickets. Tickets are addressed in the order they're filed." He lowered his voice and leaned toward me. "If you'll forgive me for being so forward, it sounds like she's better off with you."

"Gah! No!" I exploded up from the seat and stormed through the double doors that enclosed the room.

When Wynn found out I was a demon, she'd want nothing to do with me. She needed her new guardian as soon as possible to ensure her protection. I liked her. I didn't want her to choose to be alone if she needed help. She needed someone who wasn't a demon.

Without another word, I transported myself back to my apartment.

* * *

That evening, I coached Wynn on what to do in case of attack. "If you're grabbed from behind or pinned to a wall, do whatever you can to hurt your attacker. Break his nose, go for his eyes, do a backward headbutt, a forward headbutt, whatever you have to do. Make him hurt. If he grabs you from behind and you can't move your arms, stomp on his foot as hard as you can. The foot has 26 bones. You're probably going to break something of his. Whatever you have to do to cause him pain. It'll help you get away. That's your ultimate goal. I'm going to grab you from behind. Do your worst. You won't hurt me," I said. We stood in Wynn's living room, her furniture pushed aside to give us a makeshift sparring floor.

"What if someone with powers like yours grabs me?" Worry flashed across her face.

"Right now, humans are our concern. Odds are very low that someone supernatural will grab you. If they do grab you, there's not much to do but hold out as long as you can. Your guardian will be there to help. Humans are another story. You can hurt another human."

Wynn held up her hand. "Wait. What do you mean my guardian will be there to help?"

I sighed. How much should I tell her? "You have a guardian assigned to you. They will help protect you."

"Like a guardian angel?"

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