Awakening (31 page)

“
Do you think the movers finished moving the rest of Ana’s things to the house today?” Cyril asked as he was flagging down the server.

“
They said they would be able to,” Arie said, “We should go check tomorrow. You know I was kind of thinking that since we bought this place that maybe we should change our plans and stay up here for the rest of the holidays?”

“
Wow, Arie! I think that would be a great idea. We could get situated and you could decorate yet again.” I laughed.

“
Great! What do you guys think?” She asked Athen and Cyril.

“
We are game for whatever you all want.” Cyril said smooching Arie on her lips.

“
This is awesome, plus we can have a second Christmas down south!” She almost squealed with delight.

“
Oh brother. Really?” Athen asked and he kissed me so gently on my lips I almost didn’t realize what was happening. Always a competition with these guys, I thought happily.

Arie broke free from Cyril to announce the one thing that took all of us by surprise.

“
I kind of guessed you guys would be game for that so I sent out invitations for an Open House slash Christmas party. Won’t that be fun?”

I think we were all in shock being that we had barely left a conversation about the movers still moving our items into the home. Leave it to Arie to want to entertain regardless of the moment.

“
Do you think we can pull this off?” I asked Arie puzzled that she would do this without consulting us first.

“
Don’t mind her,” Athen said giving me a little hug, “She’s got it all under control. Don’t you?”

“
Of course! It isn’t going to be anything big. I wanted to invite some of Ana’s friends and some of our friends so we can all get introduced a bit.”
“Well, judging by the real estate agent, I have a feeling your guests are going to be a whole lot more interesting than mine will be. How did you know who to invite?” I asked suspiciously.

“
Oh, Ana! That was the easiest part. I asked Karen to come up with the list.” She said beaming.

“
Right, well that ought to be something.”

The server came over and got our drink orders. I found myself drifting off about this party. I wondered first of all, who Karen would possibly invite being that she was my one actual friend, the rest were acquaintances. But what was more intriguing was to find out who all would be there that Arie invited. I’m sure they weren’t all going to be other worldlies, but I could be wrong. I wondered if I would be able to recognize them all. I honestly didn’t think there were any others in Whistler so even the real estate agent took me by surprise. Obviously, I was wrong. I wasn’t feeling the usual angst over having a get together, which made me relieved. Usually my stomach became queasy at the thought of one, and I tried to think of any excuse to get out of it. Maybe those feelings would arrive a little closer to the event, or maybe my family and Athen made the difference. As I came back to reality, I heard Athen, Cyril, and Arie all rattling off names of people she sent the invites to, and so far it sounded like Cyril and Athen were in agreement.

“
With everything that has been going on back at the other house and here in Whistler, I think it’s good to get together with everyone and keep them filled in on the events. We all need to be watching out for each other because at this point, I think we are the beginning.”

Hearing those words frightened me. I still couldn’t fully comprehend what was going on being that I had nothing in my memories yet to compare. I wasn’t sure why they could tell these attacks were representing a larger picture, but I’m sure I would figure that out soon enough. If my dreams didn’t tell me, I was sure my family would.

“
You believe this is the beginning of something? I thought at first you guys assumed it was to distract us since I was so new again?” I responded in a statement that turned into a question.

“
That is the typical turn of events, but there have been some things that don’t line up with that thought anymore. The fact that Azazel and Asmodeus are involved escalates the situation right off the bat. Also, the fact that the creatures keep coming is something that doesn’t usually occur either. There seems to be a legion or legions building up forces around here. It forces us to look at all alternatives, very bleak alternatives.”

“
I reached out to some of the other families, and they had mentioned that they had noticed more of a presence of the demons in their immediate areas now. They consistently mentioned that nothing had happened. Rather they caught them lurking more and causing insignificant human contact. This is different than their normal patterns, and we have to find out why and make sure that we are all safe, but I think the larger our network right now the better. So we found out quite a bit this morning. The hikers weren’t exactly hikers. They were actually involved in some pretty horrific dealings on a human level. They had connections with a cult down in the states and had been walking a fine line for quite some time. The press left that out. They were all friends from high school, and a couple of them hit it big doing some dirty work for a large gang, and all the friends shared the wealth. I highly doubt they were just hiking up in the mountains.”

Cyril had a complete look of disgust. “I could keep going on, but let’s just say they were headed down that path for a long time, and they presented themselves to the underworld as best as one can. They were ready for the taking.”

“
Yikes, that certainly isn’t what I was expecting to hear. That sounds gruesome. With everything I read in the papers, I thought they were just friends who were at the wrong place at the wrong time. What about the snowboarder?”

“
Honestly, that one doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t fit the same circumstances as the other group, that’s for sure. I’m actually waiting to hear back from some of our friends on that one. They are closer to it than we were. It is like he went off the map. Last I heard there were no leads, other than what you saw in your visions.”

“
Huh, will it come up at the party? Will we be covering this after my friends leave, of course?”

“
Oh most definitely. We’ve got a lot to cover that evening. We will be trying to fit in as much as we can.”

“
Do they all know about me? Everyone that is coming to the party, that is?”

“
Oh geez, Ana! You think they didn’t notice Athen sulking ever since they met him up here? Yeah, they are very up to speed on things. I’m sure they will be relieved to see Athen actually demonstrating communication skills again.” Cyril piped up.

“
Oh come on. I wasn’t that bad.” Athen said tossing his napkin at Cyril, which didn’t have much of an impact since we were all sitting so close together.

“
Don’t be nervous,” Arie chided in, “Everyone is nice. They care about you. Anyone that goes through what you have been through kind of makes us all realize that it isn’t that far off of a reality. If anything they will put you on a pedestal.”

“
Exactly what I have always wanted.” I responded rolling my eyes.

I
t was the evening of the party in our new home and guests would be arriving soon. I had finished curling my hair and decided I could go ahead and slip on my dress. I shouldn’t get it too messed up by the time everyone arrives. Matilda was gently snoring in our bedroom in front of the fireplace. I loved our new home. The exposed dark beams and stone throughout was beautiful, especially with the garland hung everywhere. I was amazed at how quickly we were able to organize everything. Arie, of course, was able to get all of the Christmas decorations up in between us all hitting the slopes. She had a large tree up in the family room and a smaller one in the living room to greet the guests. It actually made me miss the one we so valiantly picked out down in Kingston. Hopefully it wouldn’t be completely dead by the time we got back to it.

I was thankful she catered everything. It took the heat off of this event. Especially since I was so worried about meeting so many new people. It has never been my specialty, but it certainly had gotten easier with the arrival of my family. I heard Athen coming down the hall and wondered if he was going to pop in to get his change of clothes on.

“
Hey, sweetie, you look ravishing.” His voice lifted me up to the heavens and made me feel instantly better.

“
Not so bad yourself.” I told him swatting him on his butt.

“
Do you think the combination of everyone will be ok tonight?” I asked Athen innocently, which led him to laugh uncontrollably.

“
What?” Giving him my best shot at an evil eye.

“
Honey, we have been existing among humans since the beginning. Don’t you think we kind of got the hang of it?”

“
True. I only remember how you all made me feel that first night.”

“
Well, that was only because we were testing the field so to speak. That doesn’t happen to humans. We were trying to find out if you sensed us yet.”

“
What about Karen? Why did she feel so horrible? Remember she had to leave that night? I took over her table.”

“
I didn’t say we couldn’t do that to humans, but it doesn’t happen by us merely being in the same room together. We have to provoke it. We had a plan that night and couldn’t afford to miss our chance because we got sat in the wrong section, so in that case, yes Arie used her powers in that way. It won’t be coming out tonight though.” He said still chuckling.

I was in disbelief. They actually made Karen ill so I would serve them that night. Pretty clever, but wrong on so many levels.

Athen walked into the closet, and I backed up a few steps so I could get a glimpse of him changing. He was so irresistible. I had to get my fill when I could. I saw him grabbing a nice pair of corduroys and a navy sweater, which I’m sure he would make look incredible.

I heard a car pulling up into the driveway and knew that was my signal. Our first guests had arrived.

The evening was in full swing, and Athen was right. There was nothing abnormal about the evening at all. I was so thrilled to see Karen and her boyfriend, Justin. Everything seemed wonderful with both of them so I was relieved about that. I’m not sure how much influence I had over that situation, but it made me proud. In between the many introductions with all of my new ‘friends’, it felt as if Karen and I were able to connect again as we had before all of the crazy changes.

Karen did a good job of inviting people on my behalf. It was mostly people from the pub that I had worked with. It was great to catch up with my favorite bartender, Tim, and of course, my boss, Don. I was touched that they took the time to show up. Sabrina, who was always so perky, came with her fiancé. They were newly engaged, and I could relate to her happiness at long last. She clung onto about every word her fiancé spoke, and I thought it was sweet since he did the same with her.

I met several of Arie and Cyril’s friends. There was Gloria, who owned a restaurant in the town below Whistler, in Squamish, and she was stunning. Her brown hair complimented her green eyes or the other way around. She seemed genuinely excited to meet me. Although I had a feeling we had met several times before. Vanessa and Trina were sisters who came up to the village every winter, and Arie and Cyril had known them for years. They seemed so very kind as well and very familiar too. I probably had been serving them all this time and obviously had no idea. One thing that struck me was how many of the friends seemed to be Arie and Cyril’s and so few were Athen’s. I made a mental note to ask Arie about that later.

I was able to sneak over to Karen, and she filled me in on how well things were going at the pub, picking up crazy hours due to the holidays, but still able to enjoy her other favorite pastime, which was jewelry making. Her pieces were always so intricate, and I was honored that she had chosen to give me a piece for the holidays. It was a sterling silver, pendant angel that seemed more fitting now than ever. I was able to present my gift to her as well, a cashmere scarf, hat, and glove set that I picked up down in Seattle at her favorite sweater boutique. It was well after midnight before they took off, and not one of the other guests from my family’s list had left.

Arie’s playlist of Christmas music finally hit the repeat mark, which was impressive being that it had been playing for well over five hours. She hopped over to our Bose system and switched it over to non-holiday music. It was kind of a nice reprieve after noticing how similar so much of the holiday music is no matter who is singing the song. Rudolph and Frosty can only be sung about in so many ways.

I noticed most of the guests were starting to gather in the family room, drinks in hand, and a quiet hush came over everyone. Death Cab for Cutie was playing softly from the other room, but other than that, the mood had changed pretty swiftly. Athen came up behind me and wrapped his arms around his waist.

“
We are going to discuss a few of the iniquitous occurrences with everyone before they all leave.” He whispered in my hair.

“
Oh, the real reason for the party.”

Cyril began with a toast to everyone for coming up for our holiday open house and everyone responded back in a loud, “Cheers!”

“
We have some business to quickly get out in the open too. As you know there have been occurrences. We initially attributed them to the re-phasing of Ana. However, they have become more frequent, persistent, and candidly rough. It seems Azazel is involved and possibly Asmodeus. It has been pretty calm since we have been back to Whistler, but before we left we had noticed increased activity. We had a couple of run-ins that we were able to thwart. Once we got down to Washington, their presence was much more pronounced. I think there may be a movement going on, a building of legions. I don’t know why or if it’s over anything specific, but I think we all need to be a little bit more cognizant of our surroundings and make sure our network is strong. We need to be vigilant in our methods of communicating any threats that may be lurking out there to one another for the time being, no matter how big or small.”