Legions (19 page)

“So, back to what Cyril was
saying.” Athen began. “What’s going on that is so horrible? Have
things ramped up that much since I was taken?”

He made his way to the
table and pulled out a chair to sit, making me feel like maybe the
whole process really had taken a toll regardless of what it
initially looked like.

“They are snatching family
members left and right and interfering in the mortal world
continually.” Cyril sat down at the table as well, sipping on his
water that Arie had laid out for us all for dinner.

“Have you guys figured out
why this is going on?” He asked looking at me only. I felt like he
already knew.

“We’ve got some ideas, but
nothing concrete. Truthfully, we weren’t giving it the attention it
deserved. None of the families probably have, which is all part of
the demons’ master plan. Distract us enough and they can continue
the destruction with the mortals. We are just running around trying
to reunite our families.”

Athen grabbed my hand under
the table. It was like nothing had happened to him. He was picking
up right where he left off.

“Have you filled in Ana on
her history? Her lineage?” He asked staring directly at Cyril and
Arie.

“Yes, we’ve told her who
her father was, if that’s what you’re referring to.” Arie
nodded.

“What are you getting at?”
I asked Athen, feeling my stomach begin to do flip-flops. Not
understanding what my father, Remiel, would have to do with any of
us. “Why is this suddenly about me again?”

“Well, Lilith didn’t
realize how astute I actually was so I was able to pay attention to
some of her communications without her recognizing it.” Athen
started and again, hearing her name brought an anger within me that
I hoped would soon subside.

“Azazel has been forming
Legions all around the globe. They are preparing for a battle
against us, and they aren’t afraid to use humans as pawns. In fact,
I think they prefer it. More at stake for us, don’t you think?
They’ve got a point to prove, and now it is up to us to try to
figure out what that point is.” Cyril said.

“It certainly is Azazel
and Asmoseus.
Azazel is seeking revenge,
and I’m guessing everyone in this room knows why, except for Ana. I
think it is time to tell her the truth.” Athen
announced.

Chapter 22

I was laying in bed,
listening to the steady breaths of Athen beside me. Even though he
had the ability to snap back to things far quicker than anyone
thought possible, I knew he was still exhausted. I wanted him to be
able to sleep, like I was allowed to only months before.

Learning what I had about
my father, Remiel, and why I’m now so tied to the events that were
continuing to unfold before us, made me feel as if things were
completely out of my control. By being in any proximity to me, I
felt like I was putting everyone I knew in danger. Knowing that
every event that was near, and every move that I’d make, was going
to possibly affect how the battles were fought was almost
impossible to fathom. My family told me to put it out of my head
and focus on the here and now. Truthfully, that was all I could do
for the time being anyhow.

Snuggling slowly into Athen
so that I wouldn’t wake him up, I thought about everything he told
me last night. He had known about my dreams the entire time. He saw
what I had seen. I hadn’t done a very good job of hiding my dreams
from him. He was apparently able to see them all. He knew demons
were going to attack him, and he was preparing for it. He felt he
had a better shot at coming back quicker than I ever could so he
sacrificed himself for us.

Athen was also aware of
something that I wasn’t. If he hadn’t been attacked and made
himself the target, I would have been the victim, and the process
would have been far worse to get me back the second time. He went
into that battle on the hillside with the full knowledge that they
would win – the demons would win, and he would not come out the
other end. Athen had, however, began the process of memsors. He put
all his energy into the process. Setting out memsors was almost a
mythical process. Something everyone apparently knows about but
something seldom that anyone used since it hadn’t always been known
to work.

Athen had spent the weeks
before practicing different techniques that allowed him to remember
just enough to trigger memories. Apparently, it never usually
worked. How Athen managed to pull it off was a miracle. He began by
sticking a note under Matilda’s collar. The tip under Matilda’s
collar was what seemed to have led to the chain of events that got
him researching about everything. Since he knew Matilda would land
wherever he was going to end up, he started with placing the
initial clue with her. Some of the reminders led him to our home in
Kingston and to that leather journal that I almost picked up and
read so many times.

Knowing that he chose to
get taken away from us to save me was beyond anything I could ever
imagine. The bravery and strength it took for him to decide such a
fate was the most selfless act I had ever encountered. I hoped one
day, I could return the favor to show him that my love was equal to
his.

I wondered if he knew about
Lilith from my dreams; maybe that was why he wouldn’t let himself
get as close to her as she would have liked. I did my best to push
those thoughts aside. I really didn’t want to be plagued by anymore
Lilith memories or worries.

Matilda was at the foot of
our bed with no intention of waking up and between her little
snores, and the comforting sounds of Athen breathing, I found my
lids getting very tired with the idea of sleep seeming like
something I needed again.

***

I awoke to Athen holding
me. I wasn’t sure what had happened, but somehow he was the one
providing me comfort. I felt the heat rolling off of my body and
realized I was covered in sweat. My pulse was racing, and my mind
wouldn’t stop spinning. I tried to get my bearings, but the visions
I was racing to sort out were not willing to untangle. Everything
was a fog, except for Athen. Athen was real. He was here, right
next to me.

“It’s okay, hun. You’re
okay. I’m here. Nothing is going to happen. I’m right here.”
Athen’s words found their way to me just in time.

“What’s going on?” I asked
him, completely confused.

“You had a nightmare. I’m
guessing it is going to begin coming back to you pretty quickly. I
think it was a vision and not a good one.”

I was doing my best to
concentrate and think back to what it could be that caused my body
to react like this. Only hours before I was in complete bliss,
snuggling next to Athen. Nothing odd had popped into my head. I
kept forcing myself to think about what could possibly have caused
this. Hoping for any images that could have provoked this kind of
physical response.

“How did you
know?”

“Your screams alerted us
all, sweetie. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good. You were hollering
for people to run – to run from the fire. I couldn’t decipher
anything else. I kept a hold of you as best I could.”

Arie pushed open the door
carrying a cup of tea over to me.

“Thanks.”

Taking a sip of the burning
liquid, shocked me into remembering the horrors from moments
before.

I had to stop myself before
I uttered something I might regret or wasn’t certain of.

***

They were on their way. How
many of them I wasn’t sure, but I saw swarms of them in my dreams
several weeks ago. Everyone had been alerted, but that didn’t make
waiting for the first round of attacks any easier. I was so
thankful that I had Athen back with me now that I was willing to
face about anything in order to keep him with me – or more
pointedly, near me.

The word of my visions had
been spread elsewhere, too, in case the Legions decided to involve
more than only our immediate region. According to my vision, their
plan was to begin attacking on the night of the Hunger Moon, and
the Hunger Moon was tonight.

It was late afternoon now,
and the dark skies began rolling in to welcome the night. We had
devised a plan to attack in two stages, hoping to surprise the
Legion members by having the second batch of us greet them with a
renewed energy. Two rounds would be better than one, that was our
hope anyway.

The front door was cracked
open a tiny, little bit as if the uninvited guest wanted to make
his presence known, teasing us some. I took a deep breath in as
Athen pushed open the heavy, wood door leading into our home. Once
he let go of my hand, I knew he was preparing for whatever fight
might be waiting for us on the other side of the door.

What met us, however, was
nothing but stale air. Our home was silent. No predators were in
our space. I knew this for a fact and judging by Athen’s actions he
did too. They had been here, no doubt, but they were no longer
here. Our plan was beginning to unravel piece by piece. Legion
members were already supposed to be in our home waiting for us.
Arie and Cyril were waiting in town and had planned on spacing
their arrival to the home about ten minutes later than us,
attempting to surprise the creatures with more of us than the
demons’ had initially planned.

Realizing now that things
weren’t going exactly like my premonition had laid them out, we
knew we had better contact Arie and Cyril immediately. Athen dialed
Cyril’s cell only to be greeted by his voicemail. I looked out our
living room window and saw a glow off in the distance and couldn’t
quite place what I was seeing. The orange glow seemed to be getting
larger.

“Huh, that’s odd.” Athen
looked at me with his eyebrows raised in a concerned expression.
“You would think of all times to want to stay connected, this would
be one of them…”

“Look out the window! What
is that?”

He dialed Arie’s cell and
same thing – straight to voicemail.

We moved closer to the
window unsure of exactly what we were seeing. Not really wanting to
believe what might be in front of us, growing by the
second.

“Something’s not right,
hun. I don’t have a good feeling.” Athen said leading us to the
couch. “Are you doing okay with everything?”

I looked at him in utter
disbelief. I should be the one asking him that. He was the one who
only recently came back to us. This entire process with him has
been screwy from the beginning, so I don’t know why I was expecting
anything different.

“Yah, I’m doing fine. It’s
you I should be worried about. You’re handling everything like a
pro.” I said placing my head on his chest. We had sat on the couch
near the window so we could see anything or anyone coming up to the
house. Neither of us wanted to admit what we thought we were seeing
off in the distance until we could deny it no longer. Tiny sparks
of orange began flying into the skyline, and I was sure of it now.
Fires were being set. There had been small peaceful protests
earlier in the day over the decision the game department had made
to euthanize the cougars that were suspected in the human attacks,
rather than removal and relocation. Unfortunately, only the
underworld knew it wasn’t the cougars attacking at all and the
deaths would be for nothing. Apparently, the protests were peaceful
no more.

Athen reached for his phone
again and tried Cyril’s number on speakerphone.

“Hello?” Cyril was
breathing heavily into the phone. It sounded like he was running
somewhere. I could hear lots of commotion in the
background.

“Hey, what’s going on?”
Athen asked.

“Nothing good. I can tell
you that. How are things at the house?” He asked, as I heard Arie’s
voice coming over the phone yelling to someone to get
down.

“Things are going too good
here. Absolutely nothing, actually… Do you need our
help?”

I could hear screams coming
over the phone, sirens next.

“No, stay where you are.
Things are getting hectic over here, and I think we’ll do better
apart dealing with whatever might be coming our way. Ana was right.
The attacks are beginning. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it
was only us who were the target. We’ll get a handle on things and
come home.”

Arie was in the background
trying to calm down a child who was looking for her parents. I had
no idea what was going on, but it sounded horrible.

“What the heck is going on
over there?” Athen asked.

“Well, let’s see, in this
area of the town we have fires being set, and across town sounds
like mobs are beginning to form.”

“Alright, well keep us
posted.” He hung up the phone and slowly placed it in on the couch
arm, balancing it carefully as we were taking in information.
Sensing my fear, he kissed the top of my head.

“Guess the plans have
changed.”

I was wracking my brain
trying to think of anything that would have foreshadowed this and
was coming up with nothing – absolutely nothing. This wasn’t part
of what I saw in my visions. It seems like the game plan was doing
a compete reversal or it was meant as a distraction. Athen
tightened his arm around me, and I was so grateful for his touch
again. His strength created a calming force that I needed more than
anything right now. I had readied myself all week for this
encounter with the demons in our home only to be left with nothing
of the sort. Instead, humans were turning against each other and
creating havoc in their own town.