Legions (25 page)

Athen came jogging into the
living room where Matilda was sprawled out in front of the
fireplace, with her quiet snores drifting in and out of range with
each breath, and I was laying out on the couch, book in hand.
Seeing his energy light up the room made me feel like the love I
felt for him was going to lift me off the couch.

He came rushing over to the
couch, sitting next to me and looking so amazingly gorgeous; it was
hard to think of anything but what I want to do to him.

“What’s got you so
excited?” I teased him.

“Seeing you and everyone’s
gone.” He murmured, as he hugged me tightly.

“I love you, Athen.” I
whispered in his ear. “I’ll never stop loving you.”

“I love you more, my
angel.” He scooped me up from where I was sitting on the couch,
carrying me into our bedroom. Laying me down gently on our bed, I
couldn’t wait for what was in store for me. He began unbuttoning my
shirt slowly while I grabbed his black leather belt, pulling him
towards me with all of the strength I could muster. His lips met
mine, his body slid onto mine as he quickly finished unbuttoning my
shirt. I grabbed his grey t-shirt and pulled it over his head,
kissing every inch of his chest as his shirt fell to the floor. He
moved me up against the top of our bed, securing pillows around us
both. His skin was warm against mine, his breath reaching new areas
of my body, as I thought about how lucky I was that he was here
with me, so soon. The time away from each other only made this
moment more special. Bringing his lips near mine again, I looked
deeply into his eyes, searching for answers.

As much as I enjoyed what I
was experiencing with Athen, I couldn’t help but wonder if she’d
gotten to him in this way as well. The sweat of the moment quickly
turned chilling as that last thought popped in my head. Athen
caught my shiver pulling back slowly.

“Something’s wrong. What is
it?”

“Nothing, nothing. I’m
sorry. I can’t. I …” He rolled onto his side, grabbing my
chin.

“You think that the time
apart led to things?” His eyes finding all of the questions buried
deep inside that I was afraid to ask aloud, in case they were true.
“You saw the images during the Awakening. You still think we
did?”

I nodded, completely unsure
of myself.

“Nothing happened. It
didn’t.” He held me, pulling the covers over us. “I’d tell you, and
it didn’t.”

I turned on my side to face
him, burying my head into his chest.

“I’m so sorry. I don’t know
what’s gotten into me. She’s been plaguing me for so long in all of
my nightmares. The grin that I’d see cross her lips has made me ill
in my dreams so many times I kind of assumed that …”

“Don’t assume. Much to her
disgust, I wasn’t as easy of a target as she hoped. I didn’t know
what was going on. I really had no clue, actually, but seeing you
in the library that day, I realized something bigger than I could
ever imagine was taking place. I’d a pretty good idea whose side I
wanted to be on and an even better notion that I needed to watch
myself with that woman. I’ve loved you for thousands of years, Ana.
Nothing has ever taken us away from each other’s heart, and nothing
will. You have to trust. You have to be brave in the face of us -
what we represent. We have a love that no one can break, but you
have to believe that too. You used to know that beyond anything. I
know you will again someday.”

“Thanks. I needed to hear
it one more time. Everyday it was like a piece of me eroded bit by
bit while you were gone, and only fear replaced the hole. I feel
like I’m closer to filling it. I promise.”

“I know, honey.” He said,
kissing me gently on my shoulder.

“On a different note,
you’re saying the library incident was a good thing? You have no
idea the turmoil I caused myself - catching your glance. I thought
that I’d ruined everything. Especially with you bolting out of
there the way you did.”

“Actually, I was pretty
freaked. I won’t lie. I didn’t go home that day though. I rode
around and stayed at a place where I didn’t think she could find me
for the night. I needed time to figure things out. In hindsight, I
never could have figured this out,” His smirk was reappearing,
“without the memsors. But seeing your gaze in the library told me
what I wanted to be near again, and it was you.”

“Wow, you’re incredible.” I
told him, letting the evening unfold into a brilliant memory that I
would cherish for eternity.

***

There was a faint rustle in
the blackberries. I prayed it was an animal - maybe a raccoon or
something harmless like that. Matilda had finished her business and
was already standing at the door for me to let her back in, but I
wanted to check out the movement. I shined my flashlight towards
the intimidating, thorny bushes seeing nothing. A low hiss began,
one that I recognized all too well. It couldn’t be her. Why now?
The house was only a few seconds away back behind me. I could reach
it with a quick sprint.

Knowing that I didn’t want
to turn my back to the thicket of hisses, I slowly walked backwards
towards the porch, hoping I would make it to the steps before she
began her approach. I had no idea which form I should be expecting,
slithering or walking. It didn’t matter; they were both as
despicable as the other. I tried my best to communicate to Athen in
the house. Hoping that I was getting skilled enough to channel who
I was talking to rather than broadcasting it to anyone in our
particular radius, I concentrated as hard as I could without losing
track of her. Not turning around to look behind me, I realized
someone inside must have turned on the living room light as the
glow bounced off the shrubs on the left side of the house. My
spirits began to lift a bit at thought of strength in numbers. I
had no idea what her intention was. She knew fully that Athen was
back with us. There was no chance of turning him onto her dark
side. She had another reason for being here.

Our front door scraped the
bottom of the floor as it was swung open, letting me know that my
family was now with me.

“What seems to be the
problem?” Cyril’s voice booming as ever.

“We have a visitor. I just
don’t know if she’s slithering or crouching.” I yelled back to
him.

Athen stepped to my side,
grabbing my hand and squeezing it.

“My guess is she’s
slithering around. She never really made a great-looking human.”
Athen said, making my heart sing.

Athen reached down and
grabbed a handful of rocks.

“Check this out.” He said,
as he was tossing one after the other into the thicket of thorns,
taunting her beyond belief. I tried getting outside of myself but
was loving every second of this torment. Eventually, her anger
would get the better of her, and she would appear.

Arie and Cyril were
directly behind us, waiting like we were for Lilith to show her
face, and she didn’t let us down. The thorn-bearing branches were
thrown to the side as she stood up quickly, glaring at us all.
Stepping forward, her hissing became more constant, making her look
especially ridiculous.

Letting go of Athen’s hand,
I took a step forward.

“Is there something you
wanted or did you just miss us?” I asked her.

“Azazel got your message.
He wanted me to tell you myself, since we have such a connection.”
She said, her lip curling over her gruesome smile, with her sharp
tongue ready for anything I was going to throw at it. “You and
I.”

“There is no connection,
Lilith. Don’t flatter yourself. Athen and I have always been and
always will be.”

“What makes you think
that’s the connection I was referring to?” Her serpent eyes were
glaring at me as if the others didn’t exist.

“That’s the one that came
to mind, I guess, whatever.” I refused to show any curiosity
whatsoever as she waited for my reaction.

“Well, it’s good you have
each other because you’ll need each other’s strength as the fun
begins. In fact, it’s starting right now. Look, see off in the
distance? Isn’t it beautiful? By the way, Azazel feels it is far
more intriguing to keep the humans involved regardless of your
wishes.” In that instant, she was gone, leaving us looking towards
the harbor where her eyes had last been, leaving us to deal with a
horror we weren’t prepared for.

***

The flames were shooting
straight up from the ferry. Smoke was creating a low, covering
cloud, hovering right over the doomed vessel. The screams for help
were shaking me to my core. In the sky, the large black creatures,
with wingspans twice the length of their bodies, were circling
around their victory. The creatures were swooping down onto the
ferry picking up the people and dumping them into the water as if
they were ragdolls. The fury was building inside of me. Those were
innocent people, and the demons were destroying countless lives and
families. We had to stop them. I knew it was the demon’s direct
invitation to us. The humans were the bait, but we were the
target.

The black soulless
creatures continued taunting us with each dive-bomb onto the ferry
or mortal who they captured. We had no time to deliberate. These
winged-beasts couldn’t be seen by humans for now, but it was only a
matter of time before that would change. The demons in this form
were not visible to mortals, unless the humans were evil themselves
and death was upon them. Otherwise humans couldn’t see
them.

I looked up at Athen unsure
of my abilities, but I knew that didn’t matter. It was a trap that
the demons had set for us, and we had to participate. I knew this
going into it, but I couldn’t let innocent people perish because I
was worried about my own safety and Athen’s. The fear began
building as I thought about the lack of training or anything,
really, that Athen had since he came back to us. I also knew he
wasn’t going to be on the sidelines.

“I love you, sweetheart.” I
whispered into his ear.

“I love you too.” He
whispered back, kissing my neck as he backed away.

“Now’s the time, Ana.
You’ve practiced enough. I know you can make it to the
ferry.”

Before Cyril’s last words
left his lips, my body had already begun the process of forward
motion. The mist was hitting my face like tiny shards of glass, but
I arrived so quickly onto the ferry, the images were all a blur. I
felt Athen land right behind me. Thick smoke was creating a wall
that I couldn’t see through. I heard the coughs of victims, guiding
me to them. I felt for the first body, which turned out to be a
limp mess of a woman. I grabbed her and threw her over my shoulder,
when I heard a whimper from a small child. I steadied myself with
the weight of the woman on my shoulder and knelt down feeling with
my hand until I reached the hand of a child, probably this woman’s
daughter.

“Come on, sweetie. You’re
going to be okay.” I tried my best at speaking without
inhaling.

I grabbed her, closing my
eyes and concentrating on the shore that I’d so quickly left
behind, hoping I would make it back safely with my added cargo. My
body tensed up, and I pictured myself on the rocky shore. My body
began its lightning-speed journey only to crash onto the beach in
mere seconds. I dumped them off, knowing help would get to them
both. I needed to get back to the ferry. I saw Cyril and Arie
releasing the boats onto the waves, helping the passengers as best
they could into the boats. I hoped Athen was doing okay since not
all of his abilities were completely at a 100 percent.

I looked back up into the
sky, watching the winged creatures hovering over us as we attempted
to help the survivors. I was thankful at least that the humans
wouldn’t see these monsters. I didn’t understand the demons’
intentions. I knew it was only a matter of time before we were
their next targets. We were falling into their trap
beautifully.

Taking a deep breath in, I
started back to the ferry. I found myself back in the cabin. My
search began for people who may not have made it back down to the
lower ferry decks for the evacuations by Cyril and Arie. The smoke
burning my eyes made it almost impossible, as I felt for anything
that didn’t feel like it belonged where I was stepping. I could see
Arie and Cyril whipping around the ferry dropping people into the
boats. To the human eye, it would look like the survivors were
jumping into the floating boats themselves, but that was
impossible. Arie and Cyril had made sure the boats were far enough
away from the burning ferry, and there was no way a human could
land that.

“Athen?” I hollered, “Are
you still here?”

Tears were streaming down
my face from the pain that was unrelenting from the thick air.
Athen’s energy was warming me. I knew he was near me.

“Are you okay?”

He came up behind me,
feeling around just as I’d been doing for survivors, and grabbed my
waist.

“I think there are only a
few left.” His voice muffled as he spoke into his shirt, trying to
keep the thick mess out of his lungs as best he could. “I’ve gotten
several to the lifeboats.”

“Hello?” I hollered out
into the cabin, choking on smoke. Silence.