As he writhed around on the floor in pain, he shouted out to his fellow demons. “Kill her! Kill her now!”
Melina looked at the other two demons and saw what appeared to be smoke rising up around them. Slowly, they began to transform themselves back into their demonic forms. She saw their skin start to fade away, eventually replaced by a cloudy, smoke-like matter. Their fingers became bent and gnarled while their nails turned into long, black claws. At the same time they both smiled at her, showing off a mouth full of sharp and jagged gray teeth. Their eyes turned to a fiery red as they both began to growl at her.
She wasn’t going to sit there and allow them to kill her. Her mind began to race as she tried to think of a way to escape. Even if she did have her full strength, she wouldn’t be quick enough to run from them. She was going to have to teleport.
Her light shield was growing weaker. She knew she didn’t have much time left, and that made her nervous. She had never tried to focus on a location to teleport to while under such a big amount of pressure, or any amount of pressure for that matter. Taking in a deep, shaky breath, she closed her eyes.
She desperately tried to think of a location, any location just to get her out of there, but once she had a picture of the place in her mind, an image of the sneering demons ready to kill her in her own bookstore would force it out. Back and forth, back and forth. The process was draining Melina, and she could tell that her light shield was no longer up. It wasn’t going to work.
She felt herself sinking down to the floor when suddenly everything went quiet, and within a second or two she felt carpet underneath her. She had teleported. But to where?
With her head still pounding, she slowly opened her eyes and saw that she was sitting in the middle of a large rug surrounded by bean bags, a small couch, and several bookcases. It took her a moment to realize that she was in another part of her store. She had teleported to the back left corner where she held her children’s reading circles.
Melina moved as quickly as she could without making much noise and crawled behind the couch. She desperately wanted to lie down and give her aching head and body a break, but she knew she needed to stay alert and keep moving. Her life depended on it.
She tried to quiet her breathing as she heard the two demons start to scream and growl in anger. Maybe they would think that she'd teleported to a completely different location and leave. She peeked out around the side of the couch to see what they were doing.
“You can’t keep hiding from us,” one of the demons snarled. “We’re going to find you.”
Melina was confused. How did they know that she was still in the store? Before she had time to really think about it, though, both of the demons let out ear-piercing screeches and then violently started to trash the place.
Books and torn-out pages went flying into the air. Bookcases cracked and busted apart as they crashed down to the floor. Pictures shattered into pieces as they were flung off the walls. Little by little, they were slowly making their way in her direction.
Somehow, Melina had to get out of there. She didn’t want to risk teleporting again, though, because she had no idea where she might end up. With her luck, she would probably reappear right in front of the demons. Maybe if she could circle around the store in the opposite direction of the demons then she might be able to sneak out the front door. With all the commotion they were making, she doubted they would notice.
She ducked down behind the couch again and crawled over to the back of the room. If she followed the wall around to the front, she could hide behind bookcases as she went. Even the ones that were knocked over were still tall enough for her to crawl behind. What she had to be careful about was when she moved from bookcase to bookcase. She would be out in the open for only a second or two, but it would still be enough time for one of the demons to see her.
Slowly, she got up on her feet and crouched behind the first bookcase. She peered through one of the shelves and saw that they were still heading toward the back corner. When they finally turned their heads in the opposite direction, she tiptoed over to the next bookcase. One by one, she continued until she reached the other side of the room.
So far she hadn’t been seen. But once the demons reached the back corner and realized she wasn’t there, they would start heading back in her direction. All of the bookcases along the side wall had been knocked over, so she now had to crawl between them, which would slow her down and put her out in the open for a longer amount of time.
Her body started to shake as she took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. I can do it. She had to try to reach the front door and get outside. There had to be at least a few people out and about, and their presence would hopefully drive the demons away.
She got down on all fours and scurried behind the first fallen bookcase. Just then one of the demons let out a loud snarl. Melina froze. Her breathing started to quicken. Did they see her? Sweat began to form on her brow as she waited to hear what the demons were going to do next.
“I know she’s here somewhere!” one of the demons yelled. “She couldn’t have had the strength to teleport too far away.”
That was the second time they had made a comment on the abilities of her powers. How did they know these things when she didn’t even know about them? Right now she didn’t have the time to sit and ponder the matter, though. She needed to get a move on.
She peeked around the side of the trashed bookcase and saw that they were looking around the back corner again. Couch pillows and bean bags went flying into the air. Melina took advantage and scrambled along the side wall as fast as she could. She stopped behind the last fallen bookcase and looked over at the front door. It was agonizing how close she was to it.
She turned around and raised her head to look back at the demons. They were still wreaking havoc in the back corner and had their backs turned away from her. It was now or never. She crouched down and tiptoed slowly over to the front door. Her hand reached up to the door knob, and she was about to turn it when she heard the lead demon scream out.
“She’s here! She’s here! Trying to sneak out the front door!”
Melina whipped her head around and saw the lead demon sitting propped up against the front side of the store’s front desk. How could she have been so careless as to not check on where he was? The last time she'd seen him he'd been writhing in pain on the floor behind the desk. She had assumed he wouldn’t move from there. What a stupid mistake.
The other two demons spun around toward the front and immediately came after her. Melina turned back around and flung the door open. She had only taken a couple of steps outside when she felt a burning sensation on the upper part of her left arm and was jerked back inside.
The demon’s hand burned through her shirt sleeve and was now slowly starting to burn through her skin. She screamed out in agony and tried to break free from the demon’s hold, but she was immediately crippled with pain again as the second demon grabbed ahold of her right arm. With tears streaming down her face, she looked up and saw that the leader was up and back in his demonic form. He hobbled over to her and stopped only inches away from her face.
“It’s time to say good-bye.” He grabbed ahold of her neck and started to inhale deeply.
Melina’s neck felt like it was on fire. She tried to let out a scream, but she suddenly felt as if she couldn’t breathe. She frantically started to gasp for air, but it wouldn’t come. No matter how hard she tried the feeling of losing her breath only intensified.
Her eyes darted around as she desperately tried to figure out what was happening to her, but everything was starting to blur together. Her lungs felt as if they were being squeezed tighter and tighter. Was she about to die? No, it couldn’t be the end for her. She had to get her light shield to come up on command. She had to.
She pictured it in her mind and desperately tried to summon it, but she had no strength left. The amount of pain she was in and her lack of breath made her feel as if she was about to pass out. Her knees buc
kled beneath her, and her head slumped forward. Just before she closed her eyes, she caught a glimpse of a blinding yellow light that filled the entire room. The demons shrieked and instantly released her. Melina fell to the floor, and as her head hit the polished wood, everything went black.
Chapter Thirteen
As Melina awoke from her blackout, she saw the blurry outline of a man, surrounded by a yellow aura, leaning over her. He hovered one of his hands over her chest and air immediately shot back into her lungs, causing her to gasp and cough uncontrollably. She sat up the best that she could and tried to steady her breathing. When she finally stopped gasping, she looked around the wrecked room for the man, but he was nowhere in sight. Where had he gone? She knew she hadn’t imagined him.
She rolled over onto all fours and slowly tried to push up to standing. The front door opened just as she got to her feet, and she looked up to see Tessa and Gwen walk in. Her head was still throbbing, and standing up made it even worse. The room started to spin, and she could tell that she was losing her balance. She heard Tessa scream out her name, and the last thing she remembered was falling into her friend's arms.
****
Melina’s eyes fluttered open. She saw that she was lying in her bed, and when she looked up, Tessa and Gwen were sitting next to her.
“Hey there,” Tessa said in a low voice as she gave Melina a small grin. “You’ve been out for a couple of hours, and we’ve been so worried about you. How are you feeling?”
Melina tried to sit up in the bed and instantly regretted it. Her brow creased, and her eyes snapped shut as she let out a low groan. “Not so good,” she replied as she sunk back down into the bed.
“You’re pretty bruised up,” said Gwen. “We bandaged your wounds on your arms and neck and changed your shirt for you.”
Melina opened her eyes and saw that she was now wearing a cream-colored, long-sleeved shirt.
“We also have some pain medicine here if you’d like to take some,” Gwen continued. “It might help to lessen some of your pain. Oh, and don’t worry about the store. We closed it for the day.”
She turned her gaze to Gwen and suddenly went rigid. Oh no. What do I tell her? How am I going to explain everything?
Gwen smiled as she reached out and grabbed Melina’s hand. Relax, Melina. I know what’s going on.
Melina’s eyes widened. Did she just hear Gwen’s thoughts correctly? How did she know? Tessa? She looked at Tessa and asked, “Did you tell her?”
Tessa glanced at Gwen and then back at Melina. “I was hesitant at first. I wasn’t quite sure how to tell her, but after a couple of minutes of trying to explain everything, she stopped me and said that she knew what was happening with you.”
Melina turned to Gwen and shook her head slightly. “I don’t understand. How?”
“The same thing happened to your parents. It’s how they died.”
“What?” Melina gasped as she forced through her pain to sit up. “My parents died in a car crash. Pictures of the wreckage were in all the papers, and the pathologist’s report said they both died from severe head injuries.”
“Yes, that’s all true,” said Gwen. “But did you ever wonder what caused your father to veer off the road that night and into that steep ravine?”
Melina’s brow furrowed. “It was dark and it had been raining.”
“That’s what the police said, what was reported in the papers. They simply couldn’t explain it otherwise.” Gwen shook her head. “No, slick roads and poor visibility are not what caused your parents to crash. Your parents both had the unique ability that you possess, and they were being hunted by the same things that are hunting you — Noxin demons.”
Melina stared at her for several seconds and then quickly shook her head. “It can’t be true, especially about both of them. Adelia said the ability was rare, very rare. She said it had only happened with three other humans before me.”
“Adelia?” Gwen’s brow creased and then suddenly turned to an expression of realization. “She’s a guiding angel, isn’t she? But not just any guiding angel. She’s an elder, right?”
Melina slowly nodded, a confused look on her face again.
“That’s what I thought,” Gwen replied as she nodded back. “Your parents had an elder guiding angel tell them the same thing that was told to you. I know the elder who visited them was a female, but they never told me her name.”
“Okay, whoa,” said Melina as she held her hand up. “That’s all a little too much for me right now.” She closed her eyes and laid her head back against the headboard. “I have the worst headache, and everything you’ve told me about my parents is not helping any.” She placed her hand on her forehead, and after taking in several deep breaths, her eyes popped opened and she shot up from the bed. “Walter!”
Tessa sprung forward and pushed her back toward the bed. “Calm down, Melina. You really shouldn’t exert yourself right now.”
She obeyed her friend and sat back down on the edge of the bed, but it was only for a moment. When Walter appeared at her bedroom door, she popped back up and rushed over to him.
“Melina, I was just about to come here.” He looked her over, a worried expression on his face. “Were you attacked again? Are you okay?”
“No, I’m not okay,” Melina replied, shaking her head. “For two reasons. One, I was attacked again, and this time it was by all three of the demons. They were vicious and brutal, to my bookstore and to me. The entire store is a complete disaster, and I’m pretty sure I almost died.” Melina talked quickly and sounded as if she were out of breath.
“Now the second reason is—”
“Wait a second, wait a second,” said Walter as he cut her off. “We need to talk about you almost dying. What happened?”
Melina recounted her latest incident with the demons and explained how she'd received the burn marks on her arms and neck. Walter remained silent the entire time until she started to describe how she'd felt when she'd thought the demons were trying to kill her.
“Melina, you don’t understand how lucky you are. They weren’t just trying to kill you. They were trying to suck out your soul. You must’ve been horribly weak. How were you able to escape from them?” Walter looked at her, completely dumbfounded.
She gazed around her room. Gwen, Tessa, and Walter were all staring at her. “I don’t know,” she replied, looking back at Walter. “All I remember is a bright yellow light suddenly filled the room. The demons shrieked and released me, and then I blacked out. When I initially came to, I saw a figure of a man outlined with the same yellow light standing over me. He held his hand over my chest, and air immediately shot back into my lungs. I was gasping for air so frantically that by the time I calmed myself down and looked around, he was gone. I tried to stand up to search for him further, but I seemed to have passed out again.”
Everyone was still staring at her. “I know I didn’t imagine it!”
“No,” said Walter, finally coming out of his bewilderment. A small smile crossed his lips. “You didn’t imagine it. What you saw was your guardian angel. He saved you.”
Before Melina had the proper amount of time to fully react to his words, Gwen’s thoughts exploded in her mind.
Her guardian angel came to help her? Then why didn’t guardian angels come to help her parents? Why did they just have to die?
Gwen stood up from her chair, but Melina quickly stopped her. “I got it, Gwen.”
Gwen stared at her and then a look of understanding came over her face. She didn’t sit back down, though.
Melina turned back to Walter, who once again looked confused. She knew that Walter had heard Gwen’s thoughts, and she wanted to know the answer as well, but she had a few other questions that she wanted to ask first.
“So my guardian angel is a man? I guess I always assumed it would be a woman.”
Walter gave her a curious look, slightly amused by her question. “Yes. All guardian angels are male. Very large and well-built ones at that. I
t makes a lot of sense, given their job description.”
Melina nodded. “Does he have a name?”
“Henry.”
“Why didn’t Henry stick around? Am I not supposed to see him?”
“It’s just in their nature to not be seen,” Walter replied. “I’m still surprised, though, that he came to your aid at all.”
Melina noticed that Gwen and Tessa both looked confused, so she decided to fill them in.
“Walter sought Henry out to ask him why he wasn’t protecting me from the demons. He said that Phinneas, another elder guiding angel, told him that he couldn’t help me, that I had to survive on my own to gain control of the powers. Walter explained that his elders were the ones who suggested seeking him out to help protect me, but he said he couldn’t take Walter’s word over an elder’s. Then he disappeared.”
Walter scratched his head. “I wonder what made him change his mind?”
Melina looked back at Gwen, who was thinking the same thing that she was thinking. Maybe her parent’s guardian angels had been told the same thing. Maybe that’s why they hadn't helped them. They'd thought that they couldn’t.
She blinked back a couple of budding tears as she moved her gaze to Walter. “Whatever his reason was for changing his mind, I’m obviously grateful that he did.”
“Yes,” said Walter as he gave her a sympathetic smile. “He saved your life.”
Given his expression, Melina knew that Walter thought she had started to cry because of Henry. She needed to correct him.
“I’m not emotional because of what Henry did for me. It’s because I think you’ve been lying to me, and I want to know why.” Her lip quivered as she eagerly searched his eyes.
Walter’s brow creased as his eyes widened. “Lying to you? About what?”
Melina looked at Gwen and then back at Walter. “I know you heard Gwen’s thoughts earlier about my parents' guardian angels.”
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