Empower

by Ashley Stambaugh

  “Oh no.” Her eyes filled with tears and her jaw began to quiver. Is that what had happened to Lee, Tessa, and Gwen? “No, no,” she said, shaking her head. “This is bad. This is really bad.”

  “I know,” Walter said as he took a step toward her. “But this is not the place to talk about it. The demons could come back.”

  She slowly nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes. “You’re right. Let’s get everyone together at my apartment.”

  A few minutes later, Melina was back in her apartment, along with Dean, their two guardian angels, and all four elder guiding angels. Melina led them into her living room, and everyone took a seat except for Henry and Merrick. Their angel wings were too big, so they both just stood in the back of the room.

  “Dean,” Phinneas said. “What a pleasant surprise. The way Melina talked the other day, I didn’t think we would see you here.”

  Dean’s face flushed. “Yeah… me either. But it’s amazing what it can do to your attitude and outlook when someone won’t give up on you.” He glanced at Melina.

  She gave a slight shrug. “What can I say? I’m stubborn.”

  Everyone laughed.

  “No, but seriously,” Melina said. “I’m glad you decided to come. We’re going to need your help.”

  “Yes we are,” Walter said. “Especially after what we saw tonight.”

  “And we’re all anxious to hear about it,” Phinneas said.

  Walter glanced over at Melina and gave her a small nod.

  She took in a deep breath and clutched her hands in her lap. “Well, from everything we’ve seen so far—people suddenly being controlled by anger, jealousy, arrogance, laziness, sadness, and then their eyes turning black—we assumed the Noxin demons had done something to darken their souls. But from what I saw tonight…” She swallowed down a lump in her throat and blinked her eyes a few times to fight back tears. “I think they’re doing something much worse.”

  Phinneas, Cecil, and Helene gave each other worried looks.

  “When Walter and I were out earlier today, we discovered that the Noxin demons in their human forms are following people around, listening to their thoughts, until they find someone who is troubled. Once they do, they give a yes signal to demons in their demonic forms, who seem to be hiding out in stealth mode in various locations, and then those demons take it from there and follow the human until it’s nighttime.”

  “So now we know their strategy,” Phinneas said. “But what makes you think it’s worse than darkening people’s souls?”

  Melina took another deep breath then explained everything that had happened at the troubled man’s house not even half an hour ago. The elders’ eyes widened in shock.

  “The demons are out of control,” Melina said. “They’re willing to do anything to stop us from figuring out their plan.”

  “I wonder why that’s so important to them?” Helene asked.

  “Because it can be reversed,” Melina said.

  Phinneas perked up in his seat. “How do you know that?”

  “I had another run-in with Adelia earlier today.”

  “And?” Helene asked.

  Melina briefly recalled her encounter with the fallen angel.

  “Did she tell you how?” Phinneas asked.

  Melina shook her head.

  His forehead creased. “Well, I guess that’s still something good to hear,” he said. “Go on.”

  Melina cleared her throat and finished telling them what had happened at the man’s house.

  Phinneas’s body went rigid and his face turned pale as he stared over at her. “Melina,” he said in a stiff voice. “If what you’re saying is true…” He paused to swallow. “That means that the Noxin demons only took a part of his soul.”

  Melina slowly nodded her head.

  “This is bad,” Phinneas said as he looked around at all of the other angels in the room. “A human with only part of his soul is not much of a human anymore. I can only imagine that they would be—”

  “Controlled by whatever part of the soul was left intact,” Melina said.

  Everyone went quiet as they turned to look at her. After several seconds, Walter spoke up.

  “Melina, that’s it!” he said, his eyes growing wide as he sat up on the edge of his seat. “That’s what the demons are doing to these people. They’re listening to their thoughts to see what their troubled area is—whether they’re angry, jealous, or sad about something—and then when the demons suck out their souls, they’re only leaving the troubled part of their soul in place. That would explain why Tessa is being consumed by jealousy, why Lee is acting cocky and arrogant, and why Gwen is so sad. It all makes sense.”

  “Then what about their eyes turning black?” Dean asked. “I thought Phinneas said it was from their souls being darkened.”

  “That theory would still apply,” Phinneas said. “But instead of their souls being darkened, they have only the dark part of their souls left.”

  For a moment, everyone sat in silence. Then Walter spoke up.

  “Melina,” he said as he looked over at her. “Do you know what this means?”

  Melina didn’t respond. She had an idea of what he was thinking, but she didn’t want to say it out loud.

  “You,” Walter said as he pointed at her. “You are how this can all be reversed. If the Noxin demons really are taking parts of people’s souls, you have the power to take them back from the demons and return them to the humans.”

  An overwhelming sense of dread suddenly overcame her, and she thought she might be sick. She couldn’t be the key to reversing what the demons were doing to these humans. But Walter was right. She did have the power to reverse it. And she was the only one with that power.

  She wrapped her arms around her stomach and gazed down at the floor. Would she be able to do it? What if it was too much for her to do on her own? What if she failed?

  “Melina,” Walter said. “You can save everyone. I thought that’s what you’ve always wanted. To make a difference by being able to help people with your powers.”

  Melina swallowed then slowly nodded. “It is.”

  “But… you’re scared,” Walter said.

  “I just… well, what if I can’t do it?” she said. “It’s such a big responsibility. What if it’s too much for me to handle?”

  “You won’t know until you try,” Walter said. “You at least have to try.”

  She took a deep breath and nodded again. “You’re right. I have to try.”

  “See?” Helene said. “I told you that you’d probably play a bigger part in this than you thought.”

  “Now let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Phinneas said. “We think this is what the demons are doing to the humans.”

  “I’m sorry,” Henry said, “but I have to ask. Could it kill the humans, having their souls split apart like that?”

  Phinneas shook his head. “From what Adelia told me, no, it won’t kill them. They just won’t be the person they once were.”

  Melina nodded as her eyes started to fill with tears. “Tessa’s so far gone that she doesn’t even know who I am anymore.”

  Helene reached over and gave Melina’s hand a comforting squeeze.

  Walter shook his head. “We have to stop this.”

  “We need to tell Victor,” Cecil said. “He and his warrior angels need to get down here and stop these demons from attacking any more humans.”

  Phinneas nodded. “I agree that this is very serious, but Victor won’t lead all of his warriors into battle based on assumptions and pieced-together evidence.”

  “But Melina saw the demons suck out the man’s soul,” Cecil said. “And then a few minutes later she saw him wake up.”

  “Yes,” Phinneas said, “but she was also attacked between seeing the demons take the man’s soul and seeing the man wake up. Anything could’ve happened during that time. It’s highly unlikely, but the demons could’ve given the man his soul back. We’re just making an educated guess right now, a
nd it needs to be solid proof before we go back to Victor.”

  “Then what should we do to get more proof?” Helene asked.

  “I can go out again tomorrow,” Melina said. “I’ll follow more demons until I catch them in the act.”

  “Yeah,” Dean said. “I’ll go with her.”

  “Are you sure that’s wise after what happened tonight?” Helene asked.

  Melina gave her a confident nod. “I don’t see any other option. If hard proof is what we need then I’ll get it. Whatever it takes. I’m not scared anymore. Besides,” she said as she glanced back at Henry and Merrick, “our guardian angels are on high alert and will come to help us just like they did tonight.”

  “Unless things get out of hand, and you become outnumbered,” Phinneas said. “It sounds like the demons are throwing caution to the wind and are willing to risk being seen by humans just to prevent us from finding out what they’re doing to these people.”

  Melina looked back at Henry.

  He crossed his arms over his broad chest and stood up straight. “Merrick and I can handle it,” he said as he glanced over at his fellow guardian. Merrick turned to him and gave him a simple nod. Henry looked back over at Phinneas. “We’ll deal with the demons when or if they attack, and we won’t let anything bad happen to Melina and Dean.”

  Phinneas nodded. “All right then. I guess that’s settled.” He stood up from the chair he was sitting in and stepped to the center of the room. “I think we should all leave you now so that you can get some rest before tomorrow. It may be a very long day.”

  The other three elders stood to join him, but before departing, Walter turned to her and said, “If you need me for anything tomorrow, anything at all, just call to me. Okay?”

  Melina smiled. “I will.”

  “And remember,” he said. “You control your emotions and your powers, not the other way around.”

  She nodded. “I know. Thank you.”

  He tipped his hat to her and then joined the other elders. A few seconds later, a bright white light burst throughout the room, and they were gone.

  Melina stood up from the couch and turned to look at Henry and Merrick.

  “Thank you,” she said, “for helping us tonight and for being there for us when we go out tomorrow.”

  Henry raised an eyebrow. “Melina, you don’t have to thank us,” he said as he gestured between Merrick and himself. “We’re your guardian angels.”

  “Yeah,” Merrick said. “It’s our duty to always protect you when we can.”

  “But that’s not the only reason we look out for you,” Henry said. “We genuinely care about you two.”

  Melina gave him a soft smile as she wiped a few emerging tears from her eyes. “Still, thank you.”

  Henry nodded. “We’ll leave you now.” He glanced at Merrick, and only a second later a brilliant golden light shone throughout the room, and they were gone.

  Melina turned to look at Dean. She wasn’t quite sure what to say. “I, um… I’m so glad you came.”

  Dean smiled at her. “Me too.”

  “So how did…”

  Dean held his hand up to stop her. “You look like you’ve had a long day. Am I right?”

  She gave him a lopsided grin. “That’s sort of an understatement.”

  He nodded. “I’m sure you have a lot to tell me, as I do you, and that could take a while. Why don’t we start fresh tomorrow?”

  “Yeah, that’s probably best,” she said and then gestured behind her down the hallway. “The spare bedroom is all yours.”

  “Melina,” he said, “you don’t have to do that. Especially after how I treated you. I’m sorry.”

  “You’re forgiven,” she said.

  “Just like that?”

  She smiled. “Just like that. Besides,” she said as she folded her arms over her chest. “Where else are you going to stay? And don’t say a hotel.”

  He let out a short laugh. “Okay, okay. Let me just go down to the back door to get the bag I hid under the steps.”

  Melina laughed then gave him a curious look. “You were trying to argue with me about staying here, yet you left your bag outside?”

  He shrugged. “It was the only place I could think of to keep it until I found you. But I didn’t want to assume that you would let me stay here.”

  She tilted her head to the side. “Dean, you are always welcome here.”

  “Thank you,” he said and then turned around and walked out of her apartment and down to the back door.

  While he was gone, she went to the guest bathroom and put out a couple of towels for him then made her way into her own bedroom. She quickly washed off her make-up and changed into some pajamas before climbing into bed. Just like Phinneas had said, she needed to get some rest because tomorrow was probably going to be a very long day.

  Chapter Thirty

  The next morning, Melina woke up early. She was able to get herself ready and make a pot of coffee before Dean came out into the kitchen.

  “Good morning,” she said.

  “Good morning,” he replied as he scratched the back of his neck and let out a big yawn.

  Melina chuckled. “Maybe you should’ve slept a little longer.”

  He waved his hand in the air. “Nah. Just give me a big cup of coffee, and I’ll be fine.”

  “That I can do.” She grabbed two big mugs out of the cupboard and filled them to the brim with coffee. “Cream or sugar?”

  He shook his head. “I take mine black.”

  She wrinkled her nose and handed him his mug.

  “What? You don’t like it black?”

  She shook her head at him. “Too bitter. I have to have lots of cream and sugar in mine.”

  After fixing up her coffee, she sat down at the kitchen table. Dean joined her.

  “So,” she said as she folded her hands around her mug. “What made you finally decide to come?”

  “I told you,” he said. “It was your persistence.”

  She gave him a curious grin.

  “I meant what I said to Phinneas. It really does change your outlook for the better when someone doesn’t want to give up on you.” He cleared his throat as he averted his eyes down to his mug. “I had no support from anyone back home. The only person who believed in me was my coworker, Tim, but even then, he still didn’t really support me. When I decided to just give up on my powers myself and try to ignore them, he didn’t necessarily give up on me, but he didn’t keep trying either.” He paused as he lifted his eyes to meet hers. “But you did. No matter what I threw at you or how I treated you, you didn’t give up. You kept trying, and you believed in me. And that,” he said as he pointed at her, tears welling in his eyes, “is the kind of support that I have always needed.” He quickly blinked his eyes, then took a long sip of his coffee.

  Melina’s eyes filled with tears, but she did nothing to stop them from coming. “So I helped to change your outlook and attitude?” She looked over at Dean, a faint smile spreading across her lips.

  He let out a short laugh then nodded his head. “Yeah. I guess you did.” He gave her a small grin. “See, you helped someone.”

  She beamed back at him. He knew that she struggled with feelings of inadequacy when it came to using her powers to help people, so it meant a lot to her for him to say that. “Thank you,” she said.

  He gave her a simple nod.

  “So what about you and Lynn?”

  “There is no more me and Lynn,” he said, staring down at his coffee.

  She continued to study him, and even thought about listening in to his thoughts, but his tense expression made her decide against it. “Okay. I won’t ask about her anymore, but I still have a lot of other questions for you,” she said.

  “Shoot.”

  “Well… I’m assuming you teleported here, but when did you get here? How did you know where to find me? And how did you know that more Noxin demons were on their way to that man’s house?”

  Dean puffed his ch
eeks out then let out a big whoosh of air as he leaned back in his chair. He told her that he had waited until it was nighttime to teleport to her place since it was his first time teleporting that far and the darkness would conceal him if something went wrong or he messed something up. When he had arrived at her apartment she wasn’t there, so it must’ve been after she had left with Walter. Since she was gone, he hid his duffle bag under her back stairs and then went searching for her around town.

  “I knew you were probably out looking for Noxin demons, so I went out to find them, too, hoping they would lead me to you,” he said. “I thought I had gotten lucky when I spotted the first big group of demons but then quickly realized that most of the demons were in their human forms and there were big groups of them all over. I ended up following one of the groups and after a few short minutes Maura suddenly appeared. She was sort of frantic, and told the others that they needed to leave with her at once or you were going to figure out their plan.

  “They instantly teleported away, and that’s when I had the bright idea that maybe if I thought of you and said that I wanted to teleport to you, I could find you. And it worked. Within a couple of seconds, I was standing right next to you at that man’s house.”

  Melina raised her eyebrows. “Wow. So just thinking of me actually let you teleport to me without knowing my location?”

  Dean nodded.

  “Wow,” she said again. “I guess I never thought of trying to do that. But I’m glad it worked, and I’m glad you’re here now.” She reached out and gave his hand a quick squeeze.

  “Me too,” he said then took another drink of his coffee. “But now it’s your turn to answer some of my questions.”

  “Like what?”

  “I think you need to fill me in on a few things,” he said. “What did Walter mean when he said that the demons were scared of you because they knew what you could do to them? Why is your store closed down? And why did your light shield look like white flames were surrounding you last night?”

  She took in a deep breath and then started explaining everything to him. She told him about how her demon powers were causing her negative emotions to amplify all of her powers, hence why her normal white glow now looked like white flames; about her run-in with Maura at Tessa’s; about her encounters with Adelia; and then about how the demons attacked her store and left a threatening message. She then described to him how everything happened with Tessa, Lee, and Gwen.