by West, S. J.
Mason pulls back and smiles at me.
“Don’t worry,” he tells me full of confidence. “I’ve got this.”
He phases and I worry.
I slip the baldric on so I have easy access to my sword.
Mama Lynn comes into the living room carrying two shotguns, one in each hand.
“You know how to shoot one of these, Richard?” Mama Lynn asks.
My grandpa takes one of the shotguns from her. “Sure do. Kinda surprised you have them though.”
“Honey, you’re in the South. We protect what’s ours.”
“What should we do?” Gabe asks me with Zack and Rafe at his sides.
“Gabe,” I walk over to him and hold out my hands to Zack and Rafe. “Show us what will happen out there.”
Gabe looks uncertain he’s up for the task but takes one of Zack and Rafe’s hands so that we form a circle. I instantly feel like I’ve been paralyzed as a movie plays inside my head.
I watch as Mason and seven other Watchers dressed in black, who I haven’t met before, face off against the Watchers who follow Lucifer’s orders. The only reason I can tell the difference between the two groups is because the Watchers under Lucifer’s control are dressed in black leather pants, boots and wearing black feathered capes on their backs.
A line of ten of Lucifer’s Watchers begins to walk up to Mason and his men across Mama Lynn’s front lawn. They phase in and out in front of Mason’s group like they’re taunting them. From the vantage point of Gabe’s vision, I can see the misshapen children of the cursed Watchers circle the house trying to find a way inside. We watch as small shards of light fly through the air from the house and hit Lucifer’s Watchers in the back with exact precision. These shards of light seem to have a strange effect on the Watchers. They’re no longer able to phase which makes Mason smile because I think he knows he has the upper hand now.
The vision ends.
I keep hold of Zack’s hand and practically drag him up to the second floor and into the bedroom I use when I stay with Mama Lynn. Gabe and Rafe follow close behind.
I walk over to the one window in the room while telling Zack over my shoulder, “You need to grab five daggers from each of your tattoos.”
Zack rolls up his sleeves. “You think those shards of light were my daggers?”
“Yes. That’s the only explanation there is. Somehow your daggers stop them from phasing.”
As I reach the window, it crashes inward as one of the Watchers’ children finds easy access into the house. I fly straight up into the air just as it’s about to grab me around the waist. Just as I pull my sword from its sheath, the blast from a shotgun reverberates in the room and the creature’s head explodes. The rest of the body falls backwards out of the window to the ground below.
I look at the door to my bedroom and see my grandpa lower the smoking shotgun from his shoulder.
He shrugs.
“Ex- army,” he says in way of explanation of his dead on aim. “Shot a few things in my day.”
“Thanks for having my back, grandpa.”
He smiles. “Anytime, granddaughter.”
I fly back down to the floor and look out the window to make sure it’s safe for Zack to approach.
I wave him over. “Come on. They’re about to start.”
Zack comes over rubbing his tattoos five times each to have a total of ten daggers ready.
“How do I aim so many of them at one time?” He asks me.
“I’m not sure,” I say, having no idea how Zack was able to throw the daggers with such precision in the vision.
“Maybe,” Gabe says, “you don’t have to aim with your arms. Try to picture in your mind where you want the daggers to go. It may be more of a mental projection than physical.”
“Ok, I think Obi-Wan Kenobi here might have the right idea,” I say. “Use the force, Zack.”
“I have no idea what you just said,” Zack says coming to stand by the window with me.
“Oh my god, I have got to educate you in the world of Star Wars after this,” I tell him.
“I’m not so sure I want to be indoctrinated into it if it means I’m going to start talking in code like you.”
“Resistance is futile, my little padawan. Now come over here and help give the man I love the upper hand in this fight.”
Just as Zack walks up with his daggers in both hands, a werewolf jumps up in front of the window from ground level. Without missing a beat, I simply swing my sword and slash it across the chest causing it to disintegrate into a spray of black ash. Zack sits on the ledge and rears his hands back to throw the daggers.
I look out the window and see Mason standing in a line with his men on either side of him. He has his arms crossed and is simply watching the game the other Watchers are playing by phasing in and out in front of him.
“Here goes nothing,” Zack says and lets his daggers fly.
Just like in the vision, the daggers slice through the air and bury themselves in the backs of Lucifer’s Watchers. There are two Watchers standing in front of Mason when this happens. They act like deer caught in headlights as they just stand stock still and stare at him, suddenly realizing they can’t phase anymore.
I see a slow smile stretch Mason’s lips. He quickly grabs one of the Watcher’s heads and rips it from his neck. Mason casually throws it over his shoulder and across the street into Ms. Margaret’s front yard. The other Watcher attempts to ram his fist in Mason’s chest but it’s soon evident how pointless of an act it is. Mason grabs the Watcher’s fist easily and twists. Even from a distance, I hear the breaking of bones and watch as Mason rips the man’s arm off at the shoulder. The Watcher falls to his knees screaming but the sound is soon cut off as Mason throws the arm on the ground and promptly snaps the man’s head off. Mason rolls the head like a bowling ball over to Ms. Margaret’s front lawn to join its companion.
Another Watcher makes to charge Mason full on but Mason does a spinning, flying kick maneuver which, I hate to admit it, completely turns me on as he hits the attacking Watcher in the sweet spot of his neck with such force it pops the man’s head clean off. Mason soon has a collection of three heads sitting in Ms. Margaret’s yard like lawn ornaments.
The Watchers helping Mason gather around him and each one is carrying the head of the person they fought. Mason seems to say something to them and two of them walk over to Ms. Margaret’s yard to retrieve the three heads he placed there.
Mason walks up to the house and looks up at the window where I’m sitting.
“Jess, throw me your sword,” he calls up to me. “I’d rather give their children a quick death.”
I toss my sword down and Mason catches it easily by the hilt. I watch as Mason slices through the remaining werewolves as they circle him and try to attack him. They’re simply no match for Mason’s speed and ability with a sword. He’s able to end their lives quickly and without pain.
I feel sorry for the children of the Watchers. They never asked to be born into this world. They were simply a way to torture their father’s for sins committed long ago. As I watch Mason turn them into black ash with my sword, I pray they find a peace in death that wasn’t available to them in life.
Once Mason’s through, he phases and I soon hear him walking up the steps inside the house to the second floor. I run out of the room and propel myself into his arms. He wraps his free arm around my waist, holding me tightly to him.
“Told you there wasn’t anything to worry about,” he tells me.
I feel him slip my sword back into the scabbard on my back.
I pull away slightly and look at him. There is blood splattered across his white button down shirt and I soon realize some of it has transferred onto me.
Mason leans down and kisses me lightly on the lips.
“I’ll be right back. I need to help move the bodies.”
“What are you going to do with them?” I ask.
“Keep them in a safe place for now.”
I f
eel my forehead furrow. “Uh, why are you keeping dead bodies?”
“They aren’t dead,” Mason tells me. “Even if I completely dismembered them their bodies wouldn’t die.”
“Then you didn’t kill them?”
“No, we just incapacitated them. We’ll keep the heads and bodies in separate places. They can regenerate but they can’t regenerate new heads. Once things are over with Lucifer, I’ll give them one last chance to change their ways. I doubt many will take it, but I feel like I have to try.”
“And if they don’t want to change their ways and join your side?”
“Then I will have to ask one of you to kill them with your archangel powers.”
“I’ll do it.”
I turn to see Zack standing in the doorway of my room.
“Why you?” I ask.
“Maybe my power can make them want to change,” he says. “If they feel mercy from me, it might add an extra incentive.”
I couldn’t argue against his logic. It might be the only way to save them. A last ditch effort if ever I heard one, but it is worth a try.
I turn to Mason. “I would like to thank the other Watchers for protecting my family for me.”
Mason smiles, pleased by my request. “I think they would like that.”
Mason phases us to the front lawn where his men are gathering the bodies, and gruesomely enough heads, of Lucifer’s Watchers into a pile.
When they see us, they all fall to one knee and bow their heads in our direction. It seems odd for them to do this since they’ve already seen Mason. I wait for Mason to do his thing and ask them to rise in his presence but he doesn’t. When I look over at him, Mason is grinning at me.
“They’re waiting for you,” he tells me.
“Waiting for me?” I ask, not understanding. “Waiting for me to do what?”
“Tell them to stand.”
I look back at the seven Watchers not understanding why they would feel the need to kneel before me.
I look back at Mason and whisper, “Why are they kneeling?”
“Because they respect you,” he tells me and I can see the pride he has for me in his eyes. “They know you carry Michael’s soul and they know what you’ve done so far and what you will do to protect a world they all love.”
I look back at the Watchers and take a step forward.
“Please stand,” I tell them, feeling completely unworthy of such adoration.
In unison, they stand and look at me.
I clear my throat trying to hide the lump of emotion that formed there from their unexpected show of respect.
“I just wanted to thank you all for protecting my family for me,” I tell them. “If there is anything I can ever do to repay you, just ask for it and it’s yours.”
One of the Watchers with short blonde hair and a perfect smile raises his hand in the air.
“Yes?” I ask him.
“Well, we’ve been wondering if we could all come to the wedding,” he says hesitantly. “We’ve been told it’s just for close friends and immediate family but we would like to be there when you and Mason get married.”
I look at the seven of them and decide it’s the least I can do.
“Of course you can come,” I tell them.
They all smile which makes me smile too.
“Uh, Jess,” Mason says.
I turn my head to look behind me and find a worried look on Mason’s face.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“He means all the Watchers.”
I still feel clueless. “I know. All seven of them want to come.”
“No,” Mason says, “all 174 of them. They’ve all been taking turns keeping watch over the girls.”
“Oh,” I say, as the realization of the catastrophe I’ve just agreed to dawns on me.
I close my eyes, keeping my head turned away from the other Watchers.
Crap.
What have I done?
Invited 174 Watchers to my wedding. That’s what I’ve just done.
Double crap.
I open my eyes and force myself to put a smile on my face. I can’t possibly take my offer back now. Not when they just risked so much to keep my family safe. I turn back to them.
“The wedding is on the 11th,” I tell them. “I’ll make sure Mason lets you know the exact time and he can show you where the ceremony is to take place. We’re having it at my grandfather’s house.”
They all smile at me pleased that they will be allowed to come.
Crap.
I go into the house and leave Mason to deal with his men and the bodies. When I tell Mama Lynn about the addition of 174 people to the guest list for the wedding, I get ‘the look’.
You know that ‘look’. The one only your mother can give you when she’s mad but doesn’t want to say she’s mad.
“What’s wrong?” I ask her.
She crosses her arms and huffs slightly. “Well, if we’re going to be inviting all of Mason’s friends, I don’t see why we can’t invite yours too.”
I should have seen that one coming. She’s been hinting at inviting people we know to the wedding for a while now. I stare at Mama Lynn and realize I would do anything for the woman standing in front of me.
“Ok,” I say, feeling completely defeated.
“Ok?” Mama Lynn says like she’s not quite sure she heard me, dropping her arms to her sides. “Ok we can invite some of our friends too?”
I nod. “Yes, you can invite whoever you want.”
Mama Lynn smiles happily and turns to my grandfather. “Is your backyard big enough for about 250 people?”
“Sure,” my grandpa says like its no big deal. “We can set up a big tent for the reception too.”
While the two of them start talking about what they need to do for the wedding, I slink off to the dining room where all the food has gone cold and sit down in front of the chocolate cake with a fork at the ready. I’ve eaten a good chunk of it by the time Faison and Leah show back up at the house with a gallon of vanilla ice cream.
“What happened while we were gone?” Faison asks. “And what’s up with all the blood in the front yard?”
She and Leah sit down on either side of me at the table.
“Open up the ice cream,” I say to Faison, my mouth full of chocolate cake. “Then I’ll tell you what happened.”
Faison does as asked and I grab a nearby spoon to scoop out a large chuck of ice cream to eat with my fork full of cake.
“What’s wrong?” Faison asks me, eyeing me knowingly. “You don’t eat like this unless you’re upset about something.”
I tell Faison and Leah what happened while they were down at the Piggly Wiggly.
“I thought maybe if I get huge before next Friday JoJo’s dress won’t fit and we’ll have to call the wedding off,” I tell her through a mouthful of cake and ice cream.
“It wouldn’t matter if you got as big as this house. Mama Lynn has been planning our weddings since we were eight years old. There’s no way she’s not going to make you walk down that aisle even if she has to wrap you in a table cloth and call it a wedding dress,” Faison says with certainty, shattering my hopes and dreams.
I dig out a big scoop of ice cream and cram it into my mouth.
Faison’s right of course. Now that I’ve given her the go ahead, there will be no stopping Mama Lynn now.
I lay my spoon and fork down on the table because my stomach is tied up in knots now, refusing to cooperate with my plan to stall the wedding.
I hear new voices come from the living room. Beau and George walk into the dining room both armed with shotguns.
“Hey there, Jess,” George says to me as he walks into the dining room with Beau at his side. “We heard the commotion but figured your Watcher friends were better able to handle the situation than us.”
I nod. “Yes, they took care of the problem.”
“Mama Lynn just told us we’re invited to the wedding,” Beau tells me. “How exactly are we sup
posed to get all the way to California?”
“I have 174 Watcher taxis,” I tell him. “It won’t be a problem.”
“The girls are going to flip out when they hear Watchers are coming to our house,” Beau says with a certain amount of excitement of his own.
In spite of my churning stomach, I force myself to smile back at Beau. I have a feeling most everyone in town will have the same reaction as him.
Mason walks into the dining room with Aiden by his side.
“Better late than never, I guess,” I say to Aiden.
“Yeah, I heard I missed all the excitement,” he says looking at me and making a wiping motion like he’s trying to get something off his mouth.
It takes me a minute but I get the message. I take one of the napkins off the table and wipe the chocolate from my lips.
“I’ll take Rafe to his clinic,” Aiden tells Mason. “And watch over Gabe and Zack until they awaken tomorrow.”
Mason nods that he heard Aiden and approves of his plan but keeps his eyes on me. I can tell he’s worried about the state he’s found me in.
I stand up and walk over to him.
“If you guys would excuse us,” I say to the others. “Mason and I have somewhere we need to be.”
Mason looks at me like he’s not quite sure what I’m talking about.
“Beach house please,” I say.
Mason phases us and I run for the bathroom slamming the door as I hug the toilet and have a revisit of all the ice cream and cake I just ate.
I hear Mason knock on the door and call my name, worry in his voice, but I just can’t face him yet.
“Give me a minute,” I say, flushing the toilet. I quickly brush my teeth to get the taste out of my mouth.
I stare at myself in the mirror and notice how deathly pale I look.
I guess fear will do that to a person.
I close my eyes and hang my head wondering what the hell I just got myself into.
When I step out of the bathroom, Mason is sitting on the bed waiting for me. I walk over to him and sit down beside him.
He looks over at me with eyes filled with concern. “Are you all right?”
I shake my head. “No, not really.”