“Wow.” I hugged him extra hard, feeling his chest against my skin. I breathed in a deep breath treasuring every second I had him back in my life. I saw the black iron sconce on the wall turn on and knew Arie and Cyril must be on their way with the spaghetti and bread.
“Thanks for the warning light, sis!” Athen sighed.
Everyone was quietly passing around the garlic bread and pasta when I realized that there was something that wasn’t being said. Somehow I was being left out of the loop again. As I got handed the basket of garlic bread from Arie I took my piece and held it hostage from Athen.
“What aren’t you guys telling me now?” I said looking directly at Athen.
Arie piped in immediately, “We were going to tell you right after dinner. We didn’t want to spoil your first meal after everything you’ve been through.”
I saw Athen give Arie a warning look, which I took to mean she was to stop speaking as to not give anything away. Having never had this kind of tension before with the group, I wanted whatever it was to be out in the open.
“I think I can handle about anything right now guys so you might as well say what you’ve got to say. I’ll be fine. It isn’t like it could get much more unbelievable, right?” I said shaking my head.
“Well, there have been some developments,” Athen began softly, “and we need to get some things figured out.”
“That’s pretty vague.” I said holding the bread still, trying to lighten the air a little bit, “Is that why you are going down to the house in Kingston?”
“Yes, that is part of it,” Athen replied looking very uncomfortable, “There has been a lot of activity, and we are trying to determine if it’s related to our family reuniting.”
“Activity with what?” I asked not sure I wanted to know the answer, finally relinquishing the bread to Athen.
“The black demons.” He said point-blank looking for my reaction.
“Whoa! What does that mean?” I asked looking at Cyril.
“Generally black demons leave the white demons alone because there isn’t much they can do to us, except disrupt families, but the families eventually always reunite so it doesn’t provide them with any long-term pleasure. Their prey is usually human centered. Their goal is to persuade as many humans as possible to do wrong. They enjoy the hunt of the human, toying with their decisions, and waiting to see the outcomes, so generally we aren’t that interesting to them. They like to feel like they have more control over the fate of mankind versus dabbling with distant cousins.” He stopped and Athen continued.
“We are usually pretty in tune with their motives so we can try to intervene when possible. However, recently we haven’t been able to track all of the usual players. Some have gone missing, in a sense, possibly planning something underground. New ones have come to the area in their place. We really aren’t sure what to make of it, other than to assume it has to do with your reintroduction process. Plus the missing hikers and snowboarder just complicates everything.”
“Not to sound selfish, but should I be left alone, and what would merit an actual fight with a demon?” I asked my heart pounding faster with every breath I took in. The thought of demons after me was beyond frightening. Not remembering what I went through the first time I got separated from my family and not wanting to be separated again sent chills through me. I saw all three look at each other before Athen began the answer. I knew they were hiding something. I also knew I wouldn’t find out what it was.
“You’ll be taken care of. You won’t be in danger. I can assure you of that. I won’t lose you again.” Athen said reaching for my hand.
“We will be taking a quick shuttle down and back up. They won’t try anything while we are away.” Arie offered as best she could a response to make me calmer. I knew she was lying and didn’t know why. I had to trust – something I had never been very good at.
“So when do you think you guys will be taking the trip?” I asked trying to make sure my voice did not indicate the actual amount of fear that was welling up inside.
“In a couple of days.” Athen mumbled.
“Eat your pasta,” Arie commanded, “This is why we didn’t want to tell you until after dinner.”
“Guys, I’m fine. Really. It’s kind of a shock to hear that someone or something might be after me. Not to mention that I’m still trying to digest what I supposedly am.” I paused not sure I wanted to ask my next question, but figured that I already messed with the tone of the meal so I might as well round it out. “How did it happen? I mean last time? How did I end up like I did? Do my nightmares have anything to do with it?” Nothing was said for several seconds. All I could hear was Matilda working on a piece of bread someone must have slipped her under the table.
“I was only curious because earlier you had said that the black demons don’t tend to come after us, but they obviously did. It kind of sounds like they could do it again.” This time I was determined to wait for an answer.
“It was out of revenge. Pure and simple.” Cyril looked over at me as if that answer would calm me. “We disrupted a very heinous crime from taking place. It was something Azazel was working on for a very long time. The short version is the human chose different because of our interference. Azazel saw fit to tear our lives apart. He took you away from us. That’s the short version. It sums it up though. He intended to punish us, and in a sense it worked, but we still managed to do good while we were waiting for you. ”
I sat back in disbelief. The underworld that was slowly being exposed to me held so many answers but left so many questions.
“You were actually the one who did the final act that detoured the human from making the wrong choice he was about to make. We think that is why they went after you specifically.” Athen replied quietly. I could tell rehashing this story was as hard for him as it was for me. The pain was running through each syllable he uttered.
“They didn’t strike right away. In fact years had gone by, which is why we were off our guard. We learned the hard way, to say the least, but we had figured that the demons had decided to let it slide. We guessed wrong. They waited for our defenses to be down.”
“You said the demon was Azazel, but then you said they. So was there more than one?” I asked trying to get as much clarity as I possibly could, considering how foreign the stories were to begin with.
“Well, as we had mentioned before, the black demons tend to work alone. They certainly don’t have the same family structures that we have created over the centuries. However, they will group up on tasks and side with one another when they run into interference of any kind. They have a network, and they will use it if they think it will better their chances to screw with mankind or connect with us, apparently. Our biggest concern is always the possible formation of legions with them. Thankfully, it’s been centuries since they have attempted that.”
“Who is Azazel? How does he have so much power or ability?”
“He was the principal angel, before he fell, who really led the whole movement of angels cohabitating with mortal women. He’s also known as the demon of the desert. Supposedly, that is where you would find him, where he rounds up his minions to do his dirty work so to speak. He is all things evil.”
I looked around the table and understood the outpouring of love and concern from Cyril, Arie, and Athen trying to comfort me in all of the confusion. I was so thankful that they chose to tell me rather than keep me in the dark. It had made things much more clear. It put into perspective what kind of creatures I was possibly dealing with. I hoped I didn’t ever experience the evil of these creatures again. I, also, secretly prayed I had none of the evil inside of me.
“If it makes you feel any better, my appetite has come back. I’m ready to plow through my plate of pasta.” I spurted out my feeble attempt to lift the mood.
“Under the circumstances, I didn’t expect it to take too long.” Cyril said laughing, and I was relieved that I hadn’t spoiled the mood for the rest of the evening, especiall
y in light of knowing they would be leaving in a couple days.
CHAPTER 14
The morning light came through my bedroom and woke me up from a wonderful dream that I was in the middle of. I rolled over trying to get back to that state of sleep where I could recover my dream and begin it again. I didn’t want to lose any time with Athen, even if it was in my dreams. I was still in the process of relearning memories, and sometimes, they came in the form of dreams, which I certainly didn’t want to miss out on. Anything to take the place of the nightmares was wonderful. I tossed and turned trying to get back to sleep, but it was hopeless. The light continued to blaze through the windows and was far too intense. I vowed going forward I would keep the curtains closed even if it meant missing out on waking up to falling snow. I looked over at my alarm clock and saw that it read 6:30am - curse it. There was no way I would be able to get Matilda up this early, let alone go outside to do her business. I wondered if Athen was still asleep. My guess was that he was. Everyone left pretty late the night before. My heart ached a little at the thought of him at his condo and me across the village. I was so relieved to experience a night’s worth of sleep filled with happiness instead of the horrific images usually invading my mind.
I begrudgingly lifted the comforter up and climbed out of bed. I knew I was too amped up to get back to sleep, which made me think I didn’t remember my dream as well as I thought I did. I pattered into the bathroom to brush my teeth and hoped that I still had enough beans left to make a pot of coffee.
I was still on information overload from the night before but knew that those missing pieces were so very important in helping me understand the dangers that were still out there as well as what happened so many decades before. I knew the journey to fully regain my memories would be a long one. I was thankful that I had my family around to help with them. The mere thought of Cyril, Athen, and Arie made my heart automatically begin to warm. I was truly blessed. I only hoped that I would get over the uneasy feelings of my heritage. I kept trying to spin it in a positive manner to no avail. I opened the cabinet, relieved to find enough beans to make that pot of coffee. I also made a mental note to stop by Karen’s later today to avoid losing the one quasi friend that I could call my own.
I sat at the breakfast bar waiting for the coffee to brew while I decided to start a to-do list. Since spending so much time with Athen and his family a lot of my personal duties seemed to slip through the cracks. First on the list was a grocery trip, followed by pre-paying some of my bills through the holidays so I didn’t have to come back to a dark house because, at this rate, I would forget to pay the electric bill. I could feel myself begin to daydream about Athen again and wondered if that is how it always would be.
The day before I was so thrilled to have another memory resurface of us all at a lake, enjoying some sort of summer party with games and many people who I did not recognize wandering around. I knew I wanted to ask Arie about that memory because so far the only people that have appeared were Cyril, Athen, and Arie – not strangers. I knew I was safer asking about the happy dreams rather than the scary ones. I hoped the nightmares were just that – nightmares. I didn’t want to ask though.
The morning had gone by fast, and it was a smidge before 11:00am. I managed to get all of my grocery shopping done as well as put everything away tidily in the pantry cupboards and even got many of my bills paid online early. My next hope was that I would be able to get a hold of Karen for an afternoon visit. I decided I had better call her and head over before she has to start her shift at the Pub.
I reached for the phone, feeling a burning pain run through my fingertips, almost as if I was being poked with hot needles. I couldn’t quite fathom that so I took my hand away and readjusted how I was sitting; maybe I scuffled around the floor too much, I thought to myself. I picked up the phone quickly this time hoping to avoid that same level of pain and dialed Karen’s number. Thankfully my technique had worked, no pain. The phone rang and rang, but the machine didn’t pick up so I held on a little longer about to give up when I heard the receiver click.
“Hello?” I heard Karen’s familiar voice and was thrilled.
“Hey, Karen!” I exclaimed, not able to hold back my excitement.
“Ana! I’m so glad you called. I was planning on stopping by to say hi. How are you feeling? That was some horrible flu you got. Are you back to normal yet?”
Always like Karen to be concerned. I pushed away the guilt for not being honest, but knew the truth would get me locked up in some sort of facility that I would never get out of.
“I’m doing so much better. Still not a 100%, but getting close – worn out mostly.”
“Well, we really miss you at the pub.”
As soon as Karen spoke the words a little pang of guilt came over me because I knew deep down that I was having so much fun with my family that I didn’t think about working at the pub at all.
“I miss you all too. It certainly is odd not worrying about my shift or what kind of crowd might be coming in.” I told her trying as hard as possible to sound convincing.
“Yeah, I’m sure that is what you are thinking about.” She said teasing. Obviously my attempt failed.
“Very funny! So I called to see if you are free this afternoon to catch up. I know it’s short notice, but…”
“No problem at all. I finished cleaning everything up so come on over whenever you want. I don’t go in until 7:00pm tonight and work until closing. We’ve got plenty of time to chat.” I could tell that she was getting excited. I was relieved that my lack of communication over the last while didn’t rub her wrong the way.
“Great. See you in a bit.” I said and hung up the phone quickly. This would work out great since I wasn’t meeting Athen for dinner until 8 pm tonight. I decided to get ready for the dinner with Athen now in case I was running late coming back from Karen’s.
I was standing at Karen’s door waiting for her to appear, while I delicately balanced the fresh baked pretzels I had picked up. One of our favorite things we used to munch on during a movie night.
She flung open the door and came pouncing to hug me before she noticed that my hands were full. Thankfully I managed to grab everything before it hit the ground, and I couldn’t stop laughing.
“Well some things don’t change.” I said barely able to move through the door because I was laughing so hard.
“Oh yum! Pretzels!” Karen was as excited as always to see the baked goods. I delicately maneuvered through her entry hall as she carefully tried to grab items to make it easier. I made it to the dining room, thankful I didn’t drop anything.
“Wow, did you get a new rug?” I asked her not remembering an off white rug in her dining room before.
“Yep. Got it on sale down in Squamish. I was tired of always having cold feet at the dining room table.”
“Well, I love it.”
We were getting all situated when Karen got a text. The needle sensation ran through my fingers again. It had to be the rug. I quickly sat down and raised my feet up, but this time it didn’t go away. An image flashed in my head of a guy I didn’t recognize texting to Karen’s number. I looked over at Karen who looked very uncomfortable and was beginning to blush.
“So did you get something from your boyfriend? Do I need to leave the room?” I said laughing.
She looked a little relieved and smiled.
“Yah, that’s who it was.”
I wanted to believe her, but somehow something wasn’t adding up. I had a very uncomfortable feeling building up and the feeling in my fingers was not going away. It dulled a little, but was still very much present. I smiled quickly to hopefully make her at ease and decided I would bring it up a little later to give us enough time to bond again.
“Something seems different about you. I can’t put finger on it though.” Karen said looking at me puzzled.
“Hmmm,” I said aloud, “Oh geez. I know what it is. I have green contacts in.”
“Wow, well not sure wh
at would have possessed you to do that, but it looks good. Usually those things look so fake.”
“Yeah, thanks. I think.”
She relaxed a bit as we both dove into the pretzels I brought as we covered every topic imaginable. I told her all about Athen and his family, leaving out the obvious parts. She was quite agreeable as to how caring he seemed to be. I could tell we were back to normal so I decided to pounce. I looked at the clock and back at Karen.
“I should probably get going. Give you time to get ready for the night and text you know who back. Hey, I’m gonna text him a hello and tell him he made my girl blush.” I said laughing. As I feared, her reaction wasn’t what I hoped.
“No, don’t do that. He is at an appointment.”
“Oh is that so?” I asked eyeing her suspiciously. “What kind of appointment? It’s kind of late for one. Wouldn’t he have his phone turned off? I want to reach out.” I told her looking her in her eyes knowing, unfortunately, that wasn’t her boyfriend who texted her earlier.
“Why are you looking at me that way, Ana? Why would I be lying about where he is this afternoon?”
“You are right,” I told her, “I guess I’ve been away a wee bit too long and didn’t read you right. You haven’t acted that way before over me texting him, that’s all.” I hoped my softening voice would win her over a little to come clean. Instead, she sat silently staring at the table runner. I hopped up and grabbed my purse.
“Sorry Karen. I didn’t mean to overstep my bounds,” I went over and hugged her, “I can let myself out.”
“No don’t be silly. I’m fine. You are fine. You did nothing.”
We walked together through the living room. Once we got the front door, I turned to her and gave her a hug.
“Thanks for always being there, Karen. I’m thankful. You should come to dinner with us all and, of course, bring Justin. It has been too long since the crepe house, I think.” I could feel her squeezing harder than when I first arrived to her house earlier. I knew my suspicions were right. She let go and stood back and looked at me.
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