by Michael Dean
I started making it a point to go to my old spot on a nightly basis after my conversations with Shade and her mother hoping that the angels might show up and give me counsel about this matter.
One night, as it was getting very late, I was about to leave. I was staring at the full moon that lit up Mountainside from up in my tree when I saw what looked like a dark cloud moving in front of the moon. When I saw how fast the cloud was traveling I knew it was something more than that. Especially when I realized that it was coming in my direction. My senses told me hate was on the way; it was another flock of demons. On full alert, I whipped out my wings, jumped to the ground, and prepared for whatever was coming at me.
In no time they were swarming in the sky above. I stood silent, preparing for battle. After a few minutes of them flying around, they began to perch themselves all over the tops of the trees around me like they’d done once before here. Oddly enough, the only one they didn’t land on was my old reliable, dead tree. I remained still, scanning the scene, looking them all over as they crowded the foliage like giant leaves. There were hundreds of them.
“What are you all doing here?” I called out to them, but received silence as an answer. “This is my fight for Diccittidel with Christian. You don’t have to be involved in this. I have killed Agrelia, Shimmer, and War…I will kill you all, too, if you interfere.”
Again, silence. They continued to glare at me menacingly. After a moment or two of grandstanding, one of them leaped off the perch of one of the trees and landed on the ground with me a short distance away. His wings were on full display, a sign to me that he, too, was ready for a fight.
“What is your purpose here? What do you want?” I demanded.
“My name is Franco. We’ve met before.” The demon that landed before me finally answered.
I struggled to register where I had seen his face before but couldn’t put my finger on it. He did look familiar.
“Where have we met before…Franco?”
“Some time ago, you were chasing Agrelia. You came across a wood cabin, ruining my chances of obtaining a prospect by tying him up outside of his home while you let his wife and child go free…decimating my chances that night of claiming the human's soul.”
It took me a second, but I remembered while I was running after Agrelia, I found that cabin in the woods in the American south with that unruly man who was abusing his wife and child. He tried to shoot me. I made him pay for his sins by letting his family go before I stripped him down to his undergarments, tied him up, covered him in honey and let the fire ants have at him. When I was leaving, I remembered seeing a Drift Demon off in the distance who looked perturbed about my interference. This demon's face matched his. It was this Franco character.
“I remember you. We made eye contact with each other that night. I’m sorry for interfering in your job, but I had to dispel that ignorant human. I didn’t realize that work was being done there.” I answered.
“That doesn’t matter anymore. I’m here, before you, with a much bigger purpose.”
“And that is?” I listened intently for his upcoming reply, hoping for clarity about Christian’s motives as I knew he was pulling their strings.
“I cannot go into details, but we are here as a warning.”
“A warning? Why even bother?” I was confused about what Franco was trying to tell me.
“We weren’t supposed too, but being that this is a power struggle for Hell on Earth between you and Christian, we must do as requested by our current Lord, but we feel it is necessary to stay neutral at the same time.” His face remained stern.
“Stay neutral? What are you talking about?”
“Well…if you defeat Christian, won’t you then be our new Lord upon the earth? You would be the one who took out the council. Wouldn’t it be you then who ruled over the humans for our side?”
I never thought about that potential result if I defeated Christian. I would be his replacement, the new power coming out of Hell to oversee the business of humanity for our side. But that’s what is so glorious about claiming and then achieving Diccittidel, I would be truly free from Hell. I only had to accept that path if I chose to, which I wouldn’t. That was a job I wanted no part of.
“You’re mistaken, Franco.” I replied.
He tilted his head at me, waiting for me to expand on that statement.
“If I kill Christian, when I kill him, I will forsake Hell and all the inhabitants within it. I will not seek unbridled power given to me, but instead I will live a life of solitude by my own volition, with the humans, never to speak of the underworld again. Hell may never die within the world, but it will die within me. That is my mission…that is what I seek. Sorry to disappoint you. I will never lead you.” I looked around at all of them in the trees.
“I don’t doubt that you will never be in command of us, not because it’s your choice to do so. Christian will see to that. Nonetheless, it’s always best to unify just in case. Besides, we are here for another reason, to tell you that your beloved hometown is about to burn.” He smirked.
“What do you mean?”
“Christian has summoned all the demonic forces upon the planet to set their sights right here…on Mountainside. This is where he will strike the world first…and the hardest. He wants to break you down before your battle with him, Leo.”
“I’ll come to fight him now if I must. I’ll leave this very second. There will be no need to carry out this mission. The people of this town, in this world, have nothing to do with my fight.”
“This town has been stained by your presence, Leo, that’s why it must be destroyed. I’m afraid you don’t understand the big picture. Whether you leave for him now or not, we are invading Mountainside either way—my suggestion—don’t leave. They’ll need you when we return.”
“Why are you telling me this? Why would you warn me in this manner? Why not just attack? That would be the strategically sensible thing to do.” I remained perplexed.
“Yes…yes it would. But as leader of this regiment of Drift Demons, in some small way I admire your fight for Diccittidel. It’s nothing more than that. I thought you deserved a last line of defense to what is about to come. After all, you’re still one of us.”
“This must be a trick, to get me looking the other way while you do something else.”
Franco shook his head, “No tricks, Leo, but I don’t care if you believe me. I’m simply alerting you to an impending danger. You may not have gained any respect among those in Hell, but you have mine. That is my sole reason for being here right now, nothing more. This was my decision to inform you. No one else’s.”
I didn’t believe him, naturally, but nonetheless I had to take his warning for Mountainside seriously. I didn’t doubt they were coming, but when…and why?
“Fine. We’ll leave it at that. When are you coming for Mountainside?”
He chuckled, “You know I can’t tell you that. All I can say that it is soon…very…very…soon.”
“Tonight? Does it begin tonight?”
“No…it is not tonight, but I will tell you that you are nearly out of time to prepare for the onslaught. Warn who you can, but I can honestly say that there is nothing you can do…no one can do, to possibly prepare for what is about to hit this town, Leo. Hell on Earth is coming right here. You’ve been warned. On the night of the blood moon, we will be back. At that time, we will be enemies. There is nothing more I have to say.”
He bowed his head and took flight to the sky. All the Drift Demons followed behind Franco. I watched them disappear over the horizon before I made a frantic flight back home.
“Where in the Hell are Argento and Elysia? When I need them the most they are always absent. They must know what is about to happen here.” I murmured in frustration to myself as I hauled-butt back to the house.
When I got there, Shade was, of course, asleep. I didn’t wake her, although I had the impulse to do so. Every second we lost at this point was crucial now. An impending d
oom was on its way. Of that, I had no doubt. The people of this town needed to prepare…somehow. I was on pins and needles until she awoke.
When she did, Shade didn’t even get the chance to wipe the sleep from her eyes before I was in her ear telling of what I learned about the night before.
“Wait…what is going on, Leo? My brain hasn’t even woken up yet.”
“I’m not going to go into details again, but we need to take precautions…starting now. I don’t know what is going to happen, but it’s going to be bad for us…real bad I feel. I think we only have a couple of days to prepare.” I picked up my cell phone.
“Who are you calling?”
“Sam, I need him to get this town on high alert. Somehow he has to figure out a way to tell the people around here that they’re in grave danger without letting them know that ‘little flying bad guys’ are coming to get them. The town has to take this warning seriously.”
“What can I do?”
“Call our parents…call Sandra…Scruffy…clue them in to what is going on.”
Without delay, she hopped off the bed and grabbed her phone. I was in one room while she was in the other. We frantically began warning our loved ones in an effort to get some kind of defense organized among us. Sam wanted to wait until the next night to get a town meeting together at city hall, but I told him we didn’t have that kind of time. It had to be tonight. He obliged. Sam also mentioned that he would come up with something to tell everyone that didn’t seem completely nuts to them or risk blowing my cover.
Once our conversations were over, we sat back and waited for Sam to get back to us about our next moves. A couple hours later he called me back and informed us that an emergency town meeting was set to be held at seven o’clock this evening. He had his deputies, as well as himself, out notifying as many people as they could.
When the time arrived to be at town hall, we were there early and the place was already packed, given how full the parking lot was. We met up with our friends and family and I did my best to fill them in about what happened with Franco and the Drift Demons. We filed inside to find standing room only. We were almost stuck in place just past the entrance of the front doors. People continued to keep coming in behind us.
We could barely see into the room where Sam was standing at the head of. Being that we were the most informed out of anyone in attendance anyway, we thought it best to hang back and let Sam handle it. He requested everyone to calm down since there was all kinds of loud and paranoid chatter flying about.
“C’mon now folks…quiet down!” He yelled with impatience.
Finally, everyone grew silent.
“Now, we’ve been informed about a potential terrorist threat that may take place here in Mountainside…”
Before he could complete his sentence, people were already bombarding him with questions.
“Has the National Guard been called?” A male voice called out.
“Who was it that notified you, Sheriff?” A female called out on top of the other one.
Sam just raised his hands in an effort to get everyone to calm down so he could explain. You could see the growing frustration on his face.
“Listen to me; let me finish.” He implored.
Again, hyper voices settled.
“As I was saying…a potential terrorist threat may be being plotted right here in Mountainside. We’ve been notified…”
“By who?” Another voice interrupted him.
“That is confidential. All I can tell you is if you have relatives you can go stay with for a couple weeks outside of town, please do so. If you do not, now would be the best time to go on a vacation or take some time off.”
“C’mon, Sam…many of us are business owners. We can’t just up and leave. What is going on?” An annoyed man called out.
“Look…I can’t tell you all the details. This is a matter of national security. I just need everyone to take precautions and get out of Mountainside for a while if you can…please.”
“If the threat is so serious…where is the military? Where is the National Guard?” A woman continued to insist.
I could tell that Sam was struggling for an answer to that. He shook his head for a moment before answering.
“I’ve been informed…that resources have been put into place elsewhere around this country. A small town like ours isn’t the highest priority. I’m afraid…we are on our own…for now.”
That statement caused a ruckus to break out all over the entirety of the building. People began talking loudly amongst one another in objection as well as shouting at Sam in distress. Again, Sam raised his hands in an effort to try and get everyone to calm down and listen to him, but they were ignoring him. Finally, Sam lost his cool. He reached down to his holster and pulled out his gun and literally held it up in the air and fired off two shots into the ceiling above. That immediately got everyone’s attention.
“Enough! I will not have this kind of discourse among us. Now…we can either sit here and play the blame game, panic and do nothing, or, you can leave here in an organized manner, with a plan of action and let us handle this matter. It’s up to you. Either way, trouble may be going down here. I would rather everyone be safe than sorry. Although I cannot order you to leave this town, I must ask you to. I am begging everyone to get out of this town by tomorrow night. If you stay behind and wait this thing out, you do so at your own peril.”
There was some quieter chatting breaking out here and there as he continued to speak.
“All proper authorities are well aware of this dilemma, but I’m afraid that we must be the ones to take the initiative for our own safety here.” Sam finished.
“What’s going to happen, Sheriff?” A distressed individual asked.
“I don’t know…it’s hard to say…something, maybe nothing.”
“What do you think will happen?”
Sam just frowned and looked back at where I was standing with my family, “Evil… the potential for a lot of evil. That’s all I can say there is potential for.”
Again, some murmuring broke out in the crowd.
“We don’t have time to waste my friends, please go make whatever arrangements you must. Go now.”
With that, people started to file out. A few stayed behind to interact with Sam. I could see him constantly shaking his head in confusion towards whatever questions he was being asked. Finally, everyone left. We approached him and he ordered his deputies to get out among the people to offer whatever help they could in getting them somewhere safe. When we were alone with him, I could see the stress mounted all over his face.
“This is a huge mess, Leo. I hope you’re right about all of this.” He sighed.
“I am, sir…you’re doing the right thing.”
“I hope so.” He placed his hands on his hips and sunk his head.
“Where did you come up with all that stuff about authorities being aware, being on our own, other places needing resources and that’s why we are alone to deal with this for now…blah, blah, blah stuff?” Benjamin asked.
Sam smiled, “I had to think fast. I’m not sure those tall tales will hold once word gets out about people fleeing Mountainside, but it’s the best I could come up with in such a short amount of time. I know the story is sloppy. I’d rather answer questions about it after the fact when I know that everyone is safe. People aren’t stupid, they’re going to eventually figure out that I lied to them about this. I may even have higher ups in ranking positions in government contact me about this situation. As a matter of fact, I’m sure I will when people begin to talk outside of this town. That just doesn’t matter right now. I do now, what I must.”
“You did, Sam…you did. You’re a great social servant. All towns should be so lucky.” Anne consoled him.
“Thanks, Anne. Now, you know that order goes for you all too…well, except for Leo of course.”
Everyone agreed except for Scruffy and Shade.
“I want to stay here with Leo,” Shade said.
Sam was about to scold them but I beat him to the point.
“Nonsense. You two cannot stick around here. You will be of no help to me, only a hindrance. You must leave with our parents. There is no debate about this,” I said assuredly.
Backing me up, everyone else joined in on my side. I don’t think a single voice went unheard about that subject. Sandra just looked at Scruffy with anger and demanded him to leave. He shut-up after that about it. Shade gave in as well. The safety of our child was too much to risk for either of us.
“Look…I can handle Christian’s minions. That isn’t going to be a problem if that’s our only threat here. There might be some destruction around the town from their little visit, but they are a threat to you and we can’t risk you as part of their collateral damage. You can’t do anything to stop them yourselves…but I can. Now, if my fight with Christian is coming along with whatever it is they are planning on doing here, then so be it. It’s been a long time coming. You mustn’t be here for that…none of you. He’s playing by his own rules right now and that’s terrifying. Just leave…go somewhere safe. If it is meant to be, I will return to you.” I looked to Shade.
“Fine…fine…fine. But this still doesn’t mean that I have to be happy about it,” Scruffy added.
I just smirked at him.
Now that the line was drawn in the sand, we parted ways with Sam, but not until after I pulled him aside and told him that I would see them off to safety and would be back to see him the following day.
Everyone wasted no time in gathering the bare essentials and coordinating their plans for departing Mountainside. I made sure to oversee all of it. I was between all of my families' homes, including the Tipton household, making sure they were properly prepared. I wanted them to leave this night and not wait for the deadline that Sam put out for the next evening. They did as I wished. They all agreed to go stay at a hotel in a town about fifty miles away. When the time came for Shade to be picked up by her parents, leaving her car behind, we hugged and kissed as many times as we could fit in. This could be the last time we ever saw one another being that no one knew what Christian's motives were.