Cataclysm (12 page)

Looking over at Noah, I nodded. Matilda sat at the entrance, and I scratched her ear as I went by, hoping she’d be my good-luck charm.

Noah and Cyril slid the boulder to the side, and I went in first. What I saw was nothing that I thought. The dirt walls still had roots dangling down from the other side. There was no one in sight, which provided a little bit of relief.

Noah came in behind me and placed his hand on my shoulder as we gauged what we were staring at. We stopped in a large room and from every direction, another dark tunnel had been carved out, leading away from where we were standing. The evilness seemed to be everywhere, but we saw no one.

The only source of light seemed to be from an oil light in the twelve by twelve room we were standing in. Not really sure what I was or wasn’t hoping to see, I headed to the nearest tunnel, with Noah right behind me.

The tunnel was dark, and I let my hand glide along the dirt wall, running over twigs, pebbles, and roots, trying to guide us to wherever this tunnel let us out at. So far, what I’d seen was nothing near what I imagined. Everything was poorly constructed, and the deeper I went in the more I worried the walls might actually collapse on me.

We reached a dirt wall in front of us that only allowed either a left or a right. I stopped and turned towards Noah, who I really couldn’t see, and grabbed his hand.

Standing still, I focused on each tunnel and decided that I saw more of a flicker to the one on my left, so that’s where we went. This tunnel seemed to be angled downhill more than the others.

Finally, a glow rippled ahead of us, indicating some sort of activity. Slowing my pace, I tried to calm my heart rate, as my mind went wild again, picturing what I might see in front of me. Part of me wanted to run into Lilith just to get it over with, and the other part of me wanted nothing of the sort.

Getting to the end of the tunnel, I slowly looked around the corner relieved with what I witnessed.

I could feel Noah’s breath quickening as he tried to gauge my reaction.

The room that the light came from had about thirty dark demons in it. Some were talking to each other. Some were sleeping, and others not doing much at all. The ceiling was low, so much so, that many of them had to bend down when they were walking or standing. The soil on the walls was exposed, crumbling with too much pressure from the earth’s movements or the slightest touch from the dark demons. Makeshift tables were placed in each of the corners, where it looked like the demons were studying maps and other items that I couldn’t quite see. There was another tunnel at the far end, presumably leading to another set of tunnels and rooms.

The relief crept over my entire body as I realized that these tunnel systems were nothing more than carved areas in the earth. No technology was being used to their advantage, and things looked pretty disorganized. I slowly stepped back, so that Noah could sneak a peek. As soon as he caught a glimpse of the scene I witnessed, his shoulders completely relaxed. He felt the same as me. They were under-planning and far too sure of themselves.

We slowly turned back the way we came and decided to leave while we could, without any of them noticing us.

Climbing back up through the tunnels was a lot more work than going down. We followed the light flicker of the one and only oil lamp we used as a marker for our exit. I was beyond excited, as the glow danced on the tunnel walls. We were almost out.

When we were only about twenty feet away from the entrance, I heard Matilda barking and growling. I had to get out. I darted as fast as I could, out of the tunnel’s entrance, with Noah right on my heels.

There was a group of dark demons, laughing and smiling. One of them held Matilda. I saw Athen high up in the tree, waiting for his chance to get Matilda back.

“We thought we heard a couple of intruders down below. I didn’t think it could only be this thing,” the demon said, looking straight at me.

He took off in the direction that we had originally come from, with his demon cohorts right beside him. Athen was already shooting from tree to tree. I knew he’d be able to cut them off. Cyril climbed the nearest Douglas fir, attempting to do the same.

Noah, Arie, and I ran after them. We would be able to catch these guys in a matter of seconds. Our only mission was to get Matilda back, safe and sound.

Athen and Cyril descended from the sky directly in front of the demons, turning the anxiety I had to excitement. These demons never should have crossed us. The demons stopped running. They saw that they were surrounded by us on all sides. Matilda wiggled and moved, trying to get free from the demon’s tight grip. I couldn’t let another second pass.

“When you look at my face, what is it telling you?” I asked coldly. “Do you see fear, happiness, contentment? What is it? What do you see?”

The demon looked nervously around at the others.

“What kind of question is that?” the demon scoffed. “I see anger.”

“Do you think it’s good to get a group of seasoned demons angry, regardless of what side they’re on?” I enjoyed toying with the uncertainty that filled this pathetic being.

“White demons can get just as nasty as the dark ones,” Arie chimed in.

Noah quickly glided next to the demon who had been holding Matilda hostage.

“So this is the deal. You and your friends can hand over what belongs to us in a civil manner, or we can take her from you,” I told them.

Matilda was the quietest she’d ever been. Her brown eyes were bouncing from mine to the dark demons surrounding her. The anger ran through my veins. Regardless of what they chose, I knew I was going to fight them. Judging by the looks on everyone’s face, they felt the same way.

The moment Matilda’s paws hit the flora littered soil, she took off towards Arie who grabbed her and held her tightly, but not before Noah already had the instigator in a head lock.

“Hey! We let her go! You can’t do this!” he screamed, his legs flailing around and kicking in a feeble attempt to get released from Noah’s embrace.

“Rule number-one, never trust a demon,” I said, laughing.

The other demons began fleeing through the trees, darting as best they could on foot. They were no match for us. I decided to scale the nearest tree, which was a beautiful vine maple that was ready for my latest gymnastics’ moves. I reached for the nearest limb and somersaulted onto the maple’s dainty structure, leaping from one tree to the next looking for the perfect spot to pounce on my victims. Athen was right behind me. With every movement, the leaves fluttered and released, dusting the forest floor with more of Mother Nature’s beautiful litter.

I couldn’t wait to get my hands on these demonic beings. They were running away from Athen and I, hollering for help, but dark demons were never a group to put themselves out for another, so we weren’t concerned. Nobody would come for them.

Athen caught up to me, and I paused briefly, smiling at him as we both set our sight on our evil targets. The excitement level overflowed as I thought about fighting these two with Athen by my side.

“Let’s teach these guys a lesson!” I yelled, as my body flew on the one closest to me. Tackling him to the forest floor, I flipped him over.

“I thought we made it clear, that wasn’t going to happen,” I laughed, as the demon threw me off of him, only to have me still hanging on to him, so that we both crashed into the nearest tree.

“I’m gonna make this painless for you,” Athen said. “I’m going to put you to sleep and when you wake up, you won’t remember any of this.”

The demon attempted to grab at Athen’s neck, but Athen reciprocated the gesture, and the black mist began seeping into the air as Athen’s fingers slowly released themselves. Athen finished his prey quickly. I began to feel guilty for toying with mine. It probably caused more trouble than it was worth.

Matilda’s bark came through the forest, which made me realize that we had gotten back who we needed. I didn’t need to prolong this. We were able to end these demons before they went back to tell Lilith and her crew everything. That was a victory.

Picking the demon back up from the ground, I threw him against the tree, watching his body wrap around the trunk. He slid down the tree, and it took everything I had not to go over and give him one more kick for trying to hurt Matilda, but the mist was already escaping. The job had been done.

Athen and I walked back underneath the canopy of brilliantly colored maple leaves to greet everyone. The unspoken decision had been made. No more placing Matilda in harm’s way. In fact, as the battles grew closer, we would need to find a place for her to hide.

Arie cuddled Matilda as tightly as when I left. Matilda finally began to relax enough to let some of her snores out in between her breaths.

We were all anxious to plug in the Go Pro Camera that had been attached to Matilda. Even if it was only for a few short minutes, there was bound to be something on there for us to see.

“How did they get hold of Matilda?” I asked.

“There was another boulder up the mountain that we thought might somehow connect to where you were going. We thought it would be interesting to get a perspective from both ends,” Cyril explained.

“I think I’m gonna head out for a while, try to get some more info. After seeing what I did in the tunnels, it makes me think that the more reconnaissance missions I can get going, the more confident I’ll feel. It was ridiculous what they had down there. Before we begin planning the rest of the battles, I think it’s important to see what else we might be dealing with.”

“Are you sure, man?” Athen asked, patting his shoulder. “You’re always welcome to stay at our place.”

“Thanks, I appreciate that,” Noah replied. “But I think the quicker I can get out there, the better. I’ll probably gather everything up tonight.”

We all climbed into the Jeep in silence, as I placed Matilda on my lap and squeezed her like never before. I enjoyed Noah’s company and realized I really didn’t want him to leave. I didn’t like the idea of him being alone, but looking in his eyes told me everything. He’d probably be out of our house by morning.

“Azazel is creating an army with mortals as we speak. They all are. The leaders of all the factions are creating numbers that we’ve never faced before. I know we’d like to think that there aren’t that many willing participants in the mortal world, but it’s not looking like that’s the case. There are a lot of people on the edge, and the dark demons are able to work their magic, promising them eternal youth - living forever, all that garbage. It’s far too tantalizing to ignore, I guess. The demons just forget to tell them the really essential parts like how they’ll be walking around like zombies and losing their families forever.” Cyril no longer tried to hide the anger in his voice.

“It true,” Arie began. “If our side doesn’t start to figure out how to bring more recruits in, we could possibly lose the battle before it’s even begun.”

“What are you guys saying? If it’s what I think you are implying, I’m at a loss for words. I can’t even believe you would bring that up!” I looked at Athen for backup and got nothing, so I kept on going.

“I didn’t think we could do those things and wouldn’t that be defeating the purpose of fighting for the humans in the first place, if we are just taking them over for ourselves?” My fingers were digging into the dining room table, etching my anger into the pine.

“We may have no choice.” Athen’s voice completely took me by surprise.

Standing up, I looked at them all as if they were strangers. I couldn’t believe that they were trying to convince me that it was okay to start recruiting humans for our purposes. It felt like the walls were collapsing down on me from every direction. The home I had grown so fond of gave me no comfort. Nothing seemed familiar – our beliefs, the eyes looking back at me, nothing. Were they serious?

“
No choice
?” My voice was shaking uncontrollably.

“It’s nothing we’ve ever had to face before. It might be the only option we have now… our only choice, really.” Arie tried her best to calm me, but failed.

“We don’t have a choice.” Cyril’s eyes were full of pain, but I wasn’t sure if it was for me or the mortals he was talking about destroying.