Legions (16 page)

The clapping of footsteps
began getting louder behind me. It was an urgent pace and that of a
woman’s. My pace began to quicken unexpectedly, not wanting to see
who might actually be behind me. The level of fear that was always
brewing right at the surface made me lengthen my stride even more.
There was a coffee shop at the end of the street that looked pretty
busy, right where I needed to be. I jetted up the sidewalk towards
the safe haven, only to look behind me and see Lilith, the serpent.
She nodded at me, with her large grin and kept walking right past
the coffee shop. I felt the breath that I had been holding in
slowly escape as I climbed up the stairs to the Starbucks. Feeling
the defeat of not finding Athen but running directly into her made
my stomach turn to knots. I couldn’t believe she was back so
quickly. I thought our victory against her would have bought us
more time before she began interfering again. Fighting her in the
hospital had given me a little too much confidence and seeing that
she was alive and well, still roaming the streets of Victoria, only
made the urgency that much more to find Athen again, before she
did.

The wooden door swung open
with a woman dressed in khakis and a thin, red sweater draping her
shoulders, holding her pot of gold, with a man following right
behind her. They were both laughing as if there wasn’t a care in
the world, their world.

“Thanks.” I was able to
utter to the couple as he held the door open for me. I went up to
the counter, ordering an Island Oat bar and a Cinnamon Dulce latte.
Not wanting to admit defeat and call Cyril and Arie for a ride back
to the house, I thought about all my options. My drink was called,
which I grabbed quickly and stepped back from the counter, only to
have déjà vu flood over me. I scanned the entire coffee shop,
realizing that everyone was in their place, exactly like my dream.
The only two missing were Lilith and Athen.

My head started spinning,
and I was lightheaded. I did my best to steady myself using one of
the overstuffed, velvet chairs they had near the fireplace. The
tiny sweat droplets began to form at my hairline. I was a mess. I
never expected for this dream to become a reality, especially after
my hospital encounter. Sure that I had disrupted destiny enough I
never let myself see otherwise. Lilith’s defeat should have sent
her far away, yet she was back quicker than I ever
imagined.

With every swing of the
front door bringing in more customers, my gut twisted into a
tighter knot making me cringe with pain. Seeing Lilith outside on
the sidewalk now made sense. We had scared her off but not enough.
She was back, but was she back with Athen or was she ever truly
with Athen? I grabbed my phone out of my coat and texted Arie. I
needed them now. As my dream played out directly in front of me, I
went on the other side of the chair where I could position myself
for the door to swing open and reveal the greatest disappointment
of my life. I was placing my coffee on the table when I felt the
blast of air ripple through me. It was him.

Seeing Athen, gorgeous as
ever made my heart begin to swell. The pain from not being able to
run over to him and jump in his arms, made the tears begin to form,
and I didn’t know what else to do besides stare. Then it hit me,
Lilith was nowhere to be found. In my dream she was waiting for him
at the counter, and he only had eyes for her, ignored me
completely. She wasn’t in here, but this was my dream. Maybe the
hospital disrupted things enough. The theme park ride of emotions
that were inching their way through my body made me so nervous, I
knocked over my latte.

The laughter bounced off
the walls like I had heard so many times before. Athen’s beautiful
voice reaching every part of my body as I prayed for us to
magically reunite in this very moment. Nothing prepared me for
being this close to him. His smile was beyond welcoming, and I knew
it was directed at me. The baristas came running over with towels
to sop up the beige-colored liquid as best they could. But I felt
like I wasn’t even in the scene that was playing out. All I could
do was watch Athen hoping for some sort of recognition. He ordered
his drink and came to stand near me while he waited. Why he wasn’t
running out the door after seeing me, I didn’t know. I’m sure he
would have had to recognize me from the hospital. These two
realities were playing a cruel joke on me, and I was willing to
surrender anything to be with him again. I was completely stuck. I
didn’t know whether to play into the old act, or ignore him, or
what. My entire body began getting so warm, I didn’t know if I’d be
able to act even a little civilized being so close to
him.

“Hey, miss. What was your
order? This one’s on the house.”

“Um, the barista’s talking
to you.” Athen’s lips were moving. He was talking directly to
me.

“Huh? Oh, sorry. You don’t
have to do that. I’m so sorry.”

“Well, we will just look at
your cup if you don’t tell us.” The barista was such a friendly
guy.

“Cinnamon Dulce then.” I
said, trying to play as if I was somewhat human.

“That’s totally
embarrassing.” I said under my breath, more to me than
anyone.

“I’ve a feeling there’s
been worse moments for ya.” Athen said, winking at me as he grabbed
his drink on the counter. It was like before with him. My heart
knew the familiarity before my mind did. I only hoped that he
recognized that we were tethered to one another somehow, if not
tonight - soon.

“Quite possibly.” I said
trying to keep up the charade.

“You know,” He said, “Have
I seen you around before?”

Totally puzzled now, I
didn’t know what to say or do. I wanted to touch him, maybe only a
little, like an accident - possibly trip into him or place my hand
on his back - anything, to quench the urge that was literally
growing stronger by the second.

I grabbed my bag quickly
before I did something I’d regret. Darting to the counter to get my
newly refreshed drink, I forced myself to barely look at him. The
pull was too great. I had to escape.

“It’s a small town.” I said
flashing a smile, doing my best to make it outside to wait for
Arie.

I didn’t care that it was
dark outside or that Lilith was now roaming the streets again. I
had to stay away from him before I did something stupid, again. The
stirring was almost more than I could handle. The lightheadedness
was wrapping around my consciousness, making everything so fuzzy.
All I could think of was my fingers caressing his face, bringing
him towards me, his lips softly meeting mine. I was so involved in
my own thoughts, I didn’t even realize that he had snuck up behind
me.

“Not sure what I said to
make you hurry out the door to wait outside in the cold and dark
night for, apparently, nobody.” His smirk was more than I could
handle, as he looked around the empty street. It was like the old
Athen was standing in front of me, my Athen, only he didn’t know it
yet. He didn’t know we belonged together. He didn’t know me or did
he? His confidence overflowed, exactly like I
remembered.

“I’ll let you be.” He said
grinning and nodding at me, spinning in the other direction, but
not before raising his arm and patting me on the shoulder. My world
was spinning. I needed him to pick me up and carry me to wherever
he was going. We needed to be together, and all I could do was
watch him walk away to somewhere I couldn’t find. I wanted to
scream at the top of my lungs to not leave me, but I knew it would
do no good. It wasn’t time.

As he turned down the block
where I couldn’t see him any longer, I saw Athen and Cyril pull up.
I ran to the car, almost unable to utter anything that made any
sense.

“My dream. It was my dream,
only different. But it was my dream. Guys, we were able to change
my dream. She wasn’t there. He didn’t ignore me. He saw me. He
touched me!” I exclaimed, slamming the door.

“Whoa! What are you talking
about?” Arie was completely confused, but not nearly as much as I
was.

“Remember the dream I had
where Lilith, my nemesis the serpent-eyed woman, blah-blah, was
waiting for him at a Starbucks and I was there – only when he came
in he completely ignored me and went straight for her? Well, that
just happened! Except she wasn’t there! Everyone else was, but she
wasn’t there! I ran into her outside, but that doesn’t count.
Anyway, he saw me – partially because I spilled my drink all over
the place, but then he initiated a conversation. I freaked and ran
outside, only to have him right behind me, joking with me. It was
like he didn’t remember me from the hospital fight, which I can’t
imagine, or I don’t even know what.” I ran out of air and took a
deep breath in ready for round two.

“Which way did he go?”
Cyril asked, looking at me in the rearview.

“Down the block, to the
left. Why?”

Cyril put the blinker on as
we turned left towards Athen’s direction scanning the
sidewalks.

“He probably rode his
Ducati here. I’m sure he’s long gone.” My disappointment was felt
with every syllable.

“Yeah, probably. Thought
I’d give it a shot though.”

Unable to do much but think
about his fingers touching my shoulder and the electricity I felt
merely by being in his presence, I knew the evening was shot. I
wanted nothing more than to go home and crawl under the covers and
sleep all of this away until Athen reappeared.

“I think he knows. I think
he knows enough, at least, to not be scared, Ana. This doesn’t make
sense otherwise. I think it is out of our hands for
now.”

“Well, as long as it
doesn’t fall back into Lilith’s hands, I think I’ll be okay.”
Saying the words more to myself than to anyone else, my jaw
clenching in agony as I thought about the months alone with her he
had possibly had.

***

Cyril had dropped Arie and
I off back at the house and decided to take a drive. I didn’t blame
him. My curiosity was killing me, but I felt that anything I
interfered with only screwed things up. Besides, the encounter with
him had made me exhausted or maybe depressed – not sure which. The
familiarity surrounding his every move, whether it was his sense of
humor that came out with the baristas, or the curl of his lips, or
the clench of his fists while he laughed, created a stir of desire
deep within me that if I couldn’t quench it soon I didn’t think I
could go on much longer. The idea of complete ignorance seemed
almost blissful at this point.

Arie was up and around in
the kitchen, and I was hiding out in my bedroom. Cyril wanted to
case some of the streets down the direction that Athen went in,
looking for his bike. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know or not. At
this point, I felt like I’d go knock on his door and mess
everything up.

Looking up at the white
rose that I had now hung upside down on my wall to dry reminded me
why I shouldn’t give up. Why I needed to stay in this reality and
not exit into the otherworld. He was getting close.

Grabbing the iPad off my
dresser, I flipped open the case and began checking our email. The
destruction was becoming undeniable in many locations, and the
battles were going to begin soon. Whistler was becoming a hotbed of
activity again. I wasn’t sure if we would wind up going up there
soon or not. I hoped not until we got Athen back.

As I was stretching out on
my bed, a single light was reflecting off my window. I couldn’t
tell exactly where it was coming from, but it seemed larger than a
flashlight. Regardless, my pulse began quickening as I thought
about someone lurking outside staring at me- especially with Lilith
already back in town possibly ready to pounce.

“Hey, Arie!” My voice was
cross between a whisper and a hoarse yell. Unsure if she heard, I
tried again. This time footsteps came running down the
hall.

I slowly got up and went to
the window to track down the light I was seeing. The darkness of
the night mixed with the streetlight from above made it difficult
to distinguish what I was looking at. As my hand rested on the
glass, the coldness shocked me into believing that the light was
something it couldn’t sensibly be, but my exhaustion began to be
replaced by excitement.

“What’s up?” Arie
whispered.

“There’s a light out here.
Not a flashlight, but something odd for sure. I can’t make it
out.”

Arie peered out the window,
her body freezing in place.

“Oh my God. I don’t think
Cyril will find his bike after all. Go to the living room window.
I’m sure you’ll see him from that view.”

The color drained from my
face.

“What does this mean? Are
you serious?” I was running to the living room window as fast as I
could make it.

When I got there, I was
only left with watching the guy on the bike drive away. Athen was
driving away. We were so close. He was so close. It was like he was
waiting for some sort of revelation, and I wasn’t sure if it was
going to come in time. Watching the brake light reflect red as he
stopped at the intersection before taking off made my heart ache as
he took off again to that unknown place.

***

The warmth from the
fireplace was barely reaching me. Not because I wasn’t sitting
close enough. That certainly wasn’t the reason. I was practically
propped on top of the hearth. It was because nothing in this world
could take the chill out of my bones. The longer Athen was out my
reach the sicker I got, physically and mentally. That I recognized.
Seeing him intermittently wasn’t helping the situation, rather it
made the longing worse.