Legions (24 page)

Their next attack was going
to be this evening at Witty’s Lagoon. Again, they chose a park that
was covered in Douglas fir trees and maples, providing plenty of
shelter for them to hide and pounce on their intended victim or
victims. Unfortunately, we were pretty certain that they were
planning on attacking several tonight. There was a family reunion
picnic planned, and that seemed to be their target.

As we walked along the long
trail through the forest, the echoes of the Orange-crowned Warblers
filled the air with their beautiful melodies. With spring’s
arrival, the delighted birds were welcoming the warm weather that
would arrive in the months to come. It saddened me to know that
such happiness and innocence could be located on the same ground
with predators and evil lurking at every turn. I had one vision of
this attack the night before, and the images in my dream pointed
near a waterfall. As it turned out, Witty’s Lagoon contained a
waterfall so things were beginning to fall into place.

“So are we heading straight
for the falls or are we checking out the other places first?” I
asked Athen. He squeezed my hand and put his finger to his lip. He
was sensing something that I wasn’t. My heart began to patter
faster as I realized that a fight could happen at any time. I
nodded at him and kept following them all as we made our way down
the trail. The birds fell silent, and things became suddenly clear
as to why Athen signaled for my silence.

Ahead, where the black
boulders were finally showing themselves signaling the waterfall
directly behind, I heard squabbling that was in no way any sort of
human language. I reached for Athen’s hand and squeezed it. Turning
back to look at me, his eyes provided the comfort that I needed.
The gentle green radiated warmth and reminded me of the strength
that I’d been slowly accumulating and needed to keep building up.
He let go of my hand and secured his black knit cap, readying
himself for whatever might be on the other side of the boulders.
Following his lead, I secured my hair into a ponytail and took a
deep breath in.

Cyril and Athen moved
slowly up the closest tower of bark and pine needles to spy on our
enemies. When they reached the top, I saw them communicating an
attack plan. The adrenaline began pumping through my veins. I
wasn’t sure of what to expect but felt secure in the knowledge that
we would be able to conquer this group. Before I realized it, Cyril
and Athen were back on the ground behind Arie and myself. Athen
wrapped his arm around my shoulders and gave me a gentle hug,
reassuring me and helping the doubts that kept appearing to vanish.
He let go and began pointing towards the right for him and I to go,
and Cyril took Arie to the left. Waving feebly at Arie, I forced
myself to buckle up for the impending fight. We were going in for
the attack, ready or not.

I followed closely to Athen
as we made our way to the top of the waterfall area. The trail was
steep and slippery, with exposed stones making every step a
precarious effort. The tall rye grass rustled in the breeze leaving
an eerie feel in the air. With every step I took, my fear
diminished, and a strength stirred deep within me. Hopefully, the
element of surprise would be in our favor as we fought these evil
monsters.

Athen slowed his pace and
turned back towards me signaling for me to slowdown and creep along
the trail as he began. My body began its usual twist as I lowered
my body in position ready for a fight. The cackling from the
creatures got louder with every step towards their hiding place.
The evil that was ringing through the air filled me with the last
bit of anger to ensure my success with this battle. I knew they
were right around the corner, and I saw a glimpse of Arie down at
the fall area, positioned behind one of the large, glistening
boulders where the splash from the falls had completely coated.
Athen and I were going to initiate the attack, and any stragglers
were going to be pushed down the falls towards Cyril and
Arie.

Before I knew it, Athen had
jumped toward the group of demons, surprising them and flushing
them in all directions. The cackles quieted, leaving the rushing
sound of the waterfall to reach my ear. Leaping onto the slippery
rock, I quickly scanned who to attack first. Finding my target, I
flew through the air, landing on the back of the demon who was
fleeing the furthest. He crumpled to the rocky floor with a thud,
collapsing back on my leg. Not wanting to show any sign of
weakness, I wrapped my arm around his neck, snapping his head to
the left quicker than he ever saw coming. The weight of his body
fell off my leg; his lifeless shell began its black mist ascent
into the sky.

A stabbing pain stung my
back. As I flipped around to see the cause, I saw a completely
distorted female demon staring back at me, smiling with a
callousness that I’d seen many times before. Not sure if my mind
was seeing how she truly looks or how miserable her inner spirit
was, I dismissed the horror that was looking back at me. Lunging
towards her, I saw the red glowing metal that she was waving at me,
which must have been the source of the pain. Not recognizing what
it could be from, I did my best to stay far away from her weapon.
Noticing a limb from a maple that dangled right behind her I jumped
over her head, grabbing on tightly and spinning my body with all
the force I could, shoving my feet into the back of her. Caught off
balance, she tumbled towards the rocky falls, falling directly into
the crashing water.

Athen was downstream where
the majority of the demons were now forming a circle. When I saw
Cyril and Arie jumping into the mix, I shot over to the group as
fast as I could to help finish off the bunch. Athen’s shirt was
ripped, and he had a severe scratch on his chin, but I did my best
to push my fears away and finish these creatures off. I hadn’t
wanted to look to see where or who Athen was fighting earlier for
fear I’d be distracted.

The ground began trembling
with the force of all of our energy gathered so close together. The
leaves began fluttering, signaling the last battle was about to
begin. Screams began releasing into the air, as I dove toward the
female demon who had been staring at me so intently as I flew down
the mountain. Cyril had the largest demon by the throat, squeezing
with all of his might as Arie had another one pinned down to the
earth. Athen wiped at his wound and dove into mess flinging flesh
into the atmosphere with every swipe.

I
tackled the glaring female, who whipped out a slicing piece of
silver chain tearing at my flesh. I yanked on the end piece as hard
as I could hoping to dislodge it from whatever it was attached to,
unsuccessfully. Grabbing my neck, she began squeezing tightly as I
felt my ability to take deep breaths diminished. The harder I
pulled on the chain, however, the less power she was able use when
squeezing my neck. It was a bit puzzling why one would be connected
to the other, but I did my best to continually yank on the metal.
My strength was quickly waning. I began kicking her over and over
again in any attempt to thwart her efforts. The pain around my neck
was getting worse with every breath. I scanned to see where Athen
was, and I couldn’t place him among any of the figures. Arie was
busy with a male demon, and she too, seemed to have figured out to
pull on the metal chains that seemed to be dangling from so many of
these Legion members. Cyril was shooting right towards Arie’s
opponent, ready to finish him off. A comforting sight, after the
concerns Arie raised up in Whistler.

Whipping me back to the
seriousness of my situation, the throbbing pain in my windpipe
began to create a hollowness with every breath in. My time was
limited if I couldn’t figure out a way to defeat this creature. The
wetness from my eyes began streaming down my face. The strength in
the demon’s arms began to lessen just enough for me to crane my
head to the left, only to get a little glimpse of Athen
overhead.

He was fighting one of the
last remaining demons that we all had our hands full with. I was
truly on my own. I closed my eyes and thought of Lilith. I’d use
her to my advantage. Remembering seeing her hand brush against
Athen’s began the stir of hatred that I needed to build the
strength to destroy this creature. I took the largest breath in
that my weakened lungs could handle, raising my chest enough to
create a gap for my hand to slip through and twist the demon’s
grasp away from me. Surprising her was to my advantage, and I
immediately wrapped her dangling chain around my hand several times
and yanked it down to the ground, slamming her entire body onto the
boulder. Quickly placing my foot on the chain, I released it from
my hands freeing them to go in for the kill. Athen jumped down from
the rock above, finishing her off as I let the anger of Lilith
escape, along with the evilness of the creature now laying before
me. I was exhausted, but it looked like we were finished. There
would be no more cougar attacks for now.

Sitting at the base of the
falls, I let my hands hang into the swirls of water, wondering if
I’d been as close to defeat as I felt inside. The coolness of the
water began to stabilize my thoughts and bring me back to the
discussion of my family.

“What did you notice about
all of those demons?” Cyril asked.

“Besides their ridiculous
clothing?” I chuckled.

“No, actually that was
exactly it!” Cyril exclaimed. “They all had those silver chains
dangling from them. What’s up with that?” He asked, shaking his
head.

“You know, I didn’t even
think about it at first, but that was weird. Even the one female
who I thought didn’t have a chain, actually did; it was tucked in
her jeans. I saw a piece of it shining under her shirt right before
I flipped her on her back.” I announced, a bit proud of myself.
Thankful that a tiny bit of confidence began to show
itself.

“Huh. Yeah, I didn’t really
think about it, but you’re right. They all had metal on them.”
Athen said, coming over to walk with me back up the
trail.

“Well, with every yank, I
think some sort of pain or something must have shot through them,
because their grasp lessened, or the fighting capabilities slowed a
bit, unless it was in my mind.”

“No, I noticed it too. I
didn’t want to announce it in case I’d made it up too.” Arie said,
instantly making me feel better.

“Another thing to file
away, I guess.” Arie said, as she climbed over the last of the
shells who hadn’t disintegrated yet.

“Guys, I’d kind of like to
see the family who the demons had targeted. I think it would make
me feel better knowing they are all intact and everything. That
okay with you?” I asked not exactly sure why I wanted to see the
family.

Looking as disheveled and
beat up as we all did, we shuffled along the forest line on the way
back to civilization, hoping to run into no one, making certain to
avoid the spattering of picnic benches with beach views, and hikers
spread along the sandy beaches scavenging for purple star fish or
whatever exciting find they might spot. The confidence and strength
from this last win between good and evil created a sensation that I
enjoyed. I took pleasure in destroying the demons, the evilness
that they embodied. Everything about the process created a delight
deep within my soul. My fear was beginning to be replaced with
absolution. Certain that I could play a vital role in the battles
to come, I vowed to channel my anger properly and make certain that
human casualties were at a minimum regardless of what they
meant.

Feeling a warm trickle
puddle in the base of my ear, I reached up quickly to rid myself of
the sweat or whatever had accumulated. Once my fingertip touched
the warm, thick substance, I realized it wasn’t sweat at all, but
blood. I was bleeding and had no idea where from. Suddenly feeling
like I was in a lot worse shape than I knew, I quickened my step to
get the spying over with so we could get back to our
place.

Once we reached the
outskirts of the forest that was overhanging against the slight
cliffs, I peered down to see the picnic area confiscated by what I
suspected was the family reunion. Children were playing alongside
their older family members, while the parents, grandparents, aunts,
and uncles were spread out setting up food station after food
station and laughing and enjoying each others’ company. Even though
there was a slight chill in the air, the warmth from seeing the
love below was enough to warm us all up. Thankful for what I was
seeing and for what we stopped, I knew I was coming into my own.
Nothing could compare to this feeling, knowing the family was now
going to be alright.

Athen came up behind me and
whispered something so quietly that I had to spin around to hear
him repeat it. Cyril and Arie had started back towards our car, and
I appreciated the alone time the two of us were able to share over
a moment like this.

“I’m really proud of you.”
He whispered again, feeling his lips press against mine, I let my
thoughts of the family below vanish, leaving me to enjoy Athen’s
affections.

Chapter 27

With the message sent to
Azazel and an attack thwarted, the point was bound to get across to
him. The message was as clear as we could send to him. Hopefully,
Azazel would begin to play fair and involve us and not the
mortals.

Things had been quiet for
several days from all of the other families. The attacks had
stopped. The Legions were obviously planning something, but we were
hoping that whatever it was, it would be directed at us and not the
humans. My premonition of the attack on us at our Victoria home
still had yet to occur, making me on edge. It was something we had
to be on the lookout for, but nothing had happened. Only time would
tell, however. The tension in the house had eased a bit. Cyril
seemed back to his old self to me, and Arie seemed to be thoroughly
enjoying his attention. I was even able to catch up on reading too,
for which I felt incredibly grateful. The little things in life
that I’d become so accustomed to up in Whistler, before my entire
reintroduction process, seemed to have gotten put on hold for
awhile between learning my new world and chasing down Athen and
preparing for attacks. It was like the normalcy of life was
completely out the window, except for the last few days.