The air's chill was like we were in Antarctica. The demons were almost to us. Arie leapt into the air, and in a flash, her body flew away to the nearest fir tree. Even with my eyes conditioned to see us in our other forms, I couldn't immediately spot her. Cyril jetted to the front yard, my guess was to prop himself in the maple tree. Athen wasn't budging. He knew what my plan was. I knew I wasn't letting any of my thoughts escape so he just knew because he knew, and he wasn't going to let me do it. He stared intently at me, grabbing my arm, pulling me towards him. I felt him shove something in the back pocket of my jeans.

"We aren't going to keep doing this. It's not your turn to vanish on us. You aren't going to be bait, Ana." The smirk that I adored surfaced as if he had won a victory.

"Who said that was my plan?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" He let go of my arm and stared at me, as I looked up into the sky seeing the first demon begin its decent. As the wings of the creature began their final push of air, I looked back at Athen and winked at him. We were going to be bait.

I readied myself for what I wasn't sure of, but whatever it was, it had to be ended with us as the victors. My fear had completely subsided, and I was ready to fight. All I felt was the anger of being taken away from Athen for over half of a century, and then him being taken away from us. The lifeless bodies on the ferry were an added accelerator to my anger. The demons did us a favor by laying that trap. They just didn't know it. I was angrier than I'd been for a long time. With that last thought, the first winged creature swooped in, attempting to knock Athen over with his unfolded wing as he landed. To the demon's surprise, Athen shot into the air towards the second winged-demon that was emerging from the clouds.

I looked the demon straight into its eyes. The creature looked back at me waiting for my move. I did nothing, which only angered the lifeless eyes that were staring back at me. Another demon converged onto the roof, kneeling down, surveying the land. We weren't giving them the fight they had antic.i.p.ated. I was expecting three more demons to make their appearance. I didn't know if I'd be able to hold off the fight until then, but I was going to try.

The creature in front of me took in a deep breath, making his chest appear as if his lungs might be at capacity. It was hard to believe that we shared the same air. I shook my head at him and took off towards the sky. My skin burned as it glided into the atmosphere. His eyes were tracking my every movement. To my relief, the other three demons emerged below the fog, ready to engage in the fight they thought had already started. I smiled as I watched the demon, my demon, take off after me unaware that one of our own was going to pounce.

Arie dropped out of the Douglas fir tree, graceful as ever, landing directly on top of him. A glistening piece of metal was sticking out of her boots, sc.r.a.ping his flesh as she landed on him. The screams of pain began to make their way through the yard. It was exhilarating. I looked up and saw Athen darting around the winged creature he first went after. My heart began pounding with worry, hoping that he could handle it.

Something grabbed my ankle and pulled me to a stop. Looking down, I saw the demon who had been on the roof, now holding on to me with his gnarly fingers wrapped around my flesh. Arie had almost finished the demon that I'd come to know in my short time waiting, so I felt like if help was needed she would be there for me. Athen would have to wait for a.s.sistance, not that I knew if he needed any, actually.

I somersaulted backwards, kicking towards the sky releasing the demon's grasp, surprising myself as the demon went flying towards the sky. Either my strength had grown tremendously, or the demon wasn't very strong. I would like to think it was the first a.s.sumption. Before I was able to get too c.o.c.ky, the demon came barreling towards me. My hand searched my back pocket for what Athen had shoved in there, feeling a closed knife, I was thankful, even with as tiny as it felt.

I flung it open, releasing the blade, barely in time, as the demon arrived in front of me hovering and laughing. I charged toward the wretched being, blade in hand, as he moved quickly to the side dodging me and my attack. I swirled around, quickly gaining my bearings, and shot myself directly towards the creature, only to dive upwards where Athen was located. The demon was chasing after me, but I knew I could make it to Athen before it got to me. With my blade exposed, I shoved it directly into the back of the demon Athen had almost finished off. My knuckles had gone in so deep that the warmth of his insides were drooling over my hand. I unstuck my blade and hand, releasing the creature to fall to the ground.

Thankful that I'd lured the other demon with me, I watched as Athen grabbed the demon's wing, throwing himself onto it and crushing the stem that he was sitting on. The tiny cracks from the cartilage breaking from Athen's hands began calming my fears about this battle. The demon was wincing in pain, and I knew this was my opportunity. My blade would do little to quicken his demise at this point. We had to wear him out first. Our odds were better if we paired up with our lack of strength compared to Arie and Cyril.

I flew behind the demon quickly, and wrapped my arm around his neck in a chokehold, doing my best to crush his neck. His energy was getting low. I could feel his strength slowly begin to deplete. I kneed him in his spine, hearing success as he howled out into sky. Athen crushed the wing he had been working on and it crumpled as nothing was left to support it.

Now was the time. I stuck my already dripping blade into this demon's back. I didn't understand what was coming over me, but I found myself wiggling the blade back and forth for extra effect. It was gratifying thinking this creature was suffering with every twist and tilt of the metal inside his body. In that moment, I realized there was a fine line between good and evil. I was doing this for good, yet it was a really bad thing to do. I liked it. They probably liked it just as much. Our justification was to eradicate evil. They didn't need a justification. They only acted on their impulses. The adrenaline was pumping, an addiction had formed. I promised myself to stay on the right side of that addiction as I pulled the blade from the inside of this creature.

That made three demons gone that I knew of. Arie took care of the first one. Athen and I had managed to down two. My excitement level began building as I realized, Cyril probably had taken care of one as well. I finally spotted Cyril, now on the side of the house, fighting one of the larger creatures. Cyril looked exhausted. His shirt was tattered with claw marks. His face hadn't missed the claws either blood had already dried up on his cheek and forehead. Arie jumped onto the creature, and I knew instantly that they were going to be okay. Not seeing any other demons, a sigh escaped signaling for Athen to come over to hug me. His eyes were evaluating the same scenes as I.

"I think we would be a nuisance at this point. Don't you?" Athen asked hugging me tightly.

"Yah, I think we would probably screw it up. I can't believe it, but I think we actually defeated these Legion members, and we're pretty unscathed, I'd say."

"We probably shouldn't be tooting our own horns. But I think you're right." He said grinning. The welcomed chilly air was finally because of the weather and not the impending doom that I'd been worried about.

A crushing sound reached me, and I spun around seeing the last demon crumble to the ground, wings folded ready to disintegrate. Athen and I ran over to Cyril and Arie who both looked amazingly well for what they just went through. Besides Cyril's clothing and scratch marks, it was pretty hard to tell he just defeated a towering, winged creature that was twice the size of any of us. I was thankful Athen and I had only the little ones to defeat if there was such a thing.

"You guys did phenomenal!" Arie exclaimed, her excitement level bubbling over.

A sense of pride started swelling, and it was nice to hear that someone else thought we did well too. Athen kicking b.u.t.t didn't surprise me considering everything else he never really let go of, but I didn't know how I would fit in the battle equation. The yard looked like a mess, with one of our tiny birdbaths broken into pieces, and a wooden bench that looked like it was turned into many little, wooden daggers.

"I think I'm going to go start some tea water. How does that sound?" I asked, breaking free from Athen's grasp.

"Sounds perfect." Cyril said, reaching to pick up some of the broken pieces of cement that the birds would no longer be frolicking in.

As everyone began spreading out to pick things up in the yard, it occurred to me how odd this life was. I was beginning to get used to switching back and forth between conversations in public, but battling demons in one instant and picking up yard debris from the aftermath the next was really hard to grasp. I bounded off towards the house as everyone else was left gathering any evidence of ma.s.s obliteration to toss in the trash.

I put a kettle of water on in the kitchen and decided to go take a look at our bedroom, which was still furniture-less. I was really intrigued as to where the furniture went. It wasn't in our yard, at least that I saw.

I opened up the office door to let little Matilda out, and she began growling and staring at the wall in between the room she was standing in and our bedroom next door. The fur on the back of her neck was on end. I closed the door on Matilda and quietly moved back into the hall leading to our bedroom. Guess I can't change the sequence of events entirely surrounding premonitions. I took a deep breath in of the ice-cold air, letting it hit my lungs, signaling the visitor who was waiting for me, exactly like my dream. We didn't destroy them all. No matter how I tried to avoid it, my visions were still leading me directly to intended destiny.

I opened our bedroom door where a creature, not unlike the ones we destroyed earlier, was standing before me. His wings were spanning the entire room, and his eyes were twice as cruel as the others. Victorious laughter filled the room.

Chapter 30.

The soulless creature stood before me, waiting for me to enter the room entirely. I closed the door behind me without locking it. My family had been filled in on my entire dream, and it looked like they would be partic.i.p.ants in the reality of it, no matter how much I tried to avoid this encounter. There was no need to keep the door open. It would only clue the demon into when they were coming down the hall.

I took a deep breath in, letting the air fill every part of my lungs as I locked my legs into place, ready for a fight. The demon nodded at me and lunged towards me. With a speed I didn't know I had, I dodged to the left, leaving the demon to crash into the wall. The thud made Matilda bark even louder in the next room, only adding to the anxiety that was building up inside of me.

"Is that all you've got?" I chided, as I barreled towards the monster, twisting my body as if it were a horizontal cyclone. My own nails becoming weapons as I grasped onto his flesh, attempting to rip any part of it to shreds. Feeling overly victorious, I jumped off the demon, ripping his shirt as I went.

Answering my question that I now wished I hadn't asked, the demon grabbed my arm with one quick movement hurling me across the room. My bones crushed into the wall as I slid down into the corner. I did my best to get out of the foggy state that the creature had so suddenly thrust me into. I reached my arm behind me, hoping to prop myself up, ready to fight again, when I realized this was exactly like my dream. I was now cornered in this room, squatting. All I could do now was hope that I could change the outcome that I'd seen so many times before. Doing my best to concentrate on what I thought his next move might be from my dream sequence, I leapt from my stance, tumbling over his head, landing with a thud. I didn't have a knife in my dream. At least, that was on my side.

A warm trickle began making its way down my ear, knowing it wasn't sweat, I wiped it with my arm, leaving a rusty, brown mark on my sleeve. I wondered how badly it was bleeding. The demon lunged at me, carrying a force behind him that was going to be hard to avoid. I ducked towards the ground, barely missing his fingers trying to grasp my neck.

Grabbing the knife out of my pocket, I reached my arm out, stabbing at his spine but missing completely. In the background, the teakettle began its wild ride of chirps and whistles, alerting us all that the boiling water was ready. I prayed my family outside would hear it, knowing that was probably my only hope of surviving this fight. Seconds continued to pa.s.s by as the demon took a piece of my flesh out with his nail while tossing me completely across the room again. The kettle continued blaring, and Matilda's barks become more aggressive, I knew Athen would be here any minute. I only hoped it wasn't too late.

The strength in my legs began to resurface as I became more angry with my inability to fight off this creature as easily as the ones outside. I was waiting for the bedroom door to open any second, and unfortunately, I think the demon was too. I flicked open my knife again, completely determined to use it as I jumped at the demon with the blade ready to slice his grey flesh open, landing close enough to tear through his cheek. The pleasure began building up deep inside me as the demon reached up grabbing at the hole that was now left by my handiwork.

The window shattered into a thousand little pieces as my family tore in through the small square. Athen reaching for one of the shards of gla.s.s, lunged at the demon who was taken completely off guard as the glistening edge tore jagged bits and pieces through his skin. Athen wrapped his legs around the neck of the demon, somersaulting back into the wall as Cyril took another large piece of gla.s.s, jamming it into the stomach of this soulless creature.

The body slumped to the ground, wings completely contracted and unidentifiable as such, with Athen hopping off and tossing the gla.s.s to the pile of shards.

"I can't stand that sound!" Arie flung the door open and bounded down the hall to turn off the tea water.

Athen looked over at me, holding out his arms as I ran right into them. Feeling the comfort of his clutch, I buried my face into his chest. Not wanting to see any of the devastation that was left in the room or on my body, I closed my eyes shut as tight as they could be. I felt like such a burden had been lifted having him back again. The crumpled demon's body was now beginning to dissipate into the air, for which I was grateful.

Matilda's paws were scratching frantically on the door in the next room. No more being cooped up for her. She was making that clear.

"Nice job, Ana. I mean it." Cyril said, over his shoulder as he went to let Matilda out.

"This is getting really tiresome, Athen. Is it always like this?" I murmured before slumping completely in his arms, not hearing his answer.

I was obviously not in our home in Victoria. First of all, we had no bedroom furniture there at the moment, but secondly, there was a beautiful view of the harbor right outside the window. Everything around me was so plush and grand. I reached my arms out from under the covers, feeling my body stretch the way it only does after an amazing night of sleep. Athen wasn't in bed, but I had a sneaking suspicion he wasn't very far off. I wiggled my way up out of the comforter and did my best to try to figure out where we might be, when it hit me we were at the Empress Hotel. Porcelain clanking in the other room alerted me to the fact that Athen was on his way in.

"Hey, sleepyhead." Athen said smiling, carrying in a tray of tea and cookies. "You kinda slept through the whole afternoon tea thing downstairs, so I thought I'd try to recreate it a little up here."

I couldn't believe I'd slept so long, since the last thing I remembered was being in Athen's arms the day before, after the fight.

"Have I been out that long? Since yesterday afternoon?" I was so embarra.s.sed.

"You are the one who has most recently been brought back, and I'm the one who is exhausted? This makes no sense."

"Come on, sweetie. You'd been gone for half a century I was only gone a couple months, if that, really. I don't think I ever truly left."

I grabbed the teacup, which had such tiny little pink flowers all over it perfect for the setting at the Empress, wondering what kind of delightful flavor I might get to sip on.

"So did we leave poor Cyril and Arie to take care of everything?" I felt a little guilty, knowing the answer already.

"Yeah, pretty much. I'd say when everything is back to normal, we are going to owe them pretty big." His grin said everything.

Nodding my head, I took in the warm, gold liquid, coating my throat on the way down to comfort my belly. The tea hinted of oolong, and I hoped it would perk me up enough to get back to normal.

"It's kind of nice that our room gets destroyed, and then, we wind up at the Empress Hotel." I was so happy to be alone with him, I couldn't even hide my grin.

"Yeah, not a bad place to have to hunker down at for awhile." He said, flipping on the television as we snuggled, and I sipped my tea.

"Do you think this thing that's happening is as big as it feels?" I asked Athen.

"I think it's bigger, Ana. This is personal for him, and why he chose now out of all of the centuries that have come and gone to begin his disturbances, we may never know, but we've got to make sure we are all prepared. I don't just mean us either. Our network is moving as swiftly as his is. We'll be ready when the time is right."

"How will we know?"

"There won't be any missing it."

"I've gone over all of the memories that have slowly been rebuilding, and I don't think I've come to anything that resembles what we could be up against. Is that right?"

"True, there's been nothing like what this threatens to become. The key is knowing how many false starts and mini-battles we are going to have to contend with until the one that counts occurs."

"Kind of felt like they all counted." I began snuggling into the back of him, hoping for maybe one quick nap, so I could count myself as fully recuperated. The last several days had really created an exhaustion that seemed almost impossible to shake.

Waking up next to Athen was literally heaven on earth. Seeing that the light was still shining outside, I was thankful I didn't completely sleep the day away. I rolled in towards his beautifully defined body, placing my head on his chest. I grabbed the sheet, which was the only fabric left on the bed, and pulled it up around my shoulders, feeling the warmth of his skin next to mine. Having Athen back in my life was incredible. I felt complete again. My soul no longer ached. I moved my body on top of his as he began kissing my neck, his breath sending a chill throughout my body.

"There's a possibility, you know, that this is heaven. Right here." I whispered into his ear.

I closed my eyes, thankful that the serpent-eyed woman was no longer present in my dreams. She was quickly becoming a distant memory. She might be back to fight us with the rest of the Legion, but she couldn't steal his heart from me and that was the most important thing.

"I think we've had a piece of heaven for quite some time, my love." He told me, raising my body up. I felt his lips against my skin, tracing his way back up to my neck.

Hoping that we could stay here forever, I let myself fall back down into his arms. His hands reaching down my back on the way to grab the sheet once more to cover us up.

We were both overlooking the beautiful view on the lawn. The temperature was on the verge of freezing. The air was signaling a thunderstorm was on the horizon, but I didn't care. Springtime thunderstorms were actually quite gorgeous. If this was where Athen wanted to be, then this was where I would be, outside, standing next to him. The months that we had been apart had torn at me from every single direction. At times, I wasn't sure if I'd even make it, especially knowing there was someone else vying for his attention. That someone also happened to be an absolutely beautiful being, as long as she stayed in her human form, that was.

Seeing the boats off in the distance with the fog hovering off the water, created the wonderful contained feeling I so loved about the Pacific Northwest.

"This place is amazing, isn't it?" Athen breathed out a deep, long breath.

"Truly, but I'm so grateful I'm able to share it with you again. Coming here by myself, remembering all of the times we had here together, created a loneliness that I wasn't sure I could handle at times." Never wanting to admit my emotions aloud, I was surprised at my willingness to give him a glimpse into my more dark thoughts.

"Ana, don't ever lose faith in us in our ability to love forever. Our bond is something that can never be destroyed. They can't force a future on us that we don't want. I know you're all I want. She never had a chance."

"I'd like to tell you I always believed that, but I'd be lying. Seeing the visions of you two together and knowing you'd been spending so much time with her made me doubt a lot of things. Things I didn't think I'd ever waver on."

"Sweetie, we'll make things right again. Those feelings will be a distant memory, I promise."

"There was even a moment, Athen, where ..." I could feel the tears beginning to make an entrance and forced myself to knock it off.

"What? It'll make you feel better if you just get it off your chest. I'll understand, no matter what it might be."

Knowing that for a brief second, I tried to con myself into believing I didn't need Athen, made me nauseous beyond belief. I was disgusted with myself, wishing those thoughts would forever go away but the guilt was something I couldn't shake.

"When I realized the severity of things and what we might be fighting for and who we are fighting against, I felt that my feelings for you were obviously getting in the way of my ability to act with any sense." I was scanning his eyes to see if any of the hurt that I was spewing on him was reflected. There was no such look.

"I actually thought about trying to stay away from you." I whispered.

"Ana, you're my angel. Remember that, regardless of who or what tries to separate us. You could do no wrong. Besides, I'm pretty irresistible. I don't think you could have stayed away no matter how hard you tried." My heart completely melted. How could he be so understanding and so very forgiving and so completely correct?

Athen's hand wrapped around my back as we headed back to our room. Before I knew it, he scooped me up and brought me through the doors leading into our hotel room where he laid me down ever so gently. Bringing his lips closer to mine, I felt the warm, softness glide along my own, parting only slightly as he began kissing with a pa.s.sion that was uncontrolled and brilliant.

We had nothing left to lose - our inhibitions were gone. I had no more secrets bottled up. We had been separated for decades, only to come together briefly again, before being separated yet again, and in all that time, we never lost sight of one another, even if it was on another level of consciousness. We knew deep within our souls that we were not whole until we had one another in each other's embrace.

As the comforter slid off the bed, I felt for the edge of his shirt to pull off as fast as I could. The beauty of his body was purely magnificent as he fell back on me, sending me to an utterly glorious place in heaven. I no longer needed to worry about the outsiders who had so often frequented my mind. Athen was mine and I was his. We were meant to be one for all eternity.

Chapter 31.

I'd been avoiding Athen all morning. We were back at our home in Victoria. Cyril and Arie did an amazing job cleaning everything up for us, but the thanks we gave them over and over was about to be blown away into a million pieces, knowing that I'd seen visions that were going to disrupt our entire family. The most horrifying images had woken me up time and time again. I didn't want to believe any of the dreams, but they were all so real. I'd learned my lesson once already to not ignore these dreams. I knew deep inside I had to take them seriously. What it meant for the future of our family, I didn't know, but I had to voice them to Athen. He had to know.

I was out at the bakery closest to our home trying to gather up enough courage to tell Athen what my visions had shown me and, maybe, soften the blows by bringing home croissants for us to share as I was telling him things that I didn't think possible.

After I was through my second Americano, I knew I had to go home and face what was before me. Grabbing the brown paper bag containing our breakfast, I took a deep breath and pushed through the door letting the bell signal my exit.

I somehow managed to appear at our front door. The spring wreath did its best attempt at making my mood lift a tad. I wasn't sure if I should go in and just start telling Athen or maybe divert his attention first by way of a croissant. I hoped that as soon as I opened the door, the answers would come, and they did. Cyril and Arie were not home.

"There is something I need to tell you ..." I felt faint knowing the words I was about to utter could possibly change our family dynamics forever, and they could be wrong my words could be wrong, but if they weren't, they needed to be said.

"I think Arie was tapped into something in Cyril that she didn't even realize." I could barely speak the words.