Cataclysm (15 page)

“When aren’t they?” I gritted my teeth, trying to pretend to be annoyed at Arie, rubbing my ankle and foot.

“Having a little issue there, Ana?” Cyril joked.

“Nope, not at all. Why would you ask?” I said, trying my best to keep the smile off my lips. I didn’t understand how I could be so hopelessly clumsy in the everyday, yet come together pretty darn well when it counted.

Cyril moved a little further towards Athen and myself, as he began to speak.

“Wanna start at the beginning and let us know what all you saw?”

“It was pretty dingy down there, and it seemed as if everyone was drugged. There were all ages spread out in that dungeon. That’s the best term for it, I’d say.” The chills began running through me as I spoke and looked over at Arie, who looked as repulsed as I was, reliving it.

“They were clamoring at the chance for this…” I stopped, trying to search for a word that would be somewhat fitting, and there wasn’t a good one. “Opportunity, so to speak.”

“Do you think?” Cyril’s voice trailed off as we realized we needed to greet our server and snap out of our talk.

Our waiter was good-looking and young. He was probably working his way through school or something. He had short dark hair, and his blue eyes were extremely intense, almost frighteningly so. As I handed our waiter my menu, I spilled my glass of water all over the table, creating a waterfall directly into my lap.

“Oooooh!! That’s so cold!” I gasped and quickly shoveled the ice off my lap as Athen mopped up the tidal wave on the table. Cyril and Arie, of course, weren’t much help at all because they were crying with laughter.

As I looked up, I saw two of the men, who were on the stools, spin around and stare directly at me. Their dark demonic eyes were scouring over every inch of my body, taking in the scene. I quickly began running through everything we had all most recently spoke about.

The server wiped away the last of the droplets that remained on the table, as the two unwelcome patrons slid off their stools, throwing a wad of cash on the counter. Athen’s body looked completely rigid, his piercing green eyes following their every move. Cyril’s breathing began to quicken, and I prepared myself for what might take place.

“Come on, Pete. Let’s get out of here. If that’s the worst we’ve got to worry about, I think we can safely say we’ve got this whole thing handled,” the nameless demon spoke to his buddy with cruel laughter escaping with every syllable.

My body tightened, and I wanted to rip them to shreds. The server had left our table, and I attempted to crawl over Athen to get at the two arrogant creatures. It was one thing for my family to lovingly joke about my clumsiness but quite another for demons of the otherside to judge an entire battle by it. I was fuming.

“Whoa!” Athen chuckled. “No need to worry about those two fools, sweetie.”

Athen completely blocked my exit from the booth.

“I want at them.” I tried to push through his arm that he leaned against the table. “That would be horrible if they reported that they’re gonna win, all because I spilled a glass of water.” I couldn’t contain my anger, and it only seemed to grow.

“Would it really? Let them misjudge the fight. If they want to estimate things off a spilled glass of water, who cares?” Cyril said, grinning and leaning back in the booth. “That’s their problem.”

The adrenaline slowly stopped pulsing through my veins as I realized they were no longer in the restaurant. Having them around was enough for me to go ballistic at this point.

“That would’ve been completely irrational. Thanks for stopping me. I don’t know what came over me,” I sheepishly uttered to Athen.

“Honey, it wasn’t those two you were fired up about. It was what you witnessed earlier. We understand. It’s hard on us all.” Athen’s voice created the tranquility I had so come to rely on.

His brilliant green eyes looking down on me, trying to evaluate his loose cannon, calmed me instantly.

“You know what?” Arie’s wonderfully exuberant voice rattled through the air. “Ana’s inability to keep her act together totally saved us,” she giggled.

“How so?” I asked, rolling my eyes.

“We didn’t discuss any of the details from earlier… That’s how! See, things happen for a reason. Are your thighs still icicles from the ice-water?” her laughter bounced off the leather walls of our booth, as Athen squeezed me, pecking me quickly on my head.

“You do have a way,” he whispered, making me melt instantly and almost forget about the horrible incidents we witnessed earlier. This time, however, I knew there was no beginning to heal, until we made some decisions that none of us wanted to make.

“These human sacrifices are nothing like what mortals dream up or think happens. Nobody is being killed; blood isn’t being shed, but in a way, it is far worse. It’s their souls that are being sacrificed,” Cyril’s words shot through my heart, ripping at its lifeline. My mind kept flashing back to the scene in the basement club.

“There’s no coming back from it, and any human who witnesses it is given the entrance key to the underworld. It takes that first human’s soul and then the others can just follow,” Arie finished for Cyril.

The disappointment began to spread to the rest of my body. My head began to feel too heavy to hold up.

“If that process can happen that quickly, and there are so many willing participants, it really changes the complexion of the war… doesn’t it?” I could barely whisper the words.

“Yeah, it really does,” Athen confirmed.

“Is there any method to combat this? I mean you guys are thinking of creating our own army right? Becoming soul suckers of our own humans? Two wrongs don’t make a right. Just because we are doing it for the good of mankind, doesn’t mean it is for the good of mankind. There’s gotta be a way to cancel out what they’re doing,” my voice thick with spit, as I promised myself that I wouldn’t begin heaving on the floor.

“We can’t even begin the war if we don’t have the numbers, and it’s looking like we don’t have the numbers. We all saw it. Imagine in every town, city, and country across the globe, volunteers are multiplying by the hundreds and thousands. All hoping for an eternal life, while being lied to and not realizing it until their soul has been ripped out of them,” Cyril explained, while twirling the fringe on the chenille blanket that was spread on Arie’s legs.

“We can’t do this, unless we all agree. There’s no way any of the other families would participate unless we were all on board. This has never been done before,” Arie’s voice was beyond exhausted. None of us wanted to make this decision, but it had to be made.

“Tell me this. Is there any saving those others? Any hope we could get them back to something other than what they’ve become?” I choked at the thought of saying what they had been turned into.

“A small one,” Athen spoke quietly, his hand resting on my shoulder. “A very little one, but nonetheless, it exists. There’s a chance we can lure them to our side by performing a ritual that will, in certain cases, turn them to a white demon instead. They will never be human again, but they, at least, wouldn’t be wicked, lonely creatures roaming the earth. Then again, it probably will not work more times than it will work.” His voice trailed off.

“That’s the only way I can do it,” I announced. “And everyone in our entire network must stick to our rules.” A sigh finally escaped, allowing me to take a deep breath I so desperately needed.

“You know that everyone is waiting for your direction, Ana. All the angels have been communicating with Arie to find out what their next move needs to be. This movement won’t get the go ahead unless you say so. I don’t think you understand how much influence you have over this battle. To them, you are their leader, and I have to agree there isn’t a better person out there to lead us to victory.” Athen’s words began rattling along my brain, creating a confusion I wasn’t ready for.

“Well…” Cyril grinned. “Let’s not let this go to her head. This is a girl who can’t even avoid getting damaged at a meal.”

“Hey, it was all a plan. I flushed out those demons. I knew they were there the whole time,” I said laughing, trying to enjoy the fleeting moment of levity that Cyril brought to this otherwise very ugly conversation.

“Uh-huh. Whatever you need to tell yourself.” He thoroughly enjoyed the ammunition I had so thoughtfully placed for him earlier.

“Listen, guys. This isn’t about me being able to lead anyone. We are a unit. I wouldn’t be able to get out the front door if I didn’t have you all with me. To Cyril’s point, I’ve still got a lot to learn.” Shaking my head in disbelief, I continued.

“I know back on the beach when we were battling Azazel’s minions, that everyone was looking at me for the signal, and I gave it. In that moment, I felt like anything could be done – anyone and anything could be conquered. As a team, I still believe it. However, there isn’t a reason in the world I should be the leader going into what we are facing now. We need each other,” I told them all.

“Ana, you, my dear, are so wrong. You have the ability to touch everyone’s lives without even knowing it. As we march into battle against the dark demons, it’s your compassion and emotional strength to fight for the good of the humans that will carry us forward. For instance, I know what you’re commanding to everyone. This decision alone, changes the entire complexion of the war. You are still ensuring that we don’t stoop to their level. Your decisions are what we want to hear, and by we, I mean the white demons.”

My cheeks felt like they were on fire. I wasn’t sure I wanted that kind of weight on my shoulders. I didn’t know if I could handle that kind of burden. Staring at the flames dancing in the fireplace, I thought back to the pain I felt when I thought I had lost Athen to the dark side, to Lilith.

“So how do you know that my request will be accepted?” I asked Athen, staring directly into his deep green eyes that were so full of pride and love. I knew the answer. We were soul mates – that’s how he knows.

“Because you love life too much. You have ever since I’ve known and loved you. You’ve never taken for granted what good mortals can do for each other.” Athen came over to the couch and sat next to me, moving aside the oversized chenille pillows.

“It’s true, Ana,” Arie piped up. “You’ve always seen the good in humans, even when none of the rest of us could.”

I looked around the room gauging their reactions to what I was about to command. It seemed they were expecting it, but whether or not my request could even be completed was yet to be seen.

“If we are going to turn souls of humans to fight on our side, I only want to turn the ones who have already been taken.” Saying it out in the open felt so much better than harboring these thoughts inside. “I know it’s going to complicate things greatly as we expand our army, but I can’t do it any other way. I just can’t. What’s the point of the dark side turning the humans, and then we come in and do the same? At that point, we are no longer fighting for the mortals, but for our ego. We will never win, if that’s how we go about it,” I spoke, more sure of myself with every word.

“Well, no doubt, hunting down the newly-turned and turning them to our side is going to not only be a challenge, it’s going to shorten the amount of time we will have to get our troops ready.” Cyril was wringing his hands together, nervous about my strategy, and I’d be lying to myself if I didn’t admit I was a little unsettled about this idea as well.

“Has this ever been done before?” I asked Athen.

“Not at this level. There’ve been one offs throughout the ages, but nothing like this, where we are creating an army based off of the dark side’s new recruits,” he said, almost laughing. “It certainly won’t be what Azazel is expecting.”

“So true, man!” Cyril’s voice was so filled with excitement, and I could tell the tension in the room began to lift immediately.

“Good to keep him on his toes, I suppose,” I said laughing, all of my nervous tension beginning to evaporate. “He shouldn’t underestimate what love can do.”

Athen wrapped his arm around me, and I felt like clay melting into his soul as I thought what might lay ahead for us as a family, if we could just end Azazel.

“I’m going to start getting the message out. The sooner the better on this one.” Arie jumped up, her eyes twinkling with hope again. “Guess the trip down Hell Alley created the sense of urgency, huh?” she asked, winking.

“Yeah, good plotting on that one Arie,” I agreed. “But that also confirmed that I didn’t want to take any more mortals than were already being handed their marching orders. We’ve got to get some of those souls back.”

“All right, so back to business,” I said, turning away from Athen. “What kind of numbers do you think we are going to need across the globe?”

“Tens of thousands,” Athen and Cyril spoke in unison.

“And how many do you think Azazel and his followers, have already turned?” I asked Cyril, my body began to feel the stress make its way back in.

“So I’m basically setting up a utopian type battle that might not even be achievable. Good to know,” I said, nodding my head in disbelief.

“I didn’t say that exactly. I only mean it will be more difficult than if we went straight for the mortals and changed them ourselves, not attempting to recycle them from the dark side,” Cyril’s voice was exasperated.