The holidays were in full swing in the village. It wasn’t even Thanksgiving yet, and lights were hung on patios, and wreaths were placed on the entrances of all the buildings to ensure that the holiday spirit wasn’t lost on anybody. Every tree and shrub was covered in a smattering of twinkling white lights. I was anticipating this holiday season with a joy I hadn’t had before in my most recent existence, especially during this time of year. I was looking forward to all of the unknowns and new traditions that I hoped I would get to take part in for years to come. I couldn’t wait for more memories to come of this time together in years past with my family. I noticed quite a lot of snow had fallen since I was out for those few days. Athen grabbed my hand, as we walked in the direction of the grocery store.
“Incredible isn’t it?”
“That’s an understatement,” I said to Athen, as I absorbed everything as if it was the first time I had seen the village.
The scents of all the little shops were almost overpowering. There was the bath shop with all of the wonderful perfumery notes, and then the smell of cinnamon wafting out of the bakery hit, followed quickly by the coffee shop. I had walked this path many times before. Never did I have this explosion of the senses. It was incredible.
“Is it always like this?” I asked quietly.
“Yep, you learn to block some of them out with time, though, and focus on only certain senses.”
“Wow, it’s incredible. Where is this scent coming from?” I felt like Matilda all of a sudden, sniffing the air with each breath like it held a mystery for me to unravel.
“That’s the florist shop,” Athen said laughing.
“Oh, huh,” I said feeling a little sheepish.
“You know, I had no idea how much fun it would be experiencing everything through your eyes,” Athen said, squeezing my hand. He must have sensed my embarrassment.
“Thanks.” I returned my attention to the wonderful things awaiting me in this new form, all the while trying to ignore what I might be, a Fallen Angel. “Please make sure I don’t start behaving like Matilda, endlessly sniffing the air. I need to save face around the village a little bit.”
“You’ve got my word,” Athen said, still holding my hand as we ventured into the grocery store.
Athen grabbed a cart and I followed along.
“I’m sure you must be starving.”
I was, and I didn’t realize it until he mentioned it.
“Wow, you aren’t kidding.”
“I figured you may want to spend the evening at the house, in case you needed to rest unexpectedly or something.”
“Yeah, that may not be the only reason,” I suggested.
“Nice.” Athen retorted, and threw a loaf of bread in the cart.
“I’m craving citrus.” I pushed the cart over to the fruit section.
“Like oranges?” Athen asked laughing.
“Exactly!” I started putting one after another into the small plastic bag.
“Geez, you weren’t kidding. I think you missed one.”
“You know what sounds good?” I asked Athen in all seriousness.
“Besides oranges? I haven’t a clue!” He replied as amused as I had seen him in a long time.
“Cinnamon rolls! Let’s go to the bakery on our way out.”
“Sounds good, but what about for dinner? Spaghetti sound tasty?”
“Of course! Now let’s go pay and grab the cinnamon rolls at the bakery before they go away.”
On our way out of the grocery store, I noticed a missing person flyer on the bulletin board. It showed a young local. I faintly recognized him. He was twenty - the same supposed age as myself. I was sure he had come into the Pub. He looked so familiar.
“Athen, what’s this?” I stopped to look at the picture more closely. “When did this happen?”
Athen came over and looked at the flyer with me.
“He went missing the first day you were out. He was snowboarding in the backcountry and never showed up in the evening. His roommates notified the authorities. They have been looking for him since. The police think he fell into a tree well or something.”
I looked at Athen searching for something more, some sort of definitive answer. I knew the answers were there. I just had to get them out.
“Well, did he? You think otherwise?”
“We aren’t sure what happened, but it wasn’t accidental. Come on, sweetie. Let’s get back to the condo,” he said, gently kissing my forehead, holding me as we walked down the stairs.
We walked down the stone path through the main village to our condo. The weight of my new existence beginning to creep up on me, I tried my best to keep distracted. I wasn’t sure I was ready to begin solving the world’s problems.
We got back to the condo and began prepping for dinner. I had greedily munched down two oranges and a cinnamon roll on the way back and was more than ready for the spaghetti. Cyril and Arie were still at my house, for which I was thankful. It seemed like the family I had longed for magically appeared, and in a way, that’s exactly what happened. I loved having a house full of people. I know Matilda enjoyed it too. She was far more exuberant than normal, even for a bulldog. I only hoped that I could handle the baggage that this new existence apparently brought with it. The title of Fallen Angel or white demon wasn’t exactly sitting well.
“I thought Ana was going to eat the town out. It’s a good thing dinner won’t take long.” Athen grabbed the loaf of bread out of the bakery bag, and Arie began mixing together the garlic butter for the bread, snapping me back to reality and out of my gloomy thoughts.
“Is it that bad?” I asked innocently.
“It’s pretty impressive. Not that you have ever held back on food, but I’m surprised you can keep it going. It’s a good thing though. It’s only normal,” Athen added.
“Huh.” I looked around my kitchen and loved what I saw. Cyril was helping Arie with the marinara sauce, and they were so into one another. I could feel the love they held for each other across the room. I was thankful that I, too, now had that blessing. No one with that kind of consummate love could be evil. I had to try my hardest to accept the realities that were before me. I looked at Athen who seemed to be smiling nonstop since I had awoken. At the moment, he was smearing the garlic spread on the French bread. He was such a calming, stabilizing force. I was thankful for that since I had a tendency to be a little high-strung. It was a good balance. This was all going to work out, regardless of what I might actually be. Besides, what options did I have? Runaway? Doubtful.
“So, did you guys talk about heading to Seattle yet for the holidays?” Arie asked me, surely knowing the answer. We had no time to talk about what just happened let alone plans for the future.
“Boy, you don’t let the grass grow, do you?” Athen said pointedly. “Give her a moment.”
Were they thinking Thanksgiving or Christmas? I wondered.
“We were thinking of going down for Thanksgiving and then maybe come back up here for a little while before Christmas to get our fix of snow.”
“That sounds good to me,” I said laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Cyril asked, grabbing Arie’s waist and holding her from behind.
“Well, I didn’t ask that aloud. I only thought it. This is going to take some getting used to.”
“There are definitely tricks, Ana! I promise,” Arie said laughing as well. “I definitely know when not to pick your brain. Let’s leave it that,” she said grinning.
“That’s gross, Arie.” Athen coughed up, making a gagging sound while throwing a kitchen towel at her.
“Cyril, Athen, and I are going to take a quick trip down there to make sure the house is all set up. We’re going to fly down and back in a day if that works for you?” Arie asked a little hesitantly.
“No, that’s cool. I have some stuff I should get done around here anyway before heading south.”
The oven dinged, ale
rting us that it was ready to take in the garlic bread. I went into the dining room, grabbed my placemats and began setting the table. So much had changed since our last time in here. A memory ran through me that I knew must have been recently placed. It was Athen and I hiking. We reached an area with boulders where he held me tight as we looked over the valley. It was a truly peaceful setting, but I couldn’t place the time. His clothing definitely looked of another era. He was in suspenders. I was in some sort of brown wool pant that was rolled up. I honestly didn’t know when it would have been.
“Hey, sweetie, how are you doing with everything?” Athen came into the dining room as if sensing my confusion over the latest memory to enter my mind.
“Oh pretty good, I would say… A little puzzled possibly, but other than that I’m incredibly happy to be with my family and you. I’m trying to comprehend what it all means. The Fallen Angel, demon thing really isn’t transitioning well for me. The thoughts make me queasy actually.” I looked up at him knowing that he knew what I was going through.
“Well, the memory you just had appear was right before you were taken away from us.” He tried to change the subject. “We had hiked up one of the areas near Mount St. Helens. You and I had spent a few hours at Spirit Lake, which was one of your favorite places. It was unusual for women to be hiking like you did with me. You never seemed to care though. We were never apart. You loved that Indian legend that went with it. I was reciting it to you in that memory. Do you remember it?”
“I have been trying. It’s not coming to me yet.” I was a bit upset with how slow some memories seemed to take to come back in their entirety. Sometimes, I would only see images with no sound but could see that we were talking.
“It was believed that the three mountain peaks, Mount St. Helen’s, Mount Hood, and Mount Adams were all created because of a love triangle. There were two men who were sons of an Indian Chief. They were fighting over a beautiful woman, and she couldn’t decide between them. Because of that the sons were bringing great destruction to villages and the surrounding deep green forests as they were demonstrating their love for her, fighting for her attention. The Chief turned them all into each of the mountain peaks to stop the destruction. The maiden was Mount St. Helens.”
Athen wrapped his arms around me, and I suddenly remembered more. He was telling me the story when we were overlooking that valley. We had finished a picnic that Arie had prepared for us. It was a lovely day.
“I do remember that. It was delightful and so calm. Arie had prepared us a picnic. It was an awesome sight. Can we go there this summer?” I asked Athen.
He pulled back from me a little bit and spun me around so he could look at me, his eyes intense.
“Mount St. Helens blew up.”
“Are you serious? What happened? When did it happen?” I was shocked.
“It was back in 1980. She had given signs and she finally blew. Ash spread throughout the Northwest. It was pretty intense. There is a visitor station there now, though. It brings home what mother earth and natural forces are capable of. We’ll put that on the to-do list, for sure. Like we need reminding of that.”
“Wow.” I hugged him extra hard, feeling his chest against my skin. I breathed in a deep breath treasuring every second I had him back in my life. I saw the black iron sconce on the wall turn on and knew Arie and Cyril must be on their way with the spaghetti and bread.
“Thanks for the warning light, sis!” Athen sighed.
Everyone was quietly passing around the garlic bread and pasta when I realized that there was something that wasn’t being said. Somehow, I was being left out of the loop again. As I got handed the basket of garlic bread from Arie, I took my piece and held it hostage from Athen.
“What aren’t you guys telling me now?” I said, looking directly at Athen.
Arie piped in immediately, “We were going to tell you right after dinner. We didn’t want to spoil your first meal after everything you’ve been through.”
I saw Athen give Arie a warning look, which I took to mean she was to stop speaking as to not give anything away. Having never had this kind of tension before with the group, I wanted whatever it was to be out in the open.
“I think I can handle about anything right now, guys, so you might as well say what you’ve got to say. I’ll be fine. It isn’t like it could get much more unbelievable, right?” I said, shaking my head.
“Well, there have been some developments,” Athen began softly, “and we need to get some things figured out.”
“That’s pretty vague,” I said, holding the bread still, trying to lighten the air a little bit. “Is that why you are going down to the house in Kingston?”
“Yes, that’s part of it,” Athen replied, looking very uncomfortable. “There’s been a lot of activity, and we’re trying to determine if it’s related to our family reuniting.”
“Activity with what?” I asked, not sure I wanted to know the answer, finally relinquishing the bread to Athen.
“The black demons,” he said point-blank, looking for my reaction.
“Whoa! What does that mean?” I asked, looking at Cyril.
“Generally black demons leave the white demons alone because there isn’t much they can do to us, except disrupt families, but the families eventually always reunite so it doesn’t provide them with any long-term pleasure. Their prey is usually human centered. Their goal is to persuade as many humans as possible to do wrong. They enjoy the hunt of the human, toying with their decisions and waiting to see the outcomes, so generally we aren’t that interesting to them. They like to feel like they have more control over the fate of mankind versus dabbling with distant cousins.” He stopped and Athen continued.
“We are usually pretty in tune with their motives so we can try to intervene when possible. However, recently we haven’t been able to track all of the usual players. Some have gone missing, in a sense, possibly planning something underground. New ones have come to the area in their place. We really aren’t sure what to make of it. Other than to assume, it has to do with your reintroduction process. Plus, the missing hikers and snowboarder just complicates everything.”
“Not to sound selfish, but should I be left alone, and what would merit an actual fight with a demon?” I asked, my heart pounding faster with every breath I took in. The thought of demons after me was beyond frightening. Not remembering what I went through the first time I got separated from my family and not wanting to be separated again sent chills through me. I saw all three look at each other before Athen began the answer. I knew they were hiding something. I, also, knew I wouldn’t find out what it was.
“You’ll be taken care of. You won’t be in danger. I can assure you of that. I won’t lose you again,” Athen said, reaching for my hand.
“We’ll be taking a quick shuttle down and back up. They won’t try anything while we’re away.” Arie offered as best she could a response to make me calmer. I knew she was lying and didn’t know why. I had to trust – something I’d never been very good at.
“So when do you think you guys will be taking the trip?” I asked, trying to make sure my voice did not indicate the actual amount of fear that was welling up inside.
“In a couple of days,” Athen mumbled.
“Eat your pasta,” Arie commanded, “This is why we didn’t want to tell you until after dinner.”
“Guys, I’m fine. Really. It’s kind of a shock to hear that someone or something might be after me. Not to mention that I’m still trying to digest what I supposedly am.” I paused not sure I wanted to ask my next question, but figured that I already messed with the tone of the meal so I might as well round it out. “How did it happen? I mean last time? How did I end up like I did? Do my nightmares have anything to do with it?” Nothing was said for several seconds. All I could hear was Matilda working on a piece of bread someone must have slipped her under the table.
“I was only curious because earlier you had said that the black demons don’t tend to come after us, but they obviously did. It kind of sounds like they could do it again.” This time I was determined to wait for an answer.
“It was out of revenge. Pure and simple.” Cyril looked over at me as if that answer would calm me. “We disrupted a very heinous crime from taking place. It was something Azazel was working on for a very long time. The short version is the human chose different because of our interference. Azazel saw fit to tear our lives apart. He took you away from us. That’s the short version. It sums it up though. He intended to punish us, and in a sense it worked, but we still managed to do good while we were waiting for you. ”
I sat back in disbelief. The underworld that was slowly being exposed to me held so many answers but left so many questions.
“You were the one who did the final act that detoured the human from making the wrong choice he was about to make. We think that is why they went after you specifically,” Athen replied quietly. I could tell rehashing this story was as hard for him as it was for me. The pain was running through each syllable he uttered.
“They didn’t strike right away. In fact years had gone by, which is why we were off our guard. We learned the hard way, to say the least, but we had figured that the demons had decided to let it slide. We guessed wrong. They waited for our defenses to be down.”
“You said the demon was Azazel, but then you said they. So was there more than one?” I asked, trying to get as much clarity as I possibly could, considering how foreign the stories were to begin with.
“Well, as we had mentioned before, the black demons tend to work alone. They certainly don’t have the same family structures that we have created over the centuries. However, they will group up on tasks and side with one another when they run into interference of any kind. They have a network, and they will use it if they think it will better their chances to screw with mankind or connect with us, apparently. Our biggest concern is always the possible formation of legions with them. Thankfully, it’s been centuries since they have attempted that.”
“Who is Azazel? How does he have so much power or ability?”
“He was the principal angel, before he fell, who really led the whole movement of angels cohabitating with mortal women. He’s also known as the demon of the desert. Supposedly, that is where you would find him, where he rounds up his minions to do his dirty work so to speak. He is all things evil.”
I looked around the table and understood the outpouring of love and concern from Cyril, Arie, and Athen trying to comfort me in all of the confusion. I was so thankful that they chose to tell me rather than keep me in the dark. It had made things much more clear. It put into perspective what kind of creatures I was possibly dealing with. I hoped I didn’t ever experience the evil of these creatures again. I, also, secretly prayed I had none of the evil inside of me.
“If it makes you feel any better, my appetite has come back. I’m ready to plow through my plate of pasta.” I spurted out my feeble attempt to lift the mood.
“Under the circumstances, I didn’t expect it to take too long,” Cyril said laughing, and I was relieved that I hadn’t spoiled the mood for the rest of the evening, especially in light of knowing they would be leaving in a couple days.
CHAPTER 14