*****
We all piled into the Jeep while Athen grabbed some rope from one of the meticulously organized shelves in the garage to tie the Christmas tree to the top. I had buckled my seatbelt when Athen climbed in next to me, giving me a huge kiss, whispering thank you in my ear. I wasn’t sure what for, but I grinned at him as if I did.
Cyril slowly began backing the Jeep out of the garage when something darted behind us in the mirror. It was so fast that I couldn’t really see an image, only a dark shadow, if I had to guess anything. Cyril quickly stopped the Jeep. The tension in the air was thick. It must have been one of the creatures again. A demon hoping that I would be left alone on a balcony or on a walk in the woods, possibly.
“What was that?” I spurted out, not wanting to know the answer. Athen grabbed my hand, squeezing it gently. His eyes were edged with worry. There was no trace of cockiness like I had seen before.
“Why is this one worrying all of you more?” The pause from everyone was infuriating.
“Alright, if you guys expect me to be able to protect myself, even a little bit, you are going to have to start filling me in a little quicker.” I removed my hand from Athen’s for extra effect.
“That is one of the older demons who is out for fresh blood. He knows you are an easy target. Seems that he would be rewarded greatly, which tells us someone has definitely put a bounty on your head.”
“Huh, what would they get if I was taken out again?” My skin was crawling with this information. I began to feel very clammy thinking that I was being placed as a target for some of these creatures.
“It will make more sense later. In short, they will get a get-out-of-jail free card. If one of them can eliminate their target, they’re able to have their next foray overlooked. No matter how disturbing it is.”
“So the demons can get punished by someone if their act is too evil? That is kind of odd.”
“Well, it’s not that it’s too evil, more like calls attention to them or the underworld. If one of them brings you down, the next heinous thing they do will get overlooked. It’s pretty awful how it works in the underworld. They are able to experience an interregnum from the underworld’s authority.”
“Yeah, that’s an understatement. Certainly an incentive to not get caught in addition to the many reasons I can think of.” I was afraid to ask the next set of questions, but I had to get them out.
“Can you guys stop them?’
“Yes. It takes more of us and a bit more concentration. Now that we know to be on the lookout for this type - that’s half the battle,” Cyril interjected.
“Did it get into our house?”
“That’s doubtful. They don’t tend to trespass where our spirits have been for extended period of times. Too much positivity, and they croak, in a way. They try to not hang out where a group of us have been.”
Cyril reached for the radio and hit play on the SeaBear CD he had in the player. The Jeep began to back slowly out of the garage again. I took it to mean they weren’t worried enough to stay put and fight.
“Should we fight it or should I worry?”
“No, it was casing us to see how many of us there are and if it had a chance. Clearly it doesn’t, but until we get it taken care of it is best that there is always someone with you when you are outside the house.” Athen did his best to comfort me as he spoke, but the situation itself seemed so bizarre that I was trying to wrap my brain around the newly-created images I now had floating around.
By the time we had reached the end of the driveway, the mood had instantly lifted. I was again in the holiday spirit, and the uplifting music was drifting through the car. Athen seemed to have relaxed as well, which was the only sign I needed. Arie seemed to be able to get back to her chipper self. She was absorbed in the tree hunt that was about to begin. There was a pause between songs when my stomach growled the loudest I had ever heard. I was immediately mortified, laughing as Arie whipped her head to the backseat.
“If I wasn’t worried about the tree farm closing, I would suggest we eat dinner first, but they should have hot cocoa and cookies there too. Hopefully, that will quiet your stomach down until dinner,” Arie laughed, as she shook her head and grabbed Cyril’s hand that was resting on the center console.
“Some things never change.”
“So where are we headed for dinner?” Athen asked, knowing I was wondering the same thing.
“The Main Street Ale House. They serve almost everything you can think of. They have a ton of microbrews on tap too.”
“Sweet. Sounds awesome.” I was relieved - a real place with real food. Now I couldn’t wait to go tree hunting. “Wait, what about my id? It doesn’t show the correct age for down here.”
“Not to worry. That’s all been taken care of.” Athen grabbed a nice shiny id out of his wallet and handed it over.
“This won’t count against us, will it?” I asked teasing.
We pulled down a long, dirt road where a sign had Christmas lights with an arrow pointing in the direction we were heading. I was getting excited about this adventure. I saw a little parking lot filled with cars, and families tying trees to the top of vehicles, and a little house on the corner of the lot that would no doubt serve the hot cocoa and cookies. I knew where I wanted to go right away.
Cyril pulled next to a family who was leaving. We all jumped out of the car; immediately Christmas carols reached us through the air from speakers that were set up on the porch of the house. I followed everybody up to the house and was relieved that it had to be our first stop regardless since that was where we pick up the saw to cut our tree down. Athen opened the front door, leaving me to smell the hot cocoa and apple cider that was displayed so proudly on the table in the foyer along with rows and rows of cookies. I was in heaven.
“I could stay here for dinner, guys,” I exclaimed happily.
I rushed over to the table seeing all of the homemade cookies laid out. There were gingersnaps, chocolate peppermint patties, holiday decorated sugar cookies, and Russian tea cookies. I heard a man’s gentle voice come from behind me.
“My wife makes those every morning and hates to see any leftover from the day. Don’t be shy.”
I turned around quickly to thank the owner, and I recognized him, but I wasn’t sure why or from where.
“Thank you so much! These are my favorite in the world.”
“Which one is?”
“All of them,” I replied laughing, wondering where I had seen him before.
Athen poured me a cup of hot cocoa, and he poured a cup of hot cider for himself. Arie did the same for Cyril as he grabbed the saw and grabbed the map.
“I can’t wait!” Arie exclaimed. “Let’s hit it.”
I grabbed Athen’s hand, and we went tromping out the door to find our perfect tree. The reality of darkness hit me, and a sudden jolt of fear rushed over my body. If a creature was after me, I wasn’t too sure that out in the middle of a forest of baby trees was the best place to be.
Athen must have seen my body tense and possibly overhearing what’s running through my mind because I could feel his arm wrap around me even tighter than usual.
“We’ve got your back, sweetie.” He kissed the top of my head like the first night I met him. I almost dropped to my knees.
“But who’s got yours?” I looked up at him hoping for some words of encouragement that would assure me that nothing would ever happen to him. That wasn’t what I received. I wondered if somehow he saw the images of my nightmares that I tried so hard to hide from him.
“There’s always a way back.” And he squeezed me tighter. Not what I wanted to hear.
The fear continued to spike through my veins. The Christmas tree hunt wouldn’t go back to an innocent outing tonight. I couldn’t stop thinking of a demon out and about trying to end me or my family. As we trudged through the slightly muddy terrain, my heart raced in spurts. Any odd bree
ze and my hands would begin to get clammy. A branch moving in the slightest way made me want to melt into my surroundings. My family was acting so carefree. I couldn’t understand their ease with the circumstances. I was hoping it would come with time, or maybe they were good actors. As of now the constant rollercoaster of emotions was wearing me out, and I couldn’t wait until it reached a fairly flat surface soon.
I noticed myself pointing at about any tree to get off the land and get back home when Arie caught onto my plan.
“Guys, I think we are misjudging Ana’s comfort level right now. She is pretty freaked. I think one of us needs to do a little explaining so we can get a somewhat decent tree.”
“I got it. I guess I thought our overwhelming strength would calm Ana,” Athen joked, trying to get a laugh unsuccessfully. “Sorry. I don’t mean to make fun of the situation.”
I could sense that he was having trouble finding words, which was unusual for him. I reached out and grabbed his hand.
“Please be honest. Why aren’t you guys as worried as back at the house?”
“Well, the tree farmers, for starters, are good guys. They’re on our side. With those kind of numbers, no demon would dare try for you.”
“Wow, I didn’t catch it at all. Their eyes didn’t strike me… They weren’t green like ours.”
“Uh, they aren’t actually one of us. They are in the underworld, but they aren’t a fallen angel or white demon or whatever you want to call us. They are messengers for the heavens. They have a direct line to above. The creatures who are after you certainly don’t want to mess with the messengers because if it’s spoken about, they will be banished from earth in a sort of constant purgatory.”
“Huh, so you are telling me that demons can be wiped out for good? Does that mean we could be wiped out from earth as well? I thought we would continually be reintroduced or something?”
“No, you are right. Remember we are not black demons. We weren’t sent here to wreak havoc on the humans. We can’t get into heaven, at the moment anyway, because of actions our parents did. Also, we generally spend our time trying to intervene and make positive changes in the world with human interactions. That’s got to count for something right? It would take something so heinous for us to be banished. I don’t think it’s in us to even commit that kind of act.” Then why are you hanging out with serpentine eyes? I forced the question as quickly as it came from my mind. I hated this figment of my imagination who kept intruding leaving me with nothing but fear, self doubt, and jealousy.
The fear lifted from my soul as he spoke. The smile from earlier in the evening returned to my lips. I was going to be okay tonight.
“I guess that means I can begin enjoying the tree hunt after all,” I was determined now to not let anything ruin my fun especially if I was on so called safe land. I began working my way through the Christmas trees again, “Alright, guys, let’s get to it. By the way, can we just move here? I think my nerves would really appreciate it,” I asked, only half joking.
Cyril and Arie had gone off in one direction, and Athen was trailing behind me as I was fighting my way through the branches in the other. Once again, a sense of delight washed over me. I hoped I would be able to wrap my head around so many of these marvels that I was learning about. It seemed unattainable.
“How about this one?” Athen’s voice brought me back to reality.
I stopped abruptly, turning only to get my boot stuck in the mud and down I went. Athen grabbed me before I completely face planted. Thankful that only my socks were covered in mud, I tried to save face.
“Wow, you certainly are predictable aren’t you?” Athen laughed at me with his wry grin.
“Alright, let’s cut the chat. Which one are you spying?” I tried changing the subject as fast as I could. I was pretty sure being sexy didn’t include being a full-time klutz.
He helped me walk through the slippery areas holding my waist, whispering directions as we made it through the miniature forest. I felt the chill in the air and was thankful for my goose-down jacket. Then I saw the most perfect tree towering directly in front of me. It was trimmed just right and had to be at least 3 feet taller than Athen.
“Oh, Athen! That’s the tree! It’s beautiful. We’ve got to get Cyril and the saw. It’s got to be this one.”
“Well, it certainly gets you as excited as before. I was hoping so.” He gently pulled me towards him, lifting my head up as he began to softly kiss me. My entire body began to surge with the electricity that still came in full force. He lifted his lips from mine and stepped back.
“So I should go find Cyril, right?” He grinned his glorious grin, which made me quiver to my knees. I grabbed him and brought him back to me. He was mine.
I reached around his neck, kissing him uncontrollably. He had ignited the spark once more. There was nothing I wanted to do more than lay with him, feel his breath over every inch of me. His hands began running through my hair as his lips began running over my neck. My knees began trembling and, as if on cue, he caught me and laid me up against a fallen tree. I was hoping with all hope that this moment would be the one I was waiting for. I knew Cyril and Arie were around, but my hunch was that Arie had him on a goose chase. We had to have enough time for something. Athen’s breath quickened as he rested me up against the tree. I pulled at his shirt trying to unbutton it as quickly as I could, but he stopped me.
“Just kiss me. It won’t be long, I promise. I guarantee you they aren’t very far away.”
“Are you sure of that?” I asked unsure.
“Yeah, hollering distance. I swear.”
My body went limp in his arms. I began laughing hysterically because crying wasn’t very festive. I couldn’t stop.
“Go ahead then. Let them know we found a tree.” I hissed at him, shaking my head. I couldn’t get the huge smile off my face, hoping at some point we would get to the next level.
“We will. I promise,” he whispered back at me, before yelling out to Arie and Cyril.
The branches started snapping, and for once, I was relieved that I listened to Athen after all.
“You certainly were right. That could have been embarrassing,” I said getting up, brushing myself off.
“Cyril is armed and ready.” I heard Arie hollering through the tree.
“Awesome! Because I found the perfect tree. Well, Athen found it, but I think there isn’t one finer around.”