Awakening

Tristan gripped the small man’s collar and shook him, muscles rippling in his arms. He looked every bit as lethal as the animals he could turn into.

“Please. I wasn’t going to hurt her.” The guy looked over Tristan’s shoulder at Sophie. She could hear the scuffle going on behind her and knew that Aidan and Jackson were taking out the rest of the group. “Didn’t mean any harm. Just having fun.”

Tristan growled louder. His eyes changed to their green-yellow.

“Christ, I’m sorry.”

“Just let him go,” Sophie whispered, tired of this. All she wanted was to get far away from the men and their darkness.

She moved closer to Tristan and placed a hand on his arm. The muscles jumped beneath her palm, and heat spiked inside her. Ignoring the terror quaking through her, she focused on how rigid he was. “We should go. We don’t want to be late.”

Little by little the muscles in his body relaxed. He dropped the man.

The guy scurried backward until he hit the wall of a building.

Tristan looked down at her, his eyes going back to gray. “Are you okay?”

“Fine.” Now that he was there. Distantly, she could sense the thugs leaving.

“You girls are never coming here by yourselves again,” Aidan said.

He moved aside as Jackson scooped Lilli up and murmured to her, “It’s not safe.”

“Thank you,” Sophie told them. “I don’t know what would’ve happened if you guys hadn’t come when you did.” Actually, she knew all too well. She reluctantly pulled away from Tristan. He kept a hand on the small of her back.

“No thanks needed.” Jackson took Lilli’s hand.

“I’m going to wait at the bus stop for Morgan. She shouldn’t be out here by herself.” Aidan glanced in the direction the men had fled.

“Okay. We’ll meet you inside.” Sophie didn’t think the men would come back there for any victims. Revenge, maybe.

Jackson and Lilli led the way, walking close to each other.

Tristan walked next to her. His hands were in his jacket pockets, and his hair ruffled in the wind.

Sophie saw his jaw clench. “Thank you.”

For a moment she thought he hadn’t heard her whisper.

“You’re welcome.” His voice was soft as he looked at her. Those gray eyes sent the cold out of her body. “Did he hurt you?”

Sophie shook her head. “Not really. I saw the women he…what he did to them. It was horrible.”

“Will you dream about it tonight?”

“Probably.” They were almost there now. “But it won’t be the first time.”

They came to a stop at the church gates. A shadowy cathedral emerged, staring passively over an unkempt lawn, surrounded by an iron fence.

“Creepy,” Sophie whispered. Midnight blue gargoyles glared down at them from stone pillars. A raven cawed and landed on the tip of a gargoyle’s ear. It flapped its wings in agitation when they looked up at it.

Sophie could swear it looked directly at them when it pranced over the gargoyle’s head to the opposite ear. Chills ran up her arms.

The raven gave one more screeching caw and lifted into the air. It dove straight at them, the beat of its wings feverish.

Sophie and the girls screamed and ducked as the guys slung up their arms to protect their faces.

The raven screeched again, veering up and away from them.

Sophie watched it fly into the clouded darkness over the church. “Oookay.” She looked back at the others. “We going in or what?”

Jackson pushed the gate and it slowly creaked open. He rubbed the rust on his hands off on his jeans.

“There’s no one around,” Sophie remarked. Wind whistled through the nearly naked trees as they walked up the cobblestone path. She almost thought she’d see several headstones off in a corner somewhere.

“It’s too quiet out here.” Lilli frowned.

Two solid oak doors loomed in front of them, flanked by stained glass windows that wrapped around the corners of the building.

“Ready to do this?” Tristan asked. He didn’t wait for them to answer and stepped up to the doors.

Sophie’s stomach twisted. It wasn’t quite butterflies, and it wasn’t nausea. She just felt something urged her to take the step forward.

Tristan said nothing when she brushed past him and opened the doors. He followed her, not making a sound.

The four of them entered the circular foyer.

“Wow.” Sophie allowed her shock to color her voice. “This is beautiful.”

“I’ve never seen anything so gorgeous.” Lilli spun around to take it all in.

The vaulted ceiling was three stories high and depicted Michael defeating Lucifer. Everything was open, with three archways leading to other rooms and floor-to-ceiling windows. The hardwood floor was rustic-looking, molding well with the burgundy walls and golden orange decorative pieces. The room was lit with candles and a low-hung crystal chandelier.

“I’m glad to see you came.”

Sophie started at the sound of Whittaker’s voice. They turned to see the professor dressed simply in a pair of jeans and navy sweater. She was much more beautiful without the straw hat and horned-rimmed glasses she wore in class. Her blonde hair shimmered in the candlelight, and her brown eyes were large and warm.

“Hello, Professor Whittaker.”

She laughed and motioned for them to follow her into one of the archways. “You can call me Ruth. It’s my real name.”

Sophie and the others glanced at each other before they followed.

“Just a guess, but you’re not really a professor, are you?” Sophie asked. They turned a corner. Tristan and Jackson strode behind them and remained quiet. Watchful. She was glad to have them at her back.

“What blew my cover?” Ruth questioned wryly. She opened a doorway and then preceded them down a flight of stairs. “Me, Demetri, and a few others work out of the basement here. Our organization owns the church.”

“What organization?” Tristan asked.

Another door stood at the bottom of the stairs. It was solid black, with a red sun at the center surrounded by six golden stars.

“I’ll explain everything when all of you are here.” Ruth opened the door.

The room was not what Sophie expected. It didn’t look at all like an “organization” worked out of it. Each deep red wall had the symbol they’d seen on the door. The hardwood floor was decorated with small rugs. A table and chairs sat at the center, and each corner shelves of ancient leather books.

Demetri leaned against the table and brooded over a file. Even completely still, he seemed full of force, as if he could pounce in a moment’s notice. He looked up when the door closed behind them. The corner of his mouth turned down. Within seconds, he went back to his reading.

“Don’t mind him. He’s trying to figure out who’s behind the kidnappings.” Ruth gestured for them to sit. “Are you thirsty?”

“Behind the kidnappings? I thought that the…thing…was behind it. It’s dead, right?” Sophie’s panic rose again. Her hands began to shake, and she wanted to scream. Who lived like this, in fear all the time? A headache formed behind her right eye.

“Oh, he is dead. But there are more of them working on the kidnappings.” Ruth shared a look with Demetri, and then a small bell pealed. “It seems someone else has arrived. Would you like something to drink?”

Sophie shook her head. There was no way she was going to keep anything down right now. More of those things were out there?

Tristan walked to the table and pulled out a chair. His gaze met hers, and he nodded at the seat.

She tried to contain her smile, but couldn’t. Instead, she focused on Demetri. He moved away from them to lean against one of the bookcases. A second later, Lilli caught her eye and smiled knowingly.

Sophie shook her head. Soulmates didn’t exist. No matter that she felt this undeniable pull to Tristan or that her mind and body seemed to remember him from a time before they met.

Impossible.

Ruth swung the door open and allowed Morgan and Aidan to walk in ahead of her.

Morgan did look awesome in her outfit, but there were dark circles under her eyes. As if she hadn’t slept in a few days.

Sophie immediately began to feel sorry for her. She understood what nightmares were like and how they could affect every part of a person’s life. Some of that pity evaporated when Morgan sat next to Tristan.

Demetri waited for Aidan to sit, then pushed off from the bookcase and passed the file to Ruth. He came to the front of the table and made sure he had everyone’s attention.

“Do any of you believe in demons?”

“What?” Sophie coughed.

“Demons,” Demetri repeated like he taught a class of five-year-olds.

“Demons?” Morgan frowned. “I came all the way out here, practically against my will, and you talk about demons?” She stood and wrapped her cardigan tighter. “This is ridiculous.”

“What do you think attacked you the other night?” Ruth called out before Morgan could reach the door.

Morgan paused. She faced the door, but Sophie felt her struggle. On one hand she thought this whole meeting was ludicrous, and on the other she so badly wanted answers.

Sophie understood. She wanted those answers just as much, but demons? That was too horrific to consider. “This is a little far out there.”

“This isn’t a joke,” Demetri said.

Jackson and Tristan shared a glance. Aidan leaned back in his chair. When she met his gaze, he motioned for her to stay. To get those answers.

“After all that you six can do, how can you not believe in the possibility of demons?”

Tristan crossed his arms over his chest. “Why is one mutually exclusive to the other?”

“Saying that we believe you, which I’m not sure yet, start from the beginning. I’m still curious as to how you knew we had these gifts. I know we didn’t use them in the open,” Jackson said.

Morgan slowly returned to her seat.

“We’re from an island that has existed for thousands of years. Over those years, our sole purpose has been to hunt demons, and we’ve developed many ways to do it. In the beginning, though, we were peaceful. We farmed, we gathered. The only thing we hunted was game. Then a group with amazing talents was discovered and brought to the queen. An oracle, a shape shifter, a fire starter, a girl who could disappear at will, a healer, and a man who could move things with his mind,” Ruth said.

Something shifted in Sophie. She could sense excitement and then deep, deep sadness. It opened an ache in her chest, and she pressed a hand there to staunch it.

“A princess from a neighboring island was found murdered on our sands,” Ruth continued. “It started a war that devastated our land and theirs. Little did we know, the Demoness had possessed the body of a priestess and orchestrated the murder to split up the Guardians.”

“Demoness? Guardians?” Lilli’s eyes lit up.

“You’re familiar with the story of Christ’s crucifixion? Judas hung himself on a hilltop and all his entrails fell to the ground?” They nodded at Ruth’s words. “The Demoness was born that night out of the shame and hatred Judas felt for himself as his blood seeped into the dirt.”

“Her name is Akeldama,” Ruth continued. Sophie began to sweat at the sound of that name. “What she did after the war was truly the work of a malevolent creature.”

Flashes of blood and screams of terror rose in her mind. She shut her eyes against it, but the flow kept coming. Faces and graves popped up before fizzling into darkness. Sophie reached her fingertips to her temples and prayed the pain would go away.

“The Guardians were given no other choice but to drink a potion that would separate their souls from their bodies. When Akeldama found that they escaped her, she viciously murdered the priest who’d helped them. She used his body as an example to the people of the islands.”

“Harold.” The priest’s face surfaced in her mind. Sophie remembered his limp from the vision.

“Yes. His name was Harold.” Demetri nodded. “The Demoness enslaved the people of the island. A rebellion started. The rebels escaped from the island and trained to become the society we are today.”

“We believe that you are the six Guardians reborn. That means Akeldama is getting ready to strike. The attack will be big and involve millions of deaths,” Ruth finished.

“I just can’t believe what you’re saying is true.” Aidan tapped his fingertips on the table. His fingers warmed up, and little soot marks appeared on the surface. “Demons? Reincarnation?”

Ruth continued. “You are part of a prophecy to stop Akeldama from opening the Rift and letting Lucifer out. He was banished there years ago on the other side of the demon realm. If he’s released…well, you understand.”

Tristan ran a hand down his face. They were exhausted, and the conversation seemed to push them over the edge. “Lucifer?” His voice lowered. “I have class tomorrow.”

He stood to leave. When he met Sophie’s gaze, she joined him.

Ruth’s smile disappeared. The others all rose and gathered around the door.

Jackson turned the knob and gestured for Lilli to go first.

“They won’t stop hunting you. People are going to die because you won’t face your destiny!”

A heavy weight settled on Sophie’s chest, and she kept close to Tristan. They made their way up the stairs and out of the church. It didn’t seem inviting now that they’d basically learned the owners were cuckoo.

Still, the thought nagged her. What if every word they spoke was true? Would they be sacrificing innocent people because they didn’t believe? The man who attacked them in the library made a believable demon.

Cold air greeted them as they made their way back on the cobblestone path. The rain was gone, but clouds settled low over the city.

When they passed the gates, Tristan stopped. His yellow eyes shone in the night. “Can you believe this? Demons? Lucifer? An ancient society whose only purpose is to keep demons at bay?”

The others stopped at the frustration in his voice.

“If demons aren’t real, then what attacked us the other night?” Jackson asked. He stood still against the gates. “It had scales and wings.”

“What if they’re telling the truth?” Lilli asked. “Are we sacrificing innocent lives? Haven’t three students been kidnapped already?”

“You can’t be serious! Those students were not kidnapped by demons.” Morgan shook her head. “Demons do not exist!”

“If we’ve decided that we don’t believe, can we go home?” Aidan had his hands in his jacket pockets, and his body hunched. The wind tried to ruffle the spikes in his blond hair. “I’m freezing.”

They started back toward the bus stop.

“We’ll find out soon enough anyway,” Aidan continued. “Another girl will be kidnapped, and we’ll know it was our fault.” Guilt hit Sophie, and she stared at her feet. She remembered her dreams. The girls and the fear that bubbled out of them.

“Shut up, Aidan,” Morgan snapped.