Angel Phyre: Nevaeh

Chapter 17 - Sierra

Everything had happened so fast, from when we'd entered the woods. The officers had fanned out from Angel and Dan, who were basically taking point, hands held, reaching out into the forest, sensing their way along. They were doing okay, best as I could tell – until Nevaeh, out of nowhere, suddenly appeared to Angel. Nev wasn't panicked, but definitely had an air of urgency, telling her, "Come quickly, this way!"

I didn't know if the policemen could see her, but the three of us definitely did. I was the furthest back of anybody, so all I made out was that Nev and Angel were conversing as we sprinted along. But I couldn't tell what they were saying. It must've been important because, as we got our first view of the shack, Angel shouted out to Suarez, "Go, go, go, go, go!"

Next thing we knew, she and her partner, Franklin, were busting into the old place! The door went down easily as the framework was pretty rickety.

Franklin commanded, "Paul Butler! Hands, now," as he motioned his gun about, covering all directions. But no Paul in any of them. There was rustling in the woods to be heard though, to the rear of the shack. Throng escaping!

Angel was really coming into her own when she snapped, "Suarez, Dan, let's go get after him!"

I'd called off her Dad and Chelsea earlier from going further up to Kenny from the river, but I was glad he wasn't here yet to see her charging after the demon like this. With any luck, maybe we'd have this all taken care of by the time he got here?

In the meantime, what we, Franklin and I, were taking care of was Cindy and Carey. Both were groggy from being tortured, apparently. Carey was very agitated, calling out for his wife to "Come back, Cindy – please come back!"

She was coming to, so I wasn't quite sure what he was talking about. But, it came clear in a few moments, as Cindy spoke.

"That angel – God bless her! She saved me – and brought you to help us," she said, looking at Franklin and I.

Nevaeh had obviously been helping her, out-of-body I assumed, before leading us here. Had Throng effectively killed her, perhaps? All the signs of an NDE. Thank God she came back. Finding bodies in Throng's wake was getting old. Seeing these two alive was such a blessing!

At that point, Franklin said to me, "Aside from being roughed up, obviously, these two seem pretty okay. If you're good, I'm gonna go to the woods with the rest of them and help get that guy!"

"Go get 'em, officer," said Carey with gusto!

With that, I was left to myself with the beleaguered couple.

"So – you know the angel then?" Cindy asked me, curious.

"I've come to know her, yes. She's something of a mother figure to the other girl who went after Throng – Paul."

"The 'hybrid'? Nevaeh mentioned her. So, the angel's her mom?"

"Not exactly. More of a 'donor,' in a way. It's complicated," I concluded, wanting to focus on them, not the complexities of the Woodsons' and Nevaeh's relationship.

"What the heck are you two even talking about?" asked Carey, as I continued working on untying him. "What the hell happened to you when he was trying to kill you, honey?"

"He effectively did – or would've," answered Cindy, "but this angel, like we've been talking about, came and 'pulled me out' before it was 'lights out'! Then she left me to go and get all these people, and I came back to see if I could do anything against Paul while he was hurting you!"

"While you were 'in-spirit.'"

"Yes. Then, they all got here, broke in, and Paul took off, while I came back into myself! And here we are!"

"And alive, thank the angel," I said. "Do you know you're the first survivors we've experienced since we've been trying to stop Throng?"

"She means Paul, honey," clarified Cindy. "'Throng' is the name of the demon(s) possessing Paul. That's why he's acting like this – being like this. It's not him."

"It sounds like you guys know Paul, then?" I queried.

"Yeah, he's been our car mechanic for a few years now," replied Carey. "Kind of how he got the jump on us when we saw him by the river. Had he been a stranger, our guard wouldn't have been as down."

"So, who are you guys?" asked Cindy. "The 'demon police'? I mean, I saw two cops, plus a few more of you – what? 'Ghost hunters,' or something?"

"Ha ha – no," I said. "I'm a spiritualist – the girl, Angel, is the hybrid – and the other gentleman, Dan – he's a fellow who Angel took through a near-death experience that he had. It was her first time crossing someone over – and they've been inseparable ever since."

"Aaawww," said Cindy.

"Do I hear someone talking about my daughter and Dan?" came Charlie's voice, accompanied with a knock on what remained of the shack's front door.

"You made it!" I exclaimed, as he, Chelsea, and their officers came in.

"Thanks for the heads-up on not wasting our time up at Kenny," said Charlie. "Where's Angel and everybody else? Is this our missing couple? And alive, no less?"

"Yes, and yes!" I replied. "As far as the rest of them – well, they're out chasing down Throng in the woods. He bolted when we got here. Nevaeh showed us the way. She'd been helping Cindy and Carey here."

"Nice to meet you," Charlie said briefly to them. He smiled, naturally, when I mentioned Nev, but was still clearly agitated over his daughter being out there on a demon hunt!

"She'll be fine," I said, going to him and rubbing his shoulder. "She's actually getting pretty good at this, plus we know Nevaeh's been in on this one, too. It'll all work out, you'll see."

Chelsea lightly rubbed him at the small of his back as I spoke, comforting him all the more. How could he not be calmed down now?

"I sure hope so," he returned. "This is exactly what I didn't want her in the thick of, you know. And why I discouraged her from seeking out the likes of you."

Ouch. Narrow-minded prick.

"Hey now," said Chelsea, coming to my defense, "Angel sought her out, not the other way around. She wanted help, Sier gave it to 'er. Ease up, Charlie."

"Sorry, I didn't mean anything by it," he replied.

"Hey!" barked one of the officers. "Cut the domestics, please! Which direction did everybody go chasing down Butler? Does anyone know?"

"I'm not positive, but pretty sure they went east," I answered.

"Hmmnn –" the officer mused, mapping out the area in his head, it looked like to me. "All right, we'll take south and west of here then. That way, if Butler should divert south, then maybe double back west to the clearing for an escape hatch, we can form a better perimeter to stop him!"

Bingo. Made sense to me.