Of Demons and Fallen Stars

Chapter 17: Sign of the Approaching Enemy

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When the past meets with the present, sometimes they don’t greet each other with hi or hello. There are times that it goes along the line of ‘I finally get the chance to strangle you!’

***

We arrived at the rendezvous point fifteen minutes later. The others were already there: Art, Eiscene, Andrea and the twins. They all looked grim.

“This is getting out of hand,” Art said. “Jules said they were both hostile. What are we going to do?”

“After what happened last time, I don’t want us to split up. We don’t know what these demons are capable of, so I want all of you to be careful. We’ll meet them head on. Let’s go.”

“Wait. You mean we’ll bait them? With ourselves,” Art asked incredulously. But it was only met with a steady gaze from Jasper.

“Yes,” Jasper said. They looked at each other a while which for some reason made Art calm down.

“So you have a plan,” Art said. Jasper nodded and he glanced at me. Art turned to look at me. They all followed his gaze, making me uncomfortable. What exactly did Jasper want me to do? I will strangle him the first chance I get.

“Let’s go,” Jasper said again. I could hear weapons drawn.

“You go with the group. I’ll be shadowing you,” Jasper whispered to me. “Don’t be reckless.” I frowned at that last remark.

“Says the infamous Mr. Reckless,” I whispered harshly back. He grinned before seeming to dissolve into the darkness right in front of me. For a moment I was disoriented. His presence was just suddenly gone. Not even my heightened senses could detect him. But then I heard his voice whisper, “Go.” Is this his ability? The others seemed used to it but it was really unnerving to have someone vanishing completely right in front of you.

I brought my attention back to the task at hand. I could indeed feel two strong demonic presences although they were still a distance away. I have a feeling we were in deep trouble. Because distance dampens the auras like sound is faint from far away. I felt uncomfortable being left responsible for the group although it was not even official. I scanned the shadows for any sign of him but cannot see him.

“I know we should not be discussing this in this situation but it makes me curious,” Art started, turning to look at me with a strange expression. “Is there something going on between you and Jas?”

“Wha—What!?”

“Shhh. Keep it down. I was just asking a question.”

“No. Most definitely not,” I said. We are not having this discussion. I can’t believe this. I was suddenly feeling hot. I could hear the others chuckling softly. The unnecessary tension was suddenly dispelled. But I do not like the fact that they were really enjoying teasing me like this. Especially since I was not sure how close Jasper was to where we were. Hopefully he was out of earshot.

“I’m just saying, since you two came together tonight,” he said wiggling his eyebrows and grinning at me.

“He just saw me walking in the street from the store and decided I could probably help.”

“In the middle of the night?”

Crap.

“Yes. Something wrong with that?”

“No. Just wondering what Jas is doing in your neighborhood.” The others were doubling over now with barely suppressed laughter. I was about to dig my own grave with another crappy answer when I suddenly felt it. The others caught my expression and tensed, all the mirth drained from their faces. We stopped and prepared our weapons. I gripped two daggers with cold fingers slick with sweat.