Battle For The Heavens

e l e v e n

They rushed home as fast as they could, their car zipping through the streets. As they neared Andrew and Julia's house, they saw around twenty men shoving people around and searching their houses. Noelle quietly gestured for Andrew to park the car right where they were so they could continue the rest of the journey on foot.

Slowly sliding out of the car, Andrew closed the door and carefully locked the car. Glancing at Noelle, he saw her gesture in a way that meant to follow her while keeping an eye on the men.

Noelle then expertly lead Andrew to the back of his house, bending, crawling and jumping behind big objects throughout the way. Knocking softly on the door, they waited until the slightly scared face of Julia opened the door and hurriedly pulled them in.

"Are they who I think they are?" Julia asked, peeking out the window, after carefully locking the door.

Both Andrew and Noelle nodded gravely before Noelle said, "but I'm not going to let them hurt either of you, okay? I'll make them go away. You can count on me."

Andrew looked at Noelle with furrowed eyebrows. "Why are you acting as if you're going to go out there and fight them on your own? Because I know for sure that you aren't going to be an idiot and try taking out twenty guys all on your own, right?" Andrew asked, his voice laced heavily with sarcasm.

"You're not ready yet Andrew, you haven't been fully trained. If you fight and end up getting severely hurt then it'll be all my fault and on top of all that, the world will erupt into chaos if you can't help us," Noelle said in a determined tone.

"Noelle, whatever the case is, I can't let you just go out there and face these guys all by yourself! The odds aren't even close to fair. At least with two people, there's a small chance. Just one is bound to fail," Andrew said, equally determined.

"If you're saying all this just because I am a girl, then I'm going to-"

Andrew cut Noelle off by shaking his head furiously and saying, "no no, Noelle. It doesn't matter what gender you are and it doesn't matter if you're an angel, it's still dangerous to try and take on all of them alone!"

"Andrew's right Noelle. Even though I'm scared to let either of you outside right now, I know you can beat them if you both work together," Julia said slowly.

Noelle looked at both Julia's and Andrew's serious expressions, before sighing loudly. "Fine, you win. But you have to follow my lead, okay Andrew? No running out and announcing our presence. We have to be tactical about this."

Andrew nodded in ascent. "So, what's the plan then?"

"Okay, let me think for a minute," Noelle said, closing her eyes.

Andrew nodded at Noelle before turning to his mom and asking where his aunt and uncle were. "Oh, Sandra and John went out of town to meet one of their friends who lives in the next city. It's a good thing they're not here though, right? Otherwise they could've gotten hurt or something," Julia said.

"Yeah, but the whole point of them coming was to be with you and make sure you're not alone when anything like this is happening," Andrew said, annoyance in his tone.

Julia grabbed Andrew's hand and said, "it's okay Andrew. The main thing is that I'm okay. It isn't their fault that the one day they go out happens to also be the day that demons come in search of Noelle."

"I guess, but..."

"I've got it," Noelle said, standing up and interrupting Andrew's and Julia's conversation.

"What is it?" Andrew asked, both Julia and Andrew turning their attention to Noelle.

"Okay, so first of all, you have to keep your sword drawn at all times okay? Ditch the scabbard for now." Andrew immediately took his sword out and threw the scabbard down on the couch before asking Noelle to continue.