Faith Forgotten

Prologue

Prologue

 

The town was quiet, as would be expected of a small town in the middle of a midnight thunderstorm. The streets, usually home to handfuls of friendly people, were now abandoned and dark. The concrete took its beating from the heavy autumn rain while lightning flashed in the distance. 

Hidden by a curtain of water and mist, a girl walked cautiously through a back alley, running her hand along the brick wall of the building next to her. Her lips were pursed tightly and her silvery-blue eyes were determined as she took each splashing step.

When she reached her destination - an inconspicuous door hidden among the bricks - she stopped for only a moment. Quickly, for she did not want to be seen (though she was never seen), she pulled a bobby pin from her matted, light reddish-brown hair and worked it around inside the lock of the door.

She was in within seconds. 

Though the girl had disappeared, the rain continued. It poured and poured, created clouds of mist on the ground and fog in the air. It continued while she was inside, and it continued when she came back out.

Now through with her mission, the girl started back the way she came, through the back alleys. She stayed in the shadows, listening intently for footsteps or signs of people - or something else. 

She walked quickly, determinedly, with a purpose. That purpose was to get out of the city and into the woods as fast as possible and without being noticed.

However, as she had already learned before, nothing ever goes the way you want it to.

She heard one footstep behind her. That was enough to cause her to reach, as inconspicuously as possible, for the knife she kept in the waistband of her jeans.

Another footstep. Her fingers wrapped around the handle and her eyes narrowed. 

One more. She pulled out the knife and spun around, taking a defensive stance against whatever was following her, whether it be human or worse. Her hair whipped against her face and her knife glistened in the rain.

Nothing. There was no one there.

She blinked, confused. No, that couldn’t be. She knew she had heard something. Only occasionally had she ever made up a noise, and that was years ago. No, there had to be something.

“I know you’re there,” she said to the rain.

“Clever girl, that Faith Johnson,” the rain replied scornfully.

Of course, it wasn’t the rain. It was the demon hiding in the rain.

The demon lunged at Faith, its own knife drawn. Faith gritted her teeth and slid sideways, hitting her shoulder against the wall but avoiding the attack. The demon skidded to a stop, her knife slipping out of her hands. 

Faith grinned and jumped behind the demon. She wrapped her arm around it’s shoulders and held the knife at its neck.

“You need more training,” Faith growled. 

“You need a better weapon,” the demon laughed, the sharpness of her teeth glinting. “Knives can’t kill demons.”

“Oh, can’t they?” Faith asked. “Well...”

She took her knife and stabbed the demon in her lower back, twisting the handle. The demon’s eyes widened and glowed, almost electrically, then died down as the life left both the creature and its human host. 

Faith pulled the knife out of the lifeless host, then kicked the body to the ground.

“This one can.”

Triumphant, Faith stood over the body, glaring at it as blood pooled around them and mixed with the rain. She lifted her eyes from the ground and looked further down the alley. 

Someone was there.

Though she panicked immediately, no expression crossed her face. She stared at the person - a boy, about eighteen. Maybe half a foot taller than her. That was all she could see through the wall of rain.

They stood, staring each other down. 

Lightning flashed. 

For a moment, she saw the outline of wings on his form.