Inner Demons | Phoenix Force Book II

A Banshee's Duty Pt.2

Shannon Yulie
I sat on the front of Oscar's car, we were still outside the warehouse. We wanted to ask Walker if she knew where this "Bolt" figure could be hiding out, but with it being so late at night Oscar figured to try looking into Banshee's data files first.

Oscar was using the computer built into the car's screen to access the files while I breathed in the cold night air.

I saw car lights, not actually here in front of me. But years ago, there was a car just like this one that drove up our little house in upstate New York.

My brother Cody and I were young, I would've been ten years old tops, Cody being six or seven at the time, a group of Banshee agents came out of the cars, all wearing black tuxedos and sunglasses. These agents weren't kind faced and warm like Oscar was, they were cold and me being a little kid, these agents scared me.

Along with them was the Banshee Elder, they sat a half asleep Cody and I at our small dining room table.

"These agents and I worked with your mother, she just had a assignment and she-" The Elder started.

"When is Mom coming home?" Cody asked rubbing his eyes.

"Your mother won't be coming home" The Elder explained sadly.

At this point, I knew what was going on, from the sad face that the Elder wore, to the bleak tone that the Agents were gathering from there presence.  I just don't think Cody grasped it being younger then me.

"She lied!" I shouted standing up from my chair.

"She promised me that the Banshee never fails!" I cried falling into the Elder's arms. "She promised me she would always be there to protect me, she promised" 

Cody stood up his chair, wondering what was going on, confused and worried, he was probably wondering why his big strong sister was breaking down into tears.

"What's wrong Shannon?" Cody asked placing his hand on my back.

"Mom's dead!" I shouted breaking the Elder's grip and running upstairs. 

I sat on the top stair, crying into my hands for almost a hour. Most of the agents left the house, a few stayed behind to watch over us. The Elder put Cody to bed, still not understanding the fact that our mother was never coming back, The Elder sat down beside me on the step and placed a arm around me.

"I know you must be angry, perhaps scarred, maybe you don't know what to feel" The Elder spoke.

"But your mother died a hero, she saved hundreds of lives today. That is something we will never forget" The Elder explained holding me tight, trying to comfort me.

"What happened?" I asked. "How did she-"

"How Shannon, I don't know if I should tell you that" The Elder explained rubbing my arm and holding me tighter.

"Please" I spoke, sniffling and rubbing the tears from my eyes.

"I need to know"

The Elder nodded. "Alright, well your mother, she told you all about the Ghouls? Those ghostly monsters that the Banshee protects the world from?" 

I nodded.

"Well, there was a break out, a couple dozen of these beasts were destroying this city called Paris. They managed to destroy most of the ghouls, sending them back to the demon world. But one of them, a powerful ghoul known as a Dark One, possessed one of our agents and threatened innocent lives. The ghouls planted bombs inside a building, they took down our agent, and your mother went to the building to save the citizens. She ugh, she got the people out, but there was a baby still inside. The agent broke free, and used the detonator to blow up the building, by Hades, not even your mother could survive the blast" The Elder spoke pulling me closer and kissing me on the head. I remember the only thing I could think of for weeks after that was why didn't my father save her? He was god of the sky, he was god of lightning, why didn't the father I never met, the god I idolized so much couldn't save my mother?