Angels and the Ancients

Prologue

Edited as of 7/3/15

The new version is dedicated to the wonder SMC_Scookie thank you for your input. Just the small amount of help you provided made this chapter SO MUCH BETTER. Thank you!

The night everything fell apart ...  

Alena scrambled to get her gear together. No matter how much Alena thought she prepared, her forgetfulness always managed to shine through at inopportune times. This time she forgot her talisman, arguably the most important part of her ensemble.

She tore up the stairs to her bedroom and frantically scanned the room with her golden-flecked chocolate eyes and finally spotted the necklace hanging on her bed post. The simple silver necklace caught the light from her bedside lamp. The short thin chain adorned with a platinum S charm felt warm in her hand as she threw it around her slender neck.

She ran back downstairs where her friends waited on her. Cole, Gemma and Aven waited in the entrance hall while her twin brother Ryker lounged against railing. He wasn't coming, he rarely went patrolling with us. Ryker liked to stay inside when the sun went down.

Alena fiddled with her talisman and whispered her race's mantra.

"Gabriel, watch over me, Hecate, protect me."

Simple words that were laced with the power of her ancient bloodline and invoked the protection of her ancestors.

Alena made her way past Ryker and rustled his hair as she took her place next to Cole.

"You guys ready?" asked Alena.

"Yeah! Miss Never-On-Time, the four of us have been ready. Now come on, I'm already debating on what I'm ordering when we get back." Aven said as a dreamy look came over his face.

That was Aven for you, always thinking about food. He had two things that kept him going, food and Gemma. Gemma is Cole's sister, Alena's best friend and most importantly Aven's better half.

The five of them had grown up together. Gemma and Cole came to live with Alena, Aven and Ryker fifteen years ago after they lost both their parents. The five of them became inseparable over the years.

As years passed, more of their kind came to live at the big house in the Spanish city of Barcelona. Joshua arrived a few years after Cole and Gemma and then came the twins Jules and Charlotte with their older brother Cash. They all got along rather well but the bond between the five of them outshone the other relationships in the house.

Ryker made his way over to the four hunters.

"Be safe. Call me when you're coming back and I'll order what you decide on." he told them.

"Sounds perfect, love you brother. See you soon."

They filed out the front door, Ryker shook the guys' hands and kissed Gemma and Alena on the cheek. None of them knew how the night would end.

-

As the last one out the door, Alena closed it and pressed her hand firmly against the door until her pink light flooded her fingertips. She heard the lock click and pushed off into the street with the others.

Only members of their unique race could unlock and enter the house.

They headed down the street in no particular hurry. Tonight was a routine sweep of the city.

Their focus on the harbors because of the trace amounts of demonic energies detected on the map in the Library.

Alena put a ward around the group to render them invisible to the people who came out to play in the magical city. Even at midnight, the city teamed with locals and tourists out for mischief.