The Darkness Within

21 - Dark Places and Hiding Shadows

As a precautionary measure in case the demons were tracking them, they would be taking a commercial plane all the way to Germany. When they arrived at the airport, there were two angels that were waiting for them with two huge animal carriers that Tala and Fenna were to ride in. Ciara watched, still in her 'human' body to keep her reincarnation a secret, as Lucienne thanked them, sent them on their way, and then surveyed the animal carriers.

"How are they going to allow a huge wolf and tiger onto the plane?" Ciara asked. She understood that flying on commercial airlines was less trackable than the Light Goddess's private plane but this seemed like a pretty big giveaway. Not to mention that the animals would not likely even be allowed onto the plane.

Lucienne gave her a mischievous smile. "They're spelled by pixies and pixies excel in illusionary magic. They will think the containers have normal dogs in them."

With new eyes, Ciara turned back to the containers before smiling a bit. Magic is so cool, she thought to herself. I wish I had found out sooner, there's so much I don't know about it.

"Put your weapons in the containers too, the magic should hide their presence," Lucienne said and Ciara followed by pulling her various blades out of her bag and putting them into the container. There was a plush liner at the bottom to make the space more comfortable for her wolf.

When she was done, Tala climbed in without any complaints and Ciara closed the door. Immediately the magic took effect and the container shrunk before her eyes. What had once been an almost horse-sized, black-furred, meadow-green-eyed wolf was now a sweet looking all-black German Shepherd with chocolate eyes in a standard airline pet carrier. A glance over at Lucienne's container showed that Fenna was concealed as a smiling, super fluffy, Samoyed. Ciara almost laughed, the tiger went from terrifying in an I-could-bite-your-head-off-in-one-bite way to a happy-go-lucky dog.

Lucienne threw her backpack over her shoulder and Ciara followed suit. The container holding Tala was surprisingly easy to carry and they began to make their way through the underground parking garage.

After a moment, Ciara realized that it was a little too quiet in the dark space. However, she was a second too late in her realization and could only drop the container with Tala in it and turn to her attacker behind her.

She narrowly avoided the demon's dark-metaled blade and jumped to the side. Unfortunately, there were more demons in the area and she was immediately engaged in a fight with the extremely-fast demon that she almost ran into. The movements of her opponent were hard and brutal and she knew even one hit from the male would end with her losing.

She moved out of the way of the male's fist before bringing her elbow down on his forearm hard. The bones broke upon contact and as he was gasping in pain, she punched him squarely in his nose, breaking it and knocking him out.

She didn't have time to be happy about the success because the second the male fell to the ground, the demon with the blade was back. When Ciara turned she could see Lucienne fighting in the background, surrounded by about five demons. The flares of light coming from her illuminated the space in flashes and made it harder to focus on her opponent.

She backpedaled as the female demon advanced and stared in horror as two more demons, both males, stepped out of the shadows and flanked the first.

The once quiet space was filled with the shouts, growls, and clangs of Lucienne's fight and the two caged Champions. Ciara cursed herself for not keeping a weapon on hand as the demons spread out around her. The female and one of the males each carried one wicked-looking blade crafted from dark metal. The third, however, held two long, thin, and tortuous looking swords, one for each hand.