As I make my own path, I keep the flame flowing out of my hands hitting every demon I come across. If I had thought the screeching was awful before, I was wrong. I would normally feel awful, but they are wanting to keep souls that should be going to their peaceful afterlife. They are keeping me from the Flame for a reason, and it's not okay with me.
It doesn't take long until I'm next to the guys. Now each one is fighting two demons each. I grab my sword and stab the one in front of Luke through the chest. As it disappears the other three demons back away when they realize I'm there.
They turn to move away, and I call the flames out again. I light each one of them on fire. Their red eyes bulge and they scream as they burn to their death.
"Uh..." Dax clears his throat and puts his sword away. "Are you okay?"
Why would he be asking that? I'm more than okay. For once, I have a clear path I want to be on. "Yeah, why?"
"You have fire coming out of your hands." He raises both hands up and he chuckles. "That's not normal so just wanted to check."
It's kind of surprising Dax is the first one to speak. I figured it would be Luke. I glance at him.
His eyes are full of concern and the corner of his eyes are wrinkled. "Do you feel all right?"
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Okay, now I'm surprised. His first question isn't about the flame? What's his play?
24
I stare at Luke still reeling in my shock from his first question. "But I got the flame so we're good to go." I mean, he was going to ask that.
"Good." He nods and lets out a breath. "Thank god. I don't want to think about having to come down here again."
Ha. But yet Dax and I had to come down here twice. So there still is a little of the pretentiousness in him; good. I don't want my world to be rocked more than it already is.
"If we're done down here, we better get going." Dax glances around and takes a step closer to us. "We're in the clear now, but more could come at any second."
Dammit. He's right. "All right, I'm on it." Since Luke is with us, I picture his office at the mansion.
They circle around me and Dax reaches out and touches our arms. I project the image out to him and we're soon out of hell. The swirling doesn't bother me like it has in the past and it almost feels as if I can control our destination if I want... but that has to be crazy.
Soon our feet hit ground and we're back in Luke's office. The room is sharper than ever before, and there are footsteps walking past the door I didn’t hear before now.
Luke walks over and puts his swords back in place and drops the backpack on the ground. "Oh, thank God. I'm so glad to be back."
"You don't have to say that twice." Dax walks over next to him, putting his swords and knives up as well.
Yeah, I'm keeping mine. I'm not giving them back. I might need them again. "So... I'm going to borrow these for a while."
"Uh... Christina, they aren't..." Dax's head snaps my way.
"No, she's right." Luke nods and scratches his neck. "You do need to be protected at all times and you're more than capable with them. Take them for as long as you need."
Huh, that was easy. "Cool. All right, well I'm going to head home." I turn to head out the door.
"Wait, please." Luke's tone isn't the usual command. "I'd like to talk to you. After what just happened, we need to get you on the council as soon as possible, so can we talk for a minute."
Here we go again. I've got the artifacts so let's lock me into the council. I want to ignore him and walk out the door, but something is keeping me there. "Is this all about the balance or is there something else you want to share with me?" I cross my arms and stare him down. I'm tired of games and bull shit. "Why don't you just level with me for once?"
"Fine. The reason I've been telling you is the politically correct one." He licks his lips and then stands tall. "The main reason, the one that stays here in this room, is I want to clean up the council."
What? Did he just say that? That wasn't what I was expecting to hear. "What do you mean? You are part of the council."
"Margaret and I..." he begins, but stumbles for a second, "we started out thinking we would come into this position and work with people that had the best intentions for not only the reaper community but the whole supernatural world. What we found was the opposite."
Dax doesn't seem surprised by what's being said, and he goes to sit down on the couch.
Wow, these two are closer than I realized, and finally I'm being told what I always thought about this council. I don't understand why everyone else is blind.
"At first it was Margaret and I trying to work together to make changes until something shifted." Luke's eyes stare off into the distance and he rubs at his chest. "She went away with the Eldest Lady for some one-on-one training and when she came back, she had changed. She said she was shown things and that we were wrong to be against them, and that's when she began focusing on you."
"On me?" What is he talking about? She seemed pretty far gone the past few years when I saw her in just passing.
"Dear sweet girl, do you
