The Demon Dealings

I was standing at the edge of a lake. It was a clear blue color, the waters were calm and the sun reflected nicely off it. I reveled in the quiet moment with everything yet nothing on my mind. There was so much going on that I couldn’t explain and there was so much more yet to come. But somehow I knew this quiet moment, lost in my thoughts wouldn’t last.

In the tress behind me that partially framed the lake there were soldiers. Soldiers I would risk my life for, however I wasn’t one hundred percent sure why. I knew I hadn’t been here long but I had a purpose and that purpose tied to everyone behind me.

“She won’t be here tonight.” I wasn’t surprised at his presence. I knew exactly who he was without knowing it, without seeing him.

“That’s not what I’m worried about.” I didn’t take my eyes away from the horizon, the direction we knew she was coming from.

“Then what are you worried about?” His voice held little emotion, almost as if he were analyzing me.

I turned around to face him, my eyes wild and angry. When I saw his face something clicked, something flashed through my head and that something was a name. “Spiros.” I paused, “I’m not worried about anything.”

“You miss it.” He said slowly, his eyes narrowed. “You were brought here as one of twelve, you were brought here to bring an end to this. And you’re just as vested in this as I am.” I forced a smile, “We can’t end this war without you, all twelve of you.”

“It’s just she’s… she’s just so…” I couldn’t find the words to finish my thoughts so I stopped and turned away to look at the lake again in attempts to calm my ever growing nerves.

“She’s made a deal and with every deal there is a loop hole. You should know this better than anyone. I was the one to make the deal. That’s why I’m helping you to break it.” Spiros’s hand hovered above my should as if he were going to reassure me but thought better of it.

“I guess you’re right…” I said slowly and let out a breath. All things meet their end.

“Of course I’m right.” He smirked; I could hear it on his voice. “Or else you wouldn’t be here. Now let’s finish the preparations.”

When I woke up I was slightly confused. What was with the dream and why was Spiros in it? I hardly knew the guy. I mean there must have been something there or was it a coincidence?

I sat up and let out all of the air in my lung, staring down at my simple light green bed covers. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and let it out. I blankly looked out at my room. There were clothes scattered about because I was too lazy to actually put them away but that was something I’d considered normal.

It wasn’t very logical that I should have a dream like this. I of all people should have known that something was happening. Something I couldn’t yet explain. I knew that I shouldn’t be dreaming of people I’d just met but I also knew that sometime my dreams didn’t actually have any meaning. So I shrugged it off.

I shifted in the bed so that my feet would touch the floor but wasn’t quite ready to get up. I could feel an idea lurking in my mind, a possible answer to my questions but it was crushed when my mom knocked on the door.

My head shot up to look at it, “Natasha?” She called but when I didn’t answer she continued, “time to get up. You have to be at school in 45 minutes.”

“I’m up.” I all but mumbled and listened for her to walk away.

I shooed the feeling lurking at the back of my mind and moved to get ready. Grabbing what was in the clean pile on the floor which consisted of jeans and a v-neck. I paused for a second scanning the room and immediately moved to put on my boots once my eyes found them sitting in the corner of my room.

I grabbed necessary school items and stuffed them in my back pack before jogging down the stairs. The second I spotted my mother in the kitchen I knew I would be eating a light breakfast. I popped two pieces of bread into the toaster and waited for her to start speaking.

“Hey Natasha, don’t forget that we have a session today after school.” She glanced at me as she poured her creamer into a mug of coffee. I supposed it was to gauge my reaction considering I didn’t have the best track record with planned training sessions.

“Alright mom.” I grumbled, “Not something I’m likely to forget…” I muttered and rolled my eyes at her.

Not much was said between us in the mornings. More often than not she would leave right after I’d gotten out of bed and never managed more than a quick good-bye. It probably had something to do with the fact that I was never a morning person and would bite her head off if she said too much.

That never ended well for either of us.

“Look, Natasha, I need you to be ready this time because last time-“ I cut her off.

“Mom! I’ll be ready. No need to get on my back. I’ll be here when you get back from work.” See what I mean by biting her head off? I flinched at my tone, on the inside not knowing what she would do.

“Good.” She said rather firmly, “I’ll see you when I get home.” She grabbed her travel mug and walked out the door, “Bye sweetie.” She called to me but I didn’t respond.

I really did not like mornings.

I was still grumpy when I met Carys and Ian for lunch at school. I was not overly fond of the fact that I actually had after school plans and I definitely was not fond of my classes before lunch. Together they made a rather annoying combination.

I usually managed a decent personal bubble on days like this one. And that day was no exception. People parted the halls as I walked to lunch still somewhat sulky and somehow magically the noise in the lunch room reduced to a dull roar which was a miracle in its self.

I sat down at our usual table, tripping on one of the connected plastic chairs/benches.

“Son of a!” I muttered.

“Be careful, Nash.” Carys said after I’d managed to sit down.

I groaned in annoyance and pulled my lunch out from the bag it was stored in. Somehow I’d accidentally murder my sandwich in the process. More mood killers. It was just what I needed.

“Lovely.” I almost smacked my head on the table in defeat. “I’m still going to eat this.” I determined.

Carys raised an eyebrow, “good luck?”

“Luck not needed.” I tackled the sandwich rather violently and Carys watched somewhat concerned and somewhat grossed out at my savageness.

“Your mother got on your back this morning didn’t she?” Carys asked somewhat concerned.

I finished my sandwich before answering.

“Yeah well… you know how she is.” I sighed looking at the table, picking at the mystery substance sitting there until I realized just how gross it probably was. Which resulted in a pulling my hand away from the table with a grimace and I whipped it on my pants.

“Actually no I don’t. You won’t let me meet her… in fact you won’t let any of us meet her…” She gave me a pointed look which I chose to ignore.

“Where’s Jane? Shouldn’t she be here gloating or something right about now?” I asked Carys. My brow furrowed. It wasn’t like her to avoid telling us of her latest conquest.

“I don’t know… I haven’t heard from her since yesterday.” Carys too looked confused.

“Maybe she’s just with Cade. I don’t see him around.” Ian offered in attempts to be optimistic.

“No… He doesn’t eat lunch inside… Let’s go find him.” I stood up from the lunch table but Carys put her hand on my arm to stop me.

“Nash. Don’t over react. She’s done this before. Let’s just wait a bit before we go confronting people.” Carys told me, always the voice of reason.

“Ugh… I guess you’re right but I don’t have to like it.” I flopped back into my chair which was probably a mistake because I almost lost my balance and ate it for the second time that day.

Ian chuckled and was met by Carys’s slap to his arm. She looked over to me after giving her BF a small glare, “I don’t like it either but you and I both know Jane. And we both know there is nothing we can do about it.”

I only nodded in response. Suddenly my lunch didn’t look so good. Probably because I smooshed it a little…

I was determined to make the rest of my day better, so I came up with a game plan during class and by the time school was over I was ready to execute. But there was one problem… my mother.

I’d done this to her before. I’d decided I had better things to do than train the abilities that no one knew I had or would ever knew I had. I just didn’t see the point. And she knew this. That was why she usually just sprang training sessions on me at random. To test my abilities and further enhance them where she saw weakness. However this was one of those rare times she had actually told me of her plans.

I probably should not have taken that for granted but I did. And it happened every time.

So there I was, blowing her off just to see if I could find Jane. It was on my list of better things to do. So I found myself at the mall where she would normally hang out after school if she wasn’t hanging out with one of her awesome friends (IE me.)

That was cocky wasn’t it…? Oh well.

I sat there in the food court trying not to look like a creeper. It was an easy thing to do in this small no name town in Wisconsin mostly because people here are used to creepers and therefore know how to spot them.

So far I had nothing. So I decided to get up and walk around hoping to have better luck. I walked passed A&F, American Eagle and even Hollister. No luck. But just when I was starting to think I wasn’t going to get anything, not here anyways I saw one of the last people I expected.

I ducked into the nearest store, hoping to remain unseen as Cade passed. I waited a few seconds after he went by to exit the store, ignoring the worker as she yelled for me to have a good day. I followed him, attempting to listen in on his conversation but heard next to nothing.

He and his friend stopped somewhere near an exit and the bro hugged. Cade looked over his shoulder when his friend ditched him for something better and I ducked behind the closest object which just so happened to be a plant.

I heard him laugh. “A plant isn’t a very good hiding place.” He told me.

“Shit.” I muttered. Might as well come out I thought as I huffed.

“Hi.” He greeted me with a charming smile.

“Have you seen Jane?” Crap. Word vomit. It always got me into trouble.

He laughed again. “No, I haven’t seen her since lunch yesterday.” He was still smiling and I began to feel more frustrated.

“Well, I haven’t heard from her in a while and she had a thing for you so I expected her to be with you. But I guess that’s not the case… obviously.” I stuffed my hands into my pockets awkwardly.

“Well, you could have just asked me that.” He said nicely.

“How was I supposed to know you weren’t meeting her? She would have been pissed if she found I’d talked to you before her date or whatever.” My hand flew from out of my pockets and I waved them around frustrated.

“Well, I told her that I like someone else. This girl is very attractive and pretty cool but I haven’t said much to her.” I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at him being smitten over some girl.

“You haven’t said much to her? Isn’t that a little weird mister popular?” I smiled, trying to contain my laughter.

“It doesn’t help that we don’t run in the same circles. I have fewer excuses to approach her.”

“Haven’t you ever heard of the accidental run in?” I expected him to be more smooth.

“Maybe… although sometimes it really is accidental.” He winked at me as if there was some sort of inside joke but I sure as hell wasn’t getting it.

“Well then maybe next time you should go for the direct approach. Girls like that.” I told him, hoping to get rid of him but I was also glad he liked someone else and I wouldn’t be left to clean up her broken heart when he moved on. It seemed like he did that a lot.

“I think I might try that some time.”

“Awesome. Good talking to you Cade. I have a friend to find.” I walked around him and could feel his eyes on me as I passed.

“Good bye Nash.” He said behind me but I ignored him and continued walking.

What a weirdo.

Not ten minutes later I got a phone call from my mother. I shouldn’t have been as surprised as I was. So I ignored it and went on my way. I was going home anyways… to start brain storming on where I should go next and decided I should take my own advice and try the direct approach.

The direct approach didn’t work on my mother, however. When I got home she started yelling very very loudly. So I didn’t even bother to explain to her where I was or what I was doing.

“You always do this! You always have somewhere better to be when we’re supposed to be training. How are you supposed to grow or get any better if you keep avoiding it?!” My mother cried. Her hands were on her hips. She meant business.

“I dunno. Magic.” I shrugged at her and almost snickered at my smart ass remark. I wish it was magic.

“Don’t sass me! We’re going an hour extra today.” She said sternly.

“But moooommmm!” I cried and slumped over a little bit. I would be dragging my feet all the way.

“Come on.” She said shortly, “Let’s go.” She shooed me into our den where we did most of the training. And I blocked out all other thoughts as it took all of my concentration to pull off the miracle that my mother was asking for.

It took three hours of mental hell for mommy dearest to call it quits. We were both mentally exhausted by the time it was over. It took a lot out of her to push me like she did and the harder she pushed me to reinvent myself the less I would want to do it again next time.

I let out a long sigh when I entered my room relieved to allow my mind and body some sleep. I didn’t even care about brainstorming when I glanced at my bed. I was dead tired and was out as soon as my head hit the pillow.

It was dark, the room, or rather hallway I was standing in was barely lit by a flickering torch. I could tell by the walls and floors that we were in some sort of fortress and if the stone was any indication it was a castle. The air was musty but I ignored it.

The lake was long gone but the memory or what had happened was fresh in my mind. We had lost men, so many men because somehow she knew we were coming. She outnumbered us and almost took us out.

I was determined now, more than ever to take her out. I was determined to figure out how she’d known, who was the snitch? So I stood outside the room as one of our soldiers interrogated one of hers. Spiros was close behind me, listening as well.

“How did she know what we were planning?” The interrogator asked calmly.

The prisoner laughed. “Do you really think your organization is so tight? There’s water escaping from somewhere.”

“A mole.” I whispered. “But who is it?”

Spiros wore a stern look knowing what was coming next. I think he also knew what I was planning when he placed his hand on my upper arm.

“Who’s the mole?” The interrogator was still calm.

“She has spies everywhere.” I could hear the smirk on the man’s voice.

“Who’s the mole!?” The interrogator yelled. I could hear the sound of flesh on flesh as the interrogator hit the man.

“It doesn’t matter now. He’s dead. She got what she wanted from him.” The prisoner laughed.

“Dustin.” I muttered in disbelief. “It was him. One of the twelve.” I stormed into the room before Spiros could stop me.

It was how you would expect it. Dark, bare and with a man tied to a chair. I looked at him with a hard expression.

“What did she want with Dustin?” I glared hard at him.

“She didn’t want anything with Dustin. It was you she wanted.” He smiled evilly, blood coating his mouth. There was something terrifying about it. About her that I couldn’t put my finger on.

“Natasha.” Spiros warned as he grabbed my arm and hauled me from the room.

“Well, she won’t get me.” I took a deep breath, “I’m going to kill her.” I resolved.

And kill her was something I would do. But first I had to meet with the other ten. They still had a large part to play in the war and I knew if I was actually going to stand a chance at killing her I would need them to finish it.

I left the room and went back to my original spot in the hall way, facing away from Spiros.

“Spiros, I need to talk to the others. There are some things we need to discuss before we fight her again.” I didn’t look at him.

“Before you jump into this, think about the deal. I agreed to help you so we could break this deal and the only way to do that is to banish her from this world. You can’t do that without a plan.” Spiros reasoned but I barely listened to a word he said.

“Oh, I have a plan.”