Ailyn waited for the conversation to slow down before she decided to ask her questions. It seemed that the girls had warmed up to their parents. They almost looked like a normal family. She relaxed from her position on the couch and let the children lead the conversation. When there was a comfortable silence between the group, she leaned forward and cleared her throat, gaining the attention of everyone in the room.
"I can see that you both missed your children a lot." Ailyn spoke.
"Yes. We didn't know how much any of you meant to us until we lost you. It was a very dark time for us. At the time, we didn't know you three had run away. We thought a demon took you." Mia began.
"We attacked the underworld, tracking every demon in our Book of Shadows looking for you but... No one seemed to know who you were. After scouring the underworld twice, we found out that a Whitelighter had been protecting three children. We didn't know which Whitelighter and neither the Elders nor other Whitelighters seem to know who this Whitelighter shielding our children was. But I'm glad they were with the one Whitelighter we had trusted the most."
"You're not mad?" Ailyn was almost shocked. She expected some repercussion from her actions. Some form of anger, or sadness, but she was met with sincere gratitude.
"How can we be mad? We were the ones who pushed them away. But we are glad that you had taken them in. We couldn't have asked for a better protector."
Ailyn smiled. She paused for a moment, thinking about what they said and finally replied with a warm, "Thank you."
There was another comfortable silence before she spoke up once more. "Josh, Mia. I have a few questions regarding what happened to your manor."
Josh nodded, "Ask away."
"You said your manor was destroyed by the Demon Fists of Distant Hells, right? Do you know who their leader is?"
Josh shook his head, "There were three leaders. And each commanded a small army of at least a couple hundred. But that's all we know. Our spells weren't very effective against the leaders."
"What spell did you cast?"
"It was our most powerful vanquishing spell, one that uses the power of the Diamond crystal to vanquish all in its path. The crystal we used was the one our ancestors vanquished the Source with. But something went wrong and the crystal shattered into seven shards. We saw one shard disappear after the shockwave of the spell spread out. The three leaders ran inside and tried to fight us. We each took one shard, but in our panic we used our strongest powers together to send the other shards elsewhere."
They took out from underneath their shirts a leather thong with a small spiral golden cage and in it was a shard from their crystal about three inches long and an inch and a half thick. Each shard was unique in shape; Mia's was more slender while Josh's crystal had more girth but with pointed ends.
"Hold up… The Family Diamond? That shattered?" Luz voiced her question, concern evident in her tone.
"Yes, after the sun came back we used it to try and save the manor but..." Mia gestured to her crystal, "We couldn't begin to explain what happened. The crystal just sort of exploded in front of our eyes. The one shard vanquished the army of demons but it only seemed to knockback the leaders. Other than that they weren't harmed by our magic."
"That doesn't make any sense." Sara prodded.
"We know, but it did happened before our very eyes."
"So do you have any idea where you sent the rest of the shards?" Ailyn asked.
Josh shook his head no, "We only know that we sent them far away. They could be anywhere. They could be under this house, in Los Angeles or in Beijing for all we know." Mia explained.
"So what does that mean? We don't have a Diamond anymore?" Geiney asked, confused about the whole situation.
"Like most covenants, we get our powers from our symbols. We still have all of our powers and we are still witches no matter what. But we don't have the Diamond, which functions kind of like a power boost in dire situations." Mia enlightened.
"So we can still fight without the Diamond. You always did say the Diamond was just a token of moral, a symbol." Sara said.
Josh slowly nodded, "All that is true, but it also amplifies our powers; which is why the manor stayed protected for so long, and why even if we brought demons inside, you two always were shielded against their attacks. A fireball could only knock you down, but it could never kill you."
"Well, that was because the Elders also helped with their magic, too. No one could die at the manor as long as they stayed inside the Circle." Mia said.
"Inside the what now?" Geiney asked.
"The Circle is what we called the property of the manor. If you were to visit you would see a circular clearing and in the very center was our manor and school. The trees were the barrier between the real world and ours. As long as you stayed in that parameter you could never die no matter what spell was cast." Geiney tried to grasp the concept but his brain couldn't understand what Josh had just explained.
"Don't worry about it, Geiney. You'd have to see it to know what he's talking about." Sara smiled.
"Other than that, I don't know much about the leaders. We fled shortly afterwards, not having the energy to keep fighting. We hid in the safety of the forest for the night and in the morning fled into the city." Mia concluded.
"Then this might be something I'll have to look into." Ailyn said.
"No, don't. There's nothing left of the manor. Let them keep the remains. We will be back to take revenge, but only when its time. Until then, keep your distance, Ailyn. I know you, and I know you're going to take it upon yourself to help us. But please listen when I tell you to leave it be." Mia said.
Mia turned to her three children and smiled, "We were more than happy to see you three. It truly warms my heart to know the three of them are safe," She turned to Ailyn, "Thank you for keeping them safe."
Ailyn nodded, "I just wish I could've been there for you during the attack." She lamented.
"Don't worry about it, Ailyn. We saw our children, we were able to talk for the first time in years to our children. That is enough of a gift for us."
"So… mom and dad…" Luz paused, the names felt so strange on her tongue that she paused for a brief second, "What are you going to do about the crystal shards?"
The older couple turned to look at each other, "We will find them, eventually. But for now, were waiting for the situation with the Demon Fists to cool before we take any more action."
"What kind of demonic gang names itself Demon Fists of Distant Hells anyways? What are they gonna do, slap you to death?" Geiney poked fun at the name.
Ailyn shrugged, "While their name is as ridiculous as it sounds, their actions speak otherwise, tyke. They are actually a strong rival group. It's best to keep our distance for the time being. We don't need any more demons attacking us for now. We have our hands full."
"At any rate if you three need us for any reason, all you have to do is call for us." Josh offered.
"Call for you?" Geiney questioned.
"The power of the Diamond keeps us connected. Always remember that." Josh smiled.
Ailyn allowed the children to have some more time with their parents before it was time for them to leave. With one last goodbye and a strong embrace for everyone, they left the house feeling content. At least something good came out of the day magic was exposed to the Chief and Geiney was nearly killed at home that they could enjoy. Ailyn's mind was left calm and quiet. She received her answer to her question, and she was glad that they were a family… well, almost a family. But baby steps will always get them to where they need to go and that was enough for Ailyn.
Luke silently approached the quiet, unlit house with deft steps. Grappling with the fence for a few minutes, he finally fell over to the other side. Charlie scaled the fence behind him before tearing his shirt as he crashed into the bushes below.
"Was that your favorite shirt?" Luke asked in a joking tone.
Charlie glared at his friend, "Why are we doing this? Really, stealing from him?"
Luke disregards his friend's concern with a wave of the hand, "And get snubbed again? Not interested."
Luke approached the side of the building and spotted Geiney's window. The window had been left open. What was that about? You'd think they would lock it on their way out. I better not be the only one breaking in right now. For a second, Luke entertained the thought of Alice breaking in and chuckled to himself.
Ignoring the feeling in his gut, Luke set down a backpack he had brought and pulls out a makeshift grappling hook with a hook and bedsheets. Swinging it around, Luke managed to his great relief to get the window on the third try without breaking anything.
Pulling himself up, Luke motioned silently with a hand wave for Charlie to follow. With his first few steps into the house, Luke thanked whatever deities would listen that he had been right.
Opening up Geiney's computer and using his knowledge of the ditcher to get into his computer, he glanced at Alice's conversation and sighed to himself, "So it's her fault, too? Silly girl..."
"Who's a silly girl?" Charlie asked, stepping in behind him.
"Nothin' important," Luke closed out the computer, "Let's investigate downstairs as well."
After checking each of the other rooms, Luke slowly descended the stairs one by one, hoping not to hear any noises.
Charlie reluctantly followed, unsure what exactly his idiotic friend was planning.
After scouring the rooms, Luke found a sharp knife misplaced on the floor; a thin blade with a cold hilt, a small gem in the side that glowed a gentle, deep purple, and a curved edge. "Bingo!"
"You're taking that?" Charlie groaned, "That looks like an heirloom or something!"
"That's the point," Taking out a small notebook and tearing a page out, Luke wrote and spoke aloud, "Took the weird gem knife. Talk to us to get it back, understood? -Charlie and Luke."
Charlie complained, "Don't put my name first!"
Luke rolled his eyes, "Fine." Erasing what he put, he wrote his own name. When Charlie reached the door, Luke rewrote that it was Charlie's idea before smugly smirking and evacuating through the front door.
As the two young men enter an alleyway as they slink away from the well-lit city streets to return to Charlie's house, Charlie complained in earnest, "I swear to god, if you actually put my name down, I'm gonna beat your ass."
"But Chaaarlie, I don't want him to hate me!" Luke whined.
Charlie felt his blood vessels nearly burst, "Then why did we do this in the first place!?"
Luke averted his gaze, "Because I... had to."
Rubbing his temples to calm himself, Charlie decided to drop it. "...Whatever."
"You're mad, aren't you?" Luke frowned.
"I'm not mad."
"You sound mad."
Glaring at Luke, Charlie sighed, "You're an egg."
"A what?"
Before Charlie could answer, a man stepped into the alleyway in front of them, a man with a yellow tie and a business suit cut them off, "Oh...?"
"Act natural," Luke whispered, "Hey, sir... We're just headed home, that's all."
The man walks into the light, "No, excuse me. My name is Yuriel."
Charlie stepped back, feeling uneasy, "Like the angel?"
The cord struck in just the wrong way as the mysterious Yuriel rushed the two of them. Charlie reached for his knife but Yuriel grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the wall. Luke tried to loosen the man's grip, but Yuriel knocked him against the adjoining building by slamming his back into him, flooring him.
"I'm not some human's dog," Yuriel snarled, "Our lord was cast down into Hell for having an opinion, and what have humans done after being chosen!? Purposefully spreading diseases for petty or scientific reasons, waging war, the list goes on..."
Barely able to stand, Luke talked back, "What are you, some nihilist demon?"
Yuriel grinned, materializing a raging fire that surrounded his legs, nearly burning through Charlie's clothes every time his legs flailed near, "Choice words for a lowly human."
Charlie struggled to speak as Yuriel ruthlessly put pressure on his windpipe, smirking all the while, "What did... I do to deserve this?"
"Being human," Yuriel snarled, "Why must demons grovel under the dirt when humans create us more often than not!? Witches like that family you just robbed disgust us in the Underworld! They act better than regular humans because of their powers and dare pretend to be valorous when they exterminate my people like garbage!"
Luke asked, reaching for anything to use against this monster, "Don't you demons cause havoc anyways!?"
Yuriel dismissed this thought, "We're rebelling against the God that threw us away to the winds! The God that rejects us, that these foolish humans worship so dearly!"
"I'm not much of a church guy, but I thought the point of those ideas was to live a good life," Luke reasoned, wracking his brain for any idea, "I doubt most believe you exist in the flesh, right!?"
"And look at what the morality of religion has caused this earth!?" Yuriel spat back, tightening his grip slightly, "The world is hell. We demons just make it clear to those idolizing fools!"
Charlie interjected, "A demon who rejects his own religion...?"
Yuriel growled, "Not for long, I'm afraid. My four allies and I will soon rule this world... I'll be free to exterminate witches and worms to my heart's content!"
Struggling to think of an idea, Luke pulled out the blade he stole and gripped it to his chest, "Charlie, talk some sense into him, please!"
Charlie decided to distract him in the weirdest way he could think of, "If I was Jewish, would you hate me more or less?"
"They don't think of my Lord as a devil, per se, so..." Yuriel stopped to think about it as the flames licked Charlie's toes.
Seizing his chance, Luke jammed the blade deep into Yuriel's neck, barely able to stand as the monstrous man slumped into the wall as he screamed in agony. The demon grasped at Luke's hands but found he was unable to reach in time as his energy was slowly drained.
A dark glow surrounded Luke as the blade plunged deeper and Yuriel's movements ceased. Pulling the knife free with ease, sending blood onto the ground behind him, Luke wiped the rest on the man's coat and put it in a holder he used for an old knife he once had.
"You just... killed that thing!?" Charlie exclaimed, clutching his strained throat, "For real!?"
Luke glanced down at it, feeling the weird aura enter his body, "I... Yes. Whatever. We should hurry, before the police..." Yuriel's body began to fade, "...Thanos?"
Charlie bopped Luke on the head, "Dude, really?"
"It's fine... I hope. Anyways, let's hurry back, please." Luke urged as they both walked quickly out of the alley.
Luke and Charlie reached the latter's house and Luke began to leave, "Charlie, let's just not discuss this. Okay?"
"Stealing from Geiney was an awful idea... What if he really is a witch like that guy said?" Charlie's eyes widened, "What if his demon hunting... is why he's busy so much lately?"
"There have been increased and unexplained events in town, lately," Luke noted, "Maybe this will get his attention faster than I thought," He grinned sinisterly as the aura inside him showed on his shoulders.
"Dude... You're glowing..." Charlie's mouth hung open, "I am too sober for this..."
Luke glared at him, "No drinking underage. Maybe it's the knife's fault... I felt weird when I impaled that dude," Luke concluded to himself, "Maybe... No, that's stupid. Probably an after effect of using this magic item." The aura dissipated and Luke shrugged, "See?"
Charlie was the least bit convinced, "You have to tell him."
"And if that Yuriel dude was lying, I'll look insane and be put away. Not happening,"
Luke shot the idea down firmly, "If he brings up that witch stuff first, then I will. Okay?"
Reluctantly, Charlie submitted, "Fine, whatever... Seriously, what was that about?"
"Hell if I know," Luke chuckled at his bad joke, "I'll see you tomorrow. D Hall."
"Like always, I know," Charlie replied in a tired, dismissive tone.
After reuniting with their parents, Luz and Sara had grown to realize that they themselves had been treating Geiney too forcefully, giving them feelings of guilt. This culminated in a growing wish to compromise. Luz had talked to Sara in private late in the evening after they went to speak with their parents, and decided to surprise Geiney with a little speech.
"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Geiney asked as he yawned, sitting on the couch in the living room, the evening before taking quite a toll on his mind and body.
"Well, we were thinking a lot about what we were doing, and what we wanted to change. And all of this affected you, too. So I guess what I want to tell you is that we won't force training you as often as we have been doing."
"You mean that?" Geiney asked shocked at what his sisters had told him.
"Yes, we thought the weekdays would be for you friends and your education. We know you haven't been able to hang out with them as much as you wanted to so you're welcome to take the rest of the week off. We can train on the weekends, but we promise we won't be as hard on you as we have been doing all this time." Luz said.
"Our parents were right about you last night. You ran away to see our parents because we were doing the same to you as they did to us. We told you you couldn't see them and that wasn't right. For that, we're sorry."
Geiney smiled, feeling a warm feeling inside him. He remained cautious, "Are you sure? I know you've just wanted to help me grow."
"We're sure, little bro," Sara reassured him, "I... have to be better. We all do."
"Thank you guys..." Geiney hugged them both and cursed at himself not to cry.
"We also wanted to tell you that you did an exceptional job at vanquishing Jeremy on your own. That took a lot of courage and strength to do. You were very clever on your vanquish, Weapon blessing. You vanquished him by yourself and that was an accomplishment of being a witch. Finally a little respectable, aren't you?"
"Who are you and what have you done to my sisters?" Geiney asked, squinting his eyes at both his older siblings.
Luz chuckled, "We mean it, Geiney. Last night kind of kicked us in the butt. We had to confront some bad feelings last night, about our parents and ourselves. So we decided to become more lax on the subject. So for today, have fun with your friends." She clasped him on the shoulder.
He smiled and hugged his sisters once more. "Thanks, I will!"
"Now, hurry up or you'll be late for school."
Geiney strode into the school hallway with a smile on his face. He strutted with confidence as he walked the familiar halls to his locker. When he got to his locker, he remembered the note his friends had left and his mood changed. He needed to find Charlie and Luke and get that Athame back.
"Hey, there's this guy who is just destroying the basketball team!" Geiney stopped and listened in to a conversation taking place between two students not far from him.
"What? Get out." The student raised his eyebrow.
"I'm serious! Go look! I didn't think this guy had it in him. He may not look like it, but the bro can play sports!"
"Who is he?"
"I think his name is Luke. He goes to my fourth period a talker, but he's destroying them right now! The co-captain's cryin' like a bitch!" His friend talked excitedly.
"Then let's go!" They rushed out with a loud slam of the lockers.
"It couldn't be…" Geiney whispered to himself.
He began to walk in the direction of the P.E court where the basketball team practiced. He followed the same path the two students took, but as he took the corner to the next hall he saw Garrett and his gang of bullies approach.
"Hey, look! It's the terrorist!" Geiney rolled his eyes.
"I make one pleasant comment about the Middle East and all of a sudden I'm a terrorist. Right, cuz that's how that works."
"Me and you have a score to settle." He smiled deviously, referring to when he corrected Garrett during a presentation. He was the unfortunate fool to get partnered up with him and while Geiney did all the research on the subject, Garrett only read it in an article online. Actually, it seemed that Garrett skimmed the information on the web because all of it was completely wrong, and in the process Geiney embarrassed Garrett in front of the whole class.
"I'm not scared of you, Garrett." Geiney crossed his arms over his chest in defiance.
"We'll see about that." As he walked past Geiney he shoved him to the wall, knocking Geiney to the ground. Garrett and his gang of bullies laughed and walked away, high-fiving each other.
"One of these days I'm going to knock him off his throne. What's the big deal with jocks anyways? There's nothing special about them." He wiped the dirt off his pants when a voice spoke.
"I know, right?" Geiney turned around, expecting to find someone there, but was stunned when he turned to an empty hallway.
"Uh… what?" Geiney whispered.
Meow. Something poked his shin and he looked down to see a happy cat wagging its tail back and forth.
The cat meowed once more at Geiney and climbed up a rail. It turned to Geiney once more, wagging its tail slowly back and forth. Geiney was startled by the fact that there was a cat in the school. How did it get in here? The cat meowed a third time, and as Geiney took three steps to face the cat better, the sun hit the cat in such a way that it almost looked like the cat had a halo to it. It was the perfect Kodak moment for a celestial image. The sun's rays engulfed the body of the cat… Almost looked like a little furry guardian angel.