"Let's go check everything out before we grab our bags, okay?" Arie suggested.

"Sounds like a plan." Athen nodded.

As the door swung open, a wave of cold air blasted us all. The demons had been there, and recently.

"I thought they didn't come inside our homes much?" I asked, perplexed.

"They tend not to, but I think it's safe to say that they're on a mission and being that it involves us, the rules are changing quickly." Cyril said, as he went through the pantry cautiously.

Cyril and Arie's movements were very calculating and deliberate. They weren't taking this latest violation lightly, which signaled that I shouldn't either. Following their lead, I lightened my footsteps and did my best to become noiseless. Athen was right behind me, quietly closing the door.

As I was making my way to the kitchen, Athen's hand grabbed mine, jerking me to a complete stop. Confused, I turned to look at him, realizing he didn't want me in front of him, I rolled my eyes jokingly and let him move ahead of me. Being that he had only recently come back to us, it was hard to fathom that his skill and strength far exceeded mine. There was a small part of me that was secretly relieved, because I knew, for whatever reason, his fighting level was far better.

Cyril went to the right towards the living room with Arie following behind, and I followed Athen up the stairs to our bedrooms. With every step leading us higher up the stairs, the chill became more and more evident. Once we reached the top, Athen signaled for us to go to our room first. The door was closed, which I knew was different from when we left at the holidays.

Athen grabbed the door handle, turning it slightly, able to open it only a few inches before a crunching sound stopped the movement. Athen jiggled the door a few more times with no success. He shook his head at me, and I reached for the handle myself, moving the door back and forth a few times.

"It's like it's chained from the inside out." I whispered. I ran across the hall to check on Cyril and Arie's door, which flew right open. Spinning back around, Cyril and Arie were up the stairs signaling the all-clear for the downstairs of the home.

I shook my head at them and pointed at our door.

"I think it's chained up." I whispered to them.

Completely perplexed, they went over to the door and had the same success as us none.

"That's weird." Arie muttered.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Athen said. "I think we should bust it down. I don't think anyone's here."

"I agree." Seconded Arie.

"I'll let you take that one." I said to Athen. " I don't want to give myself a concussion. Plus, you need the practice." Trying to stifle a nervous laugh, I patted his b.u.t.t.

Backing up only a foot he rammed into the door, breaking it into thousands of tiny splinters, inviting us all to stare at an extremely disturbing sight. Athen backed up, grabbing me as if to shield me from the images.

Silver chains were dripping from the ceiling, windows, and across all the doors. There were pictures of Athen and Lilith hanging from the links, along with splashes of red spattered on the walls, our bed, and the pictures themselves. I hoped with everything that it wasn't blood canva.s.sing our room but knowing who we were dealing with, only secured that thought.

"Wow, this is pretty creepy." I tried my best to sound unaffected, but it wasn't coming across that way. My voice was barely able to complete a sentence without cracking.

Feeling the tiny twinges of jealousy begin to rise in my abdomen, I knew I was falling right into the hands of the demons. This is what they wanted, and I was determined to be stronger than that. Following Athen into our bedroom, I did my best not to acknowledge the images that were glaring at me from all directions.

Athen's finger ran along the chains, stopping only to rip off the picture dangling directly in front of him. Trying not to let the sadness begin to infiltrate my entire being, I looked away before taking the two figures in completely. What I did see implied a closeness - one that I wasn't willing to accept.

Hearing the chains clank loudly, I looked over at Cyril and Arie who were dismantling the pieces of silver as fast as they could. I began doing the same as quickly as possible and avoided the areas where the photographs hung. The rage was building quickly inside of me, and I knew I needed a place to let it all out and quickly.

"So is it animal or human blood?" I asked not sure why I picked that topic to distract myself with.

"It's not human." Was all Cyril said, knowing neither answer he gave would be a good one.

Running down the stairs to get cleaning supplies, I vowed revenge like no other on Lilith. Remembering what my family had told me about the semi-purgatory realm where our kind, good or evil, could be sent, I made it a personal mission to make sure she was going to be sent there. I only had to figure out how.

Chapter 24.

Not having our quick trip to Whistler begin how we had expected, we decided to spend the rest of our time up here training exclusively. I had managed to avoid my friends back in the village, the last couple of days, to recuperate from being accosted in our home. However, one of the things that Cyril and Arie had wanted us to practice needed someone who I knew or had a past with. Apparently, shapeshifting was easier when your victim was more trusting. I wasn't looking forward to betraying Karen's trust in that way, but no longer had a choice. These things couldn't wait a second more.

Standing in the gondola line, the backpack I was wearing began to feel like a ton of bricks had been placed on my shoulders. Our goal was to hike from the top of the mountain back away so that both Athen and I could work on the things we were most likely to need in the near future. I had learned so many things while he was away, that I was actually excited to finally learn some of these last few items with him present. There was still snow at the top of the mountain so we were all dressed from head to toe in snow gear.

As we made our way to the gondola awaiting our entrance, I tripped over the post that held us all in line, bringing Athen and Cyril to a roar of laughter.

"So predictable." Cyril said, patting my shoulder. "Good thing you're a little more graceful when fighting."

"Don't jinx it." I scolded him.

The doors of the gondola slammed shut with a thud, leading to the jerking motion as the cables started hauling us up the mountain to our training grounds. As our ascent began, the cold slowly began trickling in through the crevices of the metal doors that were holding us in. Leaving the village behind, I began snuggling into Athen as the normally mammoth hotels became smaller and smaller with every minute traveled. So much had happened since the last time we were here together. My role in this life was beginning to become clearer, and my strength was beginning to become stronger and stronger, especially as I held onto Athen.

Still faulting myself for feeling I wasn't as emotionally strong as he had been for all of those decades, I hoped that I could somehow make it up to him and begin to forgive myself.

The windows were completely fogged up by the time our 30 minute gondola ride spilled us onto our final destination. I was relieved to be breathing in the cold, fresh air of the mountain rather than the stale air of the gondola.

"Okay, up this way." Cyril pointed towards the side slope where no one seemed to be headed, for good reason. The mountainside was extremely steep and icy.

What seemed like forever as we slid down the hill that Cyril had his eyes on, made me thankful when we arrived at our destination. There was a little plateau where we would be able to practice our attacks and plenty of trees at the far end if we wanted to give a go on our climbing and flying skills.

"Well, this is certainly beautiful." I muttered to Athen, dumping my backpack off. "Are you ready?"

"The question is, are you ready?" He said, winking at me but not before embracing me in his arms, shooting into the sky. My heart began pounding outside of my chest, realizing how high Athen had me in the air. We were flying. He was flying.

"Oh my G.o.d, Athen. I can't believe you remember how to do this. It's beautiful." I said, squeezing onto him as hard as I possibly could. "Are you sure you remember how to land?" I asked him, only somewhat teasing him.

"Do you want to find out now or just keep going?" His eyes were twinkling with the mischief that I'd missed so much over the last few months.

"No, I could get used to this."

"That's good because it's gonna be your turn soon." He said, coyly.

"So did Cy and Arie already know that you could do this?" I asked, in complete awe of my surroundings and the strength that I felt in Athen's arms as we were sailing with the wind.

"Yeah, they knew it. It was a surprise for you. Let's go to that tree over there." He said, and before realizing it, we had already landed at the very top. Feeling the branches swaying, I knew we shouldn't both be up top.

Letting go of Athen, I made my way from treetop to treetop. My concentration was completely focused on making my landings as graceful as possible. I wanted him to be proud of the progress that I had made while he was gone; since, apparently, this was truly a train Ana session, not Athen.

Athen was now directly behind me. I spun around seeking his approval and saw far more than that in his eyes.

"Beautiful, my angel. Ana, you're amazing to be able to do that already. You should be so proud of yourself." He flew over to the limb I was balancing on, hugging me with the pride I was hoping for during the many times I tried when he wasn't around. Images of me practicing without him at the Bog at Butchart Gardens and up on top of a cliff began filling my mind, thankful that those images were no longer my reality. I had Athen here with me now, and I wasn't going to miss a second of his smile as I did my best to learn.

"Thanks. But after you flying all around with me, I feel like I'm way behind the times."

"Honey, there's a big difference between what I went through and what you went through. You've got to trust us when we tell you that you're doing amazing. I was basically gone for days compared to your decades."

"I love you."

"I love you too, but you aren't getting out of it. You wanna give it a try? Babysteps maybe?" He said laughing.

The antic.i.p.ation began building deep inside as I thought about all of the freedom this could mean. My hope was that the fear that was riding alongside it wouldn't win. Looking into Athen's eyes, I knew I'd be fine. If I were to fall, he would catch me. That I was sure of.

"Okay. I'm ready." Nodding my head trying to convince myself more than Athen, he grabbed me and hugged me tightly as we sailed down to the snow patch that was still hiding under the shade of the trees. I didn't want to let go; catching that feeling, he didn't let go either.

"If you aren't ready, you don't have to do this." He whispered, the breath catching my hair like the many nights I knew I hadn't been alone.

"Nope, I got it."

Waiting for him to let me go, I got my nerve up. It had to happen sooner or later. Not expecting him to let go quite so quickly, my breath got caught in my throat, and before I knew it, the instruction had begun, yet again.

"So everything that you've learned about feeling where you want to be, or what you want to do is applied directly the same, except that you can't break concentration at all. If you think of it with your climbing and jumping abilities now, you focus on a target, and you mentally end your journey before it has even begun. If it is the treetop that you are stopping at then that is where it is. You have stopped before you started, essentially. Imagine never having an end point. Theoretically you could keep going, right?"

"You're trying tell me that if I didn't tell myself the stopping point was the top of the tree, I would keep going?" There was no way I could hide my skepticism, but I also knew that it was exactly what he was telling me.

"Yeah, you're creating your own limits. You're the only one who can change that. You can create your boundaries, your stopping points, or whatever will get you to where you need to go. The speed will come. Don't even think about that right now."

"What about stopping, like landing? That seems like it would be a little dicey, but pretty important."

Arie and Cyril were making their way over to where Athen and I were standing. I was grateful for the idea of more people to possibly catch me when I fell from whatever mishap I was about to get myself into.

"Don't be worried, Ana! You're gonna do awesome!" I was extremely thankful for Arie's exuberance because I wasn't feeling it at all.

"When you're ready to land picture yourself a few feet above the ground as a stopping point. It makes for an easier landing." Cyril did his best dive bomb motion to drive home the point, with a smile of course.

I was worried if I took my hands out of my pockets, it would be a complete giveaway for how nervous I was, but I still needed them to get where I was going. I'd done so much practicing in front of Arie and Cyril that I began to feel a little sheepish in front of Athen, especially with how graceful he already was with everything.

"You're gonna rock it, Ana. I promise." Athen said, winking at me.

And with that, I was off. I pointed myself away from the trees, arms stretched, and adrenaline pumping, reaching for a nothingness that was sure to hold my body weight. Feeling the energy build through my body I sprung into the air, the promise of flight close enough to let the fear slowly drain from my system. I was above the earth, and there was no tree for me to cling onto for my next landing. I looked over to the left and felt my entire body shift to the direction that I was looking. I continued ascending higher and higher matching my height equal to when I scaled the conifers. The pride in my ability was beginning to swell inside of me.

The freedom of what this meant kept me going, and before I knew it, Athen was by my side, following my every move as we floated through the sky with what felt like lightning speed but was only a fraction of our potential. Afraid to reach for him, I only smiled as we glided along the tree line.

"I told you my angel could fly."

"Only this time, I'm not harnessed onto the zipline, right?" I was Afraid to say too much and lose my ability to control where my body was flying.

"Yeah, exactly." He said, laughing. "Who knew this would all be happening so quickly though?"

"Glad you think I'm learning quickly, but I feel like I'm only holding us all back. Especially with you barely returning to us and picking up where you left off basically... Show off."

"What was that? I couldn't hear you?"

It was pretty windy whipping around everywhere but when I went to repeat myself, he rolled his eyes and sailed off, calling me over to follow him. I saw a fairly flat surface ahead of us and was hoping that maybe that would be where I'd attempt my first, and hopefully, not last landing. I wanted to end on a good note.

"Ready?" He asked. "Think above where you want to land." Athen said, landing as graceful as ever, walking into his landing more than anything.

Concentrating so hard on not landing on the ground but above it. I felt my feet searching for something that wasn't where I thought it was. I was sure I was only a foot or two off the ground at the most, but I was pretty certain that would hurt just as much. Kicking my feet frantically as I attempted to land, a squeal escaping into a scream exploded out of me, but not before Athen was there helping me down to a soft landing on my knees somehow.

"Oh my, G.o.d. I almost face planted." My heart was beating so fast. Here I'd been flying, literally flying, and could have created a catastrophe for myself when only dealing with the last three feet of landing s.p.a.ce. "How long is the landing thing going to take? That seems kind of important?" I asked, breathless.

Athen was grinning, his eyes taking me in as if I'd achieved some sort of greatness that I could never understand.

"It'll come. Maybe another time or two, Ana -that's all." He was already praising me to Cyril and Arie, who had decided to come over and meet us with my backpack in hand from up on the mountain.

"Nice work out there, Ana." Cyril said, shaking his head. "I'm surprised, for sure. I thought you'd have mud stains or something signaling some sort of run in with the dirt."

"Nice, Cy. Thanks for the support. Remind me to only practice in the snowy areas so you can't fault me for my landing techniques."

"No, kid. You did awesome. Really." He said, swatting at me and missing, grabbing Arie's hand instead.

"We don't need to take the gondola down, you know." She chuckled and hopped on Cyril's back as he began cruising down the mountain before I could object.

"Well? Hop on?" Athen said reaching for my arm, spinning me towards him.

"Alright, buddy, but you better be careful. After all, you're the newbie in all this." Unable to hide my grin at the thought of being able to hold onto him for the entire ride down the mountain, I hopped on his back and wrapped my legs around his waist as we took off down after Cyril and Arie, who had surely made it down a third of the mountain.

Chapter 25.

The excitement level from my earlier adventures on the mountain was pretty hard to hide, but I did my best to help Arie make dinner as the guys went walking Matilda. We'd decided that this was going to be the last night we spent in before making contact with everyone in the village. Time was ticking, and we couldn't afford to be up in Whistler having fun that much longer before confronting some of the issues down below that had been brewing.

Besides learning what I had on the side of the mountain, I needed some time to absorb the idea of using my poor innocent friends as target practice for my shapeshifting lessons that were next on the agenda. It was hard to justify what I was going to be doing to Karen. Supposedly, even if I messed something up badly, my family could intervene and help to make the memories disappear. Karen was going to be my first attempt. Being that she was my closest friend in Whistler from before, and our comfort level was as close as it ever could be with me; she was my best shot.

Apparently after the skill was learned, it doesn't matter friend or foe, stranger or not, anyone can be fair game. When practicing, the comfort level needs to be there with the alleged target or victim. That's where poor Karen comes into the equation. Since I was close to so few people, she was the lucky one. Thankfully, she's already excited to get together tomorrow, which was half the battle. Arie promised to show me the end result with a stranger in the morning, but it was all me in the afternoon with Karen.

I was mindlessly chopping the garlic for the stew when I noticed Arie standing by the sink, blankly staring out the kitchen window. The sun had almost set, but the wooden blinds were still pulled halfway down, from the earlier sunshine.

"What's up?" I asked Arie. "Everything okay?"

"Oh, yeah. Totally." She said, shaking her head, trying her best to convince me that she was fine.