"Are you serious? You can do that?" I completely flipped over now, not having any fear of pain radiating through my spine or legs.

"Yeah, depending on the injury. We've all got our talents, you know?" He tried to play it off.

"Seriously? That's your special talent?" I asked tickling his ribs.

"One of them." He replied before coming over to grab me and take me under the covers with him. Completely exhilarated by the idea, I happily followed as he slid me down between the sheets. I still couldn't believe that I was still relearning so much about this life and, truthfully, Athen.

The sun was drying up every cloud in the sky - a welcome sight for the Northwest. Athen and I were still at our Kingston home, just us two. It was incredible to be able to spend this time together, alone. I couldn't get enough of his newly-created sparkling, green eyes. It pained me not to see them for those several months that seemed like an eternity. Understanding more and more what fifty years of waiting for me must have been like, I felt like I could never reach that same level that he had been on, no matter how hard I tried.

Feeling Athen entering the bedroom, I spun around to greet him. Seeing his smile, my body rushed his, jumping on him as he lifted me up.

"Whoa! What's gotten into you this fine morning?" He asked, hugging me back tightly.

"I just can't believe how lucky I'm to have you. That's all." I said not wanting to let go.

"Well, I'm pretty sure I feel the same way, sweetie." He said letting me go to slide back onto the bed.

"Yea, but you know how lousy I feel about my patience? I only went months waiting for you and was thinking of some pretty drastic things. The amount of desperation I felt when I thought I couldn't have you or wouldn't have you made me act in ways I never would have thought. I had no control. You managed for fifty years to have your act together." I told him, somewhat sulking as I relived how awful of a soul mate I might actually be.

His finger tilting my chin to look up at him, he spoke the words that I'd been hoping to hear for so long forgiveness.

"Ana, you didn't have someone chasing after you the way I did. I didn't have to deal with the thought of someone else possibly getting you, ya know? I don't know how I would've responded. Somehow, I think I might have been on the same track. You've got to let go of all of that. It will eat you up. That's one thing I'm sure of."

"Do you really think you might have had some of the same thoughts?"

He stared deeply into my eyes, brushing my hair from my face.

"Yeah, I think I'd rather have lived in oblivion than think someone else might have become the new me. Better to wander around knowing you aren't missing anything, than knowing you're missing everything, but someone else has it."

"Thank you, Athen. Thank you. I needed to hear that."

He was holding me tightly, and I believed he was telling me the truth. Maybe, I wasn't that horrible after all. Maybe, it would have happened to anyone.

"It's been wonderful being down here, only us two. I know it's coming to an end though, huh?" I said, the seriousness of our latest victory still fresh in our memory.

"Uh, before ya know it." He said, ruffling my hair as I jumped on him, pretending to attack.

"When do you think they will get here so we can all say our goodbyes?"

"Way too soon," Athen mumbled, "Way too soon."

"Do you really think this is what we are going to have to do for the next while? It seems like we sent a pretty good signal to Azazel and his followers."

"Yeah, he got the message alright. He knows that on that beach we were united in our pursuit for the good of mankind. But it also told him something else - that the fight has barely begun."

"So you really think he's only going to step back for a little while before starting up again?"

"I think you know the answer to that better than any of us." Athen said, referring to my latest premonitions that had begun surfacing.

"I know, but it's just hard to fathom that separating from Cyril and Arie is the best thing for us now."

"You and I know both know that the threat Cyril poses is still great. We aren't out of the woods with him turning against us. We all know that. He could still become trapped with Azazel's plan, unable to refuse." My heart ached at the sound of those words. .h.i.tting the air. I also knew that I was part of something larger that I couldn't tell Athen. Arie had made me promise, and this was the only time that I would ever follow her wishes by keeping a secret.

Hearing Cyril and Arie arriving, we both readied ourselves to say our goodbyes to them, for as long or as short as it may be. Our plan was to spread out to places where we would be less obvious. All of the Fallen Angels around the globe were leaving the comforts of their homes, not knowing when any of us would get to return. We would be doing our best to not use our typical way of communicating between each other, no telepathy, so to speak. We would actually be using cell phones so that it would just blend into the other chatter of mortals. Our goal was to try to stay off the demon grid awhile so we could all regroup and establish our networks and plans of attack.

It didn't help that the lingering images of Cyril being tapped to join Azazel hadn't been executed. If it was something that we thwarted, at least, we could check it off the list but that hadn't even happened yet. There had been no attempts. It was still a viable problem. Arie had been a nervous wreck and asked me to partic.i.p.ate in a plan that she had devised to possibly stop the entire vision from happening. She thought being the sister of Athen would work in her favor as long as I played my part in it. Arie was certain she had a remedy for Cyril's possible predicament, and it was me who had to keep the secret buried deep inside, waiting for the signal. Knowing everything they had done for me, I felt it was only natural to help in any way I could even if I didn't necessarily agree with it. Only time would tell, if we did the right thing.

Chapter 35.

"Will they find our hiding place? Will they find Cy and Arie?"

"Not a chance." Athen replied flatly. He had something on his mind, and he was doing an incredible job of hiding his thoughts and not divulging anything. I was getting more antsy by the minute as I continued to hide my soul secrets as well, lightly cursing Arie for putting me in this position in the first place.

"Do you think it could be true or are you only being extra vigilant because of everything else going on?" I hoped with all my heart it was the latter. I could feel my entire body tense up as I scanned our surroundings. It was actually warmer than I expected for this time of spring, especially considering we were out in the middle of nowhere holed up in a carved-out piece of rocky Mt. Rainier. As far as caves go, this would probably be considered a pretty s.p.a.cious one, but it certainly wasn't somewhere I hoped to live for long.

Athen had managed to create quite a little cozy home for us three, somehow. Not knowing the length of time we might be on the run made things very difficult to cope with. Nothing like this had happened before in the realm of the underworld - a family possibly turning on itself? Impossible. Unfortunately, we were not the only family it was happening to. After we told Arie, she refused to believe the claims at first. She was hysterical and didn't believe my visions until we heard from the other families around the world. We weren't the only ones. The demons were trying to divide us as best they could. The Legions were almost complete. We had already experienced some of them. We had been expecting the wrong kind of battle. We had been preparing for the wrong kind of war.

The Legions were threatening harm to family members of the Fallen Angels if the chosen victims didn't do as they were told. Continually involving mortals only added to the mix. If the persuasion techniques continued to fail, the demons had begun to lure the family member into their world with more promises of terrible things that would rip the families apart, but it all seemed to imply some sort of mind trick. That was the scary part. That technique hadn't ever been mastered between demons and our side. We were only able to persuade humans, not one another in the underworld. The underworld usually had a fair balance of power and abilities, this could swing the world in a way that it never had been before. Unequal distribution of power was frightening, especially when it was possibly favoring the darker side.

A slight draft began sneaking its way through the boulders that Athen had packed in so tightly to create one of many barriers between us and the outside world. It took both me and Matilda, judging by her quick movement, by surprise.

"Wow! Where'd that come from?" I got up from the rock turned recliner to grab some of the wool blankets we had available for a moment just like this.

"A storm is coming in." Athen was shaking his head. "Wouldn't you know it?"

"Yeah, kind of fits our luck."

Matilda climbed up on the pile of extra blankets, apparently claiming the rest for herself. Having the items that Athen grabbed from our Kingston home made this feel a tad less peculiar as we tried our best to create a sense of normalcy. The stockpile of food in the corner did little to bring comfort. I would rather think we weren't going to be here for long enough to eat that all up.

"How was Arie before we left? Had she accepted it more?"

"With the specifics that you were able to give from your visions, I think that sealed the deal. She knew in her heart that this wasn't something to take lightly, regardless. You did the right thing."

"Not that I don't think this piece of real estate isn't great, but I don't feel like things are so 'right' at the moment."

The longer we were in the cave, the more the dampness from the earth began to make its entrance. Athen grabbed another wind up lantern and placed it in front of us as he sat down next to me, pulling the blanket around him as well.

Not knowing where Cyril and Arie were, made me really nervous. It was for the best. We promised each other no communicating for the first while in our normal sense between minds, cell phones only and that was only in an extreme emergency. Our families were in far more danger being together, being a family. We needed to stay apart and possibly for a lot longer than any of us might ever realize. Arie would be able to get a hold of us if anything went wrong. The thought of something going wrong made my stomach turn. The kind of wrong that would result in her needing to find us was something I didn't want to think about. Having one of us turn was something that seems incomprehensible; yet, it appeared it could be a real possibility. It had already happened to other families.

"Is this going to work?" I asked Athen, hoping he would hold me and tell me everything was going to be okay.

"I hope it will, sweetie. Only time will tell." His energy was so nervous. I hadn't seen him like this in a long time, if ever.

Matilda began her grunting as she snuggled tighter into a ball as the chill began to get worse. I think she was actually sensing our fear more than the weather in this instance.

The flickering light was making me drowsy, but I was determined to stay awake. I couldn't let Athen face the first night alone. Either we were going to both be up, or we were going to both be sleeping.

"Is there a chance to get your loved one back, once a turn has happened?" I knew I didn't want to know the answer, but had to ask.

"It's doubtful."

We both laid against the stone wall, letting the coldness reach through our bodies, reminding us gently that we were still alive and thankful to be next to each other. Knowing everything that Athen and I'd been through the last several decades, made me so grateful to be in his presence even if we were in hiding for awhile. Our story was still unfolding; our history wasn't completed yet, but here we were, now hiding in a cave, waiting to figure out our next steps. The others were waiting word from our family, and it was up to us to lead us all into victory.

Our eyes closed, we continued to lean against the cold stone, listening to the wind begin its howling concerto, when the worst noise invaded our peace. The cell phone began ringing. The call that we had been dreading was happening and so quickly. Athen let the phone ring and ring. As if answering it would somehow make it a reality, while letting it ring let the fate be undecided. Looking into Athen's eyes, hollowed by worry and fear, made me realize that our world had forever been changed once more. A loss had just occurred that none of us could ever understand.

The sorrow I felt was nothing that I could explain. Our goodbyes might have meant something far more than anyone of us had ever realized back in Kingston. I looked over to where Matilda had been curled up, and she was gone. She was nowhere to be found. The process has begun.

Athen nodded, reaching for my hand with his left, and touching the screen of the cell with his right.

"Arie, what's wrong? Where's Cyril?" His voice calm and deliberate, as he spoke into the speaker phone. We already knew the answer.

"Athen," began Cyril's voice, "She's gone. Arie was taken."

Dropping the phone, to the dirt floor, Athen collapsed in my arms. He had never prepared for this, and I wasn't prepared to tell the secret that would change everything. I had promised her I wouldn't.

CATACLYSM.

book 3 of The watchers trilogy.

COMING 2012.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

Karice Bolton lives in the Pacific Northwest with her awesome husband and two wonderfully cute English Bulldogs. She enjoys the fact that it rains quite a bit in Washington and can then have an excuse to stay indoors and type away. She loves anything to do with the snow and seeks out the stuff whenever she can.

end.