Forgotten Souls (The Saving Angels 2)

"We do not know. The Dark One has him cloaked well."

"So, he could be murdering others as we speak, getting even stronger as we stand here?" Mark asked, once again furious.

My stomach clenched not only at his words, but at his tone. I felt sick seeing him so conflicted between anger and despair. I gathered my emotions together and sent them toward him, hoping for a break in his anger.

"I have met with the other bands and ordered them here. They are safe and will be here soon. You will prepare together and you will destroy the Dark Angel before he can harm another one of mine," Haniel said possessively.

His words gave my emotions the opening they needed as Mark's anger once again shifted to despair. Pushing all that I had toward him, looking for cracks in his armor, I blanketed Mark's every emotion with my own. Watching him closely, I waited until his anger ebbed away and his body language relaxed before I approached him. Wrapping my arms around him from behind, I gave him the comfort he needed. He rested his hands on mine and leaned more fully into me.

"How many are joining us?" Robert asked intrigued.

"Two of the last three active bands," Haniel said gravely. "The last active band will stay in a secure location to protect the Guides and Protectors that are no longer on duty and the Guides and Protectors that are too young to fight. One of the bands is still intact, but the other recently lost a Guide and Protector in an unrelated assignment. They are still digesting their loss and trying to recover."

"How will we find Victor when the time comes?" Sam asked.

Haniel studied us gravely. "You will not have to seek him out, he will come on his own. You must prepare yourselves, because make no mistake, he will not be alone. Evil will be at his beck and call, Daemons will be at his disposal, making him a force to be reckoned with."

"Why try to kill us all at once instead of hunting our bands separately like he did the others?" I asked.

"We believe he used the murders of The Light's Chosen Ones to set an example. He does not wish to destroy all of you, as you learned before. His desire is for you to join him."

"Why would he believe any one of us would choose to join him?" Sam asked confused.

"Because we all have free will," I answered before Haniel could. Haniel had told me the night we talked by the pool that God left the choice to us. The idea seemed ludicrous to me that someone would choose evil over what we were destined for.

I saw my friends shift uncomfortably at my words.

"You mean one of us could turn against our family here?" Shawn asked, indicating all of us as a whole with a sweeping motion of his arms. "No way man, I just don't see it."

"It has come to pass before," Haniel said simply without looking at Mark, but his implication was clear. Not only had Victor turned on his own family, but he had orchestrated the decimation of his entire band.

"Well, I don’t care what you say, our band is solid," Shawn said with certainty.

"Then the first part of your battle is already won," Haniel said, flashing us one of his rare smiles. "We will reconvene in the morning. Pressing matters will have me away until then," he said abruptly, walking purposefully toward the patio door.

"Wow, talk about a hit and run," Sam said, breaking the tension that Haniel's words had cast over our group.

She nailed it perfectly. Haniel had come in and steamrolled us with talk about murders, Daemons, and Mark's crazy dad, then left us to deal with how to process it all. Most of the time Haniel could almost pass as a human, but at times like this he failed miserably.

Sam's comment set off a ripple effect in our group as each of us talked over one another. Maybe it was a knee-jerk reaction to ease the tension, but it took us a few moments to calm down and listen to what each of us had to say. After a few minutes, some of the fear released its grip on us and we were finally able to discuss what we had learned somewhat rationally. Mark was quiet through most of the talking, which was understandable. His father was the Devil's spawn, and I knew the knowledge of this was disheartening for him without having to read his thoughts.

Once we had exhausted the topic, it was obvious we needed a break. There was nothing we could do about the situation at that moment.

"Anybody want to watch a movie?" Sam suggested.

"Ooh, good idea," I agreed. "Let's make it like a camp out in the living room."

The guys got to work, clearing the middle of the floor, which proved to be an easy task, even though the furniture was heavy. It definitely paid to have three crazy-strong guys around. Lynn, Sam, and I gathered the snacks and everyone's sleeping bags to the now empty floor space. Mark lit a fire in the fireplace for the s'mores, while Shawn and Robert prepared the skewers of marshmallows. Within five minutes, our camp in was ready and pj's were on.

Mark loaded the first Blu-ray into the disc player. We reluctantly let the guys pick the movie, hoping they wouldn't pick something obnoxious.

"Oooh, I love this movie," I said, plopping down on my sleeping bag to watch the latest The Fast and the Furious movie on the fifty inch flat screen.

"Who doesn't?" Shawn said, sitting next to me. "Dude, you need one of those cool 3D TV's we saw at the mall last week," Shawn said in an awful Vin Diesel impersonation.

"Wow, that totally sucked. Oh wait, were you trying for the Muppet version of Vin Diesel?" Robert said from across the room, laughing at his joke.

In typical guy fashion, Shawn chucked a pillow at him, and before I knew it, an all-out pillow fight erupted in the room as each of us tried to out-do the other. Of course as lightweights, Lynn, Sam, and I didn't stand a chance. We just could not get enough oomph behind any of our throws to compete with the guys.