Beyond (26 page)

The
large, square room was divided into sections. Several pool tables occupied the back. About four men and a couple of woman were playing a game on one table and six men were on another . The bar section had ten barstool s , but only a few were occupied by patrons dr i nk ing their troubles away.
T
he dining area was empty .

They spotted Claudia and Austin sitting with menu
s in front of th em , and simply gave them a brief nod and s at at a separate table. A waitress appeared at their table fairly quickly . She cro o ked her brows , obviously thinking they didn ’
t belong t here , but handed the m the menus anyway. There were very few items listed on the one page menu.

“
They don ’
t have much, ”
Davin frowned and peered from the side of the menu to Delilah .
“
What kind of a restaurant is this?
”

“
It ’
s not really a restaurant. They sell snacks, ”
Delilah explained.

“
Oh…then maybe I ’
ll order some chips and salsa.
”

“
We ’
re not here to order, Davin. Would you be more observant ?”
Holly huffed.

“
I ’
m just curious. Why would they name food after a guy and a type of a dance? It must be one heck of a combination.
”

“
Stop being curious . W
e don ’
t have time to be curious. See that guy wearing a pair of jeans and a gray T-shirt , in the back of the room by the pool table ?”
Holly gesture d her head to the back.

“
Yeah, ”
they nodded.

Holly scooted her chair closer.
“
Watch how he shoots the ball right into the hole.
”

“
Maybe he ’
s just good, ”
Delilah said, drumming her fingers.

“
Nobody is that good. And would you stop drumming your fingers ?”
Holly rested her hands on Delilah’s .

“
Sorry, I ’
m a tad nervous. My first time out.
”

“
That ’
s okay. Just stay close to me and don ’
t do things to irritate me, ”
Holly replied and stopped the conversation when the waitress approached.

“
Hello, are you ready to order?
”

Davin seized
th e opportunity .
“
I would like some chips and salsa and a beer.
”

Holly gave a smile and a fake giggle,
“
Actually , could you give us like five minutes ?”

“
Sure. My name is Tammy if you need anything.
”
The waitress popped her gum and left.

Holly smacked Davin
’
s arm.
“
Why did you order? It ’
s not like we ’
re going to eat here.
”

“
Chill out. I wanted to know what chips and salsa look like , and I was only trying to make us look normal. At least if we order, she ’
ll be out of our hair for a while. Now she ’
ll come back.
”

Holly knew Davin had a good plan, but she wasn
’
t going to burn her ego .
“
Whatever, ”
Holly scoffed. She didn ’
t want to explain.
“
Chips are chips and salsa is salsa. No big deal.
”

“
Shhh …
w ould you two stop arguing for a minute ?”
Delilah said , breaking up their annoying conversation .
“
Look, he is looking around suspiciously , and so are his friends.
”

Austin and Claudia must have seen the same thing. Austin took a sip of his drink and cleared his throat to get his friend s ’
attention. He gestured them to look by the pool table. The six men headed to the other table with a pool stick in their hands, obviously looking for trouble. Austin stood up, placed his hand out to command Claudia to wait , and gradually sauntered toward them.

The guy in the gray shirt
snatche d a female and flung her over to his friends.

“
What the hell ?”
one of guy s yelled and punched the gray T-shirt guy, but it had no effect.
The man delivering the punch yelped in pain from the impact and turned.

With a swift motion, Austin placed himself between the gray T-shirt guy and the one in pain. Shock ed to see Austin right in front of him and realiz ing he was not human, the guy darted out the door with his friends so fast that the rest of the Alpha team needed a second to realize they were gone.

“
After them !”
Austin said as he flashed out the door.

“
Darn! I guess chips and salsa will have to wait.
”
Davin frowned and took off.

They followed them
around the back to the abandon ed warehouse s , but there were thre e building s and t he demons spli t up, each group going to different buildings. Davin, Claudia, and Austin went to the first building on the left.

“
They are in human form so they should be easy to identify, ”
Austin informed as they willed their bows and sword , taking in the smell of wood and metal. Though the light seeped through the windows, graffiti markings blocked most of it. Spider webs decorated the empty space between the cracks and glowed in silky threads. The dust swirled in f unnels as it danced where the ray s of light entered . Though it would have been dark, daylight savings gave them extend ed time , and along with their weapons, it produced enough light.

“
Great ; we ’
ll look like one big , giant flashlight, ”
Davin remarked. Austin and Claudia willed their light s off and Davin kept his lit.
“
Much better.
”

Inside the warehouse
, there w as nothing but tables, file cabinets and junk spread across the room. Further ahead, in the middle , were wooden crates piled up high. The stairs and the elevator were located toward the back and were indicated by a sign.

“
Come out, come out, where ever you are, ”
Davin sang , and gracefully leap t on top of the crates. He was so high Claudia had to tilt her head back to see him walking along the edge .
Effortlessly, he jumped from one crate to another. When he ran out of crates , he dove off them with a so mersault flip and headed toward the back right side of the room .

Claudia and Austin turned to the left. She gripped her bow tightly and followed him toward the stairs. After taking several steps , she heard a sound from the elevator, the sound that signals its arrival.
Without fear Claudia ran toward it , thinking Austin had heard it too .
Claudia ’
s back was now flat against the wall, anticipating that something was going to pop out when the door opened, but instead, there was only silence . Bravely, she took a quick peek inside—nothing.

Thinking all was safe, she relaxed and
was on her way to find Austin, noting he didn ’
t follow her. W
ithout warning, she was thrown in to the elevator by a supernatural force.
When she tumbled in, she found herself on the floor , dazed and confused. Without a second to lose, she grabbed her bow and stood up , but she was too late .

The elevator whizzed up, giving her a knotted feeling in her stomach.
The r ott en smell didn ’
t help either. She willed her bow to li ght , moved to the corner, and closed her eyes to prepare for what she would have to face when the door opened. The spider web and the pe e led chipped paint on the wall and the ceiling gave her the creeps.
I ’
m a venator, a daughter of God ’
s first angels. I can do this , she thought bravely. The higher the elevator went the faster her heart hammered, pounding out of her chest uncontrollabl y as her who le body shuddered. She knew Austin and Davin would race up the stairs and find her. But how many floors would they have to check?

Placing her bow in front of her, she closed one eye, ready to t h rash the li ghtning arrows at whatever was waiting for her .
It was s o quiet, and all she could hear w ere her heaving breath s of fear that tightened her chest like she was having a heart attack .
H
er hands trembled, and she desperately tr ied to steady her bow.

Ding
. The elevator bell rang and the door opened . She took one step out, staying close to the door, and let out an in tense huff when she saw about fifty big men with eyes as bright as the stars. They were human in their physical entities, but their souls had been taken by the dark shadows. Now they were called demons , and they too possess ed supernatural powers. Given no choice, she had to fire as they came at her.

At first they didn
’
t register she was holding a weapon. The lightning arrows hit the targets with such precision, hitting them dead on , that the rest started to hide behind the overturn ed tables. Seeing that she was handling this situation well on her own, she was able to block away her fear. The demons started to throw computers, keyboards and whatever they could place their hands on.
Not only that, red lightning bolt s generated from their palms the way the silver bolt s sho t out from her bow.

Trying to battle not just mat
erial objects but demon ’
s red bolts , she found herself in a bit of disorder and now was looking around for an escape. Jumping out the window was one option, but she didn ’
t know if she could summon up the co urage with her fear of heights. R
unning down the stairs was the second, but either way, they would come after her.

Enclosed by the demons, Claudia
sp un and shot any thing that came flying at her . Where were Davin and Austin? One bolt nicked her on the left shoulder. Wincing in pain, Claudia had to think fast or find a way out if she was going to survive. Looking for shelter, she dove behind a desk that was flipped over .
D
esperate, she willed the light within her. S
he began to glow, but not for long. Her concentrati on was broken when the window shattered, casting more light into the room.

Dodging the splintering glass
flying toward her, she covered her face and parts of her body. Thinking it was Austin, D
a vin, or both, she stood up. When she turned, an angel was standing right in front of her. His back was to her, but she knew it was hi m.
S
he could never forget his massive wings. Her heart beating out of fear quickly succumbed to her heart beating out of exhilaration. How he ma de her feel was very unnerving, mostly for three reasons. She had never seen his face, didn ’
t know his name , and she knew nothing of him. Regardless, having him fight alongside her built up her courage again , and she started to fight back.

Michael was s
o proud of her.
With her b eing so delicate and dainty looking , he would never have guessed she could possess such strength, courage and will. With multiple blows from both of them, they were down to about twenty demons . Though they fought side by side, he mad e sure he had his back to her.
Keeping his wings fully ex tend ed helped him conceal his face and protect Claudia at the same time without undermining her skills.

Unexpectedly, he wrapped Claudia with his wings and placed her safely under a table nearby.
“
Stay here, ”
he comm a nded .

She did as told, but the sound of his voice made her feel light, so light she could float right back into his arms. Curiously , she peered out to see what he was about to do.
Claudia gasped and was ready to dash out when she saw that Michael was completely surrounded. But when she saw his wings spin ning around like a propeller, dismembering the demons’
body parts, she knew he didn ’
t need her help.

A
we struck, she sat there, but a picture of something similar flashed in her mind. She was under a table and wings like knives twirled around, killing a different type of demon. It was a split second of something , then it blurr ed away.
A nnoyed, she made a frustrated sound and saw him standing next to the window, ready to fly away.

For no apparent reason, only that he
had saved her once again, she felt sad to see him leave.
“
Wait, ”
she called out.
“
I didn ’
t get to thank you.
”
She stood up, pacing to ward him .

Michael turned slightly.
“
No need to thank me.
”
His voice was low and uncaring.