Anger of the Devil

2. The fallen

PRESENT DAY

A chilly drop of rain slowly made its way down Lena’s cheek as she watched the fire in front of her. They had definitely stepped into October now, but they had been lucky in the sense that the rain wasn’t pouring down too hard which made it possible for them to make the funeral pyres for the dead. She didn’t know most of the dead, but the sheer multitude of fires burning around her had an enormous effect on her regardless. Besides, the vision of her dear friend and protector on the pyre in front of her made her feel the weight of the world in a way that made her slump back to the emotions of the thirteen year old girl that watched her parents' burial. 

    “He had a good life.”

Lena turned her head to look at Jake. His words were vague and whispered, and Lena knew he had said it more to himself than anyone else. The cheeky light in Jake’s eyes had been substituted with a glistening coat of tears. Lena took in a deep breath as she slowly nodded before she reached out to gently give his hand a squeeze. 

    “He did, Jake. He was the kindest and one of the wisest Alphas I ever met, and I’ll miss him forever. But he did have a wonderful life, and now he’s with Beth once again.” 

Lena didn’t know if she actually believed that, but just the possibility of Ben finding peace with his deceased love made the loss of him slightly more bearable. She took back her hand as she drew in a deep breath. 

    “I’m more concerned about us. We survived the night, but we’ve lost so much. We don’t even have the time to properly mourn our loved ones, ‘cause we have no idea when they’ll strike again, and what’s worse…” Lena sighed “... we have no idea what to do when they strike. We’re all alone now, Jake.”

Jake didn’t respond, but his deep intake of air said it all; he knew she was right. Ben was dead, Anders had disappeared, and Logan… Lena turned her head to look at another funeral pyre. On it lay a younger man. 

    “Imagine surviving the Red Cross Crows, then rush inside to help all the wounded only to get killed by the one person who should protect you from harm.”

Jake followed Lena’s eyes and soon looked at the pyre as well. Lena hadn’t known the young man, but she knew of his fate. He had been one of the doctors who examined Logan when he had woken up. The poor guy had been within reach as the full force of Logan Black’s claws had found his throat. 

Jake didn’t say anything as he nodded. Some minutes passed by before he broke the silence once more. 

    “Have you seen him yet?”

Lena could feel her throat ache as she swallowed hard and creased her face. 

    “No. I need to regain my strength. My… mental strength.”

Jake inhaled deeply and was about to say something when he stopped and looked behind Lena. She then felt a small hand take hers. The warmth of Cody’s hand made Lena relax a bit as she gave him a small smile. Lucas was with Cody as well, and both Lena and Lucas gave each other a smile, but the sadness was evident in both of them as they did. 

    “So… what is the plan?”

Despite Lucas' deeper voice and obvious aura, Lena could still hear the gentle quiver in his voice that reminded her of the boy she knew not long ago. She was about to answer when Jake beat her to it. 

    “Today we mourn those lost to us. Tomorrow we’ll take action. The shock of Nadia’s presence should give us at least that opportunity.”

Lena closed her mouth as all of the others slowly nodded. She sighed as she too nodded and turned to watch the fire before her consume the pyre and the man lying on it. 

…

Lena stepped outside the shower and walked towards the mirror. She swiped away the steam that covered the glass and frowned as she looked down at her bruised torso. The healing process had seemed to stop, and though she managed to keep it a secret to others, her entire body ached. She gave herself a final glance before she turned away to get dressed. 

It had been around ten minutes after she had gotten out of the shower when she heard the knock on her door. 

    “Come in.”

The door opened instantly and a tired looking Jess stepped inside. 

    “Hey, you asked to see me?”

The raven haired woman gave her a fatigued yet warm smile as she leaned against the doorframe. 

    “I did. Please come inside and close the door.”

Jess did as she was told and sat down in a chair. 

    “How did patrolling go?”

Jess lifted her shoulders a bit while clicking her tongue. 

    “Fine. We found no trace of the intruders, but I think we’ve come up with a better way to keep the perimeter safer. The White Pines Pack have been excellent contributors to the new strategies. I guess living next to an enemy with greater force than your own for a decade can make you pretty solid at defence tactics.”

Lena gave Jess a faint smile. Her head was churning as she tried to find a way to say what she actually wanted to say. It wasn’t until a hand was placed on her shoulder that she realised how long she had been pondering. 

    “What’s wrong, Lena?”

Lena raised her eyes to look at Jess. She took in a deep breath before she finally started to speak. 

    “You know how I said I didn’t see anything while I was sedated or whatever? Well, I lied. I did see something, or rather, I saw someone.”

Jess frowned as a question mark almost formed in the middle of her face. 

    “You saw someone? Who?”

    “Marcello.”

Jess’ eyes got wide as the invisible question mark grew. 

    “Woah, wait wait wait. You met with the ghost of Marcello?”

Lena shook her head. 

“No, I saw Marcello. But his ghost… No, I’ve known Marcello for many years and that wasn’t him. It was a trick.”

Jess looked totally flabbergasted as she opened and closed her mouth several times. She finally relaxed a bit as she managed to speak once more. 

    “So… what did he say?”

    “That Cody should let them in. That that is the only way to stop them.”

    “And you didn’t believe him?”

    “No, ‘cause as I said; it was a trick.”

Jess nodded but she didn’t look convinced.

    “How can you be sure that it wasn’t Marcello and that he didn’t try to help you?”

Lena gave her a crooked smile.

    “It’s simple. His eyes didn’t give away anything. Marcello’s eyes always told the truth. ‘You can always trust a person by the flicker in their eyes’ as my mother said. Marcello had his downsides, but I always knew his soul from those flickers.”

Jess took in a deep breath before she spoke. 

    “Well, I mean... he’s dead, Lena. Maybe emotions stop showing in the afterlife?”

Lena smiled and nodded.

    “That’s what I thought, or at least that was what I thought until Nadia managed to cast the shield spell, because that is when I noticed something in his eyes. He reacted. He gave away his emotions. He gave away his identity.”

Jess slowly nodded as she started to understand.

    “You mean…”

    “I mean I’m done being played. Whatever advice I was given was never meant for our advantage. However, it somehow gave us an advantage anyway. We may not know much but we at least know two things. One, Cody is without a doubt the heir of Lunaire. Two, we need to get that man, entity, whatever out of Cody’s mind before it’s too late. Also, they don’t know who cast the spell. I almost gave away that we have a sorceress and not a sorcerer, but I stopped when I realised who I was talking to.”

Jess had a distant look in her eyes as she slowly nodded. 

    “I would say that all this sounds good, but I would be lying. It sounds f*****g terrifying.”

Jess then fixed her eyes on Lena as the distant stare zoomed in. 

    “Why are you telling me these things? There must be a reason why you’ve kept this to yourself.”

Lena looked to her side as she drew in a shaky breath. 

    “I was attacked by someone I trusted. This journey has in fact been filled with let downs from people I have trusted. I just considered my options; Lucas is going to be an Alpha at the age of fifteen, so he has enough to think about, and Cody… Well, they’ll both know soon, but they’re already carrying so much on their shoulders. I trust Jake, but he has responsibilities towards others. I don’t know Nadia or her family that well, and though Nathan is my family in blood, we’ve only spoken around three times. You’ve been there for me since the beginning of this shitshow, you were willing to put yourself in immense danger when you told me about Logan’s plans over a year ago, and I apologize if this offends you, but you have nothing to lose.”

Jess raised an eyebrow but it was quickly followed by a crooked smile. 

    “So what’s the plan?”

Lena mimicked Jess’ smile. 

    “The overall plan? Easy. To kick those motherfuckers back to hell.”