We Dream of Hope

Not Welcome

He tracked his way through the city with ease, seeming to take paths that deliberately went by the most beautiful buildings, Nadia wanted to stop and look, but also didn’t want to give him any satisfaction. Aidan was clearly fishing for some compliment hoping to bring her thoughts back to when they met. Rekindling the spark she felt was just a little scheme she was prepared to combat. He caught her off guard and showed her a variation of kindness she never knew, and she was not going to let this shroud what he was. Half or full, he was still a demon and full trust was going to be knocked out the window. She didn’t care for the pet name he had given her either, what was it even supposed to mean? Dove, please, he was delusional and was desperate for some pat on the back for a good show.

Once they entered the vicinity of the house Sera was quick to be the first to stop them from coming closer, “Aidan, I’ll take it from here, get out of here.”

He glared at her and stood firmly in place, “Excuse me?”

“Look, I-” she turned back just as Ma’at bounded from the house glad her friend returned.

He raised an eyebrow at the striking development and then turned to Nadia, “Now that’s a Medjay.” he said it like a lesson and then swiftly his appearance shifted back to the dashing gentleman she had first laid eyes on. He straightened himself proud of his achievements and smiled, challenging Sera’s authority. 

She laughed in response knowing full well the extent of his power but decided it was best to let this play out, it was going to blow up eventually. Hell, Sera thought, I’ve had a shitty month already let’s just add to the crazy.

“Di!” Ma’at called relieved to have her friend return, “I swear girl if you waited one more hour I was going to go full mamma bear on your ass.” She had to pull a double take, she was happy Nadia was back, but the company she kept, it was far beyond what she’d had guessed Nadia capable. “Okay, what’s the deal with Mr. Tall-Dark-and-dreamy?”

He smiled and looked at Nadia, “See she thinks I’m dreamy.”

Nadia scoffed a reply, “For now.” 

She stretched a hand to Ma’at, “Aidan, a pleasure to meet a friend of the dove who gracefully flew into my shattered life.” 

Maat didn’t take his hand. She looked him up and down judging each aspect and mannerisms, “Nadia, maybe we should get inside, Odion is just as worried as I was.” she was getting a feeling something was off, she couldn’t put her finger on it, but this guy was not completely what he seemed. 

Odion, hearing the triumphant return of Nadia, joined the group, but as his eyes met Aidan’s he snarled and sprang forward surprising everyone but Sera. 

Aidan jumped back and his illusion faded quickly Maat wasted no time and pulled Nadia behind her. 

Sera took this as a chance to jump between the feuding crowd.  Her back to Aidan arms spread defending him and teeth bared at Ma’at and Odion. 

“I’ve played it your way so far Sera,” Odion growled, “This is too far!”

Ma’at finally connected the dots, he grew since the last she saw of him, but his color coding matched that young demon from the auction block. He caused her parents to die and now he was going to steal Nadia. For all she knew he already warned the other demons in the area and they were already on their way. “We trusted you Sera!”

“Continue to trust me you fools!” She snapped back but seeing the apparent danger gave Odion a breath of fighting spirit allowing him to once again stand on his own protecting Nadia who tried to get their attention. 

“You guys, it’s just a misunderstanding!” Nadia called over the growls and barks, but they were set in their ways, Ma’at was looking for an opening and this was going to turn into a bloodbath once she found it. This creature caused all her troubles, he was the ruler of this place, if he died it would be over.

Aidan had another idea in mind. He smiled at Nadia who was so eager to defend him. He heard her pleading for him and his heart was touched, no one else extended such a courtesy to him. He had decided from then on she was a treasure, his dove, the demon in him wanted her, he fought it from fully taking over his desires and fought back every ounce of his instinct. Nadia, his little hope was worth fighting, it tore him but he was confident she could stitch him back together. He knew she didn’t fully understand her own power, and she needed time, but he was going to have to get out of here, this was turning his stomach. 

  The time had come for things to stop before they progressed too much farther. Reaching his hand forward and touching Sera’s shoulder gently worried his inner troubles would scratch their way through the surface, “Relax, they’re just doing what they would do naturally. I don’t want to get in their way.” He looked down at a watch on his wrist still playing off the discomfort. “As much I would love to carry this on. I do have other engagements.” he winked at Nadia, “See you later my dove.” Then looked at the others, “until next time, don’t think I’m not dying to talk to Sera’s little boy. And you Medjay, we will need to get caught up.” He bowed and then raised his head, “Please don’t take this the wrong way, I honestly don’t want to hurt you, but it appears this would get too crazy if I did anything else.” he twitched his head and a giant gust of wind flew from behind him sending the group flying backward crashing against one of the houses. He took his leave more gracefully than any human could have. He moved quickly and disappeared in the rows of houses toward the taller buildings. 

Ma’at stood up first and towered over Sera who wasn’t backing down. “You little traitor explain.” snapping and getting right to the point. Ma’at had a full line up of actions, she probably couldn’t catch up to the demon but she was sure going to take care of its allies in the meantime. 

“You went on and on about how terrible they were! You said to stay away from them” Odion snapped as well, feeling more betrayed than the others he had thought she was going to be this powerful ally she killed all those demons before, was that just to weed out the competition for her master?

“Guys stop!” Nadia stomped her foot, she couldn’t believe it but she didn’t want this to turn into a fight. Aidan honestly wasn’t terrible, sure he just threw them against a house, but it was self defense. If she could just tell them what happened they’d understand. 

“You idiots!” Sera retorted, “If we kill him then we’ll be in deep s**t! He’s the only one saving the people around here! We need to stop this fighting right now!”

“He’s not a bad guy!” Nadia shouted it a bit louder than she would have liked and just as everyone was taking a breath so it just stood out beyond everything else. Which left everyone looking at her, Sera instead of the frown smiled. Nadia’s voice went softer and held an uncertainty, but she was still going to stand by Aidan, “He’s not what you think.”

Ma’at didn’t want to hear it, her friend was clearly suffering from some Stockholm syndrome, she was gone for just a few hours, how powerful was this monster? “Di, I swear, you are never going off on your own again!”

“Well, If I do at least I’d know Aidan wouldn’t let me get hurt!” Finally her voice came out, she found her courage to stand up to Ma’at and if Odion challenged she would do the same to him. “Seriously, he’s not like other demons.”

Sera nodded, “Listen, to her, he had her alone and he didn’t kill her! This fighting is going to cause him to hurt us.”

“No, if he was a full demon he’d have her strung by her hair to eat her feet first right?” Odions snark finally joined,

Nadia was surprised he managed to crawl his way back into her mind, but to be fair she wanted him to, she wanted him to see how he helped her, he walked with her and… then it hit her, his conversations weren’t exactly friendly. Their introduction was more of a carnal relation than she would have liked to project for herself. 

“Nadia…” Odion was reading through her thoughts and Sera seemed to want him to, until she also got a whiff of the interaction. 

“See, he’s a half demon.” Sera tried to defend him quickly before too much damage could be done from Nadia’s first interaction, and yet Odion wasn’t buying. “He really just tried out his powers; he's not able to control a lot of things and clearly he thought Nadia was not a danger. But this conversation is! Which is why he backed off just now.”

“That’s backing off!” Odion looked at her eyes wide and nose twitching.

“Hey guys, share the knowledge!” Ma’at now really upset to be born into a different gene pool and was only allowed to receive half a conversation with little information about it.

Nadia ignored the two and turned to Ma’at, “Please, he’s alone, and he honestly isn’t terrible. He can help us.”

Ma’at could see sincerity in her eyes, they cut right through her and jabbed their claws into Ma’at’s heart tugging on it like a puppet’s strings. “Damn it Di!” she cursed knowing Nadia was about to get her way, “He’s a demon, not just any demon, he’s a pretty freaking major one!”

“Please Ma’at!” It was a plea for him and it came across far more than just begging for his life. This was a grovel for all of Ma’at’s inner desires to take a back seat and remain inner. Nadia didn’t believe she was strong enough to hold Ma’at back, sure Odion, if it came to it, would try and stretch that power she supposedly had over him, but Ma’at. Maat could ignore her and rush head first ready to destroy everything. She and Aidan were in fact at her mercy.

“Nadia, in no situation would I ever allow him near you again!” 

“Then you’ll have to fight me too.” Sera tapped Ma’at on the shoulder, stretching her arm as far as she could go, it made everyone aware of the height difference and Maat turned to look down at the little warrior. 

“Nice thought, but I think I’ll be fine.”

“Give it some time Ma’at, he’s not what you think.” continuing her plea was the only thing Nadia had at this point. 

Ma’at studied her friend, she was so different, days before they were at the mercy of a demon and now she was hard pressed to believe that Nadia was ready to jump right back in.

Odion spoke up, he had read everything and saw what Nadia had, her feelings for him were strong, but he was still trying to judge if it was a good thing or not. “Ma’at,I think they might be right.” If nothing else he knew they couldn’t afford to be divided. 

Nadia flashed a smile to him as a thank you and touched his arm affectionately.

Ma’at was now alone, she needed allies and she knew this was going to cost her some. That damn demon was already working his magic and they were too blind to see it, falling for his little act. “Do what you want Di, I’m not encouraging this and you all know where I stand on him. Keep him away from me and I won’t kill him. Fair enough?”

Nadia gleamed with excitement, that was the closest thing they were going to get to victory and Maat had resigned a lot of her intentions. Nadia knew that with time maybe things would get better. “Thank you! Honestly Ma’at, it means a lot to me.”

“Psh,” Odion hissed, “She’s going to kill him the first chance she gets.” He could read Ma’at like a book. Nadia was clouded by her relationship with Ma’at, he knew the smell of a fight when one was just teetering on the edge.

Sera looked at him unimpressed, “I’d like to see you try.” She smirked, “He may be a half demon, but he’s still Lucifer’s son, he’s the born demon of wrath. You get into a fight with him and you’ll burst into flames. Trust me, he’s better our ally than enemy.”

Maat glared, but still she saw how much everyone else had flipped. Odion was getting to be a pushover with these girls and in his current emotional state he wasn’t going to be able to hold himself against everyone else. “Whatever, just keep him away from me and I don’t care.” she walked back to the house huffing leaving the pro-demon alone. Too much was stacked against her and she couldn’t handle their stares.