“She knew you.” Will stepped in front of her, blocking her path should she try to leave. “Why did she know who you were.” Demitria didn’t care about whatever he’d had to say. Had already tuned the annoying sound of his voice out the moment he’d spoken his first word.
“No, you answer me. Why the hell did you go out that god damn gate? You know the rules. We don’t ever go out after a flare has been shot!” She took a step into him, ready to square off should the need arise. “You could have put so many people in danger?—"
“We’re not starting a fight between each other, now back off.” Jace interjected.
Her eyes remained fixed on Will, her jaw clenched so tight her teeth might break.
“Demitria, I mean it.” Jace growled, and she could hear the frustration in his voice.
Demitria snorted, finally moving away from Will.
The demon’s body was still burning, and Demitria found herself fixating on the flames that engulfed the creature before them. Charring the clothing it wore as the female’s skin bubbled beneath the dark flames. The smell, rancid and vile, filled her senses. She was grateful for the lack of food in her system. Demitria replayed the words the female had said over and over again. The threat she’d knowingly made against Jace as if the female had known what he’d meant to her. What it would do to her should anything befall him. Then she’d threatened Demitria’s home. The only place she’d known for half her life, and it drove her mad. Sent her spiraling into her own mind as she contemplated her next course of action. Did they amp up patrols? Station as many Guardians as they could spare? Maybe they needed to properly arm the residents. Begin training every single person that could hold some sort of weapon, starting today. She would never take another night off again. They couldn’t afford it.
Demitria racked her brain for a solution. For something to help them. To save them for whatever threat may be coming. She’d tuned out the arguing between Jace and the others as she stared into those dark flames.
She’d be damned if she lost anyone else, vowing to kill anything that got in her way.
Six
DEMITRIA
All hell broke loose.
It had been expected, given the circumstances. After the outright threat from the demon, it was only a matter of time before panic ensued. As Demitria made her way through the streets she could hear the whispers around her. Several residents stood together outside the largest of the two housing complexes in Solis. More than half their people resided inside the rundown building, and she spied several of the families huddled around one another. As she neared, their voices quieted. She could feel each set of eyes on her as she passed. Could hear the wavering in their voices as word of the demon floated through the air. She could still smell the burning flesh of its corpse from this far back, and knew the others did too. They were no stranger to the putrid smell, and it heightened the panic that much more.
“Everything is going to be okay.” She tried to reassure them, but they did no more than look at her before disappearing into the building. To talk out of earshot, no doubt.
Demitria let out a heavy sigh, tilting her head back and letting the breath rush from her lungs for a brief moment before resuming her walk to another building midway through Solis.
Jace gathered the Guardians for a meeting to discuss their next course of action, how to move forward with their everyday life. The community was attacked before, but this seemed different. Every single one of them felt it, like a change in the air that gripped them by the throats. Despite wanting to believe that the demon’s threats were nothing but empty, Demitria had a nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach that refused to subside, roiling around and around as it grew.
Each of the Guardians filed into the room they’d chosen as headquarters. Like everything else around them, it wasn’t much, and truly only served the purpose of these meetings. On the smaller side, scuffed beige paint lined the walls as cracking white tiles lie beneath their feet. In the center of the room sat a large wooden table for them to sit around, fashioned from the wooden doors of a long-forgotten building that Evan had built for them a few years back. The paint peeled up in spots, exposing the red wood beneath.
Jace stood at the front of the table, one hand clenched tight into a fist as the other held firm on the bridge of his nose. She tried to smile at him as she passed, but he wouldn’t meet her gaze. She slipped into the empty seat beside him without a word. Cory slid in beside her, tapping his foot against the leg of the table in a nervous gesture. The twins exchanged a glance before sitting across from them. Braun, Tyler and Pieter seated themselves in the remainder of the seats. Each of their features held in a grim line.
The tension was high, each one of them refusing to be the first to talk. No one knew what came next. Did they take extra precautions? Carry on like normal?
“I know right now everyone is worried.” Jace started, meeting the gaze of each of the Guardians around the table. She could hear his own worry as his voice wavered for a momentbefore pushing it down. He refused to sit down, his hands now flat against the table as he leaned his weight into the surface.
Sam snickered in his seat, and it took every ounce of restraint Demitria possessed to not bark at him to shut the hell up and listen.
“Understatement of the year.” Will quipped from beside his brother.
“We are the only defense for the people here. This won’t be the first attack we’ve faced, and we are still standing.” Jace narrowed his gaze at the brothers with a pointed look.
“What about Andorra?” Will responded. “They were nearly wiped out and they’re twice the size we are, have at least double the Guardians.”
As much as she hated to admit it, Will was right. Andorra, Serenity, and Ashton were massive in comparison, and they’d been nearly annihilated. If they were up against whatever it was that had attacked Andorra, they didn’t stand a chance.
“We don’t even know if the threat is real.” Cory piped up in Jace’s defense. Always the voice of reason. “Even if it is, we don’t know that we would be facing the same threat as the others.”
“So we train the others. Anyone that can fight, we train.” Demitria said, her eyes fixed on Jace, “Put weapons in their hands, and make them fight. Even if the threat isn’t real, we train them anyway as backup.”
Jace smiled down at her from where he stood, nodding his head. “I think between all of us, we can figure out a training regimen. Put out a call to all the able bodies?—”
“Like hell they would,” From across the table, Demitria watched as Sam rolled his eyes, his muscled arms crossed over his chest. That same disinterested look clear as day painted on his face. “We all know not a single one of them will fight. That’s what we’re for. To bear the brunt of it all. To keep this town going.”
“How little faith you have in humanity.” Narrowing her eyes, Demitria glared at him. At Will too for good measure. “Faced with annihilation, you’d be surprised what people are capable of.” She’d been down that road before. Knew firsthand what it felt like to be front row to your own death sentence. She’d lived it too many times to count, and each time it made her stronger. Fight harder tosurvive.
