Demon Evolution (9 page)

T
he close group of
friends, which now included Kiren and Sampson, who were quickly
becoming core members of the group, had dinner and then each went
back to their rooms to rest before the festivities that were
planned for the evening. While the news from Sampson had come as a
shock and had put a bit of a damper on the day, they were still
excited about enjoying an evening of entertainment, a chance to
escape from the worries of real life.

Chris had locked in the best seat in the
house—the same spot where he had picnicked with Sam just before the
fateful battle where Gabriel was taken prisoner. It was also the
cliff cave where, on Chris’s suggestion, Taylor and Gabriel had
spent the day. A few of the Elders, including Clifford, would be
joining them to watch the show.

At eight o’clock in the evening, in near
synchronization, the six friends emerged from their rooms and
spilled into the residential hallway. Despite the fact that they
were in a massive cave network, Taylor had already grown so
accustomed to the fire-lit passageways that the place felt somewhat
homey to her. She had begun referring to the room as her bedroom,
and to the passageways as hallways.

Reaching the right doorway, they began the
thousand-step ascent to the familiar cliff cave.

Taylor’s thoughts were muddled. While she
wanted to relax and just enjoy the celebration, her mind wandered
back to her fears. At any moment, Gabriel could be called upon to
execute a mission that he may never come back from.
Screw
that
, Taylor thought. She wasn’t about to sit idly by and watch
him get killed. Earlier that day, she had made plans of her
own.

While the others had been resting, Taylor had
knocked on Samantha’s door. For two hours the girls talked about
the men in their lives. Not like some gossipy, complaining girls’
night out, nor like obsessed, love-crazed teenagers. Rather, they
spoke about soul mates, about how life without Gabriel and
Christopher would be like life without air, or water; and mostly,
they spoke about how they could help them. Save them even. They
plotted and schemed, and by the end of the conversation they had
concocted a variety of plans that could be used in various
circumstances.

Their plans were reckless—that much they
admitted to themselves—but these were reckless times. Throwing
caution to the wind may put their own lives in jeopardy, but it
might also be the only way to save them from a life not lived—a
life without love.

Although Taylor felt better after talking to
her best friend—she now felt like she was actually doing something,
rather than just waiting around—she could still not shake the
ominous feeling of foreboding that crept into her heart, filling
her with fear. As she felt Gabriel’s hand on her lower back, she
tried to focus on his touch and the love that resonated from it.
She wanted to look into his eyes, but she was afraid that it would
give away her intentions. That somehow he would know what she had
been planning. She laughed at her own paranoia. While he had many
powers, mind reading was
not
one of them.

“What is it? What’s so funny?” he asked
her.

Surprised by his question, Taylor realized
that she had actually laughed out loud at her own thoughts. “Uh,
nothing. I was just thinking about how Sam beat Chris at pool
earlier,” she lied smoothly.

“Really? When was that?”

“When you were talking to Sampson. She was
quite proud of herself.”

“As she should be, that’s impressive.”

They continued on in silence, listening to
Sam chatter away with Chris. She was asking him a million questions
a minute about what to expect from the evening: how long the show
was, the history of it, who created it, how many demons were
involved in its production, and on and on. Happy for a distraction
from her thoughts, Taylor listened as Chris explained that the
Demon Spectacular was first created in 1982 when Wooster Child, an
engineer in the demon army, complained that the troops needed
something to take their minds off of the War, especially during the
holidays. Liking the idea, the Elders provided Wooster with a small
budget and allowed him to ask for volunteers to help with the show.
The response was overwhelming; so many demons signed up that he
didn’t know what to do with them all. He enlisted the help of five
of his closest friends, who became co-directors. Their first show
was a huge success, and each subsequent year the budget was
expanded and the planning began earlier and earlier in the
year.

Now, twenty years later, the production
included over 500 demons, including the cast and crew, and
commanded a budget of $10 million. Mr. Child remained as the
overall director, relishing his role and the challenge of
surprising his viewers with something new in each show. Demons from
all over the world teleported to the Lair on New Year’s Eve each
year, as the Lair’s population soared from 5,000 to over
20,000.

Reaching the summit, they flowed into the
small cave. There were half a dozen demons already gathered on the
cliff’s edge, peering out into the night sky. Hearing voices, they
turned to greet the new arrivals. Before she could make out his
face, Taylor recognized his voice. “Welcome, friends,” Clifford
said.

“Thank you, sir,” Chris replied. “And thanks
for inviting us to join you for the entertainment.”

“Ahh, my pleasure, my dear boy. I wanted our
guests to have the opportunity to view this year’s installment of
the Demon Spectacular in its full glory.”

“Thanks, Cliff,” Samantha replied
casually.

Smiling, Clifford spoke directly to Samantha,
“Come, my dear, you can sit next to me.” He led her to a blanket
where they sat next to each other cross-legged. Chris followed her,
sitting on her other side. Taylor, Gabriel, Kiren and Sampson found
similar seats on empty blankets that had been laid out for them.
There were five others already seated on the cliff. Taylor thought
she recognized their faces from the panel of Elders earlier that
week.

“Would you like me to tell you about the
history of the Spectacular?” Clifford asked. His question wasn’t
directed at anyone in particular, but he turned towards Samantha
for a response.

Despite having just heard the same
information from Chris, Sam said, “Sure. Thanks, Cliff. That would
be great.”

While Clifford went into a much more detailed
chronicle of the Demon Spectacular from its inception, Taylor held
Gabriel’s hand tightly and watched as a buzz of activity filled the
valley below. From high above, the demons appeared to scurry like
ants in search of food, their movements seemingly random, without
pattern. Flaming torches had been set up throughout the valley,
providing them with a low level of light while they worked.

Taylor inched forward and craned her neck to
get a better view of the mountain below her. She could make out
hundreds, maybe thousands, of shadowy forms that were only visible
because of the moonlight. They were scattered along the side of the
mountain. All waiting, waiting.

A single flare shot high into the air.
Clifford paused in his monologue, and said, “Ahh, yes. It’s
starting!” The bright orb travelled higher and higher, until Taylor
thought it might break through the atmosphere and into outer space,
never to be seen again. Just when she thought it was headed for the
moon, the flare reached its peak and stopped, defying gravity as it
hung in the air. Its light went out, fizzling away like it had
never been.

Taylor whispered, “What happened?”

Having seen the Spectacular many times from
the other side of the valley, Gabriel replied softly, “Just
wait.”

A minute passed in silence, then two. When
she was nearly bored from the anticipation, the dark firmament
suddenly erupted in flame. Reds, oranges, and yellows filled her
view, bursting in every direction. Balls of fire arced across the
sky, and then exploded in midair, never reaching the ground. It was
as if the gates of Hell had been opened and all of the Devil’s
weapons were being used simultaneously. That, or one of the
mountains was really an active volcano that had chosen to erupt on
New Year’s Eve, launching lava coated rocks for miles in every
direction. Each explosion was deafening and echoed off of the
valley walls, creating an exciting surround-sound effect.

When the final blast of fire had burned
itself out and the last bomb had burst, the sound of cheering
filled the air, like a college football crowd celebrating a home
touchdown. The Elders clapped firmly, but evenly, while Samantha
yelled, “Woooohoooo!” in excitement. Taylor managed to clap a few
times, stunned by the power she had just witnessed.

“That was an amazing show,” she murmured.

Gabriel laughed. “That was just the
beginning.”

While he was still laughing, four more tiny
flares were launched. They exploded simultaneously, at the exact
same altitude. Four distinct balls of tiny red twinkles of light
formed haphazardly and then, as if by magic, moved together,
transforming into some sort of a pattern. Within moments, the
nature of the shape was clarified. A massive, four-headed dragon
appeared—fully three-dimensional, the dragon was complete with four
sets of sharp teeth and a barbed tail.

The beast hung in the air for a moment,
before charging for the mountainside. The mythical creature was
gargantuan—so large, that when it reached the cliffs, one of its
four heads was able to peer into the cave where Taylor and her
friends were watching from, while the rest of its body stretched to
the ground, thousands of feet below. Taylor watched in awe as the
mammoth seemed to make direct eye contact with her.

She was mesmerized by the deepness of its
eyes—they seemed real, life-like—until the dragon reared back its
four heads and with an explosive burst, shot fire from its mouths
into the demon crowds. Most of the now-frightened onlookers shrank
back from the flames, despite their natural immunity to fire; some
even tried to flee back into the Lair. Within their little cave,
everyone jumped back, including Gabriel, who tried to pull Taylor
with him.

But she managed to wrench her hand free and
remain seated, staring into the dragon’s eye while the false flames
washed over her. She felt a tiny tickling sensation over the
entirety of her skin, like someone with a hundred hands was using a
hundred feathers to tickle every part of her body simultaneously.
She began to laugh and couldn’t stop, even after the imitation fire
had fizzled out and the dragon had faded away into nothingness.

While she laughed, her friends crept back to
the edge of the cliff from the various safety positions they had
assumed. Chris had grabbed Sam and thrown his body on top of hers,
hoping to shield her from the flames. Gabriel and Sampson, not
sharing the demons’ protection from fire, and having grown up under
the tutelage of angels that taught them to fear it, were the
furthest back in the cave, ready to spring down the stairs if
necessary. Kiren had slid to the side wall, flush against the rocky
canvas. A few of the demon Elders had toppled over backwards in
their seats, and even old Clifford had ducked, throwing himself
flat on the ground, like a soldier under enemy fire. Only Taylor
remained, sitting cross-legged on the blanket, laughing her head
off, sounding madder than a certain Hatter in a particular
Wonderland.

Gabriel rushed back, and asked, “Are you
okay?” possibly mistaking her case of the giggles for some
strangely delirious evidence of pain or shock.

She looked at him, trying to understand the
question. Finally, her mind registered what he was asking. “Of
course. That was amazing, don’t you think?”

Gabriel was dumbfounded. “Amazing?” he
asked.

From across the cave mouth, Clifford started
chuckling. All eyes locked on the oldest demon on earth, who had
seemed to catch Taylor’s contagious case of the giggles. In between
his deep, throaty laughter, Clifford managed to say, “Hoo hoo, of
all the battle-tested, tough as nails, ice water in their veins,
angels and demons in this room, hoo hoo hoo, it is the young human
girl who is the bravest!” His laughter continued and soon the
funny-virus was airborne and had afflicted all within reach of his
voice.

Typically reserved demon Elders were rolling
on the ground, their sides shaking; Samantha was laughing so hard
she looked like she might pee herself; tears were streaming down
Chris’s and Sampson’s cheeks; Gabriel was laughing heartily. Taylor
joined in the fun, too, and carried on her laughing, free of fear
for the first time since Gabriel and Sampson had brought them the
news about the missing angel spies.

When the next fireworks began blasting away
the night sky, they, one by one, snapped out of their laughing
fits, dried their eyes and cheeks, and, trying to catch their
breaths, turned their attention back to the show. Gabriel was
happy. He put his arm around Taylor and pulled her close. He
whispered, “I love you, Taylor.”