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"Hey." I grabbed his arm and rose to my tiptoes. "I don't mind." I kissed him gently on the lips. "Thank you."
He seemed as if he wanted to say something, but then his features closed off and he nodded instead before turning to the door which opened into the wall to allow us passage.
Curiously, I followed him, two steps behind as instructed, and stared at the elaborately carved walls and occasional pillar. The images were still frightening, but I was starting to get used to them.
We entered an elevator and soon reached a hangar and boarded a smaller spaceship, similar to the one that brought me to theAsphodel. Alone inside, he pulled me against his chest, and I had the impression that he was taking his first breath since we left our chamber.
During our descent and flight over the continental US, Azazel gave me more details on the quest he and his brothers were supposed to carry out and the roles of the brides. He also filled me in how he ended up with four brides and told me about his brother Seth and how he had killed his brother Nergal towinLilith.
The very idea of it shook me to the core, and my heart went out to the unknown woman who had been treated like a trophy in a contest. How was it possible that these aliens flew in spaceships so much more technologically advanced than anything we had developed on Earth, yet their philosophy of treating women dated back to the Middle Ages?
He filled me in on how his brother Abaddon had killed his brother Balaam with the help of hismate,which sent more shivers down my spine. Had this woman been coerced in some way? Blackmailed? Or had she done so out of her own free will? And why would she do that?
She and the others had only known theirmatesa little over a day, just like I had known Azazel only a little over a day.
That thought gave me pause and brought up the question of what I would do for him. How far would I go to protect him?
Another shudder wracked my body at the realization that I would do pretty much anything for him. Go anywhere for him. Leave everything behind.
Something nagged at the periphery of my conscience, and it took me a moment to realize it was the names of his brothers. I wasn't widely read or studied, but the names shook me to the core when I realized that each name represented demons from different cultures. Some names like Seth and Behlial were varied, but the others seemed the same.
I tried hard to repress the fact that Azazel was one of them.
Azazel interrupted my musings by tugging me toward a display screen. "You will need to navigate where you want to go."
The screen was intuitive. Much like the tablets I was used to on Earth, I tapped the tip of my finger on the map, and it expanded the closer we came to our destination.
As we flew over the landscape, I noticed more vessels like ours flying across the sky. I also saw that some had landed. We passed them too quickly to make anything out, but I imagined the carnage they wrought wherever they landed and shuddered, preferring to ban those images from my mind.
Soon I made out the familiar forest where my parents' cabin was located, and I remembered that the bunker lay a little further north of it. The bunker was still on our property, but closer to the tree line of the national forest bordering it. My heartrate increased in anticipation of seeing them soon.
"There." I pointed.
Azazel entered more commands by tapping on symbols I didn't understand, and soon, we landed.
My hand shook slightly as I tugged Azazel forward to where a rotting outbuilding hid the entrance to our family bunker. As soon as I opened the rickety door, I was greeted by another made of steel. A panel blinked on the right side, and I turned my head for the scanner to read my retina before the steel door slid to the side, allowing us entrance.
Lights blinked on, illuminating a steep staircase. The second we entered the landing on the other side, the door behind us closed with an ominous sound. We were only halfway down the stairs when I heard a shout. "Fay, is that you?"
"Daddy?" I called back, just as excited.
"Fay!" my mom and dad yelled simultaneously, and I heard the pounding of feet as they rushed up just as I rushed down.
The impact of our three bodies colliding nearly knocked us off our feet, and it was only thanks to my father that we didn't topple the rest of the way down.
"Fay, we were so worried," my father said with tears in his eyes.
"When Alex told us a Daemon took you, we feared the worst." My mother shook her head, allowing her tears to spill freely.
"What in God's name?" my dad called out in alarm as Azazel reached us. His eyes widened when he recognized Azazel for an alien before they leveled on me accusingly. "You brought one of them here?"
"Dad, it's not what you think," I tried.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. You must be Lorraine and Maxmilian Von Wutenhaus," Azazel greeted in the old Sumerian language that had become oddly familiar to me, not having understood a word that was said between my parents and I. Expectantly he extended his hand. "Fay told me much about you and was terribly distressed knowing you would be worried sick about her."
"Wha-at?" my father stuttered, staring at Azazel's hand.
"Please, come down, there is more room." Mom remembered her manners, and Sumerian, but I noticed that neither took Azazel's hand, so I grabbed it, holding it firmly in mine.
