Free Demon Evolution by David Estes Page A

Sampson said. Or
something Sampson did. Wanting to know what their secret
conversation was about, she was about to suggest to Gabriel that
they get some food to go and eat back in their rooms, when Sampson
said, “Gabriel and I would like to talk to everyone about
something.”
    Chris started to say, “I’m not sure now is
the right time—” but Sampson cut him off.
    “The Elders asked me to tell everyone, after
telling Gabriel first.”
    Sampson got right to the point. “The angel
spies have not communicated with us since early yesterday. We are
assuming they have been discovered and will be executed as
traitors. Given the last prisoner’s miraculous escape,” he looked
at Gabriel with a smirk, “we suspect they may act much quicker this
time around.”
    “What can we do?” Sam asked.
    “Nothing. We just want everyone to know what
the situation is and that we may have to act quickly to save them
if necessary,” Gabriel said.
    “What do you mean by ‘we’? Who will have to
act to save them?” Taylor asked.
    Sampson fielded her question: “We have
created a special task force for the mission. It will be comprised
of me, Kiren, Chris, Gabriel, and some of the other highly trained
demons that helped to bust Gabriel out.”
    Taylor wanted to object. Everything in her
heart urged her, even commanded her to cry out, to say, “No! He
can’t leave me again, I’ve just found him!” But she knew her cries
would be fruitless. He would feel responsible for the lives of
those angels and nothing she could say would stop him from leaving
if he was needed. She searched the eyes of each person in the
circle and, on most of them, she saw determination and resolve, but
when she reached Sam’s face, it was like looking in a mirror. Fear
was all she saw. Fear of losing her true love. Fear of being alone
again. Fear of never feeling safe. They were sisters in fear. At
least for now.
     
     

Chapter Fifteen
     
    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