Empower

by Ashley Stambaugh

  If only there was a way I could speak to Claude again to make sure I still have enough time, she thought.

  All of a sudden a strange black light flashed next to her, and when it diminished, there was Claude.

  Melina’s brow creased. “Claude? But how…”

  “You called to me,” he said.

  She looked curiously at the angel of death as he stood calmly in front of her, seemingly unaware of all of the chaos going on around him. “Tessa,” she said in a worried voice. “How much time?”

  Claude glanced over his shoulder at all of the angels and demons battling each other and then looked back at Melina. “Not enough, I’m afraid. I’m sorry.” And with another flash of black light, he was gone.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  “No!” Melina screamed as she reached out with her hand, her eyes instantly filling with tears. “Please, no! I can save her! I can save her!”

  Her entire body started to shake as her emotions overtook her. As she fell down to her knees, her light shield exploded out around her with more force than it ever had before. The wave of fiery light that was sent out hit every angel and demon in the area, knocking all of them down hard onto the ground.

  As she raised her head back up, she saw that Dean and all of the angels luckily had their protective light shields up, so even though they had been knocked back, they weren’t harmed. She couldn’t say the same for some of the demons who were closer to her, though. Piles of ash covered the concrete in her immediate area, and the other demons who were farther away from her were still writhing around on the ground.

  She had given herself and all of the angels an advantage, but it was only temporary. At the beginning of the battle, Walter had thought that the demons would eventually retreat, but he had been wrong. They weren’t going to give up.

  Just then Maura, back in her human form, appeared right in front of her. When Melina had blasted her back earlier, she wasn’t quite sure what had happened to her, but the bleeding wound on her head and her hunched-over posture made it obvious that the demon was hurt. Maura took in deep, labored breaths as she slowly walked toward her.

  “This is far from over,” she said as she sneered at Melina. She then quickly morphed into her demonic form and yelled out in a foreign tongue.

  A few seconds later, Melina saw swirls of black smoke popping up all over the place as more Noxin demons teleported into the area. She swallowed hard as she glanced around. There were still more warrior angels than Noxin demons, but that didn’t stop the fear from rising up inside of her. There had to be a way to stop all of this.

  Then all of a sudden, Adelia appeared next to her. She was surrounded in her usual hazy black mist and looked more ragged and weak than before.

  “About time you showed up!” Maura yelled at her. “It’s time we evened the playing field. You know what to do.”

  Melina’s eyes filled with dread as Maura rushed off to join her fellow demons. She knew what Maura wanted Adelia to do. She wanted her to project her protective light shield onto all of the demons because hers would be stronger than any light shield that the demons could conjure. And when Adelia did that, the warrior angels would no longer have the upper hand.

  “Adelia,” Melina said in a low voice. “You don’t have to do this. Please…”

  Adelia remained still for a few seconds, as if she was thinking, and then she slowly turned around. She gave Melina a conflicted look and when she started to speak, her voice sounded strained, like each word was a struggle to get out. “If you really do have hope for me, hope that I still have some good in me and can come back to the light, then does that mean that you would trust me if I asked you to let down your light shield?”

  Melina’s first reaction was to say no, that she didn’t trust Adelia. But as she thought about what the fallen angel had said, she realized that if she really did have hope for her, then trusting her would be the next step toward reaffirming that hope. She took in a deep breath and then let down her light shield.

  Adelia’s expression softened a little as she looked around at all of the elder guiding angels. She then returned her gaze to Melina and held out her hand. “Take my hand. I can help you end all of this, once and for all.”

  Melina hesitated.

  “Please,” Adelia said in a forceful tone. “Take it now, before I change my mind.”

  Melina slowly reached her hand out and took hold of Adelia’s.

  “Now,” Adelia said, “build up as much strength behind your powers as you can and then throw out your soul releasing light beams. Only this time direct them at me.”

  “I don’t understand,” Melina said.

  Adelia took in a long, ragged breath. “Maura is about to command all of the Noxin demons to gather together so that I can project my protective light shield onto them. But if you direct your soul releasing power at me then I’ll be able to project it onto them instead of my light shield. My projection power will increase the reach of your light beams, ensuring that all of the demons are hit.”

  Melina’s eyes widened. “And you’re sure it will work?”

  Adelia nodded.

  Just then, Melina heard Maura’s voice shout out again in her foreign tongue. As she turned around, she saw all of the Noxin demons struggling to get away from the warrior angels. She looked back at Victor. He gave her a simple nod, telling her that he understood, and then briefly closed his eyes. When Melina looked back at the demons, she saw that the warrior angels hadn’t stopped fighting completely, but they had eased up enough for it to seem like the demons had slipped away on their own.

  As the demons all started heading toward them, Adelia gripped Melina’s hand a little tighter and said, “Now, before it’s too late!”

  Melina’s body tensed as she felt the intensity of her powers starting to build. A few seconds later, when she felt like she could no longer contain it, she shoved her free hand out toward Adelia as bright, fiery white light beams blasted her right in the chest.

  Adelia cried out and then thrust her open hand out at the incoming demons. Hundreds of fiery light beams shot out of Adelia’s hand, hitting every single one of the demons. The evil creatures screeched and howled as hundreds of soft white lights were released from them. As soon as the human souls were completely free and disappeared back to their respective humans, Adelia lowered her hand, and she and Melina both collapsed down to their knees.

  “NO!!” Maura screamed as she stared wide-eyed at all of the injured Noxin demons scattered all over the ground. She then turned around and looked right at Adelia, her eyes filled with fury. “You’ll pay for that, you traitor!” And in a flash, she came flying at Adelia, knocking the fallen angel back into the side of one of the nearby buildings.

  Melina scrambled to her feet to try to help Adelia, but before she could do anything, Maura shoved her long, sharp claws right into Adelia’s chest. Adelia’s eyes widened as her face turned white. Maura retracted her claws, and Adelia slumped down to the ground.

  “No!” Melina cried out. She balled her fists at her sides and glared at Maura, seething with anger. “You monster!” She gritted her teeth, preparing to pulse out her light shield when suddenly a large sword made of red light came thrusting through Maura’s chest.

  Melina jumped back in surprise as Maura let out an earsplitting shriek. The bright red blade was pulled back out of her, and as she fell down to the ground, there stood Victor behind her, holding up his sword.

  He looked down at Maura and said in a cold voice, “You should have listened when I told you to move out of my way.”

  Maura let out one last low growl, and then she went still. A couple of seconds later her body started to disintegrate, leaving behind a pile of sooty ashes. The rest of the Noxin demons, now left without a leader, began to panic. Puffs of black smoke started popping up everywhere as they teleported away.

  Melina rushed over to Adelia and gently picked up her head, cradling it on her lap. Helene knelt down beside her as Dean and the other angel
s stood around her. Adelia’s breathing was heavy and labored as she looked up at everyone gathered around her.

  “I’m so sorry about everything,” she said in a breathy voice.

  Helene reached out and took her hands in hers.

  Adelia gave her a weak smile and then turned her gaze to Melina. “I was wrong about you. And you,” she said as she briefly looked at Dean. “I see now that you’re not abominations, and that you truly want to help others. Can you ever forgive me?” she asked Melina.

  “Of course,” Melina said as her eyes began to water. “You helped us save everyone.”

  Suddenly Adelia’s dark, somber appearance faded away as a brilliant white light overtook her. When it died down, she was dressed in a clean white robe, and her sunken face was now bright and vibrant. She had come back to the light. Melina smiled down at Adelia, but her joy was cut short when she realized that Adelia was still very weak and struggling to breathe.

  “Thank you for believing in me,” Adelia whispered as she closed her eyes. She took a few more heavy breaths, and then her body slowly began to fade into thousands of tiny sparkling lights. For a couple of seconds the lights hung in the air, then they were whisked away in the wind.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  As Melina watched the lights drift away, she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder.

  “You did it,” Helene said. “You helped her come back to the light.”

  Melina nodded and then stood up to join the others.

  “See,” Walter said. “You have wanted to help someone for so long, and now you finally did it. And you didn’t just help someone change her attitude and outlook, but you helped a fallen angel find her way back to the light. You should be very proud of yourself.”

  Melina smiled. “My confidence in my powers has definitely been boosted.”

  “As it should be,” Phinneas said. “You saved all of the people in your town.”

  Melina sucked in a sharp breath as her eyes grew big. “Oh no. Tessa! I don’t know if I saved her in time or not. I have to go see her.”

  “Then go,” Walter said.

  “But what about Lee and Gwen?” she said. “I need to make sure they’re all right, too.”

  “We’ll go and check on them,” Walter said. “You go to Tessa.”

  Melina didn’t hesitate, and within just a couple of seconds, she was in Tessa’s condo, standing outside of her bedroom. She hurried over to the door and when she pushed it in, she saw that Tessa was lying on the bed, her eyes still closed.

  “Please no,” Melina said as she rushed over to the side of the bed. She immediately put her ear down toward Tessa’s face to see if she could hear her breathing. A few seconds later, Melina gasped and then covered her mouth as she started to cry tears of joy. Tessa was still alive.

  “Tessa,” she said as she gently pushed her friend’s hair out of her face. “Tessa, wake up.”

  All of a sudden a bright black light burst out in the room and there stood Claude.

  Melina’s brows furrowed together. “What are you doing here? She’s still alive. I returned the rest of her soul to her.”

  Claude took a step forward as he clasped his hands in front of him. But before he said anything, the room filled with a flash of green light. When it finally faded away, a young woman with long red hair, surrounded by a light-green aura, stood next to Claude. Melina had seen a couple of angels with green auras before. She was an angel of life.

  “This is Cressida,” he said. “She’s an angel of life.”

  Melina nodded. “I know. But again, why are you two here?”

  Claude cleared his throat. “Tessa’s been without most of her soul for too long, and even though you were able to return it to her, I’m afraid significant damage has already been done.”

  Melina struggled to swallow the lump in her throat as she began to shake her head back and forth. “No,” she said as streams of tears started falling down her face.

  “If Cressida can’t completely heal her,” Claude said, “then I’m going to have to take her.”

  Melina didn't say anything. She just looked over at Cressida, waiting.

  The red-haired angel gave her a conciliatory look and then stepped over to Tessa and placed her hands above Tessa’s chest. A soft green glow started to shine out from her hands and then slowly surrounded Tessa’s body.

  Melina held her breath as she anxiously waited to see what would happen.

  After several seconds, Tessa still hadn’t moved. Melina thought for sure that her friend should’ve been awake by now. Maybe they really were too late. But just as Melina was about to think the worst, Tessa suddenly let out a loud gasp as her eyes popped open, and she shot up from the bed.

  “Tessa!” Melina rushed over to her friend and threw her arms around her. “I thought I had lost you for good.”

  As Tessa returned her hug, Melina saw Claude and Cressida teleport away. She pulled back and looked at Tessa. “Are you okay? Do remember anything?”

  Tessa rubbed at her head. “Not really. The last thing I remember is you saying that the Noxin demons had started their plan.” She paused and then turned to Melina. “Is everything okay now? Were you able to stop them?”

  “Yes,” Melina said. “We stopped them.”

  Just then several bright white lights burst throughout the room. When the lights died down, Melina saw that Walter, Phinneas, and Dean had brought Lee and Gwen to her. More tears started to fill her eyes as she rushed over to both of them.

  “Gwen!” she said as she wrapped her arms around her. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

  “Me too,” Gwen said.

  Melina stepped back and looked over at Lee. “Oh Lee.” The tears started rolling again as he pulled her into his arms. “I love you so much. I don’t know what I would’ve done if anything had happened to you.”

  “I love you, too,” he said as he gently stroked her hair.

  “Are you sure about that?” she asked in a lighthearted tone as she glanced up at him. “This is the second time that a Noxin demon has taken your soul.”

  “So is that what happened to me?” He gave her a small grin. “Of course I’m sure that I love you. I’ve told you before that I’m not going to be scared away. I’m in this for the long haul.” He bent his head down and gave Melina a kiss on her lips.

  She looked around between Lee, Tessa, and Gwen. “So none of you remember anything?”

  They all shook their heads.

  Melina nodded. The angels of concealment had done their job well. “Okay then,” she said. “I guess I have a lot to tell you.”

  The next morning, Melina, Lee, Tessa, and Dean all sat around together in her living room.

  “So Adelia helped you save everyone?” Lee asked.

  “Yeah,” Melina said. “In the end, when it mattered the most, she came back to the light.”

  “And Maura’s gone?” Tessa asked.

  Melina nodded. “I watched her disintegrate into a pile of ashes.”

  “Wow,” Lee said as he leaned back in his chair. “I can’t believe it’s finally all over.”

  “Everything with Adelia and Maura is over,” Melina said. “But there will always be Noxin demons to deal with.”

  “Yeah,” Dean said, “but now they all know about super Melina! They won’t dare mess with you anymore.”

  Everyone laughed, and as the others began to talk amongst themselves, Melina excused herself to go and get some more coffee. As she walked into the kitchen, she couldn't help but think about the last part of their conversation. Yes, it was all over with Adelia and Maura. But there would always be evil in the world. Evil in the form of Noxin demons, and all other sorts of demons for that matter, but also in the form of humans.

  There was good and bad in everyone. But now Melina truly knew that if she, Dean, and any other unique humans worked together with the guiding angels to help change people’s attitudes and outlooks on life, they could always bring someone back to the light.

  Ep
ilogue

  Nine Months Later

  It was the first week of November, and the late fall breeze was cool and crisp. Brown, dried up leaves swirled around Melina’s feet as she made her way into Nina’s café. As she walked inside, she was greeted with a hearty hello from a stout older woman with short, spiky white hair, and a warm smile on her face. Melina grinned and waved back at Nina, the owner of the place, then went and found a cozy table nestled into a back corner. She was meeting Lee, along with Tessa and her mystery man, for a double date, but she had asked Tessa to meet her a little early. There was some exciting news she wanted to share with her.

  Melina shimmied out of her dark green coat and hung it on the back of her chair before taking a seat. A few minutes later, she saw a tall, slender woman with long golden curls enter in through the front door. Tessa was there.

  “Tess!” Melina called out as she waved her hand in the air.

  Tessa gave her a wide grin and hurried over to the table to join her. They embraced in a quick hug and each took a seat.

  “So…” Tessa said as she slipped out of her coat and placed it over the back of her chair. “What’s the exciting news?” She looked at Melina with eager anticipation.

  “Well,” Melina said, “you know that last week was the one year anniversary for when Lee and I started dating, right?”

  Tessa nodded, her eyes big and round.

  “But because of work we didn’t celebrate until last night. And…” Melina couldn’t help but smile as she pulled a magazine out from her purse and flipped it open to a page she had marked. “I need you to tell me what you think of this dress.”