Sonya stood beside the window with a bottle containing a mixture of holy water and wine in her hands and she took a deep sip.
"You can remove the mask now," Aaron said and Sonya did accordingly. It was the first outing that would happen with a mask and she had forgotten how it made her look and also that it was still in the components of her face.
"Thank you," Sonya muttered and then looked outside the window again.
Mason walked in, then Chris, and lastly was Wendy.
"She is hungry and would eat before a bath," Wendy said when she joined them.
"Poor girl," she added.
"What was her reaction to the holy water?" Aaron asked.
"She took it and asked for more. It definitely made her feel good," Wendy answered.
"Please, get us cups, Wendy," Sonya said and Wendy went for the cups. She returned with four and gave to Aaron, Chris, and Mason while retaining one for herself.
Sonya walked to them all and poured a portion of the bottle's content into cups and returned to her position by the window side.
"I am leaving," Sonya said and with a forced smile, she looked into their faces and tapped her akimbo feet on the floor.
Chris laughed and relaxed his back on the wall and pointed to Sonya.
"You got them all but me," he said.
"I am serious, Chris. I am leaving," Sonya said again.
Chris' laughter disintegrated into a cackle and then he stuttered as he laughed. When he finally came to a stop, he regained his posture and frowned.
"Where are you going? Why?" Chris asked.
"You must be joking," Mason said.
"I am not," Sonya answered sharply and walked close to Mason.
"I am…"
"She is going to enter the legion," Wendy interrupted Sonya.
At the sound of Wendy's voice, Sonya paused and heaved before Mason.
"What?!" Mason and Chris said in unison and utter silence befell the room.
"We can't win without this move," Sonya said. Now, she was in the midst of them where a spin would allow her to see their faces as she turned.
"Forty-four generations of fated angelic elders with a team of hunters and huntresses but the same generation of demons. You don't get old dogs with old tricks. We can't win old demons with old tricks. We have to go for them before they come for us. They have a list of our attacks and patterns. They know what we will do and all we need to do is shock them with an unbeknown move. I have to go," she concluded.
"Go do what? Go fight them. Go act a savior and die in our stead? What point does that make when we will surely die without you?" Chris blurted.
"I am not going there to fight. The Legion may be the stronghold of demons but they are demons in their human form. It is a business agency with humans as workers…"
"Humans with souls that serve as meals in the night. There is news all over about missing workers in the company and they employ a lot because they need to feed. They will take you and then eat your soul," Mason interrupted.
"That won't be my soul," Sonya returned.
"So what would you do when you are attacked? I trust that you will fight and there they will know who you are. They won't kill you, they will make a weapon from you. I am sure you know that. You know what you are. Your gift is a mystery. It is a new gift and one that stands to be the most needed for this war. We need you and we need you here," Chris said.
"I won't let them find out. Those who get eaten are mostly women who chose to follow the boss at night. Playing human will keep my gifts and I will be smart doing it. I will get to know more when I am close. We will eat them from the inside and that is the only way we will win. I have improved in my telepathy and I will communicate with you daily." She concluded.
"Wendy," Aaron called out and walked close to Wendy.
"You have seen it. You saw her walking to the legion as a human. What happened thereafter?" Aaron asked and silence took place with all eyes set across Aaron's direction and then at Wendy after the question.
"I couldn't see beyond her entrance," Wendy answered and Aaron returned to his position.
"She took her light into the darkness and it would only shine unto a path that only her can see. What happens next depends on her and since our lives is tied to her survival, I couldn't see a glimpse of what we would do without her," Wendy responded and there was silence again.
"It is the only way. If it gets too tough, I will escape then we do it the other way. I won't die. I don't see myself dying. Wendy had seen me in the future and to actualize it, I would be alive," Sonya said.
"The future is could be changed. It is dependent on our actions and…"
"I won't die!" Sonya interrupted Aaron's will to quote.
"What should we tell the recruits?" Chris asked.
"That I am on a trip and I am one call away," Sonya answered.
"What if there is an attack or a need to brawl and you are not there?" Mason queried.
"When you win, tell them you don't need me and that is why I didn't show," Sonya replied.
"What if we lose to a big blow?" Aaron asked.
"Then I will show up. Trust me, I would," Sonya said.
Sighs happened from the four and they all folded their hands.
"We will win," Sonya said and raised her bottle.
"We cheered to long lives when we shouldn't because I believed in it. We are cheering for it again. Mason, lead the brawl whenever any comes up. Aaron, protect the vowels when they follow you out, Chris, train them as always and Wendy, take care of the new girl. This plan remains with you alone. Yes. Sasha is an elder by the gift but she is not part of the elder's fold yet. I will miss you all," Sonya said and cusped Wendy's cheek.
"This is not goodbye. It is see you soon." Sonya said and Wendy's glass was hoisted, then Chris's, then Mason's, and lastly, Aaron's.
Cups met with the bottle and then cups met with cups. They all drank and hugs happened.
"I leave tomorrow morning. I have an interview by nine," Sonya said.
"We will drop you off," Wendy said.
"We did. I have seen it. So we should," she said, looking into their eyes and they all nodded.
Wendy went first for a hug, then Mason who managed a smile, and then Chris with his extra-temporal frown. Sonya looked at Aaron and smirked.
"I guess someone needs further elucidation.
"Chris, get the recruits to bed. Mason, replace the weapons. Wendy, check on Sasha," Sonya pealed out the orders and they all walked out after their name and the duty bestowed on them. All but Aaron.
"Come here," Sonya said with a smile and walked close to Aaron even though she was the one that made the call. She hugged him tightly and Aaron wrapped his hands around her in the respite that followed.
"I will be back," Sonya said.
"I won't die, not that easy," she added.
"I know there is more to the plan. Tell me," Aaron said and Sonya smiled.
"You know? Tell me then," Sonya asked.
"You want to burrow into a demon and find its weak spot isn't it?" Aaron asked.
"You didn't guess. You knew," Sonya affirmed and kissed him. Aaron held her lips and caressed them with his lips.
"No more reports from Mason or anyone," he said as he unhooked Sonya's belt and pulled down her khaki. He dipped his hands in her panty and Sonya gasped. She traced her feet without looking at her door and rested her back on it. There he helped in getting his shirt off and then his khaki shorts too.
Aaron turned her, such that she was now facing the wall and Sonya moaned at the infilling of him in her. She pushed the door open and found her way to the bed with Aaron's hands on her waist.
She fought off his hands and laid recumbent on the bed, watching him as he raised her legs up and fixed her eyes on his face. It would be the last night for the week, probably for the month and she wanted a long stare of it to remember how good it looked.
***
At sunup, a van parked before the legion, and Sonya dropped off. The glass was tinted but she could see through and in the driver seat was Aaron who looked in her direction, Mason and Chris were beside him and they gave a salute. In the back of the van was Wendy who pictured Sonya the same way she had seen it in her vision. She appeared as an office woman in black cotton boot cut trouser and a white shirt. Her height received an increase with the heels shoe and she had an ash muffler around her neck, one that matches the colour of her heel shoe. Wendy said goodbye through the telepathy communication that Sonya created and smiled at her.
Sonya walked into the gate of The Legion – a company holding countless demons as managers of different offices in the building, comprising of elders and grunts – a company with countless humans, working and getting huge pay from the company for their services with most of them ending up as fears in the night – a skyscraper with a hundred floors on it. She raised her eyes to see to a height of the building and the base of her neck had to relax on her nape to do so. Sonya sighed as she looked forward to the interview that she would soon be facing.