Lilly's POV
We walked for hours, the cracked highway stretched endlessly ahead, each mile marker was covered in dust with splatters of blood. The wind was blowing hard enough to push us back towards the compound we've left behind.
Chicago was a shrinking shadow behind us with it's skyscrapers leaning instead of standing tall. The road south twisted between forests that were empty of leaves from the trees that were charred and split open.
John led the way with his rifle raised with Scarlet walking beside him scanning every ditch and broke down car. Liam was at the rear, silent and tense, his eyes always drifting towards me as though he expected me to burst into flames and maybe he wasn't wrong.
Ever since the attack at the compound when I released the light I can feel something pulsing under my skin like a second heart beating. It didn't hurt exactly just uncomfortable like it was waiting to be set free.
The air shifted around us.
"Hold up," Liam muttered, his hand going up in a silent signal.
We all froze and the world seemed to go silent even the wind seemed to hold its self back. Then I heard it, low agressive growling and not the rasping moans of the Hollowed this was deeper and rougher. The sound was alive in a way that made my spine go cold and I seemed to tense up.
"Not the Hollowed," Scarlet whispered.
"No, something worse." Liam said quietly.
The came from a ditch on our left, six or seven of them. Their skin was gray, eyes burning with a dull crimson glow and horns curled unevenly from their skulls that looked almost human like. Their mouths held a rows of sharp teeth that snapped every time their bodies twitched like being puppets tugged by invisible strings.
Demons, but not the kind that mattered, these were the lowborn filth that crawled from the rifts between the worlds, they were scavengers that fed on the dead.
My mind seemed to have the knowledge of what these creatures were before I could process, I wonder if it is because I am still connected to Kael.
The demons were staring right at me as one of them lunged.
"Run!" Liam shouted as he raised his gun and fired the first shot. The bullet split open the demon's skull in a spray of black blood.
John pulled Mary and Lilac behind a wrecked truck while Scarlet fired into the group of demons, her aim sharp despite her shaking hands. I stayed frozen for a heartbeat with my pulse hammering in my ears, then I snapped out of it as one of the demons came running at me.
It moved fast, faster than the Hollowed, its eyes never straying from me. I barely ducked as it's claws sliced through the air where my throat had been. My knife came up on instinct stabbing the demon in its side.
It shrieked twisting its head toward me, "Found you," it rasped.
I shoved it back and yelled, "What did you say?"
It lunged at me but Liam's bullet caught it mid leap sending it crashing into the ground.
"They are after her!" Scarlet yelled. "They're all after Lilly!"
As if her words were a command the rest of the demons turned toward me in unison, their movements weren't random but coordinated and purposeful.
"Take her and bring her to the depths!" One of them screeched.
"Over my dead body," Liam growled back.
The fight turned to chaos as John swung a metal pipe cracking one's head open, Scarlet's knife flashed silver as she threw it and hit one between the eyes, then there was Mary who was trembling as she covered Lilac's eyes and whispered prayers under her breath.
I fought like I have never fought before, the strength in my arms felt unnatural, when one demon grabbed me its claws digging into my arm a surge of heat flared under my skin as a gold light erupted from my hands burning straight through the demon's chest. It collapsed hissing my name with its final breath.
Liam froze mid step staring, "Lilly.. what the hell!"
"Don't!" I shouted my chest heaving, "Don't ask!"
The last of the demons fell their bodies twitching before turning into ash that smelled of sulfur. It was silent besides our heavy breathing.
Scarlet leaned onto her knees, "They were waiting for us like they knew we would be here."
"They knew about her," Liam replied, his eyes still locked onto me.
I looked away because I didn't know how to explain the thing pulsing under my skin and the gold light that weren't supposed to exist.
John kicked one of the demon's melting corpses and said, "They wanted to take her why?"
No one had a answer so we gathered what strength we could and moved on, slower this time and wary of ever sound. By midday the air grew thicker like we were walking through something and it felt like we were being watched.
Then we finally saw it, a wall not like the compounds makeshift barricade this one was clean, solid, reinforced with steel and concrete. Beyond it we saw rooftops and faint trails of smoke from chimneys and we knew we arrived at the settlement.
Scarlet stared, "You've got to be kidding me."
"It looks alive," Mary whispered.
At the gate figures stood watch, they were not entirely human, their eyes shimmered with colors that weren't natural like gold and silver.
One stepped forward holding up a hand and said, "State your names."
Liam squared his shoulders and replied, "We are survivors of a compound from the west and we were told there might be safety here."
The guard studied him and then turned to look at me, his expression shifted to shock and recognition. "Open the gate."
The others hesitated but the command was sharp and within seconds the gate unlocked and opened with a low groan. Inside the world changed, the streets were clean and the houses were painted and repaired. There was gardens full of vegetables and fruit that I haven't seen in months and children's laughter echoed faintly from somewhere deeper inside.
"Is this real?" Scarlet murmured.
"It seems like it, for now," Liam said.
We were being led down the main road toward what looked like a cul-de-sac, there was a two story house surrounded by light.
Then I saw him, he stood on the porch like he's been waiting for me, Kael. My chest tightened because he was no longer a ghost stalking me he was really and looking straight at me.
"Welcome," he said in a deep voice, "You have come a long way."
Liam stepped forward instinctively putting himself between Kael and the group and commanded, "Who the hell are you?"
Kael's gaze moved from me to Liam as he addressed him. "A friend," he said simply and then his gaze moved back to me. "And perhaps something more."
Scarlet's eyes darted between us. "You two know each other?"
"Not exactly," I managed softly my throat suddenly dry. "I've seen him before."
"In your dreams?" Kael's mouth curved slightly. "Yes you have."
The others tensed and John gripped onto his weapon, but Kael didn't seem to care as power radiated off of him not to threaten but to show he was somebody ancient and respected.
He looked at everyone as his tone softened, "You are safe here and my people will provide for you. We are currently building something better than the old world allowed."
Mary stepped closer her voice trembling as she asked, "Are you human?"
Kael smiled but it didn't reach his eyes when he answered, "Once perhaps but now I am what you consider a god but fallen"
Liam bristled. "You expect us to believe this? That some god is running a refugee camp?"
Kael's gaze sharpened as he replied, "You believe in death walking, demons hunting and fire falling from the sky but a god standing before you? That's when you doubt?"
Liam's jaw tightened and before he could comment I said, "Enough."
Both men turned towards me as Kael said, "Lilly, you have survived and done well you are stronger than you think."
"I don't know what I am."
"You will soon." He turned towards the others. "You are free to stay or go but if you choose to stay you must follow my rules, there is no war here, no hunger and no fear only survival and purpose."
Scarlet looked at me. "Feels like we found heaven."
Kael's gaze lingered on me again. "Not heaven but something older," he replied.
The group was escorted to a empty house near the wall, it was clean and stocked well. That night while the other's rested I stood by the window staring out into the streets. Houses were lit and guards patrolled in silence then I noticed in the center of it all stood Kael's house surrounded by a faint golden glow. I couldn't tell if this place was a sanctuary or a cage but as the night deepened I felt him again, his voice brushing against my mind like a whisper.
"You are not alone."
I closed my eyes. "Then tell me why it feels like I should run."
Silence then finally.
"Because it's in your nature to run."