Page 23 of Griffen's Mate

Chapter 7

Hope

She felt amazing. Hope had slept for almost two days, and she was ready to go out now. She was ready to be free. She’d been in heat. Hopefully, it did what it was meant to do. Babies. She added something new to her dream list. Hope wanted children of her own to love. She was sure that she had to be pregnant.

She practically danced out of the bathroom and got dressed. She knew Griffen was out of the house. She would find him later. First, she was going to go visit with her friends and have cuddles with babies.

She didn’t bother with shoes; she loved the feel of the earth beneath her feet. She made her way toward Kirby’s house. The sun was setting, but there was enough light to see clearly, not that she needed the light, she had good night vision too, maybe even better than a shifter’s.

Kirby and Rane’s house was in her line of sight, and she couldn’t stop the huge grin covering her face. She closed her eyes for a moment and let her surroundings take her in. She liked that this place was surrounded by forest. Opening her eyes, she walked on the path to their door only to freeze when a vision assaulted her.

Demons, zombies, and minions were everywhere. This was a mission the demons knew most wouldn’t come back from. They were there to get as many women and children as they could and kill shifters and whoever helped them. It was a surprise attack, and they thought as it was last minute that she or Faith wouldn’t ‘see’ it.

The demon king had used his portal to move as many demons as he could to the entrances of the town. He’d first moved minions and zombies into the town, as they could stand being close to the water more than the demons. He’d instructed them to get captives out of the town to the demons he would have positioned at the front. Once he had the minions and zombies where he wanted them, he then moved the demons. Hope watched as he tried to keep the portal open for as long as possible, draining its power source.

The demon king didn’t come to fight himself. He didn’t send his best recruits either. Instead, he sent the demons he felt were disposable. His goal for the day was destruction and to kill and capture as many of his enemies as he could. He knew his portal would be drained for a while from this operation, but he wanted some revenge against the damn shifters, and he wanted Pet to pay. He wanted anyone she came close to dead.

Hope watched in horror as the demons and minions killed and pillaged everything around the town.

She needed to stop this vision and warn her family.

Hope yanked out of the vision, knowing she didn’t have much time. For once she was grateful for a vision and didn’t even care that this was her first one since giving help to Faith. All she wanted now was to get the women and children to the water. The demons wouldn’t go to the ocean. Shifter women and humans could handle minions and zombies. The minions could fly over the water, but she wanted to kill them before they got to her family.

She stumbled to Rane and Kirby’s door and banged on it. Rane opened it with growl, but she didn’t let him get a word in.

“The demons are coming. It’s a surprise attack. Get all the women and children to the beach. In the water would be best. Now. There is no time to talk or mess around.” Hope pushed her way through and sniffed out Kirby and Ryland. “Move it now. We need to get you two to the ocean.” Hope spun, not surprised to see Rane behind her. “I need knives and swords. I’m going to fight. No one is getting my family.”

These people had brought her into their family with open arms. The Enewu might not be fighters, but she would fight for the people she loved.

“What the fuck is going on, Hope?” Rane snarled.

Grabbing Kirby’s hand, she pulled her toward the back exit and the beach. Kirby had Ryland in a sling and was grabbing items and shoving them into a bag as they left.

Hope didn’t slow or turn to Rane as she spoke. “I had a vision. The demons are coming. They could already be on the outskirts of town. They’re coming in full force with minions and zombies, targeting the women and children. It’s a surprise attack. They hoped with it being last minute that Faith and I wouldn’t see it. You need to make sure all the women and children are put somewhere safe.”

She didn’t turn or stop when she heard, “Fuck. Fuck. I’ll call and get everything organized. Get my family to safety.”

“I will, and I’ll protect them with my life.” She meant every word she said.

* * * *

Shit hit the fan. Thankfully, Faith had seen the vision too and was already down on the beach with a bunch of women and children. Faith was decked out in her leather fighting gear with all her knives and swords strapped to her, and Bengie had a carrier strapped to the front of him with Braydon in it. That wasn’t what had Hope drawing the long knives Rane had given her—no, it was the minions and human zombies making their way to them.

Hope pushed the women she knew were pregnant and with children, getting them into the surf to at least their knees. The beach was a long strip, and she ran up and down as best she could, getting as many women and children as safe as they could get. Children were crying and screaming, but it was better than them getting hurt.

Remy wouldn’t go into the water. She was determined to fight. Della, Griffen’s mother, was helping get the women to safety too. There were female wolves stalking up and down the beach, waiting for the minions to attack. They came flying in and went straight for the stragglers. With sword and long knife drawn, Hope ran toward them like her life depended on it. She used her abilities to push herself so she could protect the women and children that were diving into the sand.

Hope was now grateful to Griffen for the weeks of hard training he’d put her though. She jumped and jabbed up, hearing the hissing nose and the snapping of wings. The gray pig-like creature’s claws raked her arms, but she was use to pain. She grabbed a hold of the minion and did what Griffen had taught her to do and she’d ‘seen’ in visions before—chopped off its head and cut out its heart. She didn’t cut off the wings since she knew it was dead. Hope moved onto the next one.

She lost herself in the lessons Griffen had taught her. Hope pretended to not to be Enewu. She let all the hate and anger she felt out and let it loose on the minions, who were the first waves. The zombies were there to grab what the minions got to.

Hope’s people had been a peaceful race, unwilling to fight, but as she fought to keep her family safe she became angry at her whole race. How dare they just give up? They should have fought for the ones they loved. They should have fought for their planet. She channeled all her anger into her fight as she swung the sword in wide arcs and dug deep and cut through to bones. The knives were sharp and bespelled with special ice.

The ex-humans, or zombies as they were appropriately named, were focused on a task and would go through anything to get what they’d been assigned to retrieve. They were given demons’ blood, which strengthened them and put them under the demons’ control. She noticed that a lot of human women were more hesitant with them and didn’t kill them as quickly.

Hope knew this attack was a desperate attempt to gain some control back. With her lose to the demons and the last raid the shifters did the demons had been hit hard. They would be wanting to build up again. Hope knew there were underground demon holds in other countries, and she needed to tell the leaders of those countries where they were so the shifters could raid them. If they hadn’t moved them, thinking she would have already told them. The wolfen and their pack had been a focus for the demon king as they had Faith and Australia had a large gifted population.

She sliced through the zombies and attacked the minions with renewed strength, because the demons were losing. Their control on this world wasn’t as strong, and she was a helping force as she was now free. She grunted when a zombie used her hair to pull her away from killing a minion. Hope was never going back to the demons though. She would end her own life before she ever let herself be Pet again. With a roar, she spun and jabbed up, cutting into the zombie man who let her go as his gut spilled out.

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