An Unknown Ally

**Squad Leader Lena POV**

The forest was unpleasantly quiet. Chirps of birds preparing to leave for the south, bats awakening in the nighttime, rustling of small critters getting ready for hibernation, should have been making a harmonious sound. The wind was blowing, but with little noise too. Deathly silence was a bad omen. Animals were very attuned to their instincts, they hid from whatever was to come. Top all that off with the dark of night falling and it created a very suspicious scene.
Kaibec had requested a meeting barely inside the DSS' jurisdiction. I was puzzled as to why he wanted to be on our soil, but not inside the building. If the ominous absence of sound continued much longer, I was going to lose my mind. The reason why the quiet and dark scared so many people wasn't really what may lie in the shadows, but what their minds could paint in the darkness. I would sense any demon, or wild animal attempting to sneak around. My own imagination was far worse than anything lurking in the forest.
Something was wrong. What could be so important that Kaibec would venture out into DSS land alone at night? And why did he seem so antsy on the phone? The bunny hadn't left me a single clue as to what was so crucial. Not only did the little demon deem it was an immediate necessity to visit me, but also Tom and Trevor. The two of them should be joining me shortly from their mission. Based on my conversation earlier with Tom, the mission had not gone well. They found no survivors. Shiuku had murdered them all. I didn't have the stomach to ask how many children that DSS branch was sheltering.
The crunching of leaves had me narrowing my eyes. I may not have night vision like some demons, but I could call on my mind ability to detect if they were friend or foe. Upon feeling my aura flow out, a small flicker of fire started moving towards me. Tom had created a torch sized fire to light his way. A half covered in shadow, chestnut haired man was beside my love. At least they both were safe. I had worried that Shiuku would leave a trap for the DSS, but they looked unscathed. So, Shiuku was just giving us a message of his power after all.
"So is Devon joining us as well again. I have to say, I would much rather be in a heated room, than out in the cold fall air. I mean we even passed some frost at the entrance." Trevor whined. "My ravaging good looks don't shine so well if my face is all red from the cold."
How my husband dealt with Trevor's nonsense was beyond me. The boy would hopefully find his true love soon; I could only imagine how strong he would be if he quit focusing on his looks and girls. A real shame the twenty one year old put too much pride in the women he could shag up with. Tom told me he wants to be a squad leader and my dragon even made him a second in command. Hopefully there was more to the young man than meets the eye.
I sighed, coping Tom's idea and ignited a small flame above my hand. "Devon is not coming. He is taking care of Aileen."
"Didn't stop him before." Trevor groaned.
How could I forget? Neither one of them were there when Devon delivered his news. Trevor was just as protective over Aileen as her Father was. The outraged King Ulrich had pulled a knife out of his boot and screamed for Devon's blood. I had to use a powerful blast of wind and ice under the King's feet to keep him away from Devon. There was no guarantee that my ex-comrade had even made it back to Shiuku's hideout. Unless Devon had fought back finally. There were only so many punches I would've taken out of undeserved guilt. Devon's only shortcoming was not putting the pieces together sooner about Shiuku's trick. It didn't merit being physically abused by the King again.
The King may have been tough, but Devon was no push over. The half demon was very powerful when he got serious. Not only did he have speed that could multiply with the aid of wind and brawn, but he also could control three elements flawlessly. Back six years ago, Devon beat Tom in every sparring match. I was sure just like us, the man had only become stronger. Shame and regret were the only things keeping him weak to the King's assaults... So what would an elemental ticked off brother do with this development. Devon wasn't here to use as a punching bag.
I pulled the bandage off, "Aileen is pregnant, he is not leaving her side."
"He got her pregnant. I'll rip his dick off!" Trevor's eyes started glowing bright green in the dark of the night. "How dare Devon touch her when she was still grieving over Shiuku!"
Trevor had misunderstood completely. This whole mess would be a lot more manageable if he was her baby daddy. I still wasn't sure how the DSS would react. Some members would definitely wish ill upon her pregnancy. Radicals may even attempt to kill her, or induce a miscarriage.
Tom clapped a hand to his shoulder. "And what about all the girls you take advantage of? Just on that last mission I saw you seducing that cute platinum blonde."
"Cuter than me?" I lifted my source of light so Tom could get a good look at my pout.
He ran up to me, almost tripping on a large root. "No, no butterfly. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever been graced to lay eyes on. I just meant cute for Trevor. She was way out of his league!"
Trevor scoffed. "You wish. Had I been on Nye's team, Lena would have fallen for me instead of you."
"Oh yes, because you can compete with two soul mates twerp."
"Devon did." Trevor had to block a burning fist from my husband. Devon would constantly be a sore subject for Tom. "Not like it matters, I'll be beating the living tar out of him for knocking up my sister. I don't care how many abilities he has. She can do so much better."
Angered Tom popped his knuckles and snuffed out his flames, leaving me with the only light. "It's Shiuku's child isn't it? I may not be Devon's biggest fan, but I don't think he's lost his v-card yet. Otherwise we would have another funeral to plan out. I'm assuming King Ulrich wasn't very thrilled."
"I'm glad I didn't have to escort the King back to Shiuku's lair." I joked.
Both men almost caused me to release my flame. Their heads looked like an old horror film so close to the light, staring at me as if I dropped a bombshell. They resembled spooky ghosts possessed creatures of the night. Well, maybe I should have eased into this a bit more. I hadn't told them about King Ulrich being recruited by Shiuku either.
Trevor had the whole ground shaking under his feet. Now the woodland animals scattered around in the dark, frightened of the out of nowhere earthquake.
"Why the hell are we standing here then?! Let's go storm Shiuku's base and get her the heck out of there!"
Trevor wasn't thinking logically, not that I blamed him. We had no way of knowing what was going on with Aileen. Her letter had obviously been written before she found out. Shiuku probably gloated at his genius plan while Aileen suffered.
I thought back to her dimension. Producing an heir and staying by her husband's side was her responsibility. She could have it stuck in her head that she has to stay with him. Devon could possibly talk her out of that ridiculous notion, but I had no way of knowing if their relationship was at the point on both sides. I knew from our short briefing that Devon was okay with playing step dad, but would Aileen?
Hell, Shiuku could be plotting her death after the baby was born for all I knew. The DSS could be an obstacle too. There were too many variables. We couldn't just charge in until a plan was made. A wrong step would cost us all our lives, and the destruction of our dimension.
"Lively, even in the dark huh?" Kaibec's cheery voice called out from behind us.
Trevor gritted, "you're the one who wanted to meet in the pitch black night!"
"He's in a poor mood. What did girls finally see pass the playboy thing? His newest conquests have more brain than boob?"
Kaibec scratched at something in the shadows. We heard the whine of an animal and some chewing from Kaibec. The demon bunny was always hungry. I was a tad surprised he didn't show up with a drive thru order. He had no problem eating all of our portions two visits ago.
"So what was so important that you gathered all of us up if not to beat the crap out of Devon."
Tom sat on the frosted ground conjuring a small campfire. "Stop blaming Devon. The man's gotta be broken up about his love carrying another's baby. My brain won't even let me summon up a picture of Lena pregnant by someone else. I'd burn the man alive."
"The world must really be ending. Did you just stick up for Devon?" I teased sitting down beside him. Tom immediately yanked my arm, pulling me into a bear hug.
Kaibec bowed his head regrettably, "It's best to let by gones be right now. Shiuku found the three letters written when Kalum met his untimely end."
My blood froze. Right away my mind was in a swirl recollecting all the things we said in the letter; all the secrets he uncovered. I didn't recall revealing anything other than wanting to get her back. My letter was mostly for comfort. I could always ask Trevor what he wrote down. But there was no way of finding out the King's words. I prayed he didn't mention Kaibec in his. Shiuku could not find out about our fuzzy spy.
There were more uncertainties than we could handle at this point. How could we save her without knowing how prepared Shiuku was.
Tom spoke to no one in particular, "Shiuku will either kill him for treason, or torment him using Aileen. It'll come down to which the demon lord believes will cause less of a threat to his baby. Traumatizing her could have horrible repercussions on his heir."
"So maybe he will keep Devon alive." Trevor kicked something, probably a stone, at a nearby tree.
With a heavy shake Tom added, "Maybe, but Shiuku may think torturing him to be worse. Killing him would be swift and wouldn't have to do it in front of her. And with Shiuku aware of the letters, we might not find out any time soon. We won't be able to use Aileen's apartment anymore either. It wouldn't be a stretch for him to assume we would use her place as a contact point. He could have bugged the whole building."
"And that brings me what I wanted to tell you, away from any curious ears." Kaibec said smugly. "We have a new ally that my friend Sekai has vouched for. He will be feeding me information, while I stay with Lena."
I rolled my eyes. The little bunny was lucky he was adorable and had irreplaceable intel; otherwise, I would refuse. I hated being volunteered for things. The bunny demon could have at least asked me first.
Tom grumbled something unitellable under his breath. No hanky panky for us in the near future.
"This new ally, alongside her little team there, will be working on getting some demons to revolt under the final guardian. Lena, you will just have to break their marks when we strike." Kaibec informed.
I still didn't like all the unknown variables. "How will we know when to attack?"
"It has to be soon. We don't want Aileen to deliver before we make a move. I'll be relying on Sekai, and our new ally to know when. Our best shot at this is during one of Shiuku's outings. They'll keep me in the loop of his routine."
I nodded, "so our new friend is a high ranking demon? Can we really trust him? This could easily be a trap."
Kaibec growled, "Sekai has been feeding me classified info for years, if she trusts him, so do I. Apparently he is a fan of Aileen's now too. That's why he has the courage to break away from his evil lord."
Trevor tried to joke, but it came out pathetic. "So this Sekai girl, is she hot? Maybe after I rescue my lil sis, I can take her out."
None of us commented. We knew he felt helpless to save his pregnant sister and was trying to distract himself.
*Aileen just hold on a little longer. We will be invading Shiuku's castle soon. Please, God give them both a break. Don't die Devon, Aileen needs you. As does that child, I know you'll make a wonderful dad.*