Chapter 24 Monitoring Spirits

"I don't give a fuck what you say, I'm not going anywhere." Jose declared through his teeth.

"But we need you out there, man." Alejandro protested, "Look -" he paused immediately Matt set his hand on his shoulder.

"Leave him be." Matt shook his head and turned to Mark, "You will stay here too." he told him.

Mark parted his lips surprised and blinked. "I'm sorry, what?" he raised one eyebrow.

"I need you here, man. Fernanda has already mentioned that things are going to get worse now that we are entering Asmodues’ territory." Matt softly explained and studied the look of disdain on Mark.

"You saying that I can't protect myself?" Mark went over to Matt, their noses were only separated by an inch. "How dare you, Matt?"

Matt maintained their eye lock; his were soft whereas as Mark's were filled with rage. "You must understand that -"

"Fuck you," Mark stabbed a finger to his chest, "I left everything so that I could help you. Yesterday was my daughter's third birthday and I couldn't be with her. You know how much Monique makes it difficult for me to see her and now that I couldn't be there, she will surely use it against me in court."

"Gentlemen, please," Fernanda interrupted and received a stern look from Mark.

"I respect you Fernanda but please, stay out of this." Mark said to her as calmly as he could and clenched his jaw before turning back to Matt. "So, just because you were a marine, and I am a programmer, you think I can't protect myself? I will get in your way?"

Matt dropped his gaze and licked his lips. He slowly brought his head back up and set his hand on Mark's stiff shoulder. "I just want you to go back home to Chelsea. She needs her father. I don't want her growing up fatherless like we did. You have helped me more than enough but the only thing left for you to do now is stay and guard this boat with Jose."

Mark blinked once, twice and looked thoughtfully at Matt. He pressed his lips together and walked away without another word. Matt shifted his gaze to Alejandro who just shrugged his shoulders.

****

The team finally hit land and one by one, they made their way off the boat. Abigail stood away from them and watched them leave.

"We will see you soon." Alejandro said to Mark who just nodded his head with a stoic in response.

Matt was last to get off. He looked over his shoulder and caught a glimpse of Mark talking to Abigail. Mark felt him staring and he turned to see. A moment of silence followed as the brothers looked deep into each other.

Mark straightened his pose and brought his hand to his head in a salute. Matt's mouth fell in surprise. He tucked his lips and returned the salute. Mark dropped his hand and the brothers nodded at each other as a parting good-bye.

"Stay safe Matt and God be with you." Mark said to himself.

"God, be with us all." Abigail's voice caught him by surprise, and he watched her go back inside.

****

The team trekked through the forest for three hours straight. Mosquitoes feasted on their blood. Luckily for them, it wasn't raining. The last thing they needed was to have rain delay them any more than they already were. They walked through the forest with Adrianna leading the way. She slashed branches and bushes away with her blade.

"I wonder if we are close enough." Diego broke the silence.

"Yeah me too, but we should be there soon." Alejandro responded and ended with grunt due to his stiff waist.

A swoosh was heard in the branches and guns immediately pointed up. Another flew past them and everyone frantically looked around. Before they knew it, uncountable shadows flew around them. They laughed and made inaudible sounds amongst each other. Diego yelped and cocked his gun.

One flew down straight at Alejandro and grabbed hold of his face. He shouted while it laughed uncontrollably. Adrianna slashed her katana too close to Alejandro's nose and the shadow vanished in a poof. Alejandro felt his nose for any cut and widened his eyes at Adrianna who just shrugged and took her pose again.

"Do not fear, these are monitoring spirits sent to watch us." Fernanda said to everyone but it didn't relax them. She raised her hand in the air. "Be blind in the name of Jesus!" she commanded with hot authority.

The spirits shrieked in terror and scattered in different directions. Their screams scared the birds out of their nests. Fernanda whipped her hair back and kept on walking with everyone following her behind. Diego turned back and shuddered at the faint shrieks beyond the trees.

****

"Damn it, that bitch!" Hendricks clenched his fist.

He stood in front of a mirror and staring back at him was nothing but a dark fog emitting a static sound. Now that the spirits he sent to spy on the trespassers were blinded, there was no way to keep an eye on them.

Hendricks turned to a red plastic dish on the table beside him. He sprinkled some grain into it, humming a chant. The water in the dish depicted an image of Anna. Hendricks lowered his head and looked deep within it.

Anna zoomed in and only her terrifying snake eyes were visible through the dish. Hendricks heard her hiss and he swallowed hard. He cleared his throat and nodded his head at her.

"What do you want, human?" Anna lazily asked him.

"I need you to take out the trespassers." he replied and pulled on his collar nervously. "As you know, my lord's wedding is to take place tonight, and he absolutely does not want any disturbances." he softly added.

Anna growled in irritation, "With that bitch on their team, I can't do anything to them."

"Just take out the others especially my lord's rival. Without them, she won't be able to come all the way here." Hendricks bargained with his hands humbly put together. "Perhaps, you may even be so fortunate to kill her in your scuffle."

Anna raised a brow to that and grinned, "I like the sound of that." she confessed, "I'll be sure to take care of them." she assured and her image vanished from the bowl.

Hendricks laughed softly to himself and straightened his back. "My lord, I shall see to it that you fulfill your goals." he said and turned back to the mirror. This time around, only his reflection stared back at him.

****

The team walked on for another hour. Nothing out of the ordinary or alarming caught their attention as they trekked deeper into the forest. Matt caught sight of a tree and studied it thoughtfully. It stood high in its gray figure with its abnormally long branches running across the forest. In it were large yellow flowers that attracted red tiny birds.

Matt stopped in his tracks, "Hold on," he said and cautiously looked around. "Something strange is going on here."

Alejandro scratched his head confused, "What do you mean?" he asked.

"I am pretty sure that we passed through here at least twice." Matt said with his eyes further studying the tree.

Everyone else joined him in looking around, but they saw nothing that would support his concern. "Are you sure?" Alejandro asked him.

"Yes I am." Matt said but blinked at the doubt slowly creeping into his mind. "But I could be wrong though. Everything looks the same in this forest."

Adrianna stuck a dagger into the tree beside her. "This will tell us whether you are right or wrong." she said.

Without further ado, the team continued on. They only walked for half an hour when they spotted the dagger in the tree. Fernanda pulled it out and suspiciously squinted her eyes at it. Stephanie joined her and the two conversed in Spanish for the next couple of minutes while Alejandro, Adrianna and Diego listened attentively.

"English please," Matt reminded them of his presence.

"We have been trapped here." Fernanda briefly explained to Matt.

"Okay, so what happens now? We can't keep moving in circles." Matt stressed.

"You worry too much, son of Abraham." Fernanda smiled at Matt and looked to the trees. "I bind every familiar spirit depicting this illusion in the name of Jesus." she softly said.

The team maintained their silence and listened for the trees. The only sounds they heard were the chirping birds, creaking bugs and the whines of the mosquitoes. Nothing alarming went their way. They shifted their eyes to Fernanda puzzled.

"That's it?" Adrianna asked her.

Fernanda nodded her head in confirmation, "Yes, the spell has been undone. Come on, we are already three hours behind. I, however, warn you all to be cautious. Don't eat or drink anything from this point on."

Adrianna smirked and walked beside Fernanda. "You know, you remind me of Zatanna." she commented.

"Who?" Fernanda tilted her head confused.

Adrianna slashed a bush away. "Oh, she is a cartoon character who fights crime with a team of superheroes known as the Justice League. Her super power is magic. Like you, she just speaks and stuff happens." she ended with a shrug.

"Oh, I see." Fernanda faced away in thought.

"How much longer before we get there? My sword is screaming for Asmodues." Adrianna darkly asked Fernanda and the two locked eyes. "He has to pay for what he did to Paulo."

"Vengeance is for the Lord." Fernanda softy rebuked but her response was received by a scoff.

"That's why revenge is ours." Adrianna said and quickened her steps to take down the branches ahead.

****

Hours went by and the sun was already threatening to set. The group made significant progress in their quest to get to the mansion. The only problem the group faced was hunger and it was taking its toll on Diego.

Because of Fernanda's order, no one ate anything be it from their backpacks or from the abundant mercies mother nature provided. Diego lifted his heavy head up and his mouth suddenly watered at the tasty sight of ripe mangoes in the trees. Most of them hang at an arm's reach. He observed with disbelief how everyone paid no attention to them despite their rumbling stomachs.

Diego came close to one particular mango. It was right in his face in its roundish form. Its rich yellow color beamed in the twilight of the sun setting. Diego licked his lips and rubbed his belly. The group had already left him behind at that point. He stole an anxious look at them and averted his hungry eyes at the forbidden fruit.

"This must have been how Eve felt." he said to himself.

"And that's why she ate it." A soft child-like feminine voice said to him.

Diego gasped and bent his knees. His heart raced against his ear drums, "Wh- who said that?" he asked with his eyes reeling around.

"Do not be afraid, I am your friend - the mango." The voice said again and ended in a chuckle.

Diego stared deep at the mango. "What?" he took a step back.

"What are you doing? Don't you want to eat me?" It asked him.

Diego swallowed hard and took another step back. "No, Fernanda said that we shouldn't eat anything."

"She is unreasonable. What's wrong with wanting to fill up your belly?"

"No, get away from me." Diego turned to run but a branch of mangoes reached down to him and wrapped itself around him. "Oh God," he panicked.

Three mangoes bounced in his face. His sweat ran cold. Diego turned his head to peep at the others but more mango branches came down and blocked his view. He closed his eyes and took short breaths whilst the laughter continued.

"Come on Diego, you know you want to. Just one bite is all it will take and you will be satisfied."

"No, I will not." Diego squeezed his eyes closed.

Oblivious to Diego, the branch morphed into a lime green snake. It tightened its squeeze on him, and he held his breath—his eyes still closed shut. The snake quietly stuck its tongue out and a mango rolled to the tip of it.

"Just one bite and I will leave you alone to return to your friends. Refuse me and you will never see them again."

"What?" Diego asked and opened one eye.

"Yes! The mango drew closer."

Having no other choice, Diego opened his mouth and brought it to the mango.

"Yes! Yes! Come on, Diego!"

His teeth touched the surface of the mango and everything went dead silent. He sank them in; the juicy taste tingled in his mouth. Fernanda abruptly turned and stretched her eyes wide at Diego.

"Diego, no!" she screamed.

In a flash second, Diego's head blew up in a splash. His blood tainted the leaves and tree barks around him. The headless body fell to the ground with the snake still wrapped around it.

It slithered its way off the corpse and pulled itself up. To the shock of everyone, the snake grew ten times its size. Jaws dropped when the scarred and burnt body of a woman appeared from the waist up.

Fernanda's face turned dark, "You,"

Anna laughed. "Yes it is I." she spread her webbed hands apart. "I hope you don't mind but this time, I brought company."

Branches broke and leaves dropped to the ground. The sound of wood bending and cracking irritated the ears of the team. Hisses filled the air as the uncomfortable sounds intensified. Matt dropped his jaw at the sight of lamias appearing all around them with their glowing yellow eyes fixed on them.

One of the lamia wrapped her tail around Diego's corpse. She had fair skin, light pink hair and a pretty face of soft features. If it wasn't for her long terrible tail, she would have made it as a supermodel. She giggled playfully to herself and raised the body up.

Her thick red lips turned into jaws and her face coal-black. Her mouth stretched eight times in size and took a big bloody bite of the corpse. What was left were the legs from the waist down. They were tossed up in the air and two other lamias devoured them to the disdain of the pink haired serpent below.

"God, you are with us." Fernanda said to herself whilst everyone behind her took their positions.