"We have the address of two of the elders' families," announced Flora to the members who attended the improvised meeting.

"Great job!" Stefan congratulated them from his place next to the office's desk. "I need two groups to make the visits faster. We don't have much time to act."

"Can I go with Flora?" Asked Zygmunt, pouting the best he could to convince the leader. "I had so much fun with Ada, I love to be a secret agent. Do you know I was part of the theater club, my abilities could be helpful."

A groan came from Clio's direction, the suffering written on her face revealed to the others her gloomy thoughts.

"I said that Mr. Cheaney is Clio and Flora's responsibility, so he's going with them. They'll be the first group," instructed the leader. "Bertram, Momotaro and Lorcan will be the second team."

"Yes! I'm going with my friends!" Yelled the old man before enveloping the girls at his side with a tight hug.

Flora returned the gesture, her worries softened by the man's joy. Even if she wouldn't accept it out loud, Mr. Cheaney found a little place in her heart.

The meeting came to an end, everyone left the office except for Flora and Stefan. A question had been orbiting the girl's mind since she distinguished the members present in the room, and she needed to ask the leader about it.

"No Noah in the meeting or the mission? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I don't have to work with him anymore. I just found the change weird. Is it related to the favor asked by Momotaro?"

"He asked me to leave Noah out, for now, I don't know exactly what he's trying to do, but I trust him," confirmed Stefan.

"We can trust him," she asserted, then she left the office.

The Guildy's house happened to be closer than what they imagined. Ancient energy flowed over the place, energy that Flora could feel thanks to the flowers and trees spread through the territory.

Judging by the lack of reactions, the young woman concluded that she must be the only one aware of the strange atmosphere. A part of her wished to walk away, but it was too late, Clio had already knocked on the door.

A woman in her forties greeted them. Tiredness escaped through her empty black eyes and her dry smile.

"Please, come inside," she invited them after hearing their introduction. "Sorry about the mess, I wasn't expecting any visitors."

"Don't worry, we're sorry about the intrusion," Flora said to the woman who was trying to fix her messy, long hair. "As we said, we're journalists and we want to write an article in memory of the village's savior elders. It would be of help if you could give us any information about your grandfather Willem Guildy."

"What would you like to know about him?" Asked the owner of the house once they sat down on the sofas in the living room.

"We would like to know your name." Mr. Cheaney was the first one to answer.

"And we would like to know if you have any information about the period of the plague." Continued Clio, sending a piercing gaze toward the old man.

"I'm Vivian Guildy, and I don't know if my grandfather ever talked about the plague, he was secretive about it." Her words hit the members of the protectors like a brick. Their hopes were crushed once again. "I think I got something that may help with your article, though. Gimme a minute."

In a blink of an eye, Vivian returned to the dining room carrying an object in her left hand.

"This was his diary," the woman explained as she handed a brown leather book to Flora. "Maybe you can find something interesting there. You can keep it."

"Thanks, we appreciate it," commented the blonde, accepting the diary. "We'll let you know once the article is published."

They took the same way on their drive back to the headquarters, yet it felt completely different for them. The air was lighter, their spirits shone brighter. For an instant, they experienced the joy that blooms inside those who find what they were looking for.

One second they were fulfilling the mission and the next one their car went flying through the air.  The unexpected coalition shut down their brains, all they did was hold onto what was within their reach to lessen the blow.

Mr. Cheaney reacted first, he concentrated on the air surrounding the vehicle and created a gust of wind to control the car. The sensation of stability refreshed them, for Clio and Flora it acted like a switch that tuned them with reality once again.

Minor injuries covered their bodies such as scrapes and bruises, they didn't constitute enough damage to slow them down. Instead of being focused on that Flora was concerned about the diary.

"We have to escape, we can't lose the diary," she whispered to Clio and Zygmunt while the three of them went outside of the vehicle.

"It's not like I wanted to stay and make new friends," remarked Clio, taking out her two daggers. "Where the hell did all those animals come from?"

It wasn't until she heard Clio's words that Flora noticed the animals surrounding the street. Dogs, birds, and even two tigers looked at them like they were their prey.

"Do you like my little servants?" A figure emerged from behind the nearest house. The tallest demon the trio ever encountered was getting closer to them. The short hair left her face uncovered making it easy to read her amusement. "We want the diary you have there. Give it to us and we'll let you leave."

"Excuse my partner's confusion," another demon interrupts. She was shorter than the first one, but her muscles were bigger. Her blond hair was styled into a dutch braid that went all the way to her knees. "She was actually trying to say that if you give us the dairy your death will be quicker."

Clio and Flora crossed gazes and nodded their heads. The blonde threw the diary to Mr. Cheaney.

"Don't let them take it," she ordered him once he had the object in his hands.

Zygmunt materialized a hurricane around his body, putting a barrier between him and the rest of the presents.

"I'll take it as a no," the second demon commented. She lifted her hands and pieces of the concrete surrounding her feet started floating.

"Shit," Clio murmured.

The pieces of concrete went flying in the friend's direction. Flora reacted by growing a thick wall of vines, stopping the projectiles.

A single hand gesture was enough for the girls to divide the job. Flora extended the wall so Clio could run towards the other demon.

The vine wall went down. A new projectile flew in Flora's direction at a fast speed, and without time to react, she was hit in her chest. The air left her body as she lost equilibrium, falling to the floor. With a small movement of her hand, she sent the branch of a nearby tree towards the demon, the strike sent the creature flying back.

After standing up, Flora threw some seeds in her opponent's direction and grew thorn vines from them. The plants trapped the demon, its thorns stuck in her body making her bleed.

With firm steps, Flora closed the distance between her and the enemy. Her head was high, eyes full of fire, and her arms were covered by moving vines. A bicycle came flying on her way, roots appeared from under the ground and stopped the object.

The demon used the distraction to free her left arm and controlled a lamp post to ram Flora with it. The member of the protectors was dragged several meters,  she crashed against numerous obstacles, every hit added a new shock of pain to her body.

A stinging cramp originated in the right side of her lower stomach preventing her from standing up.

For a minute Flora averted her gaze to find Clio, her friend was evading a tiger attack. Her movements were precise and refined thanks to her enhanced combat skills, even so, the blonde could see that she was losing speed. Mr. Cheaney faced the same adversity, his hurricane decreased its height which allowed the dogs to get closer.

Their situation pushed Flora to resort to her last option. From her jacket's inside pocket she took out two homemade bombs. In that instant, an enormous rock was lifted over her head by the demon. The rock fell, with one hand the girl called  tree branches to block it, with the other hand she threw the bomb at the creature in front of her.

The bomb exploded, poison was spread through the area covering the air with green smoke. The sound of the demon hitting the floor reached her ears. Flora turned around and tossed the second bomb in Clio's direction knowing that the smoke would extend until it affects the remaining demon.

Flora got up. Holding her right side to stop the bleeding, the girl walked towards Clio. She found her friend passed out, with the last strength that remained in her body she carried the redhead on the way to Mr. Cheaney.

"Are we safe?" Zygmunt screamed from inside the hurricane.

"Yes, but don't stop that hurricane. I had to use my poison bombs and I can't carry you too," the blonde explained.

"Poison? Is Clio okay?"

"She's passed out. The poison only puts you to sleep, I fabricated it with one of my plants."

"Why didn't it affect you?" Asked the old man.

"My flowers can't hurt me. Now stop talking, we have to go to Clio's house, it's the closest refuge from here. Let's hurry, something is worrying me."

"What's the problem? Apart from the very dangerous demons trying to kill us."

"I sent Stefan a message. I didn't get any answers."

And the fights started.
Thanks everyone for all the comments and votes 💜