Dear Diary: August 5, 2014

Atlantis, a long time ago:

I was humming as I walked through my city on my way to the shoreline. I always loved waiting for the boats to come in. The biggest boat had just come ashore and I smiled as I heard the captain of it start yelling about mooring lines and such. I never understood any of it. I just watched him. Him. Tall, dark, and handsome was an understatement. I was already as tall as I was going to get. He was the 2nd commander of this fleet and within striking distance of making it to number one. He was only 32 years old. I was 30.

When he saw me, his face lit up and he jumped off the vessel and landed on the sand. I blushed and looked down as this handsome sailor walked very slowly up to me. I couldn't believe we were to be married within a few short months. He made the God Adonis look plain meanwhile, here I was just some girl born into a magnificent world with this handsome God like man totally enamored with me. Just as he reached me, he pulled up my chin to look into his eyes. His long black hair was hanging loose around his face. Then ever so lightly, he kissed me on the lips.

I closed my eyes and inhaled the deep scent of him. He smelled like the ocean, heavenly and breezy. One would think that he was a child of Poseidon himself. We stood there on that beach, kissing lightly as his sailors walked by us and whistled lightly. I broke off the kiss, blushing deeply and he brushed them off as we embraced. Just as I was leaning toward him for possibly another soft kiss, I heard my name being called. It was Altheia. Time to go see what she wanted.

Altheia was a Watcher. In fact she was the Queen of the Watchers and I was yet to be chosen if I ever was but because of my status in society, sooner or later I would be, everyone figured. Though nobody knew the catalyst of how that process went. The Gods decided and that was that. I still had things to learn. So I gave him a small kiss on the cheek and squared my shoulders as I walked toward where Altheia was standing, her hands on her hips, waiting for me.

"There you are. I've been looking all over for you, Rogue. But then again I forgot that today the ships were back in town and Alexander was due home." She said with a pleasant yet cheeky smile. She loved teasing me about my love and knew full well I would turn the color of the red cherry blossoms that grew all around the outskirts of our city.

"Yes well.....you know......" I stammered out, not sure what to say.

"I certainly do. Now shall we get down to business?" She said as we came upon the temple of Athena. All of the Greek Gods we worshiped had temples in Atlantis.

"Yes of course, but why would you need me? I'm not an immortal Watcher, just some young girl about to be married." I questioned sensibly. Altheia laughed.

"Oh my dear girl, I wanted to share a secret with you. I'm not one either."

"What....what do you mean? You are a Watcher." I asked confused.

"Yes I am. But I'm not an immortal or invincible. Both are a choice when you become a Watcher. I have decided against it. I do not want to live forever nor be a block of unfeeling ice. That's a curse." She whispered that last part as I looked upon Athena's statue that was gazing back at us.

"But isn't that blasphemy? How can you protect humanity and not be invincible?" I whispered back shocked by this new revelation.

"Quite easily, my dear girl. You have a lot to learn; the powers of the Watchers are incomparable with any other species of the earth. Besides it helps when you get the bad guys to switch sides." She winked at me and then walked out of the temple.

I stood there for a long moment, just blinking furiously. As soon as my head cleared of the shock at her words, I ran after her. She was standing with a group of other--as I now assumed correctly--mortal Watchers. Just as I got there, out of breath because I took the hill's stairs two at a time, she turned to me and touched my head. Seeing all the questions swirling around in there she laughed as did the others. Than they looked at me like I was still a small child and not understanding the simple things.

"Rogue, you've been studying your demonology, have you not?" She asked me, cocking her head to the side.

"Yes of course." I answered still slightly winded.

"Well then you know about Bacchus and Barachus."

"The Hybrids? Yes I know quite a lot about them."

"Tell me young one, what do you know." Another Watcher stepped forward with that question.

"Well for starters they are buckeyed-vampires that are also half demon and they live in the depths of the underworld though not even Hades himself can control them. They are twins and very dangerous. They can turn mortals into vampires and kill a person with one blow. They drink blood as their primary source of sustenance but have been known to cannibalize people as well. They look like giant red beasts with horns, tails, and talons on both their hands and feet instead of nails. They also have yellow fangs and yellow eyes with red irises. Did I miss anything?"

"Wow someone has been studying hard. Think you'll get chosen as a Watcher?" One of them said with a sarcastic snort.

"That's not up to me to decide and thankfully not up to you either." I said pushing my chin up. I didn't care if this man was a Watcher. His rude remark was not going to fly. His eyes narrowed but Altheia waved him off.

"No dear, you haven't missed anything. That was good in fact, quite good. And don't pay Andreas much mind, he is always studying demonology and hates it when someone is smarter than him." Altheia said as they others laughed and Andreas stormed away.

"So what is going on? Why did you say the bad guys can switch sides? Who switched and why?"

"Bacchus and Barachus did." She said quietly waiting for my reaction which came swiftly and soundly as I gasped loudly.

"What....what do you mean? You made a deal with them.....a deal with the two devils?" I all but shrieked.

"Easy honey, they really aren't that bad once you get to know them. Especially Barachus." She got a wistful look in her eyes as it hit me like a giant hammer.

Altheia was in love with Barachus! She was in love with a demon or rather a hybrid of one. And if she made a deal that meant she would allow them access to Atlantis; which was against the laws of our land. And here she was providing two of the most dangerous demons in Ancient Greece an all-out buffet! What had she done??? Reading my mind, Altheia tried to soothe me and tell me that all was going to be alright, that we all were safe. I started to look around as a sense of foreboding started to gnaw at me.

"My dear, neither of these demons will hurt us." She said soothingly.

"Oh really? And what was your gain out of this deal with the devils?" I all but screeched.

"They would never attack Atlantis or its citizens. In fact they would fight on our side." She said with a smile.

"And you believed him...them?"

"Why of course, they have never given me reason not to."

"And you never for one moment thought you were walking into a trap?" I was yelling at her....at the Queen of the Watchers and I didn't care.

As if on cue, the sky and earth opened up and two really large and ugly beings appeared before us. I knew these were the two monstrosities we were just arguing about. I also knew that Altheia had yet to give them permission to come upon this land. Altheia was the bait and she took it. What a stupid woman!

"SURPRISE!!!" One of them roared so loud the sound was deafening! Altheia stepped forward with wide eyes addressing the one that spoke.

"Barachus....wh-what are you doing here? It wasn't time for you to come here. We agreed."

"Well guess what, we lied."

"What do you mean?" She gulped as her Watchers flanked her and I stood watching in horror against a rock just slightly out of sight.

"What I mean is that, were you really stupid enough to think that we....the baddest demons in the underworld were going to make peace with some Watcher woman?"

"I...I....don't understand. We had a deal! You told me you loved me!"

"HA HA HA HA! You women are all the same! We tell you what you want to hear and you just lap it up like homeless miserable puppies!" Barachus said cruelly.

"You...you disgust me!" Altheia said in a high pitched voice.

"Now that's better. Yes we are here to disgust, to maim and to kill all of you before we ever set foot in Atlantis! The city will we be ours by nightfall!"

"Like hell it will! We are the guardians of this mighty city and it will never be yours!" Andreas said defiantly as the other Watchers nodded.

"Oh...and who will stop us.....you? A bunch of stupid mortal Watchers? We make our own rules!" Bacchus chimed in for the first time and the twins laughed mightily.

I was horrified at what I saw next; the Watchers including Altheia rushed the two gigantic monsters but were tossed aside like rag dolls. The fight was fully unmatched and there was no way that the Watchers would win. Their powers were minimal at best. How could this happen? All this hype about who the Watchers were and they couldn't even fight real monsters! Just as I saw that, I heard a horrendous crunch followed by a blood-curdling scream as Bacchus stepped his full weight on Andreas' abdomen crushing and killing him almost instantly. Altheia was backing up against the rocks holding two fireballs in both of her hands. Barachus was advancing on her. I had to do something. But I was a mortal without any powers. I couldn't let my friend die, regardless of how stupid her choices had been.

With a wild cry I rushed from my hiding place behind the rock and jumped on Barachus' back! Both of my hands gripped his left horn on top of his head as I held on for dear life just to get his attention away from Altheia. She meanwhile fired off two of her fireballs just as he reached for her. The resounding explosion sent everyone flying in different directions. Barachus down the beach, Altheia was impaled by a jagged piece of rock, and I was on my back but I wasn't empty-handed. The explosion had ripped the horn I was hanging on off Barachus' head and I was holding it.

Barachus was screaming in such agony that the military had come to the beach to see what was going on. Barachus came charging after me as I crabbed on my back to get away from him just as 4 arrows came flying from the hill top to stop Barachus from his pursuit. The arrows couldn't kill them or even harm them much but they were almost completely surrounded by the citadel guard and had to leave. They were in no shape to take on all of these weapons. So just like that they were gone, except for Barachus' parting words to me:

"This isn't finished!"

I stood up, holding his horn in my hand and looked at the absolute carnage around me on the beach. I heard gurgling and saw that Altheia was still alive but barely; she was coughing up lots of blood and would be dead in seconds. I scrambled toward her and reached to grab her hand. She was trying to say something. I leaned in close to hear what she had to say:

"I...I'm....sorry.....I'm.....sorry." She looked beseechingly into my eyes and with a last gasp....was gone.

I let go of her hand and stood there looking out at the water, still holding that horn in my hand. I don't remember hearing the citadel guard coming and removing the bodies of my friends and city folk. I just stood there, frozen, and motionless.

Present Day, Hanover: O'Leary's Publishing Company:

I barged into their penthouse with a roar so loud the building shook to see a familiar sight staring back at me in awe. Two giant monster hybrid demons one missing a horn. He smiled wickedly at me and said menacingly:

"I told you this wasn't finished."

"And you were right. Except that I decided to take your advice with something." I didn't even wait for the question from either of them. As Amy and Corin came up behind me, I said:

"I made my own rules too. We are immortal and invincible."

They looked at each other uneasily for the first time as I smiled, pulled something out of my pocket, and looking straight at Barachus said:

"Which one of you boys is missing this?"

To Be Continued....

~Rogue

~Carlisle Cullen