Demonic Angel (A Touch Of Magic) (17 page)

              Yeah, here is to dreaming.

I hold my breath as Levi presses the blade to my skin, just shy of my belly button. He trails a line downwards towards my breasts and then back up to my stomach. The coolness of the blade is enough to make me shiver. A satisfied grin forms on his annoying face.

“Now, hold still Calissa. This might hurt a bit.” His guards move away from me and I watch in shock and horror as Levi presses the blade into my skin. It pierces my flesh and I hiss out the breath I was holding.

              I clamp my eyes shut as a painful, burning sensation follows where he pushes the sword into me. I can feel the warm, dampness of my blood trickle up my body towards my face.

TWENTY

I am now ready to die. I can't say I put up a very good fight but I refuse to give Levi the satisfaction of crying out. I refuse to let him see how much pain I am in and he hasn't even moved the blade yet.

              “Well done Miss Bond. Not even a peep. Glad you are succumbing to my wishes of you not making a sound. I'd hate to have to do this fast.” He chuckles. He actually chuckles! I squeeze my eyes tighter as I feel the blade shift before it leaves my body completely. I daren't open my eyes, I daren't trust that he has changed his mind because I know he never will.

I am in total shock when I am dropped to the floor, landing on the hard ground on my back with a
thwack!
I groan and roll over to my side.

              “Calissa?” My eyes spring open at the sound of another voice. One I have started to love. The voice I mean, obviously.

“Jaxon?” I croak, blinking several times to clean my blurred vision. When it clears, there he is. Standing directly in front of me. Wearing his beloved black t-shirt, jeans and combat boots. “That really you?”

              “You okay Titch?”
He called me Titch! I have never felt so happy to hear that stupid irrelevant nickname. It
is
him! I struggle against the chains and he notices, running towards me. “We don't have much time. He won't be out for long.” I frown, looking around him to see Levi and his guards in a heap on the floor. I don't have time to ask because Jaxon pulls me up to my feet now that he managed to undo the damned chains. I don't even think  when I practically jump on him, wrapping my arms around his neck.

              “I thought you were Crillin. I am so sorry for sending you to Egypt.” I whisper against his skin. “Tessa's dad is a Leviathan and he wants my blood.” I whine into Jaxon's chest. I feel the fresh wound on my stomach still burn. Jaxon tenses in my arms.

“
The
Levi is Tessa's dad?” I nod. “Shit. Okay, well let's get out of here then.” I pull away from him and give him a questioning look. “You got me here after sending me to
Egypt
, thanks for that by the way, so why don't you manifest
yourself
somewhere else.” I have never done that before. I don't have time to doubt my abilities though because Levi starts to stir as do his guards.

I grip tighter on to Jaxon and my heart is pounding but I think of home. I think of my bedroom. My purple and black bed sheets. I think of my mum. Tessa. Lorraine. “Come on Titch, I can't keep pushing them down, they will fight through it.” I hear groaning around me and Levi's voice sounds something incoherent but I don't make it out as tingles wash over me.

              “You did it Titch.” I open my eyes and sure enough, I am in my room. Oh, in my room with a guy. Not just any guy, Jaxon, the sex demon. I blush and release him from the vice grip I have around his neck.

“I did it.” I whisper. I spin around in a circle until I face my mirror. Holy cow. I look awful. I have twin black-eyes, a sliced lip, dirt covering my face and my new leather jacket has been ruined. Oh maaan! I slip it off, dumping it on the floor as I examine my stomach. The wound isn't too deep. But unlike my other cuts, it doesn't look as if it is healing yet. I limp into the bathroom and I wash my face from all the dirt and blood and then re-emerge into my room where Jaxon is standing in the middle of my room, staring at my body. I look down at see that I am still wearing my low riding black trousers and red bra which has a hole in it right above my breast. Good thing I kept on my bra when trying on the new clothes since Levi cut off the cropped top anyway. I cough and cover myself up with my arms. Jaxon looks away, knotting his hands together.

              “Does it hurt?”

“Yeah.” I say, my voice breaking. “My leg hurts too. Think it's dislocated from my hip. If that's possible.” I shrug. “And my hand. I punched Crillin and I think it's broken. My arm too, Crillin threw me and I landed on it.” I pout and show him my arms. He scowls but doesn't say anything. I think he wants to but he doesn't get the chance because my bedroom door swings open. Revealing my mother standing in the doorway holding some kind of silver sword with a black and titanium hilt and a snarl. Her face drops when she sees it is me standing in my room.

              “Calissa?” I give her a weak smile and she drops the sword and rushes towards me, enveloping me in a hug. I hiss when she knocks my broken hand and stomach but hug her back anyway. She pulls away and takes in my appearance. “What the hell happened to you?” She grazes a thumb lightly over my swollen eyes and lip. She then notices my disfigured arm and then the hole in my stomach which is weeping and gasps.

              “Um, got into a fight? You should see the other guy.” I force a laugh and Jaxon snorts from behind me. I think mum notices him for the first time then because she pushes me behind her and eyes Jaxon with the single most deadly glare anyone could ever receive. “Jaxon Cray. This is all
your
fault you immature pathetic mutant.” My eyes widen at mum's words and Jaxon's head drops down in shame.

              “I know it is ma'am. I tried to make it right. I left the fight to look for Calissa and protect her. When I got to her, she thought I was going to attack her and her and Tessa ended up unleashing the single most horrific pain on me that I have ever experienced. Then she mistook me for Crillin and sent me to Egypt.” He shrugs like it was no big deal but mum's head snaps round to look at me for confirmation. I confirm his story by giving a cheeky grin and she visibly relaxes.

“Well, I thought it was you that took her. Tessa came rushing back and said someone had managed to take her away. Your Underworld buddies vanished when they caught wind of this news and we have been searching for Cally since.” Mum plays with my amazingly still intact ponytail. “So, if you are here, and alive. Does that mean this is over?” Now it is me whose head drops. I shake my head at her question and mum swears under her breath. “Well. Let's get Lorraine see to your wounds. Come on.” She pauses. “Both of you.”

After grabbing a hoodie, we follow mum obediently out of the room and down the stairs until we are in the kitchen where most of our group wait.

Tessa jumps from the kitchen counter and runs straight over to me and I crash into her arms. We hold each other for a moment before she releases me. Mum grabs my good hand and leads me to the kitchen counter which I hop up onto. Lorraine then comes over and starts checking out my arm.

“Cally, what happened? Where were you?”

I tell everyone in detail about how Crillin tried tricking me into believing he was Jaxon and then took me to the Underworld. I tell them about the hooded guy and how he ended up being Tessa's dad. That earned a gasp from both Lorraine and Tessa. The second I mentioned him being a Leviathan, Dimi froze up and I suddenly remembered her story about the demon of that name who took her 'offspring' and killed them. I tell them how Levi hung me and stabbed me with the Ethereal sword and then how I accidentally manifested Jaxon to me. To which he helped me escape by knocking out Levi and his guards and talking me through teleportation. Which is one of the only succubus abilities I had yet to learn.

Everyone sits in silence until I finish my story and then I take a sip of the healing potion Lorraine has given me to help speed up the healing process. She cleaned and stitched up my stomach wound, telling me that it will heal as if I am human and also scar. Great!

“I was so worried. So it
was
Crillin that took you?” Tessa asks and I nod. “I knew
he
wouldn't have the guts to actually hurt you. I told you he loves you.” Jaxon starts coughing uncontrollably and I turn towards him. He sees me looking and stands up straight.

              “No-one said anything about love Tessa.” He says with a small smile.

“Yeah, you didn't need to. I had a feeling it was Crillin that was still standing when he requested you send Jaxon away. I tried so hard to stop him taking you. He somehow paralysed me though. I couldn't move.” So she didn't leave me. I take back my hateful words that I thought about her earlier. “I am so glad you are back!” She hugs me again and sits beside me on the counter. I smile at her and then take in all of the faces around me. Rhys and Dimi. They don't have a scratch on them. Harris and Lara. A small bruise under Lara's eye and Harris has a cut lip. Lorraine, Tessa, Ali and Nathaniel, they look a bit dirty but all except Tessa look unharmed. Tessa has a slice in her eyebrow and what looks like a bandage wrapped around her ankle.

              “What happened to your ankle?” I ask her, concerned.

“When I was running back to inform everyone what had happened, a demon with a black face, horns and yellow eyes jumped out at me and knocked me to the ground. I think it is broken but Rhys saved me from a worse fate.” She smiles over at Rhys and for the first time since I have known him, he actually smiles back at someone. Oh, maybe he likes her! As if hearing my mental words, which she most definitely did, Tessa blushes and looks down at her injured ankle.

              “So, want me to heal it?” She nods and I jump down from the counter, trying not to grimace at the pain in my entire body and set to work. After a minute or two, she wiggles it around and beams down at me in a thankful gesture. I turn to my mum. “So is Aeron still here or did Caroline take him home?” Mum looks at me like I have just spoken a different language. “What?”

              “We haven't seen Caroline since yesterday after dinner.” Crillin's words come back to me.
“I spoke to Caroline. She came to see me last night.”
Oh crap. I snap my head in Jaxon's direction and as if he sees the worried expression on my face, he takes a step towards me.

“Crillin told me that he had seen Caroline. He said he had seen a lot of her. He said she came to see him last night.”

              “I remember him saying that!” Tessa all but shouts at me, making me jump. “I vaguely remember hearing him think about something called a Vepar?” Jaxon gasps and if this wasn't such a touchy, tense subject, then I would be awed by the sound of his in-taking breath. “What's a Vepar?”

              “Not a what. A who.” Jaxon says coolly. “Vepar is like a governor of water. He looks like a merman but is also able to walk
on land. He can cause storms on the sea, make men or women die in three days by decaying sores and wounds, causing worms to breed in them, but if requested, he can also heal them immediately. He lives in a type of underground castle that is half under water, half not. He does a lot of work for Leviathan. If he has Caroline... we have two weeks. Levi likes to use his prisoners as play things  before setting Vepar on them. She must have thought he was me. Damn Crillin!” The entire room goes silent as we all take in what Jaxon says. Oh no. I should have known something was up when she didn't come home last night. I should have sent Jaxon a message. This is my fault! Why didn't I just keep her out of my drama?

“Cally, this isn't your fault. Don't blame yourself at all.” Tessa tells me quietly. I look over at Jaxon who looks as guilty as I feel. “He blames himself too.” She leans in closer. “So he should.” I nudge her away, down my potion and walk over to him.

              “Wanna talk?” He nods and we head out into the garden. I don't look back at anyone else in the room because I know they are all probably looking at us in one of two ways. Anger, from me, kind of, trusting him again. Adoration, from the spark that flows between Jaxon and I. Jaxon and I... I like the sound of that.

We walk away from the house and take a seat on a stone bench near the pond. Neither of us say anything to each other, we just stare off into the afternoon Sun. It is so good to be able to look at the sun without the glare or the pain that would usually come with it if I was human.

I sit and twiddle my thumbs as best as I can when I can't move my left hand and I see that Jaxon is tapping his booted foot on the ground.

              “I'm sorry.” We both say at the exact same time.

“Why the hell are you sorry for?” He asks me.

              “It is because they were after
me
that I asked Caroline to help out. If I just left her alone and kept her out of this. Maybe she'd still be here.”

“No. I didn't have to go to my father about you. I didn't have to report back to him when you arrived here. I was the one that started this.” He drops his head in shame. My fingers ache to touch him so to gain control, I clench my right hand into a fist and sit on it.

              “Jaxon, you did what you thought you
had
to do. I am not saying I don't hate you for it or that it didn't hurt when you did it but if I was in your shoes... I probably would have gone with my heart instead of my brain but I still don't blame you.” I give him a cheesy smile and he huffs out a small laugh. My feet start bopping on their own accord. I
so
want to touch him.

“I meant what I said though Titch.” I incline my head to look at him. “If I knew that my father wouldn't care if I refused a mission or not, then I would have stuck by you and kissed you until neither of us could breathe considering my powers don't work on you.” I smile and blush and float on cloud nine at his marvellous words. Then something he said causes me to backtrack.

              “What do you mean your father didn't care?” He shrugs.