Demonic Angel (A Touch Of Magic) (21 page)

“Hey, Tess?” She looks at me. “You nervous?”

              “Um,” she frowns as she thinks about it. “Yeah. I think I am more nervous about bumping into my dad than anything else. He was a dick to me when he pretended to be human, but now we know he is a demon? I am shitting myself.” She swallows hard. I grasp her hand in my gloved one.

“I won't let him hurt you Tessa. I promise.” I think over to her. She smiles.

We travel to God knows where for around forty-five minutes. It doesn't even feel like we are moving half the time but I know the second we stop because I fly forward into the back of Jaxon's seat. Tessa roars with laughter and makes a comment on how I should have warn the seatbelt. Ignoring her, I get up and face Edward.

              “It's go time.” He says. Oh shit.

TWENTY-FIVE

The four of us climb out of the submarine, one by one. I follow up behind Jaxon and my oh my, what a sight. His rear end looks amazing from this angle. I feel a pinch on my ankle from Tessa and I grin as I emerge out of the submarine completely and take in my surroundings.

We are in a large cave. It is surprisingly warm in here and I resist the urge to take off my jacket. Jaxon looks completely unfazed by the heat down here. Probably because he was brought up in Hell? Okay the Underworld, same thing.
Not really Cally.
Oh shut up.

Yeah when I get out of this, remind me I need to check myself into the nearest Psychiatric Unit.

Jaxon, surprisingly, takes my hand and helps me step from the top of the submarine to the ledge of the underground port. I try not to let my heart flutter but it does regardless if I am wearing gloves or not. At least he is being a gentleman. For now.

He doesn't let go of my hand, even when I am over. Though it seems as he doesn't even notice. I half wish my glove is off so I can at least actually touch him. We are about to walk off when a loud 'UH HUM!' sounds from behind us. Oops, I almost forgot Tessa. I turn around and go back for her, regrettably letting go off Jaxon's hand.

I help Tessa over to the port and she fake pouts at the fact I was going to leave her. I give her my best apologetic smile and we follow Edward and Jaxon through the cave. I have no idea where the skeleton guy went. I didn't even see him inside the submarine.

              “It is an eleven hour walk to the actual castle from here. I wish there was an easier way but unfortunately this is the only way inside.” Eleven hours? Oh someone help me and my soon to be tired legs. I look at Tessa who looks as if she is going to cry. Both of us peer down at our shoes. We are both wearing heels. Someone could have warned me. I would have brought some flats!

“I can't walk for eleven hours in heels Edward.” I state.

              “Yeah me neither.” Tessa lifts one of her legs and shows Edward and Jaxon her four and a half inch high heels.

“Don't worry girls. I had a feeling this would happen, hence the bag.” He shakes the leather duffel. “We will walk as far as we can, then rest up for a few hours and then continue. We will be there by tomorrow afternoon.”

              “Then what was the point in us leaving tonight then? Why not just start the day fresh?” Tessa asks him.

“The creatures here sleep sixteen hours a day and work the rest. We will be passing through while they are sleeping and since no-one will see us, we will be able to sneak in easier.” Jaxon answers her. “They are heavy sleepers too so there is no chance of you waking them up with that insane giggling that you two seem to do.” He smirks though it doesn't reach his eyes. It is still nice to see a hint of a smile on his beautiful face.

              “Okay fine, but I still don't think I can walk
three
hours in these heels. They are for kicking arse not hiking. I wish you had told me.” I tell him. He avoids my eyes as he walks over to Edward who is leaning against the cavern wall; opens up the duffel bag and pulls out my blue hi-top Converse and Tessa's pink and black Nike trainers. He tosses them to us and we catch them, but just barely since we are so stunned that he actually has these.

I change into my Converse and Tessa does the same with her trainers and we hand our heels to Jaxon who places them in the bag. I look down at myself and pout.

              “I don't look anywhere near as cool now as I did with the boots on.”

“I know the feeling.” Tessa agrees as we start our trek to God knows where.

              “Don't worry Titch. With or without heels, you'll still be able to kick arse.” Jaxon comments from ahead of us. I look at Tessa with a wide grin and she rolls those pretty blue eyes of hers but I see her smiling, even if she is trying to hide it.

“Oh Jaxon darling, you reckon I could kick your arse?” I mock.

              “I think you already know the answer to that.” He calls back.

“Yeah I just wanted to hear it from you.”

              “Never Titch.” Oh he's playing that game is he?

“Don't make me force it out of you. You know I will.” I smile at the memory of me forcing his declaration of love for me from him. Tessa smiles softly too, listening in to my head.

              “Not now Calissa.” He suddenly sounds serious and it makes my smile drop. I scowl at the back of his head. I avoid Tessa's watchful eye as I continue to follow the two leading incubi.

The next four hours are pretty boring and uneventful. Tessa and I have countless chit chat and we discuss mediocre things like university and her wanting a cat to go with her witchy image. That made me laugh but apart from that, we walk silently behind Jaxon and Edward who I am positive haven't said a thing to each other.

After the fifth hour, my legs are killing me and I seriously need a Lucozade or something. Suddenly glad that mum shoved some small bottles into my pockets, I pull Tessa and I a bottle each from my jacket and I stop walking and sit on the floor, Tessa sits with me.

              “Should we let them know we have stopped?” She asks.

“Nah, let them figure it out on their own.” I open my drink and practically finish the orange flavoured stuff in one gulp. Tessa sensibly sips hers and I wish I did the same considering I need to do an enormous burp now. I try to hold it in but it starts to ache my chest. Oh screw it. I let it out and it echoes loudly through the tunnels. Jaxon halts to a stop and spins around. I start silently giggling and bury my face in my hands. I turn my face so only Tessa can see me. She is gaping at me as if she has never heard me burp before. She has. Believe me. Oh and for the record, she is worse.

              “Was that a burp?” Jaxon asks and oh noooo! He sounds close to me. He has walked back to us.

“Yep.” Thanks Tess.

              “Was that Cally?” Oh the butterflies when he says my name.

“Yep.” Again, thanks Tessa. Bitch. I duck my head down in between my legs and wrap my arms around the top of my head. I am still laughing too. I think I am too embarrassed to be able to stop.

              “Titch? You wrongen! You out burped
me.”
He sounds like he is smiling? I raise my head slightly to look at him and he is grinning from ear to ear and shaking his head.

“Why have we stopped? You girls can't be tired already?” Edward's voice breaks me from my embarrassed state and removes the laughter from my body. “What's wrong with the angel?”

              “She is embarrassed because she just burped and it echoed down the entire cavern.” Tessa says in a small giggle.

“That was
her?
I thought there was a troll in here with us or something.” Oh kill me now please.

              “Yeah. It was one to be proud of for sure.” Tessa laughs. Jaxon chuckles too and it makes my heart skip.

“Wow.” Edward says curtly. I take a deep breath and slowly raise my head fully out of my legs and I harshly rub my face in a downward motion. All three of them are staring at me in amusement. I pout and then bite my bottom lip. “So, I suppose we should rest here for a few hours then.” Edward says.

              “Up to you, Sir.” Tessa says. Sir? Really Tess? This is Edward we are talking to.

“Well, we might as well. It's been a long day and a few hours rest and sleep will do us some good.” He drops the black bag on the floor and sits down beside me. I think I hear Jaxon growl. He plops himself down opposite me since there is no other sides of me where he can sit since Tessa is sat beside me too.

“Sooo, are we gonna sleep on this hard horrible floor? Or have you got a house stuffed into that bag of yours.” I ask Edward, finally having the courage to speak. He laughs and unzips the bag. He pulls out two roll out camping mattresses and two sleeping bags and tosses them over to me. “There are only two?”

              “Jaxon and I don't require a lot of sleep due to being what we are. An hour a day, give or take will keep us going.” I look at Jaxon as if this is news to me. Well it is in a way. I knew he rarely slept but an hour a day? I can barely focus on less that five. Is that because I am female?

“As you get older, you won't need to sleep as much. Succuba are the exact same. Give it a few years and you won't need to sleep just like we don't. Also, the more lives you drain, the less you will sleep too.” Edward smiles at me. I don't want to know how many lives he has taken and I most definitely don't want to know the number of people Jaxon has killed. I look over at Edward with a frown on my face. “I will keep look out on this end, Jaxon you watch the girls while they sleep.” Edward gets up and sits about twenty metres away from us facing down the tunnel that we are heading. I look at Tessa who is already inside her sleeping bag and sprawled out on top of the crappy little mattress.

              “What the hell Tess?” I laugh. “Tired are we?” She laughs and pulls the sleeping bag up to her nose.

“Kind of. This sleeping bag smells of perfume.” She scrunches up her nose.

              “It was Caroline's one.” Jaxon says. Bless him, he has my bed all made up for me. I smile kindly at him and he gives me a stiff smile in return. Oh so it is going to be like that now is it? I don't think so.

I look to see if anyone is watching. “Tess, pretend to be sleeping please. I am shutting you out for a sec.” I think over to Tessa who turns her back to me. “Thank you.” I think again. Then I use everything I have to put a wall around my mind so she can't get in. “Tessa, if you can hear me. Make a noise.” Nothing. Sweet.

I look over at Jaxon who is unzipping the sleeping bag and opening it up for me. I bow my head down slightly and look at him through my lashes. I lean forward and crawl (what I hope is) seductively, ignoring the pain from my bad wrist. Jaxon's eyes fix on mine as I make my way over to him and stop in between his legs.

I place my still gloved hands on his knees and give him a lopsided grin. He doesn't smile back. He gulps instead. I crawl closer to him and then slowly lean and step over him, slowly, until I am laying on top of my make shift bed. I fold my arms underneath my head and look at him again. His green eyes have darkened into the misty grey I remember seeing before and he has a serious look on his face. Oh, maybe I shouldn't have done that.

He leans down so that he is level with my face. “You are going to get one of us killed. Stop it Calissa.” He snarls. He actually snarls at me. I narrow my eyes at him and my top lip curls up.

              “No. You and I both know we cannot stop this now we have started Jaxon. Besides, it was
you
that said you
loved me.
You can't just unlove someone that quickly.” I whisper-hiss at him. He closes his eyes tight and pushes away from me.

“I know. I wish I could be what you need Titch. I really do.” He says a solemnly.

              “You
are
what I need Jaxon.” I croak. He looks at me for a moment and doesn't say anything. It is like he is trying to see through my eyes into my soul. Well he can have my soul if it means I can have him.

“Don't tell me that.” He whispers.

              “Don't tell me what to do you big oaf.” I frown at him and a hint of a smile plays at his lips.

“Or what.” Oh he is challenging me now.

              “Don't test me.” He shakes his head and turns away from me. “I am going to sleep. Wake me up if something happens.” I sigh and turn over so my back is to him. I hate that he won't give this a chance. I hate that he is running scared because there is a possibility that our powers actually do work on each other. I hate that I am hurting because of him. Right now, I hate him yet I don't because I love him too. I hate that this sleeping bag smells of him. I feel his hand stroke my hair and instead of snapping at him for petting me like a dog, I enjoy it and eventually fall asleep.

I am woken up by gentle shoving on my shoulder. I open my eyes and see Edward standing over me. He was nudging me with his foot? What the hell?! I frown at him and sit up.

              “We have to move now girls.” He says and walks off. I yawn and search the cavern for Jaxon who is nowhere to be seen. “Pack up now girls, come on.” I wriggle out of the sleeping bag and fold it away before shoving mine and Tessa's sleeping gear in the bag. Edward takes the bag and starts walking down the cave. Tessa and I, still half asleep, follow groggily. I am so grateful to have another Lucozade because the extra energy will help me right now. I split the last bottle with Tessa who silently thanks me and we walk on.

Six hours. We walk for six hours. We stop once for a toilet break when we hit an underground stream and I made Edward go ahead without us so Tessa and I could pee. We manage to catch up with him quickly though. Still no sign of Jaxon. I ask Edward where he is and his reply is a blunt “He went ahead.”

Oh that tells me a lot mate. I sulk the rest of the way and not even in the mood to giggle with Tessa who is rambling on about when her ex-boyfriend Mike fell down a well on their first date and was stuck there for two hours and when he was pulled out he was covered in horse crap from the farm near by. Yes, funny story but I don't laugh. I don't even smile. I am pissed off and upset and my heart aches and I wish I could lock my powers away and be happy with Jaxon but I know that I can't. Without Lorraine.