Demonic Angel (A Touch Of Magic) (7 page)

SEVEN

“Wakey wakey sleepy head, we are here.” Tessa says in a soothing voice. I open my eyes and look at the time on the dash board. Six am. How slow did Tessa drive?? I rub my stinging eyes and undo my seat belt. I blink several times and look out of the window to see that we are in fact sat outside my mother's Paris town house. “Your phone went off a few times but I couldn't check it for you as you had a vice grip on it.” She giggles and I groggily lift my phone in front of my eyes. The bright light on the screen makes me flinch but soon it comes into focus and I see that I have five new messages. Five? What the hell could Jaxon want now? I ignore my phone for a while and shove it into my coat pocket before getting out of the car. I open up the back door and gently shake Ana awake. She wakes with a jolt and then when I tell her where we are, she dives out of the car and up the stairs to my mother's front door. I follow her after grabbing our bags and Tessa does too.

My mother opens the door the second we reach the top of the stairs and dropping my bags, I run into her waiting arms with Ana.

Nineteen or not, I still love hugs with my mum. Tessa clears her throat somewhere behind me and I pull away from my mum to look at my best friend. She looks completely uncomfortable.

              “Can we um, go inside?” She asks hesitantly.

“Of course honey. I am sure the three of you are absolutely shattered after that drive.” Mum leads us inside and I am hit with the warm scent of cinnamon and apple. I inhale deeply and smile. My mother loves her scented candles. She always has the same ones. The town house hasn't changed a bit since I was last here. There is still a deep red carpet running through the hallway to the kitchen and living room. The banisters on the stairs are still a dark brown stained wood. The walls are still painted a plain magnolia with several dark wood framed photographs of myself and Ana decorating the walls. Tessa, not being here before, looks around the house in amazement. We head into the living room and each of us get a big surprise. There on the black leather sofa is my dad and Tessa's mum. Tessa squeals and runs into her mum's arms, tackling her down to the ground. I do the same to my dad. I know it has just been few days, but I feel as if I haven't seen him in weeks.

              “I didn't know you were going to be here dad.” I say into his chest so it ends up coming out muffled. He runs his hand up and down my back in a fatherly gesture and then pulls back.

“Yeah well, as soon as your mother rang me and told me everything, I got the first flight out. As did Lorraine.” He nods over to wear she is squeezing her youngest daughter with tears in her eyes. I guess it bothered Lorraine not seeing Tessa for over three months just as it did Tessa.

We take a seat on one of the sofas and my mum sits beside us with Ana on her lap, sucking her thumb? Since when did Ana suck her thumb? I raise an eyebrow at her and then turn my attention back to my mum and dad.

              “I know you are all tired and would prefer to go to sleep, but you can't right now. I promise that the second this is all discussed, you can sleep for the rest of the day if you wish.” My mother says in a strict but calming tone. “We will start with coffee and something to eat and then with your questions Calissa.” I nod and my mother and Lorraine leave the room to busy themselves with making snacks. I look over at Tessa who gives me a watery smile and I give her one back; though I am sure it doesn't reach my eyes.

Mum and Lorraine return carrying one tray of biscuits and another with mugs of coffee for all of us except Ana who has milk and is taken to her room to sleep by my dad. We wait for him to return and then all eyes are on me. I know this means I should start but I don't even know where. Sensing my hesitation, mum steps in.

“Cally, why don't you tell us in detail what happened with the Hellhound first and then what Jaxon Cray told you, start to finish.” I nod and take in a deep breath then tell them everything I can.

              “Then he said that there would be Underworlders swarming the village so I needed to leave asap. Now we are here.” I take a sip of my coffee and grimace at the bitter taste. I hate coffee. I have to add like six sugars to it. Ha!

“Now, I am guessing you want to know why this is happening?” Mum asks with a gentle smile. I nod. “Okay well first of all, you
are
half angel but that isn't all you are.” She pauses as if thinking what to say. “You are half demon too.” I spit out the nasty coffee and Tessa shrieks. I don't need to look at her to know where my coffee landed but I do anyway and see the dark liquid drip off the end of her nose.

              “Sorry Tess.” I mutter and then turn back to mum. “I am half
demon
?” She nods. “Are you sure? I don't feel very demonic.” I raise my arms and look down at myself.

              “This is very hard to tell you Calissa. Your dad-”

“I will tell her Serena.” Dad cuts in. “Cally, baby, I am not biologically your father.” I feel as if the entire world stops in its axis. Not my biological father? He brought me up. Raised me as one his own. Loved me as if I was his. I had no idea. Though I did wonder why I was the only one in the family with amber coloured eyes. Dad and I have no similarities whatsoever. Ana has his small bumpy nose and brown eyes but we both have mum's blonde hair; though mine is slightly darker than both of theirs. Where as dad's hair is brown. I look to my mum for confirmation and she nods sadly.

              “So, who is?” I am not sure I want to know the answer. My father is blatantly a demon. Oh God. A demon?! I am probably just as bad as Jaxon. Ah, Jaxon. His face pops into my mind.
STOP IT CALISSA! NOT THE TIME NOR PLACE!!

“This doesn't mean that your dad doesn't love you any less than Ana, honey. He loves you unconditionally. He raised you-”

“I know mum, I know. I just want, no
need
to know who my real dad is.” I take the man who brought me up's hand and give it a squeeze and then brace myself for the answer.

              “Your birth father is someone called Raphael.” Mum replies guiltily. Raphael? Where have I heard that name before?? I rack my brain. Wait a sec...

“The Archangel?” I ask questioningly. No way is he my father. That would mean... “Mum,
you
are a demon?” I gasp. She looks down at the floor and nods. Oh God!! Tessa gasps and settles closer to her mum. I'd do the same except my mother is the one that is freaking me out right now. “What kind?”

              “Succubus.” I feel nauseous. Everything starts spinning and I grip onto the armrest of the sofa to steady myself. I repeat her single word over and over in my head but it still doesn't feel real.

              “You can't be a succubus mum. You have Ana with dad. He isn't dead. He is very much alive.”              

“That is where I come in.” Lorraine adds. We all turn to her and Tessa looks up from where she is leaning on her mum's shoulder. “Twenty years ago, your mum came to me asking me to cast a spell on her to bind her powers. She said she wanted a real relationship with someone and was sick of draining lives.” I will dwell on that life draining bit later. “Then she met Raphael and fell pregnant with you. Still under my spell, Raphael wasn't affected when, well, you know.” Cringe. “When you were born, Raphael took off because, well he is an Archangel after all but he found Simon and asked him to raise you as his own. Which he did.

“Due to you being half succubus, we were worried about you causing harm on anyone you came into contact with as a child in school or when you were older and in a relationship. So I cast a spell on you too and your powers were bound just like your mothers. Ana has no powers. She was born fully human though we will be watching her in case we are mistaken. Most demons don't come into their powers when brought up on the human plane until they hit their late teens but since your mother is a High Succubus, yours should have come into action when you hit five or six.” I try to let Lorraine's words sink in.

              “But I harmed that hound. How did I do that if my powers have be bound?”

“Because I bound your demonic powers and I don't know how to fully bind your angelic ones. Never done it before. You haven't ever needed to use your angelic powers before, and you haven't been trained in using them, which also might be why you didn't know you had them.”

              “Mum? Am I a witch like you?” Tessa asks quietly.

“Yeah, I bound your powers too.” Her mum laughs. “You are old enough to have them back but since you are supposed to gain your witch powers when you are sixteen, you will get three years worth of powers bombarding you at once. You will need severe constant training away from anyone that can be harmed by them.” Tessa looks at me with fear in her eyes. “I can um, unbind yours too, if you want me too Calissa?”

“Absolutely not!” Mum cuts in before I can even think about it.

              “Serena, I think that is up to her to decide, don't you think?” Dad cuts in. Should I call him Simon now? Or stick with dad. I think dad because 'Simon' might hurt his feelings and besides, I love him. He
is
my dad.

“Simon, if she drains a life, it will haunt her and ruin her. It will tear her down until she can no longer handle it. I don't want that for her.” Mum argues.

              “Yes but she is
nineteen
she is an adult. She can be very responsible. You know as well as I do that she won't
kill
anyone. This is Cally we are talking about.”

“No Simon! She is
my
daughter. Not yours and I say no-”

              “HEY!! Don't you dare say that to him! He is a better parent than you have
ever
been. He may not be blood but he is caring, loving and has actually been there for me when I needed him. Where were you when I was thirteen and had my first period? Where were you when I broke my ankle falling off the decking in the garden? Where were you when I had a solo in school choir when I was younger? Where were you when I wanted to go to prom dress shopping? Where were you
ever?!”
Mum's sitting there staring at me in shock and I feel dad squeeze my hand that is still in his. “Exactly, you were
here
in Paris. You haven't been around for any of my life but
he
has. Don't tell him I am not his child because despite the DNA, I am more his than yours.” I stand up and storm out of the room.

I head upstairs into my room and face plant my king size bed. The silk cushion causes my hair to go static and it sticks to my face. I don't bother to brush it away. I roll onto my back and look up at the ceiling.

This has been my room since I was five years old. There are still the glow in the dark star stickers on the ceiling. Posters of The Spice Girls on the walls. A Barbie or two on the shelf and a couple of porcelain dolls which evidentially, scare the hell out of me now. The walls are painted a soft pink and the carpet is a fluffy white. The only thing that has changed in here since I was a kid, is the bed. You know boys have those racing car beds? Well, I had a Cinderella's carriage bed. I loved it, but grew out of it by the time I was eight. Mum bought me a plain single bed until I hit my teens when she got me this four-posted king-size bed I am laying on now.

The past twenty-four hours have been the hardest and most confusing ever! All this new information is causing my brain to go into overload. I am unsure if I can handle anymore. My eyes start to droop when I decide to push everything to the back of my mind. I blink several times to stay awake and fail, miserably.

EIGHT

“I am going to get you Calissa. You aren't going to know what hit you Calissa. You will be begging me to stop Calissa. You will be begging for more Calissa. Where are you Calissa? I will find you Calissa.”
I look around trying to see where his voice is coming from. I see nothing. Literally nothing. I am in a room, lying down on something, silky? The entire room is pitch black. I feel trapped. I can't move. I try lifting a hand with no such luck. I try the other, nothing. “
I don't know what you are Calissa but I will find out. I will find you.”
His whispered voice howls through the room again like a bad smell. I open and close my eyes to try and get some focus in, to no avail. Where the hell am I??

              “Jaxon? Where are you?” The sound of my own voice makes me jump and then I feel stupid for doing so. I try and sit up from my lying down position but I physically cannot move. It is like I am pinned down somehow. “Don't toy with me Jaxon. Where are you?” The bellow of his deep s
ardonic
laugh scares the sh-crap out of me and if I could raise my hands, they would be resting over my pounding heart.

              “
The real question is, my love, where are
you?” My love? He
is
off his head. I choose to ignore his question and I struggle against the invisible restraints. Well, I don't know if they are invisible of not. I can't see anything. The restraints are too strong. I look to my left and then to my right and something green catches my eye. I panic thinking it may be his eyes and I try to get a better look. What is that? A star? I've never seen a green star before... Wait... Yes I have, I know where I am. I'm in my bedroom at my mum's house. How is Jaxon here,
if
he actually is?

              “Jaxon? Are you here?” I whisper. I am completely unsure if I want to know or not but I am kind of hoping he isn't.

“
Where
is
here
Titch
?”

              “Why do you call me Titch?” I counter back at him. It goes silent for a moment and then he huffs.

“Okay fine.
” He sighs.
“Ruin my fun. See if I care. Remember Titch, I
will
find you. I promise you that.”
Any restraints that were holding me down, vanish and the room comes into dark focus. I
am
at my mothers house. I sit up and almost regret it from the dizziness that takes over my head. I groan and reach over to turn on my bedside lamp. The clock on my wall that I made when I was ten, ticks into eleven fifteen am. I groan again. I have been asleep for three and a half hours? Is that all? Oh man! No wonder I feel dizzy. I turn around and see that I am not alone in bed. I panic and scream as I scramble out of bed and fall flat onto the floor behind me. The person in my bed sits up and I immediately feel stupid.

              “Tessa! What are you doing in here?!” I whisper-shout at her. She looks around and rubs her eyes.

“You know you talk in your sleep right?” Tessa mumbles with her sleep filled voice; clearly ignoring my question. “And man, do you have it bad for Jaxon. All I could hear for the past half hour was
Jaxon, where are you? Jaxon are you here?
Seriously, just sleep with him and get it out of your system. We both know he can't hurt you. And if my mum unbinds your powers, you are just as powerful as him, maybe more.” I know what she says should be taken seriously but I am still trying not to laugh at her terrible impression on my voice.

              “Do that again.” I say with a smile.

“Do what?” She yawns.

              “My voice.”

“Piss off. Let's go get breakfast.” I giggle and get up from the floor. I realise that I am still wearing the same clothes that I was wearing yesterday and on the drive and automatically feel disgusting. I need a hot shower.

              “You go ahead. I need to wash my hair. I feel minging.” I flap out my arms.

“Yeah, you don't smell too clever either.” Tessa chuckles. I throw a cushion at her head. It hits her. WOOP! “Watch it woman!” She picks up the pillow and launches it back at me. It misses. Score 2 for Cally, 0 for Tessa! Oh yeaaah!! Tessa laughs as if she can hear what is going on in my head. “Okay well, see you in a sec then.” She climbs out of my bed and leaves the room. The second she leaves, I grab a clean outfit from my bag that must have been brought up while I was asleep and then head into the adjoining bathroom.

After my what seemed like a long shower due to cleaning all of the cuts on my knees and feet from yesterday (which have healed completely) I pull on a red vest top as well as a pair of dark blue denim shorts. I slip on my red Converse and run a brush through my waist long blonde hair.

The best thing about my hair is that I rarely have to straighten it. As long as I brush it before it dries, then it will be moderately straight for the rest of the day. I was the envy of girls in school after P.E. when it came to showering. All I'd do is shower, get dressed, brush my hair and leave, while they spent a good half hour or so, blow drying and straightening or curling their hair.

I head downstairs and enter the kitchen expecting to see everyone else awake except, all I see is my dad and Tessa. I walk up behind dad and wrap my arms around the back of his shoulders and rest my head on the top of his head. I don't care what my mum or anyone else says. He will always be my dad. His hand reaches up and strokes my clasped ones.

              “Hello princess. You okay?” He asks calmly.

“Yeah daddy, I am good. Hungry though. Could eat a horse.” I laugh and so does he. Tessa comes over to the table holding two cups of tea and a plate of toast and sets them on the table. I
know
that toast isn't for me because anyone that knows me, knows that I don't eat carbs in the morning. Drinking them in fruit form however, fine. I kiss the top of dads head and then busy myself with one of my smoothies.

I just finish blending my grape, watermelon and kiwi with cherry yoghurt smoothie when mum and Lorraine walk in with Ana hot on their tails. Ana comes skipping over to me and wraps her arms around my waist, she looks up at me and gestures for me to come down to her level. I do.

              “Mum is making me wear this. It's horrible. Help me.” She whisper-hisses at me and my stomach lurches from a silent laugh. I take in what she is wearing and a real laugh bursts from my lips before I can stop it. Mum has dressed her in a bright pink polka-dotted dress with red shoes with bows on and she has a red bow in her shoulder length hair. For a fashion consultant, my mother is terrible at dressing young people.

              “Okay, play along.” I look lovingly at my smoothie and take a deep breath. I will probably regret this. I 'accidentally' pour the drink over my little sister who fake screams. The look of horror on her face is almost believable, I am impressed. Maybe Ana has a future in acting when she is older.

“Oh no! Look what you have done to my lovely outfit mummy picked out for me. For God sake Cally!” Okay maybe she doesn't. “I will have to change my clothes now. Darn.” I pinch my lips together to stop from laughing and she gives me a terrible attempt at a wink and skips out of the room. I giggle to myself at I start again on another smoothie.

              “Um... what was that all about Cally?” My mother asks causing me to jump. Oh crap, I completely forgot there were other people in the room. I spin around and see that everyone is looking at me with questioning glints in their eyes.

“Nothing really. She hated the outfit you dressed her in and wanted an excuse to get changed without hurting your feelings, I guess.” I give her a smile but it feels and probably looks fake.

              “What was wrong with it?”

“It's
bright
pink
for a start, with bows on the shoes and in her hair mum. Come on, she is a tom-boy. She likes girly things now and again but would much rather wear shorts and a t-shirt over a dress mum.” I slice up more melon and chuck them into the blender.

              “She was wearing a flowery ensemble when I Skyped her yesterday morning.” Mum starts walking over to me with her hands on her hips.

“Yeah, because Tessa and I were doing her nails yesterday and she wanted to look girly,” I shrug and chuck in some kiwi.

              “So she isn't a big fan of dresses?” I shake my head and chuck the grapes and cherry yoghurt into the blender, place the lid on top and hit 'On'. The sound of the blender fills the room and my mother takes that as a hint that the conversation is over. I pour the smoothie into a large glass and take a seat next to Tessa at the table. I down half of my smoothie when Ana comes skipping back into the kitchen wearing a blue vest top and a pair of denim shorts with her white Converse on her feet. Her hair is down with no sign of the bow. I look over at mum and raise my eyebrows at her and refrain from giving her one of my best smug smiles. She narrows her eyes at me and leans forward to get closer to me. Luckily, the table is our barrier.

              “She is dressed like
you
.” I look down at what I am wearing and then over at Ana. Oh. Mum is right. Apart from the colour of my clothes, Ana is wearing the same styled outfit as I am. Vest top, shorts, Converse. Hair down. Oh.

“She has good taste.” I sneer and my mother looks shocked that I am still being rude after what happened earlier this morning. In my entire teen years, I never once told my mum how I felt when she pissed me off. I guess I am letting out six years worth of pent up anger. Or I am just having an off day. Probably the latter. But do you blame me? The past twenty-four hours have been hell for me. Literally in some cases.

Ana stops my thoughts when she plunks herself beside me with a bowl of her beloved Golden Nuggets. She gives me a grin and then digs in. I smile at her and then finish my smoothie.

              “Calissa, you need new bandages on those hands of yours. They look disgusting.” I look at my hands. Yeah they kind of do look kind of gross. The white wrapping is now grey or black in some areas and dried blood spots the middle of my palms. I get up and walk over to one of the cabinets and pull out a first aid box. Using a pair of scissors, I gently cut away at the wrap and peel it off.

“Oh!” I exclaim loudly.

“What is it? Are you okay?” My mum asks as she rushes over to me. I show her my hand and she gasps.

              “It's gone. The burn. It has completely gone.” I mutter, stunned. I pass her the scissors so she can unwrap my right hand because let's face it, I’m not ambidextrous but just like my left, the severe burn that was there less than a day ago, has vanished. “Wow.” I can get used to this half angel thing.

“I've never seen anything like it.” Mum says in a mere whisper. She takes my hand and flips it between her own. “A Hellhound burn can take weeks to heal sometimes months, yet, on you, barely a day. That is amazing.” Tessa wonders over and takes a look too.

              “That is awesome. I am so jealous. I know for a fact that if it were me, I'd take forever. Why do I have to be a crappy witch? I want to be half angel too.” She pouts.

“Watch your tongue young lady.” Lorraine calls over. Tessa's pout deepens. I stifle a laugh.

              “Mummy? What is a Hellhound?” The three of us standing around, mesmerised by my hands, spin around and see Ana stood behind us with an innocently curious look on her face. I completely forgot she was here.

“It is an, uh, uh, um,” mum actually looks struck for words. Ha!

              “Nothing you need to worry about Ana, why don't you go watch TV for a bit?” I save.

“But everything is in funny words. I don't understand it.” She scowls. I run my newly mended hands over my face in frustration. Someone remind me to never have a child, okay?

“Oh Ana, you know French almost as well as you know English.” She blinks up at me. I groan. “Okay, then go and show daddy your ideas for the tree house you want him to build you.” I counter. Ana's face lights up. I saw her drawing in her notebook last night before we left and while she was sleeping, I saw that it was ideas for a dream tree house. I look over at dad for help and he happily accepts.

              “Come on Analeese, show me this design then and when we get home, we shall get to work.” He smiles at my sister and she beams up at him before grabbing his hand and dragging him out of the room. I hear something about her wanting four rooms for it and then my dad groans before they disappear out of sight.

“I heard Jaxon this morning.” I say when I know we are out of hearing distance. I don't want dad to know any of this as much as Ana. Mum looks at me in shock, as if she wasn't expecting me to say anything about the demon after me.

              “What happened?” I sit back down at the table and take a deep breath.

“I couldn't move. He somehow had me strapped down to the bed and yet I couldn't see anything on my arms. Actually, I couldn't see anything at all. Not even him. I could just hear him.”

              “So you weren't talking in your sleep? You were talking back to him?” Tessa queries as she sits opposite me. She passes me my now cold tea and I take a polite sip to please her.

“Yeah, he kept asking me where I was and then said that he will find me. It's weird though because when I spoke to him before, he kept telling me
not
to tell him where I am or where I am going.” Lorraine and mum share a look before they give me one I think I should know but right now, I am oblivious. “What?”