Caged in Darkness

by J. D. Stroube

  “That is Kit. He’s the only good thing I got out of my relationship with Liam.” Kit rushed back and butted his head against Ash's hip, which nearly knocked him over.

  “Okay. How did you get Kit?” He still had a stricken face, but he had warmed to Kit and was petting the panther.

  “He was dying and Liam’s coven performed a bonding ceremony. Kit is my spirit animal; I can take his shape and he can live in transparent form outside of my body.”Ash nodded in acceptance and pulled me into his arms.

  “You owe me an answer.”

  Seizing the change of subject, I danced out of his reach and attempting to be coy. “Hmmm… I think this place is a little too distracting. I don’t know if I will be able to give you an answer.” I looked around, laughed, and ran for the forest. I jumped over logs, ducked beneath branches, and moved as far into the forest as my feet could take me. Ash made noise as he ran to catch up to me and quickened my steps.

  I halted when I came to a lake. It was different from the sort of lakes I knew of. The water resembled liquefied silver, but it was thin enough to swim in. I kneeled at the edge of the water, trailed my fingers through it, and watched as it came alive. The liquid substance traveled up my arm and onto my shoulder. I started to panic, but the water transformed into a small bird and rubbed its head against my cheek.

  “Scared?” Ash spoke at my shoulder and scratched the liquid bird between its wings.

  “Does the water always do this? Does it normally take the shape of animals?”

  “No, not really. It probably sensed your curiosity and was attempting to soothe you.”

  “Wait, the water is an empath? What happens if you swim in it?”

  Ash sighed. “Yes, the water here is a living being and an empath.” Laughing, he continued. “I don’t think the water would mind if you take a swim. Though, you should know that the water affects inhibitions.”

  “Hmmm… what type of inhibitions?” I pushed the strap of my dress off my shoulder and the other soon followed. “Don’t watch!”

  “I think it’s a little late to tell you what kind of inhibitions.” He said, as he turned away from me.

  I pushed my nightgown past my breasts and over my hips to let it fall around my feet. I wasn’t wearing a bra, but I kept my silk underwear on. The water was warm around my hips. It moved up to cover the length of my skin below my neck. I floated on my back before letting my feet to sink toward the bottom.

  “Ash, are you going to leave me to enjoy this on my own? Come on, get in here!”

  He turned back to face me. “Give me an answer and I will. Otherwise, you can meet me back by the threshold.”

  I thought about making him beg, but thought better of it when he started walking away. “Yes! My answer is yes!”

  “Yes, meaning all?” I nodded in confirmation and he quickly stripped down to his boxers.

  My heart beat raced, when he swam close to me. He dipped his head beneath the water and shook the excess liquid from it. Smoothing his hair away from his face, I slid my hand down to his shoulder, biceps, chest, and finally his abs. He pulled me close, until my naked breasts pressed against his chest and sucked in his breath sharply.

  “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.” Grabbing his head, I pulled it down to kiss me. I enjoyed his reaction to me. It made me feel a combination of excitement and power.

  Ash set me away from him and splashed some water in my direction. “I think someone needs to cool off.”

  “Mmmm…and you don’t?” He laughed, but we both knew he didn’t need to answer the question.

  We swam for a while; playfully dunking each other and splashing. When I walked out of the water, I expected to have to wait a while to dry off, but the water trailed off my form, leaving my skin pleasantly dry.

  Ash led us back to the field of flowers and to the threshold. While witches could only enter a divine place at certain times, we could leave whenever we wanted. Before we stepped over the threshold, Ash stopped me. He kissed me deeply once more. Then we held hands and walked through the threshold.

  ASH

  Last night had been more amazing than I had hoped. The joy on Savannah’s face, in response to the purity of the divine place, was the happiest I had ever seen her. I walked into the halls of my high school with a wicked grin on my face, which is how Griffin and Isis found me.

  “What’s with you?” Isis wasn’t used to me smiling anywhere near her.

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?” I stopped when I saw their faces. They looked grim.

  “She means, why are you so happy after what happened?” Griffin grabbed my shoulder. “I thought you would have more sense than that.”

  “Whoa.” I held my hands up in defeat. “What happened?”

  Griffin and Isis looked at one another and Griffin nodded. “Another kid died last night a few towns over. You didn't hear?" I nodded. "Remember Michael?”

  “Michael, the shy guy on the baseball team?” I tried to grasp an image of him, but had trouble remembering conjuring an image of him. Isis nodded.

  Griffin swiped his fingers through his hair and looked around to make sure no one was watching us. “That’s not all. Michael went on a lunatic rage last night and killed his whole family. Then today, a kid dropped dead in the hall and two others had psychotic breaks. They were removed to a mental health ward.”

  “All that happened this morning? First period hasn’t even started yet!” I couldn’t believe what was happening around here, but I was beginning to worry that something supernatural was happening. These occurrences couldn’t be coincidences.

  “That’s why school was called off for the rest of the week.” I turned at Savannah’s voice and saw Willow and Izzy standing with her.

  “Hey, Savannah. How are you feeling? I haven’t seen you since your ascension.” We all looked at Isis in shock. “What? I can’t be worried? She looked like she was being bathed in the flames of hell! Even I was worried.” She shrugged, as if being worried about others was a common occurrence for her.

  “Um, I’m okay. I guess…” Savannah crinkled her eyes and shifted from one foot to the other.

  “That’s great! If you need anything…” Seeing our faces, Isis made an irritated sound and stomped off. Griffin soon followed.

  I turned back to Savannah. “That was weird. What are your plans today? I mean, since we don’t have school.” I wasn’t sure if Izzy and Willow knew about last night, but I wanted to spend the day with Savannah. I could already feel my lips against hers, while she pressed her body to mine.

  “She is hanging with us today. She already promised.” Izzy’s voice was laced with venom, unlike her normal cheerful self. Willow didn’t look much happier.

  “Alright. Alright! She’s all yours.” I grabbed Savannah’s hand and held her eyes, as I slowly kissed her palm; savoring the contact. “I will see you later.” She nodded and I walked away to gain my composure.

  I located Griffin and Isis in the parking lot. The three of us decided to see a movie and get some lunch. It was early afternoon when I arrived at home.

  “Maye! You home?” I called out, with no answer. Instead, I heard voices murmuring in the living room. Following the sound, I found Savannah and Liam in a deep discussion.

  “What the hell is he doing here?” I rushed forward to pull Liam off the couch, but Maye came out of nowhere and dragged me into the hallway.

  “Think with your head, boy. What is throwing him out going to do other than anger Savannah?”

  I stopped trying to press my way into the room and looked at Maye helplessly. “What should I do, then? After what he did to Savannah, I’m supposed to just leave him alone?” I spoke through ground teeth.

  “Yes. Savannah is a big girl and she can handle herself. Leave them be.”

  Maye walked away with a look of pity. I sat on the stairs with my head in my lap. I could hear Savannah and Liam talking, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. I comforted myself with the thought that if they were t
alking, they weren’t kissing.

  Liam walked into the hallway and stood at the door to wait for Savannah. A few minutes later, she walked up to him with an apology for making him wait. Her back was to me when she leaned up to hug Liam. He buried his face in her hair, squeezed tight and gave her a lingering kiss on the lips. My insides screamed at their kiss, but I forced myself to remain still. I turned my gaze to a used a picture that hung on the wall next to the door. I used the painting as a focal point and bit my lip. My lungs started to burn, but I refused to allow them control.

  I was concentrating on the willow tree in the picture, when it began to smoke and caught fire. The flames released my tension, which made me slow to react. When Savannah started shouting, I stood quickly. The flames were traveling up the photo to lick the wall. She looked at me in horror, while I tore off my shirt and hit the frame to knock it from the wall. I used my shirt to smother the painting until only smoke remained. Meanwhile, Liam rushed towards the kitchen to get the fire extinguisher.

  Liam came back into the room and stopped. I followed the line of his sight to see Savannah standing with her arm stretched towards the wall. The fire that had traveled up the wall was now frozen. We turned in unison when Maye stumbled into the hallway. Her hands were covered in dirt and she held a spade in one hand. Her expression was as icy, as the flames Savannah froze.

  “My, what happened here? Are you all okay?” Maye looked us over for injuries and then at the ice laced wall.

  “Oh dear, that wall is charred to pieces.” She sighed, seeing my guilt ridden face. “Hmmm…I suppose you are responsible for this?”

  I cleared my throat and glanced back and forth at Savannah and Maye. “Yes, but it was an accident.”

  “I’m sure it was. I remember your father had a similar accident, when your parents had a nasty fight. You need to control your emotions, Ash. I don’t think that the insurance company will be too happy with me if you burn this house down.” She shook her head and waved her hands at the three of us to get out of the house. We left the door open to allow the house to breathe and moved away.

  “Sorry about that.” Savannah apologized to Liam and walked him to his car. I stood and watched. This time there was no kiss.

  “Ash…”

  I held up my hand to ward of her questions. “Why were you kissing him?”

  “That? It was a goodbye kiss! It was a harmless peck.”

  I bared my teeth at her. “That, was not a goodbye kiss. A goodbye kiss is a peck on the cheek or a chaste one on the lips! I told you it was all or nothing, because it would be too complicated to be halfway. You said you were in and the next day you’re kissing your ex? Why was he even here?”

  She sighed, and blinked away tears. “He called and asked me to meet him. I told him that I didn’t think it was a good idea, but told him he could come here. He just wanted to explain…”

  “I don’t care. You should have told me before he came and there was no excuse for that kiss!”

  “Ash, please…”

  I shook my head, got into my SUV and drove away. I left Savannah standing in front of the house with tears trailing down her face. I watched her form shrink in the rear view mirror. I didn’t like seeing her sad, but I hadn’t left to punish her. I left, because I knew I was losing my temper and I didn’t want another accident to happen. I also wanted some time to clear my head and to make certain my reaction was warranted. I knew that it made sense for Savannah to want to hear Liam’s explanation. She made a smart choice in having him come to the house, instead of meeting him somewhere. However, their kiss was burning an angry hole through my rationality.

  13: Revelations

  SAVANNAH

  I waited outside for Ash to come back, but he didn’t. Maye called me in an hour later. I retreated to my room shut the world out. My solitude would bar further complications. I worried about Ash. It was understandable for him to be angry about my kiss with Liam, but I hadn't expected the kiss. Would I ever figure out how to handle men? I couldn't help but think that the movies, pronouncing women as the confusing gender, had never been a teenage girl caught between two witches and a psychotic demon.

  Later that night, I heard Ash in the hallway outside my door. His footsteps paused. I held my breath waiting for him to knock, but he continued to his room.

  I picked up my mothers' journal, because I promised Willow I would study it some more and I hoped it would distract me. I hadn't picked the journal up since Izzy’s mother died. My past was something I tried to keep separate from my present. I didn’t want the ghostly child I once was, to haunt me. My greatest fear was myself; my past. It terrified me that my memories had the power to destroy my soul. Reading about my mother would awaken those memories.

  I piled into my bed with more pillows than usual and used the light beside the bed to examine the journal. I skimmed through the parts that had nothing to do with the demon. I didn't enjoy thinking about my mother as a regular person. Reading her thoughts and worries made her seem a mere mortal. In my mind, she was an immortal executioner who continuously raked her axe against my brain stem. I couldn’t escape her and I couldn’t run. I was eternally bound in chains and some part of me would always be in that cage, where I watched her terminate countless lives.

  My parents had decided to trap Asmodeus to gain his power. However, they first needed to learn his true name. The names of demons and angels contained power of the named one. After many failed attempts to learn Asmodeus's true name, my parents summoned the archangel, Haniel. Strangely, he was known for keeping lost secrets. He willingly gave my parents the information they needed.

  I was completely immersed in my mothers’ journal, when I read how they summoned Asmodeus. It was hard to believe that they hadn’t ended up dead. Apparently, the name Haniel gave them was false, which amused Asmodeus. Left with no life lines, my parents had a single choice open to them; a bargain.

  At first, Asmodeus wasn’t interested in a bargain. After all, he was the highest ranking prince of hell; only Lucifer sat above him. However, when I crawled from my crib and into the circle, his tune changed. My mother begged him to leave me be, but Asmodeus bent down, picked me up and smelled me.

  I was in shock. Asmodeus had held me as a toddler and he didn’t kill me? My mother begged for my safety? This journal was going to give me a headache, while it turned my world upside down.

  Asmodeus knew I was descended from the Cross lineage, but he smelled something more in my blood. He accused my mother of consorting with an angel, but she denied the accusation. Angered, Asmodeus hooked his hand around my neck and squeezed. My mother begged him to stop, but he wouldn’t. My father stepped in. He shouted that I was a Nephilim and my mother looked at him in shock.

  The angels had been forbidden to mate with humans, but one angel had found a loophole. To possess a human and have that human, mate with another. It wasn’t technically against the rules. An angel had possessed my mother without her knowledge. My mother didn’t have time to be angry with my father and rationalized that I was still her daughter. I was unique because I had three biological parents. Huh, hadn’t I lucked out? Three parents and none of them stepped up to the plate to be a real parent!

  The rest of the journal, was even more shocking than the realization that I had an angel for a parent. Since school had been called off, I dialed Willow and Izzy the next morning at seven. When they arrived, we secluded ourselves in my bedroom and I told them everything. They stared at me in horror, when I told them about my absentee parent, and couldn’t believe that there was more.

  “Asmodeus told my parents it made me stronger than the Nephilim. I was descended from the Nephilim, who had fed on the blood of a demon and I was also the child of an angel. He explained that it made me an entirely new species. It meant that I was more angel than human, but with demonic powers thrown into the mix.”

  “Geez! Girl, you have the most screwed up life ever!” Izzy said, before I finished explaining.

  “Ummm… yeah!�
� Willow joined in the distress over my horrible life.

  I sighed and continued, “Having the Cross blood was a bigger plus because it meant I was descended from the founders of two covens: Sacred Moon and Meadow Falls. Meaning I could be initiated into both, which included a massive amount of power. Asmodeus made a deal with my father. He would wait until I was old enough to be initiated into a coven. Once I was, he would use me to tap into the collective and sacrifice every member of those covens, me included.”

  “Holy Hell!” “Crap!” Izzy and Willow shouted at once.

  “Yep, the story of my screwed up life continues. Apparently, my Mother didn’t agree with the deal. They decided to build up enough power of their own to stop Asmodeus from taking me, but accepted that the covens would still be sacrificed. Their way of protecting me, was to sacrifice innocents to gain enough power and keep me safe.” I paused, while they absorbed everything.

  “Unable to internalize the power, it would be the equivalent of a nuclear bomb if they absorbed that it. I, on the other hand, was not a witch. As a child, they had turned their power on me. It had felt like darkness was burying into my soul, they were giving me more power. Enough power to provide protection once I could access it.”

  I cried. Izzy held my hand in comfort, while Willow sat behind me on the bed to wrap her arms around me in a hug. I was lucky to have two amazing friends.

  “Do you think you can tell us the rest?” Willow whispered in my ear, squeezing tighter.

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  “There's more?” Izzy was horrified, but nodded for me to continue.

  “My mother wrote that their deeds to gain me power corrupted them. Their souls darkened until they remembered their goal, but not the reason behind it. They couldn’t experience love any longer. Before their souls were completely lost to darkness, they threw themselves into one last act of love. They trapped the demon in the bloodstone box, hoping I would only have to call my extra power, as a last re-resort.” Sobs racked my body, but Izzy and Willow helped me to gain composure.