“Well done darling.” Mum says as she grips my shoulder. She turns to Lorraine. “Gather your alliances. I have already notified mine and they will be here shortly. Tessa? Go with Cally and speak with Caroline. If you bump into Jaxon, give him the cold shoulder, men, even demonic men, hate it when women ignore them.” She smirks. “I will stand guard here, I will call to you if something happens as should all of you.” We all go our separate ways as soon as Lorraine is a hundred percent again.
I grip onto Tessa's arm and as we walk at a fast pace to Caroline/Jaxon's house. I check the area when I stop and then walk directly up to the front door and ring the bell. I am practically shaking with anticipation when I hear footsteps come to the door. It opens and I am relieved to see Caroline on the other side instead of Jaxon.
“Cally! How wonderful to see you. Come in.” She ushers Tessa and I into the house and then pushes us into the kitchen were Aeron is sat in his booster seat eating ice cream. He gives me a chocolately smile when he sees me. I give him a half-arsed attempt at a smile.
“What can I do for you honey?” I look around the kitchen and towards the hallways to make sure Jaxon doesn't hear me if he walks in. “He isn't here, he said he had something to take care of and then just left.” She shrugs.
“Oh well that is what I needed to speak to you about.” She raises a blonde eyebrow. “I know Aeron and Jaxon are incubi and I know you are a mara.” Her face drops and she starts stuttering. “Don't worry. I don't care. Well, I do but not for the reason you think.”
“Elaborate.” She squints at me.
“Jaxon found out that I am half angel and has reported me to Elders and his father.” She gasps, I continue. “He has then been sent to kill me along with a million and one other Underworlders. We have managed to gather up a few allies but I need more.”
“You need me?” I nod. “Why me though? You do realise that I am Jaxon's stepmother right?” I nod again. “Then why me?”
“I don't know. I kind of hoped you wouldn't mind being on my side?” I am suddenly uncertain of the reason why I came here.
“You want me to go against my husband to fight for the half angel who babysits my youngest stepson?” Um... Well when she puts it like that.
“I know, it was stupid of me to ask. I am sorry.” I give her a tight lipped smile and turn to leave.
“I'll do it.” Her words shock me and I turn to face her, disbelief written all over my face.
“You will?”
“I haven't seen Edward in over a year. The last time I did, he told me that my job is to look after his sons and not to get involved in his business. Well screw him. I have been sat here twiddling my thumbs, waiting for him to call or visit me since then. In fact, I tried to sneak into a dream of his a few nights ago and I saw him dreaming of another woman. A succubus to be exact.” Ooh that could be mum. “So, yes. I will fight with you. If you need me to. Is there anywhere I can keep Aeron though? He is still a baby and doesn't deserve to be brought into this.” I look over at the toddler and he is smiling at me.
“Yeah, I think there is a room no demon can enter when locked that he can hide out in.” I think about his powers and frown. “Have you ever considered binding Aeron's powers?” Caroline's face shows the signs of shock.
“All the time. I know about the Hellhound he brought upon you a few weeks back. He has done similar things to me before. Yet he has never done it to Jaxon. He seems to have a special bond with Jaxon. It might be because of the grumpy incubus thing they both have going on.” She giggles and I smile knowingly.
“When do we get started because I am bored shitless?” Tessa giggles at her question and it causes Caroline to notice her for the first time. “Oh, a witch. I know your mother.” It isn't a question. Tessa shuffles in her seat at the sudden attention so I change the subject to save her.
“Well. Let's head to mine then and get training. I think Jaxon has already notified the Elders so I am unsure how much time we have to prepare. So all the training we can muster is better than nothing.”
“And this is why I chose you to babysit Aeron.” I grin at her statement.
Once Caroline has a bag packed for Aeron and herself, the four of us drive in Caroline's Mercedes to my house. When we pull up onto the drive, I notice four other, unfamiliar cars, on the drive too. I bite the inside of my cheek and we all pile out of the car and enter the house where we see the owners of the cars.
As soon as I enter the living room, an ageing woman with greying brown hair rushes over to me and wraps her arms around me. She smells of vanilla and tobacco and by the yellow tinge to her teeth, I will say she is a heavy smoker. She pulls away from me and gives me a warm smile before she rushes Tessa. Before I get the chance to ask who the hell she is, another woman grabs me and pulls me to her too. This woman is an extremely tall woman with hair so orange it reminds me of a fire. Her eyes are a shocking colour of blue and they would freak me out if I didn't get pulled away from her and hugged by yet another person.
This one is a man. His skin so dark it resembles creamy coffee yet his eyes are so bright and grey and cheerful. He has such a warm smile and I feel at ease for the first time around a stranger. I give him a tight lipped smile and pull away from him politely. There are four other people sat on the sofa's, just staring at me in fascination.
“Ah Cally, you are home.” Mum says as she walks in holding a massive tray of teas and coffees and a juice cup? I am about to ask why she has a juice cup when she picks it up and hands it to Aeron who accepts with glee.
“We are waiting for one other person and then we can begin.” She says. “Ah you must be Caroline.”
Caroline is standing next to me staring my mother in confusion and her eyes flick to me. I suddenly remember what she said about seeing a succubus in her husbands dream and my mum is a succubus. Uh oh. This could either go very well or very wrong.
“Um, yes I am.” She gives my mum a polite smile and offers out her hand. Mum takes it and Caroline's eyes flash to the gloves mum is wearing.
“I am Serena, Calissa's mother.” Mum says as she shakes Caroline's hand.
“Oh, I had no idea you were a succubus Calissa.” My eyes widen at the fact she put two and two together and she gives me a warm smile. “So, my husband tried to kill you?” Caroline asks my mother who looks shocked at this revelation. Hell, I am shocked too. I thought mum and Edward just had an affair.
“What?” Mum whispers.
“I saw it in a dream of his. It is because of that dream, that I am here today.” Then Caroline and mum shock me and the other watchers, by giving each other a hug. They pull away and Caroline carries Aeron over to one of the empty seats.
I sit on the floor besides Tessa and Lorraine while we wait for whoever the final person is. The room is noisy with countless chatter when a shadow forms over my body. The first thing I notice is the smell. They smell of a cool breeze on a Summers day. Mixed with something kind of sweet. I look up and my eyes practically bulge out of my head.
“Ah, Raphael, how nice of you to join us.”
FIFTEEN
Oh God! My birth father is here. Standing barely a metre away from me. I scramble up to my feet so that I can see him at a better angle.
My father. My real father. The Archangel. Here. Going to fight with us? I feel woozy.
As mum introduces him to everyone, his eyes don't leave mine for a second. His eyes. My eyes. The same colour amber. I might as well be looking into a mirror that changes your sex. We have the same nose. Same coloured sandy blonde hair. Same long dark eyelashes. Same ears. His lips, not like mine as I have the same as my mother, are set in a kind smile. He is tall too, he stands at around 6”4. That is taller than Jaxon. This man is half of the reason why I exist. I should be happy to meet him for the first time. Yet I feel uneasy and suddenly want Simon, the man who brought me up and I called dad for the past nineteen years, to come and give me a fatherly hug like he usually would if I was upset.
“Hello, Calissa.” Oh Hell. Even his voice i
s angelic and smooth. I can't respond. I don't know how to form words into this mouth of mine. If I speak, it will probably come out all jumbled, like halloraphaelhowdoyoudoiamfinegoodokaythen.
So to save myself the embarrassment, I give him a nimble smile and turn away from him. I look around the room to see all eyes are on us and my face flames. I sit down next to Tessa again and bury my face in her shoulder. She wraps an arm around me.
“Well, now that we are all here, we can begin.” My mother starts as she passes my fath-Raphael a chair from the dining room for him to sit on. He takes it politely but doesn't sit on it. “As some of you are aware, the Underworlders are searching for Calissa. Daughter of Supreme Succubus, myself and Archangel Raphael. The Underworlder that wants our daughter, is Edward Cray. Supreme Incubus. There is also another. I am unaware of his name but an Elf named Crillin, in the form of Caroline's stepson and incubus Jaxon, is one of this Elders minions. This Elder we speak of is said to have a grudge against all Archangels and their kin.” Mum looks over at Raphael who remains expressionless.
“It is our duty as demons, witches and Fae to protect what is ours. You all swore your lives to either myself, my children or my friend, Lorraine. So, let's see just how far that loyalty lies.”
I look around at the group of people in the room and all of them are listening to my mother with such intent and focus. I can tell by their scents, who is a witch, demon or Fae. The woman who hugged me when I entered the room, witch. The second woman, the tall one. Demon. The kind smiled man, Fae. There are two people on the sofa beside the Fairy man. One has luminous blue eyes, fairy. The other dull brown almost black eyes, demon. The other two people, that are now standing. Witches. The witches smell of heavy perfume and slightly human. The fairies smell like earth and the demons smell like smoke or ice? I have to admit, there are twelve people in here that are willing to risk their lives to help me out. I have never been so appreciative in my entire life.
“Now, there is a room for training in the attic. It can handle the strongest of strong attacks from any demon. You can train there or in the garden. There is plenty of room out there. There are also bedrooms for those who want to sleep. Caroline? The travel cot is still set up in Calissa's bedroom if you wish for Aeron to sleep here. I can assure you this entire property is safe and hidden. When this war, or battle starts, Aeron will be perfectly safe in the attic. No demon can enter without the key which I will have on me at all times. Lorraine's daughter will be here in an hour or so to watch all children.”
All children? I thought Aeron was the only child. Then as if on cue. In run two little children, one that looks around the age of five, a little boy and another three, a girl. Both have curly dark hair, grey eyes and dark skin. The way they run over to the Fairy man, is a huge give away that they are his children.
Everyone gets to their feet and start to scatter apart from the three people that welcomed me with hugs. The older woman, the one that smelt like tobacco, comes over to me with a smile on her face.
“Hello Calissa dear, you may not remember me but I am Betty. I have been watching you from afar since you were a wee babe.” Her voice drips with a Scottish accent. Uh, what does she mean, watching me? “I am Tessa's grandmother dear. I have helped out with hiding you from other demons along with Lorraine for nineteen years and I am extremely happy to help you with this.” Ah so this is the grandmother that can mind read like Tessa. She gives my arm a tender rub before excusing herself to make a barrier over the garden. The tall woman comes up to me next with a smile on her face too.
“Ah, Calissa. My dear.” She starts with a strong Russian accent. “We haven't had the pleasure of meeting before today but like Betty, I have been watching you from afar also. Though, I had no idea you had succubus blood running through your veins. I am Dimi, the Lady of the Snow. Do you know what that means?” I shake my head. She smiles. “I am kind of similar to you. Except according to history books and what have you, I apparently lure men into the cold, drink their blood and then freeze them from the inside out. Not entirely false but not exactly true either. I do drink blood and freeze people but only those who do wrong to others, like murderers of children or,” she pauses and closes her eyes briefly before they lock on to mine. “Rapists. I despise people like that so I punish them.”
Okay, her powers are awful. I thought a succubus was bad by being able to drain the soul and life from people by either touching them or attacking them while they sleep. “Because I would only use my powers for good, I was booted out of the Underworld and my offspring were murdered by a demon called Levi, he is a Leviathan of such. A sea serpent. I vowed to take my revenge on the Underworld Elders, especially Levi, if I got the chance and so fighting with you, I might just have that chance. So, thank you.” Lastly, the fairy comes over to me and hesitates before talking.
“It has been a long time since I was called upon to fight along side witches and demons and I promised myself that I wouldn't do so again but when Lorraine mentioned a half angel half demon who has been targeted by the Underworld Elders, I just had to help. You could very well be the key to end all of those horrific demons. You have no idea just how powerful you really are sweetheart. Until you figure that out, my fellow fairies and I will be here to protect you with the elements.” He takes my hand in his. “If ever you need someone to guide you or advise you, then call on Harrison or Harry, that's me by the way.” He gives me a quick kiss on the cheek and then leaves the room. Now I am alone with my mum and Raphael.
I didn't even notice Tessa left the room. I might kill her for leaving me with these two.
“I know this is hard for you darling, but Raphael is here to train you on your angel powers.” Mum says. I nod, knowing I need help on those the most.
“You two can head into the garden and practice now if you like?” I don't say anything and neither does Raphael when he leaves the room. I follow him out and we head to the garden.
“I know you have done very well at learning your demonic powers but unlike those, angel powers are harder to control. I will need you to focus and give this your complete and utter attention.” Oh brilliant, Raphael is one of those no nonsense types.
We start off by meditating. It's boring. I can do it, easily, don't get me wrong, but I got so bored after about ten minutes. Raphael wasn't impressed by this.
Next we tried manifestation. It took me an hour to manifest an object over to me from inside the house. I did it though, so he didn't get too mad. We tried this again and again and again and again until I felt as if my head would pop off from concentrating so hard. I play with the set of car keys that I manifested in my hands and stare at them, thinking that I want them to go back into the house. When they do, I cheer and jump around. Raphael even lets off the smallest of smiles.
The final lesson for today is flying. Well, we all know I can already do this. Yet to humour Raphael, I whip out my wings and start flapping them.
“Flap them at full speed. You should be able to take off, without the running head start.” He says curtly. I feel like sticking my tongue out at him, yet I am not that immature. Yeah, right.
I do as Raphael says and I flap my enormous golden wings as hard and fast as I can. They start to ache and it makes me wince in pain. Who knew that having wings would be so painful?
“Don't stop Calissa. You are training a whole bunch of new muscles to do what you wish. Do not give up.” So I don't. I flap harder, faster, harder, faster until I feel my feet ease up from the ground. I look down and see that I am hovering a foot above the grass. I beam over at Raphael who looks very please with me and I can't help but love the feeling that comes with it. “Now, fly.” I give him a look to say what the hell does it look like I am doing? And he grins. Oh how annoying, I have his smile! I may have my mothers lips but I have his smile.
I lift my arms up and then rip them down again and I lift up a bit more. I use my wings to flap a few more times until I am several feet in the air. Then, just like on the field in Paris, I fly. I soa
r. I am one with the clouds again. I make a large loop in the sky and just as I am about to descend, I see someone else flying too. Someone with gigantic white wings that have golden tips. Raphael is flying with me. Despite me not wanting to meet him. A warm feeling forms deep inside my belly at the thought of flying with my birth father.
We descend together after a little while and I grin over at him.
“Well done. You are a quick learner Calissa. Tomorrow, we continue training. Remember what you did to the Hellhound?” I nod, thinking back to when I held my hand out and the mutt cowered, yelped and collapsed. “Well we will practice that tomorrow. So up at six am.”
“Okay. Hold on, six am??” I screech at him but he is already walking towards the house. I sink to the floor and cry out in pain, forgetting my wings are still extended. I get up onto my knees to tuck them away and then lay down flat on my back on the grass.
I have no idea how much time we have to prepare for this fight or whatever it is but I know for a fact that the next few days are going to be Hell.
SIXTEEN
Just as I thought, training with Raphael has me almost crying in exhaustion every night for the next week. I have learned how to do what I did to the Hellhound. Turns out I can inflict pain on something from the inside of their body. It apparently feels as if their bones are snapping all at once. I kind of feel bad knowing that is what I did to the Hellhound, even though he tried to kill me.
Despite the cry my wings cause me to make, I can take off without running and jumping a bit better now. I still need more practice but my wings ache so bad at the moment and I need to rest them. Lorraine has made me a healing lotion to help with the ache of my muscles and she said it will help me relax too. I practically snatched it from her when she told me it would give me a decent nights sleep.
I have more experience at healing now. Harry was helping Tessa with her fire control and she ended up burning Betty's leg. I healed her back to perfection on Raphael's command. Of course I would have done so anyway but he still felt the need to prompt me on it.
Demonic Angel (A Touch Of Magic) Page 11
