Demonic Angel (A Touch Of Magic)

by Maria Del Sette

  “Yes Serena. It will be up for as long as I can keep it that way.”

  “Good. Right, everyone get some rest and good luck.” Yeah right. As if I can sleep knowing that I am the main target of an enormous attack. I feel twitchy and agitated. Oh why did I have to be born half angel?

  Would they mean me no harm if they discovered I am half demon too?

  Do I risk asking Jaxon?

  No, probably not.

  I head up to my room and sit on the edge of my bed. Caroline enters, gives me a warm smile and sits beside me.

  “It will all be okay. You have some of the best witches, demons and fairies here to protect you. Even me. Though, as a mara, I am unsure what help I can be.” She shrugs and looks over at one of the pictures on my bedside cabinet; one of me and Ana.

  “Your sister is human?” She asks.

  “Yeah. Lorraine thinks that because of the intensity of the potions mum took before she fell pregnant of her, Ana was born completely human. I however, was not, obviously. Caroline? I'm scared.” I whisper.

  “I know darling but don't let the Underworlders know that. You have an advantage over them. They don't know that you have come into your powers now. So pretend that you still haven't. Play dumb. Play the victim. Then when they least expect it. Pounce.” She smiles and so do I. That is probably the single best plan anyone has ever come up with and trust it to come from the stepmother of the boy who insists I die because he insists on sticking to his stupid rules.

  Caroline gets herself changed and tells me that she needs to feed in order to have enough energy to fight tomorrow. Due to it only being nine pm. She promises that she will be back shortly.

  I watch as she leaves and then my mum walks into the room. She doesn't say anything, she opens up my wardrobe, pushes my clothes to the side and reaches to the back. She pulls at the backboard and then grabs a black bag.

  I watch in confusion as she places the bag on my bed, kisses my head and leaves the room.

  I turn to and open the bag and pull out its contents. Clothes. A black leather jacket. A tight red cropped vest top. Low riding tight trousers that look like leggings but have a tougher material. Out of curiosity. I try on the clothes. They fit perfectly. When the hell did mum get these? I stand in front of the mirror and look at myself from different angles. The leather jacket has spiky studs running up the collar and on the back, there are two little wings in the centre that look like tiny versions of my own wings. I find a pair of black leather gloves too. A note attached to the jacket catches my eye.

  Special jacket for a special girl. Your wings can emerge from this jacket without you needing to modify it. Cool!!

  I rummage through my wardrobe and pull out my favourite leather knee length high-heeled boots. Okay, I have to admit, I look bad-arse. My long blonde hair, for once, I am unhappy with it. I grab a hair band and tip my head upside down. Gathering all my hair on the top of my head, I wrap the band around it so that my hair is in a tight pony-tail on the very top of my head.

  “Wow!” I spin around and see Tessa standing in my doorway with a tub of Ben and Jerry's ice cream and two spoons.

  “I know! Mum just handed it to me. Apparently it was hiding in my wardrobe. God knows how long for but its awesome right?”

  “Yes! You need smoky eyes though.”

  “Huh?” She rolls her eyes and places the ice cream on the bed before running over to me with a make-up bag in hand. I sit down while she gets to work on my make-up.

  “Done.” I open my eyes and look in the mirror. Wow. The dark eye-shadow and eye-liner make the amber in my eyes really pop. I give Tessa a squeeze and then point to the ice cream.

  “That for me?”

  “No bitch. Us.” I laugh and we dig in. “I am kind of jealous. You look amazing. The only clothes I have are bright Summery colours because well, it's Summer.” I get to my feet with my Caramel Choo-Choo covered spoon hanging out of my mouth and open my wardrobe door. Hmm... something to go with Tessa's reddish brown hair, I think. I pull out a long red halter top, black leggings and her studded ankle boots. Yeah, I really should work with my mum in fashion. If I survive. “Wicked. Thank you.” She tries on the clothes, messes around with her wavy locks until she has a quiff thing going on then like mine, she does smoky make up. “We look fierce!” She clicks her fingers in front of her face. I giggle. We really do look hot. I have no idea why we don't wear this kind of this more often.

  Instead of going to sleep. Tessa and I sit up watching DVD's, eating ice cream, and reminiscing about old times. Who knows when or if we will ever do this again?

  Around three thirty, Tessa dozes off and although I am tired, I have a lot on my mind. I grab my phone from the usual place in my bedside cabinet and turn it on.

  Three new messages all sent around nine pm.

  Jaxon: Despite the circumstances, I can't w8 2 c u tomorrow

  Jaxon: I can hear u gigglin with Tessa its nice ill treasure that sound forever

  Unknown number: I do believe we will be seeing each other very soon dear Clara. … x Crillin x

  How the hell did he get my number? I thought I had enough to deal with, with all this battle stuff going on tomorrow. Guess I was wrong. Oh God.

  I debate telling Jaxon but I think he has made his choice now. He is one of them. He has already told me that that isn't going to change. Where is my knight in shining armour?

  So what does it matter if Crillin gets hold of me or not? It will probably end in the same way anyway. Me dying. You can't think like this Calissa. You are stronger than they know. You can take them. Oh hello brain... Haven't heard from you in a while.

  Sometimes I think I am schizophrenic from the way my brain argues with itself. Or I am just nuts. Knowing my luck, the latter is more correct.

  I read through my not so nice message and the one from Jaxon catches my attention. He can hear me giggling? How? I get up from my bed and walk over to the window. I look outside and sure enough, there he is. He may be in the shadows but with my intense sight, I could probably see those green eyes from him from a mile away. He notices me watching and gives a wave before disappearing completely. I gulp and lay back on my bed.

  Tessa stirs from beside me and I freeze until I know she is snoring again.

  I lie down under the covers, still fully dressed in the new clothes mum gave me, and eventually fall asleep.

  EIGHTEEN

  It feels like I have been asleep for ten minutes when the alarm goes off. I don't have time to complain about my lack of sleep because it is show time. Tessa and I spring from the bed and run into the hall. Christina and Betty run with the kids and slam the attic door behind them and lock it from the inside while everyone else heads downstairs to get ready.

  We join everyone and my mum in the foyer.

  “This is it! Get ready.” Mum shouts over the commotion of the panicking supernatural beings here in my house. Lara manifests herself into the room with us, looking scared for her life.

  “They are here. There are at least a hundred of them.” She shrieks. “We are way out numbered.”

  “No. They are low level demons. They don't have the powers that we do. We will be fine.” Mum assures though I see fear in her eyes when she looks at me. “Our job is to make sure they do not take Calissa. Are you all okay with that?” A few murmurs of 'of course' 'yeah' 'duh' and 'absolutely' fill the room and mum nods.

  With a silent 'go' mum opens the door and faces a group of Underworlders.

  “Leave! Or pay the consequences.” She calls over to them.

  “I am sorry ma'am. We cannot do that. We will not leave without her.” A demon with hair so red it is like the flames of a Phoenix and thanks to the rain that falls rapidly, his hair sticks to his face. His eyes narrow down on me and a snarl of a smile forms on his lips.

  “Then you leave us no choice.” Mum states. She raises a hand and out of no-where, the red head shoots backwards into the crowd of Underworlders. This sudden outburst causes a distraction, causing our sma
ll group of warriors to charge towards the 'bad guys'. Haha I sound like a child watching her favourite program.

  Me being amongst them, I manage to take down a demon that looks very snake-like by using my bone crusher. He bellows out in pain and collapses in a heap on the floor. Oh God, did I kill him? I don't have time to check because Tessa grabs my arm and leads me to the road. I look back at the house and see a shiny yellow bubble type barrier surrounding it. Betty's magic is in full form, I see.

  A demon with white eyes and hair and fangs jumps out at Tessa and I and the sudden sight of her makes me scream. The demon opens her mouth and screams, loud. It is so high-pitched, it makes me wince and cover my ears in pain. A banshee.

  I raise my hand and think that I want her in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The screaming stops and I blink a few times.

  “Feel free to jump in any time here Tess.” I gasp. Tessa gives me a POOR attempt at a sorry and then we move on. Tessa and I take down two demons together with her fire balls and my kick-arse super human strength.

  I look around for my mum who seems to be punching demons, left right and centre with Lorraine and another witch using some kind of mind control power over demons that are falling from mum's punches. Knocking them out or possibly killing them. I am unsure which is accurate. Lara and Harris are combining their powers so that when Harris shoots a fire ball towards the demons, Lara uses her power of wind to surround those demons and burn them while hovering in the air with some really pretty glimmering wings on her back. I didn't even know she had wings! Dimi is holding three different demons in her grasp and freezing them before moving on to more. My mum knocks down another four demons and turns to me.

  “Cal! Run!”

  Tessa and I manage to get away from the fighting crowd and come face to face with one demon I was hoping to avoid. Jaxon. He is wearing, sunglasses? It's raining!

  He gives me his best smirk and takes a tentative step towards me. I step back.

  He doesn't say anything as he backs me against a brick wall. Tessa places two fingers to her temples and like she did to me in the attic, Jaxon collapses to the floor in agony. We both make a break for it, keeping to the human speed so that Jaxon can't see that I have my powers.

  We get nearer to Jaxon's house of all places and we crouch behind a wall of shrubs. I know I am a coward for hiding. You don't need to tell me what I already know.

  A shadow lurks over us and we hesitantly look up to see Jaxon's green eyes leering down on us. He isn't smiling anymore.

  We jump to our feet and try to run. Jaxon grabs us both by the arm.

  “Wait.” He shouts. Tessa and I share a look and like we planned last night, she squints her eyes at him while I discreetly raise a hand facing his way. Bone crusher mixed with what ever it is Tessa does. Jaxon bellows out in pain and drops us. Together we are unbeatable. Well, we think so anyway. We continue unleashing pain on the guy I dream about and while he writhes around the floor in agony, we run. Straight into Jaxon?

  What the frick?

  I look behind us and can still see him on the floor so who is- oh no.

  “Crillin.” I rasp out.

  “Hello dear Clara.” He says in his strong American accent. I smirk, knowing he still doesn't know my real name. “I told you last night in that message that we would meet again. And here we are.” He holds his hands out with his palms facing upwards. Tessa gives me a confused look but I shrug guiltily before focusing on the elf in front of me.

  “What do you want with me?” I snarl.

  “I just want you. I have distinctive orders to collect you. You being half angel and all. My boss would love to meet you. Though nobody knew you were half witch too.” He glances around us and then he takes his glasses off. Yes, this is indeed Crillin. His red eyes glow phenomenally and I take a step back. Caroline's words float through my head. Pretend you have no powers. Then pounce. So I play dumb.

  “I- I haven't got what you need Crillin. I have no clue what a half angel does. I only found out about me being what I am a month ago.”

  “I don't care you little brat. I have my orders and you are coming with me.” He starts to pace towards me and I grab Tessa and jump out of the way. The nine metre high kind of jump. The look of shock and alarm on Crillin's face is almost laughable until he grabs my foot before I land and slams me down to the ground. I smash my left arm and hear a crack while Tessa smashes her head and is out cold. Oh no.

  “Tessa?” I shake her with my good arm when I get to my knees. “Come on Tess. I need you.” I shake her again. She doesn't move. Crillin starts walking over to me again with a smug smile on his face.

  “I thought her name was Talia.” He squints his eyes at me. I manage to get up onto my shaky legs and face him head on.

  “Well its obviously not dickweed.” I seethe as he approaches me again. I spring open my wings and spin around as fast as I can, my wings smashing him in the face and knocking him to the ground with an umph!

  “Y-you have wings?” He yells at me as I start to hover a few feet above his body. “I didn't know that.”

  “You know nothing about me mate and you never will.” I spit. I hold up my good hand and seeing Tessa on the floor unconscious, it gives me enough power to send a bolt of lightning to shoot directly into Crillin's face. The scream he lets out is so high-pitched it sounds inhumane.

  I flap my wings and let out another blast. Then clench my fist and bone crush him. He writhes on the floor and I am sure I see tears in his eyes. Tessa stirs beneath me and my focus snaps onto her. I descend from the air and land beside her. I hover my good and bad hands over her and feel the tingling in my fingers as I start to heal her.

  I am so focused on healing my best friend that I don't see the elf approach me from behind. Crillin grabs me by the hair and throws me across the road so that I land on my back. I am so glad I tucked my wings away, that could have hurt a lot worse than it did.

  “So you do know how to use your powers? Interesting. I don't think you are a witch at all.” I roll my eyes as I struggle to my feet.

  “Well done! You do have a brain.” His face twists into anger and he lunges for me. I jump out of the way. When his step falters, I take the chance. I punch him with everything I have and although I hear a crack, I am sure it was his nose and not my knuckles. Okay, half sure. My hand fricking hurts.

  I shake my formerly good hand as Crillin, once again falls to the floor and I run back to Tessa to heal her.

  “Screw it! I don't have to take you back to Levi. I will kill you myself!” He spits blood out to the floor and for the first time, his Jaxon body starts to flicker. I think he is returning to his original state. He swipes his hand over his mouth and then narrows his eyes on me. I know he is going to lunge and I am ready for it.

  I think of a kitchen knife. A sharp one. I place my hand behind my back and feel it appear. I am so getting good at this manifesting crap.

  He runs towards me and as soon as he is near, I twist my arm around and stick the knife through his leg. Gross! He flinches but doesn't stop. He grabs the knife from his leg and turns it upon me. He wrestles me to the floor and I whack my head on the concrete. I may be strong but holy cow that hurt. Seeing that I am in my dizzy state, he punches me in the face and pain shoots up around my eye. He punches me again and this time I am almost certain I feel my lip pop. That is going to sting tomorrow. I struggle beneath his body yet it is no use. He has me pinned down. My eyes still focused on the knife he has facing down at me.

  His fist with the knife in pulls back and I squeeze my eyes closed but his body is thrown off of me. I open my eyes and see the real Jaxon standing over at Crillin, snarling.

  “Touch her again and I will fucking kill you, you piece of shit!” Oh my! No need for him to swear!! SHUT UP CALLY! NOT THE TIME FOR YOU TO PICK OUT THE BAD POINTS OF HIS CHOICE OF WORDS, WOMAN!

  I watch in amazement as Crillin, still in the form of Jaxon, faces, Jaxon. Even though I know they are both set out to kill me. Seeing two of him.
Wow.

  I scramble over to Tessa and continue to heal her. Soon, she starts to stir and then her eyes flicker open. I breathe a sigh of relief as I turn back to the look-a-likes who are coming to blows with each other.

  I struggle to get up to my feet but I still help Tessa to hers when I eventually get to mine.

  “Think we can do it again?” She asks, eyeing my broken hand.

  “To which one?” I try to focus on Jaxon but from the way he and Crillin are fighting, it is impossible to tell.

  “Both?” I look at Tessa and she raises her eyebrows. Both of them? Ah screw it. They want me dead anyway. No point in saving Jaxon now is there?

  “Come on then.” Tessa places her fingers to her temples and I raise my good hand. I usually do this with my left so let's hope it works. I concentrate on the bone crusher while Tessa does her thing and then one of the 'Jaxon's' fall to the ground in pain while the other looks on in confusion. He spins around to find the reason and I am mildly relieved to see that it is Crillin on the floor and not Jaxon. The green eyes are a giant give away. Why aren't they both squirming in pain though?

  “How are you doing that?” He asks at he wipes his bloody lip.

  “Angel, remember?” Crillin goes silent and Jaxon steps up to him and kicks him with his foot.

  “He's out cold. You need to get him away from here before his boss sends more minions to get you.”

  “I can handle that.” I stand over Crillin and think that I want him in Egypt. Surely it would take him a while to come back then. Just like I did with the banshee, Crillin disappears. Jaxon is staring at me in amazement. I face him. “You gonna try and kill me now Jaxon?” I ask, tiredly. He is quiet for a moment as if he is unsure how to say his next words.

  “Nope.” Tessa and I look at each other in confusion and then he stands in front of me. “So, you have your powers then.” He states and I give him a duh look. “I spoke to Caroline. I speak to her a lot actually. She came to see me last night.”