Heritage

by Rebecca Walton

  “What did he say? I’ve never seen you so pissed!” Oscar turned in his seat, to talk to me. Great what was I going to say to him. Oh you know, just a demon that was going to attack you all or possibly kill me because of some stupid reason that at this moment in time I can not quite understand.

  “Nothing, I...I need to get home.”

  “Ok if you do not want to talk about it.”

  “I don’t.”

  Oscar turned back in his chair and looked out of the window, I could see the smirk on his face and could not help but let out a slight laugh.

  “He’s someone from my mother’s side of the family,” I explained. Technically that was true, she was evil and so was he. Somewhere in the twisted world of demons they may connect on a family tree. I shuddered at the thought of being in any way related to the Zac Efron want to be.

  “I thought you didn’t know your mother?” He asked. Damn I forgot that I had told them I didn’t know who my mother was, why oh why do I not keep a diary of my lies. Sometimes even I can’t keep up with them.

  “I don’t, he just said he was... You know what I have no idea. Let me get back to you on that,” I sighed starting up the car.

  “The life you lead Elle Bale,” He smiled.

  “You have no idea,” I whispered pulling out of the college car park.

  Chapter Two

  I pulled in to my driveway just in time to see Robin ride in on her bike. Waving at her, I received a nod of the head for my efforts. Well at least it was something, stepping out of the car, it started to rain. Rain didn’t bother me. I quite liked it, it gave me the feeling of being washed clean, everything being washed away, and I was always left refreshed. Gracia had a lot of rain and I enjoyed being like a little kid jumping in puddles with my wellingtons on. I made my way inside and hung my coat in the normal place on the banister. Just like always, Marcus was sitting in the front room watching football with Bruce who was probably eating some kind of potato snack. Beth was in the kitchen cooking the evening meal that we would all then sit down at the table and eat like one big happy family. The thrill of it all, I think I could throw up now. I’d rather eat alone if I’m perfectly honest. I walked into the kitchen and placed my bag on the floor next to one of the kitchen chairs, surrounding the rectangle table that Beth had bought at an antique shop four weeks earlier. Flopping down into the chair next to my bag, I glanced at Beth who was grilling burgers.

  “Hello darling, how was your day?” She greeted as she flipped a slightly burnt burger into the air. She was never any good at cooking, but who was I to judge, I could burn beans if I was given the opportunity to cook.

  “It was... Interesting,” I mumbled.

  “Oh that’s nice dear, glad you had fun.”

  Her half hearted response didn’t faze me, I was used to the Brady bunch life style. Everything was perfect, and we were all one big happy family, that was far from the truth. What family had a teenage witch to live with. The tune of Autobiography filled the empty silence, and I rummaged through my bag for my phone. Answering it I slid from the kitchen into the hall.

  “Hello?” I answered.

  “Ok so I’ve been digging around…”

  “Oh hey Alex.”

  “Hey, anyway the demon that stupidly came to your college was a high level demon named Lorias.”

  “Lorias? I’ve never even heard of him. Why would he be looking for me?”

  “I have no clue. Did he say anything to you?”

  “Just that he wanted to talk,” I explained.

  “That’s strange, well I’ll see you later anyway for our hunt. I just thought you might want to know beforehand.”

  “Thanks, Bye.”

  Shutting my phone, I climbed the stairs up to my room. Opening the door I threw my rucksack onto the floor and collapsed onto my bed. Before I could close my eyes, a creak came from the window beside me. Shooting up from my bed I quickly shut the door. Slowly approaching the window with caution, before I could prepare myself a figure merged through the darkness and jumped onto my bed. Startled, I held out my right palm and froze the figure in its place. Slowly raising my hand towards the ceiling, the figure followed with a groan and shiver.

  “Geez Elle! You could be a little less on guard couldn’t you? Let me go,” The figure moaned.

  “Josh?” I searched for his face in the dark, I found it and knew it was him. His face was so young, you wouldn’t think he was twenty. His pale chest was on display in his v neck t shirt, and he was wearing his usual pair of faded jeans. “Well you could, you know, not jump into my room like a maniac!” I released him from my hold, and he fell on the bed. At least that would not alert Beth too much.

  “Why couldn’t you use the door like normal people,” I asked.

  “For a start I’m not normal,” He jumped from the bed and began to change shape. His body grew larger and larger until it almost filled the room. His pale skin became darker until it was a dark brown and it had turned to fur. In a second Josh had turned into a bear. It was normal for him to shimmer from person to animal in seconds. Josh was a shape shifter, and he could turn into any animal he wanted to. He always showed off thinking it would impress me. Giving a wide smile he morphed back into a human.

  “And I didn’t want to talk to that mortal Robin. Ugh,” he shuddered. I slapped him around the back of the head and walked towards my open window.

  “Come on lets go before Beth comes to check on me,” I moaned. He smiled and then crept to the window. Just like he came in, Josh jumped out and landed gracefully on to the ground two floors down.

  I followed after him but not before putting pillows under my quilt to make it look like I was asleep. If there’s a chance of fooling Beth, then I’m going to take it.

  Walking through the forest that surrounded the Bales house I could not help but feel free. I didn’t have to hide with Josh. He knew exactly who I was and what I could do. It felt good to know that I could be myself. I could be Adabelle Melinda Gabriel, the daughter of the ruler of good magic, Eric Edward Gabriel. I’m one of the most powerful witches in the history of magic, and I have to pretend I’m a small town teenager named, Elle Julie Bale that does not exactly scream powerful witch. My freedom was short lived as my phone began to ring. I pulled it out of my pocket and tapped it so hard I could have cracked the screen.

  “Great back to reality,” I mumbled. Putting the phone to my ear I wished I hadn’t answered.

  “ELLE!” The voice screamed “You should be out!”

  “Hey Poppy,” I replied with no enthusiasm.

  “Where are you babe? You’re missing out!” She babbled. I could tell she was out with most of my friends, I could hear the music from the bar they all hang out at on Friday nights.

  “I’m grounded,” I lied. Before she could complain, Josh had snatched the phone out of my hand.

  “Sssh!” He whispered. Before I had time to ask what was wrong, I heard it. Behind us in the bushes there was a rustle and small movement. I turned to the rustling of the bush and placed my hand in front ready to freeze any danger. I felt the breeze as Josh morphed and a snarl ripped through him as he leapt in front of me. I hated it when he tried to protect me. I was about to nudge the wolf in annoyance, when she appeared.

  We both calmed down as soon as she came into view. Her long brown hair waved in the wind and her designer jacket clung to her slim frame as she walked towards us. Alex has a face that you would only see on models, she had a sense of deep beauty about her that she doesn’t seem to see.

  “What is it with you two and jumping out at me,” I joked. Alex disappeared from in front of us and reappeared at my side.

  “I’ll have you know that I don’t jump, I gracefully appear from nowhere,” she smiled. Josh gave out a yelp as Alex appeared on his back. He began to morph, and she jumped, falling to the ground.

  “Ha-ha! You were saying?” He beamed. Alex snapped up and disappeared. He spun around judging where she would reappear.

  “BOO!” She
screamed as she leapt onto his back again.

  “Can we please concentrate on finding this demon,” I snickered. It was hard not to laugh at them. They were always play fighting with each other.

  “Ok Children. Any chance we can get this show on the road?” I moaned

  “Alright Mum!” Alex snickered whilst straightening out her jacket. She twisted her hair into a tight bun and went to pick up something from the bushes she appeared from.

  “What you got there sis?” Josh asked.

  “Erm, a few bits that we might need tonight, this demon is supposed to be pretty bad.”

  She picked up the bag that she had with her and walked to where Josh had sat down on the grass. Wandering to the spot where they were both sitting, I examined the items Alex had started to pull out of her bag.

  “A gun?” I wondered. I picked up the mateba auto revolver in my hand. I caressed where the rose had been carved. The rose was to signify that it was hand crafted in Gracia, the magic realm that we all came from. I’d never had to use a gun on a demon before, my powers usually did not need any back up, but if Alex needed it to feel safe I did not want to judge her on it.

  “It’s loaded with holy water pellets,” She said as she placed the rest of the objects on the floor. Holy water pellets made a lot more sense than normal bullets.

  I placed the gun back on the grass and sat in front of them, examining the pile of tools that were placed in the middle of us. The tools consisted of magical crystals that when placed around an object it will contain it from any physical demon attack; a knife that had been dipped in holy water and a bottle containing a blue and purple smoke.

  “What’s this?” Josh asked picking the bottle up, removing it from my view.

  “Is that a potion?” I murmured taking the bottle from Josh’s hand and taking a closer look.

  “Oh yeah. Your dad gave it to me, he said you would know what it was,” she explained. Looking at my face to see if I did. I do not know what she saw there, but she knew that I did not have a clue what it was.

  “Ok then we will throw it if we need to and hope for the best,” She chuckled taking the glass bottle from my hand and shoving it into the bag that now contained all of the tools.

  “So what exactly are we up against tonight and where is it because I’m knackered,” I sighed.

  “Travis Dickson. He’s a high level demon who has an army of low level demons that essentially do everything for him,” She explained

  “We have tracked him down to a night club in town,” Josh finished explaining and then laid down in the grass staring at the stars. He was not interested in the whys, what’s and how’s, he just wanted to get to the fighting part.

  “What club?” I exclaimed, my friends were in town and I didn’t want them to be anywhere near a demon attack. If any of them got hurt, that demon would be vanquished in seconds. Just thinking about it made a fire ball form in my hand. I put it out before any of them noticed. I seriously needed to control my emotions.

  “Some club called Fireflies it’s near …..”

  “The cinema... Oh my god!” I gasped.

  They both jumped up and prepared themselves for a fight that they thought was going to happen because of my sudden outburst.

  “No, it's not here, my friends they are at that club.” I stuttered unable to come to terms with the fact that an extremely powerful demon may be near the people that I care about, maybe closer than I’d like them to be.

  “We have to go!” I exclaimed trying real hard to contain my anxiety. I ran in the direction of the town. I was running so fast, it felt as if I was barely touching the ground. Alex appeared in front of me and put a hand on each of my shoulders.

  “Adabelle Melinda Gabriel! GET A GRIP,” she shouted whilst shaking me vigorously. My brief moment of shock began to fade, and I was now aware that I was in full witch mode. My eyes had already started to turn a pinky purple colour which happened when I was about to kick some demon butt. I let out a deep breath and felt my body calming down and my eyes returning to their normal shade of blue.

  “What was that?” Josh began to walk towards us, and I noticed that I had walked about a mile in my stressed state.

  “You have never done that before,” he continued.

  “Done what? Get stressed? Of course I have. I’m a ticking time bomb me,” I replied a bit confused as to the puzzled expression on his face. They were both looking at each other with the same expressions.

  “What!?” I yelled. I was starting to think I had sprouted another eye and tentacles from the way they were staring at me.

  “You orbed us… Like we left the ground and everything,” He stuttered. “You have never done that before.”

  Confused I looked around to where we were standing before, but I couldn’t see the bush that Alex had appeared from. Now we were standing somewhere else, there were no trees, just grass. We were at least a mile from where we were standing before.

  Alex stood staring at me for a further two minutes whilst I tried to come to terms that I had orbed us all two miles across the field. Me, that’s just hilarious, only three other people that live in Gracia could orb others and themselves, so it was considered a unique gift. Every witch and warlock could orb from their own realm to the mortal realm, but only a powerful witch could orb others and themselves from realm to realm. Of course, I would get it, another thing to make me more powerful than any other witch or warlock. It’s a good job all these gifts did not go to my head, my head would be like a hot air balloon. I was awoken from my daydream by Alex waving her hand in front of my face.

  “How did I do it?” I asked.

  “I do not know. One minute we were there and the other we were here,” Josh tried to explain.

  “You’re seriously the most talented girl I know,” Alex was still staring in shock as we began walking again. Maybe I should try and do it again, I thought whilst trying to think how the hell I did it in the first place. As we approached a fence that guarded a bubbling stream, my phone rang. I reached into my pocket and looked at it, unknown number. That was odd I thought unlocking my phone and placing it at my ear.

  “Hello,” I answered.

  “Ah Elle, how pleasant it is to hear your voice again,” The boy chuckled and sent a chill down my spine.

  “Lorias!” I sneered as Alex and Josh stopped climbing the fence and watched me as I felt my eyes turn pink.

  “Indeed it is,” Lorias chuckled and sighed. “Maybe tonight we could meet and be civil.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked confused as in why he had my number in the first place. Alex and Josh were now hovering so close to me. I was sure that they could hear him breathing.

  “Why our meeting tonight of course, Travis Dickson, Ring a bell,” He mocked. The sound of his voice made me cringe.

  “So you planned this then? How clever of you?” I replied trying to sound calmer than I was.

  “Meet me fireflies at 10, be there or someone will get a little shock. The girl this morning didn’t quite get your attention like I intended,” He gave a chuckle and hung up. I stood there for a couple of seconds processing the facts and then it hit me. The girl that had died that was to get my attention. I tried to concentrate and form words to explain to the others, but I could feel the flicker of guilt come from my gut and I had to sit on the cool grass.

  “E? Are you ok?” I could hear Alex, but she felt like miles away, I felt her as she sat down beside me and I turned to see the worried look on her face.

  “I’m fine,” I smiled trying to convince myself more than her. Standing up I tried to gather my thoughts. I had to go to Fireflies before ten in order to save another innocent. I glanced at the two pairs of eyes now scrutinizing me searching for a sign that I was ok.

  “I’m OK guys honestly. We just seriously need to get to that club before… what time is it?” I asked

  “It’s twenty to ten why?” Josh replied looking at me with a curious expression.

  “Damn! That was L
orias, and he set up the whole Travis thing. The girl this morning was a diversion, and now he wants me to be there at ten. But that is in twenty minutes, we won’t ever make it!” I babbled letting out an enormous sigh.

  Dumbstruck, Alex and Josh stared at me before they both snapped out of their trance and answered my unasked question.

  “You can do it,” Josh piped up and placed his hands on my shoulders. Looking into my eyes he gave me a smile.

  “We know you, and if you put your mind to it, you can orb us all there…”

  “Yeah E it will be a piece of cake just try,” Alex interrupted Josh.

  Bracing myself I closed my eyes, wondering why I was even attempting the impossible. I caught hold of each of their hands and breathed in. I felt the wind whip my hair across my face and after a couple of seconds, I opened my eyes to see Alex grinning like a Cheshire cat.

  “You did it!” She beamed as I stared wide eyed at the alley that we were now standing in. It was full of boarded up windows and broken down pieces of furniture. If you put them all together, you could furnish a two bedroom house. Checking out the surroundings, I spotted a dim light that was coming from a boarded up door.

  “Well Yay me!” I laughed and smiled at my achievement. I was trying to concentrate on Alex and Josh as they threw compliments my way, but I was distracted by the dim light coming from the boarded up house.

  “You who? Earth to Adabelle!” Josh was waving his hand in my face to get my attention, taking my eyes from the door I glanced at him..

  “Sorry... Err thanks guys.” I mumbled. “Something feels strange, don’t you think?”

  “It does seem a bit odd around here,” agreed Alex.

  Before I could reply, there was a crash followed by more crashes as a bunch of guys appeared on the over turned fridges and washing machines. All at once the five guys began to move in on us, sneering and snickering as they ushered us into the forming circle. Not giving them opportunity to strike, I grabbed a piece of broken up scaffolding and headed straight for the demon in front and kicked him straight in the head, jumping on to his back I landed on a shredded up sofa. Two more backed me into a corner, searching for a way out, I hit one across the face, and the other I threw a blow into his stomach. Jumping over them I ran straight into two more who were avoiding Alex’s fly kicks whilst another were being chased by Josh. I could see that more of them had arrived, ducking to escape a fire ball that had now hit the demon behind me. I could hear his scream as I blasted a fire ball at the other, hitting him.