by Cara E Holt
I nod and look to Alana. “I need to take Alana to meet her anyhow.”
“Good.” Says the Queen clapping her hands together. “Now let’s have tea?”
We all nod and my stomach grumbles at the thought of those delicious honey cakes we had last time. “Oh shit!” I exclaim stopping dead in my tracks sending Noah into the back of me. I look to Lorcen. “It’s Christmas tomorrow. I haven’t bought any presents.”
“Tea and shopping then.” Queen Arliss states laughing before she continues on in front of us.
I’m stuffed after tea and cakes and would like nothing better than a nap but Christmas shopping cannot be avoided. Lorcen takes us into the village by the castle. There are row upon row of small independent shops and he assures me I will find something for everyone here.
“Okay. You have one hour love. Then I am taking your pretty ass home and showing you how much I have missed you.”
My insides do a delighted somersault. “I can be done in forty-five.” I offer and he smirks and pulls me into the first shop.
When we enter the shop keeper looks up and gasps and then bows. “Your graces. I am honoured to have you visit my little shop. What can I help you with?”
My eyes fall on a necklace. “Can I take a look at that?”
“Of course.” The man smiles delighted and scurries to take the necklace out of the glass counter.
For the next half hour we move from shop to shop. All the fae shop owners fall over themselves to serve us. What does become clear though is that Lorcen knows all these shop keepers and chats easily with them. I have no doubt he will make a fine king one day. The fae women fawn all over him when they see him, blushing and bowing their heads and as we pass, looking longingly at him. They greet me with warmth too but I see glimmers of apprehension when they take in my red eyes. I’m embarrassed at first and try to lower my gaze but then I chastise myself. I would not be ashamed of who I am. I am part demon and I had embraced this.
“They fear me.” I had whispered to Lorcen after the first few fae had looked over my eyes with what looked like fear.
Lorcen had stopped me in my tracks and took my face in his hands. “Look at me love. Yes they are uncertain of you. Fae are brought up with the stories of their great creators – the Tuatha. You are a goddess. Have you any idea how startling that may be for normal fae folk. Yes the red eyes are a surprise, but they have embraced you as their future queen. When you were taken from me, they would all stop me and offer their words of hope that you would be returned to us.” He smiles. “Soon they will get to know you better and they will fall in love with you and talk of their gracious and kind princess.” He drops a quick kiss on my lips. “Now stop trying to hide your eyes.”
He had given me the pep-talk I needed and from then on in I had held my chin high and met their gazes head-on. We were finally done and we left the last shop armed with a gift for my brother. Christmas wasn’t celebrated in the fae realms, so the festive atmosphere was somewhat lacking for Christmas shopping. The fae followed a more pagan religion and worshipped my ancestors and the creator of fae Danu. It was my hope that my Tuatha family would start to come out of the realm they had hidden themselves away in after the long-forgotten battles with the Formorians who were now extinct.
“So we are done?” He asks his eyes burning with a heat I recognise all too well.
“Yup.” I tell him biting my lip. I step closer to him and wrap my arms around his neck, standing up on my tip-toes. “I think it’s time we went home and I showed you just how much I adore you mate.”
I hear him gulp in my ear. “Can you do that god-like thing you do and sift us home, straight to our room?”
I grin and wink and immediately the scene changes around us. Lorcen grins down at me and walks us backwards until my back bumps against our bedroom wall.
“Such handy magic.” He whispers before his hands are in my hair and he is kissing the life out of me. I groan into his mouth, grasping at his tunic to get a feel of his skin against my hands.
“Ahem.”
We pull breathlessly apart to find my sister and Blaine, sat in chairs at either side of my father who is sat up in bed and looking very much awake.
“Hi Dad.” I say awkwardly, straightening out my hair and blushing as bright a tomato. “We uh, kind of forgot we had left you in here.”
“So I see.” My father says looking pointedly from myself to Lorcen. My sister Alana giggles and I give her the death glare.
“Look guys. We have been apart for over a month. It’s been hard.”
“I bet it has huh, Lorcen.” Says a voice behind us, we know only too well. I turn to find Noah leaning in the doorway with a big smile on his face. He was loving this.
I glare at him hands on hips. “Will you ever grow out of turning everything I say into a sexual innuendo?”
He bobs his head side-to-side. “Highly unlikely princess. Especially when it makes you blush such a lovely shade of red.”
“Okay as amusing as all this is. Could I have a moment alone with my daughters please?” My father asks, his large presence immediately dominating everyone’s attention. It sounds strange but there was a presence about my father, kind of like, something ethereal, which sounds stupid given he was no longer an angel but he just had this commanding presence that you could not ignore.
Lorcen drops a quick kiss on my cheek and leaves with the others. I take Blaine’s seat beside my father.
“How are you feeling?” I ask him softly.
“Well. I was feeling a lot better until I just saw my daughter making out in front of me?” He states and I groan and drop my head in my hand. I hear his chuckle and snap my head up to find him laughing. So my demon father was a joker too huh?
He looks from me to Alana and a soft expression crosses his face. “Look at you both. I can’t believe I am finally sat here with two of my beautiful girls.”
Alana looks over at me and smiles. “It feels good to be reunited with my sister. This will sound silly, but all my life I had felt like I was missing something. Like I wasn’t complete and then Ebony came and found me.”
Azael nods and reaches out and takes both of our hands in either one of his. “I am so proud of you both. The way you have taken the truth about who you really are. Your Mother and I never wanted to give you up, but we knew it was the only way to keep you safe from Lucifer.”
“We understand Dad, you don’t need to explain.” I tell him, trying to ease the guilt that he is clearly feeling.
“You should not have given Lucifer the sword daughter.” He tells me, his tone suddenly all firm and serious.
I nod my head. “I know and I am sorry, but I could not have left you in that place another day.” I shudder at the memory of seeing him chained up in that god forsaken place.
“I am an immortal being my child. I would have survived.” He frowns. “Lucifer will have a reason for taking the sword. He does nothing without having an agenda. I have known him for eternity. No one knows him better than I.”
I chew on my lip anxiously. “Do you know why he might have wanted it?”
He shakes his head and sits up a little more in the bed. “No, but I intend to find out. As soon as I can get out of here I shall request to see him.”
My mouth falls open. “I don’t think that is a good idea. He said to tell you that you were banished, forever.”
My father shrugs, likes this news is nothing. “He will see me. He and I have relied on each other for centuries. Lucifer likes to spit his dummy out when he is angry but he often regrets it once he has calmed down.”
I shake my head in disbelief and look at my sister. “You talk about him like he is a spoilt child.”
My father smirks. “That is exactly how he behaves sometimes. In heaven he was god’s favourite, his first angel. He was adored and revered by the other dominions of angels too. He always had everything he wanted and is still not used to it when things don’t go how he planned them too.”
“Could y
ou not seek God’s forgiveness? Maybe he would allow you back into heaven?” I ask hopefully. I had no desire to see my father anywhere near Lucifer again.
My Dad offers me a sad smile. “Ah my child. I made my choice. There is no redemption for those us who fell.”
Alana’s brows scrunch up in confusion. “But isn’t god supposed to forgive if we repent of our sins?”
My father cocks a brow. “According to who? Your bibles? God will never forgive us for what we did. It was the ultimate betrayal. There is no chance for forgiveness, no matter how much so many of us may regret the decision we made that day.”
It was strange to hear my father talk about god in a personal sense. One day I would have so many questions for him, like what did god look like, but now was not the time.
“When will you go see Lucifer?”
He releases a tired sigh. “Tomorrow, likely.”
I squeeze his hand. “Not tomorrow please. I would like you to spend Christmas day with us, at least. We just got you back.” I pull on his heart strings. I wanted time with this man whose eyes I shared. “Plus I need you to try and help me get rid of the red eyes. I’m not sure my other mum and dad can take a full day of these.” I point at my eyes and grimace.
He pats my leg. “I will stay then, just for tomorrow.” He stretches out his huge arms. “I need to nip out and feed though. It will help me regain my strength.”
I nod. My stomach clenches inside at his words and I find my father’s eyes on me. I am my father’s daughter a demon and goddess of war and conflict. Our bodies feed on the energy and auras of those involved in conflict. It makes me feel sick to my stomach that I fed off that female demon.
“You need to stop pulling yourself apart over what you did. It’s who we are we Ebony.”
I nod giving a thread on my sleeve my full attention. I look up to find Alana looking at me with a mix of surprise and sadness on her face. “You fed? Demon style?”
I nod and look away from her. I can’t bear to see the look of disappointment on her face. My father climbs out of bed and walks round to where I am sat. He crouches down so his face is level with mine. His Icelandic blue eyes meet mine.
“Now you have fed, you will need to do it again. You have awoken your demon appetite. If you try to fight it, it will weaken you.”
“Okay.” There was no way I was feeding again. I was strong and I would fight it. “Where will you go to feed?”
He smiles. “There’s a local underground fight club in the city. It’s like an all you can eat buffet.”
I can’t help but chuckle and hear Alana do the same.
“I’ll be back before morning okay?”
“Excellent. Then we can enjoy our first family celebration together.”Alana tells him, beaming at me in delight. It was Christmas tomorrow and I would have all of my family around me, well apart from two very important ladies who would be missing - my Mother and my sister Leora.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
I spend my first waking moments of Christmas morning with my head over the toilet bowl. Damn my sister and her pregnancy hormones.
“I’m never having babies.” I tell Lorcen as I climb back into bed and snuggle into him.
He laughs as he wraps arm around my waist and rolls us, so I am lay underneath him. Morning Lorcen always took my breath away. He was so darn sexy. I could eat him up.
“Ah but it’s your royal duty to produce future heirs to the unseelie throne.”
I cock a brow. “Royal duty huh?”
He nods grinning. “Yes. Plus, I kind of like the idea of lots of little Lorcen’s and Ebony’s running around one day.”
“One day though right. I mean like one day, way in the future.”
He drops a kiss on my lips. “I’m thinking in a hundred years or so. I want you all to myself for a good while first.”
I grin and wrap my arms around his neck. “A hundred years or so sounds perfect and it gives us lots of time to practice making fae babies.”
Lorcen nods giving me his cheeky grin. “I think it’s only right that we get lots of practice in. In fact I think we should start this morning.”
I giggle as he throws the covers over our heads and his lips find mine. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend Christmas morning.
An hour later I walk into my parent’s home. I stand there for a second watching them. My mum is busy over in the kitchen placing trays into the oven. Dad is over by the drinks cupboard pulling out bottles of alcohol to move into the fridge.
“Merry Christmas.” I shout. This causes my mum to jump and drop the tray of potatoes in her hands. Before the tray can touch the floor is use my air element magic to lift the tray back up onto the countertop. My mum watches the tray floating up and then with a shake of her head, she comes rushing over to me.
“Merry Christmas honey.” She hugs me and kisses both cheeks. “I can’t believe he let you come!”
I pull back from her. “Actually I’m here to stay.”
My mum jerks back to look at me. “You mean you’re out?”
I nod and my mum looks up to the ceiling. “Thank you big man.”
My Dad comes up behind her. “That’s the best Christmas present we could have asked for.” He offers a hand out to Lorcen. “Merry Christmas Son.”
I beam on hearing him call Lorcen ‘son’.
“Jeez. What’s all the noise about.” A sleepy looking Scott walks into the living area. In just his boxers he rubs his tired eyes before he looks and sees me. “You’re here?”
“Well unless I’m some kind of magical illusion, then yeah I’m here and for good to.”
He grins then and rugby tackles me and swings me into a hug. “So good to have you back sis.”
“You go get some clothes on.” My Mum orders him pointing back out to the stairs. “We have guests today.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m going.” He says between a yawn and placing me back down on my feet, he takes himself off back upstairs.
“Need any help?” I ask placing all my bags down in the hall.
My Mum’s brow arches. “Same job you have every year. Can you set the table?”
Nodding I make my way over to the dresser that holds all the ‘posh’ plates as my mum likes to call them. The ones we get out when it’s a special occasion. Smiling I use my air element to float the Christmas tablecloth out of the drawer and down on to the table. I do the plates next.
I catch my Mum watching in awe and grimace. “Sorry, is it too much?”
Mum smiles. “No. It’s just a strange thing to see that is all. Carry on.” She turns her attention back to the oven and I lay all the plates and cutlery using my magic. The doorbell rings and Lorcen goes to answer it. He returns back into the room with Alana and Blaine in tow. I laugh when I see what they are wearing. Alana has a knitted jumper on with a snowman on the front. Poor Blaine has been made to wear one that has a reindeer on the front. It has a red pom-pom for the nose. I walk over and flick the red pom-pom.
“Real cute.” I tease
Blaine rolls his eyes and gives me daggers. “Don’t even comment.”
Behind Blaine my Father stands dominating the space with his huge presence. My Mum and Dad who have been warmly greeting Alana and Blaine stop when they see him and take all of him in.
“Mum, Dad. This is uh, well this is my other Dad. Azazel or Azael depending on who you speak to.”
My Demon father smiles at them both. “Please call me Az.” He offers out his huge hand to my Dad, who giving him an uncertain smile places takes his hand. Az shakes it firmly. He then leans down and kisses both my Mum’s cheeks and she blushes and smiles.
“It is an honour to meet the both of you. This gives me the opportunity to thank you for bringing my daughter up.”
My Dad shakes his head. “The honour was ours. We have treasured the gift you gave us and love her dearly.”
I feel myself tearing up as I watch my parents all show their appreciation for each other. “Okay. Enough.” I announce
. “You are going to make me cry.” I usher everyone into the living room and I get Lorcen to see what everyone wants to drink. The doorbell goes again I rush out to the hall and open it.
“You guys came?” I announce delightedly as I hold the door open and gesture for them to come inside.
“Well we had to come and see what this whole Christmas thing was about. You humans make such a big deal out of it.” Noah being Noah, has come dressed as father Christmas. He winks at me. “You want to come and sit on Santa’s lap?”
I laugh. “I’ll pass thanks. I’m surprised he didn’t make you dress as Mrs Claus.”
“Oh he tried.” She tells me, rolling her eyes.
Noah and Megan pile into the now busy living room. I stop in the doorway and take it all in. Everyone I cared about was here. There were some key people missing. One whose grave I intended to visit later today.
“You okay?” Alana comes up to me and leans on the wall beside me.
“Better than okay. Today is just perfect.” I lean my head on her shoulder. A hand comes over my head and ruffles up my hair.
“Come on sis. Move out the way.” Scott grins at me as I move to the side to allow him into the room. “Wow. Full house.”
Alana pulls me back into the room and holds out a small red box. “I can’t wait any longer.”
I grin at her excitement and take the gift from her. I carefully unwrap it and open the red velvet box inside.
“This is stunning.” I tell her. Inside the box is a silver bracelet with a charm dangling from it. I hold the charm in my hand and pull it closer to my eyes.
“It is the celtic symbol for trinity. If you look close all our three initials are engraved in the centre.”
She looks at my shyly and unsure, so I pull her in for a hug.
“I love it. Thank you so much. It’s perfect.”
She smiles looking relieved. I use my air element to bring a small gift bag to my hands and hold it out to her. “This is for you.”
Grinning she takes the bag and opens it and peers inside. She pulls out a small blue box and opens it.
“It’s a fae ear cuff. It’s traditional for all fae girls to get one when they awaken.”
