“I heard Jaxon this morning.” I say when I know we are out of hearing distance. I don't want dad to know any of this as much as Ana. Mum looks at me in shock, as if she wasn't expecting me to say anything about the demon after me.
“What happened?” I sit back down at the table and take a deep breath.
“I couldn't move. He somehow had me strapped down to the bed and yet I couldn't see anything on my arms. Actually, I couldn't see anything at all. Not even him. I could just hear him.”
“So you weren't talking in your sleep? You were talking back to him?” Tessa queries as she sits opposite me. She passes me my now cold tea and I take a polite sip to please her.
“Yeah, he kept asking me where I was and then said that he will find me. It's weird though because when I spoke to him before, he kept telling me not to tell him where I am or where I am going.” Lorraine and mum share a look before they give me one I think I should know but right now, I am oblivious. “What?”
“He told you not to tell him where you are going?” I nod at Lorraine's question. “Fascinating.”
“How is that fascinating mum?” Tessa asks.
“What sort of demon is this boy?” Lorraine is on a roll with her questions this morning.
“Incubus.” I reply and mum gasps. I snap my eyes to where she is sat at the table and give her a questioning glance.
“Has he touched you?” Worry is dripping from her tone.
“Define touch, because he was the one that cleaned up my hands and feet.” I bite my lip.
“Has he touched you intimately?”
“Um...” I look down.
“He kissed her, does that count?” Tessa butts in. My eyes narrow in on her and now she is the one biting her lip. She mouths a guilty 'sorry' to me.
“Oh dear. What happened?” I tell them in minimal detail what happened during the kiss and that he acted funny afterwards. Mum laughs and Lorraine smiles.
“What?” Tessa and I say at the same time. If this conversation hadn't just become so serious, then we would have totally been immature and jinxed each other.
“I guess my spell is wearing off on you after all. Only a succubus is unaffected by an incubus.” Tessa's mum flips her dark red hair over her shoulder and blinks her blue eyes several times while a smile plays on her delicate lips. Tessa and Lorraine look creepily alike. I have never noticed it before.
“What about being strapped to the bed? He over powered me on that one.”
“Yes, very true. He did. I don't like that happening to you and your not even my daughter. Serena, I know you are against it but I really do think that-”
“Give her her full powers back.” Mum cuts in. “I need her to be able to defend herself. If she is unable to protect herself with her succubus powers being bound then his dark side will get to her. With just her angel powers, he will overpower her. He is coming to her in her sleep. It is only a matter of time before he actually finds her.”
“Actually that isn't true mum. I kind of misled him a tiny bit.” I give her a cheeky grin. “He asked where I was, I said Ireland.” I flutter my eyelashes and mum gives out a genuine lop sided smirk.
“Ah, my daughter. Forever the deceiver. Just like her mum. I am so proud.” She places her hand over her heart. Oh Lord, why is she so dramatic?
“That is good. It buys us some time. We need to train you both. I am going to conjure up a potion to unbind your powers. You will drink it today and then by tonight, you will start getting your powers back. Though I should warn you Calissa, when they do, you will know instantly. Do not by any means touch anyone. Not myself or Tessa. Not your dad, not Ana and not even your mum.” That means I can't hug anyone.
“For how long?”
“Hard to say. Depends on the person. But with how the potion is wearing off already, I'd say, a few days.”
“I want the potion too.” Mum shocks me by saying. “I want to protect my baby. I cannot do that with the hands of a mortal.” Mortal? Seriously mum?
“Okay, if you are sure. Well, we had better get started then.”
NINE
Tessa and I have the privilege in running into the city to grab ingredients for the unbinding potion. Turns out we may have to traipse around Paris for a few hours to find the six different shops that have the eight different ingredients. Fun for Tessa who hasn't ever been to Paris before but not so fun for me who comes here four or five times a year. I drive to the first location which happens to be in the furthest part of Paris from mum's house.
“So we have to find a pigs foot?” Tessa screws up her face. “That is minging.” I shiver at the thought of holding one.
“Can we not just get one from a butchers?” I ask.
“That is where we are heading now. I think.” I take the next left and pull up outside a large farmers market. There are swarms of people walking around and it is extremely difficult to find a parking space. When I do, I double lock the car so that the alarm is on. Don't wanna take any chances with these French people.
The first stall we come too is a vegetable stall. I make a mental note to come here later to grab some new smoothie ingredients. We walk around for a good ten minutes before we come to the butchers stall. Rows and rows of meat line glass counters. Large legs of, I'm guessing a cow, hang from ceiling on large hooks. Blood trays sit underneath them so that nothing gets onto the floor. A large pink skinned man stands up from behind a counter when we walk in. He is wearing thick rimmed glasses and a flat cap. A long sleeved white coat covers his enormous belly. He gives me a happy smile.
“Bonjour!! Puis-je vous aider?” He asks us.
“What did he say?” Tessa whispers. I snort. We both took French for three years in school, I was the only one that picked it up. I guess it helped that I went to France a lot though.
“I says, can I help you?” Butcher man says in broken English. Tessa blushes and looks down at her feet. I giggle.
“Hi, yeah we are looking for a pigs foot. Maybe you have one?” I am hopeful when he turns around and disappears at the back of the stall. He returns seconds later holding a paper bag and passes it over to me.
“No pay. Belles filles.” He smiles and it makes his red rosy cheeks squish his eyes almost closed.
“Merci
beaucoup.” I give him a polite smile and I pull Tessa out of the stall but not before she shouts a terrible attempt at goodbye in French and instead of 'au revoir' it comes out 'oliver'. The man simply laughs.
It takes us three hours, but we finally have all but one of the ingredients for the potion. We ended up having to walk most of the time because some shops were down narrow footpaths that my car clearly will not fit down despite it being a small car.
We are just walking through a type of flea market when something catches my eye. I know this is going to sound corny as hell but hanging up in one of the flea market stalls is a painting of a woman lying in bed with a black shadow hovering over her. The woman's back is arched and there are blue streaks (I'm guessing tears) running down her face. That isn't what catches my eye though. The shadow has green eyes. Yes... green. See where I am going with this? Yeah? Awesome. Now, if you were in my position and have just seen this picture, what would you do? Leave it? Or buy it?
I buy it. For observation purposes obviously. The woman that sells me the picture is looking at me like I have just grown leaves out of my head or something. She says something in Romanian? And then shoos me away like I'm a cat that is annoying her.
“Oo, I think she luuuurves you.” Tessa sings in my ear as we walk away with the painting. I nudge her in the ribs and she gasps in pain. I turn to her in worry that I have just harmed her and then she bursts out laughing and points at me. “I got you baaaad.”
“The saying is 'I just got you good' but okay.”
“That doesn't even make sense though.” Tessa says scrunching up her face. We walk further into the market place and come to the last stop on our mission. “So, what's with the painting?”
“I
will show you when we get home but let's just say it reminded me of-”
“Jaxon.”
“Um, yeah, exactly that. Not that I want anything to remind me of him but-”
“No, look. It's Jaxon!” She whisper-shouts at me and nods her head in the direction behind us. I spin around and indeed there he is. He hasn't seen us yet so maybe we have time. I drag Tessa into the gazebo-stall and ask for the last thing on the list. “How did he find you??” Tessa panics when the elderly woman digs out the black candles we need. I peek through the tarpaulin to see where Jaxon went and just as I do, he strides passed me without a care in the world. I jump back so that he doesn't see me and I duck down. Crap, crap, double crap!
“Did he see me?” I mouth to Tessa who is staring with wide, petrified eyes at the entry way of the gazebo. I look over to where she is staring and see Jaxon there with his back to us. His hair looks a lot longer and he is wearing a long black trench coat and heavy looking black biker boots. I can't see what else he is wearing because of the fact he has his back to me. The elderly woman comes back over to me carrying a blue plastic carrier bag. I thank her and then turn to leave but think better of it. I turn back to her and in French, I ask her if there is another exit we can take. Tessa's eyes are still on Jaxon and when the woman sees this, she nods and ushers us out through a slit in the back of the gazebo. “Merci, merci.” I whisper to her and Tessa and I rush out of the market place and practically run to my car.
“Holy cheese balls. That was close.” Tessa exhales a relieved breath as soon as I start the car and pull away. I don't respond. I am in too much shock to actually speak.
We couldn't have gotten to the town house any faster than I did. I was scared I'd get my first speeding ticket from the pace I was driving. I noticed that Tessa was gripping onto the door handle for dear life half of the time too. If I wasn't shocked into silence, I would have found that hilarious, like I usually would.
We run up the stairs and into the house, locking the door behind us. We run into the living room where my entire family plus Lorraine are sat watching Frozen again. I halt to a stop.
“Need to talk. Now.” It comes out harsher than intended, but can you blame me? I am sh-crapping myself. Mum and Lorraine obviously sense the urgency in my voice because they jump up and rush out of the room. Dad gives me a curious look and I silently tell him that he should stay with Ana, by nodding my head towards her. He understands immensely because he pulls Ana into him and continues to watch the overplayed film. I can see the worry in between his eyes though. I don't have time to dwell on it though. I leave the room and join the other women.
“He's here.” I say as I walk into the room. They know exactly who I am talking about because fear causes the blood to drain from their faces. I dump the shopping bags on the kitchen counter where they are stood. “He didn't see us but we saw him.”
“Are you certain that he didn't see you?” Lorraine asks as she pulls out all of the items that she sent us out for.
“Positive. This is Jaxon we are talking about. He would have spoken to me.”
“Okay, that's good. Hold on, how did he find you? Are you a hundred percent positive that it was him?” Mum asks. I think back to the market place and how he was wearing gothic looking clothes. Was it Jaxon? He always wore stylish, hipster typed clothing. Like a rock God. His hair is usually shorter than what it was in the market place too. No way could it have grown three inches in one night, right?
“I- I don't know. He looked exactly like him though mum.”
“Ring him.” Tessa blurts. My eyes snap to hers. “Ring him. Ask him what he's doing. Act casual. You two were very chatty yesterday afternoon. You kissed for crying out loud. Flirt with him a little.” Okay, cue burning cheeks. I look down and my mother brings my face up with her hand so it is level with hers.
“She is right. Ring him. Act normal. Go out onto the patio if you think it will be easier without an audience. Tessa and I will help Lorraine make up the potion. Then I will start dinner. Okay?”
“Um, okay.” I bite my lip. Do I want to speak to him? Not exactly. Do I want to hear his voice? Maybe. Oh fizzle sticks. My head is all over the place. Ha ha. Fizzle sticks. Anyway...
I run up into my room to grab my phone which I had to leave here on charge since it died when I woke up today. I turn it on as I walk down the stairs. As soon as the signal bar shows that I have service, my phone goes insane with text messages. I say insane. There are eight messages. Then it hits me. I didn't read the messages that were on my phone when we arrived here this morning. So I have three new messages today. I sigh and head out onto the patio. I shut the glass paned doors behind me and take a seat on the metal bench.
Jaxon: Hanging up on me Calissa? Not very nice
Jaxon: Don't ignore me
Jaxon: Now u r hurting my feelings
Jaxon: Just gonna say u r sleeping
Jaxon: Already making excuses for u, it's meant to be, u and I <3
Wow he is delusional. Yet I can't help but smile at his last message. I open up the slightly newer messages.
Jaxon: U awake yet?
Jaxon: Bored, need u to entertain me
Jaxon: That was fun, though did u have to ruin it? :(
I check the time and just like I thought, these last three messages were sent to me around the time I woke up today. So when he said that he needed me to entertain him, he actually did it. Unbelievable. I take a deep breath and dial up his number. I am physically shaking as it rings, once, twice, “Hey baby. Fancy getting a call from you.” Ugh, so slimy!
“You are such a creep.”
“Yeah, would you believe it?” I roll my eyes. “What do I owe this pleasure anyway?” I, for some unknown reason, miss the brooding, sulky guy that refused to talk to me. This new one, scares me. Well so he should Calissa! He wants to suck your soul out from you with a straw!! Okay maybe not a straw but...
“Just bored. Wanted to see what you are doing.” I sound casual right?
“More like, find out if we have any leads on you, you mean?” I bite my lip but don't say anything. He sighs. “No Titch, we haven't found you. Though we do know that you aren't in Limerick. Thanks for that dead end by the way.” I giggle. “So deceiving, I like it.”
“Like I could trust you anyway, you promised you wouldn't follow me.”
“Demon, remember?” I can hear the smile in his voice and it makes me grin picturing his amazing smile.
“So where are you now?” I ask, keeping him on the line.
“Right now, I am with Aeron in the park. Caroline wanted to get her nails done.” I can practically hear his eyes roll.
“So you are still in Suffolk?” I ask, leaning forward for my elbows rest on my knees.
“Yeah, why?” He sounds wary.
“Um, no reason.”
“Calissa?”
“Hey don't worry about it, okay? I gotta go, text me.” I hang up before I think about what I just told him to do. Oh fudge. I just gave him permission to text me. He texts me a lot without my permission, I dread to think what he is like with my permission. Oh double fudge.
I walk into the kitchen where I see three large glasses of a colour that I am sure doesn't exist. It is grey mixed with brown mixed with green mixed with pink... Ew. And my mother is standing holding the painting I had just purchased.
“What is this?”
“A painting.” Duh. Mum rolls her eyes.
“Why do you have it?”
“I saw it in the market and it reminded me of well, you know who and so I got it.” I shrug. Mum looks at the painting with an unknown look and then places it on the floor, leaning it up against the kitchen counter.
“So, what did he say?”
“Apparently he is still in Suffolk.” I reply to my mum as I eye the nasty looking drinks.
“Then who was that in the market?” Tessa asks, also giving the drinks the evil eye.
“No idea, um, do I have to drink that?” I point to a glass.
&nbs
p; “Yeah, you do. It tastes better than it looks, I can assure you.” Lorraine answers.
“So, are we gonna do this now?” I don't want to drink it anymore but I know I have to if I want my powers.
“The sooner, the better.”
“Damn.” I mutter as I pick up the glass I was eyeing up. I mentally count to three and then down the grungy concoction. “UGH!! You said it will taste nice!” I splutter.
“No, I said it tastes better than it looks.” Lorraine laughs. I watch in disgust as Tessa and my mum down their drinks and pull the same face as I just did. Tessa heaves when hers is all gone.
“Mum, that was disgusting!” She coughs. My mum doesn't say anything, just washes down the potion with a glass of orange juice. “So how long until it kicks in?”
“Um, immediately but everything will hit you within twenty-four hours.” Lorraine pulls out one of the black candles. “Tessa, try it out. Think to yourself that you want this candle alight.” Tessa blinks several times and then stares at the candle. I pinch my lips together to stop from giggling at Tessa's expression. It is the same look she has on her face when trying to read. All funny thoughts leave my mind the second a small spark comes from the candle. Another spark. And another. And then a flame. I stare in amazement at what my best friend just did.
“That was so coo-” I start to say but am interrupted when the entire candle goes up into flames and starts to melt down. Tessa screeches and drops the candle onto the counter. Lorraine mutters something under her breath, waves her hand over the fire and then it goes out. There is no mess at all on the side.“That was still kind of cool.” I mumble.
“See, you need training. You will have to sleep alone tonight darling and I am going to have to put a hex on the room you sleep in because we don't want you burning down the house in your sleep or anyone that sleeps with you.” Lorraine turns to me. “Your powers are going to be harder to test because, well, it would mean touching someone or making yourself appear in someone's dreams or making yourself appear someone's greatest sexual fantasy. I am not too sure what else you will be able to do. We will figure that out though.” I feel myself deflate. “However, demons have extraordinary senses. Try and open up your mind and nose. Tell me what you can smell around you.” Smell? Hmm... I close my eyes and sniff.
Demonic Angel (A Touch Of Magic) Page 7