I just looked at him blankly. I couldn’t care less if she had other names. I just wanted to turn her to dust.
“Either way, I told Dawn not to engage her,” my mother informed him. “Miranda has ways of getting into her head at night. Astral plain warfare won’t kill her, but face-to-face and hand-to-hand could. Miranda has no clue what Dawn is, but I have a feeling she’s going to figure it out sooner or later, and when she does”—my mother paused and her eyes flickered to me—“then it will be time to run.”
My father grunted and looked at me. His brow furrowed. “What I don’t understand is why you ran away the first time, Dawn. All I showed you was some basic magic. Now your mother shows you this whole new life and you cannot bear to leave it. I know I wasn’t the best father to you. It always seemed like I was putting my work before you, and I’m sorry for that.”
He looked genuinely apologetic but I thought it best to say nothing.
“There is one other thing about Dawn you should know.” My mother sighed. “She can summon the fire.”
The look on my father’s face was priceless. It was a mixture of pride and fear.
“How far can she summon it?” he asked breathlessly.
“She stands inside it.”
They both turned and stared at me. I felt like I was caught in a crossfire.
“So she’s a powerful one,” my father murmured. “Can she summon your flame?”
“Yes, but not as easily as she can yours.”
I sensed that in a moment they would be bickering again over me. Or having more conversations that meant nothing to me. I had a feeling the coming days would be long and painful, and I needed a break from them.
“I think that I’m going to go to bed now,” I announced, pushing past them before they could stop me. In a moment I was behind the locked door of my bedroom. I really needed time to think. The evening had taken a turn that I absolutely hadn’t expected. The last thing I needed was to stand there while they had more of their odd conversations that made absolutely no sense to me.
Chapter Twenty-Three: Dead Man Walking
I was sitting in the bar again. It seemed like forever since I had last been there. If I recalled correctly, this was the place the green-eyed Wesley had snapped the neck of a deranged pervert.
Sitting across from me, her legs crossed, was Miranda. She gave me a sick smile and waved to a waitress for drinks to be brought over. I felt the anger course through me and I had to fight the urge not to jump over the table and put my hands around her throat. Not that it would have done any good. She wasn’t going to die of simple asphyxiation. Instead I just sat there and stared at her, not sure what it was that she wanted exactly.
“Hello, Raven Princess,” she said as soon as the drinks were placed on the table.
“Miranda.”
“I have no reason to fight you tonight.” She took a shot and looked me in the face. “I have already won.”
“What is it that you think you’ve won?” I asked. “If you think that it’s Wesley, take him.”
I felt hard on the inside. No emotion escaped me after saying those words. She seemed confused for a second. I believed that she thought by bringing me here it would somehow prove that she was right. At this point I didn’t. Why should I?
“You fought so hard to save him, and now you are so willing to give him up. All of this because he betrayed you?” She sighed. “I will never understand humans.”
“I fought to save something that I thought was supposed to be. I guess you can say I woke up from that silly dream. Just like I will wake up from this one.” I took the shot that was sitting in front of me.
“He does love you. He won’t shut up about you,” she said softly.
Why did it seem that she was being nice to me? Was she changing tactics now? Trying to be my friend? Well, I had news for her: it wasn’t going to work.
“If he loved me he would never have gone to you,” I said sharply.
“You’re probably right.” She shrugged. “I guess we will never know.” Another smile. “However, I still need to know what you are.”
I laughed at her. “Miranda, I’m not going to tell you anything. Just because you have the boy doesn’t mean that the battles you picked with me are done.”
I saw fire flash in her eyes.
“I will figure it out soon enough.” She groaned. “Let’s see. We have a raven-haired princess who can summon the fires of Hell as well as the flames of Heaven, yet your feet are planted firmly on the earth… So many possibilities exist.”
I stood up and looked down at her.
“Well, I suppose you have your work cut out for you. Now, if you don’t mind.” Fire snapped to my fingertips. “I have a life to get back to. I can’t sit around here in an imaginary world having pointless conversations with you.”
“Always so forceful.” She frowned. “The next time we meet I will not be so nice.”
“I’m counting on it,” I seethed.
She lifted her hand and, with a flick of the wrist, she was gone. I was standing in a bar on an astral plane with flames of light licking at my flesh.
***
I shot out of bed and rushed to the living room. I felt like I had to report my dream to my parents without delay. I had done as they asked. I had not engaged Miranda nor turned her to ash. I had let her say her piece and politely declined her invitation to tell her what I was. I felt like a child running to tell them that I had found something important. I wanted them to be proud of me.
My parents weren’t in the living room so I hurried to my mother’s room, praying to whoever might listen that they were not in there together, but my mother’s bedroom door was open and the room was empty. I leaned against the wall, feeling incredibly confused. They had to be somewhere.
“They are at my house,” said Wesley’s voice behind me.
Yet again he had avoided my spidey senses.
“They showed up and my dad asked me to leave. So here I am.”
He stepped into the light. He looked terrible, like he hadn’t slept in days. I hadn’t noticed the night before how sick he looked.
“And you think coming here was smart, why?” I asked sarcastically. There was a surprising edge in my voice.
“I don’t know. I just got in my car and drove. Next thing I knew I was pulling into your driveway.” His eyes weren’t shining, and he looked as if he had lost twenty pounds in just a matter of days.
I really hadn’t been paying much attention to him. I had put on blinders so I wouldn’t see what was happening to him. Miranda was killing him.
“My estranged father appeared last night,” I said meekly.
“Yeah, he sure is strange.” Wesley let out a soft laugh. “He also gives me the creeps. My father was happy to see him, though. Odd really.”
There was a brief pause.
“How is your dad?” I asked.
“Good, I suppose. I’m not home much, and when I am he keeps his distance. He looks at me like he looked at Mom before she died.” He gave me a weak smile.
“And your sister?” I figured that if I was asking about his family I might as well ask about all of them. In any case, they were dear to me.
“She won’t talk to me. Tells me she hates me because of what I did to you.” The smile faded from his face and the sad look of a boy in pain replaced it. “I am so sorry for everything that I did to you.”
I looked at him coldly for a second and then realized that right now was probably not the best time to start yelling at him. He didn’t look at all well.
“Can I make you some breakfast? It looks like you haven’t eaten in days.”
“Sure, I have some time. I have to meet Miranda in a few hours.” He turned and walked towards the kitchen with me at his heels.
“I have to ask you this.” I was in the doorway looking at him. “Why are you with her?”
“She knows me. She’s always in my head. I told you that my e
x-girlfriend was special.” I watched as a tear rolled down his cheek. He fidgeted for a moment before speaking again. “You know what, Dawn? I think I’m just going to leave. She’s not going to like it that I was here.” He turned to walk out the back door to the driveway.
“She doesn’t have to know you were.” I tried to sound convincing, but I already knew how he’d respond.
“She knows where I am every hour of every day. She can tell me each person I’ve talked to, the foods I have eaten, every thought that I’ve had of you.” He took a step towards me. “You can question every act that you have seen. You can look at her and threaten to hurt her all you want, but in the long run it will be you that gets hurt. I don’t want to see that. I love you, Dawn. If you just forget her I promise to leave you alone.” With that he turned and left the house.
My emotions were all over the place: I wanted to cry and I wanted to throw things. I was angry with him and I wanted to make him pay for the pain he had caused me. However, just looking at him, speaking to him, feeling him near, had put me in a state of shock. I may not want to be with him, I may want to make him feel like he’d never mattered, but what she was doing to him was far worse than anything I ever could have done. I dropped to my knees and I prayed.
Since we had become intertwined with the Jensen household my mother had found happiness, whereas before she had been so sad. She had found a purpose, and it had given her strength. Now I prayed that she could find the answer on how to cut the cord between Miranda and Wesley. Not because I loved him, which I knew I did no matter how hard I tried to tell myself I didn’t, but because he didn’t deserve to die.
I had seen a dead man walking in our house that morning. There wasn’t much time left before she would bring him to the same fate as his mother. So here I was on my knees in the kitchen, tears streaming down my face, praying to the one man I felt hated me. He never answered me; my mom said he never would, but once I stood and walked back to my room I felt like I had done what I could for Wesley.
As for Miranda, I would crush her. If it meant her finding out what I was then so be it. I would make her pay for all the wrong that she had done on this earth for the Lord knew how many years. I was the daughter of an angel and a demon. I had powers she couldn’t fathom. She had messed with the wrong girl.
I crawled into bed with my phone. I contemplated calling Adam but figured it best to let him relax. He had dealt with the whole Wesley ordeal since it started and all I really wanted was someone I could curl up with, who would just hold me and tell me that it would be okay. So I opened my messages and texted Aaron. The boy was nothing to me for the most part, but the person that I would really have wanted to curl up with was driving down the highway to the girl who was eating him alive.
Me: You busy?
I texted then rolled to my side to stare at the wall.
Aaron: No, you ok?
Me: Not really, can you come over?
I felt a tear roll down my cheek. It felt wrong to ask this of him. However, I was still cold inside, just not the complete ice queen yet. My heart was stone. It felt like the broken pieces had mended together in the wrong order.
Aaron: Be there in ten minutes.
***
When Aaron showed up I felt better. He came through the door, took off his jacket, and instantly put his arms around me just the way that I wanted. He was warm and he smelled of soap. He kissed me briefly and put his hands on my face so he could look into my eyes. I didn’t say anything, just reached up and took his hand. Then I led him to my room. He looked at me, confused.
“Will you just hold me?” I asked softly.
He nodded and crawled under the covers with me, wrapping his right arm over my waist and looking at me, his blue eyes questioning as they searched for reasons.
“He hurt you bad,” he concluded, kissing my forehead.
I said nothing but just looked up at him.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll put you back together.”
It was a sweet gesture, but there was nothing this boy could do that would put me back to the way I was before I met Wesley. I wanted to go about in this world unfeeling, as complicated as that was becoming at this moment. I wanted to forget what it was like to love someone with every inch of your being. He kissed my forehead again. I curled into him and let his warmth run over me.
I’m sorry, Aaron, for all the things that I have done and all the things I will do.
We both fell asleep rather quickly and didn’t wake up till I heard an annoying tap on my bedroom wall. I opened my eyes to see my father glaring down at me.
Fantastic!
“I feel I should be asking you what the Hell is going on here.” My father’s eyes were darkening. I felt Aaron jump and suddenly he was on his feet rubbing his eyes. He was clearly not completely awake, but he looked at my dad like he was about to be shot.
“Dad!” I screeched. “Nothing is going on.” I sat up and lowered my feet to the carpet.
My father looked at Aaron and grumbled.
“Lay down, son, get some sleep.” He waved his hand and Aaron collapsed on the bed, out cold.
I was suitably impressed. “You’re going to have to teach me that one,” I said.
“Living room. Now.” He walked out of the room.
It was nice to know that he was still in dad mode even after his four year vacation. I rolled my eyes at the thought then got up, took one last look at Aaron and shook my head. The boy had no idea what he was getting into.
I wasn’t expecting an ambush when I walked into the living room, but my father was standing in the middle of the room with his arms across his chest, tapping his foot impatiently. My mother was on the couch. I flashed them both a fake smile and took a seat on the recliner.
“Is this the norm for her, Puriel? For her to have strange boys in her bed?”
Why did he call my mother Puriel?
My mother rubbed her temples.
“I have had to deal with Wesley every night since October. No, it is not normal for her to have strange boys in her bed, Vetis.” She was trying to be nice but I could tell she was doing her best not to throw something at him.
But, Vetis? What? This was all getting very confusing.
“Why are you calling her Puriel?” I asked my father. “And why are you calling him Vetis?” I asked my mother.
My father barked a short laugh. “I forget she doesn’t know.”
My mother glared at him and then looked at me. “Honey, Puriel is my holy name, while Vetis is that of your father, though not so holy.”
My father pulled a face.
My mother gave me a lopsided smile. “Did you really think that there was an angel named Angelina and a demon named Damien?”
This was the first time either of them had told me about their past lives. The revelation was a small one, but now I understood the reason for their human names. No matter how cheesy and unimaginative they were.
“I very rarely called your father Damien. I only did it in public to keep things quiet,” my mother confessed.
“I’m going to have trouble getting used to this. Please just call each other by the names that I know you by,” I pleaded, grimacing. Another thought struck me. “What am I called? I mean, it might be nice to know, just in case of emergency.”
“You have no special name. You are just Dawn.” My mother put her hands in her lap and looked back up at my father. “Oh, Damien, please sit down. You’re making me nervous,” she demanded.
He grunted and then reluctantly took a seat as far away as he could from her.
“Just Dawn, you promise?” I asked.
I just wanted to make sure. I didn’t want to find out later that my real name was Donatella or something else equally weird.
“You are named for the moment when the night meets the day,” my father said proudly. “Since you are a mixture of both bloodlines, we thought a symbolic name was appropriate.”
�
�Ew. That’s way too sentimental for me.” I paused before going on. “In the last five minutes I have learned more than I have in the last eighteen years. Why all of a sudden the need to let me know the family history? Is my Uncle Lucifer coming for dinner tonight or something?”
My dad broke out into laughter. “He’s not your uncle. If he shows up here I suggest running.” He was wiping tears from his eyes. “She’s got my sense of humor, then. That’s great.”
I just stared at him. My mother had been in love with this?
My mother huffed and looked at me again.
“I need to charge you with a quest.”
My dad roared with laughter again, earning him a cold glare from my mother before she continued.
“The first place we lived is where we met Greta and Greg. As you can guess, we can’t go back there. I told you that is where your father set John on fire.”
I cut her off. “Okay, let me get this straight. The demon that attacked me is named John? I know you were saying it a lot last night, but I wasn’t really grasping much then.”
“Yes, the demon that... that...” Her voice faltered over the words.
“That violated me. Just say it, Mom.”
The smile that had been on my father’s face faded.
“Yes. That.” She still wouldn’t say it. “Well, there is a little more to that story than what I told you.”
“Of course there is.” I groaned. There always seemed more to the story than what I was told.
“John’s body went missing after the fire,” my father explained, looking grim. “However, before he managed to make his great escape he had formulated a plan to show everyone that I was Lucifer incarnate. It sort of started a mini-battle with the underworld. When people came to question your mother we found it best to leave, so we did. The town we were in is so small that we can’t go back. The man who was sheriff there eighteen years ago is sheriff to this day.”
“So you need me to go to this town and do what?” I asked.
“We need you to go to the house. It’s still there and we still own it. Inside you will find several items that we need. There is another old sketchbook of Greta’s and there is my sword.”
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