Demonic Angel (A Touch Of Magic) (18 page)

“He said I was free to do what I like and that he was trying to protect the Underworld but some things can't be helped.” I think about his words and something Levi said.
“Not scared of
the scum that keeps trying to stop me from harming you...”
Oh my God! I forgot about this!

“Your dad was trying to save me from Levi.” I whisper. “Okay, he was trying to save the Underworld but that meant killing me before Levi could drain me of my blood and drink it.” Jaxon blinks at me and I roll my eyes. “See, Levi has this theory that if he drains and drinks my blood while I am still alive, then he will gain my angelic abilities and be the most powerful being in the Underworld.” I shiver at the thought. I look up at Jaxon whose jaw is so tense, I can see his muscles twitch in the side of his face. “Calm down Jax. I am safe. I am here.”

I pull my hand out from under my leg and with a bit of courage, I slowly reach up and touch his tense face. He jerks at the sensation then physically relaxes under my soothing hand. I stroke his stubble covered jaw gently before running my fingers up his cheek and up to his eyebrows. I run my thumb pad over his now closed eyelids and then trace the hair line of his eyebrows. I remove my hand and he growls so I giggle and place my hand at the nape of his neck and play with his hair. He sighs a contented sigh and he turns towards me.

              “Why is it that my powers don't work on you?” My hand stops stroking his hair. I should just tell him. Everyone else knows.

“I'm half succubus.” His brows shoot up, eyes fly open and he smirks.

              “So we could be as freaky in bed as we like and neither of us would ever have to worry about harming the other?” Oh, I see his cockiness has returned. I grin like a goon and roll my eyes.

“Oh that has made my day. Let's start now.” He gets to his feet and I gape at him in horror. I may like him, a lot but I am no way near ready for that step. He lets out a genuine laugh at my reaction. “Relax Titch, I am kidding.” I don't relax. How can I? If what we have does form into some kind of relationship then he might very well want to take that massive step one day. We are going to have to have
that talk
when the time comes too. The one where I tell him that I am a virgin.

              “Why didn't you tell me you were in your thirties?” My lips form into an amused close lipped smile.

“Um... why didn't you tell me you were a succubus?” Touché but now he is avoiding my questions. I see how it is. Ignorant bastard.

              “I didn't know until the day I left here.”

“Didn't you? At all?” I shake my head. “So you've never taken a life or soul?”

              “I almost took Crillin's life.” I state. Jaxon looks pissed. He probably thinks I slept with him. Oh no! I can't let him think that. “Levi forced him to kiss me. I ended up making him pass out on the floor instead and I bit his lips. Ugh!” Jaxon doesn't relax like I thought he would. He gazes at me in wonder and then kneels down in front of me. I look down at my lap nervously.

I feel Jaxon's hand tenderly touch my chin and lift my face to his which is now a few inches away from mine.

“Don't be ashamed of who you are, Titch. You don't even know how irresistible you are to me.” He thinks I am irresistible. Eek. He leans in and closes the gap between us by giving me a small kiss on my lips. It isn't a full on one, but it still sends goosebumps through my body. He pulls back and offers his hand. “We should head back in.” I nod and take his hand and we both head towards the house where I swear I could have seen Tessa, my mum and Lorraine dash away from the kitchen window.

TWENTY-ONE

Soon we plan the rescue mission for Caroline. Apparently, only small groups at a time are allowed to enter Vepar's castle. The group agrees that Jaxon should go, mainly because he is Caroline's family and because he knows more about Vepar than anyone else and also partly because not everyone trusts him enough to stick by at the house. Much to mum's and Lorraine's dismay, Tessa and I volunteer to go with him. Rhys offers himself to come too, I
bet
it was because Tessa was coming.

Lorraine suggests that even though she isn't happy with us going, she thinks we need to rest up and regain our strength, especially me since my broken bones still haven't fully healed yet. And my stab wound still feels fresh. It sucks that I can heal others yet cannot heal myself. Yes, I do heal faster than the average human, like five times faster but I'd love to be able to heal myself.

              Going to bed that night should have been easy considering I barely slept the night before; yet I can't sleep for three reasons. One. Levi is still after my blood. Two. I know I am going to have nightmares about everything that happened today. And three. Jaxon is in the attic. I am
so
tempted to sneak out of bed without Tessa noticing and go across the hall and get into bed with him, just to be near him. I
don't
but I still want to.

I lay on my side, away from Tessa and look over at Aeron who is sleeping peacefully in his travel cot. I
have
to bring his mum back. Okay, step-mum but she is the only mum he has ever known. He needs her. I know he won't admit it, but Jaxon needs her too.

It is my goal to bring her back even if it means risking my life.

I just get comfortable when a light tap sounds on my door. I peer over at Tessa who is snoring away lightly and I climb out of bed and open my bedroom door. Even though expect it to be Jaxon, and am right, I was not expecting him to be wearing nothing but a pair of shorts. My eyes pretty much drop out of their sockets. His stomach is so toned, I can see what people mean when they say wash board abs. He even has that 'V' people drone on about. I say people, I mean Tessa of course. He has a large horned snake type tattoo going up the left side of his ribs too and another smaller tattoo of a dagger just over his chest. Oh God. If you looked up perfection on Google, this would be it.
Someone grab her a bucket!! She's drooling!!
Thanks brain.

              “I was going to go for a run, fancy joining me?” He cocks his head to the side.

“Um,” I look behind me at the time on my alarm clock. “You do realise it is one in the morning right?” I lift an eyebrow.

              “Yeah, I don't really sleep much anyway so the time doesn't matter.” His shoulders lift up and I can't stop my eyes averting to the muscles that ripple when he moves. It takes everything I have to not groan. He notices me watching him. “Like what you see Titch?” His voice breaks me from my staring competition with his chiseled chest. I shoot my eyes to look at his. He is wearing a satisfied grin and his eyes are extremely amused.

              “Uh... the house is on lock down anyway so even if you wanted to, you couldn't leave until Betty wakes up.” I tell him as I concentrate on his face and not his amazing body. His smug smile drops and his lips turn downwards into a frown.

“I just need to get out. I hate being stuck in for so long.” He says in a sigh.

              “Well, we can take a walk in the garden if you like? It's not the same as running but at least it's outside.” His eyes light up at my suggestion.

“Come on then.” He moves aside so I can exit the room but I don't move. “What is it?” I look down at my shorts and vest top pyjamas and then up at him again. He laughs. “You look fine. Believe me.” He grabs my hand and yanks me out of the room and then down the stairs. He doesn't release my hand until we go out into the garden. He lets go of my wrist for a second only to take my hand instead. My stomach flutters at the simple but sweet gesture.

Cool air hits my bare legs as soon as we are away from the house that isn't acting as a shield from the wind anymore. Goosebumps trail up my legs to my spine and I shiver before my body adapts to the temperature.

I don't think Jaxon has a destination in mind as he leads us into the depths of the garden. He walks aimlessly and I am
so
not complaining, I am a hundred percent loving the feel of his hand in mine.

Have you ever been around someone and had such a spark between you that you could start a thunder storm from the electricity? Well me neither, until now. Not that there is an actual storm or anything but I can kind of make lightning so that counts for something.

Jaxon pulls me from my poetic thoughts when he stops to a halt and faces me towards him. Oh I hope I get another kiss. I mentally check my memory to see if I brushed my teeth tonight, I did. Not that I don't brush my teeth or anything but,
shut up Calissa.

He glances up into the nights sky and stares there for a while. I follow his vision and take in the hundreds and thousands teeny tiny stars. There are so many that it most definitely puts my bedroom ceiling in Paris to shame.

              “Do you think demons can go to Heaven?” He asks, shocking me into reality.

“Huh?” My top lip turns up, Elvis style.

              “When we die, do you think we could go to Heaven too? Or stay in the Underground with Lucifer and the other demons for eternity?” Where the heck did this come from? I don't respond because, well, I don't know how. I have never even thought about that until he brought it up. “My birth mother was a vampire. Before you open that cute little mouth of yours and comment on that fact, don't. She was a simple working class dream walking human for thirty years. Met my dad, got pregnant, had me and survived but went a tiny bit loopy. She would never touch me though, not a single hug unless we were both covered up completely after I turned six. And I had to be home schooled. I didn't know why but well, that's kind of obvious.” He smirks. “Then a day before my ninth birthday, she ran out to the shop for my favourite cereal and never returned. Well she did but two months later and she wasn't the same. She stuck around for as long as she could, living with what she knew wasn't human but still had human blood in his system. She was a great mum, she was scatty as hell but she always made sure I was well looked after and loved.

              “Just after my twelfth birthday, she told me that she couldn't do it anymore and though she loved me, she just had to leave in case she killed me. She sent a human, Aeron's mum Aimee, to look over me and mum would send me cheques of money for every birthday and Christmas until the day I turned eighteen.” He pauses. “I got a letter from someone called Edward, telling me that my mother was dead and he was my birth father. He said there was much for me to learn about myself and he was more than willing to help me and that he would just know when I accept his offer. Of course I took him up on it and then he just showed up one night and he never left. He taught me everything I know about being an incubus. He even gave me the best information he could about dream walkers though his information was limited.

              He fell for Aimee, they married and they tried for years for a baby and then he eventually knocked her up. She didn't know he was an incubus though as he kept that from her and still is extremely good at controlling his powers and he forgot that if a woman survives sex with an incubus then it is highly rare for them to survive child birth. She died and he was so upset, he left. He hasn't even met Aeron, he named him. That was it.” He takes a breath and it is shaky. I am so surprised that I haven't spoken at all during his random life story revelation.

              “Caroline turned up a week after Aeron was born. She told me that she was my fathers wife and that she was there to look after Aeron and myself. Though, I don't think she realised that I was three years older than her because, well, I look fifteen years younger than her. She did a great job with Aeron and he got really attached to her. I was happy for Aeron though after Aimee, who was the closest thing I had to a mum for a long time, Caroline and I just didn't hit it off until you come along.” My eyebrows shoot up.

              “Why me?”

“Caroline swore that there was something about you that she loved and she swore to me that you would be the girl to drive me so crazy that I wouldn't be able to let you go. I had to push you away. I have seen my dad hurt from the incubus curse taking away someone he loved and I swore to my heart that I would never go through that. So I was a dick to you, on purpose.”

              “And now?” I ask, my voice merely a whisper.

“And now, I know I can't hurt you because you are the female version of me. I don't have to worry about killing you if I get too close. I refuse to go through what dad went through with the love of his life. So my vow to you Calissa, is that I will never let anyone take you from me, never let anyone harm you, Levi will
not
touch you again. I promise you with my heart.” I am speechless.
For once.
Of course, the only thing I can think of is:

              “So, do you love me Jaxon Cray?” It comes out in an immature sing-song voice. He laughs and looks away from me, placing a hand on the back of his neck.

“Yeah, I guess I do.” He steps closer to me. My heart thumps.

              “Say it demon, say the words.” I recite his words back to him from when he made me tell him that I knew he was a demon. His smile is wide and his eyes are fixated on mine and even in the darkness of the night, the green still shines like the stars. Aww check me out, all poetic and stuff.
Yeah, amazing.

“Nah,” he chuckles. “Rather not.” I gape at him with an amused smile still on my lips. He jumps away from my oncoming slap and laughs. I chase him around the garden and though neither of us are running at full speed, I still can't catch him. I blame those sexy long legs of his.

              “Jaxon!” I screech out with laughter. He holds up a hand and shoves me backwards a bit using magic, not enough to hurt me, but enough to slow me down. Oh so he wants to play dirty does he? My eyes close into slits and I give him my most sadistic smile.

“Babe, you look constipated.” He laughs. Oh no he didn't just say that!
Yeah he did, get him Cally!
Don't need to tell me twice. I run and jump into the air, I flip myself over in the air and land on his back, causing him to fall onto the grass. He gapes at me over his shoulder though he looks impressed at the same time.

He twists around so that I am straddling him and I grab his one of his wrists and pin it to the ground above his head. His other hand is resting on my bare thigh.

              “Say it.” I growl playfully into his ear. I see his Adam's apple bob up and down and he licks his lips. My body is tingling all over. I feel, powerful. I lean down and graze my lips against his, teasing him. I love having this much control over someone, the feeling is out of this world.

              “Calissa.” He whispers.

“Say it. Or I will lick your face.” He laughs and wrestles with me until he is hovering over me instead.

              “I, love you. I am so in love with you. Caroline was right about you driving me crazy but I go crazier when I am not with you. You are the air I need to breathe. The light I need to see. I cannot picture life without you and I won't be without you, if you like it or not.” If there was ever a time to be speechless, now is a brilliant time and I most
definitely
am right now. I open my mouth and then close it again.

              “That was adorable!!!!” The new voice startles me to the point that Jaxon and I dive apart from each other. Jaxon groans. “I
knew
you loved her. I knew it. I will say it time and time again. I am brilliant.” I scowl at my best friend for ruining our beautiful moment.

“Tess,” I groan. “What are you doing out here?”

              “Looking for you, obviously. We have a problem.” She is suddenly serious and Jaxon and I sit up to attention.

“What?” My frown deepens.

              “Yeah, Edward is here.” Jaxon jumps to his feet at the mention of his dad's name. “Oh and you two had better get in there fast, it's gonna get ugly otherwise.”

We all run inside but Tessa pulls me back.

“He loves you huh?” I blush and nod.

              “You love him back?” I haven't actually thought about it, but...

“Yeah, I think I do.” She beams at me and nods before we run into the house to settle to could be war against the King of all Incubi.