“I liked those two,” Lucian said.
“Yeah I bet you did,” I smirked.
“I admit, I do think Unsere is very attractive.”
“Nah, sorry, I think Hecate’s beautiful,” Danny said.
“Are they seeing anyone?” Lucian asked.
“Unsere is married, mate, but Hecate is single,” Eligos told them.
“Well, Unsere can get divorced,” Lucian said with a grin.
“Actually she can’t.”
“Why?”
“The rules are different in Hell. Once you’re married, that’s it.”
“I don't understand,” Lily said.
“Not many people in Hell are married, simply because, once you’re there, you live for eternity or until you ask for your soul to be destroyed. Some people get fed up of forever and want an end. Anyway, if you get married you have to be completely in love with the person, because you will be together forever. Literally. If you cheat on your partner, you spend eternity in the Pits. If you think for one moment there may be a time you won’t love the person you’re with, or that you may develop feelings for someone else, be the person in Hell or on Earth, my advice is – don't get married. Although, saying that, I know a few people who are married down there and have been so for thousands of years, and they are still very happy and still very much in love.”
“What if someone comes on to your partner because they didn’t know they were married?” Tyler asked.
“Well, you see, that can’t happen,” Eligos told him. “Because, if two normal people there get married they are marked on their left wrist, both have the same mark. If a lord, Duke, higher demon, Royal, or basically anyone with status and who has a seal gets married, then their partner is marked, kinda like a tattoo, on their left wrist. They are marked with their partner’s seal. So when you look at Lilith’s left hand you see the ring on her finger, but you also see Lucifer’s seal tattooed on her wrist.”
“Does everyone know whose seals are whose?” Lily asked him.
“It’s mandatory for everyone to learn the Royal seals and Grand Ducal seals, but others…no, not really.”
“So is it just Lords and Dukes that have seals?” Danny asked.
“People of status and Royals. But Royal seals are very different to the rest of ours,” Eligos said.
“Keira, do you have your seal yet? Can I see it?” Lily asked.
“No not yet, Lilith is creating one for when this is over and I return to Hell.”
“What if someone who died already had a tattoo on their left wrist?” Jake asked.
“It’s removed, just in case they decided to marry. Nobody has a tattoo on their left wrist unless they are married; that's just the way it is.”
“Well, I suppose that's one way of finding out if someone truly loves you or not,” Lucian said. “Asking them to marry you I mean.”
“Not that many people ask the question for fear of the reply from the person they are with,” Eligos told him.
“Can you imagine asking the person you love more than anything, who you want to spend eternity with to marry you…”Danny started.
“And them saying no,” Lily said, finishing his sentence. “That must be heart breaking.”
“OK, can we change the subject, please?” Tyler said, pouring himself a glass of wine. “Like to what we’re going to eat, I’m starving.”
“We’ll order out,” Lily told him, shaking her head at him.
“When can we start playing with this new power then?” Jake asked me.
“We can go out tomorrow if you want.”
“Great.”
“Eligos, when do we get to fight” Danny asked.
“Learn some of your power first, and then I’ll teach you. Don’t make the same mistake I did.”
“Speaking of power,” I said, “I found out something very interesting tonight, and I think you may all want to hear it.”
“What is it?” Jake asked. “Is it good?”
“I know where our families’ power came from.”
“WHAT!” they cried excitedly.
“Hecate told me.”
“Well tell us then,” Danny said.
“Abdiel,” I smirked.
“Yeah, because that means a lot to us,” Tyler said to me, shaking his head.
“He is the Lord of Slaves and Slavery.”
“Did he give John Putnam his first power too?” Lily asked.
“No, I still don't know where that was from, but I’m going to ask Lilith,” I told them. “Hecate said she might be able to tell me exactly what's in me.”
“Finally, we start to get some answers,” Lucian sighed. “Do we know anything else about this Abdiel then?”
“Only that he is quite powerful,” Eligos told us all. “I’ve never actually met him; I’ve only ever heard stories about him.”
“Like what?” Danny asked.
“Some say he had an argument with Lucifer, well before I came along, and that he was banished. Others say he was killed, and some believe he ended his own life, but we now know that's not true since he gave your ancestors power.”
“Was he as powerful as you?” Tyler asked him.
“Nowhere near.”
“I wonder where he is now,” Lily said.
“I don't know, I’ve never really given him much thought,” Eligos told her.
“What happens if you’re banished?” Jake asked him.
“Hell is an extremely large place. I’ve been there over four thousand years and I haven’t even seen half of it. If someone is banished I believe they are sent thousands of miles away, to an island specifically for banished souls.”
“Why don't they just kill them?” Tyler asked.
“I know its Hell, but not everything is about death and killing people.”
“If you say so.”
“I do.”
“OK, OK, less of the niceness you two,” I said, shaking my head. “There is no need to start being off.”
“I wasn’t!” Tyler said, defending himself.
“Good, we’ve had a huge question answered and I think we should be a lot happier than we are.”
“I am happy, it’s just…with everything that's going on it doesn’t really seem so important anymore,” Jake said. “When we all first met we weren’t in this situation. It was the most important thing on our minds, but now…”
“Yeah, I know,” I sighed.
All of us went quiet for a while.
We ordered pizza for supper since it was now 10p.m. Once we had all eaten and Lily had finished making everyone’s pizzas spin around, which was quite annoying, the guys headed home. Jake went too this time; he wanted to tell his parents everything that had happened, so he told Lily he would meet her at the shop tomorrow. Lily wasn’t sleepy yet so she stayed downstairs, but Eligos and I were getting tired. We said goodnight and walked upstairs. He was a complete gentleman. He stood in the hall while I got changed for bed and only then came in and sat next to me.
“Are you OK?” I asked him.
“Yeah, it’s been a funny day.”
“I know.”
“But it’s also been the best day of my life.”
“Why?”
“I got you!” he smiled.
I leaned over and kissed him for a moment.
“I was surprised how everyone reacted too,” he said.
“I told you not to worry.”
“If ever you want me to cover this,” he said, tapping a bit of his scar, “just say so.”
“I don't want you to; I just want you to be yourself, nothing more and nothing less.”
“OK.”
“Listen, I want to talk serious for a moment.”
“Oh God,” he smirked.
“Shut up!” I said, pushing him back so he was lying on the bed.
I lay on my side with my head resting in my hand.
“I’m thinking about telling the guys exactly how I’ve changed,” I told him.
“Well, you h
ave been back a while, and they seem to have got over everything that happened, so I think they should be OK now.”
“Hecate told me I should be honest with them.”
“You should, but you needed to give them time to process everything.”
“I know, at least I’ve got your backing on it.”
“Course you have,” he assured me.
“Lily knows something isn’t right. Hecate said something before and it got her thinking; I know it did.”
“Tell them tomorrow then.”
He stayed with me for a few more minutes, just for a few kisses and a cuddle, and then he went to his own room.
Chapter Nineteen
The Truth about Me
I woke early and went downstairs. Lily was already up and making breakfast.
“Morning,” I yawned.
“Hey, we’re not going to the shop today; we want to play with this power. I think learning this is more important than opening the shop.”
“I don't think you ever want to go to work,” I told her.
“I don't now to be honest. I’m fed up of it already and so is Jake; we might just sell the place.”
“Why not? You know you’re OK for money.”
“I know. Thanks honey,” she said, hugging me. “Do you want some breakfast?”
“No, I’m fine, thanks. I’m just going to have an orange juice.”
“What did Hecate mean about you last night?”
“Pardon?”
“You stopped her from saying something.”
“Did I?”
I was starting to chicken out a little now. I knew what I had to tell them wasn’t bad, but I didn’t want them to look at me differently.
“I know you’re hiding something. I’ve known for a while,” she told me. “I don't know why you’re hiding it from me though.”
“I need to tell you all something; I’m just worried, that's all.”
“Worried about what?” Danny said as he entered the room.
“Bloody hell, you’re here early,” I said.
“I know we wanted to get an early start; the others are on their way in.”
“They’re already here,” Lucian said as he and the other two came in.
“So what you worried about?” Danny asked me.
“I need to tell you all something.”
“About what?”
“Me. You know I told you all I was different.”
“Yeah,” they all said.
“Well, I need to tell you how…”
“We’re all ears,” Tyler said.
I knew he would want to know; he would want to know why I said we couldn’t be together.
“Morning,” Eligos said as he walked in.
“Hey!” I said.
“Go on then, how are you different?” Tyler asked.
Eligos looked at me for a moment and nodded his head.
“OK, where to start…How you see me now, is how you will always see me. I haven’t aged at all since I died…And I never will.”
“What?” Lucian said in shock.
“Why?” Lily asked.
“I died, Lily. I was only sent back because of everything that's going on.”
“So you’re dead now?” Danny asked.
“Not quite. I had life given to me again,” I explained.
“OK…I think,” Jake frowned.
“Also, I am a demon, through and through. I’m not human now, except for my appearance.”
“You’re a full demon?” Tyler said in shock.
“Yes, I am. When I died, the human in me died. That couldn’t be brought back,” I told them.
“And yet you’re not dead?” Danny said really confused.
“The only blood that runs through my veins is demon blood, but there is life in this body. When I die again, the life will be gone. All that will remain is my soul and my body; the demon and power in me will preserve it forever, but I will have no heartbeat.”
“Don't you have a heartbeat, Eligos?” Lily asked.
He walked over to her, took her hand and placed it flat against his chest.
“Nothing,” she said, staring wide-eyed at her hand. “Yet you live.”
“It’s like Keira just told you – demon, power, preserved,” he told her.
“Once I’ve died again I will be able to come and go from Hell as I please without having to get someone to take me. It’s only the life in me that stops me being able to do it myself and spend long amounts of time there,” I explained.
“But you were there for three weeks, or months, whatever,” Jake said.
“Yeah, and I had no life in me; I only got that back when I came back here.”
“Did you have life in you when you fought Argyle?”
“No, it was put back in me before I came back to you. When I have life in me I’m weaker than when I don't. Sadly, having life in you when you’re a demon causes side effects.”
“So this is the reason you wouldn’t be with me,” Tyler said. “Why you stopped yourself kissing me again, after kissing me and holding me.”
I saw Eligos’s jaw tighten; he didn’t look happy at all.
“No, it was because she loves Eligos,” Lily shot at him.
“That’s not what she told me,” he shot back. “I asked her if it was because of him and she said no.”
“No I didn’t!” I said.
“Yes you did! You said that you did like him but he wasn’t why you wouldn’t be with me, and then you said the reason was that you were different, that was all.”
“You bastard, you shit-stirring bastard!” I said nastily and walking towards him.
“Hey!” Lucian shouted, grabbing me.
“Behave!” Danny said, standing between me and Tyler.
“We can’t be turning on each other,” Lucian said.
I shrugged him off me and walked out of the kitchen. I took one of Danny’s cigs out of his coat pocket and went to sit outside on my swing. Just as I’d lit the cig Eligos came out and stood in front of me.
“You didn’t tell them the rest,” he said.
“I know, and I’m not.”
We both went quiet for a moment.
“Was that true, do you want to be with Tyler?” he asked me sadly.
“No, I don’t want to be with him. At first I thought I did, but then I met you. As soon as I saw you I wanted you, not him, not Lucian, none of them, just you. You took my breath away; ask Lily, she’ll tell you. The only reason I didn’t tell him that was because I wasn’t in the mood for an argument with him. And that is what I would have got.”
He knelt down in front of me and looked deep in my eyes.
“You don't believe me, do you?” I asked, getting upset and throwing the cigarette away.
“Actually I do,” he said, taking hold of my hands.
“You know if you hadn't been there he wouldn’t have said anything.”
“I know it was done to annoy me.”
“And did it?”
“Oh just a little bit, but I think I hid it well.”
“I’m proud of you,” I said, trying to smile.
He reached up a little and kissed me.
“I love you!” I told him.
“I love you!”
He sat next to me on the swing and I cuddled up to him.
Chapter Twenty
Rain
We went out at 11a.m. and drove deep into the countryside. Eligos and Danny got in my car while the others piled into Lucian’s. Luckily he’d brought his dad’s SUV, so he could fit everyone in. Once we were in a safe place we parked the cars and walked into one of the fields. All of them were excited, especially Lily; this was all new to her. I wanted to be excited for her, but I was still so pissed off with Tyler that I found it hard to be happy.
“OK,” Eligos said, “You can face off against each other.”
“If anyone gets hurt either Eligos or myself will heal you, so don't worry, but please don't kill each other,” I added.
&
nbsp; “What about me? I’m new to all this,” Lily asked a little worried.
“You stay with me,” I told her.
“Go on, I’ll watch the others,” Eligos said. “Take her over there and teach her.”
I kissed him and then walked a few hundred yards away with her.
“Are you OK?” she asked me.
“Tyler just winds me up.”
“Oh ignore him! Eligos knows you love him.”
“I don't think he knows just how much though.”
“He will one day,” she assured me.
“Let’s forget about that for now. Let’s concentrate on you,” I said.
“OK, what are we going to do?”
“Defense first, I think,” I said as I looked around me. “OK, go stand about thirty feet away from me.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Attack you with things, you’re going to block them or destroy them. I don't know how much power you have in you now; it will be different from mine and the others’. So we will experiment.”
“Err, OK, I’ll try.”
“Remember, Lily, instincts.”
Her eyes turned black as mine turned white. I threw an energy ball at her and she moved to the side quickly.
“Use your power,” I told her.
I threw another one at her and this time she threw one herself. When they met in the air they cancelled each other out.
“Hey, did you see what I did?” she shouted, getting all excited.
“Good,” I smiled.
This time I threw two at her, one from each hand. She sent a small shockwave out to cancel them.
“OK, good,” I said. “Now, if I throw an object at you, you should hopefully be able to destroy it before it touches you.”
A large piece of wood ripped itself off the fence surrounding the field. I moved my hand quickly and it went flying toward her. She put her hand up and sent energy at it, smashing it into tiny pieces. I sent a shockwave towards her and she levitated above it. Everything I sent at her she either blocked or destroyed.
“OK, you’re doing well,” I told her. “Now, do something of your own, show me something,” I said, sitting down on the grass.
“Like what?”
“I don't know anything.”
The ground beneath us started to tremble a little and the wind suddenly picked up and blew ice cold.