A demoness awakens L
Disclaim: The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series.
Side-fiction: Taming ones lust
WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"
Pairing: Rachel / Al
Charas: Rachel / Alice /Al
Summary: Rachel managed to sneak around that talk for way to long... now she can't run anymore. Let's see how Alice takes in the facts about Rachel's and Al's bond ^^.
Please enjoy
A demoness awakens L : Having THAT talk
- Rachel -
Coffee steam rose in front of me. My eyes were fixed on the garden. The sun played light and shadow with the leaves on the trees. It looked utterly peaceful, but it wasn't.
I had eaten a gigant portion of egg, toast and bacon, and was finally nearly filled up. My mother moved to the oven and got a big ass chocolate cake out of it.
"So … what's up with you and the demon?" Her voice was careful, but I could still sense her unhappiness.
I watched her slow and easy movements like a rabbit would watch a snake.
"It's complicated." Evasion- if you didn't want to answer a given question, try for evasive answers first. It was demon 101- Al had tried more than once to beat this sort of shit into my head. And ironically, it was my own mother who drove home the point.
"You know exactly what I mean." She sounded dispeasured.
"NO, as a matter of fact, I don't." It was hard to keep myself from grinning. Damn, I almost felt like Al. He was the one who would enjoy riling my mother up, or giving evasive answers to piss off a summoner.
"You want it the hard way? Well, you can have it the hard way. Are you sleeping with the demon?" Her eyes found mine and I knew she would spot a lie the instant it came out of my mouth. My glance shifted over to her flowers, then back to the coffee in my hands. Black… as black as my aura would be soon.
"Yes…" It was almost soundless, but there was no reason to sugarcoat the truth. She was silent for a few heartbeats.
"Was it consensual?" I really shouldn't have tried to drink my coffee before she said something. Now I choke on it. My eyes watered while I coughed. Her question had awoken that thing inside of me that I desperately wanted to keep away from my mother. But with a demon as your lover it seemed to be a valid question.
"Yes, it was." She shuddered at the words, or maybe it was the dark frequency that came out with my remark. To be honest, I was as shocked by the answer as she was.
She looked at me nonplussed.
"How? I thought you loathed him." Her hands were shaking and she gulped a mouthful of her coffee, though it was obviously still to hot to be drunk this way. She coughed.
"I still loathe him. As a matter of fact I may even hate him. But with demons… it doesn't seem to matter." Mum blinked at me, eyes wide. She didn't understand. I empathized with her.
"It doesn't matter at all." I sounded beaten and on the verge of tears again.
My mother rose from her chair and came over with a slice of cake, which she put in front of me. Chocolate for the wounded woman's soul; always was a good form of therapy.
"What happened?" Her warm hand touched my back, but I withstood the lure of her comfort. She might push me away halfway through the truth I was going to reveal, and I would break if she did.
"Pierce came over for coffee." She raised her eyebrows.
"Pierce? The ghost witch? What does he have to do with this?" I sighed… this was going to be a loony drive over Rachel's sex-lane.
"Yes, exactly. Him. He's Al's familiar. And before you ask, yes, I slept with him as well. And no, I'm not turning into a slut. I liked the guy… and he was attractive, and we were in mortal danger. And suddenly we were kissing and making out." She shook her head at me, probably thinking I was a slut. I tried to ignore the thought and moved on.
"We shared the most incredible power pull I had ever experienced in my life." Not enterly true anymore; Al was better at it, a lot better. But I think for a witch Pierce was the best one could find.
She pluged her fork into the brown cake and screwed at the bite, then waved with the silverware to keep me talking. I sighed. This was far from easy… almost like telling your mother that you were pregnant- by your English teacher. I paused… hell, what if I was pregnant from Al?
Panic rose inside of me, and my mother saw it, of course she would.
"Rachel?" I shook my head. I wasn't going to talk about the possibility of demon-grandchildren with my mother as long as I had no facts.
"According to Pierce, this way of communing with the lines was a 'demon-thing'. It feels like the upgraded version of a power pull. One becomes the line. And I learned how to do it… from him," '…while he was buried deep in my privates.' I added in my thoughts but wouldn't say out loud.
She was my mother, but I wouldn't talk about this even with my best friend. Assuming I even had a hetero best friend. Ivy was the best friend one could find, but she also had the hots for me, so it wouldn't do to fling my adventures into her face.
"He came to me… three days ago… with coffee. And as we were about to get hot and heavy, something went wrong." My mother raised her eyebrows again.
"What went wrong?" she asked and took another bit of her cake, as did I.
"I… went wrong. The line started pulsing… and I was suddenly filled with unslaked desire. Mum… it was something so far beyond any control that you can't imagine how it felt. You know how a vampire bit makes you feel?" I didn't know if she had ever gotten one. But she knew about Ivy's and I was sure she had heard about the side-effects of one.
"It was like having an undead playing on the scar… only a thousand times more intense. I lost myself… and I would have killed Pierce if Al hadn't saved him." Again I had to pause.
Pierce? What had happened to him, AFTER he brought the amulet to us? Al had vanished somewhere with him and hadn't spoken of him since. To be honest, I realized I hadn't asked about him either. This was totally unusual for me, to forget a friend in peril. I would ask Al about Pierce and Lord have mercy on him if Al had dared to kill him.
Mum looked positively ill now.
"Al calls it heat. I would say demon mating instincts… That I even have something like that makes me sick to the bone. We had… we slept… and I swear to God, I would have killed him right there and then if he had tried to leave me in that state." Worry settled in my mother's eyes, and her fingers danced over my back again. But I got the feeling she did it more out of her own need for support than mine.
"Al also says that demon females are dangerous in this state, because they don't have any control over their reactions." Her eyes pinched at me.
"So it was rape after all." I rolled my eyes.
"Mum, if I understand what the demons told me correctly, than there is no such thing as raping a demon woman. Al told me that they kill anyone who's not to their liking. Like I tried to kill Pierce… it turned out my inner demon doesn't like him as much as mich witchy mind." Her face went white as she got what I meant.
"So, it was either sex with the demon or killing him? Yeah right, like you could kill anyone. Al knows that." Now I had to laugh. It sounded totally humorless.
"It doesn't matter if I could kill him or not. As long as my … instincts… are in control it doesn't matter at all. I almost killed Al in your kitchen." She blinked, not getting what I just told her.
"I would have killed him there and then, if he hadn't clubbed me with the memory of his former mate's death." I couldn't help sounding hurt.
"Demon instincts… mate… Rachel, I don't understand any of this." she said, which made me smile at her.
"Great. That makes two of us." My fork cut through the icing of the cake and I took another bite. It tasted delicious.
"Any chance that your demon will answer to my questions?" she asked, while I made big unbelieving eyes on her.
"Just because I'm a demon now, doesn't mean you should become a summoner." Now it was my voice colored with displeasure. My mother smirked at me.
"Well that demon is banging my daughter; so to speak… he should be able to explain a few things, shouldn't he." My jaw dropped.
"You can't be serious!" I could imagine quite well exactly what my demon would tell her. She smilled at me knowingly, as if I had just dropped the missing piece to her puzzle.
"Yes, indeed I am serious." Another bit of cake followed the rest.
"You aren't telling me everything, and you want answers too, don't you? So I'll summon him come sundown." I just shook my head.
"No, you won't." My fingers tapped at the tabletop angry at her resolve.
"Rachel, you are not going to tell me what and what not to do." Her voice entered I'm-the-mother-here mode. But this time it was so totally not working on me.
"If your plans involve MY demon, I certainly am gonna tell you what the hell to do." Now it was here jaw that dropped.
"Rachel Mariana Morgan-" I cut her off with a gesture and pointed my silverware at her.
"NO, he is MINE! And no one will touch him but me. If you want him summoned here, you'll have to make a deal with me, FIRST!" My voice had dropped to a bare whisper, and threads of darkness wound around me. Darkness my mother wasn't able to see or feel, at least I hoped so. The woman got to her feet and retreated a few steps, until she got her instincts to flee back unter control.
"Rachel?" I hated myself for the hurt and uncertainty in my mother's voice. Crap on toast! It had been going so well, and then I had to blast it all to hell.
"Quiet… instincts… just give me a minute… control." It made no sense, but at least I was able to identify the urge as instinct, and not as my own will. Making blood prints on the wall with my mother's body parts was NOT what I wanted to do at all.
I willed myself back onto the chair and started to count to hundred. Hell, how was Ivy able to deal with this? My only hope was that my mother knew a few vampires and would keep silent until I gave her green light. If living with a vampire had taught me one thing, it was when to keep away from an instinct-driven animal in distress.
Long deep breathes, in … out… I counted annother hundred and slowly the urge to go for her throat vanished wherever it had come from.
Mum sat on the chair furthest away from me and eyed me over like I was tiger in kitten-disgust. To be true I almost felt like that as well.
"Sorry… mum." She looked a little more relaxed and less freaked out, now that my voice was back to normal.
"That was some crazy shit you just pulled on me. It almost scared my pants right off my ass. Is this the instinct you were talking about?" I just nodded.
"You looked like a vampire on the verge of serious bloodshed." My sigh felt heavy in the air around me.
"The analogy is closer than you realize. Do you believe me now, that a demon wouldn't survive attempting to rape me?" This time she did the nodding.
"Rachel, I hope you're not gonna enter this mood again, but I have to ask anyway. What do you mean then you say YOUR demon? It sounded like it meant a lot more than that word usually does." There it was, the question I wanted to leave unanswered for the rest of her life… but she would be a lot safer around me if she knew what buttons would be better left unpushed.
Then it hit me square over the head, as Al's behavior came back to the forefront of my mind. According to him, he had taken over my summoning. And he went for my mother's throat, like I had almost done a few seconds ago. So, his attack had been his demon instincts… because I was as much HIS as he was MINE.
Capital! I had almost killed him for good, because he went after someone I wanted to protect. And it all had been instincts as well. If it hadn't been for the bond between us he would be a pile of ash by now. How have demons managed to survive until today?
"Rachel?" she asked again, as I turned pale at the thought.
"Always following your guts… you're right about it. Being more He's sort of my soulmate." Mum took a deep breath of complete confusion, while I hugged my head, refusing to spare her a glance.
"Soulmate? What do you mean?" Though it was clear she already had a pretty good idea what I meant.
"Demons… bond by the way of their souls…" She was out of her chair and her hand clasped on mine.
"Explain." reflected the no-nonsense mood she often took when the shit had hit the fan.
"Human's exchange rings… demons, part of their souls…" Her pupilles were so wide there was no color left, but black on white. Mum tried to swallow more than one lungful of air at once and choked on it.
"He's holding your soul?" It hardly sounded like her voice anymore, it was so high with panic.
"A part of it… in return for a part of his. Dali… told me it's to prevent paired demons from killing each other over nothing." I absolutely didn't like the color- or lack thereof- on my mother's face.
She fought for breathe, even if she was getting enough air.
"So… you… are married to a demon… with a soul as a wedding band?" Her face looked like she was about to faint.
"Is there a way to… divorce you?" Her fingers were digging into my skin. But the pain wasn't bothering me. Instead I held her closer, so she wouldn't fall on her ass if she should she really faint.
"Not… with both of us coming out of it alive… and from what I understand, it's painful enough to drive the surviving demon into suicide." Mum began to hyperventilate and my grip on her grew stronger. Wait, shouldn't I be the one having the panic attack here?
"Oh… my God…" The whisper was one of utter shock and she clung to me, still breathing way to fast.
"Mum… I'm the one married to a demon; with no escape but death… don't you dare to get a panic attack on it! I should be the one to lose my head… not you. You're my mother… so help me figure out a way to deal with it… to accept it." I whispered into the air.
It snapped her out of her panic, and she looked at me, anger flairing in her eyes.
"You're my daughter, and you just brought home a DEMON as my SON-IN-LAW. Tell me again why I have no damn reason to freak our! Remember that this son-in-law just tried to kill me for good!"
Her fingers went through her hair, while I kept my silence. She disentangled herself, and went for a second piece of cake, downing it so fast that one could think she hadn't eaten for the last three weeks.
"At least you don't have to live with him. And you don't have uncontrollable demon instincts either." I tried for humor and failed miserable.
"Don't go all pity parade on my ass! How the hell did this happen anyway? Was he THAT good in bed that you had to give a part of your soul away?" she all but screamed.
Now it was my time to raise both my eyebrows. Hell, how I wished I could do that single eyebrow trick… it would have left a better impression of my mood.
"Pity parade…?" I growled threateningly, but at least there was no darkness in my voice.
"I only had sex with him once… without any control over my reactions at all. And at the peak of it I went wild with the lines… I bound him… and to say it with Al's words… I burnt the witch out of me." A tear fell down my cheek, again. How many times have I cried today? Obviously not often enough, but on the other hand, I didn't know if there was a number existing in this world what would be sufficient.
"I turned myself into a demon. A demon woman, nasty temper and everything attached. Ceri, Ivy and Glenn all tried to finish me off. Cormel made Ivy bite me, and Trent ratted us out to the undead. Newt is throwing is a freaking party next full moon. I don't think you have to worry about demon blood tainting your family tree, since Al and I will probably be dead in four days anyway…" My head hit the surface of the table. Okay, that comment had been utterly low.
To say I was used to problems would be an understatement, but this was too much… even for me. And all the things I had dropped on my mother's head were just the icing of the cake. I didn't even mention Cormel's killer-brigard, the curse of soul-keeping for undead vampires, or the promise to give my daughter to Dali in exchange for nine of Newt's marks. And whatever the crazy demon-bitch was up to still remained unknown as well. I could only predict that the outcome wasn't going to be pretty.
"Rachel… " Her hand came to rest on my head and then she drew me into an painfully tight embrace. For a moment I was glad to be a demon, since if I had still been a witch this would have seriously hurt.
"I'm sorry." That, at least, was the total truth.
We sat there, hugging each other for long silent minutes, both of us crying and dwelling in our own thoughts. The coffee had turned cold by the time we finally let go of each other.
"Rachel…" her voice sounded questioning.
"Yes?" Mine sounded sort of raspy.
"Can… you bring Al with you… for dinner?" I stared at her. Had I heard her right?
"WHAT?" Her lips turned up into a shy smile.
"If he's my son-in-law… you should bring him along for dinner, give us all a chance to sort things out, to learn more about each other." I blinked at her, still not getting it.
"Wait, you're inviting US to dinner?" This was one of those ideas only Alice Morgan would come up with. Batshit crazy, but without the malicious intent Newt's would have possessed.
"Yes, Rachel. I invite you and your demon Al… to dinner. Wow, that sounds pretty creepy don't you think?" She laughed at her own idea, as if she wanted to play down its significance. I laughed as well, maybe for the same reason.
"Yes, you're right it sounds crazy. Let me see what Al says to this." Her giggle ended abruptly. I had obviously gone for her deal.
"Wait, you can speak to him, without a summoning?" I grinned at her.
"Yes, you know about the scrying mirror, don't you?" She nodded.
"You brought it with you? Where is it?" A low sigh shifted over my lips.
"At Trent's… broken, I might add, damn elf. But this bond with Al has its benifits; I can speak to him whenever I want to." The comment about Trent having my mirror threw her off her track. But this was another story for another day.
I reached for my mate and got a weak, moody response.
'Al?' His mood wasn't as good as I had hoped. He barely had his anger under control. I wanted to ask him why, but I could always ask later.
'What is it?' he hissed at me, which made me drew a deep breath and counting down from ten.
'My mother just invited US to dinner.' His mood changed abruptly from anger to shock, then settled on amusement.
'She really did? I just tried to strangle her, and she invites me to dinner. Being crazy must be a family attribute in Morgan females.' I growled at him. Trust my demon to know what would make me furious. I started another mental countdown, this time from twenty.
'Yes, it does… what else would drive me to the madness of mating with you?' It wasn't exactly serious, but the game of pissing off could be played by two people. He laughed and sent a kiss through the bond, which left me shuddering against the table.
'My skills?' the demon asked, smirk in place.
'Dream on, sweets. So do you want to meet my mother… I mean for dinner- and may I add that none of my family members get eaten!' Full throaty laughter was my reward for this comment.
'Spoilsport! You may tell your mother that I gratefully accept her invitation.'It felt like his warm hands were stroking over my back and I shuddered again.
'Thanks.' I cut our communication before he could drive me further into the depths of longing.
My mother's eyes studied me as if I were some interesting science specimen. With my background one should know that this was not pleasant for me. I scowled at her.
"You can really talk to him through your thoughts?" she asked.
My eyes started rolling on their own.
"Yes, I can. And he likes the idea… so you have two demons coming over for dinner." I wanted this deal done fast. My mother laughed and licked her lips.
"Fine, what do you think about 1 a.m.?" A smirk moved over my face.
"Sounds good, we'll be there."
"Do I need to summon one of you?" I threw a glance at the wrecked kitchen and shook my head.
"It's safer if you don't. I can cross over uninvited. And know what…? I'll make Al use a door for once." Alone the thought of it made me rub my hands in glee.
My mother laughed again. The entrance door opened, and I heard steps following the outline of the hallway. Maybe it was Donald coming back, or even Robbie visiting mum. Whoever it was, I'd had my share of family drama, so I was taking my leave now.
"Good luck with breaking the news about the dinner to the rest of the family." My lips brushed her cheek, while the steps came closer. Right before the visitor rounded the corner, I jumped through the lines.
Wow, she totally surprised me at the end... well that's Alice for you... crazy^^. Love the woman, especially in "Pale demon" ^^. Sadly, I don't bring her across like Kim does, but I hope my Alice isn't all that far away from the goal ^^.
