A Hell of a Time

After a solid minute of screaming, we were all screamed out and had to stop to catch our collective breaths.

"Okay," I said between huffs, "who are you, little girl, and why were you mailed to me?"

I got a better look at her as she climbed out of the box, her brown hair was done up in a ridiculous style like she'd tried to make ribbons out of her hair and tie them back but grew them too long, and... were those wings? Like, fluffy white feathery wings? Like an angel? My first thought was that she was a parahuman, a monster cape, but I just found out demons were real last night. It's plausible that angels could be too. Anyway, the girl was in a fancy white dress with detached sleeves. Once she was out of the box I got a good look at her eyes-Red, with slitted pupils, the same as mine, but with white pupils that, really just made the whole thing freaky.

"My name is Sicily," the freaky-eyed possible angel said, "and I mailed myself to you."

I blinked. "Why?"

"So I wouldn't get lost on the way," the girl said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Aren't I a genius? I even remembered to put in air holes this time!" The girl picked up the box she'd be shipped in and turned it to show me those holes, but I was wondering what she meant by "this time."

The girl turned the box over and a book and a bag fell out. The girl picked up and pocket the book, before offering the bag to me. "Cookie?"

I looked at the bag warily, "No thank you. Now, seriously, why did you come here?"

Sicily smiled, "to meet with my cousin, of course!"

I blinked again. "And your cousin is... me?"

"According to the family history, at least," she answered with another smile, "er, well, second cousins at least."

I only had one second cousin according to the history, and... I looked at Dad, he didn't know about it, which means-

"Then you'd be Krichevskoy's daughter then?" I turned to dad, shocked, Mom's letter said he didn't know, which means-

"Yep!"

Now, now I was confused. I had to sit down I took a deep breath, and said to both of the other people in the room. "Okay, we all need to sit down and explain things in a calm rational manner. Dad," I pointed to him, "you first. Mom's letter said that you didn't know anything about..."

"Her being a demon," Dad finished for me. "She lied to you, Taylor. I knew about everything."

I looked down "Why would she lie?"

Dad sounded grim, "your mother... Something happened, something I don't like talking about, and it was related to all this netherworld stuff." He sighed, "after that, she stopped talking about that stuff around me, I imagine so that I wouldn't be reminded of it all."

"So," I began, "she lied to me..."

"So that you wouldn't bring it up around me," Dad finished for me again. "Taylor, I loved your mother to death, but she had a bad habit of taking things just a bit too far when trying to protect people she cared about."

"Oh?"

"Yes," Dad chuckled, "don't be surprised if a killer cyborg from the future shows up to threaten your first boyfriend on her behalf."

I laughed, but Dad suddenly got serious. "Seriously," he said, "don't be surprised. I wouldn't put it past her."

I blinked for a third time. "Okay," I said flatly, "so, um, that brings us back to our visitor."

The freaky eyed angel was eating a cookie. She swallowed and said "yes?"

"You say that you're my second cousin and Krichevskoy's daughter," I said, reiterating her claims, "but my copy of the family history states that Krichevskoy and his wife only had a son before the Queen died and that Krichevskoy never remarried." I looked her over, "and Krichevskoy and his wife were a demon and a human. You've certainly got demon eyes, but otherwise, you're the spitting image of an angel. Why should I believe you?"

"Do you know how stat screens work? Look mine over," the girl said with a smile, so I did.

"Sicily. Class: Demon Angel. Titles: Laharl's sister, Netherworld Princess. Level: ?" The rest of her stats were hidden by those question marks too. I'd have to look up what that meant later, but for now.

"Okay, your titles match up, but," I stumbled for the words, "How? What even is a Demon Angel, and why aren't you in my copy of the family history?"

"It's a long, complicated, and sad story," Sicily began, "a Demon Angel is someone who is half Demon and Half Angel, silly, and big brother said that all the copies of the history have been out of sync for a while now."

I blinked, "Out of... No, never mind." I'd figure out what out of sync meant later. It'd probably be an educational side-quest. "The point is, how did you find out about me? Why come to visit me now? I mean, I literally just found out I was part demon last night."

"Oh, that's easy." Sicily began, "Last night we got a letter claiming that a cousin of ours claimed a Demon Lord title, and I was surprised because I didn't know we had any cousins. So, I looked up your name in the history, found out where you lived, and mailed myself to you."

I started rubbing my temples, "and that brings us back to why."

"Because I wanted to meet my cousin, silly."

I facepalmed, and then looked at Dad. He seemed amused by the whole situation. I looked back to the so-called Demon Angel.

"Does your brother know you're here," I asked her.

"He was taking a nap when I left," she answered, "so I left him a note."

And here comes the problems, "Sicily... Do you have any way of contacting your big brother?"

"Of course I do," the winged child responded before searching herself... And searching herself... And searching herself. Then she looked around the floor where she'd dumped out the box, before turning the box over and looking inside. She turned back and looked at me sheepishly.

"...Oops."

I blinked, "oops?"

"I um, I forgot my Hellphone." She kept up the sheepish smile, "I knew I forgot something."

I face palmed again, "Okay, I've got my Mom's Hellphone. If you were going to call, do you have a number?"

She looked down, "No. I don't call the Castle or big brother very often, so I didn't memorize it."

Fucking speed dial.

"Um, Dad, help?"

Dad looked at Sicily. "Hmm, if she was able to find you so fast, Taylor, then it's likely that her brother will be able to find you just as quickly. Sicily," he said, "if you behave yourself, you can stay here until your brother contacts us or until we find a way to contact him." Dad shook his head, "Taylor, if your mother's trunk is what I think it is, there might be-"

Dad was interrupted by a knock at the door. "Taylor, take your cousin and this... stuff," he gestured to the assorted boxes, "and get away from the front door."

I picked up the box of item's Mom had gotten me, and the giant box that it and Sicily had been packaged together in with... for some reason, while Sicily took the box that she'd been in. I gestured for her to follow and led her upstairs.

"You know," the angelic child said, "I would have expected a member of our family to live in a bigger house."

"Yeah, well, stuff happens." If she was used to living in a castle... I led her into my room and dropped the giant box by the door, and she gently set her box inside it.

"So, this is your bedroom?"

"Yeah." I opened the box of items to find a fancy ring, a belt, and a pendant shaped like a flexing arm. The belt looked like it could be slipped between the two around my belly without being out of place, and the ring didn't look half bad... There were no instructions for what these did, but since they were clearly accessories of some kind, and just put them on and immediately felt a change inside me. I felt so much stronger just by putting these on, and-

Dad called from downstairs, "Taylor!" He sounded urgent and I was immediately on high alert.

"Sicily," I said, "stay here. I'll be right back."

I cautiously proceeded back to the living room, to find Dad there with two men, one of whom had a gun on clear display at his hip.

"Akuma," the one who didn't have a gun, "Coil wishes to offer you a job."