Taming the Familiar

Chapter 29 - Hot n' Cold

Jacob clawed his way out of the blackness again. He could hear sizzling and burning. It stank like burning flesh, but he had to know what they were burning. He was still floating above the hell hole. Why was he still here? He watched the old man brand the demons hand. The creature looked almost shell shocked. He drifted closer after the old man had moved away. The demon had a vacant look in it's eyes. Jacob drifted closer. It seemed it could see him and he drew in close to it's face. It looked essentially human right now. Except the wings and tail and golden eyes. He wondered why it obeyed and listened to the old man. It had never even tried to avoid the brand, which Jacob knew hurt like hell. The old man moved back to his desk and the demon still sat there, his hand held open, burnt and raw like Jacob's brands and burns had been. Jacob frowned, the dragon looked devastated. Jacob frowned and floated up to the ceiling to watch the old man. He was going through that creepy magic book again. He gestured to Jacob's body.

"Burn it." He commanded. The dragon's golden gaze widened but he obeyed, turning Jacob's body into a ball of flame. At first Jacob screamed and almost dove to defend it. The he realized, what was the point he wasn't coming back to life anytime soon. He watched his body turn black and smolder as his heart sank. He was really dead... He couldn't go back. Now what? He watched as his body was engulfed by the flames, eventually there was nothing left but a pile of ash. The old man held out a small black bag.

"Gather the ashes, put them in this bag." he commanded. The dragon moved with robotic motions and did as he was told. Jacob stared at the small pile of ash that was all that was left of him. Should he feel something that his body was gone. Shouldn't he be moving on, to heaven or more likely hell. The dragon handed the bag over to the old man and he moved to the alter. He made some adjustments to the items he had gathered, taking the bag of Jaob's ashes and sitting it in the middle. There were candles lit and a lot of little bones, stones and feathers. He straightened the items out as if there placement was crucial. Jacob drifted away. Whatever he was doing, it gave him the heebie jeebies. 

Kaleth was reeling. He was going to vanish permanently when Alistair died. The guy was old, he only had a few decades at the most left in him. After his prolonged existence of centuries, to be destroyed by someone like Alistair was unthinkable. He had to find a way out of it. There was no way he was going down with the old man. Movement near the ceiling caught his eye. There was nothing but shadows when he looked. Alistar didn't seem to notice as he flipped through his spell. Kaleth stayed where he was, wondering if it might be the boys spirit. He'd never actually seen one but Alistar seem convinced the spell he was using sucked up their essence to feed his magic. Kaleth scowled to himself. Why did anyone with the power to summon him have to be so power hungry? He coughed, the lair smelled of burnt flesh and it was clawing it's way into his nostrils. He wondered if he was smelling the boy or his own burnt flesh. His hand smarted but not as much as his pride. 

Alistar moved away from the alter and back to his books. He seemed to be studying the spell especially carefully. Maybe because he was afraid he'd lose the boy's soul. The girl's souls had escaped him when the police found the bodies, but now there was nothing left of the boy to find. Kaleth frowned as Alistar finished his preparations. If the boy was still in here he was doomed now. Alsitar spread the ashed carefully over the mess of bones, feathers and stones. He grinned widely as he said the words to his spell.

"Vocet dæmonium" He chanted loudly. Kaleth could feel his magic rip through the room, pulling at the supposed spirit. The magic felt sour and bitter like the man it came from. Kaleth hated that he was forced to leach his life, his magic from this man.

Alexa blinked her eyes open. She was roasting, almost as hot as Jacob's body. Then  she realized why. She was scrunched into a ball against Kaleth's chest. His arm was draped over her and he was asleep. She blinked in surprise. She'd fallen asleep with him in her bed. Did she wake him up, or let him rest? Pitch squirmed at her feet. No wonder she was so warm. She shifted a little to try to cool off and Kaleth's eyes slowly blinked open. He frowned and released her immediately. Alexa smiled, thinking she liked her Kaleth far better than Alistar's. Then she frowned, thinking of Alistar's order. They must have found a loophole to have Kaleth here. She grinned when he looked worried by her frown. They both slowly got out of bed. Alexa blinked blearily around her room. The light was different. She found out why when she looked out the balcony doors to find a light dusting of snow coating her balcony. She grinned and went to open the doors before recalling Ramona and stopping herself. She frowned and watched Kaleth slowly disentangle himself from her blankets. Pitch was already on his feet, padding slowly over to rub up against her leg. Her pawed at the closed balcony doors. Alexa sighed and motioned for Kaleth to grab the frying pan again. She took a deep breath as she turned the knob, then ducked behind it as she pulled it open. When nothing happened, no wind, or hail or anything, she blinked around the edge of the door. Kaleth was standing there with his head tilted to the side, looking confused. Alexa straightened up in time to see Pitch bound out to roll in the snow. She looked around warily, wondering if the snow was from Ramona or real. It was still October but snow in October wasn't abnormal in Canada. She looked across the pasture to see it was also coated in white. She laughed as she watched Pitch rolling in the snow, it was a stark contrast to his black fur. He rolled a couple times as Kaleth and Alexa looked around warily waiting for Ramona to strike. When nothing happened they started to relax and Kaleth brushed off one of the deck chairs to sit on. Pitch moved closer to him and kicked up a bunch of snow. Kaleth scowled as he brushed it off his tshirt. Pitch made an almost roar and did it again before bounding away. Alexa laughed and picked up some snow to make a ball. She tossed it at Pitch with a snort of laughter. He caught it in his mouth and destroyed it before jumping up to hang over the balcony railing. Her eyes widened as she watch Kaleth silently lean down and scoop up some snow. He hauled his hand back and threw it. It hit Pitch in the butt, throwing him off balance and he jumped from the balcony. Alexa ran to make sure the cat was okay, but he was already climbing back up. She turned to scowl at Kaleth.

"You could have hurt him." She said unhappily. Kaleth grinned.

"I'm not allowed." He said with a smirk. Alexa scowled, but Pitch seemed fine and he ran over to tackle Kaleth to the ground. Kaleth scowled, obviously not pleased with the retaliation. He struggled to push Pitch's weight off. Alexa finally gave in.

"Pitch get off him." She said, still smiling. It was cute to see them getting along, even if it was only just barely. She could see her brother coming out of the barn so she gestured for Kaleth to stay down. Patrick rode the horse off down the road. Once he was gone she turned to Kaleth.

"Let's go for a walk. I'm tired of being cooped up and avoiding Ramona. Maybe if we get out of her range we can have a little break." She suggested. Kaleth frowned, obviously not terribly confident in her plan. She carefully started climbing over the railing before reciting her feather fall spell. Kaleth grinned as he watched her fall and she took off at a run. He took a moment to register she wasn't going to wait for him before jumping down. He landed hard but bolted after her. Pitch jumped lazily down and followed. He was faster than both of them and it didn't take him long to catch up. Alexa tried to keep ahead of Kaleth but his human legs were still longer than hers. They were well away from the house by the time he caught up though. She laughed and scooped a snowball to toss at him. He caught it and it melted in his hand. Her eyes widened, but he gave her a small smile before stooping to make his own. Alexa dodged it with a giggle. Pitch bounded up to them and into Kaleth's knees, knocking him on his butt and bounding to Alexa's side. Kaleth grinned.

"Two on one isn't fair." He said. Alexa stooped to pick up another snowball to toss at him. Kaleth dodged this one and quickly tossed his own. This one hit Alexa and she pouted. He stopped and stared at her curiously, giving her time to toss one at him. He dodged this one again, obviously far better at snow warfare than she. She pushed the thought of exactly how he'd learned it from her head and made another failed attempt to hit him. Several snowballs later she still hadn't hit him, yet he'd gotten her several times. She sighed.

"Okay, that's enough." She said as he pelted her twice in a row. He still had that small grin on his face. Now that he was actually smiling she hated to make him stop. Only her parents would have breakfast ready and she had to get back or they would get worried. She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards home. His hand was hot in hers, and she saw that small smile creep back onto his face when she grabbed it.

They arrived home to see Patrick putting the horse away. Alexa jogged up to help and Kaleth followed. Her brother turned to smile when she entered the barn. He spotted Kaleth and gave her a little eyebrow wiggle and she scowled. Of course the first conclusion her family would come to when seeing her with a guy was that they were dating. Kaleth frowned at the assumption as well. They continued in to help him unsaddle and brush down the horse. Alexa could see Kaleth's eyes shooting to every corner of the room watching for Ramona. It's didn't take long to get the horse brushed down between the three of them and Patrick just assumed she had 'invited' Kaleth to breakfast. Why else would his sister be awake and out of the house so early? Tthey stepped into the kitchen and her mother had a big smile to greet Kaleth who smiled back awkwardly. Her mother told her to send Pitch out of the room which made sense. He was terrible for begging all the time and as she saw Kaleth as company she wouldn't wan't him to have to deal with that. Alexa plopped into her chair ready for another awkward meal.