Rick took Ashe and headed off to talk to his great aunt while I went home. The exhaustion and stress had gotten to me. The stairs to the second-floor bathroom seemed long and climbing was a chore, but the anticipation of a long, hot bath kept me going.
I glanced through the pages of the storybook. Everything seemed so fragile and the words were a little faded. A passage sort of called out to me. It said something about the powers of one taking over the powers of the other making the host indestructible. I really didn't feel like trying to make heads or tails of the book just yet. I just wanted to relax. I let the water and bubbles wash over me wanting to forget everything, if only for a moment.
I walked around the house in my pajamas and a robe after the bath and found there was a hot pizza on the kitchen table. Leah had come home early and brought it home.
"Hi, Kari." She gave me a big hug. "Oh, I feel like I haven't seen you in months. Have you been okay?"
I looked into her large brown eyes and wanted to cry. She may not have been my birth mother, but she was as close to one as a motherless child could get. Her embrace made me feel so warm and welcome in her life.
"I'm fine. I know you're busy." I sat at the table with her and noticed an empty package of cookie dough. She must have just put them in moments ago because all I smelled was pepperoni and onions. "Are you baking?"
She quickly grabbed the package from me. "I...well, I know how much you like fresh baked sweets."
"But you never bake anything. Are you okay? Dad isn't dying is he?"
She chuckled. "No, dear. I just haven't been around very much, and with your father out of town..." she trailed off. "Well, I just didn't want you to feel lonely or neglected. I guess I just want to apologize for not being here for you."
"Nah, that's okay. I've been wrapped up in a project myself."
"I noticed. Must keep you very busy. Why don't you tell me about it?"
"It's nothing you need to worry about. Just a little project." I shoved a bite in my mouth to avoid talking about Rick. I talked to Leah about anything and everything. I wasn't sure I could keep this secret from her.
"Is it good?"
I nodded.
She looked at me intently. "There's something different about you."
"No, nothing different. Same old me."
"You've gained more of your powers, haven't you?"
I almost choked on my food. "What?"
She let out a sigh. "Finally! I knew this day would come sooner or later. I was always hoping it would be sooner."
"You knew about my powers? How? What?"
She smiled. "Calm down. I'll tell you anything you want to know."
"How did you know I had powers?"
"Because you inherited them from me."
"What do you mean? You're not my birth mother. She... died."
"More precisely, I had her killed." She said it so matter of fact before taking a bite of pizza.
I could feel the air constricting in my lungs.
She swallowed. "Well, she would've kept you from me. She would have you believe that Bill was your father. I mean really of all people. His last name wasn't even Parker, it was Ortega. Of course, he would've just accepted it because he was her protector."
"But Rick's mother...."
"Elaina? She was Bill's one true love." Leah continued eating like this was all just some casual conversation. "They were supposed to be married, but your mother was a devious one. I guess that's just what I liked best about her. She convinced Bill the best way to protect the two of you was to marry her. She wanted him around all the time and used her pregnancy to make that happen. But that sweet girl Elaina just understood his role as protector and took it upon herself to still look after you regardless of your mother's betrayal. The House of Ortega may have looked after House Howe for a few centuries, but Elaina's family has been looking after my offspring for many millennia."
"Your offspring? Who are you?"
"Don't you know?" Her casual conversation ended and she looked at me, her eyes serious but filled with a hint of amusement.
I stood and backed away. "Dad isn't out of town, is he?"
"Oh, he wasn't your father anyway, Kari. Fairly certain Rick is his son though. They have similar features and behaviors and Elaina even gave him Bill's last name." She wiped her hands on a napkin. "Well, he acts like Bill but he looks so much like Elaina."
The room grew colder with each passing moment and slowly started to spin. Leah stood and started over to me.
"What are you talking about?" I barely had the air to form the words. My back hit the wall next to the door. "Who are you? What are you?"
"You're getting closer." She crossed over to me placed her hand on the wall next to my head. "You've realized I'm not human."
"Who are you!"
She inched towards me and whispered in my ear. "Azazel."
The air completely left me and I felt a tear move down my cheek. She reached up and brushed it away with her thumb.
"Calm down, Kari. I don't want to be forced to kill your new pet. I feel her trying to escape now. She's very strong, but not strong enough. I'm proud of you."
She looked at me for a moment, studying my reactions. I closed my eyes at her close proximity. I could feel her hot breath on my face.
"Karissa!" Rick burst through the front door. "Where are you?" He stopped at the kitchen door when he saw Leah.
"Hello, young lad. I trust Augustina told you." Leah pushed away from the wall and walked to the oven. "Would you like a cookie?" She pulled the cookie sheet from the oven and placed it on top of the stove. "They need to cool a few moments first. You'd think after all my years I'd know how to bake these things from scratch." She shrugged. "Oh well."
"Rick?" My legs refused to hold my weight and I reached for him as I slid down the wall.
"What have you done to her?" Rick shouted. I heard Ashe growling loudly in her larger form. Rick clung to me and dragged me away. "I won't let you hurt her."
"Hurt her? My dear boy, if I wanted to hurt her, I would've done it years ago. Tell that creature if she doesn't stop that incessant racket I'll end her. If Kari's creature isn't strong enough to defeat me yours sure as hell isn't." She chuckled. "The very idea is laughable. Such weak magic."
"I'm taking her out of here." Rick lifted me in his arms.
The front door slammed shut and I heard the bolt lock.
"I don't think so, lad. Sit." Leah gestured to the table. "Don't make me tell you again."
Rick gently lowered me to my feet and ushered my body behind his.
"It's sweet how you protect her, just like dear Bill always watched out for that lying mother of hers." Leah smiled. The smile I trusted. The smile I knew and loved most of my life. It turned my stomach.
"Can you please stop smiling like that," I said. "Change into someone else, anyone else."
"What do you want with Karissa?" asked Rick.
"What any parent wants with their child. To love her and watch her grow into a happy, healthy adult."
"So she can rule over your evil empire?"
"Honestly, must your views on good and evil be so black and white? There's a whole world of gray you know nothing about."
"You want to rule over the world!"
"I never wanted that. Who told you that?"
"It's common knowledge what you and your peon, Morgan, want."
"It is not what I want!" she was angry. "That idiot took advantage of my absence and needs to be punished."
"Then why don't you stop him?" I managed to ask. "Why don't you tell him to stop whatever he's been doing?"
"My power, mixed with Aubrey's power, was supposed to create the single greatest source of magic in the universe. My goal has always been to have unbeatable power, but in mating with your mother, I somehow lost a very large portion of my magic. I no longer have sufficient power to control him, not by myself anyway."
"And most of her magic is still in the book," said Rick.
"So, you're not an evil force?" I asked.
"Not where you're concerned, no. You're my child and I want you to be as happy as possible."
A sense of calm washed over me.
"Please, if you love me so much, please change into someone else. I can't take having you look like her when you've been lying to me all of this time."
"I've been in this form so long I'm not sure I can change back."
She let out a chuckle and closed her eyes. Wind formed inside the kitchen and she was surrounded by a swirl of gray smoke and flashes of blinding light. Rick pulled me into him and shielded my eyes with his arms. When the smoke cleared, Azazel stood tall in the room. He wasn't what I expected. The only way to describe him was beautiful...absolutely beautiful.
His hair was dark and his eyes were a deep purple, but they had a gentle sadness about them. I could see the similarities between us. We had the same almond-shaped eyes, the same rich full lips, and the same high cheekbones. His jawline was much stronger than my own and he had a long, lightly rounded nose. His body was also strong and lean like a perfectly molded plastic doll that gave little girls the illusion of the perfect man, yet here he was...the perfect man.
"Is this form more to your liking?" Even his voice was a flawless and rich tenor.
I looked at him. It was all I could manage to do. Everything was just happening way too fast. I tried to take in some air, but it would only enter staggered.
I licked my lips needing moisture to speak. "So, you are the great demon Azazel."
He walked over to me but Rick remained in his resolve to stand between us.
"I love you, my darling daughter. Your power combined with mine will be just enough to cut that idiot, Morgan, down to size."
He reached up to touch me but Rick knocked his hand away. Azazel growled at Rick.
"If my daughter was not so fond of you, I would have killed you when you opened the door." His lips spread into a mischievous grin. "Or perhaps I will not allow her feelings to get in the way of my own desires to see you dead."
I could hear Rick growling but Azazel shoved him out of the way. I felt exposed and unsure of what to do. He reached out and pulled me into his chest. Even though I knew who he was and the reputation he held, he still felt and smelled like my Leah. I was secure in his arms, more than I had ever been since this whole ordeal started and it was in that moment that I knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was telling the truth. He was my dad.
I started to cry but wrapped my arms around him anyway. The realization and truth of my life confused me. My stepmother was actually my father. The man I knew as my father was really a stranger. I was half-demon and half-witch with the magic of both and primed to be the ruler of the magical world.
"Will you let me help you?" he asked.
I nodded my head against his chest.
"Do you know where to find Morgan?"
I looked at Rick. "We do."
"Then what are we waiting for?"