For the David love and Mozambique ;)
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It had been almost two hours before I realised why my former home felt so weird. Luke and I had been cuddling on the couch, while I demonstrated my telekinetic abilities to him. He had said my powers had been dormant in Ahina because they would have swayed the judgment of the Council. He had spent a good half an hour teaching me how to retract my wings, so that I wouldn’t look like a freak if we ever did venture out of the house. I had been telling Luke some stories about the twin’s antics when the bombshell finally dropped.
I froze, my eyes wide. Luke immediately stopped laughing and came to kneel in front of me. He gently took my face in his hands and forced me to look him in the eye.
“What’s wrong darling?” he asked me quietly. I shivered slightly at the term of endearment. I was so unused to hearing them from anyone other than Alice…
“Where are they; Alice and the twins? The last time I heard about them was when Ciara was here. Oh my God, Luke where are they?”
“Listen Ella. They are perfectly fine. They’ve been in hiding since that thing came to see your Aunt. Michelle is getting them now. Where did you think she went?” he asked me gently.
I had been so caught up in Luke and everything that had happened that I had completely forgotten about Michelle. I smiled sheepishly at him and he chuckled.
“They should be here now.” he said, and stood from his crouch just as the front door opened.
I jumped up and ran into the hall to see my Aunt Alice walking into the house with a large suitcase trailing behind her. I let out a squeal and ran towards her. She let out a light laugh when I practically threw myself at her. She wrapped her arms around me tightly, holding me close.
Suddenly there were twin screams of “ELLA!” and I was ambushed my two hurtling 5 foot boys. I laughed and hugged my cousins back, so happy to be back with my family. Freddie and Frankie were jumping up and down, unable to stay still to save their lives. Suddenly I became aware of the presence behind me. I turned to see Luke leaning against the doorway with a sad smile on his face. I beckoned him over and he slowly walked up to us.
“Um, Alice, this is Luke Lockhart. He’s my guardian and…” I trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.
Luke seamlessly picked up and said with a gorgeous smile on his face, “Her boyfriend. Nice to meet you Miss James.” Alice smiled at him and shook his hand.
“Nice to meet you too Mr Lockhart. These are my sons, Feddie and Frankie.” she gestured to the two boys in question. They were still jumping around the house, their bags dumped at the front door. Alice surprised us by suddenly changing the topic.
“Your Ian and Mina’s son aren’t you?” she asked. Luke gave a nod.
“How did you know?” he asked.
“I knew your father, a long time ago, before the war. Back when he was married to Mina. You look just like him, it’s uncanny. But your eyes are all Mina’s.” she answered. Luke flushed and I was transfixed by the blush high on his cheekbones.
“Um, would you like some help?” he asked. Alice nodded gratefully and Luke picked up her suitcase and carried it upstairs to her room.
~O~O~
We were sitting outside, on the porch. Luke and I were sitting pressed together under a blanket on the swing. Michelle was inside playing with the twins; she seemed to really like them. Alice was up in her room, sleeping of the fatigue of travelling for two days straight.
Luke stroked a hand through my hair and said, “You have an amazing family Ella.”
I nodded, “I know, thank you.” He let out a low chuckle and placed a kiss on the crown of my head.
I nuzzled closer to his chest, listening to his calm breathing. I felt my thoughts drift back to the Demonate, for some reason I couldn’t stop thinking about them.
“Luke?” I asked and he nodded and looked down to my face. “Do you think they deserve to be forgiven?”
“Who, the Demonate?” he asked and at my nod he continued. “I honestly don’t know. I think they do, if they are truly sorry for what they have done.”
I frowned at him and sat up to look him straight-on. “I don’t think so; they chose to join them. That means that whatever actions they committed after joining are of their own accord. They brought their punishment on themselves."
"But not all of them are evil Ella!"
"Of course they are, have you not seen the devastation they've caused in Ahina. They're murderers and torturers and just plain all round bad. They deserve to die."
"I never thought you were heartless Ella..." He whispered.
"I'm not heartless! I'm being realistic. Luke, they tore down the Palace, they killed the Council, and they killed my parents for God’s sake! How can you defend them?” I asked.
“I’m not defending what they’ve done. But the Demonate are not bad people. This, these things that have happened, it is not who they are. Not having wings doesn’t make you automatically evil.”
“That’s not what I’m saying. But Luke, they -”
“They what? Ella, they are being driven to do that stuff; it’s not as if they have a choice.”
“You always have a choice! Always. No matter where you are or what circumstances you’re in you ALWAYS have a choice. Nobody can force you to be something you’re not.”
Somehow during our fight we had stood up and were now facing each other with narrowed eyes. Luke shook his head at me, something unknown flashing in his gold eyes.
“Not always Ella.” he said quietly. “I’ll be back.”
And he turned, picked up his jacket and walked out of the garden. I stared after him in shock, my entire body frozen .I was shaking, and I wrapped my arms loosely around my waist. I walked backwards until I felt the swing against the back of my legs. Slowly I sat down, swallowing hard. 10 minutes ago this had been a perfect day, now I felt cold and alone.
I looked up when I heard the door open. Michelle stood with a sad smile on her face. She walked towards me and then sat down. She turned her head and looked at me, waiting for me to speak first.
“I don’t know what happened. One minute we were laughing and joking and the next we were screaming in each other’s faces.” I said.
“No relationship is only rainbows and sunshine. You have to have some bad times in between.”
“It’s not about that. Michelle, he was defending the Demonate. The people who killed his mother, who killed my parents.”
“Ella, you have to know that the Demonate haven’t always been like this. You’ve just entered this world, and you’ve only seen a part of it. Luke and I grew up in it, we’ve seen how good the Demonate could be, and we’ve seen how evil the Angelus can act. Life isn’t black and white, it’s more greyish than anything else.”
“Greyish?”
“Yeah. Listen Ella, Luke has had more experience with the Demonate than any of us.”
“How?”
“Remember Ciara? She used to be Luke’s best friend.”
~O~O~
“I still don’t get it.” I said, as sat in the lounge, holding a cup of coffee that Alice had made for me.
“Luke’s mom, Mina, had caused a huge stir in Angelus society when she had decided to marry a mortal and live in the human world. The upset was even greater when news filtered through that she was pregnant. It was the biggest scandal ever, as far as we were concerned. When Mina left Ian and Luke to come back to Ahina, people assumed she had started to see sense.” Alice explained.
“And you think its bullshit.” I said.
“I know its bullshit. I went to visit them with Lana when Luke had just been born. Your mom was just about 3 months pregnant at the time. I know it sounds weird, but I have never seen anyone happier or content that Mina holding that little baby and sitting next to her husband. You could practically feel the love radiating off them. I could never imagine her leaving those two alone like that, she loved them too much.” Alice said.
“But what does Mina have to do with Luke and Ciara?” I asked.
“Mina left, but that didn’t mean she never visited. She would take Luke to Ahina for two weeks whenever she was able. I guess Luke never fit in with the Angelus, being half-human. He only clicked with Ciara because she was like him.”
“Like him meaning?”
“She was half-Angelus as well. Her father, Lord Aterus, had left her with her mother and came back to Ahina.”
“Wait, wait, wait… Ciara is Aterus’ daughter? How is that possible?” I asked.
“I don’t know. The only thing for sure is that Luke and Ciara quickly bonded because they knew what the other felt like. When Ciara became Demonate Luke was crushed. His best friend had just been ripped away from him. They kept contact up until about a year ago. All of a sudden she just stopped talking to him, stopped responding to his emails or taking his calls. A little while later we were assigned to watch over you and the rest is history.” Michelle said.
I sat back in shock, my head spinning. I bit my lip as I leaned forward and rested my head in my hands.I had never felt so incredibly guilty in my life. I heard Alice and Michelle moving around me, but I didn’t care to acknowledge them. Suddenly the door flew open and a golden figure fell through, clutching its leg.
“Close the damn door!” shouted Luke.
Michelle ran forward and pushed the door closed. I fell to my knees beside Luke who was clutching his right calf with an expression of pain on his face. He met my eyes, and I saw something there I had never seen before, it looked a lot like guilt. But then he blinked and the moment passed. Together Alice and I lifted him up and helped him hobble to the couch. Alice left to go get the first aid kit while I sat in front of him and tore off the leg of his pants.
“What happened Luke?” I asked hurriedly. His face was pale and he leaned back against the couch.
“Arrow.” he mumbled, “The head is still in there.” Alice reappeared then and asked me what had happened. After I told she immediately knelt on the floor next to Luke and began to take stuff out of the kit.
“Ella, keep him lucid.” she said to me, and I nodded.
I sat next to him on the couch and he turned his head towards me. I stroked some of the hair away from his face. His face clamed at my touch and his eyes fluttered.
“Luke, I’m sorry.” I whispered.
“About what darling?” he asked me, his eyes opening and locking onto mine. I barely noticed Alice cleaning out the wound.
“I was wrong, about the Demonate. I don’t know them, I can’t judge.” I said. He gave me a tired smile.
“Well if you’re sorry, then let me apologise for walking out like that. I should have never left you, if anything had happened…” he trailed off. So that explained the guilt.
I smiled and kissed his forehead, “Nothing happened. I guess we were both sort of wrong.” He chuckled and leaned up to peck my lips.
“All done.” Alice said, standing up and ruining the moment. “Now Luke, that was a nasty hit. Want to tell us how you got it?”
Luke sat up and looked around the room, his eyes moving over Michelle, Alice and finally landing on me.
“The Demonate army is mobilising. They know where we are.”