Caged in Darkness (14 page)

“Don’t worry Princess, it’s just my mother.”
I walked in front of Savannah and opened the door. “I see you’re up
to your usual; nagging everyone in sight. Is there any way I can
convince you to take it easy on poor Savannah’s ears?”

My mother turned at the mention of Savannah
and her face brightened. She exchanged a proud look with me and
hurried over to take Savannah’s hands. “I have heard so much about
you! My son won’t stop talking about how wonderful you are!” She
smiled.

“You got all that, from me talking about the
little minx being immune to my charms?” I winked at Savannah and
walked over to the others.

I introduced Savannah to the members of the
coven. My mother managed to convince Savannah to stay for dinner
and spent the entire time trying to charm her. It seemed to be
working, because Savannah's color brightened as the day wore on.
After dinner, the elders left to pursue their own activities and my
mother motioned for Savannah and me to follow her back to the
study.

“My son tells me you have some
questions.”

My mother sat in the only chair, while
Savannah sat on the love seat. I didn’t want to make Savannah
uncomfortable and choose to stand near the fireplace. Silently, I
allowed Savannah to lead the conversation.

“Yes, I recently found out that I have the
blood of angels and demons in my veins. Is that true?”

“I’m not sure what answer you would like,
but yes it’s true.” My mother leaned back in her chair to study
Savannah’s face. “I suppose you hoped it wasn’t true?” Savannah
nodded. “In any case, I don’t see why it matters. All it means is
that your line is extremely powerful. It doesn’t mean you’re
demonic or angelic. You are a witch, pure and simple.”

“Why would they have chosen to feed on the
blood of demons?”

My mother snorted. “Why would your parents
or why did your ancestors?”

Savannah gave my mother and me a startled
look. “You knew about my parents plan?”

“That’s what you really wanted to ask about,
isn’t it?” She was silent for a moment, and then turned to me.
“Liam, I think that we are going to need some refreshments if we
are going to have this chat. Could you see to it?”

I walked from the room in a daze. When I
came back, it was to find my mother telling Savannah about her
infancy.

“I was there the night you were born. Your
mother was so happy. She cradled you and I could see in her face
that you were the most important thing to her.”

“I find that hard to believe. The mother I
knew did not care about me.” Savannah looked up at my approach and
her face reddened.

“That only changed when they began to pursue
their plans to gain power. Magic can be like any other drug. The
more you have, the more you crave until nothing can sate your
craving and you’re willing to give up anything, to have more of it.
Your mother loved you, but that love deteriorated in the face of
her addiction.”

The housekeeper came in with a tray of
cookies and tea. She set the tray on the coffee table and handed a
cup of tea to Savannah and my mother. Savannah grabbed a cookie and
nibbled on it absently.

“Can we not talk about her? Could we just
talk about their plans for the demon?”

“Of course, but I don’t know very much about
that. When we learned that your parents planned to summon a demon,
capture it, and increase their power… Let’s just say we weren’t too
keen on their plan and removed them from influencing our
young.”

After that, my mother told Savannah
embarrassing stories about my childhood and Savannah spent most of
the evening laughing, which I was grateful for. We left my mother
and I drove Savannah home. I pulled into the driveway and turned to
Savannah.

“Is there any way I could convince you to go
out with me again? Do something that doesn’t involve frustrating
family members or demons?”

Savannah reached into her bag, scribbled on
a paper, and handed me her phone number. “That’s my cell. Give me a
call and I’ll give you an answer.” Her cheeks reddened.

“Is this a compromise?” I laughed, and
tugged on a stray hair that was hanging in her face. “Alright
Princess, I’ll give you a call, but you have to promise to
answer.”

“A counter offer… I like it. I promise to
answer or to at least call back, okay?”

She climbed out of the car and made her way
towards the house. A panicked feeling built in my chest and before
I knew it, I was out of my car and jogging to her. She turned when
she heard my approach. “I forgot.”

“Forgot what?” She leaned forward, waiting
for my answer.

“This.” I grasped her waist and pulled her
into my body to claim her mouth. She started to speak, but my lips
silenced her. It was a chaster kiss than I was used to, but I was
aware of her house behind her. If her guardian was inside, I didn’t
want Savannah to feel any embarrassment at trying to explain the
kiss. I pulled away to see a surprised expression cross her face
and watched as she touched her lips.

“Oh.”

“See you later, Princess.” I got in my car
and drove home.

ASH

I looked out the window when the car pulled
into the drive. I thought it was Maye, but I watched as Liam kissed
Savannah. I wanted to rage at the touch, but turned towards the
kitchen and forced myself to heat up a slice of apple pie. I took
my anger out on the it as I forked eat bite.

A few minutes later, Savannah came into the
kitchen and hesitantly approached. “Hey.”

I looked up with a bite in my mouth and
nodded. She walked forward, opened a drawer, and pulled a fork out.
She came close and speared a piece of the pie to eat. I watched
her, silently.

“I ran into Liam at the bookstore today.”
She didn’t look at me as she said this. My hand tightened on the
fork. “He brought me to see his mother and when he dropped me off,
he kissed me.”

“You’re telling me this why?”

Savannah looked up and shrugged. “I didn’t
want you to think I was hiding it from you.”

“Did you want him to kiss you?” I regretted
the question the moment I asked it.

“I don’t know.” She moved to put her fork in
the sink and turned to look back at me.

“It seems like you don’t know a lot of
things lately. Like I said before, let me know when you figure it
out.” I pushed the empty plate towards the sink and moved to leave
the kitchen.

“Ash, he asked me to go on a date. Should I
go?” I paused at her question, but I refused to turn to look at
her.

“Do what you want. It’s not up to me.” I
walked away and stayed in my room the rest of the night.

The next day I managed to avoid her at
school and I went out with Griffin that afternoon. I came home to
find Maye in the living room.

“I don’t know what is going on between the
two of you and I don’t want to.” She came forward to kiss my cheek.
“She came home this afternoon and announced she was going on a date
since you don’t seem to care one way or another. She’s been in her
room trying on every outfit under the sun. Did you really tell her
you don’t care if she goes on a date?” I nodded.

“Well, then I have to tell you that was the
most asinine thing you have ever said. We both know you care and
once you see what she is wearing on this date, I have a feeling you
are going to care even more.”

“Why? What exactly is she wearing?” Maye
gave me a knowing smile and left the room.

I hurried upstairs and didn’t pause to knock
before entering Savannah’s room. I stopped short when I saw what
she was wearing. Her dress looked like a satin slip with flimsy
straps that would break if tugged the wrong way. Her hair was
loosely piled on her head with curly strands hanging down.

Savannah turned to face me with a daring
smile. She wanted me to notice the way she looked. I could see in
her expression that she expected a battle and knew she wanted one.
I swallowed back my fury and smiled back at her.

“You look nice. Where are you going?”

Her smile faltered, and she gave me a sly
look. “I have a date with Liam. Do you think this is too
revealing?” She spun in a circle to give me the full effect of her
dress.

I shrugged. “It looks fine to me.”

Savannah’s face changed into a look of
anger. She grabbed her hair brush from the dresser and threw it at
me. I ducked into the hall laughing. She sounded agitated as she
slammed the door in my face. Although, I didn’t want her going out
with Liam and I definitely did not want her going on a date dressed
the way she was, I enjoyed her reaction. I feigned disinterest, but
was secretly thrilled that it bothered her.

SAVANNAH

I wanted to scream and tear apart my room. I
would never understand men. One minute, Ash is jealous enough to
pummel a guy I was talking to, and now he was encouraging me to go
on a date dressed in lingerie? What was wrong with us?

I didn’t know why I went out of my way to
get a reaction out of Ash, but I knew it wasn’t my normal behavior.
Maybe all those kisses were beginning to go to my head. I looked
down at my outfit and groaned. I was counting on Ash making a big
deal of it. I never really intended to wear it out of the house. I
felt naked and I wasn’t sure that feeling would send the right
message to Liam. Now, if I didn’t wear the skimpy outfit, Ash would
know I only wore it to bother him.

The door bell rang and my stomach churned. I
thought about my kiss with Liam and then immediately thought of
Ash. I didn’t know which one I wanted and wasn’t even sure my
emotions were reliable right now. It was like my hormones were
raging out of control and Liam and Ash were the unfortunate
bystanders, who were caught in the storm.

I knew I shouldn’t even be thinking about
dating with the whole demon mess going on. However, my birthday was
this weekend and I thought for once, I deserved to have a small
piece of my world be
my
choice. My entire life I had been
swept away on everyone else’s wave and now I wanted to ride my
own.

That evening, Liam was a gentleman and
choose not to mention by risqué outfit. Although, I did notice that
his eyebrows had risen and he hid a smirk. My date with Liam went
smoothly, but I was disappointed that Ash didn’t come to see me
off. Liam brought me to the movies and straight home since Maye
warned him I had a curfew. When I got home, Liam walked me to the
door. When he leaned in to give me a kiss, Maye opened the door
with a sour look and dismissed him.

“Maye, what was that for?” She pulled me
away from the door by holding onto my upper arm.

“Isn’t he a little old for you, darling?”
She sounded like she normally did, but her eyes were like
steel.

“No, he isn’t. Besides, age shouldn’t
matter. He’s nice and he makes me laugh. Plus, he’s not afraid to
flirt with me. I don’t see what the problem is; you didn’t have a
problem with him when we left. What changed?”

She walked into the living room without
looking back. “Maye!” I angrily followed her into the room, but
calmed when I saw Josephine sitting on the sofa. The room smelled
of Frankincense and Myrrh, which told me that Josephine had one of
her visions and it wasn’t a good one.

“Aunt Josephine, what’s wrong?” I rushed to
her, knelt on the ground in front of her, and took her hands in
mine. Her hands were shaking and ice cold.

“Oh dear, I don’t mean to worry you. I’m
sure it’s nothing.” She patted my hands and looked at Maye.

Josephine was a close friend of Maye’s, but
was at least ten years her senior. She was on the elder council and
a prominent psychic in the witch community. Witches traveled across
the world for her to read their cards. She was strong with
divination tools, such as tarot cards, runes, and reading tea
leaves. However, she was more potent when a vision overcame her
without provocation.

When Josephine was taken by a vision, she
was often left weak afterwards. I worried for her. As she aged, the
visions took more out of her, but there was nothing she could do to
stop them. Josephine saw them as a divine gift that should be
cherished.

“What did you see?” I moved to sit next to
her and pulled the blanket from the back of the sofa to wrap around
her frail body. She took it with a thank you.

“It wasn’t very clear, child.”

“Josephine, just tell Savannah what you
saw.” Maye’s voice was laced with irritation.

“I will. I will, just give me some room to
breathe.” She waved her hand at Maye and turned to face me. “My
visions aren’t as clear as they once were. It’s rather like wearing
prescription glasses when you don’t need them. All blurs.”

“Just tell me what you could make out.
You’re here, you must have thought it was important.” I spoke
softly the way I would to a wounded animal or frightened child.

“I was watching television at home, when it
happened. I fell against the cushions. Thank goodness I wasn’t
standing.” She coughed into her palm and cleared her throat. “I saw
that boy and Ash, there was so much darkness.” She grabbed my
wrists with all the intensity of her words. “You and your friends
are surrounded by death. You need to remove yourself from your
current path or death will come.” Tears flooded her eyes and her
body slumped into a deep sleep.

“She’s exhausted. You don’t know what it
took for her to remain awake long enough to talk to you.” Maye
moved forward and ushered me away to put Josephine’s legs onto the
couch and covered her with another blanket.

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“She wouldn’t let me. This was your first
date and neither of us wanted to ruin it for you.”

“What makes you think that Liam is the cause
of this darkness? What if I am the cause?” I thought of the demon
and knew Liam wasn’t the one who was bringing evil into this
community.