"DID YOU MISS ME?!"
Caiden and I were enjoying the beautiful Sunday morning in his garden, drinking some tea, when somebody suddenly screamed behind me, making me turn around confused...
"Oh my God, Jessica!"
I rose quickly from my chair and jumped on her, hugging her tightly. Her curly red hair was blocking my vision and her laugh made me feel relaxed in just a few seconds.
"Oh my, Ivy Moore! Did you love me this much...? Well, if you do..."
Caiden suddenly cleared his throat and I let her go, blushing. I forgot what kind of... creature Jessica was.
I scanned over her body and I raised my eyebrows noticing her office costume. Dark blue pencil skirt and a white shirt. I threw her a confused look and she laughed it off, giving me a dismissive wave of her hand.
"In case you were wondering, shit is going down in the UK."
"I've been away only for a couple of months, and everything is destroyed already? Seems about right." Caiden said, sipping from his teacup.
Jessica hurried a maid to bring her a chair and, when the poor maid (or demon?) brought it in just a second, she flopped on it, placing her long and white legs on the table, lighting up a cigarette.
I sat down on my chair and Caiden gave her a deadly look.
"I will respectfully ask you to remove your legs before I cut them off." He whispered in a low, dangerous tone.
She grimaced.
"Stop saying that damned 'respectfully'. I heard it so many times from that idiot incubus. What's the point of saying respectfully if you show no respect? Ugh."
Caiden sighed and looked back at me, who was watching their reunion with a heavy heart. I felt... like I went back in time. Well, not literally, as we did because of Lucifer, but this scene, Jessica doing something stupid and Caiden nagging at her... put a smile on my face.
"Why are you smiling?" Caiden asked me with a curious gaze and I shrugged, sipping from my teacup.
"Am I not allowed to?"
He returned my smile and I could see with the corner of my eye how Jessica frowned, watching us interacting.
"What happened while I wasn't here? Have you finally lost your virginity, you sly fox?"
I chocked on my tea and Caiden sighed, looking away. I watched him through my eyelashes and I could see the trace of a blush on his otherwise white cheeks.
"What...?! No way! Oh my! This was unexpected!"
Jessica looked at us with a shocked expression. She was always joking around about this and now, that it wasn't a joke anymore...
"So... Ivy is gonna become a demon? If yes can I kill her myself? Her energy seems tasty..."
"Don't you ever even think about something like that!"
Caiden rose from his seat making me flinch. His angry aura was something I've never seen so close. He looked like he could kill Jessica right at that moment.
And Jessica... seemed unaffected.
"So what are you going to do? Become human yourself? Stay with her 'til she dies? Or just erase her memories and live a few hundreds of years in pain? Ah, might be the last one, as you are such a noble fox. Excuse my savage mentality."
She sipped from his cup of tea with the elegance of a princess. Caiden's face became colder and I just smiled awkwardly, not sure of what to say. I agreed with Jessica, that he probably thought of himself as a superior being, but... I also realized that I couldn't care less. I was a mere human, playing around with biblical creatures. He said he was going to erase my memories. Was there any point in making a huge fuss when he was going to do it anyway?
Tho, that didn't mean I was taking it lightly. I felt so angry with him. And that is why I wanted to hurt him. Now, that I knew I wasn't just a puppet to him, I wanted to hurt him, to show him how I felt that whole time. And the best way to do it...
"I will go home now. Don't contact me unless something important is going on." I told him and Jessica raised her eyebrows at me, with a satisfied smile plastered on her face.
He narrowed his eyes, understanding the point of my dry sentence.
"Kasho might appear anytime soon. My demons are going to stick around you. If something feels fishy again... I might ask you to come back here."
I smiled at him.
"There's no need. If you keep doing that, he will never be caught. Do you think that he will just show up at your mansion? Or that he will go to my flat even though he can sense that I'm not there? That your demons can catch him like that? You know it won't work. It didn't work this time and it won't work in the future either. Just let Jessica stay with me and when he shows up I'll press on my pendant from you, so you can know my location. This is the best plan, and you can't say the opposite."
They both threw me a shocked look. I just shrugged, taking my purse and adjusting it on my shoulder.
"Damn, Ivy Moore! You got hella smarter while I wasn't here!"
But Caiden didn't seem impressed.
"I don't think you understand how dangerous Kasho is. Jessica can't face him, she's too weak. He could kill her in a second."
"The point is not to fight but to run and then corner him. I know you can probably wait for Kasho to make a move in the next five years, but I don't have that kind of time. Maybe I gave up on having a family, but I still have close friends who I want to have a stable relationship with."
"How's the Barbie?" Jessica asked me, grinning.
I sighed. "She's alright. At least for now."
Caiden threw me an ugly look, but then sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"You are right. We can't stay like this forever. It's going to be worse for you."
I nodded. I knew he would've accepted my request. He was too noble not to. My heart throbbed and I sighed, lowering my eyes. Trying to hurt him made me feel worse than I thought. But I was done being played around by him. I had to move on even before he removed my memories. I hated the fact that he could do whatever he wanted from me, without even telling me the truth. Right, he had certain circumstances that didn't let him do that at that moment. But, afterward, when everything would be done... he wanted to erase my memory. How was that fair? He thought he was doing that for me? For my sake? There was no way I wanted my memories with him to be wiped. And he still wanted to do it.
So becoming distant was my only shot at being sane all this time. Cause if we became even closer... God knew how ugly I would've cried when the memory wiping moment would come.
"... then, can I be the student this time? It would be so fun!"
Caiden sighed.
"... I guess that would be a way to stick to her and make sure she's fine..."
"Yay! Oh God, I have to buy new clothes! Oh, I'm so excited! So much delicious meat..."
"No eating on the campus."
Jessica pursed her lips and crossed her arms over her generous chest.
"Damn it. I guess I'll have to stick to fraternities parties then. Ugh, those guys are assholes!"
I giggled. I was sure she would fit in.
"Then, I'm gonna live with Ivy? Aw, that's so cute! Let's go, baby! Let's see the flat!"
She jumped quickly on her feet and grabbed my arm, and I grimaced, knowing that my small flat wouldn't be as amazing as she thought.
Caiden seemed in a bad mood, but I couldn't care less. So, with a small nod, I passed by him, with Jessica hanging onto me.
That was the only option I had. I needed to be as cold as possible. I couldn't let him do whatever he wanted with me, even though I had feelings for him.
We got a cab quickly and I sighed, looking out through its dirty window.
"I've never expected that you would act so cold towards the fox, Ivy. Is there something going on that I don't know about?" Jessica asked me in a serious tone with a concerned expression.
I gave her a sad smile.
"It seems that for some reason Caiden cares about me more than I thought. But, he still does whatever he wants without taking my feelings into consideration. He knows I like him, so he might think that whatever he does to me I will agree. But... doing that and then wiping my memories... trying to keep me next to him for a longer time, delaying the process of catching Kasho... is not like him. And even if it is, I don't agree with him. I don't understand why he's doing that. There are so many options... he could, you know, just move on, or let me live with him... He just doesn't care about my opinion. Even though I'm involved in this matter as well. He's being toxic. And I don't like it cause he makes me toxic as well. I want to... I want to hurt him like he hurt me. See? This is not good. I need to think about what I should do next..."
She listened quietly to my ranting and then, surprisingly, she got a grip on my hand and squeezed it.
"He's a weird one. I'll give you that. I figured he had a fascination regarding you, as he didn't care about humans that much as he cares about you, in the past as well as now. I think... he's afraid that he might get feelings. You know, us demons don't really have emotions. We lost them long time ago, but when we are in our human vessels we get to experience them in kind of a fake way. Such as sexual cravings. Or maybe getting angry or happy for a few seconds. If you see us in hell... it's like a round of poker. Nobody has an expression. You could kill their puppy or something and they wouldn't flinch. That's why Earth is fun. And Satoshi... probably thinks that his feelings are because he is in a human body. And... he might think that the moment he goes back to hell for a few hundreds of years he will get rid of them. But I don't think that's the case. And he has a hunch as well."
I exhaled slowly, trying to comprehend her explanation. From that perspective... it could seem scary. But, still, that couldn't excuse his actions. I was an understanding person, but I had my limits as well.
"But, there is something he doesn't know. Why he got attracted to you in such a short time. Well, except for the fact that you helped us out to restore the balance."
I lifted an eyebrow and her expression became dead-serious.
"What is that?" I asked her and I could feel goosebumps on my skin.
The cab stopped and she shushed me quickly. We got out of the cab, walked up the stairs to my flat and I sat down on my sofa, waiting for her.
She sighed. She sat down next to me, watching me carefully.
"Alright. So... while I was in the UK, I met an angel. Most of the time, when I gather angel blood, I wouldn't even meet the angels themselves, but a few demons who had connections with them and, sometimes, even humans who knew about their existence. That is why, meeting an angel in flesh and bones was an amazing experience... because I was drawn to him in a few seconds. I wanted to rip off his clothes and take all of his energy if I could. And, to my surprise... he wasn't disgusted by me. I thought angels would be disgusted by dirty demons, you know? And... well, he became my connection as he helped out our investigation regarding the illegal contracts. Sometimes we would even chat normally, just to make time pass. He asked me about the balance restoring, as apparently it was a subject well known in the heavens. I told him the summary of the adventure... and asked him about your bad luck too. He seemed confused and asked me to give him more information about you... and after, a few days, he came back to me with a very pale face."
I shuddered. To think that even though Jessica was in a mission and, still, took the time to ask about something which would help me... she was a good friend. But, the way she was looking at me... made the color drain from my face.
"What... what did he say?"
She sighed and grabbed my hand again. She thought I would need emotional support for the next few things that she will say.
"Do you still think you are the reason that your father died?"
I threw her a shocked expression. Why was she opening past wounds?
"...I'm certain that my bad luck caused it." I answered, and the memory of that day clenched my heart in regret.
"That is half true. There was more to the story. How well do you know your father?"
I narrowed my eyes. "What do you mean?"
She tilted her head and smiled.
"I guess not well enough. Well, Ivy Moore, I'm the only one who knows. I'm the only one who knows that you are half angel. Didn't expect this, huh?"