Chapter 9

*Damian*

"Is that right?" I growl. I looked around the room to assess the situation. Two girls and one guy all armed with knives. Tight space. No backing down now, I hope my dad's training really comes through. I lock the door behind me and wait for them to move. One girl comes at me with the knife in her hand, I block it and appear behind her using all my strength to push her into the guy. I kicked her and the guy down. The guy gets back up to try punching and stabbing me but I dodge him easily. He manages to punch me in the face, making me a little disoriented enough for him to try and stab me. I dodge his blade as he stabs the wall. I elbow him in the stomach and his face, knocking him down as the girl I knocked down gets back up. I grab her with one arm and slam her into the ground. The guy manages to get his knife out of the wall and tries to stab me while on the ground. I get back up to swing at him hard and knock him down once more. The girl gets back up to stab me again but I grab her arm and push her into the wall, rubbing her face on the splinters of the wooden wall. I then use all my strength to push her into a stall door which shatters, hearing the toilet cling with her head.

The girl holding Ember puts her down and tries to slash her knife at me, but I grab her arm, lifting her up and slamming her back on the wall making a dent. The guy gets back up in a confused state so I use this to my advantage to pick him up and put his back into a mirror, breaking it. I grab a piece of glass and stab him in the leg. He punches me off but my adrenaline refuses me to feel pain. I bang his head into a stall door then bang his head harder onto a sink which breaks against his skull. All three of them are down so I go to check on Ember, she is scared and is bleeding from her stomach. That girl must have slashed her when she put Ember down on the ground. I grab her hand, yank her up, and begin to walk out but the girls are back up. I gently push Ember into a stall to make sure she isn't hurt more. The girls charged at me but I hit one of them so hard that she flew into the wall while I grappled the other one's arm and put her against the stall. I break her wrist causing her to scream and let go of her knife. I grab it and stab her into the stall door on her shoulder. To make sure it hurts, I twist the blade and shove it in more as I let out a yell to punch her and knock her out. The other girl gets back up but as she tries to run, Ember knocks her out with a toilet lid.

After a minute of calming myself down, pain starts to register from my face. I look in the mirror and see that my nose is broken. "Ah shit." Drago says, annoyed.

I grab some paper towels for Ember and I but I need to see the wound first on her. "Let me see." I say quietly to her. She hesitantly lifts her shirt up to where I can see a deep cut in her abdomen. "It doesn't look that bad but I should probably get you to a doctor."

"No!" She almost yells. I jumped from her response. "Sorry, but I hate doctors. Can I just go home?" She asks.

I nodded my head and held the paper towel until she held it. "Keep pressure on it." I unlock the door to a crowd of women wanting to use the bathroom but they are all in shock at the sight that laid before them. I get our food to go before heading to the truck. I put Ember into the passenger seat before climbing into the driver side. I grab a pen from my middle console, turning the rear view mirror to me.

"What are you doing?" Ember asks, worry struck her features.

"Performing self first aid." I stick the pen into my left nostril to hold pressure as I grab my nose with my other hand, quickly breaking it back into place. I let out a pain grunt as Ember's face turned to disgust. I pull the pen out to throw it away in a trash bag. I start the engine and head towards Ember's house.

As soon as I'm in Ember's driveway, I cut the engine and get her out of my truck. I carry her to the porch and knock on the door loudly. Crystal opens the door immediately, getting a shocked expression on her face. "Dear God! What happened?" She asks.

"She was about to get robbed by these girls in the restroom. She got cut by one of their knives. Do you want me to take her to the hospital?" I asked.

Crystal began to unfold a decision in her mind as Ember groaned in pain. "No, take her to the couch. I'll be right there as soon as I get Jacob to bed. Hold pressure on the wound until I come downstairs." I nodded as I stepped inside, sitting her on the couch in the living room. After five minutes, Crystal comes down with a bunch of supplies in her hands. She sits them on the coffee table, kneels down and assesses the situation. "Damian, take her shirt off. I need her clothing to not get in the way." I hesitate due to Ember having a wide eyed expression. Crystal grabs my arm gently. "I trust you. Now please do as I say." I nod again as I lift her shirt over her head.

"Damn she is sexy." Drago growls.

"Not now! She's in pain and she needs our help." Drago huffs in annoyance but I suspect he understands. Crystal pours some type of liquid on Ember's cut which makes her seeth air through her teeth. Crystal then puts her hands on the wound, closes her eyes and begins chanting in another language. I raised an eyebrow because I didn't understand what she was doing. Was she praying or something? I look at the wound, watching as it begins to disappear! My mouth drops and Ember looks at her mom confused as she still chants. The wound is gone and Crystal stops chanting. She sighs in relief. Ember looks at me as I look at her. Both of us are confused as to what the fuck just happened. Ember looks towards her mom again.

"Mom? What did you just do?" She asks.

"There's something I need to tell you, Ember, that I've been meaning to tell you for a long time." She admits. I looked at Crystal as she sighs again. "I'm a witch." My mouth drops to the floor! A witch?! Witches don't exist! Or do they? I don't know anymore! My world is turned upside down at the moment! How are witches real?

*Ember*

"I'm a witch." Say what?!? No, that can't be true. I know that the book at the library mentioned about witches coming to Helltown to escape the trials but I didn't think it was actually real!

"You're joking, right?" I look at my mom hoping everything that just happened was a figment of my imagination but her facial expression says it all. It wasn't a figment of my imagination.

I look up at my mom. "So does that mean I'm a witch too?"

"Yes." My mom sits down at the end of the couch. "You're also part demon." My mouth drops even more. Demons exist too!? "Your father was a demon that ended up fated to me. His name was Molech. I met him when I came to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for a haunted house case. I was a pretty well known paranormal investigator before you guys were born. Mostly because of me being a witch and having the ability to talk to spirits but no one knew that except for my family and your father." She sighs before continuing. "He was the spirit haunting the house. A group of teenagers decided it would be fun to summon a demon and ended up with more than they could handle. As soon as he saw me, he practically swept me off my feet. He knew instantly I was a witch and he damn well knew I could have sent his ass right back to Hell but he won me over. We ended up pregnant within our first year and had Rose. A few years later we had you followed by Jacob. He ended up getting called out on a mission of sorts and took Rose with him. She refused to stay at home with me. Ever since then, I haven't seen or heard from him. It's like he vanished into thin air. I've tried to find him but I've had no luck." My mom stares at nothing, her mind appearing to be far away. She shakes her head before smiling at me. "At least I have Jacob and you. I don't know what I'd do without you guys."

"Are Rose and Jacob witches and demons too?" I cock my head.

"No. You're the only one who has shown that you are a witch and/or demon. Your sister and brother are lucky they even have brains."

Binx comes trotting into the room at this exact moment, hopping into my lap. He looks between my mom, Damian and I before meowing, his eyes filled with concern. "Hey Binx." I started to pet him.

"Mrow." He looks at my mom intensely.

"Ok fine!" She throws her hands up. "Yes, Ember is fine. Yes I just told her I'm a witch. And yes I told her that her father is a demon. Happy now?"

"Brrrt." Binx appears to nod in approval before hopping down, vanishing under the couch.

"Did you just have a full on conversation with my cat?"

"Maybe." My mom starts to whistle. I stare at her. She looks at me. "What?"

"You know damn well what."

"Yes, I talked to your cat. It's one of my abilities with being a witch."

"Wow. Ok then." I rub my temples. "That was a lot to take in at once."

"Your cat threatened that if I didn't tell you, he would when you finally started to develop your powers."

"Well that might explain why I hear things talking every once and a while. I thought I was just hearing the wind or something. Guess it was Binx I was hearing." I look at my mom. "I'm gonna go to my room. I need to let all of this sink in."

"I love you Ember. Don't ever forget that." My mom smiles at me before getting up and leaving the room.

"Damian?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you spend the night by chance? I'm just so confused with all this information and I don't know… I feel uneasy learning all this."

"I wouldn't mind." He comes over to me, sitting down in front of me. "Ember."

"Hmm?"

"Ever since I took you out on our first date, I've been hearing a voice in my head.