Chapter 8: Family

It was entirely too long later, when he walked through the door of my apartment and tossed me on to my king-sized bed. I bounced up and immediately started pacing back and forth, too angry for words. He looked lost in thought as I growled to myself and threw insults at him under my breath. Finally, I stopped in front of him. I noticed the glow had dimmed from his eyes.

"Well? Care to explain any of the things wrong with this situation?" I tapped my foot and placed my hands on my hips. I saw the corner of his mouth lift in a smirk.

"We don't like other men touching you." He growled low, and the glow in his eyes flickered again.

"We?" I questioned. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Me and the demon bound to my soul." I stopped tapping my foot and groaned.

"Which. Demon?" I gritted out. His cheeks turned pink.

"Wrath. Did you give me your blood?" He questioned intently. I gasped; I had heard of the demon high lords. Fallen angels possessed of the original sins. They were rumored to be insane, cruel and capable of colossal destruction. As for my blood, it wasn't a topic I shared with everyone, so I averted the topic.

"Well, regardless of why, your demon is going to have to control that. Neither of you own me. I'm an Iye, a guardian spirit, I slay demons." I repeated. He frowned and clenched his jaw. He looked away from me.

"Noted. Ensuring your safety is only part of our assignment." He said robotically, his eyes dim. I couldn't help but feel like I had wounded him in some way.

"What assignment" I growled. My mother had sent more than her fair share of assassins after me. I was her abomination after all. When the villagers failed to kill me, she never stopped trying.

"I was sent by your father." His voice was clipped. My head snapped up. My father? I narrowed my eyes. I crossed my arms over my chest.

"That's not possible. I have no father." I spun on my heel and paced away from him, across the room. I stared out the bedroom window, watched the crystallized rain drops shine in the light of the streetlamp. The early light of dawn trickled on the horizon. The wind gently blew, and the world was quiet. The shadows around the rainfall swirled in the air.

"Everyone has a father. At some point." He stated as if it were obvious. I dug my nails into my palm.

I didn't know my father. I never had. I could still feel the bruises and the swelling, the tears of lonely nights begging for someone to love me. I didn't want to let on to Rhys how little I knew, if this was a ploy, he could be looking for any micro expression that I've been manipulated.

"What does my father want? Why is he not here himself?" I whispered. Still not turning around.

"He is imprisoned. He has been imprisoned for a long time. It is almost time, you are needed." He stated. I sighed at how cryptic he was being.

"Time for what?" I turned and looked at him to find him standing less than a foot from me, his hand raised toward my face as if to reach out to me.

"The end of the world." He whispered and trailed his fingers down my cheek.

"What do I have to do with the end of the world?" I questioned, exasperated. I ran a hand through my long curls and began pacing in front of the window again. Rhys sighed and pulled out a seat, straddling it and watching me.

"Do you remember what happened when you were found?" He asked. I nodded quietly. How could I forget that day? The day the villagers tried to kill me, they wanted to burn me at the stake. Rhys stood, walked toward me and placed the pads of his fingers on my temples. Remember. I heard the word in my mind rather than aloud.

My head pounded; the sound of chanting assailed my ears. Memories of fire, pain, blood. The sound of a young girl's screams. The memory of a man pulling her out of the sea of flames.

"My memories had been bound!" I cried out angrily. I had merely remembered the mob throwing me out and being found by my adoptive parents wandering the woods.

Rhys nodded and returned to his seat; he ran a tan hand through his shaggy black hair.

"Your father bound your memories and a few of your powers, in order to hide you from your mother. Your mother left you in that village knowing what the evangelists would do. A child of mixed blood cannot survive in either realm. He needed to protect you from her and yourself."

"Protect me from myself? Mixed blood? None of this makes any sense." I cried. Crossing my arms in front of my chest I glared at Rhys. Rhys groaned and tugged at his hair.

"Your father is Samael." He gritted out. I gasped.

"Samael the fallen archangel? Once husband of Lilith and guardian of Death?" My body was trembling, my breaths came in short gasps. "So that means…"

"Yes, you are both angel and demon. An Iye guardian spirit created as daughter of the Primal Demoness and the fallen archangel now revered as Satan."

My inner scientist was going crazy. Was such a cross-species even possible? What were the implications of such unions on our knowledge of demonology?

"This still doesn't answer why I need to be protected from myself, why my memories were tampered with, and where and why are my father imprisoned?" I ranted out. Frustrated with the circular discussion. Questions leading to more questions.

"Your memories and your powers were bound for your protection. Your power destroyed a town on a whim, you violated a covenant of God by slaughtering his followers and desecrating a sacred ritual. Lilith was robbed of her sacrifice. Your father bound your memories as he took the blame for the destruction and accepted your punishment. You have the power to destroy the very fabric of the worlds. As soon as your powers started manifesting without control, they began to tear reality apart. They needed to be bound while your body was not strong enough to contain them." Rhys responded patiently, not looking away from my face. I furrowed my brow and stared out the window.

"Where is he now?" I swallowed. Violated a covenant of God. Murderer, demon, whore.

"He has been bound in hell, the edge of the abyss. The gates of the dead. His soul holds the trapped demons at bay."

"And it's up to us to free him?" I asked. Rhys frowned and looked at the floor.

"Your father's power is weakening. It's up to us to ensure the seal is not broken. If it does, it means the end of the world as we know it."

I imagined the pandemonium. Countless demons and demon possessed pouring into the mortal realm. A feeding frenzy, lawlessness, utter chaos. Complete anarchy.

"How do we stop the seal from breaking?" I questioned.

"You have the power to create a new seal." He looked uncomfortable. I was tiring him with my endless questions.

"How long have you been following me?" I looked at him from the corner of my eye, watching him squirm.

"I have always been with you." He said quietly. I sharply looked at him.

"Excuse me? What do you mean 'always'?" My volume and decibel were increasing. He rubbed the back of his head shyly.

"Since you were bound." I clenched my fists. Those eyes. I had seen them before, in the woods behind my house, in the crowd. Always watching me. It's been centuries. Every moment of privacy I thought I had, every time I've fed. Every close encounter. Every tumble and fall.

"Why?" I whispered. His jaw clenched and I could tell he was biting the inside of his cheek, his eyes narrowed.

"We are bound. Your safety was entrusted to me, until the time came." He crossed his arms over his chest. I clapped my hands together.

"Okay, well, the time has come. Now I know, you can unbind us." I gestured at the air between us. I had felt like enough of my privacy had been violated. I don't want to be tied to anyone or anything.

"I can't, Angel." The endearment slid smoothly from his tongue. I tried my best not to preen.

"Then who can?" I arched a brow and tapped my foot. An exhausted smirk appeared on his lips, he strode toward me, and tucked a stray curl behind my ear.

"Only the Fates themselves." A light kiss grazed the side of my neck, below my ear. I shivered. I stopped and placed my hands on his chest, pushing him away lightly. He frowned and that confused expression returned. I grabbed my jacket and my helmet from the chair by the door.

"I'm going out." I turned and gave him a pointed stare. "Alone!" I retreated through the door and pulled it shut behind me. Leaning my back against it momentarily, I sighed. This was a lot to process.

Shaking my hair loose over my shoulders, I strode toward the exit of my building, eager to feel thrumming steel between my legs, and to forget for a little while.