Hells Royalty The Princess Read online

  "Although I don't know what you mean when you talk about Donna and Dr. Who, I do understand what you mean. There are choices that have yet to be determined and until the battle when you are faced with the decision I probably won’t be able to see the future outcome of that battle." He stated raising his eyebrows, as if questioning whether or not his assumption was close to what I had said.

  "Correct. I think because it will be such a big decision for me to make, you can’t see anything clear yet, because I don't know what will happen between now and then and there may be some catalyst that changes the whole scene. Too many things are up in the air to have a definite answer." I patted his hand and got up to rinse my cup out.

  "So how do we find out who these people are, the demon and the vampires?" he brought his cup over and refilled it.

  I sat back down at the table, really not wanting to discuss this part but knowing that it is important.

  "Well the demon is Aaron Arnost, son of Alastor. Alastor is the torturer of hell so who only knows what tricks he has taught his son." I closed my eyes at the memory of his fingertips on my face, and how they sent dark shivers through my body. The thought alone made me feel unnerved and uneasy about what this guy could really do to me.

  "Ok so he's the demon. Can we get information on him now that we know his name and who his father is?" he asked like I could Google him on the internet.

  "Well normally demons don't have a database that I can peruse to get information but I can find out a little bit with my magic that might tell me something, but I doubt it will give us much." I told him and saw the disappointment on his face.

  "OK well what about the vampires? Why would it matter if he had staked that vampire, what good would that do to persuade you to change your mind?" he asked like it was stupid that the vampire was even in the picture.

  I took a moment to answer this one, I didn't really want him to know a lot about my past and I sure as hell did not want him to know that I fell in love with a vampire and that if his life was threatened I would probably forfeit mine.

  "Well that vampire that you saw staked is named Grayson Marx. When I was 17 and in some trouble he helped me, actually he saved my life. I had been beaten pretty badly and he helped to recoup me so that I didn't die. Grayson still has his humanity and that keeps him normal almost. He is good, he doesn't harm humans and when he can he takes out demons just like me. We worked together for about a year hunting demons and sending them back to hell. He was the first real friend that I had since my mom had died so he will always hold a place in my life. Apparently Aaron believes that by holding him hostage that I might remember the favor Grayson did me and save his life in return by giving myself up. I don't know though it is a blotchy plan. To risk my choice on a vampire, it’s weird that he would depend on that. I guess that is why he was holding both of you hostage. It would be hard for me to not give myself up when I know a good dark creature and a prophet's lives were at stake. It’s just too much to leave to chance, we will have to wait and see I guess." I stood and headed to the back door.

  Jace stopped me in my path by wrapping his arms around me and giving me a big hug. I was shocked because I don't give or receive many hugs, but then he nearly gave me a heart attack. He pulled his head back and laid his lips on mine giving me a kiss. The kiss was not pushy or anything, it was soft and sweet and would have been great had I not been a hybrid demon witch kissing a prophet. That just felt off to me and the fact that my heart was locked up tight did not help.

  I stepped back and then around him, "Jace I need to get some air. I need to recharge with the earth I will be outside." And with that I left the room and headed to the far edge of the yard.

  I got myself as far away from his as possible. I didn't know what to do with what he just did. I don't get involved with anyone ever, in any way, under any circumstances, not anymore. The last guy I had kissed had literally broke my heart and I vowed that I would never let myself get close to anyone again. But he was so nice and caring. I could see myself liking or even falling in love with him. I could see us lying on the couch watching television, joking about the show we just watched. Then I could see a demon breaking in the house and attacking and him being hurt or probably killed because I wasn't on my guard. Being close makes you vulnerable. I couldn't do that to him or to myself. I would not let someone else be hurt because of me.

  I sat down on the earth and talked to her. She was calm today, accepted my condolences for all the bad things going wrong and wished me well on my journey. After the casualties I asked her for a favor. I asked her to bring me some rain so that I might send a message to Grayson. She told me to be patient and it would be here soon.

  I sat and waited and in the quiet of the woods my mind wandered and the tears began falling. I cried for so many reasons. My mother was gone and could not guide me in the battle to come or even my life in general. I cried for Jace because he was so sweet and he deserved someone who could love him whole heartedly, not someone who only had the shell of a heart. I cried because I could not be the one who could do that for him and that made me sad for myself. I only cried for myself because I wished I could be normal and never have to deal with any of this stuff but then I remember how wonderful magic is and the many good things that I can and often do with my magic and that makes me cry even more. I really cry for my love for Grayson and how it can never be shown or given to him. I keep crying getting all the emotions out of my body because I know firsthand how they can manipulate spells and magic and make it go awry. As the tears start slowing I feel the first drops of a summer rain and I look up into the sky that is only light gray and a nice shower begins to fall. Then I send my message to Gray, knowing as soon as I send the rain on it will seek him out and give it to him for me.

  I whisper the message, "Gray, it’s me Kat. I need to warn you! A demon named Aaron is after me, he is strong, nasty and very manipulative. He wants to use you to get to me and a prophet saw that he will be sending someone to capture you. Please be careful and keep your head down. Please stay safe for me! Don't trust anyone. I will contact you when I know more. Take care and don't take chances." I was done and I sent the rain to find him, thanking it and mother earth for her services. I wiped my face and headed back to the house. The rain would find him as soon as it could and I could only hope that he took to heart what I said.

  As I headed to the house a thought came to me about how to open the journals for Jace. Since his mom knew my mom and she had helped to create the locks; they would have known I would be the one to help him open them. I wonder!

  Chapter 8--Truths, Feelings, and Raindrops

  Luckily Jace had brought over all the journals this morning when he came back. I only needed to settle down and test my theory.

  Unlike my books that my mom had spelled to open at certain ages of my life when I should learn more, his were still sealed shut even after he began having visions. That made me curious, so we tried a drop of his blood on the seal but nothing.

  "Damn it!" I muttered a little louder than I should have. What is the problem, why won’t they open?

  I was trying all the spells that I believed that my mom would use and still nothing with his blood. As I was getting more frustrated with my mom and her complicated spells Jace sat down beside me and decided that this was the opportune time to ask me some personal questions.

  "So my visions that we talked about earlier, can you help me better understand this?" He asked warily, it almost sounded like he doubted what I had already told him. Well isn't this just dandy!

  I sat the journal down on the coffee table and looked up at him to explain in better detail just what exactly he wanted me to help him understand.

  "Well, I mean what good reason would this Aaron guy want to capture and kill a vampire and even me? I just can’t make any sense out of it." He sighed clearly frustrated.

  Jeez oh Pete, was he thick headed or really just that naïve?

  "Ok, well look at it this way. Grayson Marx is one of the o
nly good dark creatures that has gone above and beyond to help me, by saving my life and then helping to kill demons and send them back to hell. He does what I do, just on a different level because he can get closer to some of the stronger vampires and other creatures that I haven't been able to yet. The death of him would allow many demons to live and wreak havoc on human lives." I was trying to not sound exasperated by his question and I was also trying to avoid the details that involved the story of me loving Grayson and that I would do anything to save him.

  "Ok so I understand your reasoning it just seems weird to me that Aaron would choose to kill someone you haven't seen in years. Why me though and also if he is so strong like he looks in the picture why hasn't he been able to capture you yet?" he sounded like he was grasping at anything to get answers out of me.

  "Why you?" I scoffed at him, guessing that he was really not all that bright, how could he not see what his life means.

  "Hmm, well let’s see. You are a new prophet, a young one that he could capture. Once he captured you he would probably keep you captive so as you had visions you would be able to tell him what you saw and he could manipulate when and how he wanted to. This would mean that he would probably cause a lot of problems and let a lot of good people die who should live and let a lot of bad people live who should have died. He could let the next Hitler live and help him take over the world. A demon having a prophet all to himself would be a very dangerous thing. Prophets usually have some sort of protector, a guardian of sorts to keep them safe from demons such as him." I looked to him as he was deep in thought.

  After a few minutes he nodded like he finally understood what his life would mean if it fell into the hands of Aaron or any demon. I decided to go on and answer his very demeaning question, why I hadn't been caught yet.

  "As for Aaron and his strong powers, I am simply smarter and better than he is. Yes he is a very strong demon, probably one of the strongest who has come after me, but the others haven't simply just stumbled across me and found me. No, whenever I would get the sense that there were within 20 miles of me I would go seek them out and let it look like they had discovered where I had been hiding. When truth is it was me who used my witch powers to track them down. Aaron can only rely on his demon powers and I'm betting a dark witch is helping him also, but she is not strong like me. Once you start using dark magic Mother Nature will turn her back on you and not assist you in even the simplest of tasks. I only rely on my natural powers that mother earth has lent to me and because of that I have some wicked abilities. I am able to cloak myself so that I cannot be scryed for or found in spells. I also use magic to wipe out most of the traces I may have left behind so that helps out a lot when it comes to leaving a trail. I use my witch magic more than my demon powers so that's why I believe he appears stronger than me in your visions?" I finished up my spill on why I am actually better than Aaron, and it had nothing to do with pride, yeah right.

  "Well that's good because I would really hate for your demon powers to take over now when you have me in your clutches." Jace joked but I didn't laugh because I was the only one who knew how close those dark, demon powers were under the surface and how easily I could tap them and use them. He noticed that I did not laugh so he sobered up and went on with his questions.

  "Ok so how do we stop Aaron from capturing Grayson and myself?" he was all serious now, I could tell this was something that he did not want to happen.

  "Well that is a damn good question. I have already sent a warning to Grayson to stay low and keep his eyes open. Hopefully that will be enough because that is about all we can do about Grayson, short of bringing him here and protecting him. As for you, you have the best guardian around, me." I shrugged my shoulders showing that I was well capable of taking care of him.

  I looked out the window at the sky which had a beautiful blue color. It was so peaceful looking, like nothing bad could ever happen. I could only sit and hope that my warning found Gray in time so that he would not be captured, I don't think my heart could handle him being captured.

  "Ok, so if this Grayson gets your warning and protects himself, I should probably see a change in the vision then, right?" Jace asked hopefully.

  "Maybe, but I'm not sure. I don't really know how all the vision stuff works, that's kind of why we need to get these journals opened so you can learn your heritage." I picked the journal back up and run my fingers along the paper edges, thinking again.

  "One last question and I will let you get back to the journals. How do we prepare for the battle with Aaron? We know it will more than likely happen regardless of who he captures." He was all solemn now.

  How do we prepare ourselves for the battle with Aaron? Like I hadn't been preparing myself for that battle already for the past few years without knowing who I was actually fighting.

  "Well Jace, I honestly don't know. I do know that I have one more journal that has yet to open and I figure it will open the night I turn 21. So I have less than a week before I have full powers and full knowledge of what I can do and what my powers hold. I can only hope that Aaron does not find me before then because I don't know if I will be ready for him. If he does happen to find me the only thing I can do to prepare is make sure all my defensive spells are well versed, my herbs and magic are fully stocked and that I have no distractions to keep me from performing at my total best. I need to be able to protect myself and others from what he might dish out but until then we need to get you familiarized with your history because you only have 3 days before you turn 21 and get your full powers." I looked at my finger where I had been rubbing it along the pages and saw that is was starting to prickle with a drop of blood and just like that the book sucked it in and began to glow.

  "Jace I think we got it. Give me your finger I need another drop of your blood." I said quietly like it would make this not real if I talked in a voice louder than a whisper.

  He sliced his finger and placed it on the paper edges where mine had been and instantly the book turned hot and opened for us.

  "You did it, you actually opened the journals!" he exclaimed and yanked me up off the couch into a bear hug. Again he kissed me on the temple and that tingling came back in my gut and made me feel uncomfortable.

  He let go and scooped up the journal, anxious to see what secrets that it held. I decided that this was something that he would need to look at alone. He would need time to learn the history and the future. This was a huge step for him and for me, because I had just come to the realization that my mother knew this would be happening. She would have been told of this future event, there was no other way around it. She wouldn't have been able to create the lock that she had without the knowledge. I left the house and headed to the back porch.

  I let a few silent tears fall at what I had just realized and I was completely and utterly devastated. How could she have not let me know this? She could have left me a note in a journal about this; it would have made this so much easier.

  I don't know how long I had sat on the steps but I had managed to lie down on the steps and had been centering myself, grounding my magic. A confused witch is a dangerous witch and I did not need to be in that position. I had to center my feelings and emotions; otherwise they could really mess up my spells. It was dark now and I could hear Jace' footsteps coming through the kitchen to the porch.

  I stayed where I was; I was not in the mood to accommodate anyone else at the moment. He could sit elsewhere.

  He took the step above me so that he was looking down on me, then he did something else shocking and laid down on his stomach so that his head was right above mine.

  "What are you doing out here and all alone none the less?" he said quietly and sweetly.

  I breathed out slowly, “I needed some air and needed to center myself. This is a lot to take in and I just had to sort some things out." I turned my head to the woods feeling something pressing against the ward.

  "Ahh, I figured that. I'm assuming that all my information is a lot for you when you normall
y do this all by yourself. So you feel better?" he asked as he rubbed my arm.

  Even though that I knew that the heat from him was him being a prophet, it still did other things to me. It made me feel warm and safe and that was something that I had apparently been craving and didn't want to acknowledge it.

  "If I didn't feel like I was out of my comfort zone and treading into new territory I think that I would feel loads better." I told him in a huff, this was getting old for me, and I did not divulge information to others.

  "Oh, so you're out of your comfort zone. Well I guess I might as well make it worse and get it over with." He sighed in a good way and before I could ask what the hell he was talking about he leaned over and planted a kiss on my lips.

  This was not the soft kiss like earlier; this was a hot, sexy kiss. This was a kiss that sent electricity to my toes and made my stomach roll in good ways that I hadn't felt in forever. This kiss was something that shook me to my core because it actually broke my wall and reached me. This kiss was something that could change my life and it scared the ever-loving-hell out of me.

  I started to lean my head up so that I could deepen the kiss but then I heard the hum of a new human in the ward. This of course made me stop the kiss and come to my senses, I wasn't alert and if it had been a demon we would be screwed, because my emotions going haywire.

  "What? Did I do something wrong?" he asked all breathy near my ear and that sent shivers down my spine, which made me shake some.

  "No, you did that just fine." I said trying to catch my breath. "It's just there is a new human on the property and I need to be alert as to who it might be." I sat up and casually glanced around the perimeter. There against the tree line straight in front of us was a person hiding behind a tree but not well.

  "Can you tell who it is?" he asked in a whisper near my ear.