Forty Nine. This Bitch of a Witch Keeps Making Me Look Bad with her Freaking Saintly Miracles

Saint Ravenna, the self-proclaimed messiah of the Galanis clan, healed up Aiden with just a few seconds of chants. He’s still groaning as he stirs awake, but the muttered swear already forming on his tongue cuts out in an instant, as his eyes fix on his parents, hovering over him anxiously.

He hops off the table, folding his hands behind his back and nervously avoiding Victor’s eyes. “Hey dad. Hey. You’re… out of the basement.”

Shit, that’s sad. Aiden’s absolutely terrified of his father, despite his fully human appearance. I guess he never did catch sight of him down in the basement when Felix came to spring him. Maybe he’s never caught sight of that monster at all and the Victor who clawed up his preteen face in a fit of rage looked exactly the same as the man he sees before him now.

Victor is studying his youngest with heartbreak in his eyes, floating a tentative hand over the scarred left side of his face. Aiden flinches, the second that hand raises. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to…. I’m sorry.” Victor quickly backs away, and Aiden blinks, looking up at him, puzzled.

Victor looks to Ravenna. “Can’t you heal those too?”

“Not without peeling off his entire face to start rebuilding it from scratch,” Ravenna most frighteningly replies, and Kathy whips out the silver-plated knives again. “I am only being honest.”

“Uh, who even is this lady?” Aiden demands. Then he finally registers Mike’s presence, stood right at Ravenna’s back. “An what the f--”

“Language.”

“What the fire-truck is he doing here?!” The six foot teen would have attacked his brother already, if it weren’t for his mother, stepping in between them and putting a clear restraining hand upon his chest.

She explains it all, with solemn interjections from Victor, and occasionally Mike. Grace hovers awkwardly at the side of the lab, clearly feeling out of place in this discussion of further mind-blowing revelations casually referencing immortal witches and ancient curses. Jase also looks completely detached from this recounting. He has said not one single word since Ravenna’s cruel prompt that he help her track me down and kill me.

“Anyway,” Ravenna concludes, laying a hand on Mike’s shoulder. “I’d best go check on Jack. I portalled him back to our sitter, but she was being all difficult about watching him past six o’clock tonight. Apparently she has a date, though I do say fourteen is far too young an age to be entering into courtships.”

“You really had a kid?” Aiden presses, and Mike smiles.

“Yeah. I’d say you can come right over and meet him, but nah, you’re a scary little shit sometimes.” That makes Aiden grin for some reason. “You might try and kill him, same as mom.”

“I’d never kill one of us!” Aiden insists. “The kid’s probably cool. Though you… You’re still a freaking traitor, you deserter. You too, Jase.”

Jase just gives a distant nod, setting off toward the door.

“Just where are you going?” Kathy demands.

“Missed my work out today,” he supplies, never slowing.

“But you’re coming home with us afterward, right?” Victor calls, and Jase slows.

He forces a smile as he looks back at his temporarily cured father, but his eyes are still so sad… “Yeah, dad. I’ll come by for dinner. But… tomorrow, not tonight, okay? I’ve got some things I need to check on.”

Kathy seems to want to instantly protest that, but her husband answers first with patient acceptance. “Alright, Jase. Let’s say six or sevenish tomorrow night then. I can make my famous lasagna!” He lights right up, and so does Kathy, gazing up at him happily. “Been a while since I made that…”

“I’ll help you kill the cow!” Aiden eagerly offers, and Victor grimaces.

“Did I…? Have I really let you do that before?”

“It’s good practice for assassinations,” Kathy glibly supports, and Victor’s frown deepens. “What? They are supernatural assassinations I am speaking of, vampires and specters only, of course.”

“You’ve taken Aiden out hunting with you? Kat…”

“What? He wants to be a witch-hunter, and I fully support the dream. Just need to work on that bloodlust of his...”

Their conversation fades as I float off after Jase, down the stairs and into the basement. His family is safe for now, what with Ravenna and psycho Mike returning home to their human shield of a son who is maybe not even real. After that whole vanishing act, I'm still betting he's an illusion. Still, I do kind of want to follow Ravenna back to her apartment or wherever it is she lives… I mean, how is she even paying for that babysitter? Or paying for her rent? What does she do with her days? She looks like she works at some office, and I mean, she did stumble across me while getting her regular latte on her way to work… But no. I cannot afford to think of her as just some ordinary city dweller. She is ancient, and evil, and dangerous, and I can’t set off tailing her just now anyway.

Jase is more important. He’s overwhelmed by everything that’s happened today, and I can’t just leave him alone to brood down in this basement, and strip off his shirt, and start laying into the punching bag all bare-knuckled and wild…

Okay, so I get a little entranced while watching him again. I find myself shadowing him in the literal sense, clinging close to his back and mirroring his every move.

I wanted to come down here with him as just regular human Cassi. I wanted to show off my meager kickboxing skills, have him praise me, then give me his own tutorial on boxing. He could wrap my wrists, and put his hands on my hips while showing me how to twist them properly. He could guide my punches, then take me down to the mat…

That happy fantasy shatters the second I drift around beside him and catch sight of his expression. It’s like a knife in my chest, seeing that rawness in his eyes, that ragged breathing teetering right on the verge of ragged sobs and a full on breakdown...

He splits his knuckles open against the bag and slumps forward, leaning his head on the duct taped surface and squeezing his eyes shut. “I can feel you there, C…” The name cuts off with an angry hiss. “Cassandra.”

I turn solid in an instant, right there at his side, but fully clothed, for his comfort. “I’m here,” I confirm, giving a nervous smile. “But come on, it’s just Cassi. Cassandra is like scary formal--”

“Stop talking,” he grates, refusing to look at me directly. “I did not want you to come here. I just want you to leave.”

My hands draw nervously back from his waist. They just rested there instinctively the second I took this form, because all I want is to hold and to comfort him. He loves me, and he needs me, now more than ever. “You know Ravenna was lying--”

“About everything?” he demands, eyes boring into me now and making me wish he’d never turned his head.

“Well… not everything, but--”

“You are a witch belonging to a demon and possessing a dead girl.”

“I didn’t want her to die. And I didn’t even remember about Proteus until--”

“Leave!” Yellow eyes, bright with hatred. That’s not supposed to happen, not today, without a moon. This is supposed to be the one night where Jase is safe from transforming, the one night a month where he can truly feel calm and at ease, but now I’ve gone and destroyed that peace.

I’ve already shrunk back into shadow, and Jase just looks all the more devastated, his eyes sinking back into their regular blue, but so dark with pain.

He spends another hour just laying into the punching bag, until he badly wrenches his wrist and his attacks become a storm of grit-toothed swearing, clutching at his hand. He really should have taped up his hands and put on some gloves, because that damage is not healing, not today.

He still keeps working out even after that though, dropping to the mats and trying to channel his frustration into crunches and core exercise.

It’s past eight o’clock by the time he finally stumbles off upstairs, completely and utterly exhausted.

I hesitate before following him up there. Maybe I should give him his space, but we haven’t even had a chance to really talk about this.

We need to talk about this.

I need to check on Nick anyway, because why wasn’t he answering his phone earlier? That is not a selfish excuse for going up to the loft to investigate, alright? I am genuinely worried about him. He is a nice guy, and he is Jase’s only friend.

Nick seems perfectly alright as it turns out. Or at least… alright by Nick standards. He’s lying face-down on the couch, awake but just staring off at nothing surrounded by empty cooler cans. Jase staggers to a halt the second he sees him. “You alright?”

“Fine. You’re the one panting like a dog, so go shower off that stink.”

Jase purses his lips. “You… Did you talk to your dad today? Don’t tell me he’s--”

“He is not in the hospital. He is fine, at home. If he wasn’t answering his phone, that’s just because he’s busy working on theories while blasting Mozart in his study, trust me,” Nick fills in. “Now go away. I’m wallowing.”

“Anything I can help with?”

Nick buries his face even deeper into the pillow, groaning. “You’re too nice man. Too good of a friend, and I am wallowing about you,” Jase stiffens. “so no. You can’t help.” Nick opens one eye, staring over at him warily. “I saw your mom’s truck. You were gone for weeks. At the farm that whole time?” Jase nods. “Was that Cassi chick staying there with you?” No words in response to that one, just a curling of fists. “You really brought her to your family dinner?”

Jase swallows, avoiding his eyes and starting right over toward the bathroom, fully set on immediately exiting the conversation. “Yeah, I did. Now we’re broken up. So sorry about all the loud sex that one time.”

“At least your mom didn’t like kill her.” Nick pauses. “She didn’t, right?”

“No. No one killed her.” And you are happy about that, now aren’t you, Jase?

He slams the bathroom door, and Nick stares after him blearily. “Hey, whatever happened to your cat?”

“Compulsive liar Cassi killed her. How’s that for a story?” Jase shouts back through the door, and I may be nothing but air at this point but that tone of his makes me feel like I’m suffocating.

I don’t even bother looking at Nick anymore, because I’m far too fixated on Jase and that door he slammed closed right in my face. Maybe he didn’t know I was right there behind him… Then again maybe he did still feel me at his back, and that door-slam was a purposeful gesture.

I hear the sound of running water, but I won’t be following him into the shower tonight. No, I’m headed straight outside.

I wander the streets for hours with no form, no flesh, no breath…

Only an hour without a body and I’m starting to lose myself. I can feel something following me, this dark force trying to pull me down into the flooded gutters and crush me in his hand…

No matter how fast I fly, I feel him right there at my back, so I race back into Jase’s bedroom, his safe and warded bedroom.

I won’t demand any comfort from him, not tonight. I can just sit here quietly on his carpet as a cat so I can get my breath back. He won’t notice me here. He’s already sound asleep, so maybe there’s no harm in climbing up on the bed and laying down beside him. I can stay awake staring at him, and that should be fine, right?

It isn’t. His eyes snap open the second I jump up there beside him and he gives this horribly unsettling smile… Because this isn’t Jase at all. It’s just the illusion of that familiar face and body, and lying cloaked inside that image is Ravenna.

I spring clear across the room in an instant, and Ravenna gives a weary sigh, letting go of her camouflage. “I know, I’m not your boy-toy. He went over to his evil mentor’s house. But stay put a while, why don’t you. It’s time we had a chat.”