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“Dad died.”
Gran took my arm gently and turned me to face her. She looked so small with her white braids clipped back from her face and her eyes glistening with tears. “Yeah… we didn’t think twice about working together for you and your mom but your mother… my baby… her grief…”
I nodded. There was nothing else she needed to say. I already knew. Once my father died, it was like raising my mother all over again. She became a shell of who she was. She didn’t eat, didn’t bathe, didn’t do anything without someone doing it for her. She was a doll to be moved around, and Gran and Abuela took turns with the task.
Caring for my mother and raising me.
“This was something she had to do just for her.” Gran took my hand in hers and held it tight. “That doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to be angry, but Catalina was allowed to tell or not tell anyone she pleased.”
I hated knowing Gran was right. As angry as I was, Abuela had a right to live her life however she felt was right. Keeping her sickness from me was what made her feel better about it. Not sharing that heartbreak with me was a reprieve I shouldn’t want to steal from her no matter how much it hurt.
A huffed breath left me. “Yeah. I get it, Gran.”
“Good. Now go on and bring that boy back here. He may be a demon but he’ll always be welcome here after what he did for Catalina.” She did the sign of the cross before she kissed her hand and looked up to the heavens. “God forgive me.”
I wondered if I should tell her that Asmodeus said there was no god… at least not in the way we perceived. Would it bring Gran peace knowing she wasn’t angering him by inviting a demon back into her house?
“I’ll do an extra rosary and confess on Sunday,” Gran told me.
“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Gran.”
“Go on then.” She pressed a hand lightly to the small of my back. “Go burn off that steam I know you feel right now.”
I pressed a light kiss to Gran’s forehead. “I’ll call later.”
“Mhmm, make sure you do. You know how Catalina hates when you say you’ll call and don’t.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I kissed her again and made my way to the street wondering where Asmodeus disappeared to.
30
ASMODEUS
Banished again.
I found myself longing for the woman I was bound to while I cursed her. Her and her stupid family. With their shouting and brandishing weird objects and attempted banishment… she banished me without a second thought. They were tiresome, the lot of them. Never did I dare dream healing one of them would once again have me standing outside an impenetrable field in the woods beyond her house as I watched a car pull up.
I wanted to score her flesh. Bend her over my knee and punish her for how short-sighted she’d been as she made her demands. As though I didn’t need to constantly remain at her side to keep her from the clutches of a witch. One who seemed intent on stealing from both of us.
Yes, she would need to be punished.
Punishment was somewhere I thrived. I prospered straddling the line of regret and pride. Of pain and pleasure. Of begging and screaming. How I longed to make her do it all.
If only I could get inside.
My eyes narrowed as I watched her wave at the car that drove away. The fear that was usually rampant in her gone for the day as she stood in the darkness around her house, nothing but a meagre light on her porch that barely illuminated the space where she stood.
I wanted to yell at her. Tell her to take all she needs and go in the house. Not that mere brick and mortar could keep her safe. The witch managed to not only get into her home, but into her mind. What could her house do to protect her?
She needed me but she was too damned stubborn to see it.
Anger boiled through me as I pressed a fist to my temple, turned and kicked the boulder I’d been sitting on. It flew up through the air, whipping through the trunk of several trees before it fell once more to the ground. Muscles worked through my jaw.
“Call for me, Eden,” I willed with every inch of me.
She took the black slated steps two at a time and disappeared from view. It gave me time to look over her house. To wonder if this was what people wanted. A home placed in the woods made of darkness and glass. It was so unlike that of the matriarchs. The small home crowded by others and set just off a busy street.
I turned, toeing the ground trying to come up with a plan that would bring me into her house once more.
