Chapter 9

The room went silent for a few moments as Amay made plates for everyone in the dining area except herself and Elizabeth, who wasn't hungry at the mom. Lucas couldn't help but look at the food for a moment. For most of his childhood and teens, he has had to learn and make his own food. This was mainly because his mother would either burn the food or undercook it. For all her greatness, cooking was not her strong suit. He didn't ask Martha because she only knew the basic stuff and didn't like cooking for the most part. This was mostly why he invested in a cooking class when he had the chance to. Yet looking at the food that the demon girl made had him perplexed. It smelled delicious, but the thought of the food being a trap was fighting the smell and possible taste.

"Are you not going to try it?" Amay curiously asked as she pulled up a seat close to Lucas's side.

"I'm not hungry," Lucas said, trying to lie his way out of eating her food. However, his stomach betrayed him.

"Sounds like you are," Amay said while giggling at his lie.

"I mean…." He said, trying to figure out a response. He could feel the sweat run down his face as he was honestly stuck between a rock and a hard place. Lucas then watched as the demon girl grabbed his fork and stabbed a piece of egg.

"Looks like you need a hand." She snickered a little before moving closer to Lucas. She could see the weird look on his face, but she didn't care. "Say Ahh." She said in a childish tone, moving the fork closer to his mouth.

Lucas was just baffled about what to do. He turned his head back to his mom for some support but only saw his mother stare daggers at Amay. He then turned back to see that she had moved even closer, and the fork was only inches from his mouth. He closed his eyes as he started to open his mouth for the food, yet nothing happened. He only heard a clasping sound before opening one eye to see that someone held her hand back. Lucas's eyes followed the arm to see that it was Martha being his saving grace.

"Thank you, Martha," Lucas gratefully said. He then noticed Martha staring down at his problem.

Amay smile quickly turned into a frown as her eyes stared back at Martha. Both of them didn't flinch but waited for the other to make the first move. Lucas could feel their tension and even scooted back towards his mother, who just watched and poured herself another drink. Martha's hand tighten around Amay's as she was starting to show some anger towards her target. Amay felt the pain yet tried to keep calm even when her arm being forcefully pulled upwards. Martha then ate the egg off of the fork before releasing the short girl's arm.

"Not bad," Martha said in her monotone voice while still looking down at her short enemy.

"Thanks. Next time eat off your own damn plate since I made you one." Amay said in an angry tone. She put the fork down before rubbing her arm. "Couldn't you have taken it easy? I was just having fun." She said, glaring at Martha.

"And I was having fun as well," Martha said in a calm but condescending voice.

"That's enough from both of you," Elizabeth said, finally putting her foot down as she could see Amay was going to attack Martha. The last thing she needed was another destroyed house to fix on top of everything else today.

Both of them let out a deep growl at each other before following Elizabeth's command. Martha went around to the other side of the table to enjoy her meal, while Lucas looked like a deer in headlights after what just happened. He knew his sister fearlessly brave and cool, but he never thought she would stand up for him against a demon. He then grabbed the fork and used his shirt to wipe it off and take a nervous bite out of the eggs. His eyes went wide at their taste.

"These are amazing." He said in a surprised voice. He could hear a giggle coming from the demon girl by his side.

"Of course they are. Even being trapped in a basement for a long time, I never lost my touch with cooking." She said pridefully. "I bet it's even better than Lizzy." She slyly remarked as her eyes looked towards Elizabeth.

"Taste a little burnt." Martha retorted while chewing on a piece of bacon.

Amay immediately turned her head towards Martha, who just continued to eat her piece of bacon. She squinted her eyes at Martha with a very annoyed look. Martha swallowed her food before giving Amay the biggest condescending smile she could muster. This hit a big nerve in Amay as her left eye began to violently twitch, as her lips pulled back to reveal her fangs. They both stopped and looked away from each other as they could feel Elizabeth's stare grow stronger on both of them. Lucas just ate his food while watching the show.

"So…you called her your ex demi....partner, right?" Lucas addressed his mother as she made herself another glass of wine. "What did you mean by partner? And what exactly is a demi?"

"Right. I guess I should explain everything to you." Elizabeth begrudgingly responded. She leaned a little forward, resting one hand on the table as her other was on her glass. Her demeanor and tone changed to be a little more serious. The once irritated woman that sat in front of him was gone and replaced with someone completely different.

Lucas knew this look very well. This was the look she gave him about the basement and other important moments. This was a situation he needed to pay attention to. He watched as Elizabeth let out a deep exhale before she spoke.

"I need you to listen carefully to everything I'm going to tell you right now. I'm not going to sugarcoat nor downplay anything since you're old enough. I'm going to tell you what I know from living for as long as I have. " She told him before stopping to make sure he was listening and paying close attention to her. She then continued.

"First things first, we are not alone in this world. There are....."beings" that have been around as long as or even longer than any human has. These beings are referred to as Demi-Humans. Beings that are from a different yet similar realm to our very own. A realm that is full of magical and other supernatural powers. We, humans, were able to make contact, work beside, and even grow with them over a long course of our history. However, all that changed due to us being one of the major reasons for their war. While time has moved on and some wounds have healed, we were able to work out a treaty of some sort. All humans and all Demi-Humans are to stay separate and never fully interact with one another. They stay in their realm, and we stay in ours. That's how it should have worked out, but some don't like to play by the rules. That's why a select few can interact or even be in contact with them." Elizabeth said, taking a moment to drink her wine and allowing her son to process what she said.

"Now you're probably wondering how you are able to interact with them or so. The answer is because of magic. There are a very finite number of people in this world that possess it. It's so small that you are more likely to be hit by a falling cow in an empty field than find someone with magic. Or every 1 out of ten million people will have it. Human nature really got the better of us on that part." Elizabeth sighed while shaking her head. She started to rub her temple as if she was trying to get a bad memory out of her head.

"So what does that make me? Do I have any?" Lucas said nervously. He felt this little flutter in his chest as he doubted he would have any.

"Sweetheart, you are the son of one of the best and most powerful magic users around. You not having magic would be even rarer." Elizabeth proudly told her son with a smirk. "Especially with that bastard of a father, you were going to be born with it."

"Mom, we talked about this. It was my choice to have a good relationship with him even if you do not like him. " Lucas reminded his mother about their agreement. He knew she hated his guts with a burning passion, but it was his decision to get to know him.

"Oh right," Elizabeth remembered while holding up her hand to hold back her tongue when it came to Lucas's father. "That's why they invented restraining order." She laughed at her own crude joke.

"Mom. Please." Lucas said, standing his ground with it.

"Fine." She told him while shaking her head. "But yes. You have magic within you. All the way since you were born."

This made Lucas sort of happy for a moment; however, another question began to itch at the back of his head. "Wait. Wouldn't I be able to see them a lot earlier or even have some powers? Or even do some magic stuff?"

"Well, it's a little complicated. Under normal circumstances, I would have raised you to be able to use yours. This would have allowed you to be a part of the special class called the S rank. Your father, through all his mess, is one. I myself was one, but now lie between A and B class because of wanting to take a step back and make sure you were raised right." Elizabeth said, giving Lucas's father some credit. Lucas then noticed that she had lowered her head for a moment. She was pondering on how exactly to explain this to her son. She had the words there but wasn't sure how to tell him.

"I feel like this is going to be bad." Lucas chuckled to himself, trying to ease the tension, but Elizabeth didn't smile.

"You see. You're ranked as an F. This class is for people who have magic in them, but you would be at the level of a regular human." She said softly yet sad. "You would be able to sense Demi-Humans, but never really know where they were or why you felt that way. It would be like how some people can sense ghosts or get a bad feeling around certain locations." Elizabeth held out her hand, finding something to compare it to. "Like a psychic or sensitive person."

"So I'm like a magician or psychic?" Lucas repeated her words. He was trying to wrap his head around it for a moment. "Oh. I think I understand now. I have magic, but since I wasn't trained or taught to harness it, I would be considered human at least to others….with…..magic? " he said, struggling to place the words in the right spot.

" Precisely," Elizabeth said. "To others with higher rank, you would be seen as a regular human or a gifted one at that."

"Oh. Okay." Lucas said, glad he did understand, but this only raised another question. "Am I stuck at this level?"

"Oh no. With training, you can rise. Ranks only help out to show where someone would lie in power. Most people can train and rise higher, but sometimes certain people can rise but are not able to reach past a certain point. There could be several reasons why but it's hard to say at times." Elizabeth answered while taking a sip to clear her throat.

"Oh. So why did you not train me?" Lucas asked in a mixture of feelings. He didn't feel mad or upset but was honestly wanting to know why.

Elizabeth let out another sigh.

"When I had you, I wasn't sure if I wanted you to be involved at the time. I had and still do have a lot of enemies that could use you as a way to get back or closer to me. I couldn't bear that constant worry of someone coming after you because of my mistakes or past actions. I was going to teach you when you got older, but I didn't want to take away your childhood. Or even drag you into the drama of things. I wanted you to grow up having a normal life." She confessed to her son while looking down and away from him.

"I damn sure didn't want you to know about HER!" Elizabeth snarled while looking towards Amay.

"Hey. He would have been dead if it wasn't for me." Amay spoke up while leaning back in her chair, almost like a child talking back to their parent.

"And I thank you for that. I would not have made it in time to save him if he didn't free you." Elizabeth admitted to Amay while letting out a sigh. Even if she had issues with her former partner, she was glad Amay did save her son. Elizabeth then looked back towards her glass and then towards her son. She then had a puzzled look on her face as if something still wasn't sitting right with her.

"I still can't figure out how they were able to find out where we lived nor how did they know I wasn't home for that long. Martha checked the perimeter before we left, yet they still knew. Do you know how they found our location?" Elizabeth asked her son.

Lucas could feel all their eyes fall onto him. He felt a cold sweat run down his back and could feel his guilt choking his heart. He couldn't tell them that he got catfished or was trying to hook up while they were gone.

"I…uh…..Think...I was.....followed. Yeah. I must not have been paying attention to my surroundings and didn't realize that they followed me." He said, trying to lie straight to their face, especially his mother

"Hmmm. That makes the most sense." Elizabeth said, buying into it. "We just got lazy on this one. Whatever is the case, they will not be around anymore."

"Thank god," Lucas said, feeling relief in his chest. "So what happens now?"

Elizabeth swallowed the last bit of wine and could feel the slight tipsiness kicking in. She let out a longing sigh as that was the last of her good wine. "Damn those bastards. Those wines they drank were expensive as hell and were the last made by a special brewer that owned me one. Know I gotta find a whole new supplier." She spoke out loud before placing both her hands on the table and moving her finger in a circle before letting out a groan.

"Mom," Lucas said, trying to keep her on track.

"Oh right." She said, sitting back up and crossing her arms. "So far, I'm thinking of wiping your mind of all that happened last night and coming up with a good excuse for why Amay is here. I can explain that she is a long-time friend needing a place to stay. Or move everyone and everything to a whole new location and just start over with life. It shouldn't be hard....."

Elizabeth's words soon became mutters and white noise to Lucas as he couldn't believe what she was saying.

Lucas could do nothing but sit there listening to his mother rambling off. He felt himself sink into his own mind and fight the urge to say something or even throw in his own opinion. He wished he could, but he knew she wasn't going to allow him to get a choice in this. His hands gripped his shorts tightly as they began to shake.

"I don't want to go back to a normal life after something like last night. That's all you have to tell her." Lucas's inner voice spoke to him. "Just tell her you don't want that. Speak up for yourself for once." Yet, he just sat there quietly. He was about to go into autopilot and shut himself off from the others until an unexpected voice spoke up.

"Why don't you let him decide?"

This caught the attention of everyone in the room as their heads turned to see that it was Amay that spoke up. Her words made Elizabeth go silent as she didn't expect anyone to say anything. She looked straight towards Elizabeth with an annoyed look on her face. Lucas and Martha both felt the tension between the two, but it was Amay that spoke again.

"Instead of thinking for him, why don't you allow him to decide. Last night affected him the most in some way, so why not let him decide what he wants to do with it." Amay said, raising her hand towards Lucas. She noticed his hands and knew the look when a person was about to separate themselves from the rest.

"Don't be ridiculous. Lucas knows I'm making the best choice for him, and he's fine with that." Elizabeth snapped back at her former friend.

"Ask him then!?" Amay hissed back.

"Fine then! I will." Both Elizabeth and Amay turned their heads towards Lucas.

"Lucas, sweetie, are you alright with me deciding for you, or would you like to make your own?" Elizabeth said in her motherly tone. She was confident in him picking the right words she wanted to hear.

Lucas could feel his chest-beating hard as he was finally given a chance to speak his mind. He looked towards Elizabeth and then back at Amay. "I….want…..to be a part of this," Lucas said in a shallow voice avoiding his mother's eye contact.

"Please speak up, sweetie. I didn't hear you correctly." Elizabeth said, leaning in closer to hear better and having a double-take.

"I said I want to be a part of this," Lucas spoke up much clearer. He could see the utter surprise on his mother's face.

Elizabeth nearly knocked her chair over as she sat up, and she slammed both hands on the table, nearly knocking over her glass. "Absolutely not!! It's too dangerous for you!" She was panicking about his choice.

"Mom! Last night, I thought I was going to die. I felt so unless and powerless against those three. If it wasn't for this dem...I mean, your former partner, I wouldn't be sitting here now." Lucas explained as he stood his ground against his mother. His hands were shaking, and he could feel his heart beating faster.

"I…." Elizabeth was stuck on her words to say as what he said was true. She wouldn't have made it in time to save him no matter how fast she was going. "But Luci….there are many dangers that come when you Demi-Partner and dive into this side. You're opening yourself up to a lot of stuff, and sometimes I won't be able to keep you safe. Or protect you."

"Then please train me. If you train me and help me harness some of my powers, then you don't have to worry so much about me, mom." He said, placing a hand on hers, trying to comfort her.

Elizabeth looked into her son's eyes and could see that he was worried as well. Yet, she knew deep down that he was right. She let out a long sigh before placing a hand on her sons hand. "Very well then. I can't stop you, but I will be your teacher. It's not going to be an easy road, but if you listen to what I say then, you will be able to handle yourself." She relented as she cupped his hand before releasing his hand.

Elizabeth quickly and silently reached around and grabbed her chair, placing it up right before retaking a seat. As if on cue, Martha got up and went to the stove. She pulled out a small pot, filled it with water, then placed it on the stove.

"Green or Chamomile?" Martha asked, opening their cabinet displaying different types of tea. She knew when her mother was going to have a major headache, and since Elizabeth was out of her favorite wine, Martha was going to prepare the next best thing.

"Green, please," Elizabeth answered while rubbing her temple, feeling her head starting to throb. She then looked at Lucas, and a soft smile formed on her face at his shaggy hair. "Since we are going with the training option, you are going to need a partner. This is usually the hardest part or well challenging part." Elizabeth said, leaning back a little.

"Actually. I'll do it." Amay spoke up again. She then saw Elizabeth was about to say something but immediately responded.

"Lizzy, I know we have our differences. However, you need someone you can trust at the moment. Since my powers are not at their best, and I highly doubt I know anything about this world since I was last awake, this will be the best choice to make. You can keep an eye on him and me at the same time." Amay explained while looking at Lucas, who turned to his mom with a scared look.

"Hmmm." Elizabeth angrily let out as she thought about it for a few seconds. She didn't see any way around it because Amay was right. She then looked away and raised a hand up. "Fine." She said in a very disapproving tone. She was trapped in a corner with this and hated she had to allow them to have their way. "However, if you hurt him. I will make you pay." Elizabeth threatened her former partner.

"Sounds alright with me," Amay replied, smiling back at Elizabeth, almost challenging her. A sinister smile crept across her light red lips as her eyes darted toward Lucas.

"Sooo Lizzy." She held onto those words as she moved close to Lucas. "Does that mean we can do anything with our contract?" Amay asked, placing her hand on Lucas's leg, slightly rubbing it.

The hair on the back of Lucas's neck stood up straight as Amay's warm icy hand touched his leg and slightly moved up. He quickly raised his hands up in an attempt to look innocent. He could see his mom's eye twitch ever so slightly as she put on a smile.

"If you value your Iife, I would ask another question, Amay. " Elizabeth responded as she placed a hand on her empty wine glass.

"But does that mean we can make a contract about anything, mother-in-law?" Amay asked again, savoring the last word with a smile.

Elizabeth kept a smile on her face as a visible vein could be seen throbbing on her right temple. Her right hand was squeezing so hard on the glass that it was on the verge of shattering. Lucas swallowed hard as he could feel her getting ready to jump across the table towards the demon girl.

"Relax, Lizzy. I'm only teasing you." Amay said, giggling childishly. She could feel Elizabeth thinking of many ways to kill her and even her killer intention spilling out. She back away from Lucas and moved her hair out of her way before crossing her arms.

"On a serious note, I would like to go out and get some proper clothing of my own. I like the shirt but it's a little big for my liking, and your bra thingy is killing me." She said, pulling down the shirt a little to show what exactly she meant. She then adjusted her strap a little but still felt uncomfortable in it.

Lucas looked at the shirt and realized something. "Wait….are you wearing my shirt?"

"Yes. Yes, I am. I currently don't have any and had to mix hand-me-downs." Amay answered before standing up so Lucas and the rest can get a better look. She even went as far as doing a tiny spin for them.

Lucas saw she was indeed wearing his shirt and then noticed that she had one of Martha's shorts on with what he could guess was Elizabeth's socks. He had to admit his shirt was a little big on her but overall, not a bad clothing match-up. She could have passed as a regular short woman if it wasn't for her eyes, sharp teeth, and abnormally red hair.

"So when are you gonna take her to get clothes?" Lucas turned around to ask Elizabeth just as Martha brought her a hot cup of tea.

"I'm not. You are." Elizabeth responded while blowing softly on her cup of tea. The smell enticing her to take a sip.

"Wait, what now!?" Lucas's eyes went wide as he felt his heart drop.

"Welcome to the club, sweetheart," Elizabeth said, giggling to herself before taking another sip of her tea. She could feel her nerves finally going down as she saw the worried look on her son's face.