Caged in Darkness (Caged #1)(49)

My parents had decided to trap Asmodeus to gain his power. However, they first needed to learn his true name. The names of demons and angels contained power of the named one. After many failed attempts to learn Asmodeus's true name, my parents summoned the archangel, Haniel. Strangely, he was known for keeping lost secrets. He willingly gave my parents the information they needed.

I was completely immersed in my mothers’ journal, when I read how they summoned Asmodeus. It was hard to believe that they hadn’t ended up dead. Apparently, the name Haniel gave them was false, which amused Asmodeus. Left with no life lines, my parents had a single choice open to them; a bargain.

At first, Asmodeus wasn’t interested in a bargain. After all, he was the highest ranking prince of hell; only Lucifer sat above him. However, when I crawled from my crib and into the circle, his tune changed. My mother begged him to leave me be, but Asmodeus bent down, picked me up and smelled me.

I was in shock. Asmodeus had held me as a toddler and he didn’t kill me? My mother begged for my safety? This journal was going to give me a headache, while it turned my world upside down.

Asmodeus knew I was descended from the Cross lineage, but he smelled something more in my blood. He accused my mother of consorting with an angel, but she denied the accusation. Angered, Asmodeus hooked his hand around my neck and squeezed. My mother begged him to stop, but he wouldn’t. My father stepped in. He shouted that I was a Nephilim and my mother looked at him in shock.

The angels had been forbidden to mate with humans, but one angel had found a loophole. To possess a human and have that human, mate with another. It wasn’t technically against the rules. An angel had possessed my mother without her knowledge. My mother didn’t have time to be angry with my father and rationalized that I was still her daughter. I was unique because I had three biological parents. Huh, hadn’t I lucked out? Three parents and none of them stepped up to the plate to be a real parent!

The rest of the journal, was even more shocking than the realization that I had an angel for a parent. Since school had been called off, I dialed Willow and Izzy the next morning at seven. When they arrived, we secluded ourselves in my bedroom and I told them everything. They stared at me in horror, when I told them about my absentee parent, and couldn’t believe that there was more.

“Asmodeus told my parents it made me stronger than the Nephilim. I was descended from the Nephilim, who had fed on the blood of a demon and I was also the child of an angel. He explained that it made me an entirely new species. It meant that I was more angel than human, but with demonic powers thrown into the mix.”

“Geez! Girl, you have the most screwed up life ever!” Izzy said, before I finished explaining.

“Ummm… yeah!” Willow joined in the distress over my horrible life.

I sighed and continued, “Having the Cross blood was a bigger plus because it meant I was descended from the founders of two covens: Sacred Moon and Meadow Falls. Meaning I could be initiated into both, which included a massive amount of power. Asmodeus made a deal with my father. He would wait until I was old enough to be initiated into a coven. Once I was, he would use me to tap into the collective and sacrifice every member of those covens, me included.”

“Holy Hell!” “Crap!” Izzy and Willow shouted at once.

“Yep, the story of my screwed up life continues. Apparently, my Mother didn’t agree with the deal. They decided to build up enough power of their own to stop Asmodeus from taking me, but accepted that the covens would still be sacrificed. Their way of protecting me, was to sacrifice innocents to gain enough power and keep me safe.” I paused, while they absorbed everything.

“Unable to internalize the power, it would be the equivalent of a nuclear bomb if they absorbed that it. I, on the other hand, was not a witch. As a child, they had turned their power on me. It had felt like darkness was burying into my soul, they were giving me more power. Enough power to provide protection once I could access it.”

I cried. Izzy held my hand in comfort, while Willow sat behind me on the bed to wrap her arms around me in a hug. I was lucky to have two amazing friends.

“Do you think you can tell us the rest?” Willow whispered in my ear, squeezing tighter.

“Yeah, I think so.”

“There's more?” Izzy was horrified, but nodded for me to continue.

“My mother wrote that their deeds to gain me power corrupted them. Their souls darkened until they remembered their goal, but not the reason behind it. They couldn’t experience love any longer. Before their souls were completely lost to darkness, they threw themselves into one last act of love. They trapped the demon in the bloodstone box, hoping I would only have to call my extra power, as a last re-resort.” Sobs racked my body, but Izzy and Willow helped me to gain composure.

“Shhh… it’s okay. None of this is your fault.”

“Yeah, Willow is right. If your parents hadn’t summoned Asmodeus in the first place, none of this would have happened!”

“That’s not why I am crying.” Izzy handed me a Kleenex to blow my nose with. “I’m crying because this means that they loved me. They did all those horrible things because they cared. All this time, I thought they were evil, but they became that way to protect me.”

The way I saw my parents was different now. They were parents who made a mistake. They were corrupted because they did the wrong thing for the right reasons. I wasn’t unloved; I was loved too much.