The Vampire and The Ghost | ✔︎

Chapter Fifty Seven: Family Relations

                                                                      Annalise 

They both paused for a moment, looking at each other in confusion while Cassius made his way back to the chaos. A woman shouting broke the quiet, and shattered Annalise out of her trance. She dashed forward, brushing past Eugene in her rush. A second pair of footsteps from behind, let her know Gene was quickly following.

Annalise got to the others in record time, halting to a stop besides Victoria. There was a woman, thrashing against Raul's burly hold."Do you know who I am?!" She spat, thrashing her head around, causing her blonde curly hair to go wild. The woman herself was adjourned with jewels, a silver chain around her throat, several different rings, and a pair of statement earrings. She was wearing a slim red dress.

Annalise coughed awkwardly, looking back and forth between Raul and the unknown woman as Eugene settled closely besides her. The woman immediately stopped, snapping her head back to look at Annalise. Her brown eyes widening and red lined lips stretching into a grin. "There's my niece!" She crone, stopping her push and pull with Raul. "Look at you! You look just like your dad!"

Annalise winced, from the little she heard of him, he wasn't the type of man she wanted to be compared too. She bit her lip, brows crunching together, "I don't even know you, who are you?" The half demon demanded, crossing her arms defensively. The woman scoffed, holding back a laugh.

"Of course you do!" She guffawed, "I babysat you once when you were three!". Annalise gave her an odd look, how on earth was she meant to remember something that was almost two decades ago? She was almost certain she had never seen this woman in her life.

"I don't even know who you are?" Annalise wanted it to come out strong and demanded, but all it sounded like was an unsure question. Her view of the woman, still locked up in Raul's hold, was temporarily blocked and Gene stood in front of her. His shoulders were tense, and even though she couldn't see his face, she could tell he was annoyed.

"How can we trust you?" Eugene hissed, "Anna doesn't even know you.". The woman had the audacity to look positively scandalised at his accusations. Her mouth opened and closed, like a particularly hungry fish, as she spluttered.

"Who are you!?" She demanded in response, glaring at everyone but Annalise. "I don't want my niece living with a bunch of men. And vampires at that!" Victoria's mouth fell open in shock, as she gave the woman a 'really?' kind of look. Dawn on the other hand, looked as if she couldn't care one bit, tapping her foot impatiently as she looked around the hallway.

"Well!" Annalise butted in, interrupting Victoria before she could even begin. "If you know me so well, tell me something only my family would know,". She wanted to feel triumphant at having finally catching the strange woman out, but the look on the other woman's face was telling her a complete different story.

"Fine!" The blonde smirked, "When you were little you used to want to be a superhero and would jump off the back of the sofa trying to fly. One day you jumped too high and landed awkwardly, breaking your ankle!" She laughed. Anna squinted down at the ankle she had broken back then, resisting the urge to rub it as she recalled how painful it had been.

Shaking her head to knock off the thoughts, she pointed at the unknown woman. "That's a lucky guess! I'm sure a lot of kids did that too!" Annalise deflected looking at the vampires for moral support, only to find them all holding in a laugh. "Tell me something else then!"

"Okay, sure," The woman grinned manically, "When you were six, you had a crush on a boy in your class. One day you came into class and puked on him accidentally. He said he hated you, if I remember correctly. And for two days you wouldn't come out of your room!" This time round the vampires couldn't hold in their laughter, even Raul looked amused.

Gene shifted slightly to face her, and Annalise placed a hand on her cheeks to cool down the blush that had spread there. He raised a blonde eyebrow at her, holding back a grin. "Did you really throw up on him?".

"Okay!" Annalise shouted, completely avoiding the question in her embarrassment. "So you know me then. But who are you?"

"I'm your Auntie, Amaros' sister," The woman answered, stepping forward as Raul realised his hold on her, finally deciding that she would no longer be a threat. So the woman was a demon then, and not just any demon by the sounds of it. "My name is Astaroth, The Grand Ruler. Now come in for a hug, I missed you!"

In seconds Annalise was squished in her arms, overwhelmed by the scent of her perfume, she tried to pull away. Each effort was met with a tighter hug, so she gave up. Mumbling the words "Grand ruler?" into Astaroth's shoulder. She pulled back, with a smile.

"Don't think about it too much! It's just a nickname, every demon gets one eventually." Astaroth explained, waving her hand dismissively, letting her go. With a sigh, Annalise nodded. It was a lot to take in, though it lulled in comparison to what she had just been through in the last couple of months.

"Why are you here then? If what you said is true, why haven't you come to see me sooner?" Annalise asked, tilting her head confused and intrigued at the same time. Astaroth had the gall to look a little sheepish, fiddling with her necklace.

"I wasn't really allowed to come see you after your father left," Astaroth explained, "Either way, that's in the past now. I'm here because I felt your power explode all the way from hell." She gripped Annalise's shoulders tightly, eyes a light with enthusiasm.

"I want to take you back to hell with me."

Authors Note:

Hey ya'll how are you all? I hope you liked the chapter! Omg, have you seen the amount of reads we've reached now? 94K! I honestly can't believe so thank you all for reading my story!!

Lots of Love,

Sam.E

Word Count:1023