Bound By Blood (Book 7)

Chapter 9

"You get hit the hardest when trying to run or hide from a problem. Like the defense on a football field, putting all focus on evading only one defender is asking to be blindsided." ― Criss Jami

--xxxxxx--

Lauren and Stephanie were sitting on her couch, the old one because her trip to get a new one was hijacked by a demon, and chatting about the events of that evening. 'I don't get why Chris is so annoyed about a few little joke spells.' Lauren said.

'Well, she is your mother's daughter.' Stephanie said. 'Even when she was younger Christina was always trying to do the right thing, even if it wasn't the best thing to do at the time.'

'But you said she had a rebellious stage?' Lauren remembered. 'What was that like? I don't really remember.'

'Just normal teenage stuff.' Stephanie said. 'I remember once, just after she got her power, your mother rang me to see if I knew where she was. There was a time when when Christina came to me when she couldn't go to your mum.'

'Was she with you?' Lauren asked.

'No, she was out with a boy from school.' Stephanie said. 'Your mother went hysterical.'

'Because she was out with a boy?' Lauren said. 'Doesn't seem that bad.'

'It had nothing to do with the boy. It was because Christina lied to her.' Stephanie said. 'As long as you told Michelle the truth, she could forgive almost anything. I was her annoying baby sister, I know.'

'What did you do?' Lauren grinned.

'What didn't I do?' Stephanie said. 'I stole her clothes, her make-up, embarrassed her in front of her friends, teleported her to random places.'

'I did that too, not the teleporting, the annoying.' Lauren agreed. 'But Dani was worse.'

'Oh, I believe that.' Stephanie smiled. 'But at the end of the day, Christina does what she thinks is best, even if it's not always the case.'

'I know she does.' Lauren rubbed her eyes. 'And I need to apologise to her.'

'About what you said? Who is Natalie? A witch?'

'Yeah, there were three sisters who moved in across from us and one of them was becoming unstable because of her power. We tried so hard to talk her out of her plan but she wasn't listening.'

'So Christina hurt her?' Stephanie asked.

'No, she killed her.' Lauren said.

'What?' Stephanie looked at her in shock.

'She didn't mean to.' Lauren said. 'They had a fight and there was an explosion and it just kind of happened.'

'How did she handle that?' Stephanie asked.

'By herself for the most part.'

'Michelle did the same when Belial became too much for us to handle. She took that potion without consulting any of us just to save us.'

'I'm so worried that Christina will do the same one day, she almost has.' Lauren admitted.

'I know you are. But right now I want to know more about you.' Stephanie smiled and changed the subject. 'You're nearly done with school, do you have any idea what you'd like to do afterwards?'

'I really want to be a private psychologist, but Amy said they take interns at the hospital in the psychology department so I might do that first.'

'Very admirable.' Stephanie said just as there was a knock on her door.

'Expecting someone?' Lauren asked.

'No, not right now.' Stephanie said. She got up and answered the door. Lauren got a glimpse of a man dressed in all black standing on the other side. He looked at her and she could tell his eyes were a strange shade of grey. His appearance seemed to shock Stephanie, who stepped outside and closed the door slightly behind her. Lauren tried her best to listen but only caught mumbled words. '....here......I.... told..... not yet.'

'You...... said.... Want....... soon.' The male voice said.

'Get....... here...... now.' Stephanie said before coming back in and slamming the door, locking it.

'Everything okay?' Lauren asked nervously.

'Yes, nothing to worry about.' Stephanie said unconvincingly.

'Who was that guy?' Lauren asked.

'An old friend.' Stephanie told her.

'He didn't seem that friendly.' Lauren admitted.

'Lauren, can we drop this please.' Stephanie turned on the television and put on an old movie. Lauren sat with the sinking feeling in her stomach that something was not right.

xxxxxx

The next morning, Lauren walked through the door to her house and found everyone in the kitchen. They looked up at her as she entered. 'Hey.' She said awkwardly.

'Hey.' A few of them replied.

'Do you want some breakfast?' Katherine asked.

'Yeah, thanks Kath.' Lauren said, sitting down at the table. 'Chris, you didn't go home.'

'Nope.' Christina said, reading the paper. 'How was Stephanie's?'

'It was okay.' Lauren said.

'Have you cooled off?' Dani asked her.

'Yeah, look, I'm really sorry about last night.' Lauren said.

'We know you were upset Lauren, but running off isn't the answer.' Amy told her.

'I'm sorry.' She said again. 'Chris...'

'Did she teach you any new spells?' Christina interrupted. Lauren put a hand on the paper and pulled it out from under her hands.

'Will you please listen, I'm trying to apologise.' Lauren said. Christina sighed and swivelled around on her chair to face her sister. 'I was a jerk last night, you didn't deserve that. I didn't want to go to dad's in the first place, and then everyone was yelling and I...' Christina took her hands.

'I know. It was a lot.' Christina smiled. 'Please can you just be careful around Aunt Steph?'

'I will.' Lauren assured her. 'And I think you should know that she had a visitor last night.'

'What kind of visitor?' Lisa asked.

'I don't know, I only saw him for a second but she talked to him outside. It didn't sound like a friendly conversation.' Lauren said. 'Oh and his eyes were an odd grey colour.'

'Do you think he was a demon?' Dani asked.

'I don't know. Why would she be talking to a demon?' Lauren asked.

'We're going to have to find out.' Katherine said.

'Can't we just let her get on with it? What if she doesn't want us involved?' Lisa asked.

'She'd say something if she was in trouble. Wouldn't she?' Dani wondered.

'Maybe not.' Katherine said.

'I'll try and get a better read on her next time I see her.' Amy said. 'But we can't force her to let us help if she doesn't want any help.'

'What's she doing today Lauren?' Christina asked.

'She still wants to buy a couch. Other than that she didn't say.'

'Right well, let's invite her over here for dinner tonight and maybe we can just ask her about it.' Christina suggested. 'Is everyone around?' They all nodded. 'Great, Lauren can you call her? I don't think she'd agree to come if I did it.'

'Sure, any time in particular?'

'No, whenever she's ready.' Christina smiled.