Black Friday- retribution

Chapter ten- white feathers.

Katelyn propped herself onto one of the chairs at the dining table in her mother's kitchen and rubbed her lower back. She couldn't think of a time that she felt this uncomfortable.
Athena handed a camomile tea to Katelyn and sat down opposite her daughter.
"All I'm saying is, you're not very smart." She said, sipping her drink slowly.
"Thanks a fucking lot!"
"Don't take that tone with me! I won't have profanity at my table!"
"Don't treat me like a child then."
"Well don't act like one then, Katelyn!"
Katelyn glared at her mother, rage building inside, years of resentment coming to the surface.
"You're a fine one to talk! Mother of the FUCKING year!" She raged.
"Tell me again, how old was I when you decided to leave me and Kyle for a year so you could shag about like a drunken whore?"
Katelyn sat back, shocked by her own words. It was too late, it was out there and there was no going back now.
"You was with you're father."
"Yeah great help he was. He spent most of his time drunk or out somewhere. Kyle raised me. Not you and not dad!" Katelyn shouted.
"Oh and then when you did come back finally, you and dad spent the rest of my childhood fighting! Not to mention the drugs and black magic. Talking to demons and opening portals you couldn't close...do I need to go on, mother!"
Athena slammed her hand onto the table. "How dare you! You come into my house after all this time of being absent and speak to me like that..."
"Oh save it! I'm gone." Katelyn stood up, wincing in pain as the thing inside her gave a sharp kick in her left rib.
"Sit down! Your in no fit state to go anywhere." Athena ordered.
Katelyn reluctantly did as her told.
"Don't start playing the perfect mum role now. I've gone all this time without it." She spat.
The two sat in silence. Barely looking at each other, waiting for the other to speak first.
"This tea tastes like shit." Katelyn mumbled.
"Must you use that language? You've been in the city too long, talking like a common reprobate." Athena said, irritated.
Katelyn turned her nose up, and rolled her eyes.
"Oh do shut up mother! This 'I'm so holy, look at me' act might work on Kyle, because he likes to be the peacemaker...but I'm not buying it."
The doors to the dining room opened and Kyle marched in.
"Can you two quit it? You're scaring Kova!" He said.
Katelyn peered into the living room, Kova was cuddled up to Audrey, tears welled in her eyes and she turned away from Katelyn's look of apology. "It was a mistake coming here. I will never forgive you. Not today, not ever." She said, angrily.
Katelyn stood up and walked out of the house, ignoring the pain in her stomach, the sick feeling in her throat and Athena's calls to come back.
                                 ***
Katelyn walked to the woods, and rested on the bench facing the lake. It was so calm and peaceful. The stillness of the water, the tiny bubbles that popped from the fish, and the silence was heavenly.
She hadn't intended to shout at her mother. If she could have that conversation again, she would have been calm and spoke like an adult, not like a spoilt teenager.
Everything was a mess. A few weeks ago, her life was all crime reports, banter with Cass and coffee dates with...Cass.
Oh Cass, I need you so much right now. I need a hug and for you to tell me everything is ok.
She thought to herself, silently. If she closed her eyes, she could see his face. His smile. That goofy laugh...
"Katelyn?"
Opening her eyes she turned around.
"Selena!" She smiled, happy to see an old friend.
"How are you? Oh wow you're pregnant?" Selena said, surprised. She reached out and put her palm on the bump.
Instantly she stepped back.
"What is that?" She said, horrified.
"Long story short, I was kidnapped and raped by a sadistic alpha vampire who wants to breed with human women to make his own super-race so he can wipe out humanity." Katelyn said, bluntly.
Selena was gobsmacked.
She pushed her hair back behind her ears, and looked at Katelyn for a minute, trying to work out whether it was a joke or not.
"Iced tea?" She asked.
"Sure."
                                   ***
"I can't believe that your a cop now. I always thought you would be a dentist or a boxer... never an officer of the law."
"A boxer! What the hell..." Katelyn snorted.
Selena had made pizza and raspberry iced tea for them, and the pair were laying on Selena's bed catching up on a missing twelve years. Katelyn told her about her flat, the city and all about Cass.
Selena told her about the psychic powers she had developed and being able to make things happen through witchcraft.
Selena even dressed like a witch. She had black leggings, a grey layered mini-dress, black knee high boots and a black hat. She wore several silver rings on each hand and her eyes where thick with eyeliner with perfect flicks in a delicate swoosh. Her bedroom was filled with occult and spiritual decor, from her huge selection of healing crystals to her variety of oracle cards. Incense sticks burned by the window and a scented candle flickered on the bedside cabinet. It was a witches paradise.
She told Katelyn how she was trying to reach her parents from the other side, and had almost made contact, but she didn't have enough energy for it.
"Maybe I could reach Cass." She said.
Katelyn sat up, it was an idea she had never thought of.
"You could do that? Like today?" She asked, nervously.
"We can do it right now." Selena said, and they got into a more comfortable position, open palms facing upwards and Selena began deep breathing exercises, before continuing.
Closing her eyes, she relaxed her body and sat in silence.
"He's cute!" Selena blushed.
"You really see him? How do you know it's him?" Katelyn asked.
"Beard. Long hair, tall... beautiful eyes. He's smiling."
"I don't believe you." Katelyn hesitated.
"He's standing right next to you."
"Well you tell him to give me a sign that he's really there." Katelyn said, crossing her arms.
Just then, a single white feather floated down and landed on her lap.
Katelyn picked it up, stunned but still unsure.
"How's that for a sign!" Selena said, delighted.
"The window is open. It could have flown in. Pure coincidence, that's all." Said a skeptical Katelyn.
"Another sign?" Asked Selena to apparently thin air.
And... nothing.
Katelyn stood up "see I told you, he isn't here."
And just like that, a dozen white feathers fell from nowhere, floating down slowly like snowflakes. One single pure white feather landed on her nose, and she felt a cold breeze touch her cheek.
"Oh my god.. he really is here."
She believed in white magic, finally. Something so beautiful, and so pure.
After years of only seeing the bad, and watching her mother dabble in dark magic, she had finally witnessed something good in her adult life. It was like being a child again, playing in the woods with the fairies and listening to the stories that they told.
"Cassian Hames. I always have and always will love you." She whispered.
She closed her eyes and relaxed. Visualising Cassian in front of her.
She felt him hold her hand, as he whispered in her ear "I love you too."
                                   ***