'Robert simply doesn't understand that when we got married I didn't sign up for having his dinner ready every night at six o'clock on the dot. When he's hungry he gets cranky.'
'Call Pizza Pizza,' I suggested. 'Thirty minutes or it's free.'
Mom smiled. 'An excellent idea.'
Robert looked over his shoulder at me and then back at my mother. 'Are you two mocking me? That's just great.'
'Robert.' Mom sighed. 'Calm down, would you? You're being ridiculous.'
'I'm sick of this, Susan.'
Her eyes narrowed. 'That makes two of us. Now I suggest that you relax or you're going to have to take your temper elsewhere.'
'This is my house.'
She smiled thinly at him. 'Our marriage certificate makes it half mine. Don't you forget that.'
'Shut up!' He slapped her hard across the face and she gasped.
The glass she held flew out of her hand and shattered on the floor. Without a word, but with her face reddening further with obvious anger, she crouched down and immediately started picking up the broken shards, focused on her task.
My headache from hell shot through the rest of my body and pain exploded in my stomach. I closed my eyes and when I opened them, I had Robert by his arm, twisting him around to look at me.
'Never hit my mother again,' I snarled at him, and then I felt something break.
It was his arm.
He yelped in pain and his expression quickly changed from rage to surprise at my unexpected strength. 'Let go of me!'
I did, letting him go as if he had just burst into flames. He held his injured arm to his chest and ran from the kitchen. I heard the front door slam shut and then his car start up, tires squealing as he left the driveway.
I felt strange and out of control. My skin tingled and my eyes began to burn. I squeezed them shut. What was wrong with me?
'Nikki, what just happened? Come back here-' I heard my mom say as I ran out of the room and up the stairs to my bedroom.
I stood against the door and tried to breathe normally, tried to will the pain wracking my body to go away. I was so mad. So unbelievably furious that anyone would treat my mom like that. The yelling was one thing, but hitting? No way. Not going to happen. Out of all of her crappy marriages over the years, the men hadn't been princes, but they hadn't been abusive either. It wasn't going to start now. I wouldn't allow it.
I breathed out. 'Relax, Nikki. Relax.'
I felt like if I didn't calm down something really bad would happen. Something worse than snapping Robert's arm like a twig. I moved to my vanity mirror and sat down heavily in front of it. My hair was a mess, a windblown and tangled blonde bird's nest. My face was flushed with anger. But my eyes. .
Oh, my God. ~My eyes.
They weren't hazel anymore, they were red. Bright, glowing red, and the pupils weren't round, they were slits, like a cat's eyes. No wonder they were burning so much. Had Robert seen them change? I didn't think so. He'd only looked shocked-not scared or freaked out. Red eyes like these would definitely freak somebody out.
I squeezed my eyelids shut and forced myself to relax until the pain began to go away, until my heart stopped pounding like crazy, until my face cooled and the tightness in my body lessened.
Slowly I opened my eyes again.
They were back to normal. But it didn't make me feel any better.
It's true, I thought, a sick feeling replacing the pain in my gut. Michael was right. He was right about everything! I'm part demon.
I'd wanted to kill Robert, not just hurt him. And it would have been so easy. Too easy. It felt natural.
That scared the hell out of me.
There was a knock at my door.
'Honey,' Mom said. 'Can I come in?'
'Y-yeah,' I managed. I cleared my throat. 'Come in.'
The door creaked open. She had her arms crossed, a look of worry on her face. Had she seen my eyes? Did she know what I'd done? What I'd almost done?
'What on earth just happened in the kitchen with you and Robert?' she asked.
'I… I think I hurt his arm when I grabbed him.' I sucked in a breath. 'I didn't mean to, but he deserved it.'
'I'm so sorry you had to see that,' she said. 'I'm sorry you had to get involved with something so unpleasant.'
The fact that she wasn't grilling me on being a super-strong, red-eyed demon girl was evidence that she hadn't noticed anything too bizarre. I would have felt a sense of relief at that if I wasn't so stressed out.
'Was that the first time he hit you or is this a regular thing?' My voice was strained.
She sighed. 'He's never done that before. Trust me, if he had we would have been out of here. I can forgive a lot of things, but I'm not a big fan of bruises, if you know what I mean.'
'Good.'
I stood up and gave her a hug. She stroked the hair back from my face and smiled. 'Who knew my sixteen- year-old daughter would become my bodyguard? Have you been taking self-defense lessons?'
'It's not my fault you married somebody so fragile.'
She shook her head. 'So much for searching for the perfect man, huh? I don't think he exists.'
'I could have told you that.'
Her smile widened. 'So young and so cynical already. Just like your good old mom.'
I was silent for a moment. 'Is that why you've been married so many times? Because you're trying to find somebody perfect? Maybe that's why you write romance novels.'
'Are you trying to be my shrink? Because my messed-up love life could use some analyzing.'
'What about my father?' I asked. There was no time to beat around the bush. I had to learn everything I could about him as fast as possible before something even worse happened than breaking Robert's arm.
Her mouth dropped open. 'Excuse me?'
'Tell me about him. You always avoid the topic, but I really want to know. I need to know. Was he the perfect man?'
She stiffened. 'Your father left me.'
'I know that part already. But who was he? What did he look like? Was he nice or was he a jerk like Robert? Was there anything… unusual about him?'
Like, was he a demon from another dimension? I thought. That was unusual. Very unusual.
She shook her head. 'Your father was… I thought he was the love of my life. But I was wrong. I was young when I met him. I didn't know any different.'
That much I knew. My mother had been in her teens when she gave birth to me. She was only thirty-four years old now, which seemed old to me, but I knew it wasn't. Some people even mistook us for sisters.
'Your father,' she continued, 'took a few classes with me my first year at college. We hit it off. Went out a few times. Obviously we got a little too close too soon and I became pregnant with you. Then he left and I never saw him again. I'm sorry, Nikki, but the story isn't terribly romantic. You'll have to read one of my books if you want a happy ending.'
I concentrated on everything she was saying, trying to pick out something that might help me understand. So far, nothing. 'But his name was definitely Desmond.'
She nodded, her face clouding over with emotion. 'That's right.'
