Forever Changed

chapter 21



I got up and headed back down the path, toward my home. All my questions were answered. I knew who I was. I was a demon just like Landon. Just like my father.

I was half witch and half demon. Now, I understood completely. The powers I possess are unique. I have control over my destiny and I have the power to have everyone fear me. I have the power to control my future and the power to lift the Marcus curse.

My father changed and he knew that he could change because of me. Now they hold him in damnation for eternity. Well that won’t be long because I am going to bring him back.

My mother was my protector and eventually she will know she is a witch. My father is my guidance to perfect my powers and teach me all I need to know. Landon, hmmmm, I still was not sure where he was to play a part. I know that he has something to do with my destiny as well. In just a few days I have grown feelings for him.

I realized as well why I was so attracted to the falls. Lucas was what the final change would be. He would be the one to change me and he did. All the pictures I had taken, was leading me to my change, to tell me who I was.

He was the boy I seen in my lens, when I was taking the pictures. I had a peek of my future, but I didn’t understand. I knew I could heal myself through my anger and I know I can bring my father home where he belongs. I had the power to change Landon and give him a different look at life.

My mother will soon glimpse my power and she will learn about hers too. We would make a perfect family, but I had plans.

I made it home and my mind started spinning. I had simmered my anger on the walk and I was now worried about the outcome of what would happen to me over Lucas. My first step was to get my father back; however I first needed to talk to Landon.

I walked in through the back door. Julie was making dinner.

“Enjoy your walk, Elizabeth?” she asked looking like she was smiling at the dinner she was stirring.

“You could say that,” I replied to her weakly. All the energy had been sucked out of me. Julie I guess recognized the tone in my voice and she looked up at me. Her smile faded and she seemed worried.

“Elizabeth, what happened?” She rushed over looking at me from head to toe. I looked at my reflection through the glass, in the window and noticed that my hair was array. I was filthy and covered in dirt. My arms were scraped up and bleeding something awful.

“Nothing, I slid and fell on a rock on my way down the path, coming home,” I lied. Julie was so kind hearted that I hated lying to her, but I didn’t want to take another innocent life away because they found out my secret.

“I am going to go upstairs and clean up Julie,” I said weekly heading toward the stairs. Julie followed close behind.

“Would you like me to bring you dinner?” She asked quietly.

“No thank you, I am not really hungry, but you can save me a plate if you would like.” I said with a weak smile.

“I certainly will, get some rest.” She replied and headed back into the kitchen.

I made it to the second flight of stairs, before I collapsed, quietly and weakly I whispered, “Landon.”

“I am here, Elizabeth,” he said gently. I felt his arms slowly and gently pick me up and carried me up the last flight of stairs, to my bedroom.

He took me straight in the bathroom and sat me down gently on the toilet. He turned on the water, filling the tub up. The steam rolled off the water. He walked over and started peeling off my dirty clothes, after removing my shoes. He discarded them in the floor. He picked me up gently and sat me in the tub of water.

It felt so good too. He rolled up a towel and placed it behind my head. I laid my head back, closed my eyes, and my body relaxed. He sat down beside me on the tub and looked at me.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” he said shaking his head at me. “You should have called me sooner, instead of walking home. The first time that you fully change is the most exhausting.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked him opening my eyes and looking at him.

“I was not allowed to or I would have been imprisoned, for the at least a century, with brutalizing torture. I could handle the torture, but I couldn’t handle not seeing you Elizabeth,” he said with sadness in his voice, while lowering his head.

“I would have saved you,” I replied with a weak smile.

“You wouldn’t have been able to Elizabeth, remember I am the son of the Dark Lord.” He whispered so low I almost couldn’t hear him.

“I remember. Landon, can you tell me more about your choice please?” I asked while laying my head back soaking in the hot water.

“My father gave me a choice; he said I am the weakest out of my brothers. I have emotions and feelings that no demon should have. So, when my father came to visit Mitch to prepare him for his destiny, he told my father about you. Of course my father already knew. Mitch said you needed to be protected and kept safe from other demons, who will try to take your powers. So my father sent me.

“He said this was my chance to live a halfway normal life. He told me that it would be my choice to stay or go back to the underworld. He also said that whatever I chose, he would not strip my powers from me. However, I do not think he really knew that you were my destiny, Elizabeth. You are the one that I know can set me free. Your father knew this too when he looked me in my eyes.”

I inhaled deeply and slowly let my breath out. “You are my mate, Landon?” I asked looking up at him.

“No, Elizabeth I will only be your mate if you choose for me to be.”



“Then I really do have control of my destiny now?” I asked a little scared of the answer.





“Yes, you can choose your own destiny. Your father changed your course of destiny when he fell in love with a witch. My father has no connection with you now. However, your father is paying dearly for it as we speak. He has received a harsh punishment for his choosing to mate with a witch,” Landon said this while his eyes looked tortured.

“So, how was there a curse put on my family to begin with,” I asked him quietly.

“Back in the 1800s one of your great grandfathers, Marvin Marcus, made a deal with my father, the Dark Lord. He asked my father to keep him alive and to provide his family with a home and fortune. However, my father told him that this request came with a price. His wife would only be able to bare one child, which would be a son. He would have to push his wife to kill him and all his fortune would be passed down to the next Marcus. It turned into a vicious cycle, unfortunately. Because of this my father was to keep his soul for all of eternity. His wife would also have to pay his debt, so that she could not receive any fortune, but his son would.

“Then your father broke the curse by having a daughter instead of a son, but he still has to pay.” Landon said sadly.

“So, my family had a curse because one of my great grandfathers gave his soul for fortune?” I asked becoming angry.

“Yup, putting it in a nutshell,” he replied silently.

“Well the Dark Lord may not be aware that I have the power to bring him back then,” I said reaching for a towel.

“What do you mean?” Landon asked, curiosity shining through his black eyes.

“You said your father has no connection with me because my father lifted the curse off of me, right?” I watched as he shook his head yes. “Ok, then I am half witch and my father left me a letter telling me what I can do to bring him back.”

Landon, looked at me and smiled, “And my father will not know anything about it because he cannot connect to you,” Landon finished my sentence.

“Exactly, until my father disappears from the underworld.” I replied while wrapping a towel around me.

All the blood and dirt had been washed off in the water and because I became so angry listening to Landon talk about our family history, my bloody arms were now healed, with no mark left behind.

I walked over to the sink and picked up my brush and brushed all the knots out of my hair. I pulled it back into a ponytail.

Landon walked out of the bathroom; he returned holding some clothes in his hands. He stood there for a minute lost in his own world, while I started dressing.

He looked at me and said, “How did it feel to let Lucas fall?”

The question knocked the breath out of me. I stood there staring at Landon, trying to think of what to say to him. I was not sure exactly how I felt really. At the time, I was happy and I was hoping he would resurface so I could torture him. Now, I felt bad and was a little afraid I was going to spend the rest of my life in prison.

“At the time I was scared walking with him down the path.” I continued to tell Landon everything that happened, Lucas trying to blackmail me, by exposing my secret, that he was only half right about. I told him everything even about the storm forming above me and the wind blowing in my face. I told him how angry I felt and how excited I was to watch him squirm.

“Now, I feel guilty, and I am sorry I was so angry that I didn’t even try to save him. My conscience is stuck on his family and how they are going to feel.” I said on the verge of tears. Landon wrapped his arms around me and held me close.

“I just don’t understand about him saying that I had showed him my secret.” I said looking up at Landon.

“Ahhhhh, I can answer that. You remember you were staring really hard at him through the glass?” Landon asked smiling.

“Yeah, I was really pissed him and his friends were being horrible.” I said defending myself and I didn’t even know why.

“Well while you were staring a hole through him, I was watching you. Your eyes turned red, Elizabeth. They turned blood red, you could have killed him where he was standing and I yelled at you because you would have given your secret away to more people than just him.” Landon said this while laughing. “The last thing I wanted was you to go psycho pissed at all the people in the mall!”

Now I felt stupid! All the signs were there of me being a demon. The red light that shined in the closet the night my father was murdered and the red I seen shine in my father’s eyes while he was being murdered. All the signs were there, but I refused to acknowledge them. The storm is caused by my anger which therefore is part of my demon side. The healing, I am assuming has to do with both me being half witch and half demon.

I smiled at Landon and laughed, “I guess I could pass as a blond, huh, all the signs were there, but I ignored them.”

Landon shook his head and laughed and asked “So now what are you going to do?”

I replied with a small hint of anger in my voice, “First, I will rest and tomorrow I will bring my father home and soothe my mother’s aching heart.”