Chapter 7 -- A Surprise, Fire Training.
Jez and Sandy said goodbye to Scott, it was Sunday afternoon and he needed to head out and get some things done before classes tomorrow.
Once he was gone Sandy grabbed her hand and led her to the couch.
"Jez, what happened earlier?"
"What do you mean Dee?"
Sandy sighs, "OK, this is going to sound crazy, but since you're a succubus I am hoping you roll with it. So," Deep breath, "something strange is going on with me, I don't entirely understand it, ever since we slept together for the first time. Something was, how should I put it. Awakened in me.
"When we slept together after that I could sense something from you, but this last time what I sensed, well, it was almost as if you were ecstatic, and yeah, this is hard to say, I sensed you were very happy because you didn't want to kill us, as if you feared you would be.
"So, what happened earlier?"
Jez's mind stuttered in a circle for a bit, 'What happened to Sandy, how is this possible, did I do something wrong.' She was worried that Sandy would judge her for killing Jake and the two angels that ambushed her.
Her mind calmed as she looked into Sandy's eyes and found nothing but concern and love there, no fear at all. She took a deep breath and said, "Well this has more to do with the Angels, I was ambushed by two on my way home. To make things worse, Jake from the bar was working with them."
She lowered her head shamefully, "I killed Jake in self defense and the angels too, but what happened was I killed Jake with my succubus power." Jez did not tell Sandy she liked it, she just couldn't.
Sandy leaned in and lifted Jez's head by her chin and calmly states, "And you enjoyed it? That makes sense, what I felt I mean. It's ok love, you will be tempted again someday but I know you won't do it unless you have to, to survive."
She pulled Jez into her arms and held her as she cried, crooning and running her hand through Jez's hair to try and calm her. "I am still here, you are not a monster. It does not change it from self defense to murder just because a part of you liked it. The part of you that feels horror and disgust is the proof of who you are."
Jez says softly, "Thanks Dee, what do you suppose is going on with you?"
Sandy shrugged, "No clue, I was hoping you would know, maybe when your dad comes by? He might know."
Jez pulled herself together and headed into the kitchen dragging Sandy with her, she did not feel up to being alone. She headed to the fridge and turned to Sandy, "Hungry? I can make you something."
Sandy just nods so she starts putting together dinner, she also reheats the coffee from earlier. With the comfort of normal every day actions it didn't take long until she was bantering with Sandy again, teasing each other like best friends which made her feel better about things.
Jez knew from psychology that those that kill, even in self defense are never the same again, she just now has a personal understanding of it that she wished she still lacked. But life goes on, it helped that those bastards wanted her dead, made it seem more right than wrong on the balance of things.
Just before 8pm she felt her father coming, he was just over a mile out, so she straightened up the kitchen a bit to kill a few minutes and headed for the door.
Andy walked in and looked his daughter over, he seemed satisfied that she seemed to be holding it together. "How are you feeling Jez?"
Jez replied, "Do you want a drink first, it's a long story and we have some questions."
Andy raised an eyebrow at the word we and nodded, "Sounds good."
They all sat around the couch and Andy stayed silent as Jez worked her way through the unpleasant story, until toward the end when they got to Sandy's part.
Sandy was uncomfortable, she didn't think anything bad was going on but was nervous about it. Reading another's emotions and intentions just wasn't normal she thought.
Andy said, "May I?" and reached over to touch her forehead but held back before making contact.
Sandy nodded so he completed the move and closed his eyes concentrating, his face dropping to one of surprise.
"Can you read Jez's mind now? Close your eyes and try please," Andy said levelly.
"No, nothing."
Andy left the room and came back holding Jez's hairbrush, pulled out a hair and handed it to Sandy. "Try now," he encouraged.
She focused on reading Jez's mind as asked. "Yes I can, I can feel her and some thoughts are coming through, or maybe intentions would be a better way to describe it," said Sandy sounding surprised.
Andy asked, "What is she thinking, just to verify."
Sandy darted a glance at Jezebel and blushed, "Ummm, I am not saying that."
Jezebel grinned smugly, "It's working dad." Then she winked at Sandy. "What does it mean?"
Andy nodded soberly, "Apparently Sandy is a witch. Normally it takes a full coven to activate the powers in a latent witch, apparently what you two got up to was enough to do the job. It is fairly common actually; demon's can bring out magic in latent humans.
"It also explains why she so easily accepted what you are Jez, although your relationship went a long way to that as well, but humans with power often accept the news and company of supernatural races better."
Changing his focus to Sandy he continued, "What you were doing there Sandy is sympathetic magic, because you have her hair you can sense her and even hear her thoughts. Demons can sense each other up to a mile away or so, with that hair you should be able to find Jezebel anywhere.
"I am not an expert on witches or how they use their powers, what I had you do is extremely basic, kind of like a newborn squeezing their parent's finger for the first time. If you want I can send someone your way to get you started, if you want to learn about it that is."
Sandy nodded, looking down at the hair with awe. "That would be great, thank you." She gave Jezebel a sneaky look and started weaving Jezebel's strand of hair with one of her own. Sounding playful she remarked, "Now I can keep an eye out for you."
Andy nodded in approval then said, "One important thing I am telling you now, this is true of all the supernatural. Your power uses life force, reading my daughters mind is like a slow walk, it doesn't take much but it is using power.
"Jez and I can take power from others life force without harm, as a witch you gain it the human way. Sleeping causes it to replenish, as well as eating. That's another thing you will love, never counting calories again, there is no such thing as a fat witch.
"The most important part is if you do something to powerful, or get stupid and use up all your energy on a spell, you will just die, done."
He looks over to Jezebel and says, "Same goes for you and the fire, you probably know that already but I wanted to be sure."
Andy stood up and looked to Jezebel, "Jez, we need to go train right now, before you meet anyone with a modicum of skill in fire wielding, you have been incredibly lucky. If you knew what you were doing you could have killed them both in less than a second and hardly felt a drain to your life force."
Sandy looked up at them, "Can I watch?"
Andy nodded and said, "Let's go."
Jezebel was amazed her friend was a witch, and honestly a little relieved, she was worried that others would go through Sandy to get at her, she was hoping Sandy would be formidable enough soon to at least lessen that risk.
They all jumped into her Dad's car and headed into the seedier side of the city, which made Jezebel raise an eye in question but all she got back from him was, "You'll see."
A short time later they pulled into the back of a triple X theatre and she nodded and said, "I see." When she saw Sandy's questioning look she winked and said with a giggle, "Training with a buffet table on hand."
Sandy laughed hard as they all got out of the car and headed into the building. They went down the basement stairs below the theatre into a room with a metal door and cinder block walls, there were some test dummies as well as other things around the room.
Andy turned to Jezebel and said, "I am going to shield this test dummy using a small amount of power, we are looking to gain control and knowledge here, no firestorms please."
He raised his arm and she could see a thin layer of fire surround the dummy, she raised her hand and using as little power as possible surrounded his shield with her power and flames to burn through, when she got through she immediately put out her fire and turned to him.
Andy asked, "That is exactly what you shouldn't have done Jez, you don't need to take out the whole shield, try again but this time poke a hole. Even a small hole with fire pushing through will light an enemy like a torch, you don't need to surround them."