I glared at him. "Up yours, old man. Why don''t you do what most of your kind has and bail?"


    "Why, I''m concerned for my family, of course."


    "And where the fuck was your concern when Laura needed it, huh?" I hated myself as soon as the words left my mouth. Don''t get me wrong, dude''s a gigantic asshole, but it wasn''t his fault. We''d already had him trapped and sealed tight. Besides, thinking of it as his fault gave him more power than he should ever have over me. I didn''t apologized though. Cause, y''know. Asshole.


    "Look, never mind about that." I swallowed, nervous. "About that thing you offered....."


    He raised an eyebrow. "Are you referring to your inheritance?"


    "Y-yeah, I guess I am..."


    "That can certainly be arranged, though I''m afraid it will prove to be quite... taxing... for both parties." He smiled smugly.


    "Just tell me it''s not a fucking blood ritual."


    "Of course it is, girl. Blood to blood, power to power. There is no other way. Unless you wish to run away yet again."


    "Go back to hell, old man."


    "Returning would require having been there in the first place. Now, shall we begin?" He spread his hands.


    I hesitated. This was what I had come here for....


    But...


    Look, being a Witch is bad enough, right? People would only hate me more if I added Demon to that. And there was no guarantee that the old man could actually do what he said.


    But... Well, I had to take the chance.


    Still, couldn''t hurt to be careful. "How do I know this isn''t some kind of trap? I mean, what''re you getting out of this, huh?"


    He looked... well, if I didn''t know better, I''d say he looked hurt. "I would hardly think you would expect a man to have a specific reason for wishing to protect his family."


    "A man, no. A Demon-"


    "How many times must I tell you?! I am NOT a Demon!"


    To say him yelling at me was surprising would be an understatement. He doesn''t really have any other mode than controlled. At least, that''s what I thought.


    "Ya know, I''d almost believe you, if you weren''t stuck inside that Devil''s trap. That thing made for trapping... what was it again...?" I tapped my finger against my lips, then snapped. "Oh yeah! Demons!"If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    I barely held back a snicker when I saw his eyebrows twitch. "You are well aware of the fact that this creation hinders far more than mere Demons, you insolent little brat."


    I widened my eyes in fake innocence. "Why, Grandfather! Is that any way to talk to your only granddaughter? Especially when I was thinking of freeing you..."


    "Do not trifle with me, you ignorant toddler."


    "Toddler? Why then, wouldn''t it be just irresponsible of you to do the ritual then, Grandfather?"


    He glowered at me, and I just did my best to look innocent. Then he threw his head back and laughed, shocking me. "It''s good to finally see you, Rachel! You were right, by the way. The ritual was a trap. Not everyone is worthy of this power, even though they are blood. You though... You are just like your mother."


    I took a step forward before I could stop myself. "You knew her?"


    "She was my daughter, of course I knew her. Despite what that worthless fool seems to have told you, I was there for her until..." He looked down. "But no matter. I failed her. I will not fail you."


    I took a quick step back as he started glowing. "W-woah, Gramps, calm-"


    I''ll never actually know if I finished that sentence, cause that''s when I fainted.


    <hr>


    Did you know that just existing can be painful? Yeah, neither did I ''till that point. It felt like my soul was on fire. Saying it hurt is a massive understatement. We don''t have the words to describe the depth of pain I felt, but to cooperate, I''ll try.


    It was like... like getting myself, body soul and all, tossed into a blender.


    And then the blender exploded.


    To be honest, I''m not sure how long it took. Minutes, hours? It felt like eternities.


    But when I look at the end results? I''d do it all again, and then some.


    When I finally came to, I was lying on the cold stone floor, feeling like my back was burning.


    That''s not a metaphor, but it''s not the whole description either.


    Look, I already told you, it''s not possible for me to really describe this kind of pain.


    I slowly picked myself up off the ground, groaning, both in pain and because my shirt didn''t follow my lead. Turns out whatever happened tore the shit out of it.


    My thought processes stopped when I felt my back touch the floor, making me scream bloody murder.


    Then I blinked. Wait... I was vertical... so....? When I looked back, my eyes went wide. I had... I had....


    Wings.


    Fucking Wings.


    Can you believe that shit?


    But wait, why did I have wings? Demons don''t have wings. Especially not ones with snowy white feathers, which is what I had.


    Did they?


    Actually, they kinda looked like the wings people say angels have.


    And that''s when the really weird thing happened. The pain just....


    Vanished.


    And no, I don''t mean that it stopped. I mean it vanished. Kinda like I had imagined it, y''know?


    Not only that, I felt stronger. A lot stronger. Like, take on a God stronger.


    A Lesser God, but still.


    I''ve never felt better in my life. It was the total opposite of the pain I had just gone through. It was almost like I was...


    BECOMING.


    Like my entire life, I had been a shadow, but now.... now I was going to be everything I was ever meant to be.


    I know you''ll probably never feel that, paper-pushing piss-ant moron that you are, but trust me, it''s like the ultimate drug.


    And the really nice thing? The magic that gave me these wings, this power?


    It gave me the instincts to use them too, as if I had been born with them.


    Neat, right?


    What''s even better is that, as you can see, I don''t have to have those suckers out on display all the time. I can kind of... pull them into myself.


    So that''s what I did. Then I grabbed the tattered remains of what used to be my T-shirt, pricked my finger, and used my blood to draw Runes on it.


    As soon as the Runes repaired my shirt, I slipped it back on. "Well, thanks Gramps. That was... something." When I didn''t get some smart-ass comeback, I looked up.


    The Devil''s trap was still closed, still intact, but....


    Gramps was gone.