Chapter 29: 29. Awkward Answers

As soon as we got back to the hospital Mira went to see if she was fired or not, while the rest of us headed back up to my dad's room. And unfortunately I was anxious all over again, as I worried about how he'd react to what happened earlier.

When we got to his door I knocked a couple times, then led Marianne and Eva back inside.

Dad was laying in his bed looking out the window when we entered, but he turned to look at us. And I could tell as soon as I saw his face that he had an awful lot of questions. I wasn't expecting the first one though, but in retrospect it shouldn't have been that surprising.

He was watching me carefully as he asked, "Who are you?"

I sat back down in one of the guest chairs, and Marianne sat next to me. Eva stayed on her feet for now, she stood next to me opposite my girlfriend.

"It's me dad," I told him quietly. "I'm your daughter Lexi."

Dad shook his head, "I was almost willing to go along with that story because I was so happy to think my Lexi was still alive. But you don't just look completely different, you're a lot shorter too."

He added, "I googled it while you were gone. There's no way you're the same person. They don't have any medical procedures to make you so much smaller than you were before."

My stomach started to feel heavy as dad was talking. I closed my eyes and sighed as I thought for a few moments how to handle this. After things went so well earlier it felt like we were starting over from scratch now, except this time I couldn't gloss over my miraculous transition. And now dad was skeptical and wary too.

"Ok," I finally said as I opened my eyes again. "You're right, there's no normal way to get from my original body to this. It was magic. The night of the accident in the Underground I got an instant magical transition. I went into the Tube station in my original body and came out looking like this."

Dad shook his head, "That's impossible."

I pointed out, "A couple hours ago you saw me and Mira vanish before your eyes. That was magic."

"I don't..." Dad's voice trailed off, he seemed unsure how to respond or what to think about that.

After a few seconds he seemed to decide to ignore the impossible stuff, and moved on to some of his other questions instead. "How do you know Mira? And what did you say about being in prison? And about waking up four years ago? What were you searching for in the Aegean?"

"That wasn't..." I sighed and looked at Eva. "I'm going to tell him the truth ok? I don't know how else to handle this."

My demon nodded, "Very well Lexi. Let me know if I can help."

"Who are you talking to?" dad asked. "I suppose you're going to tell me you can see ghosts now too?"

I grimaced, "Just the one. Her name is Eva, she's the one who helped me that night in the Tube station. And she's been with me ever since..."

Over the next thirty or forty minutes I told dad most of the same story I told Eva's family earlier.

I explained how I found Eva's bracelet, and dad already knew about the burglary so I didn't have to leave that out. He knew I'd been involved and that Ian spent time in jail because of it. I told him how I accidentally died in the Tube station, how Eva brought me back in this new body, and how we were bound together since then.

And I explained that Eva was an ancient supernatural being who could do real magic, and admitted that her kind were known as demons but I promised she wasn't evil or scary and had nothing to do with hell or any of that other stuff people believe about them.

I wasn't sure what to say about the meeting with Mira, but I told dad she was one of Eva's relatives. And I explained that she recognized the gold bracelet, she knew it belonged to Eva, so she rushed Eva home to be reunited with the rest of her family.

Dad didn't interrupt, but he continued to look skeptical as he listened to my story. In the end he asked, "So if you've got this ancient supernatural friend, show me some magic. Show me magic is a real thing."

"Us teleporting away didn't convince you?" I asked.

He shook his head, "I'm not sure what happened then. I want to see something now."

"May I take over for a moment Lexi?" Eva asked.

"Ok Eva," I nodded to her. Then I told dad, "Eva's going to trade places with me for a bit. I'll still be here, but you won't be able to see or hear me."

Dad didn't respond, he just watched quietly with a disbelieving look on his face.

After Eva took over I moved back to stand next to Marianne, and the two of us watched while my demon addressed my father.

"Hello Mr. Harris," she started. "I'm Eva, I've been friends with your daughter for just over four years now."

Dad frowned at her, "You look and sound the same. How's this supposed to convince me of..."

His voice trailed off as Eva, or rather my body, shifted and changed.

Marianne and me and my dad all stared in surprise as my body grew taller and became a little older, while my hair quickly braided itself. My clothes changed as well, and within just a few seconds the person standing next to my dad wasn't me at all.

Eva was in her human guise, and she looked exactly like she did when we first met that night in the Underground four years ago.

"This is how I appeared to Lexi that night," she said. Even her voice had changed, so she sounded like herself rather than me. "This is what I look like Mr. Harris. I've used magic to temporarily change Lexi's body to look like me. Is this enough of a demonstration to convince you she was telling the truth?"

Dad was speechless as he stared. His eyes were wide, his mouth hung open, and he seemed like he was completely lost for words. Me and Marianne were quiet too, and for the next minute or so all three of us just stared at Eva.

In the end though it was my dad who finally broke the silence. And his words filled me with relief and joy. He continued to stare at Eva as he asked quietly, "Can I please see my daughter again?"

"Of course," my demon replied.

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She restored my body to its proper shape, then turned it back over to me. And once I was back, my dad pulled me into another weak hug.

We ended up staying with dad until about half past seven that evening.

We took a little break around five when his dinner came, but apart from that Marianne and I spent the time telling him more details of life together. We told him more stories of a few of the places we'd visited in our travels, we told him more about our home in Bloomsbury, and we talked a bit more about what my girlfriend and I did for a living. Dad didn't talk much, but he listened to everything we said and he made the occasional comment now and then.

I probably could have stayed half the night catching up with him, but we could all tell he was starting to fade. I was a bit worried that he'd be worn out so easily, but then Marianne reminded me that it was a pretty stressful day for him between all the emotions and magic and everything.

So we both bid dad a good evening as we got ready to head out. Dad had his phone with him so I made sure we exchanged contact information, and we promised to come back again tomorrow for another visit. Then we finally made our way out to the car.

As we pulled out from the hospital Marianne suggested, "Why don't you look at your phone Lexi, find us someplace we can stop for dinner?"

"Right," I grimaced. I'd completely forgotten about food all day long and hadn't even noticed how hungry I was. As I dug my phone out I asked, "Any preferences?"

She shook her head and I didn't feel like anything fancy so I gave her directions to something that sounded interesting. It was an up-market burger place, they billed themselves as a gourmet alternative to fast food. It was still burgers though, so it wasn't that fancy. It was basically comfort food, which was pretty much what I wanted.

Dinner was pretty good and the portions were generous, and by the time we were all done both Marianne and I were well satisfied. We didn't talk much during the meal, between seeing my dad and meeting Eva's family I had too much on my mind. Everything that happened, everything we discussed, all of it was still going back and forth through my head.

It was barely nine when we got back to our hotel suite and it wasn't even dark out yet, but all the stress of the day caught up to me. As soon as we were in our suite I flopped onto the big bed and stared at the ceiling.

"How are you doing Lexi?" my girlfriend asked as she sat on the bed next to me.

Eva appeared sitting crosslegged at the foot of the bed and added, "Are you two up for a conversation?"

"Yeah I guess," I said as I pulled myself upright. I ended up cuddled against Marianne as the two of us sat at the head of the bed with the pillows behind us.

"We're discussing Lily's offer?" Marianne asked. "She said that exposing you to demonic energy would change Lexi. What will that do to her?"

Our demon friend hesitated a few moments as if organizing her thoughts, then she took a deep breath and began.

"Like all my knowledge of such things, this is three millennia out of date. It's possible Lily has learned more about this, since she's obviously been doing it herself? But I don't want to get your hopes up, so let's stick with what I know. Normally a large exposure to demonic energy would kill a human, but the bond Lexi and I share will protect her. The demonic energy will still change her though. She'll take on demonic traits. Those traits can be unpredictable, but in general terms they will be influenced by my own traits."

"There will be positive benefits to becoming part demon," she continued. "Lexi, you will become naturally resistant to illness and disease, you will heal quickly from most injuries. Your lifespan will be increased, and your aging will slow. Half-demon lifespans vary, but can be measured in centuries. And finally, you will probably gain some supernatural talents. You may even be able to learn some demonic magic."

Marianne and I continued to cuddle with each other but we were both getting a little stressed as we listened. I had a dozen questions, I was positive she had a dozen more.

Eva didn't give us a chance to ask any yet as she carried on, "Increased lifespan can be as much a curse as it is a boon when only one half of a couple benefits from it. So before you ask, I know there is a way we could apply all of this to Marianne as well. I'm sure Lily will know more about it than me, but I promise we can share this with Marianne - if she wishes it. Then she would be part-demon as well."

"As for the downsides, the main thing to be aware of is you would no longer be fully human. Normal food might not be enough to sustain you, you might need to start feeding on intangible energy the same way I do. Your bodies may change slightly, you may take on demonic characteristics. If you do those could be hidden by magic, you could adopt a 'human guise' like I do. But that would no longer be your true form."

Eva finally finished with, "Unless Lily knows something I don't, there is no way she can use demonic energy to help me without also exposing Lexi. That means we won't do anything at all unless Lexi consents to becoming part demon."

I let out a long deep sigh after all that. Marianne and I were still holding each other close, and despite having a bunch of questions I still needed another minute or two to get my head around that huge info-dump.

My girlfriend spoke up while I was still processing, "Lily said there was a possibility Lexi could become fully demonic. What would happen then?"

Eva shook her head, "Everything I said about being half-demon still applies, just more so. Lifespan is effectively immortal, including immunity to disease and illness, and greater access to magic. On the downside physical changes may be more pronounced, and while you could still eat human food it won't do anything for you. You would have to feed on energy like me."

It took me another minute or two to finish getting my head around all of that. I finally asked, "What sort of changes to our bodies are you talking about? You said we'd take on demonic characteristics, so are we talking about horns and tails like Mara? Or blue skin and wings like Lily?"

"Demons vary widely in our appearance," Eva replied. "You might inherit some of my traits, but you might develop something different. Unfortunately I don't know enough about this to say how it works? Lily might know more though."

Marianne asked, "May we see your true form Eva? I promise I won't be scared or upset."

"Me too," I nodded. "I've never seen it, but after seeing Lily I'm pretty sure I can handle whatever it is."

Our demon blushed but after a few moments of hesitation she nodded, "Very well."

She stood up from the bed and took a few steps away, so she was standing in the middle of the open part of the room. Then she closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around as if giving herself a hug. Her head bowed forward, then all at once she raised her head as her arms stretched out to the sides. At the same moment her entire body shifted and rippled and a moment later we were looking at the real Eva.

"Oh," I said as I stared at her.

My girlfriend added quietly, "Wow."

In her true form Eva was taller, but not as tall as Lily. I'd guess her height at just over two meters. Her skin if anything had grown more fair. Her hair was longer and thicker, like a flowing mane of spun gold that hung down as far as her behind. Her face was mostly the same, she was still obviously Eva but somehow looked even more beautiful. Her bright blue eyes sparkled, her lips were full and wide and pink. Her arms and legs seemed more toned, lithe and supple, with an obvious layer of smooth muscle beneath the surface.

Then there were the differences that were less-human in appearance. The most notable were the large feathered falcon-like wings that stretched out from her back. They were coloured in a pattern of light and dark grey, with some earthy tones. Atop her head where I expected to see horns she had a pair of tall pointed fluffy cat-like ears, that were coated in soft beige fur with black tufts at the tips. And instead of a long forked or spade-tipped tail, Eva's was covered in long fluffy fur, patterned in beige and black rings.

Finally her clothing had changed to match her form, instead of leggings and a t-shirt she wore a thin white open-back dress that clung to her body and showed off her curves. It was sleeveless, and the skirt stopped just below her knees.

One look at Lily and you knew without a doubt she was a demon. My first impression of Eva on the other hand was basically an angelic catgirl.

Or a demonic catgirl in this case. Either way she came across as cuddly rather than scary.