The Devils Daughter: Book 1

Chapter One

Aislinn’s POV

The job was a simple one, all she needed to do was get in, disable the wards and put the truth serum in the bourbon and the rest would sort itself out. Guys like this usually kept secrets that could get themselves killed if the wrong person asked and their lips were loose enough at the time. That’s why I was hired. Someone needed a witch to get thru the wards and add the serum. This type of work is usually done at night, so it was strange that it was requested to be done in the middle of the afternoon, which although tended to be riskier, but they offered to pay extra for it, and I wasn’t about to turn down any extra money.

Aislinn walked down the street towards the house, it was one of those big old mansions with a rich history, usually haunted, it took up a block on Rucker Ave and didn’t have a big yard which helped her see the house from all angles. She walked around the block circling the house to see where the weakest points in the ward were. This ward was made rather well but Aislinn found a weak point by a spot in the garden that had a solid cement wall. It was smooth, so it couldn’t be climbed which is probably why the caster didn’t think to make it as strong as the rest of the ward. Poor decision on the casters side but it worked in Aislinn’s favor. She finished the loop around the house and found two more weak points, but her best advantage was going to be at the cement wall as it was the weakest of the three. She got back to her SUV and pulled out her phone and pulled out her phone to send a one-word response to the email she received about the job “ACCEPT”. Aislinn left Rucker and went to the island to start preparing the serum she needed and gather the necessary supplies to disable the ward and study the blueprints so she could navigate the inside.

Unknown POV

He watched the young woman walk around the block, seemingly on a stroll. Her hair was jet black and her eyes were soft emerald-green, both familiar features that he had not seen in centuries. He watched Aislinn get into her SUV and then his phone dinged with the notification of just one word “ACCEPT” he closed out and sent half the payment. He would send the other half once she completed the task, if she completed the task that is. He had no doubt she would have an easy time completing it, but once she found out who the target was for the serum, problems may arise. Well, more the WHAT she was dosing. But he needed to see exactly how strong she was currently and what she had learned throughout her life. He continued to watch Aislinn until the dark SUV drove off.

Aislinn POV

Aislinn arrived home and started getting things together for the truth serum. She was greeted by her shifter-familiar Void, a black cat that she had rescued and was shy at first it took almost 5 years before the cat shifted into it human form in front of Aislinn. They remained roommates after Aislinn knew Void was a shifter and Void liked the name Void, so she kept it as her human name. She was on the shorter and rounder side but not necessarily overweight by any means. Her hair was jet black like her fur and her skin an olive. The only thing that never changed were her pale-yellow eyes. Void Met Aislinn by the door and followed her to the outbuilding they used as an apothecary. It was big enough to fit at least three people and every corner of it was filled with plants and other things needed to create most of their serums, poultices, and tinctures.

Void – So how easy is this job going to be? Also did you pick up food on your way home?

Aislinn – Yes, I did, it is in the bag, I got you a fish taco, and the job is relatively easy. I have got a gut feeling I don’t have all the information though and that it was left out intentionally, like this is some kind of test. Have you fed the horses at all? Or done anything aside from sitting in front of the fire?

Void – I fed the dog, but I am not going near those giant smelly things of yours.

Void perched herself on one of the chairs in the apothecary and rummaged thru Aislinn’s bag for the fish taco, finding it at the bottom under the other food and supplies Aislinn had picked up on her way home.

Void – whhhhhyyyyy did you put it at the bottom? Its all squished now.

Void mockingly pouted while she proceeded to stuff the taco in her mouth. Aislinn shook her head and laughed at Void.

Aislinn – Void I have work to do, so unless you are going to help out here, please stop getting crumbs everywhere and go into the house and work on finding the blue prints for the job, I need to concentrate.

Void rolled her eyes, but reluctantly got up and went inside their house. Aislinn walked out of the apothecary and closed the door walking to the barn. She opened up the side door and walked up the stairs to the loft and grabbed the hay she needed to feed the horses. There were holes above their stalls for the hay to be dropped through to the horses stalls. She then went down and grabbed the grain she had prepared earlier for them, feeding the horses was cathartic for her. She opened the stall doors that led into one of the pastures and whistled, her girls came running into the barn. Aislinn closed the stall doors as they came in for the night. She went back to her apothecary after taking care of her barn chores to begin working on the truth serum so it would be ready for the job this week.

Aislinn was good with serums, tinctures, and potions all around. She was regarded as one of the best in the magik community. She enjoyed the work; it was simple and complex at the same time. Simple in the ingredients and ability to follow most directions, complex in if you add the wrong thing or the wrong amounts it could be lethal or at the very least smelly. Aislinn wasn’t accepted by the supernatural’s other than in this aspect, and humans were afraid of her, so aside from Void and their animals, she kept to herself, immersed in her work. Its not that she was anti-social, everyone just thought she was strange, those she would finally let in eventually left saying she was either too much or not enough; but Aislinn found the in her line of work she wasn’t too much, and she was enough. It made her feel as if she finally belonged somewhere.

She shook her head of the thoughts and went back into the apothecary and began gathering the ingredients for the serum and setting them on her prep table, once she had everything, she mixed them and set it aside to settle for the next four days. Her plan was to enter just after mid-morning when everyone should be gone for work for the day. It would minimize the risk of her being caught since the job was requested to be done during daylight hours. She would do the other prep work over the next few days before the job, until then she would work on her home restoration and other odd jobs as they came up. Aislinn had bought a 60 acre off grid farm that had an old farmhouse that needed work, with a barn and a large gardening shed. She had already redone the garden shed expanding it, adding windows, shelves and a door turning it into her apothecary. The Barn was fixed enough to be safe for the horses and storage but there were still things about it she wanted to update and add, like hot water to wash the horses and their grain buckets, fans for the summer and a heating source for the winter would also be nice but she wanted to get the needs done before the wants and the need is to get the house finished before anymore work to the barn was done.

It took Aislinn a few hours to complete the first step in the truth serum. Setting it aside to cure, she stretched then went into the house to start stripping wallpaper and old paint before she began painting in one of the rooms that she was planning on turning into her office. She was going to open the walls up between the studs in some spots for in the wall bookcases and redo the insulation as well. The previous owners hadn’t taken the greatest care of the place, and the home needed several updates, but she was going to just do room by room until it was exactly how she wanted it to be. There were four bedrooms and 1 bathroom, she had plans to expand the bathroom and kitchen and add a sunroom but that would have to wait.

Void came wandering in a few hours later and let Aislinn know she had made dinner for them. Garlic grilled ham and cheese with ramen. It was one of their favorite meals that they could afford while saving everything they could to put into the house that was their future. To make it their home. Their black cattle dog nipped at Aislinn’s heels as she walked into the kitchen from the garden.

“Frejya stop I’m moving as fast as I can you mongrel”

Aislinn tried shooing the dog off of her, but the pup was just excited at the possibility of table scraps. They enjoyed the meal in silence, but Aislinn could tell Void wanted to ask about the job. After their meal she cleaned up and while washing the dishes she decided to answer Void’s questions that she hadn’t asked out loud.

“Their paying more for the daylight hours, its relatively simple the only issue is that it is a higher chance of getting caught because of the daylight hours. I have no idea who is actually getting the truth serum or who the client is but the pay is right and we’ll be able to finish your room and get you some more cat trees too.”

The last bit was just Aislinn teasing Void, but Void seemed to look even more worried. Most of the jobs they took they may not have known who their clients were exactly, but they usually knew who the target was. Not knowing the exact target was much riskier as it left them open to retaliation or even worse could put a target on their back from other witches to work against them. But Aislinn reasoned that the obscene amount of money they were giving her to do the job, made the consequences worth it.

Void – I found the blueprints, but something seems off about them, its almost like there’s an enchantment on them to hide some of the details. Az this job is not passing the vibe check, I’m legitimately worried this may be more dangerous than what is being let on. No amount of money is worth your life.

Aislinn – Void I promise if it becomes more dangerous than I can handle I’ll pull back. Ok? I won’t take any unnecessary risks, there’s no need to worry.

Void – I will worry, there’s just to many unknown variables with this job and I don’t like the feeling that things are purposefully being kept secret from us. Maybe if we can figure out this enchantment and see what details are being hidden, I’ll worry a little less. With that being said we need the vetiver root and hyssop; I can’t find them, but I found the rest. Our basil sucks by the way, its super dried out.

Aislinn – Did you check the stock room under the shed? And we need to use it before unsealing another jar we need to cut back on our waste.

Void – No I forgot you keep ingredients there; I’ll go look and I like using the fresh stuff for magik work.

With that Void walked outside to their apothecary shed to get what she needed to remove the enchantments on the blueprints. Aislinn went to the room just off the kitchen to get started on her prep work. She vaguely heard Void come back into the house muttering about how fresher ingredients performed better and she shouldn’t be forced to work like this. Aislinn shook her head with a smile and set to working on the room.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

A few days later

Aislinn was just letting the horses out for the day when she heard Void yelling for her and sprinted off to the house.

Void – AISLINN!!! WE HAVE A HUGE PROBLEM!!!!!

Aislinn – what’s going on? What happened?

Void – You can’t do this job. The enchantment, I’ve worked through most of it. This is not good dude. This house is a lot bigger than it appears and seems to be a safe house of sorts with all the security inside of it. If you were to get caught there would be no way to get you out. The prints show metal doors and windows its got both biometric and retina scanning to be able to disable. I feel the cons of this job are starting to outweigh the pros.

Aislinn – s**t, that’s definitely not good. Any escape hatch or details for who installed the security system for a manual over ride? Maybe their someone we know.

Void – that’s another problem, remember dickwad cowboy who kept you a secret and tore you to pieces? Then married someone else on your birthday no less but still came here to you late at night after he had just gotten married?

Aislinn looked like she wanted to smack Void. Of course, she remembered Marcus Fales, he made her feel like she was worthless and wasn’t worthy of love. He haunted her dreams and waking thoughts most days. Over a decade of her life had been given to the man and he broke her in ways that she didn’t even know was possible.

Aislinn – yeah no forgetting that walking nightmare why?

Void – His dad is the one who set up the security for this place. And pretty sure Marcus has told them enough lies about you that he wont exactly be willing to help.

Aislinn – well looks like we need some who can get into the office and I just happen to know that Mr. Fales is a cat person.

Aislinn looked pointedly at Void.

Aislinn – you can go into his office as a cat while I’m getting in and out of the house and you can do the manual override if anything triggers.

Void – and how exactly are we going to get him to leave me in his office alone even as a cat? Especially since it will be working hours when you’re doing this? And the obvious how are you so sure he’ll let me in his office?

Aislinn – because he’ll be working from home, and we’ll create a distraction needed to get him and anyone else out of the house. We’ll need help though. Probably from someone who hasn’t met Marcus at least. This way it wont raise suspicions.

Void – and who are we going to get to help us on such short notice? We don’t exactly have many friends.

Aislinn – we do have one friend who hasn’t met him and hates him as much as we do but happens to turn into a fox who also like chaos.

Aislinn smiled wide as she let her words sink in for a moment. Void looked puzzled for a moment and then slowly a giant grin spread across her face.

Void – We get to call Sinann?! YES!! We haven’t seen her in so long!

Aislinn – What are you talking about we saw her last week when she came over for movie night

Aislinn laughed at her familiar. If their was anyone Void loved and trusted more than Aislinn it was Sinann. She was their best and possibly only real friend. The only one either of them trusted without a sliver of doubt. Sinann knew them better than anyone and although they didn’t know entirely what she was they knew she was trustworthy. They sent a text from Aislinn’s phone to ask Sinann to come over and that carbs were involved. Then they started to get ready for their friends arrival.

Male Unknown P.O.V.

From his spot in some bushes on the neighboring property he could see that the girl lived simply and that she was protected by a familiar who could shift, whether she knew the shifter-familiar protected her or not wasn’t clear, but they clearly loved each other greatly. He had been watching them over the past few days so he could see how she prepped and got ready for the job. He was also curious about her life in general. Over the past few days, he learned that aside from the shifter, she didn’t seem to have any other friends, no one came or went that he saw, and she lived as simply as possible. She didn’t seem lonely either. She appeared to just be living day by day. They grew vegetables and had some chickens, so they rarely left for the store. He felt the presence of someone approaching him before he saw them.

Female Unknown POV

I had approached the neighbor’s property closest to the river in my fox form when I spotted the dark SUV parked in the bushes. I stayed in my fox form while moving in closer until I had caught the scent of who was watching my friend. I shifted into my humanoid form.

Unknown Female – Sir what are you doing here we weren’t expecting you to be mortal realm side for another few days. Is everything ok? Is Aislinn in danger?

Unknown Male – Sinann I had forgotten you had been assigned her protection recently.

To answer your questions, yes, everything is fine and Aislinn is currently safe. I was just checking in on how she was fairing. She seems well and happy at the very least. Why are you here?

He looked the river goddess over as he asked.

Sinann – yes sir I was assigned almost two years ago now. And she puts on a good front of being happy but when you speak to her, you’ll see she carries a darkness in her. It can be seen in her eyes.

Unknown Male – a darkness? Is it dangerous

Sinann – Its only dangerous to her. However, it is her story to tell, and you’ll need to talk to her for more information about it all.

Sinann Knew better than to cross him but she had grown close to Aislinn and didn’t want to betray her, she felt she was hurting her enough by hiding who she really was and why she was really there. Aislinn may never forgive her when she finds out. But Sinann would do whatever it took to keep Aislinn safe. Even if it was from him.

Unknown Male – That does not give me much confidence that she is safe Sinann, do I need to intervene sooner?

Sinann – No sir, I mean she is depressed. It sometimes consumes her, but she doesn’t let it show. But I don’t think she would ever intentionally hurt herself. Aislinn and Void are expecting me soon sir so I will be taking my leave so as not to make them worried.

Unknown Male – Void? Like a black bottomless pit? Is that the cat shifters name?

Sinann – Yes sir they’ve been bonded for around five years now. I really do need to go though.

Unknown Male – Fine go, take care of her and I look forward to seeing you in a few days.

Sinann – Thank you sir take care

With the dismissal Sinann bowed briefly before returning to her fox form and sprinted off towards Aislinn’s home. He hadn’t expected the news about her being depressed, but it made sense now on why Aislinn kept to herself and didn’t seem to have friends aside from the shifter-familiar. It seemed she also had the river goddess as a friend. He’ll have to make sure that friendship stays intact, she’ll need a friend and ally in a few days. He settled back into his seat in the SUV and continued to watch. He wasn’t allowed to be near Aislinn until recently and he was going to do everything he could to make up for it.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Aislinn went to open the door so she could go check the serum before Sinann arrived but was startled when the door opened to Sinann about to open the door herself.

Aislinn – Hey! Void is on the couch preening, I’m headed to the shed to check something for a job you’re welcome to come with or you can hang out with Void and ill be right back.

Sinann – I’ll come with you we can let Void preen herself for a bit longer.

Frejya had bolted through the door hitting both women in the knees in her excitement before taking off towards the back part of the property.

Aislinn – Sorry Frejya has been a little wound up today. But cool lets go. How was your day? Meet anyone interesting?

Sinann – Not a single soul. The people around here are a bit on the boring and predictable side. Except you and Void of course. I find it hard to socialize with them.

Sinann shrugged her shoulders and then began looking around the apothecary shed. It was how quickly Aislinn had put it together and how envious other healers and witches would be of this place. It had everything needed to create almost any kind of poultice or tincture, and it smelled of nature. Aislinn mindlessly hummed to herself while she slowly stirred the serum she was working on.

Aislinn – Whats on your mind buttercup? Everything ok?

Sinann – Yeah just a bit tired from work and you know this place has a calming effect on me haha.

Aislinn – haha ok lets head back in before Void looses her mind that you haven’t said hi yet. Plus Void and I have something to ask you.

The two women walked into the house and Sinann was immediately pounced upon by the fat black cat in her feline form. She scratched the cat between the ears and spoke to Void.

Sinann – Hello Void how are you?

Void shifted back quickly

Void – I’m better now that I got my ears rubbed, As doesn’t do it right.

Aislinn – I’m sorry I wasn’t aware of that.

Aislinn stuck her tongue out at Void and laughed. The three women sat at the dinning room table.

Sinann – So what is it y’all needed me here in person to ask?

Aislinn – I have a job and there’s heavier security protocols in place than we were informed of, and we need someone to help with a distraction.

Void – You would get to be mean to someone I’ve been dying to be mean to as well.

Sinann – Void that list isn’t small and what kind of distraction and how long? And of course, who are we needing distracted?

Aislinn – you would be distracting primarily Mr. Fales. Marcus’s dad but it needs to be a big enough distraction that anyone home will come out running. So, what do you say, are you in for a bit of chaos?

Sinann – I’m definitely in, am I allowed to bite Marcus?

Aislinn – Haha only if you want to just be careful of any little ones out there. We don’t need anyone getting hurt that doesn’t deserve it and feel free to bite him as much as you want however, I would highly recommend being up today on your vaccines first.

The three of them continued to joke and plan for what needed to happen the following day. When Void started yawning excessively, they called it a night, and everyone went to sleep. So, they wouldn’t be too tired for tomorrow. It was a big day and in order to make sure no one got hurt and they could focus properly, they needed the rest.

Several Millennia ago

Lucifer was pacing in front of the solid white stone doors to his father’s chambers in the

white halls of Heaven. Everything here was always so bright and well, white, it was always so

clean as well, cleanliness is close to godliness, as the humans say, was the best way to put Gods neurotic need for it all. Lucifer had not heard of God being this frantic though, not since Lucifer had rebelled against him; and that time Hell had been created for a punishment specifically for him. He could not think of anything that could even come close to his rebellion that would permit the urgency of his summons. After that previous fight, Lucifer tried not to upset his father and very rarely came upstairs after that purely to avoid accidentally making his father angry; and when he did come upstairs, it had never been as a summons in such an official matter either.

‘What could be taking so long? What was going on that was so important that he

had been summoned up here?’ – Lucifer thought

Lucifer could not think of anything he had done recently to anger his father; or anything at all that would be of such great importance to be summoned to Gods personal Chambers. Lucifer had made sure to keep an eye on the gates so he was almost a hundred percent positive no more souls had escaped and he hadn’t created anymore demons without Gods consent, maybe this was for the request to use the souls to get things done to work their sins off, or maybe God had finally figured out how to create the eternal flame of damnation Lucifer had been trying to create ever since Peisistratus had arrived, the man had great ideas and did great things by bringing unification to Attica and gave Athens the leg it needed to stand on to become a permanent part of Greece, but he was still a tyrant greedy for domination, it was also annoying that he continually tried to take over Hell. Whatever the reason though, Lucifer felt like he was an Angel with his down feathers barely molted off and waiting for punishment; and he really did not like that feeling at all. No one up here would even look him in the face or make eye contact with him as they passed by. They all just looked at their feet like cowards, there were the few who saw him and just walked the other direction, but none of them seemed to have the courage to speak to him. It appeared no one would ever think of him as more than the rebellious son who had been cast out of Heaven and now ruled Hell, the outcast. Finally, after waiting for what felt like ages, the door opened, and Hermes filled the lower part of the doorway with his small frame and stature. He held it open wider for Lucifer to walk through,

Hermes - Your father is ready to see you now Lucifer.

Hermes was not necessarily an angel, but nor was he one of the humans father had created. He was something from the Greeks. Something they had somehow given life to, to deliver messages to the Angels that had tricked the humans into believing were gods. Hermes was small and his skin was the color of the clear blue sky, his hair as jet black as a night sky. He was blind for the most part but was always able to tell where to go and how to avoid objects in his way. He had wings but they were not as grand as Angels wings, his were much smaller and could not handle long distances. Although God himself was rather impressed with the creature’s ability to get things done and his efficiency, but he was furious with the Angels for portraying themselves as more than what they really were and for lying and deceiving the humans, so god kept the creation, Hermes, for himself and sent the Angels to live on what the humans now called mount Olympus and forbid them to ever have contact with anyone off that mountain again. Anyone caught speaking to those few outcasts were sent downstairs to Lucifer for them to be isolated for a brief amount of time. Lucifer usually just had them cleaning and did not really isolate them. God just did not want a repeat of history happening with another rebellion.

Lucifer - Any idea what this is about Hermes?

Lucifer knew Hermes had a knack for listening to conversations when he should not be.

Hermes - Not allowed to ruin the surprise sir and it is a good one, its quiet baffling in the

most wondrous of ways.

Hermes snickered and just smiled moving out of the way for Lucifer. Lucifer had forgotten how much of a pain in the ass Hermes could be when trying to get information out of him about anything. The humans really did do a wonderful job creating him; Lucifer would give his father’s creations the small amount of credit for which