A Hell of a Time

"Taylor, your mother, she had a stipulation in her will that, in the event that something like this happened, I give you this."

Dad had gone up to the attic and pulled out this old chest with a skull for a lock, before bringing it to me room. I was incredulous.

"She, she had plans in case I got trapped in a locker?"

"No, nothing that specific," Dad answered, "she wanted me to give you this if you ever, well..." He gestured to my face and I understood.

I'd changed, when I'd woken up in the hospital. My eyes, my ears, my teeth. With fangs like a vampire's, red cat eyes, and elf ears, I looked like some kind of female monster from one of those Japanese cartoons. Dad tried not to draw too much attention to it, but... Apparently I was a parahuman now. That's what the agent from the PRT said, but I've got no clue what my power is supposed to be. Could looking like a cartoon monster be a power by itself? If it did, it was a lame power.

"Anyway," dad continued, "your mother was very insistent that I never look in there, so I'll leave you alone. If you need anything, just call for me."

"Okay Dad."

Dad left, and I decided to take a look in the chest. I might as well, it's there, and I might learn something about mom. Inside the chest were some books, a case of some kind, and a manila envelope. I opened the envelope and inside was a letter, which I read.

Dear Taylor

If you're reading this, then I've died, for some reason or other, before I could share the contents of this box with you. I've got a secret, something that I never told your father. You might be thinking that you're a parahuman, but if your father gave you my chest, then you're not.

It's a bit of a bombshell, and one I can't tip toe around, so I'll just come out and say it. I'm not human, I'm a demon. You might not believe that, but one of the books in my chest is a photo album containing pictures of my true form and of some other demons.

I put the letter down, and went through the chest looking for the photo album. Upon finding it, I flipped it open the album and on the first page was a picture of mom when she was about my age, wearing a tank top, elbow length gloves, knee high boots, a mini shirt, and three belts, all made of black leather. She was smiling and had the same pointed ears, red eyes, and fangs that I had. I flipped a few pages to see more photos of mom, and other people with the red eyes, or with the ears, or with the fangs. a couple of girls with bat wings and spaded tails... some of whom made me feel somewhat inadequate, I flipped another page and saw... Holy shit, is that a dragon? I shook my head, closed the album and went back to the letter.

Now, you might be wondering what this means for you. It means that you're half-demon. Now, when you first came out, and throughout your early childhood, you looked and acted like an ordinary human child, so I didn't say anything, but if you've been given this, then your demon-blood has awakened.

You might be wondering why a demon would have a child with a human, well, it's a long story that I have recorded in my journal, and that's somewhere in my chest, but the gist of it is that in a bit of teenage rebellion, I ran away from home and started exploring human worlds. After a few centuries, I decided to disguise myself as a human and attend a human college, met your father, and fell in love. I think it's his hair. An attraction to brown haired humans kind of runs in our family.

I digress. With your demon blood awakened, you should be developing al sorts of special powers. Now, by default, you should be or will soon be stronger and tougher than most humans, but beyond that, you'll have to train. In the chest are books, some on magic, some on weapon techniques, and some on netherworld history and the nature of demons. I'd wanted to teach you this stuff myself, but stuff happens. Learn what you want from the history books, and if you want to develop your powers, look through the other books, find a fighting style you like, and work on it. You will need to fight to get stronger, keep that in mind.

By now, you might be wondering by now, "aren't demons evil?" Well, not quite. Now, there are quite a few more villainous demons than villainous humans or, but for the most part, we tend to simply be more mischievous than the average... Though a great many demons take pride in claiming to be evil. If your demon blood has awoken, you may feel some more mischievous urges. This is natural.

Regardless, If you choose to develop your powers, then whether you use them for good, evil, mischief, or just for fun, then wherever I am, I'll always love you.

Love, Mom.

I set the letter down. That, it was a lot to take in... part of me wanted to lock everything up and never touch it again, but another part wanted to learn more... After mom's flute was stolen, the only thing I had that connected me to her was that we had the same black hair, but this would be something big we could have in common... I went digging though the chest, pulling out the case and more books than could possibly have fit in there, and a second case at the bottom. Opening the first case, I found a cell phone, a bank card, and some kind of catalog. I put them back in. The second case had clothing-the same outfit Mom had been wearing in the photos, or at least a similar one. Then I looked at some of the books, too many to read just now, though the one titled "Krichevskoy family history" seemed interesting.

After about an hour of just checking book titles, I decided to start putting stuff away to check later. It was when I had a literal dozen heavy tomes in my arms that I realized that I shouldn't be able to lift that much weight, and I remembered what Mom's letter said about being stronger than most humans.

As I'd put away the last of the books and gotten to the case containing mom's outfit, a thought occurred to me... She was about my age when she wore this, and we did have the same body type... I'd have never thought about this before but... I apparently had super strength and a "costume" right here... No mask, but it's not like I can hide my identity anyway, without whatever mom did to disguise herself as human... Maybe, just maybe I should sneak tonight and have a little fun?