Chapter 1

Dear Michael

This is very difficult for me to write, I wish that I could simply tell you this news face to face but I'm afraid that is not possible at the moment. You see Michael I am your Father not David Walker. I know, I know, difficult to believe right? But it's true! Surely you've noticed it? I managed to get a hold of a photo of your family not long ago and I can clearly tell you aren't one of them. Oh you have Mandys jaw and cheekbones but otherwise you're the exact opposite to your siblings! Blue eyes to all their green? Black hair to their blonde? Short to their tall? Stocky to their lean? Any of this sounding familiar son?

But I'm afraid that's not all I have to tell you. The reason I send you this now is simple, I fear for my life and I wanted to make sure you receive your inheritance without leading my enemies to your doorstep. See Michael, Magic is real. And no I'm really telling the truth! I wish there was something simple I could ask you to do to prove this but frankly there isn't, not until you awake your heritage properly will you be able to do Magic yourself.

However if you look at the book I sent you, (Which is our family Grimoire by the way) you will see a metal clasp. Simply lay your hand on the clasp and say "By right of blood I do claim ownership of this book like my fathers before me" Stupid password I know, but I didn't pick it! The book will then examine you to find the veracity of your claim. This won't hurt but you will feel the book examining you, if that isn't proof of Magic I don't know what is!

Right once you've done that, then the Grimoire will answer to you alone. It will always find it's way back to you when you need it (I'm not quite sure on the specifics of that ability) and will only let you see the contents. Oh and after claiming the book you won't have to do the whole declaration of ownership thing it'll just open at your touch.

Now there is something important you must understand about Magic, I'll only gloss over it because your Grimoire has all the details inside. There are Magical creatures, Demons, Angels, Dragons and so forth. My father was a Demon. He wasn't a nice fellow if I'm honest. Now this made me Half-Demon and you a quarter-Demon and gives us both a special affinity for what's called 'Dark' Magic.

Now please don't be fooled into thinking this makes us inherently evil because it does not! You simply are better at Magic dealing with 'Dark' subjects.

Being Quarter-Demon will offer you a few advantages once you go through your 'Awakening', this is usually a long process which begins on your sixteenth birthday and last maybe three years. But ideally you want to speed it up a little because the benefits are very valuable and as you don't have a proper protector I want you to take every advantage you can!

Enclosed are two bottles. One contains a red solution. Make sure you're in bed when you drink this one as it'll knock you out like a light. Over the night you'll undergo an accelerated Awakening and by the time you get up in the morning your powers will have kicked in. More on those later! The second is a blue solution. This one is a kind of Magical steroids both for your body and your Magic. If you take one tablespoon a day it'll last you a while and cause you to undergo a growth spurt. You'll get taller, broader, more muscular and various other things. It's basically puberty in a bottle. A very nice puberty, as it'll leave you very strong and make you more attractive too! Use your discretion with this, if you change too fast people will wonder why. Oh and it'll make you awfully hungry too!

Right Demon powers then. After your Awakening you'll find that you can see perfectly in the dark, and you generally will become more nocturnal, i.e. prefer dark spaces, sleep in the day, (though you won't need to sleep as much!) and generally prefer the dark. You'll be much stronger and faster than your peers so be careful! You will also have an instinctive knowledge of the Old Tongue which is used for casting spells and doing Magic. A very useful trait trust me! I'll let you discover the rest on your own! There's nothing bad I promise!

As soon as you can, try to make yourself a Sanctuary, the details on how are in the book. Also try to get a few familiars and whatnot. They can be dead useful!

I wish I could teach you this stuff myself but as I said my enemies are too close to me for me to risk meeting you at the moment.

I love you son.

Good luck.

Your father,

Andrew Lea.

Numb. It's the only word to describe how I felt after reading the letter. I had barely got my head around the I am you father thing when he was talking about enemies and Magic and Demons. Perhaps this was some kind of joke?

I glanced at the book on my bed and I knew that it wasn't a joke. I'd always had pretty good instincts but now it was like a tangible force screaming 'This is true!'

Taking a deep breath a re-read the section about claiming the book then reached out and pulled it onto my lap. Laying my hand on the clasp as instructed I took a deep breath.

"By right of blood I do claim ownership of this book like my fathers before me" I intoned in a deep dramatic voice. As the words came out of my mouth I felt a certain unnatural weight to them until at the end I was pretty sure I couldn't have stopped speaking for anything.

Immediately I felt the clasp become warm under my hand and an odd sensation much like pins and needles shoot up my wrist. I began to panic as I felt the feeling get higher and higher up my arm until it was in my chest then it went back into my spine and upwards. Within seconds my entire head was filled with pins and needles and it felt like it was going to burst open at any point.

Then just as the feeling was becoming unbearable it stopped. No more pins and needles or anything dramatic it just stopped.

I looked down and saw the clasp was still shut. Frowning I poked it again wondering why it wasn't open when there was a loud click and the clasp released. I felt a little excitement as I opened the book to the first page. There in a spidery script was a simple sentence.

This is the Lea family Grimoire,
A collection of knowledge on all subjects Magical
Written by the Lea family and their Vassals.

The Lea family. I now had somewhere I belonged. It felt odd knowing that I considered myself more a Lea than a Walker but this days events had certainly changed my outlook on things.