《Cleansing Fire (The Taylor Witches)》


 Prologue

    <u>Prologue</u>


    Plura haec deduci possent. sed intelligentibus satis apparet, non mirum, quod plures reperiuntur infectae Haeresi Maleficorum mulieres quam viri. - More such reasons could be brought forward, but to the understanding it is sufficiently clear that it is no matter for wonder that there are more women than men found infected with the heresy of Witchcraft.


    -Malleus Maleficarum


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    ¡®Young Ryan, would you please read the next passage please?¡¯


    ¡®Yes Elder Wilson¡­ But because in these times this perfidy is more often found in women than in men, as we learn by actual experience, if anyone is curious as to the reason, we may add to what has already been said the following: that since they are feebler both in mind and body, it is not surprising that they should come more under the spell of witchcraft. For as regards intellect, or the understanding of spiritual things, they seem to be of a different nature from men; a fact which is vouched for by the logic of the authorities, backed by various examples from the Scriptures. Terence says: Women are intellectually like children. And Lactantius (Institutiones, III): No woman understood philosophy except Temeste.¡±


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    ¡®Carry on Ryan.¡¯


    ¡®Okay Elder¡­ And Proverbs xi, as it were describing a woman, says: As a jewel of gold in a swine''s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion. But the natural reason is that she is more carnal than a man, as is clear from her many carnal abominations. And it should be noted that there was a defect in the formation of the first woman, since she was formed from a bent rib, that is, a rib of the breast, which is bent as it were in a contrary direction to a man. And since through this defect she is an imperfect animal, she always deceives. For Cato says: When a woman weeps she weaves snares. And again: When a woman weeps, she labours to deceive a man. And this is shown by Samson''s wife, who coaxed him to tell her the riddle he had propounded to the Philistines, and told them the answer, and so deceived him.¡¯


    ¡®That¡¯s enough Ryan, you may sit back down. So boys, the Maleus Maleficarum is telling us that women are more inclined to pursuing evil and witchcraft than you could ever imagine. Women are imperfect creatures that are more susceptible to the temptations of of sin and the devil, thus are more apt to the ways of witchcraft. They¡¯re cunning, devious, carnal and must be dealt with appropriately in whatever they do.¡¯


    ¡®Elder, what of our women? Are they not like this?¡¯


    ¡®No dear boy. Our women are not. Our women and girls are innocent and pure and are brought up in our laws and ways. They live simple, uncomplicated and virtuous lives and keep our ranks full, so we can continue to fight the demons and witches for as long as we are needed. Our women are nothing like those in the wide world.¡¯

 Holiday

    Holidays are brilliant.


    Honestly, I can¡¯t understand anyone who doesn¡¯t like being on holiday. Like my mum for example, as all she ever seemed to do was work all the time. But she had decided that the UK in January was far too cold for her this year and whisked both myself and my Aunt away, for a week long holiday in the sun in Marrakech. Going on holiday was wholly unlike her, but booking it on a whim and taking me and my Aunt and paying for the whole thing; was absolutely not like her at all. In fact she insisted. I wasn¡¯t complaining though. Whilst I enjoyed spending time at home over the holidays and spending time with the rest of my family, the vampires and our Coven; it was nice to literally get away from everything and warm my bones under the lovely Moroccan sun. In a private villa no less, with its own pool and everything. It was absolute bliss.


    That seemed like a very distant memory now. The new year happened which we spent at Arne¡¯s, then mum whisked us away for our holiday immediately after; then it was the end of April already. No word of a lie; Easter (or Ostara for us witches,) Pancake Day, that one month where we had a bunch of Bank holidays and teacher training days at school and were barely at school had all passed in the blink of an eye. Thinking about it, I didn¡¯t actually have long left at school. By September, I would be in my last year. One year of sixth form left and then I was free from Secondary School. Of course I could go on to Uni if I wanted to after that but that was my problem. I didn¡¯t know what I ultimately wanted to do. Bummer.


    Serious thinking aside, I had just about a week before I was off on holiday again. I say holiday, it¡¯s not like I was going anywhere exotic or anything; but my Aunt had promised she would take me to Manchester at some point. So we settled on going for the early May bank holiday weekend. Auntie M had even recently bought a new apartment somewhere in Manchester and she was having some decorating work done to it which was to be finished this week, along with her new furniture being moved in. Auntie M was quite the property mogul.


    She told me that this was where most of her income actually came from, property investment and sales and rentals; mainly non-permanent short term rentals and holiday lets. She already had a property in Manchester which I had been to once years ago, she had her mad little house near us here which she did actually live in some of the time but let it out when she wasn¡¯t around. Turns out she had a lot more places I didn¡¯t know about; a town house in Whitby, a flat in Edinburgh and a cottage in Cornwall. And they were all bought, paid for and making my Aunt a more than decent income. Either way, Auntie M told me that we would be staying at her new apartment before she started renting it out.


    I was pretty excited about it actually, returning to where my family came from for a visit. Well, they were from a small town outside of Manchester but there was more going on there. The first industrialised city in the world, the home of the Suffragette Movement. The obvious music capital of the UK and the birthplace of the best drink ever, Vimto. My Aunt always told me that you could tell ¡°there was Northerner in me¡± due to my love of Vimto. Auntie M even joked that the stuff was running through her own veins. When we did eventually get to Manchester, Auntie M said that we would have a chippy tea that night and get fish, chips, gravy, curry sauce and a few cans of fizzy Vimto. I would be made up for the entire trip with that alone, as it was very rare I actually had fish and chips in the south of England where I was. My Aunt hated the chippies down here, as you could never get ¡°owt moist¡± to dip your chips in unless you made it yourself.


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    All I had to do was make it through this week; my mind numbingly boring classes at school, my after school Judo class which had me moderately interested, my after dinner walks and movie nights with Katie and Victoria; who thankfully after discovering I was a witch, haven¡¯t had me doing tricks like some performing monkey. I have refilled several cups of tea for them though and magicked some biscuits in to existence, but that was mainly because we couldn¡¯t be arsed going and getting any.


    I had learned after the debacle at the end of last year, to appreciate the time I had to chill out and do whatever I wanted. My craft studying schedule wasn¡¯t as packed or as strenuous as before, mainly because I was starting to get the hang of thing and get good. Auntie M told me to slow down a bit though as I had a habit of overdoing it, but she was one to talk. She was the Queen of overdoing everything. Thankfully, my mum had accepted that this is what I was doing with my life now and had finally admitted to herself, that she did sort of miss using her magic; even for simple basic stuff. So she started using her magic a little more than usual. Well what was usual for her. You could tell though as she had actually started to loose a little weight and was eating better too.


    I couldn¡¯t really be mad at my mum any more. She really was trying with me and she was beginning to contact me more. Plus she was spending time with me, my Aunt and my cousins Molly and Macy even more too. But I especially couldn¡¯t be mad at her for finally managing to get me booked in for driving lessons. My name had been on a waiting list for a local, highly rated instructor and a space had finally come available. Mum had made sure that I would get all the lessons I would need and if I passed all the tests before the end of the year; she would get me my own car. My Aunt sweetened the deal by saying she would pay for the tax and insurance for the first year for me too, just so I could enjoy my first year of driving with only having to keep it fuelled and road worthy. And I started my lessons the week after I would get back from Manchester. I had a lot to look forward really, thinking about it.


    At least it was based in some kind of normalcy. Well, what I would consider normal now. The only thing that wasn¡¯t normal was the fact I hadn¡¯t seen Duncan in what seemed like forever, even though it had only been about a month. He had gone on sabbatical back to Scotland, to travel round the country on his own for a bit and visit his actual ¡°vampire family.¡± His vampiric siblings who had been turned by the same vampire who had sired him. Apparently, Duncan¡¯s sire was quite the bastard as he turned loads of vampires through the ages and just left them on their own. This was apparently a little too common among their kind and was usually frowned upon by the overall community. A sireless baby vampire was a dangerous thing and those like Arne who took them in were sort of regarded as saviours and heroes.


    But I had learned that the reason why vampires go on these sabbaticals, is due to the old legend that vampires have to sleep in the dirt of their homeland in a coffin or something. This was a partially true. While vampires didn¡¯t need to avoid sunlight completely and sleep during the day at all; they did for some reason have to travel back to their home country once every decade or so, whenever they felt their strength wane and sleep in the dirt outside somewhere for a few nights. This somehow helped them regain their strength and topped them up for a while. So, most vampires made a bit of a holiday out of this necessity. I was missing Duncan. Vampires didn¡¯t really contact anyone on these sabbaticals as it was deemed a private, almost spiritual sort of practice; but I did get the occasional text and photo off him. I just had to wait till he got back. And knowing my luck, it¡¯d probably be when I was away.

 Life in a Northern Town

    I was chatting to my mum a little bit before we made our way up to Manchester. The journey would maybe be around four hours or so, without stopping. But knowing both myself and my Aunt we would definitely need a toilet stop and a leg stretch, so maybe an extra half hour on top of that. Possibly a cheeky Maccies if we fancied it too which wouldn¡¯t go amiss.


    ¡®Hey mum. Yeah I¡¯m okay. How are you?¡¯


    ¡®I¡¯m fine sweetie. You all ready for your trip?¡¯


    ¡®Yeah we¡¯re setting off soon. Auntie M wants to drive her new car.¡¯


    ¡®Oh Christ another car?¡¯


    ¡®Yeah another car. Arne got it for her as a Christmas present but it wasn¡¯t ready till last week.¡¯


    ¡®And let me guess, it¡¯s another eighties monstrosity.¡¯


    ¡®A 1985 Ford Escort RS Turbo.¡¯


    ¡®He really does spoil her.¡¯


    My Aunt had made the choice of driving to Manchester instead of teleporting because of the ¡°eighties monstrosity¡± as my mum referred to it; Auntie M¡¯s new addition to her car collection, a absolutely stunning Ford RS Turbo, in Diamond White. I just knew Arne had paid an absolute fortune for it, as the thing had been completely gutted and put back together with any new parts or replacements it needed, cleaning etc. The only thing that was completely new in there was the stereo and the speakers, as Auntie M couldn¡¯t do without her music or Bluetooth. Mum had then informed me that RS Turbos from the eighties fetched a high price in barely half decent order, never mind in good condition.


    ¡®Yeah you¡¯re talking about sixty to seventy grands worth of car there. Arne¡¯s just bought her the cherry on top of the cake.¡¯


    And now I was riding shotgun in the damn car, barrelling up the M1 motorway at warp factor six with my Aunt at the wheel; grinning like a Cheshire Cat as she forced her already heavy lead foot further on to the gas pedal.


    ¡®Auntie M, I know you wanna push this car to it¡¯s limits but I¡¯d really like to live y¡¯know?¡¯ I said as calmly as possible, my entire body being forced in to the bucket seat.


    ¡®Oh, oh yeah sorry. Got a little carried away there.¡¯ Auntie M said as she slowed the car right down and carefully got back in to a slower lane on the motorway. She turned the music she had on down to a less severe level, seeing as she wasn¡¯t speeding any more. I then realised that we had actually been listening to The Cure but I couldn¡¯t hear over the sound of my own panic and the cars engine. I calmed down a lot though now thankfully.


    ¡®So you thought of anything specific you want to do while we¡¯re in Manchester kiddo?¡¯ My Aunt asked me.


    ¡®Not really.¡¯ I replied. ¡® I mean I wouldn¡¯t mind just a good walk around and I dunno¡­ do some shopping, eat some good food that kinda stuff.¡¯


    ¡®That¡¯s no problem at all. You have any things you need to get?¡¯


    ¡®Maybe some stuff for school but nowt spesh.¡¯


    My Aunt glanced over at me when I said that, her lips were tightly pursed as if to stifle a laugh but it eventually failed. She burst out laughing.


    ¡®Ha! Bloody ¡®ell Maddie where¡¯d that come from?!¡¯ She cackled at me. ¡®Christ you can tell you¡¯re one of us!¡¯


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    ¡®I don¡¯t know!¡¯ I shrieked. ¡®It just came out.¡¯ I laughed along with her. Yes I had been spending a lot of my time with my Aunt; who¡¯s Northern accent was fully intact and as broad as ever, even several years after being away from her home town. She was fiercely proud of her home, upbringing and her accent and I guess, I was starting to pick up a few words. My phone then brought me out of my pondering as it vibrated. I swiped at the screen to see what it was.


    ¡®Duncan messaged you yet?¡¯ My Aunt glanced at me.


    ¡®No, not for a few weeks now. The last message he sent me was a photo of the sun rising over some lake. And before that, a landscape photo of some hills.¡¯


    ¡®No text or anything?¡¯


    ¡®Nope, just pictures.¡¯ I sighed.


    ¡®Cheer up kiddo, it won¡¯t be for much longer.¡¯ Auntie M reassured me. ¡®Vampires go a bit weird on their retreats and you¡¯ve got to just leave them to it. Some don¡¯t even contact anyone at all during the whole time they¡¯re away, some document absolutely everything. But more often than not, they just send send a letter or a text these days just to show they¡¯re still kicking.¡¯


    I thought I had a lot to learn about witchcraft and the life that went with that, now it seemed like I had more to learn about vampires too.


    ¡®It was Katie and Vic in our group chat anyway.¡¯ I said as I scooted round in my seat, readying my phone to take a selfie of me with my Aunt. I snapped a quick shot of us grinning and doing peace signs for some reason. Whatever, it was a good picture so I decided to send it to my friends and also send it to my mum. I got instant replies off Katie and Victoria telling us to have a nice time in Manchester. I didn¡¯t get a reply yet from my mum but she was probably busy with work. My Aunt however in the meantime had decided we needed to stop for a break and had pulled in to some services. I was thankful as I could do with a bit of a leg stretch. I was just about to open the car door when Auntie M parked up when my phone pinged again. Another message.


    ¡®Oh shit.¡¯ I said as I opened the message. ¡®Duncan¡¯s ears must have been burning or something.¡¯


    ¡®He¡¯s messaged you?¡¯


    ¡®Yeah gimmie a sec.¡¯


    I swiped across my phone screen and tapped it a few times. It was yet another photo, but this time I could see the top of Duncan¡¯s head, from the bridge of his nose upwards; showing his twinkling eyes and messily styled hair. It looked like he was lying down; in fact he must have been lying down on a beach or something as in the photo, there was a message scrawled in to what looked like slightly damp sand in capital letters.


    ¡°MISS YOU X.¡± The message in the sand read. It was actually really sweet. I showed it to my Aunt.


    ¡®Oh he is adorable.¡¯ She smiled at me. I felt really happy and beamed back at her.


    ¡®I can¡¯t wait till he comes home.¡¯ I said. ¡®I miss him too.¡¯


    ¡®Yeah you two have become really close haven¡¯t you? That¡¯s good though, you should bond with him.¡¯


    I smiled at my Aunt. I don¡¯t know, the process of bonding with a vampire for some reason seemed like a serious one to me. And the way some of the others talked about it, made it seem like it was a really, really big deal that required a lot of thinking; that¡¯s probably why I thought about it that way. I still didn¡¯t really know what the process was either, everybody sorted of skirted the subject or spoke really vaguely about it.


    ¡®Hey lets go inside, I dunno about you but I¡¯m getting a bit hungry.¡¯ My Aunt shook my shoulder. I nodded and got out of the car; following her in to the motorway services. Soon after we were sat in Maccies with a share box of twenty chicken nuggets each as my Aunt so eloquently put it; ¡°No bugger wants to share chicky nuggies.¡± Which she was obviously right at. Why bother calling it a share box when I could demolish twenty on my own?


    ¡®Has Arne been away whilst you¡¯ve been with him Auntie M?¡¯ I asked her as I dipped a nugget in to some ketchup before scoffing it whole.


    ¡®Yes actually. It wasn¡¯t that long ago, about four years maybe. He went back to his home town for a month, it¡¯s Trondheim now really lovely place from the looks of it.¡¯


    ¡®And how did you get on when he was away?¡¯ I continued asking my questions.


    ¡®I didn¡¯t. Now he sent me photos a few times a week and the occasional message. I mean there¡¯s always the temptation to teleport to them but it¡¯s just not the done thing. I actually think it¡¯s the longest we¡¯ve ever gone without nobbing each other¡­¡¯ Auntie M trailed that last bit off as she spoke. I just giggled at her.


    ¡®Auntie M!¡¯ I chuckled in slight shock at what she said. She just shrugged her shoulders. Her candidness did have a tendency to catch me off guard sometimes.


    We had settled in to the drive again and after a few more hours, finally got through in to the outskirts of Manchester city. It was a lot different than what I remembered from years ago obviously, but it still had this weird familiar ambiance; with it¡¯s odd combination of incredibly old buildings and new ones and the feeling of a bustling metropolis, that for some reason also felt like a close knit community. It all lent itself to making me feel comfortable, like I knew the place intimately. And I definitely didn¡¯t feel that way about London, that¡¯s for sure. London always felt really hostile to me, while Manchester felt like even though it seemed as if nobody wanted to even acknowledge you; they wouldn¡¯t bite your head off or glare and ignore you, like they did in London if you asked for the time or directions.


    When we had finally got off the motorway, Auntie M began pointing out places to me as we drove past; giving me little bits of info about the area. Through Moss Side which Auntie M told me was ¡°nowhere near as rough as it used to be.¡± Hulme, which was now in the process of some kind of gentrification was classed as an ¡°up and coming¡± area. Then we made our way in to Castlefield, which was actually quite affluent.


    ¡®So where is this new place then?¡¯ I asked my Aunt, she still hadn¡¯t told me. Not like I¡¯d knew where it was anyway.


    ¡®Actually¡­¡¯ Auntie M said as she slowed the car down and shuffled the steering wheel through her hands. ¡®That¡¯s the building right there. Elizabeth Tower.¡¯


    I looked up to where Auntie M nodded her head. The building was huge, a massive building of glass and steel.


    ¡®It¡¯s one of the tallest residential buildings in the country. And it has the tallest situated residential swimming pool in the country too.¡¯ My Aunt mused over a few facts about the building. ¡®And I just managed to bag one of the duplexes in it.¡¯


    ¡®I bet that wasn¡¯t cheap.¡¯ I mumbled as I looked ever further up the building.


    ¡®Oh you don¡¯t wanna know. C¡¯mon, lets park up and get inside, I wanna see if all the furniture¡¯s been put where I wanted it.¡¯

 Every Day Is Like Sunday

    ¡®Oh my God you guys it was awesome!¡¯


    I was sat in the dining hall with Katie and Victoria on Sunday evening, having only just got back from Manchester a few hours ago. My Aunt had some business to attend to but she said she would join us pretty soon.


    ¡®Here, this was my room while I was there.¡¯ I said as I scrolled through photos I took of the apartment my Aunt had bought. My room there was absolutely huge and had a big en-suite bathroom with it also. The bed was massive too and super comfy to boot. Auntie M really had gone to town on getting some really nice furniture, that was probably super expensive and everything was decorated to a high standard. She¡¯d get the best return on renting the place out if everything was perfect.


    I showed my friends some more photos I had taken around Manchester. The place was full of history and I always thought it was the forgotten gem in England, because tourists from abroad always made London their main destination; mainly due to Buckingham Palace, Big Ben¡¯s tower and of course with it being England¡¯s capital. But Manchester was a cool place and more friendly than London. And I got a tonne of shopping while I was there too.


    ¡®See this is the statue of Alan Turing in Sackville Gardens in the Gay Village and this¡­¡¯ I spun my phone round to show a better photo. ¡®¡­ is a statue of Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln Square.¡¯


    I explained a few things regarding these statues and why they¡¯re in Manchester. How Alan Turing worked at Manchester University and worked on developing early computer programs for the University¡¯s first computer and also, for an electronics firm based in my families home town. The Abe Lincoln statue was there to commemorate the support Manchester gave him and the Union during the Civil War, because Manchester was a cotton town and depended on cotton imports from America. But the workers of the cotton mills acted in solidarity with Lincoln and the Union and their antislavery sentiments. I had no idea Manchester had as much random history like this, it made me want to find out more. Which I did.


    ¡®And this is Chetham¡¯s Library, is where Karl Mark and Freidrich Engels worked and studied during their time in Manchester. They went on to write the Communist Manifesto.¡¯


    I continued bombarding my friends with random facts about what I was now calling, the greatest city in the UK. Then presented them with some Manchester related gifts I found, in one of the many gift shops dotted around the city. I had bought us all new mugs for our dorm room as the ones we had been using were getting a bit battered. So I bought Katie and Victoria mugs featuring song lyrics from some of Manchester¡¯s biggest bands, like Oasis and The Smiths. I however had bought myself a mug featuring the quote, ¡°You¡¯re twisting my melon man¡± said by none other that Shaun Ryder from the Happy Mondays. Katie chose the Wonderwall¡± quote mug and Victoria chose the mug with ¡°I would go out tonight but I haven¡¯t got a stitch to wear¡± on it.


    Our discussion went to how the mugs were of a decent size and could carry a good amount of tea in them, as well as having a large opening which would be optimal for dunking biscuits in; without having to bite a chunk off first to make the biscuit fit. But the discussion was soon cut short as Francesca flounced in with her posse. Francesca had turned herself in to some sort of living martyr, after the whole kidnapping situation and was using it all as some kind of ploy, to get even more attention than she already got.


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    I had felt sorry for her at the time, I mean she had been kidnapped by the psychotic Bruce who was planning on feeding her to a horrible demon. But my best friends had been kidnapped also AND had been allowed to remember a lot more of what happened than what Francesca did and with a bit of therapy here and there, they were doing so well coping with it all. Francesca was abominable at times though, most of the students and faculty here knew that when she wanted to; she would throw a wobbler just to get out of doing something. She had done something similar a few years ago, when she had to have her appendix removed and she got out of doing P.E. for ages after she came back to school. She would whinge and moan saying stuff was too heavy for her to carry and doing whatever made her belly hurt. Everybody caught on after a while or just gave up caring, so in the end Francesca didn¡¯t get all her own way and she soon stopped when people weren¡¯t paying her attention.


    But here right now, her minions were mollycoddling her; laying sympathetic arms around her shoulders as she looked crestfallen, like some melancholy period drama damsel who¡¯s betrothed had done her a mischief. If you timed it right, you could see the exact moment when Francesca¡¯s facade would drop for the briefest of moments; to see how utterly bored she seemed by the whole thing. Like she was bored of her own whole tirade. Hopefully she would tire herself out with this as it was obvious quite a few people had give over bothering with her now.


    ¡®I see Little Miss Nasty is still up to her old tricks.¡¯


    We all looked up to see my Auntie M walking round the table to a free seat with a tray in her hands. She was in her comfy Sunday clothes; dark jeans, trainers and a black pullover DC hoodie that I bought her for Christmas which she had on whenever she had the chance. We all said hi to her as she sat down and began moving her food around her plate.


    ¡®Hey girls. Looking forward to a new school week?¡¯ She asked with a grin. We just groaned as our reply.


    ¡®Ugh absolutely not.¡¯ Katie mumbled. ¡®Most of our teachers are trying to get us to finish stuff before the half term starts.¡¯


    ¡®Hey it¡¯s a good idea. You want to have fun on your half term, not spend it catching up on work.¡¯ Said Auntie M, she made a really good point. ¡®Oh and that reminds me Maddie, we got a last minute meeting in a little while.¡¯


    ¡®Oh, anything come up?¡¯ I asked. We weren¡¯t scheduled for a coven meeting tonight so I wondered if something was the matter.


    ¡®Not entirely sure to be honest. It happens from time to time we get a summons from higher up to meet, so¡­ we meet.¡¯


    ¡®Coven meetings. That¡¯s just, so cool.¡¯ Victoria sighed with a dreamy smile on her face. Katie was nodding in agreement with her.


    ¡®I think it would be awesome being a proper witch. I mean it really is so cool.¡¯ Katie continued nodding.


    ¡®Well girls, there¡¯s a bit of magic in everyone. May not end up in you being a witch, but there¡¯s plenty of other things that magic and spiritual talent is involved in. Clairvoyance, mediumship, that sort of thing. Witches are just able to do a lot of these spiritually based things from the get-go.¡¯


    Even I was learning stuff right now. Funny thing was, I hadn¡¯t actually ready my copy of My First Coven handbook from cover to cover yet, mainly because; I couldn¡¯t actually read it from cover to cover. And believe me I¡¯ve tried several times. Turns out, the handbook itself was actually magic which added to my frustration; but my Aunt told me to consult the book when I needed to and only when I needed to. It would let me know the exact information I was after. Of course when I first got the thing I had a barrage of questions that needed answering, so it was like freely skipping through a book just to get the general gist of it. No wonder everyone told me to check it out when I had a moment. It was weirdly on hand when I needed it and somehow, give me a basic answer, idea or rundown on whatever question or query I had. Except bonding with Vampires, it never told me what I needed or wanted to know about that.


    My train of thought was interrupted my Victoria. She poked me in the shoulder a few times, signalling for us to go and have a look at what deserts we could have. I had hoped there was a peach pie with vanilla ice cream or something.

 This Womans Work

    ¡®Ugh, does this happen often Auntie M?¡¯ I asked her, as we trudged through the forest on our way to our last minute coven meeting. We decided to walk there this evening as the weather had stayed fine and it wasn¡¯t too cold.


    ¡®Not really. Something must have happened for them to call a meeting.¡¯ She replied.


    ¡®Like what?¡¯


    ¡®Not sure, it could literally be anything.¡¯ Auntie M sighed. ¡®I was hoping to just chill out tonight and watch telly.¡¯


    I kinda wanted to do the same myself, but duty was calling. We soon got to the clearing where there was a small bonfire lit, not the huge one we usually had. Most of our Coven were present; but with the addition of a slightly older blonde lady who was wearing a fine, expensive looking black cloak with a deep red satin lining.


    ¡®Beverly, it¡¯s been way too long.¡¯ Auntie M said as she walked over to the older woman. I say older, she was probably in her late forties or early fifties or so, with ashy blonde hair and thin lips; not dissimilar to the infamous thin lips every woman in my family had.


    ¡®It¡¯s good to see you again Morrigan. And this must be your other niece Madelyn. It¡¯s lovely to meet you, I¡¯m Beverly Green.¡¯ She said as she held out her hand, I shook it gently.


    ¡®You can call me Maddie. It¡¯s nice to meet you too.¡¯


    We didn¡¯t get long to chat as Beverly had called the meeting to order. It was pretty informal as she didn¡¯t have a huge amount of time. But I was told that she had another few covens to visit this evening, so the meeting wouldn¡¯t last long.


    ¡®Good evening sistren. While it is fantastic to see you all again tonight, my time here is short and my reason for visiting; not so sweet.¡¯


    The atmosphere shifted as soon as Beverly announced that. We all sort of looked at each other, wondering why her visit wouldn¡¯t be ¡°sweet.¡± I looked over to my cousins Molly and Macy who shrugged slightly and I shrugged back at them. Even Mai looked a bit confused.


    ¡®I have some bad news to share with you all. The hunters are on the rise again. Two of our sisters in the Greater Manchester and Lancashire areas have been declared as missing. Our investigations have confirmed that hunters have taken them.¡¯


    Beverly looked deathly serious as she spoke. I looked around our coven to see some of the women had their hands over their mouths in shock. Deirdre was almost in tears and Carmen was hugging both Gabrielle and Brianna. I knew hunters were a serious thing, a really serious thing especially knowing what my Aunt had been through; but this was just awful. It was obvious this news had really affected everyone almost personally and in the case of my Auntie M, it was personal. She was rubbing the bridge of her nose between her fingers.


    ¡®So with you being here telling us this, I can assume they¡¯ve actually sent you to call me up.¡¯ Auntie M stated with a heavy sigh.


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    ¡®Correct Morrigan. You won¡¯t be alone though, they¡¯ve requested Penelope from the Bolton Coven assist as she also has¡­ experience.¡¯ Beverly said. ¡®The Council would also like both of your charges involved for some practical training.¡¯


    I had never seen my Auntie M¡¯s face look as sour as it did now. And she tended to have a really expressive face anyway, but this was a new one. From what Beverly said, it sounded like the Council wanted me involved. ¡°Practical training?¡± What the hell.


    Beverly took note of my Aunt¡¯s face and softened her own; placing a caring hand on her shoulder.


    ¡®I know it¡¯s not ideal Morrigan but this is what the Council want. You and Penelope are both our go-to people for things of this nature, our warriors. The Council believe the knowledge and skills should be passed down. But of course, only if young Madelyn agrees.¡¯


    My Aunt sighed again and scratched the back of her head.


    ¡®I don¡¯t like the idea of Maddie getting involved, but as you said¡­ it¡¯s her choice.¡¯ Auntie M said as she turned to me. I could feel the eyes of everyone else in the coven land on me for the briefest moment.


    ¡®Maddie, my other role which barely gets brought up because this doesn¡¯t happen often, is being a Guardian. We investigate things that happen with our own people; murders, kidnappings, spells going wrong all that kinda stuff. The Council want me to train you up to fulfil this role whenever you¡¯re called upon. Is it something you would be interested in?¡¯


    I honestly didn¡¯t know what to say. I stood there and opened my mouth but no words came out. Just when I thought my world couldn¡¯t get any weirder¡­ boom. Another weird thing pops up. Right now I could have probably taken out my ¡°My First Coven¡± guide book and it would¡¯ve fallen open on the pages talking about Guardians. I flapped my mouth a bit like a goldfish, words were still not coming out.


    ¡®You need some time to think Maddie.¡¯ Said Beverly. ¡®Talk to your Aunt and read your handbook. I can give you forty-eight hours until we need a decision from you, but no longer. This is a somewhat time sensitive matter.¡¯


    I nodded.


    ¡®As for you Morrigan, I assume Mai will be taking over coven duties for you?¡¯ Said Beverly as she glanced over to Mai.


    ¡®Is that okay Mai?¡¯ Auntie M asked her second in command. ¡®It¡¯s a bit short notice but, can¡¯t be helped I guess.¡¯ She shrugged her shoulders. Mai nodded in reply.


    ¡®Of course Morrigan, it¡¯s no problem. Especially if you need to help someone.¡¯ Said Mai.


    ¡®Okie doke then.¡¯ Beverly clapped her hands together. ¡®When Madelyn has made her decision, you can report to the main Manchester coven. I¡¯ll be there as your handler till this issue is sorted.¡¯


    ¡®Of course Beverly.¡¯ Auntie M bowed her head in respect.


    ¡®And Maddie, forty eight hours. I¡¯ll send a messenger Raven for your answer.¡¯


    I nodded my head to show in understood.


    ¡®Thank you.¡¯ I said quietly.


    ¡®Okay friends, I shall leave you be. Please pray for all covens during this time, in hope that everyone stays safe. I hope to return to see you all again in better circumstances next time. Good evening and blessed be.¡¯


    ¡®Blessed be Beverly.¡¯ We all chanted back to her like a class of school children.


    Beverly portalled her way out of there, leaving the rest of us feeling a little bit shell shocked and depleted. She had also left me with yet another important decision to make, which as a seventeen year old; I wasn¡¯t entirely convinced I should¡¯ve be making these kinds of serious choices. Other kids my age were thinking about what to take at university, or where to go on their gap year, or join the workforce. Not decide if they were going to train to be a Guardian or whatever it was. I needed some time alone with my handbook as well as a serious chat with my Aunt. She did say though that after my initiation in to the coven; all the weirder stuff would be coming at me thick and fast with absolutely no rhyme or reason. I then remembered a few parting words my Aunt Monica left with me after our encounter with Baal.


    ¡°Magic is pure chaos by default. You¡¯ll do well to remember that and nothing makes much sense in our world.¡±


    By Christ she was right. Whilst I enjoyed a bit of spontaneity, I just wanted to chill for a bit doing some bog standard, normal witchy stuff like, I dunno¡­ brewing some potions or refilling my tea mug.


    ¡®Hey don¡¯t look so down cuz.¡¯ Macy said to me as she came over and laid her arm round my shoulder. Molly followed and did the same, giving me a squeeze.


    ¡®She right y¡¯know. It¡¯s actually quite a big deal even getting considered for Guardian training.¡¯ Molly added.


    ¡®We¡¯re you two ever called up?¡¯ I asked, genuinely curious to find out if they were.


    ¡®Ha, nope.¡¯ Macy chuckled. ¡®Obviously Auntie M did, so did Auntie Monica. But she turned it down because she was at uni studying to become a nurse.¡¯


    ¡®Yeah she wanted to help people in that way instead.¡¯ Molly finished her sisters sentence.


    I stood in silence for a few beats. Yeah it was apparent that I needed to digest all of this, much like everything else I had been confronted with since this all started. I magically pulled the My First Coven handbook out of my coat pocket and made my way back over to Auntie M. I needed a word with her.

 Do I Wanna Know?

    Later that evening, I portalled back to Arne¡¯s mansion with my Aunt. She led me in to her lab where she switched a few lights on, then proceeded to make us both a mug of tea. I had a tonne of questions for her.


    ¡®I bet you have a tonne of questions for me Maddie.¡¯ Auntie M said as she messed about with the mugs of tea. She didn¡¯t need to listen to my thoughts to know that. At least I now had a big mug in front of me, containing strong tea with milk and two sugars.


    ¡®I do have a tonne of questions, but I don¡¯t really know where to start.¡¯ I said as I sipped my hot tea. ¡®I mean, what is it all about?¡¯


    ¡®Well first of all, get your handbook out.¡¯ Auntie M instructed me. I did as she said and flicked it open to a random page, landing exactly on what I needed. ¡°Guardians.¡± Damn magic book.


    ¡®This will give you the basics and a general idea, but nothing beats being told for real.¡¯ Auntie M gestured for me to take a seat on one of the counter stools. ¡®And I did say I would explain everything properly if it came up.¡¯


    She did say that to me. And she has kept true to her promise that she would explain whatever came up or happened. Except the vampire bonding thing, but she flat out told me that it was something that nobody would explain to me; no matter how much I asked or wanted to know. Even the book wouldn¡¯t give up any secrets about it either.


    ¡®Anyway. ¡°Traditional¡± witches like us,¡¯ Auntie M twitched her fingers in air quotes. ¡®have our own sort of, bouncers if you could call us that. The long and short of it is, while we have any amount of demons or whatever that we chase about to protect humans¡­ there¡¯s a few of us that are chosen to deal with the few supernatural beings that come after us, especially those who aren¡¯t able to protect themselves properly. But we also deal with humans who come after us too and they¡¯re¡­ a bit different.¡¯


    ¡®You mean Hunters?¡¯ I asked.


    ¡®Mainly Hunters.¡¯ Said Auntie M. ¡®But there are a few other human groups like religious sects and stuff that like hunting us down. But, yeah it¡¯s predominantly Hunters.¡¯


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    I flicked through the pages of my My First Coven handbook and it magically landed on the ¡°Hunters¡± section. I gave it a quick skim through, remembering what my Aunt had already told me about their use of Rowan to incapacitate us, what they actually do to you when they finally capture you. Yeah, none of it was nice. The book went over some of it but there were a few additions that I could now read.


    Hunters groups can be found all over the world; where ever magic users are found, so can Hunters. Not all belong to a specific religious sect or ideal of any kind, but most Hunter groups tend to hunt female magic users. Some groups whilst mainly hunting female magic users, also hunt various demons, ghosts and spectres and several other supernatural entities such as but not limited to; vampires, weres and/or shapeshifters, ghouls, fairies and many more. They tend not to pursue male magic users, as they are male; they would much prefer having them as allies.¡¯


    There was an interesting little paragraph about how during the famous witch trials many, many years ago; there were only a few thousand women in England actually tried and the supposed millions that were slaughtered across the world were in actuality, only in the tens of thousands. Plus, it was all just an elaborate excuse to go after women that the men didn¡¯t like for whatever reason. A pretty stupid reason if you ask me. All those poor women executed because some man maybe thought her natural beauty was her tempting him with witchcraft, or because a man thought she was ugly enough to sour milk. So dumb. I carried on reading about how the Guardians actually ¡°dealt¡± with these kinds of people. Depending on what was happening, determined whether or not these hunters walked off with an erased memory¡­ or with their lives ended. The latter however the book thankfully informed me, was a worse case scenario deal. I let a little sigh of relief out at that.


    ¡®Oh, hey honey.¡¯


    I looked up from the book to see my Aunts face light up, as Arne gracefully strode in to the lab and kissed her on the forehead before he took a sat beside her. He said something to her as he took her hand in his. It sounded like ¡°elskede¡± or something. I dunno, my Norwegian wasn¡¯t that great.


    ¡®Good evening Madelyn. Are you well?¡¯ I vampire asked me. I nodded.¡¯


    ¡®I am Arne, how are you?¡¯


    ¡®I am well. Thank you for asking. I hear your Aunt has been telling you about the Guardians?¡¯


    ¡®She has.¡¯


    ¡®So that means you¡¯ve been called up?¡¯ Arne¡¯s brow furrowed slightly when he asked my Aunt. She nodded at him.


    ¡®Two women have been taken back up North.¡¯ My Aunts deep accented voice sounded.


    ¡®Oh that¡¯s not good. Do you know the group who took them?¡¯ Arne asked sounding concerned.


    ¡®Not yet.¡¯


    Arne wrapped his arm around my Aunt. She snuggled in to him. Watching these two made me miss my own vampire right now. But seeing as he was away on his ¡°sleeping in dirt trip, I had my cat Domino to cuddle instead. When he stayed still long enough to be cuddled that it. Domino was now quite a bit bigger, maybe around eight or nine ish months old or so and had grown in to this odd gangly, leggy creature that zoomed about Arne¡¯s mansion like a Formula one car; crumpling all the rugs up on the floors and misjudging door frames and furniture, charging in to them head first. At least Duncan didn¡¯t stand on my head when he wanted to wake me up.

 Pads, Paws and Claws

    I still had most of the week to get through before half term, which seemed like aeons away. Everybody in my classes seemed to be raring to get through all their work, so they had nothing to catch up on during the half term break; but I had already somehow managed to finish what I needed to. And I¡¯m glad I got all my work out of the way as I had to channel all my brainpower toward making a big decision; whether or not I was going to potentially become a Witches Guardian. I had been given a little while to make up my mind and I used every single second of that time, seriously trying to weight up the pros and cons. To be honest though, it seemed like it was all cons and hardly any pros. Though there was one pro that sort of stood out amongst everything else and it was my Aunt who reminded me.


    ¡°There¡¯s only a select few that become Guardians. We¡¯re the ones that protect everyone. Everyone.¡±


    I didn¡¯t really like the thought of any of my coven being in danger, or in fact anyone else in any other coven. And from other humans too. Sure we stopped the human world from being caught up in the supernatural, but there were humans that knew all too well about this world and were actively involved in it themselves; hunting and chasing spectres and demons and other things that went bump in the night. But they went after us too, the very people trying to protect them from all that madness. It made no sense to me. But then my Aunt also reminded me of that old chestnut they call misogyny. Either way, the more and more I became involved in this world; the more I felt like I was doing what I was destined to. I still wasn¡¯t sure about an actual career, but ¡°witching¡± was just becoming more and more natural to me; like I was literally born to do it. I mean, I kinda was when you think about it.


    Auntie M even said I¡¯d probably be quite good at it, seeing as I take a Judo class after school once a week and I¡¯ve been doing it for a few years now. I was still only a blue belt, but I could probably try for my brown belt within like, the next year or something. Auntie M did Jiu-jitsu and dabbled in Ruas Vale Tudo and a bit of boxing here and there, mainly because she ¡°didn¡¯t have the legs for Taekwondo or Shotokan Karate.¡± I could understand the sentiment, I didn¡¯t have the legs for a lot of things either. These were the perils of coming from a short family.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    But my time had run out and I was soon face to face with one of Beverly¡¯s birds, a young crow that flew up outside my dorm room window one afternoon and pecked at the glass. Thankfully, Katie and Victoria weren¡¯t there to witness me opening the window and talking to the black feathered creature.


    ¡®Go on then, I accept.¡¯ I told the bird. Before he went on his way though, I grabbed a biscuit out of a pack I had open on my bedside table and crumbled a bit up for the bird. I always liked to say thank you in some way and giving them some biscuit just seemed like something they¡¯d like. Not like Domino though, he could now tell me exactly what he wanted for his tea or for a treat. That was when he wasn¡¯t sleeping though.


    Speaking of Domino, I needed to head over to Arne¡¯s place so I could feed my odd little kitten and so I could speak to my Aunt. I teleported straight there, landing in the main hall close to the big staircase. My Aunt¡¯s cat Duke was walking out of the living room, with a rather excitable Domino charging and bounding around him with his endless kitten energy.


    ¡°Madelyn, hello.¡±


    ¡°Oh hey Duke. I hope Domino hasn¡¯t been running you ragged?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s been keeping me¡­ entertained.¡±


    As my magic was growing and getting stronger, my bond with my own familiar was growing; as well as other familiars too. I could hear cats talking in my head a lot better now and I was getting better, more clearer images from the crows and ravens that sometimes assisted us too, so that was pretty cool. It made understanding them a lot easier, that¡¯s for sure.


    ¡°MUM!¡± I could hear Domino yelling in my head in this voice that sounded like it belonged to a little boy. I could tell he had grown up from that alone, his voice getting more bigger and confident. It had grown, much like his gangly legs. He came skidding over to me a full speed and slid in to my trainers. I bent down and picked him up, holding him against my shoulder as he nuzzled my chin.


    ¡°You hungry Dom? Pretty sure I¡¯ve got some tuna for you somewhere.¡±


    ¡°Yeah! And some crunchies too please mum.¡±


    ¡°Okay you can have some of those too.¡± I smiled. Domino called his dry food his ¡°crunchies¡± and he really liked the new high protein stuff I started buying recently. ¡°Are you hungry too Duke?¡± I asked my Aunt¡¯s cat.


    ¡°You Aunt fed me before, but I wouldn¡¯t say no to a few of these¡­ ¡°crunchies.¡± Duke¡¯s voice sounded in my head. I put Domino down on the floor and let him charge ahead.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s get you two some food then.¡±

 Hot Stuff

    It was Thursday evening and my Aunt and I, were sat in a local Indian restaurant opposite Mr Evans and Liam. It had been a while since we had all gone out to eat together, normally we would go out every other week but that was to discuss what was happening with the kidnappings and murders we were investigating.


    Now we didn¡¯t have a serious reason any more to meet up as much as we used to, but we occasionally did just to have a proper catch up away from the school. It was a little awkward to begin with on the first few outings after catching the psychopathic serial killer cum demon summoner Bruce; but it was getting better. Sort of. I thought I could still sense a little bit of tension from Mr Evans and maybe a bit more from Liam, especially after they had met both Arne and Duncan. We still had important stuff to do though as a sort of team. Team St. Augustine¡¯s or something.


    I did know that my Aunt had a few rendezvous with Mr Evans occasionally of the ¡°sordid¡± variety, which didn¡¯t weird me out as much now after she explained her situation with Arne. In fact, one afternoon when we were at the pub having an early tea before a coven meeting, Auntie M told me she had a few other ¡°blokes¡± on the side. Drowning out the idle chit chat, I went through that conversation in my head.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    ¡®Why did you say ¡°blokes¡± in air quotes Auntie M?¡¯ I asked her, genuinely intrigued.


    ¡®Oh, well one is an actual bloke. He¡¯s a Shaman and Medium from South Korea. The other is an incubus.¡¯


    Now I knew from my supernatural studies what an incubus was. I did a double take though, how could I not at that answer.


    ¡®You mean an incubus as in, a sex demon? The rapey kind that get you when you sleep?¡¯ I asked, a little bit freaked out at this.


    ¡®Well, yeah he¡¯s an incubus but not the rapey get you when you¡¯re sleeping kind like how you put it. He¡¯s really quite fun.¡¯


    I squinted my eyes at her when she said this, I wasn¡¯t convinced.


    ¡®Trust me Maddie I¡¯ve known him a long time. Most incubi are the sexual assault type, not Aiden though. He¡¯s one of the few that enjoys a somewhat hedonistic lifestyle without being a complete twat about it. Plus he¡¯s never wanted to procreate, never wanted any ¡°Cambion bastard children¡± so he says.¡¯


    ¡®Aiden? He¡¯s called Aiden?¡¯


    ¡®Yeah, he¡¯s actually a nice dude.¡¯


    I had sighed at what my Aunt had just told me.


    ¡®I don¡¯t know what to be surprised at, the fact there are nice incubi demons or the fact that there¡¯s one called Aiden.¡¯


    To be honest, I probably should been surprised over the fact hat my Aunt was what she would call a ¡°mad shagger.¡± Auntie M told me that a lot of supernatural creatures; including witches, were particularly sensual beings and if you wanted to pursue that desire, then fair enough. If not, that was your choice. And I was sat here, thinking about how I¡¯d barely gone past first base with Duncan. I was fine with that though, I mean we had slept in the same bed many times but it never went beyond a bit of a snogging session. I wasn¡¯t in any rush to hand in my V-card any time soon and I was thankful that Duncan understood that.


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    Then again, nothing was happening with us right now as Duncan was busy travelling round Scotland for Goddess knows how long, burying himself in dirt for a bit. I shook myself back to reality, as I was brought round from my recollective daydream when the waiter who was serving us brought round some of our side dishes.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    ¡®How¡¯s the research coming along Daniel?¡¯ Auntie M asked my History teacher as she dove in to her chicken madras.


    ¡®I thought I had hit a dead end, until I finally got some old documents sent through.¡¯ Mr Evans replied.


    ¡®Documents?¡¯ My Aunt asked through a mouthful of half chewed rice.


    ¡®Yep. Turns out some Hunters had been present at the school a little while before Mrs. Clarkson started working there. I dunno, scouting the place out or something.¡¯


    ¡®And what did they find?¡¯


    ¡®Well, they had confirmed a sort of place of power through their alliance with a group of undercover magic users who were secretly working for the Catholic Church. Apparently their allegiance totally lied with them.¡¯ Mr Evans continued. My Aunt rolled her eyes.


    ¡®Of course they did. Same religion, different branches. Even though Hunters were technically separate from the Catholic Church they did partner up quite a lot. Sorry Daniel, please continue.¡¯


    ¡®Yeah I managed to track down some of their reports. I actually had a friend of mine look at it as he¡¯s a handwriting specialist. The handwriting was really difficult to decipher, but he managed to figure it all out.¡¯


    Mr Evans reached in to his pocket and pulled out a folded up sheet of paper that had been typed out on a computer and printed off. He handed it over to my Aunt and I glanced over to take a peek.


    ¡®Oh¡­ oh!¡¯ My Aunt squeaked after she read the paper. ¡®They actually believe it¡¯s a Hellmouth. I figured it was maybe one too.¡¯


    ¡®Isn¡¯t that from Buffy or something?¡¯ I asked. Even Liam spoke up.


    ¡®Yeah I thought that was a Buffy thing too?¡¯


    ¡®Nope. Hellmouths are an actual thing.¡¯ Said Mr Evans. ¡®Some religions believe there¡¯s just one Hellmouth, as in one entrance to hell but to be honest they¡¯re all over the bloody place.¡¯ Mr Evans told us.


    ¡®There¡¯s three in Ireland, one Northern and two Republic. But the entire island is just a hotbed of spiritual and magical activity.¡¯ Auntie M said. ¡®And there¡¯s one in Glenrothes in Scotland, one in Swindon in England and absolutely none in Wales.¡¯


    ¡®Why doesn¡¯t Wales have any?¡¯ Asked Liam. He was tearing apart a peshwari naan.


    ¡®Because Wales have their shit together.¡¯ My Aunt replied sort of deadpan with a bit of a grin on her face. ¡®Seriously, Wales can¡¯t do anything magically wrong.¡¯


    ¡®So where is this supposed Hellmouth then anyway?¡¯ I quizzed. ¡®I mean I know we said in the school, but where exactly? I mean is it an actual opening?¡¯


    ¡®Yes, it is. Well, it¡¯s a portal. A sentient portal which can pretty much do whatever it wants when it wants.¡¯ Said Mr Evans.


    ¡®But it¡¯s quiet at the moment?¡¯ Liam interjected.


    ¡®Yes it¡¯s quiet. And that¡¯s what would be making it so difficult in pinning down its location. It could be under the entire school or it could just be in a supply cupboard, but it¡¯s not making itself be known properly.¡¯ Mr Evans answered.


    ¡®Energy can still be drawn from it though and, it can still spit out some nasties.¡¯ Auntie M mentioned. ¡®I suppose I¡¯d better get on to the council about it and see if they can send an auditor out. Maybe they could get the damn thing to spill some secrets.¡¯


    So there was another thing I had to look up; Auditors. I had my handbook in my bag and casually took it out and flicked to a random page. Sure enough it landed on ¡°Auditor¡± and I read the small passage it had about it.


    ¡°Auditors are specialised magic users who are able to spiritually talk with various magical anomalies; such as stationary portals, sacred trees or holy wells etc.¡±


    I quickly put my handbook away and carried on eating my meal, a particularly flavourful Lamb Rogan Josh with Jeera rice and of course, a huge naan on the side. Thankfully, conversation turned to something a bit lighter. I had noticed though, that Liam wasn¡¯t talking all that much. I don¡¯t know if it was because of the slight awkwardness, or the fact that he genuinely looked tired as hell. I suppose it was a bit of both.


    There was a little bit of a weird dog scent on him again and from Mr Evans too, meaning they had recently been with the local werewolf pack. This in turn reminded me that I had to give Eden a call again. I had gone shopping with her or out for coffee once or twice since the Baal ordeal a while back; but I did promise her that we¡¯d make a day of it and I¡¯d bring along Katie and Victoria too. So then we could have a proper girls day out. But that would have to wait till I got back from Manchester again. Now I had to just get through the rest of this meal as for some reason, I was feeling a bit too much on edge for my liking.

 Burger Queen

    Half term.


    Those two words were never sweeter, but they were somewhat bittersweet as I had to say goodbye to by best friends for a little bit and say hello again; to my spiritual home, Manchester. My Aunt had come good on her promise of sorting her stupidly expensive apartment out and had changed a few things around, so they were more to her taste. At least we¡¯d be spending our time here in comfort.


    As soon as we parked her new-old car and got up to the apartment, Auntie M was gesturing me to give her my purse to which she fished out my provisional driving licence. She rubbed her thumb over it a few times as she glared at it and handed the small green plastic card back to me. She had just put a bit of glamour over it, changing the year of my birth by a year. According to my driving licence, I was in fact eighteen.


    ¡®Trust me, if we¡¯re planning on being here for the next however long I am not leaving you outside any pubs or clubs or on your own.¡¯ Auntie M told me. ¡®And you can drink if you like, I know you¡¯re not irresponsible to get absolutely arseholed, that¡¯s my job.¡¯ Auntie M grinned. ¡®But for the love of fuck please don¡¯t tell your mum.¡¯


    I nodded at her frantically. I¡¯m glad my Aunt trusted me enough to give me back my driving licence with a different year of birth on it, making me old enough to actually pass as an eighteen year old thus being able to drink legally amongst other things. But I also knew I wasn¡¯t that much of a big drinker to begin with, so the chance of me getting ¡°arseholed¡± wasn¡¯t really an issue.


    ¡®Believe me though it¡¯ll make it much easier if you can just get in pubs and clubs with no hassle. Hunter¡¯s have a tendency to catch our trails when we¡¯re letting our guard down a bit. But unfortunately, they¡¯re also the best places to find clues and pick up leads.¡¯


    Now it all made sense.


    ¡®But it wouldn¡¯t hurt to have a drinking buddy now would it?¡¯ Auntie M nudged me. ¡®Right I¡¯ll message Penelope and tell her we¡¯re here. Her niece is also learning the ropes too, I think she¡¯s the same age as you. Can¡¯t remember her name though, only met her briefly once.¡¯


    At least I wasn¡¯t the only newbie involved in this. I felt a little less nervous now knowing that there would be another girl my age going through this exact thing too. I shrugged off a few of my self doubts and made my way in to what was now my room, dumped my stuff by the door, then went to freshen up a bit. I redid my hair and touched up my make up, threw on a bit more deodorant and a few squirts of some Anna Sui perfume I had in my handbag that was nearly empty. It wasn¡¯t long until my Aunt tapped on the door and poked her head round.


    ¡®Hey are you about ready to go? Penny just messaged me back they¡¯re not far from Deansgate, I suggested we go to Almost Famous for tea how does that sound?¡¯


    ¡®That sounds good, I haven¡¯t been to Almost Famous before.¡¯ I said. It was a really popular burger restaurant chain founded in Manchester and apparently, according to my Aunt their burgers were ¡°absolute filth.¡± Which was Northern for ¡°really, really good.¡±


    We decided to walk to the Almost Famous restaurant at the Great Northern; another interesting piece of Manchester¡¯s history. It was originally back in the late eighteen hundreds, a storage warehouse for the Great Northern Railway Company. But now it had long been converted in to a leisure and retail complex, with loads of shops and restaurants and entertainment venues. It really was quite cool to think the place used to store various goods that came via rail and the waterways that used to be underneath. I thought it was cool and kinda impressive anyway. But I didn¡¯t have time to stand outside and admire it all for long as my Aunt ushered me in to the restaurant. One of the servers asked if we had a table booked, but Penelope and her niece had beaten us there and had grabbed us a table. She stood from her seat and waved us over with a huge grin on her face.


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    Penelope or ¡°Penny¡± for short was not much bigger in height than my Aunt, but she looked even taller still as she had bushy, quite curly blonde hair that bounced around whenever she moved. She had flushed pale skin and icy blue eyes that twinkled with glee. I could tell she was happy to see my Aunt, not just from the big cheesy grin but from the ¡°Get over here Mori you crazy bitch!¡± she exclaimed as she threw her arms around my Aunt. She had a voice similar to my Aunts, deep and low and with a similar accent. Kinda funny considering they were both from opposite sides of Manchester, as the Manchester accent itself sound nothing like either of them.


    ¡®Aw it¡¯s great to see you again Penny, it¡¯s been fucking ages.¡¯


    ¡®You too Mori. Oh and this is your niece?¡¯ Penelope looked over to me.


    ¡®Yeah, this is Madelyn. She¡¯s my sister Miriam¡¯s girl.¡¯ Auntie M waved me over and introduced me.


    ¡®Nice to finally meet you Madelyn. Here let me introduce my niece, this is Theresa.¡¯ Penny shuffled aside and let a young girl step up.


    She had similar features to her Aunt, but was also a sort of opposite to her; in fact it reminded me of myself and my Auntie M. I had the blonde hair and light blue eyes while my Aunt had the dark hair and weird greeny eyes, but we both shared our family¡¯s facial features of a slightly round face and the worlds thinnest top lips. It was obvious a similar thing was happening with Penelope and Theresa. I then started thinking about how a lot of witches seamed to have really old school names.


    Hiya, please just call me Tessa. Nobody calls me Theresa.¡¯ She grinned as she held out her hand. I smiled and gave it a firm shake.


    ¡®Please call me Maddie. Madelyn¡¯s a bit much.¡¯


    We both chuckled at each other before we were ushered to sit down. It didn¡¯t take us long to order food and a huge amount of it. The look on the waitresses face when we all rattled off our orders like it was nothing was something. We all had double burgers of some variety, loaded fried and lord knows how many sides each. Auntie M and Penelope were happy as the place did two-for-one cocktails with humorous names, but Tessa and I were quite happy to settle for a few cokes and a diabetes inducing milkshake. I did get to speak to her quite a bit as my Aunt and Penelope were busy chatting like old friends who hadn¡¯t seen each other in ages, which was true; they hadn¡¯t.


    ¡®So how long have you been witching Maddie?¡¯ Tessa asked me just as she was cutting her burger in half to make it more manageable. I was about to do the same, but I took some of the pickles and the slab of tomato off my to decrease the burger in height first.


    ¡®Around six months or so now, not very long. How about you?¡¯


    ¡®Just a few months longer, about eight nearly nine months.¡¯ Tessa then dipped her head down a little bit and spoke barely just over a whisper.


    ¡®Are you still finding it weird? Like, having powers and stuff?¡¯ She asked me.


    ¡®Absolutely.¡¯ I replied. ¡®I don¡¯t know about you, but I didn¡¯t know I was from a family of witches to begin with.¡¯


    ¡®Are you serious?¡¯ Tessa said, she sounded genuinely a little bit shocked by it.


    ¡®Yep. My mum didn¡¯t tell me. And she stopped the rest of my family from telling me, not like I really saw them or knew about them anyway.¡¯ I rolled my eyes.


    ¡®But your awakening got you anyway.¡¯ Tessa stated.


    ¡®Yep. I dunno, I figured that my mum was trying to stave it off or something by not having me exposed to it all to begin with.¡¯ I said as I shrugged my shoulders.


    ¡®I was told I was a late bloomer.¡¯ Tessa said with a sly grin on her face.


    ¡®Same.¡¯ I replied, grinning as well. ¡®Most of my family were apparently really young when they had their awakenings.¡¯


    ¡®Yeah same with my family too. I mean Auntie Penny was like, seven or something and my other Auntie Kathy had just turned eight. My Mum was about sixteen though.¡¯


    ¡®Well here¡¯s a question for you.¡¯ I said, taking a quick break from eating just to blot my lips with a napkin. ¡®What is your most used daily spell?¡¯ I asked Tessa.


    ¡®Oh Christ definitely the brew refill spell.¡¯ She answered instantly.


    ¡®Now way! It¡¯s mine too!¡± I squeaked.


    ¡®Ooh! And do you reckon that every time you refill, it actually tastes better than the last?¡¯ Tessa asked me back.


    ¡®Oh my God yes! I thought that was all in my head!¡¯


    We giggled and laughed and drank and ate a near literal tonne of food, all whilst the serving staff and most of the customers glared at us in a weird sort of fascination. The gaggle of unbeknownst to them; cackling witches.

 Somebodys Watching Me

    ¡®Ugh, why do we always end up in these totally dingy places?¡¯


    ¡®Why, rock and metal not your scene?¡¯


    ¡®Dude, you know I like all kinds of music but. I mean, why do all these monsters gravitate toward this¡­ shit.¡¯


    Two somewhat young men, both with pints of beer stood at a tall table in the corner of a popular rock club somewhere in Manchester. Friday nights were always busy and Friday nights, were the best time to hunt.


    ¡®The old man says there¡¯s been an influx of monsters recently in town, in the past month or so. He¡¯s heard from our Warlock sources that some seal broke in a Catholic Church graveyard not long ago and it attracted a bunch of nasties.¡¯


    ¡®Hmm that¡¯d explain the overwhelming stench of wet dog then, there¡¯s been loads more weres surfacing lately.¡¯


    ¡®There¡¯s actually been a bunch of baby vamps too. Actual, freshly turned vamps. The old man thinks there¡¯s another rogue kicking about.¡¯


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    ¡®The turn and leave kind?¡¯


    ¡®The turn and leave kind.¡¯


    ¡®Ah shit that¡¯s the last thing we need.¡¯


    The two men quietly sipped their beers as they scanned the ever increasing crowd in the club. The music blared, a few too many decibels louder than what was comfortable. Both men had several young women gazing in their direction, with bashful grins and giggles. But they had a job to do tonight and none of it involved mingling with women. Besides, if the Elders found out they would be reprimanded; fraternising with the general public of the opposite sex was highly frowned upon in their community. The tallest of the two men; lean and well built with pale skin, dark hair and even darker eyes turned to his friend, the slightly more muscly guy with tanned skin and blonde hair before rolling his eyes over to a slightly secluded corner of the club.


    ¡®What do you reckon to those two?¡¯ He said. The shorter one glanced over his friends shoulder, noticing two women, one white with caramel blonde hair in twin French braids and the other who must have been mixed race; with rich glowing skin and long, dark wavy hair. The men could sense and aura about them, they radiated almost with an energy that warmed the air around them.


    ¡®One of them is rubbing her nose a bit too much.¡¯ The blonde one said.


    ¡®Yeah well, the weather¡¯s not been so bad. Everything is starting to grow and bloom so don¡¯t jump the gun there.¡¯ The taller one replied.


    The shorter man reached a hand in to his jacket pocket, grasping something in his fingers.


    ¡®Let¡¯s see if they are what we think they are. Act casual, I got an eye on them.¡¯


    The shorter man picked up his beer with his free hand and started to gulp at the amber liquid, whislt simultaneously manipulating a small, ait tight canister hidden in his pocket. Within a few seconds of him releasing the lid of the canister, the faces of the two women contorted slightly and as soon as that happened; one of them sneezed a little bit. They both downed their drinks and got up from their seat, making their way over to the clubs exit in the opposite direction of the two men; rubbing their noses and their eyes as they went. The two men, finished their own drinks. Then followed the women out.

 Song of the Highest Tower

    ¡®MUM! MUM I¡¯M HOME!¡¯


    ¡®What time do you call this Morrigan?! C¡¯mon go help your sister with her homework before I put tea out! She¡¯s been waiting for you.¡¯


    I dumped my backpack on the settee in the living room before I made my way over to the dining room, where I found my little sister sat at the table scribbling on a workbook with a pencil.


    ¡®Hey Mona. Sorry I¡¯m late I got held back at uni.¡¯ I said to my sister as I sat beside her. She looked up at me and smiled.


    ¡®It¡¯s okay Mori. I think I¡¯ve done okay but can you check it for me please?¡¯ Monica said to me, nudging her workbook over. I picked it up and studied her neat writing.


    ¡®Hmm is this your biology homework?¡¯ I asked, looking at the paragraphs and pictures my sister had done in her workbook.


    ¡®Yeah they wanted us to explain how trees and plants work. Like photosynthesis and osmosis and stuff. I don¡¯t know if I got osmosis right though.¡¯ Monica pointed at the little diagram she had drawn. I looked at her drawing and the definition she had given below it.


    ¡®Yeah actually you got it right there. Osmosis can be difficult to explain in a way that can be understood easily.¡¯ I said.


    ¡®You¡¯re doing Chemistry at uni Mori you should be able to like, understand everything.¡¯


    There was the teenage sass I was expecting. Well, Monica wasn¡¯t that bad to be honest. She wasn¡¯t a typical teenager to begin with though, no woman in our family had ever been a typical teenager. We didn¡¯t have that luxury.


    ¡®Well unfortunately, I don¡¯t. I try my best though.¡¯ I grinned. Monica just smirked at me. ¡®Where¡¯s Miriam and Miranda?¡¯


    ¡®Oh, I think Miranda¡¯s upstairs painting Miriam¡¯s toes or something, ¡®cause she can¡¯t reach she¡¯s that big.¡¯ Monica stated. Miriam really was massive right now, in fact she was nearly at full term. A few more weeks and she would be well past nine months. Miriam also wasn¡¯t coping well in the last few months of her pregnancy; she was having frequent hot flushes, her feet and legs were swelling up all the time, plus she had heartburn pretty much all of the time and she did nothing but piss like a racehorse. And she had ballooned in size to the point where she could barely bend down or even over. The doctors were saying that the little girl growing inside her belly would be fairly large and that Miriam would be getting a C-Section if there were any complications at all with a natural birth.


    ¡®I hope that¡¯s not my littlest sister talking about how big I am.¡¯ I heard Miriam¡¯s voice call from the bottom of the stars. A few seconds later and she waddled over to the dining table and ruffled Monica¡¯s hair up before she squeezed my shoulder and eventually sat down; picking up a place mat off the table and steadily fanning herself with it. I would¡¯ve said she was glowing, but that wasn¡¯t a healthy glow that adorned her face; Miriam was having another hot flush. We were in September, not one of the warmest months but not one of the coldest either, none of that mattered to Miriam though; she was always in a light floaty dress and flip-flops these days because of her swollen feet and hot flushes.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    ¡®How you doing sis? You look bollocksed.¡¯ I asked Miriam. She let out a huge sigh.


    ¡®I am bollocksed Mori. I can barely walk properly, I can¡¯t pick anything up off the floor, I¡¯m pissing every five minutes, the smell of anything citrus is making me heave and I¡¯m eating my own body weight in green peppers.¡¯ Miriam huffed as she continued to fan herself with the place mat.


    Just then, we all heard a noise in the hallway. It was the sound of hurried footsteps coming down the stairs that then shuffled in to the kitchen. Miranda then came through with a big dish full of steaming hot vegetables held in her hands with a pot towel on the handles, protecting her hands from the heat. She placed the dish down, rushed back in to the kitchen then came back through with a big jug of gravy balanced on top of five plates which she also laid on the table. Mum soon came through with a big dish full of beef stew and another dish full to the brim with Yorkshire puddings.


    ¡®Dig in girls before it all gets cold.¡¯


    ¡®Thanks mum.¡¯ We all chorused.


    We passed around all the dishes, making sure we all got something on our plates. Miriam managed to eat something, even though eating much of anything wasn¡¯t something she was doing as of late. She had said that she was finding it difficult to eat, because everything was giving her heartburn and there were only so many Rennies and Bisodol she could take.


    We tried to do this every Friday evening, get together and have a big family meal. Just us girls and mum. I still lived at home because I was attending uni and didn¡¯t live in dorms and Monica obviously still lived at home as she wasn¡¯t even out of secondary school yet. Miriam and Miranda lived with their husbands in other parts of Greater Manchester and in Miranda¡¯s case, her three girls; Melody and the twins Molly and Macy. Now Miriam had said she was following the family tradition and was giving her girl an M name, but she wasn¡¯t telling us what it was until she was born. We couldn¡¯t even get it out of her husband Mike either.


    Suitably full from our big tea and the desert of raspberry cheesecake that Miranda had made and brought over, my sisters had retired to the living room to watch whatever rubbish was on telly while I helped my mum clear up from tea. Mum had treated herself to a new dishwasher a little while back which she swore she couldn¡¯t do without now, especially when she did cook any big meals. It made clearing up a doddle now, so I poured myself and mum a big glass of vodka and apple juice each and we stood just outside of the back door, smoking cigarettes.


    ¡®Miriam¡¯s having that baby tonight y¡¯know Mori.¡¯ My mum said to me, matter of factly.


    ¡®I know. I don¡¯t think she does though.¡¯


    ¡®She won¡¯t. Her power¡¯s too weak, she¡¯s ignored it for too long.¡¯ Said mum as the took a puff of her smoke and a gulp of her drink. ¡®And she¡¯ll be in agony. She¡¯s always been awkward has Miriam, she gave me the most grief when giving birth, more than the rest of you girls.¡¯ She continued.


    ¡®Really? I thought Miranda was the worst?¡¯


    ¡®She was a bit difficult, but not as bad as Miriam. You and Monica slid out though.¡¯ Mum carried on smoking her cigarette. I nearly choked on my vodka. I gathered myself together after having my little coughing fit.


    We all spent a few hours on the settee watching telly for a few hours and chatting away, I would get up occasionally to refill mums vodkas and also put the kettle on for Miranda, Miriam and Monica who would drown themselves in copious amounts of tea, making myself one here and there as I knew something was happening later. Normally Miranda and Miriam would leave around midnight, but with Miriam being as heavily pregnant as she was and tired as hell; they left at around ten. Miranda had been picking Miriam up and dropping her off for the past few months now as she wasn¡¯t comfortable driving, plus it made sense as Miranda lived in Stalybridge and Miriam lived in Dukinfield; not too far away from mums house in Waterhead.


    We all ended up having an early night, well earlier than usual. I must have only been asleep for a few hours when I woke up with a start and grabbed my Nokia off my bedside table. I glared at the screen in the darkness, knowing that the thing would start buzzing in a few seconds. It did. I answered instantly.


    ¡®I¡¯m coming Miriam.¡¯


    I shot out of bed, magicked myself in to jeans, trainers and a hoodie and quite literally threw myself in to a portal directly to my sisters house. I ran through in to the kitchen where I sensed Miriam, finding her leaning on the counter top with a puddle next to her feet.


    ¡®I, I¡­ I¡¯d only came down for a drink a¡­ and my, my¡­ my waters broke.¡¯ Miriam was stammering. Her nose was running and tears were flowing freely from her eyes and she breathed deeply.


    ¡®Have you rang Mike?¡¯ I asked her, pushing the glass of water she had just got herself over so she could quench her thirst.


    ¡®No, I rang you first.¡¯


    ¡®Ugh he picked a fine fucking time to be away.¡¯ I groaned. ¡®I¡¯ll call him and message him too.¡¯


    ¡®He¡¯s probably out¡­ in some club.¡¯ Miriam grunted. ¡®He¡¯s on a bloody stag do.¡¯


    ¡®Fat chance of getting in touch with him any time soon then, or sober. C¡¯mon sis we gotta get you to hospital. Tameside¡¯s the closest I think.¡¯


    I held on to Miriam with all intentions of teleporting to the hospital with her but she loosened herself from my grip.


    ¡®I know, it¡¯s quicker¡­ but¡­ ooft.¡¯ Miriam grimaced as she spoke. ¡®Hospital remember, loads of people and¡­ cameras. Ah!¡¯ She winced in pain as she spoke. ¡®We¡¯ll use my car¡­ My go-bag¡¯s at the door.¡¯

 Born to be Wild

    ¡®Listen Miriam do you want me to drive you to the fucking ¡®ospicle or what?!¡¯


    ¡®Of course I do you silly bitch it¡¯ll take forever in an ambulance and¡­ ooft¡­ unh shit that hurts!¡¯


    ¡®Well gimmie your bloody keys then, where are they?¡¯


    ¡®Ugh¡­ uhf¡­ the dish on the console table where the phone is. Ah, hell that¡¯s¡­ unnhhh!¡¯


    My sister Miriam had gone in to labour, just like my mother and I predicted earlier on that evening. I knew when it had all started and teleported to my sisters house instantly, to find her propping herself up at the kitchen counter, grunting and huffing; stood in the liquid of her then just ruptured membrane. I had already managed to call the maternity ward at the hospital to let them know my sister had started labour and we were on our way. She had been advised to go in as they predicted the baby may be quite large and complications could arise, due to Miriam not being all that big and having a narrow pelvis.


    Thankfully because she was so organised, she had all relevant phone numbers beside her landline phone, a go-bag all ready including changes of clothes; nighties, clean underwear and her make-up and toiletries bags. The one thing I wasn¡¯t expecting was a roll of black bin bags, which she threw at my head as I was loading her go-bag in to the back seat of her car, a rather nice midnight blue BMW 5 series that her other half Michael had bought her earlier in the year.


    ¡®Ow! What the feck are these for!?¡¯ I screeched at Miriam as she locked the front door behind her and waddled the short distance through her front garden. She lived in a large, but modest semi-detached house that would¡¯ve been worth a huge amount of money if they sold it now. The street lights illuminated the path just enough for my sister to see where she was going. She huffed and puffed her way over and motioned for me to unravel the roll of bin bags.


    ¡®Cover the passenger seat, I¡¯m not ruining the bloody upholstery with baby juice.¡¯


    ¡®Jesus Christ Miriam you¡¯ve got a way with words I bloody tell ya.¡¯ I told my sister as I shook my head, trying not to laugh. ¡®And here I was thinking you were the prim and proper one of us bunch.¡¯ I carried on talking as I laid the black bin bags over the passenger seat as best I could, while my sister leant against her car doing some breathing exercises.


    ¡®Well I do, have a baby literally... coming out of me right now.¡¯ Miriam retorted in between deep breaths. I helped her in to the car when she was happy with the bin bag upholstery situation. Thankfully at this time of night, it didn¡¯t take long to get to the nearest hospital. Plus everything was ready at the maternity ward when we did arrive and even then, it seemed to be pretty quiet there too. I didn¡¯t say it out loud though, they can be pretty superstitious about the word ¡°quiet¡± in hospitals.


    ¡®When did your contractions actually start?¡¯ I asked my sister when she eventually got settled. We managed to get her in to a more comfortable and clean nightie and some squishy slippers, so she could at least pace about the room she was in in a bit more comfort.


    ¡®Err I think just shortly after we had our tea.¡¯ Miriam started as she did a bit of light stretching.


    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    ¡®And you didn¡¯t think to say anything?¡¯ I replied. I couldn¡¯t just sit there watching her pace and stretch, so I got up and stretched along with her. It was gonna be a long night.


    ¡®Well no. I thought it was just trapped wind again. I took two Rennies and everything.¡¯


    ¡®Ah Jesus Christ Miriam.¡¯ I chuckled.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    ¡®My mum, thought I was a fart?¡¯


    Auntie M sat grinning at me across from her side of the breakfast bar over a cheeseboard she had assembled. I have no idea how we got on to the subject, but she had started talking about when I was born. I was born in the North; Tameside to be exact but my mum and dad moved down south shortly after I was born, as my father was expanding his business by taking over some failing car dealership franchises. My mother had ultimately got her wish of being far away from the magic of her family, not liked it stopped Auntie M though.


    The last time I remember seeing all of my Aunts was when I was about seven, going on eight years old when my Aunt Monica died. I don¡¯t remember much of the funeral, I don¡¯t remember seeing any of my cousins or anything. Thinking about it, I wasn¡¯t there long enough to actually remember much of anything. We stayed for the service and kept our distance from everyone in the graveyard during the burial, then mum and dad took me back home. I only ever saw my Auntie M after that. Then dad died a few years later. That was pretty much my life in a nutshell, kinda boring and kind of sad. Oh how it was so much different now.


    ¡®Oh, here you go.¡¯ Said my Aunt. She cleared a space in front of her then did some weird motion with her hands. With a blip, she held a few photos in her hands and passed them over to me. I put down the cheese knife I had just used and took them from her. There were only about five photos that Auntie M handed over and I studied them carefully. They were all taken after I was born. The first was of both my mum and Auntie M mid-ugly cry. My mum had me in her arms but she had thrown her head back in that really dramatic way people do when they¡¯re hysterical crying. Auntie M was doing the same thing, but I had noticed something on her face in the picture.


    ¡®Auntie M, what¡¯s that on your face there?¡¯ I asked as I turned the photo round to show her.


    ¡®Oh, your mum give me a black eye. She punched me in the face just before you were born because she had a death grip on my hand and your dad wasn¡¯t there.¡¯


    ¡®Oh.¡¯ I raised my eyebrow at that.


    ¡®Oh indeed, your mum¡¯s got a mean left hook on her.¡¯


    I shuffled through the rest of the photos. They must have all been taken at different times after I was born. Everyone was ugly crying in the photos as they held me, Auntie Monica, Miranda and even Grandma Maureen. Then the last photo was one I had never seen before; it was of me at just a few hours old, being held by my dad. He must have somehow managed to get to the hospital later on, leaving his mates behind on their stag do outing.


    I could see by mum in the background of the photo, not looking too amused at my dad obviously for not being there when I was born. I missed my dad lots, not as much as my mum though. She was still taking her time getting over him dying, whilst I had come to terms with it a long time ago. Looking at the photo of my dad, it was pretty clear that I did look quite like him. I had some of the Taylor families traits like the thin top lip and the slightly round face, as well as the overall lack of height. But I had my fathers blue-ish eyes, his sandy blonde hair and his somewhat warmer complexion. What I didn¡¯t have though, was my father¡¯s surname which was Bridgewater. And I don¡¯t know why but it never even occurred to me to ask my mum why I didn¡¯t have his surname, in fact she still went by Taylor too.


    ¡®What¡¯s brought all this on Auntie M?¡¯ I asked her as she was chasing a pickle around a plate with her fork. She just shrugged.


    ¡®Dunno, I think it¡¯s because we¡¯re back home. It¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve stayed home for any proper length of time.¡¯


    ¡®Well I like it here. I think my life would¡¯ve been a lot different if we stayed round here and didn¡¯t move.¡¯


    ¡®Of course it would. You wouldn¡¯t sound so posh that¡¯s for fuckin¡¯ sure!¡¯ Auntie M chuckled at me. ¡®Anyway, I think we should go out. I¡¯ll take you to a few places where we can have a couple drinks and do some investigating too.¡¯


    ¡®I¡¯m cool with that.¡¯ I said. ¡®Pubs or something?¡¯


    ¡®Hmm maybe more clubs and a few trendy bars so it might me an idea just to dress up a little. Nothing too extravagant though. There¡¯s usually quite a few supernatural creatures that hang around certain places and they¡¯re cool enough.¡¯


    ¡®They won¡¯t like, I dunno. Attack us or something?¡¯ I asked. My last encounter with something supernatural was a full on demon and that did not go down too well.


    ¡®Nah, not all demons, spirits, monsters or whatever are out for murdering. You¡¯d be surprised just how many there are who want to live their own lives and not have us or hunters on their case all the time. You¡¯re with me so you¡¯ll be fine, I run in some of their circles. Go on, glamour yourself up a bit girl, we can change it up for different places as we go.¡¯

 Remember Summer Days

    If there was one thing that I could safely say was an actual thing now, it was that my Aunt and I had a real hard time defining what a happy medium between casual and overly dressed up was. We both walked out of our rooms at the same time to find each other dressed to the nines. But I¡¯m so glad that glamouring was a thing. I would¡¯ve absolutely hated to attempt to doll myself up like I had done now without the use of magic. I mean my hair was perfect, my make up was perfect, my nails and my outfit were perfect too. If I would have tried to do all of this myself, it would have taken me hours. But with the use of a bit of magic and a pack of custard cream biscuits, I got the several hours long task down to twenty minutes. It could have been shorter, but I did change my hair and outfit a few times before I settled on what I liked.


    I had a few designer pieces that my mum or my Aunt had bought me and had decided to throw on one of my favourite outfits out of my small collection; a rather interesting ready-to-wear shirt mini dress by Vivienne Westwood. Designer clothes weren¡¯t really my thing, but this was a comfortable frock and didn¡¯t make me feel self conscious at all; as it was at a length I liked stopping a little above the knee and could be worn with a belt to give it a bit more of a cinched in look, to show off my waist a bit. Paired with a small clutch, a chunky pair of heels that lifted my height by a few inches, along with some sleek make up and a simple hairstyle, I was ready to go.


    My Aunt, stood opposite me wearing a black, sequinned mini dress with similar shoes to mine; some chunky platformed, black strappy numbers. I ogled her shoes and dress.


    ¡®Prada. Balmain.¡¯ Auntie M said as she pointed to her shoes, then dress respectively. She was probably wearing about six grands worth of designer gear. ¡®Westwood, very nice.¡¯ She said to me approvingly.


    ¡®Oh, one of the very few designer things my mum actually bought me.¡¯ I said as I twisted round making the hem of the shirt dress swish along with me. ¡®The shoes are just Kurt Geiger though.¡¯


    ¡®They¡¯re nice though, a well thought out outfit Maddie I approve.¡¯


    I felt quite proud of myself now after getting my Aunts fashion blessing, to the point were I was actually quite excited about going out. First we were off to get some food before we went out on our night out/investigatory mooch around Manchester. Auntie M said we could go around the known various haunts; no pun intended, that were frequented by supernatural beings for whatever reason. Apparently most of them were literally out for a good time, but the occasional few were probably up to no good.


    If there was one thing that was cool about Manchester, then I reckon it was the free bus. The local council had buses that operated throughout the city, free of charge. So instead of walking to wherever the hell my Aunt was taking me; we hopped on one of the free buses and about ten or fifteen minutes later, jumped off where we needed to be.


    ¡®Not many people know about this place so it should be quiet. I¡¯ve known the family that owns it for quite a while.¡¯ Auntie M said to me as she led me over to an odd little alleyway or a ¡°ginnel¡± as Auntie M called it, somewhere further up than Deansgate but not quite the Northern Quarter. It was a bit dingy round here and a touch off the beaten path, but looking up the alleyway made it seem more like a cut-through or shortcut; and not some area full of overflowing wheelie bins, puddles and the occasional rat. We then found ourself at a door, a rather Japanese looking sliding door, with the half fabric curtain at the top. I followed my Aunt inside. There was some low music playing from some speakers in the ceiling, it sounded very eighties and as I continued to listen I recognised it as Japanese city pop.


    ¡®Irassehaimase! Welcome!¡¯ A voice behind the counter called out. It was a Japanese man wearing a navy blue t-shirt, a white and navy blue bandanna round his head and had a white pot towel slung over his left shoulder.


    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    ¡®Hey there Takashi.¡¯ My Aunt grinned at the man. His eyes bulged as he looked at her then he shouted something in Japanese at what must have been some kind of back room. He was soon on this side of bar, hugging my Aunt in some vice like grip.


    ¡®Ah Morrigan! It¡¯s been so long!¡¯ Takashi squeaked as he hugged the life out of my Aunt. I could hear a little hint of an accent in his voice when he spoke; his English was perfect though, to the point where sometimes, a Northern pronunciation of a word would pop in.


    ¡®Put her down Tak. C¡¯mon I want a hug now.¡¯ A female voice sounded. Behind Takashi, stood a woman about the same height as my Aunt without her heels. She nudged Takashi out of the way and proceeded to give Auntie M her own death grip hug.


    ¡®It¡¯s so good to see you again Nina! Here there¡¯s someone I¡¯d like you to meet. This is my niece, Madelyn.¡¯


    My Aunt stepped aside to show I was standing behind her.


    ¡®Maddie, this is Takashi and Nina Sugiyama. They¡¯re good friends of mine.¡¯


    ¡®It¡¯s nice to meet you Madelyn.¡¯ Nina spoke up first.


    ¡®Oh please, call me Maddie. It¡¯s nice to meet you both too.¡¯


    I received two warm handshakes from Nina and Takashi.


    ¡®Come, please sit down.¡¯ Nina said to us as she pulled two high stools out from the bar and beckoned for us to take a seat. She then shuffled round to the other side of the bar with Takashi.


    ¡®So what is it gonna be?¡¯ Said Takashi. He pushed two neat, little menus over. Takashi and Nina¡¯s bar restaurant was similar to a traditional Japanese Izakaya, serving typical bar snacks and small dishes. I had already spied chicken yakitori on the menu along with omurice which I was so gonna order. The menu was small, but consisted of some really good Japanese comfort food too.


    My Aunt ended up ordering for us as I wasn¡¯t sure what I wanted. But as it turned out, Auntie M had pretty much ordered one of everything along with a big bowl of pork tonkotsu ramen each. I listened to my Aunt chat away with Nina and Takashi who were both preparing our food behind the counter.


    ¡®How¡¯s your mum though Nina? It¡¯s been ages since I saw her last.¡¯


    ¡®She¡¯s doing fine, she¡¯s been coping much better now since dad died.¡¯


    ¡®Yeah I heard, I¡¯m sorry I couldn¡¯t make it for both of you I was out of the country at the time.¡¯


    ¡®It¡¯s okay. We got through it, it¡¯s just taken mum a bit longer to come to terms with dad not being around.¡¯


    ¡®And how about your brother?¡¯


    ¡®Freddie? An absolute wreck until he decided to get his shit together. We both had to go back to Japan, after the main funeral to take some of dad¡¯s ashes back to the family grave site in Kamakura.¡¯


    I knew exactly what that feeling was, having lost my own father I could relate. Plus I also had a mother who couldn¡¯t quite get over it too, it was a weird experience. I had noticed that there were a few photos above the back of the bar. One was of Nina, a short older woman with strawberry blonde hair, a young man who looked similar to Nina who was grinning from ear to ear and behind him was an older, handsome looking man with close cropped black hair.


    A little panel on the frame read ¡°MATSUMOTO FAMILY.¡± It was obviously a photo of Nina, her brother and her mum and dad. Another photo at the side piqued my interest as it looked busy and full of people. It had Nina and Takashi at the front wearing sparkly party hats, along with my Aunt bunched up beside them with glittery shapes all over her face. And next to her, holding her pretty tightly with glitter all over his own face; was a pale guy with silvery-white, wavy hair. A sticker on the frame read ¡°NYE 2015.¡±


    ¡®So how are you finding Manchester Maddie?¡¯ Nina smiled at me.


    ¡®Oh it¡¯s wicked, I love it here.¡¯ I beamed at her as I tore my eyes away from the photos. ¡®Much different than down south.¡¯


    ¡®Down south is over-rated.¡¯ Takashi added his two cents from the huge stock pot he was minding.


    ¡®Can I ask, how do you all know each other?¡¯ I hope I wasn¡¯t about to step on anybody¡¯s toes here, but I was really, really curious. Mainly because, Nina was human. Takashi however was not. I could sense something wasn¡¯t quite human about him, even though he was stood before me in human form.


    ¡®Well, me and Morrigan went to school together. We¡¯ve known each other since we were like eleven.¡¯


    ¡®But it was like what, nearly twelve years ago when you met Takashi?¡¯ Auntie M added. She was sipping on a pint of Sapporo beer now.


    ¡®Exactly twelve in about three months time.¡¯ Takashi sounded. I looked over the counter to see what he was doing now; cutting vegetables with a large cleaver.


    ¡®So, I started dating Takashi in the summer. We had gone on a few dates and we had just sort of made it official when¡­ he went missing.¡¯


    ¡®Missing?¡¯ I quizzed. I sipped at my own frothy beer as I listened to the story. My Aunt, Nina and Takashi all looked at each other and chuckled.


    ¡®You¡¯ve probably sensed that I¡¯m not quite, normal.¡¯ Said Takashi.


    ¡®Yeah I err, have sorta sensed. You smell like nature, like the forest after it¡¯s rained, I can¡¯t quite tell what you are though.¡¯ I said bashfully, sipping my beer a bit more. Everyone was looking at me with kind smiles now, I felt a little uneasy but I think it was just because they were all watching me.


    ¡®I¡¯m a Kitsune Maddie.¡¯

 Nightclubbing

    ¡®A Kitsune?¡¯


    ¡®A Kitsune.¡¯


    I could feel my eyebrows shoot upwards, almost of their own accord. I let out a long but shallow breath and shook my head a little after Takashi told me what he was.


    ¡®And you¡¯re human Nina?¡¯ I turned and asked her. I saw my Aunt in the corner of my eye, with a slightly bemused look on her face; leant on the bar with her beer in one hand.


    ¡®One hundred percent human.¡¯


    ¡®And you know what we are?¡¯ I asked as I pointed to my Aunt and myself.


    ¡®I do indeed. Probably one of the few that do.¡¯ Nina replied. ¡®In fact it was Morrigan and your Auntie Monica who helped out Takashi when he was in a bit of bother.¡¯


    I looked at my Aunt, then at Takashi and Nina.


    ¡®Bother?¡¯


    Takashi finished up some of the dishes he was making and presented them to us. We thanked him for the food before he urged us to tuck in. He then began telling his story.


    ¡®It was about ooh, ten nearly eleven years ago. I hadn¡¯t been in the UK that long and London was not for me. So I moved to Manchester. I sort of integrated with the Japanese community round here and eventually met Nina, she used to visit the restaurant I worked in with both your Aunts quite often. Eventually, we started dating.¡¯


    I made an ¡°aw¡± face at Takashi and Nina¡¯s story in between shovelling food in my mouth. I was currently gnawing through a chicken yakitori skewer, which I could not eat fast enough it was so tasty. Nina was now the one to continue the story.


    ¡®It must have been like five months of us dating and all of a sudden, Takashi went missing.¡¯


    ¡®Missing?¡¯ I asked. I had now moved on to a serving of Okonomiyaki. Geeze this was good food.


    ¡®Well, I originally thought he¡¯d just properly ghosted me and pissed off somewhere. But I got a load of messages that really weren¡¯t Takashi at all. So I got suspicious.¡¯ Said Nina.


    ¡®You didn¡¯t go to the police or anything?¡¯


    ¡®I did, but you know what they¡¯re like. I told them I had messages of him that said he was going away and that I didn¡¯t need to call or text him or, whatever¡­ and he didn¡¯t know how long it would be till he came back or if he¡¯d come back at all. The police said to give it a couple of days and wait if he contacted me again.¡¯


    ¡®And that¡¯s where your Aunt¡¯s came in.¡¯ Takashi interjected as he refilled our drinks for us.


    ¡®Yeah I had told Morrigan and Monica about what had been happening. I didn¡¯t know what they were at the time, but they knew what Tak was and he knew what they were. We all went round to Takashi¡¯s flat and your Aunts found evidence that he had been abducted by hunters.¡¯


    ¡®So then what happened?¡¯ I asked.


    ¡®I pretty much just stayed at home and cried for two days. Meanwhile Morrigan and Monica managed to track down where the hunters had been hiding Takashi before they moved him on.¡¯ Nina replied. Auntie M had started to chuckle.


    ¡®It was the first time I had seen your Auntie Monica get properly pissed off.¡¯ My Aunt said to me as she laid her chopsticks down on a small ceramic rest on the counter, so she could take a huge swig of her beer and blot her lips with a napkin. ¡®It wasn¡¯t just Takashi that they had captured, they had somehow managed to capture a leann¨¢n s¨ªdhe AND a mermaid. Well, merman. He was practically dead when we found them all.¡¯


    ¡®So what did you end up doing then? How did you rescue everyone?¡¯ I asked, I was getting really invested now.


    ¡®Well, the elder hunters or whatever had made the mistake of leaving two teenagers in charge of guarding their captives. It¡¯s kinda hilarious because it happens like all the damn time, like it gives the kids some sense of responsibility or something. It seem slike it¡¯s part of their training, they work their way up through varying levels of supernatural beings before they¡¯re allowed to deal with the likes of us or vampires.¡¯


    ¡®Are we at the top of the food chain or something?¡¯ I asked my Aunt. I was still trying to figure out the order in this world I had been thrust in to.


    ¡®You could say. Witches and most other magic users are fairly high up, vampires too. Some demons, angels and other deities are higher still.¡¯


    ¡®Ohh, so what happened after that?¡¯ I wanted the rest of the story. Takashi was the one to finish it.


    ¡®Monica had basically hypnotised the two teenagers and made them bugger off.¡¯ Takashi chuckled. ¡®They were found nearly twenty miles away in a KFC sharing a fourteen piece bucket, with absolutely no recollection of what they were supposed to be doing.¡¯


    ¡®Monica brought my Tak back to me.¡¯ Said Nina as she laid her hand on Takashi¡¯s shoulder. ¡®We all became friends with the leann¨¢n s¨ªdhe Orla and Morrigan banged that poor merman Zale senseless.¡¯


    I nearly choked ¨®n my drink. My Aunt just laughed.


    ¡®Auntie M is there anyone you haven¡¯t boned?!¡¯ I screeched. ¡®You¡¯re practically ¨®n par with James Bond for... nobbing!¡¯


    Takashi and Nina both laughed at m¨¦ and my little outburst.


    ¡®Hey, you should know right now that I am not the worst mad-shagger in our family.¡¯ Auntie M siad to me. ¡®Your Auntie Monica was twice as bad as I am, in fact that¡¯s an understatement she was much more worse. Nina got a custom made mug for her birthday one year, what did it have on it?¡¯


    ¡®Little Miss Promiscuous.¡¯


    ¡®Ah Little Miss Promiscuous that¡¯s the one.¡¯


    ¡®I can¡¯t believe I come from a family of tarts.¡¯ I chuckled.


    ¡®Half, a family of tarts.¡¯ Auntie M corrected me. ¡®Well, I guess it¡¯s just me now¡­ that is unless you develop the taste.¡¯


    ¡®Oh ew Auntie M!¡¯ I nudged her. She just laughed at me. Sure I was all for people doing what they wanted and women especially, going against the grain of what women were expected to do. But I had clarified to myself that it probably wasn¡¯t my thing. I don¡¯t know. I guess I could always change my mind if I wanted.


    Auntie M and I eventually got through the mound of food in front of us, all of which was delicious and comforting too. Takashi really was an excellent chef and I made a point of telling him that.


    ¡®So I can hazzard a guess as to another reason why you¡¯re here, not just to see us obviously.¡¯ Said Nina. She refilled my drink for me and my Aunts for the third time. My ears pricked up.


    ¡®Oh Maddie, I should mention. Takashi is sort of a... supernatural information advisor. There¡¯s not much he doesn¡¯t know about what¡¯s happening in our world.¡¯ Auntie M told me.


    ¡®And I know you¡¯ve come to me for info about your missing sisters.¡¯


    ¡®Precisely that Takashi.¡¯


    Nina shuffled around under the counter for a few moments and pulled out a small envelope which she then handed over to my Aunt.


    ¡®Tak hasn¡¯t managed to find much I¡¯m afraid, but he did find out what Hunter sect it may have been who took those two girls.¡¯


    My Aunt opened the envelope and took one look at a sheet of paper that had some kind of photo ¨®n it. She shoved it back in to the envelope as soon as she saw the thing she obviously didn¡¯t want to and rolled her eyes in exasperation.


    ¡®It¡¯s the fucking Holy Order of Saint Benedict, fuck my life.¡¯


    ¡®Is... that bad?¡¯ I asked. I didn¡¯t know any of this. Well I mean I was included on this trip so I could learn but still.


    ¡®They¡¯re the literal worst.¡¯ Nina siad as she faced me. ¡®Out of all the Hunter sects, they are litterally fucking awful. One of the few that actually goes after all supernatural beings, not just witches. We haven¡¯t heard if they¡¯ve taken anyone else as of yet though.¡¯


    ¡®Who else does that then?¡¯


    ¡®The Order of Saint Michael and the Conclave of Saint Joseph. It was the Conclave that actually got Takashi and thankfully they¡¯re not as competent as the other two.¡¯


    ¡®Sounds like you know your way around this world then.¡¯ I said to Nina. She nodded at me.


    ¡®My husband is a supernatural being. Our clientele are mainly supernatural beings and more to the point, they¡¯re our friends. A lot of them just want to live something like a normal life that humans have, or something you could consider normal anyway. And we just want to help.¡¯


    I did find the idea of otherworldly creatures and beings wanting a ¡°normal¡± human-like life was actually quite nice. I guess it wasn¡¯t only humans that wanted a nice easy life and just to be able to get on with it. It sounded like we just helped out where we could, even though Guardians really only had to deal with witch issues. I suppose the line between good and bad was a bit ambiguous in some cases and a lot of supernatural beings were most likely misunderstood. Witches definitely were so it would go without saying that other magical creatures and everything in between would be the same too.


    I mean I had only just met Takashi who I now knew was a Kitsune. I had read that Kitsune were known shapeshifters, either mischevious in nature or were seen as protectors, some were even reveared as being Godlike and some were thought to be malevolent spirits capable of bringing about some nasty curses. Takashi looked, smelled and generally felt like he had no ill intent what-so-ever. He had a nice aura around him and you could tell he was head over heels with his wife Nina; who was also giving off a nice vibe that I had noticed. If there was yet another thing I could say about my Aunt, it¡¯s that she really didn¡¯t have any arseholes in her inner circle. Funny ha-ha arseholes maybe but not people who were mean or had a nasty streak in them.


    A little while later, we left Takashi and Nina¡¯s place after loads of hugs and Takashi nearly coming to blows with my Aunt over the bill. Takashi said it was all on the house, but my Aunt was having none of it. Takashi eventually settled on letting my Aunt pay for the drinks we had. But now my Aunt was in a little bit of a mood now after seeing the info Takashi had got her about the Hunters, who were kidnapping witches.


    ¡®If it¡¯s the Holy Order of Saint Benedict then we really don¡¯t have long to find our sisters. There¡¯s every possibility they¡¯re already dead or they may be saving them up for a mass execution.¡¯ She said to me.


    Whatever had happened would be horrible either way.


    ¡®Can you tell me any more about this order?¡¯ I asked. We had now began walking in some direction, I don¡¯t know where we were going. Auntie M mentioned heading to a club called The Inferno, which was a club mainly frequented by supernatural beings ranging from us Witches, to incubi, succubi, fae, weres of various kinds, vampires and loads more you could try to think of. I was told that very few humans actually went there and they were the ones that knew of the other world, or they had accidentally wandered in. Apparently the club was hidden from the mortal world, but the occasional normie would happen upon the place.


    ¡®Not much. Mainly because we don¡¯t know much about this order to begin with. I can tell you though they were the ones that kidnapped me last time and they do not play nice, nor do they hang about.¡¯


    ¡®We need to find them ASAP then.¡¯ I stated. My Aunt nonnded with a serious look on her face.


    ¡®And as it¡¯s the Benedictine¡¯s, any chance they get they go after all kinds of beings. So we can ask about when we get to The Inferno, see if anyone knows anything. I know the guy who runs it so we won¡¯t have any problem asking about. He may know something too.¡¯


    We continued walking through the streets of Manchester til we got closer to the Northern Quarter, the more trendy hipsterish part of town. It was busy and bustling with regular people, stopping in bars for a few drinks or some food, chatting with their friends or going over what they bought in their earlier shopping hauls. I had noticed however, that as we walked through the crowds; seceral men were eyeing us up. I wasn¡¯t used to it that¡¯s for sure. Plus I was still only seventeen, it made m¨¦ a little uncomfortable actually. My Aunt had noticed and pulled me closer to her, linking my arm with hers.


    ¡®Pay no mind to these creeps they¡¯re just boring regular blokes.¡¯ She grinned. ¡®Give me a vampire or a non-evil demon any day, they¡¯re much more interesting than Darren the brickie from Northampton or Tyrone who works in the local Dixons.¡¯


    ¡®Auntie M Dixons hasn¡¯t existed since like, over twelve years ago or something.¡¯ I corrected her.


    ¡®Yeah well you know what I me¨¢n.¡¯ She waved her hand at me. ¡®Anyway, we¡¯re here.¡¯


    I was stood facing yet another weird little alleyway or ¡°ginnel¡± as they called them round here. The further we walked down the ginnel, the more the noise from the main street seemed to die down and distort almost; like some weird doppler effect had happened with the sound. It actually made me feel a little woozy and discombobulated, but Auntie M carried ¨®n down and I followed after her. We got towards the end of the ginnel and suddenly seemed to hit what I can only describe as a thin wall of warm jelly, if the jelly was made out of fog. It was the weirdest sensation against my body and skin, but I persevered through it and came out on the other side. The ginnel seemed normal again and I could see the weird jelly-fog wall behind me now looking back at it. It must have been there to mask the entrance to The Inferno, its unassuming door with a fairly large, but simple glowing red sign above it; and two earpiece wearing bouncers on either side completing the scene.


    ¡®If it isn¡¯t Morrigan Taylor as I live and breathe.¡¯ One of the bouncers said with a hint of a cockney accent.


    The one on the left that just spoke was massive. He was black, about six foot nine, bald, built like an absolute tank and had two brown looking horns on his head sticking out about two inches. His face was adorned with intricate scarred patterns and his teeth were particularly pointy and jagged. He crouched down and gave my Aunt what could have been a bone crushing hug.


    ¡®Jez it¡¯s great to see you again. And you too Malc it¡¯s been an age.¡¯ Said my Aunt as she hugged the other guy, nearly a complete one-eighty from Jez. He was white to the point where he almost glowed, stood around five foot eight, had his hair fashioned in to a mowhawk, had several piercings adorning his face and looked ever so slightly gaunt. He just nodded in reply to my Aunt who looked him in the eyes briefly, nodded then said ¡° yeah, me too dude¡± before fist bumping him. The man wasn¡¯t speaking a single word.


    ¡®Guys meet my niece, Maddie. While we are here to have a bit of fun we are kinda on business but please, keep an eye out for her will ya? She¡¯s training to be a Guardian.¡¯ Auntie M siad. The two men nodded.


    ¡®Of course. We¡¯re delighted to meet you Maddie¡¯ Jez replied, Malc bowed his head at me. ¡®And no cover charge for you both, the boss would kill us.¡¯


    ¡®If you say so, thanks guys. See you in a bit.¡¯


    Auntie M shoved me through the door as I waved bye to the two bouncers. I of course had more questions than ever before which was now becoming classic me. The music got louder as we walked in to the main area of the club. It was pretty busy considering it wasn¡¯t all that late, but there were plenty on the dance floor. The music was pretty eclectic from the sound of it, a bit of rock, a bit of industrial; it fit the vibe of the place and I was quite liking it.


    Auntie M dragged us over to the bar area where we got served as soon as the goth looking bartender say my Aunt. Using my limited lip reading skills, I watched the bar tender talk; saying what looked like ¡°on the house. VIP section¡± before pointing over to a raised area guarded by another huge looking bouncer wearing an earpiece and sunglasses indoors. I was issued a raspberry vodka with lemonade and ice by my Aunt, who had already tipped a blackberry vodka and lemonade down her throat before I saw her make eye contact with a man over in the VIP section. I squinted my eyes at the man figuring I recognised him from somewhere. I pointed at him with a raised eyebrow.


    ¡®Wait, he¡¯s the guy in that photo with you at Takashi and Nina¡¯s place?¡¯ I asked my Aunt with a raised voice, so she could hopefully hear me over the music. She spoke back to me a bit louder than usual.


    ¡®Yep. That¡¯s Aiden.¡¯ She didn¡¯t look at me, just kept her eyes on the white haired man in the VIP section with his arm draped over the back of the couch he was sat on by himself. I could see a twinkle in his eye as he smiled, taking a sip of what looked like bourbon from a crystal glass. As soon as he placed the glass down on the table in front of him, he disappeared in a flash. Chasing the straw around my glass with my tongue, out the corner of my eye I could see the white haired man had materialised in front of my Aunt and of course, like every other man she knew she apparently knew intimately; he was near instantly suctioned to her face, draping her back in some swoon-worthy pose that should¡¯ve been on the front of a romance novel.


    ¡°Ooft Fabio eat your heart out.¡± I thought in my head.


    ¡®Oh gimme a fucking break.¡¯ I said out loud instead, facepalming myself.