My First Coven

At Dawn They Sleep

I spent most of the day with my Aunt in her laboratory as Arne and Duncan had to go and get some shut eye. While vampires could be out and about during the day, they weren't really all that energetic until it got dark. They could genuinely pass as regular humans during the day time as their supernatural strength and speed was massively reduced, but ask dusk was settling in; they came alive. Even though alive wasn't exactly the correct word for them. We did however have some company, Auntie M had been and collected our familiars; my Domino and her Duke earlier on that day as they had been on their own for a little while. The two cats were now curled up sleeping in a large squishy cat bed that was tucked in a corner near a warm radiator.

My Aunt and I were both sat on high stools at the central island doing some reading. My Aunt was flicking through some ancient, dusty old book which she was taking notes from whilst I was reading through the My First Coven handbook.

"The Rowan Tree. Whilst many plants and tress have long been used by witches in spells and potions, there is one that most witches; if not all witches stay clear from and only use when absolutely necessary. That is the Rowan tree. The Rowan tree has long been associated with protection from evil, specifically witchcraft and whilst most traditional methods and remedies used to ward off witches do not actually work; the Rowan tree (it's branches and berries) can cause witches some discomfort. E.g. sneezing, nausea and/or vomiting, dizziness, headache, lethargy and brain fog. Because of these various reactions most witches display when being exposed to parts of the Rowan tree, many hunters tend to carry small bags of the Rowan berries or anoint themselves in an oil made from its flowers and bark. The smell can be sweet and pleasant to humans, but smells foul to witches."

'Auntie M, what does Rowan smell like?' I asked her as I glanced up from my handbook. Her face instantly turned sour.

'It stinks, it's absolutely disgusting.' She grumbled. Sliding a post-it note in to the pages of her book and gently closing it, she slid off her stool and made her way over to one of her cabinets; opening the door then pulling out a large Tupperware box which she opened to then pull out strange canister that looked like a Thermos flask. She nodded over to the orangery beckoning me to follow her. I made my way over as she opened the big glass doors and stepped out on to the patio that surrounded the glass building. She spun the lid off the metal container and dropped another smaller metal container in to her hand. Holding the larger one under her arm, she slowly twisted the cap off the small container.

Then I smelt it. My nose started burning and my throat instantly became dry and scratchy from the stench now flowing out of the container. Auntie M coughed as she screwed the lid back on as tight as she could. Her eyes were all red and watery now and her nose was running.

"That's what it smells like, it's fucking vile.' She croaked and sniffled.

I started coughing again and rubbed my eyes as if it would bring some kind of relief. This felt like I was suffering from a sever allergy, the kind that could almost send you in to anaphylactic shock.

'Why... why would you have that?!' I choked at my Aunt.

'Because.' Auntie M coughed again and grunted. 'Because unfortunately, it's used in certain spells. I have the berries in here, but the flowers are worse still.'

I didn't want to imagine what the flowers smelt like if the berries gave off this disgusting stench.

'A word of warning Maddie. If you ever smell this and there's no reason for this smell to be around and by that I mean if there isn't a Rowan tree in somebody's garden or a park, woods or whatever. Try and I mean try your hardest not to show any reaction. Because smelling this when there isn't a tree, usually means it's a hunter and you gotta get the hell away.'