My First Coven

Killer On The Loose

I woke up the next morning not feeling as rough as I thought I would from all my crying the night before. A quick glance at my watch told me it had just gone half past seven. Domino was still curled up on the armchair and to the side of me, Duncan was clinging on to me like a teddy bear. I tried moving but he wasn't having any of it and just squeezed me even tighter. It must have only been minutes but I fell straight back to sleep.

I woke up again, this time without Duncan next to me and Domino wasn't in my room either, however my door was slightly ajar. Glancing at my watch, I had gone back to sleep for a while longer, now waking up at ten to ten with a dry mouth and a rumble in my belly. I scooted out of bed, threw on my big fluffy bathrobe and slippers then made my way downstairs to the kitchen. Duncan was in there sat at the kitchen island, already dressed and reading the news paper with some music on in the background, Radio Two from the sound of it. Domino had made himself comfortable on the windowsill over the sink and was busy watching the birds outside.

'Good Morning Maddie. Do you feel any better?' Duncan asked me as I walked in.

'Morning and yeah, much better thank you.' I wandered over to where the toaster was as my Aunt had left out some bread, so I threw two slices in to the toaster and waited. Duncan had snuck up beside me and flipped the kettle on, getting a tea pot from the cupboard and what had now become my mug; a white ceramic affair with random different coloured, hand painted stars on it. He threw two teabags in to the pot and two sugars in to my mug before retrieving a small carton of milk from the fridge along with the butter which I could slather on my toast. He also brought over a random jar and slid it over to me on the counter.

'Do you like marmalade?' Duncan asked as he nodded down to the jar. I picked it up and oggled the label.

'I do actually. Is this home made?'

'Arne made it.'

I smirked. Of course Arne made it.

My toast popped up and I began buttering it instantly then smearing some of the thick marmalade on it before it went cold. The first bite surprised me. The marmalade was so flavourful and quite tarty with just a hint of sweetness.

'Y'know, if there's one thing I would never have guessed was a thing like ever, then it would be a vampire that cooks and makes preserves.'

'It's one of Arne's hobbies. He's always done it well... he's probably done it since long before I joined the clan. It's cooking for him and Boggle for some reason.' Duncan shrugged his shoulders.

'Boggle?' I quizzed.

'Boggle. He's played it religiously since it came out in the seventies.'

Arne. The big scary, serious, True Blood knock-off Scandinavian Viking vampire that my Aunt was nearly constantly glued to liked baking cakes and Boggle

'What about you though Duncan? What do you enjoy doing?' I asked Duncan, he had finished with the teapot now and was pouring me a fresh brew in to my mug, adding just a splash of milk.

'Believe it or not, I actually quite enjoy gardening. I do like cooking and baking too but I'm not as good as Arne.'

'Oh that's pretty cool.'

I didn't really know what to say. I had thoughts and images in my head of vampires in films and TV shows from throughout the years; always portrayed as savage, violent, cruel and bloodthirsty. I had been told a bit about vampires by my Aunt and had read a little about them in the My First Coven handbook. Granted it said bugger all about the witch and vampire bonding thing but it did give a little information about vampires themselves. I tried remembering what the book said; not all vampires are crazy, evil murdering psychos. Not all vampires are out of control, nor are they all crazed sex maniacs and not all vampires want to take over the human race and have them as cattle. I was quite glad of all of that and the fact that the vampires we spent a lot of time with, were actually really nice. The true things about vampires were super speed and strength, flight in some cases depending on the individual, they could use a weird kind of hypnosis but it didn't work on witches. The no reflection in mirrors thing was totally false, garlic didn't bother them, they were somewhat nocturnal with their abilities being stronger at night, but they didn't burst in to flames in the sun, they didn't sleep in coffins and much preferred a warm and comfy bed and a stake to the heart or beheading them would turn them to dust, permanently killing them. Though in saying that, a stake to the heart or having your head lopped off would kill a lot of things.