A cold hand glided across my face, waking me from my stupor. The fact that it was colder than my own chilled skin should've told me what was touching me. When my eyes opened, I came face to face with an old lady with sunken eyes. The clock on my side table at least said I was only a little over a half an hour early on my alarm.
"Is there a reason you're stroking my face while I'm sleeping," I asked with a little bit of snark. It wasn't their fault they seemed to be attracted to me but seriously couldn't I get just a bit of privacy. I was having a hard time with being a hybrid and now you throw these new powers on top of it. Talk about dragging me through hell. Would hell really be like this though? If so, I'd rather take a rain check on going.
"You can see me," her voice seemed as though it was spoken through a muffled phone. It was difficult to describe. Much like how their spirits were technically in the Shadow Realm- their voices drifted over from that side as well.
"Yes I can see you. I repeat, is there a reason you're stroking my face?"
"My apologies, dear. You reminded me so much of my granddaughter for a brief second," she shook her head as if dispelling an illusion. A slight frown added more wrinkles to her aged ghost skin. "There's also a sort of energy coming off of you that called to me."
There was no information that I had come across so far to explain why that was happening. From what I could tell though, I was technically seeing into the Shadow Realm and the Real World at the same time. Which meant that the energy drawing the spirits to me was on the Shadow side. Last time I'd entered the Shadow Realm I'd made eye contact with a Demon. Wasn't on the top of my to do list.
"Would you mind not standing over me while I try to sleep?"
The frown seemed to deepen as though the question had confused her. It didn't matter though, as long as she would keep from touching me as I slept. Almost immediately sleep dragged me back under.
Only to be woken again to more than just the old lady standing over me. I gave myself massive points for not screaming like a little girl.
"Jared," it came out more like a squeak than the normal pitch I had been going for.
A thump and crash came from the room next door. Through the link I could feel my brothers concern. He'd probably felt my terror down the link when I'd called out his name. Once in the doorway of my room, slightly out of breath, he swung his head in every direction trying to find the boogey monster.
"What's wrong?"
I could see him through the mass of bodies hovering in my room so I was also able to see the slight hint of annoyance as well.
"Brother dearest, our house is fucking infested with ghosts."
The ghosts in question scooted closer to me on the bed which made me cringe under the blanket with a small 'eep'. When I glanced subtly around I noticed finally that they were all naked, even the old lady who had been carressing my face earlier.
"Dear Anu, I think I've found our naked Coven."
"What do you mean? Wait! You mean they're all dead?!"
Jared rushed towards me which meant he passed through about ten or even fifteen naked bodies. My hand reflexively covered my eyes but I peaked through my fingers.
"Either dead or soulless. How many people were in that damn Coven?!" Frustration laced my last sentence as I began to see naked people walking in the hallway alongside my friend Stan. Stan didn't seem to mind our unseemly guests. At least wear clothes inside of a strangers house, common decency and all.
"Fire is the lowest ranked Coven meaning their criteria for accepting Mage's is lower than ours. It's easier for a Mage to practice channeling Fire than it is to channel the other four elements used in all of our rituals. Last I checked, they were up to a little over fifty."
To most this number may have looked miniscule but to Mage's that was a gross amount of Mage's solely for one Coven. In our Coven there was maybe a little over 15 members- not including the Ancients or as some called them 'Wise Ones'.
"Well there's about twenty ghosts in my room and that's not counting the ones I see shuffling about in the hallway," I commented before glancing over to my wall where an arm was slightly poking through. A headache was pounding inside of my head and I wasn't all together sure it was frustration or the amount of death energy swirling in my room.
Jared was about to speak but I held up my hand. "Look here, you freaky nudist colony! Go wait in the living room if you want to talk. Don't crowd me in my damn personal space!"
At first I thought they'd continue pulling the zombie act but finally some kind of life filtered back into them. They began floating in the direction of the living room as I fell back onto the bed with the cover thrown half assed over my face.
"I'll take that as they finally left?"
When I looked up at him this time there was no ghostly figure blocking my view. A shudder wracked through me when I noticed he was only in his undies.
"Gross. Put some clothes on. I don't think I can handle seeing any more nudity right now. Worst wake up call ever."
He rolled his eyes and laughed before going back to his room to throw something on. Cece stumbled into the room almost immediately after he left. Mouthing 'oh my god' with wide eyes as she tried unsuccessfully to pick her jaw off the floor after seeing my brother.
"Yes yes, my brother is your Adonis, your Romeo, the peanut to your jelly."
"You mean peanut butter."
"Whatever it is. Don't care," I grumbled as I scooted over to give her room on the bed. "You try waking up to an assortment of naked people creepily standing over your bed."
"You've been getting into some pretty kinky shit lately, Slo. First you whipped that naked guy and now you invite over twenty naked people into your room. I'm starting to worry over my virtue."
"You're seriously going to blame me for the mass of nude ghosts in this house? Don't make me strangle you, woman."
"It's kind of freaky though," when I looked at her questioningly she elaborated, "Slo, there's over fifty naked people dead in the house. People who had been living and breathing not twenty four hours ago. You don't find that disturbing?"
"Huh. Well now that you mention it, it's super damn unsettling. I wouldn't say creepy though. More like 'Oh my fucking Anu, what could've killed them so quickly'."
Goosebumps spread across the tanned arm resting closest to me. Which made Cece begin to rub furiously at. "Now that I think about it, wouldn't it be pointless for me to stay here behind your wards? Whatever killed them was capable of getting behind their wards."
"I'd have agreed with you but the Fire Coven is the weakest of Coven's even if they had that many Mage's. Plus, Jared and I are kind of special. Most spells used in warding a Mage's home is done by that Mage. If you think about it that means their essence is put into that spell. Now think about what kind of essence Jared and I would incorporate into our spells."
It took her a couple of minutes before she understood. "Since you both are hybrids then you have dual essence put into your wards. How does that help though?"
"Part of our ward is elemental magic which represents life while the other part of our ward is vampiric magic which represents death. It's difficult for anything to get past both those wardings. Sure, they could infiltrate the death magic if they're a stronger Vampire but once they hit the elemental magic they'd burst into flames. Same would happen for any living creature that tried to force their way through with our Vampiric magic."
"What would happen if a living creature hit the Vampire ward," she asked curiously.
"The life would literally drain from their body before they turned into a pile of bones. Would be a real bitch to have someone walk by and see a pile of bones on my porch. Then again, Halloween is pretty close so I guess it wouldn't be so bad."
Cece slapped my arm playfully while Jared walked back into the room with a plain black shirt and jeans on. His hair was still in dissaray and a wild cowlick pushed up a section on the right side. I tried my best to avoid looking at it- Cece on the other hand was laughing while her eyes stayed glued to it. Jared self conciously tried to flatten it with his hand as he mock glared at her.
"Since work is scheduled for noon we've got some time on our hands. Sloane, I'm going to call Robert and have him come over. I know you both don't get along but he'll need to know everything that is going on."
"What you mean is that his majesty won't take my word for it or even blame me for false information unless he tries to question the nudist colony himself. You know damn well that the reason we don't get along is because most of the prejudice towards me was because our 'oh so holy' leader can't handle the fact that a half breed like me was allowed at cleansing rituals. Which was stopped as soon as Mom died precisely because of him."
If my mother hadn't been stronger than Robert as a Mage, he'd have probably forced her to keep the abomination away. I don't remember my mom that well but she was beautiful and powerful. And she loved Jared and I with all of her heart. Cece's pink dread lock smacked me in the face as she moved her face to fast in her rush to turn her body my way and give me a big hug. She knew how much bitterness I held for the Coven, especially when they had opened their arms wide for my twin. Growing up I had kept asking myself 'If we're twins shouldn't we be cherished equally' but when I got older I realized there wasn't anything wrong with me.
"Regardless, I don't want them to have a reason to blame you for anything or even accuse you. So I'll be calling Robert since he's the strongest and probably the only one capable of communicating with the ghosts."
Jared was still considered a child among Mage's at 25. It took centuries of practice before you could tap into the Shadow Realm and communicate with the Spirits or Souls of deceased.
"Well whatever. Do you still want me to talk to them and see if they know who killed them? Afterwards Cece and I are going to make brochures while you can handle Robert. Please just wait until I'm done talking to the ghosts though before calling him. I don't want to even be in his general vicinity, I'll leave that to you."
"Talk to them first. It'll be better if I can compare the information you get with Roberts."
I rolled out of bed with Cece following behind me. That's when I realized what she was wearing and tried my best to keep a straight face. My eyebrow rose though in question as I pointedly stared at her clothing choice.
"What?! Sailor Moon is amazing!"
Usually Cece wore clothing that I'd describe as 'goth chic' with her multi-colored dreads as the splash of color. Her current sleep wear shocked me with the bright pink shorts with frills. The gold crescent moon was stamped all over them and on the white tank top stood Sailor Moon in her signature pose.
Before I could respond she whispered, "There's also elbow length white gloves that go with it but I figured they'd make my hands sweat."
Laughter burst out of my mouth as Jared's mouth twitched with contained mirth. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders as she looked at me with indignation. "Cece, I love you. You know that right?"
"Yeah yeah. If I didn't love you so much, I'd have to shoot you with my star power."
My lips pressed together as I dragged her into the living room. A living room now crowded with butt naked ghosts. Oh now that's just gross. A couple ghosts were standing in my table which meant their lower goodies were touching the surface. Of course since they were dead it's not like they left behind sweaty ballsack grime but still.
"Remind me to scrub the table with bleach," I whispered to Cece. She gave me an amused look before stepping away and relaxing into the couch. Jared made a sweeping gesture making it known that I needed to take the lead here.
My first task was to get the ghosts attention so I simply clapped my hands. Having a crowd of naked dead people turn towards you almost in sync is slightly disturbing. I kept the shudder from being visible. Barely.
"Okay people! I need answers here. Who knows what or who killed you?"
When the only response I got was the heater kicking on because of the cold weather outside, I'd begun to gear up for an easier question. Before I could open my mouth the same old lady from earlier pushed past a few fellow naked buddies.
When she was finally in front of me she spoke. "The others may not be as aware yet since they passed after me, from what I gather at least. I personally never saw my attacker though. One minute I was combing my hair and the next a strange magic had surrounded me. Unlike anything I've felt before but also familiar. It was so very strange. My hands begun to disappear first but I hadn't noticed until the comb fell through it. Then it was as if something popped in my ears and I was greeted with darkness. Next thing I know, I'm standing over your bed."
Mulling that little bit of information over, I begun to recount everything to Jared. After I was done, I asked, "Do Spirits memories usually fragment like this after death?"
"For those with traumatic or sudden deaths, yes."
"Will she be able to gradually gain those memories back over time?"
He had to think about it before slowly shaking his head and saying, "I really just don't know sis. I'm not so far advanced in my training. These are the types of things I'll ask Robert though when he gets here."
I snorted before looking around at all the dead people standing around basically zoning out.
"Don't mind them dear, they only showed up a minute or so before you'd woken up. I think it'll be a little bit until they can properly think once again."
"I'm sorry, what's your name?"
She smiled and the laugh lines around her mouth creased as her eyes squinted with happiness. As if me asking had made her very happy.
"My name is Jezzebel, dear. Head Mage of the Fire Coven. Pleasure to meet you, I should say but under the circumstances best not."
My surprise must've shown on my face because she continued, "I've long heard of the Hybrid twins of the Spirit Coven and we of the Fire Coven have never held to the prejudice that they hold. We're a more accepting lot."
I could understand why they were so accepting- most of the Mage's part of their Coven were looked down on. Hadn't I been saying they were weak just earlier? Shame colored my face as I tried to give her a smile back. Jezzebel was far from what I was expecting the Head of any Coven to look or be like.
"I'm sorry about what I thought about your Coven," I mumbled as shame coated my words.
Her laugh, even muffled as it was from the Shadow Realm, seemed to bring sunlight with it. Or maybe that was just Fire magic.
"You're apologizing for something you didn't say out loud? You're simply delightful, dear. No worries. I'm sure it was a thought formed from lack of information. Most are."
Jared spoke up from beside me, "Did she say anything else?"
My attention went back to him before I related who she was and that there wasn't anything else as of yet.
"Okay. Well then I'm going to give Robert a call. No doubt he'll bring a few of the other members along with him. Why don't you and Cece go over to her apartment or the office to make the brochures?"
That wasn't a bad idea. The going into the office idea not going over to Cece's apartment one. She actually didn't even have a computer at her place. Of course there was a computer in her room here though.
"Cece go change out of your toddler pajamas. We're going into work to use the copying machine for the brochures we'll have to make."
"You clearly have bad taste in pajamas," she retorted as she yanked on my baggy t-shirt on her way past me to her room.
Jezzebel spoke up even as I turned to leave, "I'll make sure to keep my Coven on or near your grounds."
I glanced over my shoulder and nodded but then stopped as a question flitted through my head. "How did you guys get past our wardings?"
I'd always wondered how ghosts could get inside with our wardings up.
"Simple, dear. We used your magic as a portal. You sort of vaccuumed us over. I'm assuming the residual Spirits here didn't need to use the same route since they were here before you arrived."
That actually made sense but it worried me that they could use me as a portal. There wasn't just Spirits in the Shadow Realm. I'd really rather prefer a Reaper or any Evil Taint to slither it's way into my home. Shadow Realm Protecters though wouldn't do that so I wasn't worried about them. Four different types of entities lived, or existed, on that side.
A Reaper was something I put in the category that was neither good nor evil. It just followed it's own set of rules on who's souls to take. I was guessing the Fire Coven had been brought over by multiple Reapers. The Shadow Realm was a sort of In-Between for the next place after death.
A Protector was the equivalent as guards or a police force on that side. They mostly kept the Evil Taint from leaking over into the real world. It was also a part of their duty to make sure Reapers didn't abuse their power. Of course occasionally the Protectors miss them slipping into our realm.
Evil Taint was something that no one really understood. It was odd because you'd think that there would be the polar opposite also found on that side. There was nothing that could tame Evil Taint though. Mostly it seeped into the Spirits roaming that side and created a vengeful spirit or even took possession of humans on this side. In rare cases Supernatural's were overtaken by it as well- especially those blind to the Shadow Realm. When I saw this stuff it resembled black fog, sometimes mold, that shifted along the ground. Crackling noises and red flashes followed it everywhere.
Shaking off my musings, I headed into my room and pulled some black pants on forgoing changing my white shirt. Before I left with Cece I made sure to pull my hair up with a hair tie and grabbed my sweatshirt. Jared was talking into his phone as I shut the door behind us.