A Bet Like No Other 1

After a long night of roaming the city, lurking in dark corners, slinking through the shadows the high rise buildings provided in search of a tasty blood, repugnant soul human to feast upon, The Vampire returned the hotel she and her niece bunked in for the past three nights in lieu of the trunk and the backseat of the car.

She shifted into a bat and slipped through the partially opened hotel window, a small biddy eyed creature forming in one solid form on the other side. She shook her long hair out, flicking it over one shoulder, then proceeded to kick off one boot followed by its twin.

BANG!

A gun shot fired, shattering a small whole into the wall plaster just left of her head.

"What the hell are you doing?" The Vampire snapped at her baby witch niece who stood in the middle of the room with a gun pointed before her.

"Bored," The Little Witch replied.

"What?"

"BORED!" She shot again hitting the wall two inches from her previous mark.

The Vampire shrugged, tossing the lovely soft peach cashmere sweater to the side. She wore it because it was pretty, not to protect her from the chilly late Spring weather, the tank top she wore was sufficient enough. "Don't think playing Sherlock is the best way to cure boredom, you know, with all the noise and such."

"I spelled the room. Duh."

"Still." The Vampire sat in the center of the bed, legs crossed. "I'm sure there's something else you could do."

Little Witch sighed dramatically, tossing the gun up in the air where it vanished. "Fine." The next hour passed with The Vampire catching up on all the books she let pile up over the last three months on the E-reader she borrowed without asking with no intention to return. Little Witch stood at the window, a spell written on the glass by smudging her finger, using it as a portal of sorts to her private solarium where she kept all her ingredients and potions ready stocked for easy access. As long as the item was in stock and where she left it, she could summon the item for spells and charms without ever having to physically retrieve it. It made working magic instantly and remotely all the more easy.

But not even the ever growing pile of commissions was enough to occupy the young witch, and she stood at the window gazing at the residential houses, office building, and other stores and business 5 stories below her Brooklyn hotel room.

She flicked a hand, ever the good witch, and turned on the lights of a darkened building for a lady with two small children. But being bad was also fun, so she tampered with the traffic lights causing them to from green to red every ten seconds, but her magic was too much for the old wires and electricity.

POP! BOW!

A transformer blew, and all the lights on her side of the street went out, spreading two blocks to her left and three behind her.

The Vampire rolled her eyes and glanced over the book. “Nice.”

“Oops.”

“Think you can manage to produce some sort of light so I can continue my book? Without sitting anything on fire.”

Little Witch turned to face her aunt. “If you were reading something…good, I’d consider it.”

“Hey!” The Vampire said defensively, “this book isn’t that bad.”

“That book sucked ass.”  She snorted.

“No it doesn’t.”

“It’s the same for all those regency romances. Some female from the present somehow ends up in the past because she’s destined to be the great love of the super hot and muscled Highlander with long dark hair and a kilt, or the overly attractive, stuffed shirt Darcy-type Earl or Duke.”

“Or Rake. Can’t forget the Rake’s,” The Vampire said. She sat the E-reader to the side.

“And it’s always the same,” Little Witch droned on. “They take some liberated, educated, intelligent, pretty woman who, more often than not, has no friends or close-living family and you thrust her back into the past by way of a magic book, or mirror, fall, a nap in the park where she wake up and finds herself 200-1000 years in the past where the first person who stumbled across her is usually some prick who attempts to rape her after noticing her state of undress—“

“You mean shorts, or tee shirt. Hair uncovered, hands exposed, ankles all the way.” The Vampire stuck out a perfectly exposed ankle that in the past was completely unacceptable for a woman to show.

“You Strumpet,” Little Witch teased. “Then the big man shows up with his misconstrued impressions based on the five minutes he’s known you and has determined you’re the most obstinate woman ever.”

The Vampire held up her hand. “You forgot something?”

“What?”

“The Swoon-Snarl at first sight. They see each other, both thinks the other is  the most gorgeous and handsome person they’ve ever laid eyes upon. Then they speak and piss each other off.” She batted her lashes.

“I said that.”

“No you didn’t.”

“Uh...Super hot Highlander in a kilt? Obstinate woman? Remember?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Anyway, the part that bothers me—“

“You’re just going to skip ahead? No. Keep going in order. This is entertaining.”

“—Is that they take this woman who has every right to be upset, and distraught, who wants to go home and they make her okay with the situation. A week— Sorry, a sennigh later and though she still desperately wants to return home, she’s no longer trying, she’s so involved trying to revolutionize their this backwards century she’s stumbled upon that has no indoor plumbing, or cable TV, internet, not even a damn Starbucks, and let me tell you, Starbucks would definitely be needed in this situation.”

“Coffee didn’t become mainstream until a few centuries ago. Back then they drank tea.”

Little Witch rolled her eyes. “Now she either as played along, pretended to be from the time, maybe a runaway daughter of sorts who is taking in and giving protection, so she alters her speech to keep from sounding like the alien she really is, or she tries to prove her story, that she’s from the future where blah, blah, equal rights, blah blah, women make their own decisions, blah blah, here! Let me prove it by showing you my cell phone. Which. Should. Not. Work! The technology did not exist by then. The moment you travel into the past that cell phones should die. Immediately. There’s no electricity. And she should probably be swinging from a gallows by her neck if she manages to get that contraption to work. Or because she will almost always be stubborn and smart mouth.”

The vampire glanced around the room, refraining from informing her niece that they currently had no electricity either, and it had nothing to do with time travel.

“And the worst part is, they take this otherwise intelligent, strong, beautiful lady and turn her into a mediocre, DUMB, watered down, sad excuse of a person, who despite being beaten, kidnapped, poisoned, tortured, in some cases raped, is oh-so happy because she’s with the man she loves. Who is just as bad and bland as she. And you know what else? Her real family or friends, if she has them are oh-so accepting of this, because she always manages to make it back to the present at least once more before she resides in the past forever. And if she has no family or friends, her coworkers or landlord never noticed she disappeared.”

“It doesn’t always end that way,” The Vampire countered. “Sometimes they end up in the present, where the guy returns to her time.”

“And is totally useless!” Little Witch said. “He has no birth certificate, no social security number, no passport, no ID, no real life job skills, he can’t do shit. All he can do is look good in a skirt or stuffy in a shirt. He is of no value. It’s total bull. It’s all fake and dumb, and as much as I love historical novels, I can’t get with the shitty travel to the past stories.”

“You make some valid points, although your view is obviously slanted towards the negative, but that’s not the say it would never happen that way.”

“Almost never.”

“I’m pretty sure it would.”

“Nope.”

“If you threw 5 people in the past, I’m sure you would see all those traits happened, if not in one person, bits and pieces in them all.”

Little Witch slanted her head, surveying her aunt. “Bet you wouldn’t.”

The Vampire’s eyes began to glow. “Bet?” She could never turn down a good bet. “Bet what?”

“You’re Psy-Changeling ARC? If I win, and by win that means if five people go into the past and one of them behaves in a ‘not dumb’ way, I win and you hand it over. If they all are idiots in the slightest, you win and you can have…?”

The Vampire smiled. “Oh. I’ll state my claim later. If I win. But there’s a problem.”

“Huh?”

“We need five people.”

Little Witch skunked against the wall. “True.”

The Vampire walked over to her niece and looked out the window, lamenting at a missed opportunity that would be so much fun. She pressed her forehead to the window, looking down across the street that wasn’t drenched in darkness, watching people bustling down the street, in and out of buildings and the big laundromat with all the huge glass window where she could see people loading washers and folding clothes, a group of people sitting at a table talking. Four boys. Four girls, all different in appearance, and possibility personality and temperament.

A slow, wicked grin spread her face. “We could use them.”

“Them who?”

Little Witch looked to where her aunt pointed.

“Them in the laundromat at the table. That’s a pretty diverse set of people. I’m sure one of them is bound to be smart.”

“We’re not throwing random people into the past Tia.”

“Why not?” The Vampire asked, genuinely curious. “It’s not like you can’t protect them.”

“Are you crazy?”

“Asks the girl who was shooting at the wall.”

The Witch flicked her hand, the bullet holes vanished, the wall as good a new.

“Why can’t you do that with them? Make it like a video game. Send them on a quest, make them solve missions or something, like they have to stop the evil Queen from taking over--“

“Why is it always an evil queen?”

“—And if they die, they return home, safe and unharmed, and maybe think it’s just a dream.”

“You’re insane,” Little Witch countered weakly, as she began to like the idea of the game. She loved games as much as her aunt loved bets.

“They could have like, this five lives…five stupidities, and when they run out of all the stupidities they could use, they lose the game, instant death, and return home. If one remains in the game when all is solved, you win. If they all die and return home. I win.” She tugged on her niece’s arm. “Come on Sobrina. For just this once do something really fun.”

Little Witch sighed. “Fine. Fine. But they only get three Stupidities. And there's no evil queen. We'll stick with the topic of romance and intelligence.”  Her eyes suddenly widened. “And to make it more interesting, we both will also play. Good Angel, Bad Angel. Your job is to get them to make a stupid decision, mine is to get them to make a smart one. But we can only interfere twice. Each.”

The Vampire’s eyes glowed even brighter, her smile growing larger. She rubbed her hands together eagerly. “And the rules?”

“So this is how it’s going to go.” As Little Witch talked, telling her the mission, The Vampire squealed in joy.

ddddd

Down at the Laundromat, Trice stood up from the table. “I think my dryer just went out.” She walked down the row of dryer’s and opened what should have been her dryer. She glanced at the number in the upper left hand corner. #69. Yep. Was her dryer, but that wasn’t her stuff. With her index finger and thumb, she lifted a garment out of the dryer. Knickers. There was no other way to describe the linen underwear that would start at her waist and come down to her knees. “The hell is this?”

“Ugh. Trice, I knew you were a hard cotton, period panties sort of girl, but even that’s going too far,” Suri said from her seat beside Rian who blushed profusely.

These were certainly period clothing’s, but not how Suri meant it. “They’re not mine.”

“ Wife?” Jime stood behind Trice, peeking over her shoulder into the dryer. “You’d go to a Renaissance fest lately and didn’t tell me? I wanted one of those big turkey legs.”

“As if I have time to go anywhere.”

“You just went to Chicago,” Jolene reminded her without looking up from the drama she watched on her tablet.

“After three years,” Kri added.

Trice shifted the laundry in the dryer, more confused than ever. Eliot saddled up beside her and Jime. “What’s that?” he reached into the dryer for what looked like a gold coin.

“A silver dollar?” Hiroki suggested. “Maybe you left change in your clothes.”

“Not my clothes,” Trice replied.

Eliot held up the coin turning it back and forth. One side was gold, a mysterious woman with long hair lounged along the right side of the coin, and if he didn’t know any better, he’d swear she winked. The other side was silver, a different woman leaning against the left side of the coin, three halo’s above her head.

The others got up from the table, crowding around to see the coin and the contents of the dryer.

“Let me see,” Jime held her hand out. Her fingers brushed against Eliot’s as he handed over the coin. It slipped from their hands, falling to the ground with a cling where it spun and spun and spun picking up more speed and stability instead of losing momentum and toppling over. A gust rose, swirling around their legs, their upper bodies, a thick wall of wind that blocked their view from everything. The laundromat, the washers and dryer’s behind them, even each other.

What’s going on?”

“What the hell is this?”

“Is this Jumunji?”

“Uh! Don’t say that. I hate that movie.”

“Somebody call my mommy.”

“Am I high? Did one of you spike my juice?”

And that was the last thing any of them heard before the ground opened up in a rush and swallowed them whole.

ddddd

Eliot sucked in a deep breath, his lungs taxed, his backside hurting from where he crash landed onto the floor. Eyes shut tight, they slowly fluttered open, when he was sure he wouldn’t vomit from the sudden onslaught of dizziness. White clouds floated by slowly. Blinking rapidly, he sat up, and looked around for everyone else.

No one. He was alone.

He twisted and looked behind him. His jaw slackened. To no one in particular, he said, “I don’t think we’re in Kanas anymore, Toto.”

A BET LIKE NO OTHER

A Launderette Extra

Where a bored witch and vampire from Sunset Coven decided to entertain themselves and test human intelligences at the same time by throwing cast of Laundro into the past for shits and giggles.

A Flash from the Past: A Sunset Coven One-shot

Another simple, pointless, carefree scene that is super cheesy and so sweet (in a way), it'll give you diabetes. And somehow this turned out longer than I wanted.

Merry Christmas.

@@@@@

Jime loved rainstorms. Occasionally. She loved curling up in her rocking chair by the window watching the rain roll down the window, or sitting in the office on the floor in front of the fireplace with a new manuscript that had to be translated. It brought her family together, kept them close as they sat around and laughed, cooked together, or just did separate things in the same room. It was soothing, cozy. But most importantly, she loved what followed the rain.

The sun. 

Bright and warm. 

The chill of the autumn air redden her cheeks, the breeze playing with her hair. She sat on the stump at the bottom of the hill a half hours walk from her small but comfortable house, kicking at the wet leaves. The rain had stopped sometime overnight, taking the cold gray nights and leaving the new showered days that brightening her mood. After three days of rain, Jime felt depressed, drained. She couldn’t wait until they could all be together again, where she’d be busy looking after everyone, spending the day playing with her children and nights playing with her husband. Family centered her, was her go too. 

Splash

With large new puddles. 

“Come Mama,” Galeno, her smart, charming, but dirty three year old son called out before taking a running start and splashing into another muddy puddle. 

There was no used trying to keep him clean. Her son attracted dirt like cow dung attacked flies, and no amount of bathing or changing his clothing made a difference. Some time ago she figured the best thing to do was keep him that way. He still bathed regularly but she wasn’t going out of her way to keep him that way. He’d grow out of it. Eventually. Hopefully. He did take after his father, so she wasn’t holding out hope. 

It was her husband she sat waiting for. He’d left with their ten year eight year old son Reyes for the market four nights ago to sell the fruits and vegetables they’d harvested this past season. Though not much, if they managed to sell it all, that money would get through comfortably through the upcoming winter

“Mama,” Galeno called out. “Come splash.” He jumped in the nearest puddle, showing her how it was done. 

He was adorable, she’d do anything for him, but she wasn’t going to jump in a puddle, her boots no resistance against the water. 

“Mama will get sick if she gets her feet wet.” That sounded plausible, right? “You jump for me, a really big jump.” 

And that’s exactly what he did, jumping so high and hard over and over that the water sprayed up, splashing her face a bit. She wiped her cheek with her cloak. 

The click-clacking of hooves alerted Jime that someone walked up the path. 

“Papa!” Galeno cheered and raced down the path, launching into the air for his father to catch him. 

A broad smile overtook her face. She coughed, covered her mouth, more so to hide the smile. She missed her husband. Loved her him dearly, not that she’d ever let on just how much. It’ll go straight to his head, the conceited fool. 

He was stubborn and had his unrefined moments at times, like when he laughed with his mouth full of food, or when he tracked mud in the house, returning home covered head to toe in dirt with Galeno following behind like a small shadow while she and Reyes sat in the house with their faces planted in books, only to be covered in dirt when he shook off like a dog. His manners were nonexistent, one of the many reasons her parents never approved of him.

But Jime would be the first to admit that she was shallow, was first attracted to him because he was…well, attractive. Pretty he was not. Handsome too tame. He was rough, masculine, and alluring. Tall, dark, and handsome. And had a strange addiction to running around his farm land, and the village, with is shirt off, smears of dirt for his gardens along his back and chest, bandages wrapped around his wrist, causing the female population to melt like chocolate on a hot summer day.

Back then she’d been a headstrong teenager, defying her parents' orders to stay away from that Catalan boy. 

See how well that worked out.

“Wife! You sit down when your husband returns? Insolent creature,” he said, tucking their youngest under his arm like a sack of potatoes.

Jime rose to her feet and walked forward…right past her husband. She gathered Reyes in her arms. 

“I’ve missed you,” she said, kissing his forehead. “The house feels so empty without you around.” 

Her husband snorted. Reyes kissed her cheek. 

“Hello Mama.”

“Did you enjoy your first journey?” she asked. 

He glanced at his dad then back at her. “It was fun. I’ve learned a lot,” he leaned forward and whispered, “It was long and boring and please don’t tell Papa I said that.”

She smiled and ruffled his hair. Unlike Galeno who was a mini replica of his father, Reyes was of her own ilk, would rather sit with a novel or eat delicious foods then be surrounded by a dozen people. 

“I grow tired of you woman,” his eyes narrowed, but his tone saying anything but. 

“Then sit in your carriage and let the horses carry you if you are tired,” she replied. “What do you want me to do?” 

He snagged her arm, pulling her into him, planting a kiss smack-dab on her lips. 

“Hi.”

“Welcome back. How did you fare?”

“All went well. We made a nice bit of coin, as expected when it comes to anything from our farm.”

Jime brushed her thumb across his jaw. “You need to bathe, as soon as we reach the house.”

“Aw, but I thought I smelled lovely,” he replied.

Reyes chuckled dryly.

“You smell like four days travel,” she said.

He sat Galeno on his feet. “And all this time I thought I smelled like roses.”

Jime rolled her eyes. Stepping out of his embrace, she took his hand and lead them all up the path to their houses. 

He held a single perfect valentia rose before her. “Like this rose.” His smile infectious. 

The corners of her lips curling, Jime took the rose and held it to her nose. 

Jime shook her head, letting the memory of when life had been simple, before her she learned of the creatures in the dark and the terrors of the world, fade, though she swore she could still smell the perfume of that rose. 

Umbrella up to protect herself from the rain, Jime stood at the edge of the road across from her brother’s house. Although night had fallen three hours ago, she could see inside the house clearly. Her sister-in-law had a thing for glass, and being the love-sick puppy that he could be for his wife, her brother fashioned their house entirely out of glass and mirrors. Cool, as it blended in with its surroundings, easy to miss if one didn’t look close enough. But creepy since everyone and their momma could see inside. Just creepy. 

And like a creep, she stood there and watched the only family she had left, her scowling brother, his conniving but sweet wife, and their to smart and conservative ten year old daughter. Tonight she wasn’t going to visit personally, not wanting to intrude on what looked like game night. Besides, she wasn’t at her best, hadn’t been for a while now feeling vulnerable and antsy, impatient and tired…just plain old tired. 

She watched for an hour. Deciding it was time to leave, to go somewhere, anywhere, she spun away from the warmth, the blissfulness and content, a state she hadn’t felt since before her change with her own family during rainy nights. 

She turned away and froze.

“Going somewhere?” Sage asked, posted against the tree behind her, cloaked in shadows. “Did you come all the way here just to stare into my house or did you plan to knock on the door?”

She looked over her shoulder back into the house where he sat at the dinning room time just a second ago. Her sister-in-law waved, a smile on her lips, her niece plastered against the glass, her hands cupping her eyes so she could see. 

She looked at her brother who watched her with intensity, his eyes taking in everything, the sleek clothing, fancy shoes, and tired lines around her eyes. 

He saw too much. Always had. And although she was older by centuries, he had a way of looking down at her like she was the bratty younger sibling. 

“Come, Jimena,” he said. “They like cheating, those two. Dare you show them how to do so…without being conspicuous.” 

She hesitated, then followed Sage across the road. She smiled at his back. “What are you talking about? I’ve never cheated.” 

On the Wings of a Dragon: A Sunset Coven One-shot

This one shot turned out completely different from my original idea. Now I need to write the original one as something different. But before then I'll post the Jime one shot (soon). Anyway, I felt like this (or scenes like this) was needed. Pointless as it has no plot, but carefree. 

This scene takes place three months after Suri joins Jime.

xxxxxxx

“Suri, catch!” 

Jime looked over her shoulder, spun and hail mary’ed the pouch fifty meters to her nieces then sprinted off down the right path. 

Stuttering, Suri caught the pouch. She looked up in time to see Jime disappear around the corner down towards the bayou. She glanced at the pouch, shaking it to determine what was inside. About to open the pouch, the ground began to rumble beneath her feet. A swarm of goblins raced towards her, their high pitch voices squeaking as they charged. 

Suri took a step back.

A small spear flew at her head. 

“Gob-gob-Goblins. Goblins! Tia what did you do?” she yelled, but Jime was long gone. Stumbling backwards. She flicked her wrist, sending the goblins back, but more rushed forward. Following in her aunts footsteps, Suri spun around and ran, taking the left path into the woodlands. No way was she going anywhere near water. Not after all the hours she spent that morning primping her hair. 

Witches weren’t as fast a most supernatural creatures, apparently that included goblins. They gained on her. Dodging low hanging branches and uprooted trees, Suri spelled obstacle after obstacle behind her, slowing and hindering them as much as she could without seriously injuring or killing. 

She didn’t like harming others, especially when it was probably her aunt who started all of this in the first place. Jime was a magnet for destruction and complication and everything Suri wasn’t accustomed to, her life before venturing with her aunt sheltered and routine…with a few out of control university parties her parent’s didn’t need to know about. 

A band of goblins came from her right, knives, torches, and spears waving. She skidded, dashing in the other direction to come up short when more broke through on her left. She truly didn’t want to hurt them, but the goblins didn’t share the same sentiment, planning to torture her in the most gruesome and delicious of ways. She up a signet of deflection, blocking the storm of sharp pointy objects that could not only harm her but kill her. Suri had yet to reach her immortality. 

She could feel it, stood just on the cusps of the beginning, which was far sooner than she expected, the transition into immorality usually beginning in the thirties for witches. It came out of nowhere, that night she found herself dragged into the fighting circle, the beginning of the transformation, like a traffic like it reverse, the red light changing to yellow. But the actual start had yet to happen, and any injury received was life threatening. 

Pivoting, she threw an orb of light to her left, and spun fisting her hand to her mouth. The orb exploded, knocking the goblins close to it out like a light. She blew into her hand, a sheet of ice freezing them in motion. But there were too many of them. They  circled her. She blasted her way through, running towards the horizon. She slide to a halt at the sudden drop, the mountain breaking off into a 40 story drop that spanned three times as wide across.

Ah crap!

Before she even had time to conjure a portal or teleport away, maybe grab a stick off the ground and fly out of danger, a large figure rushed through the crowd and tackled her off the cliff. A scream of surprised ripped from her throat. 

Strong arms latched around her waist, wings as wide as a New York City block beat on her side. Suri twisted in those arms with a good idea who those green, gold, and black wings belonged too, having seen then before. She wasn’t all that surprised to see Toren’s face, but the wings sprouting from the human body was a different story. He grinned that charming, boyish smile from before, her eyes transfixed on his mouth.

Her breath left her for a different reason. 

Had he been this attractive the first time she saw him? Clearly the sunlight was playing tricks on her eyes. He was gorgeous, his dark hair damp and spilling into stunning brown and green eyes, the tank fitting to his chest that was pressed completely to her back where she could feel every muscle like a second skin. She could stare at him all day and would have if he hadn’t smiled again. As dazzling as it was, the only thing she could do in response was to roll her eyes. Boys.

She shook her head, struggling to free one arm. Extending it past his head, she rebounded their weapons, and sent them flying back with a blast of power. 

“Woop!” Suri gasped when Toren suddenly flipped over and let her go. She free fall for a second that felt like a minute before he flew alongside her, his wings tucked tight to his body increasing his speed, as he pulled her onto his back then thrust his wings out mere feet before they hit the canopy, soaring over the forest. 

“Hahahaha.” Laughter spilled from her throat and died a quick death. Six tree sprites rose up from the canopy. Small they may be, but she learned early how sharp those fingers were and they liked to aim for the hair. No one touched Suri’s hair. 

“Level out,” she said to Toren. She gripped his shoulder with one hand, tucking the pouch into the waist of her pants while she pushed herself up. 

Suri stood on Toren’s back holding her left hand palm up, pointed at the sprites. “Birds of a feather flock together.”  The spell hit them mid-flight turning the woodland creatures into baby birdies. 

“Nice!” Toren said. 

“Thanks,” Suri said, slowly lowering herself to sit on his back, leaning forward to lock her arms around his neck to keep herself from falling off. 

“Tell me, Little Witch, why are goblins and Sprites after you?”

She shrugged. “I was out minding my own business, enjoying a quiet sunset, you know. It’s something I haven’t done in three months since I left with my aunt, after weeks of running here and dodging this and tangling with wolves and ghost and mythical creatures I thought didn’t exist and things that go bump in the night, and all I wanted, all I asked for was a bit of solitude. But noooo, she came running around the bend and through this pouch at me without a word before disappearing somewhere in the bayou, and now I have goblins chasing me, and wingy things showing up in midair while I fly on the back of a strange dragon in human form with gigantic wings protruding from its back. And now the sun is going down. Do I sound hysterical? I think I sound hysterical.” 

“No, you sound perfectly fine to me. Didn’t notice the high pitch voice at all,” he said but his tone said otherwise. 

“Ha ha.” 

Toren circled the valley. “Let me see that pouch.” 

Suri handed it to him. 

Toren flipped the pouch over and laughed. He held it up over his shoulder for Suri to read. 

“Tag. You’re it.” She read. “That—“

“Careful. She’s your aunt.”

“Old, dead….”

“Having trouble choosing a word?” Toren asked. “How about decrepit creature?” he suggested. 

“Dried up foogie?”

“Batshit crazy.”

“Mentally insane.”

“Manyeon ahjumma.”

Head cocked to the side, Suri stared at his profile. “I don’t know what that means.” 

“Infested old lady.”

“Ewww,” Suri groaned then laughed. “Yeah…no! Let's not talk about infestations.”

“It has a ring to it,” Toren said. 

“It does.” Suri sighed and rested her chin on his shoulder. “You wouldn’t happen to want that would you?” 

“I already have it, but I know a nice place we can stash it.” 

“Will it get everyone off my back?”

“Hmm, yeah, but it’ll probably be best if you stay on mine for a while.”

“Why?” she asked skeptically. 

“He’s not going to be thrilled.”

“He? He who? I’m not trying to go out of the frying pan into the fire, Dragon.”

But Toren didn’t respond, he flew back over towards the ledge where the goblins were screeching and brandishing their weapons. 

Suri sent a gust of wind towards the goblins.

“Why not use offensive attacks?” Toren asked, curious why she’d rather dodge then wipe out the problem immediately. It should be easy for her, with the magic she possessed and all the spells her father and aunt probably taught her. The vampire couldn’t use magic, but rumors were The Dark Mage’s first training was his sister who’d walked the lands long enough to learn more than what she ought to know.

“Well considering this all just happened to be a game, wish someone would have just said that from the beginning,” she mumbled, “hurting them seems unfair. That’s no fun.”

“Doesn’t seem like anyone else cares about fair,” he said. “Hang on. It’s about to get a bit dizzy.” He pinwheeled to the right, his speed increasing exponentially, and flung the pouch deep into the bayou, stopping upside-down. He whistled twice, the sound vibrating in the sky, spreading far.

“Wooo,” Suri said, holding on for dear life. “You drop me dragon and I’ll turn you into a gecko. A tiny little gecko.” 

“Will I get to sell car insurance?” He turned around and flew hastily across the valley deep, deep into the woodlands. 

“Shut up.” She looked over her shoulder, trying to find where the pouch landed. “Where is it?” 

“There’s another circle tonight down in the bayou. I threw it to River. He hates this game.”

And now she knew why he was flying so fast. “Which means you must amscray before he finds you…with me wrapped around you.” She paused. “Don’t even go there.” 

“I didn’t say anything,” he replied innocently. 

They flew in silence, swooping in and out of the forest, the leaves rustling softly against her legs, trailing his wings low in the marsh water the spray dizzying cool water on them, then soaring high into the sky, sweeping in and out of clouds.

“I always thought the clouds would taste like marshmallows or a bowl of whipped cream.”

Toren snickered. “What are you three?”

“I was once upon a time.”

“As were we all.” He flew higher. “What does it taste like to you?”

“Pollution.”  

He choked out a laugh. “Really?”

“No. Taste like water,” Suri replied. “You know, if you go much higher we’ll be in space, and I’m not sure about you but I’ve never trained to be an astronaut.”

“You know,” he threw her own words back at her, “you are too cute.”

Suri was glad she was on his back and he couldn’t see her cheeks flame like a school girl’s. 

“Look,” he pointed west. “You can watch the sunset from this high.” 

A swirl of reds and oranges that faded to gold, over green woodlands and beauty bayou trees. It was glorious and so worth the chase. And although the setting sun signified the ending of the day, it signaled the beginning of a new road for Suri. 

The transition had begun. 

Omake, Part 9

You asked, I deliver, LOL.

********

Additional Scene.

*******

What else did you get? Asked Suri, she started to suspect something was up since Jime was holding her bag of purchases way too closely.

“Just… whatever.”

“Hey, hey,” Suri kept making grabs for the bag but Jime kept pulling it away, “right, o.k., let me see.”

“No.”

“The more you fight the more I want to see!”

“Leave it alone!”

“You asked for it,” Suri snapped her fingers and the bag was magically in her hands.

“Oi! Give that back!” Now it was Jime’s turn to keep making grabs for it while Suri kept it away, she was rummaging through the bag when she saw a magazine that looked suspicious.

“What’s this?” Suri took it out.

“Suri! I’m warning you!” Jime was uncharacteristically flustered.

Suri started to flip through the magazine, what she saw made her gasp loudly “Oh my God! Tia! What is this?!”

“Nothing you need to concern yourself with, that’s what! I’m entitled to my privacy, you know.” Jime snatched the magazine back and started to quickly walk ahead.

“I saw some really ugly buff guys with green skin in there, with some elf honeys, having sex!” Suri shouted so she didn’t laugh.

“Shut.Up.” Jime tried to whisper but failed miserably.

“And a really big gray thing, was that a troll? With a really big p-”

“I said shut up!”

Suri had a hard time trying to keep her face blank but somehow managed, “You filthy kinky whore, you.” She narrowed her eyes at Jime.

“Look. Fine, fine! It’s monster sex, alright?! Monster sex!”

“I can’t believe you like that sort of thing…” Suri’s lips threatened to break into the smile she was trying to keep inside but she schooled them down.

“Once you see something it’s almost impossible to unsee it. Words of wisdom from me to you. And technically, since I’m a vampire, I’m considered a monster too.” Jime tried for nonchalance.

“This from the woman who still reads shoujo manga. You follow Skip Beat on your smart-phone, and you still like Kaichou wa maid-sama.”

“Don’t get me started on kaichou, I don’t know what the hell they’re doing, it’s all downhill now, I really despise the current English-aristocracy story line, like that amnesia story line in Hana Yori Dango back in the day-”

“Rant and try to change the subject all you want but I know what I saw and I’ll never forget it.”

“You also still watch cartoons!”

“Don’t make this about me! I’m a proud Avatar Fangirl. I know now, this information is out there and there’s nothing you can do to cover it.”

“Whatever, I’m outta here.” Jime almost ran she was walking so fast.

Suri finally chuckled evilly, “run away tia, but you’ve given me this ammunition and I plan to use it, mwahahahaha!”