Lea: A Tale from Midnite… ‘Dusk is the last time you can see your shadow’ … It was like any other night in this damn city, Lea leaned against the door frame of the fire exit to her work, she scratched the back of her shoulder blade and felt the stump where her wings used to be. Her faerie wings had been removed when she was little, the family who had taken her in, didn't want a fairy daughter and made her cover up all evidence of this. Lea’s pointed ears, covered by a wig, asked to put on weight to disguise her dainty, pale and slight frame. It was not until she finished high school that she was the only one of her kind and the family had been forced against their will to take her in. Forgiveness was hard to give, knowing what measures they took to keep ‘their’ peace. Lea gritted her teeth at the phantom pain and the pain filled memory. Stepping into the alley behind the pawn shop that she was allowed to work in. Her boss had let her borrow a motorcycle for the night, part of her was giddy, Lea loved the freedom they instilled. Her own custom leathers she had been designing for such an occasion. Lea had regained her figure, the jacket a typical black with deep purple elbow pads, they matched her shoulder length black and purple curly hair. She smiled deeply with her whole body, the rest of her leathers and boots matched the colour scheme of the jacket. Lea zipped up the jacket, stepped over to her boss’s bike, held the right handle bar and it took her back to better days, instinct kicked in and next thing she knew she was on the open road and on her way to get her wings back. The father of the family that who took her in, had sold her wings off to the highest bidder, all Lea knew was that she was a witch and a friend of hers had informed her that she would be at Midnite graveyard at you guessed it ‘midnight’ Lea pulled up to the entrance of the graveyard, the cast iron gates had been broken in, she revved the bike and drove up the road that snaked it’s way through the cemetery and to the top on which the mausoleum of the family stood… To be continued in chapter 8 of ‘North of Midnite’ … I love you Baby

Chapter 6: ‘The tip of the iceberg’ Alex thought she had arrived in advance of the group’s second meeting; she had received a text from Alastair claiming it was ‘Imperative that they meet’. Alex had initially scoffed at it but it seemed like a good idea to touch base given the nature of the events that have unfolded. Flicking on the light switch,a singular bare bulb lit up the room, the meeting space already had four fold away chairs set up in a circle. Alex turned off the light and on again, the chairs had disappeared, her brow furrowed, she glanced around the room, a chill ran down her spine and her lips started to freeze. ‘I see there is truth to the old wives tales’, Alastair appeared behind her, ‘you really are cold blooded’. Alex waited for him to walk past her till she bore her teeth, ‘what did you do?’ He turned on his heel, ‘All I did was put your plan on a faster track’, Alastair pulled a red cushioned baroque chair seemingly out of thin air, dropped himself into it and sat cross legged, the joins in his prosthetic legs showing through his silk trousers. Alex strode towards him, ‘not so threatening without your fangs are you..’, Alastair started. She stopped at the foot of the chair and smiled, ‘...says the demon had to ‘borrow’ Mummy’s blade to kill an innocent child’. Alastair clicked his tongue, his eyes fluttering at being called out, ‘damn you Carl!’. Alex turned, went to the back wall and picked up two more folding chairs. Carl opened the door, leaning on the doorframe, ‘Weak Demon’, he growled and limped his way into the room, his loose foot slocking with each step. Alex set up the two chairs and helped Carl sit down. ‘Why here?’ Carl shouted, staring at Alastair, Carl’s foot fell off, but barely registered anything in him. Alex sat down, leaning back, waiting for a response from the demon. But no answer came, Carl grunted, Alex understood that he knew what Alastair had done. Carl just didn't have any stakes in the game that the demon was trying to play. He smiled, his dead foot falling with a wet thud to one side, ‘Kitty’, he looked towards the door, it swung open violently and nearly came off its hinges and a dark fog poured through the doorway, with two green cat eyes at the centre of it. Joseph pulled the darkness into himself, forming his feline body and padded into the room. A bloodied Cassandra walked through behind him, crimson staining her cheeks and dried blood on the tips of jet black hair. She locked eyes with Alastair, green magic trials taking shape in her palm creating a crystalline vial full of black viscous liquid, not taking her eyes off him she rolled up her sleeves, one by one, her tattooed arms scarred during her encounter with Isak. Cass uncorked the vial, downed it and her tattoos started to bleed, walking slowly towards Alastair, dark crimson running down her arms, she tilted her head back and smiled. Talking to the ceiling she spoke softly, ‘Your ‘Mother’ brought a Ghoul back’. Cass jerked her head forwards, her face inches from Alastair’s, ‘and she gave him a body’. Bringing up a bloodied finger to Alastair’s nose and pushing him back with all the force she had, her arms had nearly healed but Cass’s muscles ached, but at this point she really didn’t care. Alastiar’s chair disappeared from under him and he tumbled backwards. Cass loomed over him, her figure blocking out the light, Joseph had made his way over to his side, Alex stood up pushing her chair back, Carl laughed, ‘Good witch’.

Chapter 2: **"I'm not livin' with you. We occupy the same cage, that's all."** Alex approached her car, the front lights flickered indicating it had unlocked and pulling open the driver side door she sensed that prior presence. Searching the empty parking lot a pair of emerald eyes flashed at the edge of her vision, smiling, she got in the car, sitting down, she chose her driving playlist. “L’autre monde” by PNL started playing, the hybrid engine hummed to life, the midnight moon reflecting off the bonnet and she pulled out of the parking lot. The streets were empty. She loved this time of night, the silence contrasted with the busyness of her day job and tapping her fingernails in time to the keys of the song, she drove north of the city to the site of her new place. The ink black of the night sky reminded her of better times, ‘well more relaxing times’, she laughed, humanity has changed and she has changed. Driving up the hill, the building site of her new home, finally had signs of progress and ‘at least this was pleasing’ she thought. Pulling up to the site, she came to a stop, the gentle hum of the hybrid engine fading away and silence washing over her again, sighed and got out of the car. Pushing the car door closed, the soft click was the only noise in the sea of the soundlessness, a cold breeze broke that and she rolled her eyes.  "They abide and they endure", she said aloud, looking out from the top of her hill, seeing her city of Midnite spill out beneath her, feeling a sudden sense of duty and quashing that as soon as it came. ‘My city’, she laughed ‘i fucking dont think so’, pulling out her phone, Spencer Cane the mayor had been blowing it up, cursing him under breath, scrolling through links and videos about the unsettled populace, one in particular caught her attention and she clicked; it was a transcription of a video he had been forwarded. **The location of the video was in a classroom of one the more prominent public schools, she forgot the name and it was a shouting match between two students, two boys.** ‘WHY did you draw on my desk!’ **“**_I didn’t, i swear’_ ‘Say sorry, Demon’ _“Do not call me that!”_ ‘Or what!?’ *second child _slams the first child headfirst through the desk, the video is quiet, heavy breathing of the second child is the only sound, who then looks at the camera, grinning, showing his pointy teeth, a gasp is heard and the phone falls to the floor*_ _…_ Scowling, Alex started to text back a reactionary response, realising that was not the best course of action, texting back a single sentence and that read: ‘_I will arrange a meeting with the school head in the morning and it's in your best interest Spence to not respond to this’_  Stuffing her phone back into her pocket, soon as she had done that, it vibrated, scowling she read the text: _‘Oops’_ Ringing him, it rang out as per usual and she cursed him again. _‘Cant talk’_, the text came back. ‘Of course not’, she said, biting her lip, ‘the sooner he dies, the better off this city is’. Making her way back to her car, her night now disturbed, she craved the silence again, unfortunately her playlist knew her better, “Head like a hole” by NiN started playing as the engine hummed into existence. Grinning, she drove back into the city. It was now early morning and the owls were resting and the sparrows started to wake up, the sky a deep blue and it would dawn soon. She sped towards the mayor’s office, ‘It's going to be a long night...and I don't particularly like the book I've started...You know what I mean?’ Alex said to the fading moon. … Forgive my grammar here… … I love you Baby

Chapter 3 Part 1 Slowly resting the needle of the turntable on his favorite record, Alastair listened to the static before the bass came in on ‘Immigrant song’ by Led Zeppelin and poured over the details of last night’s meeting.  Pacing his room, which was lined with musical posters and framed photos of him alongside various rock stars from the 60s and 70s, he always felt like he was born into the wrong time, ‘summoned’ he corrected himself aloud and he grumbled. His horns had started to grow back again, he scoffed and realised that we would have to sand them even further. This was the price of having to fit in with this society, he laughed some kids thought he was cosplaying a demon, tapping his chakra tattoos, ‘delinquents’ he laughed, ‘only if they knew’. These new prosthetic legs fitted him nicely, then again ‘mother’ always got him the best and he had hoped that she had put the fear of hell into that Alex vamp. “Since I’ve been loving you” by Led Zeppelin came on. I despise vampires, he thought, ‘she may become a nuisance’. He swayed to the sound Page’s guitar, made his way over to the self portrait he had commissioned, he howled the chorus, looked at the inscription near the bottom of the frame and scoffed again: **‘For you and your years of service’** It was supposed to read ‘eternal service’, but you couldn't have everything, he laughed, ‘yes you can and i will’.  Alastair pulled his wig off and passed a hand over his head, his stubs will always bother him and he really wished he could do something about it. Stepping away from the painting, ‘oh, you are still here’ turned around and looked at the young boy sitting on a futon in the middle of the room. Standing over the russeted haired teenager, ‘you forwarded the video to the authorities, yes?’ All he got was silence. ‘I will find out soon enough and your family will only live if you did’, Alastair growled, ‘did you make sure that the school caught you?’ Again silence, this time tears lined the boy’s eyes and rain down his cheeks and grasped his grey trousers tightly. ‘For pity’s sake, have some backbone!’ Alastair pulled his stiletto dagger, the hilt blood red, which matched the lining of his favorite suit,  from his smoking jacket, and ran it gently over the scar under his right eye. ‘I love musicals you see, I always envied Orpheus’, the boy looked up at him perplexed, eyes bloodshot, he sniffed, ‘why? Alastair grinned, the record had ended, the needle had started to scrape and the static was annoying. The demon walked over and delicately lifted the needle with the tip of the stiletto. The room was now still, Alastair strode over to the boy and in one swift motion, plunged the dagger through the boy’s right eye, puncturing all and the tip stuck out the back of the boy’s skull. The left eye looked up at Alastair, before rolling back into its socket, blood mixed with tears ran down the cheek, dripped on the trousers and the boy’s body went limp. The Demon removed the blade, wiped it on his jacket, ‘tsk, because Orpheus became legend’. The boy’s body slumped to the floor, blood soaking his nice new rug, Alastair slipped his blade back into his smoking jacket and went over to his record player.  Putting the disc back in its sleeve, looking through his music collection he picked out the “Wicked” soundtrack and ‘Gravity’ started playing. His mother’s _help, _had already started tidying up his mess, ‘Would you like tea, sir?’ one of them chimed.  ‘Oh, yes’, responded Alastair, ‘Lemon and honey please’. … I love you baby 🖤

‘I didn’t bring him back *Witch*’, Alastair bore his teeth, ‘ so why would you fucking care?’ Cass eye’s fluttered back, curling her forefinger into her palm, tendrils of blue magic wrapped around her knuckle and wrist. ‘You know who did though...’, she stated between ragged breaths, the magic started to pulse, finding the wound in her palm, Cass pressed her eyes closed. the wound closed, leaving a scarred line, opening her eyes she looked around quickly at Alex and Carl. ’Something came back through with him…’, Alastair sighed. ‘...the boy?’ Carl growled. ‘...no, something brought through to *deal* with the humans’, Alex finished. The rest looked over at her. Joseph padded over to Carl and nuzzled his undead foot. The air turned cold again, Jo lets out a soft meow and Alastair sunk through the cement floor like it was quicksand. ‘i need to get back to the office’, stated Alex as she made for the exit, ‘i suggest you both do the same’. Cass massaged her palm, Joseph returned to her side, turning to Carl as he shuffled with only one foot towards the exit, ‘It will only get worse’, She began. ‘I know’, he chortled, ‘Carl not care’. Cass did not have the energy to argue with him and knew deep down that if Joseph was not here she would feel exactly the same. That wasn’t the case though and hoping with time he realised he had a place in this world because of the humans not despite them. Carl’s stumpy walk against polished the concrete, meant that this meeting was over, Cass scoffed and lifted up Joseph who had somehow held on Carls un-dead foot, ‘Give me that’, she said. He dropped it on the floor. ‘He is not going to need it is he’. ... i wouldn't normally do this but, this was too good not to share i love you baby

Chapter 5: 'What's is THIS?' It was before dawn when she got back to her building. The opening strings stirred of Danny Elfman’s ‘Batman’ score Batman theme as Cassandra exited the elevator on the floor of her apartment, the conversation with Carl was stuck in the back of her mind and refused to budge. ‘Oh well’, she sighed, ‘will have to deal with him soon enough’, paced down the hallway, the music finishing just as she reached her front door and noticed a slip of paper sticking out the letterbox. She rummaged for her keys, the letter only meant one thing, that her familiar had got caught on the way to the morgue again, ‘no animals in the building’ the superintendent said, this was the third time now and there will be consequences. She unlocked the door, her living room was pitch black with the darkness of her familiar, ‘JOSEPH’, she yelled, ‘you reappear this instant’, she dropped her bag onto the wooden floor of her apartment. Cass looked in the direction of the balcony door, saw two little emerald eyes blink and then drop to the floor. The darkness evaporated and formed a slender black cat with a white tip on his tail making it look like the cat printer had run out of ink when it got to the end and Cass smiled. Joseph padded over a Persian rug towards her and leapt into Cass’s arms. He started to purr and nuzzled the underside of her chin, ‘welcome home’ he mewed. ‘Is it welcome Jo?’, Asked Cass, dropping him to the floor ungracefully yet he landed with the airs of a bag of feathers and looked up at her. ‘You got caught again, you know this right?’ ‘No’, he answered, ‘I took every precaution’. Cass scoffed, ‘at the meeting, even the zombie sensed you!’ She made her way over to her white leather couch, dropped onto it, pushed off her shoes and went to put her feet on her matching futon but found it was too far away. Jo had pushed it closer to the TV so he could watch his shows, he normally pushes it back, she noted and got back up again. Jo looked up at Cass affectionately waiting for food. ‘No food’, she said, ‘ you got caught multiple times and didn't put back the futon’. He cried in protest. ‘Don't make me turn you back into a human’, she glared, blue tendrils of magic wrapping around her ringed fingers on her left hand, ‘we both know you wouldn't survive the transition back’, Joseph dropped to the floor, his eyes locking in on her hand, the tendrils of magic started to pulse and become translucent. ‘Is that what you want?’ She cocked her head, ‘do you not like the life i have given you? He padded over to the rug again, plonked himself right in the middle of it and fell immediately to sleep. ‘Fine’, she aimed her magic at the flat screen TV, it came to life and with the flick of her wrist Carl appeared on the screen as she had left him facing the boy’s corpse and his pupil-less eyes staring straight through her own. ‘What to do with you?’ she wondered, smiling and then Joseph suggested, ‘Maybe you could control him?’ Cass sat back down on her couch, clicked her tongue and turned the idea over in her head. ‘I would need permission from the voodoo doctor who brought him back’, she started. Joseph got up and with tail high walked over to the foot of the couch, sat and looked up at her intently. ‘That sounds like hard work’, Cass stated. Joseph grinned. ‘No!’ She barked. Joseph fell back to the floor. ‘I know you will fail, just so you get your wish’, she frowned and exhaled, he had been her familiar since college, ‘sorry’, Cass looked down at him, ‘ok, regardless of what happens you will get your wish’. His ears twitched and he mewed loudly, ‘thank you’, he purred. He padded over to the balcony doors, phased through the glass and jumped onto the metal balcony railing and perched there looking at the first rays of sunlight that broke through the night. Cass’s magic crackled at the tv again, ‘the nightmare before christmas’ started on the screen, she sunk into her couch and with her other hand pulled the futon closer with her magic. Her eyes rolled back and she could see through Joseph's eyes, ‘pretty’, she smiled and her body went limp as she took over Joseph's body. ... i love you Baby

We are all equal, In his blanched gaze. Deciding life’s maze, And finality’s crawl. Curved features, No longer a creature. Carrying an anchor, Holding score. We are all equal, In his glass chains. Humanity will remain, Until we heed his call. Given the horde’s form, He has been reborn. Doth the sign he writ, Doom’s loom he will sit. He doesn’t know your fate, Just his anchor will carry you. It’s hunger he must sate, Death the only thing true. … I love you baby 🖤

North of Midnite: Chapter 1 “Why are we here?” Alex asked looking around the room, she sat cross legged on an orange fold away chair. “Meeting”, grunted Carl, his zombie flesh becoming taught under the bright sterile lights, leaning back as he looked around at the other occupants of this ‘meeting’. Pushing glasses up his nose, the demon stared at his watch, tapped it and looked up, “I got a cryptic message from my matriarch stating I needed to just turn up here at this time, I was then asked not to bring weapons…”. “…Which feels like a waste doesn’t it?” Interjected Cassandra, the latina witch pulled out her air pods and placed them back in their case delicately. “A demon, a vampire, a zombie and I were summoned to some underground meeting and my first thought was…” “…Human propaganda or some kind of bad setup for a joke”, finished Alex, pulling out the gilded fangs from her handbag, putting them on and grinning. “Humans!” Howled Carl. “I know”, the demon Alastair smiled, “it’s not like I owe them my presence on this hell forsaken earth or anything!” “Really?” Yelled Cassandra, the witch giving him side eye and pouting. “I fit in!” retorted the demon. “No, you don’t”, the vamp showed off her gold fang dentures. “Ha, Teeth”, mumbled Carl. “Why is there a fucking Zombie here?” The witch leant forward, looking at Carl, “and how come you can talk?” Carl whipped his head around, pointed at his chest, “master was a voodoo”, he responded in a low growl. “A voodoo zombie”, said Alex sighing, “how old school”. Rummaging through her handbag she found a blood bag from a recent drive she had attended, pulling it out eyes wide as she bit into it. Letting out a sigh it coated her tongue and throat in crimson. Relaxing in her chair she giggled. The rest of the group stared at her in disbelief. “So brazen”, Alastair exhaled, taking off his glasses. Alex drained the rest of the blood bag, a little blood dripped off her fangs. Carl grunted and looked at the ceiling. Cassandra stood up preparing to leave. Alex clearing her throat, “it was I that brought you here”, Cass soon sat back down. Alastair frowned, the make up around his sanded down horns shifting. Planting her bag down on the floor by the side of the chair, Cassandra cleared her throat, ‘continue’. Alex raised an eyebrow, ‘anyway, now that I have your attention, well at least two of you!’ Staring at Carl, who was still looking at the ceiling, ‘CARL!’ He yelped and looked in her direction ‘fine’, he sighed. ‘If you can't get the zombie to fall in line then I feel you may have a problem… miss?’ Alastair started. ‘Leigh’, stated Alex. ‘The mayor’s aide?’, Laughed Cassandra, ‘how many times has he been shot at?’ Alex coughed, ‘he is a stupid individual, who seems to avoid every hit i put out on him, but he always thinks i save his life’, stifling a laugh ‘he keeps giving me pay rises every time also which i don't understand’. ‘Get to the point!’ Barked Carl. Alastair holds back a yawn. ‘Fine’, Alex smiles, ‘how would you all like to bring this city to its knees?’ Alstair cleaned some imaginary dirt off his glasses, ‘why? What has brought that on?’ Putting his glasses on, gently shaking his head realising how futile the gesture is in front of such individuals. ‘Feeling oppressed are we?’ Licking her gold dentures, Alex grinned, ‘that is a cheap shot, especially coming from a demon and given I know who summoned you’. Alastair sat back in his chair, defeated, with his pride bruised. ‘Gold Teeth!’ Shouted Carl, raising a fist ‘explain, now’. Cass had grown impatient and had put her music back on. Alex sat back down, grabbed her phone and scrolled through to get to the most recent mayor’s meeting notes, cleared her throat and read them aloud: “It has come to my attention that a recent influx of demons, witches and other fantastical creatures has instilled fear in small pockets of the populace, these pockets are showing violent tendencies and seeds of a rebellious nature” Cassandra, seemingly paying attention to what was said, ‘the mayor said this?’ Alex putting her phone away, ‘yes’. The demon sighed, ‘those seeds need to be plucked and soon’ ‘We can’t deal with that’, started Cass, drawing a small spell with her fingers in the direction of Carl, ‘you smell bad’. Carl sniffed the air 'Can't smell’. Cass laughed, the spell finished ‘better’, her attention back to the situation at hand, ‘wouldn't we bring more attention to that area?’ ‘In theory’, said Alex, ‘I have a better idea though’. ‘What's that?’ asked Alastair. ‘Boom!’ Grinned Carl bearing his pearly whites. ‘That is a less subtle way of putting it, but yes’, Alex continued, ‘i need you all in on this first otherwise it isn’t going to work’. ‘What do you mean by subtle?’ Alastair reapplied some makeup around his horns, catching Cass staring at him, ‘what?’ ‘Nothing, just realising how badly you want to be part of this human society’, Cass answered, retrieving a small vial full of viscous dark green liquid out of her pocket, undoing the brass lid and drinking its entire contents. Alex then snatched the now empty vial out of the witch's hand, ‘how long have you been using that?’ ‘I am not telling you, you probably know anyway’, replied Cass, ‘wait, do you actually know what this is?’ ‘Of course I do, I have ordered a crate’, answered Alex. Alastair laughed ‘we are all as bad as each other, well except for Carl, who clearly can’t form a sentence’. ‘Weak demon’, growled the zombie, who then stared at the demon with his pupiless eyes. Everyone looked at Carl, Alastair then shook from head to toe, ‘i like him’ chuckled Cass and Alex handed the vial back to cass, ‘i think this will work out just fine’. "We shall see’, Cass crushed the vial into green dust, and a small tattoo of the vial appeared in her palm. ‘Oh’, exhaled Alex, ‘who taught you that?’ ‘Self taught, but that’s none of your concern’, Cass turned her palm over and the tattoo traveled to the back of her hand. She then made for the exit, ‘Noche’. Alastair got up, patting himself down. ‘She had her Familiar here the whole time’, putting his glasses inside his baroque style smoke jacket. ‘It was camouflaged, underestimate her at your peril’. ‘I sensed a mild disturbance and I thought it was the spell she cast’, Alex packed her bag. ‘No’, smiled the demon, ‘please don't be naive’. Alastair adjusted the buttons on his jacket and disappeared into thin air. ‘Cat!’ laughed Carl ‘Huh?’ Asked Alex, brushing dust off her shoulders. Carl pointed at a hole in the ceiling, ‘Witch, pet’. ‘Ah’, she sensed the feeling from earlier, ‘damn’. The zombie pulled himself out of his chair and directed himself toward the exit. ‘Night!’ He grunted as he left out the door. Alex stood alone in the room, pulled her handbag straps over her left shoulder. ‘I hate this city’ ... i love you Baby

Chapter 4: ‘Here you come again’ The Midnite City Morgue, was manned 24/7 by a voodoo zombie named Carl, i say manned, Carl is only part man and his only friends he has are body parts. But today something, more precisely someone’s body, needed to be examined and this made him happy. ‘Up stupid body’, Carl grunted lurching out of his chair, shuffled over to the wall of drawers and closed the ones he left open, ‘goodnight’. He turned around, leaning against the doors of the drawers, watched as a new visitor was wheeled in, ‘thank you Denise’ Denise was a short blond haired student from one of the local academies, she was shy, which helped Carl, as well as her because she barely spoke but today was an exception. Denise blurted out. ‘I shouldn’t tell you this, but this is a kid from the Graves estate’ Carl’s pupil less eyes widened, he growled, made a shooing motion to Denise, she just stood there and then he snapped his teeth at her. She scurried out the double doors. Slowly making his way over to his workstation, Carl pressed play on his music player and the opening riff to ‘Metal Noir’ by Seth echoed around the sterile stainless steel room. He grinned, twirled on his heels, swinging his arms from side to side to the song, happy for the other human to have left and alone to do his work. Carl walked over to the wall of drawers again, pulling specific ones out one by one: ‘Hello Dolly’, he laughed at the leg with a tag wrapped around its calf. ‘Hi Jeff’, Carl smiled at the severed head with a tag attached to a tooth. ‘Ugh Bruno’, he grunted at the amputated arm with a name attached to its middle finger. Carl bowed to his audience, he walked over to the new cadaver in the room ‘wisdom of the falling leaves’ by Fires in the Distance began to play and he bobbed his head up and down in appreciation of the keys in the song as it bounced off the walls. ‘Thank you Jeff’, he unzipped the body bag, ‘good choice’. Looking down at the pale body of the kid, one of the kid’s eye sockets was empty, Carl cocked his head and let out a low growl. He fully unzipped the bag, looked over the body and so no other puncture wounds. Looked over at the wall of drawers, ‘Damnit Bruno’, cursing the amputated arm and zipped up the body bag. He normally would be more thorough, but something told him that he wouldn't anything and this bugged him ‘What do, Dolly?’, the long dead leg seemingly a font of wisdom and Carl nodded, interpreting the silence as an answer, which no one else heard but him and that was all he needed. The music continued, Carl made his way back over to his work station, pulled out a ruled notepad and scrawled one word Stiletto. He had this habit of pinpointing murder weapons with lethal but mundane accuracy, this was no exception and he hated being right. Being right meant more humans, ‘fuck humans!’ growled Carl, he didn't want to bring more attention to the morgue as Denise had already set up a social media page on several platforms. ‘Grumble’ Carl pulled out his chair, span it around, sat down, the body and his audience in full view, ‘Fine, Bruno’, he slammed a buzzer on his desk and down came Denise, silent with a mask of embarrassment, ‘what Carl?’ she asked. He stared at her, his milky eyes sending shivers down her spine, ‘call mayor office, now’, he barked,’ask for Alex’.

TW: adult themes and content 'I prayed this was one of my smaller mistakes', Alex pondered as the mayor ordered more drinks from the waitress. He was already slurring his words and tried to grab Alex’s thigh many times. He smiled at the waitress as she left, so did her, but she was sober as her skin was dark. Alex could not get drunk because of her Vampire metabolism, she sometimes liked to act drunk, it was fun for a time, toying with humans. They were a means to an end, a meal ticket if you will and Spencer Cane was no exception. Alex placed her elbows on the table and slapped it to get the mayor’s attention. ‘Mr Cane!’ He brought his attention back to her, ‘sorry’, he looked back at the bar then back at Alex. ‘This is not a good first impression you are giving me’, she stated. Spencer’s eyebrows knotted, ‘Alex was it?’ ‘Yes’, she answered,’why did you bring me here?’ She saw the lies tumbling behind his eyes trying to form a sentence. ‘-erm’, he feigned innocence. ‘You can’t ply me with alcohol and the drug you slipped in my drink didn't work’, She stated, her lips trying to curl into a smile. ‘I will give you till the count of three, to explain why you brought me here and what your game is?’ Sweat started to form on his brow. ‘1’ Alex sidling along the booth sofa eyes fixed on the mayor, ‘you see, i am not subtle’ Spencer took out his phone, tried to unlock it, but in his state fumbled the order of the number for his code. ‘2’ She was now beside him, the waitress had started walking over with the remaining drinks, Alex shooed her away with a look. ‘Fuck!’ Spencer had locked himself out of his phone. She looked at his phone then at him. ‘3’ She snatched the phone out of his trembling hands. ‘You see, i have dealt with your kind before, misogynistic pricks who think they own everything’, Alex typed in one code and unlocked Spencer’s phone on her first attempt. Eyes wide, he gasped, ‘how did you know that?’ ‘I reset it, when you were eyeing up the waitress’, he looked over at the bar, the waitress was currently playing on her phone whilst waiting to bring their remaining drinks over. He turned his head around slowly, meeting her eyes, she smiled. ‘You work for me now, i will help you succeed if you do what i tell you’. Spencer tried to speak, as soon as his lips parted to form a word of protest Alex placed a finger on them, making a shushing noise as she made her way around and out the booth. He stared dumbfounded, as Alex picked up her coat and made her way to the bar and dropped Spencer’s phone in one of the glasses of whiskey he ordered. Alex leaned over to the waitress and whispered in her ear ‘make sure he gets a ride home, will you, oh! and i will be back for you’ … i love You Baby

Hard as Diamon(d)s a ‘Midnite’ Short story: Cassandra was in the pharmaceutical lab at her job, her lab techs had already left and this left alone, her new concoction was in its testing phase and she wanted to get it right. The potion could be revolutionary and if perfected could end the need for heavy armour and shielding within the police and military forces. Its composition wasn’t difficult, just the ingredients, sat on stool, Cass stared at the diamond shaped vial bubbling in the lab’s water bath, the shape was a side effect of the composition as the liquid within was heavy. The potion could only be made here in Midnite because of the minerals found in the earth surrounding the city, their properties meant that supernatural and mythical occurrences were often and powerful. Cass pulled on some goggles and a pair of heat resistant tongs, the Vial had started to gently crackle forming veins within the diamond which signaled the end of the potion’s internal brewing. Cassandra took the vial out of the bath with the tongs, holding it at arm’s length with one hand and she let it cool, remarking a small vapour coming off the shape as it cooled. “Hmm” It was the lightest of all the iterations and it did not strain the tongs or her strength. She smiled, this felt finite, definitive even, the vapour had stopped and any heat that was present had gone. Cass felt bold and rested the bottom of the vial in the palm of her free hand, it was indeed light, but full of promise and weight, grasping it, she placed the tongs on the table and started to examine the veins within the diamond and the liquid sloshing inside. The stopper had held throughout the process, she popped it and a smell that resembled cooling glass and fresh blossoms, the blossoms were her touch so it could be marketed by her team. The liquid was now still. She rolled up her lab coat sleeve up to her elbow showing off a contemporary tattoo of a raven run through by an arrow bolt, it was still fresh and healing with gentle reds around the edges. She proceeded to pour the potion over the tattoo, coated the design and the skin around her forearm, not running off, gritting her teeth she muttered a spell to quell the feeling of cold metal running over her nerve endings. Her skin started to match the temperature of the liquid and solidified, forming a thin strong clear cover over her tattoo that included the facets of a diamond. She had succeeded, she rolled her lab coat sleeves back over the diamond coating, it didn't feel rough against the material. “Well done Cass”, she said in the third person, gently rubbing the diamond through her clothing there was no irritability either. With further experimentation it could push the potency of her other potions as well as strengthen her spells. They would not need to know that though She laughed, the thought of coating Joseph her familiar in the potion was caught in the back of her mind. “I shall call it Diamon”, that sounded good, easily marketable to the right people and in the end that was her job… … The End. … I love you Baby

Blank Slate: A Midnite Short Isak wanted to be summoned again, his phantom body was tired of floating between realms and every time that damn ‘Graves’ dame wore his signet ring, he hoped she would twist it and bring him back into her realm. Isak cast a long shadow between realms as a hunter of vagrant souls, so long was his shadow that all but the ‘Keepers’ of the realms were under his throes and dealing with needless prey in these realms could hardly be considered sport. The problem with being brought into the human realm was their damn fleshy bodies as they tended to break easily, they did have the best weapons though, he grinned remembering that time he used a Katana hunting that poor Joseph soul, clicking his tongue inside his phantom skull, stupid witch brought him back and that aggravated him more. He felt his body being pulled and something tugging on his soul like a magnet attracting a valuable metal, Isak was pulled up chest first to the ceiling of the realm, through ashen air and ink black clouds to the crimson heavens, there he floated, grinning waiting for permission to come through. His deep eyes flashed the deepest black, ‘twist the damn ring’. Isak’s phantom body shook and his soul started to lurch trying to find a suitable host to inhabit, ‘There!’ his teeth chattered and the sky turned into a velvety starry void, he saw this realm’s moon as his phantom body fell to ‘earth’. His phantom body reached out finding the ends of the fingers and toes of this host, Isak had done this many times, it wasn’t his most liked thing but it was necessary, his fingertips and toes found their edges, he grinned, wondering what body his soul had chosen He sat up and found himself in the Midnite City morgue, steel draws and tables all around him, with effort he picked up a steel medical kidney dish and looked for a reflection, his soul shrunk at what he saw and also lost control of his motor functions. The reflection was that of the resident Midnite City zombie, Carl, his face stared back at him. Carl grumbled, ‘Fuck’ …. I love you baby

TW: contains violence, blood and gore, not for the faint of heart Chapter 7: ‘the night before’ Joseph hissed, fur standing up and tail swishing. Covered in fog, Isak was in front of Cass and Joseph breaking into the Graves’ family mausoleum, which was dug into the hill in the Midnite City cemetery. He was knelt fiddling with a hefty padlock purposely ignoring them, Isak tutted, gripped it and crushed it in his fist. He stood up and turned towards them, dropped the padlock to earth where with a thunk it stuck in the wet grassy earth. Cassandra grinned, ‘Joseph hates demons, but you are not one are you?’ Isak strode through the fog, his human body suit broke through first, the body he had chosen was that of a male news reporter that had been shot and murdered recently, ‘Simon Colter’, Isak mouthed, pointing to an open grave to his far right. Simon was 5 ft 8, black shoulder length hair, wide shoulders, neck and chest covered in Latin and scripture tattoos, stocky chest as well as legs like tree trunks. Isak arrived after, as a deep red glow came through Simon’s brown eyes, the ghoul, awkwardly manipulating the human’s body like one would try and move an ill fitting jacket. Joseph settled and prowled around the cemetery, making his way to the open grave that Simon had once inhabited. Cass, sighed and pulled out a potion, containing a black and red viscous liquid in a lab vial shaped container. ‘I arrived here thinking I would be finding the voodoo doctor that had brought Carl back’, she twirled the vial between her fingers on her right hand, ‘all i have here is some lackey that Morgana Graves summoned’. She tilted her head to one side and smirked as Isak tried to make Simon speak. ‘I am just a tool’, Isak growled through Simon’s lips. Joseph had rummaged around Simon’s grave and had found a scroll that had been left inside his casket. He ran back over, with the scroll in his mouth and leapt onto Cass’s shoulder and dropped into her empty hand. Isak growled again and took a step forward, Cass tutted and gripped her potion in a fist. He lunged for her, she rolled her eyes and in one fluid moment smashed Isak over the head with the Vial, with a smash the red and black viscous liquid spilled over Simon’s features and proceeded to dissolve the hair, skin and muscle around his skull and neck. Cass stood back observing her potion working, Joseph meows loudly, Isak tried to speak again but just ended up spitting muscle and tissue in her direction, Simon’s top and bottom lips ended up at Cass’s feet, the rest of Simon’s face peeled away and formed a collar around Simon’s now skeletal features like some gory orchid. The potion had stopped, ‘what did you try and say?’, Sniffed Cass, at least it doesn't smell she thought. Simon’s skull grinned, happy to not have the skin prohibiting Isak from speech. ‘The Great equaliser is on his way’, Isak spouted though boney jaws before falling over. ‘OH’ Cass dropped to the grass as Simon’s body exploded as it hit the ground in a bloody explosion of gore and bone, covering the witch in crimson and viscera. Joseph laughed, Cass looked at him and shook her head ‘I forgot about that part’. ... i love you baby

Back at Cass’s apartment after the second meeting: Cassandra and Joseph entered her apartment a little after midnight, the front door closing with a soft click, her body was tired, but she performed an enchantment on the door’s lock, so she could at least be alerted if any kind of magical or non-magical entity tried to break in. A gentle gold aura formed around the door handle and lock mechanism, she tapped it again with her fore finger, “don’t let me down” she said aloud, as if it would do any good. Joseph padded over to his round shaped cat bed by the couch, stepped in, kneeded a circle, sat back on his haunches, yawned and fell over on his side and popping into a small cloud of darkness. Cass made her way over to her desk, that also doubled as her personal potion work station, several vials with faded post-it notes attached to them lived here in various states of testing, she had started taking her work home years ago and nobody batted an eyelid, so she just continued to do it, Cass found the atmosphere here more productive and Joseph was an excellent foil for her ideas. She placed the scroll that Joseph had found in the cemetery on the table and unfurled it, it held it’s curl at both the top and the bottom meaning that was relatively new and potentially something to throw her off the scent, either way it felt important and she placed pieces of stationary at the top and bottom to hold the curls down. It contained a poem or a set of verses of some type, which read: We are all equal, In his blanched gaze. Deciding life’s maze, And finality’s crawl. Curved features, No longer a creature. Carrying an anchor, Holding score. We are all equal, In his glass chains. Humanity will remain, Until we heed his call. Given the horde’s form, He has been reborn. Doth the sign he writ, Doom’s loom he will sit. He doesn’t know your fate, Just his anchor will carry you. It’s hunger he must sate, Death the only thing true. She stood back, let the words tumble around her head, she needed a shower to wash away the last few days’ events, cass could magic all away for sure, but that would not wash away the feeling of grimy death and the mere thought of being in the presence of that ‘Graves’ demon made her feel sick. Cassandra turned, made her way across the living room down the hall which was connected to the living room, started peeling off clothing coated in the blood, gore, mud and the days’ events until she stood on the threshold of the bathroom in her underwear. Her body ached and even though her clothing had caught all of the days’ detritus, Cass felt as though it had seeped through and somehow stained her skin, memories of the witch trials hung, burnt at the back of her mind and the smell of the charred bodies of her sisters returned to her nostrils. She shook her head, trying to knock loose the history which clung to her and a tear stung, ran down and made a trail through the dirt on Cass’s cheek. Wiping it away she stepped into the bathroom, removed her remaining clothing, turned on the shower to cold and got into the shower. In the living room, Joseph regained his cat form and padded, tail swishing to Cassandra’s workbench, jumped up narrowly missing the vials situated there, sat down and stared at the text on the scroll. He heard ‘The Night King’ by Ramin Djawadi start up from the hall and the single piano keys echoed into the living room. Joseph turned around and curled up on the edge of her desk and stared out through the glass balcony doors and into the inky black night. … I love you Baby 🖤

Ambition: ‘If only this world had shown me a little bit more mercy, you wouldn't be in this position’, Alex loomed over the intruder, he was unconscious but bound with rope to a sturdy wooden chair, legs to its feet and his arms to the rests. They were in her kitchen, it had been a long day, she had not fed and her bloodlust was through the roof, Alex had found him breaking into her new home, she let him test the security system to the point where she had waived the attempts of help from the security provider. From her driveway she watched via house cameras scour the house for whatever he had broken in for, she was cross because there were plenty of high priced goods that she thought were worth stealing, but apparently not and this made her even more angry. So she silently made her way in, heard the front door softly click shut as she closed it behind her. But loud enough to get the attention of the intruder, who leapt down the stairs with a handgun, let off a few rounds, some hit, one in her chest and the other into her shoulder, they passed through and embedded themselves in the door and its frame. Alex bore her teeth and strode slowly towards him, taking bullet after bullet until she was then toe to toe and headbutts him, he fell backwards with a heavy thunk onto the carpet. ‘What to do with you…’ … I love you baby