A Wiccaning - 3. Chapter 3

“Come on James! Where the hell are you?” Elle whispered to herself.

As if by coincidence, a bright white light suddenly shone from far below, a beam of brilliant white, piercing the night sky, cascading into a kind of bubble at its base.

“Nice one babe!” Elle chuckled.

Facing the ground below, she willed herself to be on the street. In an instant, her feet gently touched the ground. She’d never been able to materialise exactly on the floor, and so always appeared about a foot in the air and slowly floated to the ground. James had thought it to be similar to Mary Poppins.

She had materialised on the edge of the protective perimeter, and so didn’t spot right away the heap that James was in.

“James!” Elle shrieked as she saw him huddled on the ground with a young man in his arms. “James,” she repeated, rushing forwards.

Suddenly, a ball of fire was hurled from the shadows; Elle was pushed sideways, as she was so close the edge of the protective forcefield. She almost flew through the air from the force, the impact hit her in the side, and so her body created an oddly elegant arch as she was flung through the air, her blonde hair cascading out in every direction reflected the flames and glowed a strange auburn colour, as she fell to the ground.

“Elle!” James cried out as she fell “Elle! Are you okay?”

“Fine,” she said.

As she lifted herself from the ground, more fireballs were being thrown at the dome of light. Elle looked around, trying to find a way out, she knew they were surrounded.

“Elle, help!” James pleaded simply; he looked like a lost child as he tried to hold the unconscious form of Jay.

“More are coming?” Elle questioned.

“I can feel them, in the shadows” James replied “I don’t know how long I can keep the shield up!”

“Damn it! Right, come on, you’ll have to help me” Elle dictated as she went into full leader mode.

Standing, she took James’ hand and one of Jay’s.

“What… What do you want me to do?”

“You’re gonna help me teleport him back to the house.”

“We cant… he’s too wea-“ James began.

“He and you and I will be demon mincemeat if you don’t get a move on” Elle stressed the need for haste. Turning to look behind her, her suspicions were confirmed as the white light faltered and dimmed, allowing one fireball to pass through and crash into the wall behind them, before the forcefield re-brightened.

Both Elle and James cried out in fright as they ducked down from the surprise, the shadows seemed to grow thicker as they did so, and the grunts of demons grew more ferocious and hungry.

“Ok, lets go,” Elle commanded, regaining her composure “On three?”

Oh god! I’ve never actually helped her teleport before. What do I do? I could drop him! Or something, a very nervous James thought

The forcefield again flickered and dimmed once more.

“Just visualise the house!” Elle ordered.

James didn’t hear her, he was trying to maintain the barrier.

White light, just think of white light! He thought. He bowed his head, fiercely concentrating on the light, willing it to stay bright and to remain protective

“One, Two, Three!” Elle spoke.

Wha- James thought. As he felt a tremendous force lift him from the ground he realised what was happening. As they disappeared the dome of light broke and the alleyway was consumed in shadow, the walls resonating the growls and grunts of the demons leaving the shadows, no longer hiding from the light.

Tightening his grip on both Elle and the unconscious boy’s hands, he felt as though they were all being pulled away from one another, a strange tingly feeling was rushing through his body, and he felt as though he was on a waltzer.

Teleporting was supposedly instantaneous, yet the ordeal of it always left James feeling as though he’d spent an hour spinning around on the spot: sick, weak and dizzy.

As he felt the spinning slow, a familiar room came into view, the large wooden table scattered with tools and ingredients, a large open fireplace,

and a wooden floor?

“Ow!” James moaned as he lifted his face from the floor, his nose throbbing with pain. “Whatchya do that for?” he asked, turning to Elle who was slowly floating to the ground.
“Well it isn’t my fault you weren’t concentrating!” she replied, “Besides, I couldn’t let this one, here, fall now could I?” She asked very matter-of-factly.

“Hmph” James huffed as he picked himself up from the floor. “Is he going to be…”

“Elle? James? What’s going on?” A portly woman came rushing into the room, her face shocked and full of concern. She was the embodiment of a doting mother, rushing around, her curly hair messily coming from its loose bun.

Kneeling in front of James the woman proceeded to wipe his face with her pinny.

“What’ve I told you about hunting demons! And don’t deny it, the blood and soot on your face is proof! Oh! you're soaked to the bone!! You'll catch your death out there.” the woman reprimanded, licking her pinny to further clean James’ face.

“Mum! Please! We nee-” James moaned in a desperate voice.

“And, Elle how could you have… Who’s that?” Mrs. Silverman interjected pausing as she noticed the unconscious form that Elle was levitating onto the kitchen table.

“No time Jackie! I need some blessed water, and crushed Valerian root.” Elle urgently spoke. “James, go get the others, tell them we need a full cloak on the house, anyone of those demons could follow us here.”

Jackie Silverman rushed around the kitchen grabbing objects and going into cupboards all the while muttering to herself, as she completely overlooked the puddle of water which was forming around James' feet.

James ran from the kitchen into the main hallway of the small safe house and hollered nervously up the stairs.

“Guys! Emergency! We need to secure the house”

“What?” A tall and slender, rather androgynous looking male came running down the staircase. His soft feminine features, contorted at the sight of the bloody and bedraggled looking James, displaying a fiercely masculine kind of aggression. He too shouted back up the stairs “YO! Celia, Matt this ain’t no drill; get out of bed and down here!”

“What should we do?” James asked urgently “Demons and, and the guy, and they’ll be following”

“What happened?” the androgynous man asked calmly, turning back to James. His face bore a calm expression, his eyes offering a sense of peace.

“A demon was trying to kill a guy I met today, I stopped him, and Elle came and brought us back. So what do we do?” James spoke with more calmness

“Ant what the hell is…” A burley man came charging down the stairs, his chest bare and the only thing covering him a towel. The slender form of Ant accentuated Matt’s broad shoulders and defined, hairy chest; The two looked like ebony and ivory, one blonde and elegant, the other dark and rugged.

“Demons might have followed us! I-I’ll go help in the kitchen” James said quickly, running off back to the kitchen, his face flushing.

As James entered the kitchen, he saw his mother darting around the kitchen placing crystals and throwing salt everywhere. Meanwhile Elle was sat cross-legged on the kitchen table holding her hands out towards the limp stranger that was Jay. Her eyes were closed in concentration and her hands were glowing with a pale blue light, which turned to a fiery red as she opened her eyes, which were now completely white.

“Mum, where should I start?” James asked “I don’t want to disturb Elle” he whispered the last part as he gave her a nervous glance.

He had never seen Elle, heal a person in the way that she was at that moment.

“Should I cast a protective shield? I could get the guys to help out?”

“No, you mustn’t; demons would sense that a mile away! Cloaking spells are best here I should think!” His mother stated opening the kitchen door, to place a line of salt across the outside. “Protective amulets and crystals, maybe a protection spell…No they take too long” She added thoughtfully.

“Salt will hardly stop demons!” James rolled his eyes, hurriedly grabbing herbs and precious essences adding them to a pot, “Explosive potions might do though!” he added wiping his brow.

“It’s purifying, and deters unwanted visitors!” She replied stopping what she was doing, checking in her pinny “and there are none so more unwanted, than demons!”

James scoffed

“Besides… it’s all that I can do,” his mother added dejectedly.

James felt guilty, but he couldn’t let his guilt distract him, nor the still half naked form of Matt barging through the kitchen and down to the cellar – no doubt gathering weapons. No, he had to finish this potion.

“Aha! Found it” Jackie stated pulling a large white crystal out of a pouch attached to her pinny, she opened the backdoor to the wind and rain, to place the crystal and salt across the threshold.

Bang!

“Wh-wha” the boy lay on the table stuttered as he sat up, knocking a chair over in the process.

“It’s okay, we’re here to help, what’s your name?” Elle asked her hair and eyes returning to there normal colouring.

“Jay-“ he began but his eyes grew even wider as he looked behind Elle towards the open door.

Jae? He knows my name? James’ thought was interrupted as he followed Jason’s fearful stare and realised, with a shock, that in the open doorway stood a snarling demon.