Now I knew Arne’s mansion had a reasonably large ballroom in it, which was barely used most of the time; but the Viking vampire did hold a few parties throughout the year. The main one was his annual Christmas Party; where all of his clan were present, the witches from the coven I belonged to along with many other witches from other covens in the wider area and there would even be some vampires from further afield too. The ballroom was quite full and well over one hundred beings present, were all wearing Christmas jumpers. That was the dress code, if you weren’t wearing a Christmas jumper; you weren’t getting in.
Ever the host with the most, Arne flitted from guest to guest in absolute ecstasy; making sure everyone was comfortable and having fun with some kind of drink in hand or canapé or whatever.
‘I’m sure he gets worse every year.’ Auntie Morrigan said to me as she shook her head and poured whatever concoction was in her glass down her throat. She was wearing an interesting Christmas jumper that could’ve been quite tacky if it wanted, but it looked quite stylish. It was black with a pattern of old style Christmas lights all the way around it, including the sleeves. The lights themselves in all their different colours were made up of shiny sequins. This is what gave the jumper it’s slight tackiness.
Arne however may as well have been an actual Christmas tree. His jumper was also black but on the front was a huge decorated Christmas tree with a star on top. The star was lined with flashing LED lights woven in to the jumper and there were even more flashing LED lights, surrounding the glittery pom-pom baubles that adorned the damn thing. If anything, Arne’s jumper was a glorious mess; he was walking around looking like Blackpool Illuminations and he was loving every second of not giving a single fuck.
But the party hadn’t been going long so Christ knows how long this was going on for tonight. My Aunt and I along with some of the other vampires from Arne’s clan had spent a little while beforehand, helping to get everything ready. We made hors d'oeuvre’s and little sweet pastry deserts, helped decorate the ballroom by basically chucking tinsel and glitter over everything; making everything look like Christmas had thrown up all over the place. I joke on that part, Arne had dragged in a massive real Christmas tree from somewhere out on his land and after we chased all the random birds and bugs out of the thing, we assisted in decorating it with tasteful traditional baubles and other trimmings; we even spent some time setting up tables for food and drinks so the guests could help themselves. There was something for everyone. Duncan had even made a few Yule Log cakes too, as we were in Yule after all. It was the twenty first of December and this is when as my Aunt put it, we would spend the next twelve days, “arseholed, full of magic and festively plump.”
While it was still early on in the party, I hadn’t seen Duncan or my cousins Molly or Macy yet. I had seen most of my Coven show up which was nice, we chatted for a bit and asked each other what we would be doing over the festive period. Everybody gave the same answer; eat lots, make a bunch of Yule wreathes and get absolutely pissed as a fart, even during that weird no-mans-land of time between Christmas and New Year. Some had to work, but Mai had told me several times; “Witches work hard and play even harder.’ I could believe her after watching my Coven sisters pouring drinks down their throats and going for refills instantly after.
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I was having a great time catching up with everyone though. I had a long chat with Constance and Darius before and even Molly’s vampire lover, Luca. Even Deidre from my Coven had turned up with a new member named Shelly, who had just joined us this last week after moving in to the area. The chestnut brown haired, Geordie witch had been in a Coven in the North East and had moved down south for a better career opportunity after what she called “a fucking nightmare of a divorce.” She was nice enough and super friendly too and we all got on well with her, even though she’s only been with us a short while. She was in her early to mid thirties and was totally up for a party whenever and wherever, now she had her life back after getting rid of “that twat I was married too for five years.”
It was obvious however that Shelly was absolutely moving on with her life and having the time of it, as she was dancing away without a care in the world with vampires and coven members alike, to Arne’s specially curated playlist. I wished I could loose my inhibitions a little bit like that, I mean tonight would’ve been a nice night to dance about and have a few drinks, which my Aunt was allowing me to have under her supervision; just a few glasses of Bucks Fizz, nothing too hard or super special. Mum usually let me drink a bit of alcohol at Christmas time or on special occasions, but to be honest; I wasn’t a big fan of drinking. Not like some of my other peers who made it their entire personality sometimes.
I looked over to my Aunt who was slow dancing with Arne, they chatted and giggled with each other and cuddled and kissed. They looked adorable. I smiled and sighed just as I finished the second glass of Bucks Fizz I had been nursing since the party started when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and nearly spat out the last mouthful of my drink.
‘Hey Maddie.’
The soft voices of my two best friends in unison nearly set me off crying. I hadn’t seen either Katie or Victoria since we rescued them from Bruce and seeing them now just choked me up instantly. They both saw this and dragged in me in to a big group hug.
‘Aw Maddie don’t cry!’ Katie chuckled at me. ‘We’re okay, we’re just super happy to see you.’
‘I’m happy to see you both too!’ I said, my voice breaking as I tried to hold back the tears.
‘We’re glad you’re okay.’ Victoria said as she squeezed my shoulder. ‘We thought something might have happened to you after…’
We went quiet. All looking at each other, nodding to show we all knew what the subject was.
‘You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to.’ I looked at both of my friends. ‘I mean, if you wanna talk about it that’s fine, if not then that’s fine too.’
‘Don’t worry about it Maddie. We’re getting through it slowly, with counselling and all that. But the thing is, we…’ Victoria had started talking but Katie had abruptly cut her off.
‘Dude! You’re a fucking witch!’ Katie said in an excited loud whisper as she shook me a little.
‘Yes I err. Yes. I am.’
‘See we’ve been told a little, but not a great deal.’ Victoria said. ‘But we know what you are, Auntie M and pretty much what everyone in this building is.’
I nodded.
‘What did they do to you?’ I asked. ‘The Council, I mean.’ A genuine question. I didn’t know exactly what and my Aunt was being pretty vague about it.
‘To be honest, we don’t actually know.’ Said Katie. ‘They took us somewhere, did something and now if we tell any humans about any of this world then… well I remember them saying “there would be consequences” and something about a really, really bad curse.’
‘One of the Council ladies said we could be allies, but if we betray that trust then we’re pretty much fucked.’ Victoria grinned. ‘I don’t know how it works.’
‘Magic.’ I grinned back at her.
I was happy my two best friends were here tonight and they were now our allies. They told me what they had been told by the Council of Covens; assist us witches if they wanted to and keep our secrets. It wasn’t a big list but there were serious consequences. Whatever they were, none of us knew but I bet the Council could come up with some absolutely horrible curses that I didn’t want to think about. They did tell me that Francesca would absolutely not be remembering anything of us, along with the other women that Bruce had kidnapped. That was the last thing we needed, Francesca getting all her snotty little mates together to form some really bitchy lynch mob against us.
Either way, it meant that my friends could actually know me for who and what I actually am. They said they were freaked out at first, but decided that it was actually really cool. I introduced them to the other witches in my Coven and all the vampires too. I did think they would be a little apprehensive of the vamps but no. They got to meet my cousins too which was nice because we all agreed that we should go out sometime. Maybe back to the axe throwing place, that was pretty fun.
Everyone welcomed Katie and Victoria with open arms, as if they were part of the family. Technically at this point, they kinda were. Auntie M brought us some drinks and we continued chatting some more, stopping occasionally to have a bit of a dance. Thankfully, not all the music was of the Christmas variety. My Aunt told us all that there’s “only so many times you can be reminded that Paul McCartney’s Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time, before you find out where he lives and seek revenge on him by shoving a whole Christmas tree up his arse.” I had to agree with her, the song in question was not one of my favourites by all means.
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As the evening went on, I found I was actually having an actual nice time. I wasn’t big in to parties and events like this, normally I would be in a corner somewhere with Katie and Victoria just people watching, sometimes even being a bit mean if the people we were watching weren’t very nice. But right now we just just enjoying being back in each others company again and I felt completely at ease with them being here, especially as they now knew what the hell was going on in my life. I was just about to take another sip of my drink when I spied Duncan walking in to the ballroom, looking like he’d just walked on to a movie set or something.
‘Oh, my God Maddie. He’s even more hot in real life.’ Katie grinned and nudged me when she saw me slightly slack jawed, watching Duncan as he strolled in. To my surprise however, my mother followed behind him.
‘Oh shit mum.’ I gasped slightly. First of all I wondered what she would say to me drinking, then I thought she may have something to say about Katie and Victoria; two humans being here in amongst all us witches and vampires. Then I just thought, why the hell is she here? Duncan nodded his head slightly at me as he walked over to the big table where all of the drinks were, pouring a large glass of red wine which was for my mum, passing it to her then retreating. Mum was soon in front of me, while Katie and Victoria shuffled away quietly as my mother began to speak.
‘Hello Madelyn.’
Uh-oh. Full name. That usually meant I was in trouble.
‘Hi mum. Um, what are you doing here?’
‘I’m here to see you Maddie, I was invited.’
I felt awkward as hell now. I hadn’t actually seen my mother in ages, nor had I had a decent conversation on the phone with her in what seemed like forever. I didn’t know what to say to her. I guess I was glad she was here, especially knowing she literally wanted nothing to do with the world we were in. She must have recognised the confused look on my face, she relaxed her shoulders and sighed.
‘Maddie I can’t handle this tension between us any more. You’re my daughter, I need to be there for you. I can understand if you resent me now, especially since your father died.’
‘I don’t resent you.’ I shook my head. I may have thought it a few times but to be honest, I didn’t mean it really. Sure I had some pretty strong emotions when I found out things my mum had been keeping from me, but she’s my mum; and several people have told me she always wanted what’s best for me and I could believe that. It would’ve been nice to have had the choice myself though, but not everything happens the way you’d expect it to.
‘You don’t?’
‘No, I don’t. Sometimes, I just needed my mum. And you weren’t exactly there.’
I felt uncomfortable now. I looked down at the floor trying to hide my face from my mother but she just stepped even closer and wrapped her arms around me.
‘Well, I want to change that Maddie.’ Mum said to me, holding me by the shoulders and looking at me directly. I believed her. ‘This wasn’t the world I wanted for myself, I shouldn’t have decided it wasn’t for you either.’
I hugged her back.
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It was safe to assume that a good night was had by all. I was informed that my mother had been invited to Arne’s mansion by Arne himself so she could spend Christmas with us all, which wasn’t the original plan but it was an interesting change; especially considering my mother apparently didn’t like Arne all that much. I had watched them interact with each other a few times over the course of the night and while they did seem a little stand-offish with each other; you could tell they were trying. But Mum was really trying. She had made a start by actually taking some time off work to come and spend Christmas with us. I did get the feeling however that my Aunt probably had something to do with my Mum actually turning up tonight. I’d have to ask her about that.
I unfortunately had to say goodbye to Katie and Victoria. It was great seeing them again and in such good spirits, considering what they had been through recently. Plus I felt some relief that they knew what my Aunt and I were. We didn’t need to be as secretive any more, but I did wonder about Mr. Evans and Liam though; I wasn’t sure how they felt about Katie and Victoria knowing anything. We’d find out in due course anyway, perhaps we would even have our own Scooby Gang after all.
We bid each other a tearful farewell and said we would see each other in the new year when school started again. Some taxi’s had turned up to take people home or in to the nearest town where they could get trains or whatever. Some of Arne’s clan had even offered to drive some people straight home too which was nice of them. Of course the Vampires would probably go “out” after and find themselves a late night snack or something, all of them giving their solemn word to Arne that they wouldn’t feed on any of his guests. I knew they wouldn’t anyway, it wasn’t who any of them were. But I bet Arne could be downright scary even to them when he wanted to be.
A few of us who stayed at the mansion had started cleaning up, which thankfully didn’t take too long. My Aunt and I brought some of the left over buffet food through in to the main living rooms along with a few more drinks. Everyone had decided to put on their lounge clothes or pj’s and we all joined in on a game of Charades, suggested by Constance and Darius and led by Arne who had stayed behind with Molly, Macy, Duncan, Luca and Iris. Glancing around the room feeling the warm glow from the log fire, I felt content. Even my mother looked content as she sat beside her little sister, my Auntie M. It had been a while since I had seen them actually enjoying each others company. Hey laughed and giggled and nudged each other like only sisters would. I had barely seen my mother in this good a mood since before my dad died. It was refreshing to say the least.
This was my family now. I was no longer the girl with an absent mother and a slightly barmy Aunt. I had a strange, eccentric collection of beings I could call my family now. And I knew we would all be there for each other, when we needed it the most.
