It was Thursday evening and my Aunt and I, were sat in a local Indian restaurant opposite Mr Evans and Liam. It had been a while since we had all gone out to eat together, normally we would go out every other week but that was to discuss what was happening with the kidnappings and murders we were investigating.

Now we didn’t have a serious reason any more to meet up as much as we used to, but we occasionally did just to have a proper catch up away from the school. It was a little awkward to begin with on the first few outings after catching the psychopathic serial killer cum demon summoner Bruce; but it was getting better. Sort of. I thought I could still sense a little bit of tension from Mr Evans and maybe a bit more from Liam, especially after they had met both Arne and Duncan. We still had important stuff to do though as a sort of team. Team St. Augustine’s or something.

I did know that my Aunt had a few rendezvous with Mr Evans occasionally of the “sordid” variety, which didn’t weird me out as much now after she explained her situation with Arne. In fact, one afternoon when we were at the pub having an early tea before a coven meeting, Auntie M told me she had a few other “blokes” on the side. Drowning out the idle chit chat, I went through that conversation in my head.

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‘Why did you say “blokes” in air quotes Auntie M?’ I asked her, genuinely intrigued.

‘Oh, well one is an actual bloke. He’s a Shaman and Medium from South Korea. The other is an incubus.’

Now I knew from my supernatural studies what an incubus was. I did a double take though, how could I not at that answer.

‘You mean an incubus as in, a sex demon? The rapey kind that get you when you sleep?’ I asked, a little bit freaked out at this.

‘Well, yeah he’s an incubus but not the rapey get you when you’re sleeping kind like how you put it. He’s really quite fun.’

I squinted my eyes at her when she said this, I wasn’t convinced.

‘Trust me Maddie I’ve known him a long time. Most incubi are the sexual assault type, not Aiden though. He’s one of the few that enjoys a somewhat hedonistic lifestyle without being a complete twat about it. Plus he’s never wanted to procreate, never wanted any “Cambion bastard children” so he says.’

‘Aiden? He’s called Aiden?’

‘Yeah, he’s actually a nice dude.’

I had sighed at what my Aunt had just told me.

‘I don’t know what to be surprised at, the fact there are nice incubi demons or the fact that there’s one called Aiden.’

To be honest, I probably should been surprised over the fact hat my Aunt was what she would call a “mad shagger.” Auntie M told me that a lot of supernatural creatures; including witches, were particularly sensual beings and if you wanted to pursue that desire, then fair enough. If not, that was your choice. And I was sat here, thinking about how I’d barely gone past first base with Duncan. I was fine with that though, I mean we had slept in the same bed many times but it never went beyond a bit of a snogging session. I wasn’t in any rush to hand in my V-card any time soon and I was thankful that Duncan understood that.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Then again, nothing was happening with us right now as Duncan was busy travelling round Scotland for Goddess knows how long, burying himself in dirt for a bit. I shook myself back to reality, as I was brought round from my recollective daydream when the waiter who was serving us brought round some of our side dishes.

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‘How’s the research coming along Daniel?’ Auntie M asked my History teacher as she dove in to her chicken madras.

‘I thought I had hit a dead end, until I finally got some old documents sent through.’ Mr Evans replied.

‘Documents?’ My Aunt asked through a mouthful of half chewed rice.

‘Yep. Turns out some Hunters had been present at the school a little while before Mrs. Clarkson started working there. I dunno, scouting the place out or something.’

‘And what did they find?’

‘Well, they had confirmed a sort of place of power through their alliance with a group of undercover magic users who were secretly working for the Catholic Church. Apparently their allegiance totally lied with them.’ Mr Evans continued. My Aunt rolled her eyes.

‘Of course they did. Same religion, different branches. Even though Hunters were technically separate from the Catholic Church they did partner up quite a lot. Sorry Daniel, please continue.’

‘Yeah I managed to track down some of their reports. I actually had a friend of mine look at it as he’s a handwriting specialist. The handwriting was really difficult to decipher, but he managed to figure it all out.’

Mr Evans reached in to his pocket and pulled out a folded up sheet of paper that had been typed out on a computer and printed off. He handed it over to my Aunt and I glanced over to take a peek.

‘Oh… oh!’ My Aunt squeaked after she read the paper. ‘They actually believe it’s a Hellmouth. I figured it was maybe one too.’

‘Isn’t that from Buffy or something?’ I asked. Even Liam spoke up.

‘Yeah I thought that was a Buffy thing too?’

‘Nope. Hellmouths are an actual thing.’ Said Mr Evans. ‘Some religions believe there’s just one Hellmouth, as in one entrance to hell but to be honest they’re all over the bloody place.’ Mr Evans told us.

‘There’s three in Ireland, one Northern and two Republic. But the entire island is just a hotbed of spiritual and magical activity.’ Auntie M said. ‘And there’s one in Glenrothes in Scotland, one in Swindon in England and absolutely none in Wales.’

‘Why doesn’t Wales have any?’ Asked Liam. He was tearing apart a peshwari naan.

‘Because Wales have their shit together.’ My Aunt replied sort of deadpan with a bit of a grin on her face. ‘Seriously, Wales can’t do anything magically wrong.’

‘So where is this supposed Hellmouth then anyway?’ I quizzed. ‘I mean I know we said in the school, but where exactly? I mean is it an actual opening?’

‘Yes, it is. Well, it’s a portal. A sentient portal which can pretty much do whatever it wants when it wants.’ Said Mr Evans.

‘But it’s quiet at the moment?’ Liam interjected.

‘Yes it’s quiet. And that’s what would be making it so difficult in pinning down its location. It could be under the entire school or it could just be in a supply cupboard, but it’s not making itself be known properly.’ Mr Evans answered.

‘Energy can still be drawn from it though and, it can still spit out some nasties.’ Auntie M mentioned. ‘I suppose I’d better get on to the council about it and see if they can send an auditor out. Maybe they could get the damn thing to spill some secrets.’

So there was another thing I had to look up; Auditors. I had my handbook in my bag and casually took it out and flicked to a random page. Sure enough it landed on “Auditor” and I read the small passage it had about it.

“Auditors are specialised magic users who are able to spiritually talk with various magical anomalies; such as stationary portals, sacred trees or holy wells etc.”

I quickly put my handbook away and carried on eating my meal, a particularly flavourful Lamb Rogan Josh with Jeera rice and of course, a huge naan on the side. Thankfully, conversation turned to something a bit lighter. I had noticed though, that Liam wasn’t talking all that much. I don’t know if it was because of the slight awkwardness, or the fact that he genuinely looked tired as hell. I suppose it was a bit of both.

There was a little bit of a weird dog scent on him again and from Mr Evans too, meaning they had recently been with the local werewolf pack. This in turn reminded me that I had to give Eden a call again. I had gone shopping with her or out for coffee once or twice since the Baal ordeal a while back; but I did promise her that we’d make a day of it and I’d bring along Katie and Victoria too. So then we could have a proper girls day out. But that would have to wait till I got back from Manchester again. Now I had to just get through the rest of this meal as for some reason, I was feeling a bit too much on edge for my liking.