‘A Kitsune?’ ‘A Kitsune.’ I could feel my eyebrows shoot upwards, almost of their own accord. I let out a long but shallow breath and shook my head a little after Takashi told me what he was. ‘And you’re human Nina?’ I turned and asked her. I saw my Aunt in the corner of my eye, with a slightly bemused look on her face; leant on the bar with her beer in one hand. ‘One hundred percent human.’ ‘And you know what we are?’ I asked as I pointed to my Aunt and myself. ‘I do indeed. Probably one of the few that do.’ Nina replied. ‘In fact it was Morrigan and your Auntie Monica who helped out Takashi when he was in a bit of bother.’ I looked at my Aunt, then at Takashi and Nina. ‘Bother?’ Takashi finished up some of the dishes he was making and presented them to us. We thanked him for the food before he urged us to tuck in. He then began telling his story. ‘It was about ooh, ten nearly eleven years ago. I hadn’t been in the UK that long and London was not for me. So I moved to Manchester. I sort of integrated with the Japanese community round here and eventually met Nina, she used to visit the restaurant I worked in with both your Aunts quite often. Eventually, we started dating.’ I made an “aw” face at Takashi and Nina’s story in between shovelling food in my mouth. I was currently gnawing through a chicken yakitori skewer, which I could not eat fast enough it was so tasty. Nina was now the one to continue the story. ‘It must have been like five months of us dating and all of a sudden, Takashi went missing.’ ‘Missing?’ I asked. I had now moved on to a serving of Okonomiyaki. Geeze this was good food. ‘Well, I originally thought he’d just properly ghosted me and pissed off somewhere. But I got a load of messages that really weren’t Takashi at all. So I got suspicious.’ Said Nina. ‘You didn’t go to the police or anything?’ ‘I did, but you know what they’re like. I told them I had messages of him that said he was going away and that I didn’t need to call or text him or, whatever… and he didn’t know how long it would be till he came back or if he’d come back at all. The police said to give it a couple of days and wait if he contacted me again.’ ‘And that’s where your Aunt’s came in.’ Takashi interjected as he refilled our drinks for us. ‘Yeah I had told Morrigan and Monica about what had been happening. I didn’t know what they were at the time, but they knew what Tak was and he knew what they were. We all went round to Takashi’s flat and your Aunts found evidence that he had been abducted by hunters.’ ‘So then what happened?’ I asked. ‘I pretty much just stayed at home and cried for two days. Meanwhile Morrigan and Monica managed to track down where the hunters had been hiding Takashi before they moved him on.’ Nina replied. Auntie M had started to chuckle. ‘It was the first time I had seen your Auntie Monica get properly pissed off.’ My Aunt said to me as she laid her chopsticks down on a small ceramic rest on the counter, so she could take a huge swig of her beer and blot her lips with a napkin. ‘It wasn’t just Takashi that they had captured, they had somehow managed to capture a leannán sídhe AND a mermaid. Well, merman. He was practically dead when we found them all.’ ‘So what did you end up doing then? How did you rescue everyone?’ I asked, I was getting really invested now. ‘Well, the elder hunters or whatever had made the mistake of leaving two teenagers in charge of guarding their captives. It’s kinda hilarious because it happens like all the damn time, like it gives the kids some sense of responsibility or something. It seem slike it’s part of their training, they work their way up through varying levels of supernatural beings before they’re allowed to deal with the likes of us or vampires.’ ‘Are we at the top of the food chain or something?’ I asked my Aunt. I was still trying to figure out the order in this world I had been thrust in to. ‘You could say. Witches and most other magic users are fairly high up, vampires too. Some demons, angels and other deities are higher still.’ ‘Ohh, so what happened after that?’ I wanted the rest of the story. Takashi was the one to finish it. ‘Monica had basically hypnotised the two teenagers and made them bugger off.’ Takashi chuckled. ‘They were found nearly twenty miles away in a KFC sharing a fourteen piece bucket, with absolutely no recollection of what they were supposed to be doing.’ ‘Monica brought my Tak back to me.’ Said Nina as she laid her hand on Takashi’s shoulder. ‘We all became friends with the leannán sídhe Orla and Morrigan banged that poor merman Zale senseless.’ I nearly choked ón my drink. My Aunt just laughed. ‘Auntie M is there anyone you haven’t boned?!’ I screeched. ‘You’re practically ón par with James Bond for... nobbing!’ Takashi and Nina both laughed at mé and my little outburst. ‘Hey, you should know right now that I am not the worst mad-shagger in our family.’ Auntie M siad to me. ‘Your Auntie Monica was twice as bad as I am, in fact that’s an understatement she was much more worse. Nina got a custom made mug for her birthday one year, what did it have on it?’ ‘Little Miss Promiscuous.’ ‘Ah Little Miss Promiscuous that’s the one.’ ‘I can’t believe I come from a family of tarts.’ I chuckled. ‘Half, a family of tarts.’ Auntie M corrected me. ‘Well, I guess it’s just me now… that is unless you develop the taste.’ ‘Oh ew Auntie M!’ I nudged her. She just laughed at me. Sure I was all for people doing what they wanted and women especially, going against the grain of what women were expected to do. But I had clarified to myself that it probably wasn’t my thing. I don’t know. I guess I could always change my mind if I wanted. Auntie M and I eventually got through the mound of food in front of us, all of which was delicious and comforting too. Takashi really was an excellent chef and I made a point of telling him that. ‘So I can hazzard a guess as to another reason why you’re here, not just to see us obviously.’ Said Nina. She refilled my drink for me and my Aunts for the third time. My ears pricked up. ‘Oh Maddie, I should mention. Takashi is sort of a... supernatural information advisor. There’s not much he doesn’t know about what’s happening in our world.’ Auntie M told me. ‘And I know you’ve come to me for info about your missing sisters.’ ‘Precisely that Takashi.’ Nina shuffled around under the counter for a few moments and pulled out a small envelope which she then handed over to my Aunt. ‘Tak hasn’t managed to find much I’m afraid, but he did find out what Hunter sect it may have been who took those two girls.’ My Aunt opened the envelope and took one look at a sheet of paper that had some kind of photo ón it. She shoved it back in to the envelope as soon as she saw the thing she obviously didn’t want to and rolled her eyes in exasperation. ‘It’s the fucking Holy Order of Saint Benedict, fuck my life.’ ‘Is... that bad?’ I asked. I didn’t know any of this. Well I mean I was included on this trip so I could learn but still. ‘They’re the literal worst.’ Nina siad as she faced me. ‘Out of all the Hunter sects, they are litterally fucking awful. One of the few that actually goes after all supernatural beings, not just witches. We haven’t heard if they’ve taken anyone else as of yet though.’ ‘Who else does that then?’ ‘The Order of Saint Michael and the Conclave of Saint Joseph. It was the Conclave that actually got Takashi and thankfully they’re not as competent as the other two.’ ‘Sounds like you know your way around this world then.’ I said to Nina. She nodded at me. ‘My husband is a supernatural being. Our clientele are mainly supernatural beings and more to the point, they’re our friends. A lot of them just want to live something like a normal life that humans have, or something you could consider normal anyway. And we just want to help.’ I did find the idea of otherworldly creatures and beings wanting a “normal” human-like life was actually quite nice. I guess it wasn’t only humans that wanted a nice easy life and just to be able to get on with it. It sounded like we just helped out where we could, even though Guardians really only had to deal with witch issues. I suppose the line between good and bad was a bit ambiguous in some cases and a lot of supernatural beings were most likely misunderstood. Witches definitely were so it would go without saying that other magical creatures and everything in between would be the same too. I mean I had only just met Takashi who I now knew was a Kitsune. I had read that Kitsune were known shapeshifters, either mischevious in nature or were seen as protectors, some were even reveared as being Godlike and some were thought to be malevolent spirits capable of bringing about some nasty curses. Takashi looked, smelled and generally felt like he had no ill intent what-so-ever. He had a nice aura around him and you could tell he was head over heels with his wife Nina; who was also giving off a nice vibe that I had noticed. If there was yet another thing I could say about my Aunt, it’s that she really didn’t have any arseholes in her inner circle. Funny ha-ha arseholes maybe but not people who were mean or had a nasty streak in them. A little while later, we left Takashi and Nina’s place after loads of hugs and Takashi nearly coming to blows with my Aunt over the bill. Takashi said it was all on the house, but my Aunt was having none of it. Takashi eventually settled on letting my Aunt pay for the drinks we had. But now my Aunt was in a little bit of a mood now after seeing the info Takashi had got her about the Hunters, who were kidnapping witches. ‘If it’s the Holy Order of Saint Benedict then we really don’t have long to find our sisters. There’s every possibility they’re already dead or they may be saving them up for a mass execution.’ She said to me. Whatever had happened would be horrible either way. ‘Can you tell me any more about this order?’ I asked. We had now began walking in some direction, I don’t know where we were going. Auntie M mentioned heading to a club called The Inferno, which was a club mainly frequented by supernatural beings ranging from us Witches, to incubi, succubi, fae, weres of various kinds, vampires and loads more you could try to think of. I was told that very few humans actually went there and they were the ones that knew of the other world, or they had accidentally wandered in. Apparently the club was hidden from the mortal world, but the occasional normie would happen upon the place. ‘Not much. Mainly because we don’t know much about this order to begin with. I can tell you though they were the ones that kidnapped me last time and they do not play nice, nor do they hang about.’ ‘We need to find them ASAP then.’ I stated. My Aunt nonnded with a serious look on her face. ‘And as it’s the Benedictine’s, any chance they get they go after all kinds of beings. So we can ask about when we get to The Inferno, see if anyone knows anything. I know the guy who runs it so we won’t have any problem asking about. He may know something too.’ We continued walking through the streets of Manchester til we got closer to the Northern Quarter, the more trendy hipsterish part of town. It was busy and bustling with regular people, stopping in bars for a few drinks or some food, chatting with their friends or going over what they bought in their earlier shopping hauls. I had noticed however, that as we walked through the crowds; seceral men were eyeing us up. I wasn’t used to it that’s for sure. Plus I was still only seventeen, it made mé a little uncomfortable actually. My Aunt had noticed and pulled me closer to her, linking my arm with hers. ‘Pay no mind to these creeps they’re just boring regular blokes.’ She grinned. ‘Give me a vampire or a non-evil demon any day, they’re much more interesting than Darren the brickie from Northampton or Tyrone who works in the local Dixons.’ ‘Auntie M Dixons hasn’t existed since like, over twelve years ago or something.’ I corrected her. ‘Yeah well you know what I meán.’ She waved her hand at me. ‘Anyway, we’re here.’ I was stood facing yet another weird little alleyway or “ginnel” as they called them round here. The further we walked down the ginnel, the more the noise from the main street seemed to die down and distort almost; like some weird doppler effect had happened with the sound. It actually made me feel a little woozy and discombobulated, but Auntie M carried ón down and I followed after her. We got towards the end of the ginnel and suddenly seemed to hit what I can only describe as a thin wall of warm jelly, if the jelly was made out of fog. It was the weirdest sensation against my body and skin, but I persevered through it and came out on the other side. The ginnel seemed normal again and I could see the weird jelly-fog wall behind me now looking back at it. It must have been there to mask the entrance to The Inferno, its unassuming door with a fairly large, but simple glowing red sign above it; and two earpiece wearing bouncers on either side completing the scene. ‘If it isn’t Morrigan Taylor as I live and breathe.’ One of the bouncers said with a hint of a cockney accent. The one on the left that just spoke was massive. He was black, about six foot nine, bald, built like an absolute tank and had two brown looking horns on his head sticking out about two inches. His face was adorned with intricate scarred patterns and his teeth were particularly pointy and jagged. He crouched down and gave my Aunt what could have been a bone crushing hug. ‘Jez it’s great to see you again. And you too Malc it’s been an age.’ Said my Aunt as she hugged the other guy, nearly a complete one-eighty from Jez. He was white to the point where he almost glowed, stood around five foot eight, had his hair fashioned in to a mowhawk, had several piercings adorning his face and looked ever so slightly gaunt. He just nodded in reply to my Aunt who looked him in the eyes briefly, nodded then said “ yeah, me too dude” before fist bumping him. The man wasn’t speaking a single word. ‘Guys meet my niece, Maddie. While we are here to have a bit of fun we are kinda on business but please, keep an eye out for her will ya? She’s training to be a Guardian.’ Auntie M siad. The two men nodded. ‘Of course. We’re delighted to meet you Maddie’ Jez replied, Malc bowed his head at me. ‘And no cover charge for you both, the boss would kill us.’ ‘If you say so, thanks guys. See you in a bit.’ Auntie M shoved me through the door as I waved bye to the two bouncers. I of course had more questions than ever before which was now becoming classic me. The music got louder as we walked in to the main area of the club. It was pretty busy considering it wasn’t all that late, but there were plenty on the dance floor. The music was pretty eclectic from the sound of it, a bit of rock, a bit of industrial; it fit the vibe of the place and I was quite liking it. Auntie M dragged us over to the bar area where we got served as soon as the goth looking bartender say my Aunt. Using my limited lip reading skills, I watched the bar tender talk; saying what looked like “on the house. VIP section” before pointing over to a raised area guarded by another huge looking bouncer wearing an earpiece and sunglasses indoors. I was issued a raspberry vodka with lemonade and ice by my Aunt, who had already tipped a blackberry vodka and lemonade down her throat before I saw her make eye contact with a man over in the VIP section. I squinted my eyes at the man figuring I recognised him from somewhere. I pointed at him with a raised eyebrow. ‘Wait, he’s the guy in that photo with you at Takashi and Nina’s place?’ I asked my Aunt with a raised voice, so she could hopefully hear me over the music. She spoke back to me a bit louder than usual. ‘Yep. That’s Aiden.’ She didn’t look at me, just kept her eyes on the white haired man in the VIP section with his arm draped over the back of the couch he was sat on by himself. I could see a twinkle in his eye as he smiled, taking a sip of what looked like bourbon from a crystal glass. As soon as he placed the glass down on the table in front of him, he disappeared in a flash. Chasing the straw around my glass with my tongue, out the corner of my eye I could see the white haired man had materialised in front of my Aunt and of course, like every other man she knew she apparently knew intimately; he was near instantly suctioned to her face, draping her back in some swoon-worthy pose that should’ve been on the front of a romance novel. “Ooft Fabio eat your heart out.” I thought in my head. ‘Oh gimme a fucking break.’ I said out loud instead, facepalming myself.