Arne & Duncan

It had been around ten o'clock at night when somebody unexpectedly teleported in to the mansion. Of course the vampires could sense a living body full of blood was in the house somewhere but it was Morrigan who announced who it was.

'Well Maddie's decided to show up finally.' She said. She leaned forward to get off the sofa where she had been snuggling up to Arne but Duncan was already on his feet.

'Stay there, I'll go get her.' Said Duncan. He swiftly made his way through the lower floor of the mansion, through the kitchen and in to the utility room. Switching the light on, Duncan then laid his eyes on Madelyn who was gracefully parked arse first in the Belfast sink, her short stature making it difficult for her to raise herself out of the deep set sink; legs dangling over the edge.

'Maddie, what are you doing in there?' Duncan asked her with a hint of a grin on his lips.

'Um, hi.' She replied looking utterly embarrassed. Duncan walked over to Madelyn as she tried to manoeuvrer herself in to a position where she could attempt to get herself out of the sink. He got her out easily, hooking an arm under her legs and round her back. He held on to her for a few moments longer than what was comfortable, shaking himself out of his daze before putting Madelyn on the ground.

'Sorry I er... Are you okay Maddie?' Duncan asked.

'Yeah, thanks. Just a bit of a bruised ego, that was not a graceful landing.' Madelyn said as she brushed down her clothes.

'Well at least you're not like your Aunt doing drunk teleporting.'

'Heh, I've heard the stories.' Madelyn scrunched her face up to hide a grin. She already knew one of her Aunt's stories about the time she tried teleporting home and accidentally ended up in some Japanese family's living room in Tokyo, crash landing arse first on to their kotatsu table and subsequently breaking it all while they were watching TV.

Madelyn and Duncan walked in to the living room where Morrigan and Arne were still cuddled up on the sofa watching a film together. Constance and Darius had shown up to say their farewells for the evening as they were off out with some friends. They had asked Madelyn if she wanted to come with but she passed, preferring to take it easy for the rest of the night. Teleporting took it out of Madelyn as she wasn't quite proficient in it yet, but she had been practising loads and she was gradually getting better. Hopefully after a bit more practice she wouldn't end up teleporting herself in to sinks or the last time the teleported to Arne's; in the broom cupboard on the top floor of the mansion.

'Hey kiddo, I see you got here in one piece.' Morrigan said to her niece.

'Just about, I ended up in the sink in the utility room.'

'Ah it happens to the best of us, you'll figure it out soon enough.'

Madelyn shrugged her shoulders.

'I guess. Okay I'm gonna go put my comfies on, seeing as lounge-wear seems to be the dress code.'

Movie night was always comfy night at Arne's, especially in the colder months of the year when he would light the huge open fire in the main living room and anyone who was participating in movie night, would pile in to the living room; make themselves comfortable and just chill out in a nice cosy environment. Vampires always welcomed an evening where they didn't have to go out and be as charming and tempting or use their powers of persuasion to get their dinner. Sometimes they really did just want to be lazy of an evening. Arne and Duncan were definitely stopping in this night as they had been out during the day and being in the sunlight for most of it had severely taken it out of them. A quick ready meal that evening of a microwaved bag of B Negative for each of them had quelled the hunger they may have had.

Madelyn reappeared wearing her pyjamas and made herself at home on one of the sofas, rearranging a few cushions behind herself. Duncan had disappeared for a few moments and came bag with two mugs of tea, one for Madelyn and one for Morrigan. Duncan threw a few more logs on to the fire before he returned to his seat next to Madelyn. She had shifted herself around on the sofa and casually laid her legs over Duncan's lap. He rested his hand on her legs as if it was the most natural thing in the world for him to do. Morrigan was lying down with her head in Arne's lap where he was gently stroking her hair and twisting random locks around his finger.

Cosy nights in always involved some kind of comedy film marathon and tonight was no different. A decade was decided on and a few dozen films from that decade were selected, written down on bits of paper to be scrunched up, thrown in to a bowl and then one would be picked randomly. It was a great method that solved a lot of arguments and mindless scrolling through streaming services looking for something to watch. Next up was Wayne's World, a firm favourite of both present Taylor women made apparent by their singing along with Wayne and Garth doing their "party time, excellent" theme.

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'I genuinely can't remember the nineties being that fun.' Duncan mused.

'It wasn't so bad, there was some great music around then.' Arne replied.

'That's true. We went to some fantastic shows I remember that much.' Said Duncan.

'And this is where we make Morrigan extremely jealous.' Arne chuckled as he poked her in the face.

'And me!' Madelyn spoke up. 'The eighties and nineties were iconic, all my favourite music and films are from then. So who've you seen live then?'

Duncan and Arne looked at each other and let out a strange tandem sigh.

'Who haven't we seen is probably a better question.' Said Duncan.'Um we've seen most of the Seattle grunge bands, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam.' Arne then took over listing.

'Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, Tool, The Pixies. We've seen Prince live a few times, Alanis Morissette, Tori Amos, Type O Negative. We did a lot of festivals too.'

'Okay I'm super jealous now. I'd have given anything to have seen most of those live.' Madelyn said.

'Neve mind that Maddie, I can do you one better.' Morrigan grinned. 'There's a photo album somewhere full of pictures of these two throughout the years I might have to get it out...' Morrigan trailed off as she tried rolling out of Arne's lap and off the sofa, but Arne wasn't letting her get away that easy. He clamped his arm around her and pulled her back down. Morrigan started laughing as Arne then began to poke her in the ribs and tickle her.

'I don't think so missus.' Arne laughed at her as he planted kisses all over Morrigan's face, she soon quietened down.

In fact a short while later, both Taylor women had quietened down. Sort of. Morrigan still had her head in Arne's lap where he was stroking her hair again. But this time she had fallen asleep and was letting out a bizarre sounding gargle/snore hybrid sound, combined with a light stream of drool that was now collecting on Arne's sweatpants.

Madelyn was also asleep, with her mouth wide open and snoring a little less severely than her Aunt. She was lying on her back with a mound of cushions behind her and her legs still draped over Duncan's.

'Is this a family thing too?' Duncan asked Arne as he pointed to Madelyn and Morrigan.

'Passing out and snoring? Absolutely. You weren't here the last time Molly and Macy came to visit and stayed here with Morrigan, but the house was practically shaking with them all snoring.'

'They look kinda peaceful don't you think? In an absurd kind of way.' Said Duncan as he looked at Madelyn. She had closed her mouth now, but had switched to a more nasally snore which was a bit louder.

'They do.' Arne gently ran a finger down the side of Morrigan's cheek. 'And they are absurd, all the women in their family are not quite right in some way.'

'You've met some of the others?'

Arne nodded.

'I've met all of them except Monica, that's Morrigan's younger sister. She died in a car accident several years ago. The twins' mother Miranda is the eldest and is unfortunately in a care home as she has had several serious strokes. Madelyn's mother though Miriam, she absolutely hates my guts.'

'So who's the strongest then? Out of all of them?' Duncan asked, curious to know.

'Monica would have been if she was still in this world, but now it's Morrigan. Then Miranda then Miriam. She doesn't practice the craft any more she hasn't done for a long time. Madelyn however though is showing some talent for the craft, she'll catch up with her cousins in no time.'

Duncan looked down at Madelyn. He could feel an other worldly heat coming from her, not too hot but it was noticeable. More noticeable than regular human body heat, but the strange thing was under the touch of Duncan's hand resting on her outstretched leg; her body was cold to the touch.

Duncan had never had a bonded witch before, not properly anyway. The vampire-witch bond was never down to fate or destiny or anything like that, they weren't magically drawn to each other nor were they promised to each other from birth or death or whatever. But choices could be made and if a vampire and a witch wanted to bond, then they would. Whilst the witch was always a person with feminine magic and energy, whatever they identified as was irrelevant. And this was the same for the vampire too. Warlocks no matter how they identified were never bonded with vampires, it was the specific magic only found in witches that determined that this was how it is.

'How many bonded witches have you had brother?' Duncan asked Arne. He'd never asked him about it until now.

'In my time up to now and including Morrigan, I've had four. So not that many.'

Considering Arne was edging towards twelve hundred years old, it wasn't that many at all. Even younger vampires have had more than what he'd had. But Arne was a very cautious man who didn't wear his heart on his sleeve.

'It took me nearly three hundred years to have another bond after my last one. Morrigan was the one who changed that.'

'You're totally enamoured with her aren't you?' Duncan asked Arne.

'Absolutely. She keeps me sane.'

'But what about...' Duncan paused as he tried to think of the best way to ask. 'What about when they get older? Because we're not allowed to turn witches or people whenever we like any more.'

'Sometimes we part ways. But there's always the Selection.'

The Selection. Duncan had nearly forgotten abut the Selection. Every few hundred years both the Vampire and Witches Council got together and deliberated over important matters. And one of them was the Selection, where both councils would select a witch to be turned in to a vampire to serve on the board for an indiscriminate amount of time.

'There's a Selection due to take place in the next few years and I'm positive Morrigan will be chosen. She's too important not to be.'

Arne had a smile on his face when he said that, knowing that there was the possibility of spending the next God knows how long with his beloved. Duncan however was weighing up his options. He liked Madelyn and he liked her a lot, but he wasn't entirely sure how she felt about him. But this evening something felt different. Madelyn was becoming more and more comfortable around him, obviously being happy and comfortable enough to use him as a foot rest which he didn't mind. In fact he quite liked it.

'I'd better get this one in bed or else she'll wake up in a mood in the morning.' Arne said as he gestured to Morrigan who was still snoring away in his lap. He hoisted her up and unceremoniously threw her over his shoulder in a half-arsed firemans lift, carrying her as if she was a beach towel.

'I think I'd better take Madelyn up too.' Said Duncan.

'We going for our walk soon?'

'Of course.'

Duncan carefully picked Madelyn up so as not to disturb her. As soon as he did, her head lolled right the way back and her snoring intensified with a loud snorting.