If I've ever been sat on a settee in the middle of the woods with a cup of tea feeling totally confused once, then I've been sat on a settee in the middle of the woods with a cup of tea feeling totally confused what seems like a million times by now.

Everyone in the coven seemed to know all of the people who just randomly showed up. I say people but I meant vampires, which were apparently a thing and we were friends with. I had been sat down, with a large mug of tea and then I was presented with something that just made me snort laugh. I had been given a small book by Deirdre, no difference in thickness to a small book of short stories. Deirdre told me to go sit down for a little while, take everything in and have a quick read of the book.

"My First Coven: A Guide to the World of Magic, Spirituality and the Supernatural. Eighty Ninth Edition."

The cover was a tad humorous, with it's odd title and strange little pictures of black cats and broomsticks on the front. I flicked through the pages, randomly stopping and having a quick read of what was there.

'Congratulations on your initiation and joining your first witches coven! This book will guide you through the first stages of your time as a fledgling magic user. You may already know how to do some spells and maybe have even learnt how to fly a broom.'

I grinned a little as I read on, flicking through more of the pages and having a quick read to see if there was anything relevant to my current situation.

'Vampires have long been an ally of witches. Many covens are usually in partnership with a single Vampire clan and this partnership can last for decades, sometimes even hundreds of years. It is said that the form magic that witches uses, is similar to the same magic that makes Vampires what they are and gives them their special abilities. This is why witches and Vampires are often drawn together.'

I looked up to watch everyone. My cousins Molly and Macy were busy chatting with two younger looking vampires who may or may not be actually ancient. They were joking and laughing and showing each other stuff on their phones, typical of any other teenagers. The vampires were both a young boy and girl and they seemed to have similar facial features, I wonder if they were actually related. Gabrielle and Brianna were being helped out by a physically older looking member of the vampire clan to keep the bonfire in check. Glancing over at Auntie M, I saw she was currently sitting on the lap of the vampire known as Arne. They were all over each other, it was all sorts gross. Then I wondered what Mr Evans would have to say about it? I mean, I thought he and my Aunt had something going. I went back to the book.

'Witch hunters are unfortunately a part of our world that we have to deal with occasionally. They are few and far between but it still doesn't make any interaction with them any less gruelling.'

I felt the cushions move on the settee I was sat on. Looking beside me, there was yet another young looking vampire casually smiling at me. I closed the book and laid it on my lap.

'Hi there.' The vampire said to me, holding out his hand. He had a bit of an accent, Scottish from the sound of it. 'I'm Duncan, it's a pleasure to finally meet you Madelyn.'

I took hold of his hand and gently shook it. In books and films, they usually say that a vampires skin is cold to the touch. That was kind of true, but coldness aside; you could feel something through that coldness. It was odd. I could feel whatever it was that was keeping him alive? No not alive, animated.

'It's nice to meet you too.' I smiled, releasing Duncan's hand. 'But please, call me Maddie.'

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Silence. But Duncan decided to break it as I was absent mindedly rearranging my cloak around me.

'So, how are you finding this all?' He asked me. Yep he had a Scottish accent, it was very soft and pleasant to hear. It rolled over me like a sweet comforting liquid, I'm thinking custard being poured over cake or something. He wasn't too bad to look at either. I'd noticed that pretty much all the vampires were decent looking, one or two were really really good looking; even the women. Duncan had sandy brown hair in quite a modern looking cut, blue-ish eyes and what looked like expertly arranged and groomed stubble round his pale-ish face. This led me to ponder if vampires hair even grew at all and if they could like, get it cut and it grew back.

'Um, a little daunting to be honest.' I blurted out. 'I mean it's been mad revelation after mad revelation. It's like I'm the main character in a badly written book and the writer keeps adding in all these stupid twists.'

Duncan chuckled at my analogy.

'I can understand. I've been present at quite a few witches initiations over the years.'

Over the years. I had to think just exactly how many years that was. Looking at him, he looked like he was in his early twenties, twenty three at the most maybe. But him being a vampire meant he was either turned a few years ago or hundreds of years ago. Oh boy my head was starting to hurt now, then I had to go and look at my Aunt who's hair was now being twizzled round the finger of the really good looking vampire Arne. Duncan stifled a laugh at me as he must have caught me wincing.

'Not a fan of public displays of affection?' He grinned at me.

'It doesn't bother me but, that's my Aunt. I've never seen her act like this really it's a bit... ew.'

'If it's any consolation, Arne is my brother. Vampire brother not actual brother he's way, way older than me.'

I got brave after hearing that.

'I don't want to be rude but, can I ask how old you are Duncan? If you don't mind.' I held my hand up in some sort of defence.

'I'm two hundred and thirty seven years old.'

Wow he didn't hold back or mumble or anything.

'I was born in seventeen eighty four, sired in eighteen oh six aged twenty two, so I've been a vampire for two hundred and fifteen years.'

Nice of him to do the maths for me. My brain had been a bit addled so there was no way I was going to sit there and try and figure out some simple maths. But if Duncan was two hundred and thirty seven years old, then what age was Arne? In fact, what were the ages of all the other vampires that were here. Oh no, no no. Overthinking too much again. I was looking over at my Aunt, still sat in the lap of Arne who were now giggling and laughing with each other. Duncan must have seen this and started talking again.

'Arne is over eleven hundred years old. He's from Norway.'

'So my Aunt is quite literally sucking face with Erik from True Blood right now?' I chortled. Duncan just sort of looked at me, I assumed he'd never heard of the show.

'It was a TV show about vampires, one of the characters was a thousand year old Swedish Viking vampire.' I gave Duncan some context. 'Except the lead female character he was shacking up with was like some fairy hybrid creature.'

'Fairies... such weird, horrible creatures.' Duncan mumbled.

'Fairies are real?' I squeaked. 'What else is real? Wendigos? Changelings, Leprechauns, Chupacabras?' I freaked out and started listing creatures I remembered from various TV shows I had seen.

'No wait wait. I should not be surprised by any of this, ANY of this. I'm sat next to a vampire, my Aunt already told me werewolves are a thing and demons and stuff. And I'm a witch! An actual witch!' I spoke aloud as if I was trying to reassure myself, but really I was just winding myself up. I slumped forward and shoved my face in to my hands.

'Ugh it could only be me.' I groaned.

'Cheer up, it's not so bad.' Duncan said to me, resting a hand on my shoulder. 'Sure it can all be a bit scary but, that's why we're all together like this. We help each other out.'

I just looked up and smiled. Sure Liam was going through this too but sometimes he could be difficult to talk to. Well not so much difficult but I was a lot more advanced in my training than he was, all because of the fact that I was a girl and that was the issue. I was going through stuff that would take him a lot longer to reach. But seeing everyone else in the coven happily chatting with a bunch of vampires who said they were our friends made me feel a bit better. I'm just glad these vampires didn't seem to be the overly bitey kind. I hope they weren't anyway. I'd like to think I had just made a friend.