When Auntie M said we would be upping my training, she wasn't kidding. She told me to put my coat on and meet her outside on the back lawn. She started flinging things at me with her powers like we usually did. I would throw up a shield of some variety to protect myself from the incoming projectile, usually some kind of spherical object like a ball or even fruit occasionally. I think the biggest I ever got chucked at me was a watermelon and that didn't end so well. I had however got to a point where I didn't need to form a huge globe shaped shield around me and I could just wave my hand in the general direction of the thing flying toward me and just, bat it away almost. Auntie M had shown me how to do that and I picked up the technique quite quickly. Still, I was expecting to be learning some cool new spells in the lab and not be stood outside on a cold afternoon having shit lobbed at me at thirty miles an hour.

'C'mon Maddie! Keep going! Anything that might be attacking you won't give you a damn break! COME ON!'

My Aunt was screaming at me as she kept launching random items at me. I had graduated from cricket balls and grapefruits and coconuts to deckchairs, side lamps and wrenches. I couldn't help but think she started throwing wrenches at me because we had watched Dodgeball the a few nights ago and it inspired her. Auntie M would carry on summoning random objects and continue her telekinetic assault on me. I was doing so well until I smelt Duncan and Arne come outside which totally broke my concentration, just as a claw hammer was mere feet away from my face. I had literally just turned my head to look in the direction of where Duncan and Arne were but thankfully my Aunt was switched on and magically turned the hammer from a solid, potentially lethal item in to nothing but a dogs squeaky toy. It still hit me in the face, but thankfully didn't leave me with any injuries. It squeaked as it hit my cheek then fell to the ground before disappearing. I looked down to wear the toy hammer was and looked to find myself face to face with my Aunt, she made me jump a little as it took the blink of an eye for her to get to me.

'Okay I know Duncan and Arne are an absolute delightfully handsome pair of distractions, but you can't let your guard down Maddie.' She told me sternly. Oh boy, the kid gloves were off.

'Why do they have to smell so good though?' I asked her, seeing Arne and Duncan out the corner of my eye sniggering at what I just said. Of course they heard us talking even at a distance away.

'They just do. Yes it's infuriating. Come on you two don't just stand there we got shit to do!' She shouted over to the vampires. Again, in the blink of an eye they were standing beside us. I jumped again, apparently I wasn't supposed to be in my skin right now.

'Right Maddie, there's a broom in the utility room I want you to summon it.'

I nodded. I had found an item summoning spell in the family Grimoire a little while ago. Well, I say I found it, the book actually shifted it's pages to show me the spell as I had mislaid my purse earlier on that day and I couldn't find it. The spell itself was fairly simple if you needed to use a chant out loud to make it work, but seeing as I was getting better at controlling my abilities; I only ever needed to chant or recite words for complicated spells. Now all I needed to do for this particular spell was concentrate, chant the words in my head and the thing I wanted to summon would materialize in front of me. Sometimes with great force. I tried it once with my dorm room key I had lost just as I was about to go out and it soon went flying past me upwards from the floor where it then got embedded in the ceiling. Retrieving the broom however wasn't as exciting, it slowly took form in my right hand.

'Nice Maddie. Right get up there.' My Aunt said as she pointed upward. She wanted me to get on the broom and hover above the lawn. Doing as I was told, I mounted the broom then quickly flew up to about forty feet above the ground.

'What now?!' I shouted down to my Aunt. I swear I could see a slight grin forming on her face even at this distance.

'Dodge and block Maddie!' She shouted back at me. As soon as she said that, she used her magic to form a huge mound of stuff on the grass then instructed Arne and Duncan to proceed with launching said stuff at me. I nearly fell off my damn broom as a hardback copy of the Oxford English Dictionary went sailing past my head.

'HEY I WASN'T READY!' I shouted back. I still wasn't ready as a barrage of other junk came my way. I zipped about on the broom, doing my best to dodge and avoid being hit by whatever my Aunt, Arne and Duncan had picked up to throw. So far I had avoided a log, a plant pot with a cacti in it, a watering can, so many golf balls that I had lost count and a house brick. As I got in to the swing of things, I got more confident in holding on to my broom with one hand and using my powers to swipe my other hand at the things going for my head, hitting them back down to the ground at whoever was throwing at me. The mound of junk was gradually going down what with more of it ending up the air even quicker than before. I was properly being tested at this and I did not want to show myself up, not in front of Arne and Duncan and especially not my Aunt. I concentrated as much as I could muster, dropping several meters on my broom and quickening my speed in an attempt to make myself a more difficult target to hit. I had successfully avoided a giant teddy bear, a teapot, the obligatory watermelon and what appeared to be every single book in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. The pile of stuff had all gone. Thank Goddess I could come down now I was absolutely knackered.

'Much better Maddie. Looks like you do better under a lot of pressure.' My Aunt said to me. I didn't answer as I was still trying to get my breath back. I unseated myself from the broom and used it to keep myself upright.

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'That's how your grandmother used to train Morrigan and her sisters, in fact that's how most witches train.' Arne said to me.

'Are you for fucking real?!' I blurted out in between my deep, laboured breaths. 'That was torture!'

'Well you did better than your mum.' Auntie M said to me. 'Except back in the day most of the shit launched at us stayed solid.'

'What did my mum do then?' I asked.

'She got knocked off by a dinner plate. Nearly came off her broom, threw a tantrum mid-air then came down and stormed off.'

'Classic Mum.'

'Yep, classic Miriam.' Auntie M agreed. 'Come on lets go and get an early tea. Arne's made us beef stew and dumplings.'

'That sounds awesome, I'm absolutely starving now.'

'I'm making dessert too.' Duncan piped in. 'Home made Tiramisu.'

My mouth was watering already.

Our early evening meal was amazing. We were all sat at the informal dining table in the kitchen, my Aunt and I enjoying the stew and tiramisu that Arne and Duncan had made for us. We discussed our plan of action in regards to what we needed to do next about this horrible man and his murderous rampage. Him actually letting Baal out was the least of our worries, especially if we could stop his little minion in the first place.

'I think we should have a mooch around Waitrose seeing as everything seems to be happening around that bloody place.' Said Auntie M as she went in for a second serving of Duncan's Tiramisu. We had both eaten between us a large slow cooker full of Arne's beef stew, with carrots, mashed potatoes and proper suet dumplings and now Duncan's dessert had nearly all gone.

'Maybe it's someone who shops in there, or works in there?' I added.

'Possibly. Well a lot of the clan will be back tomorrow so I can get them all to help out?' Said Arne. 'When you get more info on the school and grounds from Wendy I can have a few of my people go look for anything of interest.'

'That would be a huge help Arne thank you.' Auntie M said as she leant over and kissed him on the cheek.

'It's a start I suppose.' I said. 'Perhaps we can nip in to Waitrose soon, I dunno disguise ourselves or something?' I mentioned to my Aunt. She nodded.

'Good idea. Bit of a disguise, mask our energy so we don't stand out in case this arsehole is actually in there. Might be able to find some clues at least if we don't sniff this guy out.' Auntie M continued. 'Well done Maddie, you're getting quite good at this now.'

'Thank you.' I beamed, rewarding myself with the last bite of the tiramisu and licking the remaining cream that clung to my bottom lip. At least now we had some kind of plan to go by and we also had more information to tell Mr Evans and Liam. I had only ever seen them recently during class as we had been spending more time in the evenings and weekends at Arne's and they had quite a bit of coven business to attend to. Plus Liam I thought had been avoiding me a little since what happened in the school library.

'Ugh stick a fork in me I'm done.' I sighed as I slouched back in my seat. 'Thank you for that I really enjoyed it all.'

'You're welcome.' Arne and Duncan replied in unison.

'It was lovely as always.' Auntie M smiled. 'Come on you, lets clear up' She nudged Arne's shoulder as she gathered up the plates to shove in the dishwasher. Duncan however tapped me on the shoulder.

'Fancy coming for a walk with me whilst it's still light?'

'Yeah sure, I'll just stick my coat and boots on.' I got up and quickly shuffled to the back porch just off the kitchen, pulling on my boots and coat. Duncan casually followed me and grabbed a jacket off the coat rack before we went out.

We had been walking around the gardens for quite a while, but it was still pretty light outside. You could however feel the air was getting colder and colder as the evening crept in. The sky was clear as well; not even a single cloud was disturbing the red and purple hue strewn across the horizon, with that radiant smear of yellow and orange from the sun letting out those last moments of warmth. It was so pretty I had to get my phone out and take some photos. I took quite a few photos of the beautiful wintery sunset happening before me, with the grounds of the mansion creeping in to the shot. I was just about to put my phone back in my pocket when I felt Duncan stand right behind me. His hands crept around my waist, sending a bit of a shiver up my spine as he gently tugged me in to him and he rested his chin on my shoulder.

'How about a few more?' He said to me in his smooth Scottish lilt, nuzzling his head in to my hair. Wow he was getting friendly, not like I minded though. I turned my phone round to take a few selfies of Duncan and myself, some nice shots of us smiling with the early evening winter glow lighting up our faces. I had more photos to show Katie and Victoria now.

'Shall we go on another date Maddie?' Duncan asked me just as I took one more photo. He kept a hold of me but I managed to turn ever so slightly to face him.

'Of course Duncan I'd love to.' I smiled at him. I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks and my heartbeat quicken. Seeing Duncan in this light and with the night creeping in was something else. Vampires came alive at night, no pun intended. They didn't look as pale as they did during the day and I could feel the building energy rolling off him and over my skin. It literally did feel magical as he held on to me, my senses heightened to the point where everything made me tingle. I could feel the pull between us, I could feel our bodies edging closer. I could feel our lips touch, a kiss between us so deep but so tender I didn't want it to stop.

I wasn't entirely sure of what my Aunt meant when she said that vampires and witches just go together, but I think I did now after kissing Duncan. Sure I felt something before whenever we had touched but this was something else, in fact it was on another level. I liked being around Duncan, he had quite a strangely calming influence on me especially when I got in my head or started panicking. He was reassuring and gentle, almost like he knew exactly what to do with me when I started going down a bad hole.

Duncan eventually loosened his grasp on me and took my hand in his, smiling as he laced his fingers with mine.

'Let's go home, it's getting cold now I don't want you to catch a chill.'

Thankfully we didn't have far to walk back as we had barely done anything remotely like a proper walk and had literally just sauntered down to the bottom of the front lawn. Which while it was a rather big lawn, the distance could not be considered a "walk." Either way, I was looking forward to getting in my PJ's and having a snuggle on the settee with Duncan.