'Oh my Goddess I'm so shit at this!'

Macy was cackling away as she wandered back over to where I was stood with her sister Molly. It was Thursday night and my cousins had come down for a visit. Macy had just got paid from her part time job and said she would treat us to a fun night. Seeing as I was a changed woman now deciding to have some more fun, I skipped Wednesdays after school Judo class to go out with my cousins instead. I did have another Judo class on Thursday so that one I would definitely go to. They had chosen an interesting activity for us tonight; Axe throwing. I'd never done it before and neither had my cousins so we agreed it might be fun. We had a full hour to chuck small axes at old wooden pallets and we had added our own rules to the event. Well, rule singular. We were to use absolutely no magic at all to cheat, so we were playing fair and square. But after nearly a full hour, we were all on our last throws and Macy was loosing in points. I was just behind Molly and the final throw was mine.

I spent what seemed like a lifetime aiming for the bullseye which would get me the most points, but all that aiming and concentration was in vain. I hit the ring round the bullseye, that meant Molly had won. She was absolutely beaming. Macy was a bit sore abut losing to her sister, but we had fun anyway. We were already planning on coming back, even more so now as the place also served an amazing pizza. We decided to stay a bit longer and order a few thin crust pepperonis whilst we had a good long girly catch up.

'We invited Auntie M to night but she said she had another coven meeting.' Molly said as she wiped her hands on a napkin. 'I forget what coven it was though, one in Norfolk or something?'

'Great Yarmouth.' Macy answered as she bit in to a particularly cheesy slice.

'How many areas does she cover again? Is it six?' I asked.

'Uhm, I think it's six? Molly replied not sounding so sure. In fact I think she only took on Norfolk recently because someone else had it in their jurisdiction but they had too much on already.'

Macy and I "ahh'd." Auntie M was a stupidly busy woman, Goddess knows how she managed to do everything.

'Anyway enough about that, you need to tell us what's happening with Duncan.' Molly nudged me and giggled. I could feel myself starting to blush.

'There's nothing to tell really. We've had that one date already and we're going out again this Friday. Where to I don't know, it's a surprise.' My face was feeling hot now, I distracted myself by picking up another slice of pizza. My cousins grinned and squealed.

'I bet you and Duncan will be bonded in like, no time.' Macy stated. That made me think, I had questions to ask them.

'Oh are you two bonded with any vampires at all?' I was genuinely curious. I had been reading up on the whole witch and vampire bonding thing in my My First Coven handbook and there wasn't a whole lot on the subject. Just that witches and vampires often form complex bonds with a vampire or vampires; sometimes totally platonic or even romantic. Nobody really knew why but if there was a distinct " magical pull" between those involved, then it was kinda meant to happen. And these witches and vampires looked after each other, incredibly well. I figured I could ask a bit more about it.

'I'm bonded with a vampire.' Molly said. 'He's Italian, called Luca and he's a part of Arne's clan. You haven't met him yet he's on like some sabbatical at the moment. I can't wait till he's back though I miss him loads.' Molly scrolled through her phone and showed me a picture of herself and Luca. Luca must have been turned in his mid twenties, he didn't seem very tall well not compared to Arne and Duncan he must have been around five foot either or nine, but he had gorgeous curls of dark chocolate brown hair that fell to the tops of his ears, a healthy tanned-olive complexion which seemed a little odd on a vampire and deep almost black eyes that sparkled like obsidian. He was stood behind Molly in the photo, hugging her and resting his chin on her shoulder; the pair of them with huge smiles on their faces. They looked absolutely fucking adorable.

'You two look absolutely fucking adorable!' I squeaked.

'I know right?' Molly said, a smile on her face from ear to ear.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

'And oh woe is me, I am without a bond.' Macy dramatically laid the back of her hand on her forehead like some woman in a Shakespearean tragedy and fake sobbed. Both Molly and I nudged her and laughed.

It was nice catching up with my cousins outside of our coven meetings. We were already making plans for other outings too and maybe we could even get our Aunt involved, she was usually up for a fun time. We had already planned some shopping trips and we were definitely coming axe throwing again. Plus we figured it would be nice just to go out for a meal once in a while too. But our evening was coming to a close after chatting about boys, TV shows we had been watching and where we were up to in school. Molly and Macy had offered to drive me over to Arne's mansion where I was staying tonight but I told them I had been practising teleporting on my own and Auntie M was on standby in case I ended up somewhere I shouldn't be. We took the short walk back to Molly's car and got in. I sat in the back seat so I was under cover and out of the line of sight of any CCTV cameras or people that may catch me teleporting.

We bid our farewells as I concentrated my power in to teleporting. I was aiming for Arne's mansion, nowhere specific but somewhere inside Arne's mansion. I was hoping to just open a portal that I could clamber through from the back of the car but I wasn't so lucky. I fell through the portal I had made, arse first making little "eep" sound on my way through. I fell in to the coldness of the portal, still trying to concentrate on landing in the mansion as I kept my eyes tightly closed not wanting to open them in this weird dimension witches travelled through. Perhaps I would keep my eyes open one day, maybe when I got better and more confident at portalling. I'd never actually got a good look at what was... in there.

I had landed on something. I still had my eyes screwed shut and was a little reluctant to open them but I had to a some point. I gradually opened one eye then slowly opened the other, my focus turning sharper after a few seconds as my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room I was in. I could hear a weird mechanical whirring sound that seemed familiar. I looked over to where the noise was coming from as saw a few blinking red and green lights. I then remembered I could use the torch on my phone to at least light up where I was. I was still in a sitting position but whatever I was now sat in was hard and cold and my knees were a little closer to my chest and my legs were dangling off something. As soon as I hit the button on my phone to turn the torch on, the main light in the room came on.

'Maddie? What are you doing in there?'

I looked over to the voice. It was Duncan stood in the doorway with his finger still on the light switch. I looked down and around me. I was in the big utility room just off the kitchen, glamorously bunched up in the Belfast sink with my legs hanging over the edge. The sink was deep and huge but I was only little. I felt like I was having a soak in one of those half sized Japanese bath tubs.

'Um, hi.' I said sheepishly, I could feel the redness forming on my cheeks as Duncan grinned and shook his head. He walked over to me as I started struggling to un-bunch myself and try and get out of this enveloping sink. It was that deep I just couldn't get the leverage with my arms to even lift myself up enough to lurch up, forward or out. I was barely even able to lift my arse cheeks an inch off the bottom of the sink.

Thankfully Duncan had walked over to help me. He made short work of lifting me out of the sink, one arm under my legs and one around my back. He held me close to him for a little longer that what seemed necessary. Then it must have dawned on him that he had to put me down.

'Sorry I er... Are you okay Maddie?' He said as he gently placed me back on my feet.

'Yeah, thanks.' I responded. 'Just a bit of a bruised ego, that was not a graceful landing.'

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

'Heh, I've heard the stories.' I pursed my lips in to a smile.

Duncan led me out of the utility room and through in to the living room where my Aunt and Arne were sat watching a film with the log fire roaring away. Constance and Darius were just leaving when we walked in.

'Ah Madelyn! It's nice to see you again are you okay? 'Constance asked. She was all made up tonight, I assumed she was off out somewhere with Darius who just smiled and waved hello.

'Nice to see you both again. I'm good thanks, are you off out tonight?'

'Yeah we're off to meet up with some friends then go clubbing. Hey why don't you come with?' Constance asked.

'I'll think I'll pass tonight guys, but thanks for the offer. I'm a bit tired after teleporting I'm still learning.'

'No problem. Maybe next time eh? See you later then.'

Constance smiled as she walked away with Darius in tow who gave me a quick squeeze on the shoulder and nodded at Duncan.

'Hey kiddo, I see you got here in one piece.' My Aunt said to me as I shuffled in to the living room.

'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.'

'I guess. Okay I'm gonna go put my comfies on, seeing as lounge-wear seems to be the dress code.' I grinned as I gestured to Duncan, Arne and my Aunt who were all in sweatpants, pyjamas and dressing gowns. I quickly ran upstairs to my room and got changed, hurling myself back down the stairs as fast as my slippers would allow me. Duncan had been and made my Aunt and I a big mug of tea that I graciously took as I sat down on the sofa next to him and made myself comfortable. This was nice, I could get used to this.