Homecoming

[Lily Walters]

Nothing in the world could kill Lily’s buzz right now. She could barely keep the mirth from her face as she slid her key into her apartment door, the lock clicked open as she stepped into her house. She silently slung the rucksack from her shoulder and put it besides the coat rack in the hall. She slipped the leather jacket that she was wearing to travel over the stand wondering who was home. She crept down the hallway; after all it was late she didn’t want to wake anybody up who was sleeping.

She passed several doors before reaching her own, she opened it up to see it as clean as in normally was, there was nothing out of the ordinary, an assortment of clothes lay on the floor, the curtains were drawn shut and her phone had dozens of missed calls. No doubt from her worrying mother. She scanned through the messages watching as the curiosity turned to panic which in turn became hysteria then it turned into threats of dragging her home if she continued to be so insolent. The words hurt Lily but not enough to kill her mood, she was happy her mother believed that she was just not replying that that she was single handily leading a revolution against a tyrannical demon.

She removed her boots and jeans swapping them for something altogether more comfortable, grey track pants. She changed her black shirt into an oversized t shirt, wrapping her hair into a bun; she caught a glance of herself in the mirror smiling. Twenty-four hours ago she led a revolution. Somehow she believed the people she led wouldn’t have shown her as much support if she arrived in her jimmies.

She walked down the hallway to the living room, the door creaked loudly as it opened she smiled the plain white walls were plastered with posters, local bands, club nights, pictures of nights out. Lily was absent from many of them, not because she wasn’t social. More the fact she was globe trotting extinguishing evil in glamorous locals. It was then that she saw it, something she believed to be a thing of the past. Her heart sunk, there were dishes, and almost every glass had been dirtied not to mention the mound of plates. Her heart sunk as she threw herself down onto the sofa in despair. James Bond didn’t have to deal with this; Jack Bauer never had to do the dishes after a hard day’s night. She closed her eye still sprawled on the sofa; this day was going downhill quickly.

[BLAIRE ELIZABETH BENNETE]

It had been a long day of school work. And when she got home the work seemed to move with her. She had countless papers to do as well as some studying for other classes. Unlike most of the girls in her apartment she had chosen to take several more courses, even though the summer had started basically. She knew it was somewhat stupid. But it helped her to learn new things. Plus she always seemed to be on top of things. So a couple more courses couldn’t really do much more harm besides help her graduate early. It was seemingly perfect. Of course she also had her job as a waitress at the college’s local bar. She didn’t necessarily like working there. The uniform was somewhat tacky, but the pay was good and surprisingly they had benefits. So to add it all together her schedule was rather full. She was surprised to ever get a chance to go out with the other girls. But she didn’t mind. As long as she had a good book to settle down with she would be okay.

The night had gone rather smoothly though. She had done her homework, finished her essays which weren’t actually due for another week or so, and had even had time to go out and get a quick bit to eat for dinner. Thing is when she came home the house, well let’s just say her roommates weren’t the cleanliest of people. How her roomies often left the main area of their apartment was rather atrocious. This time she had walked in, there were plates everywhere, blankets thrown on the ground, throw pillows scattered throughout the room, and a couple other things. Well it looked like it was her turn to clean up the mess… again.

So she got to work. And within an hour or so the living room was spick and span. She had cleared the dishes to the sink. And now she was going to go put her own things away in her room. By the time she put her jacket up and away and her backpack next to her desk she found herself looking into a mirror. She was wearing a plain black knee length skirt, a button up shirt, and a black and white striped tie. Her hair was somewhat curly and was down as usual. Her eyes looked tired, and she honestly could use some sleep. But it was the same old her. Nothing new. Nothing changed. Her thoughts were being cluttered. That is until suddenly she heard the bang of a door. She wondered if her roomies were back. Slowly moving to her door she opened it slowly and peaked out. No one there. Maybe it was nothing, and so she quietly stepped out of her room and headed back over to the kitchen remembering she needed to clean those pesky dishes.

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[Lily Walters]

Lily jumped as the door swung open, she leapt from behind to sofa to her feet ready to kick whatever had entered in the head. Luckily before she had even started attacking she caught sight of Blaire. Her closest friend since moving to London. She lounged at the girl locking her arms around her shoulders forgetting she was far stronger than the average girl she tightly squeezed her roommate. “You’re awake! And I’m alive!” she squealed in excitement forgetting about the dishes in the sink. Normally upon returning from a mission she was exhausted, grumpy or depressed yet tonight she was elated. Probably the mix of the victory as well as her summer off from Secret Agent Slayer duties.

She released her grip on Blaire and took a step back, her skin was more sun kissed than usual “You won’t believe what kind of week I’ve had.” she said followed by a sigh, “There were goblin things, evil kings and a gorgeous rebel who brought down an evil regime.” she spoke dramatically like the guy in movie trailers, “Unfortunately the gorgeous rebel was me and there wasn’t a single attractive straight human male in that country.” she said with a shrug of the shoulders, “at least I get to scratch it off of my map now so I know never to return.” she was clearly excited and she hadn’t even got to the best part yet. She caught her breath before beginning to talk again.

“So tell me what’s happened this week? Anything exciting? It looks like without my dishes dictatorship we’ve gone back to the old regime of wash a plate if you need it?” She asked half joking. She could smell cleaning products in the air, it was coming from her Blaire’s hands, “Did you do all of the cleaning?” she asked accusingly, “They’ll never learn if you keep giving in.”

[BLAIRE ELIZABETH BENNETE]

Blaire hadn’t noticed the figure laying on the couch. And with her back turned towards the sink she was unprepared for what was about to happen. Suddenly a pair of arms reached out of the darkness that was her living room grasped onto Blaire from behind. Pulling at her. Drawing her back. They were extremely strong, and the squeeze felt like it was going to rip her in half. She tried to scream to plead for mercy. Her lungs slightly crushed. But still she managed a rather soft scream if any. She would hope someone would hear, but then she saw the face of her attacker… it was Lily. Tears almost in her eyes. Honestly this girl needed to learn how to be more gentle. ”LILY! What the hell? Honestly I thought you were something that wanted to eat me…” she let the air fill her lungs as her roommate let her down and began to speak in a hurried manner. She was excited. Honestly Blaire had been worried sick about her roommate no note. Not a single word, just an I’ll be back when I’m back. And as she listened to her roommate babble on and on something inside of her seemed to click.

Waiting for her roommate to finish her speech she gave a half smile and a sigh of relief. This girl was going to be the death of her or the things she fought would be. Honestly every night Lily went out was another night she worried. There was no way to find out if she was alright, she never took her cell phone with her. And it was terrifying ”… Lily… I should smack you right now… You ran off, and didn’t even leave a note? REALLY? And you didn’t even take your cell phone either? Well at least you aren’t so pale anymore…” She gave a soft smile. Blaire wasn’t the type of girl to pick fights, and she wouldn’t want to start anything over something little like hoping to the next country over and killing some things.

”wait… did you kill a king? Please tell me this won’t start some sort of international war, I can’t take any more stress. And as for what’s been going on around here, well same old same old. I’ve started up my summer classes so been busy with those, most nights I’m off at work and the girls sometimes stop by to say hi… so that’s been nice, but besides that I haven’t really seen anyone around as of late. I’ve mostly been kept up in my room, doing the cleaning when I can… and hey if I don’t do it we will be living in a dump in a matter of days!” another soft smile, Blaire was so happy Lily was home, she was really the closest thing to a friend she had. Blaire never really did have friends, but she always suspected it was something like this… minus the monster killing bff of course, and all the worry that came with that. But besides those minor details she had always thought it’d be something like this, and she was happy with that.

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[Lily Walters]

Lily laughed at Blaire’s wheezes she always assumed that Blaire was over reacting to her tight hugs, “Do we have to go over this every time?” she told her roommate, “Nothing will eat you. You need to invite vampires into your house and you’re too smart for that, secondly we use enough garlic in the kitchen that no creature would ever take the risk of coming in here. “ she added with a light smile, the situation was far more extreme than anybody was willing to admit but all the roommates chose to stay with the Slayer through thick and thin.

She knew that everybody was worried about her, her twenty something calls from her mother, the urgent IMs from her little brother and the look of relief on Blaire’s face when she saw Lily was ok. She knew she had people who truly cared about her, which was nice. “We’ve been over this you know I can’t tell you anything. The council don’t even let me know before I get on a plane, just that I’m needed and that its slayer stuff.” She tried to explain it but nobody ever really understood, she didn’t fully understand all she knew was that she was required to do it, such is the life of a Slayer. “If you guys knew that would be vital information somebody could take from you, not that it’s going to be a problem for the next four months.” She said with a raised eyebrow before guffawing at her line of though.

“It obviously wasn’t the real king.” She said as if it was obvious, “the king had been kidnapped and kept in the old dungeon as the shape shifter took the throne, think of it like pollyjuice potion only it needed blood instead of hair to keep working, and obviously it’s a real thing.” She said rolling her eyes at her roommate. “Summer classes? The thought alone makes me feel sick.” She said with a groan, the council had recommended she take some but she wasn’t interested. “I thought you were going to try and relax this summer? Come sun bathing, eat ice cream and come dancing.” Lily loved dancing, however she hated night clubs and she hated idiots trying to dance with you however that was the price you paid for a night out in London. “Who am I going to spend all of my free non globetrotting Summer with now?” she asked fake pouting to her best friend.

[BLAIRE ELIZABETH BENNETE]

”Yes we do! After all there’s more out there than any vampire right? I mean how many times do we have to have some horned creature come busting through the window trying to tear up our living room. After all we really are running out of things to say to the school. I mean we can’t always say a kid threw a football through our window.” She couldn’t help but laugh at this now. She knew that the chances anything ever came to their dorm was incredibly small. Lily always took great caution. And whenever she was home, Blaire always seemed a little more at ease than usual. It was nice really.

“I know Lily I know… but you know I thought this time might be a little different.” she gave a shrug of the shoulders and quickly whipped the tears away from her face. She wouldn’t be sad, no she would cherish that her friend was still here. After all she remembered that the council of whatever’s did say she could have some time off. Or rather have the summer off. Blaire knew full well that that wouldn’t be true. She could feel that they would call her away for something or other. After all she was the slayer. The one and only from what Blaire new. And trust her Blaire knew a lot, after all she was amazing with computers and let’s just say she does some wicked research. She would probably know almost as much as Lily herself did or the watchers. She was a person of logic, and if that logic ever happened to disappear Blaire knew her life would suck so she had to roll with the punches.

but with the next set of information Blaire couldn’t help but crack up laughing slightly. Lilies stories of her adventures were like something out of children novels or some sort of fantastical movie. She liked the comparison to the polyjuice potion though. Even if she knew it was a crack at her looks. Many people had told Blaire before she resembled that actress who played Hermione, even her overall personality was like the witch on the big screen. But Blaire didn’t mind. It was after all just a little harmless fun. “You know I hate those potter movies. I am so not a witch.” She gave another small laugh before smiling once more, until she was questioned on her decision and she gave a slight nod of the head. “We’ve talked about this. You know my reasoning’s, I want to keep up, and learn as much as I can. It’s not like it’s that much work, it’s only four classes. And as for seeing me, you can just come visit me at the bar. I mean I may hate the outfit but with you there I won’t have creeps trying to look up that short skirt I have to wear. And besides you still have the other girls and your brother. I mean it’s not like I would be much fun Lil, all I do is read books.” She gave a small laugh, she hated to admit it but she was a rather bore some days. And honestly she herself wasn’t too sure why Lily ever chose her. “Besides you know the other girls can hold their liquor.” Another smile and another laugh trying to ease the tension. “and I promise I will keep time for you, and we cannot globetrot together okay?”

[Lily Walters]

“How many times are you going to bring up the horned guy?” she asked exasperated “We dealt with him then the Watchers put some good juju on the doors and windows so we’re as safe as houses.” She neglected to mention the houses were due for demolition, “You know I’m always a scream away, It’s not like anything’s coming specifically to get you.” she said with a smile placing her hand onto her friends shoulder reassuring her.

She rolled her eyes at Blaire explaining that she thought it would be different , although they had only known each other for a few months she truly felt as if they were old friends. She knew Blaire pushed herself to the extreme, probably so she could brag to her birthparents about her accomplishments. Whatever it was it was important to her and she needed to support her, after all if she could deal with Lily vanishing for days at a time she could deal with some lonely afternoons. “Well if you promise it’s only four classes.”

She could see the doubt in Blaire’s eyes as she explained her situation she quickly explained “I’ll still be active here doing regular patrols and general vigilante justice but no missions, no planes just the wonderful city of London.” she smiled knowing it was probably too good to be true however she was going to run with it for now.

“I really think you could be a witch.” she cast a scholarly glare at her roommate, “How else would you know I would be visiting you at the bar?” she joked before searching through the fridge grabbing a bottle of coke that she remembered leaving in thee before she left, she was amazed it was still there as she cracked it open and took a slug “I forgot how good this was.” she realised she was barely gone for a week yet she spoke as if she had been gone for months the thought “When I was over there all they had was Pepsi, not a single drop of Coke.” she said taking another sip turning to the pile of dishes. “How about we double team the dishes so we can actually get a good night’s sleep.” she asked her roommate reaching for the scrubbing brush.

[BLAIRE ELIZABETH BENNETE]

She couldn’t help but laugh at the whole scream away thing. “Yea well what if there’s someone like you whose super strong and crush my lungs so I can’t scream for you huh? What am I gonna do then text you, or maybe a picture mail of me and the dude choking me?” she couldn’t help but laugh more. She knew what she talked about could really be a serious problem but in the context it was just silly. After all it’s not like someone was gonna choke her just to make sure the slayer wouldn’t come. After all most times when she was attacked it was to draw the slayer in.

“And yes it’s only four classes, there all in the morning and well I get done by one. So we will have plenty of time to ‘hang, and chill.’” She gave another laugh and a smile. She really did love Lily; she was too kind some days. And often enough Blaire thought she was too good for her. Honestly who could ask for a better friend who could protect you and kick the ass of anyone who messes with you?

“As for you patrolling, well maybe I’ll just have to come with you one night. Maybe I’ll bring you dinner? It could be fun.” She shrugged lightly. She honestly didn’t feel like watching the death and killing and blood, but well if it meant she could have some extra time with her best friend she wouldn’t mind having to go and watch someone be staked, after all she wanted to support her best friend.

“Oh please me a witch? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of. Lily could you honestly ever see me as a witch? And as for the bar, well it is the only one for a few miles, and I know how you love your rum and coke.” She gave another silly laugh as she finished her sentence. The girl was definitely a coke hound, and Blaire had promised herself never to tell Lily how she actually likes pepsi better. But hey what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her. “As for the dishes… well… maybe I clean, and dry, and um you can put them away… you know how I am with these things.” Blaire blushed a light pink, she would never admit it to many people but Blaire new full well she probably had OCD and she just had to do some things her way… especially dishes, god knows why though.

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[Caleb James]

Caleb James was deep undercover at the local collage, he and his father, the leader of Magi's Fist knew of the prophecy and better than that the coven's seer had foreseen her coming back to London, the first step in her coming back to fulfill her destiny. She was the double edged sword that the coven wanted and feared. She was the one that could finally do away with the Luna's Circle or the Magi's fist and the thing that even gave them more strength to gain her on their side was Caleb, her half brother and one of the smartest, most clever and powerful witches in the world. He was determined to get her to save himself, his family and friends.

He had manipulated his way into living in the same building and even the same living space as his half sister, he was going to get her on his side and gain the trust of the scoobies, the slayer did not scare him, no one really scared him, if the magical community knew his face they would fear him, he was good at being the invisible assassin for the Magi's Fist. His reputation preceded him though. Although he did not fear the slayer, she could be quite an annoyance for him.

He was living in the building and had been up late doing a little bit of homework, he was keeping up his appearances of being a student after all. He had a paper that was due, although he was not actually writing it, he had enchanted the pen to write down everything that he said. He all of a sudden heard a noise coming from the other room. He snapped his fingers and the pen dropped to the desk. He was dressed just in some pajama bottoms and he opened the door to his room and stepped into the main room where he could see Blaire, he was going to groom that girl into being perfect to present to his father, and the slayer, he was working on her two but not as strongly, his first goal was Blaire, she was the one that held the fate in her hands of the only two covens in the world that practice and can tap into the old magic. The slayer though was not to be passed up, not that he would gain anything at the moment if he killed her so that was not on his to do list.

He smiled at them, Hello ladies, what are you doing up so late. He had heard her statement about not being a witch and he chuckled inward at himself. He planned to fix her thinking on this one, he could tell that he was going to have his hands full but he could do it. He was Caleb James, the future leader of the Magi's Fist and one of the most powerful witches in the world, he could do it if anyone could.

[Lily Walters]

Lily raised an eyebrow, she knew Blaire had a certain way with her cleaning habits Lily had no proof but she was sure Claire often cleaned Lily’s own dishes after she had dealt with them to her own standard. Lilly shrugged her shoulders and nodded, “Yeah sure. The less work the better.” She smiled as she reached for the iPod dock pressing play on a song, the song was a pretty slow jazz tune that she had always loved. She didn’t know where her love of Jazz music came from but she found it magical, the most laborious of tasks could be completed with ease with a nice jazz track.

She happily stacked dishes into the cupboards clanging them loudly as she did so, she wasn’t reckless so much as unaware of her own strength. You wouldn’t think it but she had progressed astonishingly from when her powers had first developed, she could smash a plate by merely holding it too tightly. Nowadays she rarely smashed plates, only skulls.

Lily whipped her neck around to see Caleb enter the room. She smiled her eyes glanced at his bare torso for a second longer than they should have. She initiatively bit her lower lip a little before spluttering out, “Hey stranger.” she said as she walked up to him and locked her arms around him, whether he wanted it or not. Her roommates had come to the realisation that Lily was a very tactile person whether they liked it or not. Caleb was the only of her roommates who never squirmed when she hugged him. ”We didn’t wake you up did we?” she said returning to her mission of tidying away the clean dishes, with a cacophony of clashing ceramic plates.

[BLAIRE ELIZABETH BENNETE]

The routine was simple. The task well done. Blaire washed and washed the dishes. She made sure not a scrap of food was still left on them. And once fully satisfied she began to hand them over to lily one plate at a time. It was rather relaxing really. It seemed to calm her rather skittish nerves. Allowing for the young girl to relax and for some unknown reason enjoy her night. It seemed cleaning these dishes helped the young woman in some way. After all Blaire needed this. Not just the dish washing though. It was the peace and quiet with Lily she really needed. It was just being with her best friend which was important to her. It seemed to help her see she really wasn’t alone in this world. After all her parents were back in the states, and well they often wouldn’t stay too long to chat with her whenever they were home. The only real reason they ever would speak to her was over her grades, and school options, and how much she had accomplished. That was always why Blaire would try so hard, it was the reason she would commit to something and not let go until she succeeded in full. Due to this though it seemed to cause a ripple effect on the rest of her personality. Soon it was not just school she needed to do fully and well in, soon she picked up cleaning, organizing, and so on and so forth. This small mission had soon formed itself in some form of OCD, and now Blaire was just happy someone was there with her, so she didn’t have to feel like a freak 24/7.

Blaire had been so concentrated on her cleaning though that she lacked the attention here her other roommate walk in. the sound of his voice though broke the jazz filled silence. Causing Blaire to jump a bit before turning back around to see it was Caleb. My lord that boy was sneaky. He often would appear out of nowhere. He was kind though, and always seemed to help her out whenever she needed it, he kept her company some nights, and often she saw him as a true friend. He was someone she could rely on, and it just seemed natural of sorts. As if they just fit together like some odd family.

”Goodness, Caleb, why on earth do you always have to be so sneaky! You nearly scared the living day lights out of me.” Blaire gave a soft smile his way though, and was just happy another roomy was home. It hopefully would be the last scare of the night though. ”So Caleb, what where you doing tonight? I didn’t think anyone was home.”

[Caleb James]

He smiled at Lily as she walked over to him and threw her arms around him and gave him a hug, it was one of things, he just could not really fake it, he was a good actor but he had his breaking points. He just withstood her strength, it did not really help his case that he had strength to compete with hers but he assumed that she just thought he could handle it as he was one of the few male friends, the rest were girls and a bit more fragile and he was or she was.

He had also seen Blaire jump, the girl he was here for, his half sister, he glanced at her, he could see a little bit of his father in the girl. He wanted to blend into her life and start to teach the art, after all not a lot of witches had the gift for the old craft like he did. He did not want her to learn from Luna's Circle, he was going to groom her into his side.

They both asked what he was doing at home basically, he smiled at them. Sorry Blaire, did not mean too, I was just doing a bit of reading and writing, I did a bit of reading in spells books and tried out a few things. He was sure that he was not going to spill all his eggs and tell how powerful he is but he needed to open to door to teaching Blaire. After all he could not one day just be a regular human and the next teach her the ins and outs of magic, he needed to make it a baseline that he was a decent warlock at least.

[BLAIRE ELIZABETH BENNETE]

Blaire couldn’t help but be slightly shocked at what she was hearing. Had Caleb just announced that he was a witch? Wait could a guy be a witch. And better yet, how on earth did he learn, or how did he even find the material. Blaire’s head was a flurry with questions. She knew very little about her roommates, well besides Lilly. She knew so much about Lilly, but then again she only really ever hung out with that girl; But in a situation where your best friend was a slayer, why couldn’t the guy across the living room not be a witch? And so before she even said a word she slowly accepted this small fact. She just hoped Caleb wasn’t a bad witch.

Though the more she thought about it the more she questioned it. Was he really some sort of witch, or like a wizard or something. Maybe that’s what they called male witches, wizards that is. Or maybe it was like a warlock or something. Who really would know. Well now that the question had risen, Blaire definitely was making a mental note to figure it out later on, she would have to do some research on that one. After all Blaire hated to be out of the loop of anything.

“Wait, Caleb when on earth did you start reading spell books… I mean where would you even find something like that, it’s not like you can just go to the library or something… If you could though honestly I might be frightened at the thought of all of our peers being able to cast spells at the drop of a hat. That would be one frightening world.” With her last thoughts she gave a shudder before putting down the last dish and slowly walking over to sit on the nearest couch to her two friends. Blaire definitely thought she should sit down before anything else dramatic happened. After all Lilly couldn’t drag her back to her bed every time she fainted now could she? “So Caleb what was it that you were reading? I mean spell wise, was it some sort of love spell or like a curse or something? Or was it just a bit of light reading?”