A/N: Morning! I'm back with another new ficlet! I don't seem to have much time to write anymore, but a plot bunny bit me on the leg and refused to let go. Damn annoying things, plot bunnies. Just when you're not looking they sneak up on you and bite you.
I apologise for the blatant self-insertion but this particular plot bunny was rather persuasive. Still, it's nothing new these days, and if I seem a little Mary-Sue-ish, shoot me. It certainly wasn't my intention. Rating for future events and language.
Disclaimer: I own myself, my cat and my friends (although they might disagree). Everything else is the property of the marvellous JK Rowling that I have hijacked for the purpose of entertainment. No money is being made from this venture - if there was I wouldn't be working as a civil servant. Inspiration for the Wotan storyline shamelessly nicked from David Gemmell's Last Sword of Power.
I sighed heavily as I got into my car at the end of another long day at work. I put my bag on the back seat and eased myself into the driver's seat, lit a cigarette and glared at the rain streaming down the windows before I started the engine.
"Happy birthday to me," I muttered as I flicked the windscreen wipers on, put the car into gear and drove off.
I really hadn't enjoyed my twenty-third birthday. For one thing, I was at work, forced to deal with bloody taxpayers and their annoying little whinges. For another, it was my second birthday without my mum. We'd shared a birthday and since she'd died celebrating the day seemed hollow somehow, like there was something vital missing that I had yet to get used to. And for another I was getting old. Twenty-three sounded so much older than twenty-two. Another year closer to thirty. Another year of being single; not that I hadn't tried to get my workmate James to notice me but he was being stubborn.
When I was halfway home a lightning bolt flashed followed closely by a crash of thunder that made me jump and set off the car alarms at the side of the road. The rain came crashing down even faster, flooding the road in seconds, far too much for my windscreen wipers to cope with. I slowed right down, barely able to see the headlights of the car in front of me, and said a prayer every time I came to a roundabout or turned a corner.
I arrived home without much drama, grabbed my bag, locked the car and dashed inside. As I opened the door I felt something brush past my legs and smiled down at my cat Psycho, a tortoiseshell and white, mental little thing. I picked her up and she yowled in protest.
"You don't want to go outside, Psych, its nasty weather," I murmured, kissing her head. Thunder rolled as if to prove my point and Psycho twisted out of my grip and jumped onto the radiator.
"Anybody home?" I called and was greeted by silence. For the first time since James and Tom had staged a version of Romeo and Juliet with blueberry muffins at morning break, I smiled. I loved my best friends and flatmates, Kitten and Kels, but I was just craving some peace and quiet. I put the kettle on, picked up my book on Nostradamus prophecies, dragged a brush through my chin-length black and red hair and settled down on the sofa.
My peaceful reverie was shattered half an hour later as Kit and Kels arrived home from college, laughing and joking excitedly.
"Happy birthday!" they yelled as they burst in the door and jumped on me, hugging me to death.
"Let me breathe, you lunatics," I laughed, setting my book down with a sigh.
"We bring presents," said Kels, shoving a package into my hand.
"Oo presents!" I ripped open the packaging eagerly and gasped as I unearthed a pistol crossbow. "Thanks, Kelby!"
"Well you've been hinting since February," she laughed.
"Shame I can't go outside to practise," I sighed, looking out of the window at the weather.
"Open mine," ordered Kit, shoving her present into my hands. I set the crossbow down reluctantly and ripped open the packaging. Inside was a beautifully ornate dagger with a skull on the pommel, two dragons carved on the hilt and Celtic runes engraved on the blade.
"Awesome. You girls know me far too well," I grinned and hugged them both.
"What are we doing tonight?" asked Kels. I shrugged.
"Pub?" suggested Kit.
"Go on then," I conceded.
"We've ordered pizza for half past, we'll go afterwards," said Kit.
"Gives me plenty of time to get ready then." I grinned at the brunette, scooped up my gifts and headed to my room.
I set the dagger and the crossbow down on my bed and glared at myself in the full length mirror. No, this outfit simply wouldn't do, not if we were going to the pub. I discarded my clothes and pulled on a pair of flared leather pants, a red and black brocade corset top and hefty New Rock boots. I stuck the dagger into the top of my left boot and secreted the crossbow in its holster at my hip, and completed the outfit with my leather bomber jacket. I smiled at myself in the mirror, turned to the door and hesitated. Jewellery. I needed some jewellery. I always wore my Alchemy Gothic dragon necklace and the silver necklace I'd bought Mum for Mother's Day the year before she died, but I needed a ring. I picked up the little velvet-lined mahogany box that had belonged to my mother and carried it out to the lounge.
Kit was leafing through my Nostradamus book with a thoughtful expression and Kels was watching Psycho, who was attacking the wrapping paper with a vengeance that demonstrated just why she was named Psycho.
"You're wearing your weapons to the pub?" asked Kit without looking up.
"Of course. At least now I can discard the flick knife." I pulled it out of my bag and handed it to Kels. "Anyway, I know you'll have your stake hidden about your person and probably a dagger in your boot as well."
"Just asking," she shrugged. I sat down in the middle of the two girls and stretched out on them, laying my head on Kit's shoulder and my legs across Kels' lap. Psycho abandoned her game with the wrapping paper and jumped up onto my stomach, kneading it to a pulp before lying down and purring like a motorcycle. I scratched her absently behind the ears as I opened the jewellery box.
"What ya looking for?" asked Kit, abandoning her book as I sighed.
"A ring, I don't know. Nothing in here is inspiring me." I set the box down on the floor and removed the top layer. "Oh, hang on! I've not noticed this one before…" I'd spotted a silver ring shaped like a serpent with an emerald stone in the serpent's mouth. It was gorgeous. "Mum never mentioned anything about a snake ring."
"Probably because she knew you'd pinch it?" suggested Kit.
"Maybe," I snorted, reached out and picked up the ring.
A white light surrounded us all and I shrieked as I felt a tugging sensation behind my navel. A high wind whipped up, causing my eyes to stream, and the world whirled around me in a blur of colours. I could still feel the presence of the other two and Psycho almost drew blood as she yowled and sank her claws deeper into my stomach. I yelled in pain, and then again a second later when I hit the ground with a thump.
I got to my feet, my heart hammering wildly in my chest. We were just inside some large, ornate, imposing-looking gates flanked by winged boars. There was a castle in the distance and beyond that a dark, forbidding looking forest. A large lake shimmered in the grounds, surrounded by willow trees. And it was still pissing it down with rain.
"Where are we?" asked Kels.
"Sodomy non sapiens," I muttered under my breath.
"Eh?"
"Means I'm buggered if I know."
"How the hell did we get here?" demanded Kit, scanning the grounds for any sign of danger. I ignored her, and stared at the ring. It looked just like a normal ring, and yet I couldn't suppress a shiver as I gazed at it. Ignoring my feelings of foreboding I slipped it onto the third finger of my right hand.
"Where to?" asked Kels.
"I vote for the castle," I said, drawing my jacket closer around me and shivering as rain poured down the back of my neck.
"It could be dangerous," said Kit warningly, her hand automatically going to the small of her back where her stake was hidden. Psycho yowled and set off for the castle at a run.
"Psych! Psych! Bad kitty!" I yelled, running after her.
"Follow the cat then," conceded Kit and we made our way, through howling wind and pouring rain, to the castle which seemed to beckon to us in the gloom.