Part One

How in the blue Hell did he get himself into these messes? First the whole thing with Kane, then the Hardy brothers and the werewolf incident, now this.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU COULDN'T FIND THE PAMPRIN?"

Where were the Fire Demons and Lycanthrope when he needed them?

Alex held out the small sack of things he'd bought from the mini-mart across the street, waving it like a peace offering. "I got you Midol and chocolate doughnuts."

"You trying to make me fat?"

"Ashley, please don't make me stab you, I'll do it." He cautioned.

Ashley snatched the sack from him, slamming the motel room door in his face.

Alexander groaned, raking a hand through his hair. "God… I'd take Kane back any day over this shit."

**********

Matt and Jeff were playing King's Corners when Alexander walked in, working their way through a box of chicken wings, several empty 2 liter bottle of Mountain Dew scattered about.

"You two are pigs." Alex muttered, wondering how he'd gotten lucky enough to be stuck sharing a room with dumb and dumber.

Then the shriek from the room next door reminded him.

"How much longer until she's… sane?" Jeff asked, looking at the wall apprehensively.

"Oh… another three to four days." Alexander sighed, lighting up a cigarette.

They'd had to stop traveling just so Alex wouldn't be stuck alone in the corvette with Ashley.

He point blank refused to ride with the raging, ragging woman any longer.

It didn't help that Matt and Jeff refused to take her along with them in their jeep.

So now they were shacked up at a motel, Ashley in her own room (thank god) and the three men sharing one, cutting back on expenses.

"You know… my cousin don't live that far from here." Alex murmured thoughtfully. "If we could keep the queen of mean in a decent mood, we could go out there and stay."

"Queen of mean?" Matt echoed, arching an eyebrow.

"I HEARD THAT!"

"Oh…"

*********

"Your cousin lives HERE?" Ashley removed her black sunglasses, no longer needing them due to the abnormal amount of willow trees in Alex's cousin's front yard.

"Yep." He nodded, stepping out of the corvette, looking behind him to find Matt and Jeff getting out of their jeep.

Standing before them was a three story house, painted purple and turquoise with a slanted roof, chimneys and oval windows everywhere.

"This place is awesome." Jeff whistled, his green eyes locked on the front porch, taking in the twining black roses that covered the porch columns.

"Anyone home?" Alex called out, leading the way up the mosaic path to the porch steps. "Hey! You in there?"

"I'm coming damn it! SHIT!"

Matt jumped when a loud bang came from the house, echoing around them, followed by pink smoke pouring out the open windows. "What the hell?"

Alex was wondering that himself.

A woman stumbled out the screen door, coughing and waving her hand in front of her face. "Fuck me… too much dragon's blood." She gasped, bracing herself against a column.

"That's YOUR cousin?" Ashley stared at the woman in disbelief, doubting these two could be related. This woman didn't appear to be anything like Alex.

"Ember, what the hell are you up too now?" Alex demanded, walking up the steps to pat her back.

"I was making incense." She muttered, wiping tears out of her eyes before straightening up, surveying him. "Hey Alex." She smiled, wrapping him in a hug. "I'm so sorry about Alexa." She murmured.

Alex swallowed hard. If it'd been anyone but Ember mentioning his sister, he probably would have cococked them. As it was, he just nodded, clearing his throat and stepping away from her. "I brought you some house guests."

"I see that." Ember studied the three assembled before her.

"The one with fucked up hair is Jeff, the other is his brother Matt and that little spitfire is Ashley."

Ashley flipped Alex off, smiling at Ember, walking up to shake her hand. "I'm glad to see someone who's normal." She said, sounding relieved.

"Normal?" Ember echoed, hazel eyes widening. "Honey, you are in the WRONG house."

"Ember is Pagan." Alex explained, not surprised when Jeff's green eyes lit up. "And a witch."

"Aren't they the same thing?" Matt asked curiously, shooting his brother a 'calm down' look.

Ember laughed, shaking her head. "No, they're not. You can be one or the other without being both. "Let's see…" She looked at Ashley first. "You're on your cycle."

"How'd you know that?"

Ember's eyes twinkled amusedly. "You have a pack of Kit Kats in your shirt pocket, wearing loose pants and keep looking at Alexander like you'd slit his throat in a heartbeat."

"Cute." Ashley muttered, pulling out the Kit Kats and ripping open the package. "Fucking great."

"She's normally a bright little ray of sunshine." Alex said sarcastically.

"I'm sure she is." Ember walked down the steps, halting to stop in front of Matt, frowning slightly. "What the hell…" She grabbed his head and pulled him down so they were face to face. "Alex, may I ask you something?"

"I'm sure you're going to no matter what I say."

"Why are his eyes surrounded by a yellow ring?"

Matt frowned, jerking his head away.

"You tell me Ember." Alex said, watching Matt amusedly.

Matt shot Alex a look.

"Hmm." Ember got a speculating look on her face. "Some kind of enchantment I'm guessing. What are you?"

"A werewolf." Matt muttered, waiting for her to shriek and back off.

"Nice, lucky for you, you have five days till the next full moon."

"How does that make me lucky?"

"Gives me time to set up something to keep you safe, I have gun-toting neighbors."

"What about me?" Jeff demanded eagerly, bouncing up and down on his feet.

"You need to learn not to use so much energy in your spells." Ember said bluntly, giving him a once over before heading into the house. "Bring your bags."

"How'd she know all that?" Ashley asked in a whisper as she followed Alexander into the house, frowning when she was decked in the face by the beads that served as a door.

"Probably because she was scrying." Alex replied off-handedly, making a face as he stepped into the kitchen. "Christ woman, you over did it on the incense don't you think?"

"Just a tad." Ember frowned, peering down at the table, taking in her mess. "I can mix oils fine, when it comes to making this shit-" She gestured. "I can't seem to get it right."

"Stick with store bought."

"Blow me."

**********

"How'd you come by all of them?" Ember asked softly, busy making dinner later that night while Alex sat at the kitchen table, smoking a cigarette.

"Ashley I met in a bar, killed a Demon who was harassing her. Matt and Jeff just kinda strayed onto my path."

"Hmm." She eyed him shrewdly, tossing him a head of lettuce.

Alex stared at it for a minute before pulling out on of his own knives, beginning to chop it viciously. "Now I don't know how to get rid of them. I promised to help Matt with his

Lycanthrope problem and Ashley… she'd be dead without me."

"Where's your path leading to cousin?"

"The Undertaker."

Ember pursed her lips, staring at him intently. "You realize he probably knows you're coming don't you?"

"So much for the element of surprise."

**********

"Hey… Emmy, wait up!"

Ember halted, turning around to find Jeff chasing her, raising a hand to shade her eyes. "Did you just call me Emmy?"

Jeff skidded to a stop in front of her, nodding, reaching out to take the basket from her hand. "Yeah, whatcha doing?"

"Picking herbs." Ember replied, looking torn between being amused and annoyed.

"Can I help?"

Ember looked down into the basket, then at the plants around her. "Um, I guess."

**********

"What is your cousin and Jeff doing?" Matt asked three days later, arms folded over his chest as he watched the two working.

"My guess would be casting." Alex replied, taking a long drag off of his cigarette.

Ashley, who was back to normal, arched an eyebrow, watching from her place on the porch steps. "Casting what?"

"Did you two forget what tonight is?"

"Full moon." Matt said softly, not believing how fast the month had gone by.

Alexander sighed, flicking away his cig and dropped down to sit on the edge of the porch, planting his feet on the ground. In the month since he and Ashley had met the brothers, they'd been on a wild goose chase looking for the werewolf that had bitten Matt.

You'd figure, how hard would it be to track down a slobbering, mad beast? People were bound to notice SOMETHING right?

Wrong.

Nothing. Zilch. Nada.

Alex hadn't even heard anything on the Undertaker front, even though he had kept his ear to the ground. In fact, since picking up Matt and Jeff, the whole world of the supernatural pretty much died off. Though he blamed that on them, not many creatures were loathe to mess around with BOTH a Lycanthrope and a Warlock.

However incompetent they might be.

**********

Jeff groaned, his arms shaking and finally let them drop, wincing when the green light that had been surrounding him and Ember vanished.

Ember plopped down on the grass, the long willow tree branches keeping the sun off her already hotter then Hades frame and glared at him. "How in the Hell did you manage to put up a warding spell?" She demanded.

"I don't know." Jeff admitted, dropping down next to her, plucking grass idly. "I was panicking and it sort of happened."

She groaned, burying her face in her hands.

"What?"

"Jeff, we've been practicing this spell for the past three days and we STILL can't get it right. You realize we have until sunset to do this right?"

Jeff nodded, looking troubled. "I know Emmy." He sighed, tossing the grass he'd plucked and raking his hands through his hair. "Why don't we just do another warding spell?"

"Because technically, warding spells are supposed to keep things OUT. We'd want some sort of binding spells and I don't know anything big enough for a werewolf. How you managed to not blow yourself up when you cast that spell is beyond me." Ember said, studying him thoughtfully.

"I was in bed for a week." He admitted sheepishly. "It took a lot of energy from me."

"I'm surprised it didn't kill you."

"I thought magic required personal energy though?"

Ember looked at him, cocking her head to the side. "It does, but not as much as you put out. You're overdoing it Jeff."

"I kinda figured that Emmy. So what do we do now?"

"Hmm… c'mon."