Betwixt and Between

By Blaklite

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Chapter Four: Taking Care of Business

Mr. and Mrs. Sanders didn't even look up at the sound of the front door closing to acknowledge the return of their only child. It had been a common occurrence in Florida for Jesse to not return home after she said she was going out with friends for the night. And she almost always came back home hung over in the afternoon the next day, irritable and in pain. By the way she plopped down into her regular spot at the kitchen table, and used her fork to push peas around the plate instead of taking a bite of the delicious pork chop (Mr. Sanders's favourite after medium-rare steak), both parents naturally assumed that it had been a wild night.

Jesse, of course, was not hung over, though she definitely looked like she was. Her body was still a little pale and unsteady from so much blood loss, and the rest of it she was able to fake. She'd been hung over enough times to know how she should act.

Of course, she couldn't just tell her parents that she had been attacked by a vampire, almost died, was saved by a magician, and had become his apprentice all within less than twenty-four hours. They wouldn't believe her (Hell, she barely believed it herself), and in a worse case scenario they would probably ship her off to the nearest loony bin. No, she had to put on an act for them, a convincing lie to keep her secret safe. It probably would have bothered her had she been someone else's kid, but she had lied to her parents enough times that it simply didn't trouble her anymore.

Before she had left Matthew's apartment for the bus station, she had called home on her cellphone and told them that she had stayed over at Beth's for the night, and that she had forgotten to call and let them know because they had been having a lot of "fun". Her parents knew that that was Jesse lingo for she got really, really drunk at a party, and had passed out on someone's couch. They had known this would inevitably happen before she had even left the house the night before. It was really all too easy.

But, being parents, they still had to ask about it.

"So, how was your night, dear? Have lots of fun with Beth and the girls?" her mother asked as she sprinkled her mashed potatoes with pepper.

"Yeah, it was good," Jesse mumbled, not once looking up from her plate.

Awkward silence.

"Beth called last night looking for you," Mr. Sanders stated plainly. He was clearly demanding an answer to this issue.

Oh crap, Beth…, Jesse thought. She'd forgotten to let her friends know she was alright. "Oh, well, the bus was late, and I got a little lost on the subway. Got off at the wrong stop, couldn't figure out where I was. Had to call Beth on my cell and tell her to come pick me up. She musta called before that," she lied, hopefully convincingly.

By the way her parents nodded slightly, she assumed it had worked. "She had called rather early," Mrs. Sanders confessed.

"Yeah, she can be kinda…impatient." At least Jesse wasn't lying on that one. Another awkward silence descended upon them after that. Deciding it was as good a time as ever to ask, Jesse sprung her question on her parents. "Beth and the girls wanted to take me out tomorrow to see the town, and I was thinking of going."

"Of course, dear," agreed Mrs. Sanders with a genuine smile. She was generally the easier one to persuade. "I'll give you some money so you can buy lunch while you're out. Oh Honey, I'm so glad to see you've been able to make new friends so soon. We know it's been hard for you, adjusting to a new city. But remember, you can always go back in the summer and stay with Emily or Jasmine. Who knows, your dad and I might even be able to send you to college in Florida."

Jesse wasn't quite sure how to react to that. She missed Florida dearly, after all it was where her life started, and where she'd lived until a month ago. Everything was there, her friends, her family, her memories, her dreams. When her parents had told her the news, she had been devastated. Her and her friends packed in years of time together in only a few short months. She wasn't going to lie; she had cried the first day they had moved into Toronto.

But now she was starting to get comfortable in her new home. Despite the cold and the snow, she really couldn't complain that her life had changed too much. She still went to school, partied, and didn't have a job. Well, she did kind of have a job now, she supposed. She was a magician's apprentice, Matthew's apprentice.

It was just then that she realised exactly what she'd signed up for. Images went through her mind of casting elaborate spells, and fighting evil beings like werewolves and witches. She knew the world's biggest secret now; she would always be living in its shadow, always knowing what was out there, feeling obligated to do something about it. Her life would never be the same again.

"Jesse, dear? You alright?" her mother called to her from the real world.

Shaking off her thoughts, Jesse answered, " Yeah…yeah, I'm fine, just not feeling good. I'm…I'm just going to be resting in my room."

"Why is it that every time I try to do something good, something shitty happens?"

Alfred took a drag from his colourless cigarette. "Because you're bad at being a hero."

"And you're just the perfect example I need to learn from, aren't you, Al?" Matthew joked, though his frustration showed through a little.

"Hey, I used to fly down and save the girls all the time. Swept them right off their feet," Alfred defended.

"By 'all the time' you mean every Wednesday and Saturday night at 1am, and by 'sweep them off their feet' you mean lift them off the ground so you could get a better angle."

"Camilla had nice legs…" Alfred lamented. He'd never be able to see her again (then again, he'd only seen her twice in his lifetime).

A moment of silence passed during which Matthew wondered what he was going to do. Alfred didn't have to wonder. He knew what he would have done; he would have left that girl to die. Then there would have been no situation. But his brother liked taking the high road, which only brought him trouble.

Then again, Alfred was the one who was dead.

"Look…" Alfred sheepishly tried to soothe his brother's worries. "You can't change what happened, sooo you're just gonna have to live with having a sidekick. You'll see, it'll be even better than having a pet, because you won't have to clothe and feed her, or pay for her half of the rent."

Taking another drag on his cigarette, Alfred was very good at not noticing the clear WTF? painted across his sibling's face. "I…I think you're missing the point, Al."

"Well being a magician can't be that bad, right? I mean, you're still intact. Unless your right arm is, like, bionic or something, 'cause that would just be freakin cool."

Realising his stress levels were only getting higher, Matthew sighed and rubbed at his temples, trying to will away the encroaching headache. It happened to everyone who was exposed to Alfred for too long. "No, Alfred, I don't have a robotic arm. Or leg, before you ask. Being a magician isn't too difficult, but becoming a magician is downright deadly. Most don't even survive their first spell, let alone their first summoning."

Patting the still living brother on the knee, Alfred didn't bother looking up as he spoke his next words. "Just think of it this way: if she does die, then you won't have to worry about her anymore."

"Until she springs up as a vampire, and spends the rest of her undead existence hunting me down for revenge."

"Pffft, vampires schmampires. You've faced worse."

"None of them were angry women I accidentally let die."

"Hmmmm, true…women," Alfred scoffed, flicking the butt across the alley.

Matthew glared at the shorter-haired blond. "Al, don't be sexist."

"Hey," the condemned one defended, raising his hands towards the blank grey sky in a 'don't blame me' gesture. "If they only got in the kitchen and made me my damn sandwich, then I wouldn't need to be sexist, 'cause they'd already be doing their job."

"That's it, I'm leaving. Times up anyways," Matthew stated, rising from the ground as the unidentifiable figures returned. "Who taught you how to be such an ass?"

"Learned from the master," Alfred joked, taking a half-hearted swing at his brother's ankles from where he remained seated. He was not successful in that endeavour; however he did manage to get the other to smile even a fraction.

Wordlessly, Matthew turned and began making his way towards his exit. Before he could leave the alleyway, Alfred couldn't help but tease him some more, calling out, "Bye, Matt." As expected, he received no answer. His brother had stopped saying good-bye to him sometime before the day he died. It wasn't because the other was trying to be tough, but because he was afraid that by saying good-bye he'd never see Alfred again. After all, the last time he said so on the phone, Alfred's corpse turned up three months later in the streets.

Everyone was entitled to their paranoia.

Jesse awoke to the angry tolling of her alarm clock at 7am the next morning. She wasn't quite sure why she was awake so early on a Sunday; even the sun was barely awake. Then she remembered that today was the day she started her wizard training. Or Magician training. Whatever, same thing pretty much. But Matthew seemed adamant about her using the term magician, so she might as well start getting used to it. So, today was the day she started her magician training.

Working on adrenaline and a good night's sleep, Jesse took advantage of her rare bout of early morning energy to get ready. By the time eight 'o' clock rolled around, she was prepared for the day ahead of her. Mentally patting herself on the back for her ability to mobilize quickly, Jesse said good-bye to her parents, pocketed the extra money her mom handed her, and headed out the door towards the bus stop.

It was still early by the time she got to Matthew's apartment. It was an older building that had been renovated to contain four apartment units. The front door was kept unlocked since there was no way to call individual tenets to the main entrance, so Jesse was able to just let herself in. Walking past the ground floor apartments, she climbed the stairs to the next level.

She was just about to knock on the right-hand door when the clicking of locks sounded, and the door opened, revealing a very surprised Matthew.

"Jesse? What are you doing here?"

"Uhh, w-well I'm here to start wizard training. I mean, magician training, Mr. Williams, sir."

"This early on a Sunday? Crisse, I thought kids your age were supposed to sleep in and be lazy on weekends, not want to do extra work," Matthew grumbled, using his left hand to rub his temple. "And it's Matthew, just Matthew."

Nodding in understanding, Jesse simply stood there, too nervous to speak. Okay, maybe it was a bit of a bad idea to just show up randomly on other people's doorsteps at insane hours in the morning. She just wanted to try magic so badly, try something new, and prove she could be a good apprentice. She'd never really been good at anything, besides socializing…

Maybe Matthew could see it on her face, but suddenly his expression softened and he sighed. Opening the door wider, he stepped back into his apartment, and disappeared into his room. Taking this as a cue, Jesse stepped into the home, putting her bag down on one of the kitchen chairs.

"Here," Matthew stated, depositing a huge stack of old and/or tattered books on the table. "Start with the ones on top and work your way to the bottom. I have to go take care of something."

Jesse couldn't help but gape at the multitude of reading material. "You want me…to read all this?"

Pausing in the doorway, the bespectacled man looked back at her. "If you try and perform magic without knowing what the hell you're doing, you could easily end up hurting yourself, and everyone around you. First, know the theory, and then apply it. I'll be back in a bit. There's food in the fridge if you get hungry." Closing the door behind him, Matthew left without giving her enough time to respond.

Sighing, Jesse sat down at the table and grabbed the first book on the pile: Magic for Dummies, A Reference for the Rest of Us. Well, at least it would be a modern read…

In a small room closer to the inner sanctum of the city, a small blond was waking up. The rays of sunlight shining through the partially open blinds had been slowly making their way closer to his sleeping visage before alighting upon it. Opening his dark blue eyes, the fair-skinned young man was forced to squint into the light before rolling over and away from it. He couldn't quite explain how he felt: fresh, satisfied, alive really. And yet, so lazy…not tired, but sluggish. Like the feeling you get after having a wonderful, filling meal. Having no desire to get out of bed, he snuggled closer to the other presence wrapped in the soft sheets. Smiling out of pure bliss, he hugged the figure beside him a bit tighter…

Instantly, he heard an unusual crunching sound. Eyes shooting open, the blond lay there stock still, frozen in panic even as his heart pounded. Oh no…oh no, oh no, oh no…Squeezing again, the same disturbing sound met his ears, and through the fabric he felt something boney, too boney.

Jolting up from the bed, he tossed the blankets off in one clean swoop. Underneath was a corpse, a skeleton whose blacked, shrivelled skin clung tightly to its frame. The eyes were gone, the lips peeled back. Flakes of dried out skin dusted the off white sheet beneath where he had accidentally crushed the cadaver.

And then he remembered.

Oh shit!

Clumsily wrapping the corpse up in the sheets, he hauled the remains onto the floor, and began dragging the once living person to the door. He wasn't quite sure what he was going to do, but he knew he had to dispose of the body. The back alleyway would do, he hoped. He just had to hurry, before…

Knock, knock, knock.

He couldn't move, couldn't even breathe since breathing would require moving. He just stood there staring at the door, blue eyes wide. More knocking. This was it, he was done for. The contract would be over. But maybe, maybe he would understand…

Pausing with his hand on the doorknob, the little blond finally opened the door a crack. He couldn't look his visitor in the eye, considering what he'd done. "Hello, Matthew…"

"Kjetil, what's wrong?"

Opening the door further, the pale Nordic boy stepped back to reveal the tangle of sheets, one of the boney arms poking out from underneath. As Matthew stepped inside and closed the door, Kjetil fully expected a furious reprimand. I deserve it…he thought, shaking slightly where he stood.

He was more than surprised to find himself wrapped up in the arms of the other a moment later. Matthew's…not mad?

"I'm sorry, Kjetil," the taller of the two confessed. "Something came up, but that doesn't excuse my not being here for you."

A single tear rolled down the short man's face. "I…I was just so hungry. And, I guess I was just too weak to hold back…"

"No, it's not your fault. If you had to eat, you had to eat. Now, let's get you some clothes." It was only just then that Kjetil realized he was still stark naked from the previous night's events.

Kjetil was an incubus, a low level demon that required the life-force of humans to survive, and achieved this through intercourse. The man, whose corpse now resided on his floor, had been a one-time customer. He hadn't meant to kill him; he just lost control and couldn't stop himself from feeding off of the man's energy. He hadn't had a decent meal in over a week.

As he was handed a pair of sweat pants and a loose grey t-shirt to wear, Kjetil was reminded of how he came to meet Matthew. It had been a year and a half ago, when he had been run out of Hell by the new queen. Since the death of Triskele, the mother and once queen of all succubi and incubi, at the hands of the First, Triskele's chosen daughter, Triquetra, had been in charge. Though Triskele had been brutal in punishing those that disobeyed her, she had given the succubi and incubi a moderate amount of freedom. Triquetra was intent on shaping them into the strongest, most disciplined army in Hell. And so, when Triquetra found out about the rebel group he had joined just a few weeks before, she called for the execution of all members in what she assumed would be a swooping raid. However, some had escaped, Kjetil among them, and ended up on the Earthly plane, attempting to hide from Triquetra's prying eyes.

Slipping on the pants and shirt, that fateful day July day sprung to Kjetil's mind. Jumping across planes, he had ended up in Norway, injured from both the raid and the jump. He had tried to hide out from Triquetra's cronies, moving from city to city, but somehow they still managed to track him down. It had been a coincidence of incidents that brought Kjetil and Matthew together. Matthew had been in the area looking for a demon when, lo and behold, Kjetil and a whole troupe of succubi and incubi chasing Kjetil had come barrelling down the street towards him. After scaring off most of the pursuers and badly wounding the rest, Matthew had taken him back with him to Toronto, where Kjetil divulged his story.

Out of a mixture of pity and being compelled to do the right thing, Matthew had placed a sigil on him that kept lower level demons from being able to find him through their demonic powers. Though Matthew had asked for nothing in return (and in fact had been trying to shake off the persistent incubus at first), Kjetil had made it his mission to stop killing humans (within reasonable limits, though he never much liked killing them in the first place anyways) and help Matthew as much as possible in completing his own mission. Due to this latest development, both his goals were not seeing much success, but at least he was trying.

"-re you alright now, Kjetil?" Matthew's voice broke through the reverie.

"Oh, yes, I'm fine," was his dazed reply, looking down at the tangled sheets at his bare feet. "What are we going to do about him?"

Without following the shorter blond's gaze, Matthew rearranged the bed sheets to make it a hospitable place to sleep once more, drawing out new sheets as necessary. "Don't worry about him. I'll take care of it." Stepping closer, he ushered the demon towards the bed. "Do you think you'll be alright until I come check up on you later tonight?"

Nodding, Kjetil turned his dull blue eyes up to the magician. "You got a lead, didn't you?"

"I might've. I'm not quite sure if it'll be at all useful, though I'm still going to check it out."

Pleased with having finally gotten the incubus into bed, Matthew walked over to the corpse, and twisted the sheets to make a sort of makeshift sack. Before he could take his leave, however, Kjetil called out to him, "Just stay safe, okay?" He had seen the glint, the glint of hope, in the magician's eyes before he had turned away. He didn't want the other to act recklessly on the job just because someone might finally have news on Raum. One misstep would definitely get him killed.

"Don't worry, Kjetil. I'm too close to start messing up now." And with that both magician and corpse were gone. Kjetil could only hope that the former would return when he said he would.

"Poltergeists…Rabisu…Sirens…Succubi…hmmm?"

Jesse had been scanning through the books faster than she probably should have been, bypassing ones that sounded boring (which was most of them), or only reading sections that caught her attention. She had at last come upon a Demonology book that compiled several types of demons in alphabetical order, and even naming individual demons in some cases. She had spent most of her time on that book rather than reading the beginner's guides on how to use magic that had been at the top of the pile. It was much like reading about chemistry: boring if you weren't blowing shit up.

Lower level demons, succubi, and their male albeit rare counterparts the incubi, feed off of the life energy of living organisms by having intercourse…blah, blah…can change form…blah, blah, blah…black, leathery wings…blah, blah…demons and angels immune to succubi powers…boooooor-huh? Succubi are among the most human of supernatural beings. Spending the majority of their lives in human form on the Earthly plane among humans, succubi are much more compassionate towards humans than most demons and even many angels…Human supernatural beings. That seemed like a bit of an oxymoron. She hadn't really given much thought into the possibility. Jesse figured that demons were evil and angels were good, like in books and movies.

I guess like real life, the supernatural world isn't black and white either…

"How's the reading coming along?"

Jesse nearly jumped out of her skin at the sudden sound of Matthew's voice. Turning around, she saw him standing in front of the door, though she was certain she hadn't heard it open or close.

"How did you…?"

"I teleported. Or warped if you prefer. Matter relocation, instant transmission. I moved from one spot to another using magic, basically. You would know how it worked if you'd read through the first book." His tone wasn't really one of annoyance, or even disappointment. It was a slight reprimand, but a resigned one as well, as if he'd expected that she wouldn't really read the books seriously. And well, who would when full chapters were dedicated solely to drawing the right kinds of circle and breathing properly.

"I managed to skim through a lot of it," Jesse replied indignantly. "And I did glance over the section on teleporting, thanks."

"Good," was all Matthew said, stepping closer to her, and motioning for her to stand, which she did. "'Cause you're about to experience your first jump. Well, your first jump while conscious."

"Wha-" was all Jesse could get out before one of Matthew's hands landed gently on her shoulder, and she was tossed back into a spinning vortex of colours as her stomach flipped upside down.

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A Note From Blaklite: Sorry for the long pause everyone. The exam period sucked up a lot of my time, and I've been trying to sort out my once more rapidly changing life. Long chapter, I know, and yes, it is mostly drabble, but rest assured the next chapter should be much more exciting to make up for all this…drabbling.

Ummm…I've forgotten what I was going to mention, and for everything else I'm simply too tired to think. Enjoy (or not) and review (or not).