Six months ago, hen she first moved into this apartment, she hoped by now she would be decorating for christmas. The corner would hold her first christmas tree - whether that became reality depended on her paycheck. She was going to hang lights in the windows. Maybe wrap the railings of her fire escape with colorful lights, the kind her mother always hung around their house growing up. When she met Edel, Pique and Lillie the aspect of buying gifts for her new friends was ever present in her mind. She met Mytho and Rue, they joined the list as well.
She was supposed to make Fakir carry a tree up to her apartment and have him hang the lights for her.
She never imagined, four days before one of her favorite holidays, that her apartment would be decorated for something else.
Ahiru, Fakir, Autor and Femio stood in her apartment like statues, the fear of it all going horribly wrong at the forefront of all their thoughts.. Fakir had pushed her furniture against the walls - Autor and Femio tried to help but were relatively useless compared to Fakir - until her living room was barren. They had created a circle of crystals: labradorite, fluorite, blue kyanite, and infinite, all supposed to protect her and strengthen the spell.
The waning sun made feeble attempts at keeping her home bright, but Femio was making quick work of lighting beeswax candles, creating pale light just enough to see. He placed them strategically across the room, a well memorised pattern Ahiru didn't bother try to figure out. Ahiru fisted her hands into the cotton shift she wore, handmade by witches, for spells like this one.
"We really should be doing this outside." Autor muttered under his breath.
"I have wood flooring. That's nature enough." Ahiru told him, her eyes trained on the ground. Her stomach clenched at the notion of her performing this spell out in the open, without protection.
Fakir touched his hand to her elbow, tenderly grasping her, and murmured in her ear, "You don't have to do this. We can find another way."
"No." Ahiru shook her head. "I- No matter how I look at it, this is the only way."
"Are you ready?" Autor stole her attention, her head snapping to him. His usual haughty persona deflated, and nodded.
It had taken Autor a month to improve the spell and even he was dubious if it would work.
"Creating spells is complex and requires mastery of the craft," He had told her once. He was trying to help her, to warn her, about what? She wasn't sure. That he wasn't sure if he could create a spell for her, that even if he was powerful enough to do it, that she herself wouldn't able to perform it.
"Reordering a spell?" He continued. "Only the most powerful witches can execute them without high consequences. There's a substantial possibility... you could fail."
Ahiru took off most of the month. She couldn't recall what she told Freya, how could she remember anything in this moment? But, she was able to get the time off, coming in on some days to do half a day's work.
Every waking moment was laden with magic. Since the night she told Autor her plan, she worked relentlessly to try, and learn as much as possible.
She performed every spell she could; she mastered the basics in a week. In two she studied more than a hundred spells that concentrated on protection. Protection of the soul. Protection of the mind. Protection of the body. Protection of the heart, however, was the hardest.
She wasn't certain if that's how it was, or if it was the concept she was struggling with.
Ahiru studied only one other spell, the spell that would release Siegfried and Drosselmeyer from their shackles. The week before Autor had completed his work, she poured all of her power into mastering the spell that would unlock two monsters onto the world.
"I will help you as best as I can, but it's really up to you." Autor told her, the depths of his eyes revealed to her he was remorseful.
Yes, she possessed the magic of the world's most powerful witch, but that didn't mean that she herself had any real power.
"You told me you tired a protection spell before?" When she nodded, he held out his hand. "May I have it? This may be… well. This may be a means to make this spell easier, if merely the slightest bit."
"Fakir?" Ahiru turned her head but failed to meet his eyes. He knew the danger and cried his protests, she shouldn't be seeking his help, but she was afraid to move. Her legs wobbled, and she feared if she tried to move she'd fall, failing before she even begun.
He left his position of guarding her and left to retrieve the pendant. Fakir had been at her side fiercely, supporting her in any manner he was able. He made her breakfast that morning, and talked to her, keeping her mind off of tonight, off of the blood moon. When Autor and Femio came with their beeswax candles and witchy rocks and the shift, Fakir helped her put it on - not that she couldn't do it herself, but she felt frozen. If she performed the spell wrong, if the candles weren't all lit, if the crystals didn't form a perfect circle-
But, Fakir stopped her worrying, he put his hands under her chin and forced eye contact, "Everything you need to make this magic work, is already inside you."
Ahiru nodded her head and draped her arms around his neck, crushing him against her. He rubbed her back, and she pet his hair.
She was vaguely conscious of Fakir passing Autor her pendant. Slightly more aware when Femio and Fakir held her arms and helped lead her into the circle of rocks. Her bare knees pressed against the floor and all very aware of the beating, loud like a drum, inside her chest.
Autor kneeled in front of her and dipped his thumb into a basin of icy brine and formed a cross on her sternum, just above her heart. Autor took her hand and wrapped the chain of the pendant over her fingers and made her hold the stone in her hand.
"If this doesn't work." She heard him say, just barely over the percussions pulsing under her skin.
What if she wasn't powerful enough?
What if it was too soon and trying to perform the spell would only hurt her heart?
What if her plan didn't work?
Her breathing became labored and she had to hold herself up lest she fall onto the rocks. She was shaking, she could feel her limbs lose their nerve. The chain and pendant digging into her skin.
"Ahiru." It was Fakir's sharp voice that broke her stupor, she rose up off of her hands and studied him.
Backed into a corner as if struggling to keep himself back from ripping her away and hiding her from all of this.
"Ahiru, you are more than enough."
She nodded and turned her attention to Autor, still kneeling before her, the rewritten spell held in front of her.
"Just recite the words and pull your magic to your heart." His tone was soft, a first, for him, and she struggled to read the words but they grew hazy.
"Ahiru." Fakir called again.
She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, the short ends of her hair tickling her nose and cheeks.
"H-heart-"
"Speak clearly." Autor scolded, and it was almost like he was normal again. He closed his eyes in concentration, the markings on his face glowed and she felt him lending her his magic.
Ahiru swallowed, she stole one glimpse at Fakir.
"Heart, oh beating heart of mine
Do not be tainted by evil
Remain pure in all endeavors,
Spell, oh spell of my creation
Protect my heart
Do not let evils take command,
Bat, oh blood-ridden bat
Do not steal my heart away from me
Let me meet your strength, but do not take hold,
Wolf, oh racing wolf
Agree with the bat, your mortal enemy
Do not strike my heart, now soaked with night
Evil shall not overtake my heart."
"Good." Autor told her, still gentle. "Again."
Ahiru repeated the spell over and over then. Letting the words coat her heart.
The blood moon shone down on her and her beating heart dripped in a thick blanket of sorcery, enhanced by the blood moon's glory.
Her mouth was becoming dry, and she wasn't sure if she could continue chanting the spell.
"-evil shall not overtake my heart!"
"Stop!"
Ahiru sucked in as much air as humanly possible.
"I think-" Autor considered her for a moment, "Yes, I think the spell worked."
"How can we test it?" Fakir asked. She could hear the relief coming from him in waves. The spell hadn't killed her.
"We-" Autor made a face like a grimace, "We really can't. We have to wait and see."
Ahiru nodded and tried to stand and in an instant, Fakir stood by her side, lifting her to her feet, holding her against his chest. She leaned heavily against him but the night was only beginning.
"I have to find Rue."
"You don't have to go alone." Fakir told her. As if he hadn't suggested going with her until that moment.
"She doesn't like you, no offense." Ahiru let her eyes close, her strength returning slowly.
"Here, lieb." Femio, suddenly before her, held out a cup of chocolate milk.
"Best part about being a witch." She mumbled, mostly to herself, but she knew Fakir caught it, his chest rumbling in laughter.
"Ahiru, I'm sorry, but I can't stay." Autor didn't look apologetic, and his voice didn't betray him. Good, nice wasn't a healthy color on him. "I have my own spells to do, I'm glad I was able to help, but-"
"Autor you've done enough, I understand, Fakir will help me."
Autor nodded before reclaiming his crystals and all that appeared to be his as Ahiru took her time finishing the glass in her hand.
She was becoming more alert, especially of the fact that she was aware of the great wall that protected her heart.
"I'll move everything back while you go."
Ahiru nodded. "Thank you. Do you know where Mytho's pants are?"
"Wait, I thought Rue was going to change you?"
"I am, I just." She looked down at the ring of chocolate forming at the bottom of the glass. "I get the sense that they're together."
"A witch sense?"
"No." She smiled, finally feeling like herself. "An Ahiru-sense."
She set the glass down in her sink and Fakir gave her the pants. Location spells, fortunately, were easy, all she had to do now was touch it and-
Ahiru looked around her, suddenly cold for wearing nothing but the shift in the snow. Quickly, she became confused as she wasn't in Kinkan nor Eiche, so then where was she?
Ahiru turned and behind her stood a great, decaying mansion. They were inside, weren't they?
And making a lot of noise.
The sudden crashes and shouts sent Ahiru running, she didn't know if she could protect them or herself, but she wasn't going to just stand there any longer.
The screams echoed across empty halls, but now she could hear Rue's voice.
"Mytho don't hurt me!"
"Rue?" She cried out, racing down the hall to where the warning came.
"Don't eat that! That's disgusting!"
"Rue!" Her feet pounding against the floor, it was a wonder how they couldn't hear her. "Mytho?" a pause. "Please!"
"Rue!" Ahiru found herself at a grand staircase where the flapping of wings filled her ears. "Rue, Mytho! Hang on!" She hitched her shift and tore up the stairs.
"Ahiru?"
"Yes! Rue!" Ahiru smiled brightly as she worked to find them. "Keep yelling! I'm trying to find you!"
"We're here, Ahiru!" she paused again, "I'm so sorry!"
Ahiru found herself at the edge of the hall and facing a pair of French doors. She thrust them open and shock stopped her movements.
On the railing overlooking a lofty two-story ballroom was Mytho, perched on the railing.
But it wasn't Mytho.
He cawed at her before plunging.
"Mytho!" Both Rue and Ahiru called out, but he flew gracefully down to the ground.
"Rue?" Ahiru asked with uncertainty as she took in the man that now stood before Rue. A black beak producing from his face, his arms replaced with wings. White clothes and shoes hid what she was certain were also feathers and the taloned feet of a raven.
"He's caught in between forms." Rue explained to her, keeping her eyes on Mytho, as if he would attack. "He was human and tried to turn into a raven but… something went wrong." Ahiru didn't need to see her to tell that Rue had tears streaming down her face.
"What's wrong, Rue?" Came the sickly sweet pink voice, produced from his big beak. "Are you heartbroken? Do you even have a heart?"
"Ahiru… Please."
Ahiru hurried down the steps and got to Rue. "I have a plan to defeat Drosselmeyer, but I need your help."
"Anything." Her voice was scarcely above a whisper. Rue looked at Mytho. Horribly transfigured into a half man-half raven.
A monster.
"I need you to turn me."
"What?" That broke Rue's attention. She glared down at Ahiru giving a look that said that that was the stupidest thing she had heard all day.
"I know, but listen! It's the only plan I could come up with-"
"No. No, I turn you, and he has control over you. He controls you and you'll turn into that." Rue pointed at Mytho, content on looking threatening without striking them.
Ahiru shook her head, "No! I performed a spell that will cover my heart so you won't hurt me."
"And why a vampire, why not have Fakir change you."
"I- um- am having him turn me." Ahiru admitted, "In addition to you."
"You're- you're going to try to make yourself an amalgam?"
"Yes."
Rue sighed.
"I made a spell! I'll gain the strength and power, without turning evil."
"How do you know?" Rue's eyes become fixed again on Mytho, now on the hunt for what sounded like crawling mice.
"I- I don't-" Ahiru stammared
"Then I won't bite you."
"Please, this may be the only way I can defeat Drosselmeyer."
Rue sneered. "Do you know what will happen once Drosselmeyer gets his body back?"
"No, what?"
"He'll get back his ability to write."
Ahiru's brows furrowed. "I'm sorry, what?"
"I-" She growled in exasperation. "I told you! He sold his soul for the ability to write and manipulate reality."
"Oh, right." Ahiru felt sheepish.
She sucked her teeth. "But, they chopped off his hands."
"What?"
"The bookmen. They chopped off his hands."
Ahiru closed her eyes and tried to gather her thoughts. "He doesn't have hands?"
"Not on him."
"Not on him?" Ahiru's voice rang over the walls of the dance hall.
"He performed a spell so his hands couldn't get burned. I'm sure the bookmen still have them locked away."
Ahiru swallowed hard, "Miss E- the bookmen kept his hands? Just stashed away somewhere?"
"Somewhere. But that's not the point."
"What is the point?"
Rue chewed on her lower lip. "He doesn't have his hands so he can't write."
Ahiru perked up, "He can't."
"No, once he's out, I'm certain he'll get someone to retrieve his hands. Until then, that will give you a window, a slight window, where he's less powerful."
Ahiru nodded. Now she had a time limit on top of everything else.
"Are you sure? This is the only way?"
"No," Ahiru shook her head. "But, it's all I could think of."
Rue groaned. "Alright, this will be… unpleasant, don't try to fight it too much."
Rue combed Ahiru's hair away from her neck and sank her teeth into the flesh.
"Ow."
"I don't understand." Rue had stopped already.
"Aren't you supposed to suck out the blood until you leave only a little?" Ahiru looked at Rue over her shoulder.
"Yes, but," Rue's head shook in bewilderment. "I can't drink your blood."
Ahiru turned to stare at her. "What?"
"I- I don't see what's wrong, I bit right into your jugular, but I don't even smell blood."
"Oh, no." Ahiru looked up at Rue in horror. "Do you think the spell worked too well?"
"What? And now you can't be changed at all?"
"It seems like the only possibility." Ahiru's hand went into her hair, gripping it. "Why else wouldn't you be able to change me?"
"I don't know."
"Try again. Give me your blood first."
"Like what I did with Mytho?" Rue looked at her as if she was insane. "No, no way, you'll get- you'll be." Rue looked over at Mytho, crouched in the corner cawing lightly to himself.
"Rue, please. The spell…" Ahiru looked downtrodden, "It should work."
Rue nodded, she bit her wrist. "Here." She said, her tone soft, "Take it slow."
Ahiru nodded before putting her mouth on Rue's wrist, it was more than uncomfortable, but Ahiru let the bitter blood run thickly down her throat.
She drew back, hopeful that that was sufficient, and waited to feel different.
To no avail.
"Rue, what do I do now?"
"I don't know, Ahiru."
The wound on Rue's arm was virtually gone by the time she said Ahiru's name.
"This was the plan and now it won't work."
"Maybe not."
"What?" Ahiru looked at Rue.
The corner of her lip twitched, she was reluctant to say anything. "From what I've witnessed, it's possible you may have created a spell to guard yourself against Drosselmeyer's magic."
"His magic?"
"I don't know much about Drosselmeyer, but," Rue spared her a glance, "He practiced witchcraft. He wasn't strong enough to do the spells he craved to perform. And, the nature focused magic of the witches didn't allow for what he was trying to do."
"So that's why he sold his soul? To gain power?"
"To learn black magic." Rue nodded. "To control people and their fates."
"Why would my spell protect me from that?"
"Ahiru, you're my last hope for saving Mytho. Please. I don't know a thing about witches, but surely whatever you have done can be strong enough to defend yourself from him."
Ahiru looked at the floor, mulling over her thoughts. "Rue?"
"Hmm?"
"Why did Drosselmeyer send you after me?"
"Drosselmeyer always lies." Rue clenched her fist.
"Rue?"
"At first, he told me it was because of your pure heart." She chuckled and shook her head. "I knew you looked familiar."
"When did you -?"
Rue looked back at her. "After I changed Mytho. I realized that this raw, uncontrollable power was the last thing Drosselmeyer wanted for you. The first time Mytho transformed into a raven, the transformation brought about a memory I had, over a century ago."
"What do you mean?"
"He looks so much like him, I don't know how I missed it."
"Missed what, Rue?"
Rue rubbed her arm. "Mytho is a descendant of Siegfried."
"What? How do you know that?"
"His eyes." Rue took a step forward, but stayed. "Siegfried had golden eyes, the only human I've ever seen with golden eyes, and pure white hair."
"I've never seen Siegfried out of his wolf form."
"I have."
Ahiru looked at Rue. How often Ahiru forgot how old Rue was.
"When Drosselmeyer was first trapped in the fire, he gave me one order, to make myself acquainted with Siegfried and the Lady's child. But I lost him."
"How do you lose a baby?"
"It's not like the damn thing was in my care." Rue touched a hand to her temple. "Tutu had given the babe to the coven, and the coven is good at keeping secrets when they want."
Ahiru considered it. "Then how do you - "
"It's his scent."
"What?"
"The hair and eyes aren't the strongest evidence, but there's no masking his scent."
Ahiru looked over at Mytho, as if she could smell him, or if she looked hard enough, she would be able to see his scent.
"Siegfried and Tutu's scent was combined in their child. And that scent is still present in Mytho. It's very faint, an undertone, practically."
"Is that why you tried to take him from Fakir while Mytho was growing up?"
Rue nodded curtly. "Yes, I tried to fix my mistakes, but instead."
"You fell in love with him."
Rue remained silent.
"Rue, thank you for telling me everything. I think this helps me." Ahiru turned to leave, but Rue stopped her.
"Wait. There's one more thing."
Ahiru waited, but Rue seemed scared to tell her.
"And, I'm pretty confident I'm the only one who knows. I'm not sure Drosselmeyer knows. No." She shook her head. "I'm sure he doesn't know. He can't."
"What?"
Rue turned her head to the side to look at Ahiru, "The way I can tell Mytho is Siegfried's descendant works the same for everyone. I know who the descendant of Drosselmeyer is."
"Wh- who?"
Rue looked back at Mytho. "Fakir."
"Fakir is- "
"Yes."
"No. No! That's just not-"
"The scent is clearer with Fakir, I suspect he's his grandson, or great grandson." Rue crossed her arms, as if she was hugging herself. "I don't know what that means for him. If he'll be able to resist Drosselmeyer's magic, or-"
"Or what?"
"Or if he'll only be more susceptible to it."
Ahiru was unsure of how to feel. There was a demon living inside of Wasser Castle and he was the direct relative of the man she-
"Go. You need to figure out of a new plan."
"What about-" Ahiru's eyes flew to Mytho, who had taken to flying up onto the railings again.
"I will protect him. Go. You don't have much time."
"Rue?" Ahiru stepped towards her until Ahiru was in front of her friend.
"Yes?" Rue answered, mildly annoyed that Ahiru hadn't obeyed her yet.
"Thank you." Ahiru wrapped her arms around Rue and rested her head against Rue's shoulder.
Rue returned the hug. "You are the best friend I've always wanted but never had."
Ahiru smiled wetly, the tears just barely hanging on to her lashes. "You're the sister I always hoped to have."
Rue giggled, and it was a pleasant sound. She pulled away but held onto Ahiru's shoulders. "Go, save us."
Ahiru beamed up at her. "Don't worry, I'll come up with a way to defeat him."
Rue pet her cheek, "Ahiru?"
"What?"
"I love you."
Ahiru squeezed her eyes shut and let the tears tumble down her face. "I love you, too."
Rue pulled Ahiru to her again, "You're being such a cry baby."
Ahiru laughed, and they clung to each other. "I may need you in my new plan."
"I will do anything, for you, I promise."
Ahiru wiped her eyes, a broad grin over her face as Rue gave her a modest, but melancholy smile.
"I would take you back to Fakir, but I don't want to leave-"
They both studied Mytho, feathers falling loose from his arm.
"Don't worry, I'll be okay."
Rue chuckled and shook her head. "Here." And fished out a pair of keys. "It's in the back."
Ahiru took the keys. "I guess running everywhere gets tiring after a while."
"Even if you're a vampire."
Ahiru clutched the key and held onto Rue's hand before squeezing it. She pointed to the drapes that hung covering the windows. "There should be doors that lead out to where the car will be."
Ahiru nodded and walked towards the curtains, pushing them aside to find the door. Rue called out "To the left!" and Ahiru followed her instructions until she found a door knob. And, once again, she was out in the cold in nothing but a thin shift.
Ahiru smirked. She supposed the modern stereotypes about vampires were true; they were flashy.
Ahiru looked at the red, over-the-top sports car parked in the snow. She rolled her eyes before she got in and spent several minutes warming the car - wouldn't serve her any good if her toes dropped off before she got back to Fakir.
Fakir…
The grandson of Drosselmeyer.
How could she tell him? It would devastate him. But, that didn't matter, what mattered now, was going home and getting rest.
Tonight would have made her powerful as a vampire or werewolf, but going to fight as neither when he himself was ten times stronger was sheer folly.
She would wait until tomorrow, a regular, milky moon that doesn't enhance the power of supernatural beings.
When she got home - how? She didn't know considering she had no idea where Rue and Mytho had been - she found Fakir waiting on her bed, holding his head in his hands.
He had fallen asleep.
She combed his hair out of his face. He woke up and moved until he was seated on the edge of the bed. He tugged her forward by her waist until she was standing between his legs. He let his head rest on her stomach and put his arms around her while she played with his hair.
"You don't smell like one."
"It didn't work," She said, shaking her head. "The protection spell was too powerful and she couldn't even drink my blood."
"So I guess, I wouldn't be able to turn you either, huh?"
Ahiru shrugged, "Wouldn't hurt to try."
Fakir stood, he bit his finger until blood dripped and presented it to her. She took his finger into her mouth and allowed hot blood to burn her tongue. He drew back his finger, and they waited, but nothing happened.
"We need another plan."
Ahiru shook her head. "Tomorrow. Please?"
Fakir nodded and lead her to her bed, they laid down together and she let him cling to her.
"Fakir?"
"Yes?"
"I have a lot to tell you."