Strange Nights ( Dr Strange #1)

Chapter 6 : Invitation

 Stephen swung the car around and accelerated. He had hit sixty before making it around the corner, too anxious to be careful about the speed limits, his foot refusing to let go of the pedal.

The tyres screeched when he tried hitting a sharp left to the dirt road - He could see Tony moving about and removing the decorations. That seemed odd. As he neared the house, he could see the whole place was deserted.

"Out of all the days," Stark approached him with a grim face as he pulled over, "this had to happen on my favourite day?"

Over the years as vampires, Tony had particularly grown fond of Halloween. He called it a day when he could actually breathe, the only evening when he could walk around people in his Iron Man suits, claiming he was Iron man for Halloween. The whole thing of laying low had been unquestionably humdrum existence for him.

"Thor got one on one with that thing. The witch says he's under some spell. Might need your help."

"Oh, no," he muttered to himself, he wanted to go to Y/N. But he nodded and went in.

Wanda was lying, eyes closed, on the recliner with an ice pack held to her head. Don't you dare to laugh. She warned him in her thoughts. The two barely spoke to each other aloud; their minds did the conversation perfectly. It had all started as a practice to strengthen their communication skills when he was far away from the rest of them and she needed his help, but eventually, it had turned into a habit. You have no idea how draining it is to enchant a group of enthusiastic partiers and send them home. I can't ease Thor's suffering. Too burdened with my own.

Don't worry about him. I have got him. Stephen replied, gliding over the stairs towards his room.

Thor was having violent convulsions like a dying man. Jane and Pepper were standing beside him, with sad-stricken faces.

"He's gonna be alright," he assured them after examining Thor who began to relax and drift among old memories as the spells began to undone. It was a bit difficult but after a few trials and errors, Stephen could finally break through the spells. The use of multiple spells indicated that the threat must be a witch, a skin-walker perhaps but the random killings didn't make any sense.

"Couldn't find anyone," Peter announced, landing on the terrace outside. Morgan followed him to the room.

"Is he okay now?" she inquired.

Stephen nodded. "You found him?" he asked, looking up at her.

She shook her head. "Uncle Vis did."

Just then Vision appeared, with a gentle thud, announcing his arrival on the same spot where the kids had been a few seconds ago.

He slightly shook his head at Peter then turned his attention towards Thor.

"Minutes after you left after that call, Thor said he saw someone uninvited near the woods. We went in opposite directions to search. Nothing caught my attention within the three-mile radius. When I came back he hadn't returned, so went to search for him. Found him near Chief Henley's residence. Whatever had attacked him was gone. Brought him back home and asked Mr. Stark to cancel the party."

"Vis." Wanda hissed from behind. Apparently she and Tony had joined them sometime during Paul's monologue. "We had talked about this. Not the old names. You might slip it out in front of strangers." It had been years yet the fear of revealing their identities by mistake still lurked around. It had been one of the many reasons why they retained a part of their original names in the fake IDs Tony created every now and then.

"Sorry. An old habit," he apologised.

"We should let him rest," Stephen said and the rest of them wooshed out of the room.

Thor let out a small groan. Mystic arts or magic, to be broad, was one of the few things that could render a vampire helpless. "Thank you," Stephen whispered, getting up to leave.

It was nothing. You would have done that same for Jane if you could. I knew how it felt to see the one you imprinted on, suffer from pain. Check on her, brother.

The drive to the Henley's residence was agonisingly slow. After Steve's call, his anxiety had increased by ten folds. His mind remapped the scenes from the twilight to the night – the creature first hunted the two strangers in the car and an hour later was spotted near our house. It attacked Y/N as a hound, tortured Thor when he tried to save her then again attacked their house as a giant lizard, which also happened to be the one that frighten the neighbour. It didn't seem like a pure-blood Chupacabra, Sigbin, or Skin-walker; but a hybrid between any two of the three.

He pulled over, only to receive unfathomable expressions of not – welcomed from Jade and Rachael. Jade was dragging the crashed tree away from the driveway and Rachael was cleaning up the mess around. He felt his heart skip a beat when he couldn't see her anywhere around. Was she that hurt?

"Why are you here?" Rachael snarled, blocking his way to the house. It had been years she had been with Jade and there was one rule he always begged her to not to break - Never be around a wolf on a full moon night or a vampire during a new moon.

"You know why."

I won't let you anywhere near my sister, her thoughts screamed as she continued to glaring at him. "You imprinted on her. And I won't allow you near her on a new moon night." She had broken the rule once. She had made the mistake of being in Jade's vicinity when he had been high on heat on estrus full moon night. And the consequences were painful as he had lost his control.

Stephen had to forcibly knock off his mind. Over the years, feeling what others felt or thought, had become an unconscious habit, but there were things he didn't like to see when not necessary. "I'm not naive like Jade. I won't ever hurt Y/N." He knew the dangers better than any of them and felt fully under control.

"Are you sure you won't give up on your desires?" Jade scoffed.

He huffed at their less substantial concerns- Y/N was the next potential victim of this creature and all these two were concerned about was whether I had control over what I was.

"Dr. Rochester?"

Y/N stood there by the door, scared as Rachael shot her a glare. Is he startled again? Her thoughts wandered around the mess he had made three evenings ago in the cafe.

"Hello there, Y/N," Stephen said, walking in her direction. Relief had never been as exquisite as it felt at the moment.

"Hi," she finally managed to say after contemplating her sister's infuriated face. "Come in."

He cursed at the invitation. She needed to be careful about whom she invited in. He had to teach her many things. But how hadn't Rachael taught her the basic lessons if she didn't want him to be around her sister?