Why Vampires Sleep With The Lights On

How Hard Can It Be To Get To Edinburgh?

Victoria led the way back into the main shop and then turned to face me, Will stayed back by the office door. He leant casually against the doorframe and crossed his arms.

Seriously, if he was any more laid back he'd be going to fucking sleep. I honestly didn't know how he did it...

After muttering a few words Victoria slashed her hand through the air and a line of bright green light hung where she had traced the line. She reached inside the line and her hand disappeared up to the elbow.

Holy crap, that was cool...

As she pulled back out I saw a familiar object clutched tightly in her hand. The spellbook.

"I think we're going to need this." She said waving her hand again to make the light disappear "I don't trust Darrell as far as I can throw him."

"Are you sure it's a good idea to go to him?" Will asked, "It seems like more hassle than it's worth."

"Unfortunately we don't have a choice, psychic powers are incredibly rare and he's the best in the country."

"Apart from Kian," I said realising.

"Well, their abilities are similar, Kian can read minds and Darrell can see into the future." Victoria agreed "When his mind is clear."

"What do you mean?"

"He, uh, got addicted to a magical substance called Diaton. We use it in The Brown House to make healing potions." Victoria explained, "When taken on its own it acts like a concentrated version of cocaine, but much more deadly if you don't know what you're doing."

Will raised an eyebrow at her "You use Diaton when you teach?" He asked, "Do The Council know?"

"Of course, they don't." Victoria snapped back "It's not like I advertise the fact."

"Sounds like we need to make sure he's not been using it then." I said, "That's going to be fun."

Well, if you could call having to track down a highly dangerous and drugged up wizard who likes to set things on fire fun... I'm pretty sure that's not what I would call it.

A fucking stupid idea is what I would call it, but I wanted to find Kian, so there was no other way around it. Will's super vampire senses and Victoria's magic had both drawn a blank, and now we had another dead body to explain to The Council.

Just my bloody luck...

Victoria waved a hand over the spellbook and it began to shrink, folding in on itself until it could fit neatly into the palm of her hand. She then slipped into her pocket and turned to face me.

"Like it or not, we need him." Victoria said "And it's going to be a longer trip than your used to. Eddie films his show up in Edinburgh."

"I'm sure we'll cope." I replied, "We've gone back in time together multiple times, how hard can it be to get to Edinburgh?"

"You did what?!" Will asked unfolding his arms and stepping forwards in alarm "Are you saying that you used the Transcoinder spell?"

"So what if we did?" Victoria retorted "Are you going to run back to The Council? Or to your daddy?"

Will's eyes flashed dangerously red as she mentioned his father. He snarled, revealing his fangs "Leave my father out of this." He snapped.

Oh, crap...

I quickly jumped in between the two of them, praising myself for my quick reactions as Victoria suddenly had bright green flames burning in both of her hands.

Damn it...

However quick and strong Will's vampire abilities had made him, I wasn't going to count Victoria out of the fight. She was more than capable of kicking his ass without any help from me, but I couldn't let them fight.

"Stop it!" I shouted "Your both as bad as each other. The last thing we need is for you two to be knocking the shit out of each other. Kian needs us. I need you guys."

"Sorry, Alec, your right." Victoria said, the flames disappearing from her hands "There's far more at stake here than just us."

"Yeah, I'm sorry too," Will added, his fangs now hidden and his eyes no longer filled with bloodlust. He looked down at the ground, probably embarrassed by his outburst.

Good. I didn't need his shit right now.

"Anyway." Victoria said, quickly changing the subject "We need to get to Edinburgh, are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

"Good, take my hands then."

I did as she asked and took both of her hands in mine, bracing myself for what was about to come.

"Be careful, yeah?" Will said, "I'll see you when you get back with that magical arsonist."

"See you soon."

He just nodded in reply before heading back into the office. As the door shut behind him Victoria wasted no time in beginning her spell, her voice going deeper than usual as she chanted.

"Undi Homs Vwet Mar Gaerh... Undi Homs Vwet Mar Gaerh..."

The pastel colours of the paper shop slipped away into the darkness as the spell took hold. I held my breath and started to panic as the point where I thought we would return to normal never arrived.

Oh shit... Oh shit...

I could feel the pressure-tight on my chest as I struggled to breathe.

Something's gone wrong...

That was the only thought currently going through my mind, but then the ground came rushing towards me and I threw my hands out.

Then I hit the floor hard and rolled on wet grass before coming to a painful stop as I hit a tree.

Well, that fucking hurt...

Winded and grazed I managed to get onto my knees to take in my surroundings. I saw Victoria's multi-coloured outfit and slipped on the grass as I tried to get to her.

"Victoria!"

Why wasn't she answering?

"Vic?! Are you okay? Answer me!"

As I finally reached her I saw what had stopped her fall; a tall stone grave carved into the shape of an angel.

As I bent down next to her and had to fight the urge to throw up as I saw the reason why she hadn't answered me. There was a deep cut on the right side of her forehead that was slowly oozing blood out onto the already saturated ground.

Oh, shit...

I couldn't hold it in any longer, I fell to my knees and threw up next to the grave.