Hedgehawk

The Witches & Warlocks of Tanner

@Aeolian Hopefully this Hiatus helps you balance your workload. When you return you are more than welcome back. I can't imagine we will have gotten too far!

@ActRaiserTheReturned If you want to have another shot be my guest.

@Inertia @SouffleGirl123 @HaleyTheRandom I left my Las toost open ended to see if anyone wanted to inject. That's my bad for not really communicating that. I will have a new post up tonight or tomorrow to move everything forward a bit and give you a chance to segue on.

The Witches & Warlocks of Tanner

@Aeolian @Inertia

Just want to check in and see if you are still up for this? I know the pace has slowed down, but we are still up for carrying this on if you are! :)

The Witches & Warlocks of Tanner

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Tanner Coven - @SouffleGirl123 @Inertia @Aeolian @VerusEbullio @HaleyTheRandom

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After returning to the group he noticed that it had certainly gotten bigger. Which was good. He was glad that people had decided to heed the call of their parents. In an odd way he had half expected it to be just him, Lilith and Yuna. Taking a quick scan at the room he began doing an impromptu roll call in his head. He noticed Catherine and Victor together as a duo, and his eyes then moved over to Yuna; who in all honesty probably didn't want to be here. No sign of her brother though… Dia had also arrived, as did Miles.

His scan was going well, but suddenly dipped when his eyes set on Kolby. It was almost like his blood went cold. Perhaps Carlisle was the unforgetting and unforgiving type, but Carlisle wouldn't exactly call Kolby a comrade. In High School they certainly didn't get on and even ended up coming to blows. Now time might have changed Kolby, but the pessimist in Carlisle refused to think for a second that it could be true. What was more curious was the woman that he had with her. Not a coven member to be sure.

Despite the extra addition, Carlisle's mind drifted to the figure that he couldn't see around: Celeste. The likely situation was that she was running late, most likely kept with her parents briefing her on everything that happened while she was away, and the awkward situation about Carlisle being in charge. Was it a bad thing that Carlisle actually hoped that Celeste had instead decided not to come back? Still he had a job to do, so with a clearing of his throat he began to speak.

"Thank you for coming so quickly everybody. I know that it was most likely a bit of a shock to suddenly be recalled here so quickly, also with the end of college and what not only just happening. Just as many of us thought we had escaped we get pulled back in again right" Carlisle let out a little chuckle, disguising the fact he had been here all along and glossing over the fact he dropped out of college, with only Lilith and Yuna being the ones to know the truth.

"Still, we all knew that this day would eventually come, and we would be called back to Tanner to see to the coven. None of us expected it to be this fast. But our parents all seemed to want to retire early, and we just have to roll with the cards we have been dealt." A lump began to form on the insides of Carlisle's throat. He had been speaking to people publicly for too long and now his anxiety was starting to take hold and dig its claws into the edges of his mind. If he had ever hoped to become leader he had to dig deep and push through. With a soft cough and a little stuttering of words, Carlisle eventually continued.

"Given the sudden turn around of events, the council did not have time to select a replacement for my mother to lead the coven. So in the interim, they have asked if I would be willing to step in and be interim leader until the council have made their final choice. I know that being a Warlock means that me becoming a leader is a bit… unconventional, and many of you probably expected Celeste to be standing here in my place, myself included. I do hope however that this arrangement isn't a problem for anyone?" Carlisle took a moment to gather his words while he let that question hang in the air. He decided to omit the fact that the council had wanted Celeste to be in his place right now, and it was only through his mother's insistence that he was here instead.

"Okay, normally we would spend a few days getting to know each other and resettling back into Tanner, but sadly, we have to get to business. As something is going on in Tanner. I am not sure from memory if any of you are Abjurers, if you are, you have probably been feeling the same sensation I have been feeling. For the uninitiated, Tanner is protected by a magical ward that is designed to keep most of the more… feral members of our supernatural family away from Tanner. However, recently, that barrier appears to have been weakened and there appears to have been a breach. I don't know exactly what might have caused it, or what might have come through, but if it is a threat to us, or a threat to Tanner in general, we need to deal with it." Carlisle pulled the chair out from the dining room table and decided to sit down as he continued to speak.

"I appreciate that for some of you, you may need to settle in as you may have only arrived in Tanner. That is perfectly fine. You are more than welcome to stay at your family homes, or move in here to some the bedrooms here. Please take some time aclimiatise if you need to. However, I do intend to go out into the outskirts of Tanner and see if I can find this breach. I could use some people to come with me if they would like to volunteer." This was the moment for Carlisle, if no one did agree to come with him, then he might as well just quit now. To say he was nervous was an understatement. The conversation he had previously with Lilith was eating away at his mind too.

"Also Kolby, I see you have bought a guest with you. I don't remember being informed of anyone new joining the coven? Care to introduce her to everyone else?" The words leaving Carlisle's mouth weren't venomous, but were certainly alot more arsey and sassy than the rest of his speech. Turns out, turning to passive aggression was a great way to suppress his nerves. Even if it could have unintended consequences.

The Witches & Warlocks of Tanner

Starring: Lilith Montgomery & Carlisle Aston

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Once the pair was outside of the dining room, Lilith struggled with her words for a moment. Quickly working up the courage to speak, Carlisle quickly blurted out what he had to say first. His comment about her fishnets made Lilith roll her eyes, close them, and then take a deep, heavy sigh.

Looking back at Carlisle, the dark haired girl crossed her arms before speaking.

”What are you planning to do with the book from the Library?” she asked, her piercing gaze staring into his.

There was no reason to beat around the bush. Lilith knew what she had seen in her vision - it was only a matter of had it happened already, or was it something soon to come. For Carlisle sake, Lilith hoped that he hadn’t gone through with whatever plan was stuck in his head. Unfortunately, she was pretty sure that her hopes would be quickly thrown to the side.

”What book? I haven’t been to the library yet today??? I had planned to go later to check up on a hunch.”

Carlisle was a little confused as to where Lilith was going with this. If it was anyone else, he would dismiss them, but Lilith had proven that she was extremely good at seeing future portents. Even if it meant no sense right now.

”Why am I going to do something?”

”I don’t know,” she nearly shouted, throwing her hands up by her sides in defeat. ”That old, duty and leathery book that I told you not to touch - did you take it, or do you have some thought rattling around in that skull of yours about taking it?”

As she spoke, Lilith became more and more aggressive, not even meaning to do so. While part of her cared that her words may sting a little, the other half of her that didn’t care was winning right now.

”I had considered it, but after you said not to, I didn’t plan to. I value your input too much to start fucking around with your visions”

Carlise would take a step back to give Lilith some space. Clearly she was agitated over something, but he would guess that even she didn’t fully understand why. Which was fine. Carlisle had spent enough time around Lilith over the past few years to understand when to shut up and just do as she says.

”I am guessing that you know something, I don’t?”

”I always know things everyone else doesn’t,” she retorted, a sliver of arrogance showing through her tone.

Lilith took a moment to center her thoughts. She couldn’t call Carlisle a liar for a multitude of reasons, and he had never lied to her before. But even still, Lilith’s visions only worked if people had true intentions to carry out whatever scene she was shown.

”I know what you’re not lying… but that only confuses me more.” As she spoke, Lilith looked at Carlisle from head to toe before finally making eye contact once more. ”You know how my visions work; I only get shown things when people have true intent to act on their thoughts and such. I was getting in my car to drive here, and I saw you pull the book from the shelf.”

Carlisle would take a moment to think and understand every word that Lilith spoke. It was true that Lilith’s visions required someone to have the intention to act, but in this case, Carlisle didn’t have the intention.

”Okay… We are missing something here. Perhaps my intent hasn’t materialised yet? Maybe you are getting so good with your visions that you can now see consequences beyond a simple action? Now you can see things that require multiple decisions?” It wasn’t the best explanation in the world, but it was the only one that Carlisle could summon. His knowledge of divination wasn’t the best, but he was trying his best to learn to help Lilith.

Halfway through Carlisle speaking, Lilith began to shake her head furiously in protest. She let him say his piece while she focused on her breathing. This conversation was getting her way more worked up than she realized, for a reason that she didn’t know.

”No… if I had that ability, me and my guides would have discussed it. It would be a thing that they would have realized too. They know what they can and cannot show me, and if they were going to force more information into my brain because I unlocked more superpowers - they would tell me. But they haven’t been telling me shit here lately -”

Fists balled at her side, Lilith felt her nails digging into the palms of her hands. ”I’ve been freaking the fuck out since like three this morning and I have no idea why.” As the young woman spoke, the words flew from her mouth quickly.

”My body doesn’t really feel like it’s mine right now. I keep having nightmares. I saw you take the book, Carlisle. None of this is making any sense.”

Carlisle noticed her balled fists, seeing the edges of the nails digging into the skin. A frown covered his face, quickly transitioning into a look of worry; panic gripping the edges of his state. He would lift his arms up to hold her shoulders, making sure that his touch was gentle and reassuring rather than domineering.

Even with Carlisle being someone familiar to her, Lilith had to fight the natural instinct to shove his hands away. Still though, she remained as calm as she could, even if she did flinch ever so slightly,

”Okay… Okay…” Carlisle bit his lip. He wanted to speak, but he was holding back, until a deep sigh left his lights and he began to speak quietly. ”So… Something is happening around here. I have been feeling it. The wards around Tanner feel…off. I was the first to notice it, and my mother has been looking into it. Next thing I know, her and the rest of the council are recalling everyone. This isn’t retirement. It is something else. I don’t know what is happening, but I would be willing to bet how you are feeling is somehow connected. I can’t give you the answers, but I promise that whatever is going on, I won’t let it harm you.”

Lilith took time to ponder the information, and held back every urge in her body to scoff. While she knew that Carlisle meant every word in true sincerity, a small part of Lilith was always offended when people assumed that she needed protection.

Eyebrows narrowed in frustration, Lilith asked him once more about the book. ”So you didn’t take anything from the Library?”

”No, I didn't take the book from the library.” He then realised that he hadn’t fully answered the question. ”I have taken a book from the library, but not the one that you explicitly told me to take” He would take his hands off her shoulders now, while he was filled with worry, he knew that projecting that onto Lilith, wasn’t wise when she was wound up.

Eyes now flashing with fire, Lilith felt every drop of anxiety and anger in her body rush to the surface. ”Carlisle!” she shrieked, throwing her hands up again before letting them fall back at her sides. ”Withholding information from me is just as bad as lying to me, and you should know that by now!”

Arms now crossed, Lilith pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration as she took another deep breath in a weak attempt to steady herself.

”Two questions: What book and why?”

A sinking feeling appeared in Carlisle’s chest. While he had been truthful, he had misunderstood what Lilith had been trying to get at, and that meant that he had screwed up.

”Okay, so the book was a book on divination magic. I had been trying to read up on your abilities and how it interacts with you. I had been looking at how divination and wards interact with each other as well. But that book you pointed to me at the restricted section, I have never, ever touched. I promise. I really, really promise.”

A multitude of questions ran through Lilith’s mind as Carlisle tried to explain. Why was he studying her powers? Could Divination actually help re-strengthen the Wards? If Carlisle hadn’t taken the book in question, why did her guides show her what they had?

Looking at her feet as she often did, the young woman blinked a few quick times to clear her headspace before looking back at Carlisle. She wasn’t angry, and she wasn’t sad, nor happy - and you could see the sudden indifference to the situation nearly radiating from Lilith’s body. She couldn’t afford to care about every little move that everyone made - especially if she was supposed to maintain her own sanity.

”Just put the book back, please. And don’t touch anything else from that section. Ever.”

”I will put it back. That vision is so confusing though. Still, I am sure we will figure it out as we carry on…” Carlisle felt a little bad. Despite not knowing about her vision, he still felt at fault. ”We have some coven stuff to do this afternoon, but how about after that, why don’t I get you a Taco Bell? My treat.”

Now looking down at her hands, Lilith was picking at the skin around her nails - a nervous habit. She knew good and well what the vision had meant; Carlisle should have never taken anything from the Forbidden section of the Coven Library - that’s why it was Forbidden after all. Still though, Lilith couldn’t truly be mad at Carlisle. The young man had good intentions, but he still needed to learn how to think before he acted.

Her overall demeanor now somewhat relaxing, Lilith laughed weakly at the mention of her favorite fast food.

”That would be lovely,” she agreed. ”Now can we get this meeting over with? You know how this building gives me the fucking creeps.”

With a soft smile, Carlisle also relaxed. Listening to her final remark, he nodded and drew a breath. Rather than speak, he decided to simply walk over to the door back to the house and open it, signalling he was more than ready to get this shit over and done with. He would leave the door open for Lilith as he walked on through and saw that in the time they had spoken, more people had entered the house.

”Ah, more peeps! Welcome!”

The Witches & Warlocks of Tanner

Just want to highlight that this is still going ahead. I know things have taken a slightly slower turn that we originally expected.

Please feel free to post if you want to mingle in the dining hall and interact between characters while the backend stuff gets sorted. Otherwise just hold onto seatbelts and enjoy the ride.

The Witches & Warlocks of Tanner

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Tanner Coven - @SouffleGirl123 @Inertia @udonoodles @Aeolian @VerusEbullio @HaleyTheRandom

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Now that he was finally in the coven household, Carlisle had to occupy himself. He had no idea how long it would take for people to filter in. He was unsure even who was actually turning up. His mother had given him a list, which he had on his phone, but in all honesty he wasn't sure how upto date it was. He spent his free time glancing through his phone, checking to see if he had any replies and also rereading some old convoys he had saved from his fellow coven brethren before they all headed to college.

The fact he hadn't gotten a response from Lilith had made him somewhat worried. His anxiety about meeting old school mates was one thing, but his anxiety over Lilith was overriding his other anxieties. He knew that she wasn't exactly keen on this place, and in all honesty, if she could get away with not arriving, she wouldn't come at all. Not that he could blame her. He didn't exactly want to be here either.

He didn't have to wait too long before he heard the door open, being pulled out of his anxiety induced thoughts. He debated whether he would get up and actually greet people, but he was visible enough to the rest of the group that people would know what to do. Most of them, wouldn't have even known what was going on with the coven, so they had no idea what Carlisle was about to say.

One by one they all filtered in. But in typical Tanner fashion, they all seemed to arrive in an awkward gaggle. Carlisle would smile towards the group of Victor, Eli and Catherine and gesture towards them to sit down. Aridia arrived next, in a significantly more cheery tone compared to the nervousness of everyone else. Yuna followed shortly after but did her best to cut herself off from the crowd.

"Well, I never thought all of us would get called back this quickly. I always knew we would end up having to work together, but I at least thought we would have gotten to our 30's at least, not at least just being able to finish college!"

A nervous laugh escaped Carlisle's lips. He hasn't revealed to most people that he had dropped out of college beyond the first year. He was fairly certain only Lilith and Yuna knew, and the latter was more through association than actively disclosing it. He still had his mother's pride, and he wasn't quite ready to admit that he had failed. Even if most people could be to some degree sympathetic to his reasons. Right now his stomach felt all twisted and knotted. He felt the subconscious pressure from his mother to perform like a leader, and his inate lack of confidence colliding. He really needed a get out while others were arriving.

That came when he saw Lilith enter the coven. A small part of his stomach relaxed, his shoulders popped down slightly to signal to those adept enough in reading body language, that he had calmed down slightly….

Only to the shoot right back up again when Lilith had asked to speak to him outside. The shoulders went right back up. He stood up from his seat and began to talk.

"S-Sure. Excuse me everyone won't be a moment"

Carlisle would get up and hastily walk over to one of the external dining room doors, and held it open so Lilith could follow. Once they were outside he would quietly close the door and move to the side so they were out of direct earshot of anyone in the dining room.

"What's up? Something hasn't happened has it? Everything is okay? Also, love the fishnets"

The questions got faster as both nerves and anxiety combined to make a new, sinking feeling in his stomach. He liked Lilith and while he wasn't entirely sure that she had that kind of level of feelings in return, had caused a many nights of sweats and panics. He had been trying his best to keep on her good side and try and impress her, in whatever weird way that Carlisle could. He couldn't shake the feeling however that months of progress was about to blow up.

The Witches & Warlocks of Tanner

Hayden Kersey

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FC: India Eisley. Color: FFA500
"Don’t bite off more than you chew boy, Else you might get swallowed whole and spat right out."

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Basic Information

Name: Hayden Kersey
Gender Female
Age: 23
Sexual Orientation: Straight
College Degree: Bachelors in Kicking your Ass

Magical Abilities

Witch or Warlock: Warlock
Schools of Magic: Evocation
Magical Ability (out of 10): 4
Signature Spells

• Fiery Blade - Hayden can create a blade made of fire in her hand at will. She can control the length of the blade, from a switchblade, right upto a longsword. She doesn’t get burnt by the fire while holding the blade.
• Wall of Force - Hayden calls forth an invisible wall that is ¼ inch thick. She can wrap and warp the wall as she sees fit into a 10ft radius sphere at its largest. The invisible barrier is immune to dispel magic, at least from Warlocks. Witches it is a bit more touch and go.

Personality: Pride would be the defining characteristic of Hayden if you had to pick a singular descriptor. Beyond that, nothing pleasant can be said for her. She prefers to be the aggressor rather than the defender, and will happily resort to violence if she thinks it will get what she wants.

Loyalty ain’t one of her strong suits either. She has no issue switching sides, abandoning people, or even just making friends with enemies if she thinks it gets her closer to her goals. Getting her to commit to anything can be a task. She does have some honour. Just good luck finding it. She keeps it very close to her chest and reserves it for only the closest people in her life.

History/Bio: Growing up in the bustling New York city was a tough experience. The city was filled with covens, some of them acting more like magical gangs and trying to turf in on other covens. Even the supernatural world isn’t protected from organized crime. Her parents were part of a Brooklyn Coven that took loyalty to the coven very seriously, so Hayden was pretty much brought up within the covens walls.

It was here that she learnt a valuable lesson: Acting unhinged certainly does put people on the back foot and causes them to cave into your demands sooner. Being unpredictable breeds fear. It was a creed that Hayden took into her late teens, resorting to become a petty criminal and racking up quite the nice potential charge list. She didn’t however reveal magic to mortals. If anyone asks, she really was holding a burning knife in her hand.

She eventually bumped into Kolby Hawthorne and the duo started a strange fuck and fight dynamic, where they ended up being in and out of a relationship faster than a revolving door, but no matter how far she went away from Kolby, protective Kobly would be around the corner, ready to beat down on whoever she had her eye on. They ended up doing crime together, and when Kolby revealed he was moving back to Tanner, she was ready to break up and find a new boy to hang onto.

That was until her criminal past caught up with her, and people began to hunt her down. Sensing that she might be in danger, she decided to instead convince Kolby to take her to Tanner and join the coven there. A place where she could lay low…. And admire the new eye candy of the small isolated town.

The Witches & Warlocks of Tanner

I am also in a position to pass judgement on some of the other submissions:

@Benzaiten @redraider1 Zhalia & Claire are intressting concepts, however looking at the balance of the current character roster, I think they would be difficult to fit in with everything else without seeming odd. Thanks for your interest though!

@ActRaiserTheReturned I am not sure how to say this without coming off as a bit of a douce, so I do apologise, as it isn't supposed to sound like that. However given the work that everyone has put into their characters, I don't think I would be able to accept someone like Jacob. I just don't feel the passion for it you know.

The Witches & Warlocks of Tanner

Hey everyone!

I can't remember if all accepted players are in the Discord (If not I highly encourage you join as it makes co-ordination 100x easier) , so I will put this here just incase:

After doing some consideration, I have decided to go against the idea of having strict cycle like deadlines. Instead we are going to play this as follows: Please post for each character every two weeks at a minimum. However you don't have to wait for everyone to post before you can post again. Please however do make sure that you leave at least a couple of posts between responses, to give others a chance. Also obviously, no time skips. Because the pace will be a bit more free-form, please don't pressure yourself to write 5+ paragraphs all the time. Sometimes you might only need to write out a paragraph, and that is perfectly fine. This is a marathon, not a race :)

As for characters. I had been expecting another 5ish character submissions, but I think that has now dwindled down one. So for now I am going to put the RP into 'Soft-Closed' I will likely be taking on another 1/2 characterrs. After that, people are still free to apply, but the likely hood of acceptance will be low.

The Witches & Warlocks of Tanner

A dark damp mist descended onto the deep forests that surrounded Tanner. The full moon had reached its efflorescence along the blackened sky, using its reflected light to shine down through the thick mist, that somehow only made things harder to see rather than helping. Suffice to say that the majority of the town was at this point asleep, and anyone who was awake in this hour was certainly upto no good.

Hurried footsteps moved through the forests, accompanied by hurried draws of deep breath. Panic rising in the air. Moments later another sound could be heard in the woods, giving chase, faint snarls mixed in with the sounds of running. Occasionally the prey would look behind them, hearing the snarling getting closer and closer. The mist was making it hard to see where they were supposed to be going.

Suddenly, A single scream pierced the air. And then silence.

Carlisle’s peaceful sleep was punctuated by the sudden chime from his phone alarm on his bedside table. Grabbing it, he looked at the time before letting out a short sigh and dismissing the alarm: 6.15am. Rolling onto his side he would sit up running his hand through his hair. Today was the day. College was over, and everyone would be back from college. Carlisle was both excited and dreading the day ahead. It was going to be nice to see people he used to go to high school with, but at the same time, it was also quite scary. Have people changed? Would people even remember him? He had tried his best to keep in touch with people, but that wasn’t exactly easy for him.

Putting on a baggy tee and his morning shorts, Carlisle got out of bed and walked out of his room in his parents house. The Aston family lived in a nice Victroian style house in the more well to do area of Tanner. It was one of those ‘In our family for generations’ style of houses, where half of the furniture was most likely older than his parents' ages combined.

Reaching the kitchen he saw his mother sitting at the kitchen tabletop, a dark green leather bound book in her hands, clad in her half lace dressing gown. Amanda Aston was one of the premier witches in the Tanner Coven, making up one of the three council members. Normally she was always engrossed in coven matters, but at the moment she seemed to be rather relaxed.

”Enjoying your first day of retirement?” Carlisle asked. As he made his way to the toaster to put some bread in. Toast would make everything better.

”It isn’t exactly relaxing. I still have alot of Coven stuff to do, it just means I don’t have to spend every waking hour of every waking day dealing with things. That is your problem now.” THe coven would certainly not be the same without Amanda walking around every day and calling the shots. As the Coven Matriarch, it was certainly going to be an adjustment to not seeing her every day. ”Besides, most of my life at the moment is trying to find a replacement for myself.” With the toast popping out of the toaster, Carlilse grabbed it and spun back around. Deciding to try and head his mother off as he knew the point she was about to make.

”Let me guess, the other council members are still reluctant to put me in charge like you want?” Carlisle retorted, the corner of a piece of toast now hanging from his teeth. Amanda on the other hand was somewhat casual with her body language.

”They are still uneasy about a warlock being in charge of the coven, and ontop of that, they still think Celeste would be a better candidate. They have only agreed for you to be a caretaker Patriarch until the council has made its final decision. And that was a hard enough sell. Had to spend weeks essentially arguing that Celeste had been away for too long to be deemed an immediate choice. It is only a matter of time.” Carlisle had been leaning against the kitchen counter, listening to his mothers words, eating the toast, forgetting to put any topping on it in the process.

”Have you ever considered that perhaps, I don’t deserve it? I mean lets be clear, I am a warlock. I know, before you start, you don’t like it. I am the first warlock of the bloodline, and father will go on and on about how I am either a disgrace to bloodline, or omens of the future of the Aston family. But at the same time, maybe I don’t want it. I am not exactly a natural born leader.” Amanda sat up straight, finally her fuse had been set off, and the relaxed facade had finally crumbled.

”Carlisle, the Aston family have been Matriarchs of the coven seven out of the last ten times. It is within our nature to be the leaders of this town's fine witches and warlocks.

”Exactly, 7/10. That means you don’t win every time. This is just one of these times that you don’t. I guess we will just have to focus on my child… If I ever have one.” Carlisle knew what he just did. Threatening not to have children infront of his mother was the equivalent of setting off a nuclear bomb in this household. Anything that would suggest that the Aston bloodline would end with him always elicited the same response. ”Also bear in mind you said Matriarch, not Patriarch. It is no secret that magical energy runs stronger in the female side of the Aston bloodline. I am not ashamed of that.”

”Not this again. Where is your ambition Carlisle? Your family has an amazing history that most witches would die for, and you sit here like it means nothing to you. I had really hoped with your friends coming back that maybe some fire would be ignited under you. I even got this book out that discusses rituals to turn warlocks into witches.”

”Mom. No. I am not taking part in any hokey cokey ritual that could potentially kill me, all for giving you some extra family credit. End of discussion.” With that, Carlisle finished the final bite of his toast and began to walk back upto his room, ignoring the protests of his mother to come back and listen to him.

A sigh escaped Carlisle’s lips as he reentered his room. This morning had gone exactly as he imagined it so far. Nothing new there. Picking up his phone, he at least noted that it had burnt about 20 minutes of his day. Opening his messenger app he would quickly find Lilith and send her a quick text:

Morning, So I have already had the ‘talk’ with my mother. It isn’t even the start of day one proper yet. How’s your morning?”

Sending the text he put the phone back in his pocket. He was used to Lilith responding whenever she was free and able to talk. There was no guarantee that she was even up yet. Carlisle then began the process of getting dressed and ready for the day. His mother had already informed everyone to let their children know that they needed to be at the Coven household by 11am that morning. She had of course instructed Carlise to be there fashionably earlier than that. She had also taken an immense amount of pride telling every parent who would listen about how ‘her boy’ was looking after the coven after they all decided to take retirement.

Retirement wasn’t exactly a new concept. It had been around for a few generations, but normally, the elders waited until their replacements were in their mid thirties before pulling their stunt, so doing it this young was a decision that he couldn’t quite comprehend. They clearly had their reasons, but they were keeping everyone in the dark about it.

With his clothes now on: A simple white shirt and black trouser pants, a la, smart casual, Carlisle decided to set off to the Coven household. That way his mother couldn’t try and sacrifice him to some sort of eldritch horror in a vein attempt to save the family's vanity. Carlisle decided to walk through the quiet morning streets of suburban Tanner to get to the household. Mostly because he knew that everyone was most likely to bring their car and cause a massive pile up at the house. And there was no way he was going to be stuck there because someone can’t park correctly.

Coven Household

The Coven Household

The Coven Household was situated in the center of Tanner, and if you believe the history of the place, it was one of the first buildings that was built in Tanner and it was built by the coven for their exclusive use. It was called the Household because that was what it was. In order to avoid raising suspicions in older times, some witches and warlocks lived inside the house so that to the outside world it was just a popular residence. Nowadays most of the mortals believe it is some kind of membership only club.

Carlisle would enter the household through the front door, unlocking it with his mothers master key. Well, I suppose for now, his master key. The building had a wonderful entrance hall complete with a twin staircase that led upstairs. The home was filled with many bedrooms, drawing rooms, lounges, studies, libraries, and then there was the basement. That was something else entirely. Carlisle hadn’t exactly explored the entire house even with all the years he had been here. You never really went into a room unless you needed to. But in theory, this was his house now. So it would be rude not to take stock.

His adventurous streak was dashed however when he checked his watch. It had just turned 9am. He decided instead to go the dining room adjacent to the entrance hallway and wait to see if anyone turned up early. He had to be the responsible one.