*Soleil*
"Are you ready to get going, Soleil ?" Siri says, grabbing a sweater.
We walk into the forest towards the north, a small downtrodden path that leads us deep in between the dense pine trees. The smell is different in the forest. Beside the scent of the damp earth and rotting plants that I am used to, it smells of tree sap.
We haven't walked for long when we reach a small stream running down towards the lake by the cabin.
"If you should ever get lost in the forest, find this stream and follow the flow. It will lead you back to the cabin". Siri says.
"The forest stream". I say with a nod, stepping up on the old tree trunk that is laying over the stream as a bridge.
We keep walking, getting farther into the forest until we reach a clearing. I stop in my tracks whe
*The vampire*"Boss ? Are you awake ?" Natascha slowly sticks her head in the door to my bedroom. "I got a couple of bags for you"."Bring them here". I mumble, sitting up, feeling so very tired.I am still very weak after my trip to the forest. When I finally drove into the courtyard I had been close to crashing the car. Even if the windows were blackened out, I wasn't totally protected from sunlight. And because I hadn't eaten before going to the forest, the accumulation of porphyrins in my blood had happened very fast. They had made my skin explode in blisters, several places leaving craters of dead tissue. The muscles had contracted due to lack of blood. The security had to twitch my mummified body from the seat and carry me to bed. And here I have been since, as helpless as a cow. It pisses me off badly to let Natascha take care of me and see me in this way.
*Siri*"So who recognised her". Gudrun asks curiously after Soleil has gone to bed."No one". I say thoughtfully. "Not the vaetter from the earth and stones, nor the ones from the water had connections to her. And no one among the dísir either".Marta and Gudrun look worriedly at each other. And Marta says. "We have been reading in the old books while you were gone. There are stories in there about vǫlur getting help from a thurse and stories of storms that made ships sink and fog that made warriors lose their way. I found nothing in our own scripts… and I didn't find anything about the dark one"."I remembered that the Malleus Maleficarum has some chapters about witches creating storms. But none of them had anything usable or true for that matter. I tried looking for something that fits with what Soleil told about the da
*Luca*I am not ready to wake up yet, but some very annoying birds insist on singing right outside my window extremely loud. Reluctantly I open my eyes, doesn't sound like the little shite out there is about to shut up. I manage to sit halfway up, before I have to give up and with a groan I fall back on the pillow. Every fiber in my body is protesting, like I have worked out for hours yesterday. I suddenly realise that I am naked…like totally naked.I mean how big is the chance that I decide to sleep naked in a house full of men ? Yup zero, nil, nada ! Where the fuck are my clothes ?The clothes aren't on the chair and it's not on the floor either. It's not really my style getting naked outside and strolling through the house showing off my arse before getting int
*Luca*"You want a beer ?" Martin asks from the refrigerator.I make a disgusted face and shake my head."Well what the fuck, it has to be 5 o'clock somewhere right ?" He says as he grabs three beers anyway."I am not going to drink any more of that shit". I glare at them, sitting down with my arms crossed on my chest."Come on ! We are pulling Your leg. We haven't slipped you anything. Everything that is happening to you, has happened to us when we turned sixteen". Martin says, opening a beer.Jonas shakes his head no, when Martin offers him a beer. Then he looks at me for a long time, asking very seriously. "You don't remember anything at all from last night ?"Opposite Martin who possesses the maturity of a ten year old Jon
*Davina*It is a normal Friday night in the Grotto, Well it is until one of the royals suddenly stands beside me and Mark. She looks at us, her face void of emotions. "Hi Mark, can I borrow your friend for a moment ?""Sure Celine". Mark answers and quickly disappears."Follow me". The beautiful vamp queen says and turns, walking away.All my friends stare after me as I hesitantly follow her. When we reach the infamous stair Celine stops. "In a moment you will follow me up there. You will be discrete and you won't speak unless spoken to. Whatever happens you are not to tell anyone what happens up there. Got it ?"I nod, feeling totally speechless."Follow me". Celine says, walking up the stairs. I can't believe this. I am really on my way to the balcony. I mean I
*Soleil*I lay in the bed, staring at the ceiling. What is this place ? Trolls and elves and monsters out to get me. Women with wings.I get up, starting to pack my few belongings in my bag, while trying to figure out which way to run to get away without getting lost in the wilderness. I stop when my imagination tells me how I will fall down a ravine and break my leg ending up dying alone. My body will rot away and never be found. I mumble annoyed, pushing my hair behind my ears. I didn't think that through. And Siri has told me I can leave if I want to, so I can just ask her to drive me home.But then the memories hit me, the ones the trolls and elves showed me. I look sadly at my bag. This is where I belong. My dreams have come true here. The stone circle, the little hill, I can't tell myself it isn't true anymore. The balance. The vaetter. The hamram. Yeah it is scary.
*Soleil*We walk in the opposite direction from when Siri had taken me to the stone circle. In this direction, the forest quickly becomes dense and the air is damp. There is a smell of still water, and the underground starts to get swampy and slick, the farther we get away from the cabin."Stop here". Gudrun puts a hand on my arm, when we can't walk any further on the soft ground. "From here you have to walk in my footsteps. There are some very deep swamp holes, if you step into one of them, it can become very dangerous".I nod feeling nervous. We keep walking for another couple of metres, before the mud turns into a dark murky lake. Gudrun stops taking off her cape and sitting down on it. I sit down next to her."Why are you wearing those old-fashioned capes and carrying the sticks". I ask."It's t
*Soleil*It is dark out now and the sun is setting, as we are on our way to the circle. We are so high up north that the night is pretty short at this time of year. But still we need flash lights to find our way. When we reach the circle the full moon has just come up over the treetops and we can turn off the lights."Marta is going to light a fire, and then we are all going to prepare our senses for the sitting out. These herbs help us clean our mind and focus". Siri shows me two leather pouches.When the fire is roaring, we all step up to it and Siri opens one of the pouches, handing it to Marta. "The first handful of herbs we throw to clean our mind. Your worries will disappear and you are present in the moment. Just do as we do".Marta reaches inside, pulling out some herbs, before leaning over the fire, throwing them into the flam