Diana Couper awoke for the first time in a long time, without remembering what she dreamt about. She was exhausted from all the spirit walking, dream diving, running for her life on more than one occasion, and the mental strife of being hexed…but otherwise…she felt good. Warm. Comfortable. Safe.

For all of three minutes Diana was content. Then her bedroom door flew open and her blissful denial of how stupendously boned she was came running right up to her.

“Diana!” Agnes was spry for an old bird, and she hadn’t a drop of calm in her. “Diana you must hurry! We are under attack!”

“Say what?” Diana groggily sat up, only for her hand to be taken away from rubbing her eye, and she was dragged off her bed. “Oh, okay, I’m up.”

“Hurry we must run!”

“Why? I thought this house was protected with blood magic blah blah?” Agnes’s tone and how she desperately dragged Diana down the stairs was quickly sobering her from sleep. “What’s going on?” Agnes released her as they made it to the kitchen to throw her own hands up defensively. The kitchen windows shattered as a shockwave tore through the kitchen towards them. Diana screamed, but Agnes stood firm.

“Stay behind me!” Agnes seemed to freeze time an inch before her fingertips and struggled under the strain of it. She stumbled back a step and Diana was in shock. The entire kitchen twinkled where the glass shards caught the light. The shards were like an angry school of razor sharp fish wanting to swarm and shred them, but caught in Agnes’s invisible net. “Aaaah.” She hissed, shaking under the effort and one of the glass shards pierced the tip of her right middle finger. “Not on my watch, deary.” Diana’s heart was racing and she was in both terror and awe, as the older witch screamed and stomped her right foot. She pushed her hands forward and threw the hexed glass back out the kitchen window.  

“AAAAAA!” Someone outside just got hit.

“Hurry!” Agnes swayed as she turned to throw her hands onto Diana’s shoulders. “I-I’m afraid that took quite about out of me. I’ll be needing you to drag us both outside and to the Bently.”

“Where’s Anna?” Diana wrapped one of Agne’s arms across her shoulders and walked them towards the front door. The back door would have taken them out of the kitchen and towards whoever just tried to skewer them.

“Knox carried her away kicking and screaming, I’d wager, when the first spell hit the house.” Diana haphazardly held Agnes around her waist to pin her to her left side, as her right hand released the battleaxe’s wrist at her shoulder to unlock the door. “They’ll be at the Covenstead. That’s the procedure when we’re attacked. To gather in numbers and force.”

The front door opened and three hooded figures dressed in brown were stood waiting for them. The one on the right looked more haggard than the others, and the guy grunted as he pulled out a long piece of glass from his left shoulder.

“Ooooh Agnes? I don’t think they’re here to talk to us about Jesus.” Diana sang nervously and darted her brown eyes left and right. Shit shit shit.

“And they’re blocking us from the car.” Agnes tried to wriggle off Diana’s shoulder to protect her, but fell to one knee instead. “Damn these dusty bones of mine.” Diana dragged the old bird back up to hold her arm across her shoulders and to hug her side.

“Enough!” The woman in the middle of the hooded trio pointed at Diana. “The time of the Salem Witches is over. The Kindred have returned. Hand over the Couper Heir and we’ll let you live.” She barked with a sneer and raised her fists up to show fire swarming like lava around their palms.

“Oh, sorry, Couper? Couper. I don’t know any Coupers, sorry. Wrong house.” Diana tried and edged them to the right to be closer to the car. “So we’ll just-” The guy on the end threw the bloody glass shard like a spear. It shattered on the ground in front of their feet and made Diana yelp. “Jeezlouise, I’m about to piss my pants over here Agnes. Ideas please?”

“I have one. Run back into the house and I’ll hold them off.”

“No offence, but you can’t even stand on your own, so next bad idea please?” Diana forced Agnes to take a step back with her towards the house. The three Kindred were blocking their escape to the car. She had to hope that none of them had thought to guard the back door and the garden as an escape route.

“Enough! Your blood is mine! For the Behemoth!” Little miss ringleader stalked forward and Diana practically threw herself and Agnes into the house. She let go of the older witch to desperately slam and lock the door. The metal frame and door handle began to glow molten hot.  

“Oh I don’t think that’s going to hold.” Diana grunted and scrambled to pick Agnes back up and head for the back door. She cursed herself for not thinking quickly enough to grab her cellphone before Agnes hurried her out of her bedroom. At least then she could have called for help. From Anna or Elaina.

Crash. “Told you!” Diana kicked the kitchen door open and Agnes rasped to keep up with her. They made it through the back gate and out to a public footpath behind the houses when they heard the sound of lightening colliding with the bark of the tree to their right.

“This will take us to the woods.”

“It’s also a straight fucking line!” Diana hissed, dragging them at a near run and looking back over her shoulders with worry. “We’re sitting ducks Agnes!”

“Not for long. Look.” Diana looked forward and saw more figures running towards them, but they wore white. Their hoods billowed behind them with the rest of their robes. They were running so quickly it looked like their ceremonial garbs were clinging onto their necks for fear of being whipped off them. “Our Coven comes. Go to them. Qui-AAAAAAAAAAAA!” Agnes screamed unnaturally they both hit the dirt without any mercy. Diana was winded for a moment as she blinked the world back into focus.

“Agnes what…” Agnes was unconscious and the back of her purple flower print dress had melted to her back. Steam sizzled up from it and the silver haired woman rasped for breath. “Agnes!”

“…run…” She croaked, her left cheek pressed to the footpath and her eyes glassing over as she stared at Diana laid beside her. “…run deary…run to…the coven.”

“Not without you.” Diana’s eyes watered and she tried to hook under Agnes’s armpits to heave her back up. Diana’s heart thundered in her chest and she was instead lifted high by something coiling around her waist. “WHAT THE FUCK?!” Diana flailed her arms and legs and realised with horror that someone’s spirit guardian had a hold of her. She jerked stiff as she heard something hissing by her left ear. It sounded big.

“DIANA!” One of the witches jumped over Agnes and swung both their hands like they were holding a baseball bat. On the upward arch fire poured out from his palms and collided with the spirit guardian. His hood slid back and Diana recognised him. He had short brown hair with silver peppering throughout and blue eyes. She knew this witch. When she warned the coven of the ambush they were going to walk into, he sided with her under the Robinsons’s accusations. “CATCH HER!”

“I’m ready!” A second witch skidded to a stop under Diana with his arms raised. The kid didn’t fill Diana’ with confidence. He looked around Anna’s age and didn’t look like he could catch a ball, let along her! His mop of hair was windswept and his blue eyes were filled with worry. “Father I’m ready!”

“Any time now!?” Diana wriggled against the thing squeezing her middle. She beat her hands down on it’s invisible mass and grit her teeth angrily. “What’s the hold up?!”

“This thing must have thick skin!” The older brunette hissed under the strain of constantly drenching the spirit guardian’s body in flames. He looked down the path and saw the three dark ones were within casting distance. They stood there, hands clasped together and chanting with their heads bowed. “That doesn’t look good. Time for plan C.” He released the spell and pulled an Athame of black steel from beneath his robe.

“Erm, what happened to plan B?!” Diana screeched.

“Plan A was Agnes getting you out before the dark ones made it to the Couper House.” The blade started to glow bright blue and he moved like he was ducking and weaving…something. “Plan B was -Oof!” Diana’s jaw dropped as she watched as his body hurtled through the air and became pinned halfway up one of the trees lining the footpath. “…we are plan B.” He weakly laughed, then brought his glowing blade down impale whatever was trying to crush him to the tree. The wail that followed made Diana tremble. It released the witch and he landed with a huff to one knee.

The spirit guardian screeched and carried her body through the air towards the dark ones.

“I’m not ready to give up on plan B just yet! Get us the fuck out of here?!” Diana screeched and kicked her legs in the air. She rained her fists down on the spirit guardian’s tail and fought for her life.

“Edward, are you and Vulken ready?” Father and son ran after Diana.

“He’s already holding me.” The boy nodded but didn’t look away from Diana or lower his arms. “As soon as I have Diana we’re out of here.”

“AND AGNES!” Diana screamed as they passed her body on the footpath.

There.

Something shimmered around the man as he ran with his blade glowing in his right hand. Diana was distracted by what looked like the faded outline of a pair of demonic wings attached to his back. They were webbed, had sharp spines, and an eye that seemed to be looking right up at her from the upper middle of each wing. Unbeknownst to Diana, her brown eyes were starting to turn red as she watched the spirit guardian come into focus. What the…?! This time when he ran at the spirit guardian holding her, she saw those wings beat down and propel the witch through the air to land on- “SON OF A BITCH?!”

Diana saw more than just the wings of the witch trying to cut and hack his way through what held her. 

She now saw what held her.