"Well that's a waste of blood," Xavier whistled, stealing the attention of the girls.

He jumped down from the pile of rubble, his feet made no sound as he landed. Twyla and Luna could only stare at him as he strolled over to blood-painted message. The blood, which was still wet, dripped onto his finger and disappeared into the wet cavern of his mouth. A moment of brief bliss flickered over his features before his lips thinned into a hard line.

Turning back to the girls he said, "This blood is only an hour old. It's a mixture of three different blood types that share slight similarities, probably family. And judging by how high the words are, I'm guessing the person was a witch or warlock- they could fly."

A half-hysterical whimper rose from Luna's lips, as she buried her head into her hands. Her knees buckled, dropping her body onto the floor in a heap of shaking limbs. All she could think about was her mother being toured and possibly even killed as some madman drew blood from her. She could see her now, pressed against the wall, begging for her life to remain in tact as she waited for her unconscious daughters to awake and help her. They hadn't woken up though, and now she was gone. Just three days ago, she had been lounging in the parlor with her mother- the same parlor that was smashed to pieces with blood stains on the wall. The two of them had been rearranging bouquets while commenting on the new highlights Mrs. Haverstock opted to get in her hair. It had been such insignificant moment at the time but Luna would have done anything to get it back.

She was a normal girl. As normal as anyone could be: she watched YouTube tutorials and ate pizza by the tons and wore cashmere sweaters, tucked into her skin tight jeans. She played games on her iPhone and had a secret shrine dedicated to Harry Styles. Sure, there were things about her that certainly reached an above normal level but nothing that breached the supernatural sort. And now, she was just forced to accept that this was a part of her life. How was that fair? Twyla, of course, took everything in stride. Luna didn't miss the way her sister's eyes narrowed and shoulders stiffened but otherwise she remained untouched, like a real life ice queen. Lucky her, thought Luna. Even in her emotional aura there was a void, a tinge of annoyance, and a pinch of fear, but mostly nothing.

"I'm sorry," said Xavier. With a flick of Twyla's wrist, Xavier's body was thrown to the floor. A crack resonated as his head smacked against the hardwood.

Twyla reached out. Luna thought she was going to grab her hand but she didn't, instead her palm began to glow. Luna was so overwhelmed with the cryptic message and strange vampire in their parlor, she didn't realize her body was suspended in air. Her eyes darted to the mound of broken glass on the floor as she braced herself to fall at any time. She was well-accustomed with Newton's Law of Gravity, what goes up must go down. It made sense that Twyla didn't follow the laws of Gravity though, she didn't follow any law. Her head felt dizzy, black spots appeared in her vision. It was just too much! Her mind couldn't form a coherent thought.

Twyla flexed her hand. A force, almost like an invisible hand pushed Luna back onto her feet. The second she was standing upright again, her knees began to buckle. Twyla clenched her fist. Her knuckles whitened as she tried to keep her sister from falling over. She didn't need Luna passing out on her- she had enough to worry about already. Even though Twyla kept a stone mask over her face, she was freaking out inside. Nyx and Nana were gone; they were all alone.

"Please calm down, Luna." Twyla said. She could see the rising hysteria in Luna's eyes.

"Calm down? How can you ask that of me? They took everything!"

"Yes," Twyla said through gritted teeth.

"Then why are you so calm! Mom could be dead!" Luna screamed.

Grabbing Luna's arm, Twyla led her to the dining room. The French doors swung open, without being touched, revealing six chairs situated around a mahogany table and a sparkling baroque chandelier dangling above their heads. Twyla pushed her sister into the closest chair and sat beside her. An awkward silence passed between the two as Luna's sniffles turned into full-blown sobs. Twyla had no idea what to say. How did one console their half-hysterical sister, after a group of psycho stalkers stole half of their family? The girls were not close, and Twyla didn't like her sister, but she felt inclined to take of her. In the vision, they looked to be so close. It was possible for them to be civil to each other, the past day was proof enough, but actually caring for each other was different.

"You're right Luna, Mom could dead, Aunt Nyx could be dead and Nana could be dead but we won't ever know unless you calm down and we find this damn book. So sober up now!"

Luna flinched at the biting tone in Twyla's voice. "But-"

"But nothing. Wipe off your mascara, change your dress. Do what you have to do and come back downstairs. I'll go look for this book in the meantime."

"D-don't you think if the book was in the house they would have taken it already?"

That was a safe assumption. If they could get in the house then they could find their own damn book, but Twyla had a feeling there was something else to the story. Celeste had admitted that the girls were being hunted by whoever these people were, the book was probably just half the deal. The girls, were the other half. Then, thought Twyla, that created a new slew of problems for them because Twyla didn't feel inclined to play martyr. Every last instinct in her body was begging for her to grab Luna and run, she fought those instincts, but that didn't mean she was happy to go along with these plans.

"And which book do they even want? I mean, I can't be crazy to assume that witches own more than one spellbook."

"No," said Twyla,"Most families own several basic spellbooks but only one is passed through the family. The book of Draíocht was a simple model, many people own it, I'm guessing they are looking for Nana's personal cookbook."

The Goodwin spell-book was the size with an average textbook, with a black leather cover and yellowing pages. Vines twisted across the length of the cover, any person who wasn't a Goodwin would be stabbed by one of the prickly thorns immediately if they wished to open the book. Nana never went anywhere without it, she would stick it underneath the thick folds of her coat and carry it around. After a while, the bulge in her jacket began to look normal, like an extension of herself. There were very few times in which Twyla would ask about the book but when she did it always earned her a quick slap to the wrist and a cold look from her grandmother. The book was just another thing that Twyla was not allowed to know about.

"If it's in the house, then we'll find it."

"And if it's not?" Luna's voice quaked.

"Go change, Luna. Everything will be fine."

Luna agreed only for the simple fact that she did not want to deal with this at the moment. Twyla was better equipped for the supernatural treasure hunt.  Once Luna rounded the corner, Twyla cracked her knuckles and pulled her arms above her hands. Her black dress morphed into a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt as her heels turned to combat boots.

"You know," Xavier said, causing Twyla to jump, "You're like your very own fairy godmother."

"I'm not a fairy. I don't sparkle," Twyla growled. She pushed him out of her way and marched out of the dining room.

"That is not what I meant, and you know that," he walked beside her, easily keeping up with her long strides.

"I don't really care what you meant."

Twyla didn't understand why the vamp was still hanging around, he should have left the second she let him live. And yet he stayed, completely unafraid of the consequences. That either made him extremely brave or extremely stupid- Twyla was leaning towards the latter. She had to admit though, there was a bit of an allure to him, like a dark angel. She had no clue where he came from and his glowing crimson eyes were a clear sign that he was dangerous. But the question was whether or not he was dangerous to her, and Luna seemed to think he wasn't a threat. Now, Luna's magic was not something to trust but it was at least a start for her analysis. One wrong move from Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome and he'd find himself learning that even immortality had boundaries.

The two walked in silence, only the loud thumps of Twyla's boots against the marble floor could be heard. When they reached the cellar door, Xavier grabbed the doorknob and pulled but it wouldn't budge. His brows furrowed together as he pulled once more, this time with more strength, but again the door stayed locked. Clucking her tongue against the roof of her mouth, Twyla pushed him out of her way and held her hand out to the door. The doorknob began to glow, as if someone were heating metal, and then a series of clicking noises sounded as the mechanisms unlocked.

"You could have told me it was a magical door," Said Xavier as the door swung open.

"Then I'd be lying." Twyla flipped on the light switch, only to discover that the power in the house was still out. She mentally cursed them out to the fiery pits of hell.

"So, ladies first?" Asked Xavier. A cheeky smirk wormed its way onto his mouth as he watched Twyla fight with the light switch.

Stepping back, she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the devilishly handsome vampire. "No, you can go, I'm a feminist." Xavier didn't get a chance to retort, as an invisible force wrapped around his body and pulled him into the dark corridor.

"You know I can see in the dark, right?" Xavier yelled.

Shaking her head, Twyla rubbed her palms together and watched as a bright, golden light appeared from her hands. She cupped her hands together and joined him in the hallway. The orb of light hovered in front of the pair as they walked down the stairs, the two continuously glanced at one another as if they were waiting to strike. Twyla, who very rarely got afraid, could feel her palms grow slick with sweat and she was sure Xavier could hear her heartbeat as it thundered in her chest. On the outside, however, she refused to any of that fear show.

"I'm not going to hurt you Twyla," he said as they reached the last step. "I can hear that you're afraid, and I understand why, but you have no reason to fear me."

"Yeah we'll see," Twyla scoffed. She turned away from him and followed the orb into the cold, dank cellar.

Whereas most families took the time and money to transform their basement into a second lounge, the Goodwin family kept the concrete walls and floors of theirs. The basement, after all, was only used for random clutter to rot away in as the years passed. Boxes were stacked as high as the ceiling and soggy pieces of paper and clothes sat in the mildew infested puddles. There was a strange mingling of rotting smells that hung the air, some smelt like dead animals, others smelt like spoiled food, and then there was the occasional burnt corpse smell that singed the air. Twyla silently prayed that those body parts would be in whatever boxes Xavier searched through.

"You guys have a lot of pictures down here," said Xavier. Rummaging through a box, he pulled out a portrait half the size of his body. The picture was of a middle aged man, with heavy set features and a wide twisty mustache that belonged to villains in old western movies. Twyla had never met the man, not in this life at least, but she knew who he was immediately.

"That's Theodore Goodwin. He would be My Great- Grandfather." Or brother-in-law, if that strange vision was true.

"It'd be great if he was still alive, he'd probably know where the book is," remarked Xavier, before he put the picture back in the box.

"He died back in 1952." The fact appeared in Twyla's mind but as far as she knew, Nana had never disclosed that information- she hated to speak about her life as a young girl.

"Hmmn," Xavier put the picture back, "Well it's got to be here somewhere. It's just going to take sometime to look through everything. Are you sure you don't have any other relatives?"

A clatter sounded as Twyla dropped the box she was looking through. Spinning around, Twyla's eyes flashed with recognition, a slight smile touched her lips. "Uncle Leo."

**I love checking off the characters on the character list as each person is introduced. Uncle Leo is one of three that we have yet to meet but now we shall in upcoming chapters. Sorry again that this is another short chapter but I have to study for finals, unfortunately. Please tell me what you guys think of Xavier, he will be a big part of the story. Try to guess in the comments how he will make in impact. and what will happen next. I imagined the concept of this book months ago so I am very connected to the characters and I love Xavier and his backstory which will be revealed in upcoming chapters. Thank again for reading and supporting me continuously!

XOXO,
Ro.**