"Aha, you're back," Unimportant smiled. Alianna sighed.

"What?" Unimportant asked.

"Nothing."

"Oh! You forgot the parade in my honour?"

Kieran stifled a laugh. I choked for a moment, but managed to suppress it into a cough.

"Called it," Alianna muttered.

Unimportant began leading us into a dining room that was much larger than required. A chandelier hung from above, but instead of more modern lighting, there were candles all around. Light danced on the walls. If you looked closely, you could see things, but I didn't want to focus on that now.

Lily smiled, and Kieran pulled out her seat. Alianna sighed, and followed suit.

"Wait, is there food?" At this point, I was starving.

"Only the souls of my enemies." Alianna muttered.

"She's only joking. We aren't as barbaric and ancient as some think. In fact, it's taco night." Lily smiled at me.

"Tacos! Almost as delightful as my own self." Unimportant beamed. Kieran laughed.

"I'do love m'tacos."

Out of nowhere, a large puff of smoke appeared. Out of which, came a relatively skinny man wearing a large top hat, who looked about mid-twenties.

"Frederick! Enough with the smoke bombs."

The man I presumed to be Frederick grinned sheepishly. He snapped his fingers, and the smoke disappeared. In its place, a spread with all of the necessary fixings for a taco.

"Fred, do the world a favour and sit down."

"Oh, come on, Ali! Don't be such a downer."

Frederick, or Fred, glanced at me. He smiled and suddenly appeared by me.

"Nice to meet ya! I'm Fred, your resident magician."

He pulled off his hat and bowed, and when he stood back up, pulled out a bouquet.

"Flowers. Nice. What's next, the rabbit?" I said sarcastically.

"Let me guess- Dan, is it? You're the bitter teenager who doesn't know what he's doing with his life- oh, am I close?"

"Perhaps." I raised an eyebrow quizzically.

"Oh, didn't you ever learn? You should never grow up, not at heart. Growing up is for bitter souls, who never could do much." That statement made me think of Evie.

"Severin, how much longer is LeAnne to be gone?"

Unimportant thought for a moment.

"Hopefully not much longer. We shall be made aware of the plans shortly."

"Hold up. Your name is Severin?" I said, probably butchering the accent.

"Yes."

"Okay then," I muttered. Unimpo-I mean, Severin, glances at me strangely.

"Wait, who's LeAnne?"

Alianna sighed. Severin glanced down.

"LeAnne. I practically raised that girl, and she ran off without a word. We won't mention that."

"Oh."

"Meanwhile, she continues to raid us in the might, without so much as a whisper. I suppose I should've expected that."

"Raid?"

"She's a psychic, she has the spirits in with her."

"Spirits?"

"Y'know, ghosts n'the dead n'all that," Kieran chimed in.

"The dead?" I asked incredulously. Although, if vampires and shapeshifters were real, I'm not sure why I was having trouble with the idea of ghosts.

"Can all you do is ask questions?" Alianna asked.

"I mean, I'm not good for anything else around here." Perhaps I spoke too soon, as just as I retorted, the door burst open. It was dark and windy, and there were snowflakes flying through the door. One woman stood, crimson hair flying in the wind. Her face was almost completely covered with a winter neck guard and hood, and her eyes shone only white. She came in with her robes trailing behind. And began to mumble some words I couldn't comprehend. Severin stood up immediately and yelled,

"LeAnne! How good of you to join us."

Unfortunately for all of us, it was the most sarcastic tone he had pulled out yet, which was a feat in itself.

The lady glanced up at him, and she glared. Her eyes burned white, and I had to shield my own eyes from the brightness. She took off her robe, and underneath glowed a white dress. She whipped the cover off her face, and her bright red lips formed a perfect heart, before she split it into pieces when she spoke.

"Severin. How good to see you once more."

She continued to glare, while Fred backed out of the room. Lily looked nervous, whereas Kieran looked ready to kill, which was most surprising. Alianna looked uninterested, like she couldn't care less about this girl. Although, I suppose Alianna couldn't care less about anything.

LeAnne walked closer to the room, her heels clicking on the dark floor with every small step. She mumbled a command, and in came two of the monsters. I gasped. Everyone around me looked at me like I was insane. I ran, looking for the biggest sharp object I could find, which happened to be a fire poker. I started swinging it wildly, causing Severin to duck, LeAnne to laugh, and Alianna to get irritated.

"You have Vegos, don't you?" She yelled. LeAnne laughed and nodded.

"What, you think I would go anywhere without my babies? Besides, they're great travel companions. They really are, if you keep them at bay." LeAnne held up a black leather leash, and in her other hand, a whip. The monsters saw the whip and trembled, moving backwards. It was strange that something nearly twice her size was so intimidated by her.

I came over to use my element of surprise while the monsters trembled, I hit one of them with my fire poker. It turned to me and let out a horrible noise, the same kind as the first one I killed. LeAnne turned to look at me, and everyone else gasped.