With a hard tug in my chest, like something chewing me out from within, I gasped awake and coughed incessantly in the pit. I rolled onto my back and pawed at the dirt covering my face, my fingers stiff and blue. They made a loud cracking sound as I went to pull a worm from my hair and gently dropped it somewhere next to me. I hissed as my skin prickled all over because of the blood rushing back into them. I felt like I could feel every beat and movement in my chest, every breath was an effort, and my heart was the worst of it. Then I tried sitting up and oh that was not a good move when the blood had only just started pumping again, I flopped back down after dark circles clouded my vision. I was incredibly weighted down in this physical body. My body, Gods, it was my body. It felt so bloody weak and pathetic as I waited for it to catch up with my whirling mind.

'Okay,' I whispered coarsely. My throat was so dry that I could taste the new saliva building up in my mouth. 'One more time.' The first win was keeping my head balanced on my shoulders, the second was getting into a kneeling position where I coughed up more dirt. When I conquered my legs and two feet I clawed out of the pit, it was not easy but dammit I had places to be. I didn't want to waste time in the grave. As I swung my arm over onto drier earth something wailed hysterically behind me and the ringing kicked me out of focus so I slipped and fell back down onto my back. I shuddered out a groan of pain and glared at the head peeking over the hole, a figure holding a shovel as a weapon. It was Martha and she looked like she had been crying her heart out.

'I thought you were dead!'

'I was,' I mumbled.

'A-are you a zombie now? Did Giannis kill you?' she said holding the shovel up higher as if she was going to bat in the face if I dared another climb.

I cackled which threw me into another coughing fit. 'I don't think I have the strength for this...' But I didn't have much time left. 'Please don't bash my head in again.' I pulled myself out with the help of Martha in the end once she realised I wouldn't  be eating her brains any time soon. She grabbed my weak arms and dragged me out leaving me half dangling. I collapsed on my aching lungs and Martha ran around to lift my legs out of the grave.

'This is sick,' she said. 'And I mean it both ways.' I casually inspected my chest to see the wound that should be there had closed up and I had only ruined my t-shirt. I probably shouldn't have worn my favourite skirt as it was lathered in moistened soil, as were my fingernails. My skin was slowly darkening back from its pale blue tone as the blood began pumping again.

I gazed up at a nauseous best friend. 'Do I look any different?'

She tsked. 'You look insane.'

'What time is it?'

'About one.'

'Could you-could you help to stand please?' we both grunted as we tried to lift my heavy arse back onto my feet. I took the book and kicked away the shovel, I wouldn't be needing it for a while.

'Did he kill you?' she asked supporting my weight with her arm around my back.

'No,' I said. I didn't say aloud what I believed he had done, what he confirmed to me before I fell. 'I sent him on his way.'

'How?' I cackled again even though it hurt and explained how I treated him the same way he treats other women as we shuffled awkwardly through the forest.

'Aw,' she said mockingly and pouted her lips. 'And he didn't like it? That's so sad for him.'

'I know, the biggest slut doesn't like being called a slut. Figures. To be fair I did nearly decapitate him with the shovel.'

'Honestly, the least freaky thing you've done all weak,' she said. 'So, what now?' My stomach cramped at that question, and my lungs continued seething with every breath I took, my legs were made of jelly and my head was the heaviest part of me. I felt what I imagined a newborn baby felt like.

'Now, painkillers and a shower. We can't go back to your parents with me looking like this though.'

Martha arched her brow. 'You-you want to go back to the house?'

'I have to at some point.'

Martha drove and I had hot flushes like a menopausal woman and I willed myself not to vomit every few minutes. My friend played some music and the loud bass that vibrated through the speakers finally set me off and I was just fast enough with the window before I emptied my gut out onto the road.

'Shit,' she said and parked on the side of the road where I quickly slammed the door open to run into the tree line and vomit some more. Gods, it hurt, my whole body heaved till there was nothing left to choke out and my mouth tasted foul. I tipped against the trunk of a gum tree and puffed laboriously. Martha handed me a bottle of water and I swished the liquid around my mouth before spitting it out on the forest floor. My friend peeked panicked at the vomit and a shudder went through her as she clamped her mouth shut with her hand. 'Oh god, I think there's blood in it.' She ran to another tree and gagged. 'Sorry!'

'It's okay,' I breathed. 'It's gross. Gods, I'd take physical pain over this nuisance.' As well as dirt, my body was covered in a thin sheet of sweat, and my fingers and toes spent a long time prickling back to life. 'This sucks.' But it would be worth it. It had to be.

By the time we got back into the car, dawn was breaking on the horizon and I stole a pair of her sunglasses from her glove compartment to protect myself, however, they were a flashy accessory rather than a protective barrier. I spent the rest of the drive blind to the world until we got back to my late Theia's house. I mustered up the courage to enter, the door hadn't yet been fixed the carpet in the living room had been stripped because there was no way of saving it from all the blood. I avoided that section of the house anyway and went into the kitchen to find the painkillers in a drawer. I snooped through the fridge to fill my stomach before I took them. The thought of eating made me feel sick and weak again so I downed the pills and drank what was left in Martha's drink bottle. I wandered out to the back of the house flipping off the "She Cave" to get to the bathroom. I desperately needed a shower if not a long relaxing bath but curiously, the door to the "She Cave" creaked open. The crystal wasn't sensing any paranormal activity, any lurking thieves, or murderers so I grabbed the doorknob and shut the door.

'I don't care,' I whispered and jumped into the shower.

After I scrubbed the muck clean off my skin until it was red and raw, I meandered to my old bedroom. It was a tiny space, three steps from the door to the single bed, two to the tiny desk cramped in the corner behind the open door and lots of old sketches and posters lined against the pastel blue walls. In my chest of drawers, I picked out some undies and some comfy clothes for the day. I was exhausted and I had to dismiss Martha before I could crash into bed. There were parts of the plan that she didn't know about, the new ways I'd adapted and would improve that she didn't deserve to be criminalized for. She still had a degree to complete. Therefore, I pulled some fluffy frog-themed bed socks and met her in the kitchen. She was boiling up some tea in the kettle and trying to find the mugs. A cockroach crept out from under the old dining table, it needed a new varnish, I glared at the cockroach and it shrunk back to a dark place.

'This place is disgusting,' I said.

'Everything is rotting. But we do have some freezer food, like a frozen lasagne.'

I winced. 'I wouldn't risk that.'

'Well, that's kind of all we have unless you're happy to cut off the mould on the bread.'

'I'll eat later. Go home and have proper food. I'm going to sleep.'

'Don't you have something else to do?'

'No, there's nothing left,' I lied. 'It's all about done. Now I wait.'

'Okay,' she said with a disbelieving tone. 'Then we should do something fun tonight.'

'I don't know if I'll be in the mood.'

'We could just go to the movies. I think you need to do something normal, like not digging up your own grave.' The plan didn't need to be set in motion immediately, besides Hekate hadn't taken full effect on my mind or body. Though I wasn't sure what that was supposed to look like. Tonight could be my last hoorah.

'Alright, you've bloody convinced me.'

Martha trotted over to me and squeezed me a death gripping hug. 'I'm glad you're not dead.' she whispered. I hugged her back unable to utter a word.

I woke up at two o'clock sharp and ran to the toilet to vomit my guts out because there was nothing left to evict from my system. It was me gagging and gasping over a toilet bowl like a zombie with a hangover.

Eventually, I got to compile my belongings and get to work. I spent a few hours ordering up my things, packing some suitcases and got dressed into some nice, ripped jeans and a satin black blouse. I tied a black ribbon around my neck and made a small effort to put on some eyeliner and I bit of lip gloss. I texted Martha that I was ready whenever she was because there was no way I was going to get back to sleep.

I didn't feel refreshed, I just felt like a ghost floating in limbo.

Then I texted Lycius and was humbled back to reality as he read it instantly.

'Come on,' I whispered. 'Come on, Lycius.' Minutes ticked by and he didn't bother replying.

It was too late to be disappointed; it was an expected reaction. I ran my eyes down the corridor back to Theia Alexandra's spiritual room, the door was open again. I was about to inspect it however, the doorbell rang.

'We had a doorbell?' I opened the door to a very formally dressed couple. The tall gentleman, his dark hair greying at the roots and slightly receding, was in a black suit and tie and held a brown suitcase. The woman had brown cropped hair and wore a burgundy suit that fitted her curvy frame.

'Rhea,' she said breathlessly.

I curled my lip up into a snarl. 'Do I know you?'

'It's been some years,' she said. I noticed the nervous position of her hands over her crotch, one was squeezing the life from her phone and the other was choking the wrist holding it. 'Actually, we were at the funeral, it has been difficult to get a word with you for some weeks,' she said a little accusatory.

'Why didn't you speak to me at the funeral?' I said.

'That's hardly the time to distribute the assets,' she said getting a little cross.

'Who are you?' I honestly didn't remember them; I didn't remember much of anything from the last two weeks.

'I'm your aunty, Mira, from your father's side. This is your uncle Jason; he's a lawyer.'

'Give me a minute,' I said and closed the door. I took a deep breath and opened it again. 'We can sit out the back, it's the only place that doesn't smell like death.' I didn't miss the shared discomfort between them, and I didn't really care. I led them the way around the house to get to the backyard. It was a small little garden with a concrete slash in the middle that directed us to the little white metal chairs and table.

They sat together on one side of the round table and I on the other a little distance away from the table itself.  I was already dreading the worst so I was a mix of bad feelings threatening to boil over and equally ready to freeze over numbly to any more pain.

'I guess, we'll get straight into it,' Mira said. 'Jason.'

Jason cleared his throat. 'Due to the passing of both Alexandra and Arianna Drakos, the assets must go to the next of kin, which is you.'

'Thank you, I've already been taking care of this crappy house,' I said.

'Tell her Jason.'

Jason pulled at the colour of his shirt. 'You weren't mentioned in the will. Alexandra had no intent on considering you. Everything was going to go to your sister but since she is—'

'Dead,' I finished for him.

'It all goes to you,' he said.

I narrowed my eyes. 'What does?'

'The houses are one of the assets. Your aunt had around 100,000 dollars in savings plus the 180,000 left to you by your parents till you turned eighteen. These are all approximants...' he started rummaging through his briefcase and pulled out some papers.

'I'm twenty-two,' I snapped. 'I haven't-I didn't even know-that fucking bitch!' I ripped the tip of my thumb nail off. I apologised numbly for my swearing after they noticeably balked. The numbers on them spun around on the page and gently covered the page with my hand and glared up at my aunt and uncle. 'She wasn't going to leave me any of it.'

Mira shook her head. She couldn't believe this herself. 'Alexandra couldn't legally keep your inheritance from you, as you are listed in their will. You were supposed to have access to the account by eighteen. She never mentioned this?'

'No.'

'Rhea, I'm so sorry,' Mira said, and she looked like she meant it but a red mist clouded my judgement. I bit back a retort. This was the first contact I'd had with dad's side of the family since my parents' death. I knew it was petty, but I didn't want their pity over my life and what Arianna's was like. The chaos, the uncertainty, the lack of care for our wellbeing. I wanted to get angry at Mira and Jason for not coming for us sooner. We were left completely alone with Alexandra and her emotional instability. Alexandra didn't want to provide for her sister's kids, maybe she didn't mind so much with Arianna, I mean clearly because she was ready to give everything to her. I was the monster, the burden child, it didn't matter how obedient I was. She was always secretly afraid of me, perhaps not afraid enough.

Uncle Jason and Aunty Mira talked about another property down by the coast where all the rich rented out their fancy homes for the lesser to plan their holidays around. I bit back further insults; I didn't want to further curse the dead in front of already estranged relatives. I apologised for not having food to offer and went inside to get them water as we spent the next hour going over the documents. It was nice of them to manage it for me and by the end of it, I became ten times richer than yesterday and angrier than I had ever been before. Was I supposed to take comfort in the money? Well, I couldn't. I would give it all up if I could have Arianna back.

After promising to stay in contact to finalise more details and make sure everything was evaluated properly—and to reconnect as a proper family—they left to stay at a hotel in town. I lingered at the front of the house watching the dust dissipate and the sun catching under its setting glare, my eyes rolled back to the end of the corridor. Rage fuelled my blood and I stormed to the old woman's "She Cave". I lit a white sage incense stick to start the spiritual cleansing process. I rummaged through the room, and ripped tarot cards apart, some I soaked in oil in the kitchen and set on fire in a bowl. I recklessly left it to burn as I went back into the cave to grab the crystal ball and hurled it hard against the creaking floorboards. It shattered into satisfying shapes and then I kicked it aside to collect all the crystals lined up on the table. I decided it was time to take a therapeutic hour of throwing her shit out the window. Then I found another glass ball in a set of drawers and this time, shattered it against the wall. I ripped any papers or writings, any handmade scriptures used to sham her vulnerable customers and took them into the kitchen to burn them with the tarot cards. I ripped the curtains off the wall and kicked the reading table over. Then I went to her bedroom and shredded all her big colourful moomoos with scissors hanging in her cupboard in colour order. I started from burgundy till I was cutting apart her purple and nearly hurt myself by trying to cut into a bead.

Martha found me cleaning up the shattered glass in the "She Cave" with a broom but didn't seem to bat an eyelid. 'You know your front door is open?'

'I'm warding off the bad spirits.'

Martha drove us to a little cinema and counted the times she had made herself sick overeating at the pizza place across the street from it.

'If you know it's going to make you sick, why do you keep going back?' I said.

'Because! It's fucking delicious! I'll keep eating this shit until my doctor tells me to stop because it's killing me.'

'You're despicable.' The shopping strip narrowed, and Martha slowed down to find a car spot on the street closest to the cinema. It had an art deco vibe and was littered with teenagers waiting on their own friends to show up.

'There's nothing here, just turn around that corner, we can park at the supermarket,' I said. We drove around a little nature strip before we go to an old plaza that looked like a big slab of concrete and was painted the colour of rust. There were two levels to park on and she went for the one at the top in the open air. The sky was a brilliant hue of pink and amber and the shops surrounding the car park weren't tall enough to hide the Mavros Manor peeking over the horizon from the sea of trees.

We got out of the car in matching gothic platform boots, except that Martha's was baby pink and mine were black. I admired her rosy faux fur coat and linked my arm with hers as we strolled leisurely through the car park. We were early for the film but I couldn't be in that house for another minute.

'Should we get some snacks?' she said.

'Sure.'

'Rhea?'

'Yes?'

'I have to go back to uni soon. I've kinda missed enough classes... I just want you to know I won't be here for much longer.' It pained me to feel so relieved by this. I felt guilty for being the reason that she stayed back since she had put her life on hold while I was being reckless and I'll face it, I wasn't being entirely kind. I was being greedy by waiting for her to move on but still using her when I could.

'Good, you should,' I said.

'I still want to help you with your witch life though! I know you're taking a leave of absence, but I'm thinking of moving to the city and if your lease is ending any time soon maybe we could try and look for a place together.' I felt a cold rush down my back, this time it wasn't the rock. My future didn't contain any loved ones, not anymore. I thought about how much I involved Arianna in the mythical world as just a human girl. She had no chance against whatever Lazarus or monster was sent on her. Martha stopped us in the middle of the carpark and pulled from her pocket the scroll. The one from Lazarus still sealed by the blue wax.

'We should figure out what this is,' she said. 'You don't know how hard it's been trying to resist opening it.'

'I'll get to it later.' I smiled and tucked it into my own coat pocket. 'Tonight, it's you and me and buttered popcorn.' A cry sprang from the distance, with many shrieks echoing after it. 'What the—' The sound of tyres screeching to a holt and metal crushing into metal forced us to run. We crashed into the railing to search the road below and I was stunned by the car that had driven straight into the nature strip and crashed into the signpost. The driver got out of the car and followed the people running in the opposite direction. I veered my attention to what they were running from and saw a chunky grey wolfman running down the middle of the road away from the shopping strip.

'Lycius,' I said and dashed for the ramp. My powers were still at a simmer and not yet ready to be active, in fact, I had yet to notice any difference since I climbed out of the ritual pit. The wind roared in my ears, and I screamed out to the slowly shrinking figure. 'Hey, Arsehole!' The wolfman skidded to a halt and watched me as I ran as fast as I could to get to the big brute. The closer I got the more I saw the red trim of fur and as I got even closer, I noticed that some of the darker patches were open wounds.

'Humphrey?' My lungs caught up with me and my limbs ached from the sudden burst of exercise. The werewolf whimpered and crept closer to me hanging his heavy head low. I took his crying face in my hands. 'Where's Lycius?'

'Rhea!' I turned around to spy on Martha just running up and waving her arms. 'LOOK OUT.'

Humphrey engulfed me in his arms and threw me off to the side as a car rammed out of nowhere and struck the wolf to the ground. I got back up on my boots and rushed back to Humphrey. The beast was fine while the engine of the car was crushed. I sighed in relief, of course, he was okay. I should have remembered what Alexandra's car looked like after I threw him into it.

I patted his head. 'I guess now we're even.' I froze up at the sight of the bullet wounds in his left shoulder and the ones embedded in his back. Three pale figures got out of the car with shotguns in hand, and all three wearing wide brim sunhats with a rope and toggle like primary school kids. They also wore more elegant long coats for complete protection from head to toe. One was the pale woman from the pub, another was a stranger I didn't recognise while the last, who crawled out of the driver's seat was Lazarus himself. He scowled at the engine of the car and slammed his door shut. Humphrey jumped at the sound and snarled. I quickly glanced at the sunset and willed for it to move quicker. There was no call, no summon, no magic life thriving in my blood. I was beginning to believe that Hekate was nothing more than a delirious dream.

'Of course, you're here.' Lazarus said. 'Can't help sticking your nose into other people's business, can you?' The woman aimed her gun at me and Lazza tsked. 'Stand down, the mutt is dying anyway.' He sniffed the air and glanced back at Martha who had slowed under his gaze and stared at the scene with a cold uncertainty.

'Don't you look at her like that,' I said lowly. Lazza's mouth pointed up in one corner. 'Not while you're dressed like a creepy schoolboy.'

His dark eyes slithered back onto me and flashed red. 'I can only presume you've rejected the honourable opportunity from my patron?'

'I would rather you kill me now,' I said. The woman snickered as did the gentleman behind her.

'It's a crying shame things got to this point, really,' the vampire said looking mockingly sad to see me. His pleasure was evident in the fangs threatening to pierce his bottom lip. 'The Darlings were very excited to meet another one of their own.' He lifted the gun up. 'I'll just tell them you were difficult.'

I didn't feel the bullet enter or exit my head, but I felt the blood run hot down into my eyes, then my motor skills snapped off like a light and I fell forward in slow motion into the darkness once again.