A Thoroughly Modern Witch Read online

  The alleyway was dark with some meagre amount light to keep it from total blackness. The glow from the club was just about picking out the edges of something big, something large and furry, stalking down the alleyway on all fours.

  A pair of yellow eyes seemed to glow in the reflected light as the beast bared its fangs, dripping drool to the alleyway floor below.

  ‘Jay? Jay, get back. Get away from it Jay,’ Isabelle called out to him, her voice shaky.

  But Jay didn’t want to run. Instead, as he stood there, looking at what must be just a very convincing Halloween costume. He could feel the anger and defiance growing within him. He didn’t want to run, he wanted to stand up and fight. He wanted to show this thing what he was made of.

  Light glinted off a metal pipe in the pile of trash close by. Jay lunged and grabbed it, turning back to the werewolf, brandishing the pipe. Movement to his left made him glance over to see Darleen lifting a plank of wood from the floor and holding it like a weapon also.

  ‘Come on, then!’ Jay shouted at the werewolf, wondering what the Halloween reveller was doing trying to scare people like this. It was like these guys dressing up as killer clowns and walking around towns in the dark to scare people. Eventually, someone came along who wasn’t scared of them, and the tables were turned.

  This thing had scared off the douche, but it had also scared Isabelle, and Jay was not having that. That was a step too far, and Jay had already resolved to stand his ground. Jay stepped forward, and the werewolf backed up a step.

  Emboldened, Jay continued on, moving forwards, and then, in a moment of madness, ran at it swinging the pipe with Darleen at his heels. He managed to hit it once, making it whimper before it ran out of reach and disappeared into the night.

  Jay stopped and turned to face Darleen with a smile.

  ‘Whoop!’ Darleen called out. ‘That was awesome.’

  ‘Thanks for backing me up,’ Jay said, high-fiving her and giving her a hug. They walked back up the alleyway, their arms around each other with huge smiles on their faces.

  He had to admit, that costume was incredible. It was so lifelike; he could almost swear that it had been a real creature. But he’d seen films before, he knew what could be done with makeup and costumes, and it was Halloween, after all.

  As they approached the back door to the club, Isabelle ran up to him and threw her arms around him.

  ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you. That was amazing, I can’t believe you did that,’ she rambled.

  ‘Wow, well done.’ Jay turned to see it was Amanda talking to him. She was standing in the door to the club and seemed impressed. ‘That takes guts,’ she said and walked out towards him. She came up close and hugged him tightly.

  ‘Thanks, I didn’t know you were watching,’ Jay said.

  ‘Howie was wondering where you and Darleen had got, too, so, I came to have a look,’ Amanda said. ‘Who was that, by the way?’

  ‘I have no idea, but it looked like, well, a werewolf?’

  ‘An impressive imitation of one for sure,’ Amanda said.

  ‘It looked so real, though,’ Jay commented.

  ‘A good costume in the dark is always going to look realistic,’ Amanda replied.

  ‘True,’ Jay said and looked over at Isabelle. She was standing slightly apart from them now and was giving Amanda a dirty look as she hugged him again. ‘Let’s get inside, shall we?’ Jay suggested. Was Isabelle a little jealous?

  Amanda

  I admit, I did it on purpose. I wanted to see Isabelle’s reaction to me getting a little friendly with Jay. I wanted to see if she was going to get jealous or not, and I think it was quite conclusive, really. Silly girl.

  Jay

  Jay sat on the sofa in the club next to Darleen, enjoying another sip of his beer as he looked out over the throng of people talking and dancing. He could see people dressed as vampires and demons, serial killers and cat ladies, even a few werewolves, although, none of them had a costume as realistic as the one that had been out in the alleyway.

  He felt sure it was a costume, but how could he know for certain?

  ‘I just can’t believe he pissed himself,’ Darleen said. ‘What a dick. Isabelle does have a habit of choosing the wrong men, though.’

  ‘I don’t think she’s very happy,’ Jay said.

  ‘Of course not, she was being used by him. He humiliated her in front of you as well, by the sounds of things,’ she said.

  ‘Yeah, he did. I can’t believe he did that to her. You were impressive, though. I can’t believe you picked up that two-by-four and chased the thing down with me. That was awesome.’

  ‘Thanks, I just saw you pick up that pipe, and I knew I couldn’t let you face that thing alone. I had to help. When I picked up that plank, I just saw red and wanted to vent that anger at the… whatever it was.’

  ‘It wasn’t real, was it?’

  ‘What? The werewolf?’ Darleen asked.

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘No way. They don’t exist. I mean, it’s a bit of a coincidence that we see a classic monster villain on Halloween, don’t you think? No, it wasn’t real. It couldn’t have been.’

  ‘Yeah, you’re right. It is Halloween, after all,’ he said. ‘I mean, what would they say if we went to the police now and said we were attacked by a werewolf on Halloween?’ He laughed.

  Darleen laughed with him. ‘Yeah, we’d be told to get lost.’

  Amanda

  Isabelle came and sat with me after the alleyway incident. She was very quiet and spent the entire time just watching Jay and Darleen. They were dancing now and seemed to be having a great time, much to Isabelle’s annoyance.

  ‘You know, sitting there with a frown on your face isn’t really achieving much,’ I said.

  Isabelle turned to look at me and pressed her lips together. ‘I’ve fucked it all up, haven’t I?’ she asked.

  ‘I don’t know. Maybe, maybe not. It’s not too late, you know,’ I said, trying to console her. It was odd, less than an hour ago I was sitting here reassuring Jay after she had just blown him off, now the tables had turned. There was irony in there somewhere. But, far be it for me to judge. I just wanted to help.

  ‘All you can do is talk to him,’ I said.

  She sighed. I could read her thoughts, I knew she was working through it in her head and wondering if she should do it. The arguments against were incredibly shallow, consisting of the fact that he was just a doorman, basically. It was pure snobbery on her part. She was worried what others might think of her going out with him. Was she lowering her standards? The whole thing was crazy. Given the wealthy playboy alpha male she had just been with had clearly used her, taken her to the alleyway for a quickie and then humiliated her before her friends, I really wasn’t sure she could get much lower standards.

  I was pretty sure that Jay wouldn’t treat her like that.

  I guessed the douche probably thought of himself as a real man — a man’s man — but he was anything but in reality. A real man doesn’t treat women like that.

  ‘You know, he’s a better man than that douche bag you were screwing in the alleyway was, or will ever be. I doubt you could do much better than him,’ I said, trying to allay her fears. ‘He’s not below you. In fact, it’s kind of the opposite way around. And okay, he’s not a lawyer making millions, but money isn’t everything, you know.’

  ‘I know,’ she said. ‘You’re right, I'm an idiot.’

  I had to smile. Finally, she was starting to see some sense.

  ‘I doubt he’ll be interested in me now, though, after turning him down. I mean, I wouldn’t blame him; that was my fault. But if I do this, what if he says no?’

  I smiled. I seemed to be dishing out the same advice to several people today. ‘Then you move on, having learned a valuable life lesson. But if you don’t ask, you don’t know, and the worst he can say is no.’

  Jay

  Jay was enjoying the music, getting his groove on to one of his favourite songs. Darleen
was a damn good dancer as well. She could really move her booty, he thought. He’d enjoyed spending this time with her this past hour or so. Having that shared experience with the werewolf had given them a common event, a joint point of reference. It helped that they could have been in some danger as well. The adrenalin that had surged around his body as he’d charged at the werewolf had really got the blood pumping around his body. Same with Darleen, he guessed.

  Isabelle was over with Amanda somewhere, probably mourning the loss of her date. Jay wasn’t sure how he felt about her now. After everything that had happened tonight, things had changed.

  He’d seen another side to Isabelle, but he also felt incredibly sorry for her. She’d been taken advantage of and humiliated by that douche, something he wouldn’t wish on his worst enemy.

  He’d need to have a think about things. Isabelle was still a stunning girl, and on a purely visceral level, he knew he still fancied her, but there was more to life than that, and he’d seen a new side to Darleen now.

  She wasn’t the girliest of girls. She didn’t show off her body, she didn’t prance about in high heels, in fact, she was a bit… Hmm, what was the word? he thought. Frumpy, maybe? But there was more to her than that. She was loyal, kind, friendly, and made of true grit. She was someone you could depend on, someone who wouldn’t let you down, and she could dance like a whirling-dervish.

  As he let it go and just enjoyed the music, he spun around and suddenly found himself face to face with Isabelle. She stood in the crowd on the dancefloor, her stillness standing in sharp contrast to the movement around her.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she said.

  Jay fell still. ‘That’s okay, I understand. We can still be friends,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry for how that idiot treated you out in the alleyway as well. You didn’t deserve that.’

  She looked sad. Jay placed his hands on the tops of her arms. ‘Hey, it’s okay, it all worked out in the end,’ he said.

  ‘So, um, if you want, I’d happily go and get that drink with you… If you’ll have me,’ she said.

  ‘Are you sure?’ Jay asked, feeling shocked. He never expected her to change her mind about him. She’d only rejected him an hour ago. What had changed? He looked up and caught Amanda’s eye from across the dance floor. She winked at him with a smile.

  ‘I couldn’t be more sure about anything,’ she said.

  Jay looked down at Isabelle, and then back at Darleen who was watching and dancing by herself in a somewhat half-hearted fashion, waiting for Jay to come back.

  He was at a fork in the road of life. Stay and dance with Darleen, or accept Isabelle’s offer of a drink and leave Darleen here?

  He thought it through for a moment and looked up at Isabelle. ‘Everyone deserves a second chance,’ he said. ‘I’ll take that drink.’ He turned and looked back to Darleen. ‘Catch you later,’ he said, and moved off the dance floor, Isabelle’s slim fingers curling about his as she led him through the crowd.

  Amanda

  Well, I wondered which way he’d turn. Who’d he’d choose to go with, and maybe she didn’t deserve a second chance, but that’s for Jay to decide, I think. Darleen still had a good night, though, and was soon dancing with some other guy.

  Later that night, I headed home, and when I got back to my brownstone, I found Celest sitting on my stoop waiting for me. She smiled as I approached.

  ‘Did it work out?’ she asked.

  ‘It did, thanks for your efforts in the alleyway. You genuinely scared the crap out of that douche-bag,’ I said.

  ‘I wasn’t sure that the other guy would actually confront me, though. Did you give him any help, telepathically or anything?’

  ‘Nope. That was all him. I only made sure he spotted the pipe,’ I said. ‘Hopefully, he doesn’t run into any other werewolves and try the same thing.’

  ‘Yeah, that would not work out well for him,’ Celest said. ‘You got any other plans for Halloween?’

  ‘Nah, I’m done. I’m off to bed,’ I said.

  ‘Okay, see you later, witchy-poo.’

  ‘Laters, fluffy,’ I answered with a smile.

  Author note

  This little tale doesn’t really fit in the Magi continuity anywhere, apart from maybe after book 5, which I am just about to write.

  It’s more of a character piece, showing Amanda interacting with some normal people and helping them out. Something I think Amanda would do from time to time.

  I enjoyed switching the writing between first and third person as well, it was a nice little experiment. I think it works in this context.

  Anyway, I hope you like this.

  Happy Halloween!

  Andrew

  By Andrew Dobell

  Book list

  Wasteland Road Knights

  Liberation

  The New Prometheus - Cyberpunk

  When Frankie’s brain is transplanted into a Cybernetic body after being shot, she must go on the run from the mega-corporations who want her and her cyber-body’s designer dead.

  The New Prometheus

  The Prometheus Gambit

  The Prometheus Trap

  Prometheus Vengeance

  The Magi Saga – Urban Fantasy

  When Amanda discovers she’s a Magi after being attacked by a werewolf on the streets of NYC, she’s introduced to a magical society and drawn into a hidden war for the fate of mankind.

  Epic Calling: The Magi Saga Book 1

  Shadows of Darkness: The Magi Saga Book 2

  Black Dawn: The Magi Saga Book 3

  Infinities’ Edge: The Magi Saga Book 4

  The Magi Saga Short Stories

  Only available through my mailing list;

  www.andrewdobellauthor.co.uk

  The Angel of Tarut: The Magi Saga Prologue

  His Love: A Magi Saga Short Story

  Casino Red: A Magi Saga Short Story

  Anthologies I am part of:

  The Expanding Universe – Sci-Fi

  Summer of Magic – No longer available.

  Alchemy & Arcana

  For more of Andrew’s work, visit:

  www.andrewdobellauthor.co.uk

  Andrew Dobell is a Photographer, Illustrator, and Author who lives in Surrey with his wife Louise and 3 children.

  Andrew is hard at work on this and other series.

  You can see more of Andrew’s work at www.andrewdobellauthor.co.uk