Lessons on, why you don't threat Joseph Blackwood

“You’re right. Let me just… Where did I put my phone again?” Maeve, more or less sunken down into the couch in a manner of half sitting and half laying, had to sit up properly to search for her phone. This, sadly, meant that the Border Collie got disturbed as well, as it had laid with its head on top of Maeve’s lap for the past twenty minutes and fought a fight of both falling asleep from the comfortable scratches behind its ears as well as staying awake to watch the movie with the girls. Clearly confused its head shot up and as soon as Maeve moved a little bit more, hinting an intention of getting up, Puzzle jumped down as well to stand ready. Because something must go on since the human had broken the code of cuddles.
Maeve Poe had been around Puzzle for about as long as Ethan. Of course, Ethan had been the soul-caretaker and all that but the two had still known each other since Puzzle had been just a little pup. So it wasn’t surprising that the dog followed after her, as she ventured towards the kitchen, having remember that she probably left her phone there when her beloved cousin and herself had been scouring for some snacks earlier. Her right arm was still in a cast, that almost wasn’t white anymore thanks to countless of colourful drawings. But at least she didn’t need the sling anymore and she could move and feel her fingers just find now. She had gotten used to the cast. Even if it still made getting dressed a pain. That she had gotten the tighter sleeves of her shirt over it that day was a miracle. And pants. Maeve didn’t mind dresses but for the first few weeks where she couldn’t get into trousers had made her weirdly miss it.

Maeve spotted the phone as soon as she got into the kitchen and the B-lined towards it. Grabbing it off the countertop she instinctively turned around to lean up against it and as she expertly held on to the phone and started typing – all with the one working hand – her other hand unconsciously petted Puzzle, who had sat down by her legs.

Puzzle, however, suddenly became very alert. And only moment before Cecilia’s scream sounded the dog had risen to all four legs. Maeve of course only reacted when she heard the scream. Quick enough to almost give her a whip in the neck, she looked up from her phone in terror. “Wha-?..” In a reflex she threw her phone back on the countertop behind her before she bolted back into the living room. “Cecilia?!” she shouted in fright and then found her cousin on the floor, already with the company of the dog, where she didn’t hesitate to run to and get down on her knees. “Are you okay?? What happened? Are you hurt?” Holding the dog in a soft armlock to keep it from drowning Cecilia in comforting licks and so Maeve herself to have a better look, words rolled out of her mouth in concern.
Cecilia hadn’t been herself all day, and Maeve had noticed it. Cecilia hadn’t really been herself since the break in- no… since Maeve’s car accident. Maeve had thought it was because of Cecilia being scared, reliving her down accident bow through her cousin. But it seemed like there was something else today.

Maeve didn’t believe her. Even if Cecilia in a sense was telling the truth that she ‘just felt weird’ then Maeve didn’t buy it. Cecilia didn’t look at the face that Maeve did. She didn’t see the leftovers of panic in her face. Maeve would even go as far as to notice her cousin having turned quite pale. Yea. That wasn’t ‘okay’ or ‘fine’. But lie or no lie, this was no time to start and argument so Maeve simply bit her tongue expressing her worry on full display. “Good,” was all she could mumble, although she didn’t believe it was.

As soon as Cecilia made her attempt to get up off from the floor, Maeve was once again quick to react and though her balance was a bit off – trying not to use too much support on the recovering arm – she did manage to get on her feet to give a helping hand. Not letting go of Cecilia before she was securely sat down on the couch. It was scary in itself to watch the kind family doctor as frightened as she seemed to be. Curling up as if she had reverted back to being a child afraid of the dark. Her eyes drifted down over Cecilia and even in the dim light, the red taint was visible. Maeve pushed her lips together, curving her thick brows. “Something is wrong?” It was more a repeat of what Cecilia had said herself rather than an actual question. And Maeve apparently didn’t need an answer because shortly thereafter she added: “Alright. Just… give me a moment. You need something other than wine right now. Puzzle, stay with her.”
And with that, Maeve stepped a few steps back before power-walking back into the kitchen. Firstly, she checked the fridge in hopes of fridge cold water before having to let the cold tap run for the time she used to stretch and pick a glass from the cupboard. She had gotten pretty good at navigating Ethan’s home. But not yet to the extent that he could probably navigate hers. She tested the water and since she wasn’t satisfied, she let it run some more, while she grabbed a hold of her phone again – luckily the screen hadn’t cracked when she threw it before.

[Hamster 23:21 - Can you bring back some of those jelly cooling pads? I think Cece has burned herself…]

The phone got put down and water poured into the glass. But then she couldn’t help but return to the phone for just on last thing.

[Hamster 23:21 - And drive safe out there!]

Maeve finally returned to Cecilia – and of course Puzzle – where she carefully sat down in the couch. “Here. It’s as cold as I could get Ethan’s tap to give me.” She did only use the name ‘Bear’ to address Ethan directly. Then with the glass out of her hands, either taken by Cecilia or just placed on the nearby table, Maeve reached for the remote control to pause the movie before looking back at her cousin. She took a deep breath to collect herself because, honestly! She had not real idea of what this would be about.
“So… What’s going on?” Then it clicked. “Oh god. Please don’t tell me. Are you pregnant?!” The red skin could just as well be some kind of rash rather than a burn which she originally thought. And she remembered a bit of a rash when she was… with child.

The immediate disbelief was not hard to spot in her face, not from the way she pushed forward a wrinkle in between her brows as Cecilia explained. Just what was she talking about? Magic? Fairy tales coming true or rather; being true. If she didn’t know any better, she would think that her cousin had suddenly gotten some kind of stressful meltdown, especially from the way she threw the words out and almost demanding Maeve to believe. Just like that. But how could sh-…
Maeve had nearly gotten a heart attack when an unknown voice spoke from behind them and she could only turn her head too slow. It was pretty impressive that the human hadn’t straight up screamed from the surprise visit. “Wha-..” Whoever this woman... no, girl was, she didn’t give much time for the female humans to react or get any words in before she spoke herself. Leading the scene all by herself. The blackened eye, for some reason, brought her back to a memory much like it. Back then she had thought her eyes had simply played her and she could probably convince herself of the exact same thing this time, because not long after the eyes were no longer like two black wholes in the stranger’s face.

Then she was gone. And Maeve could breath again. But for the longest time, she didn’t look away from where the girl had been standing. Now disappeared like a magician. Purple smoke and all. It was only when she heard Cecilia’s voice speak to her, that Maeve finally tor away and looked her cousin in the eyes, almost matching the fright just with a large amount of confusion as well. “I… I honestly don’t know what to believe right now. Just how much have we been drinking?” Of course there was another explanation and Maeve was quick to put the blame on something else, but when she turned towards the two glasses of wine and the bottle, then the bottle was still fairly full, revealing that she barely had any alcohol in them at the moment. “What do you mean ‘someone is coming for us’?”
The poor ignorant young woman had just about finished her sentence when she caught movement out of the corners of her eye and her already weakened heart jumped right up into her throat. She screamed even before having turned to look who it would be who entered the room. And she didn’t even get a good look at the tall figure before she had fumbled up from the couch and towards the fireplace to grab the nearest weapon; a metal poker. It could do some damage even in the hands of someone like Maeve, that was for sure. So, she raised the poker to ready an attack in needed. She didn’t even lay notice to just how much it hurt her arm to do this, since she clamp around the poker with both hands. As good as she could.
“Stay back! I don't know how to use it but I'll do it anyway!” she shouted, her voice heaving a bit for air as the shock had gone and affected her heart, that now pounded at an alarming rate in her chest. She should calm down. She knew that. But how could she?!

”..Bear?!” Maeve suddenly felt an enormous wave of relief coming over her. It was almost overwhelming and her body just kind od flopped from the tensed muscles relaxing, the upheld arms with the metal poker falling back down by her sides. She was clearly not happy about the major scare the tall man had given her, but she was at the same time very happy to see the man, not really knowing who else to have expected. Probably some kind of shadowy figure who wanted to suck all her guts out through her belly button. “What the bloody hell!” she complained just as she willingly gave up her weapon and more or less fell into the embrace. It wasn’t just for fun that she had started calling him Bear. His hugs always felt like that of a big warm bear putting its big arms around you and even though she was still very much upset she felt immediately calmer after the first few seconds. And so did her poor heart as she finally allowed herself to take a couple of proper breaths. In… Out… In… Out… Like the doctors had instructed her. And when Ethan let go of her she was fine again. Somewhat.
She nodded silently, turning her body but not yet her eyes towards Cecilia, as Ethan left the room and slowly Maeve walked back to the couch. She wasn’t scared, per se, but she was in a bit of a limbo of not understanding what was going on. The way her brows furrowed seemed to have become permanent on her face but at least she didn’t clammer around herself. No, instead her arms just crossed over her chest and she finally lifted her eyes to focus on her cousin. This was weird…

The re-telling of what had happened was also new for Maeve. Cecilia hadn’t really explained what had happened with her, not in details, before then. Not that it gave that much more insight. However, what came as the biggest surprise was that this apparently wasn’t just some stress-caused beliefs that Cecilia had acquired because Ethan was in on it.
Maeve quickly turned to look back and forward between the two, looking more and more confused and irritated for every turn of the head until it ended on Ethan. What was going on? “Tell me what? That magic is real? That there’s apparently someone out there is after us? And that girl? Was she some kind of ghost? She just appeared! Are ghosts real, to?!” Words fell out of her mouth as she tried to comprehend it all which was easier said than done. She turned to Cecilia. “And you guys have known about this? For how long?” She had to ask even if she still didn’t quite believe it. Her brown eyes returned to Ethan. Her facial expressions had now turned more into that of a puppy than that of an upset mother. “Next you’re going to tell me that vampires and demons exists.”

This was a bit much to take in and Maeve lowered her gaze in hopes of some distance. Automatically her eyes went to the sleeping dog on the floor and in seeking of some comfort, Maeve then glided down from the couch to sit on the floor with the couch as a back support. She carefully reached for the dog, really only needing to feel the long fur between her fingers but as soon as her hand touched the dog its eyes opened and its head lifted, sniffing out its owner’s presence in less than a second and bolted up to run to Ethan with a happy bark. Leaving Maeve, once again, startled.

Who would have thought the evening would lead to this? Not Maeve, that was for sure! She hadn’t even expected to be hanging out at Ethan’s place when she woke up that morning but yet here she was. And yet she was having this different kind of the talk than the usual the talk. “Oh? Great, great! Not only demons and ghosts but also dateable werewolves… Lovely,” she repeated as if she was out of breath for not remembering to actually breathe, repeated it mostly to make sure that she had gotten it all right in her first attempt. She couldn’t quite figure out if she should be smiling or what as more and more information got laid upon her and she once again kept looking back and forth on her friends, her eyes widened and she, for the most part, forgot to blink completely.
Did she ever get the chance to look back at this moment in her life, she would probably be pretty impressed with how she reacted. She hadn’t screamed or yelled up a storm or gotten angry at anyone so far. Why would he be angry? Not like people close to her had kept something like this from her. Not that her best friend apparently had been aware that the monsters under the bed were real all this life. And not that it suddenly got revealed that is wasn’t just Cecilia and Ethan. “Zitora? Her too?!” Maeve looked up at Ethan immediately as she busted out, maybe a bit too loud than she at intended. She was just so… shocked. And it didn’t help that a big part of her still didn’t really believed. She couldn’t help it. Vampires and werewolves. Ghosts. Witches. It all seemed so farfetched!

Since Maeve was already looking pretty intensely up at Ethan, she automatically noticed his eyes moving over to Cecilia and she followed suit right after. She was just about able to hold back a scream and muffled it enough to a scared gasp when she saw the blood. That was anything bit normal. She didn’t need someone to tell her that. “Cecilia?!” Maeve quickly crawled a little way before getting up on her feet just before the agonising screams from before returned. Just much more potent this time around. “CECILIA?! What’s going on??!” she panicked, looking to Ethan for answers. He had been fast to get to Cecilia and looked like someone who knew what do to so the following second Maeve felt useless again, just standing there.

Something cold! Something cold Although Maeve had been seemingly frozen, she didn’t hesitate to run off. Back to the kitchen. She pulled the dish bucket from under the sink and placed it in it, turning the cold tap on. But of course, it wasn’t cold enough. Not in her head. So she ripped open the door to the fridge and then the freezer where she found was she was looking for. Ice cubes. Ripping the freezer drawer open she grabbed the two trays with frozen water and just slammed them on the kitchen counter since she couldn’t use to strength in the other arm to get the ice loose. And this method worked fine anyway. She scooped the ice into the bucket of water and turned off the tap. It was a struggle to get it out of the sink again but she did succeed. The harder part was to lift it and somehow balance it on one arm while supporting it with the broken one. This however she succeeded with as well. With some splashes of water on the floor and herself, one might need to add. She even got thrown a hanging kitchen towel into the ice water as she exited the kitchen and walked back into the living room.
“Here! I hope it’s cold enough. This is what happened just before you got here. Just before that... witch.. ghost... whoever she was! appeared,” she announced as she carefully squatted down beside Ethan placing the tub on the floor. Maeve then looked at Cecilia with a clearly concern look. Brow still curled but still time more in fright. Was there anything she could do? Yes. Yes, there was! She reached out behind her to find her phone in her back pocket where she had left it after texting Ethan. Three unread messages. One from Bear… and two from Graham. She passed them, ignored them. Ethan was here anyway and Graham could definitely wait so she brought up the dialling app. “I’ll call 1-1-3!”

Maeve had already pushed the dial button when she got told that it essentially wouldn’t matter. She would only waste time by calling and fumble over the words as she’d explain the situation and make sure they understood the address. She could faintly hear the sound of the dialling tone as she looked at her best friend with a bit of a defeated look. What else could they do?! The doctor of the group, the one you’d know what to do, was the one lying unconscious beside them. Burning up and bleeding like people in movies right before their heads would-… No. She wouldn’t want to think about it. So she cancelled the call just before someone picked up and her eyes glided calmly down from Ethan to Cecilia instead. At least she wasn’t screaming anymore and Maeve could hope that she didn’t feel the pain anymore as well.

She placed to phone away from her on the floor before scootching a bit closer to Cecilia now that Ethan turned to… prayer? She took her cousin’s hand in hers, holding around it with both hands – as good as she could – and she squeezed it gently. She was so hot to the touch. What the hell was going on?! Maeve might have looked like someone how had calmed down again but her heart was still very much affected by the hold thing. Beating fast and irregular enough for her breathing to sound heavier. But it was stable, in a way. She was not in any immediate danger.
“Is it…" She shallowed. "Is it some kind of magic?” Maeve asked before finally turning to look back to Ethan, still holding a comforting grip in Cecilia’s hand. She couldn’t always hide her feelings. She rarely could actually. Every emotion she felt was as easy to read in her animated face like they were words in an open book. And she was worried. Scared. Confused. “Some demonic voodoo. Or perhaps poison. Not that I know how she could have been poisoned. We’ve been drinking from the same bottle. And your glass. I don’t even remember her eating anything that I didn’t eat myself.” It wasn’t difficult to hear in her voice that, even if she tried not to panic too much, she still talked to distract her mind.

Puzzle had slowly moved from his corner a little away from the spectacle, probably to not be in the way, and tiptoed over to Ethan and Maeve, laying down mostly up against her, but the dogs eyes still wandered to its owner as if to comfort. This made a small yet sad smile appear in the corners of Maeve’s lips. “Who is this Michael, you were… praying to? I wasn’t aware that you were so religious,” she kept asking. She had heard him use to word ‘dad’ which she obviously had connected to God. The Christian father to all. It still seemed a bit strange. And Michael was a biblical name, although also a very common name everywhere else.

The living room lit up with a golden light surrounding his shadow before he fully appeared in the living room, standing with his back against one of the windows. His gaze fell to the humans on the floor. Immediately realizing which human that had been linked to Ajax, which also meant he’d caused her pain earlier that night. Now feeling grateful for Saga’s interference as opposed to what he'd felt about it before. Even if what happened now was none of his doing. He stepped closer to them, furrowing his brow in concern as he saw the blood on Cecilia’s face. And it only added to his existing anger and despise regarding all of this. Besides, he had just left two people who needed his help to be here, so he almost wished that Joseph would show up - even if this had gotten too personal for him not to take out on him.
“She’s cursed. Linked to a demon in some sort of voodoo-spell,” he explained as he looked at Ethan. However, a demon would be able to take the heat and the pain much more than a human would. He kneeled beside Cecilia to grab the hand that wasn’t held by the other woman, putting a finger on her wrist to feel her pulse. At the same time sensing the burning temperature, so he altered it with his thermal manipulation. Lowering her temperature to thirty-seven degrees and keeping it at that persistingly. Knowing that her body wouldn’t be able to handle the heat for long before she’d get a stroke, or worse. “Are you two okay?” he then asked as he shifted his gaze between Ethan and the woman. Still holding on to Cecilia’s hand so he could monitor her state. If it worsened, he wouldn't hesitate to summon a healer. If not just to assure them that she was going to be fine. Because only the fairy could lift the curse. But so far, it didn't seem to be necessary with a healer - as long as the fairy wasn’t going to aim another attack at Ajax. “Has anything else strange happened today?” he then asked them while his gaze stayed with Cecilia, anticipating her to wake up any moment now.

Have an open mind, they say. It was so much easier said than done. Because what did it really refer to? Should she just stand back and let everything happen and every proper explanation flying passed her until they could be bothered to tell her? She did keep and open mind. But she couldn’t really help but feel left alone in the dark. And the pure light that suddenly lighted up the whole room wasn’t strong enough to do anything about it. It just left the remaining shadows even darker.

Maeve squinted her eyes and moved the casted arm up to cover her face from the bright light, not wanting to be blinded more than she already had been. She wasn’t sure what she was seeing. Nothing this evening made much sense anymore and she really did try her best to ‘have an open mind’, but the moment a fully featured figure of a man, a man she had never seen before, appeared as the light disappeared, she only got more concerned and as her arm lowered she stared at the man with a worried look. Just who was he? What was he doing here? Maeve turned her eyes to Ethan for a small while, again in hopes that her friend could take this time to explain.
Big brown eyes turned back to the stranger in a bit of a jolt as soon as she noticed him getting down and sat with the three humans – that was if Ethan even was human – on the floor. “Linked to a demon?! How is that-…” She abruptly held her tongue. Zipped her lips by pressing them together, only amplifying the over all lost puppy look she had somehow achieved in the midst of the chaos. She took a deep breath to shallow her words and not let it all take over completely. This is Maeve Poe. She had, for some reason, not expected an introduction so when she heard her name she automatically looked back up at the unknown male… creature. He looked human. But so had everyone she had ever met in her entire life. “Hi,” was all she could squeeze out of herself except maybe a sad attempt at a smile. As if all this didn’t affect her. “I’m fine too. I was here when she first seemed to react to… Yea. And then that witch girl showed up out of nowhere.” She looked up at Ethan. “So, she really was a witch? Curses and magic tricks and all.”

As expected, Maeve’s attention didn’t linger too long on the tall young police officer. Not when she felt Cecilia stir slightly in her hand and she was quick to turn fully to her cousin. Grabbing her hand a little tighter. It was a relief when she opened her eyes and, in a huff, a ghost of a laugh, the corners of Maeve’s mouth curved upwards for a second or two. “What’s with you two and scaring me half to death tonight?” she pointed out in a joking sense, before she finally turned back to the stranger. “I guess… you know each other already? All of you?” This stranger – Michael – had even given Maeve the feeling that he knew her as well which made her suspect that either one or the other had told this man about her. But none had mentioned a Michael to her…

He nodded once to Ethan’s information before he looked at the stranger. Cecilia’s cousin. “Hi.” He glanced to her arm in the cast, realizing that she was the cousin who’d been in a car accident, before returning his eyes to hers. “I’m Michael Sanctius,” he introduced himself. As she then confirmed that she was fine as well, he took this as a good sign. Considering all the chaos he’d witnessed just moments before, he wouldn’t have been too surprised to know that both Ethan and Maeve had been harmed as well. Maeve’s next question gave him the sense that neither Ethan nor Cecilia had told her of the supernatural until today, making him look to her side again. She took all of this rather calmly if that was the case, but then again, he hadn’t seen her reaction prior to his arrival. “She was a fairy,” he clarified. The distinction didn't make a big difference as of now since she’d still managed to curse Cecilia and Ajax. But usually fairy magic was weaker than that of a witch. And if they were to meet her again, knowing that she was a fairy would be valuable information. “She told me that she was the only one who could lift the curse, but she didn’t want to tell me what this required, so who knows why she showed up to tell me.” In fact, she’d ignored his question completely. And she'd said something about Joseph not taking threats lightly, so he couldn't help but wonder if he'd referred to his warning. A rather harmless one in his opinion. Saying that he'd see him again if he ever laid a hand on Cecilia or anyone else in her family. “But that’s when I heard your prayer, so I didn’t get much time to discuss with her either.” All he could hope now was that Ajax and Saga had gotten the upper hand of their situation and were trying to find a way to lift the curse. Having faith in them dealing with the fairy in a way that would accomplish this.

Michael felt a rush of relief when Cecilia moved, waking up from her unconscious state. His expression softened as she called his name. “You have been cursed, but it’s going to be okay, we are going to fix it,” he assured her. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze before he let go of it, seeing that she already had Ethan and Maeve by her side. He got up to his feet and looked out of the window. Almost anticipating someone to show up outside. Not willing to believe that the worst was over. But he prayed to his Father that it was. He had already sent an angel to guard her brother's house, knowing how worried Cecilia had been on behalf of them the last time they'd met. He exhaled slowly as he watched the rain slam against the glass before he turned around to face them again.

He lowered his gaze to Maeve as she asked about them all knowing each other. Being the only one who didn't know who he was. However, he hadn’t known that Ethan and Cecilia even knew each other before tonight. So, perhaps they’d gone to school together or something - the three of them being roughly the same age. Of course, Michael would seem but a few years older, but she probably knew that he wasn't human by now. If not because of his angelic aura, then by the way he'd teleported inside the house. “Yes. I met Cecilia this summer and she summoned me the night where Joseph broke into her house... And Ethan, I’ve known him for a couple of years. But it's recently come to our knowledge that he's my biological son.” He didn’t know how close Maeve was with her cousin and Ethan, but he assumed close considering that she was here at his house at night. For that reason, he figured it didn't do much harm to tell her of his relations with them.

Maeve quickly realized how much she liked this man. Michael Sanctius, was his name and she instantly thought back to her many history lectors back in university where the archangel Michael had gone by the name of Sankt Michael. It was strangely similar. And the light… Her underlying disbelief to the whole supernatural thing blocked her train of thought to go any further, stamping it with ‘coincidences’. But she still liked him quite a bit. She was very appreciative of him speaking to openly, especially after she had felt boxed in with very little containable information and then filled with things that needed all the space in her head. Cecilia’s state had taken a sort of priority for her processing so getting things so straight forward was… nice.
It still didn’t make it any less overwhelming! Fairies also existed apparently. Again, Maeve just pretended to be onboard with it, nodding to it all. Yep. Fairies. Got it. Yep. She had nothing. No words.

“Ah!” Maeve suddenly busted, turning to look back at Michael. “You were the one staying with Cecilia. She told me about it the day after, saying that she already had someone there,” she told, looking back at the phone call she had gotten from her cousin the morning after the break in. And somehow, she felt more at ease with Michael’s presence. The house didn’t feel like a house of strangers anymore. “I’m guessing whoever that maniac was has been identified since then. Joseph, you said?” This was the first she heard of this… And in a blink of an eye Maeve’s expression changed from slight relief to utter surprise. “What?” She promptly turned to look towards Ethan, her mouth still vaguely open in astonishment. And then back at Michael. Then at Ethan, frowning her thick brow again in beginning confusion and then closed her mouth. “Oh! Right.” She looked to Michael, although the words following were directed at Ethan. “So, that’s him. And he’s your dad?” Her expression smoothed out again, she even started smiling. It was good news. Unexpected news, but good nonetheless. At least she hoped. “That’s amazing. Who would have thought, huh. Ethan’s been telling me about you.”
The sudden stubborn movements from Cecilia dragged Maeve right back to the other big thing this evening and the worry was right back into her eyes and face as well. “Hey hey!” Maeve let go of her cousin and was fast to get back on her feet, ready to support Cecilia, should she actually fall. And she almost did. Maeve was not much for having her get up from the sofa but there wasn’t much she could so. Not when the doctor had made up her mind. Instead she looked after her as she fought through the room. Only when Ethan spoke again, did she look away.

“I… I have so many questions. I don’t even know where to start. Or where to end.” She lowered her gaze from the two men, down on the table beside her, crossing her arms softly at her chest. She remembered to breathe properly. And in a swift movement she reached down for the glass of water she had handed Cecilia earlier and downed the rest in a big gulp before deciding to sit back down on the couch. Empty glass still in her hands. She looked up. “Firstly; Is she really going to be alright? Cecilia.” She turned focus to Michael. “You’re not human, are you? But then does that mean that…” Her eyes found her tall friend. “Then neither are you? Do you possess supernatural superpowers too? Sorry. I’m sorry, it’s just hard to wrap my head around right now. It’s all a bit much.”

Had she lied? Probably. Unless she'd made some kind of way to secure herself to be the only one. But even then, there were always exceptions. “I mean, yes, there are ways around it, but most of them are complex or risky. It’s always the safest bet to get the caster to lift their own curse.” For this reason, he was willing to negotiate with the fairy, but perhaps Saga would be able to find a way around it easier than he would.
Cecilia’s comment made a brief smile appear on his expression. At least she was able to joke about it. Michael was just relieved that he hadn't done more harm to the demon, and hence her. He wouldn't have been able to forgive himself if he had.
He nodded as Maeve asked if the maniac had been identified. He tried his best not to think about Joseph because when he did, all he could think about was all the torturous things he wanted to put him through. He had nothing but disdain for the way he’d made a fool out of him, and now this, putting a curse on the very person he’d warned him to lay a hand on. He hadn't felt this wrathful towards anyone in a long time.

They both seemed to take the news about him being Ethan’s father well. And it had been good news to him. They’d been through a lot of things together, and he’d always seen him close to what he would a son. Including the high expectations of him during his training. He looked at Ethan shortly as she said he'd talked about him, wondering what stories he'd told. “Good things I hope,” he said with a faint smile on his lips as he moved his gaze to Maeve. It seemed that it was, considering her positive reaction to it.
He was about to step towards Cecilia as she got up, but didn't since Maeve was there, making sure that she wouldn't fall. She then mentioned that she heard someone while she was out. Knowing that it had to have been Ajax. “That’s good to hear… I reckon Pandora is the name of the fairy.” He was honestly relieved to hear this, still not sure about this demon, but it seemed that perhaps he had been sincere. And he was sure they were going to try to lift the curse, seeing that he was affected by it as well. He then watched Cecilia as she walked out into the hallway before he exhaled slowly. At least, it seemed that she wasn’t in too much pain.

Michael looked at Maeve as she said she had many questions, and he understood why this would be overwhelming to her. He’d seen countless humans freak out over the discovery of the supernatural, but there was much more going on. Her cousin was cursed, both Cecilia and Ethan weren’t ordinary humans, and she had a siphoner after her family. That was more interaction with the supernatural world than most humans would experience in their lifetime.
Was Cecilia going to be alright? That depended on many factors. Was she going to become curse-free? Yes. He had no doubt about that. But all of this had to affect her in some way. He could already imagine that she was dealing with anxiety. Fearing that Joseph would break into her house again or do worse to her, or her family, the next time around. “Yes. She will be.” Maeve then asked him if he was human. “No. I’m an angel.” He looked to Ethan as she then asked about his powers, thinking that he ought to explain that part to her. Normally an angel and a human would create a hybrid. A Nephilim. But it seemed that he was more human than angel, albeit a human with superpowers.

Maeve suddenly busted out with a laugh. It wasn’t anything loud and enormously joyful but it was still a touch more than a chuckle and it immediately brought some colour and life back to her face which the past events had left pretty pale. It felt great to laugh, however stunned it so was. It made the whole situation seem just a little bit more normal in a way. More comprehensible. “Yet I still clearly remember just how easily my baby brothers can take you, a tall broad ‘extremely talented’ human, down,” she pointed out, still with the laugh somewhere hidden in her voice. The fact that Ethan wasn’t fully what she had had expected didn’t change anything, really. He could have the most powerful powers in the world and he would still be Bear to her. A goofy, righteous man. With a deep breath she turned to Michael, the angel. She was still trying to process that as well as everything else. Because he wasn’t just any angel, now was he? Her train of thought had already made the connection from the start. This was almost the most surreal thing of them all… “You probably already know this since you aren’t exactly strangers but you should be proud of having Ethan as your son. I’ve known him for more than ten years now and he has done so much for me. And my family.” Before this man being the one and only archangel Michael, he was the biological father of her best friend. And it had felt like he wished to be a part of Ethan’s life in that way now. And he had better do a better job than the former candidate, so it wasn’t entirely wrong to sense the slightest bit of demand in her words.

Cecilia joined her in the couch, making her automatically move a millimetre to the side as if there wasn’t already plenty of room for her cousin and as if that millimetre would make any different. A reflex was all it was really, but it did take her focus off from Michael again and just as her focus instead was about to be pointed at the wine Cecilia chose to drink considering she had been bleeding from every non-leak-proof area of her face the half-forgotten subject of the evening came right back to the conversation.
Eye got big. “Book?” Maeve looked around at them all. From Cecilia to Michael to Ethan and then ended back at Cecilia. “There even exist an actual non-fiction beastiary, an encyclopaedia about all the supernatural in the world? Of course there do. Uhm.” She wanted to laugh again at just how ignorant she was. Because she believe what they were saying. Kind of. How couldn’t she? Being one to wear her feelings on the outside it wasn’t obvious how her brain worked overtime to re-organize what she had believed to be fiction into fact-files. At least she both looked and felt less sick and crazed thanks to the short swift of topic. And time. Yea. She would come around, she just needed the time. The question was whether or not she had the time.

“So..” She dragged the word while she collected her words to say, a wondering furrow on her brow. “Is there anything in this book about talking animals? Talking cats in particularly,” she asked, looking back up on the group of people. “Because I might have one of those at my place. I was sure that I was just going crazy from stress. That I must have started imaging this stray cat actually talked back to me while it was just in my head. Some weird trick that the lonelier part of my brain was playing me. Especially when you think about who the cat claims to be. The long lost Duke of Nuremburg.” Maeve then looked more to Ethan and Cecilia. Those being the ones who would understand what she meant. They knew her after all. They knew her fascination with this man’s history. The mysterious disappearance. How she adored the found sketches that were said to have been drawn by him.

Michael scoffed quietly at Ethan’s comment. It far from explained anything, but at least it made Maeve laugh. A much-needed laugh, surely, considering everything that had happened tonight, and for the moment being, it managed to break some of the tension in the room. It reminded him of the many times Ethan had been able to make him laugh as well, no matter the pain or horror they’d witnessed. She then turned his attention to him, giving him a speech about how he should be proud of having Ethan as his son. Of course, he was proud of his good deeds. And he wouldn’t have come here tonight if he didn’t care about him. But more so, he wondered why she felt the need to say this. He moved his eyes to Ethan. Michael had seen the way Ethan followed the righteousness he’d taught him and how he helped others before himself. So, it wasn't so odd that he went the extra mile for his friends. “I know.”

Michael moved his gaze to the hallway as Cecilia appeared in the doorway. He watched her as she walked closer to them and sat back down on the couch. It was difficult for him to get used to this, seeing her, without it really being her. And maybe he never would. Every expression and movement reminding him of Jezebel. Of a time before her betrayal. He didn’t try to hide the fact that he stared at her either, not really feeling the need to do so in any case. And Cecilia knew that she looked like someone he knew. He'd revealed that from their very first meeting. He curled his lips briefly as she mentioned the book that he’d given her. Maeve seemed surprised to know that such a book existed, but the truth was Michael had a whole library of books just like it. Not surprisingly, his collection was quite extensive compared to most. He had books on legends, history, mythology, and mysteries in various languages. However, the book he’d given Cecilia was one of the ones he’d written himself, based on his journals of the supernatural creatures that he’d encountered. It focused especially on monsters and unholy creatures as those were what he actively pursued and noted most information about. But it had the most common beings in there as well. “I can give you a copy if you'd like. I wrote it for anyone who's new to the supernatural and needs a brief overview of supernatural beings as well as ways to defend against them.”

He then moved over to sit in the chair adjacent to the couch, placing his hands on the armrests while his gaze moved to the fireplace. It seemed a lot calmer in the living room, but Michael’s thoughts couldn’t be further from that. Frankly, they kept wanting to return to the curse, Joseph, and this whole ordeal with Cecilia's family, so he appreciated it when they tried to change the subject. He moved his eyes to Maeve as she asked if the book mentioned anything about a talking cat, anticipating her to explain it further as a talking cat could be the cause of a few different things. The moment she mentioned that the cat claimed to be the duke of Nuremberg, it narrowed those possibilities down. “It sounds like he was cursed to take the form of a cat.” If he was a shapeshifter, then he probably would have turned back to his human-form and proceeded with his life. And if he was a cat who happened to know how to talk, or she was a human who could communicate with animals, he probably wouldn’t have claimed to be a long-lost duke, let alone know about this duke’s history. “You know, like Perdix in Metamorphoses or The Frog Prince,” he added to give them some references, looking at Ethan and Cecilia as it seemed that they knew of this talking cat already. “Did he mention how or why his transformation occurred?” At least, he could only assume that the cat wanted to be turned back to a human. And without that, the odds of them breaking the curse were improbable.

”You wrote it?” Maeve showed a whole new admiration for Michael by that discovery. Her eye had gotten rather big as she stared in a sense of awe at the man in the armchair. She got that this man was ancient - at least if he was the same Michael told about in Christianity he should be - and he would have more years and more knowledge behind him than any other person in the word so writing a book or twenty shouldn’t come as a surprise. But she still had had expected such a thing to be an ancient relic. Maybe she dwelled just a little bit too much in the many fictional fantasy tales she had been exposed to. “That’s actually… really nice. Like a beginner’s guide to the supernatural. But I don’t think it’ll be necessary. I’ll just borrow Cecilia’s copy to look through.” She looked down at her cousin, now on the floor with the dog. Did she look alright? No. Who would be totally fine after what she just had been through. Maeve didn’t even know what that thing had been. Only the screams had been an indicator that it must have been agony. She looked back up at Michael and continued. “I have some rather meddling kids at home and I wouldn’t want them finding the book, you know. They don’t know about all..” She gestured out into the room. “…this. Which I feel is probably for the best. For now.” Maeve then gave Michael an apologetic smile, hoping he’d understand.

By the return of Ethan and the completed promise of tea - a thing she many times had thought herself of using as an excuse to get a bit of breathing room - Maeve’s chocolate brown eyes automatically found their way to the tall man. The tray looked almost comically small to his frame. The image of him serving tea like this could easily be a mismatch for person who didn’t know the man and just how soft and cozy he was. To her this fitted the picture she knew so well and she smiled a thanks before scooching further to the edge of the couch and leaned in forward to reach with her short limbs and grabbed one of the cups.
Maeve sat back into the couch holding her cup with her functioning hand and steadying with the one in cast. She sent Ethan a quick squinted look for his attempt to compare her level of interest. “Come on, you’re making me sound like I’m some crazed fangirl. He’s a fascinating man. And his sketches are some of the best unrecognized work. Simple and delicate yet bold by the use of ink instead of graphite or pencil. Ethan, you just don’t understand art.” Everyone could assumedly see that she had gone down an unintended  thread. This was a topic she was passionate about so she barely noticed how she just went on and wasn’t far from forgetting the main focus.
Luckily, all it really took for her to get back on track was to turn her head back to Michael. “He did. Apparently he got cursed by the woman he had been betrothed to, Elizabeth Clarell, who turned out was a witch, after he married another woman, thereby breaking her heart. I guess witches don’t turn to stone when they become heart broken,” she told, trying at the same time to come to terms with the fact that this very possibly wasn’t just something whack her mind had made up. “And also…” She looked advertly out of the corner of her eye towards Ethan, raising her cup to her lip. “To where he is right now.” She turned her eyes away from them all, lowering them instead and just before she took a calculated sip of her tea she mumbled: “Right now he’s in my bedroom.”

Michael nodded affirmatively to Maeve’s question. It wasn’t so strange when you thought about it. He had existed far longer than the beings he wrote about, and he’d spent many years studying them. The way she looked at him made him anticipate a question about him or the supernatural world. Instead, she claimed that it wouldn't be necessary with a copy. He slowly moved his gaze from Maeve to Cecilia as she said she'd borrow the book she had. Of course, this was completely up to her. But with Joseph after her family, it only seemed wise to read as much as she could - as quickly as possible. He looked back at Maeve as she said she had meddling kids at home, and that she didn’t want them to know about the supernatural, which Michael understood. He wished that most humans could live a peaceful life without knowing about the monsters that roamed outside. And he could only imagine how much more frightened the children would be, knowing that the monsters they've read about were real. “I see.” He didn’t mind either way, but he’d at least wanted to give her the offer.

He looked towards the window again, having not sensed any dangers in the time he’d been there, but it didn’t make him feel any less disconcerted about the situation. Knowing that it was a matter of time before something would happen. But whether that would be minutes, hours, or days, he couldn't know. And although he worried about how things had turned out back at the factory with the dark fairy. He believed they could handle themselves much more than the humans, so for that reason, he couldn't get himself to check on them.
He kept his gaze at the window, and then to the door as Ethan returned with the tea, for a second thinking that he heard steps outside, but quickly concluded that it was something that had fallen over due to the storm. He reached forward to grab one of the cups, at the same time lowering his gaze to Cecilia as she had chosen to sit on the floor with Puzzle. This made him send a silent prayer to his father. Asking for his guidance and help to lift this unholy curse. She had already been through so much, despite her moral compass being nothing but good. There was nothing just about that.

He smiled faintly at Ethan’s comment about Maeve, making it sound like she had a minor obsession with the history of this duke. He raised the cup to his lips to take a sip of the tea before he leaned back in the chair. Their banter helping to lighten the mood. “She’s right,” he pitched in as he looked at Ethan. “In fact, I seem to recall you fell asleep in the car when I was giving you my interpretation of The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch after we visited The Prado Museum,” he said with a hint of a smile in his eyes. They had once been on a ghost-case in that museum, and it would have been a shame to pass up on the opportunity to see the artwork while they were there. Michael moved his gaze to Maeve as she replied to his question. It made a lot of sense. He had many times seen witches seek revenge and cast curses because of strong emotions such as jealousy, without much care for the outcome, or sympathy for their victim. “No. However, they will die if their mate rejects them… or if their mate dies after they’ve bonded,” he explained on her notion of them not turning to stone when they were heartbroken.