Burn

CHAPTER 7

Rita raised a brow as she opened the door, a speculative gleam in her eye.

"Well," she drawled, a note of skepticism in her voice, "look who's back again."

Carter resisted the urge to gulp. "I, er...brought a salad." He lifted the glad-wrapped bowl into the air like a sycophant placing an offering to an idol. "It's ceasar."

Rita regarded him in silence for another moment, then threw back her head and laughed. "My, aren't you polite. Any more dishes and I'll have to start arranging a buffet table."

She took the bowl, and, still grinning to herself, turned on her heel and disappeared into the house.

Carter lingered on the step, uncertain.

"Come in, then!" She called, making him flinch.

She was already disappearing among the shadows and dust of the house when he stepped through the door; she seemed to fit among the strange objects in a way Carter couldn't comprehend. He felt, just as he had the first time, that he'd get lost if he wasn't careful.

"Carter?"

To his relief, Velma appeared at the end of the hall, a stack of tomes in one hand. "'Bout time you got here. C'mon."

Thankfully, the trek to Velma's room proved significantly less sinister than Carter's first visit; in fact, Velma's room was, for all intents and purposes, rather normal.

She had pale pink walls and a chipped white desk, a tattered rug covered in socks, a window sill littered with dying plants. Her walls contained a few posters, mostly for rock bands and various solo artists, and her four poster bed had gauzy curtains that matched the pair hanging by her window.

It certainly wasn't anything Carter would've equated with a demon hunter apprentice.

"Sorry about that," Velma said, picking her way past the socks. She sat on the edge of her bed and tucked her feet beneath her. "Aunt Rita insisted on answering the door. She's a bit...protective. I think she thinks we're dating."

Carter spluttered, and Velma laughed. "Oh, don't worry. I'm most definitely not into your kind."

"My kind?" Carter prompted, frowning.

Velma clicked her tongue. "Men. Boys."

Now it was Carter's turn to laugh. "You make us sound like an alien species."

Velma grinned, all teeth and crinkled skin. "Your point?"

Her features settled back into neutrality as she cast a considering glance at her bedroom floor. "Well, no putting it off, I'm afraid."

She clicked her fingers, and Carter gave a yelp of surprise as a chalk circle surrounded by lit candles materialised in the middle of her floor.

"Whaaa..? How...?"

"Simple obscuring spell," Velma replied, shrugging. She slid from her bed and crept around its border, inspecting the lines with a frown. "I had to hide it incase anyone came in while I was collecting you."

"So-" Carter spluttered, suddenly aware of a headache building between his eyes, "so you actually can do magic magic?"

Velma frowned in thought, then gave a minute shake of her head. "There are different branches of 'magic,' and the bits my family studies are very limited. It's all demon-related spells."

Carter frowned and gestured to the circle. "And invisibility counts?"

"Obscuring spell," Velma corrected. "And we can only do it for a short time. What if we have to hide from a demon?"