CHAPTER 1
“An ancient evil.”
I looked at the words in the ancient Oracle Book. An ancient vampire in a bookstore had given it to me. Actually, I wasn’t sure he himself was a vampire, but he told me vampires had written the book. It was supposed to foretell the future, but all it did was speak in riddles.
As I was pondering the words, I heard a knock. It was after seven—The Bachelor had already begun. I wanted to see if he was going to give this series’ troublemaker a rose.
I flung open the door to see Aunty June standing on my doorstep. Without so much as a word of greeting, she waved her arms in the air and screeched, “Murder!”
I was aghast. “Who’s been murdered, Aunty June?”
“Barry’s victims. He’s murdered several people by now, and I’m sure he’ll murder more.”
I stood aside for her to enter. “Do we need to stop him?”
She shot me a bewildered look. “You’re not making any sense!”
“I’m not making any sense? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Is it something to do with an ancient evil?”
Aunty June scratched her head and handed me a DVD. “Have you been drinking, Misty? Barry is a show I like on Netflix. I thought we could watch it together. He’s a hit man.”
“I see,” I said, although I didn’t really. “You’ve come from wherever you live to watch a TV show with me?” Aunty June was entirely secretive. I had no idea where she lived, much less anything else about her life. One thing I did know was that she always appeared before times of trouble.
“I’ve brought wine,” Aunty June said, brandishing a bottle.
I fetched some wine glasses from the dishwasher, barely managing not to trip over my cat, Merlin, on the way. Merlin always wanted to be fed cat treats. She had doubled her weight in the last month, but I wasn’t one to talk. “I was looking at the Oracle Book just before you arrived and it said there was an ancient evil.”
Aunty June’s thinly pencilled eyebrows shot up. “Now that is interesting. An ancient evil, you say? As a matter of fact, that’s why I’ve come to see you. I have a terrible feeling, Misty, a terrible feeling that you’re about to be in danger. Something otherworldly.”
“Something otherworldly and evil?” I handed her a glass of wine.
Aunty June nodded slowly. “I do believe so. Is your horrible boss planning to send you on any missions?”
I hardly thought ‘missions’ was the right word for journalistic endeavours, but I wasn’t about to point that out. “Not as far as I know, but it can happen at any time. We do report on the news, only not very well,” I added with a grimace. “So, do you have any idea what dangers lie ahead of me?”
Aunty June nodded. “I could think of plenty of things, but I can’t interfere in your life, Misty. Maybe the coming threat is something to do with other dimensions. Other dimensions often contain creatures that are both otherworldly and evil.” She stopped speaking and shuddered. “Like bats.”
“Bats?” I repeated. "I wouldn't call them otherworldly or evil, apart from Hollywood bats—all those vampire films."
Aunty June pulled a face. "Ugh. Still, myths do have a basis in fact."
"You mean vampires are really bats?"
Aunty June swallowed her wine the wrong way. I jumped up and patted her on the back. She waved me away. "Of course not, Misty! How could you say such a thing? Vampires are perfectly lovely people. Hollywood has a lot to answer for, you know. It's just that in other domains in parallel worlds, vampires are not the sweet, lovely people we are all used to in this world. Rather, they are ravening bats."
Aunty June was making even less sense than usual. I stared at her, wondering if something was wrong. She looked the same as ever—bright red hair, bright red batwing glasses, impossibly pale face set off by bright red lipstick, and she was dressed in her usual bright red clothes. I smiled to myself. No, Aunty June looked perfectly normal.
Aunty June held out her wine glass for a refill. I duly obliged. "So then, that's why I had to come. I feel the pressing of another world into this one." She shook her finger at me. "And that's not a good thing, you mark my words. Misty, I believe you will soon face danger, terrible danger."
I clutched my stomach. "Worse danger than I've ever faced before?"
Aunty June appeared to be pondering my question when there was a knock on the door. I looked at my phone on the coffee table. It was just past eight. "Who could that be?" I muttered. I hurried to the door and flung it open. To my dismay, Julie, the nosy parcel delivery lady, was standing on my doorstep.
"Are you all right?" she asked me.
I moved to block Merlin from running outside. “Yes. Why wouldn't I be?"
"There's a car I didn't recognise out the front, so I thought maybe you were the victim of a burglary. Of course, I knew you wouldn't have a boyfriend or anything like that." She made a horrible sound, which I assumed was laughter. Before I could think of something cutting and witty to say, she pushed past me into the house.
“Do you remember my Aunty June?" I asked her.
The two of them nodded politely at each other. Aunty June was suddenly tense like she always was around Julie. Julie certainly had a nerve, inserting herself into my life at every opportunity.
"Craig forgot to give you these earlier, so I thought I'd bring them around. It would save me a trip if you could give one to Cordelia."
"What are they?" I asked her.
"How would I know? You don't think I open your mail, do you?" She narrowed her eyes and glared at me.
I very well knew she did read my mail. Everyone in town knew about her nefarious mail-opening tendencies. "So, did you say Craig forgot to deliver them?" I asked.
She nodded vigorously. "Yes, he was supposed to deliver these to you and Cordelia today. Actually, don't tell anyone, but Craig forgot to deliver any mail today. These envelopes look quite fancy with all the silver edging and everything. When he confessed that he hadn't delivered the mail, I looked through the van for anything that looked urgent so I'm doing the rounds for everyone now."
"How kind of you," Aunty June said through clenched teeth.
Julie glared at her. "If I’d known it was your car, I wouldn't have come. Anyway, I thought this envelope was urgent and it couldn't wait."
With that, she hurried away. When the door was securely locked, I turned to Aunty June. "That's strange."
"She sure is.”
I shook my head. "No, I mean it’s strange that she left in a hurry. Normally, she would insist on a glass of wine."
"I'm sure the woman doesn't like me," Aunty June said with something akin to satisfaction.
"Thank goodness for small mercies," I said, as I studied the envelope. "This is quite fancy."
"Well, don't just stand about. Put Florida Water on it!" Aunty June said before taking a big gulp of wine.
“Florida Water?” I echoed.
“Yes, of course. Surely you put Florida Water on your candles to cleanse them before you use them for spells?”
I nodded. “Of course I do, but I don’t put it on my mail!”
Aunty June’s hands were firmly planted on her hips. “Where is your Florida Water?”
I took the hint. I went into my study to retrieve a bottle, and dabbed it all over the envelope. I turned the envelope over in my hands. I ripped it open and inside were brochures about the Hydro Majestic, a famous historical hotel in the Blue Mountains an hour or so from the outskirts of Sydney.
"Cordelia has one too," I said, nodding to the other envelope.
"It looks like your boss is sending you there," Aunty June said.
I thought it over. "Yes, that does make sense. Still, these were posted the day before yesterday and she hasn't mentioned anything to us yet." I slapped myself on the side of the head. "Of course not! She's been away all week. It's been heavenly without her, I can tell you." I let out a long sigh of relief. Skinny, the editor at the paranormal magazine where I worked, was the boss from hell. It had been the happiest times of my life having her out of the office for a few days.
"I'd wipe that smile off my face, if I were you, Misty," Aunty June said, setting down her wine glass and stroking Merlin.
"Why is that?" I asked, as a sense of foreboding settled upon me.
"Because something terrible lies ahead of you.”
