Artemisia

Chapter 1

'4:27 am', read the digital clock on Mina's clunky silver phone. The device looked like it was from the early 2000s. A gloved hand grasped the phone tightly; gosh, Mina never had been very good around electronics. Weren't young people supposed to be good with these kinds of things? She was only twenty-four, and still felt like a child.

Mina knew she shouldn't prowl the streets at night, but the option didn't seem to be her own. She couldn't find the will to resist the calling of the moon. She was sure that once it was four hours after midnight the demons all went to sleep. Four was always the perfect time for Mina. All of the nocturnal animals were heading to sleep, and all of the day time animals were still in their dreams. It was a time of silence and meditation. She liked the quiet.

Mina walked north of her apartment, heading to a nature trail she frequented. To get to her destination she had to cross a bridge. She wore a pair of plain blue jeans, and black t-shirt. She completed the autumn themed ensemble with a button up flannel wrapped around her waist.

Mina pulled the set of earbuds out of her pocket, and soon blocked out the sound of crickets and the rare passing car with soft music. She breathed calmly as she walked alone over the concrete bridge. She paused to look over into the powerful creek that flowed below her. The moon was lowering, and the sun would also be rising soon. As she was walking along, she picked up a leaf and gazed into it as she leaned against the side of the small bridge. She sighed long and looked up at the large moon.

It was so nice outside. It was also much too easy to get completely lost in one's own world. Mina did not stay spaced out for long though. She suddenly saw a small creature trotting along across the bridge. She blinked and froze where she stood. She let out a small laugh when she realized it was a little kitten. She squinted her eyes to focus on the kitty, and saw that it had a little bow around its neck and looked a lot cleaner than a street cat. The little baby had a pretty grey and white coat and glowing green eyes. She wondered if the kitty was hurt, and moved closer towards the kitten. She got down a little lower, and held out a hand slowly. She slowly called for the kitten. "Hey there, kitty-kitty." She smiled warmly as the cat started to slowly make its way to her. She loved all animals, that's why she worked as a secretary at a vet's clinic.

As the kitten made its way closer, Mina could tell that it had recently been in a fight or something. "Hey baby, what happened?" She remained still as to not startle little kitty. It wasn't long before the kitten was right in front of Mina. The radiant smile remained as she observed the baby now nuzzling against her long, slender fingers. It looked like she had hurt her paw. "What a poor little tabby, do you want to come back to my apartment, I can help with that paw of yours and give you some food and water." Mina laughed as the kitten continued to purr and rub that tiny cheek against her hand. "I'll take that as a yes, do you mind if I carry you?" She asked as she took out both of her earbuds, realizing they were still in.

With the kitten's approval, Mina gingerly lifted the kitten and took her back to the little duplex on the top of a hill. Mina had lived there for three years now. She wasn't sure her landlord would approve of a cat, but Mina had a feeling someone was going to be looking for this kitten, "Are you lost? You didn't seem too lost out there, but I suppose you must have ran into some trouble." Mina continued to talk to the kitten as she unlocked the door, still holding the kitten in her left arm. "But don't worry, I'll help you get to where you need to be, and help fix that paw of yours too." Mina giggled and walked into her nice home, and sat the kitten down on an armchair in the living room.

The duplex was kinda cheap, and the neighborhood was a little run down, but it was still home to Mina. She had had a few roommates in the past, but her last roommate had moved away a few months prior. It was a bit hard to keep up on the bills, but it was also nice to be alone sometimes. Mina had to admit though, she tended to enjoy pleasant company much more than solitude. "You really brighten things up in here, Tabs." She said, deciding already on the uncreative nickname for her new friend. The kitten let out a squeaky 'mew' and Mina gushed with adorning laughter and crooning to the kitten as if it were a human baby.

"Aww... I'd love to keep you around forever." She said dreamily as she went to the bathroom and grabbed some bandage wraps and a few other things she would need to help clean the kitten's wound. "So Tabs, how did you get lost from your companion?" She went to the tabby who was still laying in the spot where Mina had set her. She slowly started to clean the cat's wound, and then wrapped the cut and scraped skin to protect it from bacteria.

Mina gently ran her fingers through the kitten's soft fur, closing her eyes as she moved to sit up on the couch. She set the warm kitten in her lap and closed her eyes. She began to curl up under a star and moon patterned blanket, but there was a knock on her door.

She opened her eyes, 'what?' Who could be knocking at the door this late?

CHAPTER 2

"Do you really think that she is here? Artemisia doesn't really like humans..." Lila spoke softly as she looked at her brother.

"Well, this is where the dowsing rod led us." Luke responded with a shrug. Lila sighed and knocked at the big wooden door of the old house, having no other option. It seemed to be divided into half, so Lila hoped she was knocking on the correct door. She hated meeting new people, and she certainly didn't understand humans. Her brother spent much more time around them, so she at least had that comfort. "I'm sensing some sort of power coming from here though, not Missy's." Luke said using the name he called Artemisia. No one answered the door, so Luke gave a more assertive knock than his sister had.

Lila sighed again, her brother was so cool and so much more advanced than her in his studies. "I hope it's not one of those vamps that have been giving us so much trouble, I couldn't see why they would want one of our family's familiars..." After the second set of knocks, the door was answered by a tired looking, young woman. She was really pretty though. She was taller than Lila, and had brown skin that reminded Lila of the color of the pinecones as the sun first shone on them, it was something she loved about her morning walks. She had the spirit and physical appearance of a fairytale forest. Lila was especially taken by the kind, green eyes that the girl had.

"Can I help you?"

"Um..." Lila opened her mouth, but couldn't seem to form the right words. She was grateful when her brother started to talk to the woman at the door, explaining their situation in as limited as details as possible.

"Oh..." The girl's voice was like the wind whispering through the tree branches. The ones that reached for each other across pathways. Lila tried to catch a glimpse behind the girl into the home. "Uh... I'd invite you in, but someone from your search party already found me."

"Someone from our search party?" Lila tilted her head and then looked to her brother, worry flooding her face.

"Uh yeah, she was really tall and pretty." The girl at the door said, biting her lower lip. "She said she was looking for the kitten with a pink ribbon too, and said she saw me walking home with her kitten while out looking."

Lila started to panic, oh no... please don't let it be that bitch. "Ugh, please tell me the woman who came didn't have long, dark red hair, and a birthmark on her face."

"Yeah, she did. What's going on? Do you not know her, maybe it was a different cat?"

'Damn it.' Lila thought on loop as she started to bite her thumb and slowly pace around the porch in circles, thinking.

"Sorry about my sister..." Luke laughed as he started to charm the human girl at the door. His voice rang in the background of Lila's silent curses. "Um, see our cat, Artemisia, she was a really special kitten. We come from a family of witches, and Artemisia was meant to be our little sister's familiar." Lila's head shot up at her brother's words.

Lila gave her brother a stone cold glare, "Luke!" Her heart beat fast as she stared at her elder brother who only rolled his eyes at her, muttering something about how it wasn't the age of the witch-hunters. Lila only grimaced and crossed her arms.

"Um, won't you two please come in, I might be able to help you if you want to explain more."

Lila looked towards the pretty girl as she spoke and nodded thankfully. "Yes, thank you so much for your graciousness." She hoped that Luke knew what he was doing. They both stepped in, "My name is Lila, and this is my older brother Luke." The woman smiled sweetly and introduced herself as 'Mina'.

"Um, please have a seat, do you need anything to eat or drink?"

"No, but thank you... Um, did the woman who came here say anything to you?" Lila looked towards Mina with desperation in her eyes as she now sat next to her brother on a little love sofa. "Any information would be helpful." Lila looked around at Mina's home. The living room had a funky wallpaper that looked like it belonged on Earth a few decades ago along with the furniture, and there was an overall feeling of comfort as the sound of a box fan hummed in the moments of silence between the three. It smelled nice inside, like sandalwood and jasmine. The peaceful abode really calmed Lila's nerves, at least a little.

"I don't know much, I found a kitten while on my usual walk, she was hurt so I brought her home to bandage her leg up. The woman who came and picked up the little tabby didn't say much besides that she saw me walking with the kitten while out looking for her." Lila listened as Mina cleared her throat and continued, "but what is all of this talk about witches and stuff? What is so important about this kitten again, I'm sorry... uh..." Lila felt uncomfortable talking to a stranger, but knew she had to find Missy.

"Um, like Luke said, the kitten you found is really important to our family." She looked at Luke with concern in her eyes. She didn't think it was right to tell a mortal about their world, but maybe he was planning on erasing her memory of them after this. "Our family is from Gallium, a kingdom far away and long forgotten. We are members of an underground world of beings. Um... I guess your kind would call my brother and I witches." Lila rubbed the back of her neck. "We walk among humans..." She continued to move her dark brown eyes around the room, scanning her surroundings. "You seem to know some things." She said as she glanced at a small bookshelf. It was filled with books on the occult.

"Well, anyway, our sister is turning five in three days. There is to be a ceremony that all witches go through. It is a binding ceremony. My sister is to be bonded with Artemisia, and it would be devastating on our family if her companion was lost to us."

"Uh... okay, so why was someone after Artemisia?"

"Well, my sister seems to make some powerful enemies." Lila huffed as Luke called her out like that.

"That was my ex-girlfriend who came, I can only assume. She is an asshole vampire, and swore her revenge on me when I broke up with her. She... um... has a flare for theatrics." Lila felt a bit embarrassed about talking about all of this. She couldn't believe this was all happening. She couldn't believe that Ariel was seriously fucking with her like this.

'Well, she is a criminal... was a criminal?' Lila battled with her inner turmoil as she felt her stomach twist in knots. When Lila had first met Ariel, she had never expected things to go the way they did. They both frequented a coffee bar where a lot of the nocturnal creatures who inhabited the human world met up. It was run by a local witch, and much more Lila's scene than the little art gallery that a lot of the fae in the area frequented. Their relationship blossomed when Ariel struck up a conversation with her about a book she had been quietly reading in the corner while sipping on a coffee.

Lila didn't have any prejudice against vampires, but after a year she had learned that Ariel had been lying, and also hiding a lot of things from her. Lila had never experienced pain like she did when she had to end her relationship with the person who had not only become her significant other, but the best friend she had ever had. Ariel took the break-up worse than Lila though, and Lila definitely felt like she should have let Ariel communicate more with her about the issue. It hadn't been that way though; in the moment Lila only felt like she could shut out her love and block it all from her mind.

CHAPTER 3

"Like...a vampire..." Okay... this was getting weird. At first Mina just thought that maybe they came from a family that practiced Wicca or some other sect of witchcraft. "Like... Edward Cullen?" Mina didn't know what else to say. The girl in the room, Lila seemed to not know what Mina was talking about, but Luke just roared with laughter. He was good looking, slight muscle showed under his sweater, and his face was tanned and freckled. His square face was framed with a pair of rounded glasses, and messy strawberry-blond hair. It looked like he saw a lot more sun than his sister, whose skin was nearly translucent. Lila was really pretty too, with a similar square jaw, and a couple less freckles on her face; she must also have had better eyesight. She had the same strawberry-blond hair, but hers was worn in a long, loose braid that tumbled down her shoulders.

"Yeah, kind of just like that." Luke laughed, seemingly at the comparison Mina had made. "Vamps used to be much more feared and mysterious like the stories of old, but all of the ones that live now a days have adapted with the world around them. It's no longer the dark ages, and they can't get away with things like they used to. Not since the high courts of the five golden families started to enforce law and order.-"

"Um- Luke, why are we telling her this? Can't we just get the information we need on a need-to-know basis?" The pale girl interrupted.

Luke shook his head, and Mina grew more and more curious as she sat down on the chair across from the sofa, in between an old wooden coffee table with high rising legs. "Please, please, tell me more, I believe you, and I won't tell anyone. I don't have anyone to tell, honestly. I mean, the only person I could tell would be my mom, and she would just tell me 'oh Mina, Mina get your head out of the clouds, stop living in a fantasy' This was all so interesting. She wanted to believe in something beyond her hum-drum life. This was exciting. Who knew this would all begin from bringing a kitten home. She wanted to help these people though, she believed their story completely, and wanted to help as best she could. She felt responsible, and oh so intrigued.

"Well, I am telling you, because you have some old magic inside you, I can sense it." Luke beamed, and Mina felt her heart stop for what seemed like more than just one beat.

"You can't be serious." Mina and Lila both blurted out at the same time. Mina looked at Lila with shock, wondering why she felt such a connection to this woman.

"I am, haven't you ever felt different?" Luke asked as he crossed his arms. "You must have been adopted, or born in a family that had lost their knowledge of us at some point in time, since you seem to have no idea about our world."

"Um... I was adopted when I was like a year old or something." Mina said as she stared at the set of siblings across the room. She felt as if her world had just been rocked, but at the same time, talking about this kind of stuff felt natural, even with these strange people.

"Oh, that would explain why Artemisia went with you, she usually doesn't get along with humans." Lila spoke softly and seemed to be thinking now.

"I just want to make sure, you guys really aren't playing a prank on me, are you? Do you have a camera hidden on you or something?" Mina laughed a little awkwardly, and then the brother laughed earnestly. She wondered if that answered her question.

"No, no... we are telling the truth, we are witches in search of our lost kitten who is part of a royal bloodline of cats, going back over a hundred years in our family." Mina laughed now, less nervous, this situation was crazy.

"I can't believe this." Mina shook her head, still laughing. She wanted to, but could she really believe these two people?

"Please do, we would love your company in search for Missy." Missy? Mina realized that must be what they called Artemisia, such a regal name for a kitten.

"Um... I don't know, I haven't slept in like a while... sometimes my narcolepsy acts up." Mina rubbed her neck, pushing aside the puffy cloud of curls that bounced around her face. She knew she would regret not taking these people up on the adventure, but she also still wasn't sure this wasn't all some really weird ruse. Her instinct told her to trust these people, but of course Mina had always been told she was just a bit too trusting of others.

"Oh, you don't have to come along, just a suggestion, thought you might be curious about your people, is all." Luke smiled wildly, "also Lila has become quite good knowledge of herbs for spell casting, she may be able to help with that sleep disorder." He was so charismatic, Mina had to nod her head at that.

"Okay, I guess I don't have anything else going on... and I would love to help get your royal kitty home safe." Mina's adrenaline rushed at the idea of adventure, as silly as the task at hand was. She spent her entire life looking out for a rabbit hole, and now a pair of mysterious siblings come to her door after a supposed vampire had been at her doorstep not even an hour prior. She had the curiosity of Alice as she grabbed a sweater to wrap around her waist, swinging the front door open with excitement for the day ahead. The sun was shining bright in the sky now, the clouds had drifted off.

CHAPTER 4

Arie sat cross legged on her large, plush bed. The black curtains in her room blocked out the light of the sun, and she had a little candle lit on the little table next to her bed. It gave just enough of a dim glow over the room for the average human eye to see. The young vampire held a little pink ribbon in between her thumb and index finger. She slowly ran her fingers along the smooth, slightly frayed fibers. A little kitten mewled, and Arie looked up, breaking slightly from her contemplative state. She reached forward and started to pet the little kitten before her with a soft smile. "You're cute... don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you." She carefully lifted the ribbon to her pale lips.

'It still smells like her.'

Arie let out a long sigh as she set the ribbon down. It had been tied around that stupid kitten's neck. She hadn't wanted to think about Lila, she really didn't. She thought about all of the stupid things she had said when Lila told her that she didn't want to be around her anymore, but it wasn't like Lila had just wanted to stop dating, she never wanted to see or hear from her again. That was what hurt the most. Arie closed her eyes, trying not to get upset again. The wound was still so fresh.

"Is it wrong that I just want to use you as an excuse to see her again?" Arie sighed as she gently placed a finger on the kitten's little baby nose. The kitten started to purr, and licked the tip of her finger. Arie's eyes widened a bit, unable to believe how the action of this baby animal made her feel so full of happiness.

Arie lived in a tiny apartment at the edge of a slightly quieter part of town. There were a few warehouses and factories nearby, but the traffic was nothing like the busier parts of the city she used to live in, and honestly the city where she took residence was not all that large at all. It was starting to feel a little too claustrophobic, suffocating, but she was too broke to move. The other thing that kept the young woman in that certain small, woody town was the active night life between the members of the other worlds. It was a small hotspot, but it was mostly the fae and witches that lived in this area. She wished she was with more vampires, but had escaped the last place she had been just for that reason. Too many vampires, not entirely a good thing. Maybe she would go live with the mermaids and sirens on the west coast, somewhere out in California, maybe.