Lightning cracked across the sky, while the wind snatched at the trees, trying to pull them up from the roots. Heira stood in the doorway, watching the weather waging war on the world, knowing that it wasn’t the only war about to end up on her doorstep.
“Are you sure about this?”
Looking down, she saw Sam and Drag standing on the doorstep, shivering even though they were still protected from the rain and wind. She gave them a warm smile, hoping to assuage their fears. “Relax child. My home will protect me, but you two must carry on with your journey. The world has yet to take me out, and today has no better chance for it.”
“But we’re talking about every living thing for miles coming here to try and take you out,” Drag said, exasperated.
“Bah! Me and Gertie have gotten through a lot tougher situations,” Heira said, patting the door frame. “Can’t be any worse than the time I had to clean out the basement after a flood. With this weather, I better put out a couple buckets where she usually starts to leak.” The house creaked, as if trying to apologize, but Heira just gave another reassuring pat. Drag just stared at her like he didn’t know if he should be in awe or finding a mental hospital for her.
“But—”
“Leave it, Drag. If she wants to stay, we can’t do anything about it. Better to leave before They start writing the story about us instead. I’ve died in enough other stories already, I’d like a pass in this one,” Sam said. “It was bad enough with a car eating us in the last story,” she said, shuddering from the memories. Drag opened his mouth to argue but thought better of it. He grabbed Sam, and they stumbled off into the storm to avoid the other one heading for Heira.
Heira just chuckled as she closed the door. Those two were bound to run into more trouble in the future, but she had a feeling they were going to be alright. They thought she was crazy for not being more concerned about her own situation. Maybe she should be, but being here, with Gertie, she always felt safe. Gertie had been her home for the last fifty years, and Heira didn’t see that changing in the next fifty either. Walking into the kitchen, the cupboard automatically opened for her to grab her coffee mug. Sitting down at the table with her coffee, she couldn’t help but still be awestruck at the house, even after all these years. It still felt like yesterday somedays, being lost and stumbling upon it.
She had just fled from Jako, one of her ex’s at the time. It had been a particularly nasty fight, that ended up leading to things getting physical. Honestly, she had already been getting a little tired of him anyways. His attitude had been souring a lot and whatever had been there originally was long gone. What had surprised her though was him getting so possessive and trying to keep her from leaving, which was hilarious. If it wasn’t for the fact that she abhorred violence and only fought as a last resort, there would have been a grave covered in piss that day. Instead, she used her powers to flee.
She had been running for a couple days when she had stumbled upon this beautiful house tucked away in some woods she had wandered into. It was just this gorgeous two-story home, almost like a miniature mansion. There was a cozy garden right in front of it, tucked beneath the windows on the right, with some berries already blooming on the bushes. Everything about it looked cozy with the big bench swing on the porch off to the left, the bay windows that she had hoped connected to the living room (they did), and the ivy lazily growing on the light blue siding which didn’t look out of place at all.
She went to knock on the front door but when she raised her fist, the door opened on its own accord.
Walking into the home, it felt so loved and cared for. There was stained glass at the top of the bay window that had rainbows dancing around the room. The couch was so soft and plush, a newspaper set neatly on the coffee table.
“Helloooooo,” she called into the house. There was no reply, except from a rocking chair in the corner squeaking a little. Walking around the home, it was so peculiar. The house looked very lived in, with dishes and food stocked in the kitchen, pretty ocean themed bathroom towels, and a full bedroom set with a stunning blend of purples, reds, and yellows to make it look like the room was caught in an eternal sunset. It all felt so inviting to the point that she gave in to the idea of staying, just until someone else showed up.
And now it’s been fifty years, and still no sign of anyone returning. It started with little things like cupboards being opened for her automatically or the tv turning on in the living room as she goes to sit down. The garden had even managed to take care of itself. Over time, she was able to communicate with the house. From what she could understand, it had been lonely and was glad to have the company.
The house gave her some serenity and she helped look after the house, keeping it clean and whatever minor repairs she could do. Staying had been a nice retreat, not that anyone could ever say that a witch had a quiet life. Hell, she knew one had a house dropped on them and couldn’t even really remember them doing anything to deserve it. Being in the woods helped with that, but even she still had her wild moments. Plants that got too wild, freaky weather, spells that got a little out of hand, even unexpected visitors.
That thought snapped her back to the present, with the problem coming to her doorstop soon. She could admit that she wasn’t that scared, but it wasn’t going to be easy to deal with. She flexed her fingers, the itch that always came before the fight. It was a weird sensation, that part of her wanted to run and hide but the other part was ready to dive in and take care of the problem. It’s how it always went once it started.
There was a pounding coming from the front door.
“Look at that Gertie, they decided to start with knocking. We’ll just have to see if it ends as peacefully.”
She went to answer the front door. Before she could open it, it was kicked in, with a grinning mangy man standing in the doorway. His nails were filthy and long, leaving scratch marks in the doorway that had Heira glaring. Fucking werewolves always had to be so messy. Heira stopped and stared him down.
“This is gonna get ugly, isn’t it?”
“Probably. You could always just lay down and die?”
“Naveena. Should have expected you would be coming as well.” Heira turned around to see Naveena standing behind her. Naveena gave her a pointed sneer, showing off her fangs. First a werewolf, and now one of the nastiest vampires made her way into the house. She was definitely going to have a headache before the night was over.
“Be a good dog and stay outside,” Heira said. The door pushed itself back up and bolted into place while Heira summoned fire into her hand. Naveen snarled and tried to charge her.
Tried.
Right as she started to claw her, Heira shoved her fist into Naveena’s stomach, lighting her up from the inside. Naveena screeched and lurched herself away, before it could do any serious damage. Fire was almost always safe when it came to a weapon of choice. This really wasn’t how she expected her night to go.
She turned to hear hissing from the kitchen.
“Sssssilly girl. I hope you didn’t think ssssshe wasssss the only one.”
“Nah, knew she wasn’t. Figured there would be a lot of idiots trying to take a piece of me tonight.” The Naga straightened a little and hissed louder at that insult.
The Naga tightened and coiled getting ready to spring at her. Before she could get ready to fight back, something that smelled disgusting and furry knocked her to the ground.
“Fucking werewolf got back in,” She snarled, looking up, only to be wrong. “I take that back. Really?! Even you, Freddy?” Freddy, also known as Sasquatch, just responded with a roar right in her ear. God, nothing about this was fun. She braced her arms and poured power into them, reverberating out to knock him back into the wall, slumped unconscious.
The Naga jumped to spring at her. Unfortunately, the house didn’t really approve. As it tried to get through the doorway, the door slammed closed on it. She could hear the crunch through the midsection. There was going to be a lot of clean up tonight. Assuming she survived, that is. She could see more shadows flitting past the windows outside.
“You think you have a chance of surviving this night,” Naveena asked, stumbling back into the room.
“Better chance than you do.”
“Every living thing within in a hundred miles is coming here to kill you. You won’t live to see the dawn rise on this pathetic little hovel.” The door right behind Naveena slammed into her, knocking her to the ground.
“You think death scares me? I think it about it every day, knowing it will come one day. I made peace with it a long time ago,” she said, crouching next to Naveena. “But just because I’m okay with the idea of death, doesn’t mean I’m ready to let some garbage like you cause it,” Heira snarled, encasing her hand in fire and shoving it into Naveena’s face. “Never insult my home.”
Dawn broke over the hill, lighting up the woods with sunbeams dancing between the trees. The birds flitted from tree to tree, sharing the morning gossip and talking about how all the wild ruckus kept them up all night. A couple of them even chittered about the idea of finding new woods, not that they ever would.
Heira sat at the table in the kitchen. It was a little unsteady, but still standing, so it would do for a place to drink coffee until she fixed it. There was a lot of cracked tiles and scratches, broken glass all over the place, furniture that needed to be replaced. She could even see Gertie already trying to put one door back. She patted the table soothingly. “Don’t work yourself too hard, dear. You already did plenty last night. Give me a couple minutes with my coffee and I can help set you right. It’s the least I can do for you taking care of me.” And it had, over the many years and all through the night. Gertie had kept her wam and safe and she would never be able to say thanks enough.
But for now, the house was still standing. And so was she.
