re you ready?" Jade asked, holding a bouquet of red roses, and standing by the front door.
"No," Kat replied, examining her lipstick in the hall mirror.
"What are you missing?"
"Nothing."
"Then you're ready."
"No," Kat disagreed again, moving towards the door. "I don't think I've been this nervous in my life. The handfast wasn't this nerve-racking."
"You didn't take all day to get ready for it either."
"I've been primped and prodded within an inch of my life. The results had better be amazing," Kat laughed, accepting her bouquet.
Jade critically examined her sister, her artist's eye approving of the contrast of the blood red roses against the simple white dress, the lipstick which matched the roses perfectly, and the shimmering silver stitching and embroidered hem and neckline matching the silver shoes and subtly glittering tiara. Her hair gleamed red-gold, and her blue eyes seemed to glow.
"You look stunning," Jade said simply. "And it's time to go. You don't want to be late for your own wedding."
Kat touched the small platinum and diamond heart hanging around her neck, then nodded.
"You're right. Where are the others?"
Jade opened the front door, and moved to stand beside her fellow bridesmaids, collecting her single long-stemmed rose from the chair she had left it on.
"Oh, you three look fabulous," Kat smiled.
The dresses were gold, and stunning, and each had accents of a different colour - Jade's were green, KatE wore red, and Jackie, blue.
"It's time," Jackie said with a smile. "Let's go."

Jade stood at Darryl's side, watching Kat and Marc dance their first dance as husband and wife in the glittering light of candles and fairy-lights.
"It was a nice wedding, wasn't it?" Jade murmured, snuggling under her husband's arm.
"It was lovely. You looked amazing." He lightly kissed his wife's forehead. "Your partner for the ceremony couldn't take his eyes off you."
Jade giggled.
"Yes, right up until Kat's friend Julia brushed him with her cleavage on our way in from the garden. I haven't seen him since," she grinned.
"Well, they do say that about weddings," grinned Darryl. "It's probably a good thing that Jackie and Steven are related, as KatE and Darren seem to be getting rather friendly, and you are very seriously taken."
"Steven seems to be rather friendly with your sister, did you notice?"
"I did. Nic's a big girl, she can take care of herself."
Jade surveyed the crowd of people, and smiled. Dinner had been eaten under the stars, by candle and fairy-light, and the dancing was to the soft sounds of a string quartet - it was very romantic.
"As the Matron-of-Honour," Jade murmured, "now that Kat has danced with Marc, I must now ask a non-bridal party member to join me on the dance-floor while she dances with Daddy."
"Oh?" teased Darryl. "Who are you going to ask?"
Jade thumped him in the chest, and he laughed, wrapped his arms around her and swept her onto the dance floor.
"You are so beautiful," he breathed, looking down at her nestled in his arms.
"How long do we have to stay?" Jade murmured.
"I have it on good authority," Darryl replied, "that there will be three songs now, then desert will be served, and while the dancing is happening after that, Kat and Marc will begin saying their goodbyes. Then they'll do their last dance, and run off to their "hotel" for the night. We can leave then - he's aiming to have her out of here by midnight."
"I still think it's very sneaky of them to tell everyone that they're staying in a hotel, and actually go home."
"Mmm. I have a surprise for you at home," Darryl murmured.
"Do you? What is it?"
"If I told you, would it be a surprise?"
"I'd pretend," smiled Jade.
Darryl laughed and shook his head, and Jade smiled, closed her eyes, and danced, blissfully unaware of everything but her husband's arms for the rest of the evening.

Kat woke slowly, aching but brimming over with contentment, and she smiled as she remembered the evening before. Marc propped himself on one elbow and smiled down at her.
"Good morning, Mrs Bradshaw."
"Good morning, Mr Bradshaw," Kat replied, winding her arms around his neck and tugging him down for a kiss, which led to more kissing, which led to other things.
Half an hour later, Marc wrapped his arms tightly around Kat, and pulled her back against his chest.
"We should get up, and have breakfast. I have it on good authority that we are going to be descended upon at midday, and it's now approaching eleven."
"Mmm," Kat agreed, running her fingers through the hair on his arms. "Do you have to?"
"WE," Marc emphasised, "do have to, yes."
"Drat."
Marc laughed.
"I love you, wife."
"I love you too. We're getting up?"
"We are, but we need to get out of bed, so we're going to ignore it. Shower!"
"Yes, master," laughed Kat, stretching. "Carry me?"
Marc groaned, laughing. "You're impossible. Do you think it's too late to object to marrying you?"
"You could have gotten out of it before you consummated it. But now, you're in trouble."
"I did it, did I? I like that!"
"Help me up, I ache all over."
"That is because you were the one doing all the consummating," replied Marc, helping her up non-the-less.
"Oh, I see, it's my fault you're stuck with me," Kat smiled, taking his hand and leading him to the bathroom. "I seem to remember you were the one doing the proposing."
"A momentary lapse of judgement," Marc explained, stepping into the warm water now spraying from the shower, "or an epiphany, take your pick."
He lifted Kat in after him, and closed the shower door behind her.

"Maybe it's just our twin thing," Jade suggested. "You feel, physically, what is happening to me, and see in my mind what is happening to you. When I entered your mind, your gift spilled into me and I felt what was happening to you - and when you didn't close down the link between us, I was physically cut when Michael cut you, though I didn't feel anything else."
"I think it's something more than that. We have the link, yes, that's the twin thing, but I think the other, the "me feeling what's happening" and "you seeing what's happening" is a different gift. And I think apart, we are limited to who we are close to - For me, you and Marc, for you, me and probably Darryl - Have you?"
Jade shook her head.
"No - but he hasn't been in danger. When did you feel Marc?"
"Stretching the patient confidentiality laws - one of them had issues with authority, and pulled a knife on him."
"Nice."
"Not really. In any case, I said to Marc a while ago, I think that maybe using our gifts together, would mean we could use it at will, and possibly even do more with it than get these premonition type visions. Your healing confirms that we are able to do more than we originally thought."
"Yes, that was fairly spectacular."
Kat sat on the couch beside Marc, and snuggled under his arm as Jade took her chair and smiled at Darryl.
"But what about that thing that came and took Michael?" Jade asked.
"It told me it just wanted one of you dead," Darryl reminded them all.
"I've been doing some reading, thinking about what we know from this time, and also from with Leo and the mirrors, and I think the demon-thing in the mirror, might be the same thing as came to get Michael," Kat hypothesised.
"But it didn't look like Leo," Darryl objected.
"No, but it would look like whatever it felt like. I think it might be a death-demon. Generally, they aren't that bad - they feed on the energy released when a soul parts from the body. This one seems to be actively into gluttony though, and forcing souls to leave bodies. And I remember Leo said it was focussing on twins, because the pain of leaving a twin makes the energy release bigger, or tastier, or something like that. And I think, for some reason, it's picked us as desert."
"Nasty," Jade shuddered. "Why hasn't it just done it though?"
"They can't actually kill people themselves - it can hasten death which is coming anyway, which is why people don't see them as that bad - they take away days worth of suffering by releasing the soul, but they can also convince other humans to do their killing for them - as we saw with Leo, who refused it, and Michael, who didn't."
"How can we convince it we aren't worth the trouble?"
"I think we need to trap it, somehow. Or sent it back through the gates to hell."
"Back through the gates is probably better," Marc added. "It takes a lot of energy for a demon to get through them, and it takes a long time for them to build up that energy."
"Expert are we?" teased Jade.
"I read," Marc shrugged.
"So how would we do it?"
"We'd need a circle of protection, and then summon it and send it back."
"Do you think that's why it vanished with Michael so quickly?" Darryl queried. "Our wives were fairly glowing in that bedroom with Kat's spell thinggo. Do you think it left because together they have the power to send it back?"
Marc nodded slowly.
"Yes... I think that's very likely."
Jade beamed at Darryl, very proud of him and his deductive reasoning.
"So when should we do it?"
"Well, it's a full moon four days from now. If you can leave James and Jessica at Mum and Dad's, we can do it at our place that night," Kat said, raising an eyebrow at Marc. "We could put in an "as the moon wanes, so too shall its power until the dark of the moon" clause."
"Not bad," Marc said appreciatively. "Remember that one."
"I will. But we should head home soon. We still have more Thank Yous to write."
"Still?" Jade exclaimed. "You've been writing them all week!"
"I know, but I did the easy ones first, and now I have to think carefully about what I'm going to write for each person, and I'm only getting about five done each night. "Dear Kate, thank you for the wonderful hand-stitched quilt with hand-embroidered designs individually crafted for Marc and myself, we will use it every week, it is the most beautiful piece of art I've ever seen, we hope you had a marvellous time at our wedding, and wonder how well you and Darren are getting on now, love Kat and Marc" doesn't really cut it."
"Oh, I dunno," laughed Jade. "I think that's not too bad."
"Actually, I did write something similar, I got hers done last night. But the remaining letters are all similarly difficult."
"Well, good luck," Jade laughed, standing, placing her cup on the table.
"Thanks," Kat replied dryly as the four of them walked to the front door. "Remember to practice your meditation and opening yourself for the energy to flow through you."
"I will."
"Good."
The four hugged and kissed good bye, and Jade and Darryl stood by their front door, watching Marc and Kat walk towards their home with their arms wrapped around each other.
"He's good for her," Jade said, contentedly.
"She's good for him, too," Darryl smiled. "Let's go in, it's getting chilly."
"You're right. What do you want for dinner?"
They slipped inside, discussing the options.

"Hi Yasmin, thanks for coming," Kat said as she opened the door on the night of the full moon.
"No problem," Yasmin replied, hugging Kat hello. "It sounds nasty, and I'm always happy to lend a hand. How's your sister doing?"
"She's not doing too badly with the meditation and the opening to the energy, but she's spent her entire life poking fun at all my "Spiritual" stuff, when she wasn't telling me it was just complete garbage and ignoring it totally, that it'll take her a long while to change her mind!"
"I have friends like that," laughed Yasmin. "Still, from what you said there's talent there, so maybe it'll only take her a few years to get over the "it's all rot" stage."
Kat laughed, and Marc emerged from the bedroom, then crossed the hall to kiss his cousin.
"Hey, Yas."
"Marc," Yasmin smiled. "This place has very positive energy."
"Well, we try to generate as much positive energy as possible," grinned Marc, leering suggestively.
The girls both laughed, and Kat punched him lightly in the arm.
"Stop that."
"Well, it probably helps," teased Yasmin. "But I meant this positive energy you two have generated will likely make things easier on us."
"Yes, that's what Kat thought too," Marc commented. "I was wary about letting it into the house at all, but she convinced me. We want a damn tight protection circle though."
Yasmin touched his arm reassuringly.
"We will. And we'll protect Kat from it, not that she isn't capable of protecting herself."
"That's why we invited you," Marc replied. "Kat will be busy protecting Jade, we'll be needing to watch her back. I wanted back-up."
Yasmin smiled at him, and touched his arm reassuringly.
"You could have done it alone, and together, it'll be impenetrable. What time is she arriving?"
"About 8.30," Kat replied. "She and Darryl are coming here after dropping the kids at Mum and Dad's."
"Let's get started on that circle then."
"Good idea."

Jade entered the "library" and stopped dead. The room looked vastly different, lit by seemingly hundreds of candles, with the thick Navajo rug rolled up on one side of the room, and chalk and salt etchings on the wooden floorboards. Jade stared at the symbols, which didn't make any sense at all, and walked further into the room. She stopped just before the first chalk circle, frowning.
"There's something there," she said, amazed.
"Yes," replied Kat. "And I'm very glad you stopped before you smudged that line! That is what it going to keep it away from us."
Jade shuddered, and moved over into the corner where Darryl was leaning against the wall with arms folded.
"I don't like this," he murmured.
"Neither do I, really," Jade replied. "But I trust Kat."
"So do I, but..."
"Yeah."
Yasmin stood, and she, Kat and Marc surveyed the markings on the floor.
A moment later, Kat pointed to one of the markings, and Yasmin knelt and added a line to it, then moved back and the three surveyed it again.
"Looks fine to me," Marc said eventually.
"Me too," Yasmin replied.
"Me three. I guess we should do this then."
Kat left the circle and walked over to Jade.
"Ready?"
"I guess so."
"If you don't want to, you can not. Yasmin, Marc and I will do it, if you're worried."
"I am worried, but... I feel like I should. This thing has hurt me too much already, triggered my illness, and given you nightmares. I want it gone."
Kat nodded, and took her sister's hand.
"Darryl, you can stay there, or you can wait in the kitchen, it's up to you. But if you stay there, you have to stay right there. No moving, no distracting us. Even if it looks like Jade's in trouble, you have to stay completely still. Can you do that?"
Darryl looked at Jade for a long moment.
"No, I don't think I could. I'll wait in the kitchen."
"And that is probably braver," Yasmin commented quietly. "He has great strength of character."
Hearing that, Jade felt a little better about him not being in the room.
"Okay, these things are very important, Jade. First, you mustn't touch any of the chalk lines, or any of the salt. If you smudge anything, if any of us smudge anything, it can escape us, and we probably wouldn't survive that. Second, try not to say anything. If you need to, whisper to my mind, ok? And last, try and ignore it. If it talks to you, ignore it, if it tries to taunt you, to make you angry, to doubt yourself... reach out to me with your mind. We've been doing that since before we were born, there won't be any danger in it. But the only power it will have is power we give it, ok?"
Jade nodded silently. Kat squeezed her hand.
"Okay, this is your spot. Sit here, and open yourself to the energy like we've been practicing, and we'll get started."

Jade sat where Kat indicated, and watched and Kat drew a circle of salt around her, then drew another around Marc, and a third around Yasmin, connecting the three with lines of salt, then connecting a fourth half circle to form a diamond. Kat closed the fourth circle around herself, and there was silence in the room. Jade closed her eyes, and began the breathing exercises Kat had taught her, opening herself to the pale green energy Kat had shown her. Dimly, she was aware of Kat speaking, chanting, but Jade ignored it, concentrating on the well of energy below her. Suddenly, without warning, the energy rose from the well, streaming up through her body. It felt wonderful. It felt terrible.
"Kat!"
Shhh - it's fine, it's me, I'm here.
Jade felt her sister beside her, soothing the energy, calming it until it was a soft green glow, encasing Jade from head to toe. The energy trickled along the lines Kat had drawn in salt, and Jade looked and saw vibrant red energy, tracing the lines of salt, and covering Marc's position, and then saw a soft golden glow at Yasmin's position stretch out along the lines, twisting around the solid bands of red. As Jade watched, the pale green twisted itself around the red also, stopping at the glows which were Marc and Yasmin.
Good, Kat approved. Hold that, if you can.
A deep, rich blue with purple undertones swept along the lines, completely covering the patterns, and then encasing Jade and her green glow. From within, Jade could still see the energy patterns, and saw a solid red shield with golden highlights cover over the deep blue glow that was Kat.
Feeling peaceful, Jade watched the ebb and flow of the energy, dimming and flaring brightly, blue flashing through, covered swiftly with red or gold, or both, but all the while the green swirled gently along the lines, encased in blue.

Then, suddenly, it was over, and the well vanished. Jade saw the colours swirling around, then faded slowly away. The gold was reabsorbed, and pushed gently into the floor before vanishing completely. The red and blue did similar, but didn't completely vanish.
"So beautiful," she whispered.
"Jade? Open your eyes, honey."
Jade opened her eyes, and gasped as she looked at her sister, encased in a brilliant blue light, deepest darkest blue in the centre, lightening out as it moved away from her, deep purple and lilac highlights around it, ending in a blue so pale it was white several feet from Kat's physical form.
"What is it?" Kat asked, alarmed.
"Blue... Beautiful."
Jade blinked, and the colours vanished, and she frowned, disappointed. The candles were snuffed, and the overhead light on. The room looked very different. Jade frowned some more. Kat was beaming, however.
"I told you she had talent," she said to Yasmin.
"Yes, indeed. She would be good at protection, she kept the energy fresh and swirling, and ignored the demon perfectly."
"It's over?" Jade asked, amazed.
"It's over. It's gone."
"It was beautiful."
"What did you see?" Yasmin asked curiously.
"Red, Gold, Green and Blue. With a bit of purple. The most beautiful thing..."
Yasmin nodded.
"Yes - she'd be excellent at protection. Maybe you should start with that, Kat, she seems to have a knack for it."
"We will."
Kat helped Jade to her feet, and Jade again saw the beautiful swirling blue. Red approached, merging with the blue to form purple, then the colours vanished again.
"And sees auras, it seems," smiled Marc.
"How can you tell?" Kat asked, curious.
"She's looking about a foot above your head, tarrishagh. You always did like a bit of space."
"That's the blue?" Jade queried.
"Yes, Kat is blue. Darkest blue out to almost white."
Jade nodded.
"With purple highlights."
Marc smiled.
"Oh, she'll be good. I can teach you how to control seeing them, if you like," he offered her. "So you won't be startled by suddenly being confronted by an orange blob, that sort of thing. We can do that while Kat teaches you protections."
Jade nodded almost shyly.
"I would like that."
"Well, it's time I left," Yasmin announced. "I'd be interested to know how the lessons go, though."
"I'll write you," Kat promised. "Thank you for your help tonight."
"Any time you need me," Yasmin promised as they walked her to the front door.
She kissed and hugged all three of them goodbye, then as Kat closed the door, Darryl appeared in the kitchen doorway.
"It's finished?"
"It's done," Marc confirmed. "We're safe."
Darryl suddenly smiled, crossed the hall, and hugged Jade tightly.
"I'm glad."
"So are we," Kat smiled, nestling under Marc's arm. "But we need food for grounding."
"I made coffee," Darryl offered.
"That would be wonderful."