4.11

She wakes from leaning on her window, her eyes adjusted to the blurring light outside. She tilts in notice her clock and knentic chaotic motion sculpture was frozen. She further noticed the world outside was frozen, a small bird no bigger then her hand was out from street hedge was mid air flight when tome stopped. She focuses on what movement there is and who it could be.

"You know, I don't think just knocking at the door..." She sighed in getting up. She felt stiff from her awkward. Going by the monotone nature and the way all dead spirit speak - this is likely a undertaker. She creaked her shoulder walking out the living room and sighs at the front door. She can tell that they heard her. She louder the stopped time silence. With polite manner, a soft knock at her door. She rolls eyes in considering it, looking at a mirror. She still a face full of make up and somewhat fine hair style. She looked to the corner of her mirror where she hung a Halloween mask, in case she did have trick or treaters. It's a italian style carnival with check pattern. It actually suited her black dress. She puts it on and then answers the door.

"Wow." The pair of undertakers were not prepared that she would actually answer. She posed mutely in gesture of looking about them and the uniforms. She stares awkwardly at everything around her, leery of any surprise attacks or something.

"Madam Mystic?" The lass of these two asked. The male was more cautious in holding his weapon to hand. Gladly Luna had a matching hand fan to go with the mask, left at the side near her hung keys. She picked it up and fans hiding her breathing. She stands over them, blocking entry and in tilt of questioning motive here, "Have you seen the neat undertaker with silver hair? Wears a wide brim hat." She nods and has a notepad to hand. She wasn't going to speak if she can find ways to avoid it. She makes quick or writting the last known address and note that he was with her last when they got spilt that evening. There was others in the distance looking around but it was only those two that knocked at her door. Note passed with the left hand and fan to her right hand blocking any notice that she was breathing.

"That checks out." The partner reading the note, "Here." Gave it back. She takes it, "You know a way for us to get in?" She sighs which make both jolt a little, as it was her fault for dragging him along. She wasn't exactly pretty with removing the cash from her Bra. The lass takes it unbothered by the gesture and recognized it as living money. She exchanged it for some equalivent money from a belt pouch. It was only fair. They nod to her and she softly goes closing the door. They clearly stood astounded a while before leaving. Time however didn't unpause. So it wasn't them that stopped time. She knows that the being that stops time, when moved away let's her be on her way. So it wasn't them.

She returns back to her living room, study of the place for any tampering. She had a few trapped demons get caught in her traps and this often makes time pause. None. She is tired from the long work day and the not meal after work. She returned to her hallway with notice her upstair talisman was scrunched in manner of the last one. She takes her cane and heads upstairs. She kept the mask and fan too. A jar of salt picked up from the stairs, the sort of emergency stuff for warding demons and angels not taking the hint to leave her be.

"Clearly this wasn't at all where you meant." She paused at her room door. The back of a demon posed annoyed. There is two imps and gladly the mostly OK undertaker. She wasted no second at handing salt for these occasions, throwing a torso strike on the guy making weird poses. Clearly was monolonging a bunch of cliché things like taking the guts out and feeding it to the demon equivalent of pigeons. She threatened to throw salt on the two lesser folks. They drop the undertaker and scattered to the window they came from. She walks right on the one in charge and dug heel right to him.

"Get out of my house or I send you to be worm food." She hissed and the demon was gone, taken by chains and hands through the floor. She puts the lid on her salt and huffed, "You know, it was sixth sense. I just knew it was something to do with you getting lost from me." She picked him off the floor and sits him to a chair. She can't tell how to help him or if he was unconscious. She waved in front of his face a lot. She also notices that time hasn't returned. So the culprit for that was still around. She had to leave him be, he seems able to sit in the chair without assistance. She has her cane, fan and salt to explore the other parts of her upstairs. She has to consider the attic too. She hates the attic, it's why she got this place cheap.

She has a spare bedroom which was altered into her storage hobby craft room. Her more delicate work is done here. She has tool to cut charms with and the material for such work. She can hear someone shuffling about in there with several others, all of them were going through the craft boxes. She stands at dismay of seeing them all and grits teeth. She has her salt opened at the ready.

"What is with this place?" The white tux was contrasting to the brown scales of this demon, she knew in one gut that this guy was going to murder her if he knew who she was. She throw the whole amount of salt at him and followed with the cane to block him slashing her direction. She keeps her cool as they were square stalment at this pose. He was trying to brush salt off and she using all her motion to keep this guy from touching her. He slips a little and silver made contact to skin. He recoiled like it was turly suffering from it. She was dirty handed in scooping salt off to throw it at him more. The group in here isn't a lot of people and it seems they weren't interested in helping him. So many other werid people in clay mask or were a sort of title. Title being like a owner of a pocket realm. They didn't feel obligated to wonder why a total stranger would attack the guy, like this was a common occurrence for this demon Lord.

"And what have I don't to you to make you suffer?" He hissed holding the silver wounded mark. She posed in being ready to strike with the cane, she was on the defensive of being worried about these strangers in her house. She caught breath and was still, waiting for the prime moment.

"You know, I think we have ourselves an outcast with our abilities. Someone that had some blood with us at somepoint and got lost in the tangles. I am sure we can work out which branch she from." The pondering posed by one and nods of others. She had no love for them, so she was quick to strike all of them. All these living folks had a punch in the gut while the dead had the cane stamped on them. Sending them back to Sigil, as that was the design purpose of the canes function. Those unable to go to sigil were chained back by sinner chains or sort of sent home. She pays mind to who left by which method, as it was a tell for what they are. The angel was sent in a light flash, demons sent by hands in the flooring and the living with spirit bodies strangled back to their living bodies by sin chains. The only one that didn't work was the brown scales guy she attacked first, stamped but went no where. He hissed in the searing silver marks on his flesh. It is just him and her now. She rolls evading the dash attempt for this demon Lord to grapple her. She is certainly confused for a moment why this guy isn't doing any underhand with her that is unless he is expecting help. He fights like a cartoon evil which only seems to give her small wins, but she guesses it was to buy the demon time for something or that he hopes false winning will tie her over. She certainly makes use of salt, salt is normally what wards away evil. She was able to use one the advantage moment to push the demon away from her then to aim for kill. She finding more and more of this altercations to be suspicious.

"Are you wanting to kill me or not?" The tux all a mess but there isn't anything humanly damaged about him. Only the supernatural damage like salt and silver burns, giving a temporary rash.

"You are the one trespassing in my house. Why would I murder someone then to have them jailed for breaking and entry?" She points her cane and is quiet out of breath.

"What are you? A clothus?" The guy picking himself up and inhumanly not out of breath or anything. She makes herself ready to defend herself, "What is up with this? Why are you defensive when I can't even strike a punch at you?" He snarls and was looking around confused. He was looking for a way out.

"You leave as you entered." She stomps the floor and her smirks like that was a funny joke. But certainly what he wasn't ready for was that her shadow stretched itself and callors him, a brute sense of force out the window. As supernatural as it gets. The shadow returns shape and time returns to tick on. She quickly checks out the window where he landed and her suspension of a human was being forced to fight her. She cant see him and she now was the one going through everything that they could have took or for any cameras. She left nothing unchecked, finding exactly that. A secret camera that was placed here. She used the tape to touch it, taped all around and boxed it. She will take it apart for footage later, since it was left for evidence. She had even used ducktape to pick it up because she can forensic for finger prints later. She not sure if she will find finger prints but whatever works.

It's clear now that the demon possessed a teenager to steal from her flat and the camera was to implicate her for murder. She can see that would work both ways of her being mad at trespasser. She made a call to the police now she was down and they took finger prints of everything. She was left to stay in her room while they had the kit out. Took her prints to match. They took the spy camera she ducktaped as she now had legal angelic aid among these police officers. Normally she's not on for favours but she needs this. She was right to defend herself and let the kid leave empty handed. She does guess with the undertaker missing, he got aid too.

"Are you wanting action against them?"

"I want him to pay for the window he broke. It only fair. I don't think anything was actually stolen or that he failed to steal anything of worth." She included to the statement and they gave her the paperwork copy. Leave with no further issue. She can't even secure the window with a board to stop any draft. The time, about an hour after midnight when she has returned home from the work dinner meeting. This is the danger or bad luck that bird warned her about.

She attempts to do what she can but ultimately once it was as secure as it gets. She went to bed, exhausted enough from the long evening. She did keep worrying about her safety and the safety of anything stolen. But her biological living body forced her to sleep regardless.

She wakes to her mobile phone ringing, it was nothing but a scam call. She didn't answer it, letting it go to voice mail. She stares annoyed of her tiredness, glaring at the ceiling in a deep frown.

She was quiet ratty for her morning routine and sits at her kitchen, listening to the TV and sipping coffee. She did nothing special to the coffee today, not the mood or energy for it.

"Pardon the intrusive barg in." She sips her coffee in not caring that monarch undertaker made himself known. He came with a guy so up tight and suspicious of every breath she made. She notes that this tight guy was some advisor or the monarch partner, they shared ring, the looks they share - they are bound in contract. She slurps louder in letting the thought sink for a bit. She looks at herself in a downward glance, yup she was so exhausted that she didn't have the stretch to remove the corset dress, she still in smeared make up and the mask is still somehow attached in hiding half her face. She did consider that brushing her eye this morning was strange. Perhaps it is for the better since she was still presentable. The need to continue sipping the coffee is for the better. She finds the passive glances of the king and his advisor to be real telling how bad conversation she would be interrupting. She hugs the cup in warmth and she sighs in that gladly the gift bag shaken better them was settling something.

"Do you take pride in crafting god artifacts? I was simply joking about the bone charm." Voice finally used and she slightly hums at taking a moment to give an ideal answer. She takes clearly to long for the option to be wasted again. The wide brim hat of silver hair, covered in bandages is staggering himself into the living room and kneels both knees before the king. There is prolong silence enough for her to be out of coffee.

"As good as artifact for gods." She noted, "I can't use that slogan. It be false advertisement. I am making nothing special, its the material I use and how my clients use them. My candles started out as just therapy. I made them to feel better and enjoy experimenting on smells. I just didn't seem prepare when such candles actually caused things around me. Talismans came about because I feared what my candles summoned." She stares into her empty cup with deep thoughts.

"Experimenting with candles?" The advisor jolts and shivers looking for them.

"Clearly you aren't crazy enough to actually consider using them." She has a machine for making single drinks, she got it all sorted and leans waiting for it.

"They happen to be looking for a candle maker." presenting a candle from his pocket and placing it down. She can smell that from the kitchen, a warding candle with citrus zest. She blinks a lot in wonder why that smells familiar and took out her book of recipes. She doesn't find one from a client but instead, a passage of the notes that been written a long time ago. She doesn't recall writing it or making it... but. She brushed the pages, she must have been the one to make. Maybe she will make them in her next life. Undertaker don't follow a flow of normal living time. She puts her book of recipes away and noticed her coffee done. She notes the time and sips the new drink.

She felt in her self a sense of being like this before. A monarch. An injured close undertaker. Candles. Her family breaking into her stuff. She sense that all was missing was a book and her life would be screwed. It is frustrating and she has life to sort out. She has more talisman to paint.

"Mystic." The candle he brought with him was turned over to show a cat logo. A long skinny black cat with an shop print name. Witch's therapy candles.

"A warding candle. Full of seasonal herbs, a prayer and orange zest. The wax is a mixture of leftover older candles and bee wax." She sighed holding it, "That's actually clever. Reusing the old burnt wax of candles used from undertakers and mixing it with living real bee wax. I definitely should write that down." She felt the label and she turned pale at seeing it before. Up close like this, it's the old logo in her recipe book. She always had the book and forgot where it came from. Now, she wonders if she had a pervious life similar to her current one. The nickname of the cat on the logo is at the tip of her tongue but she can't find a way of saying it. She puts the candle down and returns to her coffee.

"This may sound crazy." She looks suspiciously around since something else about around her is off or it's the feeling she getting from the candle, "I might have made that but not in this life." She frowns deeper, "Maybe I can ask one my older clients if they know." She holds the coffee close for warmth and the candle is taken back.

"That was a rather odd." The kings partner with aiming a gun her way. She shivers for sure, feeling threatened in her own home. This is why she hated having clients in her living room. She was scared, sick of all these people breaking in. If the demon trying to frame her for murder at 2am wasn't enough, now she has these undertakers threatening her life.

"Stop it. We can't do anything to a living person. If you kill her." Mr Shade posed the gun away, "There is some laws we can't fathom and that would be breaking one." The advisor shakes him off and aims again. She has at least that time of them arguing to duck at her counter, to crawl and hide. She can't call the police because they are undertakers. She listened to how silent everyone because and that time was stopped. The TV silent. She waited as the sound of the TV returns. She uses a reflection to check for a clear living room. It is. She stands shaken and goes to have a proper bath. She doesn't work today but she accepted doing the Halloween shift. That was tomorrow night. According to her phone messages, the dress code would mean wearing that corset dress... again. She will have it cleaned and hung dry by then.