1 FALL AND FALL AGAIN

With the appearance of spirits and ghouls across New Orleans, the streets are scanty and brimming with grim, even in their homes people shudder at the slightest noise, fear has engulfed this smooth city like a smooth jazz song.

The wind hollows across the streets reaching the gates of the church forcing them open and stealing the candle's flame, blowing further until they reach the only person inside. Quietly, she kneels at the altar offering prayers. A scream cries out from down the street and she ends her prayer.

"Amen..."

She looks at her hands, on one hand, a Cross and on the other a transmutation circle. On the other side of town, a young girl is drawing this same circle on the floor of her bedroom while murmuring some incantations.

Her name is...

"Bella, Bella where are you?" a voice calls from down the hall, the floors are adorned with red crosses and children fill every room.

"Crap!" Bella yells rubbing the circle away and covering it with a mat as the footsteps draw closer. "Why's it so dark in here?" someone says stepping into the room, it's the voice. Bella's eyes begin to water as she sees who it is.

"Miles!" She calls out to him, embracing him a tight hug around his neck. "It's been months since I last saw you! What type of brother are you?" Bella whispers looking the other way while pouting. Miles brushes her hood back revealing her golden yellow hair, "You still haven't changed a bit" he says with a delicate smile.

Bella's eyes search all over him and focus on his arms, she opens his palms with a smack. They're covered in scars and bruises, she's about to scream but Miles pulls her closer to him and slowly pats her head.

"You promised me you wouldn't do that stuff anymore! Liar!" The tears slip down her cheeks falling on Miles's denim jacket; Miles takes a deep breath and pulls out some money from his wallet.

"Here take this, I still have to pay off dad's loans this month so this is all I have right now," He says as he slips the money in her left pocket.

"I'll get a job or something so you don't have to fight anymore! I just don't want to see you hurt anymore" she tells him with her charming voice lowering her tone.

"You don't have to do that, besides none of those guys can knock me out! It's not your fault dad was a sham and mom was a.....I'm sorry I said that"

"Hey, if you could see mom again or Elanie again what would you wanna-

Miles aura turns cold "Mom isn't coming back Bell and Elanie...'

Buzz Buzz

Mile's phone rings, Bella steals his phone from his pocket and runs to the other side of the room. She stands there alone for a while reading the message with a smile, as she reads further her smile fades away.

"Get out"

She points to the door and tosses him his phone without even glancing at him "Get, out". His phone lands on the desk next to him right by her bed, as he reaches for it he spots a book open on her bed, it's old and worn with some pages torn and rotting, on a page he sees a weird shape on it. It looks like a pentagon with a star in it and a circle hemming it all.

It's mostly in old English and Latin but there's one line he can understand.

"Tr-ansmute? transmutation and summoning?" he mutters out loud, drawing Bella's attention.

"What are you still doing here? I said get out!" She says as she grabs the book and pushes him out, as she does her foot pulls the carpet off the circle she was drawing, as she shuts the door he faintly glimpses the circle glowing.

Bam!

'Did that just...Nah, must be my concussion from earlier. But what's with that book, is she in her Emo phase or something?'

Miles checks his phone to see what made Bella so sad, it reads...

"Yo kid, it's Danx I got a gig for ya some old dude came outta the woods and's itching for a fight. Just pull your punches, take a few hits and knock em out I got a lot riding on this so don't screw this up got that kid fantastic? 10 PM on the cathedral street the usual spot and like you asked huge payout, Love Danx"

Miles lets out a deep sigh and turns back to the door, "Eat healthy okay? I'll be back by the end of the week". Miles waits for a reply but all he hears is silence, it's already 9:30 and the cathedral's an hour away. He dashes outside as he realizes it.

Bella watches him run from her window sill, she turns back and lifts the carpet, revealing the glowing circle, "Don't worry Miles...I'll get her back".

"Oh crap, I'm late!" Miles dashes through the empty foggy streets as fast as he can just further ahead he can see the Cathedral and further after it the jazz club "The Louise Anna" where the underground matches are held on weekends hosted by the owner and manager Mr Daniels.

As he rushes by someone he feels a particular connection, he stops to look back at who it is, as he squints his eyes he sees a girl with a black headdress fading into the fog.

While he's standing the bells of the cathedral ring loudly, echoing across the town. Miles hurries to the club, the neon sign designed with the club's name is out, signifying it's closed and the ring is open. Inside Danx is already introducing his opponent.

"Tonight we got something special folks an old veteran's come out to see us youngins work for a living!" She says, announcing from inside the cage ring.

"Oi I didn't pay to see some geezer get beat up by his grandkids!!" a voice from the large crowd yells.

"Yeah who's the other guy anyway!?" another voice yells with a Brooklyn accent.

"Daniels, you're really letting your little girl run this place?" Mr Brooks the club owner's business associate asks him while tapping off the ashes of his cigar as they watch from the VIP room above.

"Danny? She's a good kid, she's got guts she bet her ownership on this match, ya gotta take risks in this business" he says with his eyes focused solely on her.

Miles finally makes it to the ring, "And here he is folks the fantastic kid Miles Waver!!!" Danx exclaims getting him a mild cheer from the crowd. On the other end, the old man speaks with his manager, a much younger healthy-looking fellow.

"Father, do you still wish to go through with this? What would the other's think, mind you we're here on a-

"Now Thomas, I'm just an old man wasting his time right? This will end shortly so be patient. By the way where is she? The church was empty"

"You know how she is, so stubborn. She told me she'd meet us at the source" Thomas tells him stepping out of the ring as the match begins. Miles warms up in his corner while the old man just smiles at him.

"Wait a minute I know that guy, isn't he "The gravestone"? Timothy Gladstone, he was a legend back in his day" Mr Brooks says, "I heard he's a priest now" Mr Daniels replies him.

Ding-Ding!

"The challenger isn't making any moves but look the kid is taking an approach, hitting an old man is way too easy, we already know who the bets are favouring in this match!" Danx announces observing from the sides while the crowd watches the match and her beautiful body.

In the ring, Miles tries to persuade the old man to forfeit. "Sir, I don't wanna do this so how about you drop out already if you want I can make it look real".

"You're a rare one aren't you" Father Timothy replies him taking a boxing stance.

"I'm telling you, I just don't wanna do this, I just have too!" Miles yells taking the first swing landing a clean hit to the Father's face leaving the audience dumbstruck with mixed feelings, wasn't that too easy? is he still alive? he hit him too hard! They protest.

Miles turns around to leave the ring, assured of his victory. He glances over at Danx, the look on her face shows fear and she's pointing behind him. The last thing he hears is "Hehe, you're better than I thought".

Wham!

The next morning, 'What happened' he asks himself as he's awoken by an aching pain on his face and arms. He looks to his side to see Danx wrapping his hands in bandages, as she sees he's woken up she wraps them even tighter.

"Ahh! That hurts Danny, sheesh take it easy on me I won didn't I?"

Wham!

"Won? That guy murdered you out there! What were you thinking turning your back like that!?" Danny yells at him alerting the nurse to come in and hold her back. The match went down like this. After Miles landed a clean hit and turned to leave father timothy got up.

"Miles! Behind you!" Danny screamed, as Miles turned back he felt the force of a freight train on his cheek and fell unconscious.

Father Timothy let out a deep sigh, "Kids these days, only hitting with their fists" Miles' punch was strong but the Father's was far stronger for a simple reason...

"Swing, you gotta swing when you punch kid, aside from that you've got talent kid. Ah, he's unconscious" he said as he left the ring and Thomas followed behind him. The match ended in Miles' utter defeat, not only did his reputation gets ruined but the same happened to Danny, she lost the bet she made with her dad and lost her temporary ownership of the club.

"I see, so that's what happened," Miles says after Danny explains it, "Damn it I need a new job..." falling on the hospital bed exhausted.

"Sugar if you keep coming back here with wounds like these...How's my little bell doing?" Nurse Hailey, Miles' usual "Fixer," asks while wrapping him properly.

Nurse Hailey is the only adult who knows about Miles' fighting and why he has to, she's known the Waver's since childhood when Bella comes for her allergy shots, she's just the sweetest old lady you'll ever meet if you're lucky enough, her Louisiana accent and her gentle touch can soothe any patient and melt any heart like butter.

"Oh well, she's been alright, she says she wants to live with me but, even I don't have a place to stay. I just shut my eyes and hope tomorrow's better".

"I told you, Miles, my place might not have room, but you're welcome to stay anytime dear"

"Well... thanks as usual grandma Hailey, I better go check on Bell" Danx tosses him a shirt from the door and they head out, Miles' nervous though, it's always been Danny's dream to own the Louise Anna but now her dream is knee-high in the gutter.

Now they're outside on the sidewalk, and Miles searches for what to say. Finally, he comes up with something, "Danny, I'm sorry about what happened, maybe I-

She cuts in dramatically, "Just shut up and don't worry about it" and she turns to walk away. At this point nothing Miles says can bring her back, maybe he's lost the only friend he has?

But she stops! "Next month at the old subway station, pay? Should be enough to get you and your sister by for a while" and she resumes, walking away without a word.

A taxi zooms by him, "Oh yeah, Taxi! Taxi!" and he whistles to call it. He walks to it and looks back to see Danny, but she's gone.

Beep Beep!

The driver horns then lowers the window, "I need to get to Edwards street'' he tells the driver.

"You're in luck, I'm heading there now hop in!" Miles enters without a second thought and the car begins its journey. He spreads his hands across the chairs and as he does so he hears a voice yelp and says...

"Do you mind?" Politely, as he looks over he sees a girl in a black headdress, a nun sitting next to him. "Ah sorry I didn't see you there," he says lowering his hands. She waves her hands to say it's okay, with a delightful innocent smile. On the glove on her hand he sees a Cross but doesn't pay much attention to it, but what does draw his interest is the other glove, the shape on it he recognizes it but can't remember where he's seen it before.

"Hey that thing on your hand, is it a Goth or a church thing?" he asks pointing to her glove. She's surprised he noticed it and quickly hides it, "Oh, it's nothing. Yeah, it's a Goth thing!".

"I thought so, yeah now I remember! I saw this in a book in my sister's room". The girl's mood changes and gets serious.

"Are you sure of this!" she brings out her hand "Are you sure it looked exactly like this? Where is she??" she asks intensely moving closer to him not leaving him any space to move.

The Taxi comes to a halt and Miles tilts his head to look out the opposite window, "Yeah it looked just like this, and she's in there" he says pointing out the window.

"The orphanage!!?" she screams. "Oh no, you must take me to her immediately!".

"Eh sure" and she pulls Miles out of the car and tosses the driver some change, they both run up the stairs as quickly as they can, as they arrive on the floor of Bella's room a dark ominous feeling hovers over Miles, making his heart beat faster.

"Bella! Bella!! Open the door!!" as he pounds the door as fast as his heart pounds in his chest, without hearing an answer he breaks the door down.

Inside...

Well, it's a scene Miles never wished for, there's blood on the floor and a glowing circle in the room, and...

"Bella!!!"

One dead body.