Avaline wasn't shy about being born into a family of witches. At least not with her friends. The family wasn't so keen on spreading the word and creating false rumours. But Avaline definitely stood out to everyone else in the village. Other teenagers called her out for wearing so much black and having tattoos already. The sigils on her skin were not just skin decorations though, but what do they know.
It was almost Samhain and the veil between realms thinned. Avaline and her family normally celebrated with their coven. But this year, Avaline invited her friends over to do their own little spells and rites during a sleepover. The girls would share some Samhain and Halloween traditions with each other, since Halloween wasn't a thing in the Dunn's family. Ava's mom picked the plumpest and roundest pumpkins from the garden for them to carve. The living room and Ava's bedroom were decorated with tacky Halloween stuff between the witchy stuff and taxidermy.
In the afternoon, two girls showed up at the black iron gate. It was partially overgrown where there was little to no movement. The cottage itself already had this spooky vibe when the leaves start falling. But on this day of the year, it felt omnious to them. A perfect place for a horror movie. A grey haired lady opened the heavy wooden frontdoor before aproaching the gate. It was the grandmother. They maybe only saw her once or twice before. The woman was definitely elderly but had barely saggy skin. Not what you would think an old witch looks like. "Hello, my dears. Come in, come in. The hot chocolate is waiting"
The girls went inside through the kitchen door. The mother had her famous pumpkin pie in the oven. She greeted the friends with a warm hug and chocolate milk. “I’m so glad we can share this experience with you” she exclaimed.
“What will you be doing with the coven, Mrs Dunn?” Nelly asked before she sipped from her mug.
“Oh, you know… I’m not sure if I’m allowed to tell you. You see… We bring sacrifices to the Old Gods and dance naked around a fire until dawn.” Mother giggled.
The friends eyes grew bigger as Avaline barged into the kitchen. "Oh no. What did she tell you now?" she laughed as she looked upon her friends' faces and grabbed her mug.
"What will we be doing tonight?" Laura asked during the pumkin carving. "I bet you have something witchy in store for us?"
Avaline nodded exitedly. "I'll let you off lightly with just talking to some friendly ghosts." She said and shrugged. "We have our own cemetary closeby. Distant and close relatives. They should be mostly fine"
"Wait. You don't mean the cemetary on the hill, right? They say Black Shug roams there" Nelly asked and gazed at Avaline above her glasses. "Will we finally see some supernatural stuff?"
The young laughed. "We got a couple of pets in there but Black Shug? Please. The worst that can happen is grandmother's late cat crawling in your lap. She can be feisty"
The three best friends took their candles and salt with them to the nearby cemetary. It wasn't very misty yet, but the air did feel thick and hard to breath. The family of Avaline has their own mausoleum on the grounds. It was a beautiful little neo-gothic building with lots of decorations. "Here seems about right", Avaline nodded with a smile and sat down in front of the tomb. Nelly and Laura looked at each other but sat down anyway.
They placed the candles in a circle, drew a summoning sigil on the ground and poured the salt around it. The girls held each others hand and started to recite the chant what Avaline had learned them earlier that night;
"Oh, mother moon,
hear us longingly croon.
For we want to know what's beyond.
With shadows, we want to correspond.
On this Samhain night,
the veil is thin and time is right."
During the third time they repeated the rhyme, a presence made itself know. The trio shivered and as they finished the chant Nelly carefully spoke. "Something is here... I can feel it" She was as amazed as she was scared.
Laura squeezed her friends' hands. "I felt it brush along me".
Avaline felt it's brush too, it felt like a hairy tail against her arm and back before she felt a hot breath in her neck. It was panting. It was definitely not human. More like... canine. "Laura, about that dog..." Ava started, but she got interupted abruptly. Her head swung back and her eyes turned away.
The young witch found herself in her backgarden, but everything was misty during dusk. There was barely even a sound. From between the trees, a giant black hound emerged. It had a big deep violet eyes that contrasted against his dark fur. "What are you doing here on my grounds, you ignorant little girl?" it growled.
Avaline was shocked. The dog talked. "We... I..."
As the hound aproached her, he was as tall as her. He sniffed her hair, ears, hands... "You're a Dunn, eh? Haven't had a single soul from your line in ages. How is Elsa?"
She backed off. "Grandmother? She's fine... What do you want with her?"
The Hound laughed. "She used to visit until something shifted in the universe. A birth. My guess, it was you". There was this jealousy over him. Purple fires were burning in his eyes. "But I'll see her soon enough" the canine said as he jumped towards her. Avaline could feel her mouth open unwillingly before she almost vacuumed the hound in. Her face elongated, her jaws were broken, she could feel herself rip open from the inside. As she swallowed the mongrel whole, she felt very faint and dropped to the ground before she even realised.