It had been a good few weeks since the fight at Bitter Springs and Tate had spent a good deal of time having to put up with his brothers constant whining. Something most absurd had happened that neither Tate nor Maxxie could figure out leaving the eldest feeling like a freak of nature. Tate had been delighted at first, finally hearing his brother admit there was something wrong with him just as there was with everyone else in the town but over time, it had started to get a little annoying.
If it wasn’t the questions that couldn’t be answered it was the pitiful whining and, in the end, Tate had had quiet enough.

Marching Maxxie through the town centre by the scruff of the neck, he headed to the shop his brother had been working at just before the fight. He had never known much about it other than it was run by a female and Maxxie had seemed quite happy there. It seemed like the more logical place to start as Ambrose had kindly pointed out the bracelet Maxxie wore the day he should have died and insisted they should thank whoever had left it in his possession. Usually he ignored the boy from his school as much as he could but there were just too many questions to be answered to not take the chance and see if this woman did have anything to do with Maxxie’s regeneration.

Reaching the shop, he didn’t hesitate to burst through the door way and only when he had closed the door did he let go of his brother.

“Well? Go ask her then you bloody moron.” He said, waving a hand at him impatiently. “You ain’t gonna get any answers sitting around and feeling sorry for yourself.”

“But what if she knows nothing about it and thinks we are completely mad?” Maxxie hissed back, glancing nervously around the shop and hoping that Amanda hadn’t heard the commotion Tate had caused just entering the shop.

Tate sighed and rolled his eyes, placing his hands on his hips for a moment and chewing his lip in thought. Then, without a warning, he shoved his older sibling quite roughly in the direction of the back room. “Look… It;s your own damn fault for taking that damn thing of a fucking stranger... and incase you haven't figured it out yet, everyone in this crappy town is mad so stop being a fucking girl and ask her straight. You’re boring me so do what you gotta do and then we can leave… this shop smells funny...”

He stopped for a second once he’d called the girls name, his fingertips gripped tightly around the neck hem of Maxxie’s top as he listened for any sign of life in the shop and tried to figure out what it was he could smell. Amongst the books, trinkets and art supplies, he could also smell the distinctive sweetness of blood; far too sweet to be Maxxie’s and also the faint steady heartbeat of somebody close by. Frowning, he shoved his brother one last time towards the back room just past the counter and turned on his heel to start picking up the smaller items amongst the shelves and examining them with little delicacy before dropping them back in their incorrect places.
***

.::Outfits::.

Ever since making peace with Jack, Amanda had been obsessed with finding a way to store her daughter's magic safely. In fact, she'd practically been living in the back at her store, only going home to eat, shower and sleep a few hours before going back there. It didn't matter if she couldn't get much other things done, at the very least she wasn't harming anyone or annoying anyone other than herself. That day, she'd been flipping through pages of her books between customers, hoping she'd actually get some work done.

Right before she was distracted by the commotion of someone entering her store rather abruptly, Amanda had been working on something and cut herself. Rather annoyed already, she tried to ignore whoever had entered her store long enough to heal herself up and magic away the mess before she composed herself to face the intruders. No, wait, the customers. Taking a deep breath, she was about to come out from the back room when she heard a pair of voices seeming to try to have a quiet argument. Once her name was called though, she sighed softly before getting up and walking into the shop itself just in time to watch the vampire pick up the items on the shelves before placing them in all the wrong places.

"You better put those things right back where they belong," she said coldly at the stranger before turning to see a familiar face. What was Maxxie doing here? "You're back?" she asked delighted to see him again actually. If he was back to work, then that meant even more time to focus on solving her problem once and for all. She was tired of taking the long ways around, even if taking shortcuts was what landed her in her current situation.

"So I take it this is your brother then?" She said and crossed her arms as she glared at the vampire. Now she had to sort out all the trinkets all over again if he didn't put them back in place. Certain things weren't meant to be mixed or misplaced, it could leave to trouble later on and she wasn't interested in any of it right now. "Maxxie, please get him to place things back where they belong, I don't want to have to hurt him for being mischievous before you've told me where the hell you've been?" Ok, so she was a bit upset that he hadn't even called to say he'd be gone for a while, but she truly was glad to see that he was alright.

---
outfit

Tate had never been one to respect anything that didn’t belong to him; he hardly respected anything that did. The ornaments that lay on the shelves were odd to say the least, not something he was used to seeing in your everyday art shop. He frowned as he ran a long, fine detailed box through his fingers before his attention was snapped back to the back of the room.
He glanced from the redhead who had appeared in the room and then back to Maxxie with a look of disbelief etched across his face. Was she always this cold?

Dropping the box back onto the sid, he narrowed his eyes at the redhead and crossed his arms refusing to move or make an attempt to start putting things back in the correct order as he waited for Maxxie to say something.

“Um, yeah… I guess I am. And yes… this is my younger brother, Tate. Tate, this is Amanda.” Replied Maxxie finally, avoiding any eye contact what so ever as he felt the tension build in the air. It was never a good idea expecting Tate to do something against his wishes, least of all to a human of the female kind. He hoped Tate would at least stop glaring at Amanda like that, it wasn’t like they had time for the vampire’s games anyway, and they had more important issues to address.
He glanced at Tate and nodded his head at Amanda’s request, hoping the youngest wasn’t going to make this harder than it had to be.

On the other side of the room, Tate scowled even more but remained unmoving for the most part as the brothers exchanged looks. He couldn’t understand why everyone was looking at him. This wasn’t even about him so why was he getting the cold end of the stick.
Uncrossing his arms, he marched across the floor and pushed past his brother, barely taking much notice when he heard Maxxie stumble behind him.
“Look lady… you did something to my brother and until we get some answers, I ain’t putting anything back.”
He took a small, globe shaped item that appeared full of silver swirls from one of the sides and purposely placed it further up the shelf just to make a point. Standing a few feet away from Amanda, he pulled out the bracelet Maxxie had worn every day since it had been given to him from his back pocket and held it out to the redhead to see. “Now why did you give this to him and what does it do? And don’t lie either… I think you owe him an explanation.” He demanded, turning his body slightly to grab his brother and pull him closer.

Meanwhile, Maxxie stood nervously behind his brother. Although Tate was younger, he was a little taller and considerably stronger. Maxxie struggled to pull his wrist from his brother’s grip, wincing before giving up and looking at Amanda apologetically. He knew if they were to get a full explanation then she was going to need one too. He just wasn’t sure how to say it and it looked like Tate was already well on the way to playing inspector.

Amanda was busy glaring at Tate, trying to get him to do the right thing, but soon realized she'd have to teach him a lesson when he made a point of misplacing another trinket. It was obvious something had happened though for Maxxie to bring this creature into her shop and avoiding all eye contact and she had to wait for Tate to speak before she got an answer to the situation. If he wasn't going to play nice, she'd be brutally honest with him and make him at least not try anything funny out of curiosity.

It wasn't until she saw how Tate pushed past his brother, not taking any notice of him stumbling behind him that she knew she'd made the right choice in giving Maxxie the bracelet when he'd started working for her. Especially when he grabbed his arm way too tightly. "I don't owe you anything, Tate, so please let go of your brother." Turning to Maxxie, she smiled slightly. "I thought it would be obvious by now, I gave you that bracelet to protect you from your brother."

Reaching out, she placed a burning hot hand on Tate's arm for a moment and smirked at him, hoping he'd listen to her and let go of his brother. When she she was satisfied that she'd made her point of being more than capable of meeting him halfway with any games he wanted to play, Amanda picked up a similar bracelet to the one Tate held and looked up at the brothers. "These bracelets are spelled to protect their wearers from death by anyone supernatural. I was worried it would be only a matter of time before Tate took it too far, but I guess the wolves got you first." She sounded very casual about it all, but then again it had worked and she was very glad that the human was ok.

"Short answer, I'm not taking crap from your vampire brother," she shook her head slightly and decided to show Maxxie rather than just tell him. Biting her lip slightly, she focused on the objects Tate had misplaced and made them all float back to their proper places.

Given the chance, Tate would have objected to Amanda’s words and disagreed that Maxxie needed protection against him. In fact, he was rather offended Amanda would think such things. He opened his mouth to say his piece on the matter but was cut off as the redhead placed a hand against his arm. It took him a few seconds to realise what she was doing before he yelped and dropped Maxxie’s arm as quickly as he had grabbed it. Within seconds he was on the other side of the shop again, clutching the slight scold and gaping in shock at the girl.

Maxxie couldn’t help but laugh at the look on his siblings face, it wasn’t very often someone could take Tate by surprise so on those odd occasions, it was worth the watch.
“Jesus Christ woman! If you didn’t have such a pretty face I’d actually take pleasure in tearing your flesh from your fucking skull. What the hell was that for?” Snapped the delinquant vampire from the corner of the room, his eyes darting between Maxxie and Amanda as though expecting Maxxie to step in and help any minute. Maxxie had plans of his own though as he looked back to Amanda, a slight smile across his face as he brought his chuckling to a stop and listened to the witch explain why the bracelet had been given to him. Again, from the back of the room, Tate made a noise of objection, watching the objects he had rearranged in the room float back to their proper places before speaking up again.

“Wait… what?” he asked, clearly still in disbelief that Amanda though Maxxie needed protection against the supernatural. “He can look after himself better than you know. Besides, why the hell would I want to hurt him?” He glowered, only now catching on that there were a few secrets his older brother had failed to mention to this witch. “What exactly have you been telling her about us Maxxie? Or more to the point, what haven’t you told her about yourself?”

For a moment, the two siblings exchanged glances again, Maxxie looking more worried by the second as he noticed the amused expression growing on Tate’s face before he finally rolled his eyes and took a deep, steady breath. It was maybe about that time he started explaining too. Although he didn't trust the supernatural, this one had saved his life.
“Look, Tate, I never said you hurt me intentionally… now go and wait outside. I can handle this. ok? Stop worrying.”
He nodded towards the doorway but kept his eyes on the young vampire, his face showing no sign of amusement now.

“What? No! There is no way I’m missing this part!"” replied the vampire with a slight whine. He took a step closer to the two, his eyes lighting up in delight and anticipation as it dawned on him that the witch really had absolutely no idea what Maxxie was capable of.

Maxxie stepped between his brother and Amanda, his own eyes narrowing now as he pointed at the door.
“Tate, for once... please just do as you are told. You don’t want to regret it later.” He said with a serious tone, the two of them coming face to face for a minute. It almost seemed the two were about to start fighting it out there and then as the glared at each other but Tate gave in first and backed away, pouting in defeat and heading back to the doorway.

“Whatever… I can hear you from out there anyway.” he mumbled, opening the door and turning back to Amanda with a smirk. Before he slipped away, he reached out and knocked one of the books from the shelf nearest to him before making his hasty exit, his childish laugh lingering in the room for seconds after the door had closed fully behind him.

Maxxie turned back to Amanda now, shrugging his shoulders and running a hand through his hair.
“I’m sorry about him…” he started, looking rather sheepish again and wishing he hadn’t held this situation off for so long. If he’d come to see Amanda sooner, Tate would have never had to drag him to the shop and start playing the over protective brother. “He… he thought he had lost me so I kinda guess he has a right to act out. I thought I’d lost myself too… I was meant to die that day. I saw it all before the fight. Tate would never admit it but your magic really scared him. I mean, it’s not every day you see someone rise from the dead. We are thankful; don’t get me wrong, it’s just a lot to get our head around.”

He sighed and looked away now, his shoes scuffing lightly at the floor before he turned his back to Amanda and walked over to the book Tate had purposely dropped. Picking it up, he placed it back on the shelf neatly and stood staring at the binds. He wasn’t sure if it was necessary to explain everything to Amanda just yet, after all, it still seemed his secrets were safe as long as he kept the topic on something esle.

It was highly amusing to watch the vampire react to her little stunt with him. Under different circumstances she was sure they could probably have had a lot of fun together, but she was trying to change and be better than the vampires that killed for fun. After all, she was trying to find back to her old self, which meant she couldn't go around and do things just because they were fun, she needed to be more responsible than that.

"I warned you to put things back in their proper places," she chuckled. "Besides, the look on your face made it totally worth it." For some reason though, just the look on Tate's face made her forget all about how annoyed she was to be interrupted in the first place. Her own problems could wait a little longer, as long as she was working on them from time to time. Surely she could find another way to fix everything anyway so maybe the odd brothers was a nice distraction.

It was obvious that Tate seemed to think she knew some sort of big secret that the brothers had by his reaction to the bracelets. She knew there was more to her employee than just a normal human, even if he'd tried explaining it away his first day, but she hadn't gone digging. She figured he could keep his secrets and she could pretend to be normal as well for a while. "No offense, Tate, but it never hurts to be on the safe side when dealing with your kind. No matter how capable you are of taking care of yourself."

Watching the brothers' silent communication made her wish she had siblings herself. It certainly would make things easier from time to time if she had someone close to her that cared like the vampire obviously did, regardless of how he seemed to care so little for anything else.

"I should've explained beforehand what the bracelet really was, but you seemed determined that I'd kill you in your sleep if you knew the truth. It honestly surprises me how someone more than human can despise the supernatural as much as you do." It was good that Maxxie at least picked up after his brother, saving her the trouble of doing it herself. At least it made her life a little easier that way. She had to learn to appreciate the little things again.

"So... what now?" she asked curiously and placed her hands in back pockets. What did they expect to learn from her that they hadn't already experienced first hand?

Maxxie kept his eyes on the binders in front of him, taking in some of the titles and only now realising why he had thought them weird the first time he had seen them. They weren’t all ‘normal’, in fact Maxxie couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen it sooner. He made a pretty lame hunter when it came to figuring things out. Give him a blade and he’d have no problem taking something out but sticking one and two together? This was near impossible for the young hunter.

He sighed and nodded his head; clearly the witch was a much quicker thinker. After all, she must have been wondering what he was doing on a battlefield between the supernatural if he was a mere human. It was quiet hypocritical of him but he’d never really thought about it. He had his reasons but from an outsiders point of view it really made little sense why he hated those with the ‘powers’ so much.
He gritted his teeth and tried to think of the best way to explain his current situation without giving too much away.
“Ok… so I was wrong not to trust you when all you did was be nice to me. But not all of you… us… are nice. Some believe they are different because they are meant to be something more and eventually the power goes to their head. They couldn’t care less about human’s… humans are just toys to them and they couldn’t care less if there was one less in this world. I promised never to let anything happen to Tate again. It was kinda my fault he changed in the first place…”

He shrugged his shoulders now and glanced through the window at Tate who was quiet happily shouting inappropriate things at a bunch of girls on the other side of the road.
“Don’t even think about it Tate…” he mumbled, barely loud enough for Amanda to hear but quite loud enough for Tate to hear outside. Tate spun around with a scowl but did as he was told, going back to leaning against the glass, listening to all that was been said inside.
“I guess that ties a few lose ends together then…” Said Maxxie, turning back to Amanda now with his eyes left staring shamefully at the floor beneath his feet.

The fact that a hunter had failed to notice how she had magical books amongst normal books was a good thing. It meant she'd hidden it all very well and made it so you had to know what to look for to find it. Humans were easy to distract and when there were things that made no sense at all, most of them tended to ignore it and pretend like nothing had ever happened. She never let people browse for books completely unsupervised though, just to be on the safe side.

"You were right not to trust me, I'm not always nice. I used to work for vampires before I opened the shop, some things you just can't undo however much you try. When I feel threatened or that someone wants to hurt my daughter, it's very hard not to just annihilate the threat. What I did to your brother was just child's play," she admitted and looked down at her feet. Amanda knew full well that Tate could hear her, which was why she couldn't resist adding that last part. He could've been just a pile of ash on the floor for her to vacuum if she didn't have any self control at all.

"The job's still yours if you'll have it, though sooner or later you'll have to stop changing the subject away from yourself." Wiping some imaginary dust off of her shoulders, the redhead sighed softly, glad that at least Tate hadn't run off after the girls he'd seem so interested in doing whatever he wanted to do. It certainly did make her think she'd been right in trying to protect Maxxie, regardless of whether or not they were brothers.

The witch didn't want to admit it to the two boys, but she could really use help managing the shop while she was trying to find a way out of the hole she seemed to keep digging for herself. It was less scary to disguise her need for help as help to run the shop rather than to actually admit to someone she hardly knew that she was in trouble.

Although Maxxie had to keep one eye on Tate to make sure the young delinquent didn’t run off after the girls making themselves an easy meal, he still kept a close eye on Amanda too when she went on to mention working for vampires herself. In some ways, she rescued herself pretty quickly by also mentioning that there are some things you just can’t undo. There were a lot of things he’d done in his life so far that he wished he could undo so now was not the right time or place to start judging again. Besides, the girl was smart; she wouldn’t let him get irate about it again when she quite obviously knew something wasn’t quite right with the hunter.

He had still failed to tell the witch about his own little secret yet, worried even more now that she would do exactly as he had done to her and judge him by what she knew. Not all hunters were the same, just as all witches, vampires and other freaks weren’t the same but he expected to be judged just as he had done to others like he had with Amanda. Still, the witch had proved enough by the end of his first shift that she wasn’t the same. In fact, since giving people a chance around he had come to learn that none of them were actually as bad as he had thought they were. There were still some though, some that he couldn’t trust which meant he was still going to keep everyone at an arm’s length.

As though reading his mind, Maxxie was taken by surprise when the witch asked about him once again; seeming to know he was trying to change the subject to keep his own secret safe. Ok, so this could go either way now. He could point blank refuse to say anything about himself and walk away whilst he had the chance… but that would mean losing his job… or he could tell her the truth and keep his job which he needed very much as it was the only thing that reminded him he was still human. Sighing loudly, he rolled his eyes and glanced out at Tate who had taken back to ignoring his older brother and was now scowling at the witch again; clearly wound up about her small dig but choosing not to say anything. Still, if looks could kill…

Maxxie ran one hand through his hair, pulling slightly on the tips of his hair and doing his best to look interested in anything other than himself. He had to say something though, didn’t he? As he’d already figured out, she wasn’t stupid. He idly picked up a couple of trinkets and began examining them, occasionally glancing at Amanda with wide eyes. She was never going to let this slip, was she? Then again, what did he expect when Tate had stormed in demanding to know her secrets?
“Thanks Tate…” He mumbled under his breath before finally placing both objects back onto the shelf and turning to face the redhead once more.

“Look, I was wrong to judge you on every other witch or whatever I have met so far but I really need this job…” He started, suddenly feeling all confidence washing away. He found a lump forming in his throat which made it all the more harder to say what he needed to. “I-I… I’m not changing the subject away from myself… I just don’t know what it is you’re expecting me to say…”

Yet again, he lost it. Lost the confidence to blurt out the fact he was a hunter and the reasons why. Before anyone had the chance to utter another word the door crashed open yet again. Tate stood in the doorway looking as bored as ever by now, still managing to scowl as he did so.
“Right you two. This is getting bloody ridiculous now. Amanda, he’s sorry he ever doubted you though I still say he should and Maxxie, Amanda isn’t going to give two craps if you’re a hunter or not so you might as well come out and tell…”
His stopped himself before he could say any more, his eyes widening some as he glanced between the two, only now realising he really had to start thinking about what he was saying before saying it.

“Oops…”

Maxxie stared at Tate in complete disbelief; clearly shocked that Tate would be so stupid as to blab about the things they promised never to speak of to anyone.
“Oh… thanks Tate. Way to make the situation just that little more awkward.” He snapped sarcastically, his fists balling up as he watched Tate open and close his mouth as he tried to think of something to say.
The youngest had taken to closing the door quietly behind him and tiptoeing over to Amanda as though any loud noise would set some kind of explosion of at any given moment.

“Ahh… yes… well... I didn’t mean he was a hunter… thing… I meant… he just fights the bad things to protect me… since he couldn’t do that whilst I was alive… He keeps grudges… if he didn’t then we wouldn’t be in the situation… He can’t help it.” He found himself patting Amanda’s arm awkwardly before cringing and quickly backing away again. “I think I’m just going to stay over here and keep quiet now…

[/color]”[/size][/center]

It wasn't a nice thing to imply that she hadn't learned a lot from her former job. She'd learned quite a lot about her own capabilities and found that she actually enjoyed certain vampires' company more than humans; at least they had accepted her for being a witch. The few experiences she had with telling humans what she was, had never ended well. They'd run off, or they'd freaked out and she'd lost a "friend". In many ways, moving to Bitter Springs had made it easier for her to find likeminded people or at least friends that wouldn't just judge her because she was different.

Maxxie obviously didn't want to tell her what his 'big' secret was, and it amused her to no end to watch Tate scowling at her like that. Honestly, didn't the boy have any manners at all? Maybe she should learn a thing or two form the two brothers and remind Jack not to spoil Kailah too badly as she didn't want to deal with a bratty girl when she became a teen. Still she remained in her place and watched the two brothers intently, her focus shifting entirely to her employee when he started apologizing.

Of course he chickened out though. Amanda had merely been expecting him to tell her the truth, why was that such a hard thing? He wasn't like other humans, she knew that all too well, she just wanted to hear him admit it. It wasn't until Tate stormed in to save the day and blurt out Maxxie's big secret that she stopped trying to get an answer out of the other. A hunter? Really? Things suddenly got a lot more interesting and Amanda couldn't help but chuckle slightly at the way Tate reacted to having spilled a seemingly big family secret.

Naturally when the vampire tiptoed up to her, she watched him carefully. He was not getting away with misplacing her objects again and he better not try anything. His little explanation made it impossible for her to remain mad at the boy though as he was simply adorable how much he tried to make things right again before backing away after patting her arm rather awkwardly.

"Look, Tate's right. I honestly don't care if you are, or were... whatever... a hunter. You haven't tried to hurt me, you obviously care for your brother and as long as you don't try to touch my family, I've got no problem with it. Besides, it is kind of obvious." Deciding she might have to elaborate further, she sighed softly as she started to move around the shop, rearranging a few things herself because their placement was starting to annoy her. "Not a lot of normal people know about the supernatural, at least not outside of this small town. There aren't a lot of the people who know that despise what we are like you gave the impression of doing your first day. The few that do, usually hunt us down and kill us." It was all very matter of factly at the moment, but it had been the fight scene that had sealed the deal.

"You do a good job here, and you're a good person. That's all that matters as far as your job is concerned." Turning to Tate for a moment, Amanda couldn't help but smile slightly. "As long as you play nice, I'll play nice."

Maxxie glanced nervously between Tate and Amanda, hoping his brother didn’t do anything stupid. It wasn’t like Tate didn’t have it in him too behave but he always had a habit of making situations worse and right now, the eldest sibling didn’t like how close his younger sibling was getting to the witch.

He watched as Tate wondered over to the back corner of the shop and lean against the shelves before his attention was brought back to Amanda. The sheepish look across his face only grew as he nodded his head to show he understood what the witch meant and watched Amanda move around the shop. He waited politely for her to finish before starting his own explanation after deciding she at least deserved a proper answer other than he one Tate practically threw in her face.

“I’m sorry I kept this from you Amanda… Really, I am. I just didn’t want anyone to know. It’s not just you…” –He paused for a moment to glance over at Tate who was watching them both in silence.- “I would never hurt you… I don’t hunt anyone that doesn’t deserve it… well… that hasn’t always been true. I just wanted to hurt those that took Tate from me… I’m sorry I judged you and didn’t trust you.”

He went back to eyeing Amanda, wondering why the sudden need for a rearrangement and didn’t need to look to see that Tate was clearly wondering the same thing after he’d been told off for rearranging. Taking a few steps closer to the witch, he too started to help organise a few bits that were out of place before a smile crept on his face.
“No more secrets ok?” He asked, almost in a demanding tone. “I want to stay here… at the shop I mean… and you’re a pretty cool boss.”

From the back corner Maxxie heard Tate chuckling to himself before feeling his cheeks burning. He quickly shot a scowl in the vampire’s direction which was just as quickly returned before Maxxie turned back to Amanda with a smile and his hand extended in a peace offering.
“I think we should start again.” He said with a hint of amusement in his voice. “I’m Maxxie… and I’m a hunter. That’s Tate… and he’s a blood sucking, annoying as hell leach. It’s a pleasure to meet you Miss…?”

It wouldn't really matter at this point if Tate tried something funny, she was over the momentary moodiness that had caused her to be so rude to him when he'd rearranged stuff. Seeing how the pair communicated between themselves made her mood all the better right away, and Maxxie's awkwardness about the hunter thing made her in a rather good mood because it was just so sweet to watch how much he truly cared about his brother despite everything.

When Maxxie was done explaining why he'd become a hunter to begin with, she nodded in appreciation that he'd actually told her something without too much goading. Besides, she believed him. She couldn't help but smile when he helped her organize a few bits and pieces that were out of place as well and chuckled at what he had to say next. "I'm sorry I wasn't honest with you either, no more secrets sounds good." She was about to say something else as well when Maxxie started to introduce himself again, acting as if they had a whole new beginning.

Amanda couldn't help but giggle slightly at his amusing way of introducing himself and his brother. "Amanda," she said and shook his hand before adding: "Witch and proud owner of this fine establishment," she was clearly amused by it all though.

Suddenly remembering what she had been about to say before all the talk of new beginnings, she hugged Maxxie. "I'm so glad you're not dead," she muttered as she let go again rather quickly. She wasn't used to hugging and she had just got carried away really because she was glad her charm had saved the hunter. Looking up at Tate, she couldn't help but smile at the vampire. "I'm sorry if I hurt you before, I was having a really crappy day until you two walked in."

Considering Maxxie hadn’t wanted anyone to know about him, it was a relief to finally have someone find out. And it was a huge step for him to open about anything. He let out a long held breath when Amanda shook his hand and played along with his second chance to introduce himself properly. Tate didn’t look all too happy about being called a blood sucking leech but hadn’t said anything as he watched the two friends from the corner. The most he did was roll his eyes. Maybe just this once he could let his brother make his own amends without saying something to ruin the moment.
However, he did pull a childish face when the witch then got all sentimental on his brother and made a small icky noise.

Maxxie, for a moment, looked shocked at Amanda’s embrace. Hearing his brother’s small, immature noise though, he gingerly hugged the witch back and allowed himself to smile at her nice words. He knew Tate felt the same but would never admit it and he didn’t expect him too either. They youngest had always hidden his emotions as well as Maxxie though found it harder to keep his anger locked up. That much was obvious to anyone that knew them.

When Amanda let him go, he was still smiling, between the witch and his brother. He still had his life and he had that much to be grateful for, all thanks to Amanda. Maybe there was a lesson to be learnt here; one that involved not judging everyone because of what he had led to believe in the past.
Tate even seemed to have relaxed more though when Amanda turned her attention to him, he only shrugged and kept the same bored expression as he turned his back to them and tried to ignore the fact that someone was actually being nice to him after he’d been a pain. Yes, he owed her an apology too but as always, the two words got stuck before he could say them so he carried on acting like he didn’t care.

“I wouldn’t worry about him…” said Maxxie, rolling his eyes and trying to make his own apology for his brother’s behaviour. “He’s always like that. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him apologise before, not even to me.”
He grinned at the back of Tate’s head, fully aware that the youngest hated being spoken for but didn’t want the situation feeling sour again. Tate gave a small grunt that could have meant he agreed though it was kind of hard to tall with him.

Finally, the young vampire turned back to them, a slight pained expression across his face as he jumped from foot to foot.
“Ok, so we’re all friends again. That’s good. Now can we please go? I’m starving!” the impatience in his voice was clear as he gave a careless wave of his hand and headed back to the front of the shop to ogle out of the window anxiously.
Maxxie looked back to Amanda with an apologetic smile and nodded his head.
“I think I should let him go find food… he gets kinda agro when he’s hungry… not that he isn’t all the time anyway.“ -He cracked a small laugh and ran a hand through his messy hair before he looked anxiously down at his feet.- “…So you have enough time for a coffee or something?” he asked, his words stumbling slightly though not enough to not make sense off. Yes, he had just asked someone out for a coffee. This wasn’t big to some people but for someone as socially awkward as Maxxie, it was hard asking anyone anything that involved them spending time together.

It was actually a relief to learn that yet another hunter was perfectly fine with her being a witch. Besides, it wasn't like she'd ever showed Maxxie her dark side, and she never intended to let him see that part of her. Especially since she was trying to bury the monster once and for all when it was possible. Sure, she'd always have a temper, but she didn't want to end up trying to kill someone whenever it got too bad.

She never expected Tate to acknowledge her apology; he reminded her too much of a vampire she'd known a while back. The man that had made her come live with them in the first place had been very arrogant and haughty, but she'd come to learn there was always a reason for it. "Oh it's fine, I never expected him to apologize," she chuckled at Maxxie's statement. She hadn't expected Tate to be friendly really, the fact that he'd stopped touching her things after her warning earlier was enough for her.

Did they have to go so soon? Did they really have to go find some stranger for the vampire to feed from? Looking at Tate, she wasn't really aware of what she was going to say until it was too late: "You don't really have to go anywhere to get blood." She'd spoken quietly though and wasn't really sure if she'd just been thinking or if she'd spoken it out loud. She was a bit distracted these days after all.

Maxxie's question caught her off guard, but it was a pleasant surprise. She couldn't help but smile at him and accept his offer, simply because she found that she enjoyed spending time with the hunter. Yes, it was awkward at times, but they made the best of it. "I can always find time for coffee or something," she replied with a slight chuckle.