Letter from Marguerite to Adelle

Dear Adelle,
Thank you for your kind warnings, but I shall not be deterred by a bit of demon muck. The thought of sharing a holiday with you has sustained me through this last rather trying patch. Life at the Royal Nursing College of Magical Afflictions here in London has become one long slog. I believe my course on metaphysical pathophysiology will be the end of me. It would be heaven to escape the sisters at St. Zelda’s Infirmary, the endless days of cleaning bedpans and disposing of extracted succubi. How I long to linger over coffee and hob nobs with you.
Thank you for not mentioning T. by name in your letter. The less said of my recent romantic disappointment, the better.
Warmest regards from your bosom friend,
Marguerite


(Heidi Randen)
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Letter from Adelle to Marguerite

My Dear Marguerite,
There is good news and bad. First the bad news: our demon problems continue! Basil even spotted one in the foyer! He tried to lodge a complaint with it, but Theo says it is futile, that any demon that doesn’t eat us on sight is probably an underling with no real power to change things. He says the truly powerful demons are gathering on the cliffs. He even tried to show me one through his binoculars our first night here. Theo said it looked part human, part goat, but I think it may have been his imagination because when I looked all I saw was the silhouette of a man.

And speaking of the male silhouette… The good news is Mr. Arthur Harkness has agreed to come and stay with us! His things arrived today by parcel post and we expect his manservant will arrive soon… also by parcel post. One of the boxes contained quite a few framed pictures of Mr. Harkness and I must say he cuts a dashing figure! Basil says I stand no chance as I am “rather too horse-faced to court.” (“Court” was not his exact word, but I will spare you his turn of phrase.) He says I am as flat-chested as Theo. I don’t think I’m as bad as all that, am I? Although no one holds a candle to you. Well, perhaps Mr. Harkness will autograph a photo for me.

I tried to lodge a complaint with our landlord, asking him to pay half of Mr. Harkness’ fee, but he was utterly unkind. (Basil said I should have used my womanly charms. Then he laughed until he choked on his brandy.) He says we should have known about the demonic migration… and I sometimes suspect that Theo did know. My brother and his fascination with demons! Well perhaps Mr. Harkness will take Theo under his wing and put that obsession to good use. In the meanwhile, our landlord has agreed that we may move from the little cottage to the main house on the grounds, Brightwick proper, so that there is room enough for all of us—more than enough room, in fact. The house is large enough to swallow an army! I’m enclosing a photograph so you may see for yourself! The place was obviously grand once but it has fallen into some disrepair. Evidently there was a caretaker but he left in rather a hurry. I will have my work cut out for me, making the place presentable before Mr. Harkness arrives! We have left the little cottage on the grounds to Theo and his endless books and specimens. It’s just as well—the door to the cottage loo was stuck shut, and I suspect that there were rats as I could hear something scratching inside. It drove Champ mad! Oh, that worthless dog!

Basil is put out at me for hiring Mr. Harkness. He says he “had the whole situation neatly in hand, thank you very much,” and he is dreading the demon hunter’s arrival. (Although I suspect he is helping himself to the good man’s cigars!) Basil is quite looking forward to your arrival, however. I feel it’s only fair to warn you.
Well, I’m sure things will be better once you and Arthur are here (Oh! Listen to me! Calling him by his first name!) And we will make the best. Lemonade from lemons as my dear mother would say.
I remain,
Your Faithful Friend,
Adelle

Letter One, From Adelle to Marguerite

My Dear Marguerite,
I know I said that you should stay here at Brightwick for the holidays and of course I meant it. After all that you have been through I believe the sea air would do you wonders. But do you recall that I told you Basil rented the house for cheap? Well, now that we are here the reason is abundantly clear: We forgot about the demonic migrations! Our first night here the sky was so thick with demons they blotted out the moon. We are beside ourselves—except, of course, for Theo, who is enjoying it. He has unpacked his binoculars and his necromancy books and begun to sketch them in his notebook—he can tell you every subspecies, I’m sure. All I can say is that some of them are preposterously large—just yesterday one carried off a goat! Of course Champ is barking like mad. We will be lucky if he doesn’t get carried off himself (in fact, last night he was so loud I almost wished he would be!) Basil is not much better, tromping about with his blunderbuss taking pot shots at the sky. It’s lucky that my brother is such a horrible shot or he would bring one down on our heads. I have written to a real demon hunter—a one Mr. Arthur Harkness—in hopes that I may hire him to stay here at Brightwick for our protection. He is rumored to be rather odd but quite excellent at what he does (and rather good-looking, so there’s that). I hope to hear back from him soon. But in the meantime, I know it is too late for you to change your plans but I wanted to give you fair warning. There is a curfew of course and the beach is so covered in droppings as to be untraversable. You have been through such personal hell lately (if you’ll pardon my language) and I feel horrible bringing you into a literal one. I promise we will have fun in spite of it all! Just bring your adventurous spirit (and your wellies).
See you in a few days,
Your loyal childhood friend,
Adelle