A Birth day

Aria watched Minos as he flew infront of her with the unicorn hair she wrote down what he did and watched in facination as it changed to a beautiful opalescent white shimmering as he moved the hair in it, then he pointed to the strainer " oh right , strain it before bottling right?" she asked and picked it up taking a large jug she placed it over the jug and began to pore it straining out the large pieces making it clean and ready to take. Once done she placed in a cork and sealed it with white wax she had found writing on it Fae protection potion" that okay if we call it that?" she asked Minos.

Ruby put all the ingredients in the bowl and looked at Angus as he cooked the steaks " you want a dressing on this salad or are we leaving it to the juice of the steak?" she asked watching him cook.

Minos nodded. Yes. That was right. Minos didn't really care what she called it. The real name wasn't pronounceable for humans anyway.

"No," Angus told her. "I'll make a dressing when I come in. Could you take the croutons out of the oven to let them cool, please?" He finished the steaks, brought them in and covered them with foil to let them rest before he cut them. While they were resting, he took out a glass jar and poured in some red wine vinegar, some olive oil, some crushed garlic and salt and pepper, a pinch of sugar, and some finely chopped rosemary and thyme. Then he shook the jar, took a little lettuce leaf, dipped it into the dressing and handed it to her. "What do you think? Will it do?"

Aria nodded and looked to Minos " well lets get this to Angus and Marcus" she said picking up the jar and waiting for Minos to lead the way once she had cleaned up the lab and put it back to rights. Ruby heard Angus and nodded turning of the oven and taking out the tray with the crotons on placing them on the counter to cool off.

She watched him make the dressing and smiled " smells wonderful" she took a leaf and tasted it and smiled " tastes good too, I'm defiantly having some of this on my salad" she said to him finishing the salad as she smiled.

The sound of wand crackle made Angus and Marcus aware that Simone and Edward had arrived hom from McGregor's and wherever else they'd gone. Angus got out some large shallow pasta bowls, put Ruby's salad in it, sliced the steaks into thin slices and put some generous portions of steak on top of each salad, added some croutons and added some of his red wine vinaigrette to the salad. He left some in the jar in case someone wanted some additional salad.

"There. Lunch. And Edward and Simone are just in time. If Jack hasn't eaten, he might like a steak salad," Angus said, setting each salad on the table, one for each person. And then he plated up two large bowls of salad and shrank them and shrank some cruets of additional dressing and put them on the cheeseboard, along with some iced tea for the Fae.

"I'll take the cheeseboard out to them," Marcus said, taking the cheeseboard out for the diners. When he came back in, he invited Edward and Simone for lunch.

"Come take a salad," Angus told Ruby and Aria.

Aria once done picked up the bottle and headed back to Angus's side of the duplex , entering she saw Edward and Simone " I borrowed your lab for a moment Minos and I made a potion for Angus, but I'll let him explain" she said walking over to Angus and placing the bottle down on the counter for Minos to explain to him what it was.

Ruby looked at the bottle and was fascinated by its shimmer " looks pretty" she said " and you say you made this?" she asked Aria chuckled.

"well Minos directed I just did the cutting and mixing I also wrote it down for future use if needed" she said and took out the piece of paper she had rote the steps and ingredient amount on.

" wow okay lets eat first, Minos Angus already put some on the Fae table for you and I have ice cream with waffle cones for after, you'll love it , Angus says its a delicacy for you guys to have it." she said

"Steak salad. Very nice. Whoever thought of this, I'm grateful. I love chicken, but every so often I crave some actual beef," Edward said.

"Blame me. I was thinking steak salad was quick and nutritious," Angus said.

"Well done, Boy," Edward said, sitting down at the table. Minos flew outside to go eat with the Fae, and Marcus sat down next to Angus. "So, how are you doing after the rough night you had?" Edward asked Angus.

"I'm tired. I'm really tired," Angus said. "If I have to do battle with her again tonight, Robert has to le me sleep before them."

"Remember what Aria said. She and Minos brewed a potion for you," Marcus said. "I think Minos has a hope that he has something to help you. When we're done eating, we'll ask Minos to explain it."

"Your potion looks promising," Edward told Aria. "Fae potions are known for two thing--first, they're based on things that can be found in the wild, and second, they depend on elaborate spells to activate them. That's why we humans can't use them. We can't speak Fae accurately enough to get their incantations right. I can't say if one of their potions will be effective for you or not, but I don't think you're out anything to try, whatever this one does."

"I trust him,' Angus said. "if he thought it was worth making, then I'm not above taking it. Thanks for making it, Aria. What did you think of Edward's little sanctuary up there?"

Aria watched Minos leave to eat with the others and smiled as Edward spoke " oh yeah , it was blue then he stirred it with the unicorn hair and it turned like that" she said " he must have said a spell too" she added as she took some food and sat down at the table " he called it , well I called it Fae protection potion, not much else I could call it I guess" she said as she ate some of the salad with the dressing on " wow this is heavenly and just what I needed, oh I left the rest of the ingredients in your lab plus some of those trumpet flowers for the unicorn" she added.

Ruby took her plate and sat next to Angus she looked at him " couldn't harm to try it, what's the worst that could happen, you get green spots?" she said teasing him a little as she ate her lunch with him. " if your tired take some once Minos let you know how much and go for a sleep , see if she will leave you alone." she added " we don't need you dead on your feet from lack of sleep" she looked at Marcus knowing he would be watching over him as he slept, if he slept.

"I'm glad you like it," Angus said.

"I'll stay with you," Marcus said.

"I appreciate that," Angus said, knowing that the only thing that Marcus could really do was to make sure he was still breathing and that his heart was still beating. Marcus couldn't follow him into his dreams. Still, it was better than nothing.

"Well, personally, I think Marcus had an excellent point when he said that a lot of Priscilla's rituals were done in the overnight hours," Edward said. "I think there is a better than average chance that she's sleeping during the day. And that means you should, theoretically be able to do the same thing."

"And do I wake him up with he seems to be in one of those windows where she is likely sleeping?"

"Well, this is just a pure guess on my part. I think you should wake him, even briefly, every couple hours just to be sure he's not being attacked in his sleep. You could, I suppose, have him simply take his shirt off, and if you see new marks appearing in his sleep, you could wake him. At least til we have some better way of protecting him."

"I don't need more than a couple hours. Just a nap would help," Angus said

"Nobody can go on 2 hours, not even you," Edward said.

"Well, just until Robert has beter answers," Angus replied

Ruby and Aria both listened to Marcus and Angus talking " we both like the shirt off idea" Ruby said trying not to blush or smirk at the thought of seeing Angus sleeping with out his shirt again. " but seriously Edwards right you do need more than two hours , body needs minimum eight hours sleep" she said Aria nodding as she ate her food .

Aria spotted the babies waking after their nap and moved to gather them for their lunch . Placing them both in their high chairs she placed some food in front of them. Dimond tucked in Caprice took her time but she stared to eat. " I agree with Edward seeing new marks would indicate she attacking and he could wake you so even though you'd have new marks there wouldn't be as many." Aria said handing Caprice a small plastic fork that she could use for the salad.

"I think I'll take my chances and leave my shirt on," Angus laughed. "Edward, you don't need to give either of those two women any ideas. They know how to create trouble all on their own." Marcus laughed

"That's for sure," Marcus agreed, amused.

"I think I'll just go back to work instead," Angus said. He took his time finishing his salad, and just as he was finishing, Minos flew over and spoke with him in his usual gestures, which Angus was getting pretty good at. "Thank you, Minos," Angus said, genuinely grateful. "I'm going to give that a try this afternoon for a bit of a nap while, I hope, Priscilla might be sleeping herself. I'm rather hoping that since she is involved in some folk magic called voodoo, I'm presuming that, first of all, she sleeps during the day. But also, I don't know that she would know much about fairy magic. I might be able to use both of those things to my advantage." Minos nodded, agreeing.

Minos did some more gestures, and Angus understood Mino's concerns. Minos was figuring that she was more likely to be sleeping now moreso than later in the afternoon, and, after Angus consdiered it, he did see that Minos had a good point.

"Alright. I appreciate it. I'll take the bottle with me and go upstairs."

"It'll be quieter up there anyway," Marcus said. Angus picked up the bottle and headed upstairs, and Marcus simply followed along. Minos didn't go, knowing his place was with his people outside. He gave Angus his space, and he headed back outside to the garden.