'The whole thing is bullshit, I'm telling you,' the younger man said. He had a thick moustache, bushy eyebrow and a big nose. 'Why would the world end right at the exact moment when the date turns? Nature doesn't know if it's 1999 or 2000.'

'I don't know, I'm just saying that people are worried,' shrugged the older man. He had a clean-shaven narrow face and a black ponytail. His hairline already started to decline on the front, even though he was barely over thirty. 'Even the papers wrote about it.'

'Papers wrote about aliens abducting cows, too,' laughed the young one. 'You should not believe everything you read, Sebastiano.'

'Your brother is right,' said the woman sitting next to Sebastiano. She was young and very attractive with a lot of untidy, curly brown hair, grey eyes and always smiling, thick lips. She had a ring in her nose and she wore an oversized leather jacket, the same one her daughter will one day. 'People are always looking for something to worry about. I've already heard that on New Year's Eve an asteroid will hit the planet, that the fae comes back, that Morgan le Fey returns to destroy Merlin's legacy… Some people love to tell scary stories, and some others will always be stupid enough to believe them,' she said.

The conversation was held in Italian, the native language of the three people sitting at the table. The pub was empty apart from them, only the fire cracked in the mantelpiece. The tall, black bartender was polishing the oak bar with a white cloth.

'Hey Luther,' said the younger Italian, Silvio Carano, in English. 'People are afraid that when we step into the year 2000, the fae comes back.'

The bartender looked up and smiled.

'Fae has their own calendar, young man,' he said in his deep voice. 'Our new year starts on the winter solstice, on the shortest day, as every sensible calendar should work. But no, my people won't be back to destroy Earth just because an old someone in a book happened to be born exactly 2000 years ago.'

'Did he really exist? Have you ever met him?' asked Silvio.

Luther shrugged.

'I only heard the story some hundred years later. I think there was a sorcerer, or even one of my people that preached peace and was so powerful that people thought he could do miracles. He probably wasn't the son of any kind of god, but he was a good man nonetheless who wanted to bring change, so humans killed him, naturally. That's just what you do,'

'You are a big, old sad sack,' said Luna before the men could start to argue. 'Pour us one more round, will you? Pour one to yourself, too.'

Luther did as he was asked. The three of them continued to talk, while the bartender put a big log onto the fire.

'How is Jenna?' asked Silvio.

'She is having a hard time in school,' Luna answered. 'All she wants to learn is magic, but she is too young for that. Her teachers say she is a bright girl, but very hard to get her attention. Not that it's anything new for me,' she giggled. 'Try to read her a bedtime story without magic, she will hex the book out of your hand…'

'Really, doing magic already?' asked Silvio surprised.

'More than she should,' sighed Sebastiano. 'The other day she magicked my new Nokia mobile phone out of the closed window because she didn't like how it rang… I don't even know where she found the Rune for that...'

Silvio laughed.

'You don't need a mobile phone anyway, brother,' he said. 'Those are just for show-offs and teenagers.'

'It was almost 150 pounds…' murmured Sebastiano and the other two laughed.

They talked about other things, too, like Silvio's son, Teodore, Sebastiano's job at the city hall, politics (that seemed to bore Luna, but appeared to be the favourite topic of Sebastiano), old friends and their kids, Silvio's restaurant that he took over when the men's father retired, Italy, what they bought for the kids for Christmas… Everything that usually comes up on an occasion like this was. They were all busy, jobs and kids and family and responsibilities, but sometimes they just needed to get together, catch up and let off some steam.

Around ten Luna became a little restless. She said she wanted to go home soon so she could let the sitter go and check on Jenna, but Sebastiano told her to take it easy, Jenna was already asleep anyway.

'See, if I had a mobile phone right now, you could ring home to talk to the sitter,' shook his head Sebastiano. 'Not that useless now, eh?'

'Or I can use the phone booth on the corner,' said Luna. 'Like everyone else. Does anyone have a pound?'

Sebastiano gave her two, and she got up and walked to the door. She was reaching for the doorknob when it turned and the door opened. A tall, red-headed man in an immaculate blue suit and cold blue eyes stood on the threshold. He looked surprised for a second, then smiled smugly.

'Luna Carano,' he said. 'What a nice surprise.'

'Patrick,' she nodded coldly.

'Two bourbons, Luther,' said the redhead, and went around Luna. Behind him came another man, shorter and stockier, with blond hair, wearing a black suit and the white gloves of a butler.

Luther looked at them, then at the Carano brothers, then he poured the drinks. He didn't say anything. The old fae never took a side in their little war.

Luna sent a look to her husband then out she went into the cold rain, looking for a payphone. The two newcomers sat at the bar, and talked quietly, not giving any attention to the Italians. After a while the Carano brothers decided to go back to their beers, seeing that Montgomery and his servant aren't going to be a problem tonight. By the time Luna got back, the mood was almost as good as it was before.

'So he is like: "I'm sorry but I ordered chicken, this is some kind of bird…" and you know I'm always trying to stay polite with guests but hell, I did laugh at his face…' told them Silvio. He always had a good story from some weirdo customer, one of the perks of working in hospitality. The other two laughed.

'Speaking of idiots, what do you think those two are doing here?' asked Sebastiano, carefully not looking at the others.

'Just because here in England we speak a real language, it doesn't mean I cannot understand your chattery little Italian, Sebastiano,' said Patrick Montgomery from the bar. 'I suggest showing some respect for your superiors.'

Silvio scoffed.

'Superior?' he asked. 'You are drinking with your servant on a Saturday night, because nobody else can stand you. You might wanna think about that.'

Maxwell jumped down from his bar chair but Patrick grabbed his arm.

'They aren't worth paying attention to, Maxwell,' he said. 'Calm yourself, you are embarrassing me. They are just words, empty wits, threats without real danger, you should know that by now. They aren't good at anything else besides talking.'

'I am very good at kicking snob dickhead's asses,' said Sebastiano angrily.

'Are you?' Patrick laughed quietly. 'It's funny I seem to recall that you are below average at magic, and only ever win any fight because you chose your woman wisely.'

'Enough, boys,' said Luna. 'There will be no fight tonight. Let's just go, Sebastiano.'

The man stood up, and his brother did the same, shaking his head.

'I'd point out how the woman ordering two grown men around, but I also want to mention how said woman became soft and boring… What happened to you, dear? You used to be fiery, hot-headed, strong… Now you are just another trophy wife. I suppose that happens when a woman chooses the wrong husband…'

'Don't get me wrong, Patrick, I do miss the time when I used to beat you up twice a week,' said Luna with a sweet smile. 'But I moved on. Maybe it's time for you to grow up, too.'

'Watch your mouth, immigrant bitch!' snapped Maxwell.

Bamm! Maxwell staggered back, stumbled over his own chair and ended up on the floor. Sebastiano lowered his wand.

'You shouldn't have said that,' he shook his head, looking at his own wand as if someone else used it seconds ago.

Patrick Montgomery stood, on his left a barely visible air-elemental materialised like the world's smallest tornado. Silvio drew his wand, too.

'Enough!' the voice that said that came from Luther, but it wasn't his usual one. It was so deep the ground trembled because of it. All the lights in the pub were dimmed until shadows filled the place, and the man behind the bar looked huge now, bigger than any human ever could. His dark skin became perfectly black, like space itself,like a black whole trapping light itself, his eyes glowed in the darkness. He reached out and the sword that was hanging on the wall leapt into his hand. Runes sparkled up on the blade with ice-cold blue light. 'This is a neutral place. If you want to fight, fight me, mortals! Who will be the first to try? Which one of you is brave enough? Go ahead!'

Nobody moved. It was common knowledge that Luther was more powerful than any sorcerer. Attacking him wasn't a question of bravery, but foolishness: none of them, not even Luna stood a chance. And even Montgomery wasn't proud enough to try it. If there was one thing besides family names that Patrick Montgomery respected, it was power. Sebastiano shook his head and lowered his wand. Nobody said anything.

'Didn't think so,' said Luther, with his usual voice now. The lights slowly came back, expelling the shadows back to the corners. 'If you are stupid enough to kill each other, by all means, but get the hell out of my pub first.'

Patrick sent him a smug smile as his elemental disappeared with a quite whooshing noise.

'Don't worry, sir, you won't see me or my money ever again in this… What did you call it? Pub?'

'What money, Montgomery?' laughed Silvio.

Patrick gave him a smouldering look, then beckoned to his butler, who had already gotten up. He looked unharmed but angry.

'Let's go, Maxwell,' Patrick said. 'It's time for us to find a decent place instead of this hole. Maybe even one where they are serving real bourbon instead of that cat piss we got.'

Patrick gave a long, almost sad look to Luna from the doorway, then he left, with his butler in his tail. Luna forgot her gaze on the door after it closed behind them.

'You aren't welcome here anymore either,' said Luther. He laid his blade on the bar. The Runes still glowed on it.

'We are leaving,' nodded Sebastiano. 'No need to be hasty. We are all friends here.'

The fae didn't answer. The three of them took their coats, Silvio even chugged his beer down, then he just shrugged when his brother rolled his eyes.

'What? I paid for it.'

They left. It was still raining outside. Luna half expected that Montgomery and the servant would be ambushing them the second they were stepping out of the pub, but the two of them were nowhere to be seen. Luna sighed.

'Nice going, love,' she said to Sebastiano. 'Now we are going to need a new pub. I loved this one'

'How should I have known that redhead prick speaks Italian?' he asked, raising both his hands.

Luna didn't answer. She knew that Patrick spoke Italian, even knew why: he wanted to learn the language of the woman he once loved.

'And his damn butler offended my woman,' Sebastiano added angrily, not noticing the sadness clouding Luna's face. 'If someone offends your wife, you gotta do something…'

'That's right,' pitched in Silvio. 'If you haven't cursed him, I'd have.'

'Your wife is more than capable of handling that herself,' said Luna, shaking her head. 'But I appreciate the thought,' she leaned towards Sebastiano and kissed him on his cheek. 'Let's go home, this rain will totally mess up my hair…'