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Salem enjoyed putting away the tea. It was relaxing and Laced wasn’t patient enough so usually every Saturday night he changed Salem into a human to store the new arrivals.
“WHO FREED THE IMPS?” Lance was screaming again from upstairs. That was usual as well.
Once upon a time, the shop used to be quiet. It was just the two of them and sometime Allura, the nice lady who always landed the perfect scratching place, just behind Salem’s left ears. Back then Lance used to drink classic green tea on the balcony, their special brew was called earl’s galra and it was one of the most popular. Salem often joined him, sunbathing in sunset light.
It was a long time ago.
Shiro was the first one. Salem never saw anyone like him. Lance called him a vampire. The cat wasn’t sure about what his owner meant but he liked the big man. In the long night’s hours, when everyone else was asleep, often Shiro and the cat shared the warm in front of the fireplace.
Shiro’s favourite was a peculiar mix named nunavil, there were orange, rum and vanilla in it. It was a strong flavour and many people didn’t like it, but for the vampire it was perfect. The cat noticed that even if Shiro didn’t really need food, once in a while he enjoyed eating spicy foods and drink alcohol. It was like, after death, only the strongest flavours kept a taste for him. That and blood obliviously.
The imps were now flying freely also in the ground floor, Lance magic kept them bound inside but they had the instinct of making pranks; the reason why one of them was following Allura with a pair of scissors.
Allura wasn’t exactly living in the coffee, she has been friend with Lance for a long time, they shared shift at the shop and usually, she joined them for dinner on Saturdays. She was a Nymph and like every Nymph, she was really affectionate and caring. Salem found most of the female genre noisy and clingy but he made an exception for her. She was really sweet and she makes sure to bring to the shops Salem’s favourite treats: caterpillar’s candies, they were soft fruit’s candies, popular with the kids. Salem could only eat them in his human form and, thanks to Allura’s kindness there were always some for him.
Salem made a special mix to thank her and it has been the girl’s favourite ever since: apricot, peach and Juniberry petals. Lance loved it and he decided to sell it into the shops under the name magenta drops, it was listed as ones of their secret recipes and some other tea shops try more than once to steal it.
Not that they feared any intrusion.
Keith jumped on the imps who cornered Allura with a growth.
Lance found him half dead and took him in, the werewolf used to have problem with the shift and his herd kicked him out. Alone against his instinct he was turning wild but now the situation was completely different. Lance made a special talisman to help him to keep his wolf under control and, just because Lance has never been very subtle, he put a tag on it with the words Lance’s property.
The recovery took longer and at the beginning, Keith didn’t trust them. He tried to bite Lance and it took all Shiro’s super strength to stop him. After a while, Keith realised they wouldn’t hurt him and he lowered his defences.
Salem knew he was going to stay the moment he starts to accept the tea Lance always bring him. He hates it, calling it ‘hot lame water’ but the wizard was stubborn and he tried a different flavour every day. He used to bring him tea and cookies and talk non-stop while the injured wolf devoured the food. One day Keith had a nightmare, a bad one, he shifts and I bitted Shiro hard. The vampire didn’t lose his composure while the teethes sank in his arm. Lance simply hugged him until he let Shiro go. It took a long time for Keith to shift back and when he did he was crying. He wouldn’t tell them what happened but he accepted the tea Lance made for him and the three of them slept all curled together that night.
Son of quiznak (Keith picked the name) it has been his favourite ever since, it has mango, cactus and pineapple in it and it suited him. He would never give up one the cookies thou. Salem fought with him more than once for the last cookie.
A dumb imp flight near the cat. None of the other tyred, probably they could sense the danger; but in every herd, there’s an idiot. He aimed for a jar on the side but the cat was faster, he grabbed him middle hair and showed him the fangs. The creature bolted away with a scream.
Salem would protect that jar with his life, it was snapshooter, Lance’s new favourite. The wizard got a sudden inspiration one day and he made a mix with peaches, pineapple and apple. It was a fun tea, sweet and sour, really lively and colourful.
Finally, the chaos was quieting down, the imps where safe back in their cage and Lance, Shiro, Keith and Allura were sitting on the sofas around the fireplace relaxing after the hunt.
Salem took a trail full of mugs on the coffee table. Slowly the chatting growth between them and soon enough Salem and Keith were fighting over the last cookie, Allura was trying to divide them and Lance was smiling leaning on Shiro's shoulder. The vampire deep laugh filled the room.
Occasionally Lotor, once an enemy and now Allura’s boyfriend, drop by to drink his special tea (literally, because no one but him liked it): pistachio, lime and avocado. It was so green that customer starts to call it arsenic quintessence and all kind of rumour started to spread. Some people said that the mysterious gentleman from oversea was a prince of a faraway land, some other said that he had elf’s blood. The truth was he had a terrible crush on the nymph and he did poorly to hide it. Lance kept pestering him about it and Keith backed him up.
Salem, back in his cat form, relaxed on his own armchair, while others start to doze off.
Once upon a time, the shop used to be quiet, but Salem liked their noisy little family much better.