The Witching Hour: 11 Enchanting Novels Featuring Witches, Wizards, Vampires, Shifters, Ghosts, Fae, and More!, page 100
"Yes, Ina, but—"
"And you've been continuing to combine the four Elements for spell casting and integration?"
"Whenever I can. But Ina—"
"And you've made sure to stay as far away from Arcane Magic as possible?"
I finally just gave up and sighed. "I haven't tried to use it, I haven't read about it, and I haven't investigated it." That was only a half-truth. Where Ina thought it best not to know about the things that were bad for us, I thought it best we educate ourselves or rather I educate myself. I had to know what I was up against if I wanted to defeat it and banish it.
Ina arched a brow at me and stopped talking. I never knew if that was a signal that she knew I'd been lying or if she was actually looking into my soul. "Okay. Why are you here?"
"You been watching the news?"
Ina shook her head. "Not today. I've been in here cooking. Got two pies in the oven. An apple and a cherry. I also have water boiling. Why don't you and Grey find a place to get comfortable? I'll bring you both something and we'll talk. I think you have maybe…an hour?"
I grinned at her. "How do you do that?"
"Let's see. Your shoulders are all hunched and bunched, you've got your mother's crease between your eyebrows, and Grey already told me."
That was another thing that I wasn't sure about. Ina insisted she and Grey talked to one another. Which was ridiculous. But was it? I ignored it and let Grey lead me into the garden room.
Now this room was a room I wanted on my apartment balcony. Pots and pots of herbs and flowers lined the shelves, tables and stools scattered about, as well as the steps as we entered. The smells were out of this world. There were so many I could never pinpoint a single one. On one side of the room, where the plants were sparse, was a floor-to-ceiling case with four shelves from about my waist up, all lined with glass bottles and varied shape containers. In each was a dried herb or something weird I didn't want to try and identify. Below my waist were six drawers, each filled the accoutrements needed to keep a garden this size growing.
Near the shelf was a decent-sized table, an antique Ina turned into her work area. On it were scraps of things, from bits of used candles, string, herbs, and her white-handled knife, the ritual working knife of most Witches.
The jungle of plants surrounded a set of natural wicker furniture. A sofa, two chairs, and a coffee table. Ina had covered the coffee table with a piece of wood cut to size and glued down. Woven wicker did not make a flat, even top for use.
I plopped down on the left side of the sofa, and Grey jumped on the sofa with me and rested her head in my lap. I stroked her neck and along the top of her head. "Can you really talk to Ina, girl? Or is she as crazy as people say?"
"I'm not crazy," Ina said as she brought a tray out with two cups, a container of natural sweetener, one sugar, a plastic bear of honey, spoons, a plate of chocolate cookies, and a larger bowl full of the stew!
She set the tray down on the coffee table and put the bowl on the floor. Grey slipped off the couch and started lapping up the stew.
"I don't know if that's good for her," I said as I peered over the side and watched. "I mean, you're not supposed to feed animals from the table."
"You feed her Chinese food. So don't go off on me. Besides, Grey likes my stew." Ina arranged herself on one of the chairs and started decorating her tea. "Fix it the way you like, and tell me why you're here. I hope it's not about that crazy boy."
The crazy boy Ina referred to was Crwys. The two hadn't officially met yet, so the only opinion she'd formed was from what I told her. I was honest and admitted I couldn't put a finger on what he was, which intrigued her. But I wasn't about to take her up on her invitation to invite him over so she could do a little investigating on her own. "It's not Crwys."
"Then it's about the nice Cowen boy you're seeing?" She took her tea and sat back in her chair.
Thinking the word Cowen in my head was always preferable to saying it out loud. It wasn't my favorite word, but it had its place. I figured it was sort of like Harry Potter's Muggles, though Cowen was a much older term. "Robin's fine. It's about something that happened today."
I started at a decent pace as I told her about what happened. But by the time I got to Crwys mentioning the poison in a Changeling's teeth, I was talking fast again. I do that when I get excited.
Grey finished her stew, licked her lips, and went back through the door. I assumed if Ina hadn't laid out a bowl of water, she was going to find a toilet to drink out of.
I watched as Ina set her tea back down and I picked mine up. It was cold now, but it didn't matter. I downed it all at once and felt the herbs she'd slipped into it working to clear my head and rejuvenate.
Ina was a Hedge Witch, just as Kyle was, but Ina carried three Gifts, two Elemental that developed not long after my mother died. Air and Water.
"Someone is using Faerie Magic to control Changelings."
"That was Medbh's opinion."
"And you're sure it was a direct question?"
"Yes."
"Was Grey there?"
That came out of left field. What was Grey's importance when speaking to Medbh? "Yeah. We were all there. And nothing bad happened. No discoloring, no marks, no agony. None of the stuff you said happens to Faeries who lie."
Ina looked satisfied, though sometimes it was hard to tell with her. "And you're sure about Ivan? This is what he saw? And he just…severed the connection?"
"Yeah. Ina, we're just not sure when it comes to Ivan. So you cannot tell anyone about this. I don't want Parliament to know about him yet." In truth, I was afraid if they discovered Ivan's type of magic, they would request an audience with him, and that would mean a trip to Oregon. Witches summoned to an audience with Parliament rarely returned with little or no explanation.
"Oh hell, Sam. I don't tell anyone anything. Especially not that little group of old biddies. But I have spoken to your dad. You should really drive over to Picayune and visit him from time to time."
I bristled at the thought. I loved my dad. I really did. But I was not a fan of his new wife. Which was why I had followed Ina out of Mississippi. "Yeah, maybe for Yule. But, getting back to why I'm here—do you see why I'm not sure how to deal with Arden when it comes to using her land?"
Ina snorted. "No one deals with Arden Vervain. Just like every other problem you've brought to me, you're missing something. Only this time…it's a pretty big something."
"Like what?"
"Arden isn't your problem. Arden can be a means to an end. The problem is finding out who is doing this and locating the exchanged children. Medbh suggested it's a creature trying to get someone's attention." Ina narrowed her eyes. "That's a pretty detailed suggestion. Think about it. Changelings are pretty specific to Faerie lore. Even the most ignorant Cowen out there has pretty much heard of a Changeling and knows the tale of Faeries stealing children and leaving a fake child in their place. So…whose attention are they trying to get?"
I was already ahead of her. "An actual Faerie's attention. Someone from Alfheim."
"Right. So if Arden gives you permission to use sacred or consecrated ground, my question to Silver wouldn't be if she knew who was using the power, but what other Faerie creatures were living in New Orleans. Any of the queens would know."
Something glittered in Ina's eyes, but I wasn't quite sure why. I'd used her as a sounding board so many times in my life; I trusted the process enough to know eventually the pieces would fall into place. Or at least land with resounding thuds. I didn't know what I'd do without Ina.
My phone buzzed, and I sat forward and dug it out of my jeans. It was a text from Kyle. "Eh…Kyle's ready and it's already been over an hour. I'm sure his aunt gets snippy if she's kept waiting." I stood and Grey stood with me. She had meandered back into the main part of the house, her nails clicking on the worn hardwood floors.
Ina set her cup down and stood to walk me out. At the door she put her hands on my shoulders. "Bring Ivan to me. I want to talk to him. Test him, if he'll agree. If he really can see Arcane Magic, it'll be a Gift that could protect all of you." She kissed my forehead. "And keep his secret from Arden. For now. At least until we can test what his limits are."
"Oh, I already figured Arden was the last person I wanted looking into Ivan. She already treats her own blood harshly, just because he's a Hedge Witch. I can't even imagine how she'd take to a Witch that worked in the Cyber World."
We said goodbye. Me with a half-hearted promise to stop by during her party that night. Really…I would rather pull my fingernails out with pliers than sit around and make nice-nice with people who'll never quite understand the world around them.
Grey sat on the sidewalk as I removed the tarp and wadded it back up before I put it in the locker. It hadn't rained yet, but the sky was a bit darker and the air had a different feel.
I fastened my seatbelt as Grey jumped into her position in back. "Feels weird out here, Grey. Like something's…coming."
She wuffed in agreement as I pulled the Jeep out into the street and headed to Kyle's apartment.
SEVEN
Arden Vervain's Garden house was in the same neighborhood as Anne Rice's former home. It stood, like all the other homes in the district, as a testament to the size and majesty of Southern Antebellum. Arden's home owned a street corner, surrounded by a black iron fence and thick shrubbery. Both acted as a deterrent for intruders as well as onlookers.
The sidewalk entrance placed the visitor at the mercy of the house's immensity and grandeur. The three of us had been inside this house only once when we came to ask for Arden's help. We had breezed past the antique furniture, Persian rugs and flickering gas lighting along the walls to the back patio where dark red tile surrounded a rectangular pool. Palms and more shrubbery, including tropical, flowering plants had added to the ambience that day.
Arden owned three properties in New Orleans. The largest was her country home, located in the swamps south of the city. The closest I'd come to that home was the night I made that fateful deal with the new Obsidian Queen, Brendi.
Her other property was a mystery. It was rumored anyone who found it was never heard from again.
But that was all it was, a rumor. Or so I hoped.
Arden had old money and some she'd made herself. I never looked into how she made it. I figured the less I knew the better. I didn't like her. Didn't trust her. She put one of my people into a coma—albeit by accident. She was like her home and gardens.
Beautiful and deadly.
There were four official covens in New Orleans, and Arden's was the largest. My little group of three didn't count, though we did make a blip on the radar from time to time. Arden had suggested that we would be smart to associate ourselves with her coven.
Minus Ivan.
I told her to get fucked.
Kyle's relationship to Arden was a complicated one. Kyle was Arden's sister's youngest. The only boy in the family, and the only one of the three children to possess the God Mother's Gift. But Arden and her little group of Elders, old biddies with drawn faces and garish taste in clothing, believed the magic of ritual, the specialty of the Hedge Witch, was the right of females, not males. The fact he had the power, and his sisters didn't, had never ingratiated him to his siblings.
I met Kyle the night before those same sisters, along with his mother, decided to take Kyle's magic from him. Lucky for him, and unlucky for them, I was aware of their plot. They no longer lived in Louisiana and they dared never return. That incident put me on the map for Arden and her group, and they gave me a wide birth.
Kyle and I had been together ever since, and I'd watched him hone and sharpen his magic. I paid for the tattoos on the backs of his hands and the ones on the tops of his feet, which he used as magical tools. Kyle was more than his aunt realized, but it still didn't mean the two got along.
My hair stuck out with the electric current running through the ground as we got out of my Jeep and Grey jumped out of the back to follow at my side. Heat lightning illuminated the October evening, making the overhanging Spanish-moss-covered oaks look all the more imposing. It was all an ill effect that didn't impress me.
What Ivan did today? Now that impressed me.
I had explained this new power of Ivan's to Kyle on the drive, and he seemed stoked about it. As soon as we were done at Arden's, I wanted to get back to Ivan and ask him if he saw the same red worms around Medbh. She didn't emit the same smell as Arcane Magic did, but that had to be what kept her locked in her head.
The large oak door opened as we entered. We were greeted by four women of all races and shapes, all dressed in black robes. They went over the rules of the house and made us take our shoes off. I had to leave my guns by the front door. I ordered Grey to stay there and not let anyone touch them. She woofed at me once and then turned her glare on the others.
A red-haired siren in a green robe led us through the house along the same path we'd taken months before. Not much had changed. Antique Victorian furniture, garish red velvet upholstery, matching wallpaper, and ugly china in the cabinets. The main parlor still reminded me of a Wild West bordello.
We were led back to the patio again to the pool. Arden had a roof and screened in walls added since our last visit. But I could still see the impending storm.
Seated in a fan-backed chair, like the kind I used to see in old Tarzan movies, sat Arden Vervain. She wore a black gown and black slippers. Her hair, blacker and longer than my own, fell down around her shoulders and spilled onto her lap. Silver chains and amulets decorated her neck and hung in descending order. I counted two pentagrams, three ankhs, a Star of David, and a cross. None of them were spelled or charmed. They were all for show.
"That will be all, ladies."
Our escorts bowed and left the room.
Once the door closed, Arden let loose a long sigh and ripped off the wig to reveal her natural shoulder-length, dark brown hair. She stood and slipped off the black robe and tossed it on the chair with the wig. Beneath it she wore a gray pantsuit and white shirt. The chains came off all at once from a single, large clasp in the back.
"You have a meeting today?" Kyle asked as Arden dropped the heavy jewelry in the chair with the robe and wig.
She held out her arms and stretched before she answered, "Yes. With several of the other leaders, as well as some scattered occultist groups. And they were all concerned about what happened at your shop today, Samantha." Arden went to a nearby table laden with crystal decanters and a matching ice bucket. She pulled out a highball glass, tossed ice in it, and poured herself a bourbon. "Anyone thirsty?"
"No thanks," I said as I stood and waited.
"Of course not." She tossed the shot down, and then set the glass on a side table beside the fan-back chair. "Remind me again where your cheap little shop is, shugar? Somewhere between the cathedral and Club Hell?"
I met Arden's ornery tone with one of my own. "Club Hell is on St. Peter Street. Bell, Book and Candle is on Bourbon, down from Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar. But then, if you really were on top of the magical machinations of this town like you claim, you'd know that. You'd also already know exactly what happened and wouldn't be wasting our time by asking us."
"They still don't use lights in that bar?"
"No. They don't." I licked my lips as I tried to keep my frustration in check. "Miss Vervain—"
"Arden. I told you to call me Arden the last time."
"You told me a lot of things the last time we met. And I said some things as well."
"Oh, I don't regret anything I say, shugar. I meant it when I said it, but I am inclined to change my mind later. Little bit of ruckus at that shop of yours."
"The ruckus didn't start at my shop. It ended there with a child putting a cinder block through my window."
"How old was the child?"
Kyle spoke up. "Six."
Arden's dark brows arched. "And she lifted a cinder block?"
"Twice."
"She also killed a man and gnawed on her own mother's neck." I rubbed at my face. "We didn't do anything to bring them there."
She turned and faced us. "I know what people told me happened, but I prefer to hear from the mouths of those who were there. There's nothing nefarious about my asking the questions, Samantha."
"You'll excuse me if I don't trust you."
Arden looked past us. "I take it the Dianic member of your little group declined my invitation."
"I told him not to come. Like I said, I don't trust you." And now that it was evident Ivan could see Arcane Magic, I somehow trusted Arden even less around him. "Miss Vervain, I'm assuming Kyle filled you in on what we would like to do on a small section of your land? Possibly the same patch we used before?"
"You're never going to forgive me for that little misunderstanding with the Dianic," Arden said, ignoring what I'd just said, referring back to Ivan.
"You put him in a coma."
"That was an accident…which still baffles me. How exactly did I do that?"
"Doesn't matter. He recovered just fine."
Arden walked around her fan-back chair. "Yes, my nephew informed me of your request."
"Miss Ver—" I stopped. "Arden. We need to talk to Medbh's sister."
"Tzariene. I know of her. You do realize she's crazier than Medbh."
I thought they were all crazy, but I didn't want to stand and debate this. I went over the events that happened at the shop, shortening a few things and completely leaving out what I knew Ivan had done.
Once I finished, she narrowed her eyes. "So the little detective is still here. This Cruise character?"
"Crwys. He works for the NOPD."
"And his Vampire partner?"
"Here as well. Crwys said he smelled Arcane Magic, and honestly"—I glanced back at Kyle, who remained quiet—"we did too. Only I didn't know that was what I smelled. I haven't been exposed to Arcane enough to know that. When we asked Medbh if that's what it was, she confirmed it."
