by Sandra Kaye
I slowed for the bumps on the long winding drive in an attempt to save my Mustang’s poor chassis. I couldn’t help but enjoy the smells of my childhood: lilac, honeysuckle, and lavender, of course. Gran said no medicine woman, or witch for that matter, worth her salt would be caught without lavender and sage. That was just Wicca 101.
I pulled my car to a stop in front of the shop. Henry came out to greet me with a warm hug and kiss on the forehead. He must have heard the car. He smelled like motor oil and sage. Some things never changed. I’m sure the sage was from a smudge stick. Gran tried to make it a weekly ritual, although there are times that she does it more, but the smell was strong, recent. I only purified before or after spells as called for, and to bring in the new seasons and usher out the old, which made me a lazy witch by Gran’s standards.
Henry greeted me and asked after Seslie. I assured him she was fine. Henry was not thrilled with Seslie’s current choice of boyfriend. As far as I could see, she could do a lot worse than a were-vampire who was dreamy and treated her like the princess she wanted to be. We could all use a bit more of that in our lives. I’m sure the true problem was that she has always been the baby. Henry has worked on Gran’s farm for as long as I can remember and, since we were without a father and he was a widower with no children of his own, he treated us as his. So, to him, no man would ever be good enough. Not that I got off any easier. I was just a bit smarter when it came to telling him about the men in my life, of which currently there were zero, I had to admit. But since high school and the boy who came to pick me up while Henry was “polishing” a hatchet, we have been labeled the girls with the psycho caregiver. I’m sure he had the best of intentions, though, considering he was helping raise two teenage girls. Not that Gran wasn’t there; she was, but she tried to stick to the grandmother roll as best she could. She never wanted to replace Mom.
Neither of us could truly remember our mother. She died when Seslie was only a couple of months old. Her and Da died in a car crash. We had terrible luck in the parent department, but we had Gran and Henry. As far as I was concerned, they did well.
We chatted as we made our way to the small log-style home he and Gran now shared. As kids, it had been the four of us and two farmhands to help with crops and maintain the equipment needed to manage the hundred-plus acres. Now, it was just him and Gran, with a few seasonal workers as needed.
They sold off some of the land when I went away to college and Seslie joined the army. It was a lot quieter, even after taking in the chickens and horse that were new since my last visit. We walked, and I reflected on how much things had changed and how much was still the same. We were greeted by more aromas from my childhood as we entered the front door. Gran could be heard puttering around in the kitchen and, along with the sage that was normal for the house, I could smell homemade bread, and beef and vegetables cooking. It was heavenly. My mouth was instantly watering, and my stomach was growling. I hadn’t even realized I was hungry. We entered the kitchen as Gran was removing the bread from the oven. Four loaves. Her gift of sight was working well today. She must have known to expect me. Not that it was unusual, when we visited, she always sent us home with fresh baked goods. Gran was where Seslie got her gift of foresight, though Seslie’s was not nearly as strong or accurate.
She finished setting the bread to cool and turned to me with a beaming smile. She was the same as when I was five, or that’s the way she looked to me. She had one of those ageless faces.
She had been the epitome of a Cherokee elder for all my life, small-boned and petite like Seslie and me, her eyes a bit more hazel than brown, and her black hair streaked through with silver highlights which were perpetually in a braid of one sort or another. Today, it was in pigtail braids with a red kerchief tied across her forehead. I had no clue how old Gran was and would never ask. She once told me, “To inquire about a woman's age is rude, and to inquire about a Ravenwood woman's age can be unhealthy.” That still made me laugh. We sure could be difficult women, that was for sure. “I did expect you earlier child. However, you’re here now so we shall eat, before the food is over cooked. While we do, you can tell us of the mission you are on. Now come, the table is all set, and I will have a plate for you to take for your sister. I swear, the two of you worry me with the manner in which you ignore your body's needs and the junk you put into it and try to pass off as food.” She ended with a tsk.
We took our places around the table, then Gran motion for Henry to give thanks. After we gave thanks to the Goddess and the great spirits and asked for health and goodness for family and friends, plates were made. The food was amazing, as always. No one cooked like Gran. Homemade beef stew with a thick succulent rue over fresh yeast bread. Each of us ate our fill, and I’m sure I ate more than the two of them. Most of the meal was spent catching up. It really was a shame that we couldn’t get together as much as we used to. That just didn’t seem to be the way of life nowadays, but it felt nice to come home, for however long I was able. As the time for dessert neared, I helped clear dishes, then Henry dished out peach pie.
Gran got down to the heart of the matter rather bluntly when she asked, “So, just what kind of mess is it you are trying to fix for those vampires this time? I do care for Leon, but he should not drag you girls into his affairs. It just is not proper. At his age, you would think he would have more sense.”
Stifling a grin, I told Gran about the problems the vampires were facing with their newlings and that Ses and I had only been asked to find out if there was any information or history of such things. “I, of course, thought of you and the elders. Ses is on the electronic side of things, and Goddess knows that girl has some crazy research skills when it comes to the dark web. Yet, you and I both know some things only exists in print form or by word of mouth, so they may not be there for her to find. Whereas your resources are vast and varied.
“I’m still translating some of the spells from that grimoire you gave me last Christmas, and I know you surely have many such treasures stashed away. Plus,” I reminded her, “you are the woman who raised us to protect our people at any cost, Gran.”
“Never you mind pointing that out. As to the Leon issue, I cannot say I know what would want a newly-risen vampire's heart or why that is different than any other run-of-the-mill vampire heart. I don’t suppose Leon was of much help, which is why I fear there may be more to this than he has made you aware of. Vamps are sneaky like that.”
“I’m afraid he wasn’t,” I agreed. That, of course, was putting it lightly. I’m sure he only gave us what he felt he had to, to garner our help.
“I can check with Emon. He and I have plans to meet this week. I will inquire if he knows of any creature or any lore that may help in this case, and Ava will be here for coffee tomorrow, so I can question her for knowledge to lend in your search. Of course, you are always welcome to take any of my books you feel may help. I even have a few new ones you have not seen yet.”
I spent way too much time looking through Gran’s library but found several books that looked promising and even found a few I just wanted to peruse when I had time. When I was done, I hugged her, gathered the leftovers, and packed up the books she thought may be helpful, along with the ones I picked. I promised I would call for any further help, then kissed Henry after he helped me get everything in the car.
Chapter Five
The next couple of days flew by. Between work and research, I had little time to check in with Seslie to see if she had discovered anything or to give Leon an update. Of course, I was sure she would have let me know, had she found anything. Though, not hearing from Leon surprised me a bit. With him, the saying “no news is good news” was not always true. All I could do was hope for the best at that point and try to find answers as soon as possible. While it may have seemed like a problem within the vampire community wouldn’t affect us, even an internal issue like this could become known to the humans if left unchecked, leading to exposure. My sister and I tried to keep problems in the supern
atural community to a minimum when we could, even outside of our work with PIA. Personally, I did not care to have a repeat of the Salem witch trials. I was a little selfish that way.
After work on Friday, I made it a point to stop by Seslie’s place just to check in and to see if she had gotten anywhere with her research. She lived off campus but still out near the college, so it was a nice ride to the southeast side of town. I pulled into the two-story brick duplex at the end of the cul-de-sac where she lived with her friend Reya. I didn’t see her car but decided to stop by and see if Reya knew when she would be back. Reya opened the door as I approached, before I could even knock. She was a waft of a thing at only five feet tall. She has a peaches-and-cream complexion, amber eyes, and dark brown hair pulled back in a tight bun. Seeing as she was part elf and part fae, it was no surprise that I could feel the glamour that was hiding her pointed ears and teeth. My sister and she met in basic training and became fast friends, since they were both Nats.
“Hey, is Ses home?”
“No, but she should be any minute. In fact, that's who I thought you were when I heard you pull in,” she said while waving me in the door. “Come on in. She can’t be far behind you. Her class ended twenty minutes ago.”
I followed her into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of cold water from the fridge. I leaned up against the counter while Reya and I made small talk about my work and her classes until we heard Seslie come in the front door. It didn’t take her long to join us in the kitchen.
As she was dropping her purse on the counter and reaching into the cabinet for a glass, she asked how I’d been and how work was. After we were all settled at the table with our drinks and the small talk and niceties were over, we got down to the heart of the matter.
“So, did you have any luck in your search yet?” I asked without further delay.
“Well, yes and no,” was all she said.
I’m sure at that point the look on my face had to be dumb founded, because I felt stupid. “Would you care to enlighten us stupid people as to what exactly that means?”
“Well, I did find a creature or two that like hearts, but none that seem to fit our current situation. Then, I came across a few supposed legends that may have some merit, but that is more your area, so I thought you might be able to help with those. If they are based in reality, that is.”
“That is always the question, isn’t it? Anything we are familiar with and can rule out right away?”
“Well, the ones we already ruled out are mostly magic users like your sorcerers and necromancers who eat the heart of their victims to obtain their power or knowledge. Then, of course, there were zombies; they like all organs, not just the heart, so they would not have stopped there. The same is true for Drauge; they eat flesh as well as organs, so I guess that includes the heart, but again, they would not have just stopped at the hearts. The last we found was the Kappa, but it only likes the hearts of children. Plus, it must live near salt water. That leaves us with the legends to chase. I’m sure that Gran will be able to tell us if most are true or false, so that will save us some time there. Plus, a lot of them tend to stem from Native American folklore, which we both know is her bread and butter.”
“So, what kind of legends are we talking about here? Anything she would have used to scare us as kids?” I half-joked. We both loved Gran, but she did love to try to scare the pants off us when we were young and, to her credit, it worked.
“None that were familiar to me, but since you’re older, maybe your memory is better. Plus, when you were a teen and had your little rebel phase, I recall she used several legends to try to keep you in line,” she teased. We both knew I was a rotten teenager, and what I put Gran through was pure hell. “Here. I wrote them down. There aren’t many but it’s still early in the research process. I know that won’t be what Leon wants to hear, but it’s the best I can give for now. Reya has agreed to help me more this weekend, and we are out of classes Monday, so that will give us some free time.”
I took the paper and glanced at it. Nothing on it seemed familiar from the tales Gran told us as kids. That doesn’t mean she didn’t use any of them. It just means they weren’t any of the top scariest in my memory. “You’re right. I doubt that’s what Leon will want to hear. Not that I’ve heard from him. Have you?”
“Of course not. I’m sure he’d go through you or, if he couldn’t reach you, Gran.”
“I just thought maybe if Gabe was back that he might have used him as a go-between.” Gabe was one of Leon’s generals when he wasn’t on the PIA team with us.
“While I see your point, much to my disappointment, he isn’t due back till later next week. That makes the answer still, thankfully, no. Are you telling me he hasn’t called to bother you for an update?”
“Nope, not one call, message or text. Very strange, right? We did all agree that the transitions were on hold until something could be determined, right? I didn’t just imagine that?”
“No, sis, we did make that agreement, but if he’s not calling, it does make me wonder if he is really sticking to his bargain. Because if things were on hold, I would think he would be chomping at the bit to know what we found out and how it could be fixed.”
“My thoughts exactly. Which means he likely hasn’t stopped, so should we call or pay him a visit?”
“I can do ya one better, and we will make Teddy’s day in the process,” she cooed.
“Oh, yeah? And just how is making Teddy’s day going to get me answers about Leon and whether he’s a lying rug?”
“Well, Teddy was just complaining we never hang out anymore, and who else would know what Leon is doing but the guy that guards his door? It’s killing two birds with one stone, and so much more fun than trying to read through all the lies we know Leon will tell us ‘til we can wring the truth from him. Plus, we haven’t been out to have fun in a while. We owe it to ourselves.”
Well, she was right about a few things there. For one, Teddy most likely would know what Leon was or wasn’t doing, and he would be more than willing to spill after a few drinks. He always got loose lips around us. Don’t get me wrong, he was not someone who would betray his boss, but when he got together with our little group, he did tend to do a little bragging. In my opinion, it was for Seslie’s benefit, but she refuses to go there. And it had been a while since we had done anything fun. Come to think of it, it had been a long while. “Why not? It’s worth a try. Worst that can happen is we have a good time and learn nothing.”I laughed. I would still be giving Leon a call for my own piece of mind and to fulfill our bargain.
I left in good spirits with plans for us and several of our friends, Teddy included, of course, to meet the following night at The Swerve Inn. It’s the go-to bar on the south side.
With plans in place to find out what Leon was up to, I headed home to call Gran and start my search of the grimoires, tomes, and book of shadows I had available. While Seslie loved the computer. Research to me was digging through a book written by someone who truly lived it, there was no better feeling than discovering something that couldn’t be found in computer land.
My calls to Gran and Leon were a bust. She wasn’t home. Henry said she was out with the girls. Gran may be old, but she was definitely still living. Lucky her. With Leon, I got the answering machine. I left a short message.
Chapter Six
Saturday morning over coffee, I tried Gran again. Luck was with me when she answered on the third ring. “Hello, my girl. I got your message. What can I do to help, little one?”
“Hi, Gran. I’m sorry to bother you, but with the research that Ses has done she found a few things that might be our big baddy, but they are more myth and legend in nature, that’s where you come in. She found a couple of legends that might fit. However, we can’t be sure what is fact and what is fiction.”
“Sure, little one, anything I can do to help. I’d be glad to.”
“Well, with all the Cherokee legends you used to scare us, I was thinking now would be a
good time to find out which ones were true.”
After a snort of a laughter, she replied, “Of course, I guess you have some stories in mind. Plus, this way you’ve got to work harder to figure out if I was embellishing your bedtime tales.” She giggled. I couldn't resist the urge to laugh. I loved her so much. Gran always seemed to lift my mood. But I did call for a reason and, as fun as bantering with her could be, she liked to spend her Saturdays helping the elderly members of the tribe with whatever they might need. With that in mind, I jumped right into my questions. “The first on my list is a Wendigo. From what we can gather, it's a half human half monster from Native American folklore, said to have once been a man, until they became cannibals. Being as something is removing hearts we were wondering if this might be our culprit.”
“I can see why this creature might be on your list, and a Wendigo is indeed a cannibal. However, I can't see why it would stop after just taking a heart. Other than it being an effective way to kill a vampire. The lore of the Wendigo weaves a tale of revenge and punishment. They are said to target those that have wronged them or those they loved, eating them alive piece by piece to extract that revenge.”
“Wow, that’s harsh. What we’re looking for doesn't seem to follow that pattern. Leon didn't mention that these victims had anything in common other than taking the heart. I would think that would be a quick death. Not something it sounds like your Wendigo would do”.
I mentioned a few of the other creatures on my list, including Misiginebig, Naga, and Drakaina. None of which I remembered anything about. According to Gran, Misiginebig means great spirit, and while it is said to like organs, it can only live in large, nonmoving bodies of water, spending little time on land. The Naga is said to be part cobra and part human, but no mention about it being organ or flesh-eating, and the Drakaina is a female serpent in the dragon family. While she admits that may make her want to eat the hearts of men, she didn’t seem to think any of these were what was currently causing the trouble for the vamps, mainly because all of those were hard to miss if they were in the area. Not something that could come and go while passing as human. That brought my list down to only one, and Seslie had only added it because she couldn’t find anything about it except that it was Native American in nature.