Seeing Witchy Things

by Leigh Raventhorne

  Rosemary’s eyebrows rose almost up into her hairline. She gave Stella’s hand a much warmer shake, thanked her, and turned to me. Without warning she enveloped me in a bear hug.

  “You try to stay out of trouble, if you can.” She glanced back at Rand as she released me and I gasped for breath. “You take care of her, you hear, Captain?”

  Rand grinned and tipped an imaginary hat to her.

  She leaned closer to me, whispering conspiratorially. “We had an Avengers marathon last week. He really does remind me of the Captain.”

  And with a thought they were gone.

  ***

  “That was quite a visit, wouldn’t you say?” Stella sounded pleased, but she looked quite tired.

  She does grow tired easily these days and this much excitement likely did her in. She just hates to admit it. She’s not as young as she looks, you know. Zara must have been sending privately, because Stella didn’t react.

  “Tell you what. I’m a bit tired myself, so why don’t you go rest and we’ll do dinner another night.”

  She looked torn. “If you’re sure, dear. I really could use a nap.”

  Zara, can you tell me what’s going on with the staff here, before I go? Or should I ask my aunt?

  The cat tilted her head, considering my question. She looked at my aunt. You do need to know, but Stella is more exhausted than she lets on, even to me. I need to stay with her now, I think. We can address all of this tomorrow.

  “Tomorrow, then. I really do need to know what’s going on around here. Something is really off about those three employees.”

  My aunt nodded. “Very well, then. It’s time you know what a foolish old woman I’ve been. I’ll see you tomorrow. Zara can see you out.” She started to walk away, but turned back, nervous. “Would it be too much if I were to ask you for a hug goodbye?”

  Glad I was wrong about her not being a hugger, I stepped over and hugged her carefully, startled by the fact that she felt far more frail than she looked.

  “Thank you. I’ve missed having family around.” She patted my arm.

  Zara coughed, sounding like she had a hairball.

  “I’m sorry, Zara, but it’s just not the same and you know it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to lay down.”

  “Get a good rest and I’ll see you tomorrow. Thank you for today.” I gave her a quick peck on the cheek and she left the room, giving Toby a pat on the head on her way out.

  Zara looked up at me. Are you going to be okay? I know it’s been a lot for you to take in.

  “You’re not wrong, there. I’ll be fine. I just need to process, I think.” I headed for the front door, calling Toby to me. The German Shepherd gave Zara a bored look as he passed her. Jake, on the other hand, ambled by and gave her a very catlike swipe with his massive paw. “Jake! No!”

  Rand grabbed Jake’s ruff. “Sorry about that. I think he just wants to play.”

  Zara gave a full body shake, her coat puffed out comically and her tail twice as big as normal. She glared at the big dog until he was out the door. If you leave him behind tomorrow, nobody will miss him!

  “Sorry, but he’s anchored to Toby and I now. We’re more or less a package deal.” Giving her an apologetic look, I walked through the door to escort Rand and Jake through the ward.

  It’s a shame there’s nobody around here to do pet exorcisms, anymore! Her retort brought me up short.

  “Is that actually a thing? Exorcism?”

  It is, but it’s not exactly what you think it is. Between modern religion and television, they have it completely wrong, like so many other things.

  “Huh. I guess I do have a lot to learn. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Goodbye, witchling.

  Chapter 16

  Arriving at Château Devraux the next morning, I couldn’t help but think of the movie Groundhog Day as Harris attempted to repeat his performance of the day before when I pulled up. I hated that movie, but it had been a favorite of Steven’s so we had watched it a couple times every year. I was already out of the car and was just letting Toby out as he made it to me, out of breath. Again. “Hey there, Harry!” I said, with a smirk, as I locked the doors.

  “Madam is currently napping. Your presence here all for so long yesterday seems to have affected her badly. I’m afraid I shall have to ask you to come back later,” he replied, moving to block my path—which was quite brave of him with Toby growling in warning. His eyes went right to my bag, probably wondering if I had the journal in it.

  My pendant warmed and my right hand tingled. The Protection Ring. Without thinking, I brought my hand up and Harris seemed to run into an invisible wall, his face flattening against it. I don’t know which of us was more surprised. Even Toby stopped growling and tilted his head quizzically. The butler warily tested it with one hand, and then the other, before taking a hasty step back.

  “Personal space, Harry. I’m afraid I must insist,” I fired off quickly, impressing myself. Stepping around him, I headed toward the door.

  “That’s far enough, Ms. Devraux!” Paulette ordered sternly from the front doorway. “In the Madam’s absence I am in charge here, and I must insist that you listen to what you’re told. I believe Harris informed you that Madam is not available.” She advanced toward me across the porch. I felt the warning tingle and raised my right hand again. She looked like that girl on the TV commercial who runs into a freshly cleaned glass door while carrying a cup of coffee. Like Harris, she ‘splatted’ up against an invisible wall—just more ungracefully.

  “I believe that I will check that out with my aunt, myself, hmm?” Rand quickly grabbed my arm in one hand and Jake’s ruff in his other to get through the ward as I hurried up the steps and through the front door.

  Good one! There may just be hope for you yet. Zara’s voice came . . . from somewhere. Stella is actually sleeping at the moment. Don’t worry, she’s all right. She just refuses to admit that she cannot keep up the same pace she has in the past. Why don’t you wait in the parlor for her and I’ll join you there momentarily.

  Doing as Zara suggested, we went into the parlor to wait. I turned as Paulette’s voice approached the doorway, barking off orders of some sort to Harris, Lawrence right behind her. Getting the hang of it now, I raised my hand toward the doorway. Paulette saw that movement at the last moment and got her hand out in front of her in time.

  “Dang it! That was a close one!” Rand laughed. “I thought for sure she’d plow into it again. How are you doing that, Roxanne?”

  I pointed at the Protection Ring and shrugged. I seriously had no clue, but I was going with it, regardless.

  After unceremoniously clearing her throat, Paulette said, “Not that I am required to by any means, but let me lay this out there for you, little lady,” her voice taking on a hard edge. “As I told you yesterday, Stella suffers from delusional thoughts quite often, lately. She talks to her damn cat and she thinks it talks back to her. She thinks she’s some kind of magician or something, like that Criss Angel over in Vegas or something, with that driveway trick she pulls. I haven’t figured that one out yet, or how you’re doing this, but I will . . . The old gal about stroked out this morning dealing with another debt collector. She’s flat busted, honey, so I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing here showing up like this at the last minute, but the old broad has nothing left to get! You need to quit now. Just pack it up and go back where you came from! Understand?”

  Toby crouched next to me, growling even louder at her threatening tone. Somehow that gave me far more confidence than I would have had, otherwise.

  “You know what, Paulette? You’re so full of crap. I saw through your geniuses Harry and Larry from the very first, so yeah, I’ve been onto you all along! I’m not after anything except answers about my family history, but I will not stand by and let the three of you get away with whatever it is you have in mind, either! I fully intend to talk to my aunt about the three of you today when she wakes up. Now, if you’ll excuse me,
this discussion is over.”

  Flicking my wrist, I shooed her away. It looked like she’d been pushed hard from the front, falling down hard on her butt. Her two stooges immediately helped her back to her feet.

  “How dare you?” she screeched at me. “You’ll pay for that, you little bitch! Now you’d better take your little magic tricks and get the hell out of here before we decide not to let you go at all!” All three of them crowded in front of the doorway, probably feeling braver as a group. Harris leaned over and whispered something to her. She looked right at my bag. “You’ll be leaving that bag and your jewelry here, too.”

  Pulling the bag onto my shoulder more securely, I raised my brow at her. “Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to be happening.”

  None of them were able to pass through the barrier I’d created, though they looked comical trying. I couldn’t help but laugh, which only enraged the woman more. Harris and Lawrence just looked more freaked out.

  Like a streak of gray and black striped lightning, Zara shot between their feet and entered the room, apparently unaffected by the invisible barrier keeping the others out. Upon reaching me, she began rubbing herself against my leg just like any regular cat would. Unlike any other cat, however, her voice reverberated through my head. You may want to be prepared for attempted violence from both men as soon as they see a chance. Lawrence is quite intent on strangling you for knocking Paulette down.

  I’m having some not so nice thoughts of my own. I’m not sure if I can do it again, or even how to do it again, but I would happily electrocute their butts. I’m just not sure if it would cause damage to the house in doing so, though.

  Best not to then. I wouldn’t mind seeing that, but any damage to this place would upset Stella greatly.

  Suddenly, the unexpected happened—either from Zara passing through it or something I unknowingly did. Lawrence let out a bellow and rushed the doorway, flying right into the parlor with us! He wound up on the floor, but was up again faster than I would have thought someone with his bulk could move.

  As he was getting back up, I told him, “Having thoughts about strangling me and entering the room in this fashion is a truly bad idea.” I said this more for Rand’s benefit, in case Zara hadn’t shared with him.

  Rand sprang into action, throat punching Lawrence before the man had moved two feet. Having not seen it coming, coupled with the force and know-how applied by an Army Ranger, put Lawrence down and out, possibly for good.

  As he lay gagging on the floor, Paulette yelled, “Quit screwing around, the both of you, and grab that little bitch! Get up, you clumsy oaf!” Of course, she couldn't see Rand or what he’d done.

  Harris rushed through the doorway, followed closely by Paulette. He’d made it less than four feet inside when both dogs hit him at once. Toby managed to get a hold on the man’s left arm, sinking his teeth in, when Jake hit him forcefully in the chest, driving him back into Paulette—who once again found herself flat on the floor. That ended with his arm being ripped open and I found myself woozy from the amount of blood suddenly present as the sleeve of his uniform had come off at the shoulder, exposing the whole grisly mess.

  There was a loud roar from behind me. Paulette screamed as she scrambled back and even Jake turned to look. To his credit, Toby didn’t take his attention—or his teeth—off of Harris. I risked a quick look back but only saw Zara sitting there.

  “What on earth is going on here?” Stella demanded sharply, apparently awakened by the ruckus. “Roxanne, control your dog, please!”

  “Toby, release!” Rand commanded, beating me to it. Toby instantly complied, backing off but still keeping a watchful eye on Harris.

  Before answering her, I pointed at Paulette and thought about how I’d frozen the raccoon-shifters, hoping it would work again. She stopped with her finger pointing behind me and her mouth open. I breathed out a sigh of relief before I repeated the action with each of the men. My nerves were a mess and my stomach was threatening to release my breakfast from one end or the other.

  Stella watched, astonished. “I hope that’s not permanent, but I see you do, indeed, have magick of your own!”

  Zara sat calmly in the middle of the room, where she had remained during the ruckus. Now that everything was over, she leapt into Stella’s arms and began explaining the events that had led up to this. I tried to keep my thoughts of Toby defending me versus her furry butt sitting in the middle of the room, watching, to myself, but by the amused look she gave me, I wasn’t very successful.

  Sorry I had to wake you, Stella dear, but I told you that it was only a matter of time before these three became violent. They are completely to blame here. I warned Roxanne to protect herself and that’s what she did!

  Well, maybe it wasn’t the commotion we had made that woke her, after all. That made me feel slightly less guilty. I took several more deep breaths trying to calm myself and my stomach quit doing flip-flops. Now if I could just get rid of this fevered feeling . . . As soon as I thought about it, I felt less flushed.

  Zara looked at me and sneezed.

  “Yes, Aunt Stella. Sorry about all the, uh, racket. Since I still don’t know what’s going on here, perhaps you two can explain it to me now?”

  “There’s no need to be sorry, my dear. And you’re right, you do need to know what’s going on, here. Perhaps I should have explained it yesterday, after all. We might have been able to avoid all of this.” Holding Zara protectively in her arms, she turned to Rand. “I see what happened to Harris, but tell me what happened to Lawrence, please.”

  “Yes ma’am. Roxanne told me he meant to choke her and warned him to stay back. When he advanced on her, I defended her. In the service, we call it a throat punch. It’s normally not fatal, but I let my emotions get involved, so I can’t guarantee anything this time—plus, there’s the freezing thing so . . . I just don’t know.”

  “Very well. Thank you for your honesty and for defending my niece.” Turning back to me, she sighed heavily. “These kinds of things happen all the time to our kind. That is partially the reason your mother disliked it so. The greed. The dishonesty. The violence. Normals always desire what we possess, without fully understanding any of it. That is what they were after from me—this place and my magick. They thought they had found a hapless old woman with wealth, property, and no living relatives. The magick they didn’t understand, and have been trying to figure it out. They thought it was all just parlor tricks. Fools.”

  “But why did you allow them to do whatever they were doing if you knew they were up to? And how did they even know about this place? I never would have found it without Jeremy’s map.”

  “These three were referred to me when I needed to replace two of my staff that were retiring, a couple that had worked for me all of their lives. I let them in because I trusted someone whom I thought was a friend. I was mistaken. According to what Zara gleaned, they were searching for something my ‘friend’ wanted. The rest, they wanted for themselves.” She stroked Zara’s back, shaking her head sadly. “I should have known better, but I’m tired, Roxanne, so very tired. A witch endowed with her family magick is given an additional two hundred years to her lifespan as a reward for the responsibility, if and when she accepts it. As a condition of that reward, however, a witch cannot go to her final rest without passing on the responsibility to her successor. I have surpassed that by over two decades already because I had no successor. Once my two hundred years had passed, my magick started to weaken. The Powers That Be use that gradual loss of magick as a control to encourage balance in our world. That balance has been badly disrupted by what the Turned have done.”

  “Wait. You’re more than two hundred and twenty years old? That’s impossible, because my mother . . .” The implications were insane. My mother was her twin! And I remembered my mother referring to The Powers That Be. I just thought she was referring to the church.

  Stella smiled patiently. “We can talk about all of this later, but right now, what shall we do ab
out these three? I would prefer that they are not left like that, as they don’t really go with the rest of the decor.”

  “Oh, funny. I don’t know if this will work, Aunt Stella, but I’m going to try it, anyway.” Crossing my fingers, I closed my eyes, focusing on what I wanted—for these three to leave Château Devraux and never return, forgetting all about Stella, myself, and whatever they had heard and seen here. Maybe they should think about relocating, far outside Louisiana. I gave that thought a little extra ‘oomph’ and opened my eyes.

  The three looked around rather confusedly, completely ignoring us, and walked out the front door together. Within seconds we heard a car start and drive off. Just like that, they were gone.

  Very nicely done, Roxanne. But perhaps you should have made Lawrence clean my litter box before they left. Now guess who gets to do it?

  Stella looked appalled by what Zara had just said. I fell momentarily silent, myself, wondering what I had just got us all into. At the age she had just claimed to be, Aunt Stella probably wasn’t going to be able to take care of herself and this huge house. Maybe I hadn’t thought this through very well—not that there had been time.

  I caught Zara’s eye. Don’t worry, I won’t leave her without help. It’s my fault that they’ve gone so suddenly and I’ll take responsibility for it. I’ll figure something out. I think she may have smiled at me, unless it was just my imagination . . .

  ***

  Stella looked at the blood staining the rug in the parlor. Harris’s blood. “Perhaps we should relocate to another room. You haven’t seen the library, yet. I think you’ll like it.”