“You look good, girl!” Raina exclaimed, and I could tell that she really liked what she saw.
“Drucilla and Cordelia came with me.” Gaia continued, “and they are so looking forward to seeing you, Raina.
I could swear that I could see her blush.
“Don’t wear yourself out, champ.” I said to Raina softly. “Remember, you’re in training.”
“All work and no play makes Raina a cranky Witch.” she replied. “So, where are they set up?” she asked Gaia.
“We’re set up in the old slave quarters,” Gaia explained, “But they’re willing to come to your room to, uh… say hello.”
“Tell them to give me ten minutes.” Raina said. “Good night.” she said to me and hurried inside.
Gaia raised her hand and a light bloomed above it. “Hey guys, she’ll be ready in her room in ten.” she said into it.
“Roger that.” came Drucilla’s voice through the light.
Gaia closed her hand and the light went out. “So, settling in well?” she asked me.
“As well as I can, being here for just a few hours.” I replied.
“It’s an impressive place.” she said, sitting down in Raina’s vacated seat. “I’ve been here for three days, and I’m still finding secrets around the property.”
“I read some of Angelique’s diaries about their time here. A lot happened in a short time.”
“Have you met Ashara?”
“Yes, she seemed very nice.”
Gaia grinned. “Nice?”
“OK, fine,” I said, throwing up my hands in defeat. “She’s hot. There, are you satisfied?”
“After last night with her? Totally!" Gaia sipped Raina's abandoned coffee and winked.
“Really? Wow… that’s moving fast!” I said as I finished my cup.
“Vampires and Fae, as long as our lifespans are, rarely waste time.” she said. “Why beat around the bush forever if both parties know what they want and it’s mutual?”
“I can see that.” I said. I almost envied her freedom, but my own relationship drama stopped that from fully taking fruit.
“You know,” Gaia said, almost reading my thoughts, “if you’d just have a conversation with Vincent and Angelique, you could probably clear all of this up.”
“I know, I know.” I said. Every website internet advice column and YouTube site say the same thing: ‘communicate, talk it out, clear the air’ they say. Well, what if I’m the most chickenshit Sorceress in history. Huh? What if I’m terrified of the answers?”
“What, you think they’ll react badly?” she asked.
“I don't know." I replied. "What if Vincent has his heartbroken? What if Angelique is hurt? Or, most of all, what if they're fine and want to have a three-way? I just got used to being in a relationship… I have no idea if I’m ready for that yet!”
“Sometimes I envy humans." she said, eyes wide. "This isn't one of them."
* * *
I spent much of the next day walking the grounds of Nocturne Plantation. I spent the hottest hours walking through the forests that had reclaimed much of the old farmland that was still attached to the main property. While the trees were young, the energy of the land was very, very old.
I somehow expected the vibe to be, I don’t know… heavier? I thought. And yet there’s a tranquility here that was missing on the way, missing from the plantations we drove by to get here.
I'd always known about the horrors of my nation's past with slavery. It had been one of the ways that my Mother had inoculated me against the creeping white supremacy that had infected far too many of my generation. I knew just how much of our modern-day prosperity had been built on the backs of, and had been greased by the blood and tears of, enslaved Africans brought here for a hard life and often early death.
It was why I had never felt very comfortable with tours of historic sites. I thought that they were merely boring; once I had become attuned to the energies of life, however, I realized that my discomfort flowed from the misery that was the legacy of those not in the ownership class.
But not here. Oh, I can feel it’s echoes, but they feel millennia old.
I met Raina back behind the main house when it got close to dinnertime. While I knew that she had spent her day setting up training areas for the two of us to practice our magick, I also couldn’t help but wonder just how much her ‘extracurricular’ activities with her Fae friends helped keep her close to home.
“Hey there magick-gal,” I said as I slipped into the seat next to her on the patio, “how was your afternoon?”
“Productive.” she replied with a grin.
“Vertically or horizontally?” I asked with my own grin.
“Both.” she replied, and we both had a good laugh.
“What’s on the menu for tonight?” I asked after it had passed.
“I didn’t ask.”
“So, seriously, is everything set to start training tomorrow?”
“Good to go.”
We watched as the sun sank lower and lower to the horizon. “Have you seen Ashara today?” I asked.
“No, but I was outside a lot.” Raina replied. “She’s still too young, I guess, to go out into the sunlight.”
“Two hundred and fifty is young?" I knew it was true, however, it still struck me as strange.
“To be flame retardant, yeah.” Raina said.
“So our tour of the old slave quarters is after dinner?” I asked.
“Ashara wants to do it personally. Drucilla and Cordelia have only taken over one of the smaller buildings. It seems cozy enough.” she said with a shrug.
We were interrupted by Gaia, who called us to the house to eat.
After dinner, I believe I will ask our host some questions I thought as we headed inside.
* * *
“If I go too quickly, don’t hesitate to say something.”
Ashara moved down the path with a fluid ease that made me envious. While Raina’s Fae-light lit the way just fine as it hovered above her hand, there was just no way I could be that graceful!
“I am simply not used to moving at human speed anymore.” she continued.
“We’re good.” Raina said, only slightly out of breath.
We exited the treeline to walk into a clearing surrounded by small brick houses. While the trees pressed into their backs, the space in front of the dwellings was well mown and manicured.
This must be the place!
“What did this look like last week?” Raina asked.
“Much like you see it now." Ashara answered. "A local family has been tasked with maintaining certain areas for the last hundred and fifty years since the main house has lain empty of living souls. They have used the extended contract to build quite the thriving landscaping business for themselves, which is only fitting."
“How so?”
“Because the family who built the business was enslaved here at one point.”
That surprised me. “Really?”
“I take it that Vincent and Angelique never told you everything about their time here?” she asked, looking at me.
“Well, I,” I stammered, “I mean, I’ve read some of Angelique’s diaries, but...”
I lapsed into an awkward silence. Ashara didn’t allow it to last long.
“When Angelique and Vincent bought this particular place,” she began, “it was like any other plantation… hard work, brutal discipline, families destroyed, the entire horror show. Or so they tell me.” Ashara started a slow walk towards one of the bigger buildings.
“I wasn't here when they first came, but I knew people who were." she continued while Raina and I caught up to her. "Well, the old slaves knew very well what Vincent and Angelique were, and feared for their safety. Angelique assured them, however, that they meant them no harm, and in fact, needed them to keep the farm working so as to not arouse suspicion."
“That’s right!” I said, snapping my fingers. My memory was coming back. “Didn’t they get some children
back who had just been sold?”
“Yes, yes,” Ashara smiled, nodding. “Old Sarah, who was as close to a matriarch that this old place ever had, had two grandchildren who had just been sold to the place down the road. Angelique bought them back, and then gave the slaves their former overseer to do with what they pleased. Both gestures earned them the respect of the unfortunates who occupied the dwellings that used to be here.”
“Then these aren’t original?” Raina asked as we stopped at the door of the larger dwelling.
“No, no.” Ashara said, shaking her head. “The old shacks that used to be here were nasty and broken down. After all, we were livestock to most white people back then. But Vincent insisted on building us far nicer places to live.”
“At least they’re dry, if not fancy.” Raina said, looking around.
“Well, they needed to look plain from the outside, so as to not raise suspicions.” Ashara explained, opening the door. “But they were a bit freer on the inside.”
We walked in, and my jaw dropped. A ‘bit’ freer? I thought.
The inside was simply gorgeous… dark, polished wood, marble fireplaces, cut crystal chandeliers… it looked more like a European manor house than a pre-civil war farm building. An elaborate red brick kitchen was to the right, while bedrooms branched off of the opposite side of the room.
What immediately caught Raina’s attention, however, was a large mural that took up much of the back wall in between the windows.
“Holy sheep-shit, Batman...” her voice trailed off as she took it in.
It was an impressive painting… two figures, a black man and woman, sat on either side of a black and white striped pole. The animals of the day gathered around the woman, while night creatures surrounded the man. Her hair was intertwined with vines and leaves, while his surrounded rams horns on either side of his head.
“This was Sarah’s house.” Ashara explained. “There is a story behind that picture that’s far too involved to go into tonight, but rest assured that we will… someday.”
“So the slaves had, what… an autonomous collective here?” Raina asked, fascinated.
“Yes, we were allowed to govern ourselves here.” Ashara answered. “There were overseers, but they were but for show. The mind-domination that Angelique used on them meant that they were ferocious when watched by outside whites, but as meek as a kitten in private.”
“And that lasted, even when Angelique and Vincent left?”
“Of course it did. One overseer even became the faux-property manager to maintain the illusion.”
“And what about after the Civil War?”
“Why, by then we were several generations down the road.” Ashara’s deep voice resonated in the empty room. “I came back to make sure that things went according to plan, which included deeding the surrounding fields to former slave families on the plantation to start their own farms. That is why only three hundred acres of the formerly five thousand acre operation still remains.”
“And this?” I asked, pointing at the painting.
“I'll have to introduce you to the church another time." she said, smiling.
The rest of the buildings told the same story… plain on the outside, finely decorated inside. When we finally came to the small building where the Fae were housed, we found our three friends smoking some Fae-grade cannabis in the comfortable-looking living area.
“Care to join us?” Drucilla asked dreamily.
“Sounds great!” I said, sitting.
“If you insist...” added Raina.
“I am prepared.” Ashara said, producing a rolled shade joint seemingly out of nowhere.
“You know,” Raina said, lighting up, “I thought that this cabin had been enchanted by the Fae or something. But it’s actually kind of understated.”
I looked around at the plain white walls and thought she has a point. The lanterns around the cottage's edge were well made but plain, and the floor free of splinters but a more modest wood than in other structures. The one concession to fine decorating was the dark oak crown molding that surrounded the edge of every room. It blended perfectly with the exposed beams in the ceiling and left a flavor of understated elegance in one's memory.
“This was the space built for my family.” Ashara said, blowing out a stream of bitter smoke. “Once I came to live on the plantation I stayed in the house, but I made sure that my remaining family found their way here as well over time, and we made this place plain so as to keep them comfortable.”
A ball of soft lavender light shifted to another corner of the room. “The Fae light is new though, right?” I said, hitting my own joint.
“Totally ours.” Drucilla confirmed.
“I thought so.” I grinned.
“So when did they turn you?” Raina asked.
“We moved to Boston during the war." Ashara said. "After it was done, Angelique and Vincent decided to move to Europe and asked if I wanted to be set up in Canada with a business to take care of my needs until the end of my days. I told Angelique that I wanted to be like her, and to join her quest to prey on the predators in our midst." She took a hit, seemingly for dramatic effect, of her shade. "I also wanted to love her as one of her kind, to know that most sublime ecstasy."
“Wow.” Raina said. “And I thought I had done some extreme shit for a girlfriend!”
“I’ve heard about you and Rini.” Gaia said, her finger raised. “You did some extreme shit.”
I forget how closely related all of the Fae are I thought. They probably talk like cousins. It didn’t help that the Fae still had their human glamours on… it looked like I had crashed a party of insanely hot black college girls with funky hair coloring tastes. Raina has lived years that I'll never know. She has a real history with the Fae!
“I never asked to trans-mutate into another species!” Raina said, laughing.
“Technically, no… “ Drucilla got out before letting her own laughter take over for a minute.
“Ah yes, the world of Fae sex.” Ashara said, smiling. “You girls are complicated!”
Drucilla looked shocked. "You said that a few nights ago was the first!"
“The first with you kind? Yes.” Ashara’s grin told me just what had happened ‘a few nights ago’. “However, you and your sister talk in your sleep.”
Drucilla turned to her sister in shock. “You too?”
Cordelia tossed her darker blue hair over her shoulder. “Well, you didn’t go back the next night… “
“I needed to hydrate!” Drucilla retorted.
“So that means that such an exquisite creature should have her needs neglected?” Cordelia said defensively.
I leaned over to Ashara. “Aren’t you going to intervene?” I asked softly.
“Two ebony Goddesses are arguing over who gets to satiate my needs, and I’m supposed to stop it?” she grinned. “I don’t think so.”
“How about a Fae-trained ebony Witch who’d never been with a vampire before?” Raina asked, her eyebrows raised.
“You have a point.” Ashara purred.
And with a whoosh! They were gone. The Fae women stopped bickering at Ashara and Raina’s sudden absence.
“Guess neither one of you gets her tonight." Gaia said smugly and winked at me.
Chapter Ten
From the Diaries of Angelique Dupre
04/20/1589
Roanoke Colony
Sarah’s training is proceeding at a steady clip. What Petronia had taught me about their unique magickal properties has served me well, and it is helping my new charge find her way.
She’s taking a special joy in target-based magick, reducing the clumps of weeds that I have set up to scattered dust with increasing accuracy. She told me that she had always wanted to go hunting with her Father and brothers over the years, but was never allowed.
If they could see her now, indeed.
I noticed several times how she would say ‘Take THAT Matthew!’ at times after destroying a target. I asked her
about this, and she told me that it was the name of a boy who used to tease her in the old country. I told her that soon, she would be able to torment those who took delight in tormenting others.
She liked that.
* * *
“Are you ready, Sam?” Raina asked, her countenance deadly serious.
“Ready when you are, Dean.” I wasn’t as successful at keeping my poker face, which made my friend smile.
“Action!” she shouted, and we began.
The path through the forest was narrow, and we could just stand back to back as we cautiously made our way. There were shadows and movement all around us, but nothing solid to take aim at.
Suddenly a round target with a picture of a giant spider on it floated up from Raina's side and flew towards us. Without hesitation, Raina made a motion with her hand and whispered a Fae word. A bolt of magickal energy flew from her hand and shattered the target into splinters and confetti.
“Nice shot.” I said, still scanning the forest around me.
“Thanks.” Raina replied, herself remaining vigilant.
A flicker of motion to my left caught my eye, and soon I saw another target, this one with a human-shaped cockroach on it, rushed at me.
I knew what to do. I reached out with my senses to the heat within my body and projected it outward. Flames shot from my outstretched hands and incinerated the target.
“Oh!” Raina grinned. “Stick a fork in it, roachie’s toast!”
“One crispy fried critter, coming up!” I replied, grinning as well.
One by one, our Fae friends sent targets flying at us, and one by one we destroyed them. The air was humid, and sweat started beading on my skin, but I never stopped smiling.
Raina and I had spent the past month working on our offensive magick, and I was finally getting to a point where I felt like I’d be more of an asset than a burden when the next fight came. I had mainly mastered fighting with fire, but wanted to try something else.
“Check this out!" I said after Raina obliterated her next target. I watched and spied another target flying at us.
I reached within, touched the earth within my body, and sent a flying cluster of bone fragments, sharpened to a point, slicing my target to shreds.
The Witch: Book Two of The Sorceress Saga Page 19