by L E Gordon
He bared his teeth and me again, still in the mood for a fight, but decided that a pissed-off witch might be a little too much to take on.
“Ask your questions then leave. I am in no mood for intruders on my land,” he told me, his voice higher pitched than you would expect from a man his size.
“Have you seen any magical creatures near here? Someone has attacked humans and you know how that will go if they figure it out. I can pass as human, but you… not so much.”
“There was something by the river, but we are staying in my loch. My mate is expecting young any day and I’m not inclined to seek out trouble for the sake of it,” he replied, telling me as little as possible without a direct question.
“Can you tell me what it was?” I tried to form a question that would give a more precise answer.
“It was female; I picked up its scent.” Again he avoided the question I was asking. He probably did know, but wasn’t about to pass on the information to me.
“Can you be more specific? What type of creature was it?” I pressed for more details, knowing he was unable to lie but realising I was losing this particular battle. The Fae could be a sneaky bunch when they didn’t want to help you.
“It was magical, but I’m not sure what it was.”
Knowing he had given what help he considered I deserved, I remembered my manners and not to thank him and leave myself indebted. “I appreciate your help. If you need assistance with the birth call on the coven; we will come to your aid.”
He nodded, turned his back in dismissal, and shifted to his horse body again. He made his way back to the loch and I noticed a gleaming white mare, her belly heavy with a babe, waiting for him. He nuzzled her neck when he got close and they both walked round to the far edge of the water.
When it was safe to turn my back I walked the few steps back to Kenna. “Well that could have been worse, but we didn’t really get much information. It’s a female and she was near the river but not in it. Didn’t really narrow it down much, did it?”
Kenna shrugged. “At least we asked and it backed up Bobby’s story about the woman he saw, mermaid or not. We need to keep digging to figure this out, but I have to get to work. Do you want me to drop you off at the shop?”
I checked my watch noticing it was 11.30. “That would be great, I open in thirty minutes, just enough time to grab a sandwich and get organised for the day.”
I should have spent the afternoon on inventory but instead hit the internet to try and figure out what the mysterious female could be, but didn’t come up with anything that seemed to fit. I put the laptop away as the shop got busier and put the mystery out of my mind to focus on my clients until closing time.
Michael wanted to go for a swim after bedtime routines were done and, glad of the peace, I decided to have a long soak in the bath. Once it was the perfect temperature I slid into the water and inhaled the fragrant lavender oil, the tension of the day draining away.
When the water started to cool I got out and dried myself off, wrapping myself in the fuzzy bath robe the kids had given me for my birthday. Refreshed by the oil and being in my element, I made tea and went to my spell room.
I had turned the heating on before my bath so the room was warm and welcoming as I stepped in and settled in the soft armchair to reflect on the day. We had more information than the day before, but it didn’t make any thing clearer other than a magical female had been roaming about.
Through the window I could see the garden was lit by the waning moon climbing the sky for her nightly journey. Closing my eyes I reached out to the moon goddess and asked for guidance on the female. Knowing I wasn’t going to get any further on the mystery tonight, I walked to the kitchen, rinsed my tea cup and went to bed, letting the weight of sleep creep over me as I relaxed under the blankets.
I woke to find myself at the harbour, the moon glinting off the water as it lapped at the few fishing boats rocking on the gentle waves. I could see a person walking away from the boats, a gentle sway to the hips giving away it was female.
I tried to catch up with her, but it didn’t matter how fast I walked, she remained too far ahead and I realised I was in a dream. Realising what was happening I relaxed and let my unconscious mind follow its own path.
The female walked away from the harbour towards the houses at the edge of town. Eventually she came to Joe’s cottage and stopped at the gate. She turned towards the house and sniffed, but not finding what she was seeking continued to walk into the heart of our small town and stood in the shade of a darkened doorway. It wasn’t too late and people were starting to go home after a night at the pub. A few people left as a group, but one person broke away, heading in a different direction.
Her eyes followed the path of the individual and she left her hiding spot to follow them. I began to walk again too, trying to see who she was stalking. It was a male, that much I was sure of, but I couldn’t quite see who it was. Being a small town I knew most people by sight, if not by name, and I wanted to know who was in her sights.
The man walked under a street-light and stopped to light a cigarette, the glow from his lighter showed the details of his face better, letting me see it was Scott Bell. He was a local fisherman, older than me, and a character in the town. He would come into my shop in the cooler months for my winter tea.
The woman approached him and he looked up from his smoke and gave her a smile. Did he know this female, or was he happy for company after a few beers?
Sadly, I didn’t get to find out, as Michael had returned after his swim and got into bed beside me, waking me from my slumber.
Grumpy that my vision was taken away from me, I hit him with my pillow. “I was following the female, now I don’t know what happened.”
Confused by my sleepy ramblings, Michael gave me back my pillow and pulled me in for a cuddle to warm up. “I’m sure you will figure it out, little witch, go back to sleep and it will be clear in the morning.”
Chapter nine
I woke up cranky, still frustrated that Michael interrupted my astral snooping, but then I remembered I knew who the female had been stalking, and when he brought me tea in bed I forgave his night-time blunder.
“What are you going to do about your vision, darlin’?” Michael handed me my tea and sat down beside me.
I took a sip, letting the warmth seep into my body. “I’m going to speak to the others this morning and we’ll come up with a plan. Seeing as we don’t know what kind of creature it is, we have no idea how dangerous it could be. I can hold my own with most magical beings, but I think until we know for sure what she is I won’t approach it on my own.”
“That seems sensible. I know you’re strong, but sometimes it’s better to be cautious. Do you want me to cover the shop this morning to give you time to look into this?”
I wrapped my arms round his neck and pulled him in for a kiss, “How did I get so lucky to find you, my Selkie? I’ll get the kids ready for day care and you jump in the shower and wash the salt off from last night. I’ll be at the shop for lunchtime to let you have the afternoon to yourself.”
He reluctantly removed himself from my hold, “We are all lucky, darlin’, blessed by the goddess to have such a family.” With a gentle kiss on my forehead he wandered into the bathroom and I went to get the twins dressed.
After ten minutes of wrestling to get the wee ones into their clothes, I gave them a second breakfast and called Kenna. “Good morning! I think I have a lead on the creature.” I explained my dream and we agreed for everyone to come here. She would call Flora, who would then call Cait so I wasn’t on the phone all morning and could get organised for guests.
Leaving the kids to their toast, I went to see if Michael was out of the shower. I was slightly disappointed to find he was almost dressed, but slipped off my T-shirt and turned on the running water for a fast wash.
I was showered and dressed in record time so that I could say bye to the kids before they went to day care. To pass the time before the
other Keepers arrived, I pottered about getting snacks and made the kitchen presentable, not that my friends would care, but it made me less jittery about this unknown female.
Cait arrived first and Flora and Kenna arrived together in Flora’s car. We quickly sat down and I relayed last night’s dream to them, giving as much detail as I could remember about Scott’s late night booty call.
“He’s not out on the fishing boats, or he would have been down at the harbour last night. Let’s check out his house in case she’s still there and check to see if he was bitten too. If he was, that ties him to Joe and maybe to Bobby as well.”
I was pretty excited at the thought of catching this female, but we needed to be practical as well.
“My water magic will be able to sense her, but it’s probably best to have fire or earth with me as opposite forces to back me up. Can either of you come?” I looked at Flora and Kenna, hoping I wasn’t going to do this on my own.
Kenna pulled out her phone and checked something on it, “I have to see a client at eleven, Flora, are you able to go?”
“The kids are at school and day care so I’m right behind you. Cait it would be good if you can be there too, you might pick up some whispers on the air.”
Cait agreed and we all bundled into Flora’s car, dropping Kenna at home before going on into the town.
“Scott lives on March Street, near one of the boy’s friends. I’ve seen him when I’ve picked up Billy after school.” Flora said as she made her way through the town. March Street was near the river and quite busy, meaning we had to park down the street from his house.
Cait rolled down the window to let the wind whisper through the car. We sat there quietly as she tuned into the chatter and I took the time to pull up my second sight to look at his house.
“The wind is full of chatter this morning,” she said, tilting her head as if to listen in to what it was saying. “It’s excited that Scott brought someone home, he doesn’t have many female friends.”
“Then my vision was right, and I can see a blue trail leading up to his door, but nothing else is obvious. Flora, can you sense anything with your earth magic?”
The earth witch reached out with her own magic, calling to the earth and stone. “Someone with magic has been here, but left already. We’re too late to catch her.” Her shoulders slumped realising we had missed a perfect opportunity to at least figure out what we were up against.
“We should check on Scott. How do we do it without looking like interfering busy bodies, though?” While I knew him from the shop, I wasn’t exactly friends with him and the other two didn’t know him at all. Our dilemma was answered as Scott’s door opened and he came out.
“Out of the car and follow my lead,” I said, quickly scrambling out of the car with my friends following me, wondering what the hell I was going to do.
We walked towards him as if we were heading out for a stroll down the river. Scott noticed me as we casually made our way towards him.
“Morning ladies, out for a walk? Tarn, have you got any of that winter tea made up? I’m heading out on the boat at the end of the week and could do with some to take with me.”
“We’ll walk on ahead and wait for you at the gate,” Flora said over her shoulder, leaving me to carry on the conversation.
“I made some up last week when the weather started to get cooler. I’ll put some aside for you if you want. Do you need anything else for heading off? You’re looking a bit pale this morning. Big night out last night?” I laughed, trying to make my inquiry as subtle as possible.
Scott laughed too, absently rubbing from his shoulder to his neck. “Must have been because I don’t remember much about it. Think I got lucky too. Who would have thought it at my age?”
I wasn’t about to tell him his late-night roll in the hay was with a magical creature. “What makes you say that if you don’t remember much?”
He pulled at the collar of his flannel shirt and showed me a bite. “I’m a wee bit embarrassed that a man of my age got a love bite, but there it is.”
I quickly pulled up my second sight. I could see there was a grey spot on his otherwise blue and green aura. Exactly the same as Joe’s bite. “That looks nasty, Scott, I’ll make you a salve to put on it so it doesn’t get infected. I’m going for a wee walk, but will be at the shop by midday if you want to come in and get your tea. No charge for the salve, I’d hate to think your love bite made you sick!”
Scott laughed and closed up his shirt, “I’ll take you up on that, Tarn. It’s a wee bit sore so you could be right. You better catch up with your friends; they’re already at the gate waiting for you. I’ll see you this afternoon.”
We said our goodbyes and I walked over to my friends. “He has a bite like Joe. I’ve told him to come into the shop and I’ll make up a salve, I’ll try and smudge him while he is there to clean his aura and give him some salt for a bath. Can you guys think of anything else I can do that won’t cause suspicion?”
“I can give you a rune stone to add to the salt, it will give it more strength,” Flora offered. Her stones were charged with healing energy and would make his recovery quicker, and any hold the female might have on him lessen.
“Perfect. Scott’s gone so let’s go back to the car. Flora, can you drop me at the shop? Michael has my car there and I’d like to get on with the salve for Scott. Will you be able to make a rune stone from one of my crystals in the shop?” I asked, hoping we could get everything organised at once.
Flora thought for a moment. “All your crystals have been cleansed so that’s good. Do you have a blood stone and some clear quartz? The bloodstone will purify and the quartz will amplify the healing.”
I mentally checked my stock for a bloodstone and was fairly sure I had one or two, even though people didn’t often ask for them. “I know I have the quartz and I should have the bloodstone. Let’s go and get this done.”
It was a quick drive to my shop and we entered through the back door to avoid customers while we worked the spells we needed to help Scott. I gave Flora the crystals she needed, and left her at my work table to infuse them with magic and work the runes on to them.
The ingredients I needed were in my store cupboard and I took out what the salve required. It was a straightforward lotion containing sea salt for purity, and lavender and garlic for their antiseptic properties. I ground these together and mixed in aloe vera to produce a sticky salve that Scott could put on his bite without irritating it.
I put the mixture in a glass jar and stored it in the fridge for Scott to pick up and went to see how Flora was doing with the stones. She had finished the quartz and held the bloodstone in her hands, concentrating on the surface of it.
Not wanting to disturb her, I got another glass jar out and filled it half way with sea salt that I had collected locally. It was easy to do, but took time to boil the sea water and let the salt dry out in a pan. Once dried I left the salt out under a full moon to cleanse it then added it to my store.
Knowing I had everything organised for Scott, I went through to the shop. “Hi love, that’s us back, do you want to head off now? You can have the car if you pick me up tonight.”
He gave me a kiss in response, which brought heat to my whole body. “How did you get on looking for the creature? Are you any closer to tracking her down?”
“The man I saw in my dream had been with her. He has a nasty bite, the same as Joe’s. I’ve made up a salve for it and some salt for a bath to cleanse the magic out of him. We aren’t any closer to figuring out who or what she is, though.” I couldn’t help but be frustrated, even though we were making some progress.
“You’ll figure it out, and until then at least you are putting a stop to any lasting trouble she is trying to cause.” He gave me a kiss on the top of my head. “I’ll be back at five o’clock with the kids to pick you up. If you need me before that, give me a call.”
We said our goodbyes and he left the shop. I was getting some tea from the shelf to put a
side for Scott when Flora came out of the treatment room, two crystals in her hand. “Where would you like these Tarn? Have you put some salt out for the bath?”
I picked up the salt jar I had put under the counter and she dropped the stones in. I gently moved the container so they were covered by the salt and handed it Flora.
She picked it up, closed her eyes, and let her magic gently flow into the stones, activating the magic she had transferred into them. There was a pale glow that faded back to what looked like a simple glass jar of sea salt. Handing it back to me she smiled. “All done. If he uses it then he will get rid of the bite altogether. The stones will amplify the natural cleansing of the salt and make him feel like a new man. Don’t be surprised if he asks you for more!”
“Thanks Flora. Now, what are we going to do about the female? We still have no idea what she is? Can you think of any Fae or other creature that carries on like this, singling out men? I keep thinking about sirens, but they are usually at sea and don’t come on to land like this.”
“There is one, but they’re dangerous and don’t totally tick all the boxes of our female.” Flora said, concerned.
“Well, out with it, woman, who could it be?” I asked, wanting to know who it was and stop our community being targeted.
“The Baobhan Sith,” Flora said quietly, as if the mention of these Scottish female vampires would bring them to our door.
I took a sharp breath at the name. “But the men have bites, not scratches from nails, and neither of them appear to be missing blood,” I argued, not wanting to think these creatures were near our town.
“But she’s stalking men, only appearing at night. Joe and Scott seem to think they were having a good time with her. Times have changed, they may not kill their victims now. The Fae courts don’t look kindly on that behaviour these days.”
I didn’t want to consider it, but she had a point. Maybe these vicious creatures were to blame. “Okay, I’ll ask Scott if he has any scratches when he comes in. If it is a vamp then she might be drawing a little blood from a few men to satisfy her urges. I’ll call Kenna and find out of Joe had any scratches on him.”