“Your name, Belladonna Nightshade. It sounds like a witch’s...”
“My mother has a sense of humor,” she interrupted and winked at him, hoping it would deflect him from the subject.
Ben noticed her defense. Just like before, when the two of them were together, the fog clouding both of their minds lifted. Now that he’d thought about it, there were a great many peculiar things about Winterfield that defied any explanation, but now was not the time to bring it up. His suspicions about the town had nothing to do with solving the case as far as he knew. In addition, even if they did have something to do with Belladonna, right now he didn’t care.
“You never did show me your deadly nightshade garden,” Benjamin said as he ate the last bite of pasta salad from his plate.
“I guess we should get up and walk around. Otherwise, we’re going to fall asleep after such a huge meal” Belladonna said and rubbed her full stomach appreciatively.
“I don’t know how you put so much food away,” Ben said admiringly. He liked to see a woman really eat.
“Magic,” Bella answered and started walking towards the locked garden at the back of her property.
It took them a few minutes to walk to the garden. Ben knew that Belladonna owned one of the larger properties in the town, but he’d had no idea just how large the grounds were. He was aware that there weren’t any houses behind hers, but what was inside the fence still seemed impossibly large compared to its appearance outside the gate. She put her hand on his shoulder, and he decided to file that mystery away for later.
Bella took a key out of her pocket and unlocked the door to the inner garden. “I don’t let many people in here,” she said and stepped inside.
He was somewhat stunned to find that the inner garden was larger than what it appeared to be from the outside, too. Before he could really think about it too hard, the plants around him distracted Ben.
There were rows of deadly nightshade plants with their beautiful black berries, but there was so much more. Most of the other plants in the garden Ben couldn’t identify, but what captured his attention the most were the massive Venus flytraps. They were almost as big as he was and their carnivorous flowers were every color of the rainbow.
“Don’t get too close, they bite,” Bella warned as Ben stepped towards them, completely transfixed.
“What do they eat?” he asked, completely fascinated. Detective Benjamin hadn’t been so curious about anything since he was a boy. Seeing them brought back the magic and excitement of childhood.
“You don’t hear any birds on this part of the property, do you?” Bella answered nonchalantly.
“That’s terrible and fascinating all at the same time,” he said and looked up into the empty trees.
“It’s nature, Ben. Nature cannot be good or bad because it’s both,” she said and smiled.
“Can I touch one?”
“The leaves; yes, but mind the flowers. It stings pretty badly if they get you.” Belladonna pushed back her sleeve and showed him the faint scar on her forearm.
Detective Ben reached out and touched one of the leaves gently. The flower turned and appeared to be looking at him, even though it had no eyes. The detective’s eyes, on the other hand, lit up like a child’s on Christmas morning.
Detective Ben walked back over to Bella and pulled her into his arms. “You’re so different,” he whispered, as if he was afraid saying it would make it go away. “How did you do this?”
“Would you believe good fertilizer?” She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Belladonna, please tell me what’s going on.” The look of sincerity in his eyes tugged at her heart.
How could she keep him in the dark when he so clearly belonged here?
That’s about the time that a scream rang out from the BBQ. A cold wind whipped through the garden, and an oppressive darkness descended on the party. She heard a howl go up and realized what had happened.
Someone had forced Officer Terry to shift into his wolf form. Ben started to push past her to get to whatever emergency was happening back at the party and Belladonna made a split-second decision. To protect him, she pulled the wand concealed in her clothes out and cast a sleeping spell.
She’d have to figure out an explanation later, but for now, Belladonna closed the garden gate and locked Ben inside, safely asleep.
When Bella got back to the party, she found Luke still close to the grill, but now he was a huge wolf. Officer Terry hadn’t hurt anyone, but he was snarling, growling, and lunging at the scared partygoers, who were all trying to escape through the gate at once.
“Everyone calm down,” Bella called out, and her words acted as a calming spell on everyone in the crowd. Even Luke stopped acting menacing. “Thank you all for coming. It’s been an enjoyable evening, but you’re all exhausted and want to get home to bed.”
Everyone yawned and rubbed their eyes like children who were up past their bedtime. Everyone except Murielle, who gave her a shaky thumbs-up and set to counteracting the magic that made Luke shift.
The shadowy figure pretended to yawn too and slipped in with the rest of the crowd heading home. They were furious that Belladonna was able to stop the chaos before it got started, but they needed to go home and think about their next move.
With Bella’s help, Murielle was able to get Luke back to human form. They helped him into the house, and then went to get Ben, who they had to float into the house. The three of them left Ben asleep in the formal living room while they shut themselves in the parlor to talk.
“What was that?” Murielle asked and hugged Luke tight.
“I think someone used dark magic to make Luke shift,” Belladonna answered as calmly as she could.
“But why?” Murielle asked.
“I don’t know. A diversion maybe?” Luke responded and rubbed the back of his neck. “Perhaps someone at the party wanted to break into the house and take something?”
“But who in town would be using dark magic? And what could they want to steal?” As the question left her mouth, Bella realized the answer.
“I’m going to go check around to see if anything is missing,” she said, but what she really wanted to look for was Sterling.
Bella put the pieces together, but the truth was something she had to keep to herself for right now. If it ever got out what she had or what that meant she was, it could put the whole town in danger.
Belladonna heard scratching in the kitchen and breathed a sigh of relief. She hurried over to the cabinet below the sink and opened it. Sterling strutted out as if nothing had happened.
“I think I know what you are.” Sterling rubbed against her legs and then sat down and licked her paw as if Bella was crazy. “Oh yeah. That’s fine. Pretend you don’t hear me. We’ll revisit this later.”
Sterling flopped over on her back and started to purr.
“Fine,” Bella said and stooped down to rub the cat’s fluffy belly.
Sterling lifted her head and looked at Belladonna. For the first time since meeting the sleek, silver cat, Bella notices the awareness in the cat’s eyes. No matter how much Sterling tried to play it off, Belladonna could see that she was no regular cat.
Now that she knew Sterling was safe, Bella rejoined her friends. She had to come up with something to tell Ben when he woke up. This was all such a big mess, and Bella wondered why she’d gotten involved. However, this was about so much more than her, so she had to keep going. For whatever reason, Bella had been chosen for this burden, so she intended to see it through, no matter what.
“Is anything missing?” Luke asked as Belladonna sat down in the parlor.
“Not that I can see,” she said with relief.
“I think it’s time,” Murielle said firmly.
“Time for what?” Luke asked, confused.
“Time for me to call in my Granny and Aunt Sumac.”
“Why do you need to call in your Granny and Aunt?”
Everyone whipped around, and De
tective Benjamin was standing in the parlor doorway, rubbing his eyes. “How did I get in the house?”
Nine
The Parlor
“Uh, Luke, I mean Officer Terry, why don’t you take me home? Bells, call me if you need anything,” Murielle said and pulled Luke to his feet.
“Yeah, Belladonna. Call us if you need us,” Luke said, and they made a hasty exit.
“Crap,” Belladonna muttered under her breath. “Thanks for ditching me, guys,” she said, but they just waved at her as they left.
Belladonna wanted to be annoyed, but she completely understood why her friends didn’t want to be involved in this part. Detective Benjamin was an ordinary who could bring the wrath of the ordinary world down on a place like Winterfield if he didn’t like who the majority of his neighbors really were. He had to be handled with care.
Belladonna didn’t want to manage him anymore, though. She wanted to tell him the truth, but this wasn’t the right time. There was something different about Detective Ben, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. He didn’t appear to be a paranormal, but he wasn’t an ordinary either. Whatever he was, there was something sinister going on, and Bella had to get to the bottom of it quickly.
“What’s going on, Belladonna?” Ben asked sternly.
“The party is over. We all came into the house to get a cocoa. You fell asleep.” She chuckled, but Belladonna didn’t feel like laughing. Lying to him felt horrible. Just a little longer, she told herself.
“Belladonna, I get the feeling that’s not the whole story. But for some reason, I can’t figure out why.” The lie had separated them enough to let the fog descend on his mind again. “I think I should go. I also believe that we shouldn’t spend time together for now.”
“Okay,” she whispered and bit back tears.
Once Detective Ben was gone, there was no point in sitting around mooning over him. The sooner she could solve the mystery, the sooner she could make it right with him. So she pulled out her phone right as it rang.
“Aunt Sumac,” Belladonna said into the phone.
“We were wondering how long it would take you to call,” her aunt responded.
“I need your help,” she said.
“We’re already here.” There was a knock at the door.
Belladonna opened the door. “How did you know?”
“Please. I was going to come yesterday, but your Granny said to let you flail around until you got over yourself and called.” Sumac set her bags down and strolled into the house.
Belladonna walked outside and found her Granny sitting in one of the rocking chairs on the porch, smoking a pipe. She picked up her aunt’s bags and started to walk back into the house.
“I’d tell her to get her butt back out here and carry her own dang bags in the house. Her legs ain’t broke,” Bella’s Granny said and took a puff of her pipe.
To Bella, it wasn’t anything peculiar, but most people would wonder how a ghost could smoke a pipe. Such was the way of the Nightshade women.
“I’ll be back out in a minute, Granny.”
“Take your time. It ain’t like I got shi—”
“Granny,” Belladonna scolded but started to laugh.
Belladonna took Aunt Sumac’s bags up to her favorite guest room and then went back out and joined her Granny on the porch.
“Where’s your aunt?”
“I heard her messing around in the kitchen.”
“Ah, that will keep her busy for a while.” Granny laughed and waggled her white eyebrows at Bella.
“Granny,” Belladonna chastised.
“What?” Granny feigned innocence.
“Nothing.” Belladonna giggled. “No thanks,” she said when offered the pipe.
“So, you’ve got yourself into a mess,” Granny said and rocked.
Belladonna was always astounded by how easily her Granny’s spirit could interact with the physical world. When she was alive, her grandmother was a force to be reckoned with, and she’d carried that power to the grave.
“I guess you could say that. I didn’t mean to, though; it just sort of walked into my life,” Belladonna said.
“The biggest ones usually do, but so do the best,” Granny said and winked at her.
“You mean?”
“You’re going to have to fix that and soon, but for right now, you’ve more pressing matters to contend with,” Granny said and blew smoke rings into the air.
“Someone is using dark magic, but I’m not quite sure how to deal with it.”
“Dealing with dark magic is difficult, Belladonna. You know that thing they say about being careful when you wrestle with monsters because you can become one? Well, it’s the same with the dark forces. There is a very fine line between being at war with the dark and being consumed by it. And right now you’re being protected by the full moon, but you’ve only got a couple more days before that protection fades. Three days before and three days after a full moon is all you get. Your Aunt and I will do our best to protect you and guide your path, but you’ve got to put this all to bed fast. A new chapter in your life is about to begin, but you’re going to have to get through all of this first.”
“You’re not going to tell me what you mean by a new chapter are you?” Belladonna asked skeptically.
“Nope.”
“I’m going to go in and see if Aunt Sumac has completely cleaned out my marshmallows yet. You guys have them at your house. Why does she always eat all of mine?” Belladonna asked.
“You have different marshmallows. You buy all the different shaped ones and the strawberry ones, and she really loves those little multi-color ones you keep in the way back of the pantry.”
“Why doesn’t she just buy that kind? Oh, and I guess I know who told her about my secret stash,” Bella said and laughed.
“If she bought them, it wouldn’t be as fun to eat them when we visit you. The little things, Belladonna. Don’t ever take them for granted,” Granny said.
“Speaking of little things, I better go get in on those marshmallows before she gets them all. Are you coming?”
“Lead the way, Belladonna.”
Bella Beauty Salon
The next morning, Belladonna had breakfast with her Aunt and Granny before heading off to the salon. She opened on time despite not having any appointments until almost lunch. Most of the time, she got at least one or two walk-ins, so it was worth opening.
Today, though, she’d wanted to stay home and visit with her family, but Granny insisted that she go in. Granny also cast a protection ward over her, and Aunt Sumac gave her a pouch full of almond, aloe, and alyssum to wear tied to her belt.
“It’s for protection and wisdom,” Aunt Sumac had said before taking another bite of her s'mores pancakes.
“But I already have the protection ward,” Belladonna mildly protested even as she tied the small leather pouch to her belt. Protection spells and amulets were more a part of the old ways. Dark magic was so rare now that witches from Belladonna’s generation hardly knew anything about it. They were taught the bare minimum when they came into their powers as teenagers, but most forgot it all soon after.
“Right, so that’s like your car insurance. The pouch is your Triple A membership. Get it? Triple A. It’s almond, aloe, and alyssum.” Granny and Bella groaned, but Bella smiled despite herself.
“Tough crowd. Are there more pancakes?” Sumac asked as she took the last bite.
“Like you need any more,” Granny chastised half-heartedly.
“Oh shut up, you old hag,” Aunt Sumac retorted and the two women, well, one ghost, both cackled loudly.
That was how she’d left them. Well, first she made another batch of s'mores pancakes. Belladonna promised to come home as early as she could manage, fed Sterling, and then headed into work.
Once Belladonna arrived, she confirmed in her appointment book that there were at least two hours before her first appointment, and then she set to work doing some touch-up cleaning. It was mostly busy wo
rk to keep herself entertained while she waited.
As she reached for the broom to sweep the already perfectly clean floor, it fell over. “Again?” she said and rolled her eyes.
It had been a very long time since Belladonna had so many signs warning her about visitors.
“Don’t you have anything else to tell me?” she said into the empty salon.
“Your pancakes need a half teaspoon more of vanilla.”
The voice coming from behind her startled Belladonna.
She whirled around, broom in hand, and found her mother sitting in the last salon chair in the row.
“Mama!” Bella cried out and ran to her mother’s embrace.
“Belladonna Nightshade. You don’t look a day over twenty-nine,” her mother teased and stroked her daughter’s long, chestnut hair.
“How did you get here?”
Belladonna’s mother had been sucked into a time warp over two decades before. It happened while she was battling the last of the dark witches and a demon that was trying to help them open a hell mouth on earth. Bella’s mother, Petunia, was one of the reasons dark magic was a distant memory for most witches and a legend for the rest.
While the time warp had taken Petunia when Bella was young, it had allowed her to visit when Belladonna needed her most.
“You need me, so here I am.”
“How long will you be able to stay?” Belladonna asked hopefully.
“Oh, Bella. You know that I can’t possibly tell you that, but your Granny and Aunt are working hard as we speak to anchor me to this time for as long as possible. So, tell me about this Detective Ben,” her mother said and smiled impishly.
“Mama, I haven’t seen you in…” But Bella trailed off. One of the effects of the time warp was that Belladonna, and others, couldn’t place Petunia in time. “Anyway. I haven’t seen you in a long while, and you want to know about a man?”
Before Petunia could answer, the bell above the door rang and Mayor Whitlock strolled through the door of the salon. He was emanating his usual pompous aura, but Belladonna picked up on something a little different. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
Magic & Mystery: A Cozy Mystery Sampler Page 13
