Just then, her hearing came back! She heard every possible emotion available come from within the angry crowd just feet away. There were no more horns but bells, whistles, crying and yelling – plenty of that was happening. She heard crying from her own family – she could recognize her sisters cries from any where. There were also sighs and yells from those followers of hers who rejected her as the offering, and even happy crying from those other girls, and their families too, who would never again have to worry about being whisked away to a vampire lords estate.
Rose moved to Catherine’s side as fast as her legs would carry her and threw her arms around her. “Catherine…” was all Rose could say as she held on to her friend, sobbing almost uncontrollably.
The two held each other for what seemed like hours – Catherine, still in shock, feebly tried to let her friend know that it was fine and that everything would be all right, by patting her back. Finally she managed to speak only a few words to her friend, “Rose, remember what I told you in the days past? Remember? Please do not fret – I am sure that Count August will treat me well.”
And with that, she hugged her friend tightly one last time before turning to meet her family and a few other friends who had already made it to her side. A crush of family and friends surrounded Catherine on all sides as the other candidates rushed off to be in the midst of the safety with their own loved ones, but not before they all came over and tearfully told Catherine goodbye.
Strange. Although she would not have expected it, had you told her about it earlier she would have called you a liar, but Catherine was smiling broadly – and actually felt serenely calm as she accepted the hugs and condolences of all the people she had known all her life who now came to tell her goodbye.
Catherine hugged and kissed each of the members of her family goodbye, first each of her sisters, one at a time, and then her mother. This was much harder than she would have imagined, fighting through her own tears as they broke down uncontrollably, squeezing her and not wanting to turn her loose from their grip. Finally she managed to get them a bit under control and then here came her mother, just as distraught as her sisters were, but much quieter in expressing her grief.
“He needs me, Mama.” Catherine began to her mother, trying to make this decision and impending transition as calm as possible. “I must do this mama. I’m happy to do my part to marry him and to help protect you and my sisters – and all of Dalmar. Maybe, who knows, if I can give him a child, then maybe, possibly, he will even let you all come to visit me someday.”
“My sweet Catherine… my baby girl…” she said as she held Catherine tightly in her arms one last time, “but such a thing… it’s never happened. No one has ever been to the castle,” then her mother started sobbing, “Not that anyone knows of… other than a bride who went up there. We all know that. This is our final farewell my sweet daughter. How will we go one without you? I have no idea but I know we will have no choice now. But you above all, I worry for what fate awaits you.”
“Don’t be sad for me, mama. Count August, really, he is a peaceable man – I have seen it for myself. And I promise you, this is what I want.”
Catherine squeezed her mother tightly and tried her best to console her. But she knew there was nothing more that she could say to console her family who were about to lose their oldest child and oldest sister. As soon as she managed to break free from her mothers grip she moved on to finish her goodbyes with her other friends and neighbors.
Gently disentangling herself from the commotion of the crowd as easily and as quickly as she could, she moved from one person to the next accepting their farewells. She did not want to draw out the proceedings any longer than necessary, just in case a riot or some other disturbance suddenly started because of Count August’s selection. She did not want anyone to get hurt on her account, in case any form of rebellion should start.
As all this was going on Count August slowly made his way to Catherine in the background, taking her hand in his own as soon as he finally reached her. “Fierce eagle,” he said to her gently amidst all the noise and activity, “it is time for you to say your goodbyes to your family, allies, companions and friends. We will leave as soon as you are prepared to go.”
He smiled at her for a second, squeezed then let go of her hands as he returned to his stallion, and took the reins. He mounted his stallion and then the royal officer handed him the reins to the beautiful, matching black mare that he had brought with him before the ceremony ever began. He watched her patiently as Catherine did all the farewells that she needed to do.
Within a half hour or less she was done. August awaited her, still mounted on the beautiful black steed. Sensing that she was ready, he approached her pulling the mare along behind. He bent over to take her hand, and placed upon it a gentle kiss.
“Are you prepared to depart, my young eagle?” he asked Catherine.
“Yes,” was her only reply. And that was exactly all he needed to hear. With no effort at all, he immediately reached down and lifted Catherine up onto the back of the beautiful black mare and gently sat her down into the saddle in the glimpse of an eye. He smiled at her, still holding the reins to the mare in one hand before he turned them over to her.
“Are you ready then?” he asked her once more. She returned his smile, pulled the reins tighter and immediately urged her new mount into a trot, heading right for the castle. Count August laughed out loud as she bolted off to their new home. He caught up with her quickly, there was never a doubt of that, then the pair quickly raced out of the village, leaving Catherine’s old life behind her. Before them both, the imposing Castle Dalmar invited them in, summoning Catherine to her new life. A life she would begin right now.
Book 2: Paranormal Beverages, Potions and Tonics (Chapter 1)
The store now known as Henry Sister’s Potions, Tonics, and Magical Beverages had a long history of being a place to find help for all those situations that needed assistance outside the realm of ordinary, day-to-day life. If you needed something extra-ordinary, this was definitely the place to check. Almost a century ago this building was owned by a family of wiccans, after that it was a tattoo parlor for a while and then it sat empty for a long, long time. So this particular building had a long and colorful past and seemed to draw to it people outside the realm of the ordinary.
But for now, the current owners were sisters, spinsters by best guess, who had a flair for the unusual – but most especially for their knowledge of medicinal and magical herbs, oils and their abilities to make the best potions in the state. In fact, on their business card it even stated the following, “Henry Sister’s Potions, Tonics, and Magical Beverages, The Best Notions and Potions This Side of the Ocean” all in a wonderful scripted font that was both beautiful, yet easy to read, at the same time. In fact, it was the girls dad who had come up with the ocean slogan. It made Susan smile every time she read it as it so reminded her of her dad and his pride in the sisters small, yet unique, business.
And people did come from all over to purchase potions from the sisters. It was not uncommon at all to see all manner of cars with out of state license plates near the sisters small shop just about any day. Many had advised them to get their business online but they had not yet opted to do so out of a dislike for the impersonal nature of the internet.
But the sisters were also well known in their tiny little town for their long standing rule that all their potions and magical concoctions would only be made for the good of everyone – they would never make a potion to be used for negative reasons. So those hoping for something to harm another knew never to come here for help. No type of poisons or harmful elixirs would ever pass through their doors. To this one rule they vowed always to stay true and never to break.
Daily activities here overall were no different than at any other store you might frequent. The main difference being that the products for sale here were hand crafted one at a time by a pair of gifted potioneers, not something pre-packaged in a colorful box that h
undreds, or even thousands, had been made of at a faceless factory in another land. And the staff here were knowledgeable, helpful and freely gave advice as needed with their clientele. Not the same kind of atmosphere that you’d expect at your typical “big box” store at all.
When you first entered the Henry Sister’s Potions, Tonics, and Magical Beverages you would at once be overcome with the amount of shelves the store contained for it’s intimate overall size – all filled with bottles, boxes and vials filled with every kind of herb, stick, twig, oil, leaf or powder that you might have ever thought of. And more. Many more.
And the smell inside, a hard one to describe due to all the products they had in stock, but needless to say it was very unique. And if the girls were brewing that day, in the tiny area in the back of the store, which they did almost every day, then there was no telling what smells you might encounter. But the fragrance was often compared to old libraries for some reason by their newest customers when described to others.
As it turns out this day was nothing out of the ordinary – Susan Henry, one of the stores owners, carefully stirred all the contents of her enameled spell pot in the back of the store. The fragrant liquid she was currently brewing had the entire room smelling absolutely delicious. She was all caught up on orders and trying to restock the shelves a bit and noticed that she was low on love potions. One of her most popular items, she knew she did not want to run out so she decided to brew up a batch before she was completely sold out.
Now love potions in particular were always tricky to mix – that was just one of the tricks of the trade, so she always paid careful attention when making these in particular. Now some potions and elixirs she could mix up blind folded, left handed, hanging upside down and in the dark – but not love potions – they demanded a lot more time and attention to detail.
She had spent all morning adding just the right amount of ingredients to the one she was working on. As it turns out she had been distracted on more than one occasion while putting this mixture together so she felt she really ought to have been done an hour ago. At least that was what she had planned. But when you are dealing with customers you just have to work around their schedules and needs and that is just the way that it is.
But she was getting close to completion now, she only had three more items left to add to create the magic necessary to complete their own brand of popular love potion. “Red rose petals, gold shavings from a wedding band and purple violets.” Susan muttered the remaining ingredients to herself over and over as she rummaged through her incantation rooms reserves, quickly locating the items.
All the shelves in their little store were filled with an assortment of jars, boxes and containers, each one filled with something unusual and intriguing. And these shelves and tables in the back were filled with items normally collected before a potion was made so that all ingredients would be in arms reach at any time during the brewing process. She had just grabbed the bottles containing the first two items, and was about to take the box filled with the third, when a noise from the front of the potion shop interrupted her concentration.
“Sue, I’m gonna take a break! Can you watch the front up here for me until I get back? You’ve finally finished the love potion, right? Sue?” Susan’s younger sister Emma popped her head in the door to the potion incanting room when Susan didn’t immediately answer her back. It was clear from Emma’s voice, that she was a bit perturbed over the delay this potion was making.
Guiltily Susan blushed as she glanced up at her sister. “Sure, oh yeah, go on ahead, I just have a few more things to stir in and I’m all done! Shouldn’t take but a couple more minutes.” Susan grabbed the last bottle quickly, and strode back over to her bubbling pot. She tried to focus once more on the recipe. It was just as important to be clear of thought as it was to add the right ingredients when mixing up a love potion.
The jingle of the front door bell told her Emma had already headed out of the shop for her lunch break. She knew her sister was already an hour overdue and didn’t blame her for being a little upset. Quickly she added the last three ingredients to the pot already at full boil. She hesitated momentarily as she glanced at the violets, frowning a bit at the light color of the dried flower. They should have been a dark, deep purple but instead were more of a lighter mauve color. “We need to talk with our supplier about these.” Susan muttered to herself. “These purple violets are really off color.”
She was always very specific about her ingredients when she placed her orders from suppliers. There was nothing that she detested more than someone who did not take good care of the products they sold to her store first, or someone who did not pay perfect attention to all the items they were sent or sent them the wrong thing all together.
Every single concoction, potion, elixir and tincture on the shelves of their little shop was carefully created and hand crafted, a labor of dedication by the two sisters. They took absolute pride in their work and full well understood the implications of a bad mixture, most importantly for their customers but for themselves and their reputations that they had so painstakingly created over years and years of work too. Susan took her role and influence in the town very seriously. She knew that many people still considered what they did to be a bit strange, maybe even odd if you asked some, if not downright fantasy.
But Susan had enough confidence and experience with her own skills to be absolutely certain that the spells she created always worked. Always! And sometimes too well. So she always made sure to warn her customers, that they be careful what they wished for, and be certain that they really wanted what they thought they did. Finally, when the last of the ingredients was added to the bubbling caldron, she sighed with satisfaction. She knew this potion was done. With a dramatic poof of fragrant mauve smoke, the potion condensed down and finally, a few minutes later, she was done.
Just then, their little shop’s front door bell jingled, letting her know that a customer had just arrived. “Hello, Welcome to Henry Sister’s,” Susan called out into the shop in the sweetest voice she could muster, as she brushed the hair back from her face. “I will be with you in just a minute!”
Susan carefully poured the contents of the swirling mauve liquid through a funnel, which filled out into another container, which eventually poured itself in a group of 10 awaiting tiny green glass bottles, all lined up perfectly in a row, to capture the fragrant concoction. She quickly closed all the little bottles with a cork plug and walked out into the front shop area, with the last bottle of the love potion still firmly in her hand. With her free hand she straightened her strawberry blonde hair, and raked free a stray sprig of peppermint as she walked to the front.
She finally happened to catch a glimpse of her customer standing at the front counter, a handsome young man. Immediately she found that she was somehow a bit startled by him for some reason, not just because of his attractiveness, because he was really a good looking man, but because something about him, she couldn’t quite put her finger on it, just seemed a little different.
Judging by the nervous expression marring his striking features, he was clearly uncomfortable being in the shop. Moving up to the counter, closer to the handsome young man, Susan set the love potion she was holding down on the counter and smiled her best, encouraging smile at her new, handsome, yet fidgety, uncomfortable customer.
Book 2: Paranormal Beverages, Potions and Tonics (Chapter 2)
“Hi there! Welcome to Henry Sister’s Potions, Tonics, and Magical Beverages. My name is Susan. I’m the owner. How may I help you today?” Susan said trying her best to make him feel more comfortable, as she could tell already from his body language, that he was not.
The new customer who had just entered the store looked up, stared right into her eyes and Susan’s breath caught in her throat. He had the most amazing deep blue eyes. They were almost like what you would expect to see in a magical wild beast, but also, so very beautiful and breath taking to observe. She tried hard not to stare, but they were certai
nly beautiful to behold, such beautiful blue eyes. If she didn’t pay attention she might just lose herself in them.
He shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other as he spoke to her trying not to make eye contact again. “Umm… a friend of mine told me, err, that is, that I have this little problem and should come here. That you could help me. With my problem that is.” He trailed off, and immediately flushed a bright red as he looked away, trying not to be too noticeable.
Susan sighed as she assessed what she thought his needs must be. Clearly he must be having some sort of trouble in the bedroom. This was the most common reason men ever came into the shop, almost all of them having the same uncomfortable, embarrassed expressions and fidgety body language. By now she was used to it – the almost comical lack of eye contact, stuttering and fidgeting, almost as if they were hiding something, yet too ashamed to admit it.
If you saw the same behavior in a child you might think it had to go to the bathroom really badly. It always amazed her at just how many men tended to be so out of touch with their own bodies, and the level of insecurity they felt when it came to pleasing the woman they were with. She has always thought it somewhat sad really.
Now, most of the time, Susan barely gave their discomfiture a second thought, she had just seen it so much she had grown accustomed to it. In fact, she discreetly assisted them as best she could, making sure they had exactly the potion that they needed, and they left filled with happy anticipation – and as fast as they could. If she never saw them again she assumed the potion worked, but if she did she knew they were more than likely coming back for more.
For some reason, though, the knowledge that this handsome young man was having bedroom issues, just made her feel disappointed. She did her best to push down that thought as she did not want to judge him. Coming to her, in her mind, was the same as confiding in a doctor or a counselor. The customers secret, whatever it was, was always safe here.
Vampires, Love Potions and Other Immortals: A Collection of Paranormal Short Stories Page 4
