A Charmed Cauldron

by Rose Pressey

  “What seems to be wrong?” I asked, avoiding the word. I was afraid of the answer.

  Thomas mouthed, “What’s wrong?”

  I sat on the stool in case it was news I needed to sit for.

  “It’s your mother. She’s here.”

  “What’s wrong with her?” I asked in a panic.

  The woman sighed. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing serious. She’s just having one of her downs days with her vampire status. We thought maybe you should come by and get her.”

  That meant they wanted me to come take her off their hands.

  “I’ll be right there,” I said.

  “Thanks a bunch. Sorry I had to call you,” she said.

  “Not a problem.” I clicked off the call.

  “Mama LaVeau?” Thomas asked.

  I nodded. “We have to go get her.”

  Chapter 20

  Thomas and I raced out the door. If she was in trouble, then I wanted to get to her right away. I slipped behind the wheel with my familiar in the seat beside me. Thank goodness he was still in human form. It would be much easier for him to go into the café with me. I might need help getting my mother out of there. She tended to go to the café, order a bloody drink, and then break down in a slobbery mess because she didn’t want to drink it. She’d tell the staff all her problems. They were all vampires, so they probably didn’t want to hear her woes. I pulled out onto the highway and pointed the car in the direction of downtown Enchantment Pointe.

  “Don’t get a speeding ticket,” Thomas said.

  I eased up off the gas just a bit. “I wish she’d call me before she does something like this.”

  “I guess she doesn’t want to burden you.”

  “Well, this has the opposite effect, don’t you think? She should call before it gets to this stage.” I made a right turn.

  “Yes, I see your point,” Thomas said.

  After what seemed like forever I pulled up along the curb in front of the café.

  “Are you sure we can park here?” Thomas asked.

  “Sure, why?”

  “Vampire parking.” He pointed at the sign.

  “Look again, cat eyes, it says ‘vampire café parking.’ We’re going to the vampire café.”

  “Oh,” he said through pursed lips.

  Thomas and I got out of the car and hurried toward the café door. Of course I was on high alert for the mystery man. I couldn’t help but think he was following me everywhere. Especially after what Thomas had told me. Then it hit me. Maybe Thomas was just messing with me. Maybe he didn’t know who this man was at all.

  “Are you sure about this mystery man?” I asked.

  “Are you still worried about that?” he asked as he held the door open for me.

  “Well, it’s kind of a big deal, don’t you think?”

  “I’m being totally honest with you. I wish it wasn’t true,” he said.

  Thomas had no reason to trick me with something this serious. I shouldn’t doubt him on this. I had hoped it wasn’t the truth. Now I had to face the fact that it was.

  A trendy chalkboard sign outside the café’s front door displayed the different blood specials of the day. Cherry, vanilla, and chocolate flavored blood. Even with the special flavors, I didn’t find them at all appetizing. Then again, I wasn’t a vampire. I definitely saw why my mother was having a hard time with this. I was sure that I would have just as hard a time, probably even worse. She was much tougher than me.

  The hostess at the front door looked relieved when she saw me enter. Jazz music played lightly in the background, but my mother’s blubbering was easily heard over the melodic sound from the speakers. Different vampire scene paintings such as capes, fangs, etc. decorated the café’s walls. The usual restaurant sounds had stopped while everyone listened to my mother’s hissy fit. No clanking of silverware against plates or glasses. No staff taking food orders or patrons chatting.

  I saw her right away when I stepped inside the café. She was stretched out on the floor next to a table.

  I rushed over to her. “Mom, are you okay?”

  She had an empty bottle of blood clutched in her hands. “Define okay,” she said through her sniffling.

  “Okay, it’s time for you to get up. You can’t sleep on the café floor.”

  “Sleep? I’m sure not going to sleep in some vampire coffin.”

  “I told you to stop watching those vampire movies. Fine, you can’t do anything on the café floor.” I motioned for Thomas to help me lift her to her feet.

  I took the empty bottle from her hand. At least she’d already downed it. She wouldn’t need more for a couple weeks. Then we’d probably have a repeat of this incident. They’d probably stop letting her enter the café if she kept this up. She was so dramatic about all this.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” she said through another sniffle. “But you don’t have to go through this. You’d be dramatic too if you had to drink that stuff.”

  “Oh, come on, it can’t be that bad,” I said, taking a sniff of the empty bottle.

  Thomas and I lifted her to her feet. She wobbled a little as if there had been whiskey in that bottle. I glanced to make sure she hadn’t gotten one with liquor. No, this scene was all her. The employees were watching us but pretending not to at the same time. I waved at them as we guided her toward the door. Maybe I should send them a thank you gift for not kicking her out. It was nice that they had taken the time to call me. Of course it wasn’t the first time I’d had to pick her up here. It was the first time she’d been on the floor like that.

  “Mom, you have to stop this,” I said.

  “I’ll never get used to it. Never, I tell you.” She waved her arm in a dramatic gesture.

  Thomas bit back laughter. It was probably a good idea that he did. If she caught him laughing she’d let him have it. At least there were no other customers in the café, though they’d probably just scattered when my mother started her theatrics. I tossed the empty bottle in the trash on our way out the door.

  As we stepped onto the sidewalk, I rechecked the street to make sure the mystery man wasn’t there. This didn’t go unnoticed by my mother.

  “What are you looking for?” she asked.

  At least now she was talking a little bit more sensibly.

  “Oh, I’ll let you know when I get in the car,” I said.

  I fully intended on questioning her on whether she knew about the mystery man who supposedly visited all the leaders. Surely she would’ve told me something like this. Thomas opened the car door and helped my mother into the back seat.

  “Don’t forget to buckle up,” I said.

  Right on cue, she said, “What’s the point? It’s not as if I’m going anywhere if we crash.”

  “Do you want a disfigured face?” I asked.

  She sighed and then grabbed the seat belt. She buckled it up. Once the door was closed, Thomas laughed. Now that I was back on the road and had her securely in the car I decided it was time to question her about the mystery man. Maybe this would also take her mind off of her worries.

  I looked in the rearview mirror. “Mom, do you know anything about a mystery man who appears to all the leaders of the Underworld?”

  She frowned. “No, I don’t know what you’re talking about. What are you saying? Is that the man you saw at my shop? Do you think that I knew him and didn’t tell you? What is the world coming to?” She leaned back in the seat.

  “Okay, no, I didn’t think that. I didn’t think that at all,” I said. “I was just asking. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  Oh, boy, what had I done now? This definitely hadn’t been the right time to ask her this question. But it was too late now. There was no turning back.

  My cell phone rang. Thank goodness someone had saved me from this conversation. When I glanced at the screen I saw Liam’s name. His picture with that huge smile on his face was on the screen.

  “Tell me something good,” I said when I answered the phone.
<
br />   “Is it that bad?” he asked.

  “Well, it’s certainly not great,” I said.

  “I was just calling you back,” Liam said. “I thought I heard a bunch of commotion in the background, but your voicemail said nothing.”

  I sighed. “I must’ve butt-dialed you. Sorry about that.”

  “Well, if I have to be butt-dialed by anyone I’m glad it’s you,” he said.

  “Listen, I need to ask you a question.”

  “Okay, ask away.”

  “Where are you?”

  “That’s what you wanted to ask? Is there something else?”

  “Yes…”

  “Actually, I’m close to the manor.”

  “Good. That’s what I wanted to hear.”

  “Really?” he asked.

  “I want you to meet me there so I can ask you a question.”

  “Is this serious?” he asked.

  “Well, it certainly could be,” I said. “I hope not though. I’ll see you soon.”

  “See you soon,” he said.

  “He’s flirty with you,” Thomas said when I ended the call.

  “He’s flirty with everyone,” I said.

  “That’s true,” my mother said from the back seat.

  Soon we had arrived back at the manor. I parked the car out front. Thomas helped my mother out of the car and into the manor.

  “I think what you need is some chocolate,” I said.

  “Oh, sure, make me fatter,” she said.

  “This is my magic chocolate cake, remember?”

  “That stuff? She sighed. “I guess it’s better than nothing. It’ll make up for the blood.”

  “We’ll sit in the parlor while we wait for Liam to arrive,” I said. “Thomas can get us some cake from the kitchen.”

  “You actually have chocolate cake in the kitchen? Wow, chips, salsa, and chocolate cake. What is the world coming to?” Thomas turned on his heel and marched toward the kitchen.

  My mother plopped down in the chair beside the sofa. “While we wait for Liam you can tell me all about this mystery man. This sounds scary. What’s going on?”

  I explained to her all about what Thomas had told me.

  “I knew this wasn’t good,” she said.

  “Well, don’t worry. It could just be nothing. We’ll wait until we find out more details,” I said.

  “I just hope he doesn’t come back soon,” she said.

  Thomas reappeared from the kitchen with the chocolate cake. He had placed slices on my pretty pink floral dishes. Plus, fresh cut strawberries on each plate for garnish. We sat in the parlor enjoying a chocolate cake. The only noise was the clinking of the forks against the plates. It was the only thing that would help me relax at the moment. Chocolate made everything better.

  Chapter 21

  We’d just finished our chocolate when the sound of footsteps stopped me with the napkin mid-air. When Liam popped around the corner we all screamed. Well, Thomas didn’t scream, but he jumped up and attempted a weird karate stance that I was almost certain wasn’t karate. He looked more like he’d thrown his back out and stepped on a Lego at the same time. My mother fell back onto the sofa.

  “I’m not sure how much more I can handle today,” she said as she fanned her face with her hand.

  “What’s going on in here?” Liam asked.

  “You scared us,” I said.

  He gestured over his shoulder. “You left the door unlocked.” Liam slid down on the sofa next to me. “I’m sensing a lot of stress here.”

  “You think?” I said a little louder than I’d intended.

  He looked down at the chocolate crumbs on the plate I’d set on the coffee table. “You got a little chocolate on your face.”

  I wiped my chin. “I’m a little upset by something that Thomas told me.”

  Liam looked at Thomas. “Oh, he’s back.”

  He didn’t sound all that excited to see Thomas. By the look on Thomas’ face the feeling was mutual. Why did these guys feel so threatened by each other?

  “Liam,” Thomas said with a nod.

  Liam leaned back onto the cushion. “So what’s the deal?”

  “Do you know anything about a mystery man who appears to the leader of the Underworld?” I asked.

  Liam looked at me with a blank expression. I knew what he was thinking. He knew about this man, but he was trying to decide if he was going to tell the truth or not. I’d known him long enough to recognize his behavior.

  “You saw him at the club, but you didn’t say anything to me? Why not?” I stared at him.

  “I’m not sure.” He ran his hand through his hair.

  “You’re not sure why you didn’t say anything or you’re not sure about what I’m talking about?” I asked.

  “I wasn’t sure that it was him,” Liam said.

  “But you knew?” I asked.

  I didn’t understand why he wouldn’t disclose this information to me right away as soon as he saw that man. Now I was questioning everything I knew about Liam. I’d thought he was always honest with me, but now I wasn’t so sure. I stared at him for a moment, hoping that would guilt him into being completely honest with me from this point forward. The other option was that I just had to cast a spell and force him to do it.

  Liam wasn’t looking at me when I stared at him, but I waved my hand in front of his face, forcing him to look at me again. “So you knew about this but you didn’t tell me.”

  “Well, I wasn’t sure there was anything to tell you,” he said. “I mean, yes, I’d heard this, but I didn’t know it was anything other than just a rumor. And when I first saw the man I didn’t think anything of it, but I suppose yes, after a while the thought crossed my mind that it could be the mystery man who appears.”

  “You didn’t tell me it happened.”

  “No, I did not.”

  “I think he already answered that question,” Thomas said.

  I glared at Thomas. “Thank you for the input.”

  “You’re welcome,” he said.

  “You know I would never put you in danger or want you hurt. If I had known right away when I saw him I would’ve tried to keep you away from him. I thought that onetime sighting would be it and it would be over. You’re not mad at me, are you?” Liam asked with that sad look on his face.

  “Yes, I’m mad,” I said. “I wish you’d told me this from the beginning. I wish anyone had told me this in the beginning. But everyone felt the need to keep it a secret.” I looked over at Thomas.

  He held his hands up. “I’ve got nothing to say.”

  “Exactly. Neither one of you has the right thing to say.”

  Liam scooted closer to me and took my hand in his. “Come on, Hallie, don’t be mad at me.”

  Was this smooth talking supposed to make me forget all about this? I moved my hand away from him. “Sorry, that’s not going to work with me. It might work with the other girls, but not me.”

  “What are you talking about? I don’t do this with other girls. I’m completely honest with everyone,” Liam said in his smooth Southern voice.

  Thomas laughed. Liam shot daggers Thomas’ way.

  “Well, that’s all said and done now,” my mother said. “It’s no reason to stay upset. Just move forward and figure out a way to get rid of weirdo man.”

  “How can I get rid of him when I don’t even know why he’s here?” I asked.

  “He targeted the leader of the Underworld,” my mother proclaimed.

  “Yes, I understand that, but why?” I asked.

  “Does he have to have a reason why?” Liam asked.

  “I have to know where he came from and why he’s doing it. He has to have some motive.”

  “You’re right,” Liam said. “He has to have a motive.”

  “And we’ll figure it out, but right now you just need to calm down and take a deep breath,” my mother said.

  She was giving me this advice when I’d just scraped her up off the café floor like a chewed piece of
gum from the bottom of a sneaker not thirty minutes ago? She just stared at me, completely clueless about what she’d just said and how ironic it was. But I digressed. She was right though. Now I needed just to remain calm. This was no big deal. I could handle it.

  “Have you checked the Book of Mystics?” Liam asked.

  “No,” I said around a sigh. “And I can’t imagine that it would have anything about it in there.”

  “It has everything you need,” Thomas said.

  “Not everything. It only gives me information when it wants me to have it.”

  “That probably means something,” my mother said.

  “What? That it wants me to be attacked by this mystery man before it finally gives me any information?”

  “Oh, now you’re just being negative again.”

  I sighed. “I guess you’re right. I’ll go get the book.”

  Now I had to go to my hiding spot and retrieve the book. When I got up and crossed the room all three of them came with me.

  I stopped and turned to face them. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “With you to get the book,” my mother said.

  I held my hand up. “Not so fast. It doesn’t take four of us to get it and I’m not showing anyone where this book is hidden.”

  My mother gaped. I couldn’t help it. I just couldn’t take the chance of letting anyone other than me see where the book was. I hadn’t even told Nicolas where it was. It was just too risky. What if someone kidnapped them and forced them to tell where the book was? I couldn’t take a chance on that.

  “You all wait right here and I’ll be right back.” I stepped out into the foyer.

  They were still watching me. I pointed my finger to warn them not to follow me. I had always kept the book in my closet hidden under lock and key. Actually, several locks and a safe. But recently I’d felt that wasn’t good enough, so I had moved it into a different room with a much larger safe.

  However, I’d gotten nervous thinking that it wasn’t in the same room with me while I slept, so I moved it back into my bedroom. So for right now that was where it stayed. I really needed to come up with a better system. But so far, that was all I had. I’d thought there would be some sort of special vault for the book, but there wasn’t. It had just been tossed into the attic like it was an old holiday decoration.