Supernatural Seduction (Book 2 of the Coffin Girls Series) (6 page)

“I guess,” replied the girl, “that I can see
that it’s the same, but then the homeopath doesn’t use plants for
magick, does he?”

“He or she,” said Sophie, under her breath.
Dieu
, but even in this ‘enlightened’ age, the masculine was
still automatically referred to.

“What is magick, but the belief and will for
something to change or remain the same? The sustainment of good
health or healing? Protection against harm or removing harm?”
Sophie probed further.

“So, you’re saying that even the homeopath
uses magick?” asked the girl.

“Perhaps and perhaps not. That depends on the
practitioner. But they use natural substances to heal and the
difference is that we add ‘oomph’ to our process by adding will,
paying respect to the Goddess, and by calling on our natural
talents, be it earth, air, water, or fire.”

“So, we have a little something extra?”
clarified one girl.

“Yes,” affirmed Sophie. “That’s exactly it.
But having magickal talent is not enough. You have to know what to
use too, otherwise there is no ‘extra oomph’ as you put it. Think
of peppermint.” Sophie handed out a fragrant, dark green leaf to
each girl. “Smell it and tell me what you feel.”

When each of the girls had a turn to share,
Sophie nodded, lips curved gently in satisfaction. “Medicinally,
drinking peppermint tea is known to arouse our senses and boost
metabolism, while burning peppermint magickally is said to promote
happiness in self and home. Now, I don’t know about you, but when I
feel sluggish, I’m not that happy. Same plant. Similar end goal,
but a different way of using it. I’m not saying that all plants
have similar magickal and medicinal outcomes if used. Maybe in
future these will be found when magick and medicine, or rather
alchemy, meet each other once more, but for now, there are some
that have similarities and others that don’t.”

“How do you tell the difference between
what’s magickal and medicinal?” asked Faith, the most notable of
the young witches. Faith had been the one to make contact with
Anais, and she was the un-elected, yet undisputed leader of the
girls. She also held the most ambition to become a Coffin Girl.

“You have to learn the names of the herbs and
plants, learn their uses, and then safely experiment. With
practice, the knowledge will come to you,” Sophie replied. “Some of
the plants have both purposes. For example, the dandelion is
magickally used to promote harmony in the home, but its sap can
cure warts and skin blemishes.”

Sophie noticed a hand from one of the girls
briefly touch her acne. Teenagers. The vanity angle would hopefully
spark the first interest, and practice would engage them further.
“Cinnamon is another example. The bark from the tree is used
remedially to increase metabolism and magickally to increase power
and strength.”

“Now, here is your exercise for the day,”
Sophie handed out sheets of paper. “You’ll find the names of plants
and herbs listed with their magickal and medicinal uses. The plants
are also found here,” Sophie waved her hand towards the rows of
plants that stood in the hothouse.

“But how will we know what the plants are?
They’re not labelled,” piped Anna.

“Here are drawings of the plants with their
names. For the next hour, I want you to try to identify each of the
actual plants from the drawings, and then correlate it with their
medicinal and magickal uses. Use the hour well because tomorrow,
we’ll start working with them. And don’t forget,” Sophie warned,
“be kind to the plants and they’ll be generous with you.”

“I’ll leave you now to get to it,” Sophie
continued. “Afterwards, come into the house for lunch, and then
rest this afternoon. Tonight, you’ll be helping out at the wedding
as part of your practical course and it will, undoubtedly, be a
long evening.”

Leaving them to their mix of groans and
enthusiasm, Sophie made her way back to the house. She found her
sisters and Miss Suzette waiting for her in the kitchen. At her
entrance, Miss Suzette started heaping mounds of food into the
waiting dishes. Helping herself to a cool drink of sweet iced tea,
she did a double-take at the evident blood that Anais was
guzzling.

At her raised brow, Anais smiled sheepishly,
“Didn’t get a chance to feed this morning.”

“You fed, alright,” Marie quipped, “just not
on blood. Yep, you’re getting mighty fond of blood sausage there,
cher.”

“That’s Scottish, Marie,” V’s replied,
sardonically.

“Conall’s not Scottish,” batted Marie
back.

“I know,” said V, “he’s Irish.”

“That’s why I just called it blood sausage,
not Scottish whatever,” Marie was fully engaged in the childish
argument.

“Okay,” Sophie interrupted the verbal tennis
match, “let’s leave Conall’s sausage, whether it’s Irish or
Scottish, to Anais, shall we?”

It was such a silly question preceded by such
a nonsensical debate that the room erupted into a chorus of
giggles. This is what made their home, Sophie thought. They argued
over anything and nothing at all, laughed over more, and shared
everything. Always aware of what the others were feeling, Sophie
noted that the mood had lightened. These feelings she could live
with; they were familiar and benevolent.

Anais licked the last drop of red from her
lips and brought their focus back to business. They were going to
have a working lunch to discuss the final details for the night’s
event.

“I’m glad that tonight’s event is a small,
intimate one,” Anais said after they’d gone through the checklist
for the evening’s event. “With everything else we’re doing lately,
we don’t have much time for pulling off ‘big and fantastic’.”
Anais’ lips pulled into a grimace, the signature rouge noir color
of them a startling contrast to the dark color of her hair and
eyes, amidst her perfectly porcelain skin.

When they’d agreed to establish the school,
they’d debated over the merits of keeping the wedding planning
business open. In the end, the decision to rather cut back than
completely cut it out was unanimous. They didn’t need the money,
but they loved the work and the romance that came with it. It also
provided an explanation for their residence on the plantation and
allowed them to socialize with humans at the wedding so that they
didn’t need to at other times. They’d learned a few decades ago
that isolating themselves raised more eyebrows than
eccentricity.

“The newspaper article on the school and the
announcement that we’ll be focusing on small events to see the
hospitality school through its teething phase has worked,” said V.
“Papillion Plantation can easily pick up the big events later. That
was a good move, Sophie.”

“
Merci
,” responded Sophie. Praise from
their strong, warrior-like sister was rare. V’s looks of straight,
severe, long black hair, nearly black eyes, and sharp facial angles
were the perfect match for her tough, serious demeanor.

“Yes, thank you, cher,” Anais agreed. “And
thank you, too, Marie and Rose. Because of your admirable and
exceptional management of the wedding business, the rest of us have
been able to be involved in the school set up and witch searches.”
Anais threw a tender look at Miss Suzette, “Thank you to our Cajun
mama, too. Miss Suzette, you’ve taken over most of the catering for
the events and still run this household smoothly.
Merci
.”

“I don’t have children of my own flesh,” said
Miss Suzette, her booming voice, unusually quiet this time, “but if
I had, and they were half the women you all are, then I’d be the
proudest mama on earth. I’m already the proudest over my girls. So,
it pleases me to help my chicks.”

Sophie hooked into the emotions that ran
across the room and felt pure, innocent love emanating from each
one for all. The love of her family might have been stolen when
they’d all been murdered, but she’d been fortunate enough to find
familial love in another lifetime. It was both poignant and
encouraging. She dabbed at the corners of her eyes and noticed that
the rest did the same.

Anais cleared her throat, “I got us all
something to celebrate having come through one helluva ordeal, and
mostly, to recognize that through it all, we remain sisters and a
mama,” she looked at Miss Suzette. “Always.”

Marie interrupted the silent anticipation,
“Well. Don’t be a tease. Give over.” Her silky brown curls bobbed
as she used her vampire powers to leap across the table to search
Anais for the gifts. But, Anais was older and quicker, plus, she
knew Marie, and easily sidetracked the ambush. Marie found herself
neatly placed in a chair sans gift. “Damn it!” she huffed to the
delighted laughter of the rest.

Anais used her recently unleashed royal
magick and called forth their gifts from her room. Beautifully
wrapped packages, in the Papillion Plantation's colors of white,
black, and gold were placed in front of each of them - including
her.

Sophie opened her box carefully, folding the
ribbon and paper as she went along. Marie tore at the paper, Rose
ripped at it, too, but more carefully. V unwrapped hers with
military precision while Miss Suzette and Anais left theirs for a
moment. Each one was content to watch the rest of them indulge. It
was funny how a person’s approach to unwrapping a gift hinted at
their personality, Sophie thought. Then she saw it. It was a
beautiful pendant shaped into a ‘C’ and ‘G’ hanging from a chain.
The tips of the letters were adorned with single diamonds and
holding them together was the deepest red ruby heart. “
Mon
Dieu
! This is exquisite!
Merci
, cher, you’ve given us
the Coffin Girls”.

“De rien. You’re welcome,” Anais waved the
thanks away. “I believe, Sophie, that we’ve given each other the
Coffin Girls. I’ve just given us a keepsake. To quote Marie, ‘we’re
witch-vampire women that kick ass’, but that doesn’t mean that we
cannot do so with class. No?”

Rose, the other sister, let out a bark of
laughter, her green eyes glinting. “Huh! Trust Anais to turn
something as potentially morose as a coffin into something
fashionably elegant. Well, red is one of my favorite colors too.”
The others giggled at the double entendre. Not only did Rose sport
a vibrant mass of red hair, she was fonder of blood than the
others. Her blood cocktails - alcoholic cocktails mixed with blood
- were legendary amongst the local vamps.

“What is this?” Sophie asked, holding the
necklace up to the light. “The gems and silver are a bit too
bright, too clear, like the jewels at the fae hollow.”

“Very perceptive of you, Sophie,” Anais
replied as they clasped the chains around their necks. “Our vampire
magick would repel the silver, but fortunately, that is negated by
the witch magick. But they’re not from the hollow. They’re from the
Enchanted Island, Conall’s home. He was kind enough to have one of
the jewelers make them for us. And we bespelled them so that it
also offers each of you, when you wear it, added protection.”

“I like it,” Sophie stated. “It symbolizes
our bond while protecting us.” The others nodded their
agreement.

“Now,” said Anais, “let’s get a run down on
our other activities while we’re together. Marie, how’s the
necromancer training going?”

Marie scowled, “Not going. There are no
instructions, no way to guide you. I’m not getting it. But, I will.
I won’t be raising zombies accidentally again.”

“That’s all that we can ask, cher,” Sophie
comforted. She felt Marie’s determination override her self-doubt
and was confident that Marie would master her gift.

V went next. “Raulf and I will be leaving in
two days’ time for Europe. There are rumors of other witch-nappings
so we’re going to check them out. We’ll stop by the Enchanted
Island first to get weapons and to rendezvous with the team Niul is
putting together.”

“Niul’s not going with you?” asked
Sophie.

“No,” answered V, “he’s staying on as
second-in-charge to Conall and because he is the head royal guard,
he can’t leave his duties unless he’s flanking Conall or at the
castle.”

“If there’s anything you need us to help with
before you go, just give us a shout,” Anais reminded V.

“Sophie, I peeked into the school earlier and
was happy to see that the girls are settling in well and so are the
other teachers. How are the girls doing?”

“With regards to the school, they’re doing as
well as can be expected of a bunch of teenage girls,” Sophie
answered truthfully, “but there’s still much trauma for them to
work through.”

Anais nodded her ascent, “We only experienced
what they did secondarily. So, I can’t imagine what their little
hearts and minds must have been through. I guess it’ll take time
and the care and love we can give to them. Are you okay with the
emotions you’re picking up from them?”

“Sure,” replied Sophie, giving an inelegant
shrug, “I’m used to it.”

Anais didn’t look convinced, but moved onto
Rose, “How is the progress going with the buildings?”

“They’ll be ready next week,” responded Rose,
“and then Conall’s witch teachers can take up residence.”

“Any hotties, Anais?” asked Marie. “You
already met them when you visited the castle with Conall. I could
do with a bit of blood sausage in my life.” Because Marie was
deliberately goading her and she knew it, V rolled her eyes in
response.

“Of course,” responded Anais with a sly
smile, “our supernatural world seems unnaturally filled with
eye-candy.”

Marie’s tongue openly flicked over the tips
of her sharp teeth. “Yum, some fresh blood,” she said with relish,
making the others laugh at the ludicrous statement. None of them
liked ‘organic’ blood or blood from the source (preferring their
feeds from the less glamorous source of blood bank bags and when
necessary, from the veins of sinners).