CHAPTER EIGHT #3
I’d barely crossed the threshold, when I spotted a female with long copper hair, wearing a deep purple dress. She stepped gracefully out from behind the front counter and smiled when she saw me.
“Lorna!” She walked toward me, her arms open for a hug.
“Hey Ruby!” I said, accepting and returning the hug.
We stepped apart and I turned to introduce her to Charles.
“Nice to meet you,” she said, and held out her hand, which surprised me. Supes rarely touched another unknown Supe.
Charles shook her hand and said hello politely.
Ruby tugged him slightly closer and looked him square in the eyes. “Ooh. You have power,” she said appreciatively. “Ceremonialist or Druid?” she asked him, still holding his hand.
Charles smiled. “Both actually.”
Ruby narrowed her eyes. “Yeah, that tracks. I can see it in your aura.”
“And you are more than a Witch,” Charles said, considering her every bit as carefully as she had studied him.
Oh, here we go, I thought and stepped back a bit from the two of them.
“Ding, ding.” Ruby chuckled at that.
“You’re a Vampire too, aren’t you?” he asked.
Ruby smiled, flashing the tiniest bit of fang and released his hand. “Give the Mage a prize.”
A second female came from the back rolling a cart full of books toward the front. She was petite, pretty and had dark hair that featured a deep blue stripe. One look at her and I knew she was also a fellow Witch.
“This is Harper,” Ruby said, introducing us.
“Hey, y’all.” Harper gave us a friendly smile and walked past us to go flip the sign over to ‘Closed’ and lock the door.
“This is my friend Lorna,” Ruby was saying. “She owns a bookstore in Birmingham, Alabama called New Moon Books.”
“Nice!” Harper said as she joined us.
“I’m Charles,” he said, extending his hand to her.
Harper took his hand with no hesitation. “Merry meet,” she said.
There was the sound of a door opening from somewhere in the stacks and then the unmistakable noise of little feet running through the store.
“Mama!” a child shouted. “Daddy said I could come and get you!” He rounded the corner and grabbed his mother around her legs.
Ruby scooped him up. “Xander, say hello to our guests.”
“Hi!” He smiled at me and Charles, a gorgeous boy with blonde wavy hair and the same jade green eyes as his mother.
“Hello, Xander,” I said. “I haven’t seen you in a while, do you remember me?”
“Lorna,” he said. “Your hair sparkles.”
That made me smile, because it sounded like he’d said ‘barkles’. A second later Damien, Xander’s father and Ruby’s husband, joined us.
“Good evening,” he said formally.
Introductions were made once more and then I was surprised when Damien and Ruby invited us to their home for dinner.
Charles graciously accepted the invitation and so we ended up following Ruby and her family.
We drove out of town, farther down Hemlock Lane to a property I’d never seen before.
We passed a gorgeous gothic-looking Victorian and eventually pulled down a gravel drive that led to what was clearly a newer build.
It was a two-story house with gray stone around the base. Built in the Craftsman style, it had wooden beams, a wide porch, and stone flanked columns. Also, there was a separate multi-car garage off to the side. The Dragos’ pulled into their garage and I parked the truck.
After climbing down from the truck, I looked around with pleasure. There were gardens and new trees planted all around the home, and that gothic Victorian house we’d passed, while probably an acre or two away, was still visible.
Ruby came over, linked her arm through mine, and together we walked past a formal herbal knot garden, a rock lined pond, and towards the front porch. Xander ran circles around us chattering away, and Charles and Damien seemed to be talking about the property.
“We built this house after Xander was born,” Ruby explained as she escorted me up the porch steps. “It’s not too far from town, and it’s close to my parents.” She pointed toward the Victorian in the distance.
“I love it,” I told her, taking a seat on one of the rocking chairs on the front porch. I’d barely settled in before Xander raced up the steps and flung himself into my lap.
“My boy is such a shy retiring soul,” Ruby said wryly.
“I don’t mind,” I said, giving the top of his head a kiss.
Xander tipped his head back to look at my face. “Lorna is a Witch like me, Mama.”
In the Supernatural community it wasn’t polite to ask about another Supe’s abilities or mixed heritage status.
As Xander’s father was a Vampire and his mother was a Witch/ Vampire hybrid, I’d never asked where Xander’s Supernatural talents lie.
I had suspected. But now Xander had announced himself as a Witch.
“Sure am,” I said with a smile.
Charles and Damien had walked further away. I imagined they were discussing the situation. I knew Charles would fill me in afterward. Besides, it’s not like we could discuss the Fae, a stolen grimoire, and a murder in front of a child.
“Watch what I can do!” Xander said to me, and with a flick of his hand, he had a ball of glowing green witch-fire hovering in the air before us.