THE MOONRISE COVEN had been around since 1950. I had been one of the founding members, along with Sandy, and Linda Realmwood, whom we agreed would take the role of High Priestess, given neither Sandy nor I wanted the responsibility. Linda had the power to hold the title and the wisdom to wield it.
Linda’s great-great-grandmother had originally been from Norway before arriving in Newfoundland around 1000 CE. Over the years, her descendants moved southwestward into what was now the United States, long before Columbus ever set foot on native soil. The family intermarried with Native Americans, and eventually, Linda’s mother-to-be, Greta, married Mohe, a Cherokee brave from the AniWaya Clan. Mohe brought Greta into the tribe as his wife and in 1797, Greta gave birth to a daughter, Linda, and gave her her own family name—Realmwood—as was her family’s custom. Linda took on the wolf spirit for her animal guardian, given her father’s tribe was the Wolf tribe, and she learned her mother’s magic.
Linda had also been elected mayor of Bedlam in 1995 and nobody would let her even think of retiring. She did a good job and everybody trusted her.
“SO WHAT’S THE theme of this shindig?” Sandy wandered over to the bar and poured herself a snifter of brandy. “Want one?”
“You have to ask? Of course I want one. And tonight is a pre-Solstice party for the band and their families. I’m making eggnog, so let the brandy flow.” As I accepted the drink and gently swished the drink, warming the glass in my hand, Sandy glanced around.
“So where’s the food?”
I grinned. “You know I don’t cook beyond a few cookies or a boxed cake. The caterer will be here in about twenty minutes.” I paused, then said, “I was in the shower earlier. I heard something in the bathroom and when I peeked out, I found Ralph Greyhoof trying to steal hair from my brush.”
Sandy stared at me. “Is he still alive?”
“Yeah, and he’s lucky he is. Thing is, he told me some chick paid him to do it. And get this. She paid him both with money and a sing-along. Have you heard of any strange vamps moving into the area lately? He thinks she was a vampire.”
“No, but this doesn’t sound good at all.” Sandy scowled. “Maddy, you know what hair’s used for. You think Ralph might be lying? That he was going to pay somebody to throw a whammy on you?”
“Well, at first I did. My thought was that he wanted to hex the B&B. But the more he talked about the woman—I’m kind of convinced he might be telling the truth.” I motioned for her to follow me into the kitchen.
“Don’t be too sure. The Greyhoofs are an old family, but they’re crafty. I don’t know that I’d trust anything Ralph said. Be careful, Maddy.”
She made a good point. The Greyhoofs have been on Bedlam for more than a hundred years, and they were known for rabble-rousing and causing general havoc. They were in jail so often that Delia—the sheriff—joked about putting in a revolving door for them.
“There is that. Well, I’ll look into it more tomorrow. I guess I’d better tell Aegis, even though I wasn’t going to. If he found out on his own, Ralph would be a few pints low before anybody could intervene. Now, help me set up these tables?”
Aegis had brought up three long tables up from the basement. The dining room had plenty of space for them, since we didn’t have a formal table yet. The buffet would taste just as good on metal and plastic as it would on solid oak.
As we wrestled them through the kitchen door, Franny reappeared. She stood to one side, frowning. Half of her was still inside the wall next to the stairwell, and her arms were crossed as she stared at us with a pointed look of disdain.
“Those are ugly. When I was alive, my mother had a beautiful cherry wood table. You should buy something like that.” She tsked at me.
“Franny, can you just give it a rest for once? You do nothing but complain all day. What—besides painting the kitchen pink—will make you happy?” Exasperated, I swung on her, wanting nothing more than to exorcise her right then and there.
Franny jerked back, as if I’d slapped her. “You know, I can help you if you’d give me a chance. Just because I’m a ghost doesn’t mean I can’t do anything. It gets boring just standing around watching everybody else go about their business.” She arched her back and pulled out a fan. If she had been hiding it, I had no idea where and I wasn’t going to ask. In an affected voice, she added, “I can do a lot of things that you don’t know about.”
I wanted to shoot back, “Besides complain?” but decided to drop it for the night. I was tired of sparring with her and truth was, I suddenly felt sheepish. After all, I had the advantage. For one thing, I was a witch. For another, I was still alive. Franny was just an unlucky spirit who—for whatever reason—couldn’t move on. And it must suck to be stuck in one house for eternity. Come to think of it, I didn’t even know whether I could exorcise her. There were so many variables involved.
“I’m sorry—” I started to say, but she vanished.
Sandy arched her eyebrows. “Sensitive much?”
“I guess being trapped in a house over two hundred years would tend to set a person on edge. I really need to find out more about her story. I haven’t had much of a chance to do anything else but work on this house.” I paused, trying to think about it from Franny’s perspective. “She lived here when she was alive, I do know that much. And she died by falling down the stairs while reading a book. I suppose it really does hurt to see the home she grew up in being gutted and changed so much.”
“Either that, or she’s just a grouch. Here, help me tip this upright.”
Sandy had opened the table we were carrying and unfolded the legs. We set it up and then went back for the other two. Once they were standing, I found the tablecloths—long, green linens—and we were arranging them as the caterers arrived. Sandy and I retreated to the living room, giving them control of the kitchen and dining room.
The caterers had no more set up the food when the door opened and Aegis strode in, followed by the band members and their families. I decided I could wait till later to tell him about Ralph as he swung me into his arms and gave me a long kiss. But as his lips touched mine, I could sense that something was up. He felt…nervous.
“Is something wrong?” I murmured.
Aegis shifted, just enough to tell me I had hit a chord.
“Why do you ask?”
“I don’t know. It’s been an odd evening.”
“Don’t worry about it. Nothing that I can’t handle. Band stuff.” And he went back to kissing me.
Keth, the drummer, passed by, clapping Aegis on the shoulder.
“Get a room, dude.” But he laughed as he said it. Keth was half-satyr, half-human, with a spiked Mohawk. His ears were stretched with heavy gauges and he was heavily tattooed. Residual horns poked out of his head, but they weren’t fully formed and they never would be, given his heritage. He had feet rather than hooves, but he was a very hairy man.
“Hey Maddy, thanks for hosting the spread.” He immediately headed over to the tables of food and began to pile a plate high.
Sid was there, sans wife and kids. “Sylvia sends her love, Maddy. She’s still tired. I told her to stay home with the kids and nanny and watch TV.”
“How’s the baby?” I wasn’t really geared toward maternal feelings but I cared about Sid and Sylvia. However, I had the feeling she could use more than one nanny. With five very active Fae children, the stress had to be high. But I decided to forgo offering unsolicited advice. Sid couldn’t afford to hire more help. Not all of the Fae were rolling in dough. Especially the artists and musicians. Actually, a number of those who chose to live in the human world instead of their own seemed to find it rough going.
“The baby’s a handful, all right. She’s already causing havoc.” He beamed, looking proud as a peacock. Sid and his wife were aiming for ten kids, and I couldn’t imagine the mayhem that was going to generate. But they loved the bustle.