Notes: This story is set in Diana's family home in New York and is a tag to the final chapters of the first novel of the All Souls Trilogy, A Discovery of Witches. It also serves as a prologue to the series Six-Crossed Knot. For readers unfamiliar with All Souls Trilogy, I've included an introduction in my notes at the end of the story.
Madison, New York. Late October, 2009
Sarah Bishop padded down the wood plank staircase to the kitchen. Her slippered feet carefully avoided each creaking board. The others could sleep while she had her first cup of coffee. Halloween would be upon them in a few days. The sun wouldn't be up for another hour. For the moment, she had the house to herself . . . and the ghosts.
The kitchen smelled of cinnamon, vanilla, and nutmeg from the walnuts her partner Emily Mather had made the day before. They liked to prepare homemade treats to pass out for Halloween, and it was fortunate the holiday was still a few days off. At the rate their house guests had devoured the walnuts, Em would need to make several more batches.
Sarah filled a kettle with water and set it on top of a burner on the stove. Like most of their other appliances, the white enameled gas stove was so old it was now considered retro. Sarah scoffed at the term. She didn't hold with passing fads. The stove was a member of the family.
The farmhouse had been the Bishop family residence for hundreds of years. Sarah's ancestors had built it shortly after the American Revolution when they moved from Massachusetts to upstate New York. It had survived raids by the Iroquois and the distrust of neighbors who believed witches posed a worse threat than any physical attack. During the Civil War, the Bishops had sheltered escaped slaves within its white clapboard walls, and now, a few days before Halloween, it was once more a refuge for souls in need of help.
Was Sarah up to the challenge? It felt like the past few months had been a test to verify precisely that. In September, her niece Diana had gone to Oxford to research a paper, not realizing the trip would be the catalyst for the unthinkable. She'd fallen in love with a vampire. That simply was not done. And definitely not by the girl Sarah had raised as her daughter since the deaths of Diana's parents. Witches and vampires shouldn't mingle, ever. The Congregation, the governing body for witches, vampires, and daemons, had established strict rules to prevent creatures from associating together. Sarah had been taught to view all vampires with hostility, no matter how educated they were.
But now, not only did she have Diana and the object of her affection, Matthew Clairmont, in the same bed upstairs, but his son Marcus and friend Miriam were here as well. If last summer someone had suggested to Sarah she'd have three vampires in her house, she would have immediately concocted a potion to cure them of their insanity.
The kettle whistled to signal that the water was boiling. She'd had a lot in common with that kettle when she heard the news. Em said her flaming red hair took on the appearance of a raging bonfire.
"And she's right," a familiar voice added. The ghost of Sarah Bishop, the woman who Sarah had been named after, took a seat at the battered oak table. The Bishop house was full of ghosts. The spirits of many of their ancestors called the farmhouse home. Normally they only occasionally drifted in, but ever since Matthew and Diana arrived, Sarah's Revolutionary forbear had been a constant presence. It was as if she'd appointed herself to be peacemaker for the different creatures in the house.
At first, Sarah couldn't understand why. Wasn't Colonial Sarah concerned about how her descendant was putting herself in danger?
The Congregation forbade liaisons between different orders of creatures. The path Diana and Matthew had embarked on would be viewed as a defiant act of rebellion. Already Diana had been tortured and threatened with death by her own kind—by witches. According to what Matthew said, there were vampires who were equally hostile to their union.
And it wasn't only Diana and Matthew. Their families would also suffer the consequences.
Colonial Sarah smoothed her homespun gown, her hobnailed boots tapping impatiently on the stone slabs of the kitchen. "Why are vampires so hard for you to accept?"
"They're killers," Sarah blurted in frustration as she poured the boiling water over the ground coffee.
"So are we," she pointed out mildly. "We kill animals to eat. Plants are alive, yet we eat them. It's the chain of life. Vampires are as ethical as witches or humans. There are good ones, amoral ones . . ."
"And the ugly?"
Her ancestor nodded. "The ones who kill for pleasure. The sadists. Like the witches who tortured Diana. Those are the ones to fear, not Matthew and his family." She smiled. "Besides, confess. You've rather taken to Marcus."
"Just like you." Sarah snorted, admitting the obvious. "That kid is too charming by half." When Sarah met him, she could feel her barriers crumbling. He reminded her of the boys Diana dated as an undergrad and he didn't appear much older. He and Miriam had showed up on their doorstep a few days after Diana and Matthew arrived. "How did he know to come equipped with my favorite whiskey? Did you play any role?" she added suspiciously.
Colonial Sarah made a halfhearted stab at smoothing her rebellious hair by twisting it into a knot. "I may have murmured the suggestion in his ear. I figured you'd need a little extra persuasion. Marcus may not be able to see me, but vampires possess keen hearing, sufficient even to catch the whisper of a ghost. It's not the first time he's heard me, although he didn't realize it at the time."
Sarah looked at her forbear with sudden insight. Colonial Sarah's skill as a healer was legendary among the Bishops. When she was alive, there were few who worried about the rumors she was a witch. Back then, everyone relied on herbs and infusions.
"Matthew's family is not that different from ours," Colonial Sarah continued. "They have long traditions." She smiled. "And remarkably strong women who keep the family together. You'll find that out when you go with Marcus to France."
"While Diana and Matthew timewalk to England in 1590?" Sarah understood the reason for the trip. To keep Diana safe, her parents had spellbound her shortly before they were killed. Now she needed her powers. But Diana's talent was so rare, none of the contemporary witches could train her in their use.
Matthew had suggested returning to Elizabethan England because he was familiar with the skilled witches who lived in the period. It would have been a comfort if any of the Bishop ghosts in the house were from that time. Diana's knowledge of timewalking was rudimentary. If she succeeded in accomplishing the feat, would she have the skill to return? Attempting to take someone with her would make the challenge all the more difficult. Sarah had already lost her sister—Diana's mother. Was she now to lose Diana too? Matthew said somehow he'd get word to Sarah that they'd arrived safely in Elizabethan England, but how could he?
Meanwhile, Diana and Matthew's union made the situation perilous for both the Bishops and Clairmonts. Matthew recommended Sarah and Em travel to his ancestral home of Sept-Tours, a castle in Auvergne. Despite Diana's reassuring words about the vampires who lived there, taking shelter in an unknown land among coldblooded strangers seemed as daunting to her as what Diana faced.
"Drink your coffee," Colonial Sarah ordered. "You're hopeless without caffeine in your system."
#
The aroma of fresh coffee assailed Miriam's nostrils when she awakened. It was still dark but someone was already up, likely the witch Sarah. She consumed it by the gallon.
The house gave her the creeps. Miriam had always avoided witches. Now she was forced to stay in a house stuffed to the rafters with them. It would be somewhat more tolerable if only they were all alive.
She couldn't see the ghosts, but those creaks, those banging doors . . . the very house was alive. Walls shifted. Objects were hurled by unseen hands. Miriam's colleagues at Oxford would think it highly amusing to spend Halloween in a haunted house. She longed to trade places with them so she could return to the peaceful seclusion of her lab.
Miriam sprang out of bed and dressed quickly in a heavy turtleneck, corduroy miniskirt, and tights. The house was frigid. Was that deliberate? Perhaps the warmbloods thought they were doing her a favor. Her blood was cold so she should be too? Most vampires weren't sensitive to the cold, but she'd never liked it and saw no reason to put up with it now.
If it weren't for Matthew, she would have refused to leave the familiar comfort of Oxford. Miriam freely admitted she was an Old World snob. She'd earned the right. Being over 1600 years old should give you some privileges.
She passed a comb through her dark hair and looked at her reflection. She'd overheard some of her lab assistants advising newbies to not be fooled by her young pixie-like appearance. The warning was unnecessary. It didn't take long for anyone to learn that she didn't mince words. Few knew she was a vampire, but they'd all experienced the bite of her comments on innumerable occasions.
A soft tap on her door was followed by a breathy whisper, pitched low for only vampire ears to hear. "You awake?"
She zipped to the entrance before Marcus could open it. "Just the one I wanted to see! Let's go for a run outside. Fresh air will do us good."
He tossed her a sly look. "The ghosts bothering you?"
She reached up and tousled his hair, not that his blond shock ever looked groomed. "I'm doing them a favor. I'm sure they resent me just as much. You coming?"
"First there's something I want you to see." He grabbed her arm and pulled her down the dark corridor. Her nostrils flared as the scent of yarrow alerted her one of the spooks was about.
It didn't seem to bother Marcus. He was grinning like a teenager on a prank. She supposed it wasn't his fault that he'd come down with some Colonial plague when he was in his early twenties. He would have died if he hadn't accepted Matthew's offer. But it would have been helpful if Marcus had been a little older before being reborn. More mature. More responsible. She and Matthew had been extricating him from scrapes for hundreds of years. Now all of them were about to face what would likely be their most difficult challenge yet. Was Marcus ready for the demands Matthew was making of him?
"Where are we going?" she whispered as he led her down the stairs from her room in the attic.
He pointed to a sharp bend in the hallway on the second floor. Miriam had never ventured there. The old pictures hanging on the walls reminded her of ghosts mocking her.
Marcus prodded her along till she saw a second staircase. For a moment, she breathed easier. A faster escape to the outside world? But that brief hope vanished when he urged her to climb the stairs. Wrong direction! They were already on the second floor. What could possibly await them except another attic with even more ghosts?
After a few steps, they came to a small alcove. Really just a window seat off the staircase landing, it was framed by a large bay window which jutted out from the side of the house. There were soft cushions to relax against. The orchard glistened in the predawn light of the full moon.
Miriam slipped off her cowboy boots and promptly curled up on the cushions to enjoy the view. She'd put up with a few ghosts for this.
Marcus plopped down on the opposite end of the window seat and joined her in gazing out the window. "Not bad, huh?"
She drank in the beauty of the landscape. "You should have brought me here earlier."
"I only just discovered it. The first few days, I had the distinct impression the house wouldn't be pleased by any explorations. Now the ghosts seem to have accepted us."
"Thanks to you." Unlike Marcus, she tended to rub new acquaintances the wrong way. Just ask Diana. "I was sure Diana's aunt was about to hex us until you gave her the bottle of whiskey."
His expression turned serious. "It's a ghost you should thank. When we arrived, I caught a whiff of Sarah's ancestor. The Sarah I knew always smelled of feverfew and lavender. She used them in many of her potions. I bet she was standing right next to Sarah."
"You said you met her when you were a surgeon's assistant," she prompted. Marcus rarely talked about his life before being reborn, and frankly she hadn't been that curious. But in this house she'd like to know more.
He clasped his hands around his knees as his eyes took on a faraway look. "When I joined the Continental Army, we were sent to a small town outside of Boston. That was where Sarah lived. She'd offered her services as a healer. Our commander was from the same town and was glad to accept her assistance. He'd heard the rumors that she was a witch, but all he cared about was that she could provide assistance to the wounded and dying." He swiped a quick hand through his hair. "The sounds of the wounded . . . the dying. I still sometimes hear them at night."
"Me too," Miriam said quietly. For her it was the Siege of Jerusalem. The horrific memories of that period were as vivid as the scars on Diana's back from when she'd been tortured. Miriam's trauma was of a different nature. It was when her husband lost his life.
Matthew once told her it was Marcus's compassion which attracted him to the young orderly. Matthew didn't hold for many of the physicians of the era, but Marcus was an exception. He had a rare empathy with those who were suffering. When he'd been dying in that filthy hut in New Jersey, Marcus had only agreed to be reborn because Matthew promised to send him to college to be a physician.
She slanted a glance at him. He was gazing at the somber gray landscape, but she doubted he saw it. The first rays of the sun were beginning to peek over the trees in the orchard. "Sarah taught me how to set bones, use herbs, make poultices." He turned to smile ruefully at her. "There are lots of ghosts and not just in this house. Friends long dead. Lovers from ages past. I envy the bond between Matthew and Diana."
Miriam didn't answer. She didn't have any hope that she'd ever find someone she'd love as much as Bertrand. Marcus had yet to experience the kind of deep love which a vampire was capable of—a passion much more intense and possessive than anything warmbloods knew about. Would the union of Matthew and Diana be the signal of a new era?
Marcus stood up and pulled her off the cushions. "I bet the coffee's ready. Let's head downstairs. In a few days Matthew and Diana will leave for Elizabethan England. We won't have much longer to tease them."
She broke into a laugh. "You just want more of Emily's vanilla walnuts!"
"Don't you? They bring back memories of muffins and cookies, foods which I used to love and still crave. Their taste is now repellent, but the walnuts taste as delicious as their aroma."
Miriam snorted acknowledgement as she followed him downstairs. A new way to enjoy old foods. Détente through Halloween treats? Why not? Marcus had grown to respect Sarah over two hundred years ago. Her ghost was now facilitating cooperation between vampires and witches.
The world was changing. Miriam had lived through many revolutions and upheavals. The coming one could be the most significant for all of them.
Notes: Madison Ghosts is the first story in Six-Crossed Knot, a series based on the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness. In the next story, Knot of One, Diana and Matthew have timewalked to 1590 and are living in London.
You can find background information about Six-Crossed Knot and All Souls Trilogy on a blog I co-write with Penna Nomen, . . I also made a board on my Silbrith's Stories Pinterest site for Six-Crossed Knot. The board includes my dream cast of actors and location pics. Fanfiction doesn't allow links in notes, but there are links in my profile.
Thanks for reading and hugs to all of you who review or favorite the story! Special thanks to Penna Nomen for outstanding beta services.
Disclaimers: This story is for fun. The world of All Souls Trilogy and its characters are not mine. I'm grateful to Deborah Harkness for allowing fanfic writers to play in her captivating sandbox.
Introduction to the All Souls Trilogy
Diana Bishop is a young historian at Yale University with impeccable credentials. Her graduate degree is from Oxford. She's a specialist in the history of alchemy. Among her hobbies are rowing and yoga. She also happens to be a witch, descended from a line of witches going back at least to Bridget Bishop, the first woman to be executed as a witch in Salem, Massachusetts.
Diana's parents died when she was a young child. She was raised by her aunt Sarah and Sarah's partner Emily, both of whom are also witches. When Diana was growing up, she tried to hide her nature, but in the first novel, A Discovery of Witches, events quickly change her perspective.
In the world of All Souls, there are four types of humanoids. Those with special abilities—witches, vampires, and daemons—exist in dwindling numbers and freely associate with humans. As with humans, individual members run the spectrum from good to evil. A prime example is found in Diana's personal story. Early in the first novel, she learns her parents were killed by fellow witches. Although witches and vampires normally don't associate with each other, she falls in love with a vampire named Matthew Clairmont.
Diana explains that vampires tend to be scientists or doctors, and Matthew is no exception. When she meets him in Oxford, he is a research scientist and scholar. She later learns that he was born in 500 AD in France. Vampires have learned to satisfy their need for blood discreetly and legally. Turning a human into a vampire is only rarely performed and the resulting vampire becomes a member of their sire's family. Matthew is assisted in his scientific research by his son Marcus Whitmore, who was a surgeon's assistant during the American Revolution before being reborn by Matthew. Miriam Shephard, another vampire and a specialist in population genetics, works with Matthew and Marcus.
In the first novel of the trilogy, A Discovery of Witches, Diana meets Matthew and falls in love. Simultaneously she discovers forces are working against both her and Matthew. Diana learns the truth about her parents' deaths and why her witch powers were spellbound. At the end of the story, Diana and Matthew timewalk to the England of 1590 in order for her to learn how to use her powers. The second novel, Shadow of Night, relates their adventures in England, France and Prague during the years 1590-1591. In the third novel, The Book of Life, Diana and Matthew return to the present day for a resolution of the conflict threatening to engulf them.