CHAPTER 3
Half an hour was not a lot of time. My plan was to answer Clawd's questions honestly, and then tell the group everything tomorrow. I didn't want to hide anything from them, but I did want to be able to choose what I shared. I certainly didn't want Spectra listening if she was as gossipy as Clawdeen said. I needed a distraction though; from the things I wasn't going to tell him. I needed something to take his mind off the blanks in my story, and what better distraction for a man is there than a woman's body? I would never actually do anything to Clawd to steal him from Draculara, but if a little shine on my part was what it took to control the truth, then shine up I would.
Witches are never bad looking; in fact they're almost always drop dead gorgeous. I was no exception, and everywhere I went mortal boys would drop their jaws or leave their girlfriends just to look at me. Witch blood is the key ingredient in any decent love potion, which only adds to our appeal. No mortal can look upon a witch and not steal a second glance. Mortal boy's minds are soft and easily corrupted. Monster boys tend to have a higher tolerance, but some fall for the spell. I'd already spent enough time with Clawd to know he wouldn't just up and leave Draculara for me, but that didn't mean he didn't like to look. I was just going to give him a little extra to look at.
I swapped my purple t-shirt and jeans for a black lace top with a low scoop neck and sleeves that started below the shoulder. I chose a darker wash, skinnier leg jean and even opted for a push-up bra, just to seal the deal. I pulled my thick ebony coloured hair down from its beehive and ran a little volume mousse through it. My hair is long, just past elbow length, straight and black as night. It offered cool contrast to my pale cream coloured skin. I gave my eyelashes a good curl and swathed my lips in my very best ruby red lipstick. My violet eyes stood out against my white skin and black hair, my favorite quality. My mother had eyes like this, and so does my Grandma; they're the signature purple colour for the Harman family. I smiled at my reflection in the mirror. I am definitely going to blow the socks off that poor boy.
With five minutes until Clawd said he'd arrive, I raced down to the main floor, and dimmed all the lights. I lit the fireplace in the front entry and the one in the living room. I put a pot of tea on and even managed to send Grandma a quick text.
"Hey Grandma, had a great first day. Having a friend over for an hour or so this evening, don't be alarmed. Don't hurry at your meeting, good luck. Love you, H." My iCoffin beeped as it sent.
"Hi Hex, it's Clawd. Can you open your front gate?"
"Sure thing, on my way." I replied back. I needed to physically open the gate doors in order to bring guests into the estate. I hurried down the walk towards Clawd's headlights. I unbolted the lock and let his truck in. He parked just behind my car, a small red coup I'd gotten for my 560th birthday. I smiled as he got down from the drivers seat.
"Nice place." He said awkwardly.
"Thanks." I led him to the front door.
"I didn't know you'd have to actually move the gate, I could've done that, you shouldn't have walked all the way out there." He said.
"You wouldn't have been able to move it. There's a ward on it to keep strangers out." Clawd's eyes revealed nothing. "Old habits die hard I guess." I finished easily. I opened the door and gestured him through. As he stepped into the front entryway, I slipped in behind him and helped him remove his coat, hung it in the closet and turned to face him, giving him full view of my "shine."
"Wow. You look great. Were you wearing that to school today?"
"Under a jacket." I lied easily.
"You didn't get too warm?" Clawd realized he was staring and blinked hard. "Sorry." He averted his eyes. I led him to the sitting room.
"Grab a seat and get cozy Clawd." I said. "Do you want some tea? Or anything else to drink?"
"I'd love some tea thanks." He said, sitting in the loveseat. Perfect.
I steeped two cups of green tea and added a sprig of thyme to his. Thyme is an herb used in potions and other charms to soothe the mind. Technically it's not magical, but it's still effective. The sprig I put in Clawd's tea would help him lose the awkwardness of prying into my family and let him relax, it's helpful not hurtful. Technically.
I returned with the tea and sat down next to Clawd, watching his eyes scan my entire body, hovering in certain areas and returning to my face. He must have noticed me watching, because he kept apologizing for staring. He tore his gaze away from the tops of my breasts, my pale skin shining in the lighting. I began to think maybe I'd overdone it a little bit and regretted giving him the thyme tea. Oh well, no stopping it now.
"So," He cleared his throat and forced his eyes to meet mine. This might have been a good strategy but for their alluring violet shade. He settled for staring into his tea mug. "Ahem, I was in the school library today, because when you mentioned your last name, it sounded so familiar. I don't mean any disrespect and I certainly don't want to pry, but is what I read true?"
"Well that all depends, Clawd, what did you read?"
"Are you…is this," He gestured randomly in the air. My heart thudded in my chest. He took a big breath and met my eyes. "Are you a witch?"
I had to drop my gaze. He tried to say it nicely, but there was accusation in his voice. "Hex?"
"Yes." I whispered, making my decision. "Yes, I am a witch. A Harmon no less." I said louder, I could hear the pride in my words and I hoped her heard it too. I looked and saw that Clawd was pale, almost as white as me, and that his breathing was quick.
"Drink your tea." I said. He looked at the mug skeptically. I rolled my eyes. "Drink it, it's fine I promise." The thyme would do him good. He took a sip and I saw the muscles in his face start to relax.
"I suppose you're wondering now, who am I exactly? Where did I come from? How did I get here?" Clawd nodded, meeting my eyes, his expression softened.
"But you don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to." He said generously.
"No I do. Start with your questions." I smiled what was supposed to be encouragingly, but was I thought a little too forced to pull off the expression.
"Well, how old are you?"
"In real years or…?"
"In real years."
"I have 562 years. 563 in January." I began to feel uncomfortable. I should've put some thyme in my own tea.
"I'm 18." Clawd smiled. "And Draculara just celebrated her Sweet 1600." I laughed; age is so weird in the monster world.
"Where are you from?" He asked politely.
"Originally? I was born in London England in 1450. But I've moved around a lot since. I've lived in Scotland, Ireland, Holland, Russia, India and now Canada. But we're planning on staying here for a while. At least until I graduate."
"Why did you move around so much?" I bit my lip. "I'm sorry if you don't want to talk about it, that's okay." I shook my head.
"Witch Hunts." I said softly. Clawd 's face was set. I knew this is what he'd really come to hear, and I knew it would be what the gang at school would want to know too. "They used to hunt us, everywhere. It was especially bad for my family. They'd string us up on trees, tie us to burning stakes and torture us. We fled."
"How did you escape?"
"Not many of us did." My expression darkened. We were getting into what I promised I wouldn't talk about, and I intended to keep that promise. I pushed a lock of raven black hair off my shoulder, exposing my left shoulder and leaned across Clawd for the picture of Big Ben being built. While the photograph was cool, the purpose of this stretch wasn't for the memory, but to guide Clawd's focus away from the conversation and down my shirt. He took the bait. I could feel him inhale deeply, taking the scent of my hair and relishing in it. He didn't even look at the picture when I showed it to him; his eyes bugged and travelled the length of my body.
"That's why witches are so rare these days, we prefer to keep a low profile. But Grandma's working on bringing us out into the open, at least within the monster community."
"How can she do that?" He swallowed hard, his eyes on my lips.
"I thought you knew. She's the Crone. The eldest Harman is always the Crone, and witches love tradition."
"What is the Crone exactly? We did something about her in History of Magic last year, but I can't remember."
I thought about this for a moment.
"She's our leader, like a queen, or… the alpha male. The Harmon family has always had strong magical abilities, and her being the oldest and the Crone, makes her the most powerful witch on earth. " I added proudly. He looked at me in amazement.
"So, you can do magic?"
"Sure. I already told you I'm really good at potions, Grandma's been tutoring me for my whole life." I looked down into my empty tea mug. "She's very firm about my mastering of the magical arts. During the Great Exodus, lots of witches had to stop using magic to keep from being discovered. Some families swore it off entirely in an effort to survive. With time, many families forgot their magical heritage and became Lost. I bet there are a few kids at the mortal high school who are Lost."
"What does 'Lost' mean?" He asked curiously. I sighed.
"You have to understand, back then, when mortals were hunting and torturing us, being a witch was really dangerous. Many of the lower class families denied their heritage for so long, they forgot themselves. They grew old and died like mortals. Their descendants are considered Lost. They have witches blood, though often diluted through the ages; they can re-awaken their magic. The only problem is they don't know anything about who they are or what they can do. And tracking them down tree-by-tree is almost impossible. Even if you could find one, bringing back witches blood is an extremely risky and painful experience. It's a tragic thing, to be Lost."
"That sounds horrible." Clawd whispered. He put a hand on my leg, which was intended to be comforting, but he'd placed it on my upper thigh whether by accident or as part of the spell I couldn't be sure. He held my gaze for a moment before realizing what he'd done.
"Oh my God. I am so sorry." He pulled his hand away and moved away from me on the loveseat. I hadn't noticed, but he'd moved closer to me as the evening went on, until we were sharing one of the two cushions. I wondered what would have happened if he didn't snap out of it.
"Draculara." He murmured to himself. "I'm really sorry I did that, I didn't come here with the intention to – "
"Hey, don't worry about it, you can't help it." I shrugged, bouncing my breasts ever so slightly.
"I, uh, what?" He stammered.
"You can't help it. Don't feel bad, you've been doing really well." I repeated, trying to soothe his awkwardness.
"I am?" He looked pleased for a moment then snapped back. "Hey, wait. I've been doing well at what?"
"Not succumbing to me." I said simply. His face paled. "Don't worry! I haven't done anything; I would never! You can't help but be attracted to me. I know exactly what you're feeling right now, and I know it's especially hard for you, being a werewolf and all." I sighed, giving up the game.
He rumpled his hair. "God. I am so sorry, it's just, you're really hot and I'm totally turned on by you. But I swear, I never had anything other than a conversation in mind when you invited me over here. Okay maybe I had teensy little thought, but don't get me wrong, I would never, ever cheat on Draculara." I laughed.
"No, no, you don't understand. It's not your fault you feel that way. Witch blood is spiked with love potion. Literally. You can't help but be attracted to me, and your werewolf side is probably going nuts right now. In fact if this was a full moon…" I wiggled my eyebrows and Clawd growled. He slapped a hand over his mouth and turned bright red. I laughed again. "But now that it's out in the open, it'll be easier. You saw what happened with Heath today at school. Another five minutes and he would've been drooling. We've been talking for almost an hour, how you're acting right now is impressive.
"Yeah." He didn't seem convinced.
"I would never put you under a spell Clawd. The goddess as my fire I will never enchant you. And I think you should know, I didn't wear this outfit to school today." He gave me an odd look but I continued. "I may have wanted to see how far I could push you," I said slowly, gauging his reaction. He raised an eyebrow at me.
"You playing with my mind witch?" He teased. I smiled, happy that he wasn't angry.
"Hey, you passed." I said with a laugh. "Isn't that nice to know? And now that you know I'm a witch, you can be a little more on your guard at school. Soon I'll be able to do this-" I placed my hand on the centre of his chest and pushed him into the leather arm of the sofa, leaning forward with him and straddling his waist. "-And you won't feel a thing." His breathing was rapid and I could see his nipples poking the inside of his shirt. I relaxed and fell back into my seat. "Guess we're not there yet." I smirked.
"I guess not." Clawd said, mussing his hair. "Right, well, it's getting late, thanks for…everything." He stood up and led me to the front door. I handed him his letterman jacket and opened the door.
"Hey Hex?" He said just as I was closing the door.
"Yeah?"
"You're really good you know. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I think the gang will really love you."
"Oh I know they will. They have to, remember?" I said playfully.
"No I mean, genuinely love you. I'm sorry for poking around in your family's business. Thanks for being so great about it."
"Anytime Clawd." His eyes slid from my face again. "Tell Draculara I said hi." I added smiling at his blush.
I shut the door behind me and smiled to myself. I'd finally met someone who could handle a one on one conversation with me without turning into a lapdog! I'd been totally charming, even borderline slutty and he'd gotten out alive and what's more, with his dignity. That made me so happy, werewolves had been known to, let their inner beast get the best of them, but Clawd remained faithful to his girlfriend. I raced upstairs and washed my face, threw on a pair of boxer shorts, a t-shirt and settled down with some popcorn to watch a movie. I was asleep in minutes.
