Legacy Of Magick (Legacy Of Magick Series, Book 1) (8 page)

Holly nodded, her curly hair bouncing. “It was one of the first lessons you taught us Mom. Why are you worried about this now?”

“Because, girls, there are families that follow a different type of magickal tradition, less earth centered and more ceremonial. Not the natural magick we work with. However, this is not merely a difference in styles or taste...”

Aunt Gwen stopped and seemed to be choosing her next words with care. “The fact is that not all magick is positive or constructive. Some individuals use magick to control, to coerce, and to harm,” she paused and then looked straight at me. “And there are those that even specialize in the darker magicks.”

I heard footsteps in the hall and Bran poked his head into the room. On cue, Merlin arched his back and hissed at the intrusion. “Mom?” Bran reached for Gwen. “I got the text message. What’s happened?” To my surprise Bran was as casually dressed as I had ever seen him. Gone was the jacket and conservative tie. While his dark dress slacks still looked neat and professional, his pale blue dress shirt was unbuttoned at the throat, and I saw, as he came into the room and took his mother’s hands, that he had his shirt sleeves folded up. It boggled my mind a bit. Bran looked almost like a regular man and not a stuffy academic.

Aunt Gwen smiled at her son. “Take a seat Bran and I will bring you up to speed. Also, I am going to tell Autumn some of our the family history. You should be here for this.”

Bran nodded, and started towards the window seat to sit next me. Then he stopped and reconsidered as Merlin continued to hiss and let out a warning wail. “Call him off.” He ordered me.

I resisted the urge to say “Good kitty,” and pat Merlin on the head. As if he knew my thoughts, Merlin whipped his head around to glare at me. Instead I said to Bran, “He’s your family’s cat. I can’t help it if he doesn’t like you. ” I shrugged.

As Bran walked towards me, Merlin narrowed his eyes at my cousin with an impressive growl. Holly gasped and covered her mouth with her hands, while Ivy sat there next to her sister on the couch, grinning at the cat. I have to admit I had never seen Merlin act so aggressively. Bran stopped again and seemed to reconsider as Merlin cranked up the growl to a yowl.

“Oh for Goddess sake!” Aunt Gwen rolled her eyes and marched across the room to face down a mass of protective, spitting black fur.

“Merlin!” Aunt Gwen snapped her fingers under the cat’s nose and he cocked his head up to look at Gwen. “Behave yourself or leave the room!” She pointed at the doorway and Merlin’s growling noises turned off like a light switch. Merlin sat there and blinked innocently up at my aunt. Then he laid down next to me on the window seat, stretched out on his belly, and let out a cute little meow. It sounded so ridiculous after the hissing and spitting that I chuckled.

Aunt Gwen waved Bran to the window seat. “Now, sit down next to Autumn.” She directed him.

“I’ll grab a chair,” Bran stated.

“Nonsense,” Aunt Gwen snapped back.

Slowly, as if approaching a cobra, Bran walked up and sat down next to me in the empty spot on the window seat. He did not take his eyes off Merlin until he was fully seated. Merlin laid his head down on his white tipped paws, and began to purr, looking adorable—just for spite, I’m sure.

“That cat is so twisted,” Bran complained.

Bran’s comment had Merlin looking up at him. Merlin rose and climbed up to circle and then sprawled himself half way across my cousin’s lap, who did his best not to react. Merlin rarely bothered with Bran. He tried to nudge the cat off his lap, but the cat snuggled up as if they were the best of friends. Fifteen pounds of cat pinned Bran to his spot. He wasn’t going anywhere.

Merlin draped over Bran’s lap and stretched one white paw out and over towards me. It rested on my arm as if he was letting me know. I was still his favorite, even though he was enjoying making my cousin squirm.

Bran stared at me as if it were my fault, grumbling about cat hair being all over his new pants. I smiled at him very sweetly. Aunt Gwen shut her eyes and muttered something about patience being a virtue.

“Mom, you were mentioning people who specialized in dark magicks?” Holly said, apparently trying to pull things back on track.

“Yes, I was,” Gwen’s voice was as grim as I had ever heard it, even after her confrontation with a Drake in her shop.

“Know this,” she began. “There are those individuals who manipulate and abuse the Craft and the powers of magick for their own gain. They care nothing about the harm they cause, or the free will of others. The Bishops, and other families, have stood against this type of abuse of the power for generations. Because of this we have made enemies.”

Bran took over the story at this point, “According to our family history, a feud began in the 1700’s after our ancestors left the village of Salem and moved north. Three other families with the Bishops began a new community. These four families settled quietly, planted their crops, and raised their children in peace. Eventually the families became combined as there were marriages from one family into another. Then the settlement grew and, eventually, the territory that the four families had first settled became part of the state of New Hampshire.”

New Hampshire, I thought with a jolt. Where I had grown up and lived with Mom and Dad before he passed away. “How do you know all of this?” I asked my cousin.

“Bran is the family historian.” Aunt Gwen said. “He is our record keeper.”

“Sort of like a magickal librarian?” I asked.

“Yes, but he not only keeps our ancestor’s journals and grimoires, he has studied them. He also knows the history and has worked on the genealogy of the four families.” Gwen explained.

“Autumn, if it helps, think of him like Giles from
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
,” Ivy grinned.

Bran rolled his eyes and let out a long suffering sigh at Ivy’s characterization of him. I guess he didn’t like being compared to the slightly stuffy, tweed wearing, English, librarian.

I gestured towards the bookcase across the room filled with modern and colorful books on the Craft. “I’ve seen shelves with magickal books here and in the family room, but these books are not as old as what you are talking about.”

Holly leaned forward on the loveseat towards me. “Autumn, there is a separate library filled with antique books and magickal journals secreted in the house.” she said to me.

Bran shifted beside me on the window seat.

“You kept them hidden from me?” I asked.

“Not hidden,” Gwen said as if offended. “Private. We keep them private and safe from the people that are not meant to see them.”

That hurt, more than I expected, and made me angry. “So you didn’t trust me,” I said flatly and watched my aunt to see her reaction.

“I am sorrier than I can say that your feelings are hurt. I was trying to protect you and give you some time to adjust to living here, with us, at the manor. But after today, that’s all changed.”

She looked sincere, but too many extraordinary things had happened today for me to take what she said at face value. When Aunt Gwen asked Bran to finish his story, I sighed loudly.

Bran nodded to his mother and continued. “It was after New Hampshire achieved statehood that a new and powerful family came to the area from the old country. This family was welcomed by the four magickal families at first. Then it became obvious that the magick of the new family was not the gentle folk magick that the original four families had practiced.”

He tried to shift Merlin carefully off his lap as he spoke, but the cat continued to sprawl there, ignoring him. “The new family had influence and money; they combined this with their darker magicks. Little by little, they took over the settlement and the surrounding territory. The four families banded together and tried to put a stop to the troubles, but they were not entirely successful.”

“Wait.” I said. “Are we talking about a war?”

“More like a magickal feud than a war.” Gwen explained. “It went on for some time, and then things got complicated between one of our ancestors and the son of the family of dark magicians.”

“A Romeo and Juliet type of deal?” I asked.

“A Bishop woman named Patience and a son from the feuding family, James, fell in love. Their relationship angered both of the couple’s families. Since both families were against the match, the couple ran off and were married in secret. But even then they could not keep their secret forever.” Bran told me.

“Don’t tell me, let me guess. She was pregnant.” I rolled my eyes. Seriously? This was getting ridiculous. Like some colonial soap opera.

“Yes,” Bran nodded, my sarcasm clearly skipping right over his head. “This upset the family of dark magicians so much that they disinherited their son. He, in turn, abjured his magick, never practicing again. He and his bride built a home on Bishop land and waited for their child to be born.”

“This couple’s story did not have a happy ending,” Holly said with a sad face.

“No, it didn’t,” Bran agreed. “Shortly after their daughter was born, influenza hit the territory. Many people died. The Bishops nursed their family and friends through the epidemic with their herbal remedies as best they could. However, James caught influenza and couldn’t be saved. While Patience buried her husband, his family began publicly accusing Patience of witchcraft.”

“Which would have been a death sentence back then.” Ivy said. “That’s even if she survived prison and went on to a trial…” She shuddered.

“That’s a little hypocritical, isn’t it?” I asked. “Especially since they were supposed to have practiced magick themselves. Wouldn’t that have been a stupid thing to start rumors about?”

My aunt nodded in agreement.

“So, what happened to Patience?” I wanted to know, despite myself.

“One night a mob came for Patience, planning to seize her and to take her child.” Bran said. “The Bishops and many of their friends tried to stop the mob from storming Patience’s cottage, but eventually they broke in. To everyone’s shock, Patience and her baby had disappeared. No one, not even her own family, knew where she and her child were. There was a search, but they were never found. Foul play was suspected and no one in the village ever heard from Patience or her child again.”

My aunt stepped forward to add, “So a feud began in earnest between the two families, and as the years have passed the feud has continued.”

Fascinating. Melodramatic
—
but fascinating.
“So what does this have to do with me?” I demanded.

Bran looked at his mother, who nodded her approval to finish the story. “The last name of the family of dark magicians, James’ family... was Drake.”

CHAPTER SIX

It took a moment for that to sink in. “Seriously?” I laughed at Bran. “You seriously expect me to believe that a family feud between the Drake family and ours — that you say started in colonial America — has held for over three hundred years?” I rolled my eyes at Bran. What a freaking drama queen.

“Eventually new branches of the Bishop family tree and some of the other members of the four families, moved west with the Louisiana Purchase.” Bran said. “They came to be settled here, in William’s Ford.”

Aunt Gwen took up the story. “William’s Ford is a unique geographical area as two of the largest rivers on the continent meet here. This is a natural place of power and the families became established permanently. As time passed the Drake family, also drawn by the magick and power of the land, settled here as well.”

“And what? The magickal feud continued?” I rubbed my forehead.

“It has. But it’s not as overt as it was in the old days.” Aunt Gwen explained.

“I’m going to get a massive headache if you guys keep this history lesson up too much longer.” I joked.

To my surprise Holly shook her head at me and Ivy sat there with her fingers steepled. She tapped them together and arched an eyebrow. I was the only person who thought this was funny, apparently.

“I should have known you wouldn’t take this seriously.” Bran sniffed at me.

I really started to laugh then. “All we need is some melodramatic background music, like the old
Dark Shadows
reruns Dad used to watch.”

Aunt Gwen spoke over my laughter. “Regardless, that is how the magickal feud began. It followed the families even as they settled into new territories further west, and it has continued to this day.”

“Yeah, clashes of good magick and evil magick pop up in the Midwest every day.” I shot back. I was
so
done with this conversation. It had been a hell of a day, and now this nonsense. I was exhausted. I stood up to leave and go back to my room.

“Autumn,” my aunt said softly, “I want you to stay away from Duncan Quinn.”

“What? Why should I?” I stared at her.

“His family is powerful and not to be underestimated,” was her reply.

I stopped and thought about that comment Duncan had made to me today at the club pool, how we were not the only family in town that had magick. That suddenly seemed a little ominous. On the other hand, I considered the jolt and the warm tingly energy I felt whenever we touched. Then, I thought about how much I was attracted to him.

Decision made.

“I will not. This is
your
stupid feud not mine. Besides, you talked to him yourself at the shop today. Duncan is a nice guy.” I defended him.

“He was
inside
our shop?” Bran asked incredulously. He stood up and Merlin jumped off his lap with a yowl.

“He walked right over the threshold, introduced himself, and attempted to shake my hand,” Gwen said to Bran.

“He was able to comfortably cross the threshold?” Bran asked her.

“He looked comfortable enough to me while he flirted with Autumn,” Ivy interjected as she stood at my side.

I thought back to Duncan perusing the shop’s herbs. “But, he promised to bring his mother back to shop.” I said to my aunt, feeling even more confused. I turned to Bran next. “Duncan said that he knew you, that you helped him with old blueprints and historical records of the buildings he was rehabbing.” I don’t know why I even bothered, Bran totally ignored me.