Chapter 502) Secret Plans & Potions

Impatient people are like bees; they kill themselves in stinging others.

~ George Eliot

Glimmerbrook
Leeora Levesque's home

Chase, Colton, Cesare and Caelan stood staring at Leeora, who looked surprisingly unfazed by the 4 vampires in her home.

“Well, like I told you, gentlemen, SHE came to ME. SHE came HERE, asking for something to drive her man out of his mind with, said she tried all the usual things, and nothing did the trick so she was hoping I could give her something to get her hubby’s juices flowing on overdrive. I don’t judge, they may both still be very young, but have known each other for a long time, and I know from experience that a pregnancy can up the desire in us ladies, but sometimes the idea of bedroom activities with their pregnant woman scares a man stiff – or actually the exact opposite of stiff – some men just have some deep inhibitions about having intercourse with a pregnant woman and just can’t get over it, so I made her something simple, yet very effective to give to her man to help with all that. That is the beginning and end of my involvement, gentlemen.” Leeora smiled, it was easy for anyone to get lost in her coppery warmth and blinding beauty, carefully groomed to distract from the fact that she seemed very confident and not worried at all by the impressive quartet before her, who probably would have put fear into most other people, especially knowing they all were vampires. Any vampire was, by definition, dangerous. Lethal.

There was a good reason for her nonchalance, she was a very powerful witch herself, underestimating her would be a terrible mistake. Even for vampires. Witches and vampires alike often were stunningly beautiful, a trait sometimes obtained in occult ways, it made a very powerful tool to distract others, especially mortals, from their true nature. Beauty truly could be blinding to many, until it was too late for them.

“What’s wrong with you?! Nobody needs help spicing things up in the bedroom when they are in their mid-twenties and newlyweds! Spicing it up is also a very liberal description for something that drove a vampire so crazy for unbridled passion and lust that he lost control ended up turning a pregnant girl! MY little girl! You couldn’t see that coming?! My poor daughter and unborn grandson’s lives are now at stake – because of you and your stupid spells and potions!” Colton roared at Leeora, who remained unfazed, barely raising one eyebrow at his outburst.

“Me?! You are blaming ME, Colton?! YOU want to blame ME for the vindictiveness of your own daughter? Hahaha … Oh, that’s just extra-rich! Aren’t you positively cute and precious? Ha! My dear darling Colton, lucky for you, you are still easy on the eye, for you most certainly aren’t very smart. Look, as a mother to three grown children myself, I know it would be hard to believe as the proud daddy that your little girl came to me and LIED through her teeth! I didn’t even know I was making it to be given to a vampire, since you frequently conveniently only ever remember that I am related to some of you when you need something from me, like you do now. For all I knew, Connor was a mortal. Well, guess he isn’t, so what? So Connor lost it a little too much and now Keira’s turning. Big whoop. And even I know those two well enough to know that was coming anyway, one way or another. For as long as I have known Keira she wanted to be fanged, for reasons well beyond me. And it’s nothing they both wouldn’t be used to. One fanged, both fanged, neither fanged, who can keep up with all that drama you keep creating? Aren’t vampires supposed to be the sophisticated among all of us occult? All that sounds more like trailer trash problems to me.” Leeora remained cool as a cucumber.

“Watch your tone!” Caelan growled, a frightening sight, even to most seasoned vampires, yet Leeora remained completely unaffected.

“Me? Now why would I do that? This is MY home, in MY town. YOU are but guests here, so maybe YOU all should behave accordingly and remember your manners. YOU all came here filled with accusations. Once more you were wrong about me. But you have blame to place, so naturally the secret daughter, the illegitimate bastard child gets pulled from the almost forgotten dusty attic box. Should be used to it by now, shouldn’t I, daddy dearest?”

Caelan looked furious, he now stepped closer to his illegitimate daughter with late witch Seraphina, they stared at each other for a moment.

“You disappoint me! You are turning more and more into your mother!” he growled.

Suddenly movement came into him as he spat out at Leeora’s feet before he slapped her. Not with all his might, barely a very light touch only, meant symbolically, only enough to get his displeasure across.

“CAELAN!” his father Cesare reprimanded him, and with a sharp inhale of air, Caelan shook his head and just disappeared.

For a fleeting moment Leeora glared at the others, then smiled again.

“Oh, right, sure, blame the witch for being a witch – and for everything else while you are at it. As usual. How pitifully predictable and lazily convenient. Just like your kind and the mortals have been doing for millennia. It’s always the witches’ fault. Fine, so let’s get it over with. Who’s next? Or are we gonna skip all that and take it straight to burning me at the stake? Fact is that I didn’t do anything wrong. I helped a girl out. That’s all. If you want to place blame, blame Keira. She is the one with ulterior motives, not me. For all I knew all I was doing was helping her get a good lay in; God knows being pregnant can be rough, so a nice relaxing roll in the hay certainly helped brighten some of my pregnant days more than once. I had nothing to do with the rest! If you want to avoid such miscommunications in future, maybe remember I exist too and let me know you are unturning or returning or whatever the hell you guys are up to all the time!”

“We didn’t do anything, Leeora, it wasn’t intentional, this is happening on its own! We found out the hard way that you cannot permanently unturn natural born vampires. I would know, I was one of the first it happened to as was Cole. We are all turning back, one by one and were just as surprised as you are now.” Chase told her.

“Oh? And it didn’t cross your mind that this revelation would be good information to have for me as well, considering I am married to a former naturally born vampire and we have a daughter together who was born a vampire and who is now a mother of two herself? No? You all just thought we’d find out the hard way eventually? Thanks much. What else is new? Well then, I am almost glad you are here now once more trying to blame a witch for your misfortune, at least this way I found out about all this before the fact. How lovely – not. Can’t wait to break those wonderful news to my darling Artemus and our sweet Ophelia then. Artemus has been studying to ascent into witchcraft, guess that was a waste of time then, since you can’t be both, vamp and witch, and while one is a choice, sounds like the other is a true curse, huh?” Leeora’s tone remained polite but had a distinct sarcastic undertone.

“My apologies, Leeora, you are absolutely correct. I will personally speak to your husband Artemus and your lovely daughter Ophelia about this phenomenon, seeing how they will rejoin my coven again soon. It was indeed an unfortunate oversight on my part and I will take more care in the future to keep you looped in.”

“Yeah, I bet you will, grandfather, but pardon me for not holding my breath for it, seeing how I – unlike others here present – unfortunately do need oxygen.” Leeora’s tone still had the same polite, yet sarcastic tone, now laced with clear disbelief.

“Okay, I know I am biased here, since Connor is my son, but I happen to know for a fact that they didn’t have any issues in the bedroom, Connor actually told me a week or so ago that sex is one of the things that help Keira with her rough pregnancy issues so they have been very active of late if only to help her cope. Leeora was lied to, Keira had an agenda, and she knew very well that being turned while pregnant is forbidden and dangerous, either she didn’t want to wait to become a vampire again or didn’t have faith that she would even get the authorization, she knew Connor may talk a big game but would never actually just turn her against Cesare’s will, so she came here to get this potion from Leeora, hoping it would cause Connor to loose control and turn her if she drove him crazy enough. We all know how much she always wanted to be a vampire, ever since she was a little girl it had bothered her that she was born mortal, we all know how she lost her shit when the government decided all turned mortals had to be unturned again. It all sounds like something Keira would do, act first, think later. It checks out with me.” Chase said.

“That is MY daughter, Chase, who may or may not live, and my grandson! All because YOUR son turned her while pregnant, and that witch made the drugs for him to lose his mind enough to do it. You cannot all be serious and try to blame my girl for this mess! She may die, Chase my baby and her baby may DIE!” Colton ranted panicked at his best friend.

“Yes, I know that, Cole, but bending the truth doesn’t change anything either. Keira’s like a daughter to me as well, I helped raise her, just like you helped raise Connor and you should know he would NEVER do this if his mind wasn’t clouded by something. I know you know! We have to prove it wasn’t Connor just acting recklessly, or you KNOW he would be severely punished or even exiled for that!” Chase ranted back.

Cesare interfered now.

“Gentlemen, please desist. I agree with Chase. It’s not Leeora’s fault, nor Connor’s. Keira has a history of making rash decisions by the seat of her pants. Leeora, pray tell, what exactly did you give Keira?”

“Oh, nothing fancy, very harmless, just some herbs that increase the stamina and the sexual drive in men while lowering the thresholds holding them back normally. Really not harmful and the effects only last a couple hours maybe. Between you and me, I have used it myself plenty of times and my darling Artemus is still none the wiser. He has fun, I have my fun and that’s all there is to it. I myself used it while pregnant. Twice. Now, obviously my husband had long chosen the way of the witches and left his fanged life behind, so I had no idea it would make vampires extra-bitey.”

“Well, so now that we got to the bottom of it all, all we can do is damage control. I can honestly say in all the centuries I have now lived I have seen my fair share of unbelievable and unlikely events; this odd scenario is a first even for me. Leeora, thank you kindly for confirming the little flask we found was indeed prepared by you, I sincerely apologize for your father’s behavior, I will punish him severely for hitting you, and we shall now leave you to do your things again, while we return to the castle to try and figure out what to do.”

“No problem and don’t worry about it. Dad barely touched me and truth be told, there are few things he could do to me that would hurt more than being separated from a dad you love only because of what we both are. I know it’s not his fault, but it didn’t make it hurt any less being snuck in and out of your castle on a few rare occasions, having to hide if someone showed up unannounced. I know dad was just frustrated and I also know I remind him a lot of my late mother, which always plays tricks on his mind. Leave him be. If it had really bothered me, trust me, you all would not have been able to miss it. I am not a damsel in distress, not ever. But I do appreciate the gesture, almost as if we were indeed family, grandfather.” Leeora’s tone was laced with backhanded accusations and the bitterness of never really belonging, which had overshadowed her youth, but ultimately made her stronger and fiercer.

Cesare nodded but chose to let the complaint go uncommented. Cesare loved his feisty and fiery granddaughter, just as his son Caelan loved his firstborn daughter, he had been a very involved father to the best of his abilities, but the more powerful of a witch Leeora became, the higher she managed to rise in the ranks of her kind, the more complicated their relationship became as well. A conflict of interests. All throughout history had witches and vampires and werewolves and mortals feuded and tried to eradicate each other as a species, all of which still held true to this day, the current truce was delicate and instable, which made their relationship rocky at best and there was nobody truly to blame for it. Victims of circumstances.

Leeora added an extra-level of complexity to it when some decades ago she fell in love with and married a renegade vampire, the type her father normally hunted and killed, but Artemus Levesque became a true father to Leeora’s child from a first marriage, he gave up his freedom and fiendish ways of the renegade life and joined Cesare’s vampire coven, then had two more children with Leeora, one a witcher like his mother, the other a vampire like her father. Artemus’ presence and vampiric powers protected Leeora from several attempts on her life while she was ascending to become the leader of the witches, and he made her more willing to work with the vampires to upkeep said shaky peace between the species, and he eventually chose to get un-turned and started learning the ways of the witches.

Complexity all the way around, especially if you also add that when Leeora was a teen, she had an intense crush on Colton Hargrave, long before he even met his current wife, they dated for a little while but she was too intense for Colton so he broke up with Leeora, which left her bitter. It wasn’t until a few years ago that she and Colton could even uphold a real conversation without it ending in a bitter fight.

“I’ll go and be with my son. Connor is a complete mental wreck right now. He may be 27 years old, but he needs his dad now and Patches had to stay with the younger kids.” Chase said.

“I will come with you and make sure he knows that nobody holds him responsible. Poor kid. He really got it rough of late.” Cesare agreed.

“Connor has it rough?! It’s my daughter and grandson who are laid-up in a coffin in your castle right now, fighting for their lives and we are throwing pity parties for Connor? Sorry, I rather go to the castle and sit with Keira!” Colton snarled, then vanished.

Chase’s facial expression darkened, Colton was his best friend, so Cesare pat his back.

“It’s a father’s worry talking, Chase, he will come around and realize this is hard on everyone involved, and that it is YOUR grandson as well, Chase, just as it is my great-great-grandson, so naturally I am deeply concerned myself for the wellbeing of mother and child. Give Colton time, a father’s worry sometimes clouds his mind. I will come with you, as I shall wish to speak to Connor. Speaking of a father’s worries, please fear not Chase, Connor’s innocence has been more than sufficiently established, he will face no punishment. I wish to tell him that myself, as well as leave him with some words of encouragement. I have sound reason to believe that Keira and her baby will pull through, but it all I can divulge to you about this and only to lighten your worry. What I do not know is whether or not the baby will be vampire or mortal, but that is truly the least of all our worries. At least until he might add yet to the current number of the vampire population I have to disclose to the other occult and mortal rulers at the next meeting.” Cesare told Chase, nodded at Leeora and only black clouds remained in their wake.