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©® KAYCEE** Pseudonym 2012 (real initials TF; Publication held in electronic/hardcopy copyright by TF) Seattle, WA

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9

"How in the hell?" I blurted out.

Dustin spoke up after he took a deep swig of his coffee, "She's a Wiccan."

He tilted his cup up to Ms. Jermaine, "I'm impressed. I've only had this once and that was nearly 50 years ago in Indonesia. Kopi Luwak is quite expensive and quite rare. How did you get your hands on it?"

"SHE'S A WITCH?" I said a little too loudly making Dustin prod me and point at the door towards the outer office and the old toad that lay without.

"Wiccan. Witches and warlocks are different. We are more nature based and with more rituals. We are born of nature; call upon the forces of nature and magick, unlike witches and warlocks who are inherently magical. You could equate us as being similar to Druids," Ms. Jermaine corrected me.

"And," she continued turning back to Dustin, "As to the coffee, I have my own supplier out of Bali. I get shipments once a month," tipping back her cup and finishing it off.

"Oh, that was good!" she said putting the cup down. "By the way," waving her hand, "the door and the walls are sound proof." Dustin smiled.

"What's Kopi Luwak coffee?" Eli asked.

It seemed that everyone was ignoring the fact that she basically had just 'outed' the two of them. I kept turning my head from to another as they spoke while trying to digest everything and keep up with the conversation.

"Civet coffee," Dustin quipped with a smile.

Eli dropped his cup, "BLEAH! SERIOUSLY? This is the stuff that comes out of the ass of a cat?"

Dustin and Ms. Jermaine started to laugh. "Leave it to a wolf to have a problem with a cat," she chuckled.

"Hey!" Eli spoke up, "I have no problems with cats. I just have a problem in which my coffee is essentially 'pooped' out of a cat and then turned into my coffee!"

That hit me, "This stuff," pointing to the pot, "Comes out in cat shit?"

"Not as harsh sounding as that, Tristan," running her finger around the cups rim before sitting back with her arms crossed, "the coffee bean cherries are eaten by the Asian Palm Civet; and yes, as Mr. Johnson states they are cat-like. The civet eats the cherries for their pulp. The beans don't digest but the stomach enzymes enter the beans and knock down the inherent bitterness that can be common in so many coffees. I dare say that it's much better than that name brand place down the street that roasts their coffee into nasty, burnt beans."

"Here! Here!" Dustin raised his cup again and drank. He kept looking at Ms. Jermaine funny the entire time though as if something was on his mind.

"Ok, ok, enough about 'cat crap coffee', how in the hell did she know what you two were or for that matter, prevent you from bending her will?" I spat out hurriedly.

"I told you," Dustin said stretching out, "She's a Wiccan."

My response was a scowl.

Dustin laughed, "Ok, ok... Have you even heard of Wicca?"

"Yes, but I thought it meant witchcraft or sorcery."

"Be careful there," Ms. Jermaine responded while pouring herself another cup, "I'm a little more tolerant for the few of my kind but witchcraft and sorcery is not the same as Wicca. Some get slightly agitated at being lumped all together; sort of like all gay men are hairdressers."

Eli, who by this time, had shoved the cup of coffee further from his presence, chimed in, "As she said earlier, Wicca is 'nature magic'. It is magic derived from nature itself and the four natural elements plus the 'spirit', which is why she was able to essentially make us. They and the few other types that are born of nature magic along with witches, warlocks, sorcerers, sorceresses, etc., like all magic, being inherited or part of their being, are able to see through all supernaturals and immune to all the mind powers of a vampire."

"What other types? What make up? All powers?" as the questions rolled off my tongue to the point that Eli thought I was going to hyperventilate and slapped my back.

Dustin uncrossed his legs and stretched a bit, "Wicca and nature magic users are immune from the mind powers of a vampire, like with what you used with Shirley," he stated making Ms. Jermaine stop in mid sip but didn't say a word and let him continue. I wondered if I was the only one who'd caught it.

"That's what makes magic users so troublesome to vampires. They can't be controlled or bent using the will," he said.

"So they can harm vampires?" I asked.

Dustin shrugged, "Yes and no. They can't be controlled so you don't know what they are thinking or able to make them do your bidding so that leaves you vulnerable but they are able to be hurt by other vampiric means," as he showed his fangs.

"Wiccans however," he continued, "were part of the contingent that help end the vampire issue I spoke of earlier today."

"So, they can cast spells and such?" as I looked between the three of them for answers.

"Can and do. They have inherent magic. It is just more focused towards the use natural items like herbs, potions and the four elements in their incantations. Wiccans tend to be almost always, with a few exceptions, female. Druids are almost always male, again, with a few exceptions, always male," as I listened to my first 'magical' lesson.

He continued, "Witches have inherent magic(s) but use incantations, spells and fewer potions while Sorceresses natural abilities are enhanced by potions that are buffered by a spell on the potion. Sorceresses also can read the future. The same goes with their male counter parts Druids, Warlocks and Sorcerers," Eli finished and then addressed Ms. Jermaine, "By the way, do you have any water?"

Ms. Jermaine snickered and pointed to the mini-fridge in the corner. Eli opened it and I saw an array of small jars, vials and various plants.

He grabbed a bottle of water and sat back down, "Thank you."

"What other types can stop a vampire from controlling or reading their thoughts?" looking over at Dustin.

"As we stated those of Nature Magic, Wiccans and Druids, then there are certain fairy types, Native American Shamans and Elves," Dustin added.

"Elves?" my eyes widening at the thought.

Dustin laughed, "After what you've seen in the past five days and your questioning about Elves?"

"Speaking of," Ms. Jermaine spoke getting up to retrieve a bottle of water for me, "I spoke with an old elven friend of yours Mr. Douglass," she paused looking over to her desk for something, "actually a friend of ours, the other day."

Dustin stopped laughing and looked at her, hard. I could see shock on his face and as if that nagging spot in his brain was trying to come to the top, like cream on fresh milk.

She got up moved some files and pulled out a knife along with a fountain pen before coming back and placing them on the desk. The knife made be worry. Worry a lot. However, neither Dustin nor Eli seemed to be bothered.

"Lysander is doing quite well," as she smiled.

Dustin's eyes widened exponentially before he jumped up screaming, "CASANDRA! OH MY FUCKING GOD! IT'S YOU! I DIDN'T RECOGNIZE YOU! I mean," he gushed before grabbing Ms. Jermaine and pulled her into a hug, tears falling down his face and he held her tight.

I looked over to Eli who looked about as lost as I did.

"Um, Dus?" Eli asked.

"I'm sorry babe," Dustin said pulling Eli up off his chair quickly.

I giggled softly. I had never heard him use that word with Eli in the short time that I had known either of them. He grabbed me a second later and pulled me up as well.

Dustin got all formal, "Eli and Tristan, I would like you to meet my oldest friend. I do mean oldest. Cassandra St. Germaine, spelled with a 'G'."

The two of us nodded. We were both lost and trying to figure out why the hell he was being so formal.

I looked over at her desk and noticed the spelling difference, "Ok, I don't get it."

Eli shrugged for a moment then something struck him as he was beginning to understand. He snapped his fingers, "A reincarnate."

"Very good Mr. Johnson," Ms. Jermaine smiled brightly.

"But, I go by Sandra Jermaine now Dustin. I have to change just a little bit," she giggled. Her voice and her mannerisms began to change and she sounded different. It sounded, I don't know... "Why do you sound French or Cajun now?" I asked.

"He's a smart one, isn't he?" Ms. Jermaine said patting my head like some small child.

I grimaced. She laughed, "Oh child!"

She made to have us sit back down again and looked over to Dustin, "You want too?"

Dustin shrugged, "It's like this Tristan. Cassandra, or 'Cassie' as I've known her, is the reincarnate of her former self. Wiccans and Druids have the ability to reincarnate into another body once they get too old or feel that they've gotten too old. They are long lived thanks to their inherent nature magic but the do age, albeit faster than most supernaturals, still much, much slower than humans."

"When I met Cassie," he paused for a moment watching her blush from his obvious pet name for her, "She was nearly two hundred and living in New Orleans having come over from France seventy-five years earlier. She fit well in the New World and the French influence of the city. I had just been turned and was struggling with it. She knew my sire, Alaine, who had helped found the city of New Orleans under the command of 'de Bienville', and with their help I got through the struggles I faced from the change. She's not only a Wicca but a Voodoo Priestess, a 'Mambo Asogwe'."

Ms. Jermaine patted his arm, "You did well sha. How is Alaine?"

Dustin's face dropped.

"Dustin?" she asked immediately.

"He's dead," Dustin spoke up in a choked voice.

"Oh Mon Dieu! S'est diable produit?" as she kneeled on the floor, "Sha?"

"Dean.." as he broke down and Eli rushed over to Dustin's side.

I could tell, hell, I could sense in his mind why Dustin was so much more emotional about this in front of this woman than with Eli or I. My mind began to wander towards the three of them. I realized way to quick that I'd done something that I shouldn't have when all three looked over at me.

"Oh fuck!" I started to get up and run out of the office but Eli was faster and caught me.

I broke down, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. It just happened. I don't know why."

"Shhhhh..." he cooed in my ear, "It's alright Tristan. We know. Both Dus and I understand."

By that time, Dustin had gained a bit more control over himself while moving quickly to both Eli and I. He pulled both of us into a hug.

"It's ok Tristan. It really is baby," as he pulled me into a deeper hug. He and Eli both kissed the top of my head and moved us all back towards the chairs.

"Cassie," Dustin began, "this all goes back to Dean..." as he began to tell her what had happened over the past week from when we first met till now.

*******

I'm not sure how long I sat there numb. Numb from the fact that I was reliving it all over again, listening to what had happened and more detail than what I had originally been given by either Eli or Dustin. It hit me hard and I began to shake. Eli immediately pulled me up and into his lap as I nestled into him with my head cradled in his shoulder. Ms. Jermaine looked over with a sweet, yet sad, smile.

"So this Boy?" she began but stopped as I whipped my head over and stared hard and fast at her.

I was NO boy. I might look young but, fucking hell, I was twenty-one years old! She realized why I had the look on my face. "Beb[ii]," smiling at me, "Yous need to stop boude'[iii], since you are still a be'be' to us much older folk."

I still wasn't happy but nodded my understanding.

"So the peeshwank[iv] over der was attacked and to save his life you den gave him a transfusion of your blood?" Ms. Jermaine nodded towards me and then looked back to Dustin. Dustin nodded.

Her face because a myriad of emotions before she settled on the words, "Mon Dieu," in a hushed tone bringing her hand to her light caramel lips. "He dun survived this.." she murmured.

"Dustin, do you know what this could mean?" she asked.

He shook his head, "What Cassie?"

"No human should have ever survived a blood exchange like dis. The vampire blood is way to poison," she began. Although to me, it sounded like 'PWAH-Zon'.

"To take in so much," she marveled, her eyes opening as large as a cats' at night, "Oh! Mon Dieu! Dat's why when a transfer is dun that it's brin[v], so the person can survive."

She sat back in her chair and looked at me slowly shaking her head, "Cet enfant ne devrait pas exister!"[vi]

"What do you mean I shouldn't exist?" I asked.

Eli pulled back and looked at me funny, "Three years of French in high school," I quickly explained.

"Sha, you shouldn't be alive. I don't know why or what that God should allow you to be, but you'se here," studying me further. Seconds later she jumped up and ran to the cabinets by her desk and rummaged around.

She came back to the table with purple velvet bag, a medium sized clay bowl, various herbs in containers and a container with some black substance that looked like gunpowder. She poured a little of the black substance into the bowl, added the herbs and then looked at me, "Gib me your hand sha."

I looked over to Dustin. He nodded for me to go ahead.

Getting off of Eli's lap, I stood before the woman. She took my left hand and then the knife and quickly cut my palm. "OW! WHAT THE FUCK?" I yelled.

"HUSH CHILD!" she chastised me and then aimed my hand over the clay bowl as my blood dripped into it. "See," she said softly as she turned my hand over for me to look at. The wound was already closing and healing.

I turned to face Dustin, "It's part of our nature, remember?"

I remembered him saying it but the fact that it just happened didn't make me feel any better. Both of them could sense it and pulled me back to a chair between them.

Ms. Jermaine then pulled out a match and stuck it before tossing it into the mixture. There was a flare, bubbling and then everything disappeared in the container. It was empty. Her mouth dropped, "Dat," she gulped, "should not have happened."

She grabbed the velvet bag and dumped the contents into her hands. A myriad of various small bones fell out.

"Chicken bones," Dustin said noticing my confusion, "She is going to try to look into the future."

Ms. Jermaine began uttering in some arcane language, swaying back and forth and then her eyes rolled into the back of her head just before she released the bones to the table. She opened her eyes and looked down and then at me.

"This child is in for one hell of a wild ride. He's special. I don't know how and why but he's much different even than the elders or those that sleep," looking back down and one particular bone. It was a wish bone. It was upside down and pointing into the other bones.

"You are going to meet someone who is destined for you. They is someone that...," she stopped.

"That what?" I asked.

She looked up at me, "I don't know. It's hidden. They's known but yet they's not. I can't divine it. It's being deliberately hidden from me."

I slumped back into the chair, "Just fucking wonderful. I'm bit by a vampire, given a transfusion from one only to find out that I shouldn't be alive and now I'm told that I'm supposed to have some destined person in my life."

Eli chimed in, "I need a drink."

---

Is pronounced 'Cher' in Acadian French

[ii] Beb: Acadian for Sweetheart, darling

[iii] Boude': Acadian for pouting

[iv] Peeshwant: Acadian for little person, generally means 'runt'

[v] Brin: a very small quantity; a little bit

[vi] "Cet enfant ne devrait pas exister!" - This child should not exist!