Witch's Brew | book II | 18+

Chapter 8 | Suadela

"Hey Vi," I say as I say hesitantly as I warily eye her.

We stood in the drawing room as I greeted her.  She stood to greet me, kissing my cheeks before she once more settled against the crimson and black couch, the black silk of her dress, studded with diamonds, reminding me of a clear night sky.

She wore a black corset, all black silk and lace, laced up the front with a crimson tie.  She wore designer heels, black silk shoes with crimson soles which added several inches to her already rather impressive height.

Hey ebony black waves framed her face, sweeping past her shoulders to stop at the middle of her back.  She observed me through her obsidian black eyes, rimmed with kohl.  Her blood red lips turned down, golden brown skin creasing slightly as she frowned.

"Suadela," she says stiffly as she sends a slight nod my way, ebony waves nodding along.  She waved her arm in front of her, nodding towards the matching armchair set in front of the couch she was primly sitting on.

"Tea?"  She waved her left arm and an antique crimson and charcoal grey porcelain tea set appeared before us, steaming tea kettle, finger sandwiches, scones and clotted cream perfectly arranged between us on the glass topped table that separated the two of us.

"I---what," I asked hesitantly, caught off guard.

"Tea," she repeated less patiently.  "Would you like some?  I brought your favorite..."

"No thank you," I said hesitantly.  What was she playing at?

"Very well," she murmured with an elegant shrug.  She waved her hand once more, almost in a dismissive gesture, and the food and tea promptly disappeared, a trail of glowing sparks left in their absence like embers.  She settled back against the sofa, eyeing me in a calculating manner.  "I have a bone to pick with you," she drawled in a deceptively calm voice as she examined her crimson nails, tipped with black.

"To what do I owe this great honor," I ask as I settle back into my chair, fingers tapping against the carved wooden arms.

"Honor?  Can't a best friend stop by without it being an occasion?"  She sent a smirk my way, eyes cold.

"Yes, of course you can Vi, anytime; you know how much you mean to me."  I leaned further back into the chair, almost as if to sink through it and escape her oncoming wrath.

"And my sister..?"

"W-what..?"

"How much does my sister mean to you?  You know, your girlfriend of five years," she hissed, dark eyes flashing.

"I...You know that I...care...for her," I said carefully as I struggled with a response, not to say the wrong thing.  For some reason I had not expected this.

"Care," she scoffed as she tossed her dark hair over her shoulder, face pink from barely suppressed rage.  "All you can say is that you care for her," she demands, thoroughly enraged, fingers sparking so that they singed the armrests she clutched as if attempting to hold herself back.  smoke rose in slow, lazy spirals as the wood charred and cracked with the heat.

"I do," I whisper as I wring my hands.  "I just can't get Leila out of my mind.  It's almost as if the potions I used on her and her mate have also been used on me.  I don't want to feel this way," I whisper tearfully.

"Suadela," she says slowly.  "Did you follow the instructions we gave you?"

I hesitated briefly.  I had been so excited to finally have what I had seemingly wanted forever nearly within my grasp---had I?  "I-I think so..."

"Fool," she groans.  "You foolish, foolish girl!"  She raises her hands; whether to hug or strangle me, I wasn't sure, then tugs at her hair as she watches me, dark eyes wide, wild.  "What have you done,": she hissed.

I bristled at that.  "I'm no fool!  Be careful of how you speak to me; we may be best friends, but I have my limits," I warned.  

She laughed at that.  Not her usual husky, warm chuckle that warmed the listeners heart, but more of a callous caw that left one shivering in its wake, ears ringing from its harshness.  "Truly?  Then how could you have possibly been stupid," she hisses, ignoring my empty threat.

She murmured something under her breath, waving her left hand as she did so before drawing a series of runic symbols with glowing embers in the air before her.  There was a whistling from behind me and I ducked just as the book she had given me flew past me, where my head had just been, straight into her awaiting arms.

She glared at me for a moment before she began to flip through the ancient book, stopping after a moment of silence.

"There!  Read the note at the bottom," she demanded as she practically threw the book at me; I barely caught it.

Gingerly taking the heavy tome in hand, I turned to where the book was open.  The pages before me were covered in generations worth of notes.  Squeezed into the lower left corner of the right page, so small that I nearly missed it, was Vi's writing.  Thankfully, the words had now been moved to the center of the page, a bright blood red against the yellowed paper, the other words having shifted the the corner it had formerly occupied to resemble a blot of ink.

Turning my attention to the the note, I read;

Warning; Use of potions thirteen hours or less before coming in contact with the victim will result in contamination of self.  Any exchange of bodily fluid within seven days of the victim ingesting said potion will result in you suffering the same affects---possibly permanently.

I reread the same not again and again.  How could I have missed the last part?

"No," I whisper in horror.

"Yes," she says in response.  "Now, I will ask you again; did you follow the instructions given to you?"

I was silent at that.  I hadn't and we both knew it.

"Suadela," she warned, eyes flashing.

"No," I finally whispered.

She pinched the bridge of her nose as she eyed me like I was something disgusting stuck to the bottom of her new designer heels.

She rose from her seat, the air around her crackling dangerously.  Her dress pooled around her feet a she swept past me.

"I can't deal with this, with you, now.  I shall inform my sisters, particularly Flo.  I think she deserves to know, don't you?  Lu," she called over her shoulder, not giving me a chance to answer.  "Deal with this, will you?"

She didn't wait for a response, disappearing in a black cloud of sulphuric smoke as a voice came from behind me.

"I knew this was a bad idea," a silvery voice chimed from behind me, causing me to whirl around so fast that I stumbled and nearly fell in my haste.

"And just who are you", I growled, fed up with all of this.  Why hadn't she told me in person, or at least written the warning larger, perhaps further away from where the pages joined?  This was not my fault.

"Oh, wipe that defiant look off of your face," the elfin girl drawled.  "We both know that you need me."

"Need you," I demanded haughtily, nose in the air.  "I don't even know you.  Why would I need you," I sniffed haughtily.

"Have you truly never heard of me, the infamous Lucrezia Borgia," she demanded haughtily.

A/N: Why do you think Suadela needs Lucrezia's help?

Do you think Suadela is being honest? If so, who is she lying to?

What potion do you think she ingested?

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