Moments later, Clamenza threw her head back and chuckled again, her shoulders jumping up and down as she heard a piercing squeal followed by a tinkling bell and Carmen shrieking for Henry to come quickly. "Well done, my little friends," Clamenza said, a broad smile spreading across her face. Then suddenly her smile fell away and, for the briefest of moments, another scent, a pretty scent, piqued her interest. It was a floral scent, or perhaps the scent of sugar and cream, if sugar and cream had a scent. It was emanating from the white Range Rover pulling out of the driveway and driving away, then, just as quickly, the scent was gone. Clamenza shook her head in frustration. "Impossible," she muttered, her feet crunching noisily on the gravel and twigs as she disappeared into the long shadows cast by the nearby forest. Moments later, a dark cloud of bats rose in the air above a thick canopy of branches, and flittered away.
Chapter 9 – Guardian.
Nina flew across the room at Mindy, then embraced her.
"Oh my gosh," Mindy shrieked. "How long has it been? You still look deliciously dead and mysterious as you always do, without the decomposing stink, of course." She held Nina at arm's length to look at her. She turned around to look at Alexandria, then leaned over and pushed her chin up with the tip of her finger. "Close your mouth dear, you'll catch flies."
Alexandria shook her head in disbelief. "You know each other?"
"Good heavens, yes. We go back a long way." Mindy wrapped her arm around Alexandria's shoulders. "Did she pull the jumping off the roof trick on you, too? I bet she did. You did, didn't you?" Mindy asked, looking back at Nina, who merely shrugged her shoulders in response to Mindy's questions and Alexandria's scowl. "Has nothing changed?" Mindy continued. "You were always such a drama queen, making dramatic entrances, scaring people half out of their wits in the process."
Kat hopped down off the kitchen bench. "So you're the vamp I've read so much about. The one Aunt Mindy and my mother went to school with?"
Mindy and Nina looked at each other, then stared back at Kat, puzzled looks on their faces.
Kat bit her lip. "Oh, did I forget to mention that I found my mother's crusty old grimoire in the attic?" She put her hand on her hip. "Am I bad?"
Mindy looked back at Nina. "I think that's why we were summoned. What else would bring us both back here at the same time?"
Nina spirited across the room until she stood just inches away from Kat. "Your mother doesn't know that you have her grimoire, does she." It was more of an accusation than a question.
Unnerved by the vampire's closeness, Kat endeavoured to take a step backward, but her feet wouldn't budge. "No," she murmured, leaning backward to distance herself from Nina. She turned her head towards Aunt Mindy. "I could use some help here, please," she whispered, struggling to lift her feet off the floor, but to no avail. "Please," she asked again.
Alexandria moved silently across the kitchen and into Andrew's arms. "Please don't hurt her. She hasn't done anything wrong," Alexandria pleaded. "She saved me when Vera attacked me. She wouldn't have been able to do that if she hadn't read her mother's book. And why shouldn't she know who she is? What she is? Her mother has lied to her, her whole life..."
Mindy placed a hand on Nina's shoulder. Immediately Kat's feet were free, and she ran quickly to Alexandria's side. "Because it is dangerous to use magic without knowing what you are doing," Mindy said. "You don't know who, or what, you may have attracted to Ferntree Falls. There are those out there that would like nothing more than to see you both dead. Your mother knew this. That's why she's kept the truth from you. From both of you." She placed her hands lovingly on Kat's cheeks, her fingers brushing away a tear. She wrapped her arms around both girls, pulling them close. "I could never live with myself if anything ever happened to either of you. I know you have both come into your own now, the Saken Circle was activated the moment Alexandria walked back into the house, and there is nothing any of us can do about that now. There's no putting that cat back in the bag. You coming back to Witchwood was always going to happen, it was only a matter of time." She released the girls, holding up her finger. "But, will you both promise me you will be careful? When your mother gets back home, Kat, we will all sit down and have a talk about all of this, okay?"
Alexandria and Kat both nodded wordlessly.
"Good. Well, that's that. I don't know about anyone else, but I need a cup of tea." Mindy walked over to the kettle, picked it up, and filled it at the sink. Through the kitchen window she could see the old cottage out the back. "Oh, and by the way, I'll be moving into the cottage. You'll need a guardian, Alexandria. With school starting, and everything else that's happening around here, you're going to need a hand."