COVEN ON THE LAKE

Castle Renaldo sat near Lake Huron yet far enough away so that most of the prevalent humidity found near any large lake was not too invasive; as the old, now sick with the many ailments that often accompany age, leader of what remained of the coven Amelia could not easily tolerate air that was too moist. The Castle, while still comfortable, was beginning to show it’s age, as well as bearing more than a few signs of recent neglect.

Her most powerful daughter, Camellia, had fallen away from the clan, not so much out of dislike but because she enjoyed being completely wasted more than she cared about anything or anybody else; including, naturally, her family. The obvious heir would have been her oldest daughter, Bernice, if not for the fact that Bernice could not live without her husband, Drago; who had made it clear that he would not be in any relationship where a spouse would put anybody or anything ahead of his or her mate. Unless Amelia could figure out a way to get rid of Drago she could not groom Bernice for her proper position as leader of the coven, and the old guy just would not die, nor would Bernice ever forsake him; having tried several times, to no avail; and they were now inseparable.

Drago was suffering from an incurable, usually fatal disease but somehow had found a way to live and even prosper a bit, with Bernice’s help. He was also a very powerful man, being directly descended from a long line of Druid Priests. Fortunately for the coven’s and Amelia’s sake he chose not to wield his power save only in an emergency or if he was very pissed off about something, which was rare and at this point in his life usually only happened when he thought his wife or grand-daughter might be in some danger. If left to his own devices even now he would sing, dance (before being stricken), talk, tell stories and drink beer, insisting that beer was much safer to drink than any local water and that laughter was the medicine that kept him alive. Drago had managed to be a good provider all of his life but since the illness he was unable to do that. This brought about periods of deep depression which could only be cured by making love with Bernice, and she never refused him. His illness had left him much less than the great lover he once was, but still better by far than most.

Amelia’s dilemma was not uncommon; many a coven leader was lacking a qualified replacement these days, in fact most covens had simply died out from lack of interest or willingness of the women-children to lead. Of male leaders she had plenty to pick from but this was not the way. Men were used for pro-creating then discarded or kept around as tame eunuch’s. Her lead tame eunuch was Sir Roger, her second-born son. Sir Roger would have given anything to be in charge of the coven. Even knowing that this was not possible he still tried and of course was completely unsuccessful while managing to be otherwise extremely useful.

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Amelia was determined to keep her coven alive and well, if not prosperous. The next leader would have to see to the well-being of the clan, if the next leader could be found and groomed in the little time she had left. Aurelia, Camellia’s oldest daughter, was so special Amelia worried that someone else would notice her and snatch her for another purpose. Besides, Aurelia, like all smart, beautiful 22 year old women, had plans of her own which did not include managing the clan, and she had been made aware, by Drago, that this was in fact what was being planned for her. Damn that Drago! Why wouldn’t he just drop over? The damage was done and Aurelia was a bit wary, having been thusly forewarned. But there was no one else at the moment, or even in the foreseeable future, and the coven needed help, promptly, in order to survive.

Playing on the guilt feelings any child who has done even marginally better than their parents have, Amelia went to work. She sent one of her tame eunuch’s, Wally, to tell Aurelia that the family would be cast out with nothing if somehow she couldn’t come upon a solution, and quickly. There was no money to pay the mortgage, which kept going higher because of the constant need to borrow for necessities. Another wanna-be coven leader, a weaker witch by the name of Louise, who was Bernice’s daughter, was offering to move in and take care of everything if only Aurelia’s brother, Wally, and Aurelia’s sister, Cornelia, as well as their father, Buff, long since divorced from their mother, Camelia, would move out to make room for Louise and her teen-age daughter, Loretta, who also happened to be Drago’s granddaughter. Buff, another tame eunuch, had been allowed to move into Castle Renaldo when he had no place else to go, was occasionally but rarely useful. Having to proceed cautiously because Drago watched everything closely that had to do with his granddaughter’s well-being, Amelia began to spin her web, a web designed to catch and hold Aurelia and then embark on her training as head witch of the coven.

Aurelia decided to take Klavo, her apparent life’s soul-mate, into her confidence; ostensibly seeking his opinion but really stalling for time. Klavo’s reaction was typical, and except for his supreme intelligence and his deep love for Aurelia he probably would have bolted without delay when Aurelia mentioned the worst-case scenario of all 3 of them or some of them moving into Klavo’s and Aurelia’s little place as a possible temporary solution. In no way, shape or form did Aurelia want the supposed “honor” of leading the coven, but she certainly felt that she could not sit idly by while her brother, sister and father; and possibly her grand-mother were cast out upon the street. Feeling the first strands of the web wrap around her she called Drago to bounce a few ideas off of him, as he had been her first childhood crush and also the one who had warned her a year earlier that this would happen.

“A roommate, a pal, a lover are easily replaced”, Drago told Aurelia. “A soul-mate would be almost impossible to replace, and then only if you’re very lucky. As hard as it is to see this happen to your family, it would be harder on you by far to run the risk of alienating your life’s soul mate because you put somebody, anybody, ahead; for any reason. It goes against the laws of nature.” Finished with his speech to his darling Aurelia, Drago could do nothing other than to wait for the eventual outcome. Aurelia had been a seven-year-old child when Drago first laid eyes on her. Drago had almost cried, she was so special. Surely other people see her for the special person she is. “No way could I be the only one who sees this” he thought. But it seemed he was. Aurelia was enamored of Drago and his house, and since Drago’s wife Bernice was Aurelia’s Aunt it was natural for her to visit often and stay for a while sometimes. Did nobody else see Aurelia’s shine? Impossible. The coven, (he had already recognized it) was planning to keep her for themselves, that had to be it, he decided. I will warn her when I think the time is right, and warn her he had, a year ago, sooner than he wanted to but required at that time, he reflected. Thank God he had, though that knowledge surely didn’t affect the circumstances Aurelia was now being maneuvered into dealing with.