Sixty eight

Ginger stood in the doorway of her mother's room while at the same time scowling at her mother's rash nature. A few minutes ago, an undead had blatantly walked up to their door and demanded that Yasmin follow him. Ginger didn't need a spell to understand what was going on. Yasmin had gone against the safe blueprint they had made. Instead of waiting for the yearly (day of the dead) which was, by the way, the safest map out they could follow, her mother had probably spilled about Olamide being the attribute causing Lilith to shift all their plans. The vampire was simply obsessed with making her plans come to actuality.

"You cannot be seriously considering doing the spell tonight."

"Why not?" Yasmin demanded. "Both the attribute and the relic are at the same location. A powerful sleep spell should be able to disarm the werewolves while we retrieve them."

"Mother, make protection spells for the Crow. It won't work."

"It will," Yasmin assured her daughter while she searched for a shirt. "How potent a spell is depends on its caster." Yasmin then walked up to her daughter and cupped her round face. "You are a powerful enchantress in your right. A fucking Maplewood for that matter but I assure you. Your protection spells and totems will fail them tonight."

Yasmin then returned to getting dressed. Usually, Ginger would give it a rest. Especially when her mom was this serious but she had a bad feeling about this. Doubts were tipping her mind to the curb. What if her mother was wrong? What if it did not work? Jason would waste no time killing her. Ginger had witnessed firsthand what kind of a monster the Alpha of the Crow could become when the people he cared about were in danger. She had witnessed him cut a Silverlaw in half for her sake and that was just because she was the daughter of a late Sentinel who fought by his father's side. Ginger knew it would end in bloodshed. Her heart kept manifesting it. Ginger thought back. She had actively tried sabotaging her mother's plot by awakening Satake's fox spirit and making him distrustful to her kind for his own safety. She had even considered doing the same to Olamide the night they crossed paths but a revelation with that magnitude would have only caused problems. Now that there was no chance or time to make a difference, Ginger decided she was going to follow her mother.

"But what if there is a chance my magic somehow contends yours? Wouldn't you need me to help?"

Yasmin slipped into a pair of sneakers before replying, "No." Yasmin then stood up, refusing to hear any more of it. As they walked down the flight of stairs leading to the living room, Ginger continued to fight for her cause.

"Why not? Jason trust me and I know the place like the back of my hand."

Yasmin stood mid-flight and looked her daughter square in the eye. "When I dated your father, he took me there all the time. I also know the place like the back of my hand Ginger so the answer is still no. Just stay home. I'll be back as soon as I can. I promise."

Ginger wished she could believe the words her mother spewed but with a high-risk job like this, what were promises?  Yasmin reached for the family grimoire which was resting on a couch and dropped it in her bag. She took one last look at her daughter then she continued towards the door where the vampire was waiting for her.  Ginger froze as her mother made it to the door. Her heart thumped when Yasmin's wrinkled fingers clasped to the handle and turned. The lights of the house flickered as if reacting to Ginger's emotion. A mental picture of her mother choking on her blood in the middle of nowhere and with Lilith nowhere on sight crept up her head sending Ginger to a maddening frenzy. Ginger's imagination oftentimes ran wild and she made assumptions one time too many. Not to mention that she was no clairvoyant who could see into the future but her senses spoke of something ominous arriving and a witch's gut never lied.

"Mother," Ginger practically shrieked causing the door to bag shut with nothing but her sheer willpower.

"Ginger, I don't have time for this." Yasmin sighed, sparing her daughter a brief glimpse. She pulled at the don't but it would not budge. Ginger refused to let it go unless her mother gave in to her demands.

"Are you alright?" The vampire outside queried, knocking on the door. He didn't try to force the door open. Considering he had not been invited in, he did not have to. Like all nightwalkers, he had limits and sunburns were the least of his troubles.

"I am," Yasmin assured. She then turned in Ginger's direction, "Your childish tantrum is wasting valuable time Ginger. I have promised you. I will be fine."

"If that is the case then, why won't you let me tag along?"

"Because, if things go south. I want to make sure you are not involved in this mess. I want you still have a place with your father's people and a family to go to and that will not be available for you if you are banished to the shadow realm for being a delinquent witch or worse, dead. I cannot live or die with that heaviness in my heart Ginger."

"And what if you don't come back?" Ginger queried looking her mother dead in the eye. Yasmin's mood oscillated wildly. "Can you die with that?"

Yasmin could not help but smile. She pulled her daughter close, taking in those bold red features. Her round hazel eyes held tears on them, her sun-kissed skin riddled with goosebumps from fear and her auburn natural coils. Each strand of hair twisted in tiny, angle-like helix patterns. "I might not be able to live with that too Ginger," Yasmin admitted, pulling her daughter in for a hug. "I would hate myself all the way to the afterlife and probably never find peace. I know the risks too baby but I don't know if I have the willpower to prevent myself from walking down this path."

Ginger latched on to her mom tighter."Then let me be your moral voice mother. Stay. I have an uncanny feeling something will go horribly wrong if you go through with Lilith's schemes."

"You won't let me do this, will you?" Yasmin asked, half laughing at her daughter's doggedness. It reminded Yasmin of her late mate.

"I won't." Ginger agreed. "She can get another witch, can't she?"

Yasmin wiped pouring tears as she broke the hug temporarily she forced herself to look at Ginger with openness but it happened to be false. It was all an elaborate act. "You are right. Lilith can find another witch."

"Does that mean..." Ginger stammered. "Does that mean you will stay?"

Yasmin's guts pulled tautly. She had been expecting this, but it was like expecting a blow to the face, Nothing could ready you for the pain. Her face searched her daughter's and she prayed to Hecate that in some other time, in some other place, Ginger would find a way to forgive her and those hazel eyes wouldn't be so resentful when her name or memory popped up. Yasmin tried to smile but the truth was she could not promise he daughter that little. "I am sorry–"

"Sorry for what?" Ginger pulled back, her mind totally oblivious to what was about to follow.

Yasmin took a deep breath before saying a word. She leaned towards her daughter and clutched her one last time before uttering the words, "Ad somnum."

Ginger recognized those words and a shiver shot down her spine as the effect of the spells took effect. "Mom," Ginger drawled as the world around her seemed to spin. "A sleep spell?"

"I'm sorry." Yasmin cried, watching her daughter struggle and stagger. Her eyes were wide, and for a moment Yasmin saw the trauma of betrayal in them, shock and anguish, and it completely bruised her heart. Eventually, Ginger slumped into her mother's arms and eyes clenched shut.