The Moreau Witches Trilogy
Part Three
Wormwood
by Julien Gregg
Copyright © 2025 by Julien Gregg
All rights reserved.
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The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.
Seventeen: The Final Chapter
Lisette got better over time and was up and moving around the house. Maria hated the sight of her and let her know it time and again. She warned Lisette that if she tried to throw her out she’d never live through it. Lisette believed her.
Mother continued to get worse and worse. Lisette had gone to her and told her all that Maria had done. She asked for Maria and Maria went up to see her mother. This was no doubt going to be another lecture about leaving Lisette alone. That wold never happen. She walked into the room and found her mother sitting up in her bed. A pink turban around her head.
“You wanted to see me, Mother?” Maria asked.
“Don’t be all cute and formal,” snapped Mother. “I know what you’ve done. I told you and told you to treat her with respect but you just couldn’t do it. You had to meddle until you took her baby and the man she loves and sent them off with the hunter’s daughter. Who are you?”
“I’m Maria Mother,” she said. “Your daughter.”
“You are no daughter of mine,” said Mother coldly. “No daughter of mine would have done this to her sister. You sicken me, Maria. You’re dead to me.”
Maria just walked out of her mother’s bedroom. She wanted to be dead to her so Maria would help her with that. She went to her room and got the dark book out of her spelled closet. She flipped the pages until she found the spell she was looking for. She went through her stores of herbs and plants and found what she needed. She caught one of the pigeons outside her window and stuck a long sharp pin through it’s heart. She collected the blood from the pigeon into her cauldron and added the herbs. She ground them with her pestle until they were a soupy powder. Then she dropped a lit match inside and burned it all.
She wouldn’t have long to wait. Mother would be dead by night fall. She cleaned the cauldron and disposed of the bird. Then she picked up Pierre and went downstairs. She watched Lisette walk mindlessly through the house with a smile on her face. She had done this. Maria the one they all said wasn’t fit to be a witch had done it all. She’d destroyed her sister and killed her mother. She’d killed her brothers and her step-father. Now she would reap the rewards of what she’d sewn.
Angelique the girl named for her mother was in the house all of he time. Maria had no stomach for her. She sat with Lisette and tried to comfort her. They all believed that it was Bart’s choice to marry the hunter’s daughter and take the baby with him. All but her mother. Alas she would be dead by the day’s end.
She’d kill Lisette if there wouldn’t be a big fuss over her death. Maria didn’t want to attend the massive funeral rite for her. Besides it was good to be a constant reminder to Lisette that she’d prevailed over her. She enjoyed watching Lisette’s sorrow at losing not only her baby but the man she loved as well. Yes she enjoyed that rather immensely.
As the weeks went by she got constant updates from Anna in the form of letters. Anna thought it necessary to update Maria for every one of that baby’s milestones. In truth the brat was out of Maria’s house and that’s the way she wanted it. She didn’t need to know that they’d named her Giselle of all things. Her middle name rankled her because it was Mary. It was too close to her own name.
The house was quiet and even Josette was in a fit about what had happened to Lisette. They all loved her. Let them love her. Let them console her. Maria was there as a constant reminder.
Little Pierre grew quickly. He had his own milestones for her to celebrate. He rolled over and then finally sat up. He scooted around his little baby bed. Maria loved to parade him around in front of Lisette. She placed him on a blanket not three feet from where Lisette sat. She loved that Lisette looked at anything but Pierre.
Josette loved Pierre. She played with him from time to time and Maria was fine with that. Josette could be brought to heal any time she wanted to show her who was boss around here. Lisette may be the heiress but Maria was in charge of this house. She’d made sure of it.
She needed more to needle Lisette with. What else could she do. She’d killed their mother and let Lisette wonder if she had been at the bottom of it. Lisette never spoke to her. She just did her Legacy business and kept quiet most of the time. Maria liked it that way.
Of course there had been a huge funeral for her mother. People from all over had come to pay their respects for she had been the heiress before she stepped down due to her illness. Maria had put up with it as best she could. They were all very respectful and she was happy for that. All of them wanted to see Pierre and hold him. She allowed it but she wouldn’t put up with it long. He was hers and that was all there was to it. She’d raise him to be just like her.
Of course she’d need another baby when he grew up a little. She loved babies. They were so compliant and easy to mold and nurture. She’d have two or three. Of course the other two would have to be with Walter. She could barely get him to look at her now though. Perhaps a spell was in order. She laughed out loud at that. How easy it was to get what she wanted with her dark spells.
Time flew for Maria now that she was in charge of he house. She told Alice what to cook and when to cook it. She told Ida Mae what to do and she alone had the house staff in hand. Of course they talked about what they knew among themselves. Maria allowed this because she loved to hear about what she’d done.
Not a year after her evil spawn were born she was pregnant again! This time it was Maria’s own husband she’d seduced! Oh the gall of it all. She let Walter see the dark side of her tongue. She gave him boils. She invaded his dreams, and she made his life hell for a while.
Lisette seemed to get some of that smug, uppity happiness back as she walked around with her belly showing. She made no secret of who the father was. She told everyone that asked. Oh how embarrassing for Maria! She wouldn’t let this go. There was no way in all of hell that she would let her sister get the better of her.
She went to Moreau Medical to have the baby there. Maria was foiled from taking this baby from her as well. Besides, Walter was all about this baby. Oh the hell of it all. Lisette had seduced Maria’s husband and was about to deliver his baby. There was a spell in her book for making human zombie like creatures. She’d need another witch to help her with this spell but she’d cast it on Lisette. Let her see and hear all that was going on but be powerless to interact. Legacy be damned. Maria would have her revenge.
She’d let her take care of the baby but as soon as that child could walk she’d cast this spell on her and that would be the end of it for Lisette and her seductions. First Bart and now Walter! Would she never stop?
Then she named the baby boy Revanche! It meant revenge in French. Oh what gall she had. She made a show of taking care of he baby as well. It was as if she’d spit in Maria’s eye. Maria was comforted by the spell she planned to cast on her. She’d be out of her way soon enough. That was enough to put a smile on her face.
As soon as Revanche could walk and talk she got Garland to come and help her with the spells. He was hesitant at first but she reminded him that she knew his secrets. He helped her and in the end Lisette was quiet and compliant. She’d done it. She’d made her catatonic! It was heavenly.
Of course this meant that she’d have to raise Revanche. He and Pierre were like two peas in a pod. She’d have to endure it. It would be a constant reminder that Lisette had gotten her revenge against her. It was two more years before she got pregnant with her second child. Walter had served his purpose. She carried that baby while thinking of ways to kill her husband. She could use the same spell she’d used on her mother or she could use the one she’d cast on Marcel to give him cancer.
No she didn’t want him wasting away in front of her. That revenge took too long. She’d cast the spell she’d cast on her mother. Of course she had to wait until after the baby was born. She couldn’t do magic while she was pregnant. It might hurt the baby and this one was hers.
She had Camilla Renee and then she cast the spell on Walter. He died that very night. The coroner said he’d had a widow maker of a heart attack. That was fine with her. She wore black and played the grieving widow just fine. They’d set up a council of sorts and she had weaseled her way on it. She, Angelique, Josette, and Lorette were the council that acted as the heiress in her time of distress as they put it.
Then Giselle got her power. She caused the kitchen gadgets to attack Anna. They wanted her out of their house. Of course she and Garland went to get her. Garland actually expected Maria to raise the girl and teach her to be a witch. The man was daft. She got him to cast the same spells they’d cast on Lisette on Giselle.
They placed her in Way of Life Sanitarium. Ina Moreau there as the administrator thought she could say no to taking her. That was fine a spell took care of her. Then Giselle was just as quiet and compliant as her mother. It was all sewn up.
Bart III
Constance demanded that he spell a ring for her so that she would be immune to the powers of his first born son. He spelled the ring for her but the joke was on her. Quinn wasn’t his first born son. Pierre was.
He went back to medical school and John Quinn moved out of the apartment so that Bart and his new wife could live there and raise their son. John was confused about the son. He was sure that Constance wasn’t the mother of that boy. Plus he could tell that Bart didn’t exactly like Constance. She was a very stiff mother with the boy and John smelled trouble. But he was Bart’s best friend so he backed off.
Bart did all of the things he needed to do for Quinn as he grew. He graduated from medical school and started his residency in Rochester. They moved into the big house that he’d bought there. He had a little more time to spend at home with his son. Constance was doing an okay job of helping to raise him. She seemed a little afraid of him which was good.
He sent letters and pictures of Quinn to Lisette. She sent a picture of Revanche which she’d had with Maria’s husband Walter. Bart had no idea what was going on in Moonlight Bay but he was never going back there as part of the deal he’d been forced to make with the witch hunters. Then Lisette’s letters stopped all together. He stopped writing and time moved on.
Quinn had a run in with a bully on the playground at his elementary school. The boy died from a heart attack. An eight year old boy died of a heart attack. He’d had no heart disease before the incident but he died of a heart attack. Bart knew that the children in the family didn’t get their powers until puberty but could Quinn be early? He supposed he could.
Then there was the couple in the van. Bart knew then. Quinn could kill with his mind. He wasn’t allowed to teach him witchcraft but he so wanted to. He was being robbed of the joy of watching as his son flourished with magic and learned to be the witch he was. Constance wanted no witchcraft around her. What she didn’t know was that Lilly and Kim were witches, too. She was surrounded by witches on all sides.
Constance knew that Quinn could kill with his mind as well. She started to go off the deep end religiously. She went to Church every Sunday morning and Wednesday night for Bible Study. She constantly referred to Quinn as a dark young man who was evil. Bart told her to stop that talk or he’d use magic against her. That ring wouldn’t save her from him.
He’d thought he’d gotten the point across and for a while things were tense but fine. Then when Quinn was sixteen he’d come home from the hospital to find him passed out on the landing of the stairs with a knife in his chest and Constance was dead lying on top of him. He touched nothing and called nine one one. They said that Constance had died of an aneurysm. Bart knew that Quinn had killed her. He was so proud of his son. He’d not only defended himself but he’d ended the hell that his father was living with.
But Quinn stopped talking to him after that. He’d stare at him trying to figure out how to tell the boy that he knew what he’d done and was thankful that he was alive and Constance was dead. He couldn’t find the words and Quinn wasn’t speaking any words at all where his father was concerned. Oh he spoke. He was polite but he never instigated a conversation with Bart.
Maria II
The house was nice for a change. With Lisette quiet and complacent she finally had the chance to raise the children in peace. Of course there was Legacy work to do but Angelique took the brunt of it.
Pierre grew and turned out to be more like Lisette than Maria would have liked. She constantly found herself at odds with him. Of course he believed that Walter was his father and that she’d killed him. He was right about one of those things. But she never told him that.
“Why do you treat Revanche so badly, Mother?” Pierre asked her.
“Because he’s Lisette’s and Walter’s child,” she said before she could stop herself.
“He’s my brother,” Pierre said. “You should treat him better.”
“Where is Camilla?” Maria asked him. She hadn’t seen her daughter all day long.
“She’s with Lisette,” he said.
That rankled her but she allowed it. Angelique’s children were in an out of Grand House all of the time. Josephine brushed Lisette’s hair. Angelique came once a week to sit with Lisette and talk to her. She never got a response but Maria had seen her touch Revanche’s cheek as he sat with her. Perhaps she wasn’t as far gone as Maria had hoped.
“You sit with your mother every day,” she said to Revanche. “Does she do more than touch your cheek?”
“No ma’am,” he said respectfully. Oh how he tried to get on her good side. “She cries sometimes.”
That made Maria happy. But she couldn’t tell him that. She continued to do her needle point and pretended to think about it. She tied off her stitches and sat the work down on the dining table.
“Perhaps she’s surfacing a bit when you’re with her,” she said in a false reassuring voice.
“Maybe,” he said. He looked so down. She didn’t care.
“You should sit with her more often,” she said.
“Camilla is with her now,” he said. He went off to do whatever it was that he did and left her in peace after that. She went back to her needle point.
The time would come when she would actually kill Lisette. She’d been thinking about this for a while now. She supposed that she would never see Bart again. So she’d kill him, too. For not loving her the way he was supposed to. She’d killed so many people over the years. Her brothers, her step-father, her mother, and her husband. She had gotten used to killing. She actually liked it.
So she set about casting the spell that would kill Bart. She had his hair to make it personal. The hard part was catching a pigeon. She caught more than one and put them in a cage in her room. She cast the spell to kill Bart and then began to think on how to kill Lisette. She could use the same spell but it would have to wait a bit. That kind of magic took a lot out of you and she had to rest.
When she was finally ready to cast the spell she took her time with it. She killed the bird and ground all of the ingredients and set them of fire. Then she sat not far from Lisette to watch it happen. It happened in stages. She’d drool a bit and then she fell over on her side. Then she was dead.
Of course she had to call someone. Revanche was in a state over her death. Pierre showed up and Camilla cried. It rankled Maria that her children loved Lisette so much. But she was dead now and that was at an end.
They came and took the body. Now there would be a massive turn out at her funeral. Maria steeled herself for that. There was one consequence that she hadn’t foreseen. Quinn Moreau had found out all about them from his father’s cursed journals. He had the ring on his finger! He’d told Angelique that it had been on his finger for a week. Bart had taken the ring? Quinn now wore it? That meant that he was the heir to the legacy and he’d move into this house!
She sat with Angelique, Lorette, and Josette to meet him. Oh how he looked like Bart. More so than Pierre. He stood before them and calmly explained that his power was the killing power. Of course she didn’t believe him but the way he looked at her was like he knew already what she’d done. Her sins were coming back to roost.
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