The Moreau Witches Trilogy
Part One
The Legacy
by Julien Gregg
Copyright © 2025 by Julien Gregg
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permission requests, contact the author by email. The link is below.
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.
Two
He hadn’t told Charlie that he was leaving the school and New York all together. Instead he’d shown him the ring and told him that it made him the heir to the Legacy of the Moreau family but when asked what that meant he was tight lipped. That was mostly because he didn’t know the truth of it. They were a wealthy family and he supposed that if he was the heir then he was at the head of all of that wealth but he didn’t know that. No, it was best to keep his mouth shut over things he didn’t know much about.
He went to Dave in the morning to tell him that he was taking this semester off and then enrolling at Ashdon College in Moonlight Bay, California when the next semester there began. Dave was a thirty-something year old man with hair almost as dark as Quinn’s but unlike his own icy blue eyes, Dave’s were just cobalt blue. He wore a dark Polo shirt with tan slacks and brown shoes.
“Quinn what’s brought this on?” Dave asked in his deep voice. The man was his academic advisor since he’d arrived at the school last year.
“I’ve become the Heir to the Legacy of the Moreau family,” Quinn explained. “One of the rules of the legacy is that the heir must live in Moonlight Bay, California.”
“That’s fantastic for you but do you have to change schools?” Dave asked, though he probably knew nothing of the legacy that Quinn spoke of.
“Yes,” said Quinn. “Ashdon is in Moonlight Bay. It helps me with that stipulation.”
“All right,” Dave said. “It appears that I can’t talk you out of this.”
“No, you can’t,” he said.
Quinn knew that the family didn’t know about him or at least not much about him, but he was coming. He just hoped they were ready for him. He was coming no matter what so they had no choice but to get ready.
He went back to his room to pack up his stuff. Charlie wasn’t back so he didn’t have to have that conversation with him just yet. It was going to be rough on Quinn not seeing Charlie’s crooked grin all of the time but he’d have to deal. He was packing the last box when Charlie came through the door and saw him packing. The boy sighed and sat on his bed.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m packing,” Quinn said. “I have to move to Moonlight Bay, California to be the heir to the legacy. There’s a college there that I’ve already been accepted by. I’m taking this semester off and starting up again in the spring.”
“Quinn, why didn’t you tell me any of this yesterday?” Charlie asked.
“Because I didn’t know how to tell you any of this yesterday,” Quinn replied. “You’re like my best friend, Charlie. I’m going to miss the hell out of you.”
“Well you know I have no family,” said Charlie. “If this school accepted you then they might accept me too. I’m used to having you around all of the time, Quinn. I’ll go with you if they’ll let me.”
“Here’s the information,” Quinn said, pulling out the folder on the school and handing it to him.
He thought about how touched he was that Charlie would miss him so much that he wanted to go with him. That said a lot but it really did a number on Quinn. He was really starting to fall for Charlie Bennett.
“They have a culinary school,” Charlie said excitedly.
“Yeah,” Quinn laughed.
“You don’t understand,” he said. “I got a scholarship to this school but I really wanted to go to culinary school.”
“Charlie how are you going to pay the tuition at Ashdon?” Quinn asked as he closed the box he was packing.
“The same way I pay it here,” Charlie said. “I got a scholarship but didn’t need it so I paid out of pocket.”
“Then why didn’t you go to culinary school?” Quinn asked.
“Because my teachers thought I’d do better with history,” he said.
“Well I’m changing majors too,” Quinn informed him.
“Really? To what?”
“Business Administration,” he said. “With lots of emphasis on Finance.”
“Oh for the Legacy?” Charlie asked.
“Right in one,” Quinn said.
“When do you leave?” Charlie asked.
“I’m leaving tonight,” Quinn said. “I’m driving to Rochester to spend the night there and ask that Lilly ship my things to me in Moonlight Bay whenever I figure out where I’ll be there.”
“When do you leave for Moonlight Bay?” he asked.
“Plane leaves at six on Wednesday,” Quinn said.
“Damn, that’s fast,” Charlie said. There was something in his voice that made Quinn look at him.
“Yeah,” he said. “There’s no point in waiting. I want answers and I won’t get them here or in Rochester. All of my answers are waiting for me in Moonlight Bay, California.”
“Well, when you put it that way,” laughed Charlie. “I guess nothing I say is going to keep you here. Just wait and I’ll be headed that way, too.”
It would be great to have Charlie there with him but how could he tell Charlie that he was a witch and he was headed for a town full of them? He didn’t know what to tell Charlie about witches and Moonlight Bay. He had never been there so he didn’t know what it was like there either.
He finished packing his box and Charlie helped him carry them all down to his car. There was just enough room for all of the boxes and bags and then for him to sit in the driver’s seat and drive the car. Charlie hugged him and held him tight. He made him promise to call him if he needed anything and then Quinn got in the car and drove off into the setting sun.
He made it back to Rochester in record time. He was just happy that no cop had stopped him. He pulled into the gate just as the sun began to go down completely. He parked and had Kim help him with his boxes. Lilly was happy to have him home until he told her he was flying out to California tomorrow morning at six.
He asked that she ship the boxes to him when he called her with and address. She said she would but she was clearly unhappy about this. She ushered him into the dinning room and put a plate of round steak and potatoes in front of him. He thanked her and began to eat.
Later in his room he looked around at all that he was leaving behind to be the Heir to the Legacy. He supposed he could have all of this shipped to him as well. He’d talk to Lilly about it before he left.
Just then Lilly knocked on his door to tell him there was an urgent call from California for his father. Quinn went down to take the call wondering what could be so urgent. Didn’t they know that his father had been shipped to Moonlight Bay to be entombed in the mausoleum there?
“This is Quinn Moreau,” he said when he picked up the phone in the office.
“Quinn?” said a female voice in confusion. “I’m calling for Bartholomew.”
“I’m sorry to tell you this but Bartholomew died a week ago,” he said. “I am his son and in charge of all of the affairs now.”
“Why didn’t anyone call me to let me know that Bart had died?” she demanded.
“I don’t even know who you are,” Quinn replied.
“I’m Angelique Moreau,” she said.
“I’m sorry but I didn’t know who to contact or how,” he said. “There were no numbers for anyone in the family in his address book.”
“Well that explains that,” she said, her voice a bit less shrill. “I was calling to inform Bart that his niece, Lisette died this morning. Now we’ve been going a little crazy here with her being the heiress to the Legacy. The necklace burned every young lady who put it on. We don’t know where the ring is to test the young men.”
She was babbling and to stop her he said, “I’m wearing the ring right now and have been since Sunday.”
“Yes but do you know what it means?” she asked rather breathlessly.
“I know it signifies that I’m the heir to the legacy,” he said.
“Yes it does,” she said. “But it means so much more. Why are you not in California?”
“I am planning to fly out there at six in the morning,” he said. “I’ll be flying direct from Rochester, New York to Santa Barbara, California. I was planning to rent a car there.”
“You were coming because you wear the ring?” she asked.
“I was coming to speak to my mother about why she let me go,” Quinn said.
“Your mother,” she said like a question.
“Lisette Moreau is my birth mother,” he said.
“Yes,” she said. “I wasn’t sure what you knew. Bart left the family when you were born and married a hunter of all things. We were lost about what to do about it and then he used magic to hide you.”
Excuses, he thought. In the end he said, “When is the funeral?”
“Monday,” she said.
“Then I’ll already be in Moonlight Bay,” he said.
“I’m going to give you an address,” she said. “I want you to come to that address when you reach Moonlight Bay.”
“Okay,” he said. “I’m ready.”
She rattled off the address and then told him she expected to see him soon. It sounded like a summons but he just agreed to it. He wondered just what he was getting himself into from that phone call. He hung up and sat there staring at the phone for a long moment. Then he remembered that he had to get up very early and went back up to go to bed. He put the address in his carry-on bag and crawled into bed.
He was back up at four and in the shower. He dressed in jeans, a blue Polo shirt, and dress shoes. Then he gathered his luggage and his carry-on bag and went to the car. He could have breakfast at the airport. As he drove to the airport he thought of the conversation he’d had on the phone last night with Angelique. She’d just nonchalantly told him that his mother was dead. Of course she didn’t know that he knew that Lisette was his mother. Still, she could have been more tactful in telling him that a family member was dead.
He arrived at the airport and checked in. Then he spent his time in the Delta Sky Club and had a light breakfast there. He called Charlie and woke him up to tell him that Lisette Moreau was dead and he was walking into a wildfire. He told him about his call from Angelique and how she had demanded to know about Bart’s death and why no one in California was notified that he had died.
By the time he got off the phone with Charlie it was time for his flight. He boarded First Class and sat in his seat after stowing his carry-on. The flight was uneventful but long. He had lunch on the plane and slept for a bit. Then it was time for dinner and he spent the time going over his accounts and moving money from one account to the other. Then he slept. It was a twelve hour flight. He landed in Santa Barbara at six that evening. He picked up his rental car and used GPS to get him to a hotel.
The hotel wasn’t much in Moonlight Bay. It was three stories with balconies, ice machines, and vending machines. Quinn wasn’t accustom to staying in such places but he was tired and wanted a shower. He walked in to the pink and green building with a sigh. The man behind the desk looked bored until Quinn told him his name. Then he looked curious.
“Can’t understand why a Moreau would stay here when they own more than half the frigging town,” he said.
“Well I’m from New York and don’t really know my family well enough to stay with any of them,” Quinn replied though he wondered why he bothered.
“No offense meant,” the guy said as he ran Quinn’s credit card. “Welcome to the Tranquility Inn.”
“Thank you,” Quinn said as he accepted his key card. His room was on the ground floor but at the other side of the building.
He walked out of the office and down the row of windows and doors until he found his room. He unlocked the door and went inside. He put his bags down, grabbed a pair of underwear and a t-shirt and headed for the bathroom. This room was all white tile. It was clean at least. The shower was great with adequate pressure. Quinn let the hot water soak into his tired muscles. When he got out he dried off and dressed in his underwear and t-shirt he crawled into bed.
When he woke up in the morning he really looked at the room. He looked at the wall papered walls in soft yellow, a brown carpet on the floor, and a long floating chest of drawers took up the wall across from the bed. The television was on this along with a microwave and ice bucket. He got up and brushed his teeth in the bathroom. He dressed in jeans and another Polo shirt, this one gray. He stepped into is black dress shoes and fished the address out of his carry-on bag.
He drove to a diner that he’d passed on his way to the hotel. This was The Moonlight Bay Diner. The place looked all right. White brick building with huge bay windows in the front. He could see diners sitting in chairs at tables. He joined them. The inside was much like the outside. White brick walls with a dark hardwood floor. He chose one of the dark wood tables and sat down.
It didn’t take long before a dark haired woman with icy blue eyes like his own came to take his order. He ordered a biscuit and gravy with hash browns and coffee. She walked away from him after that as his phone rang.
“Hey, Charlie,” he said as he answered.
“Quinn, I’ve been thinking about you all night,” Charlie said. “You’re about to bury another parent.”
“Yes,” he said softly.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can get there,” Charlie said. “Have you seen any of them?”
“I’m in a diner right now,” he said. “I’m going to the address that Angelique gave me as soon as I’ve eaten.”
“All right,” Charlie said. “My flight is about to leave. I’ll see you soon.”
“All right, Charlie,” Quinn said, smiling to himself as he hung up his phone.
He was putting his phone away when the waitress sat down across from him. He looked up, startled into her icy blue eyes. She smiled really big at him but he remained baffled as to why she’d sat at his table.
“Did I just hear you say Angelique’s name?” she asked. “As in Angelique Moreau?”
“Um, yes,” he said. “I’ve a meeting with her this morning.”
“You have to be Quinn,” she said, confusing him even more.
“Yes, I’m Quinn Moreau,” he said.
“I’m Leah Moreau,” she said as if that explained everything. “Joseph and I were there last night while Angelique and the gang discussed that ring on your finger.”
“Oh?” he asked, instinctively pulling his hand from the table.
“Why that makes you the new heir,” she said excitedly.
“So I’ve been told,” he said, growing more and more uncomfortable as another icy blue-eyed woman came to the table.
“Leah, let the man alone,” she said.
“I’m sorry, Lorette,” Leah said, looking chastised. She got up and walked away.
This woman was older. She looked regal even in her charcoal business suit. She wore pearls around her neck and her dark hair was pulled back behind her head. She took Leah’s empty chair and sat down.
“I’m your aunt,” she said. “My name is Lorette Moreau.”
“Pleasure to meet you,” Quinn said though he was more uncomfortable then before.
“With that ring on your finger the family will want to meet you and talk with you,” she said.
“I’m gathering that,” he said.
“Don’t look so confused,” she laughed. “You’re the new heir. That’s enough to make them curious about you. Not to mention the fact that you were raised by a legend in the family.”
“My father was a doctor who helped people in need,” he said. “He was well respected in our community.”
“Sure, in New York,” she said. “But here in the bay he was a rebel. He bucked against his sister and ran off with a hunter and with you in his arms.”
“Hunter?” Quinn asked.
“We’ll talk about those later,” she said, looking around at the curious diners who had now become spectators.
In the middle of this Leah had managed to put his food on the table and fill his coffee cup. She made a hasty retreat once this was accomplished. Lorette continued to look at him. He didn’t know if he should start eating or just wait for her.
“Go ahead,” she said, standing. “I just wanted a look.”
She walked away and he ate his breakfast in silence. He was well aware that the other diners continued to look at him though now they were pretending not to. He sighed as he ate his meal and drank his coffee. Then he paid his bill and got the hell out of there.
He used his GPS to get to the address given to him by Angelique. He arrived there much sooner than he’d have liked. He got out of the car and looked at the two-story white house with it’s covered porch, dark shudders, and dark roof. He walked up the steps to the porch and then up two more steps to get to the door. He rang the doorbell and waited.
“Yes,” said an older woman who wore a white apron. Her dark hair was short and her brown eyes looked him up and down.
“I’m here to see Angelique Moreau,” he said. “I’m Quinn Moreau.”
“You are expected,” she said and stepped aside to let him into the house.
He stood in a hallway that was floor to ceiling red, red hardwood, red paneled walls, red ceiling. He shivered as he thought it reminded him of blood. He followed the woman down the hall to the back of the house. She showed him to a room with normal dark hardwood flooring and subtle red wallpaper. A long table sat at the back of the room and four women sat behind it. He walked up and stood before them.
“Thank you, Mildred,” said the woman at the center of he table. She had long dark hair that lay in ringlets on her shoulders. Her icy blue eyes looked him up and down. “Why didn’t you come when your flight landed?”
“I was tired after a long flight and wanted a shower,” he said evenly. “I checked in a the Tranquility Inn.”
They reacted as if he’d slapped them all at once. The woman he believed was Angelique shivered as well. He simply stood there and looked at them so he noticed when one by one they looked at the ring on his finger.
“We’ll send Lad to get your bags and check you out,” she said. “You have the key card?”
“I do,” he said and produced it. “Why can’t I get my own bags and check out myself?”
“Because we have much to discuss,” she said as if it were obvious. She also sounded like a woman who usually got what she wanted. “Have a seat, Quinn.” She indicated the only chair on his side of the table. He thought this was about to become an interrogation.
He sat down and looked at them. There was Lorette from the diner at the left end of the table. All had icy blue eyes and dark hair but one. At the right end of the table was a woman with chocolate hair and eyes. She looked pissed off for some reason. The other three looked interested. The one beside Lorette looked a bit like the pictures of his mother that he’d seen in his father’s journals.
“First let me introduce everyone to you,” said the woman in the center. “I’m Angelique Moreau, your cousin. At the end is Lorette, your aunt that I’m told you met in the diner just a while ago. Next to her is your aunt, Josette. Next to me is your aunt, Maria. You will stay with her while you look for a house of your own.
“Now I understand that you’re in college,” she went on. “You’ll transfer to Ashdon and live in the house you buy. Those are the first rules of the legacy. The Heir must live in Moonlight Bay. Do you have any questions?”
“About a million if I’m honest,” he said. “What is the Legacy and what does it mean that I’m the heir?”
“You aren’t the heir yet,” said Lorette. “You have to be confirmed, a demonstration of your power must be given, and you must own a house in Moonlight Bay.”
“So I must own a house in Moonlight Bay before I’m confirmed?” Quinn asked.
“No,” said Angelique. “You can buy a house after the confirmation. It only requires that you have a residence in Moonlight Bay. For all practical formalities that residence is the house where Maria lives. It has been the house where the last three heiresses have lived until they died. You may live there for the rest of your life or find another house.”
“And my power is quite destructive,” he said. “A demonstration could be fatal.”
“What is your power?” asked Lorette.
“I can kill with my mind,” he said evenly. He saw that Angelique’s eyes widened. Lorette and Josette paled. Maria just blinked.
“That’s a terrifying power,” said Angelique. “Have you used it?”
“Yes,” he said. “Just recently to incapacitate thee would-be attackers at school. Before that I used it to kill my stepmother after she stabbed me in The chest with a large kitchen knife.”
“My word,” said Josette, saying the first words since he’d arrived.
“You say you killed your stepmother?” Angelique asked. “But you merely incapacitated the attackers at your school?”
“If I use the power I can control how hard the power hits you,” he said. “If I just want you down long enough for me to get away then I can incapacitate you with chest pain, stomach pain, or intense pain in the head. If I push further you’ll have a heart attack that’s fatal, or your stomach walls will breach and your intestines will be ruptured until you die, or you will have an aneurysm.”
“Jesus wept,” said Maria who now looked terrified for some reason.
“Look at this flower pot,” said Angelique. “Try using your power on the flowers in the pot.”
He looked at it. He imagined the flowers opening as if to the light. He envisioned the stems growing taller and more thorns growing, more leaves. Then suddenly the flowers began to grow quickly. They were twice the size as they were before and each of the bulbs were open wide as if the sun was shining on them.
“You made them grow,” said Lorette. “Perhaps you can use your power to heal.”
“I never thought about it that way before,” he admitted. “I’m as shocked by the flowers as you are.”
“Someone from Moreau Medical will be working with you to see if you can heal as well as kill,” said Josette.
“I welcome the instruction,” he said. He was serious about that. He’d only killed with the power before. What he’d done with the flowers was miraculous and beautiful.
“Don’t think of it as instruction, Quinn,” said Angelique. “Think of it as a helpful guidance.”
“I know nothing about being a witch,” he admitted. “I’ve never thought to try a spell. I didn’t even know that I was special until I was eight on the playground with a bully. He took my lunch money so I killed him. I wasn’t proud of it. In fact, I was scared by it. Then there was the couple in the van who tried to entice me to get in. I killed them. I was twelve at the time. Then there was my step mother. I only killed her to save my life. I didn’t want to kill her. She was just crazy. She kept telling me I was evil and had to die. She said that I couldn’t use magic to save myself. She was wrong.”
Maria shook her head at this. Angelique stared at him in wonder. Lorette and Josette looked at each other. He just sat before them waiting to hear what they would say to what he’d just said. It had just popped out of his mouth. He hadn’t intended to say any of that.
“Well it appears that you’re very powerful,” said Angelique finally. “Children in the family don’t gain their powers until puberty. You are an exception to that rule it seems. You’re far too advanced for the novice class. Maria, do you think that Pierre can teach him separate?”
“I’m sure he can,” she said, though she sounded like she thought it a bad idea. “I’ll speak to him.”
“Then it’s settled,” said Angelique. “Lad has your bags and things at Maria’s by now.” She checked her phone. “Yes. You’re checked out and your credit card is with your things. Maria can take you over there. Your brother, Revanche lives there as well.”
“Does Revanche know about me?” Quinn asked.
“He’s always known about you,” said Maria.
“Okay,” he said. “You don’t look happy about my staying with you.”
“You’re the heir to the legacy,” she said crisply. “You are welcome in any house a Moreau calls home, Quinn.”
He didn’t know what to think about that one. But he followed her out of the room and down the hall to the front door. He said goodbye to the others before he went. Then he was following Maria to her house, or the house of the Heir or Heiress as it had been explained to him. It was another white house with three stories and balconies, a large iron fence surrounded it. There were two covered porches. One in the front of the house had plants on the floor of it. The one on the left side of the house had more plants and a rocking chair.
“So this is it?” he asked as he got out of his car.
“This is it,” she said coldly. “Follow me. I’ll see that you get a key. Your brother should be in his rooms.”
“Okay,” he said, disliking her cold tone.
“Let’s get one thing straight right now,” she said as they stepped up to the door. “You and Revanche live under this roof because the house is owned by the Legacy. I would move out if I had the money to buy another house or rent one. I don’t like you and I’m sure you’ve figured that out. I thought I was done with Lisette’s little brats when Revanche came but now there’s you.”
“Well then let me help you to understand something,” he said. “We’ll be burying my mother soon. Then I don’t care where you go but if this house is controlled by the Legacy and I’m the Heir then I will find a place for you to go and you will go there.”
“I’m Revanche’s guardian,” she said smugly.
“I’m sure that, as the heir, I could change a lot of things including the guardianship of my brother,” he said just as coldly.
“You don’t know me,” she said.
“And you don’t know me,” he said. “I don’t take kindly to bullies, Maria. Were you not listening when I described what I did to the last one?”
“Don’t you threaten me,” she warned.
“I’m not threatening you, Maria,” he said, smiling. “I’m just telling you to stop pissing me off or I won’t be held responsible for what happens next.”
They went into the house and Quinn was happy that it wasn’t red inside. He was growing to despise that color. The entry hall was hardwood flooring and white paneled walls. A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling of what appeared to be a floor above them. It threw rainbows all over the entry way.
She led him to a dining room where they sat down. She said nothing as she went through the mail on the table. Quinn sat there in silence looking around the room. It was more hardwood flooring with soft beige walls and another chandelier hung from The ceiling of this room. No natural light pierced this room as the heavy brown velvet curtains were pulled close.
“Your things are in the room at the top of the stairs to the right,” she said suddenly. “Your brother’s room is directly across the hall.”
“Thank you,” he said and got up from the table. He pushed his chair back in and left the room.
It seemed that for now Maria was done with him. He was happy about that. He went up the stairs and into the room to the right. There were his bags just like he’d packed them. His credit card and the receipt from the hotel were on the long chest of drawers. He was happy that this room had a hardwood floor but the walls were white. The ceiling was white the globe that hung from the ceiling flooded the room with light. He went over and opened the white velvet curtains wide, letting in the natural light. When he turned a younger man with short dark hair and icy blue eyes stood in his doorway. Revanche, he though. At last.
“You’re Quinn,” said the boy.
“And you’re Revanche,” Quinn replied.
“Yes,” he said. “So was Maria a cold bitch to you, too?”
“Isn’t that her normal personality?” Quinn asked.
“Good one,” laughed the youngster. “So you’re my older brother that everyone has been talking about for days.”
“It appears that way,” Quinn said. “I’m actually happy to have a brother I was raised as an only child in New York.”
“That’s wild,” Revanche said. “You lived with Bart, right?”
“Yes,” Quinn said, nodding. “That was my father.”
“Right,” he said. “You got the rebel and I got the man who Maria married to piss off her mother.”
“So you know your father was Maria’s husband?” Quinn asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “We think that Maria killed him for impregnating our mother.”
“That’s dramatic,” Quinn said.
“Yeah, but it’s probably true,” he said. Then his face lit up. “You know what? Come on. Let’s go see Pierre.”
“Who is Pierre?” Quinn asked.
“My brother,” said Revanche. “He’s Maria’s son but he’s not a prick. You’ll like him. He teaches the classes that we all go to.”
“Magic?” Quinn asked.
“That’s right,” he said.
Quinn followed him down the stairs and through the house to the kitchen. They went out the back door and a Jeep sat in one of the parking spots behind the house. They got in, buckled up, and Revanche drove them through town back to the beach and to a place called Moonlight Marina.
There were house boats in the marina. Revanche led him down the steps to the dock and then down the row of colorful houseboats to the boat on the end. It was called Moonspun. Revanche climbed aboard and motioned for Quinn to follow him. Quinn followed him onto the boat and into the house part of the boat. It was all nautical themed with white walls, a very light hardwood floor, light blue curtains over round windows, a table with what looked like wicker place-mats and two captain’s chairs, one on either side of the table.
“Hey Pierre,” Revanche called out.
“Be right there,” called a deeper voice. “Stay where you are.”
“Sure thing,” Revanche said with a chuckle. He looked at Quinn. “I walked in on him naked once. I don’t know which of us was more embarrassed.”
“Ah,” said Quinn. “You just come and go as you please?”
“I have a key to the door,” Revanche said as a very wet-haired slightly older young man came through the doorway from further inside the boat. He looked at Quinn and smiled.
“You must be Quinn,” he said.
“That’s me,” Quinn said, looking into Pierre’s icy blue eyes and thinking that he and Pierre looked more alike than he and Revanche did.
“I’m your cousin, Pierre,” said Pierre, extending his hand.
“Good to meet you,” Quinn said, shaking his hand and noticing that they gripped each other’s hands with little force.
“So you got in last night?” Pierre asked.
“Yeah,” Quinn said. “I stayed at the Tranquility Inn which seemed to piss off my aunts and cousin for some reason.”
“Because you were supposed to be at Angelique’s last night,” he said. “She spent the day preparing a room for you.”
“I didn’t know that,” Quinn replied.
“No matter,” he said and smiled. “What’s your power?”
“I kill with my mind,” Quinn said automatically. “Today I made flowers grow for the first time.”
“That’s wild,” Revanche said. “You can kill?”
“Yes,” said Quinn. “I can’t show you, you’ll just have to believe me.”
“We do,” said Pierre. “It’s just that this power hasn’t been in the family for generations. I think the last of us to have a power like yours was Abigail Moreau back in the seventeen hundreds. She was burned as a witch.”
“That’s awful,” Quinn replied.
“Many of our ancestors were burned, drowned, or hanged,” he said. “You can take a history of the family lesson from Josette if you like. She’s been the family historian for a while now.”
“Good to know,” Quinn said. “I didn’t even know about the family until after my dad died.”
“Yeah we were all a little sad to hear that Bart died,” said Pierre.
“It was really sad,” Quinn agreed. “I at least got to talk to him before he died.”
“You did? That’s great,” said Revanche.
“He gave me the key to his office and told me to read his journals and letters from Lisette,” Quinn said. “That’s when I learned that she was my mother and that she’d had Revanche. I didn’t know anything about any of you until I read those journals.”
“Wow,” said Pierre. “That must have been hard for you.”
“It was,” Quinn admitted.
“Well you, me, and Revanche will stick together,” Pierre said. “If you don’t like the food at home just come here or go to Angelique. We’ll feed you. Wait until Lorette is in town and she can really cook.”
“My best friend and room mate is on his way here from New York,” Quinn said. “He’s coming to be here for me at the funeral.”
“Cool,” said Pierre. “He can stay here. I have an extra room that Rev crashes in from time to time.”
“Thanks,” Quinn said.
“No worries,” said Pierre. “You probably won’t be comfortable at my mother’s. She’s a cold bitch.”
“You noticed?” Quinn asked with a smile.
“She’s been that way my whole life,” he said. “I think she killed my father.”
“Revanche said something about that,” Quinn replied.
“Well, what can I say?” said Pierre, shrugging his shoulders.
“Oh, she’s supposed to talk to you about teaching me magic separate from the others because I’m so powerful that I won’t fit in with the other novices or something like that,” Quinn said.
“Consider me talked to,” Pierre said. “I would recommend that you not have classes with the novices because for one thing the ring is on your finger and that might distract them all. I won’t put you with the advanced students because you don’t know as much as they do. So I’ll teach you separately.”
“Thank you,” Quinn said. “I knew nothing about witches and magic while I was growing up. I thought I was cursed.”
“Poor child,” Pierre said. “Bart did you a disservice not teaching you about who you are.”
“I’m starting to see that,” Quinn said.
“But then he was bucking against magic,” Pierre said. “Something about how we find the next heiress or heir. I don’t really know what was said between him and Angelique. They’re both dead so we can’t ask them.”
“Angelique isn’t dead,” Quinn said.
“No, not Angelique, our cousin,” he said. “Angelique, our grandmother.”
“Oh,” Quinn said. “It makes more sense that Dad would disagree with our grandmother when I think about it. Angelique that I met today is far too young to be the one he argued with before I was born.”
“She was just a child of I think thirteen then,” Pierre said. “Anyway it doesn’t matter now why he did or in this case did not teach you anything. I’ll teach you. It may take you a while to get the hang of some of the spells but we’ll get there.”
“All right,” said Revanche. “Can we go eat now?”
“Sure,” said Pierre, looking at Quinn.
“Sure,” Quinn agreed. “Where are we going?”
“The Moonlight Bay Diner,” Revanche said. “Don’t worry people stop staring at us after we’ve been there a while.”
“I’ll remember that,” Quinn said as they left the kitchen and went back out to the deck.
They rode together in Pierre’s SUV. They pulled into the diner a few minutes after leaving the marina. They walked in and the people looked at them for a long moment. Leah smiled at them and then they sat down. It took a bit for the people to stop gawking at them but they did.
“What’ll you guys have?” Leah asked as she got to the table.
“Three big burgers with fries,” said Revanche. “I want mine with everything on it.”
“Same,” said Quinn.
“You know how I like mine, Leah,” said Pierre.
“Sure do,” she said. “What to drink?”
“Sweat tea for me,” said Revanche.
“Same,” said Pierre.
“I’ll have the same,” said Quinn.
“You know Joseph is dying to meet you, Quinn,” she said. “He’s at the counter.”
“Tell him to join us,” said Revanche.
“Yeah,” said Pierre. “Joey is fine.”
“He hates it when you call him that,” Leah said with a grin. “I’ll go tell him.”
A few minutes later another dark haired icy blue-eyed boy joined them. This young man was at least eighteen. He held himself so stiff that Quinn was afraid he’d sprained something. He smiled from ear to ear as he looked at Quinn.
“Hello, I’m Joseph,” he said reaching for Quinn’s hand.
Quinn shook his hand and said, “I’m Quinn.”
“I know,” said Joseph. “So you met the council this morning?”
“The council?” Quinn asked.
“My mom, Josette, Lorette, and Maria,” he said.
“Oh yes,” Quinn said. “The delightful Maria.”
“She’s like that to everyone,” Joseph said. “It isn’t just you, though from the story she told after you called I’d say you might be getting the brunt end of her tongue.”
“What story?” Quinn asked.
“You’ll have to ask her,” said Joseph. “Leah and I have been forbidden to discuss it with you. They’re all afraid that if you know you’ll decide not to be the heir or something. But something tells me that’s not the case.” He glanced at the ring on Quinn’s finger and smiled.
“Why do I feel like I’ve just stepped into a world of shit?” Quinn asked Pierre.
“Because you have, Quinn,” he said, smiling. “You really have. You’re about to become the heir. That will pull power away from the would-be council of witches. They’ve been acting as the heiress since Lisette went catatonic.”
“When did that happen?” Quinn asked.
“Not long after she had me,” said Revanche sadly.
“Sorry, Revanche,” Quinn said. “I keep forgetting that she’s your mother, too. Give me a little bit and I’ll think of things like that. I promise.”
“So much is going on in your life right now, Quinn,” said Revanche. “I understand the lapse in thought.”
“I for one am glad that you’re here with the ring firmly on your finger,” said Joseph. “I’ve said all along that the power did not belong in my mother’s hands.”
“I’d agree with you there,” said Pierre. “But Quinn is here and with the ring on his finger so we can expect some big changes in the near future.”
“Changes?” Quinn asked. “Why do you think I’ll change things?”
“Because every heir or heiress does,” Revanche said.
“Well how are things running now?” Quinn asked, looking from one to the other of all three of them.
“Well you know that any loan from the Legacy has to go through the heir or heiress,” said Joseph. “Mom’s been granting every application that comes through. She’s been negligent when people are past due with their payments and such.”
“That won’t happen under me,” said Quinn. “You pay or I yank the loan.”
“See?” laughed Joseph. “Changes.”
“All right, so I’ll make a few changes to the way things go,” Quinn said dismissively.
“You’ll make a lot more changes than you think,” said Pierre. “It’s inevitable. You have a different mind set than the older generation, Quinn. There will be things that you want to sponsor or donate to. Things that would make the council shudder. Don’t worry about making those changes. It happens every time we get a new heir or heiress.”
“It didn’t happen with my mom,” Revanche said sadly.
“Buddy, there wasn’t time for your mom to make many changes,” said Pierre. “She was confirmed as the heiress and then she had you and then she was catatonic.”
“Yeah,” he said.
“I remember your mom when she wasn’t catatonic,” said Pierre.
“How do you remember her?” asked Revanche.
“I remember her because I’m a few years older than you,” he said.
“Well yeah,” said Revanche. “She used to touch my cheek when I’d sit with her.”
“She liked to have her hair brushed,” Joseph said. “Josephine used to brush her hair.”
“Who is Josephine?” Quinn asked.
“My twin sister,” said Joseph.
“Ah, another cousin,” said Quinn with a smile.
“You don’t know the half of it,” said Joseph. “Wait until your mother’s funeral. She was the heiress, she’ll draw Moreaus from all over the country.”
“A big crowd?” Quinn asked.
“Huge,” said Pierre.
Their food came and they were quiet while they ate. Quinn wasn’t looking forward to the large crowd of family at the funeral. He’d have been happier with a quiet affair so he could say goodbye to a woman he’d never met. It sounded silly when he thought about it out right but it was the truth of the way he felt.
He thought about all that had happened since his father died. He’d had a funeral for his father, shipped the body to Moonlight Bay to be entombed in the family mausoleum, and now here he was having lunch with two cousins and a brother that he hadn’t known he had the night his father died. Could it really have been last week that his father had died? So much had happened since that night. It was enough to make Quinn’s head spin.
“So what are we doing after lunch?” Revanche asked.
“Well, I have to do some things for the novice class today,” said Pierre. “They’re making robes and binding tools tonight. So there are a few things that I need to do before they show up on the beach.”
“Okay,” Revanche said and looked at Quinn. “What are we doing after lunch?”
“I have no idea,” Quinn said. “I’m new here and don’t know what there is to do for fun.”
“We could go to the Family Fun Center,” said Joseph.
“We could,” said Revanche. “It’s been a while since I beat you at bowling.”
“Beat me? I cleaned the lane with you,” laughed Joseph.
“All right, calm down,” said Pierre. “People are staring again.”
People were staring at them but Quinn ignored them. He had a family now and he wasn’t going to let the staring of others hinder his enjoyment with them. He and the others paid for their food and left the diner. Pierre went back to his boat. Quinn rode with Revanche to the Family Fun Center.
The Family Fun Center was a rectangular building with a parking lot at one end. The building was constructed of gray stone with a black flat roof. A huge sign pole stood in front of the building with the business name on a marquee at the top. Revanche parked in the lot. Joseph pulled in beside them.
They went inside and Quinn was immediately assaulted by the sounds coming the video games at the one end of the building. There were bowling lanes and an entrance to another part of the building that was set for laser tag. They paid for one lane, switched shoes, and ordered a pitcher of iced tea with three glasses. Then they got to their lane and started to bowl.
Quinn was an avid bowler so he held his own with his cousin and brother. They had a good time and time passed very quickly. They had three matches and then left the place to go their separate ways. Joseph went to pick up Leah and Quinn and Revanche went home. Maria was nowhere to be seen when they got there so Quinn was happy.
“Joseph really likes you,” Revanche said. “He’s sort of reserved with new people but he was all right with you around.”
“It might be the ring on my finger,” Quinn said.
“It’s more than the ring,” Revanche countered. “You come from New York where you were raised by the rebel of the family and a hunter. People in the family are going to be curious about you because of that. Now you have the ring on your finger so they’re really going to be interested in your story.”
“There’s no story really,” Quinn said. “I don’t even know what a hunter is. I mean when she was trying to kill me she said something about her people and that they were right about all of us. I didn’t know what it meant then and I don’t know what it means now. I just know that she stabbed me in the chest with that kitchen knife and I killed her to save my life.”
“Wow,” said Revanche. “A hunter is a witch hunter. They kill witches. Your dad married a hunter to save Lisette from a hunter group. I’m surprised that you could kill her because she wore a medallion made by Bart that prevented his first born son from using magical powers to harm her.”
“Well it didn’t work,” Quinn said. “Unless I have an older sibling that I’m not aware of the medallion didn’t do its job.”
“That’s wild to think about,” Revanche said. “You having an older sibling that none of us know about. I mean Bart was a rebel but to seduce two women he would have to have been much more than just a rebel.”
“Why do you call him a rebel?” Quinn asked.
“Because he renounced magic, married a hunter, and took off with you,” he said. “There was a big fight between him and his sister and he blew a hole in the roof of this house that day with his power. He left three days later with Constance and you.”
“Well I didn’t know anything about that,” Quinn said. “I knew from his journals, at least the part of them that I actually read, that my mother was Lisette Moreau and she was his niece. I was a little put off by that but I did read about the family here and that he had left them to go to New York. It didn’t say anything about hunters, or I didn’t read anything about hunters. I need to read the rest of those journals some day.”
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