Sous

Sous stood in front of the voodoo case that was in the hallway. She had been dusting it until the little names on the shelves caught her attention. She had never seen a voodoo dolls before and was completely taken back how life like yet manually made they were. Every hem was seen, every stitch in the right position.

Gladian walked up behind Sous and whispered within her ear. "Do you like my collection?" Sous nodded her head, not bothering to look at Gladian. "I made most of them in my first year. I didn't do much with them except for that one right there." She pointed to the voodoo doll that had long orange hair and green button eyes. "See how the leg is twisted?" Sous nodded her head. "I broke her leg."

Sous snapped her head to look at Gladian. Gladian stood up straight, a darkness in her eyes that Sous took notice of.

"She was...I didn't like her. She was a bully. A pixie that hadn't had her wings come in yet. She poked fun at Puimo. One day, she had used a push/pull spell to slam Puimo on the ground in the courtyard. He busted his lip, blood every where." She paused with Sous listening on intently. "I was so pissed. I ran to my room, took her doll and twisted its leg as hard as I could." She laughed. "My sister say her screams couldnbe heard across the entire court yard and front potion of the school." Sous continued to look up at Gladian. "No regrets. I can teach you how to make one for your birthday."

"Doureena is the only one I would want to make one of."

"Hmm, we don't have any of her fur..."

Sous birthday was coming up and the sisters were wanting to give Sous something, more specifically they wanted to teach Sous something. A voodoo doll would require Sous to have some material of the person she was making it after. She didn't have anything, not even a lock of hair or fur so it was out of the question.

The young blonde and blue eye girl walked down to the lair where Gortrius wanted to see her. Sous saw the older woman sitting at one of the tables reading a book. She smiled and closed the book when Sous came to her.

"Thank goddess, we don't have to buy you any uniforms. We had uniforms when we attended back in the day."

"Gladian showed me her voodoo dolls."

Gortrius laughed sitting up. "Yeah, she had a knack for that."

"And what did you have a knack for?" Sous asked.

With the same darkness that gleamed in Gladian's eyes, shown in Gortrius. She looked at Sous with a grin reminiscent of an evil villain from a children's movie. "Bringing the dead back to life," she whispered. She thought back on it faintly, quite fawn of it. "In my second year, I brought back a cat. In my sixth year, I killed my boyfriend and then brought him back." Sous remained quiet, listening to her words. Eagered to hold such power herself. "There's a spell I learned: mors instantanea."

"I want to learn it," Sous confessed.

"For your birthday...it'll be our little secret." They spoke in hushed tones as Gortrius spoke about how the hunters came for her when they felt the spirit of her boyfriend leave his body. Although she quickly put it back, bringing him back to life, the hunters still took her and she stayed in prison for two years until her case was heard. She actually never graduated Hacate to Sous' surprise. "When we were in school, dark arts was forbidden but now they teach it. Its better to know and not be ignorant than to know and be ignorant."

"I forgot to ask Gladian about her seals," Sous remembered.

"The seals are a result of the magic she drained from her enemies. If she opens all of the seals, she'll release all the power at once and become a monster."

Sous laughed until she realized Gortrius was being serious.

"We all have something to give you, Sous, for your birthday. Go to Glinda to see what she has."

As Sous walked to the park in search of Glinda, she began to realize the store was simply a front for what they really wanted to do. Love was probably the easiest and most profitable business to venture to that was safe legally wise. Creating voodoo dolls, draining magic from one's enemies, bringing the dead back, Nadia not even Canas would allow any of that. Love. Who doesn't want love?

Sous stepped onto the grass and walked toward the pond where she saw Glinda sitting on a bench feeding the ducks. Kneeling beside her were five men.

Glinda looked at Sous, a small smile upon her face.

"Who are these men?"

"My slaves," she said, her voice replicating the same dark tone of her sisters.

"Do they know that?"

"Yes," Glinda said truthfully. "I don't desire to go back to prison." The lead arch had told Glinda that if she were to be back in prison for forcing people under her spells of devotion, they would drain her of her magic, sealing it away, making her practically all but human. "So what do you want for your birthday, Sous? You can only choose one? Do you want to kill your enemies instantly? Drain their magic and seal them within you? Or do you want to create an army of people devoting themselves to you?"

Sous watched the men, they were zombies to Glinda. Not a single thought of their own within their heads. She didn't really want slaves especially if they were weak. They would simply get in the way and be killed for not. She didn't have anything of Doureena to make a voodoo doll. That only left two options: instant kill spell or the ability to create seals.

"You can only choose one," Glinda repeated.

It was night fall in Vania. Icuras had come to Glinda and Sous while they were in the park. He had pointed out how it was time to train with Tany. With all three sisters present and Sous, the sisters teleported Sous to Vania should they could train with Tany.

Sous had watched on during the training session. She stood to the side, watching how Tany was able to dodge, parry, and attack with such precision. It was impressive because she was so young and so focused. She was able to control each of her basic spells and had already moved on to more immediate spells Sous hadn't touched yet.

Training took place the entire duration to night fall. Tany had two breaks where she ate protein and drunk water. When Sous had offered her to use a stamina potion, Tany had declined, simply preferring water. Her resilience was admirable.

"Graveyard of the Vampires!" Tany screamed out that night. They sat upon a fallen stone pillar in an area that was once a residential area for vampires. The residents of the village were all turned into stone. It had happened sometime ago when the basilisk came. "Remember the question you had asked?"

Sous nodded her head. "Whether the vampires were really dead since they don't have a heart beat."

"Gortrius can bring things back to life but she nevered tried to bring back any of them."

"Do you know any dark spells?"

Tany nodded her head.

"Did they have you choose from four options?" Sous asked and once more, Tany nodded her head.

"Which one did you choose?"

"The instant kill spell from Gortrius."

Sous acknowledged Tany's choice. Coming to the conclusion she would choose the sealing technique then from Gladian. She chuckled a bit, no one seemed to want an army of slaves.

"Too much responsibility," Tany said while stretching her upper body.

Sous looked around the setting, seeing the rubble of the houses, the broken fountains that once had water shooting from them. The basilisk that came through here must have been clumsy. Most basilisk were easily able to maneuver through such obstacles even in the tale of Julia.

The three sisters walked up to them, looking at the moon above. The stars were more visible in the small village than in Vania in general.

"I know what," Sous spoke.

The three sisters looked at her. Each of them waiting with a stillness that reflected the darkness within them, unseen and unspoken, unpredictable.

"I want the ability to do seals."

Gladian smiled, putting her hands together in a single clap. Sous admitted she thought the slaves would be too much work, having Glinda shrugged and that Tany had the instant spell, implying the two girls could simply work together. Gortrius approached both girls, patting them each on the back.

The five of them walked back to the small residential area where Tany lived with majority of the other witches and wizards. Sous noticed the spider webs were all gone.

"Had any of the spiders come back, and what about the piper?"

"We got a new piper who managed to lead the spiders out back to where they came from along with the basilisk," Tany explained.

While the three sisters stood by the entrance of the front yard, Sous walked Tany to her door step. Tany flipped her hair. "Night, Sous."

Icarus watched the ladies below, flapping his wings, he flew away into the night.