ARTEMISIA
“What the hell is that smell?”
I watch Hendrick contort his face in rage as Lisa clasps the edge of the tray, making her knuckles go white.
“It’s… It’s a sweet tea, just like Missy likes it,” she stutters, trying to make excuses. “But I… I don’t know what is in it. Alberta prepared it. I was just asked to serve it.”
I know that she is lying because Alberta is one of the few people who were entrusted with the safeguarding of my food, so she would never let anyone else serve the food she prepared for me.
Especially Lisa, who was expelled out of my entourage by Cayden.
“I can’t smell anything abnormal, Hendrick,” I say, making Hendrick turn towards me. “What is it?”
“Artemisia,” he snarls, and I furrow my brows.
“What?” I ask, a shiver running down my spine as he never addressed me by my full name.
Hendrick shakes his head, closing his hands into fists, “No, not you. I smell Artemisia absinthium.”
Leaning in, he sniffs at the liquid again, my small brain cells running around hastily to free the books filled with my Latin knowledge from the dust. “Erm…”
I stand there lost while I can observe Lisa going paler and paler.
“I also smell rue and salvia. It’s quite the herbal mixture, seeing that Missy likes it sweet and fruity, isn’t it?” Hendrick tilts his head at Lisa, and she gulps visibly.
“I- I did put in a bit of sweet,” she suddenly admits having prepared it, maybe because Hendrick’s hypnotic powers are taking their toll on her.
“Is that why you put the liquorice root in it?”
He grins grotesquely, baring his fangs, causing even me to fear for my life for a second.
“I- I…” Lisa tries to speak, looking at me completely lost.
Shaking my head, I close my eyes with a sigh, keeping her from seeing my eye roll.
“What is the meaning of all of this?” I ask, looking back and forth between the two.
Hendrick simply ignores me, his eyes changing into a deadly gaze as he asks Lisa one more time, “What’s the last ingredient that you put in the tea, Lisa?”
“You got them all,” she stutters, lowering her gaze.
The bang resounds before I can even blink and realise that he has moved.
Ramona and I gasp in unison and I bolt forward, trying to separate Hendrick from Lisa, who is about to get strangled by his firm grip.
“Hendrick, no!” I shout, as he keeps Lisa pressed against the wall by her throat.
“I don’t fucking care if you taste rotten, mutt! If you did what I suppose you did, you will be my dinner! And Drake will get your heart,” he snarls at her, his eyes darkening further to an alarming extent.
What’s this obsession with hearts?!
“Hendrick, please. What is happening? Let her go!” My plea seems to reach him at least partly as he clenches his jaw.
“What is going on here?” Cayden asks as he steps into the room, closing the door behind him.
“Cayden!” I breathe out, making him look at me worried before he growls.
“Hendrick, what is happening?”
“I got the bitch that was poisoning Missy. She wasn’t very smart to try to pull it off in front of me, seeing that I have a bit of knowledge about those herbs and plants she used. Guess it was bad luck, right, Lisa dear?”
He sneers as Lisa keeps scratching at his hands as she fights for air.
“Are you ready to hear all of it? Even if the things she has to say might be hurtful?”
I nod as Hendrick looks down at me, and he smiles at me encouragingly before letting Lisa go, making her fall to his feet.
She coughs badly as he turns around, grabbing my arm to make me take a few steps away from her.
“What happened here?” Cayden asks again as he looks at the table, getting a shrug from Ramona.
“The tea… Apparently, it stinks.”
Cayden takes a whiff of the spilt liquid on the table, distorting his face. “I don’t get it. Don’t you like mint?”
“Aren’t dogs supposed to have the best noses?” Hendrick mocks as he practically materialises himself in front of Cayden. “She made a tea out of Artemisia Absinthium, that’s wormwood, rue, salvia and liquorice root.”
Cayden crosses his arms, shrugging. “That’s a strange mix. But what? Did she want to give her a tummy ache?”
His words get a switch in my head to click, making me gasp as I clasp my stomach instinctively.
Hendrick turns to me, his sly grin growing. “Oh, the doctor got it.”
“What is it?” Ramona asks, making me turn my head to look at her.
“Remember how you asked me if I was pregnant?” I ask her, and she nods. “Those are herbs told to induce abortions.”
I see her eyes widen, Hendrick moving fast to stand in Cayden’s way.
“But there is no actual proof that those ever worked,” I add swiftly, getting a glare from Cayden.
“You have to be fucking kidding me if you are still not convinced she wants to harm you after this.”
I’m still trying to find a sense of this as it seems so shockingly ridiculous to me.
Shaking my head, I bite my lip, “It’s just all too much.”
“Don’t worry, old boy. We have something which will convince her definitely and leave her without any doubt,” Hendrick scoffs, dipping his fingers into the liquid. He lifts his hand, turning it in front of Cayden’s eyes as they fill up with rage. “There is something else. A faint but awfully sweetish taste of a poisonous plant. I guess the herbs were also meant to cover the taste of it, as it would have been too sweet even for our Missy, right, Lisa?”
He leans over the table and picks up the cup. “I suppose that you were awfully clever in keeping the dosage low enough to just make her feel sick. So low that it even kept her from having hallucinations.”
Passing the cup to Cayden who takes it and sniffs at the brew dumbfounded. “But you must have thought that if you were just giving her the poison long enough you could induce an organ failure or a cardiovascular collapse anyway. Well, and if you weren’t as lucky, you would have at least killed the baby, right?”
“What is it?” Cayden asks in a growl, while I feel like the world has stopped turning, and breathing gets harder.
Lisa whimpers as she has her hand still wrapped around her neck, holding her hurting throat, “You are wrong. I didn’t put anything in it that could harm Missy. And I didn’t know about the herbs being noxious for a potential baby.”
“Sure,” Hendrick clicks his tongue while Cayden barks.
“Shut the fuck up. You have played us long enough.”
Turning towards Hendrick, he bares his canines, “What is it?”
“Well, a good boy like you wouldn’t recognize that. We vampires love to take it as it sends you on the craziest trip.” He scoffs, pressing his tongue against his teeth as he tilts his head to look at me. “There is no better way to spend the evening than with a Belladonna.”