The woman had bright red lips that shimmered under the glow of the porch lanterns. She stepped forward and pushed past her sister without as much as a glance as she stepped into the cabin. Her black dress billowed behind her as threw her bags on the table.
"Lets make this snappy, I have tons of prep work to do for a case tomorrow" she shouted as put her hand on her hips waiting for the rest of her sisters.
"Marianne, we have two hours no need to be hasty, you'll sour the ritual" the next sister said as she walked through the door, her light brown eyes emotionless and face taught from the tight bun her black hair was pulled into.
"Well, Adelaide, someone of us actually have real jobs that do not entail getting mother coffee every time she snaps her fingers." Marianne retorted flipping her long dark hair behind her back with sass.
With a sideways glare, Adelaide walked past her older sister whom she towered over, to unpack her tools for the ritual. Katherine internally sighed as she watched her two older sisters bicker with each other while setting up the table. Turning to the doorway, the youngest sister was still on the porch attempting to drag two heavy looking duffel bags through the door.
"Here Mabel, let me help you with these," Katherine offered reaching for one of the bags while smiling at her little sister whose black shoulder length hair kept falling in front of her dark eyes.
Slapping her hand away, Mabel gave Katherine a dry look before saying "Please, do not touch anything, why don't you go get changed and we will set everything up".
Feeling slightly hurt Katherine just nodded her head and went up the stairs to her bedroom. Putting on her black ritual dress that had brown buttons down the front and small cap sleeves, Katherine stared at herself in the bathroom mirror. She always looked forward to when her sisters would arrive but it was hardly ever a pleasant visit. They would come, boss her around, then leave like clockwork.
Katherine could see the bags under her eyes already forming and her complexion looked a bit pale in comparison to her usual sun-tanned skin. Already wanting this night to be over, she sauntered back down the stairs to where her sisters were waiting for her. Slipping on the last step, Katherine's eyes widened as she felt her stomach drop as she fell forward toward the wooden floor. Marianne took two steps holding out her long arm to catch her sister before she hit the ground.
"What is wrong with you now, Katherine? Are you tired? You look very tired for someone who is not supposed to use magic today" Marianne narrowed her brown eyes accusingly at her sister.
With the eldest sisters' dark eyes looking down on her, she wasn't sure if she should tell them the truth about the man she saved. Katherine straightened up and shrugged off Marianne's hand. Smoothing down her now dry black hair Katherine looked at each of her sisters before she said "There was a hurt.. animal and I couldn't carry it so I used a small raising spell".
Marianne stared at her sister as if she had three heads, Katherine knew as soon as the words left her mouth that she would never hear the end of it.
"Do I look stupid, Katherine? You look like death" Marianne stopped and then tilted her head at her sister before asking, "Have you been poisoned?"
Katherine swallowed hard, had the man poisoned her somehow? She couldn't think of a single instance where the young man had the opportunity. Looking down at herself she noticed the veins on her arms had raised becoming taught against her thinning skin. Great, she thought, more ammunition for Marianne to treat her like a simple child.
"Mabel, come here to check Katherine" Marianne demanded with two snaps of her fingers, her long nails clicking together with each snap.
The youngest witch sister put down the candles she had been holding to make her way over to Katherine.
"I am a doctor, not your damn dog" Mabel said with a scowl. Marianne side-eyed her sister before saying, "You're right, Horace listens much better than you do." Walking away to help Adelaide finish setting up the table, Marianne left Katherine's side leaving her in Mabel's care. Taking out a small flashlight from the small bag draped across her chest, Mabel shined it in Katherine's wide confused eyes before raising her eyebrows.
"So, was this animal a human by chance?" The woman asked her sister. Katherine's face dropped as Mabel had found out her secret. As soon as Mabel spoke the words there was clamoring near the kitchen table. Adelaide had dropped a candle stick with a loud clang and Marianne whipped around knocking over a chalice which bumped then rolled along the hardwood floors..
"Humans are filthy creatures and carry a plethora of diseases, they are almost as disgusting as the Vampires that feed on them!" Marianne yelled in disbelief of her sister.
"He was hurt.. and dying." Katherine was cut off by Adelaide.
"You should not have involved yourself, if he was this far into the forest he was asking for death." Adelaide scolded Katherine with a disappointed look on her sharp face.
Katherine looked down at her feet tuning out Mariannes incessant slander of humans, Vampires, and even the Werewolves. Out of the corner of her eye, Katherine noticed Mabel bring her right hand to her chest to make a fist, as she mumbled a spell under her breath. Mabel then used her other hand to put it on Katherine's shoulder. Thinking her sister was going to comfort her, Katherine looked up with a slight smile but was met with her fist punching her gut as hard as she could. Katherine doubled over and fell to her hands and knees gagging from the impact.
"MABEL!" Adelaide yelled at the youngest sister with eyes wide in disbelief she had punched Katherine. With the two oldest sisters in shock, Mabel stepped away from Katherine as she continued to gag and heave on the floor before a black tar like substance projected itself from Katherine's mouth. This time even Mabel's eyes widened at the sight of the thick black poison expelling itself from Katherine's body.
Katherine looked up at her three sisters standing over her and, could see the horror in their matching glossy brown eyes. With the black poison dripping down her chin she smiled at them with stained gray teeth before she looked at Mabel.
"Your bedside.. manner.. fucking sucks" Katherine managed to choke out the insult before her eyes rolled to the back of her head and everything went dark.