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Chapter 3 - Chapter 3: The Family Grimoire

Patricia's POV:

Jillian and I left campus early in the morning. There was a snowstorm coming in and I wanted to be down off of Oglesbay Hill before it hit. That hill becomes very slippery when it snows and many people have had accidents trying to come down hill.

We stopped in Wheeling and picked up our mom. She hates driving in the snow. I wasn't looking forward to being in the car with her for 2 hours because she always has to make little "comments" or "digs" like she knows it all. I told Jillian not to engage with her. Don't answer any of her loaded questions. Just keep the conversation light.

I sat in the car while she loaded her things inside the back hatch of my SUV. She has a bakery/catering business and I swear she must have made one of everything when my car soon smells like a high end cafeteria. As soon as she got into the car, I put in a Christmas CD and turned up the volume. We spent the two hour drive to Columbus singing Christmas carols because I refused to, "turn it down so we could talk." My car, my rules.

Once we arrived, we helped Mom carry in the food. My Grandma complained about her bringing way too much and having too much in the refrigerator. We decided to eat some of what Mom brought for dinner.

Once things settled down, I pulled Grandma to the side and told her about Remmy. I told her that he claimed to come from a very old and powerful family. I let her know that I feared he would not keep his word and would continue to bother me. I also worried about a surprise visit, or possibly an attack, from members of his family.

She immediately got on her phone and called the PWCO (Pagan/ Wiccan Council of Ohio). She reported my situation and the threat being made to the council. They promised to investigate and told her that we would hear from the Grand Magus.

I already knew the Grand Magus in Ohio. He was a man who lived in Mansfield who called himself, Constantinos. I had dated his son, Christopher, for a while in high school. Chris and I sort of broke up due to the distance between us but we remained friends. I decided to text Chris and ask him to call me.

I thought it would take a while to hear back from Chris but surprisingly he called me back right away. I told him the same things I told my Grandma about and he was actually quite angry.

He told me that he would look into it right away. He also said that he wanted me to call him when I was heading back to campus on Sunday, because he wanted to pay me a visit and see Remmy for himself.

He asked me if I knew what his last name was but I told him I didn't know. He said that was okay, it wouldn't be too hard to figure out what vampire clan he belonged to.

My Grandma took Jillian and I upstairs to her room and took a box out of her cedar chest. She sat the old box on her bed and opened it up to take out what was inside. She sat what looked like an old scrapbook on the bed. On the front cover handwritten in calligraphy were the words ," Our O'Grady Family Grimoire," and inside it contained many old handwritten spells, rituals, blessings and even some cooking recipes from our Celtic, Druid, and even some Danish Ancestors.

My Mom joined us in Grandma's room and gasped in surprise when she saw the Grimoire. "You still have this?" she asks my Grandma. "Of course I still have it. I haven't passed it down the line yet," she says. "You can pass it down to me," my mom said. My Grandma made a clicking sound with her tongue. "I'm thinking I should probably pass it down to Patricia," she said. "What? I don't think a college dorm room is the best place to keep it," my mom said. " I think it would be much better off with me. I can keep it safe and the girls won't have to make the drive to Columbus every time they want to see it," she reasons. "Let's talk about it later," Grandma says.

I smile at Grandma. I know why she doesn't want my Mom to have it. Mom uses her magic for personal gain and to avenge simple vendettas and Grandma doesn't approve of it. I'm sure the cooking recipes would benefit my mom and Grandma might be okay with mom having those but not the other spells.

Our thoughts are distracted by the telephone ringing. My Grandma answers. I can tell that she is speaking to the Grand Magus. They speak for about ten minutes and then she hands the phone to me. "The Grand Magus wants you to tell him exactly what happened in your own words and then he wants to speak to Jillian," she says.

I tell the Grand Magus exactly what happened from my point of view and then handed the phone over to Jillian. She corroborated my story and added a few things of her own. After speaking to us, he said he would gather information on Remmy and call us back.

We decided to take the grimoire downstairs to the kitchen table so we could all look at it together more comfortably. After about a hour, I get a text from Christopher before Grandma years from his father. "The vampire's name is Remington Volkov. He comes from a powerful Russian family of vampires called Volkov because it means wolf in their language. They can shape shift into black wolves," his text read.

I read Christopher's text out loud to my family. Shocked expressions for on their faces as they take in what I read. "Make sure you girls don't befriend or take in any black dogs," my grandpa jokes as he walks into the kitchen.