Page 7 of The Rowan
A sweep of air and Merindah steps in behind me. “Hi, Arden. Tonight is going to be crazy busy. We’ll serve the tables together tonight, then tomorrow night, I’ll give you a couple of tables of your own, okay?” she tosses over her shoulder as she hurries to prep the tables.
I jump in to help finish the rest. “Hi, Merindah,” I respond, laughing. She rarely waits for me. If she’s talking, she’s usually moving. Fast. “That sounds great.” I wonder if I’ll see any other witches tonight. So far, the only witch I’ve seen lately is the one in the mirror each morning.
By ten p.m., the club is hopping, vibrant with beings from all races. Dressed to impress and seduce, they prowl and glide their way around each other. Shifters, vampires, elves, and many more. They all come to The Abbey to play.
Shifters, like our manager, Maya, are harder to distinguish. Merindah explained Maya is the alpha of her lion pride. I could tell she was a shifter, but not what type. Unfortunately, unless you can recognize their unique scent or specific characteristics, you likely won’t know until they tell or show you.
Our first table gets seated, and it’s a table of shifters. I glance at Merindah, and she mouths “wolves” to me as we walk up to greet them and take their order. I’m not sure if she automatically knows or has the “nose.”
They all order drinks, so we head towards the bar to pick them up. The bar is packed, and it takes a few minutes to get the drinks. In the meantime, another table is seated. It’s a group of ladies, but I can’t tell their race from here.
Merindah hands me a tray, and we load them up with the drinks for the wolves. Heading back over, I notice the table of ladies are witches. My hands tremble at the thought of meeting them, and a few drops of beer spill over the top of the mug.
“Hey, watch it. If you spill anymore, you’ll be buying me another drink,” a dark-haired wolf snarls at me.
“Sorry,” I murmur, hurriedly wiping up the spilt beer. Putting the napkin in my apron, I turn to walk away when a hand reaches out and slaps my ass.
What the hell?!
Merindah steps up, saving the guy from my wrath. “Unless she asks you to smack her ass, don’t,” she warns him, “or you can explain to the cadre why you have the manners of an ass instead of a wolf.”
The entire table laughs as they make burn noises.
“Oooh, burn, man,” one guy crows.
“Shut up, fucker!” the guy who smacked my ass yells back at him. He turns to me and glowers but says nothing.
“Wonderful. Glad we have that all cleared up,” Merindah states dryly. “Let us know when you’re ready for another round.” Grabbing my arm, she pulls me toward the table of witches.
Merindah holds her stylus, ready for their order. “Good evening, I’m Merindah and this is Arden. We’ll be waiting on you ladies tonight. What can we get for you?”
They look up to order and pause when they notice me. Shock chases away their laughter quickly as they realize I’m a witch, too. Instead of greeting me, everyone pivots to face the blonde woman in the middle, as if she’s their leader.
Placing her palms on the table, the blonde stands slowly, then the rest of the witches stand with her. “Who are you?” she asks tersely. “Where did you come from?”
“I’m Arden, pleased to meet you,” I reply, holding out my hand. “And you are?”
She ignores my hand to state, “I’m Cassandra Pennington, of course, the most powerful witch in existence with five bloodlines. These are my friends and fellow coven witches, Essa, Natasha, and my sister, Charlotte. My mother is Caro Pennington, leader of the light witches and ruler of the witches’ council. We know every witch, but we don’t know you. Who are you?”
“I’m Arden,” I repeat, puzzled at the question.
“Are you stupid or plain ignorant? I mean, what bloodline are you? Who are your parents?” she grits out angrily.
“I don’t understand the question about bloodline,” I explain. “As to my parents…” I shrug as if I don’t know the answer to that question, either. Technically, I know who my mother is, but the information is need to know. And given my mother’s explicit instructions to stay away from witches for most of my life, I’ll keep the information to myself for a while.
“I’m sorry to interrupt an all-powerful witch like yourself,” Merindah butts in with a subtle sneer, “but we need to take your order and get to our other tables. If not, Maya is going to get upset and come over here.” She jerks her head towards the bar, where Maya stands, staring at us.
The blonde tosses her hair back and sits down before demanding snidely, “We’ll take a couple of bottles of Chardonnay and clean glasses.”
The rest follow her lead and sit. A couple of them whisper behind their hands as they stare at me.
I give them all one last look, then follow Merindah to the next table. Thankfully, this table is full of vampires. After taking their order for spiked blood, we rush to the bar to grab drinks.
We set down the vampire orders and move on to the witches. Setting down the two bottles of wine in ice buckets, we distribute the glasses. Walking away, I hear my name called.
“Arden, is it?” Cassandra asks with a smile. “We’d like to order a few appetizers.”
Pulling up my tablet, I stand by to get their order, while Merindah goes to check on the wolves. “Absolutely, what would you like?”
