Lifting his chin, Leo spread his hands out in front of him like he was adding flare to a magic show.
"We were surrounded by twenty shadow demons—all poised to kill. Of course, I never figured that shadow demons would consider taking prisoners so...who knows?" He shrugged as he brushed his hands down the front of his suit jacket. "I had just cleared my mind for battle when Celeste began to yell. She was yelling at just about everything that moved and the shadow demons seemed to be slightly intimidated by her anger. It was quite amusing—she was ranging around in a circle and the shadow demons would inch away from her when she turned in their direction. It was rich." He laughed openly.
"That was when she began to glow with a bright blue and white light—she disappeared and immediately popped up on the water's edge at least one hundred feet away. Her feet were submerged in the water and she took on the appearance of someone else entirely. It was a flickering image, but it was there..." Leo's eyes appeared to haze over as if he were trying to imagine it again. "It was as if she were a goddess personified—she was filled with such power...it was breathtaking."
We all simply sat there staring into Leo's fuzzed gaze and it immediately began to sink in that Leo had fallen in love with Celeste, and he was recalling moments where his heart had stood still at simply beholding her. Yeah, I had been there myself, lived that exact moment of realization where you are staring down the barrel of the gun that ultimately spelled out years upon years of celibacy and near loneliness. That was because loving Celeste Ravenwood meant that you were second to the necessities of the kingdom, as well as to whoever had laid claim to her heart before you ever made it to the scene. Leo was just going to have to take a number, because there was still a long line of men madly in love with her, and I was at the forefront.
Jack cleared his throat to draw everyone's attention. "Can you describe what happened in more detail?"
Leo turned in his direction but his eyes fell back to me, "Celeste's hair seemed to be longer, almost waist-length. Her clothing was pearlescent and almost glowing. Her eyes were crystal blue like the clearest morning sky—filtered with rich sunlight." He paused for effect. "She wasn't herself." He closed his eyes, dragging a deep breath into his lungs.
"That was when the demons descended, but not on me—on her. They avoided me altogether and made for her, but she didn't move away. She simply smiled at them as if she were welcoming them home. It was truly disturbing, the way that she smiled at them." He shuddered and opened his eyes again, searching mine for signs of emotion. "When they finally made it to her, she had her hands outstretched to her sides. It appeared as if she was getting ready to cast a shield spell but she didn't. What she did do was pull the ocean in around her. I must admit that I found it almost intimate, and that sat oddly with me." He paused, turned his hand over to look down at it, and then continued. "Just as I was running towards her, closing in on the shadow demons crowding between us, I was stopped by a wall of power—Celeste's doing." He sighed deeply, his voice taking a ragged depth to it. "But she had it all well under control, it turns out. She simply moved her hands around herself like she was performing an ancient hula dance or something of the kind. It was mesmerizing." Leo's eyes glazed over again and he lost his place in the story as he turned his head to caress the cockpit door with his eyes. "She was a goddess." He grinned lazily towards the doorway.
Dammit! We've lost him again!
I snapped my fingers in front of Leo's face multiple times but it was no use, because he was obviously in the middle of a vivid memory. I grabbed his shoulder in frustration, digging my nails into his muscles and shaking wildly to draw him back to the conversation.
"What happened, demon?! Continue!" I bellowed at him.
Leo's eyes immediately turned up to me with the coldest ice-blue stare I'd ever seen.
"She killed them. She pulled her power about herself and wrapped the ocean around the shadow demons to tear them to literal shreds." His eyes sparked to life and immediately glowed a deep, rich red as a shudder of ice cold pain ran through my veins—a pain like a shard of frozen rock inching its way to my heart. "She is beyond your caliber, my friend vampire. She is now a woman that only an extremely powerful demon king can appreciate...or possibly a god."
There was utter silence cutting our minds to shreds as we all tried to process what had taken place out of our reach, and what that meant for the future.
"Like I said," Von's voice whispered, "she's more powerful." He shuddered as he turned his eyes to look out the cabin window onto the tarmac. "We are almost out of time to make it to the mountain. We will not have time to prepare."
"Mortisha has been preparing for our arrival. Everything will be in place by the time we make it to the clearing." I pushed up from my seat, scanning the room reactively. I needed to be doing something instead of sitting. And for some indescribable reason, I was itchy everywhere—on my forehead, on my back, on my arms. The itch seemed to travel and would not allow itself to be quelled.
"There will be shadow demons between here and there if I am guessing correctly." Jack's voice took on his all business tone as he began to stand and make his way to the back of the cabin.
"Yes," Leo frowned. "Celeste seems to have upset Maximilian, and I suspect that he will be after more than merely killing her now. Death would have been short and sweet before, but now he will be after revenge. Even though he is not a true demon, but has a demon host, I suspect that he is capable of much cruelty."
Von's eyes went straight to Leo's with a sharp shake of the head.
"What?" Leo's voice took on a tone of complete innocence. "It's not as if the vampire couldn't have guessed what the matter was as soon as the story was shared with him. Maximillian has it out for Celeste, he knows that. I give him credit for not being an imbecile."
"Thank you." I said as I watched as Jack emerged with his arms full of supplies. Right. We need to get ready to leave as soon as possible.
"We are almost out of time to make the rendezvous." Gabriel's voice was the nagging reminder that we were quickly running out of time and had to do some serious hustling to get to the ritual on schedule.
The ritual. I really hadn't thought about it much after I realized that Cora was really my daughter. Everything about her seemed to conflict—the vampire fangs and demon eyes, the weapons skills and ability to charm a hard-head like Von, her knowledge of multiple languages and deep awareness that she was her mother's shield. She knew that she was raised to be a weapon, and she accepted it as easily as I had accepted that I would forever be a guard to the queen instead of the king. We both accepted without question, and that is what was the last thing to convince me that Cora really was of my blood—she was committed.
Just then, the cockpit door opened and Cora came out with a look on her face that was absolutely frightening. What could they have talked about? What would ever make her look that way? She walked forward and gave us all looks of warning. I knew this look—the one that told you to keep your mouth shut and your ears open.
Celeste swept into the room after her, charged with energy and still glowing with a hint of anger. I didn't feel comfortable with Celeste like this—she was different and had a dangerous edge to her. I could always gauge the anger and fear, but this...this was...unsettling.
"We have to get going." Cora led the conversation. We all turned to look at her, nodding with determination and stimulated adrenaline. Cora's eyes swept across the room and then she paused on me, frowning gently until she looked back behind her to see her mother's reaction.
Celeste's expression was stoic and her liquid blue eyes were ice cold—not the woman that I knew and loved but I recognized her at the corners of her lips. Her mouth was so absolutely perfect—she couldn't mask her true self at all because I could always see her in the outline of her mouth. Right now her lips were clamped tight into a flat line. She wasn't even chewing the inside of her mouth, which would have indicated that she was nervous. No, Celeste was calm...frighteningly so considering w
hat she had just come back from.
I swallowed involuntarily and it made a loud gulping noise. Cora's eyes flicked back to me and she offered me a sad smile. Yes, she's just as concerned about Celeste's change as I.
Celeste stood by the plane's hatch and eyed the wing angrily—the damage had been extensive. Her eyes flashed a tiny glow of blue as she shrugged off her emotions and turned back to us.
"Gather everything that you need. We will be leaving as soon as all is ready."
Celeste looked through us instead of at us, and that frustrated me beyond belief. I felt like we didn't exist to her.
This is not Celeste. My thoughts clamped down on my mind and I immediately stepped over to Cora, pulling on her arm to guide her towards the rear of the plane. "We need to talk." There was so much meaning in my voice that Cora flinched slightly.
"Yes, we do." She looked at me so sadly that I thought she was getting ready to tell me I had cancer. As if a vampire could get cancer. Rabid vampires ARE a cancer.
We walked to the back of the cabin quietly. Yanking the rear compartment curtain closed, I turned to her and got straight to the point. "What's going on, Cora? What happened to Celeste? Why is she acting that way?"
Cora nodded at each question like she was taking stock of everything she had to answer. "Mother used too much power when she was battling the shadow demons. She has morphed her personality slightly. It's only temporary—I've seen it once before, but it can be unsettling." She eyed me like I was going to fall apart. "Right now she is all business and...power. We have to take advantage of the flow that is raging through her right now—we have to transport everyone to the mountain. Too much time was wasted waiting for Mother and Babbo—we have lost our cushion that would help to ease people's frazzled nerves." She dipped her head as she placed her hand on my forearm and then looked back up at me with a look of caution. "We don't have time to make this easy on people. There is business to address or the future will not be fulfilled."
I followed Cora out from behind the curtain and she turned to face the group. Instantly, Cora's expressions were just as unsettling as her mother's. She was taking on the same demeanor as Celeste, and soon we had two women made of ice and power standing before us.
"Everyone gather within the radius of our reach." Celeste held hands with Cora and the rest of us formed a tight circle around them. Jack had placed our bags and provisions at our feet, which made standing closely feel like we were being held in place by heavy army green duffel bags.
Cora and Celeste eyed us to make sure that we were in place. Celeste turned to Cora and nodded sharply as they both put their hands out towards our circle and grabbed the first arm that they could reach. On Celeste's side it was Von while on Cora's side it was Leo. Each man flinched slightly at the uncomfortable tension I suspected until I began to feel a sudden chill whip around us.
A subtle wind began to swirl through the cabin. At first it was a gentle, easy breeze, but then it picked up speed and whipped around us like a tornado. The cabin walls around us began to fade away as the wind swirled into the ceiling and then past. There actually didn't seem to be a ceiling anymore as my eyes followed the funnel of the wind up into the heavens. There was nothing confining us anymore, except for the strength of the wind produced by Celeste's and Cora's powers. How do you feel about powerful women? I like them.
I eyed Celeste's dispassionate expression as she seemed to grasp Cora's hand more firmly. She shook slightly as if she were experiencing a physical rush and then she released her hold. Her connection with Cora and Von was severed and she held her hands out in front of her, eyeing them as if they were going to catch fire. A waving light underneath her skin was flowing back and forth beneath her palms—shimmering blue now instead of the purple that we had seen before. Her changes were beginning to become...distracting.
Celeste's ice-blue eyes cut up to me and she suddenly looked afraid. My typical reaction would be to run to her and draw her into my arms, but the subtle flinch that she made in my direction was enough to send my instincts into overdrive. What could she be afraid of me for?
Cora turned around in the middle of our tight circle and sighed. She paused and then gently pushed Leo out of the way to allow her to step into the opening on the side of a picturesque vista. She walked as far as she could until she was framed against a backdrop of peaks and evergreen trees. The landscape looked like it had been drawn by a child—recklessly coloring upside down v's to represent the crests of mountain tops as well as covering it in the richest greens in the Crayola box. The view was breathtaking and overwhelming.
I shuddered at the thought that this was where everything that was going to change my life was going to take place. Soon, very soon, I was going to be a father and Celeste's body was going to change in ways that I would only believe when I saw it.
Celeste broke through the circle and walked away into the woods as if she had lived there all her life and knew her way around. Cora turned around towards us and nodded, tears in her eyes. "We're here."
19
We all continued to stand around in our circle, staring at each other like we were idiots. The two women had each left the circle but we still felt bound by the bonds of brotherhood, a Y-chromosome, as well as a deep purpose and that kept us rooted in place until we had a direction to go.
Jack was the first to break the circle by leaning down and grabbing two duffel bags. "Let's get everything in place. I'll set up the tents." He nodded at me as I scanned the area.
Celeste still had not returned from the forest yet, but I didn't feel like I had the right to interfere. I could tell that there were no shadow demons near, so I wasn't concerned about the fact that she had been gone for almost ten minutes. Or maybe I was concerned, but I was definitely not going to share it with anyone.
Cora continued to eye the scenery—lost in her own thoughts. I walked over to her and placed my arm around her for comfort.
"So what's going to happen now?" My voice didn't sound like my own—it sounded hollow.
Cora nodded at the horizon. "It's so beautiful. I wish I could stay here forever and lose myself in the majesty of it all." She leaned into my shoulder as I let my fingers stroke her shoulder.
I heard Jack unpacking loudly behind us. He was trying to keep track of our conversation because he was obviously concerned. Was that what I looked like to Celeste and Von during the past fifty years? Was I always lurking and listening? That's pretty sad.
I couldn't blame Jack for the way that he acted or felt about Cora. He was going to have his heart ripped out if he loved a woman like Cora—I should know from my experiences with her mother.
"Soon the ceremony will be done and I will have to go." She smiled up at me weakly. She was so very strong, but I could tell that she didn't want to leave. "After I return, the next time that you will see me...I will be an infant." Her eyes glowed in the reflection of the sun as she looked up at me. "Dad, I love you so much. You, Daddy, Babbo, and Father—I can't wait for us to bond and be together again." That's when her eyes actually scanned over to Jack. She frowned as she turned back to me with a deep question in her eyes.
"You don't remember Jack." I almost whispered. It wasn't like I was trying to keep my conversation from being heard—I just felt the heaviness in my heart hit as I realized that something happened to Jack between now and the time that Cora was old enough to even notice boys.
Cora pulled her lips in between her teeth—hiding all of the subtle pink in her full lips. Closing her eyes tightly she shook her head quickly enough that we both were sure that Jack hadn't caught it.
My heart began to ache for them. It was obvious that Jack was madly in love with her. Everything he did was to draw attention to himself for her benefit. She pretended to dislike him just enough that it was also clear that she found him to be, above all things, interesting. She cared about him, and it was obvious that this was her first true opportunity to come into contact with him. And now...now she had to leave.
I p
ulled Cora into me and gave her the strongest bear hug that I had ever given to anyone. Celeste was the last person that I had held in my arms, but Cora was different in so many ways. She actually had a faint smell of me as well as her mother, and the mixture of the demon blood was not a detractor from her amazing scent. My heart ached for the moments that we had yet to spend together, and I was looking forward to being a father.
WOW! A father. I let the concept sink in as I reached down and lifted her chin. Pulling her beautiful face up to mine, I looked deeply into her eyes. They were beautifully hazel, although Von's eyes were hazel, but they had a ring of deep chocolate brown around the iris as well as speckles of blue-green that were all mine. She was so breathtaking and multi-faceted—absolutely the daughter of her mother. My heart leapt as I looked into her eyes. I'm going to be a father. WOW!
Cora's eyes twinkled and then she smiled at me broadly. She knew exactly what I was thinking and she liked the direction that my thoughts had traveled. I smiled back down at her as the moment seemed to freeze and hold me locked in one brief, sweet moment.
"It is time." Mortisha's voice rang through the clearing. "We need everyone involved in the ritual to move to the center of the clearing." She waved her thin arms towards everyone, making a scooping gesture as if she were herding kindergartners. "Time is short. Everyone must take their places."
"But where are our places?" Gabriel walked bravely towards Mortisha. "I would suspect something to do with the natural directions of North, South, East, and West."
Mortisha smiled approvingly at Gabriel. "Yes, we need all the men in that order. You will stand across the circle from your polar opposite. Solomon is North, therefore Von will be South. You, Gabriel, will be West so Leo will be East." She turned around to survey the salted outline of a circle that was standing at the center of the clearing. She gazed upwards towards the sky and nodded as the sun began to descend seemingly on cue. "It is almost time. Since there is a new moon there will not be a moonrise. As soon as twilight hits, we are ready."
Ritual Magic Page 20