“So I’ve heard that you’re having a sexy lesbian Witch version of a freak out.” I said, getting out two fresh joints. I didn’t ask, I just lit both and passed one to my friend.
She didn’t argue. “I’m reassessing.” Raina said pointedly, hitting the joint. “Annie, I lost control out there. The kind of magicks that have been entrusted to me… they’re dangerous! I only feel okay wielding them because of my rock-solid sense of morals. Lose that, and I’m a loose cannon waiting for disaster.”
“Nobody will blame you, considering the circumstances.” I said, exhaling.
“I blame me.” Raina said, pointing at herself. “One, I fucked up the mission… I’m the one who said how important it was to take people alive. Gaia even had a cyanide antidote to keep them from checking out. They were our best chance at getting real intel on our mystery enemy, and I fucked that up. But also… “ Raina took a deep breath. “I just ended two human lives, Annie. Not mud monsters, not glorified attack dogs, not paper fucking targets, but people. Now, I know that people may die in whatever’s going on… when stakes are high, consequences can be higher. But that’s a line that should be crossed only with good reason, not because I popped a gasket.”
“I still think you’re being too hard on yourself.” I said, taking another hit. “There’s the whole ‘heat of battle’ thing, after all.”
“Nah, I need to take a serious accounting of where I am and where I want to go from here.” Raina said, leaning back in her seat. “I’ve never been a ‘shoot first and ask questions later’ type of person… I’m a Wiccan book geek! I used to make fun of people who solved everything with their fists! I mean,” she continued, taking a hit, “it’s been nice going all ‘superhero’ and being able to kick ass for once in my life, sure. But I’m still that cerebral book nerd at heart, and I have to reconnect with that side of me.”
“So what about the Order of the Stag?” I asked.
“The Order will continue, only I’ve put Tiffany in charge.” she answered, nodding. “Her specialty is tactical, so it’s a dream fit. I’m hitting the books.” she continued, patting one of the volumes nearby. “I need to expand my non-combat magick, especially when it comes to healing and intelligence gathering. I also have something to ask of you.”
That, I wasn’t expecting. “What?”
“I need a spiritual center.” she replied. “Tiffany, Jack, and I are forming a coven. Other people may dip in and out, but we’ll be the core. I’d like you to be the Priestess.”
I knew what this meant to her. I had to fight back a tear.
“I’d be honored.”
* * *
I hit the trails alone the next morning. Well, I appeared to be alone, but I knew that Drucilla, Darla, and Cordelia were living in the forest these days, their Fae clothing keeping them oblivious to the cold.
The fact that it still manages to showcase every curve of their enticing bodies is actually kinda funny to me these days I thought. I almost never saw them… they wanted to be at one with the forest, and hanging out inside got in the way.
But I knew they were out there, keeping watch.
The hoodie I had raided from Raina’s closet was a classic: ‘I’m not gay but my girlfriend is’ was emblazoned across the front, it’s rainbow letters contrasting with the purple fleece perfectly.
Raina bought this in middle school I thought. That’s when I stopped growing… hence it still fits.
I tugged at the material covering my chest. This is why this one doesn’t fit Raina anymore I thought. I swear, her boobs kept growing until she was seventeen. Mine are still my middle-school specials, so I get to wear the classic hoodies!
I also had an addition to my sweats and thermals: a shirt and pants made out of the impossibly silky dragon skin that Gaia had access to. It was hardly noticeable, but it gave me the confidence and security of knowing that no gun made by humans could pierce it.
So I can be a clueless dolt without as many consequences!
I had taken to jogging along the trails recently. I just had so much energy, it almost drove me crazy to walk sometimes. I had worried about a steep curve, but my Sorceress energy meant that I ran for a couple of hours every morning without any aching muscles the next day.
I could circle the entire property in a morning, while still giving our mysterious lake a wide berth. I felt like I was going to have to face the lake sooner rather than later, however.
I soon came out behind the playground, behind a large oak tree. I stopped and listened. Soon enough, I heard it.
“Stop!” a tiny voice said, “You’re hurting me!”
“Aw, am I hurting the widdle baby?” a cruel, though not much older, voice said back. “Are you gonna cryyy?”
Fucking bullies.
I looked, and soon spied the source of the voices on the far side of the playground. There were two larger boys holding a smaller boy down, and the smaller one was struggling.
I smiled and reached out with my mind. "Let's get something… special for these boys.
I soon saw the first boy swing wildly around him, and then the second. They both started to furiously wave their arms even more, rolling on the ground. They soon stood up and ran away, their panicked cries turning to yelps of pain.
The bullied boy ran away from the hornet attack. I just smiled.
* * *
“That lake is going to need to be dealt with." I said, walking into Jack's room and sitting down at his desk.
“Soon?” he asked, barely looking up from his typing.
“Sooner now than later.” I replied, opening my pouch that I kept under my clothes.
“So what do you want me to do about it?” he said, bored.
“Fucking nothing.” I said, pulling out a joint. “That’s why I came down here first. If I wanted to do something right away, I’d go and find Vincent.” I lit the joint and took a deep hit. “Right now I want to burn one with one of my besties before stirring up another hornet’s nest of activity.”
“Well in that case… “ he said, pulling out his own joint.
“So,” I said, exhaling, “How’s it going with Katsu?”
“Dude… “ he exhaled next, laughing. “Way too fucking good, man.”
“No shit?”
“No shit.”
“So you love her?” I asked through the increasing fog.
“I do.” he said, grinning. “I mean, dude… she knows everything about me that you or Rinny know, and has seen my o-face.” he continued. “And she keeps making it happen, which proves that it isn’t a deal-breaker. If I don’t fall in love with her on those facts alone, there’d be something wrong with me. The fact that she’s someone who only a fool wouldn’t fall in love with is the icing on the cake.”
“That’s so cool.” I said, smiling. “I’m happy for you, bro.”
“So did you and Vincent successfully bore that hole through the headboard last night?” he continued, taking another hit.
“We weren’t that loud last night!” I said, somewhat surprised. “Besides, you’re down here… how would you have even heard it?”
“I heard you on the video monitors.” he said. “The ones on the floor beneath you.”
I felt my cheeks flush. “You don’t suppose… “
“Oh, Katsu heard you guys, too.” he said, nodding.
“Oh Gods!” I wanted to hide behind my hair, I was so embarrassed!
“Don’t sweat it, I’d like to thank you!” he replied, grinning. “Katsu heard you come… very, very loudly… and she took it as a challenge. I slept until noon just to recover!”
“Well, as long as you had a legendary night.” I said, and re-lit the joint.
“I did!” He looked around for an ashtray. “So, how close have you come to sleeping with someone else?”
I dropped my lighter. “What?” I asked, too shocked for words.
“Look, I know you’ve been horn-dog ever since you’ve become Sorceress,” he said, exhaling, “but the fury that you’
ve been fucking Vincent with lately has been beyond pleasure seeking. It’s damn near ‘blot out something I did or thought about doing’ levels of obsession.” Jack looked right at me. “Like with Roxanne.”
I wanted to wince, the memory of Jack’s first real girlfriend still painful for all who helped him through it. Roxanne, who took his virginity… and then took his innocence by cheating on him.
“I remember thinking I was quite the stud muffin.” he continued. “I mean, she couldn’t keep her hands off of me for one, two, three weeks? I thought that I had, I don’t know, awakened her sexuality or something. Turns out that she was just feeling guilty because she’d fucked my lab partner on my family’s pool table while I was making us all pizza rolls.”
“I remember.” I said. Fuck it! I thought, and lit a fresh joint. “It’s not like that… at least, not yet.
So I told him everything… the past life experiences with Angelique, how it seemed to be that she spent much of the past sixteen hundred years seeking me out in every incarnation in the hopes of rekindling our past sexual relationship, the works. I even told him about the experiences I had as a man making love to her in the past.
“Woah.” he said, putting his joint down. “So, what does it mean for, like, now?”
“And that is the fifty-four thousand dollar question!" I said, pointing at him. "And it's usually where my brain says 'WHOA, BREAK TIME!'" I said, holding up a hand. "I just, I can't even right now, you know?”
“Yeah.” he said. “And Angelique has this patience that’s literally preternatural, so it’s not like she’s really going to push, so you have that.”
“So,” I said, trying to continue, “Half of my dreams are hot and sweaty these days. Combine that with the increased libido that seems to go along with being a new Sorceress, and… Vincent’s a very busy boy.”
“You know," Jack said, casting a side-eye my way, "A Sorceress is classified by Martello's as a kind of Witch. So is Katsu." He lit another joint. "You women Witches are hornier than a football team!"
It was my turn to laugh.
* * *
A couple of weeks later, and I still hadn’t mentioned dealing with the lake to anybody other than Jack. To tell the truth, I had the distinct feeling that solving the mystery of the lake was just going to kick things into a higher gear, and I was doing just fine with the gear I was in, thank you very much!
I also had a feeling that the spring thaw would bring new dramas and issues, so I was hoping for a cold February as January drew to a close.
I was standing on the back patio, my feet amazingly warm for the fact that they were bare. I had been able to deal with more and more temperature extremes since becoming Sorceress, and had stepped out of the house spontaneously. The snow had actually melted where I stood, and the sandstone was dry beneath my feet.
I spied a familiar-looking black and white cat walking up towards me from the woods. Starr! I thought excitedly.
He morphed from cat to human, and strolled naked up to the patio.
“Hey ho, how’s business?” he asked, a sashay in his step.
“Starr!” I hugged him. “Where have you been?”
“Ugh, where haven’t I been?” he said, waving me away. “I’ll fill you in when we get the Scooby Gang together. Now, can we raid Miss Raina’s closet again? Baby’s getting cooooooold...”
I laughed and walked in with him.
* * *
A little while later, and we were assembled in the parlor once again. It had taken a little while to introduce Starr around… he really felt the need to comment on everyone’s clothes… but soon we were all ready to hear his report.
Starr looked absolutely glittering as he stood there in purple tights and a purple sequined stretch top. Raina had stopped cold when she’d seen him.
“That’s my dance top from seventh grade.” she had said, jaw dropped.
“And it only dances on my behind, dearie!” Starr had said, attitude hilariously oozing off of him.
“Oh my, look at all of the fresh faces!” Starr said, attitude still in place, as he looked over the crew gathered in the parlor. “Lots of queers, not too many men… it’s like people are trying to keep me single!”
“Okay, uh, son.” Trevor said. “Your report?”
“Oh, I have not forgotten about you, you dreamboat!” Starr said to him. “As for my report, I hope you all appreciate just what I had to go through to get this. Some of those changelings are insatiable in their sexual appetites!”
“So I’ll bet you fit right in.” Raina said, grinning.
“Meow, bitch.” Starr deadpanned. “But it’s true, it wasn’t all work. After working Fae connections all over the planet, I ran across two phrases: ‘Llamhigyn Y Dwr’ and ‘Oracle’.
“The first is Welsh.” Tiffany said. “The second… I’m not sure.”
“Gee, we have one who’s awake.” Starr said breezily. “The first translates roughly to ‘Water Leaper’, and it’s an old Welsh legend about a water monster. It’s not exactly what’s supposed to live in your lake, but it’s close. The second is someone who’s supposed to tell us about how to win, or whatever, but I’m not sure who it’s talking about.”
“We’ll get to work on searching down our Welsh legend.” Katsu said, Jack nodding by her side.
“Now that we have something to narrow it down, that should help.” Jack added.
“Let me know what you find.” Tiffany said to them. “We’ll need to work up some scenarios for security based on the new information.”
“I’ll warn Dru, Cordy and Darla.” Gaia said.
“And we’ll try to track down this ‘Oracle’.” Trevor added, nodding to Evelyn.
“As will I.” said Angelique. It was the first time I had heard her speak all day.
“Let’s do it, then.” Vincent said, and the meeting broke up.
I was getting ready to leave when Vincent slid up next to me.
“I think we should start training together again.” he said.
“Okay.” I said, trying to sound cool. “When should we start?”
“How about now?” he said, and walked out of the room.
I walked after him. This was unusual.
“Any particular reason you’re wanting to do this now?” I asked as he reached the hallway door.
“There are a lot of prophecies about you.” Vincent said. “One of them just came true. I’ll explain which one in a bit, but suffice it to say that there are some things I want to make sure you have down before things develop too much more.”
“Okay.” I said. I was getting used to that.
“Don’t worry, it isn’t about why you’re avoiding Angelique.” he continued, turning away. “You’ll deal with that in your own time.
I watched him walk away for a moment before joining him.
* * *
I sat in the open window later, cold night air blowing in around me.
Vincent had gone… he had assumed me asleep after our post-training lovemaking session, and had gone off to tend to some other matter. I had gotten up after he left and lit a joint. I opened the window and looked out into the night.
Everything’s changing I thought. And the things that changed once are changing again.
I took a deep hit. How did Petronia do it? How did any of them?
I shrugged, and my internal dialog took over.
I don’t know, why don’t you ask them?
I’m sure that Penelope has better things to do than to hold my metaphorical hand!
Does she? She’s dead… that’s pretty much the textbook definition of ‘plenty of time on one’s hands’, after all.
I hope I can contact her, without anyone to guide me.
Like she isn't all ready to pop in and say hello!
You’re probably right.
I hoped that the reality was the same as my internal trial run!
* * *
“Annabelle, hi… come in!”
I stood in the doorway to what
I assumed was Penelope's home, a little out of sorts. I had gone through the steps to relax and reach out with my thoughts, seeking to connect with Penelope's unique energy. I felt it soon enough, and followed the thread of resonance to where she would be.
The fact that I found myself outside of an ancient-looking hut in a lush, vibrant green forest at first was new. Penelope answered quickly after I knocked, wearing the same peasant clothes that could have been from multiple centuries.
I followed her in and looked around. The hut was a single room, bed in one corner and table in another. There were a couple of nondescript chairs by the fire, and we settled down into them.
“Nice place.” I said.
“It’s rustic, but that’s always been my taste.” Penelope patted her skirt.
“It’s kinda hard to place, historically.” I looked around at the utilitarian decor.
“Most of the fashions and trends you learn about in history class were for the rich people.” Penelope said. “For most of us, life didn’t change that much that quickly.”
“You know, change slowing down is starting to look better and better.” I said, shifting uncomfortably in my seat.
“And now I sense we’re getting to the reason for this little visit.” she said, smiling.
“I mean,” I said, “How did you deal with it? The constant upheaval in your life?”
“I was even less prepared than you are.” She shook her head. “At least you’ve grown up knowing that technology alone would ensure that the world you died in would be radically different than the one you were born in. Most people in my time never ventured more than ten miles from the place that they were born in their entire lifetimes!”
“That would be difficult.” I agreed.
“Now, a lot was different for me.” she continued. “For one thing, I didn’t have some unknown foe trying to kill me.”
“So that’s not common?” I said, eyes rolled. “Lucky me.”
“No, the fact that so many people in the… “ she thought for the right word, “… ‘paranormal underworld’, or whatever you call it… knows that there’s a new Sorceress is very new. In the past, the few people who could recognize the energy pulse of a Sorceress coming into her power would keep that knowledge close. Her court was often drawn from these people. Everyone else would be clueless unless they met her.”
The Witch: Book Two of The Sorceress Saga Page 31