KISS THE WITCH (10 page)

“
I thought for a minute….”
I turned and gestured toward Ursula. “I thought you were she and
she–”

“
Forget it,” she said. “I
don’t need you thinking with your penis tonight.”

“
What are you
doing?”

“
Meditating.”

“
In the nude? I thought
that came later.”

She rocked her head back and leveled her
eyes at me the way she does when she does not want to explain, but
knows she has to.

“
Tony. Understand this. We
all have it in us.”

“
Have what?”

“
The energy.”

“
Energy?”

“
Yes. Energy. It is the
power of life and the fuel behind magick. It is in us all. The most
potential is a mix of static and kinetic compressed in layers and
stored in neuron capacitors throughout our bodies.”

“
You mean like the static
discharge you get when you rub your feet on carpet and touch a
doorknob?”

“
Something like that, but
that’s not all. It is just a small part of it. There is more to
energy than the electrical equation. When we want to draw it out
for a specific task, such as our coven ceremony, we must make sure
we don’t introduce unnecessary filters or obstacles. And since we
emit energy through every inch of our bodies, it is imperative we
perform this ceremony completely nude and void of external
interferences. Do you understand?”

I gave her a half-ass shrug. “I guess
so.”

“
All right then. Have you
eaten?”

“
No, as a matter of fact,
I thought I might–”

“
Good. You can eat when
we’re done.”

“
Huh?”

“
I need you focused, Tony.
I cannot have you burping and farting and whatever else you do
after eating. Now go shower.”

“
I have to
shower?”

“
Tony.” She planted her
hands on her hips like she does when she’s standing. Only it looked
funny now because she was sitting crossed-legged, buck-naked on the
floor. “Do you have to give me such grief?”

“
No, I was just
saying….”

“
Please shower. Use the
soap in the dish on the sink. It is all-natural. Wash in the
hottest water you can stand. It will open your pours. Then rinse
thoroughly in the coldest water you can stand to close them up
again. You hear?”

“
Yeah, I hear.” I started
toward the bathroom.

“
And no shampoo. No cream
rinse, no deodorant, cologne, nothing. Don’t even towel off. As
soon as you finish showering, come straight out here.
Okay?”

“
All right, I will.
Sheesh.”

I went into the bathroom and shut the door.
Three yellow candles burned atop the vanity, but I found myself
flipping the light switch out of habit just the same. The light did
not come on. Lilith had thrown the main breaker in the basement.
She is a stickler for ambiance you know.

After getting the shower to just the right
temperature, I stripped down and hopped into the tub with Lilith’s
all-natural soap–the stinky damn thing. I don’t know where she got
it, but I sure hoped she would pitch it after the night’s ceremony.
It smelled like burnt rubber and peat moss. Worse yet, it lathered
like old sea foam after a winter’s storm–fluffy but thin with
bubbles rimmed in a brownish looking sludge. It made me glad I had
not eaten after all.

I washed myself well, making a point to
clean especially good behind the ears, back of the neck, etc.,
expecting Lilith might want to check my work later.

Once done, I set the shower valves to cold
like Lilith said. I knew she would not ask me about it. She could
hear me yelp, as the cold nearly stopped my heart and stole my
breath away. I crawled out of the tub feeling like a frozen fish
stick. Desperate, I reached for a towel and found that Lilith had
surreptitiously removed them while I was showering.

“
Lilith!”

She opened the door and came in. “You
ready?”

I crossed my arms at my chest and began to
shiver. “I need a towel. I’m freezing.”

“
Nonsense. You’ll be fine.
Come on. We have to get started.”

She hooked my elbow and led me out into the
living room. I saw Ursula there, standing by the bookcase, her
posture casual, uninhibited by her nudity. It struck me odd how
reserved she is in daily life, her dress markedly conservative
compared to Lilith’s, her demeanor bashful. Yet her attitude for
all manner of witchcraft proved undeniably open-minded. I would
stake half of Carlos’ fortune and say that if it were not for the
nature of what we were doing, Ursula would be mortified if I saw
her without clothes.

I still had my arms folded to my chest, but
I gave her a wave with fluttering fingers and smiled at her
reassuringly. “You okay?” I asked.

She smiled back. “Aye.” She pointed
curiously. “Art thou injured?”

“
What?”

Lilith leaned into me and whispered. “I
think she’s talking about your frightened turtle.”

“
My what?”

She stepped back and looked down at my
obviously very cold appendage. “Little Tony?”

“
Oh, God. Please, what the
hell. I just took a freezing cold shower. Lilith, tell
her.”

“
Forget it,” she said.
“She’s marrying Spinelli. She’ll figure it out. Come on. Let’s get
started.” She picked up a carafe-sized bottle of yellowish liquid
and handed it to Ursula. “You do me,” she said.

“
Aye, `tis with pleasure,
sister.”

“
Wait,” I said. “What is
that?”

“
Olive oil,” Lilith
answered. “It’s part of the cleansing ceremony.”

“
Is she going to drink
it?”

Both laughed at that. “No, silly. The
anointment process is part of the cleansing ceremony. She’s going
to dress me in it.”

“
Dress you?”

“
It’s all about the body,
Tony. The energy needs free passage through the skin. That’s why we
showered. The oil completes the skin prep. It is vital that we tap
into nature and its purity. As a coven, we are one and the same.
One with nature.”

I said nothing to that. I didn’t know what
to say. I stood back in curious fascination at what appeared a
timeless ritual unfolding before me.

It started with Lilith assuming the Goddess
position, arms crossed below her breasts, shoulders back, legs
spread twenty-four inches apart. Ursula kneeled before her, tipping
the bottle and filling her cupped palm to the brim with oil. She
set the bottle down, clasped her hands together and raised them to
her lips.

With oil running down her arms and onto the
floor, she whispered, “Mothers of the coven hear our plea; grant to
us the rite of thee.”

She then drew a large circle on Lilith’s
belly using her index finger–the top of the circle beginning just
below Lilith’s folded arms, the bottom just above her pudenda.

“
Mothers of the east,” she
said, pressing her finger to the east side of the circle. “Hear our
plea.” And she leaned in and kissed Lilith’s belly at the point she
designated east.

Next, she pressed her finger to the bottom
of the circle. “Mothers of the south, hear our plea.” Again, she
kissed Lilith, this time at the south point of the circle.

She repeated this for the west and for the
north, each time kissing Lilith’s belly accordingly and bidding the
mothers of the coven to hear our plea.

She tipped the bottle once more, oiling her
hands and drawing two opposing arcs in the center of the circle,
right-to-left. I recognized the symbol immediately as the Eye of
the Witch.

Her words came back louder now. “Mothers of
the coven hear our plea; grant to us the rite of thee.”

A kiss in the center of the eye completed
the task.

Ursula rose. Lilith unfolded her arms and
raised them at her side, assuming what police call the frisk
position.

Again, Ursula oiled her hands to the
dripping point, pressing her thumbs to Lilith’s forehead, spreading
outward to her temples. She repeated this across her cheeks, from
eyes to chin and then down her nose.

The ritual reminded me of warriors preparing
for battle. Only here, oil replaced war paint and the warriors were
women. Still, with the aspect of physical touch, I could see the
bond between them strengthening.

I watched the beads of oil drip lazily down
Lilith’s neck like raindrops on a windowpane. They slid in silent
stutter, pausing, running and pausing again, before skating off in
quick retreat.

From neck to shoulders and down, Ursula ran
her hands in broad, smooth strokes; her palms now flat upon
Lilith’s skin. They followed her torso, in at the waist, out at the
hips. At the thighs, she started up again, tracking a slightly
different path to oil new skin along the way.

From the armpits, she moved inward, across
Lilith’s chest, cupping her breasts in circular swirls and spilling
once more in cascading brushes past her belly, washing away the
circle and witch’s eye she had drawn earlier.

I admit the demonstration struck me as
somewhat sensual, even erotic, yet I disciplined my thoughts to a
focused purpose. I did not let the sight of one woman oiling
another in the warmth of candlelight to sway my objectivity. At
least not yet.

There were times during the process when I
thought the application of oil was mostly symbolic, that anointing
most, but not all of the body was sufficient for the ceremony.

Again, I was wrong.

When she finished, Ursula had thoroughly
oiled every square inch of Lilith’s exposed skin, front-to-back,
neck-to-toe and all private regions in-between. Only her head
remained dry, and only then did I realized why Lilith had tied her
hair up like Ursula’s.

“
There. I am done,” said
Ursula, and she handed the oil to Lilith.

Lilith nodded approvingly. “Thank you,
Sister. Good job.”

I smiled when Ursula looked at me, knowing
that her turn was next. I hoped she would not feel too embarrassed
having me watch while Lilith anointed her. She smiled back
curiously. I looked to Lilith. She was also smiling.

“
What?” I said.

Lilith handed me the oil. “It’s your
turn.”

I took it. “You want me to oil myself?”

She shook her head.

I looked at Ursula. Her smile waned but did
not fade entirely. To Lilith I said simply, “Her?”

“
Yes.”

“
No. I can’t.”

“
Why not?”

“
It is not right. She’s
engaged.”

“
Tony, this is not a
sexual thing. Forming a coven requires building trust. The reason I
had Ursula anoint me, is that you and I already share that deep
physical trust. We know each other, body and soul. You and Ursula
don’t have that yet.”

“
But…it’s such a personal
thing.”

“
That is exactly the
point. Now come on. We have a busy night ahead of us.”

I looked at Ursula. She didn’t seem timid in
the least. “It’s all right with you?”

She squared her shoulders to mine, crossed
her arms below her breasts and spread her stance slightly. “We are
but one and the same. Thou hast a right to my body as thou dost thy
own.”

I have to say, her words caught me off
guard. I knew she did not mean I had the right to her body whenever
I wanted it. Yet, she meant exactly that. As members of the coven,
all held unfettered access to the body and soul of the
collective.

As I took a breath, I saw Lilith slip into
the shadows of my periphery, perhaps affording me the privilege
with Ursula without the self-conscious guilt.

I thought of Dominic, and how he would not
like what I was about to do. How his image of Ursula might change
if he saw how easily she presented her body to the eyes and hands
of another man.

I tipped the bottle into my hand and dropped
to my knees. I told myself I would pretend it was Lilith. That they
looked so much alike on the outside, I might find no conflict of
emotions through the intimacy of contact.

Unfortunately, that was not the case.

I touched her stomach and she gasped for the
sudden coldness of the oil. My heart began racing. This was not
Lilith and my mind knew it. The subtleties escaped me. Though
Lilith and Ursula’s bodies looked the same, I could see no
similarities with them now. I had explored every curve on Lilith’s
body, yet the curves before me seemed unfamiliar and new. I traced
my finger along Ursula’s flat belly, as she had done on Lilith’s,
clockwise, below her breasts, down to her hairline and back again
to form a circle.

“
Mothers of the coven….”
said Ursula, leading me through the process.

I repeated her start. “Mothers of the coven,
um…”

“
Hear our
plea.”

“
Oh, yeah. Hear our plea.
Grant us…um….”

“
Grant to us the rite of
thee.”

“
Yes, yes. Grant to us the
rite of thee.”

My hands were trembling now. Here, Ursula’s
mid-section and more filled my entire field of view, and somewhere
in the shadows, Lilith was watching, encouraging my participation
in this bizarre affair. It seemed surreal, if not ludicrous. But
for the sake of the coven, or so I told myself, I continued.

After completing the circle on Ursula’s
belly, I pressed my index finger to the right edge of it and
uttered, “Mothers of the east hear our prayers.”