KISS THE WITCH (19 page)

Lilith set the mood by placing a dozen white
candles about the room, all representing the purity of our new
coven. The unusual thing about them was how the wicks burned blue
with a white-hot tip on the flames. She said it was an indication
that our unity was strong, as the flames fed off the aura of the
coven. I have to admit, I could feel the energy around me like
never before. I told her so, and when she touched me, a tiny spark
shot from her fingertip to the back of my hand.

Ursula took care of the incense, blending a
delicate mix or jasmine and cinnamon with a hint of musk for a
natural outdoorsy scent, reminiscent of a summer’s night in a cool
forest. Echoes of nature murmured in the background, the sounds
lifting like whispers off the CD Lilith used in our coven
ceremony.

After dinner, we retreated to the living
room. There, we sipped more wine, toyed with some level one spells
for the fun of it, and talked about the old days.

For me, of course, the old days were my
rookie years, memories stretching back a mere forty years or so.
Lilith’s memories reached back further. She recounted a time in the
mid 1800`s when she helped a band of runaway slaves make safe
passage along the underground railroad all the way to New
Castle.

“
They knew I was a witch,”
she told us, laughing some, perhaps remembering the antics she
played on them along the way. “And I know they were afraid of me.”
Her smile waned and her gaze grew distant. “I was so much younger
then,” she said. “Fifteen maybe. A real fifteen. I guess I didn’t
truly understand what they were running from. Then at some point I
realized, as afraid as they were of me, they were more afraid of
their masters catching up with them. Can you imagine
that?”

She looked at me, sorrow welling in her
eyes. For the first time I understood what it meant to live a
lifetime of do-over’s, what a second and third lifetime can do to a
soul. I started to reach for her hand, but she shook it off like a
pup shedding water from her coat.

“
Wow,” she said. “Crazy
stuff, huh?”

I smiled thinly. “Yeah. Crazy stuff.”

When I asked Ursula to share her thoughts
about the old days, she simply lowered her head and gestured unease
over the question. I watch her black bangs spill into her eyes and
upon her face.

“
I have no days of old,”
she said softly. “Save for those long passed what seem recent to me
now. And what memories they are, I cannot bear: the Indians, the
cold winters, the persecutions and the hangings.” She turned her
head to me, parting her bangs with her fingertips. “Art these the
days of old ye wish me to share?”

“
No,” I said, feeling
stupid for not thinking her situation through. “They are not. I’m
sorry.”

I looked into her eyes, reading her pain,
connecting with her for as long as I could before she dropped her
hand again, spilling her bangs once more to veil her face.

We found little else to talk about after
that. So we finished the wine, blew out the candles and went to
sleep in our separate rooms.

Sometime in the night, Ursula came to me,
riding on moonlight stealing through my window. She presented
herself freely, naked, but for the witch’s key around her neck.
Though the key was cold, her skin felt hot against my body. I
kicked the covers to my feet. She laid her head on my pillow,
caressed me with a teasing touch, drawing me to the brink and
backing off before I came.

I asked her what she wanted. She did not
reply. She knew I knew. Her kisses dropped like rain upon my chin.
They drizzled down my neck and chest and lower still to a point of
bated anticipation. I traced my fingers along her cheek and across
the back of her neck. She cooed softly before taking me. I gasped.
My legs stiffened. My toes splayed. She pulled back slowly,
disengaging with a kiss. I relaxed and she returned, repeating and
continuing with variations, always withdrawing with that gentle
kiss.

Once more, she took me to the brink. I
whimpered an audible sigh, wanting the warmth of her breath around
me again. She tossed her hair back over her shoulder, straddled and
received me. Something inside me ignited. I cared not of the
consequences. I let the heat of the moment melt all apprehensions.
Defy all reason. I reached for her breasts, filled my hands and
squeezed. She hissed, then smiled. I coaxed her down and she kissed
me, the sweet taste of wine still lingering upon her lips, the
smell of jasmine mingling in her hair.

“
Ready?” she said, the
Devil’s smile in her eyes.

“
I am,” I said. “I’m
ready.”

And I was. I was ready to take her all the
way. Ready to deliver. We fell into a steady rhythm, a balance of
passion and fury synchronized to our quickening heartbeat.

“
Now.” I told her, and I
closed my eyes as I neared climax. “I’m ready. I’m coming.
I’m….”

I opened my eyes and she was gone. I sprang
from bed. My heart racing. Sweat rolling from every pore in my
body. I looked across the room. The hanger on the back of the door
remained undisturbed.

She had not gone. She had never been
there.

I fell back onto my pillow and gazed up at
the ceiling. “It seemed so real,” I said, whispering to convince
myself I was indeed awake now. I laughed lightly, until a sinking
feeling in my belly told me it was wrong. Wrong to have erotic
dreams about Spinelli’s fiancée. Wrong to harbor subconscious
feelings for Ursula that my conscience cannot accept. And wrong to
think that Lilith is not the very essence that justifies my
existence. Because that part I know is true.

As my heartbeat returned to something
resembling normal, I closed my eyes and tried to steer my thoughts
to the case that Carlos, Spinelli and I were working on. I might
have succeeded, had I not run my hand down my chest and over
something wet. I smeared it across my stomach, lifting my hand and
feeling it slip between my fingers.

I got out of bed, took a shower and tried
again ten minutes later. Better luck found me then. I fell
asleep.

The next morning over coffee, I told Lilith
I had a dream as real as life itself. I did not tell her what that
dream was about, but from the look on her face, I suspected she
knew.

“
Your mind is in a
heightened state of awareness,” she told me. “The power of the
coven is with you always now. Everything you do from here on, you
will do with greater exception. You will draw your energy from the
coven when you need it most and contribute to it when you do
not.”

“
But this dream,” I said,
“it seemed so real. I could see, smell and taste everything as if I
were experiencing the moment just as clearly as you and I are here
now.”

“
I know. That’s how it
works.”

I shook my head. “I don’t think I like
that.”

“
Don’t worry. You will get
used to it.”

Ursula came into the kitchen then, turned
the corner and stopped abruptly. I saw the surprise on her face as
she regarded me from across the room. I forced a guilty smile.

“
Good morning, Ursula,” I
said. “Sleep well?”

She gathered her hands and folded them
tightly to her chest. “Aye, and thee?” she said shyly.

A sense of dread consumed me. She knew. I
could not imagine how, but I just knew that every sordid detail of
my dream came to her as our eyes locked and found focus on each
other. I begged her silently not to let on, hoping our minds were
as much in tune as my gut instincts told me they were. Lilith
noticed the unusual exchange and commented, “Something wrong?”

We both looked at her. “No,” I said. But I
didn’t think she bought it.

“
Nay,” Ursula answered,
shaking her head and smiling convincingly. “Naught but a cup of tea
shan't fix.”

She crossed the room in a gentle sweep, her
eyes down, her hands still clutched above her breasts. I took that
as my cue and announced my retreat, explaining that Carlos would be
there soon to pick me up. Lilith kissed me on the lips, and in
backing away, I noticed a curious look in her eyes.

“
What?” I asked. “Is
something the matter?”

She leaned in again and sniffed my hair.
“Hmm, jasmine,” she said, and smiled. “Smells nice.”

I smiled back, looked at Ursula and noticed
her smiling, too. “Yeah, well….” I picked up my coffee and finished
the last sip before taking the cup to the sink. “I guess I’ll see
you.”

She watched me out the door. Only God knows
what the two of them talked about after I left. Knowing Lilith, she
likely had a good laugh over it. And knowing Ursula, she likely did
not.

I sat out on the front stoop for maybe ten
minutes before Carlos came by to pick me up in a company sedan. I
asked him where his Vette was.

“
Getting rigged with dash
lights and a siren,” he said.

“
You’re outfitting your
Corvette for work?”

“
Sure. Why
not?”

I dismissed it without cause. “No
reason.”

He came back. “Want to stop for
breakfast?”

I knew his question was just a formality. If
he was driving, we were stopping. I told him sure, why not. He
turned down Jefferson and headed for the Perc.

Though admittedly, I did not have much of an
appetite when I agreed to his request, once at the restaurant, I
decided to order a two-egg omelet with toast and coffee. This,
because Carlos ordered up his usual breakfast; three eggs
scrambled, four bacon strips, two pancakes, hash brown potatoes,
rye toast and jam with orange juice. I figured if I was going to
sit there and watch him eat, I had better eat something myself.
Otherwise, I might feel as if I were watching a condemned man
finish his last meal. He puts that much dedication into it.

“
Tell me again about the
oil thing,” he said, pausing only briefly between mouthfuls of egg
and bacon.

“
What?”

“
The other night. You and
Ursula. You didn’t tell me how long it lasted. Was it like all
night?”

“
No. It was not all night.
Besides, the amazing thing was what happened when we slipped into
the black mirror. Why don’t you ask me about that?”

He shook his head. “Not as interesting. I’m
more interested in naked women.”

“
Forget it. It’s too
embarrassing, especially after what happened yesterday.”

“
What happened
yesterday?”

I shook my head. “I shouldn’t say.”

“
You have to now. You
brought it up.”

“
I don’t know.”

“
Tony. Tell me what
happened. What? Did Ursula walk in on you taking a crap or
something?”

“
No, but you’re
close.”

He dropped his fork. “Oh, this is juicy.
Come on. You have my attention now.”

“
Okay, but you cannot tell
Spinelli.”

“
Tony, please. Do I look
like a tattle tale?”

I felt a twinge of regret for wanting to
tell him, but I had to tell someone. If for no other reason than to
clear my conscience. Besides, he had kept quiet about the oiling
incident. I figured I could trust him on this one, too.

“
I walked in on Ursula,” I
said. “In the bath.”

“
Nooo.”

“
And I was
naked.”

“
Naked? Tony. Are you
insane? Lilith would kill you for less.”

“
I didn’t do it on
purpose. I had no idea she was home. Remember yesterday when that
cruiser soaked me out front at work?”

“
You? Hell, I’m getting
wet just listening to this.”

“
Get your mind out of the
gutter.”

“
All right, but give me
details.”

“
It was perfectly
innocent. I went home to shower and change. Lilith had called me
earlier to tell me she was going shopping. Naturally, I assumed
Ursula would go with her.”

“
Naturally.”

“
Yeah, well she didn’t. I
got home, stripped naked at the front door, grabbed a towel and
walked into the bathroom.”

“
And?”

“
And Ursula was in the tub
taking a bubble bath.”

“
Awesome. Wait.” He closed
his eyes and drew a mental picture of the incident in his mind.
“Okay. Got it. Continue?”

“
What the hell was
that?”

“
What?”

“
You were thinking of
Ursula in the tub naked. Weren’t you?”

“
Yeah, so?”

“
So stop it.”

“
Why?”

“
I don’t like it. You know
Lilith looks just like Ursula. When you picture Ursula naked you
picture Lilith naked, too.”

“
What, are you Dominic
now?”

“
No. I just don’t like you
picturing my girlfriend naked.”

“
Oh, listen to Mister
squeaky clean over here. I’m not the one walking in on someone
else’s girl with my pecker swinging in the breeze.”

“
It wasn’t
swinging.”

“
It was hard?”

“
No, it wasn’t
hard.”

“
Oh, it was cold. I get
it. Say no more.”

“
What? No. It wasn’t cold.
Screw you.”

“
All right, forget it.
Tell me what you did next.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
What did you do after you
walked in on her?”