KISS THE WITCH (30 page)

She pursued her lips and crinkled her nose
at me. I think she knew I was right and didn’t want to admit it.
The look on Carlos, Dominic and Ursula’s face told me I was not the
only one thinking it. Lilith turned to the black mirror again, and
though she now had her back mostly toward me, I could see the
muscles on the side of her jaw pulling up a great big smile.

She tapped the mirror three times with the
athame. The first two times I heard the tic of the blade on the
glass. The third time I did not. The blade passed through the
mirror and come out again, leaving a distinct ripple distorting the
glass. As the ripples faded to a smooth black surface, I could see
the reflection of a thousand faces staring back at us.

“
Welcome ye spirits of the
coven.” said Lilith. “Merry meet and happy ties. With thy
blessings, we shall begin.”

“
Blessed be to thee,”
returned the voices within.

Dominic and Carlos could hardly contain
themselves. I saw them looking at each other, their eyes blinking
back their disbelief. I thought maybe now they might understand me
when I tell them of the wild and crazy things I put up with living
with a witch. For surely, I knew Dominic would now understand.

Lilith turned to the couple. “Dominic and
Ursula. Do you come here of your own free will before these
witnesses, to join hands, to enter into a marriage of souls, to
promise and dedicate yourselves to one another forever and
always?”

“
I do,” said
Dominic.

Ursula responded. “Aye.”

“
Dominic. Please face
Ursula. Place your left hand in her left. Your right in her right.
By doing so, you each must cross your arms forming a figure eight.
This symbolizes infinity, a returning path of energy from one soul
to the other.”

Dominic and Ursula joined hands as Lilith
asked. His visibly shaking. Hers but a hint of trembling. I saw how
they looked at each other, how their eyes locked. They knew we were
there, yet I doubted they could see us. I watched Ursula’s lips
thin to tiny white lines, her chin wrinkling in silent quiver.
Dominic swallowed, but whatever it was would not go down. I
imagined it was his heart.

“
Marriage is a scared
thing,” Lilith continued. “Even among Pagans and especially among
witches. We swear in the name of all we believe our love to each
other. Does it mean less if our god is not a deity of the mortal
establishment? That we don’t hold a single supernatural being as
the personification of a force controlling some or all aspects of
life as we know it? No. It does not. We don’t need to pledge
fidelity before a deity in order to know in our hearts what is
right. To know it is wrong to hurt the ones we love.”

I could see Carlos fighting back tears
now.

“
Trust. Respect.
Compassion. These are the cornerstones of a lasting relationship.”
Lilith placed her hand upon Dominic and Ursula’s. “Art thou ready
now to pledge these to one another?”

“
I am,” said
Dominic.

Ursula’s reply came much softer, her voice
seemingly trapped in her constricting throat. “Aye. `Tis all I
have, my word, for thou hath taken my heart already.”

“
Wonderful.”

Lilith took the thin piece of rope from the
altar and wrapped it around the couple’s hands, leaving a loosely
tied knot dangling below.

“
Handfasting is a
tradition as old as witchcraft itself,” she said. “It symbolizes
commitment to one another, a union divided only in death. It is not
a commitment born of duty but of love. What others find burdensome,
may you find effortless. Respect your spouse’s feelings and ye
shall never sleep a restless night. Remember always to be patient
and understanding with each other. So seldom do we do annoying
things with the knowledge of their consequences. Be free with your
affection. Share the warmth of your bodies often and all the
seasons of the year. Take delight in the beauty you see now as
always. Do this and ye shall remain happy always.

“
Tony?” Lilith handed me
the athame. “Would you draw a line in the sand please?”

I did as she asked, striking a line left to
right behind the couple. When I finished, Lilith instructed them to
cross the line together, planting their feet on the ground at
exactly the same time.

“
This symbolizes the
effort it takes to make a committed relationship work,” she said.
“As you cross this threshold together, so shall you cross other
thresholds in life. Remember to do so as a team. Do not fight the
changing tides of nature. Instead, work with them together. This is
my advice to you.”

With that, Lilith untied the rope and freed
the couple’s hands. “Have you words for each other now?”

“
I do,” said Dominic. He
turned to Ursula and brushed away a tear trailing down her
cheek.

“
Ursula, I have loved you
since the moment I first saw you.” He kissed her hand. “Your
rebirth that day in the grassy field was my rebirth, too. Before
you, my heart knew no love, no passion, no desire or direction. I
have wandered this earth blind to life’s promises. My days void of
meaning. My nights lonely, cold and endless. Finding you has freed
the boy within me, allowed me to become a man. You have given me a
sense of purpose, a sense of belonging. More importantly, you have
shown me what love is. Your humble ways inspire me. Your beauty
astounds me and your innocence captivates my imagination. I see
virtue in everything you do. And that you see none of that yourself
touches me profoundly. I am a better man inside for simply knowing
you, and for that, I am forever in your debt. If you will have me,
Ursula, I promise I will love you with all my heart for all the
days of my life, so help me.”

I stood in silence, enthralled, unaware that
Dominic had such intensity of emotion within him. For the first
time ever, I realized that I wanted to see Dominic and Ursula
together. That what I felt for Ursula, or thought I felt, was
nothing akin to his feelings for her. And to say I felt ashamed for
harboring feelings for her of any kind, spell-born or not, would
hardly be a lie.

I looked at Lilith. Her eyes grew hauntingly
bright. Her stare distant. Her pupils, undiminished in the glow of
firelight. I sensed her thoughts were far away, perhaps in the
past, recalling a love she had known long before. I could only
wonder.

Carlos cleared his throat and gained her
attention. She blinked and returned to the folds of the moment. We
were all looking at her now. She smiled softly, and though I
suspect a whisk of embarrassment brushed her, it did not sweep the
look of serenity off her face.

“
That was nice, Dominic,”
she said. “Very nice.” To Ursula she said, “Sister?”

Ursula thinned her lips and nodded. She
turned to Dominic, and though she spoke in a hush, her words were
clear and audible.

“
My love. Thou hast
bestowed upon me more than thy heart. `Tis for thy love that I
live. Lilith, my sister of blood and of the coven, did cause my
being. By skill and majick she hath spun life into these bones once
more. Yet life is but a fragment of true existence, a perception
shared in the blink of ageless energy. We are here only as
perceived. We live only if life presents a reason to live. Sadly,
but for love we have no other reason. Aye, `twas my sister who
brought me back from a time long ago. Thanks be to her I say and
mean it. Still she cannot claim sole affinity for my being, for
`tis thy love what giveith me breath and reason to live. I have
faults, yet you see them not. I act in selfish ways and ye sing me
praise. I fear I am worthy not of thy love, still thy love rings
true. `Tis for this and more I shall work to honor thee. To earn
thy breath of love. I pledge to thee my devotion. If love be lost,
be it thine not mine, that I might cease to live.”

Carlos choked back a tear and said, “Wow.
Now I know I’m not in Kansas anymore.”

Lilith smiled at that. “Do you have the
rings?”

I answered, “I do.” I reached into my pocket
and handed one to Dominic. He took Ursula’s hand in his. No longer
were they shaking. He seemed perfectly in his element now.

“
Ursula.” Her name flowed
off his tongue like a song. “Will you take this ring as a symbol of
my love?” He slipped it on her finger. “Will you wear it always and
know that it represents my undying devotion to you for this and for
all the days of my life?”

“
Aye,” she said. “I
will.”

I handed a second ring to Ursula. She took
his hand in hers. Their eyes met. She wet her lips softly.
Swallowed. “My love.” She slipped the ring on his finger.

It was then I felt Lilith’s hand at my side.
She took mine in hers and squeezed it gently. I reciprocated by
squeezing back. We looked at each other. Smiled. She mouthed, “I
love you.” My heart sank. I leaned in, kissed her cheek and
whispered the same to her.

Ursula said, “Take this ring, for it is my
soul. I give to thee with no regrets. Place it with my heart, which
I have surrendered and thou hath taken. Join these with thine and
make it one. Feel joy where I might feel joy and share it with
thee. In pain feel not, that I might feel thy pain instead. That I
may bear what burdens fall upon thee in times of sadness. In times
of plenty, rejoice in thy fortunes. Spill none but what thou wants
not on me, and I shall gather it happily for futures less bright. I
am yours my love. My heart beats for thee and none other. Feel it
pulse.”

She led Dominic’s hand to her breast and
pressed it there lightly. “May thee find warmth here when thou art
cold, comfort when thou art malaised. Seek pleasure and I shall
please thee. Take what thee will and I shall ask naught in return.
This I promise forever and a day.”

“
Splendid,” said Lilith.
“One last thing.”

She took the small bottle from the altar,
uncorked it and handed it to me. Using the athame, she sliced a
thin lock of Ursula’s hair and another from Spinelli. She then
mixed the black and brown hairs together, braiding them like wires
before dropping them into the narrow bottleneck and corking it.

Ursula seized the gardener’s spade from the
altar. She handed it to Dominic and pointed to the ground. He
understood that and proceeded to dig a hole on the line I had drawn
earlier in the dirt. When it was deep enough to contain the bottle,
Lilith dropped it in. Dominic covered it and both he and Ursula
stomped on it, packing it tightly into the earth. The symbolism
needing no explanation.

We all turned to Lilith then, awaiting the
words we anticipated all year. She smiled at the couple, placing
her left hand on Ursula’s right shoulder, her right on Dominic’s
left.

“
By the power invested in
me, through the spirits of the coven, I now pronounce you man and
wife. Dominic. You may kiss the witch.”

With that one kiss, my fears and
apprehensions faded completely. As if a spell had lifted from my
soul, I suddenly felt no longer worried that I might continue
harboring feelings for Ursula. Or that I might resent Dominic for
laying claim to something I had no right to in the first place. And
when I looked to Lilith, I sensed she knew somehow that my struggle
was over. That she even knew I was struggling made no difference
anymore. She came to me, laced her fingers behind my neck and
kissed me. I locked my arms around her waist, pulled her in tighter
and returned the kiss deep and heavy. She moaned, pressed her body
to mine. I bit her lip teasingly. She broke off, smiled and came
back for more.

I suppose we would have continued longer had
we been alone. Hell, even with Dominic and Ursula there, we would
have kept at it. What with them entwined in their own lover’s grip.
But Carlos was feeling left out. He tapped me on the shoulder to
get my attention.

“
Umm, excuse me. I think
there is some cold champagne in the fridge back at the house.
Eh?”

“
Yeah,” I said, returning
less attention than he deserved. “Get a handle on it. We’ll get
there.”

He punched my arm. “How `bout you get a
handle on it and get your girlfriend to let me out of this ring of
fire?”

“
Oh, sorry,” said Lilith,
and as she peeled herself off me, she grabbed a handful below my
beltline and squeezed. “I got your handle right here,” she cooed,
thankfully only loud enough for me to hear. “What do you say we put
it to good use tonight?”

I jerked back with a yelp, only then
realizing how much handle I had made available for her to hold. She
walked away but turned and looked back over her shoulder at me, her
leveled eyes tied to her serpent’s grin. I knew that look. She
saves it only for me. It is one of the things I love most about
her. One of the many things.

She took the athame and directed it at the
wall of flames along the eastern side. “Thanks be to the spirits of
the coven,” she said, drawing the athame downward and taking the
flames with it. “May this circle be closed but not broken. Let
those who pass now pass in peace. This be the word of the guiding
spirits, so say we all.”

“
So say we all,” came the
chorus from the black mirror just before the faces
faded.

“
So say we all,” Ursula
repeated.

Carlos, Dominic and I followed. “So say we
all.”

With that, the ring of fire went out. There
were no pops, no spectacular flare and no sputter from dancing
nymphs with firefly flashlights unwilling to leave. Simmering were
the stones from the circle, hissing like snakes, as the moisture in
the ground around them vented in whisks of steam into the
night.