This time it was
me who reached out and grabbed him in a crushing hug.
“We don’t need to
table this for later, Vance,” I said, feeling a little teary at his words. “I
would be honored to be included in your family.”
He placed his
hands on my arms and gently pushed me back so he could see my face.
“Then answer me
this,” he said. “Do you, Portia Mullins, consent of your own free will to join
with me in a binding ceremony that will hold our hearts together from this time
forward? And will you do it with the intent that, when the time is appropriate
we’ll be married, bound together by the laws of both God and man?”
I blushed from my
head to my toes, and I answered without hesitation. “Yes, Vance. I will consent
to this binding.”
He smiled widely,
leading me over to the floating candle circle. With a small wave of his hand, a
few of the candles parted and we entered the ritual space. He closed them
behind us.
He positioned me
on the right side of the waist-high table, and he stood on the left. Picking up
two large red roses that were both in full bloom, he handed one to me while he
kept the other. He began to carefully rip the petals from the rose, placing
them in a crystal dish and motioned for me to do the same.
“These red rose
petals signify the passion of our love,” Vance said softly, and I knew
instinctively this was part of the ritual. “As we mix these petals together,
our hearts will become as one.”
We layered them
together until there were no more left on the stem.
Next he poured
some wine into a silver chalice and took a large drink from it. He then turned
the cup in a half turn and handed it to me to drink from the same spot he had. I
drank a large swallow and handed the cup back to him. Instead of taking the
chalice from me, he placed his hands over mine and together we poured the small
amount of wine remaining onto the rose petals.
“This wine
symbolizes our intent to keep our relationship in harmony.”
He guided my hands
and we set the chalice down, and the wicks of two candles on the table burst to
life. He picked up one, and I the other. Together we lit the third candle on
the table, which was the largest. He picked it up and walked around the
interior of the flaming circle three times.
“This flame
represents the uniting of our souls together as one,” he said, before coming
back to place the candle on the table.
He lifted his
athame then and pricked his finger until a single drop of blood fell into the
crystal dish. He then handed the knife to me, and I did the same.
“We have sealed
our desires with our blood,” he stated.
Vance reached for
my hands and guided me around the table until we were standing toe to toe. He
took a small length of flaxen rope, wrapping one end of it around my wrist and
the other end around his wrist as we clasped hands together. Then he began to
recite his spell.
“Portia Mullins,
Blessed Be.
I give now, my
heart to thee.
My soul is yours
to bind and take,
My love for you
will never shake.
I promise to
always keep you pure,
And never into
evil lure.
Let Heaven be our
destiny,
I love you,
Portia, So Mote It Be.”
My eyes watered at
his beautiful vows. I knew I needed to repeat them back to him for the ritual
to be complete. I didn’t need his help since the words he’d just spoken were
seared into my very being.
“Vance Mangum,
Blessed Be.
I give now, my
heart to thee.
My soul is yours
to bind and take,
My love for you
will never shake.
I promise to
always keep you pure,
And never into
evil lure.
Let Heaven be our
destiny,
I love you, Vance,
So Mote It Be.”
Vance took the
rope and tied it around the large pillar candle. He lifted a few of the rose
petals out of the bowl and pressed them into the hot wax in the candle
,
sealing them there.
Suddenly the items
in the crystal bowl swirled together, and the flower petals drifted upward
until they were far over our heads. Then they slowly drifted back toward the
earth, floating down around us.
Vance pulled me
into his embrace and gave me a very long, very lingering kiss. I could feel our
hearts beating together as one, in exactly the same rhythm. My blood was
racing, singing through my body as his fingers tangled in my hair, loosening it
from the restraints. He kissed my cheeks, my eyes, my neck, and even the
strands of hair running through his hands. He finally released me when I felt
like I might possibly explode with desire.
“It’s finished,”
he said, smiling, his eyes bright. “I love you, Portia.”
“I love you too,
Vance,” I said, feeling as if light were pouring out from the very center of my
soul.
Then he kissed me
again.
Chapter 11
I wondered if
everyone in love felt like this. Was this ever present, hot sizzling fire running
through my veins normal? I’d never experienced anything like it in my life.
Every moment I was
with Vance seemed wonderful, extraordinary, and magical, though we often felt
like we were going crazy with need when we were together. And at the opposite
end of the spectrum, every moment I was away from him seemed like torture, and
I was filled with an aching I couldn’t describe.
When we were apart
we ended up spending a lot of time in each other’s heads. It helped ease the
separation a tiny bit, but Vance explained the feelings we were having were much
greater than he’d ever heard of before. We finally decided to go talk to
Grandma about it and get her opinion.
We entered the
store and saw no one, so we headed into the back room and found Grandma there,
working at her table. Her head popped up when we walked through the beaded
curtain, and she looked at us for a second, concerned, and then got up to come
over to greet us.
“Ah! A binding
spell I see!” she said, looking carefully at us.
“Is it that
obvious?” I asked, continuing to cling to Vance’s arm.
“So obvious I
wonder why I didn’t feel it when you walked through the front door.” She gave
me a pointed look. “Here. Come sit with me.” She gestured toward the table. “It’s
a very strong spell. Did you work it, Vance?” she asked, continuing to observe
us, and he nodded.
“I don’t recall
ever hearing of anyone experiencing a binding this strong,” Vance said. “Did I
do something wrong?”
“No, I doubt
that,” Grandma replied, shaking her head. “For some reason the two of you have
an extremely strong connection. The power of your magic is intensifying it
dramatically I would imagine.”
“It isn’t always a
bad thing,” I piped up trying to explain. “It’s just when we’re apart I feel
like I’m going to die or something.”
Grandma laughed. “Well,
dear. What’s done is done. That’s the trouble with spells. Sometimes you don’t
really know what the end result will be. The two of you are going to have to
find a way to make things work for yourselves. I imagine you’ll eventually
become used to the intensity of the feelings you’re having, probably to the
point they’ll almost seem second nature to you. Your bodies should physically
adjust to it, a new normal so to speak.” She gave a slight shrug. “I wish I
could help you more until then, but I have a feeling that you two are something
special. Vance’s magic manifesting at such a young age and you having an
instant comprehension of your powers are unusual. Together you make a very
powerful couple. This is uncharted water for me I’m afraid.”
Vance squeezed my
hand. “We’ll be fine. I know it,” he said, trying to reassure me.
“I know we will. I
just wish you could always be with me. The longing is driving me crazy!” I
replied with an exasperated sigh at what we’d done to ourselves.
He leaned over and
kissed me softly, but it quickly developed into something much bigger, with
hands and arms tangling together as we pulled at one another, trying to get
closer to each other. We completely forgot we had an audience and didn’t stop
until Grandma broke in.
“Okay! Enough! You
two are making me blush!” She laughed, turning away from us to avoid our public
display of affection, and we broke apart smiling.
“Sorry,” Vance
said apologetically, raking a hand through his already disheveled hair.
Grandma waved her
hand in the air. “Don’t worry about it,” she said with a smile, before she grew
pensive again. “On second thought, I do have one suggestion that may help you.”
“Let’s hear it,” I
said, knowing Vance and I were willing to try anything at this point.
“Do you still have
the silver locket you kept Vance’s hair in for the ritual you performed?” she
asked, and I nodded.
Grandma went to a
drawer and pulled out a similar silver locket, with a more masculine design,
and handed it to Vance.
“I think you
should clip a little bit of each other’s hair and keep it in the lockets. Wear
them all the time. This will keep something physical of the two of you together.
It won’t stop your feelings at all, but it may dampen things enough for you
that those separations aren’t quite as excruciating.”
“We’ll try it. Thanks
for your help,” Vance replied, sounding hopeful.
“Let me know if it
works.”
Vance and I went
back to my house and found my locket. We pulled out a pair of scissors and
proceeded to cut an inconspicuous lock for each of us, placing the trimming in
the lockets. Then we each helped the other to place the chains around their
necks.
“Shall we test
it?” he asked, leaning in to kiss me softly on the cheek. I leaned my head so
he could nuzzle against me better.
“No,” I mumbled,
lifting my hand to slide it up his face and into his hair. “Not until we have
to.”
His kisses soon
trailed down my neck and feathered onto my exposed collarbone, before dipping a
little lower.
“All right!” I
said, shoving him playfully away from me knowing things were quickly getting
out of control. “Let’s go watch some TV with my mom. There’s safety in
numbers.”
He let out a big
sigh and followed dutifully behind me, close but not touching me. We entered
the family room, and Mom patted the couch next to her, inviting us to come and
sit down.
“How’re you today,
Vance?” she asked, politely.
“Very good, Mrs.
Mullins,” he replied back to her in kind. “Thank you.”
“Call me Stacey,”
she said with a smile. “You’re family now, Vance.” I wondered if she knew just
how much those words would mean to him.
We sat down on the
opposite end of the couch, and I curled up in Vance’s arms with Jinx on my lap.
Soon we were laughing over a favorite old sitcom. I’d seen the reruns a
thousand times, and it never got old, but I found my eyes starting to droop
after a while. Operating at this level of emotion was exhausting.
“You need to go to
bed, baby.” Vance brushed his hand through my hair while I lay in his lap.
“I don’t want you
to leave,” I mumbled softly, turning into him so I could wrap my arms around
his waist.
“You need your
sleep,” he responded.
“Go to bed,
Portia,” my mom broke in. “Let the poor boy go home. He looks exhausted!”
I slowly got up
and walked with Vance to the front door. He opened it and turned to pull me
into his arms once more.
He gave me a
searing, passionate kiss, locking his arms around my body as he focused on my
mouth. All too soon he was pulling away. “See you shortly,” he said.
After he’d gone, I
turned and padded up the stairs to my room where I waited for the crushing
emptiness to overwhelm me just as it always did. When it came, it was not
nearly as intense as it had been before. It looked like Grandma’s idea was
working. The longing was still great, but not so overpowering.
I crawled into bed
and pulled the covers over my head, letting sleep claim me. I hadn’t slept well
since we had done the ritual. I was still vaguely aware when Vance climbed
through my window a couple of hours later and snuggled up next to me, being
careful to keep the thick quilt between us. Then, finally, we both slept
deeply.
Grandma’s trick
seemed to work well, and over the next few weeks Vance and I became more
acclimated to our new, intense set of feelings. We handled our day-to-day
separations easier, though he still climbed into my window every night to sleep
next to me.
I was pretty sure
we weren’t fooling anyone about that, except perhaps my mom. Grandma explained
things to my dad and told him about the binding ritual. He hadn’t appeared
horribly worried. He was more concerned over our well-being. I was happy they
didn’t make a big fuss over it. To say they both trusted Vance implicitly would
have been an understatement. I was glad they understood. I was sure my dad was
not thrilled in the least about Vance being there every night, but it was so
much easier when he was right next to me.
Life began to fall
back into a routine, and things seemed to be going well for everyone, until the
day my dad showed up looking somewhat frazzled and called an emergency meeting
for the coven.
When the group had
gathered and the circle had been cast, he began explaining what he was worried
about.
“As you all know,
I’ve been involved with laying a false trail that leads Vance’s father farther
away from here. Things seemed to be going pretty well. I had him searching in
an area back East, and he’d been stationed there for quite a while. However, he
seems to have vanished, and I can’t find a trace of him anywhere. He had
several followers working with him, and they’re all gone too. I don’t know if
he has any idea we were leading him astray, or if they just left. They could be
anywhere.”