“Okay. Okay, I’ll read it.”
That night, my mood was a little bit better, but I still felt void of motivation. I didn’t want to do much of anything. The nervousness and sadness that hung around not knowing if Stella could love me back, left me once again, on the couch watching television. Around 8pm, there was a knock at the door. It was Stella. My heart leapt.
“Hey, come in,” I sang, opening the door for her.
“Hey,” her voice shook as she stepped into the house. Her tone of voice was like a bullet. My heart sunk straight back down to my stomach.
“Want to come sit down?” I offered.
“No, I’m sorry,” she started, her eyes getting glossy. “I read the journal. That stuff sounds really great, Camille.” She was speaking in almost a whisper, “but I don’t think I can do it.” She was fighting back tears. “I can accept that you’re a witch. I can. I can be your friend.” We both winced at the word. “But I can’t, or at least, I don’t think I can love you.”
“Why?” I was fighting back tears, too. “What’s the deal breaker, just tell me. Maybe I can-“
“It’s the grave,” she cut in, tears flowing from both of our eyes. “Doing magic for good is one thing, but where are you getting those powers, Camille? Who or what are you sending that stuff to? Through a grave, Camille. It’s not right. It’s scary. And I trust you, my sweet friend, to make that choice, but I don’t know if I can put my heart around it.”
I nodded, unable to muster anything productive to say. I wrapped her in my arms, breathing in the scent of her for what I feared could be the last time. She was a mixture of strawberries and sunshine. I quickly pulled away, unable to be near her any longer. I showed her to the door. Neither of us said a word as she left.
I was so heartbroken, I called out of work sick the next day. Of all of the heartaches I had previously thought myself to have felt, none had evoked such a sense of loss. I could barely eat or sleep for the next few days. I sat around wondering how Stella had touched such a deep space in my heart, having only known her a short time. At first, I tried to get her out of my mind and move on. By the end of my second day off, I realized that this was not going to work.
I made the choice to create a love potion. The thought had occurred to me before, but it seemed wrong. I didn’t want to force her to be with me, but after seeing her face when she said goodbye, I was sure that she wanted to be with me too. It was like Rachel said, she was just afraid.
I had helped another witch make a love potion early in my training. Her name was Allison. She had invited me to help her brew the potion as a part of my early studies. I raced up the stairs and grabbed one of my journals from the wooden box. This was the journal where I kept note of the spells and potions I learned. I thumbed through it hastily, looking for the love potion. I couldn’t find it anywhere.
My heart pounded with excitement and nervousness. I thumbed through the pages a few more times before giving up. I grabbed the vial with Stella’s hair, plucked one of my own and placed it inside the vial as well, and raced downstairs to the computer. I searched the Internet for a basic love potion recipe. I felt a little bit stupid doing this, but I knew that most basic spells and potions were pretty readily available, so I figured I would give it a try.
There were several different websites with recipes. I skimmed through a few before finding the one that sounded like what Allison had taught me. The ingredients were simple enough. I got to work brewing the potion, feeling much more optimistic than before.
The next day, I was ready to return to work. I had left the potion at home, unsure how to present it, and nervous to get caught. I showed up to work a few minutes late. When I got there, a few coworkers jokingly held up hand sanitizer or anti-bacterial sprays. I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that no one else knew how pathetic I had been. When I got to my desk, Stella happened to be walking past with some papers. Unlike before, she didn’t try to avoid me. She smiled at me and came over for a side-hug.
“Hey girl! I hope you’re feeling better. I think there’s something going around. Anyway, you let me know if you need anything, okay?”
“Ohhhkay,” I laughed confusedly. Stella had never treated me this way before. It reminded me a lot of how Rachel had treated me. Stella and I had never really been friends, just two coworkers in love at first sight. I couldn’t tell why she was acting this way, or if maybe it wasn’t acting. I stared at her, my brows knit. She shrugged and went back to her desk.
This behavior continued all day. Not only had she decided to start being friends with me, she was also acting this way with Tiffany, the blonde from the bar. I didn’t dislike Tiffany. She was a fun drinking partner and she had a sense of humor, but she wasn’t anyone I considered a real friend, and it surprised me that Stella would be interested in her. They got lunch together and invited me along.
“Camille, you have to come. We are getting sushi burritos,” Stella pleaded in, yet again, the voice of a best friend.
“Thanks, but I just spent the past two days hurling, so sushi and burritos sound terrible. Let alone both.” I half smiled and waved them away. I could hear them giggling off into the distance. I sat at my desk, feeling a mixture of sadness and anger. It was bad enough that she denied us both the love we wanted, because of my witchcraft. That was something I could empathize with to a degree, but changing her whole personality? It made no sense. I decided to hope that she was just protecting her feelings. I also decided I needed to get her that love potion.
While Tiffany and Stella were out at lunch, I started spreading word around the office that I would be hosting a huge party the following night. When they got back, I was in the break room, making another cup of coffee. A few coworkers were having a late lunch at the table behind me.
“Do you need us to bring anything?” someone asked, as Tiffany and Stella were walking in, getting cups of water. I thought it might have been John, but I wasn’t paying much attention.
“Nope!” I chimed, “just yourselves.”
“I’m excited,” he replied. “I haven’t been to an actual party in like ages.”
“Me too. I just need this,” I said, adopting the voice Stella had been trying all day. I spun around, pretending to just notice the two ladies who were clearly trying to listen in without being noticed. “Oh my god, by the way you two are totally invited too.” I flipped my hair over my shoulder.
“What are we invited to?” Tiffany grinned.
“Big party at my place tomorrow night. Just text me for the address,” I smirked, shifting my gaze to Stella, who quickly looked away.
The following day, Stella was still being friendly, although after our run in in the lunchroom, she had toned it down a bit. I was still amazed that she was doing such a great job acting like she never had feelings for me. I hoped with all of my heart that she was pretending. I cut out of work early to go set up. By the time the party started, my place looked great. There was punch, all sorts of snack foods, and music pounding from a professional DJ.
I had gone to a lot of trouble to slip Stella this potion, so I thought to myself, ‘she had better come, and she had better not have Tiffany by her side all night.’ A few coworkers who I barely spoke to showed up first. I decided that it wouldn’t be an awkward night. We did a round of shots together.
People were trickling in, but still no sign of Stella. I was beginning to get nervous, when Tiffany showed up with a bottle of sour gummy flavored vodka. Stella wasn’t with her. I hurried over to greet her, pretending to be really excited about both her and the sugary vodka she had brought.
“Hey girl! So great to see you,” I sang.
“You too! This is awesome. Thanks for inviting me.”
“Of course! Come in. I’ll show you around.” I took Tiffany on a tour of the house. Halfway through, I thought it seemed casual enough to mention Stella. “So I thought Stella might be with you.”
“Oh, no. I had to drop my kids off at the sitter. She said she would just meet me her
e. But she’s definitely coming. I told her she had no choice.”
I was relieved. The party was going well. I decided to just enjoy it a bit until Stella arrived. A few of us were sitting in the front room, playing ‘never have I ever.’ I was sharing a giant beanbag chair with that guy John from the break room. It turned out that I did have his name right, and the reason we hadn’t spoken before was that he had just transferred to our office, from the other hub we had in Atlanta.
John was really cool. We were the first two to lose the game, having pretty much seen and done it all. Up until then, Rachel had been the only coworker I had ever truly been friends with, and even we drifted apart when she got promoted, but I wanted to be John’s friend. We had a lot in common. I was just about to give up on Stella and ask John to make prank phone calls with me, when she came through the front door.
“Stella!” I rushed over, feeling a bit buzzed from losing the game.
“Hey Camille,” she said in the nervous, beautiful voice she had been using up until the days prior. Her eyes seemed to get lost in mine. We were so close. I thought I might explode from the pain of needing her. I hugged her quickly, doing my best to be friendly.
“Let me get you a drink. Here, have a seat.” I motioned to the beanbag that was still half-occupied by John. I watched her go sit next to him and awkwardly wave.
I went to the kitchen to find the potion. It didn’t need refrigeration, but I had stashed it in the refrigerator anyway, as the kitchen was full of people getting themselves drinks. I opened the bottle and poured its contents into a wine glass. When I returned, Stella looked at home. I smiled for a moment, before going up and handing her the drink.
Chapter 4
I waited all weekend to hear from Stella. It was hard to say how long it would take the potion to work, but by Sunday evening, I was starting to get discouraged. Maybe I had done something incorrectly. I arrived at work early and hopeful on Monday. Stella was an hour late, which was unlike her.
“Hey, I need to talk to you,” she pulled me by the hand, down the hallway. My wrist tingled where each of her fingers was gripping. I was speechless, not wanting to ruin something good or make worse something bad. She pulled me into the elevator.
“So,” I finally started.
“I can’t do this any longer.” We had gone down a few floors when she pulled the stop on the elevator. “I’ve been trying to hold back my feelings for you, or to make excuses why we can’t be together, but I can’t anymore. I need to be with you. I’m in love with you Camille. Be with me.”
I turned to face her, my stomach in my throat. I looked deeply into her eyes and nodded, the slightest smile cracking upon my lips. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me into a slow, deep kiss. It was the most passionate, soul-awakening kiss I had ever experienced. It felt like time was standing still.
Eventually she pulled back and started the elevator again. My skin felt hot and I couldn’t stop grinning. I held her hand in mine as we rode back up to our floor and got back to work, quietly. I had chosen to try my best at being casual with her. I would avoid any behavior that might expose us at work, or any messages that might be too strong too soon, but over the following days, I watched her become more comfortable. It was like she was becoming herself.
She never did anything too blatant at work, but by the end of the week, she had held my hand a few times during the day. I was sure that some coworkers had probably noticed, but no one said anything, at least not to us. There was no policy against dating a coworker, so there was really no reason to hide. Plenty of others had done it. My conservativeness was for her only.
That Friday was October 30th, the day before Halloween. She came home with me after work, to help me come up with a costume for a party Tiffany was hosting the following evening. I had only agreed to go because Stella wanted to. She knew that it would be a short night for me, as I had other plans. I had been avoiding discussing much about the coven, for fear it would make her uncomfortable.
She pulled all of my old costumes out of my closet and laid them out on the bed to examine. She also pulled out a couple of dresses that she decided looked “like a costume.” I laughed at this. I was sure she had the better fashion sense.
“This is great.” She lifted a Cleopatra costume off the bed. There was a headband draped over the hanger, along with an arm cuff. As she picked it up, the arm cuff fell off and rolled under the bed. She bent down to retrieve it. “What’s this?” She came back up with the cuff in one hand and my wooden box in the other.
“Oh, it’s uh,” I started, bracing, “it’s some stuff for my practice.”
“It’s okay,” she said, seeing the look of worry in my eyes. “I’m past it. Actually, I want to know about it. Can I look inside?”
“Sure.” I sat next to her on the side of the bed not littered with costumes. She opened the box, eyes wide with curiosity. “These are journals,” I started. I went through everything in the box with here, grateful that there was nothing left of her DNA inside. I showed her the mat and the herbs and explained some spells. I told her about how the ritual had worked the night when she saw me levitating. Last of all, I showed her the wand and let her hold it.
“Wow,” she looked at me, holding it with perfect posture. “It’s almost like I can hear all of those other witches speaking to me through it.” I smiled.
“Yes, that’s how I feel too. My ex-girlfriend, Victoria, said she never got that. She was the one to introduce me to the coven. Our leader is pretty old. Victoria was training up. I thought she was going to take Everley’s place one day, but then she just left. I have no clue where she went. She never called, never said a word.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Ah, I’m fine. She and I weren’t really in love, but it was certainly confusing that she just ran off like that. Plus the coven was at a perfect 13 with her. I mean it’s not like some cliché; we can have more or less than 13, but that’s our perfect number. Then she left and now we only have 12. It’s fine, it’s just this was going to be the coven’s first Halloween at 13, so I think we were all a bit disappointed.”
“What will you guys try to do on Halloween, anyway? Why does 13 help?”
“Well I think it’s just a religious superstition, in part, but we do try to communicate with our other world. Not the same as entering a realm, like I did. It’s a bit complicated. Anyway, the more witches, the stronger our voice, I suppose.”
I was happy that Stella had allowed me to share this part of my life with her. Not only was she polite, she actually seemed interested. My personality attracted plenty of people with whom I could share a laugh, or have a good time, but rarely anyone with whom I could discuss my greatest joys or deepest fears.
I could hardly sleep that night. I was squirming with excitement from having Stella as my girlfriend and for my first Halloween ritual. I felt like a schoolgirl. Eventually, I concocted an elixir to help me get some rest for the big day.
When Saturday afternoon arrived, Stella came over to get ready for the party. If it hadn’t been for her, I honestly would have skipped the party altogether. Tiffany was okay, but one work party a month was plenty for me. Plus, I looked at the holiday differently. I had to show up for the celebrations on time, properly dressed and sober. But I was happy to tag along. Stella had actually become friends with Tiffany and was, it seemed, enjoying the freedom of living on her own, so I obliged.
We did our hair together in the master bathroom. She had the curling iron and I had the straightener. We both applied winged liner. Mine was black; hers was gold. We blasted pop music and snacked on popcorn while getting ready. It was the first time we had actually hung out like friends and I loved it.
“So you never told me what your costume is going to be anyway,” I remarked, putting the finishing touches on my makeup.
“It’s a surprise. I’ll go change now.” She went to the bedroom. While she was gone, I went ahead and put on my Cleopatra costume. She came back a few minutes lat
er, wearing a gold leotard, nylons and a tail. She had added a blue and gold headband.
“Sphinx!” I exclaimed. “That’s so cute. This is like a couples costume now, I love it.” She clapped and put on her shoes, a pair of gold heels.
“All ready to go, Cleo?” she tossed me my arm cuff.
“Yup!” I slid the bracelet around my bicep and tightened it. We headed out for the party. I drove, reminding her that I would have to leave early. She reassured me that it would be fine and if she wanted to stay she would take the bus home.
When we arrived, the party was insane. It was almost as if Tiffany invited literally every person she knew and all of them showed up. I had kind of assumed it would be mostly people from work, but I was pleased to see there were lots of others. This way, it would be pretty easy to slip out early.
As we walked through the front yard, there was a group of what looked like very drunk people bobbing for apples. Inside the house was packed. There was music blaring and people dancing. We had to push our way through the dance floor to get to the kitchen. Once we did, Stella grabbed a beer and we both exhaled for what felt like the first time since we arrived.
“Hey bitches!” A tall redhead dressed as a nurse barreled over to us with her arms outstretched.
“Hey,” we replied in unison, both looking to one another for an answer.
“Do we know you?” I asked after she released us from our group hug.
“I dunno, but we need a selfie,” she slurred. She pulled her phone out of her bag and snapped a photo of the three of us. “Love it.” She hurried off.
The two of us looked at each other and burst into a fit of giggles. We decided to try to find Tiffany. There was a sliding door in the kitchen, which led to the backyard, where she had set up a fire pit. There was a group of people at the fire pit, but no Tiffany.
“Look who is here!” a voice called from behind us. We turned around to find Tiffany waving from a hot tub on the other side of the yard. We ran over to say hello. She was wearing a red swimsuit and horns. She was already drunk, but not take-a-selfie-with-strangers-drunk, so she had that going for her.
The Ritual: Urban Fantasy Suspense FF Romance (The Coven Unleashed Book 1) Page 3
