From the corner of his eye, he had seen the men were doing much the same. The one facing him, Omar he was certain, was the High Priest. Omar's black robe was distinguished from the others' with glittering decorations of some sort. Shifting quietly to a new spot with a better vantage point, he hunkered down again to watch.
The ten of them worked at forming a large star with some form of white dust, which he soon determined from seeing the bag, to be flour.
When they were finished, a circle was placed around it, completely enclosing the star and forming a pentacle.
The upper tip of the pentacle pointed due north towards some type of altar, which one of them erected. A candle was placed at each of the other four points. The High Priestess stood so her back was to the altar and the High Priest stood facing her. The other eight people, alternately man and woman, took up station around the circumference of the circle just inside the line, carefully spaced a few feet apart so they enclosed the entire distance around. In unison, they made a series of hand gestures above their heads. The surrounding air seemed to thicken.
"Are you ready, Stella?" the man asked. He did not speak loud but in the silence of the surroundings, his voice carried as if he were speaking into a megaphone.
"Yes, Omar," she answered, her voice just as clear and discernable. She took the clasp from her hair and shook it out. For the first time, Jeff noticed her blond hair was filled with something sparkly like sequins that flashed and glittered in the light of the flickering flames. She shrugged her shoulders and the robe fell away, leaving her naked. She leaned over and neatly folded her robe, and placed it to the side. The man shrugged his shoulders and his robe fell away also. He leaned down, folded his robe, placed it to the other side and dropped to his knees. His voice carried as he began to recite a verse.
Jeff watched in awe as the ceremony unfolded.
The woman nearest the altar approached and picked up her athame. Placing both hands on the handle, she raised it to the sky.
He jumped when a bolt of lightning flashed out of the clear, star lit sky. It struck the tip of the athame. In its wake, the blade glowed and pulsed as if an electrical charge was passing through it. Either the handle of her knife is extremely well insulated or what I'm seeing is truly magick. I'm surprised the woman was not instantly reduced to a cinder. I apologize, Gail. I tried to keep an open mind but I was skeptical about the magick you spoke of. Not now. Not anymore.
The woman ritually cut a hole in the surrounding air, opening the magick circle. The men and women all filed out. The woman who cut the hole was the last one to exit and using her athame, she symbolically resealed the hole.
The coven took up station around the circumference once more, but this time outside the circle. Each removed their robes and folded them. They bent over and placed them by their feet. As one, they turned their backs to face outward.
For the first time, he was afforded a clear view of them and now knew what they had been doing at the beginning, before the ritual started. Each male had an athame painted on him with the handle at his sternum and the point of the knife just above his genitals. A pentacle was painted on each woman with the center of it encompassing her womanhood. The upper point of the pentacle came to a point just above their navel. Two points of the symbol touched the outer edge of each woman's hipbones, and the bottom two points were painted on the inner and front part of their thighs. A shiny, silver chain necklace that flashed in the flickering flames circled each woman's neck and suspended a bright-blue stone directly in the center of her cleavage. The men had a similar necklace with a shiny ruby-red stone that hung in the center of their chests. All the men and women had cleanly shaven genitals.
Omar and Stella faced each other on their knees, only a hand's breadth apart. Omar began to recite in verse again.
Jeff jerked in surprise at the unexpected thunderclap. Suddenly, Omar and Stella were bathed in shimmering light. Their hair swirled and whipped around as if they were encompassed in a whirlwind and yet the surrounding air was dead calm. The flames in the two bonfires burned brightly but no wind affected the others. The circling wind began to shine and flash as if it was suddenly filled with a million fireflies. It was as if it contained tiny bits of fire. The glitter rained down on Omar and Stella, adhering to their bare skin and covering both. The tiniest movement by either sent flashes of light radiating in all directions. The wind ceased, but both remained bathed in light.
The High Priestess laid back until she was in a prone position, opening her arms and legs to form a pentacle again. The High Priest leaned forward and they began to have intercourse. Omar covered her face with kisses as their hips began to grind together in unison. To his amazement and from the corners of his eyes, he saw the two bonfires began to shift colors. One flashed blue to green to white and then started over while the other fire flashed red, yellow and then gold before it started through the sequence again.
Their hips continued to grind against each other until at last the Priest groaned and the Priestess clutched at the grass beneath them. She emitted a moan just seconds later and he was sure both had climaxed. At Omar's signal, the woman with the athame reopened the circle and the coven filed back in. When they had all taken their places, she resealed the circle once more and placed her athame on the altar. She walked to her place around the circle. Jeff was not a believer in magick, but he had no explanation for what he had seen and was still seeing.
Remaining conjoined with Stella at the hips, Omar used his arms to lift his upper body from her and spoke. Reciting more verse, he said that he and Stella symbolized the God and Goddess uniting, coupling and creating new life within the temple of her womb.
This was the signal for the man and woman nearest the altar to approach. The man knelt down in front of the altar, facing the woman. He leaned forward and kissed her sex, then turned and picked up a large cup from the altar. The woman took a bottle of wine from the altar and filled the cup. She placed the bottle back down and picked up her ritual knife. She placed its tip in the cup and the kneeling man spoke.
"As the athame is to the male, so the chalice is to the female, and conjoined, they become one in truth."
The woman laid her athame back on the altar, leaned down and kissed the kneeling man. When she stood upright, he raised the chalice, which looked much like a goblet, and offered it to her. She accepted it from his hands. Raising it to her lips, she took a drink. The man rose to his feet and the woman offered him the chalice. He accepted and took a sip. The two kissed again then turned their backs to each other, retracing their steps to the bordering circle.
The ritual was repeated three times around the circumference of the circle with each member participating. It was repeated again with a biscuit Gail had mentioned to him once. It was called a mead cake. Omar and Stella uncoupled and stood.
"This ritual is now at an end," he announced. "Sheila, please open the circle."
As Sheila turned, two deafening shots rang out from the woods. Two members, a man and a woman, crumpled and fell to the ground. Chaos ensued as two intruders stepped from the woods and approached the group.
"Fucking witches!" one of them shouted. "Drinking and fornicating in public. I hope you enjoyed yourselves," he said as he addressed Omar and Stella, "because that is the last fuck you'll ever have. Now, on your knees, all of you," he ordered.
"Let's just waste them all and get the hell out of here," his partner said.
Jeff sprang into the clearing with his gun drawn. As he ran toward the two men, his pistol barked twice. The two men did not even have time to register surprise before each of them sprouted a hole in his head. Without a word, both crumpled to the ground, dead before they reached it.
The members had thrown themselves to the ground at the sound of two more gunshots. He ignored the prone coven members until he was confident the two gunmen were dead.
"Who… who are you?" Omar inquired.
"A friend. It looks like you can use one," Jeff replied in a terse voice.
Gail recognized him and jumped to her feet. She crossed the distance separating them and threw herself in his arms. Over her shoulders she shouted, "Its all right, I know him. He won't hurt us."
With her reassurance, the other members began to pick themselves up off the ground. Two women walked over to their fallen comrades and knelt down.
"How bad?" Stella asked as she approached and stood over them.
"Bad," one of the women answered.
Stella fell to her knees before the two and began to chant. The two kneeling women waved their hands over the bleeding wounds, both of them in the chest area, and joined Stella in her chant.
Jeff watched the chanting women as he placed his arm around Gail.
"I won't even ask, at least not right now, why you just happened to be here, Jeffery. I'm glad you were in any case, even if you were spying on me. How much of the ritual did you see?"
"All of it."
"So what do you think? Did it change your mind about becoming a Wiccan?"
"As I told you before, Gail, I kill people and break things. That's part of my job. I don't think that agrees with your rules now, does it? How does it go? Something about harm none? You have a lot of questions to answer, young lady. We'll talk later."
He watched, amazed. The bleeding of the two fallen comrades stopped and the wounds began to close. Shivers ran up and down his spine. He sensed something touch him but looking around, there was nothing.
"What the hell..." he started.
"Shhh," Gail cautioned, placing a finger to her lips. "You might disturb the process."
His jaw dropped open when he saw the wounds began to scab over and heal. The eyes of first the woman and then the man began to flutter. At last, the woman smiled and sat up. The man followed suit. They were still weak so their friends helped them to their feet.
"I don't understand. Both of them looked to be dying or at best gravely wounded," he said, shaking his head.
"You probably never will understand, Jeff, unless you become a true believer." Gail smiled and tilted her head up so she could look into Jeff's eyes.
Changing the subject, he said, "I guess that we can all go back to our cars now. I'll go with you and watch out along the way to make sure you don't have any more visitors. And put some clothes on, Gail. You're driving me nuts," he added.
"I thought you liked my body, especially naked. Besides, it's not like you haven't seen it before," she teased.
Spluttering, he answered, "This is not the time or place, now go get dressed." He gave her a gentle shove to send her on her way.
Gail, along with the others, started putting on their street clothes. For a moment he watched her slip on her clothes, starting with her scanty thongs, and then looked away. A full bottle of wine remained along with a partial bottle and some cakes that would be left as an offering. She picked up the full bottle and as she walked past Omar, raised one eyebrow in question.
"May I have this?" she asked Omar. Looking at Jeff, she continued, "You may have had sex tonight but I haven't. I've only been teased. I intend to change that by first seducing and then fucking this man until he can't walk. The wine is simply to help set the mood," Gail finished with a deep lust filled chuckle and a wink.
Omar laughed, "Sure Gail, take it. That is the least we can offer to our white knight."
They scattered the flour, causing it to blend in, erasing the pentacle completely. The altar was disassembled and the fires were snuffed out. One of the women dug a hole by the altar and poured the contents of the partial bottle of wine in it. She topped this with the cakes and stood. The offering having been left, she brushed the dirt from her hands against her bare thighs and went to don her street clothes with the others.
"Once I get you safely to your cars, I'll return and dispose of these bodies," he addressed Omar and pointed at the two dead men.
"Leave them, the Goddess and God will take care of them," Omar stated with confidence.
Jeff looked at him skeptically but Omar seemed very sure. "Whatever you say, Omar." He planned on returning after everyone was safely away.
With one last inspection, Omar nodded and the group set out toward their cars. He, Omar and Stella were the last to leave the clearing. Looking back, they smiled as they saw a pack of ten wolves enter the clearing. Wolves in these parts were almost unheard of, yet here they were.
He was still a little concerned about the bodies until Omar put his mind at ease. "Trust me. We have great rapport with animals. One of our many abilities. When the wolves are done, there will be nothing left. They will even scatter the bones."
Everyone had left except him and Gail. He tapped on her driver's window and she lowered it. "Go back to your house. I'll follow. We have a lot to discuss, young lady."
"I'll see you at home." She raised her window ending further conversation.
Chapter 6
He followed Gail back to her house. Once they were inside, she took his hand and led him into the kitchen. When she had seated him at the table, she took the wine bottle from the ritual and poured out two glasses. Gail handed him one glass and downed the other in a single gulp. She poured herself another and slid onto his lap.
"So, my knight in shining armor, why were you spying on me?"
"It's not like that, Gail. I was coming over to see you and saw you pulling away. It's just my natural instinct to be curious, especially when you started taking deserted country roads in the middle of the night alone. I'm glad I did though. I think those two gunmen found you by following one of the other members of your coven. Now it's my turn to ask questions. Starting with, where is Greta?"
Gail averted her eyes. "Probably home. She left before it got dark."
He swallowed the curse he wanted to say. "You were alone all evening? And why would she leave you here alone?"
"Uh… um."
"That's not an answer, Gail."
"Okay. I told her you called while she was in the shower. I told her you were on your way and she could go ahead and leave because you'd join me in ten minutes. She wanted to wait but I was pretty insistent."
"Uh huh. But you had no idea I was coming, did you?"
"No," she mumbled.
"So, why did you lie to her and send her away?"
"Since she's been here, I haven't been able to do ritual. She wouldn't understand. The Grand Rite ceremony, the one you saw tonight, is very important to me. I couldn't take her there. Jeff, I'm feeling smothered here. I can't stand it." She broke into tears.
He pulled her into his arms. "Just a little longer, dear. I think things are coming to a head on your case. I think I'll get to the source of the threats soon."
"I'm sorry. I know I was wrong to do this, but…"
"Just don't do it again. Please."
"Okay, please stop. I've been duly chastised… dad. I'm not some little girl who needs to be punished for being bad. I promise I won't do it again. Still mad at me?
He shook his head and a glimmer of a smile touched his lips.
Satisfied, Gail asked sarcastically, "So, are you going to spend the night or are you just passing through?"
"That depends." His hint of a smile changed to a grin. "Is that soft, sweet-smelling pillow available? I think I'm going to have the shakes pretty soon, but if you can get me through it, I'd really like to sleep here."
"Sleep?" Gail asked laughing. "Or something else?"
"Maybe a little of both," he answered and his grin widened.
Gail bounced out of his lap, grabbed the wine bottle and settled back into his lap.
"Then drink up, my knight, because you're not driving anywhere tonight." She laughed as she refilled his glass. "I have an idea and I hope you're going to like it. I'm off work for the next couple of days and I want you to stay here with me. Now don't argue with me or I'll put a spell on you," she teased. "You need to take a couple days and rest, Jeff, because to be honest, you look like shit. So, witches orders, you're going to stay here and rest."
He thought about w
hat he was planning and decided it could wait. "Okay, I'll stay for a couple of days, but then I need to get back to work."
"I don't know what you've been doing that has worn you out so much and I probably don't want to know, but I'm glad you've decided to stay."
A Witch and Her Man (Jeff and Gail) Page 9
