Page 30 of Peacock Me Like a Hurricane (Rise of the Resistance #2)
DELILAH
T wenty minutes later, Sari steps through the circle of trees followed by Calista, Amanda, and Lily. All of them are chattering away nervously. I stand to brush myself off, waving. When they approach, I follow tradition and hug them one at a time.
Please let this not be a royal fuck-up.
Sari grips me tightly, and it takes everything I have inside not to shudder. I realize Rafe may be correct in his recent assessment of our situation with them—no matter what they do to repent, the damage done is too severe. We will never forgive them. I don’t have time to analyze that, though, so I paste on a smile.
“Merry meet and bright blessings on this beautiful Beltane,” I say. My brow furrows when it occurs to me that I sound like the pagan Cat in the Hat. Shaking my head to clear it of silliness, I force a smile at my erstwhile mate.
Sari grins, “MM.” She thinks she’s super cool by not saying the entire greeting. Abbreviating it means she’s so familiar that she doesn’t even have to say the complete sentence.
Spare me.
She and Amanda are ready and raring to go by the looks on their faces. Calista and Lily look apprehensive. It’s worrisome when the actual pagans look like scared rabbits and the pretenders are firing on all cylinders. I turn to Sari and ask her to set up the bonfire with Amanda, trying to get them to focus.
“These are your flowers to spread around the circle while I’m casting,” I tell Lily, holding up the buttercups. “Calista, you’ll spread the oak leaves. Sari will sprinkle violets, mine are red roses, and Amanda’s are irises.” I wrinkle my nose at the cute yellow flowers, glad that they’re not mine, and they all giggle.
“Is there some reason that we have specific flowers?” Lily asks curiously.
“Oak leaves are a symbol of Beltane and the Horned God,” Calista offers helpfully, opening the small bag she has. She places two robes—obviously for her and Sari—on the blanket before taking her baggie.
I nod. “Each of the flowers are tied to the element you represent. Calista is the spirit anchor, so she has the leaves. The rest of us are calling the quarters—fire, water, air and earth.”
“No fair explaining without us,” Amanda exclaims, rushing into the clearing with Sari. Their arms full of kindling as they huff up to the circle.
“I’m not explaining, only answering questions.” I pull out several labelled sets of note cards with each person’s parts, courtesy of Hex.
The boys have been extremely helpful in this endeavor. It makes me wonder if there’s a more nefarious reason—like cameras in the trees. I narrow my eyes and look closely at the nearby foliage, straining to access my kitty vision without shifting.
“We don’t know who we will call as our God, right?” Lily asks, eyeing her cards anxiously.
“No. I assume that calling the Lady—my Goddess— into me will tap into my heart and soul. For me, that also includes my primal side. When the Goddess calls her mate, it will include all aspects of you. Those of us with dual natures will most likely experience that part with our other part present, so be ready for that.”
Sari gives me a smirk, her expression saying that she knows who my beast will pick. I smile wanly because her thoughts are dead bloody wrong. There’s no way in Heaven or Hell that she will pick her primary’s jackass demon. I am, however, a little worried about who will be chosen.
Will the Goddess pick someone that will re-open a wound as a way of telling me I’ve made mistakes?
Now I’m as nervous as a vampire in Italy. I know that when the Goddess calls her true mate to the ceremony, it doesn’t mean that she is the true mate for the person called. Sometimes, the God and the Goddess have multiple true mates. I didn’t tell the others that because I thought it would cause issues. But what if my true fucking mate is someone that I cannot be with?
I’m such a walking goddamned disaster.
Calista looks at me with wide eyes, picking at the corner of her index cards. “We won’t do anything we normally wouldn’t, right?”
“The Goddess works with what’s inside of you—what you need. She won’t do anything harmful to you,” Sari says, putting a hand on her shoulder soothingly.
Calista looks at her and then at the rest of the group. “What if you don’t already have a mate?”
I shrug, giving her and Amanda a smile. “The Goddess will call whomever best suits the embodiment of her God. Your match should find you when they arrive.”
“It’s exciting,” Amanda says, her eyes dancing with a light that makes me suspicious. “It sounds scary at first, but it’s exciting when you embrace it. New people, experiences, and lots of hot se—I’ll shut up now.”
It takes everything in me not to roll my eyes into the back of my head. Amanda is looking at this as a hook that will be a back door to a relationship. That kind of disrespect is annoying as hell and a little insulting. I gather all of my patience before I respond. “Now that Amanda has stated the obvious, we should get into our robes before we muck up our timeline.”
I lift my robe, the magickal filaments shimmering in the moonlight as if imbued with tiny stars. I’ve been a practicing witch most of my life. I shed the Sunday school teachings of my parents long before high school and pursued what felt right to me.
My tools and equipment—like my robe—were also made by elders of various covens that I’ve joined. Each item represents my harmony with the Universe in a particular way. Anyone that is not a serious witch would think they are simply expensive toys, but they aren’t. They hold a blend of magick created by me, the covens, and the Earth.
I hand Lily and Amanda the basic robes I brought for the occasion. Calista is putting on a forest green robe with autumn colored accents and Sari’s are full of the colors of spring. They look brand new. I’ll be damned—Sari had special robes made so they’d look like they fit with me.
Christ, Amanda will pout all night long.
My irritation doesn’t last long because Lily starts muttering about video surveillance. Knowing Mercury as I do, I don’t blame her for wondering. He loves to watch and he’d absolutely record a bunch of chits dancing naked by a fire.
Too late to worry about that now.
When everyone is ready, I hand Sari a large scallop shell full of Dead Sea salt and instruct her to follow Calista. The droid will sweep the negative energy with my besom, and she will use the salt to set the boundaries of our circle. They take a moment to calculate the size and then get to work. It’s integral that we have enough space in the circle for the craziness when the Gods arrive. The sacred space must remain unbroken during the ceremony or all sorts of bad things could happen.
I sure as hell don’t need any more of that.
As they work, I give Amanda the candles for each quarter, five sets of matches, and a small bowl with elemental materials. I direct their placement as I sit the God and Goddess candles on either side of the bonfire. Lily places the fern on the spirit point of the pentacle, and I move to light ceremonial incense throughout the circle. Driving the sticks into the ground, I hope that it will burn as needed to create the atmosphere.
Once the set-up is complete, each lady picks up her assigned flowers and heads to their spot. With my roses and athame in hand, I take my place. Closing my eyes to feel the energy in the circle, I smile. Energy flows from everything around us, letting me know that I can begin the ritual. It’s strong and I’m feeling very powerful in the light of the moon.
It is time.
I raise my athame and draw a pentacle in the air where Sari is on the North point. Pressing the tip of the athame into the ground at her feet, I seal it and turn to them. We walk the edges of the circle, dropping our flowers and leaves as we delineate the space and infuse it with our energies. When we reach our original places, I re-draw the pentacle and seal it again, raising my hands to the sky.
“Circle, I charge that thou be a barrier between the world of man and the realms of the Gods. A guardian and a protector shall contain the power we raise within thee tonight. As I will, so mote it be! The circle is closed. All herein are totally and completely apart from the outside world. The circle is cast.”
Sari gives me a look like a kid in a candy store, itching to get involved. I suck in a deep breath to keep from telling her to keep her bloody pants on, knowing that negativity will hurt our ritual. Besides, I need her where she is on the North point, serving as the conduit to the Earth. Amanda is on the West point, serving as water; Lily is in the East to represent Air. I walk to the South point, not trusting anyone but myself to harness Fire.
Nodding at Calista as she walks to the center and uncorks the Sabbat Oil, I wait for her to anoint us on our foreheads. When she gets to me, she gives me a lop-sided smile. “I welcome thee to this magickal circle this night. May the peace of the Goddess be with thee, Blessed Be!”
After making the rounds of the circle, she moves to her position near the bonfire as our spirit anchor to wait for us to call the quarters. I watch carefully, knowing that we have to start with Sari, and praying that she doesn’t make a bloody mess of this.
Sari begins, lighting her green candle and standing as tall as someone her height can manage. “Element of Earth, world upon which we walk, Mother from which we spring, we ask you attend this, our magickal rite, giving upon us your gift of life itself. Blessed be!” She sprinkles the soil onto the ground and waits for my approval.
I nod, lighting my red taper as I call out, “Element of Fire, symbol of the Sun God which brings warmth and life to our planet, we ask you attend this, our magickal rite, bestowing your fire and will upon those here. Blessed Be!” Driving my candle into the ground, I raise my eyes to the sky.
So far, so good. Three more to go.
Lily picks up her purple candle, lighting it and reading her part. “Element of Air, that which facilitates our communication, the very breath of life, we ask you attend this, our magickal rite, bestowing your gifts upon our intellects. Blessed Be!” Dropping her handful of feathers, she looks at Amanda, who grins wickedly.
Gross.
Amanda lights her blue pillar and says, “Element of Water, that which nourishes the life the Great Mother brings forth upon her bosom, we ask you to attend this, our magickal rite, bestowing upon us an appreciation of the emotion in our lives. Blessed Be!” She opens the bottle of water and drizzles it on the ground.
Calista lights her white candle, crossing to me with my chalice and the remains of the holy water. I assume the star position, calling to the sky. “Great Brighid, Mother of us all: Maiden, Mother, and Crone in her turn, she who brings us life. Be here with us! Join with your Lord in Sacred Marriage in this, our magickal rite. Blessed Be!”
Kneeling, I hold my chalice, plunging the athame in it. “As the athame is to the male, the chalice is to the female.” I place it in front of me, raising the chalice and taking a sip. Calista takes it to each lady to sip from as I chant, “Lord, I invite you to the circle: Angus Mac Og, God of Love, Blue God, and Consort of Brighid. Join with your Lady in sacred marriage in this our magickal rite. Blessed be!”
My robes slip from my shoulders as I feel energy working its way into me. She ripples out, features shifting and eyes flashing as I dance. Low purring sounds rumble out when I see the others have disrobed and we’re all dancing sky clad now.
The circle comes to life with an electrical energy that I’ve never felt before.
Something ancient and powerful descends upon me. I feel Her reaching out, calling to Her mate with a primal howl. The howl increases in volume as Sari joins, followed by three loud wails as the Goddesses wait for their Gods.