The Centaur, The Witch, and The Werewolf

Blood Ritual

    The thermometer was still ice cold. How can the council be here but my charm not show anything? My mind was a little eased as I thought about the pleasure that Niky bestowed upon me yesterday. My mind wandered to the idea of him inside me. Niky was so big, and just his fingers gave me so much pleasure. I could feel myself get wet; my hand traveled down to touch the stickiness that was invading my thighs. My thoughts snapped back to the pendulum that warned against him. Maybe I should give it another go. I sat at my desk and began to prep. I heard a slight knock at my door. ,

    "Come in." No one really knocked on my door, "oh, Aeson, what's up?"

    He had a hard time looking me in my eyes, "the guys wanted me to grab you." He turned, and I grabbed his hand.

    "Is everything okay," I asked, concerned. Aeson finally looked at me in my eyes, and I could see the hurt in them.

    "Did you have s*x with Nikolai," he asked. My eyes widened. Was he seriously asking me that question? Why would it even concern him? Oh no, did Niky brag to all the guys? "Do you even love him?" I couldn't bring myself to break the silence. I just stared at him. My mind could not comprehend what he was saying. We were a family, but jeez, I don't want to talk about my s*x life or lack thereof with him.

    I looked down, crossing my arms and feeling incredibly uncomfortable. My eyes welled with tears, "Did he tell you?"

    "No, no, no," he said, holding my face, "it's just I could hear you. Roux and I were too far away," He blushed. My mind settled for a second. But how embarrassing who else heard what happened between us. I knew Roux would pick at me later.

    "You bang anything that moves. Why does it matter if I do," I said, defensive.

    "Niky isn't who you think he is."

    "What do you mean?"

    "Nothing, it's just that you don't really know him," he began

    "Butt out of my life Aeson. Besides, I didn't f**k him" He looked genuinely hurt before I walked away. What did he expect?

    The coven had cleared the living room and drawn a pentagram in the middle of the living room. On each point was a representative of the elements: a chalice of water for water, a pot of soil for earth, an empty jar for air, a candle for fire, and finally, Arnab was volunteered for the spirit. I wasn't worried nothing would happen to him. In the center were six teddy bears, each one representing us. The unlucky bears were just that, stuffed teddy bears filled with all our unlucky antics. Well, technically, it contained blood, a piece of our souls, and unfortunateness.

    Blood Magic was highly illegal, and we did a ritual every month. This ritual allowed us to do any magic without any consequence. To be strong, you must have a coven of six; if one of us exerts too much power, it will affect all of us but not if you do this ritual. When it has a piece of our souls, the teddy bear acts as a conduit and basically takes our place. The blood allows the bears to technically be us. And it had to be each month because the magic wears off. It wasn't an issue because your soul grows back like a kidney.

The cleansing ritual was already done. It wasn't anything special; it was a particular elixir in the washing machine, and voila, the bears are clear. I sat in the middle with each of the members standing at a point. My part in the ritual was to direct the shards of souls to each bear and draw the blood.

    "To forgo the consequences of our actions, we use these bears as our distractions," I began. I walked to each person and cut their hand with a dagger. I sat down, concentrating, and pulled the five drops of blood up into the air and into the back open stitching of each bear.

    "Each witch gives up a piece of their soul so that our magic won't take its toll." I broke a piece of soul off of Leaf first. He felt the pain and fell to the ground gasping for air. Petal was next, but Leaf caught her. Roux screamed with pain. Aeson stood tall, almost too proud to fall, and Niky held himself up, but his eyes were filled with hurt. I prepared myself and broke a tiny piece of my soul off. The pain was enough for tears to stream down my face.

    "Stitch the back and seal our fate, as these bears begin to deteriorate," I couldn't keep myself together; I was a sniffling mess. All six bears were then lifted into the air, and each person magically stitched the bear with their blood. We finished and placed each bear into the glass cabinet.

    "You alright, Zaychik," Niky helped me off the floor.

    "Yeah, it just hurts a little. You would think we were used to it." He helped me to the couch.

    "Look at our little girl," Roux began. Oh boy, here we go. I felt myself get irritated just by the sound of her voice. "Our baby is growing up and having s*x, Bunny did you use protection," she laughed.

    "R-," Niky began.

    "f**k off, Roux," I said, annoyed. I already dealt with Aeson's bullshit.

    "What," she asked, puzzled.

    "Sorry, I don't spread my legs for any guy that walks by," I said, raising my eyebrows and trying to give her my best b***h face.

    "What the f**k V," she asked.

    "Well, you find the need to comment on my s*x life, so it's only fair," I shrugged; I could feel my face getting hot.

    "V calm down," Niky said. The other three members were just staring, eyes darting back and forth between the three of us.

    "No, Nikolai, will you stop defending her? Why do you always do this?"

    "Why don't we all relax," he deflected.

    "f**k off," I said, walking out of the house.

    Roux's little red two-seater coupe was parked on the street. To say the least, I stole it. I drove into town, trying to find something to do. The house was not somewhere I wanted to be right now. At the farmer's market, I remembered the little coffee shop that was on the same street. I parked outside and found Roux's bag in the center console. Perfect.

    The coffee shop was quiet and exactly what I needed. I sat down on a loveseat, looking over the menu. The menu hung in front of a red brick wall that looked like it stood there forever. The brick wall was lined with exposed shelves that sported different kinds of bottles; some looked like wine or whiskey while others looked like coffee additives. The entire build had an old-school speakeasy vibe radiating off of it. The shop was small and sported natural colors and chocolatey brown color except for the white countertop that separated the guests from the expresso area. The seats were either dark velvet or dark leather. The front counter had a pastry box and, on the other side, a massive fancy espresso machine. There was a chic little iPad that I assumed was how they rang up guests. Several little nooks hide in, but the spot I had picked was in front of the wood-burning fireplace opposite a dark wood staircase. It wasn't lit as it was way too warm today, but the aesthetic was lovely.

    "MAVE," I heard an excited voice say to me as I reached the front counter.

    "Oh, Bella, hey," I said with a smile.

    "Whatcha doing here," she asked.

    "You know, just exploring this new little town."

    "Where are your friends?"

    "Home with our other roommates. I got into a little argument with one of them, so I thought it would be nice to get out for a while."

    "Well, welcome in," she said excitedly. It was only her and another girl working, "That's Daisy," she said, pointing to the beautiful blonde-haired babe behind the counter. She had medium-length hair, hazel round eyes, and chiseled features on her face. Her skin was perfectly clear and tan. Lips plump and nose small as a button. She was one of those girls that you thought god had spent a little more time on. She smiled at me while steaming some milk. "Oh, sorry, yes, can I help you with something?"

    "Oh, Uhm, I think I'll have a honey latte with oak milk," I gave her Roux's credit card.

    "That's Hunter's exact order," Daisy said, giggling, "Well, he likes a shot of whiskey in his."

    "Sounds like my kind of guy. Whose Hunter?"

    "He's my brother and the reason I'm here. He's out sick until tomorrow and needs extra shifts covered," She added. I could only imagine what he looked like if Daisy was this beautiful.

    "Oh my god, we should invite Mave," Bella said gleefully.

    "Yes, yes, and you can bring your roommates," Daisy answered while making my latte.

    "To-"I began.

    "So my parents own a wolf reserve here," she began. A wolf reserve? Isn't that a little dangerous? "And the wolves go nuts and howl at the blood moon at exactly midnight, so we invite the whole town out to come to watch." She went over and pulled a flyer off the wall, and walked over to me. It had all the details of the party on it. "It helps raise money for the reserve and honestly is a lot of fun."

    "Sounds like a good time," I said casually, still mulling over if I wanted to go or not.

    "It's really the only time that people who don't work or live on the reserve get to come through the gates; you should totally come," Bella said excitedly.

    "I'll definitely think about it." The latte was now sitting on the counter. God really did spend a little extra time on Daisy; she had created a perfect, stunning rosetta design. It was immaculate in a chunky white cup with a matching saucer. "You are amazing, thank you."

    "Oh, Mave, please say you'll come, you'll have such a good time. Bring all your roommates; the more, the merrier, "Bella pleaded.

    "Okay, I'll definitely be there, but I don't know about the rest."

    I retreated back to my little nook to continue sulking. About two hours had passed, and I could feel my wrist burning. I definitely didn't want to go back yet, but the burn would only feel worse and worse until whoever called it shuts it off. I said my goodbyes to the girls and hurried back to the coven house. Whatever they wanted, it better be necessary, or I'd just find a hotel room for the night.

    When I was home, I found everyone in the greenhouse. It was completely ransacked. Smashed pots were on the floor, cabinets and drawers were broken, and even the soil plots had been broken into. The new spring crops were utterly destroyed.

    "What happened," I asked.

    "You didn't do this right, Mave," Roux accused.

    "Of course not; I just stole your car and card. Why would I ever sabotage us like that?"

    Leaf was on the floor inspecting something important. I went and kneeled down next to him. In front of him were paws, but not standard feet, big paws, the kind of paws that make you wonder how huge that thing was.

    "Definitely not Mave," Leaf said.

    "That thing is gigantic," I said, looking at it. Even if there was a wolf reserve here, that thing was way too big.

    "And heavy," Leaf added, "look at how deep the paw prints are in the soil."

    "Or the claw marks on the door," Petal said, pointing. The doors were about a standard height. But the claw marks reached up all the way to three-fourths of the way up. If the animal had stood up and clawed    at the door, it would have been frightening to see how high.

    "What do you think made these," Niky asked, standing behind me.

    "Probably one of the wolves on the reserve," I handed him the flyer earlier.

    "Maybe we should call the number and let them know one of their wolves is out," Roux suggested.

    "I'll do it," I said, going to the kitchen for the house phone. The pleasant girl I spoke to on the phone said she'd send someone out right away. The rest of the coven went about their business; I waited on the porch with lavender lemonade and a book. An hour had passed, and someone came up the driveway in a jeep. I had recognized one of the men as Axel, and the other I couldn't make out.

    "Oh, Mave right," Axel asked.

    "Yeah, hey Axel," I said cheerily.

    "This is my coworker at the reserve Jax." Jax extended his hand, and I shook it. Jax was tall, a bit shorter than Axel but had a sweeter, softer face. Both boys looked as if they had just gotten off the beach in the outfits they were wearing. Jax had longer hair and a short, gruff beard. He wasn't as muscular as Axel but had a commanding presence nonetheless.

    "Thanks for coming out so fast. Did you guys want some lemonade?"

    "No problem, it's alright we gotta get back to the reserve. That huge party they have planned is taking a lot of work to set up." I nodded and led them to the greenroom. They looked very concerned at first.

    "You think it's one of yours or a wild wolf."

    "He's a big boy, that's for sure," Jax said, opening the door to the outside, and Axel bent down looking at the paw marks.

    "It's probably all the berry's that attracted him here," Axel said, pointing at the lining along with the clearing. Niky had come looking for me and hugged me from behind, kissing my cheek. I was still angry at him, but I didn't want to say or show so in front of strangers.

    "This is my boyfriend, Nikolai. Nikolai, this is Jax and Axel."

    "Nice to meet you," he said. The boys nodded to him and then continued to look concerned.

    "Good news is if it was one of ours, we have trackers, and we'll make sure you aren't bothered again. The bad news is the berry trees do attract other wolves, so if there's a wild one out there, he may be back."

    "Okay, we'll take care of those asap," Niky said.

    "Oh and these," Axel said, pointing to the Monkshood, "It's pretty poisonous to animals but more specifically wolves, so we suggest keeping it inside."

    "I had no idea," I said, concerned, "Do you think that wolf got into it?"

    "If he did, he wouldn't stand a chance. Wolfsbane is deadly to even humans," Jax said.

    "I had no idea." The purple plant now looked ominous in front of me.

    "We'll follow the tracks and make sure it went far away, but we're sure it won't come back. And if you need help with repairs, let us know, and we'll be more than happy to send out some volunteers," The pair left without another word.

    "They seem nice," Niky began. I was still trying to give him the cold shoulder. He grabbed my hand and pulled me into a hug, "I'm not letting go until you forgive me. I'm sorry, Zaychik."

    "Fine, Nikolai, I'm over it."

    "Come on, Mave, I know you. You're still mad."

    "I'm over it, I promise," I was way angrier with Aeson and Roux than Niky. Besides, his warmth and hug made me forget the world, "I love you, Amour." He pulled me into a longing kiss. I pulled back, still a little sad. I wish he had stood up for me before instead of being so passive.