Conjuror's Coven: Chapter Two

“OK,” I said, doing everything I could not to cross the bed and take Catie in my arms. “I won’t freak out,” I promised, not at all sure I wouldn’t freak out. “Whatever it is, it’s better to talk about it.”

She nodded like she agreed, taking a deep breath as we sat on the side of the bed. She’d stayed over at my place plenty of times, but whenever she did there was like this current of electricity between us.

I’d never seen her fully naked.

She changed in the bathroom, deliberately putting on pajama bottoms and usually a baggy top to bed. Once we were in and cuddling she let my hands wander, but I got a ‘babe…’ pretty quick if they went south.

But we’d also never been in a hotel room. And anyone who takes frequent business trips knows hotel rooms have strange and magical properties, with nebulous, naughty rules.

Catie was wearing an old white tank top that she must have owned before her tits decided to claim most of her chest. They were squeezed in behind a pink bra, rising and falling as she took deep breaths.

Focus.

I took similarly deep breaths. There were important words possibly to come. This wasn’t about sex.

“This is kind of about sex,” she said, hands and eyes in her lap.

I guess I was so stunned or panicked it must have shown in my face, because she glanced up at me and raked her hands through her long, loose hair.

“I mean its not…OK that’s not what I mean. It’s about everything. My family…” she took another deep breath and flopped her hands on the bed. “Jack, I’m not Mormon.”

I nodded, still trying to puzzle this the fuck out. She wasn’t Mormon? For all I cared she could be a Hindu turned born-again Baptist snake charmer. But I guess what she was saying is that she’d been lying about her sex rules, or something? I tried to keep calm.

“OK,” I said slowly. “You know I’m not religious.” This wasn’t precisely true but I considered it so confusing and private I just didn’t talk about it. “Whatever it is, it’s fine. I won’t lie. But I’ll be respectful of whatever it is you…”

“I’m a Wiccan,” Catie said, putting a hand to her face. “I mean I’m…my whole family is Wiccan. Like, practicing. I’m on a kind of…sabbatical. But it’s not forever, I mean I’m not sure. And it’s more like…” she tossed her hands. “Either way it’s still like my morals. Culture? I do a lot of the things. I believe in it. It’s really important to me.”

I watched her a few seconds, I guess. Then I laughed. She stared at me like I’d run over the family dog, but I couldn’t stop. Then she was slapping at my leg. My hands. My chest.

“It’s not funny!”

Oh yes it was. It was fucking hilarious. I thought the woman I loved was about to tell me her Dad hadn’t died in Afghanistan–that he’d actually molested her and her mom had shot him and buried him under the family tree. I was ready to deal with that. Like ride or die bury the skeleton somewhere new so the law wouldn’t get them.

Instead she was just…really into Astrology. Or dancing naked in the moonlight. Or something. OK I hoped it was the moonlight thing.

She was at least smiling before I stopped. I grabbed her and forced her into a hug, finding those plump, soft lips and forcing my tongue between them until she was half moaning and half wrestling me away.

“That was it?” I finally said. “You had me panicking because you like magic charms and burning incense or whatever?”

I had noticed a few strange things around her dorm room. Mostly the fact that it was so clean–like whenever I came over she’d scrubbed the place. And she rarely had me come over. But I figured that was just because it was a female only dorm and visitors were restricted. Plus it was tiny and my apartment was way nicer.

It had always stunk like incense. Or maybe scented oils. But I saw that as just…random girl shit. Like crystals, or pet rocks, or one of the other ridiculous things they do that make men like me shake their heads.

“This isn’t astrology, OK? This is my religion. I’m serious!”

I guess I was still taking this too lightly, and I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. I took a few breaths and got more sober, taking her hand.

“I’m sorry. I was just really worried, and this is…fine. It’s great. Whatever you believe, I don’t care. It’s working for you. You’re kind and sweet and wonderful. OK? I’m all for it.”

She looked so happy all I could do was smile. She hugged me and I did my best to ignore the feel of her amazingly soft chest against mine. When she pulled away her eyes were a little wet, and I realized this was a really big thing for her.

I had to handle it right. She let out a breath, and reached a hand into her cleavage, which didn’t help with the whole ‘blood in brain to think’ problem.

“This is my family Pentagram,” she said, taking out a locket. She opened it up to show a little image of a star with five points. “It represents the elements. Fire, wind, water, earth, and spirit. My family has always been part of the water tradition. It’s why…” she went pink. “Why sex is such a thing. It’s about the um, fluids. They’re sacred.”

I did my best. I really did. I knew every religion had all kinds of crazy shit, so I wasn’t going to judge. A trained but unbelieving Roman Catholic like me sure as hell didn’t have any answers. ‘Everything just is, shut up about it’ is about as stupid as anything. So is the holy trinity.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” I said. “I mean I know I’m laughing and a bit of an asshole, but…” We hadn’t said ‘I love you’ and I didn’t want to fuck up and say it by accident. “It’s OK, you know? You can tell me anything.”

She had that teary eyed happy look again and I swear to God it was a drug.

“I know,” she said like she really meant it. I dragged a thumb across her cheek to catch a stray tear. “But it’s hard. I was taught…not to talk about it. Not to trust people. Wiccans like us…people don’t understand.”

“Well I’m not people,” I said, still touching her face. “If you want to howl at the moon and cover your naked body in mud, that’s fine with me. In fact I encourage it.”

She gave me a weird look, like for a second I knew more than I was letting on.

“I was joking,” I said, fighting the laugh. “Do you really do stuff like that?”

This time she blushed hard and pushed some hair behind her ear.

“Some of us.”

To be honest, I was relaxing now. I lay flat on the bed and let out some tension, glancing at the clock on the wall. We just stayed in the airport hotel, and we had a good twelve hours before we had to be back and ready to fly.

I was kind of excited to meet Catie’s family now. With the ‘terrible secret’ problem out of the way, hopefully we’d just sit around playing cards and getting drunk. Mormons, Wiccans, bug-sweeping Jains, it was all the same shit to me. 

I’d seen enough to know—every parent of every girl just wanted a sincere man who wanted to take their daughter and give her a good life. A man who loved her, who had his shit together, who’d give her everything.

That’s what I was, so I wasn’t scared to meet her family. You didn’t have to be smooth and charming. Though I could be that, too.

I wouldn’t say I had a ‘plan’. I’d just make it clear I was going to marry Catie, as soon as she’d have me. I didn’t know if she would want to finish school, or if she’d want to start a family right away, but I knew she wanted one sooner than later. We’d work out the details.

“There’s more to say,” Catie said, looking nervous again. She was fiddling with her hands in her lap, and I sat up and put a hand on her back.

“Sure. We’ve got all night. Whatever you want to talk about.”

She took another breath and glanced at the fridge.

“Can I get another one of those alcoholic fruity things?”

I raised an eyebrow. She’d already had two.

“You’re already a little red, sweetheart. Maybe give it a minute. Want a juice or something?”

She nodded, trusting me. Christ I loved that she trusted me. I got her the drink and took her hand as I waited, doing my best not to think about getting her under the covers.

“Remember how I said I was like…on sabbatical?” I nodded and she ran her fingers over my hand. “When we get back home, it won’t be like that. There’ll be…rituals, and conversations. Lots of little things I’ll have to do. And there’s gonna be…questions. About you.”

“The fifth degree, huh? I can handle that. You know I’m a lawyer, right?”

She grinned and moved a little closer. I didn’t know where this was going but I was putting her at ease and that was making me very happy. But she still looked shy about something.

“My Mom…she’s…well. She’s like a priestess. An important person in the community. The faith community, I mean. And I’m supposed to sort of replace her one day.”

Hmm. That was slightly more concerning. Priests and nuns had a lot of rules, though I knew it wouldn’t stop her from having a family, because she’d made it crystal clear she wanted one. Still, I was starting to realize I’d have to learn more about the actual beliefs of ‘Wiccans’, and possibly this ‘church’.

“Is that what you want? And uh…” I shrugged. “Does that still leave room for me?”

She nodded enthusiastically, like this is exactly what she was trying to say.

“I mean…I don’t know about replacing her…but, yes we can have…” she blushed again, “I mean we can get married. My family believes in two gods–a masculine and a feminine. High Priestesses are encouraged to have children. Life is very important to us.”

I held back the sigh of relief, and the twitch of excitement. A part of me wanted to propose right there. There would be something for the witches or whatever back home to talk about. The High Priestess’ daughter is getting married!

I grinned and kissed her, ready to start making that new life anytime. She didn’t try to stop me, and I sunk into her lips as I pulled her closer. She moaned against me and still didn’t pull away, and my overly disciplined dick sprung up like a dog on the hunt.

“Almost done, just a couple more things,” she said, licking her lips with closed eyes as she eventually pulled away. I nodded, really hoping tonight would be an extra ‘relief’ night, though we’d had one two nights before…

It was still wild she’d kept all this from me, but I guess I understood. If you were part of some secret, tiny faith that people thought of as a cult, you couldn’t go around shouting about it.

A lot of people might not be cool with a pentagram around your neck. But I knew all the devil worship satanic stuff was just fear. There weren’t Wiccan murders all over the news. Not all religions could claim the same.

Still, I was surprised how devout she seemed. Like I said, I grew up pretty Catholic, but never did believe. It wasn’t bothering me, though. There was something attractive about it. Faith was almost quaint to me now, especially in my world. Like a rare and exotic trait.

“Bringing you home,” she said, nibbling her bottom lip. “My family, they…” this time she blushed so hard she went red. “They’ll want to know…if it’s serious. If you’re going to…I mean if we intend…”

Whatever plan I had came apart as I looked at Catie and saw it was what she wanted. That there was no mixed or subtle messaging here. That she was bringing me home to say ‘this is my future husband’.

That intuitive little warmth in my gut flooded through me, a happiness I couldn’t fight. I took her bare arms until she met my eyes.

“Catie, I’d marry you tomorrow. Priestess, barista, biochemist, I couldn’t give a shit. You’re the best, most amazing human I’ve ever met. And I’m already yours.”

She made a little sound and trembled in my hands. I smiled before I pulled her in and crushed my lips against hers. I could hardly believe I was here with her like this, that she wanted to be mine. That my stupid plan had worked and got me the girl of my dreams.

“Jack?” she said when I gave her a moment to breathe. I just smiled and waited as she looked up at me with those big, brown eyes, that beautiful face and pouty lips. “All I want to be is your wife. I don’t care what else I am. I think you cast a spell on me.”

I didn’t know words could make music on their own. But there it was. Could a man die of happiness and a neglected erection? I hoped not, but I guess it’d be a good way to go. I pulled her in and hugged, then whispered in her ear.

“I love you, too.”