The Book of Fours by Holder Nancy

Author:Holder, Nancy [Holder, Nancy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

San Diego

It was very stupid of him to have a go again, and he knew it. But the thought, the hope, was like a terribly addictive drug. And Christopher Bothwell could no longer stop himself.

Dressed in a robe of midnight blue spangled with kabalistic symbols, Kit stood in the center of his living room in the Ocean Beach section of San Diego. His female consort stood at his side also robed. Her magickal name was Cecile, and he’d met her at a Wicca singles group three weeks ago. By day, she was temping at a law firm; by night, she danced naked around bonfires on the beach and claimed to be able to speak to the dead.

She had warm, cocoa-colored skin and brilliant red hair, but he suspected that she dyed it because it was the traditional hair color of those imbued with magickal abilities. Her affectations concerned him—methinks she doth protest too much—but on the other hand, she had managed a number of spells. Thus far her most notable accomplishment was that she had lit all the candles in the room with the power of her voice alone; for another, she had seen—or claimed to have seen—the ghost of Kit’s uncle, who had recently died. Of course, there were innumerable ways to fabricate such a story.

“Abracadabra,” she intoned, her eyes closed.

“One,” he replied.

They had ingested powerful hypnotic drugs together, herbals that he had ground according to ritual with his mortar and pestle. Simple paraffin candles provided the only source of illumination, in a protective circle which he, as the male, was to protect. The female was there to actually perform the rituals. Most magick traditions were matriarchal, a fact he had learned in his Watcher’s training.

His tiny, cheap flat reeked of smoke, lavender, and incense. In another neighborhood, perhaps, the neighbors would complain, but Ocean Beach was the last bastion of hippiedom, replete with graying surfers, wrinkled flower children, and wizened, middle-aged folk who worked for nonprofit organizations to protect the rights of animals and legalize various drugs. If they worked at all.

The raggedy drapes were tightly shut against the front window, but they could not drown out the twang of the truly hideous country and western music Kit’s neighbor across the common listened to night and day—especially night, all night, every single wretched night.

On a metal folding card table, herbal tea was steeping in the pot his mother had purchased for him in Cambridge, to celebrate the day he had graduated from University. The china pot was shaped like a wise old owl, wearing the cap and gown of a scholar. Two mismatched cups were placed beside it. One, he had pilfered from his job at Kinko’s, where he managed the special orders desk. Once upon a time, he had owned a splendid coffee service of Royal Doulton bone china; he had sold almost everything of value in his quest to connect with India.

If it would have helped to sell his soul, he would have done that as well.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.