“Now where were we? Oh, yeah, you were bragging about knowing something about magic that I didn’t know,” I said.
Cris brightened. “That’s right. You don’t know how to shield yourself from a locator spell.”
“And you do?” Tess asked.
“Certainly. If you’ve ever been stalked by an ex who happens to know magic, you learn how to protect yourself.”
“Someone stalked you?” I asked with a bit of heat in my voice. “Have I met him?”
“Who said it was a ‘him’?” Cris asked.
“Whomever, are they still an issue? I’d be happy–”
“Rafe, not everything needs a Wanderer to stop it. Please, I may not have your fighting abilities, but I can slap down a witchy stalker without too much trouble. Anyway, Abigail taught me a cloaking spell that prevents anyone from using your DNA to cast a locator spell on you.”
“Well, well, that would definitely be useful for us.”
“Do we have what we need to cast it?” Tess asked.
“Sure, it’s mostly a spoken spell with just a drop of your blood to create the particular effect of hiding your DNA from anyone else’s spell,” Cris explained.
“How long will it last?” I asked.
“How long? Gees, I’m not sure. I used it the once and then forgot about it. I expect it faded away with time, but I didn’t really notice when it passed. It must have been at least a few weeks, but I’m not certain.”
“A few weeks works for me. We’ll just renew the spell occasionally,” I said.
Cris slipped out from under Tess’s arm and went to the table where she’d left her purse.
She opened the bag and took out a paperback sized grimoire. She checked an index of spells and then flipped through the pages. I thought it odd that she couldn’t just command her grimoire to find what she wanted, but decided to wait until another time to point out something she didn’t know about magic. It might spoil her elation at knowing something the Wanderers didn’t know.
“Here it is,” Cris said holding up the book.
Tess bent and took out the knife she’d taken to carrying in her right boot. It wasn’t magical like mine, but a knife is often handy whether magical or not.
Cris stared at Tess for a moment and then said, “Tess, what’s that for?”
“You said we’d need blood for the spell.”
“Damn, girl, you Wanderers are just too butch. I said we’d need a drop. You won’t need to open a vein.” Cris reached back into her purse and a few seconds later held up a small cloth wrapping.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Sewing kit.”
“You carry a sewing kit in your purse?” Tess asked.
“Well, I don’t need to carry a crossbow or a hunting knife so, yes, I carry a sewing kit,” Cris said.
She went to the cabin’s circle, sat down, and then eyed us expectantly.
First Tess and then I joined her in the circle.
Tess and I meshed and then pulled Cris in with us.
I directed a little energy into the circle and the protective dome formed above us.
“Okay, what do we need to do?” I asked.
“Just recite the spell and then prick your finger. Let the drop of blood fall onto the page and the spell will activate,” Cris said.
“Sounds easy enough, after you, Rafe,” Tess said.
I took the grimoire from Cris and turned it to face me. The spell was simple enough, four lines of text and no hand gestures required. While Cris opened her little kit and took out a needle, I read the words. I could feel the energy build as I finished reading. I held out my right hand and with a quick movement, Cris jabbed the needle into the tip of my finger.
Hell, I flinched.
Both girls smiled at that.
I ignored them and squeezed the injured digit with my thumb until a drop of blood appeared. Holding my finger above the page, I squeezed again, and the drop fell onto the paper. There was a snap of power and the blood vanished from the page.
“Did it work?” Tess asked.
“I guess. You felt the power so something happened.”
“Do you feel any different?” she asked.
“Nope.”
“Why should he feel different?” Cris asked.
Tess shrugged. “I don’t know. I just thought he might be able to tell it was working.”
Cris took my wounded digit and licked the remaining blood off it.
“I thought wiccans didn’t use blood magic,” Tess said.
“Only our own blood. We’d never sacrifice anything living.”
“Oh. Okay, my turn.”
I passed the grimoire to Tess and watched while she read the same spell. When finished, she held out her hand to Cris and received the pinprick without flinching. Then she gave me a smug look while she held her finger above the page and squeeze out a single drop of blood. The spell completed with a snap of power. Cris took a moment to put Tess’s finger in her mouth and sucked gently on it with a much sexier display than she done with mine.
I felt my pants tightening and forced myself to look away.
Both girls giggled and I felt their thoughts moving across me in a very suggestive fashion.
“Hey, enough of that. We’ve got business to take care of,” I said and tried to avoid thinking of what they were suggesting.
After a bit, they stopped giggling.
“Sorry, Boss, you’re right,” Tess said.
I felt Tess’s thoughts of the two of them stripping off my clothes fade away and then Cris straightened and grew serious.
“You’re right. I didn’t mean to distract you when you’re working.”
“Thank you. You know I’m more than happy to please you both, but not when there’s work to do.” I took my small grimoire from a pocket and held it flat in my palm.
