An Affair Of Sorcerers

collapsed on her chest. April held me in her with her legs wrapped around my body, gently rocking me back and forth like a baby. Finally she sighed and unlocked her legs. I rolled to the side, but clung to her while she stroked my head. Now I felt even less of an inclination to talk-but it made no difference. There was no longer any need for words. I was still lost inside myself, but my anxiety was gone, and the state of my psyche was no longer important; April was all that mattered. In that state of mind, I drifted peacefully off to sleep.

When I awoke an hour or so later, I found that April still lay beside me with her arms wrapped around my body. When I glanced up, I found her smiling, and I knew she hadn't slept. I began to stroke her breasts and immediately grew hard again. This time we made love quickly, hungrily. April, her eyes closed and lips slightly apart, moaned softly as she moved under me in perfect rhythm with my body and mind. I came again, slept again.

The next time I awoke, April was no longer beside me. Perhaps she'd sensed in some way- occult was the only word I could think of-that I no longer needed her so desperately. The smell of food drifted in from the other room, making my mouth water and stomach growl. I was filled with an almost overwhelming sense of gratitude. April had offered me herself to give me back myself. By taking me into her body, she'd brought me back into the world. I was whole again.

I quickly showered, then dressed in my robe and went into the living room. April was dressed, singing softly to herself as she adjusted the burner flame under the warming cart Room Service had brought. The sight of her made a lump rise in my throat.

'Voila!' I cried, my voice cracking with emotion. 'It speaks!'

April turned and grinned. I wanted to go over to her, but something held me back. Garth had been absolutely right: I'd never experienced these emotions before, never felt so vulnerable. April seemed to sense that; she came to me and kissed me lightly on the mouth. 'So I see,' she said. She gave me a wicked leer, added, 'Now it looks as if everything is in working order.'

'Nobody has ever given me such a gift,' I said quietly. 'Thank you.'

'Bite your tongue,' April said, going back to the warming cart to examine the Chateaubriand. 'Offering charity has never given me orgasms.'

'That was some spell. I think you've inspired me to study for the ceremonial magician-hood.'

She finished basting the steaks with butter sauce, then turned back to face me again. She was no longer smiling.

She came back across the room, put her hand over my heart, then placed my hand firmly on her left breast.

'It's no joke, Robert. Any witch-good or evil-recognizes that love is the most mysterious and powerful force in the universe. The human heart is its home, and that makes the heart the ultimate book of shadows. Today, for a short time, we opened and read ours together. We performed a ceremony, and we felt the power of that which cannot be put into words. It was a mutual celebration-the only way this ceremony can be performed properly. Both our lives are richer for it. The 'spell,' you see, is really very complex at the same time that it's very simple.'

'It's a nice thought, April,' I said quietly. 'But the bad guys cast spells from the same book.'

She patted my chest, smiled again. 'Ah, yes. This book of shadows is very complex indeed. But we were fighting the combined forces of one of the most theoretically powerful covens that has ever existed. They've been beating at your consciousness, believe me; and they emptied you. All it took was one poor, little old witch to fill you up again. It's not that I'm stronger than they are; love is. Love is stronger than hate, good more powerful than evil.'

'I'm sorry, April, but I don't believe it,' I said softly, preferring frankness to condescension. 'At best, I think it's an even struggle.'

'Believe? Robert, my love, I just proved it to you, didn't I?' She playfully punched me on the arm. 'I know it sounds simplistic, but it's also true.' She shrugged. 'I can't explain the existence of evil when good is so obviously superior a force. It's an occult mystery. Evil usually gets faster and more immediately usable results; it's a much easier force to stalk and wield.'

'I'll bet you and Janet have some interesting discussions.'

'Actually, we spend most of our time together discussing the care and feeding of African violets. Come on; lunch is ready. How's your stomach?'

'It'll feel a lot better after I get some real food in it. I only have two more shots to go, and I think my body's finally getting used to the stuff.'

I set the table. April served the food, and we sat down to eat. 'Well,' I said around a mouthful of succulent steak, 'the bad guys are short two members of their coven. Three, depending on how much pressure Garth is putting on Sandor Peth.'

April shook her head. 'I don't have any idea what you're talking about, Robert. I'm completely in the dark as to what you've been doing. Neither Garth nor Dr. Greene wanted to tell me what's happened to you until you wanted to talk about it.' She reached across the table and squeezed my hand. 'But you don't have to tell me anything if you're not ready.'

'It's not a problem,' I said, and proceeded to fill April in on everything that had happened up to that point. It had all begun with my being hired to investigate the strange behavior of a Nobel laureate, and ended with my escape from one of his oversize fish tanks.

'A Nobel Prize winner?' April interjected.

I nodded. 'It seems winning a Nobel Prize is no guarantee that you're a good guy. Smathers and Kee were almost certainly real members of the coven. Peth is another member. These nice folks have been exploiting famous, wealthy and influential people. There's no telling how many men and women they have under their control, offering them God knows what.'

'They've been offered secret power,' April said evenly. 'They've been fooled into believing that they can control anything and anyone they want, through witchcraft.'

'That's incredible. How can they be so damn stupid?'

April looked at me for a long time, her eyes reflecting curiosity and, perhaps, a touch of impatience. 'Robert,' she said at last, 'sometimes you can seem incredibly dense. Don't you see, even now, that it works? Those people you're talking about are being totally controlled. They just don't realize it-which is how most control works anyway. You've already proved that the coven has been able to corrupt, manipulate and destroy people, and then you say that you doubt your own proof; you still doubt the existence of the force they're able to bring to bear on the deep mind.'

She sighed and cocked an eyebrow. When I didn't say anything, she continued: 'You see, the white magician cultivates love because he or she knows that love is ultimately a more powerful force. The black magician stalks and wields evil because it offers quick results. Love offers freedom; evil offers slavery. You think the choice is simple, but it's not. Most people unconsciously prefer to be slaves to their secret desires, rather than control and define their lives through love.'

I smiled thinly. 'The bad guys weren't quite so subtle with me.'

'What did they do to you, Robert?' April asked quietly.

'Sensory deprivation,' I replied, surprised at how easy it had become to talk about it. 'They put me in total isolation in what's known as a hydrohypodynamic environment. They made a slight mistake by placing me in a situation that I could-and eventually did-associate with Smathers, but they obviously didn't care; they figured they'd have me there as long as it took to break me.' I paused and carefully folded my napkin, placed it on the table in front of me. 'You were right about pride. I remembered what you'd told me about the deep mind, and coming back by myself became a challenge for me.' I smiled. 'If the truth be known, I much prefer your method.'

'They killed Daniel,' April said softly. 'Why do you suppose they didn't simply kill you?'

'I'll give you a guess-but I think it's a good one. No matter what Daniel found out-and I'm convinced he know a lot to begin with, and found out even more-he didn't talk to anyone outside his own belief system. His contacts were very strictly limited, so the coven could afford to kill him. With me, they had a different problem. They knew I'd smoked out Sandor Peth, and they knew I was in constant touch with the police, through Garth. What they couldn't be sure of was just how much I really knew, or whom I'd told. They wanted to find out, then use me-if they could-to cover their tracks. And if they wiped me out in a bizarre fashion to make it a kind of rite, so much the better.'

'But you got away,' April said intently.