KISS THE WITCH (2 page)

“
Blow,” she said, “but
lightly.”

I did, and at once, a spherical blue ball
appeared in my palm. It seemed to float there, more gaseous than
viscous, but definitely alive with electric energy.

“
Blow again,” she said,
her eyes alight in wonder as if seeing the spectacle herself for
the first time.

I blew on it again and it began to rotate.
Without waiting for her instructions, I pushed it along in the
manner I described earlier with Spinelli and his basketball. The
intrepid little sphere picked up its pace and continued unassisted
in perpetual rotation. At that point, I was free to lower my arm
and move about freely. I smiled at Lilith and Ursula, feeling smug
over my achievement.

“
Hey, what do you think?”
I said. “Not bad, eh?”

“
Bravo!” said Ursula,
clapping. “Thou art most skillful and brave, indeed.”

My smile withered by degrees. “What do you
mean, brave?”

Lilith said, “You’re carrying enough energy
in your hand to stop your heart in…well, a heartbeat.”

“
What?”

“
You saw what Ursula’s zip
ball did.” She pointed at the broken TV and stereo
equipment.

“
So, what do I do
now?”

“
You can get rid of
it.”

I turned and pitched the sphere at the same
wall Lilith pitched hers, letting go of it just as the words, “Not
there!” registered in my ears. From my peripheral, I saw Lilith and
Ursula diving for cover as if I had just lobbed a grenade across
the room. In a way, I suppose I had. The sphere hit the wall with
an electric charge and a small explosion, the percussion blasting a
hole clear into the next room. If not for the La-Z-Boy recliner
that took a piece of splintered wood to the backrest, I might have
become the household soprano.

The dust was still swirling in lazy loops
below the ceiling fan when I helped the girls to their feet. I
pointed to the wall and said to Lilith, “What the hell was
that?”

“
What?” she soured her
expression and adopted a defensive posture. “You threw it, not
me.”

“
I threw it at the same
wall you threw yours.”

“
Yeee-ahh. I know. You
can’t do that.”

“
Why not?”

“
Because that wall was
already saturated. You should have picked another wall.”

I looked at Ursula. She seemed equally
disappointed in my actions. “Did you know that?”

“
Aye,” she said, nodding.
“Thou cannot fill what hast been filled already.”

I shook my head at them both. “You girls are
going to kill me. You know that?”

I headed to the bedroom. Lilith followed,
catching me in the hall and pulling on the waistband of my boxers
to stop me. “Tony, wait.”

I turned to her. “What?”

“
Don’t get upset.” She ran
her hand along the side of my face and under my chin. “That was
good what you did back there.”

“
What? Blow a hole in the
wall?”

“
No. You created the
perfect zip ball. Didn’t it feel good, I mean inside?”

She fingered the corners of my mouth and
coxed a grin out of me. Funny thing was, when her fingers fell
away, the grin stayed. “Yeah,” I said. “It did feel good.”

“
Yeah?”

“
In fact it felt great.”
My grin widened to a full smile. “My entire body felt great. I felt
energized. Alive.”

She wrapped her arms around my waist and
pulled me in tight. “I know,” she said, and she held me with her
eyes, her gaze deep and penetrating. “You have it in you, Tony, the
potential to be a very powerful witch. I have never seen that in
another witch before. Not all witches have it you know.” She
gestured a gratuitous glance over her shoulder. “Ursula, the poor
thing, doesn’t have it, though her heart is in it. The problem is
your heart is not.”

“
Lilith, I have other
responsibilities. I have a job, one that pays the
bills.”

She palmed my chest and pushed me back into
the wall. “Get off it, will you?”

“
Get off what?”

“
Your high horse. You know
you don’t need a job. I haven’t worked in a hundred and seventy
five years. We’re witches. We make do.”

“
No, Lilith. You’re a
witch. I’m a cop. It’s what I do. I like it.”

“
Yes, and you’re also a
witch, and if you’re not practicing witchcraft, you’re bringing us
down.”

“
What’s that supposed to
mean?”

“
It means that witches get
their powers from latent energy. You saw that for yourself out
there in the living room. If you suppress your powers then you
inhibit that potential energy. And we can’t have that.”

“
What are you saying? If I
don’t practice witchcraft then you want me to leave?”

Her expression melted to a neutral glare.
“You know I want you here, but I have asked you before to
participate.”

“
And I have, haven’t I? I
have done spells. I made a few whisper boxes; I did the invisible
thing. What more do you want?”

“
I want you to kick it up
a notch. Ursula and I are struggling here. Would it kill you to
work a few level one spells occasionally? At least that will help
keep the positive energy flowing.”

“
Fine. I’ll make an
attempt to be more witch-like if you cut me some slack and support
my police work.”

“
All right. I
will.”

“
Good.”

“
Good. See then, that
wasn’t so hard.”

“
No, I guess not. So, what
do you want me to do?”

“
Start by working on your
level one spells.”

“
Like what?”

“
I don’t know. The shadow
spell is a good one. It’s not hard.”

“
What is it?”

She gave a glance down the hall toward the
master bedroom and flicked her hand as if casting water off her
fingertips. My eyes followed, and there in the bedroom I saw a
man’s shadow skim along the wall and drop back behind the door.
Instincts started me in that direction until Lilith pulled me back.
I looked at her, both surprised and concerned.

She shook her head. “Don’t bother.”

I blinked, and it came to me. “That was
you?”

She nodded simply.

“
Cool. Can you teach me to
do that?”

“
You already know how to
do that,” she said. “You just don’t know you know.”

“
What else you
got?”

“
How `bout the pulse
point?”

“
What’s that?”

She took my hand and laid her finger across
the back of my wrist. “That’s where you touch somebody at a pulse
point and ask him a question to which they can only answer
truthfully.”

“
Like what?”

“
Like….” She smiled
thinly. “Do you love me?”

“
Yes,” I said, without
thinking. “Wait. I mean…. Was that a question or an
example?”

“
Does it matter? You
answered it, didn’t you?”

“
I would have answered
that question anyway. Ask me another.”

“
Okay. This next question
is about Ursula. Have you ever imagined the two of
you––”

I jerked my hand free before she could
finish. “I have to get ready for work,” I said. “I’m running
late.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Of course you are.” I
started away. She called me back. “Listen.”

“
Yes?”

“
Two things. First, Ursula
has a promise stone she wants to give to Dominic. Remember to take
it with you before you leave.”

“
All right.”

“
Secondly.” She took a
breath and hesitated, which told me it was not a small thing.
Seldom does Lilith hesitate when discussing things of any
magnitude. She stepped closer, backing me against the wall again.
“I want to establish a new coven.”

I admit I did not fully appreciate the
enormity of her statement. “Okay. Establish a new coven.”

“
You have to be a part of
it.”

That seemed simple enough. “O–Kaaay.”

“
It requires a
ceremony.”

I still did not get it. “Most things do with
you.”

“
So, you’ll
participate?”

“
Sure,” I said,
remembering my promise to her for more cooperation. “I’ll
participate.”

“
I can count on
it?”

“
Lilith, you can count on
it. Whatever it is.” I looked at my wrist. No watch. “Listen. I
gotta go. I really am running late for work now.”

She leaned up on tiptoes and kissed me.
“Okay then, I’ll see you.”

She started away. “Wait.” I snatched her
hand and pressed my middle and index fingers to her pulse point.
“Do you love me?”

She smiled devilishly, her eyes sparkling in
the sunlight spilling into the hall from the bedroom. “Do I love
you?” she said, and she brushed my cheek with the back of her free
hand. “That’s cute that you want to know.”

She pulled away. I let go at arm’s reach. As
she rounded the corner into the kitchen, I called back to her. “Was
that a yes?”

I arrived at the Justice Center around 8:45.
Dominic caught me outside the elevator and we rode up to the fourth
floor together. I suspected he waited down in the lobby for me to
come in, as he always gets there ahead of Carlos and me. I’m not
sure why, to work files, sharpen pencils––whatever. Don’t get me
wrong. It is not that Dominic needs us there to be productive. It
is just that, with respect to detective work, there is often not
much to do in a town like New Castle. Crimes here are usually
petty, committed by known perpetrators and all but solve themselves
before we get involved. Of course, there are exceptions.

We stepped off the elevator and started down
the corridor toward the detectives’ branch. We still had not said
more than hello to each other since the lobby, so I thought I would
break the conversational ice.

“
Penny for your
thoughts?”

He regarded me queerly. “What?”

“
It’s an expression,
Dominic. Ever heard that before?”

“
You want to give me a
penny?”

“
I want to know what’s on
your mind. What is it, the wedding?”

He seemed relieved by the question. “Yeah
well, that’s part of it.”

“
Nervous?”

“
You know it.”

We came to a door at the end of the hall. I
swiped my ID card through a barcode reader. The box below buzzed,
granting us access to the detectives’ room. “Dominic, you have
nothing to worry about. It’s a simple ceremony with Lilith
officiating. You cannot screw it up.”

“
I know that.”

We settled into a couple of chairs at my
desk. “Then what? Is it because it’s a pagan ceremony and not a
traditional Catholic wedding?”

He shook his head. “No, that’s not it. You
know I’m non-denominational. I would marry Ursula if she were from
Mars.”

“
You mean
Venus.”

“
Huh?”

“
Men are from Mars. Women
are from Venus.” He gave me that look again. “Oh, come on. You
never heard that before?”

He shook his head. “Tony, I have to ask you.
I mean, we’ve talked before about….ahm, you know.”

“
Women?”

“
Yeah, `bout women, but
more so…. I mean, you know I have never––”

“
You have never been with
a woman before. I know. Dominic, it’s okay.”

“
Oh, I’ve been with a
woman before. It’s just that I’ve never been with one…in that
way.”

“
Relax.” I leaned across
the desk and tapped his arm. “You’ll do fine. Besides, Lilith tells
me Ursula has never been with a man before in that way
either.”

“
Well, I should hope not,
but that’s not entirely my problem.”

“
Whose is it
then?”

“
What? No. I mean it’s
nobody’s. It is just that, see I am thinking, or been
thinking––wondering really, I guess. I know Ursula is different
from other women, and not just because she’s from the seventeenth
century.”

“
You mean because she’s a
witch.”

“
Yes. Exactly. See, I
don’t know what to expect from a regular woman, let alone a witch.
You, on the other hand, have been with both. Would you mind me
asking, is it any different being with Lilith?”

“
Different?” I laughed at
that, and at the expense of Dominic’s fragile pride, I’m afraid. I
watched him squirm a bit before I realized it, at which point I
straightened up in my chair and struck the smile from my
face.

“
Dominic, being with
Lilith is different not because she’s a witch, but because…well,
because Lilith is Lilith. Trust me, as a woman, she likes all the
same things other women like, as I’m sure Ursula will like,
too.”

His worrisome expression softened
measurably. “You think?”

“
Absolutely, and don’t
worry. Unlike me, you have no act to follow. I mean, Lilith had a
hundred and fifty years worth of relationships before me. I have no
idea where I stack up to that. You on the other hand, you get to
set the bar, if you know what I mean.”