Page 6 of Coven

Beth grinned at him. “Yep. Have a good night!”

They waved at each other and then Kana headed for the elevator and the bus home.

*

KANA AND MIKA carefully lifted the coffee table and walked it over to an empty space in the kitchen. Sora rolled up the rug and then leaned it against the TV stand where it would be out of the way.

The first thing Kana had done after moving into his apartment was rip out a large square of the wooden floor. He had replaced it with a chunk of seamless, smooth slate—one of his first big purchases after he had settled down for college. If he ended the lease on his apartment, he would remove the slate and use magic to replace the floorboards, which he was currently storing in the hall closet, but for now he had the perfect space to write his spells.

Mika handed him a piece of chalk. Kana crouched and gently placed the tip of the chalk down on the slate. He kept his arm steady and spun on the balls of his feet to draw a large, perfect circle. Drawing the pentagram required a steady elbow and stiff wrist to ensure he drew five straight lines. Kana was pleased with how the completed circle looked when he stood to study it.

A simple circle without any amplifying runes allowed the spell to focus on his potion, which was the important part of the magic today. Mika took the chalk back and Sora brought over the candles—white, for protection. Kana placed a candle at all five points where the pentagram met the circle’s edge.

Sora and Mika carefully stepped over the chalk lines. Sora put Kana’s smudge bowl down, Mika placed a large vial full of water and floating bits of plant next to it, and then both shifted into their house cat form. Kana draped his spell robe—also white because this was a spell of protection—over the back of the couch and, naked, stepped into the circle. He sat directly in the center and Mika and Sora arranged themselves on either side.

“Ready?” Kana asked, his voice soft. The rising moon shone through the kitchen window. It was waxing, which was a lucky coincidence. Any phase of the moon would have worked for the spell, but a growing moon meant growing power.

Ready, Mika and Sora both said.

Kana placed his hands on their backs and let out a breath. He called on his magic, opening the channels between him and his familiars. Power flowed through their bond, melding the three together into one. He delved downward, rooting his power into the ground, then soared upward to spread his magic through the circle like a tree spreading its branches. When he opened his eyes, the chalk circle had become a glowing sphere, surrounding them with gentle white light. The pentagram was glowing softly as well, its lines pulsing as power flowed through. Kana shot magic down the lines, and the candles burst into flame. Their light melded seamlessly with his circle, but also gentled the power so instead of pulsing, the light began to flow evenly.

Kana lifted his right hand from Sora’s back and reached out to stir his fingers through the contents of the smudge bowl. Fire followed his fingers, and a gentle smoke quickly rose and began to fill the sphere. Mistletoe did not have a scent, but the ashy smell of burning wood enveloped Kana.

Mistletoe warded off evil and brought good luck, both of which would be needed for this spell. Kana waited until the sphere was completely full of smoke and then uncapped the vial.

He had previously ground garlic to a paste, then squeezed it through cheesecloth to extract the oil. His apartment still smelled of it and it had taken multiple scrubbings to get it off his hands, but he had gotten enough for an extract. Boiling the garlic oil with fennel, mugwort, and chamomile, with a base of holy water, had reduced the scent considerably. Fennel and mugwort helped to repel evil spirits and chamomile was…chamomile. There wasn’t much chamomile couldn’t be used for. At its base, chamomile was simply a plant of good, and goodness was exactly what Kana’s spell needed.

Kana passed the open vial through the smoke, slowly drawing a pentagram. The second he connected the last line of the smoke-drawn pentagram with the first, magic throbbed through the circle, making Kana’s bones ring like a tuning fork. The sphere flared with light, forcing Kana to shut his eyes, and then, suddenly, the light vanished.

The sphere, pentagrams, smoke, and candles were all gone when Kana opened his eyes again, but the contents of the vial glowed softly in the unlit room.

Kana hoped his spell worked, but unfortunately there was only one way to test it: have a vampire try to bite someone anointed in the oil. He hoped it didn’t come to that tomorrow, but even if it didn’t keep the vampires away completely, Kana was pretty certain the spell would do something to stop them.

Bedtime? Sora asked, his voice hopeful even as he planted his front paws on the ground and stretched out his back with his tail high in the air.

“Let’s put the room back together first, and then yes. I’m ready for bed,” Kana answered, then paused to let out a yawn as the late hour and the magic expenditure hit him.

The exhaustion was worth it, though, Kana reminded himself as he corked the vial and carefully set it aside for the morning. The vampires wouldn’t be hurting anyone tomorrow night—he was going to make certain of that.

Chapter Three

TWO VANS AWAITED them in the parking lot outside the office at six thirty Monday night. The camera crew loaded equipment into the back while everyone else milled around waiting. Stephen was getting his makeup touched up, but otherwise no one else was doing anything.

Kana pulled the potion vial out of his bag and walked over to Stephen.

“I found a good vampire repellent. It would be best if everyone put some on now,” Kana explained.

Stephen didn’t move because he was getting mascara applied, but his lips tightened in a small, disbelieving sneer.

“Fine,” he said, much to Kana’s relief. “What do you need to do?”

Kana held up the vial for Stephen to see. “I need to dab a drop of this on both sides of your neck and the inside of both wrists, to protect your exposed pulse points.”

Stephen snorted, but he waved the makeup artist away and tilted his neck for easier access. Kana dipped an applewood toothpick into the potion, coating just the tip, and quickly drew a small circle and pentagram with the oil onto Stephen. Both sides of the neck, both wrists, and Kana quickly moved on to the next person.

He made sure every single person climbing into one of the vans was treated with the oil, and then Kana took his seat and buckled up for the drive to the vampire’s castle.

It’s my turn to go inside, Sora insisted. I want to see the pretty wolf with the shoulders.

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