Water Witch (10 page)

CHAPTER TEN

A week later, the summery-warm weather we’d been promised by the forecasters finally arrived.

I floated in the water just beside my favorite boulder in the bay, staring up at the clouds, trying to make shapes of them. A child’s scrying technique, but I still liked to use it. I watched a wispy cloud form into a dolphin before my eyes, and thought of Salil diving off the side of the boulder. It had been three weeks since I’d heard from or seen him, in real life or vision. Three weeks in which I’d reclaimed my place in the coven, reconnected to my childhood friends, and regained my confidence as a witch. I had to admit he was right—he’d been a distraction to me. One that I now wanted back.

“Salil,” I whispered his name to the surface of the water, foolishly thinking he’d hear. Maybe he would visit my dreams tonight, and hold me again.

“Salil?” I called again. Maybe I would kiss him? And if he let his guard down, maybe he’d tell me how to release my family’s ritual tools from the bottom of the bay.

“I can’t tell you that until it is time.”

“Shit!” I splashed around, my heart pounding, searching for him. When I located his face bobbing above the waves he was wearing a delighted grin, his fingertips brushing the water in front of him in long fluid motions, keeping him afloat. “Damn it! Do you get off on giving people heart attacks?”

“Your heart is in perfect working order, trust me.” His smile widened and a small laugh surrounded his words.

“Well, thanks for the stress test. Next time you could make a little noise or something, though.”

“I enjoy surprising you. You use such colorful language when you are startled.”

“Glad you find me entertaining.” I was suddenly too hot, my face and chest flushed. “Are you a mind reader now? Eavesdropping on my thoughts?”

“When you talk to yourself so clearly in your head, and if I am near you, I can sometimes hear.” He tilted his head to the side. “It is not the same as eavesdropping, really.”

“Yeah, it kind of is.” It was also something my grandfather could do, though he’d hidden it from everyone but the family. It was a skill most useful when kept secret. So why did Salil just tell me he had it?

He shrugged and swam closer, his eyes hot with desire. I held my ground. Partially because I didn’t want to seem afraid, and partially to remain hidden from view of the beach where my mother laid in the sun. When he was close enough to touch, I reached back and grasped the boulder for support.

“You called me here.”

“I did.” I swallowed hard and forced myself to hold his gaze, though I wanted to look down, to study his creamy shoulders, his broad smooth chest. How could he have no hair at all?

“Did you…need me?” He moved closer, pressing me to the stone. His emphasis on the word ‘need’ made his meaning clear enough, the closeness of his lips was overkill. I stared at them anyway. When he curled them into a satisfied smile I looked away, trying to get myself under control.

“I— You were right. About focusing on things.” I met his eyes again. “Thank you.”

“So you are ready to resume our visits?” His fingers danced in the water near me, his legs kicked close enough to mine that I felt the water move, but we never touched.

“Yes.”
Please kiss me, Salil. Kiss me now
.

I knew he’d heard my plea. His tongue darted out, teasingly, to wet his already sea-damp lips. He moved even closer, his knees brushing mine. His arm skimmed by my ribs as he placed his palm on the slick boulder behind me for support. We were close enough to kiss then, and in the perfect position for it, but he kept the last few inches between us. He wanted me to make the first move, so I couldn’t deny responsibility later, so I wouldn’t push him away.

His hip bumped mine and I gave up the fight, smashing my mouth to his. His free arm immediately found my back, holding me to him, and he returned my kiss with equal passion. Goddess, he tasted fantastic. Clean and sweet, with a hint of salt that I wasn’t sure came from the water or him. His tongue flicked over mine, swept my teeth, played with me. And his hand on my back was like a brand, hot and electric.

I was hard as stone, and I tilted my hips against his, hoping to find him in the same condition. I pulled my mouth from his in shock at what I felt. “Are you naked?”

He laughed and took my mouth again without answering. I wrapped my arms around him, trusting him to support me in the water, and grabbed his hips.
Oh, damn, the skirt.
The strands clumped together, exposing his naked buttocks and stiff cock. Nothing underneath, I knew it! I moaned my approval into his mouth as I explored his body with my hands. A small semi-circle of thin fabric attached to the front of the waistband was the only thing keeping his modesty, and it was useless in the water, floating off to one side.

I wrapped my legs around his hips, and he found an underwater ledge of the boulder with his feet, keeping us stable. Any restraint I’d had before was no match for the lust that suddenly filled me. I couldn’t get enough of him: the taste of his mouth, the feel of his skin sliding against mine in the water, and the tempting angles exposed by his ridiculous string skirt. I reached between us and stroked him, pleased when he let out a muffled whimper. At least I wasn’t the only one feeling this.

I untied the string of my swim trunks, pulling them down as much as I could in this position. Without pausing I wrapped my hand around his stiff pale cock, stroking it a few times. Mine was darker and smaller than his, but just as hard. I held us both together with one hand and thrust against him, trusting he would stop me if I was going too far and hoping he wouldn’t.

His hand slid down my back and grasped my ass, encouraging my movements. I wouldn’t last. I pulled my mouth away, pressed my forehead to his and panted, “I’m— I—Oh, fuck, Salil.” Which wasn’t at all what I’d wanted to say but it was the best I could manage.

He was shaking under me, his breath coming as hard and fast as mine, his pale face almost pink with effort. When I felt a tremor pass through him I looked down into the water, and the sight of his cum floating there in creamy ribbons thrilled me. I’d wrought that from him, and now his head was tilted back, a look of total satisfaction on his face. I kept up my thrusting, squeezing myself a little harder, watching his chest move up and down with each deep breath. I barely lasted another ten seconds before I was adding my own seed to the water between us.

He kissed me again, and held me to him so our chests touched. What had I just done? Why did he feel so perfect? I pulled away and laid my head on his shoulder, kissing his neck lightly. “What is this between us, Salil?”

“Semen.”

I laughed into his neck, squeezing my arms around him. “Fuck you, you know what I mean.”

He kissed the side of my forehead. “Perhaps we are meant to be together. Like mates.”

“Ugh, no.” I cringed at the thought.

“You might not believe in that, my witch, but you cannot deny there is a power between us, something in our physical connection that goes beyond sex.”

“Or you’ve been teasing me in my dreams so long I just blew up.”

“Mmm, you know it is more than that.” He kissed the side of my head again, and trailed his hand over my back, and I melted into him with an embarrassing sigh.

Okay, maybe I was over my head here, but all those dreams had something to do with it. Didn’t they? A small splash near the shore drew my attention. Shit, my mom. I raised my panicked eyes to his, and he nodded sadly.

“Still pretending I am your enemy?”

“She— I don’t know—”

“I will not remain hidden.”

“Please, just this time? Let me tell her my way?” I pulled away and re-tied my bathing suit. He wasn’t leaving. “Salil?”

He narrowed his eyes and pressed his lips together. Guilt sliced through me, but before I could offer an apology, he turned and dove below the surface. I sunk as well, watching him go. His skirt trailed behind him like tentacles, and he moved so swiftly he was out of view in moments.

When I surfaced, I swam above water toward shore, meeting my mother near the beach.

“You’ve been out there a while, Vin, aren’t you cold?”

“Yeah, I am. I’m coming in now.” I swam past her and sat on the towel she’d laid out for me earlier, watching the water for any sign of Salil as the sun warmed my back. “I’m sorry. Please forgive me,” I whispered to the waves, hoping he’d hear.

I closed my eyes and focused on the memory of his skin sliding against mine in the water. Goddess, he’d felt so good. I flushed, thinking of how desperate I’d been, and how pathetically clingy I’d acted afterward. But he’d been just as caught up as I was.

That night Noni barely ate, and her skin looked gray. I couldn’t sense any illness, or any blockage: it was as if everything in her simply operated at half power. When I whispered my findings to Mom, she nodded and murmured, “She’s winding down,” as if it were an acceptable thing, that Noni would be dying in front of us.

“Who can we call? What can we do?”

“Nothing, Vinny. She saw the doctor last week, there’s nothing wrong with her. We can only make her comfortable.” She laid her hand on my arm, “We are not to interfere with nature,” she added sternly.

I nodded. “I know. I won’t. I can’t anyway, but I won’t try.” I gritted my teeth. Was this how Noni had felt when Nunu had died? Probably it had been worse for her. He’d been her husband and she had more power than me, she could have gone against the law and saved him.

I wanted to sit by Noni’s bed that night, but my mother ordered me to get some sleep. “We all die alone,” she said. Whatever the fuck that meant.

I hovered around Noni’s bedroom door anyway, until she cracked her eyes open and waved me in. “What is it, Vincenzo?”

“I’m worried about you, Non.”

“My good boy.” She reached out to clasp my hand in hers, and her fingers felt so cold I had to stop myself from rubbing them. “I’m just tired. Go to bed and don’t worry so much. Tell that Fae boy I expect him to take good care of you.”

“I— I’m not…”

“Hush. I’m old, not stupid. Good night, Vincenzo. I love you.”

I leaned down and kissed her. “I love you too, Noni.”

So I lay in my bed, trying to feel her life through the three walls that separated us, though it was impossible. After a half hour I got up, tugged on a pair of thin sweatpants and a long-sleeved tee, and went out to the back patio. This was the kind of situation that called for a cigarette. Or a joint. But I hadn’t ever really smoked cigarettes, except maybe once or twice in college when I’d had too much to drink. And I only smoked weed when they passed it around at a bonfire, I never really bought my own. I laughed to myself, thinking that my mom probably had some somewhere. Actually, if she was awake I would have asked her for some smoking herbs to relax me. But as it was, I settled for a beer under the almost full harvest moon.

If it hadn’t been for that moon, and the clear night, I wouldn’t have seen him padding across my lawn. Salil never paused, though I’m sure he knew I’d spotted him, he just walked right to me and sat in the old rocker to my left. “All right, I forgive you.”

I laughed and took a long swallow from my beer. “You heard my apology, then?”

“Yes.” He tilted his head toward the house. “When will you tell her?”

“I don’t even know what to tell her. What are we? Friends? Lovers? Psychic buddies?”

“You need a label?” His teeth glinted in the moonlight, and I shook my head.

“I don’t know. She’s pissed at you for stealing her stuff. She doesn’t trust you. I need something.”

“She understands premonitions, she will understand I have reasons for all I do. I sense irritation  from her, not anger or fear. What is really holding you back?”

“She thinks I make bad decisions with men. And she’s right.”

“I see.”

The silence stretched between us. I finished my beer and went in for another, grabbing one for Salil as well. I had no idea if he drank beer but when I held it out he took it and smiled as if I’d given him a great gift. When I sat back down he reached out for my hand and I gave it to him, enjoying the feel of his long fingers wrapped around mine. There was still a spark in our touch, and though I was in no mood to let it turn sexual right now, it comforted me.

He turned his head sharply to the door, then looked back at me with sad eyes. “I was hoping you would have told your mother about us by now, so that I could be with you during this time. To assist you and your family.” He got up and took the bottle from my hand. “Go to her. And call me if you need anything. I will be listening, but I will not intrude unless you call me.”

I got up, understanding finally dawning. I nodded at him before rushing inside to Noni’s room, letting the screen door slam behind me.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

We held the funerary rite on October ninth, a day colder that any in the previous week. Had I really gone swimming just a few days before? Hard to believe, with the snap of autumn in the air.

The first night after the funeral, Mom and I cried together and drank wine by the fire until an hour before sunrise, telling stories about Noni and comforting each other. The next day, something in the way my mother walked and held herself changed, even her face seemed altered. She was dimmer, but somehow stronger: like the difference between a freshly cut branch and a piece of weathered driftwood. She didn’t cry much at all, just got teary once in a while. Mostly while cooking or straightening up. She’d find something of Noni’s and sigh, her eyes would water, and then she’d put it away reverently.

I, meanwhile, was a fucking mess. I sniffled through breakfast and spent the next few days in a fog, fighting tears. I watched my mom resume her normal life with a mixture of awe and anger. “How can you be so over her?”

She smiled at me, which pissed me off, and sat next to me on the sofa. “Death is part of life, Vinny, you know that. She was elderly, a crone, and her journey ended.”

I rested my head against the back of the couch and closed my eyes. She was right. I knew all that and had even used the same line to comfort others when their loved ones died. But it wasn’t working for me now. I couldn’t accept that Noni was gone. I didn’t want to accept it.

“Do you want to have another ceremony? Maybe it would help you to say goodbye to her again, sweetie.” My mom put her hand on my knee and tilted her head at me sympathetically.

“No. No, I’m fine. I need to go for a walk.”

Tears fell before I made it to the door, but I kept going. I hadn’t left the house in five days, and it felt strange to be in the open air again. I went straight to the beach and turned right. When the sandy area ended and small rocks gave way to boulders, I picked my way over them. Finally the cliff met the water, and I couldn’t walk any farther. I found a somewhat flat boulder to sit on. Staring out at the sea, I tried to think about my grandmother’s death in a positive way. To celebrate her life instead of mourning her absence.

The wind picked up, chilling me. I wore only the light shirt I’d had on all day, and here in the shade of the bluff it wasn’t quite enough. Something scuffed behind me and I startled, but when I spun around nothing was there. I turned back to the water and nearly fell off the rock. Salil sat next to me, knees drawn up, staring out at the rough water as if he’d been there the whole time.

I blew out a breath, tried to calm my racing heart. “I didn’t call for you.”

“I know.” He sighed but made no move to leave. “I am sorry about your Noni. She was a very talented witch, and a good woman.”

Something in his sad, serious tone made my breath hitch. He meant it, and his sincerity brought tears to my eyes. I choked out a sob. He pulled me into his arms, and in the cool strength of his embrace I let myself cry again. This time, I let all my grief out. I didn’t try to muffle the sounds so my mother wouldn’t hear. I didn’t try to convince myself I should get over it, I didn’t even try to calm down. I sobbed into his chest, and he held me without a word. He was wearing one of his long silk tunics, but had a wide scarf wrapped loosely around his shoulders. He unwound it with one hand, still holding me with the other, and covered me with it. At some point he pulled me completely onto his lap, so that when I finally stopped weeping I was curled like a child in his arms.

I looked and felt ridiculous, but his arms were firm around me and his face soft and slack, as if this was totally normal behavior for two grown men. My knees were drawn up, my arms folded in front of my chest. I was curled in a fetal position on Salil’s lap, his deep green scarf wrapped around me like a blanket, and his arms cradling me. On a boulder. On the beach. In October. I burst out laughing at the picture we made there, and he lowered his eyes to me in concern.

“Are you all right?”

I straightened my back, breaking his hold. “I’m fine. I’m sorry to be acting like this.”

His brows pinched and he thinned his lips. “I am honored to comfort you, there is no need to apologize.” He looked around, up and down the shore and behind us to the lawn above the bluff. “No one is here to see you, my witch, you need not be embarrassed.”

I tilted my body so I sat in between his knees, still an intimate position but not childish, at least. I faced the water, my back to his front. His breath whispered through my hair and his hands rested lightly on my thighs.

“I’m not embarrassed.”

He huffed out a tiny laugh, so soft I wouldn’t have noticed had it not been right at my ear.

“I’m not! I just felt silly sitting like that.”

“Mm-hmm.” He leaned closer and kissed the curve of my neck. A shiver raced up my spine and I gasped in reflex at the sharp wave of desire. Fuck, he was right. We were connected somehow, and fighting it was pointless. I closed my eyes and concentrated on breathing.

He kissed me again, just under my ear this time, and whispered, “You should not worry about how you look with me. I will never think you silly.”

I leaned back against him, and he wrapped his arms around me. We sat in silence, staring out at the bay as the tide slowly rose. When small waves lapped against the boulder only a few inches from our feet, I  sighed. “We should move. It’s too cold to get wet.” Also my ass was killing me from siting on the cold hard stone. He must be feeling worse, having held me on his lap for so long.

He helped me up, then smoothly rose to stand at my side. I frowned at the water around us. We’d have to get our feet wet to get out of there, not a big deal but it would be an uncomfortable walk back with soggy shoes. And I was too tired to attempt to dry us both off with my skill. “Ugh. This is going to suck.” I lowered one knee to the rock and leaned over, ready to drop into the shin-deep water below, when Salil stopped me with a hand on my shoulder.

“Would you like to come to my home? I could get us there without wetting your feet.”

I froze. I was curious about his house, and him, but old warnings from fairy tales pricked at my memory. Weren’t there all kinds of rules about accepting a Fae’s hospitality? Would it be dangerous to go with him?

“No harm will come to you.” He promised through gritted teeth, his jaw tight, his eyes on the water.

I’d offended him. My concern faded a bit. He’d just held me while I cried like a baby, I couldn’t believe he’d let anything bad happen to me. “I know. Okay, let’s go.” I slid my hand into his, as a sign of my trust, and he immediately relaxed.

He faced north and raised his hand, pointing to the sky. As he lowered his hand he drew a vertical line in the air, and a thin seam followed it, like a ripple or a heat wave. He pushed his fingers toward it and pulled the air aside like a curtain, then stepped into the rift. I still held his left hand, and gripped it tighter as I followed him through the portal to who knew where.

We stepped out onto a firm, grassy lawn, and I looked back in awe. The rift closed and the shoreline disappeared from sight, the air shimmering for a moment before the portal closed completely. The grassy area where we now stood seemed familiar, and I spun around trying to get my bearings. “Hey. I know this place!”

He laughed. “Yes. You were an adventurous child.” He smiled at me and led me across the field. I’d been there many times, as a kid. A large, open field in the middle of the woods, the place had seemed magical to me the first time I’d stumbled upon it. No homes anywhere nearby, no roads, no sign of anyone, yet the grass was neatly trimmed and there wasn’t a weed in sight. I’d brought my grandfather back with me the next time, and he’d warned me to keep away, that this was a different magic than ours and not to be taken lightly.

But I’d returned. Dozens of times. I would sit in the center of the circular field and practice Journeying. This was the place I’d learned to control my visions, where I’d mastered my meditation. I stopped visiting after my grandfather died, not wanting to disobey him any more when I’d never get a chance to apologize for all the times I’d already done so.

The grass gave way to soft golden pine needles, and soon we were walking in the dense forest. After a few minutes of walking, the landscape grew more familiar to me. I’d run through this forest as a boy, and a young man. Even in college I’d come here hunting mushrooms with Noni, or searching for fallen branches to use in charm-crafting with my mom. These woods abutted the coven property next door to my house, though we were deep in them at this point. But in all my explorations I’d never seen a house. “You live near here?”

“Just ahead.” He pointed and sure enough, between the trees was a neat little brick house.

“When… How long has that been here?”

“Always, in one form or another. We update it every hundred years or so. The brick is fairly new.”

“No.” I shook my head. “I’ve never seen that here.”

He stopped and smiled, then let go of my hand. When he gestured toward the house again, it was gone. He took my hand in his and the house reappeared.

“Wow. That’s useful.”

“Yes.” He pulled me along until we reached the few steps to the front door. I paused at the threshold, and he turned back to me.

“It’s just a house, Vincenzo, not a hollow hill.” He let my hand drop and walked ahead into the kitchen, kneeling in front of a cast iron stove.

I entered and closed the solid wood door behind me. The small entry faced a set of stairs, presumably leading up to some bedrooms. On the left, a cozy sitting room with a large stone fireplace, wood paneled walls, and a deep soft leather couch made me smile. He seemed so austere, with his pale features and his exotic silk tunics, yet this looked like a house my grandparents would have been comfortable in.

To the right, the kitchen was a slightly more modern space. The slate gray floor tiles and blond wood cabinetry couldn’t be more than twenty years old. A tiny ancient refrigerator—so old it was probably really just an “ice box”—stood between two small windows, and a low countertop stretched the length of one wall.

The fire in the stove flared to life, and after a few pokes Salil closed the small door and stood, smiling at me. “Tea?”

“Sure. Thanks.”

He nodded and his smile widened. On the counter was a five gallon jug of water, upside down on a wooden stand with a small spigot. He filled the kettle and placed it on the stove, then spooned some herbs into a small blue teapot.

I looked at the stove again. “I thought Fae hated iron?”

“I don’t care to touch it, but my blood is diluted enough that I can tolerate it nearby. Iron is an element of the earth: it is around us all the time. Large amounts are bothersome, but it isn’t as poisonous to us as so many think.”

“Hmm.”

“And it is an easy way to boil water for tea.”

“Your blood is diluted? What does that mean?”

He opened a cabinet and took out a jar of honey, then from a drawer two spoons. “I am a water Fae, as you know. But I am many generations removed from pure Fae. Over the years, the original Fae offspring mated with witches and humans, even with shifters, and with each generation the blood weakened. I have magic, and there are some skills the Fae never lose no matter how weak our blood, but I am more human than fairy.”

“Oh.” He talked about it as if it didn’t matter, like he was just fine with referring to his blood as weak and diluted. It shocked me. In the coven, when someone wanted to marry a human it was almost a scandal. And when children were born without any real skill it was seen as a disability.

“You seem confused.” He took two thick mugs out and placed them near the teapot.

“Well, just…don’t you wish your blood was stronger?”
Shit.
As soon as I said it I realized what a douche comment it was, but he just chuckled at me and shook his head.

“Not at all. Power always has a price, and the price for full Fae blood is steep. They live forever, must remain on the Fae plane, and the politics! Exhausting. No, I have enough earth in me from my mother that I’d never want to live too far from this forest. And I have no desire to deal with immortality, or the dues that come with it.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. Witches weren’t supposed to crave eternal life, it went against the laws of nature. Even so, I’d always had a problem accepting death.

He tilted his head toward the small table and set the teapot down. I sat and he served me with delicate, fluid movements. His features were not exactly feminine, but certainly not masculine either. And his clothing choices were definitely androgynous. If I was meeting him for the first time today—with his hair loose and long, and his flowing, bright silk shirt—I’d never have assumed his gender. But having been up close and personal with him I knew without a doubt he was all male. I watched him stir honey into his cup, holding the spoon between two fingers. I’d always gone for really butch guys, or dangerously pretty “bad boys,” never had I thought I’d be so attracted to someone like Salil. When he caught my eye I looked away quickly, hoping he didn’t realize I’d been judging his appearance.

The tea was delicious, floral but not bitter, so I only added a tiny bit of honey. “This is really good.”