Page 12 of Witch's Rite
"One thing I can tell you is you're the only one for me. You always have been, since the beginning. Raum and Sal will undoubtedly tell you the same." His gaze lowered to my lips. "There has never been anyone else. No other name is even worth saying."
6
DEJA
Isaw someone in a dream that night who looked like Ash, yet so completely different.
His face was clean shaven and his blonde hair grew out in curls to his collarbone, but his icy, curious eyes were the same.
Most impressively, he shined with a brilliant light and had an amazing span of pure, white wings stretching out from his back.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"I am Ashtaroth, an angel of our Lord," he answered.
Distantly, I knew this was the first time we met. This was not a dream but a memory.
I remembered falling in love with that handsome face the moment I saw him. Those eyes sought knowledge and companionship, not obedience. In them, I saw freedom and escape from my situation, a man who essentially wanted to keep me as a slave.
I opened my mouth to tell him my name. He probably already knew it but this timeIwould know. One small piece of the big, blank puzzle of my past would fall into place.
But when my lips parted, all that came out was, "Beep! Beep! Beep!"
"Son of a fucking bitch!"
My hand shot out to my nightstand and sent the beeping alarm clock crashing to the floor. If I had been any more awake, I would have picked it up and thrown it across the room.
"What the fuck, man? Ugh!" I groaned in frustration into my pillow, pounding my fists and kicking my legs like a child.
I almost fucking had it. At this point, I was well and truly sick of this game. Fuck these demon boys and their, "Oops, we can't tell you anything," bullshit. I was going to make them stop jerking me around if I had to grab them by their damn demon balls to do it.
I launched out of bed and got ready to open the tea shop, which was conveniently located right below my apartment. At that moment however, I could have used a brisk walk up and down some of San Francisco's hills to blow off this steam.
But there was no time. I stomped downstairs to find Nona already decanting the overnight cold brews.
"Morning! Those were here for you when I opened." She gestured across the counter to a bouquet of roses in a slim, glass vase.
And no ordinary roses. While their petals were fresh, they were as black as ink, with Ash's aura hanging all around them like a perfume cloud. The sight of them made my anger soften. Just a tiny bit.
"So, how did it go last night?" She turned to me, wiggling her eyebrows but immediately stopped when she saw my expression. "That bad, huh?"
"Not exactly," I muttered, folding a pile of clean tea towels. "The night ended before anything could actually happen."
"Okay, be honest," Nona said before lowering her voice to a whisper. "Small dick?"
"Didn't even get that far," I replied, averting my gaze. "I'm not really in the mood to talk about it."
"Aw, that's a shame," she commiserated. Then in a much chirpier voice, "Good morning! What can we get started for you?"
I looked up to find myself staring into a brilliant aquamarine gaze. My heart stopped in my chest and I froze like a statue. It was the witch from yesterday!
"I'll take a pot of the dragon's blood blend," she said in a high, musical voice and with a sweet smile.
Nona scurried off to prepare her teapot, leaving me at the counter to stare at her dumbly.
She cleared her throat and rummaged in her purse.
"Um, it's five dollars, right?"
