Sweeter Tease (Sequel To Sweet Tease)

Chapter Twenty-Three

{Octavia's Point of View}

The magical being that had been helping us sat in front of myself, Anna, and a few of my other warriors as we looked at the book that detailed the ritual, the infants they chose, how they chose them, and who would perform the ritual in excruciating detail.  I had been having my warriors continue scouting the compound.  We had managed to learn the guards schedules, and sneak far enough in to learn that the ritual room was exactly where the map our source had gotten us said it would be.  We didn't go further because we had no real reason to.

I hadn't learned much else about the source we had, except that it was a woman.  Ichure wasn't able to tell me much about the woman other than that.  There was a week and a half between now and the day of the ritual.  It was exciting because that would be my daughter's eighteenth birthday, but also a grim reminder that I had missed my second child's life.  We never stopped looking for her, but until we got the help we have from the woman across from us, we really hadn't gotten anywhere in all the years of searching.

I sighed as I stared at the pages detailing the ritual and how it was performed.  From what I could tell, the majority of the ritual delved heavily into blood magic.  The ritual leader would take some of the blood of the sacrifice and place it in a receptacle, some words will be spoken, and if the blood starts glowing, then the items that have been collected to represent their Goddess will also start to glow.

The items described in the book were of little interest to me, but I could see that they had some resemblance to a human shape.  A canine skull to represent the head of Anubis, and the front and rear legs of a wolf to represent the arms and legs of the Goddess.  It didn't look like they gave her feet, but that seemed to work for them.  I flipped a few more pages and began reading on how the ritual actually worked.  Raising an eyebrow, I looked at the woman sitting in front of me.

"This ritual explanation says that the host body, this sacrifice, will be no more.  Can you explain that a little bit better for me?"

I had an idea as to what that meant for this sacrifice, but I wanted her to clarify in case I was wrong.  The woman in front of me squirmed at my question.  She bit her lip before she sighed and looked at me.

"Honestly, the rituals we have done before ended up being failures.  The Sabin is confident that this ritual will be successful, though."

"What makes him so sure?"

I watched her squirm in her seat in front of me, not wanting to answer me, but knowing that she had to.  She sighed heavily before she answered me.

"I am unsure of the exact way that the Sabin knows, but he knows that the sacrifice is the direct granddaughter of the Wolf Queen, as well as the daughter of the last purebred vampire."

I narrowed my eyes slightly as she spoke.  We were aware that the sacrifice was our daughter, Guinevere, but we didn't know that my mother was what this woman was calling the "Wolf Queen."  I would have to ask my mother about that later.  Janessa had never mentioned being the last purebred of her clan, but I didn't doubt it; it made a lot of sense.

"And how is the ritual done?"

I stared at the woman as she cleared her throat, sitting up in her chair.  She took a sip of water in her glass as the door of the study we were in opened and Janessa walked in.  She shut the door and made her way over to me.  She huffed and flopped herself onto my lap, pressing her face against my neck, grunting softly as she got comfy.  When she had finished getting comfy in my lap, I looked at the woman in front of me to speak.

"The week before the ritual starts, what we call advisors take the sacrifice and cleanses them inside and out.  The meals of the sacrifice is changed to a clean diet; what they call an organic diet off of the compound.  The night before the ritual is done, the sacrifice is bathed for several hours to make sure the body is ready for the Goddess."

I moved my hand to Janessa's ass as the woman continued speaking, not bothered by my actions at all.

"When the sacrifice is cleaned, a sheer white dress will be worn and they will be moved to the ritual room.  Once the sacrifice is strapped to the table and the Bones of Anubis are placed in the correct places, the Ritual Master will wait until the clock strikes midnight on the sacrifices' eighteenth birthday, the Ritual Master will begin."

The woman shifted in her seat, looking uncomfortable now.  I didn't think she was going to continue speaking, but thankfully she did.

"The Ritual Master will begin the ritual with a few spoken words in Egyptian (AN: or Aramaic, I haven't decided yet), and use a ritual knife (a Phurba) to slice the sacrifice.  He will then collect that blood in what looks like a fancy goblet.  When the cup is full enough, he will place it on a certain spot on the alter.  He will speak a few more words, and if the goblet begins to glow, then the body is a match for the Goddess."

The woman took another few sips from her glass, and Janessa snuggled closer to my body, her lips and her fangs brushing against my neck as she murmured to herself in her sleep.  I grunted softly, thankfully not loud enough for anyone but her to hear.  The woman in front of me continued.

"If and when the goblet glows, the blood will flow from the goblet to the notches in the table, hitting the platforms that the Bones are on.  The Bones will begin to glow, and when the glowing circle is complete, there will be a flash and the sacrifice will start glowing as well.  When the sacrifice starts glowing, the Ritual Master will begin the ritual."

The woman sighed as she leaned back in her chair.  She finished her water and set the glass back down before she continued.

"He will continue speaking, and while the sacrifice glows, the Goddess will be called forth and she will take over the body of the sacrifice.  When the ritual has been completed, the Goddess will be the one inhabiting the body, and the sacrifice will be no more."

The woman shrugged lightly, staring at me.

"Once the Ritual Master finishes the ritual and releases the Goddess' power, our research states that she will bring the destruction of the world."

"Well, we'll just have to keep that from happening, then, won't we?"

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{Ugh.  I'm so tired, haha.  I just got switched from working 12 to 16 hour nights to working 12 to 16 hour days, with one day off in between the days.  I have up to chapter 30 written out, but I haven't had time to type them up yet.  I started my Master's today, so there's that, too.  I haven't abandoned anything, so don't worry!  My plan is to finish this book, then go work on MMiMM and finish that before I hope back to start "Sweetest Tease."

We'll see how that goes, hahahaha.

Much love,

CAEON}