Blindsided

Óró Sé do Bheatha Bhaile

Bit spicy near the end there. Some aspects of the ritual are directly taken from my personal grimoire, while others are obviously fiction. I can't really go in-depth with it since it'd be violating certain Oaths.

Song is Óró Sé do Bheatha Bhaile performed by Seo Linn. MANY THANKS to Dotemms for her beta work and convincing me to take a break yesterday after posting the last chapter. She's a good friend, give her some love in the comments! 

----------

  Ruv stood off to the side as Rasazy bent down and started sketching a large circle, her movements strong and sure as she copied down the layout directly from Sarv's grimoire.

  "Are you sure about this," Sarv said nervously, biting her thumbnail. Rasazy nodded.

  "I'm almost positive that Sel's difficulty is stemming from the fact that he's never actually used a Greater Circle of Temporal Manipulation successfully before. I think if he had it in front of him when he attempts to memorize the signature he might have a breakthrough."

  Ruv huffed. "Is this safe?"

  Sarv shrugged. "I mean as long as he doesn't actually raise the energy needed to complete the ritual it should be fine..."

  Rasazy's chalk squeaked as it went, and Ruv looked at it apprehensively. It wasn't normal chalk, he knew that much. "What is that even made of?"

  "Oh, the usual suspects. Eggshells from an Ayam Cemani, spelt flour, white ash from a sacrificial fire, water taken from the place where a river and a crossroads meet. And a tiny bit of demon's blood, of course."

  "Of course." He stuck his hands into his pockets and shifted nervously. "And why does it need to have demon's blood?"

  "It needs the magical conduit. Usually that would come of blessing it but, well, considering this is a ritual created by Satan Herself it's smarter to use demonic energy instead of holy energy."

  "Right..." He watched as Selever came through the door of the library, hair wet from a ritual bath steeped with white willow bark and black alder. He had eschewed his usual sweater, wearing only the white shirt beneath and a pair of black pants, his feet bare and padding against the floor. He stood tall, already nearly Sarv's height, his hair unbound and falling in loose waves much like Ruv's own when he let it get too long. He stepped over the matrix of the circle, planting his feet firmly over the sigil in the very center as Rasazy finished the outer Latin lettering. She stood, and the siblings looked each other in the eyes. Sarv pulled Ruv off out of the way, and the two siblings were left alone. Rasazy stuck the chalk in her pocket.

  "Okay Sel, don't raise the energy to actually activate the circle, just get a feel for the signature of the schema. Once you have a hold of that, step back out and try the visualization again, got it?"

  He nodded. "Got it. I trust you, sis."

Rasazy stepped away, and Selever shut his eyes, the tension easing from his body. His hands were held not quite touching his sides, palms up, and Ruv began to feel his hackles rise as the circle began to glow on the floor.

  Selever began to raise his right hand to the air, a faint buzzing building in the air around them. His left turned to be parallel with the floor, over the glowing circle. No one dared to speak as his hair lifted as though gravity had shut off within the glowing confines of the circle, his face stern in concentration. Sarv looked worried, but Rasazy was staring in awe as her older brother suddenly snapped his eyes open and the glowing cut out, the chalk marks disappearing in a flash.

  He stepped out of the area where the circle had been, and his wings flared from his back as he flung his arms into a counterclockwise circle and a glimmering pink fractal appeared between them, rotating in a steady beat like the ticking of a second hand on a clock. His face broke into a grin and he laughed.

  "I got it!" He brought his hands together, the fractal winking out as he did. "I actually got it! Ras, you brilliant girl, you were right!"

  Ruv watched his son whoop with joy and run over, picking up his sister into a bear hug and spinning her around. Sarv breathed out a laugh.

  "I can't believe it, you did it! That was fantastic!" She scooped up both children and squeezed them hard. "All that work paid off!"

  Ruv walked over. "Knew you could do it." He rubbed Sel's hair, and the kid looked up at him, questioning. "Proud of you, son."

  Sel's eyes widened in surprise, and he opened his mouth only to close it again. Sarv beamed.

  "I think this calls for a celebration! Six days of practicing got us here, we all deserve a treat." She turned to Ruv. "What do you think, ice cream sound good?"

  "As long as there's neapolitan I'm good."

  She let the kids go, and they scampered out. Ruv strolled over and wrapped an arm around her waist, and she leaned into him.

  "That was pretty impressive. Did you know it would be like that?"

  She shook her head. "I had no idea. But he did everything right, not actually blooding the circle and calling up the energy to empower it. He did good today."

  "So what does this mean?"

  She worried her lip. "Well this is just the first step. The next is seeing how far he can jump at his current capacity with just the schema. It's early days yet."

  She placed her hand over his at her waist, and kissed his cheek softly. "We should go make sure they aren't making a mess. But we're getting there, and that's what's important."

----------

  It was late when the kids finally passed out in a sugar coma, and Ruv covered them both in their blankets as Sarv cleaned up the carnage from their ice cream binge. Ruv came up behind her as she threw away the last of the cartons and when she turned he caught her in his arms.

  "Kids are asleep," he said, nuzzling her. She giggled.

  "Really? I had no idea."

  He kissed her near her ear. "We're alone."

  She hummed. "That we are."

  His lips trailed her jaw, making her shiver.

  "They couldn't hear us," he growled as he began kissing her neck. She whined.

  "Ruv, not here!" He huffed in amusement as her face began to redden.

  "Come on, just a little kiss? Certainly couldn't hurt."

  She caved. With a frustrated little growl she cupped his face with her hands and pressed her lips to his, pushing them up against the door frame of the kitchen. He could feel her aggressively biting at his lower lip, and he scooped her up in his arms as they fought for control. Her habit slipped from her head, her hair falling free and he tangled his fingers in the weighty length of it, the scent of peonies overwhelming his senses and her touch lighting a fire in him. Grunting, he lifted her and marched them to their room.

  "Let's get you to bed, you succubus."

  "Not a succubus," she shot back. "That's Mistress Lucifer to you, sir. And we will be sleeping tonight, so keep it in your pants."

  "Don't need to get naked to have fun, love." And he kicked the door closed with his foot, shutting out the night.

----------

Crossposted from Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30624293/chapters/76268522