Palindrome

Beltane

Lilith: the first woman, got cast out of Eden because she wanted to be on top. Other names: Lyl (night) Nin-Lil, (air-lady)

Seth; the third son of Adam and Eve, known to be the holder of knowledge of time, and ancestor of all the generations of the Righteous ones-

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Warm air greeted me as I opened the backdoor to the diner, a contrast to the chill of the morning air. Oscar was already in place; all smiles as always.

"Hannah, good morning! How was your night? Did you sleep alright? "

I took a clean apron and tied it around my waist.

"Oscar, good morning! I've had nights where I've slept better, to be honest."

                   My mind glanced back at the Beltane ritual I had performed, and a smile tugged at my mouth by the thought of Oscar knowing exactly what I'd did. Who wants to find out that your coworker is a real, honest to goddess, witch? 

                    I busied myself with the preparations, putting on the coffee, making sandwiches and pancake batter. We chitchatted while we worked and as soon as the clock struck eight, we opened the door. We're pretty busy in the mornings so it was half past ten till I got to inhale some coffee. Oscar came over to me and reached out a hand to tuck some stray hair behind my ear. He blushed while he was doing it, I didn't need extra powers to know that he liked me. I thanked him but took a step back. I'd tried to avoid situations that would fire upon his admirations, but he bounced back. I drank the last of the coffee and smiled big.

"Off to work again, I can see Peters is running low on lemonade." 

                         I walked away briskly and topped off his glass even though it was half full. Peters thanked me without meeting my eyes. Our family has been here since before the town got its name, so people had respect for us. It was a natural instinct that told them something wasn't quite as it should be with the Reeveer's. The town folks knew that we didn't go to church, they knew we were liberal people, but that was about it. Of course you had the legends, but centuries of witch-hunts had taught us to lay low. We needed the community and the community needed us. If you come upon a small town that amazes you by it's survival and thriving, you can be sure that there's a family of witches guarding it.

I was slicing lemons when a draft hit me, the door opened. As the bell rang, I felt a shiver down my spine and the small hairs in my neck stood up. Warning bells were sounding in my head.

"This is it."

The voice made me lose my grip on the knife and I cut myself. Damn that lemon juice, it made it sting so I hurried over to the sink to wash it. The voice had never spoken outside a ritual before, what was different now? Red blood mixed with the water, and it swirled before it disappeared down the drain. Something was amiss. I realised that the café was quiet. I looked up and met a pair of pale blue eyes. I couldn't tell you what the rest of the person looked like; his eyes dragged me into an abyss. It was filled with pain, lust, desire, hatred, wisdom and humour. If I could stay like this forever, just staring into these eyes, I would.  My breathing slowed down, and the World stopped spinning. The Universe consisted only of me and the owner of those blue eyes. An eternity went by before someone yanked my hand from the running water.

"HANNAH! Are you ok?"

I blinked three times before I recognized Oscar. I shook my head and looked down at my hand. The wound had stopped bleeding and I turned off the water, I could see my hand shaking. When I finally dared look out to the floor, I saw two men sitting down at the table farthest from the desk. It had to be one of them who had the blue eyes, but how did they get over there so fast? I glanced at Oscar, but he seemed only concerned about me. The chatter in the café was back to normal, or maybe it had never been quiet? Nothing seemed wrong, the feeling I'd had was subdued. Just a tingling on my back told me that something HAD happened.

"Are you alright?" Oscar asked again. I took a deep breath and gave a shaky smile. "Yeah, clumsy me. The knife slipped." I held out my hand; "Look, it has already stopped bleeding." He examined the hand with way too much concern, it was just a small cut. I assured him I was alright and told him I had to get back to work.

As I grabbed my notebook from the pocket in the apron, I felt my hands still shaking. I took another three deep, cleansing breaths and grounded myself. I propped a smile on my face and walked over to the two newly seated customers.

"What can I serve you on this fine morning, Sir's?"

Two pair of eyes looked up at me simultaneously, I felt like a prey. I recognized the blue eyes, but it was the other one who spoke.

"We'll have two steak-sandwiches, rare, and two lemonades. With freshly-cut lemons." He smirked at the last part. I wrote it down, without meeting their eyes.

"That's all?" The one who ordered, in my head I made him up to be the oldest, looked at Blue Eyes with a question in his face but he shook his head. As I walked away, I couldn't resist a look back. Blue eyes sat with his back to me, but the other one followed my movements. Blue eyes dragged his hand through his dark hair and said something that made Big Brother focus on him. I closed my eyes in prayer, I knew something bad was about to happen. If I had believed in the Devil, I would have found my silver cross.