A Two-Faced Soul-The Daemon Rebirth #2

Chapter Six: Embrace The New Brood

----- April 26th, 2010 -----

I stood in mine and Sammy's room slowly getting into my formal Coven Uniform, I still despised it, especially how it hugged my tail so tightly even with the tailored whole for it. But this was by all accounted one of our most important ceremonies. Typically each new Coven member, who wasn't entering after a trail, would have one of these, however given that we had Ryan, Celestia and Jasmine joining our ranks from who were all being Reincarnated, Sammy had elected to skip tradition and have them all in one ceremony. She'd also decided to do Sophia's as well, as given the chaos of recent event's she still hadn't had hers. With the loss we'd just suffered we all needed this happy event as well.  I finished buttoning up the jacket then looked at Sammy who was dressing herself in her's as well. 

The ceremony itself wouldn't take that long, however there was always a ball afterwards from what I was told. I looked at her, shifting uncomfortably in the uniform. Creator how I couldn't stand this kind of thing, but I was a member of Demon Aristocracy now so I guess I'd have to get used to it. As a Sworn-Blood I'd be armed for it, unlike the rest. Which had me ill at ease, it meant that out of the hundreds, and I mean hundreds as all the Demon students and their families had been invited, of people in the room only a handful of us would be armed. That had me on edge. Given Eve's threat to make us pay for the death of Adam I didn't trust it. Sammy clearly saw the worry and she stroked my tail to comfort me then we walked together out of the room and headed to the School's main hall.

The usually empty hall had been completely redecorated for the event, hanging from the tall ceiling, which normally was lit by electrical light those where currently turned off. What lit the room now were massive cast iron Brazier's, their flames barely lit the massive space but they lit it enough so Demons would be able to see. Covering the windows were huge rose pink flags trimmed with silver, the Serphina Coven's Tainted-Mark stitched onto their surface in the center caught in midnight black. While either side of the hall bore benches carved of stone.  

Where there would normally be a lecture for school wide meetings now sat an Alter. Covering it was a rose pink cloth once again with our Tainted-Mark sitting upon it. Laying at either side of the Alter stood two candles burning brightly on stands. Made of Underworld Bee honey they burned a bright lime green, while the scent they put out had a bergamot like scent to it. Upon the alter sat first an Ambrosia on the far right, next to that sat two Keys, each one identical to every other Key and they covered the alter left to right. Behind each Key and the two Ambrosia sat the badge of rank they would be given, those badges by the Key's however, sat small scraps of paper. Had High-Priest Stolas seen such a practice he would have given Sam a very stern talking to no doubt, however she wanted to insure that she gave the right person the right Key as she was very tactical when it came to picking her Key's and so on each scrap of paper she had drawn the rank symbol of the rank that would normally hold the roll rather than the actual rank they'd hold. On the  first piece of Paper was a small Bow, so she knew it was a Key of the Ranger, next to that next one in the center had a crudely drawn shield so Sammy knew it was Key of the Guardian.

Sammy took her place in front of the Alter while I took my own behind it.  I shifted from foot to foot, almost as if I needed the bathroom. However, it was nerves. I hated being in front of a crowd of people on show like this, use I wouldn't have to do anything for the Ceremony itself but I still didn't like this crap. The hall begun to fill up with the Students and their families, with each person who entered my nerves got a little bit worse. I agree that we needed this kind of thing to maintain a degree of normalcy. I had to admit it was quite a sight seeing all the different colours on all the various uniforms gave the room an almost beautiful look with all the stands. However, as of yet not a single one of them were sitting down, instead they all stood by their chairs waiting for the ceremony to begin. The room was alive with chatter at the moment, so much so that it hurt my sensitive ears, but I ignored for now, it wouldn't last forever. The last of the guests arrived and Samatha took a few steps forward from the alter.