Synergy

Chapter Twelve

Equinox needed some air, some quiet.

As much as he was honored by everybody's gratitude for felling the Shade, he could only take so many thank-yous in a row. He felt a dick for feeling that way, but he couldn't help it. He'd always been someone who needed some space.

He needed to clear his mind from the battle and . . .other things. He needed to re-ground. One thing Equinox had learned from the self-help books he'd read as a teen, the one thing that really stuck, was re-ground yourself.

He stepped outside. The chill of autumn was tickling the air, the smells of leaves, dried plants, and damp earth already starting to manifest.

Equinox looked up in the sky. It was clear as crystal, stars hung like faerie lights next to the Waning Crescent Moon. Not much longer it would be a New Moon, the symbol of starting fresh.

The New Moon is for fresh beginnings. Bay's mother had told Equinox once when he was visiting the McCraw's cottage. When the moon phases to black, think of what you want to leave behind, then think about what you want to bring to you in its void. Goddess will help  you manifest it, if you work with her Moon.

The memory was soothing. Much more soothing then memories of his own Mum.

Bay was blessed.

What do I want to leave behind, what do I want to manifest? Equinox mused as he walked, his eyes still on the silver sliver in the inky night sky.

His heart leapt to his throat. He knew what he wanted to manifest. Deep down he knew.

Should he dare try Bay's mother's advice on her own son?

She loved Equinox as her son's friend, but would she like him as her son's lover?

Equinox thought about his moodiness, his cracked and scarred heart. Aoife--Bay's mother told Equinox to call her by her first name--had always doted on Equinox when he was around. She knew he had a bad home life and wanted to heal that . . . but what made her want to care for him, might also make her see him unfit to partner her son.

Equinox wouldn't blame Aoife if she felt that way. He was a hot mess express with a side of brood. Not many mothers would leap for joy if their sunny, optimist warlock son wanted to fuck about with a troubled, emo vampire.

Equinox studied the moon, shoving his hands in his pockets. The last twenty-four hours had been a mind fuck in its self. He and his coven where almost slaughtered, that still hadn't truly sunk in yet. Then, after so many years of hiding his heart, he'd suddenly, absent-mindedly gone balls out with it . . . . with a surprising reaction.

He needed to process all of this.

Equinox headed to his favorite garden in the mansion's landscaping. The Moon Garden. With his previous memory of Moon Work, it seemed fitting.

In the garden were plants that worked with the moon's glow, giving the garden a mystical, soothing illusion.

As autumn was approaching, many of the Moonflower vines tangling up the trellis of the garden's entrance were faded, but one or two still remanded. The white flowers caught the moon's light and shimmered a powdery blue like petals of magick.

Lamb's Ear glowed quietly as they spread over the ground in a carpet of soft, downy leaves with the slightest odor of vanilla mint. The indigo Lavender buds spread their scent to mingle with the Lamb's Ear in a herbaceous harmony. Late blooming white roses joined the chorus.

Equinox breathed the fragrance into his lungs with a deep breath. His heart felt soothed just by the perfume of the garden. He reached up and gently fingered one the glimmering Moonflowers, caressing the petals with a gentleness that cracked his broody veil to show the sensitive man under neither.

He let his fingers slide away from the petals as he walked away to find his meditation spot. He sat under a weeping willow tree surrounded by night-blooming Jasmine that clung to life in rebellion of the chill in the air. Equinox wondered if one if the green witches had charmed it, because despite being at the end of its season, the Jasmine's heady, floral aroma clung to the air in sultry wisps.

Equinox folded his legs into Lotus position and took a Kalesvara mudra. He studied the reflecting pool in front of him a moment, admiring the white Water Lilies skating on the water's surface and the rippled, dim light of the Waning Moon. He then gently closed his eyes.