Glamorous - A Grace Bishop Novel - Chapter 40
© Denise Bossarte
Eli ended the call from
Anthony, already moving toward the hidden door at the back of his office. With
a few specific patterns of his hand and a concentration of his will, the door
opened. He stepped into the dark room and the door eased shut behind him. With
another motion of his hand, the lanterns lining the walls flared into life.
Eli received the call
from Anthony right after Grace left the hospital. Once Anthony described her
plans and the tearful farewell, Eli knew she was expecting to meet and kill the
Glamour tonight. But she wasn’t sure she would succeed.
He chided himself he did not have the foresight to track down
all the places she might escape to given the challenges she faced recently. She
was not running away from anything tonight. Completely the opposite in running
to deal with the Glamour.
Fortunately for him, he was in the habit of casting a tracking
spell on each segno di famiglia. He knew where all the Paranorms committed to
him were at a given time. He had be-spelled the one he gave to Grace out of
simple custom, it having become part of the ritual for him.
Eli was lucky she had not taken off the earring since he gave it
to her. He could sense her as she stopped by her house and headed north of the
city. Using the tracking spell was not as simple and accurate as using a GPS,
but it would work in a pinch.
However, due to the timing of Anthony’s call and Grace’s
preparedness, he didn’t have the luxury of chasing after her in a car. It
required his full concentration to track her through the segno di famiglia. And
he could not afford to involve anyone else in this.
He was getting ready to act in defiance of direct orders from
Viora not to interfere. He needed to be airborne to travel as fast as possible
after Grace, and to find her once he was close to her general area. For that he
needed supernatural help.
With the immediate need for supernatural assistance, there
wasn’t time for him to make the preparations to ask help from a benevolent
creature. It required hours to complete the necessary series of physical and
mental cleansing rituals. These rituals were necessary to compose the Wiccen
and attune them to a state of openness and harmony with their Wiccen powers.
Besides which, such summonings also required the caster have
benign intentions when making their petition. Eli had mixed feelings about
summoning such a creature. He wanted to help Grace, but he had less than benign
feelings toward the Glamour. These mixed feelings might not allow him to call
forth the creature he needed.
He had to resort to what most in The Family considered black
magic. This type of magic was more sheer brute force rather than rituals of
cleansing and sympathetic intentions. The rituals and intention didn’t matter.
What mattered was pure and simple - the blood. Black magic was blood magic.
Provide the blood, bend the creature to your will, and then go on to whatever
your heart desired. At least that was the cliff notes version.
Black magic was tremendously risky for the Wiccen who attempted
it. The creatures summoned by the blood were not ones with benevolent intent
for the caster. In fact, the polar opposite. The caster was standing in the way
of the creature’s escape into the world of Norms. Standing in the way of the
creature’s desire to unleash wanton destruction and chaos. These were powerful
creatures poised and waiting for a foolish Wiccen to give them access to the
world they desired to enter.
The strength of the creatures summoned depended on two factors:
the amount of blood offered when casting the spell, and the strength of the
caster. No creature summoned by blood magic was weak, but they did vary in
degree of malevolence and power. A combination of large amounts of blood and a
weak caster tended to summon a creature of medium power, leading to a quick
death for the caster and an unrestrained rampaging creature. A combination of a
small amount blood and a strong caster tended to bring a less powerful
creature, but one which stayed within the control of the Wiccen.
Eli did not keep a large supply of blood on hand. He also was
not willing to commit a sacrifice of a human or animal to call forth a
creature. He would damn himself for eternity if he took that route. He could
skirt around the moral dangers of summoning such a creature by using his own
blood.
With his strength as a Wiccen, it would only take a small amount
of blood to summon the creature. If he continued to offer blood while the
creature was present, it would be easy to maintain his control. The trade off
for using a limited amount of his own blood to harness such a creature was a
large blood price to pay before the end of the night. The volume of blood
required was a death sentence to a human if they were to pay it.
Eli was counting on finding a deer or other large mammal in the
woods before the sun rose. But it was a horrendous risk to himself if he could
not do so. The creature would be happy to take his blood, his life, as payment
if other sources were not forthcoming.
He needed a creature that could get him to where Grace was as
fast as possible. Running through the list of potential candidates in his mind,
he found the one he needed, a hippogriff. One of the more powerful and less
controllable of the creature pantheon, but the best suited for his needs.
Eli moved to the middle of the medium sized room and knelt in
the center of the circle which lay within a pentagram. He went through a brief
centering exercise, slowing his breath and focusing his mind. Gathering his
will to a single point of focus, he reached down to pick up the stone knife
lying at his feet.
In one quick motion he ran
the edge of the blade over the meat of his forearm, making a long but shallow
gash. He was careful not to cut too deep to avoid major arteries or veins, but
deep enough to get the blood flowing. Without hesitating, he drew the symbols
of Opening and Holding around the wound, activating them with his will. That
would make sure it would not close until he was at his destination.
He let the blood run down his
arm, using the drops to draw out the symbol of Calling specific for the
hippogriff onto the floor. He moved with deliberate care despite his anxiety to
get to Grace. Knowing a mistake here could mean his death. He accompanied the
movement of his bloodied hand with a chant. The blood, his will, the symbol,
and the chant would be the powerful combination necessary to call forth the
creature and place it under his power.
Finished with the spell, he stepped back from the symbol he had
drawn. He stepped outside the circle and the pentagram to the unmarked stone
floor beyond. There he waited until a dark line appeared in the air above the
symbol of Calling and the head and forelegs of the hippogriff began to emerge
from the darkness.
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