The Afternoon Coffee Ritual

You're fine until the eyes glow red. [Generated]A golden form flew from the stately mansion. It stopped, said a few words in Latin, and gestured at the mansion; a fireball streaked from its fingertips and the mansion exploded. The golden form flew into a red Citroen and settled into the body sleeping there. Matteo woke up, yawned, and smiled. Another coven would no longer plague humanity. BUZZ He looked at his phone; a text was waiting for him, most likely another assignment from one of his fellow benandanti. He grasped the locket at his neck, the one containing a bit of the caul that covered his infant head; he uttered a simple prayer and then picked up the phone to look at the text. Santa Cruz was warm enough this time of year. He put the phone down and drove off. 

 * * * * *

Lorantha sipped from her coffee cup as she finished the circle. There were plenty of flowers and candles; the summoning should go fine. She looked at her gold watch and smiled. She pulled out her phone and hit a button. "Good morning, Celeste. Thank you, dear. I have a little mission for you, if you wouldn't mind….? Yes, that one. Thank you so much." She almost hung up, then she smirked. "Oh, and if you see our little stalker, make sure you grab him. Thank you, dear." She hung up. Rudolpho's was such a neat little cafe. She went over the inscriptions of the statue of a monstrous feline in front of her again, cursing that the July humidity in Santa Cruz practically melted the inscriptions as she put them on.

 * * * * *

Celeste sighed. That thrice-cursed Lorantha; like I don't have enough to do. She called Rudolpho's, putting in an order for five espressos, knowing that the other three would want one as well when they arrived. Well, it was good coffee, even for California. She hit the accelerator. Of course, it's closing mid-afternoon, so I need to hurry.

The first stop was to pick up Felicia. She pulled into the driveway easily, parked, then walked up the beautiful stone walk to Felicia's home. The roses and daisies made for a view easy on the eyes while providing defense and shade for the truly important herbs. She smiled at the simple defense; simple defenses were usually the best. 

She pressed the doorbell. A good minute or two later, Felicia, with her flowing gray hair, horn-rim glasses, and peasant dress, opened the door. "Good morning, Celeste." She offered Celeste an armful of fennel stalks and a basket of sage. "Could you hold these a moment?" Celeste took the stalks and basket and took a step backward; Felicia locked the door and took back the stalks. They walked to the car, put the items in the trunk, then departed. 

The two women started with some small talk but the discussion turned to various spells Celeste was having problems with on the way to Rudolpho's. Celeste soon noticed a red Citroen out of the corner of her eye. She looked into her mirror to confirm it and smiled. Felicia noticed the glance. "Is he there?"

She nodded. "Lorantha will be so happy; she asked me to pick him up on the way in." 

 Felicia's eyes sparkled. "Ooh. I so love playing bait."

Celeste chuckled. Over the next two stops, she used her phone to order the espressos, picked them up, and headed straight to Lorantha's. She actually managed to lose their tail twice but slowed down until they picked him up again. She sighed; she hadn't expected him to lose him. They eventually parked in the driveway outside Lorantha's home and walked in. 

 * * * * *

Matteo parked his car. So this is their coven's base? How quaint. He looked at the crimes of the coven; it had sacrificed over two dozen men in the last decade; those deaths needed to be avenged. He pulled out the sleeping pills and took several of them. In moments, he would be sleeping and his astral form would deal with the witches. 

 * * * * *

The two women joined Lorantha and two other two women. The three women were already in their robes; Celeste handed off the espressos to Lorantha, who nodded her thanks, and then she and Felicia headed to the locker room to change. In moments they had returned; now all five women were in red hooded robes and nothing else. The women finished their espressos and hurried about their assigned tasks. 

While Felicia readied the fennel stalks, Celeste helped the other two women, Bianca and Giulia, raise and sanctify the tree of life; while it was just a four-meter piece of trunk, it would stand in for the tree that supported everything. Lorantha made sure the unguents of mostly mint and basil were ready. When Felicia was done with the stalks, she filled the pots with sage, adding a little gunpowder to make sure they smoked just right. 

The heady smell of rye permeated the coven's casting room as Lorantha entered with fresh-baked bread and a couple of tubs of lemon pesto, friggione, and grana sott'olio. Celeste smiled at the sight of the lemon pesto, while Felicia nodded approval of the onion and tomato spread. Lorantha put the bread and tubs down. "This is for after the ritual; I can't let you women go home hungry." She stirred the third tub while pretending to glare at Giulia. "Yes, Giulia; the grana padano has been allowed to ferment over two weeks." Giulia smiled. 

She walked over to the security cameras. Lorantha smiled. "Okay, girls, he's fallen asleep; time to take your places." She took a few steps and then froze. She turned to Bianca. "Would you mind retrieving the body of our guest?" Bianca departed the room. She resumed walking to her place on the circle. "This should be interesting."

Within moments, a segment of the wall began glowing. The golden form of a muscular man entered the casting room and hovered just inside the room. The women turned to him, and Felicia waved at him. The form looked around the room and relaxed. "You all see me, don't you?" The four women nodded. "Porca miseria." He turned and flew to the wall. 

The four women gestured. The wall of the room glowed. The form bounced off. He tried to fly through the wall again but didn't pass through it as easily as he had the first time. The women made another gesture, one that ended in grasping the air. Threads of orange energy surrounded the form and entangled it. The form was mired and brought to the tree of life. 

He looked at the women. "You shouldn't be able to see me, much less capture me." He looked at Lorantha. "It's nowhere near the Witching Hour; it's three in the afternoon. You should be powerless."

Lorantha moved closer to him. "If we were normal Californian streghe, sure. But we have maintained our link to Italia, and so our lives are dictated by the schedule of the motherland." Bianca entered; the other women helped her tie the body to the tree. They then retreated to pick up their fennel stalks. Lorantha looked at the body on the tree. "Now, you shall help us defend our farms against the demons affecting the land."

He shook himself out of his shock. "I know the enchantments as well. We could work together."

Lorantha grabbed her athame from its sheath at her side as she walked up to his hanging body. "Oh, we'll be working together." She looked directly at the form. "Your blood will feed the tree while this splinter of your soul will be used to create a guardian for this room. It is the only use we have for one such as you, willing to betray his beliefs for a few more years of life." The form visibly slumped. The women surrounded the form and touched the form while repeating a Latin mantra; the form became a small dot and flew to the statue at the other end of the room. "We only hope you serve us better than your former allies."

The eyes of the lion statue glowed. Lorantha grabbed the locket from his neck and put the necklace around the neck of the statue, the chain of the necklace growing into a thicker, more proper chain as she looped it around his neck. She muttered a few words over the locket, then let it go. "Your own caul has thus been used to cement the spell, forever locking you into this room and forcing you to be its protector." She walked back to her place on the circle as the women went back to their own places. 

With a gesture, they ignited the pots containing the sage. Lorantha looked to the other streghe. "Now to protect the land." They began casting their spell of protection and fertilization, ensuring yet another year of bountiful harvests.