Ritual

It was Wednesday night, and Ted was at his apartment. His buzzer rang and he let Barbara back in. Barbara and he had met on the train, and he had told her that he would be able to dazzle her with his knowledge of the devil. She believed him, and she was now returning to his apartment for the second night in a row. The first night, they had arrived, Ted had mixed an herbal concoction for them to drink, they had drunk it, and they had taken off their clothes and they had rolled around on the floor. They were trying to commune their two spirits in ecstasy. They had behaved savagely.
But this night Ted was only secondarily interested in sex. Firstly, he was glad to have a like-minded friend willing to participate in his rituals. One of his beliefs was that two spirits were stronger than one when it came to casting spells. Barbara may have only been learning, but it was not expertise that rendered the magic effective—it was will. More importantly perhaps was their proximity to Halloween.
This was Ted’s plan:
1) Put a curse on Luther
2) Meet him at a Halloween party.
3) Insist that he was truly very lucky to have Penelope.
4) Offer him a drink
5) Pour potion in drink
6) Watch Luther fall.
The problem was, Ted didn’t want to tell Barbara about the plan too closely. It would appear suspicious if he were out to get the new boyfriend of a girl he had only slept with once. So he explained how he had a personal vendetta against not only Luther, but more importantly against his friend Rory.
“So are you going to help me, Barbara?”
“I don’t want to hurt anybody. I thought the time of bad witches had passed, and now witches used their powers for good.”
“I’m not going to hurt anybody either. I’m just going to play a trick on him. Have a little fun. Your energy can help me make it better though.”
“What did these guys do to you exactly?”
“Luther, the one we are going to curse, is the most arrogant person I know. He seems to think he is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I think this attitude is actually hurting his life, and he doesn’t realize it. He could be a much more effective worker if he were reduced down to his bare essentials. I knew him for a while. We were friends. But I became so sick of him that I just didn’t want to see him anymore.”
“Did he do anything flagrant to you?”
“He invaded my life. And there was overlap with Rory. At first only Luther would come over to my house, and then he brought Rory with him a few times, and then I shut out Luther, and I continued to be friends with Rory for a few more weeks and I realized that he was only trying to infiltrate my life too. It’s like he was a bloodsucker. A vampire.”
“That sounds really weird.” Barbara answered bemused.
“I know. You want to smoke a bowl?” Ted asked.
“Sure,” Barbara said.
They smoked and they exhaled their smoke in each other’s mouths. Ted lit candles—five of them, creating a circle around him and Barbara. They crossed their legs and sat with their kneecaps touching. They took each other’s hands.
“Now it is time to call Satan.” Ted said.
“Alright!” Barbara said.
Ted closed his eyes, and Barbara closed hers in agreement.
“Great devil,” Ted began, “We are in awe of your power. We are in awe that you are real. We are in awe that you reveal yourself where God does not. We are in awe that you will help us if we ask for it. We are in awe of you. And we are calling you tonight to ask for a favor, because our earthly powers do not equal yours. Please give us the strength to carry out this will.” Barbara was laughing.
Ted opened his eyes, “Why do you think this is funny?”
“Come on, you really think this is going to work?”
At the instant, the candles surrounding them were extinguished.
“He’s here now.” Ted said. “Now is our chance. Be very quiet.”
“This doesn’t feel very good,” Barbara said.
They were silent for a few minutes until Barbara said, “Now what?”
“We must get the recipe for the potion.” Ted took out a pen and sheet of paper from behind him. In the dark, he wrote a list, his eyes fixed on Barbara.
“Is he still here?” Barbara asked.
“He’s left. But for an instant he was sitting right here.” Ted pointed to the area just to his left, and just to Barbara’s right.
“Creepy,” she said.
“But it’s all over now, and I have the ingredients.” Ted looked at the list. “Uh-oh,” he said to Barbara.
“What?”
“One of the ingredients is a drop of your blood.”
“Why mine?”
“You must have some connection to Luther that gives your blood credence.”
“Scary,” she said.
“You’re sure you’ve never met him?”
“If I met him, I wouldn’t know it was him.”
“Well, we have our list! The next step is to get to the same party as him. Will you be my date?”
“After that? I think I’m sort of obligated after that. Especially if it’s my blood you need.”
“You agree to go through with this?”
“I want to believe this is possible. I’m still skeptical about you.”
“You will believe. Witches ain’t no shit.” Ted said seriously.
“Can we dress up as witches?” Barbara laughed.
“Whatever you want,” Ted said, then kissed her.