"Is everyone here?" Rayna asked, pushing the petals of the flesh rose in her hand apart to make the plant look prettier. She didn't mind the blood staining her fingertips. "All of the totems set so the more acute can manage?"
"A few are still making their way here, but they should arrive within a minute or so. And yes, the totems are in their place." Carmen nodded, fixing her ceremonial robes. "Everything is set."
"Good," Rayna said. "Good. Our special guests?"
"Freshly arrived."
"Subdued?"
"As specified."
Just then, Savvy forced her way into the room. She looked from Rayna to Carmen, then back to Rayna, the clear superior. "Why didn't I get to bring her here?"
Rayna set down the flesh rose carefully, and only then did she even bother to look at Savvy. "She doesn't like you."
"Yes she does!" Savvy stomped her foot on the floor like a petulant child. "It's that ugly Ivy. I know she did something to her brain."
Carmen chuckled behind her hand. Rayna shot her a look, but smiled, too. "Maybe so. That's why we're doing this, remember? When the ritual is over, Elise will love as you as before."
Savvy brightened. She liked the sound of that. "Definitely?"
Rayna nodded. "Definitely."
A dazzling smile on her face, Savvy left the room in a flourish. Rayna shook her head and cursed. "Stupid girl."
Carmen raised an eyebrow. "Is she going to be a problem?"
"No. She knows the routine. Stay back and out of the way until the ritual is done."
"What if Elise convinces her of otherwise?"
"Then we kill her."
Carmen didn't flinch away from the answer. "It was dangerous of you to bring her into this. It's bad enough that she's human, but she's stupid too. You should have killed her a long time ago."
"She had her uses." Rayna collected her flesh rose and stood. She had a few more things to prepare for and she wouldn't be deterred, not when the time was so close. "Make sure everything is perfect for Her," she told Carmen. "She will be here."
Carmen bowed her head slightly. She left the room and made the long trek down, down, down, far below the Earth. She hummed softly to herself, singing the song of old in completion. Down below, so, so far, she arrived at her destination. Hundreds were already gathered in the underground cave, and many more were arriving. Women of every breed were present, their faces grinning, their magic dancing at their fingertips. They laughed and talked and planned. Planned for what was to come, what they would do, how they would do it. They shared their secrets, spilled their tales, absorbed the ideas of their fellow women. They were one in objective, their minds set to change the world as they saw fit. No one disagreed and no one fought. Everything was perfect. The night was ready.
They moved aside as more of their kin arrived, their numbers swelling, the cave changing to accommodate them. A raised altar sat in the middle of the crowd, dominating the space not by size, but by presence. No one was standing on the altar, but everyone knew it would soon be full. Carmen placed a foot on the bottom step that led up to the altar and watched the magnificent space with a loving eye. Soon she would take her place up there, along with a few others, and she could not wait to take part in what was to come. Her face shifted as she watched the last of the invited arrive. They were welcomed like family, and in some cases, they were just that.
Carmen closed her eyes and felt for the moon. Someone called her name and told her she looked nice in her robes. She didn't know who the voice belonged to, but she smiled.
The moon was almost ripe. The time was nearing. She slowly opened her eyes and took stock of those around her. Anyone she happened to look on gave her a friendly smile, sometimes a wave, and their eyes were expectant. She grinned excitedly in response. She only had to stand there for a short time.
The atmosphere in the cave changed suddenly, and everyone felt it. Voices hushed and everyone turned to see the newcomers coming from above. Carmen smiled as she watched with the others. Slowly, the last people who would be present for the ritual made their way into the cave, Rayna leading the procession.
All those already settled, watched, silent. Then, they begun to holler and shout and dance, their joy too much to contain. They jumped and threw their hands in the air, jostling each other, and yet no one got hurt. Their undefinable calls grew louder as the altar was finally being occupied. The ritual's special guests were bound, one of whom was being hoisted up and tied to a sturdy 'X' in the middle of the altar. Their arms were secured above their head, their legs trapped below. Carmen smirked at the dead man tied up at her feet, then looked up and gazed at the petite, naked, tattooed wolf hanging before her.
The roaring around her never stopped.
She held her breath as Rayna stepped up to the edge of the altar and held up her hands for silence. The stillness that followed was filled with magic, and itchy tongues. Rayna gazed at the smiling faces around her. She put her arms down and waited a few beats before speaking.
"Tonight, She will be with us!"
The roars started up again, and Rayna indulged it. She continued to speak through the calls, knowing her words were being heard by every ear.
"The first, the only! She is our Goddess, and She will be resurrected to cleanse this filthy world!" Rayna screwed her eyes shut and bathed in the shouts of agreement. "They," she snarled, and the crowd booed, "want us to be second. They want us to believe we are subservient, and some of us believe it!" Hisses sounded throughout the cave. "But we are not! We were first born! They tried to break us, but here we are! Are we weak?"
The crowd shouted in unison, "No!"
"They tried to choke us with their tales of being made of man, like they own us." Rayna laughed, as did everyone else. "They are afraid! Afraid of what we can do, afraid of what we have done! We bring life! We conquer lands! We are Life and Death! What are we?"
"Women!"
"What are we!"
"Women! Women! Women!"
The chanting and stomping shook the cave to its core. Her chin bouncing against her chest, Elise finally awoke, her ears filled with muddled chants. She shook her head and accidentally drooled on her chest. "Wha-?" From what she could see, she thought she was on stage at a concert. Her vision was blurry and she heard Rayna's words as if they came from underwater.
"She will take back what is Hers, and we will witness it. She will rule as Matriarch again, and give us back what they took from us! No longer will we be a part of their fear campaign! It is they who will be afraid of us, openly!"
Elise tried to rub her eyes but found that she couldn't, or even bring her arms close to her. She looked up, saw her bonds, and begun to struggle.
Rayna heard the commotion and turned her head slightly. She pointed a finger at Elise. "Here is Her vessel. This is where our new lives start. The time is almost here!"
Squirming, Elise tried to ignore the crowd in front of her, around her, tried to block out their leering stares. Oh, god, they wanted me all along. With her body still weak, Elise realized she couldn't escape. She swallowed hard and tried to find something that would help her. That's when she spotted Judah lying on the floor, his hands and feet tied together. "Dead man!" she hissed, her nose wrinkling at his overbearing stink. "Come on, get up!" She was worried for him, worried that something irreversible was done to him.
Judah didn't move. Elise looked up when she heard Rayna's distinct laughter. "You're finally awake, and coherent. Good." Rayna lifted her arms towards the crowd. "Our Goddess," she pointed to Judah, "and our sacrifice. This man will be given as passage. He will do one of the only things his kind is good for: die."
The crowd snickered.
Elise growled.
"Not long now. The moon is almost there," Rayna said, her tone delighted. She turned to face Elise head on. "I saw your tattoo, the Goddess. You've been seeing Her too, haven't you?"
Her strength coming back, Elise flexed. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes you do. Maybe you've seen Her out of the corner of your eye? In pictures? Patterns? Dreams?" Elise reacted, and Rayna saw. "Ah, so it was in your dreams. She feels good, doesn't She? Is that why you needed to have Her etched into your skin?"
"You're crazy."
"No woman is crazy!" Rayna's outburst had the crowd yelling, too. "When we're right, we're dismissed. I thought you were better than that, Elise. I thought you understood."
"You're right," Elise said quickly. Her mind raced, her eyes flicking to Carmen. She tried not to show her anger. "I was wrong. I shouldn't have said that. You have me tied up, I'm scared. What did you expect?"
"She has a point," Carmen interjected. "She's always been on our side. She's always defended us." She turned to the crowd. "All of us."
A lot of the women gathered murmured agreement. That's when Elise noticed that the women who agreed, were women that she had encountered at one point or another in her life. She noticed a few girls she went to high school with. Some she had seen just on the street and had helped on a whim, some had lived on her block. Did they all know I would end up like this? The rage that filled Elise's veins pumped wildly.
"It is why she was chosen to be Her vessel," Rayna continued. "Our Goddess is a just one. Kind. Strong, but soft."
Elise remembered Rayna using those exact words to describe her, and that only made her angrier. Her magic forced its way to just under her skin, her eyes turning purple.
Rayna grabbed Elise's chin and jerked it up. "See! Our Goddess is here with us! She is showing us Her satisfaction!"
Elise tried to pull out of Rayna's grip, but she couldn't. Her magic wasn't giving her power, it wasn't making her stronger. She panicked, feeling the byzantium inside her slosh around but not finding a foothold.
"Scary isn't it?" Rayna whispered as the crowd roared. "Magical dispersion. Can't fight if you can't transform." The smile that split her face was utterly wicked. "Your magic is useless. You'll never be able to figure out how to control it in time. Too bad. Ivy could use you right about now."
Elise's eyes raged bright, almost glowing, and all it did was make those gathered grow louder. She tried to harness what was inside her but it kept slipping out of her fingers. She couldn't use her wolf, and it was disconcerting. "Where is she?" she growled, and her eyes widened in surprise. The growl was human.
Rayna released Elise's chin and laughed. "Show her the traitor!" she commanded.
The crowd spread, each face smiling, and Ivy was revealed at the other end of the throng. She was bound and chained to the cave wall, her head lolled forward and her hair hiding her face. Despite this, Elise knew it was Ivy. She knew. Elise fought against her bonds, calling Ivy's name desperately. Ivy wasn't moving, and didn't move no matter how many times Elise shouted her name. Droplets of blood fell from somewhere on Ivy's face- Elise couldn't tell where the wound was- and blood pooled onto the floor. Elise wondered how long Ivy had been tied up like that, causing such an abundance of blood to gather, and that thought angered Elise all the more. Her magic bounced around in her body, not willing to be controlled.
"She tried to stop us at every turn," Rayna called out to a chorus of boos. "She tried to prevent Her from being brought back to Her rightful throne. She is a traitor of her own kind!"
"That's not true!" Elise cried, but no one paid any attention. She struggled and fought. Finally, she slumped. She wanted to cry, to just give up. But she couldn't do that to Ivy, not after promising that she would protect Ivy no matter what. That's when she got a spark of an idea. She wasn't sure if it would work, but she owed it to Ivy to try. She lifted her head slightly and glared. "I am your Goddess," she whispered.
Rayna stopped moving and turned slowly. The crowd sensed something, and they quieted down too.
"I am your Goddess," Elise said, louder, more confident. "I am the vessel, I am sacred. I will hold Her inside me, I will be a part of Her." She stared hard at anyone who caught her eye. "And if Ivy does not heal, I will fight Her! I will cast Her from me and She will be gone! You will all be subservient with no chance of equality!"
The disgruntled murmurs that spread throughout the cave where deafening. Rayna's jaw twitched and Carmen looked disturbed.
"Can she do that?" Carmen whispered, worried. "Is that possible?"
"No.. no," Rayna said, shaking her head. "She is much too powerful to be cast out by a dirty wolf."
"A wolf with the power of a Goddess," Elise challenged. Her heart pounded. Her plan was working. "She is inside me, I've felt it. Doesn't that mean I am inside her, too? When She takes over, who says I won't have a say in what She thinks? What She does?"
The murmurs grew to scared, angry shouts. People were getting nervous now.
"She's bluffing," someone said confidently.
The voice was so familiar it made Elise's eyes water. It was a voice she had been hearing for years, and now it was defying her.
Cav placed a sure foot on the bottom step of the altar. "She's bluffing," she said again. The crowd hushed and watched Cav advance up the altar steps and to Elise. "She doesn't know what will happen."
"Then how do you?" Elise gulped back her tears.
Cav turned around. "I have known the vessel for years." Elise winced at being called a vessel. "I have seen the power of the Goddess as well. It is mighty, and it is spectacular," she said it like she was talking about her favorite movie star. "It is also uncontrollable. I have seen the Goddess render the vessel useless against Her power. When She takes over, I'm sure the vessel will be no problem. The vessel is only to hold Her, not influence Her. Who dare say otherwise? Who would say She could not handle a simple wolf?"
No one tried to dispute Cav's words. After a moment of silence, they cheered, making Cav thrust out her chest proudly.
Elise bit back her initial outburst of enraged betrayal. She was holding herself together by a too thin piece of rope. "We've been together since we were kids, Cav," she said, making Cav face her. "I remember when you were a kitten and I'm sure you remember when I was a puppy. I love you. How could you do this to me?"
Cav's face softened and she touched Elise's cheek gently. "Do you think I like doing this? I love you too but... love is supposed to hurt."
Her words made Elise finally break. "No!" She pulled against her bonds and snapped her teeth at Cav's hand. "Love is not supposed to hurt! That's the bullshit that sadists tell their victims so the victims won't leave. Don't try to feed that crap to me." She growled and fought, though got nowhere. "And how dare you romanticize this like it's your sacrifice! Fuck you!" Elise had had enough. Cav trying to make herself the victim in the situation had Elise's wolf jumping and hollering for blood confusedly. The wolf ricocheted around her body, but couldn't find purchase, and only ended up hurting Elise. She cried out, scared, angry, betrayed, and hurt.
"Elise...?"
The small utterance was like honey in Elise's ears, so, so sweet. Her head shot up and her eyes found Ivy. "Please be okay..."
Ivy's head wobbled, but she managed to look up. Her eyes widened at the sight of all the people around her, and widened even more when she saw Elise, naked as the day she was born, hanging from a crude X. She swallowed, but choked when all she could taste was blood.
"She better be okay!" Elise struggled with wild abandon. "Or else-"
Rayna stepped up to Elise. "Or else what? You're not going anywhere. Neither is she." She held out her hand and someone placed the flesh rose into her palm. "The time is now. Just a few more minutes. Can you feel it?"
The crowd hummed, vibrating the cave walls. Ivy started to sob. Rayna pulled a petal from the flesh rose and pressed it to Elise's lips. "Eat. She will need it."
Elise opened her mouth willingly, then bit down on Rayna's finger. Blood spurted into Elise's mouth but she didn't let go, holding as long as she could. It took Carmen's help to get Rayna free, and by then the crowd was surging. They were worried that the vessel was tainted and their Goddess would not return.
"I will fight you!" Elise called over the voices. "I will fight the whole damn way. Cav was right when she said your Goddess rendered me useless. But you know what? If She takes over, then I will be that tick that She is to me. I will be that rare occurrence that makes your Goddess fall to Her knees. I will rear my ugly head whenever I can and I will make your Goddess cry out for mercy!"
Everyone stared slack jawed. They murmured amongst themselves, causing a panic that rose swiftly. But Carmen was the first to speak reasonably, "Role reversal... it's likely. She might be able to do that. Maybe not for years but... maybe she could. Do we risk it? We don't have a lot of time."
Before anyone could answer, Elise spoke again, "I'll go along with this. I will be a willing participant. I will fall before your Goddess, on one condition." She looked sadly down at Ivy. "You let her live. You give her a life and everything she wants when I'm gone. You keep her well, and your Goddess will be the same."
Tears spilled down Ivy's cheeks. She didn't like the way Elise was talking. She didn't want Elise to roll over so easily. "No! No! Don't do it, Elise! Don't leave me! I promised you I wouldn't leave, why can't you promise the same!"
Elise smiled, her eyes watery. "I would never lie to you."
Rayna clenched her bloody hand and offered another petal. "You do as She wants, and your Ivy will live in luxury."
"I want certainty."
Rayna smirked. "Seal it with a kiss?"
"Binding," Elise replied, not missing a beat.
"Fine." Rayna held out her free hand and a knife was placed in it. She reached up and cut Elise's hand, them placed her own within it. "Binding. You remain compliant, and Ivy will be free and healthy as our Goddess is."
"Binding."
"Good. Now eat." Rayna shoved the rose petal into Elise's mouth and covered it with her hand, making sure that Elise wouldn't spit any of it out.
Ivy watched with sick fascination. She watched Elise eat the whole rose, stem and all, and lick the blood from her lips. She wanted to vomit at the sight, but she was also slightly proud that Elise would make such a sacrifice. But she hated it, too. She wasn't sure what was happening, all she knew was that Elise would be gone, and some Goddess would take her place. And Judah? She had noticed him, but no one was paying any attention to him, and she didn't want to be the one that brought him into the light just to be tortured like Elise was.
"The moon is ready," Carmen sighed. She knelt down to Judah's side and touched his forehead. Rayna stepped back, wiping the blood on her hands onto her shirt, and grinned. Carmen chanted softly to herself, rubbing her hands gingerly over the sides of Judah's face. A grey light illuminated her hands as she spoke, and the light brightened with every word. When her hands were filled, she stood and faced Rayna.
Rayna beamed. "Soul of the Dead," she whispered.
Elise wanted to smack herself. Of course that's what they wanted. That was the only thing they could get from someone resurrected. Dead souls were extremely rare, especially since necromancy was a lost art. Judah was worth his weight in gold. Not anymore, Elise thought grimly.
Taking the dead soul from Carmen, Rayna held it up for everyone to see. "She was bound to Her Death by ignorant, fearful man. Tonight, She will be Life once more!"
As the crowd cheered, Rayna held up the dead soul to Elise. "Enjoy your last moments. You won't be around when She takes over."
Elise held her tongue.
"Good dog. The time is now!"
The magic that the women around were holding at bay was released in one go. Elise's body contracted and her mouth opened in a silent scream. Rayna offered the dead soul as payment, and the Goddess took it. Chanting filled Elise's ears and she convulsed, trying to fight the power inside her despite her promise not to. She could hear Ivy screaming, could feel Ivy's pain, but she could do nothing about it.
The magic inside Elise grew a mind of its own and it flooded her senses. Everything went quiet, everything went dark. Elise couldn't hear, couldn't see, couldn't smell. She could only feel the battle going on inside her body. It was paralyzing.
Byzantium roared straight to Elise's heart, and it stopped cold, stilling her blood. Elise clearly felt her last heartbeat, the last tick of her life.
Then she felt Her first.