Ritual

Thanks to Snowbear for editing!

This is an entirely fictional story.

CW: Nonconsent, horror, loss of pregnancy, revenge, witchcraft.

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It's been two weeks since Shane ghosted me. I'm gazing at the reflection of my flickering candlelight and ritual spread in the dark, weeping window pane, rain pattering softly outside my apartment. The kettle screams. I pull out a brown mug from the cabinet and submerge a teabag-- black leaves and a spiral of molasses on top. Steam fogs my glasses temporarily as I pour. When it fades I set the kettle back on the stove, the coil still red-hot, and it cries out again, the sound filling every corner of my small studio. It eases as I switch off the burner and return to my post.

The cards watch me as I sit, as I curl my fingers around the mug, and blow.

Why did he leave.

Empress.

Where did he go.

Ace of Stones.

What will I do.

Lord of Stones.

I stare down at them, make sense of their mystery. I nod my head once and stand again, carrying my candle and tea to the other side of the room, Charlie standing into an arched stretch and stomping off my pillow to duck under the bed. Sitting on the bed I tuck my legs under me and breathe, closing my eyes. Empress. Ace. Lord. A story forms in my mind, filling the gaps left from Shane's ghosting. A sexy young thing. The allure of something better. Newer. Younger. I should have known. Should have thought twice before opening myself to someone his age. Of course. I can almost see her, this blonde thing. She's meek, quiet except when it's delightful not to be, with a bright laugh. She probably waxes her cunt.

I swirl the tea in my mug and close my eyes. A deep breath and then another. The whisper of a chant begins on my breath. A sip of tea passes over my tongue. I repeat this until my tea is gone, and then I lie back in my bed. When the candle finishes burning down to the brass, the spell is complete.

When I open my eyes there is only darkness.

We're here.

In the distance, like a stage play in the void, I see a knight bursting in through a red door. Shane's bedroom. There they are, of course. Shane and his new blonde, her body tangled where mine once belonged. Her yellow hair is fanned out on my old pillow, and before the knight steps forward, for just a moment, I see only Shane's face between her legs, and her taut chest heaving in the blacklight. Then there is a struggle. Shane tries valiantly--fuck him for that. Eventually my knight drags the girl away, and towards me. Shane's body is left unconscious beside the bed.

The blonde is thrown at my feet, clutching desperately at herself for the comfort of modesty. The knight stands behind her, ensuring she remains kneeling before me. Finally she calms and looks up at me, and sees the light of my ruby ring shining like Mars in the night sky.

It only takes her a moment to put the pieces together, because of course she's smart, too. Shane wouldn't have it any other way, would he.

"I didn't know," she says with a small voice. I calmly meet her gaze. "Didn't know what?" I want her to say it.

"He... was engaged." I make no movement to speak. She swallows thickly. "You were engaged to him... to Shane," she manages. My eyes are dry and hateful and I can feel my upper lip curling in revulsion. I lower my gaze and finger the test in my lap.

"Oh!" She says too loudly. "You're pregnant?" I want to destroy her for the surprise in her voice.

"Was."

There is a long silence. I stand, dropping the test in my seat and kneeling in front of her.

"How does it feel," I say to her at eye-level, my fingers grazing her delicate jawline, "Knowing you fell for a man capable of such a thing?"

She looks confused, and even if she is playing meek, I play along. My black nail polish is so dark against her pale hair, which I twirl between my index finger and thumb.

"Did he tell you how he left me on read? On fucking snapchat."

I stop toying with her hair and stare at her seriously now. Leaning in so our lips almost touch, I repeat my whispered chants, and as I do, a beam of soft blue light appears from behind me. I drop my head to her neck, breathe in her scent of balsam and lavender. I don't have to look, I know what she sees. I'm sitting in a hospital gown, alone, with a hopeful, stupid smile on my face.

"You didn't keep..." She begins to ask, and that's when I let my teeth tell her she's guessed wrong. I bite down on her neck and she cries out but does not pull away, obedient to the knight still hovering behind her. Behind us. He thumps his sword on the ground and the blonde knows it means to keep watching, so she does.

The doctor enters through a dark doorway looking sober, and I smile in my gown. Muted words are exchanged and I'm nodding my head. The doctor shrugs and nods too, shaking my hand. When she leaves through the doorway, the light shifts to a second room, and there I am again, a mirror image, only this time I'm clutching my belly. Other-me is not smiling this time.

I dig my nails into the perfect skin beneath the blonde's ribs and she doesn't dare even blink. The doctor's sober face never changes, but this time it's clear as her lips form a steady I'm sorry and my body curls into itself. My wailing echoes loudly now, and the doctor leaves the room quickly, looking irritated at my emoting.

"He left me on fucking read," I say into her collarbone as my right hand curls around her throat. "After I sent him a picture of the pregnancy test. After three years together." I push her down now, til she's below me, a naked little thing, and her hands rush to my wrist as I bear into her throat.

"But, why didn't you just tell him in person? Or at least call him? I can feel you wondering, darling. Don't worry, I can answer that."

Candlelight flickers to our left and she turns her head while I nuzzle into her ear. She's looking into her own eyes, her body beside us, thrumming with pleasure as Shane's body appears above other-her, pounding into that sweet waxed cunt. I was right. His phone buzzes on the bedside table, my name on the screen flashing blue into the warm light. I bite her earlobe and my left hand trails down her midsection.

"You see," I begin, speaking directly into her mind, "I think maybe you're beginning to get the picture."

She begins to cry, and for that I slam my palm across her face. "Don't even try it." I spit into her face. "I know what you did."

She continues sobbing but doesn't stop me as I trail my mouth down her body and find that wet, smooth pussy, still slick from their sex. I hover my lips over her slit as she whimpers and I repeat my chant again, again. And when my tongue slides between her lips and finds her clit, she cries out, and from her mouth comes a beam of light.

Text messages shine big and unhidden, dirty and exposed, above our bodies. As my finger grazes and enters her, the screen slides too, revealing everything.

"You knew," I scream-spit into her sex, "You knew, you knew, you knew," I jab at her g-spot with each declaration, and she mourns and moans in response. I tongue her and bite, lick and fuck her with my hands until she climaxes, and when she does, the light of the text messages goes bright and white, burning our eyes. I laugh and climb on top of her, returning my mouth to her mouth. I push my tongue in and this time my whispers are guttural, making my words echo into her throat.

I lay my palm on her belly and hold it there as I finish the phrase, locking my eyes on her eyes.

"This is mine," I say.

In the bright white above us she appears, pissing on a stick in a too-clean bathroom with granite countertops and Shane in the shower. When she tells him, he laughs, steps out of the shower, gives her a kiss. A kiss that should have been for me.

I lay beside her and wrap my arms around her throat, gently pet her hair back from her forehead, and watch as their voices ring out like crystal shards breaking on concrete.

"Shane, are you sure? After what happened with your ex..."

"Fuck that old hag. She was batshit insane. You... Baby, you're just so beautiful. I want this-- with you."

With a laugh she replies, "She didn't know how lucky she was."

He holds her and she holds him and they laugh and sway as the light goes black.

For a moment there is nothing but the sound of shuffling, but when my eyes adjust I'm hovering over her belly, big and swollen now, kissing it softly and stroking the smooth skin.

"You're mine," I whisper, over and over, and then glare at the blonde. "Mine, you understand?" Through terrified sobs she nods rapidly. I turn my affection back to her belly.

"I'm going to call you... Lucky."