My First Coven

All Hallows Eve

Oh my Goddess this was so weird.

My Auntie M had give me a bit of a rundown on what was going to happen tonight again; something like a second, impromptu dress rehearsal. I was told about how my initiation would go ages ago but my Aunt figured a quick refresh wouldn't go amiss. At that point I was starting to feel nervous and I wasn't too keen on that feeling.

But that was half an hour ago and at half past seven on Samhain evening, I was knelt in front of the usual huge bonfire surrounded by a group of a dozen women, all wearing black cloaks with the hoods up. It was quite chilly out, but oh boy the heat from the bonfire felt like it was burning my back even though really I wasn't that close to it.

Everybody in the coven was stood around me in a circle with their arms outstretched to their sides, their faces could barely been seen under their hoods but the flickering from the bonfire would highlight facial features from time to time. Auntie M was walking around the circle with a really odd looking metal goblet, stopping at each person who would hold their hand and chant over it. I could feel each individuals energy as they chanted, visible wooshes of air or sparks of what looked like electricity would emit from their hand as they did; infusing the liquid in the goblet with power. My Auntie M then started to speak.

'This night of Samhain, we invite our sister in arms to our blessed coven. Madelyn, this invitation extended, do you accept?'

'I accept.'

'Do you enter this coven to uphold our traditions, practices and values?'

'I do.'

'Do you promise to use your gifts for the greater good, witch and mortal alike?'

'I do.'

'Please state your intent.'

Oh this was not the part I was looking forward to. I had to compose a little speech regarding my "intent." During an initiation I was told this was a pretty important part that not only had to make some kind of sense, but be sincere and not like I'd just found something nice sounding on Google and quoted it verbatim.

'My intent is to continue learning as much as possible about our craft and use my gifts to help others in the best way I can. I hope that my new family will help me along the way and that they can count on me whenever I'm needed. To my sisters, blessed be.'

'Blessed be!' Everyone chanted in unison back at me. I saw a cheeky smile from my Auntie M as I said my little speech, I think she was happy with it. She carefully handed me the goblet which upon further inspection looked like it contained red wine. It smelt like red wine at least. I held on to the goblet with both hands as right now I was to channel a bit of my own energy in to it. I could feel my hands warming up as I concentrated, giving it a moment to sort of seep in.

'Drink.'

I nodded at my Auntie M who had instructed me to drink from the goblet. I only needed to take a sip but bloody hell I'm surprised I didn't fall over after that one tiny sip. I could feel the energy of the rest of the coven pouring in to me, feeling like it was filling me up from my toes to the top of my head. I felt really warm of a sudden to the point where I couldn't feel the chill of the outside air. It also made the burning sensation from the bonfire ease up also. I could've sworn my back was actually on fire at one point.

Fiery back aside; I felt stupid powerful. I instantly knew my powers had increased quite a bit but I also felt more put together and in control. It was a weird sensation and I'd get used to it I guess. Auntie M had taken the goblet off me and took a sip from it herself. She then handed it Deirdre who took a sip. The goblet was handed around the rest of the circle, everyone having a drink from it till it eventually made it's way back to my Aunt.

'May Mother Earth, the Gods and Goddesses and our guardians be kind to us all. Blessed be!'

'Blessed be!'

Auntie M and the rest of the coven all took their hoods down and smiled at me.

'It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the coven. I'm so proud of you kiddo. Everyone give it up for Maddie!'

Everyone clapped and cheered for me. I felt a little embarrassed to be honest, but that feeling soon went as that weird sweet and pleasant fragrance I had smelt earlier had returned. There was also more clapping, not just from the women of the coven but from many other hands.

I looked around and out in to the dark forest as if I could actually see anything. Some people were walking toward us, standing in between the members of the coven in the circle. There must have been at least ten more people or so. My head jerked as I heard a weird sound come out of my Aunt. She squealed. Like an actual happy sounding squeal came out of her and as soon as she did that, she went charging over to to a figure who was walking closer. I struggled to see who this person was but could see that it was a man as he came closer to the light of the bonfire. Auntie M launched herself at the man who spectacularly caught her, her legs and arms wrapping around him as well as her practically suctioning herself to his face.

Oh. Wait what?

I was confused, really confused as I watched my Aunt casually sucking face with a man I've never seen before in my life and a bunch of other random men, women and teens I didn't know all hugging and chatting with the members of my coven. When my eyes started to focus better, I noticed that the man was quite tall, pale skinned, blonde-ish and was wearing dark jeans, a simple grey t-shirt and a black corduroy jacket with a fluffy fleece collar. Eventually the guy and my Aunt peeled themselves off each other and casually walked over to me, arm in arm and giggling.

'Auntie M, what the hell is going on?' I deadpan asked her straight up. She smiled a little and rubbed her face.

'So remember when I said that there would be some guests joing us tonight?'

'Yes.'

'And you remember when I said that there are other supernatural creatures out there too?'

'Yes.'

Oh this was going to be good. My life since my awakening had been like a really badly written TV show up to now, when twists would happen at the most stupidest points and apparently I was just supposed to accept everything as fact. I didn't know if I was happy with that, but what the hell; I had been un-phased by everything so far what would another dumb twist in my story be? I realised my life was now a badly written fanfiction.

'Well you're in the coven properly now so I can't keep anything from you anymore but...' Auntie M trailed off. I looked at the man grinning at her and noticed his teeth were a little...

'Vampires.' I stated.

'Yes.' The man said with a hint of an accent as he grinned at me this time. It was actually quite a warm and pleasant smile. And he smelt delicious.

'Maddie, this is Arne. He's the head of the local Vampire clan.' Auntie M introduced the man to me as she squeezed his arm and snuggled her head on to his shoulder. I'd never seen her act like this with any guy, it was quite weird even for her.

I opened my mouth to say something but no words came out so I just shut it.

'You need a moment. Okay.' Auntie M stated the blindingly obvious. She took a deep breath in and circled her free hand around in the air a few times. The forest settees and chairs instantly appeared along with the usual refreshments table. I wonder if she had anything on there for our vampire guests. No, no I don't wanna know.