When I woke up, I was grateful to find that I was entirely alone. The room was already filled with warmth and light from the morning sunshine. Glancing at the bedside table, I found my book placed firmly back in its place. My cheeks heated at the thought of Dimitri reading that. I could only hope he wouldn’t bring it up when I saw him. The side of the bed that Dimitri had laid on was still indented by his shape. He must have slept here the whole night, and I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about that.
I climbed out of bed, reminded of the fact that I went to sleep in a pair of panties and a t-shirt. Dimitri didn’t bat an eye at my attire, and I knew that he had seen far more in his lifetime than what I had just shown him, and yet I couldn't help but feel embarrassed and lacking in some way. Which was ridiculous because Dimitri was a client. At least that’s what I kept telling myself. But something last night had shifted, and I didn’t know if it was solely an internal shift within myself or if he felt it too.
It was not lost on me that Isis had shown herself in front of him, and if I chose to read into it, there would certainly be something there about a trusting partnership, but I couldn’t think about that now. So, instead I grabbed my phone and texted Zoey - asking her to weigh in on what I had experienced the night before, afterall, we were trying to counter some Voodoo Magick here.
Zoey: Wait, so Isis actually arrived in a physical form in front of Dimitri?
I sighed, knowing exactly where she was going with this, but unable to steer the conversation in any other direction. In offering up last night’s details, I had opened myself up for this.
Corinne: Don’t say it, Zoey.
A whole two seconds later my phone was flashing with a phone call from Zoey.
“Hi,” I sighed down the line, already exasperated with this conversation, knowing full well where it was heading.
“You know you have to do a booster, right?” Zoey’s voice was far to chipper for this early in the morning.
I groaned, refusing to actually formulate words in way of a response.
“Come on, Cor! She doesn’t just show herself to anyone - she’s pretty much given you her blessing to explore this thing between you and Dimitri.”
Zoey was a hopeless romantic, and tended to encourage any sort of relationship even if there was the smallest iota of a chance of it turning into a romance.
“Zoey,” I moaned, exasperated, “firstly there’s nothing to explore with Dimitri - we pretty much hate each other.”
My stomach tightened in protest as those words soured on my tongue. The taste of a lie wasn’t always sweet.
“And secondly,” I pushed on, “I’m not just going to jump into bed with some guy just because Isis showed herself to him, and thirdly,” I emphasized, “ Dimitri is a client.”
Zoey huffed, her annoyance evident through the phone.
“Can you just for one minute stop, Cor,” she implored. “Can you stop talking yourself out of something good before you’ve even given it a chance to happen? So what if he’s a client - Max sleeps with clients all the time -”
I tried to voice my protest, but Zoey kept talking over anything I tried to say.
“And, I don’t think you two hate each other - you two are probably just feeling each other out. Besides,” she added, “it’s new moon energy, so it’s the perfect time to explore new options - a fresh slate, new beginnings, all that.”
“I’m not going to do anything with Dimitri,” I argued back.
“Now you’re just being difficult, if you just followed this, you would be able to do a booster spell - and honestly that booster spell would pack one hell of a punch because your deity has already blessed this whole thing.”
“She didn’t bless this whole thing, Zoey, she just showed herself to Dimitri and I,” I snapped back.
“And is that not a blessing? Is that not the very definition of being blessed? You got to see your deity for godsake - do you know how long I’ve been trying to get any sort of message from Hekate? A long time, Cor, and I have nada to show for it. This is a blessing, just go with it - can you at least just try?”
I shut my eyes at the uprising guilt. Zoey was good at that - even if she wasn’t aware she was doing it.
“Fine, I make no promises, but if the opportunity presents itself, I’ll see where it goes.”
“That’s all I ask,” Zoey cooed down the line.
“Bye, Zoe.”
“Call me after you have sex with him - I want details!”
The whirlwind that was Zoey hung up and I was left feeling the overflow of emotions, conflicting with everything that resided in my core beliefs.
I knew what she was getting at - what most of the girls in the Club engaged in. Sex Magick. But you couldn’t truly engage in or conduct Sex Magick without actually having sex.