I recommend reading my first two chapters before reading this one.
*****
Deliah pulls up to a very nice house in a suburban area. She parks in the driveway so Zak and I follow suit. I get out of my car and walk up to Deliah with Zak right behind me.
"So this is my best friend, try not to embarrass me," she laughs lightly. We both nod and follow her to the door. She walks right in without knocking.
"Josephine! It's Deliah!" she yells out.
"Deliah! Come in, my love!" Josephine yells back.
"I brought the one who needs a ring, Jo. If you don't mind," she says as Josephine walks up to us. She looks both of us up and down and smiles.
"Which one is it?" she asks. Zak takes a small step forward awkwardly, probably astonished by Josephine's looks.
Josephine is tall; about 6' I would say. She has long, straight, black hair and brown-gold eyes. She has dark skin that contrasts well with her full red lips. Her black top shows her amazing cleavage and her hips and ass are stretching her jeans. She's just slightly heavier than average, but she pulls it off.
"Alright, and this delicious young man is?" she looks at me.
"This is Aleck," Deliah says.
"Shit, Deliah. If I had a guy like this, I'd never let him go," she hits her playfully, "Why'd you ever leave him? I can't imagine he's terrible in bed," she finishes, drinking me up with her eyes one more time before turning to Deliah again.
"Jo!" Deliah yells, then hits her back (a little less playfully), "I didn't let him go, we had to go our separate ways for awhile. I told you this."
"I know, I know. But still..."
I clear my throat and look at Zak, "So, uh, we should probably start on that ritual now, right?" I ask Jo, changing the subject.
"Yes, that's a good idea. Have you found out who his major vampire ancestor is?" she asks, turning to walk down the hall to a big backyard.
"No, but I can figure that out pretty quickly," I reply. Jo hands me a small knife and I grab Zak's arm. Before he can object I slice his hand open enough for a few drops of blood to come out.
"Ugh, what the fuck Aleck?" he asks. I ignore him and squeeze some of the blood onto my finger. The wound quickly heals and I taste his blood.
"It's me," I say simply. Zak glares at me while I pretend not to notice.
"What is your stone?" Josephine asks. She moves over to what looks like a very hot pot with what I believe to be sterling silver inside. It makes sense, given she's making a ring.
"Onyx," I reply, looking down at my ring. I hear her rummage around for a few seconds.
"Aha, I found it. Now, Zak. Come here."
He quickly follows orders and walks up to her. She finds a ring mold that will fit him, sets the stone inside, and dips a ladle like thing into the pot. She then drips some of the liquid into the mold. Before she sets down the mold, she grabs Zak's hand again and cuts it open. She drips a little of his blood into the ring mold.
"What the fuck?!" he asks, "That hurt. You guys need to stop doing that."
"Well, now it's over with, so no more," Deliah says.
"Now we wait for it to set and then you'll have a ring. By tomorrow you'll be able to go about your daily life," Jo tells Zak.
"Thank you so much, Jo," he replies. She smiles in response then leads us to her living room.
We all sit down, except for Jo, who offers to bring out tea for us to drink while we wait for Zak's ring to set. We all say we'd like some so she hurries off to her kitchen.
Deliah and I are seated on a black loveseat the closest to the sliding glass door that leads to Jo's beautiful backyard. Zak sits across from us, watching us. I can tell he wants to say something about Khalla, but I'm very glad he doesn't. Deliah is a jealous woman.
Deliah sets her hand on my knee and moves closer to me, so I look over at her. She smiles a stunning smile and leans up to kiss my cheek. The feeling of her lips on my skin makes my whole body tingle.
"You know, I'm very curious as to how you two met," Zak says, seeming hostile towards the thought of Deliah and I together.
"Well," I laugh lightly, "we first met centuries ago at a ball. This sounds very cliche, but I was dancing with the girl I was courting- I mean dating- at the time when I saw Deliah across the room. I dropped my date and almost ran over to her.
"She was talking to another guy, but I stopped him mid-sentence. Deliah had a choice, continue a conversation with a boy, or start up a new one with a man. She made the right decision," I smile down at her.
"I knew when we met eyes across the room that you were the one," she says. I know we sound very cliche, but at this point we don't care.
