The Binding Moon

This story for the Halloween 2019 Contest has elements of magic.

Eve Dumonde sat on her plush couch sipping red wine in her high rise condo overlooking Elliot Bay. It was Halloween night in Seattle and the twenty two year old decided to stay home and read a graphic novel when her sister called and changed her plans. So she popped open a bottle of red wine and waited for Stella to arrive. When the doorbell rang, she answered her door to greet her older sister.

"Hey."

"Hey."

Twenty seven year old Stella strolled in like a woman on a mission. Like her sister, Stella was tall and lithe, had a straight bridge nose, high cheekbones and creamy skin. The difference between the two Eve is a more subdued beauty with a rounder face, honey brown hair, big slate green eyes and soft pink cupid's bow lips. Stella is Gothic with dyed raven hair, vivid blue eyes, and ruby red lipstick on her thin lips.

"Want some wine?" Eve asked, holding up the bottle.

"Sure."

Eve poured her sister a glass as Stella set down her large leather shoulder bag and shucked off her leather motorcycle jacket before sitting on the couch.

She handed the glass to Stella and asked, "What was so important that you wanted to meet?"

"You know how when we were kids and we wanted to know what it's like to fuck a demon? I figured out how to do it."

She pulled her grimoire from her bag. Every witch has a book of magic. Some grimoires are passed down through the generations. Others are books of spells witches collect over time. And while Eve's meager grimoire contained love spells, herbal remedies and incantations to ward off negative energy, Stella's grimoire was two thirds full of all kinds of black and white magic from many different cultures.

Stella opened her leather bound grimoire and flipped to the last written page and said, "I found a spell on how to make a portal to hell in which a demon can't pass fully through and we can't be pulled into, but a part of them can come through. I wrote an incantation which will summon a demon through a chalk pentagram on a wall. We back our asses to the wall. He sticks his dick through it."

"A demon glory hole? Really?"

"Yes! Let's do it. I've got all the objects to make it happen."

Stella's phone began to ring. She looked at the screen to see it was her mother and answered it right away.

"Hi, mom. How are you?"

Their mother replied, "Good. Listen, you need to come home right away."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"It's Orion Cross."

"What has my brother done now?"

"Just come home as soon as you can. Now I've got to go and call your sister."

"She's with me."

"Halloween night and you two are together? What kind of mischief are you guys up to? I know you're not trick-or-treating."

"Nothing. We're just drinking some wine."

"Uh-huh. I'm sure whatever it is, it involves a penis. Anyways, you two get home now."

The sisters left the building and walked to Stella's car, driving north through downtown Seattle to the upscale enclave of Montlake, where a bridge separates their childhood home from some of the richest men in America. There were no trick-or-treaters in sight as they turned onto their well-kept street. The ocean mist was starting to roll in on this chilly night when they pulled up to the grey woodside house with white trim that would have been right at home in Cape Cod. Bewildered by their mother's urgency, Eve and Stella walked up the flagstone stepping stones to the unlit porch.

Stella knocked on the front door as she inserted her key into the lock. The two entered their family home before closing the door behind them.

Eve called out, "Mom?!"

"In the kitchen!" she cheerily replied.

They found their mother in the spacious white kitchen boiling water in a kettle. Summerbee Dumonde is beautiful woman. Svelte like her girls, with the same striking face of high cheekbones and a noble nose, she had Stella's blue eyes. She differed in the fact that her long hair was a lustrous silvery blonde. Though she was fifty, she looked much younger. She had on a long colorful bohemian Indian cotton dress. The daughters sauntered in and gave her a hug before sitting at the kitchen table. They didn't question why there was a caged mouse on the marble kitchen island. Once the kettle's whistle blew, Summerbee poured the boiling kettle water into the teapot.

She asked, "You two care for peppermint tea?"

They both replied no with headshakes. Summerbee bought the teapot to the table where she poured some into a delicate floral porcelain cup on a saucer. She pulled a small vial from her pocket before sitting and poured in the clear syrupy liquid into her cup which she stirred into brew.

Stella asked, "So what's going on with Orion?"

Summerbee sipped her tea before setting down the cup.

"Your brother is on the cusp of gaining great power. Power to destroy our world."

She pushed a stack of pictures gathered from the internet towards her daughters. They picked them up and began to review them. They were pictures of their handsome dark haired dimpled smiled brother shaking hands with Saudi sheiks, on mega yachts with Russian oligarchs, in a receiving line at Buckingham palace, with Chinese telecommunications giants.

Summerbee sipped some more tea before she continued. "He's been funding the development terrible new weapons and has been the advisor to rich men in power. His influence is strong. Two seers in the coven have seen the future. He creates a new world order where he's in charge and he's ruthless."

Eve said, "You make him sound like the anti-Christ."

Stella added, "I mean we can't cast spells on every asshole who's plundering the world. Why him?"

"He exposes those who are a danger to him. Witches. Worldwide. Many women, witch or not, will be slaughtered." Summerbee sipped her tea before continuing. "He's not evil, just selfish. With his power of enchantment and that golden tongue of his, no man can stop him. The high priestess called a gathering of the coven to discuss him."

Stella whined, "How come we never get invited to a coven gathering?"

Summerbee replied, "Until you do blood magic, you will remain postulants."

"But you forbid us to use blood magic," replied Eve.

"And there lies your conundrum. The coven and I tried binding his power a few months ago, but it didn't take. He is far more powerful than we imagined. Since he is my son, he is my responsibility. They blame me for bringing him into this world so they have tasked me with resolving the problem. If I don't, they will."

"Will what?" Eve asked.

"Kill him. No matter what he does or what he becomes, he's still my son and I love him. I always will. We must take away all of his power. I have found a way to do so but I can't do it alone. I need your help."

"Of course," Stella replied.

"Anything," Eve chimed in.

"It's not a spell we can cast from far away. It involves sex magic."

Eve and Stella exchanged glances of disgust and dismay.

Summerbee continued. "We share the same blood which connects us and it is only by being the blood of his blood that we can take away his power. It's going to take all of us to do it. I found a spell written in ancient Sanskrit. It's like tantric sex where each orgasm we make him have without having our one ourselves, his power will drain with his male essence until it's all gone. Then we replace it with positive white light."

Eve nervously chewed on her fingernails.

Stella asked, "Mom, really, there's got to be another way."

"If you don't want to, I understand, but some sacrifices must be made for the good of humankind. Orion is on the path to destroying us all. We have to lure him home."

Stella said, "I haven't spoken to Orion in three years. He wants nothing to do with us."

"You're going to call him," Summerbee replied. "You're going to tell him that I'm dying and that I want to pass my grimoire to him is as his right as first born."

Stella answered, "He'll know we're lying."

"He feels our feelings like I do," Eve added.

Summerbee calmly answered, "Then he'll feel your panic. I just drank shadow bane."

Stella's and Eve's eyes widened in horror. Their eyes were drawn to the empty vial beside Summerbee's cup and saucer.

Stella cried, "Mom! No!"

Eve became caught up in grief and terror as she knows that the deadly elixir known as shadow bane brings about a wasting away death. It was used to dispatch kings and queens of old. Tears sprung from Eve's eyes. She began to sob. She flew into her mother's lap, crying into her shoulder as Summerbee wrapped her arms around her in a loving hug.

Summerbee coolly said, "No, no, my darling. Don't cry. I brewed an antidote."

Stella asked, "Are you sure it'll work?"

"It should. I tested it on that mouse over there. Look, baby, he's still alive."

They looked up to see the healthy caged mouse actively drinking water from the cage's drip bottle.

Summerbee, brushed Eve's hair from her damp face, looked into her beautiful green eyes and smiled. "His coat is shinier than it was before." She looked at Stella and said, "The shadow bane will start taking affect in a couple of hours. I have about 96 hours to live. You must get Orion home. Come now. We must start the spell now. The moon is entering the perfect phase. It is a binding moon. I've collected everything we need but we must hurry before I become too weak.

-----------------

There is nothing Orion Cross Dumonde enjoys more than face-fucking a model. His phone was buzzing but he didn't care. Sensing it was his sister, Stella, the rakishly handsome thirty one year one year old was curious, but enough to answer. He felt her distress but his pleasure took precedence.

The model's hair was tightly wound in his fist. Spittle streamed from the naked girl's cock stuffed mouth as she gagged on his hard shaft.

"Yeah, gag on that dick," he said, holding her head in place.

She tried to disengage, pushing his thighs with her hands but he forced it further down her throat. And when she dry heaved over and over again, he finally let her up for air. She inhaled deeply before he thrust his hard-on down her throat. He quickly pumped it in and out without mercy, delighting in throttling her pretty mascara smeared face as she fought for air. His climax was just a heartbeat away. He shoved stiff member all the way down her throat and with a loud groan, he came. She gagged and retched as ropes of cum spurted down her throat. He held her head until he felt completely drained and when he finally released her, she fell back heaving and coughing onto the carpet. Orion collapsed backwards onto the hotel bed. Cumming feels so indescribably good. He wallowed in the feeling, not caring about the girl on the floor. But as much as he was enjoying the moment, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong with his family. He picked up his phone. Stella had left a message. He played it.

"Orion, it's Stella. It's mom," she tearfully said. "She's dying. She doesn't have long. She wants you to come home. She wants to make sure you get your inheritance; her grimoire."

Orion sat up.

"She's hidden the book and will only tell us if you're here. If you don't come, it'll be lost forever. She really wants to see you one last time. She's your mother. Please, please call me. We need you to come home."

Orion sat there in a daze. He sensed the panic and overwhelming grief from his baby sister, Eve. He called Stella.

He calmly said, "Hey, it's Orion."

"Thank God you called. You have to come home. Mom is very ill."

"What's wrong with her?"

"She has some kind of rare blood disease I can't pronounce. The doctors have given her less than a week to live. She only told us about it yesterday. She's in hospice at home. She's dying, Orion."

"And her grimoire?

"

"Is that all you care about?! You selfish dick! MOM IS DYING!"

"Okay, okay. Calm down. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Hurry. She's really bad."

With a swipe of the screen, Orion ended the call. He raked his hands through his dark curls. He could feel the life draining from his mom. She, who is so strong, has become incredibly weak. He needed to get home quick. He dialed a business associate who owed him a favor.

Dimitry Karavayev's Gulfstream jet glided westward in the night sky on a heading to Seattle. Orion sipped his whiskey from a crystal tumbler as he thought of his mother. Summerbee Dumonde. Such a beautiful woman. So, Zen and harmonious; it's sickening. All that power being wasted on growing herbs and flowers. Flitting around her garden like some wayward butterfly. And his sisters. They could marry billionaires, use their beauty and cunning to conquer any man or woman. Stella with her skilled potion making and spell casting. Emotional baby Eve with enchanting power which is unfortunately tempered by her insufferable empathy. His mother, the enchantress beloved by an entire coven of witches. But they settled for normality. Wasting spells to seduce loser musicians and artists. Piddling away the day in gardens financed by an inheritance left by his father after his tragic death. Together, the family could be unstoppable, create an empire, a dynasty. But instead, they were a fractured family. They despise him. He's the one who turned dad's tech investment business into the international financing institution that affords the family's comfortable lifestyle. He diversified the company to include weapons technology and turned it into a multi-billion dollar business, and these nature hugging, peace loving witches hate him for it.

Maria, the pretty air hostess, emerged from the plane's galley. She approached the only passenger onboard. Her blonde hair, secured into a low bun, and navy blue pencil skirt, white blouse and a red, white and blue scarf tied around her neck made her look very professional. The pale blue-eyed girl was as graceful as when she was a ballerina on stage at the Bolshoi ballet.

With a thick Slavic accent, she asked, "Would you care for dinner, sir?"

"What's on the menu?"

"Fillet mignon with roasted fingerling potatoes and asparagus or lemon grilled salmon with rice pilaf and summer squash."

"What about you? Are you on the menu?"

She leaned over. Her big fake breast strained against the buttons. She was taken by his hazel eyes of many colors. She purred, "Mr. Karavayev has instructed me to attend to any need you may have."

He leaned back to look at her ass. His hand drifted up her toned derriere as he returned his eyes to hers and asked, "Any need?"

----------

It was near midnight when the car service dropped Orion off at his childhood home. He sighed. Could this really be his mother's end? He remembered her baking cookies and her sweet laughter before pushing aside such saccharine memories. She's a meek soul in this cruel world. That's why she's dying. With his bag in his hand, he trudged up the flagstone steps to the porch and sighed once more before knocking on the door. Footsteps approached, the locks unlocked, the door opened and there stood Eve. Tears sprung from her eyes and she threw her body against his to smother him with a hug.

"Oree, you're home. I can't believe your home."

He patted her back. She was always a clingy little thing. He walked her backward as he made his way in to close the door behind him.

"How is she?"

Eve let go of him to wipe her hand across her tear stained face. "She's bad. Real bad. I don't know how much more her body can take."

He set down his bag and looked up the staircase which creaked as Stella descended the stairs. She stood before him with her arms crossed. Her sharp blue eyes stared daggers at him.

"Orion."

"Stella."

"Mom wants to see you."

He walked by her as he made his way up the stairs. Down the hall, past his old bedroom he walked to the master bedroom at the end of the hall. He opened the door. The dark room was lit by candles. The room smelled of orchids. And there she was as still as death in her bed. He gasped at the sight of her. Her face was sunken, her cheekbones more prominent than ever. With her love of yoga, she had always a trim woman. But her body was now a withered husk, ravaged to waxy gaunt remnants of thin skin over bones. Curled up in the crook of her arm laid Polo, a twenty year old Maine Coon cat his mother had rescued as a kitten when Orion was eleven. The big cat's great tufted ears flicked upon his presence. He raised his head and upon seeing Orion, his eerie orange eyes widened and it's pupils dilated.

Orion muttered, "Mangy old bastard. When are you going to die?"

Polo ears flattened back as he hissed at Orion. As Orion approached, Polo leapt off the bed to amble out of the room. Orion stood looking down at his fragile mother. His face softened. He couldn't help but feel pity for the woman who loved him most.

Alone with his mother, Orion took her frail hand in his and softly said, "Mom?"

Her eyelids fluttered open. She looked up at him and smiled. Her free hand reached up to touch his face.

She whispered, "Orion Cross. My baby. You're here."

She weakly squeezed his hand. Still holding it, he took a seat in the chair beside her bed.

"Of course I'm here."

"I love you."

"You rest mom. Don't speak. I'm here. Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere."

She smiled once more before her lips drooped as she fell into unconsciousness.

"She does that."

He turned to see Stella leaning on the door jamb. "Drifts in and out. Come on. Let her get some rest. Eve will sit with her."

Orion released his mother's limp hand, placing it upon her chest before leaving. Eve rushed past them as they came down the staircase.

In the formal green living room, furnished with silk upholstered furniture, Stella stopped at the wet bar and poured herself a drink.

"Want one?" she asked.

"I'll pour it myself."

He opened a sealed bottle of whiskey and poured some into a tumbler. He swirled it around before sipping.

Without thinking, he said, "She looks so bad."

"Dying's not pretty."

Orion sat on an oversized chair. He felt as though he were in some unbelievable dream. His head in a whirl, he sipped from his drink and then focused upon what he desired most.

He asked, "Has she told you where her grimoire is?"

"No. She was waiting for you to arrive."

"What if she dies before telling us?"

"God, you really are selfish."

"And you don't want it? Come on."

"Of course I do. All that knowledge passed down through the generations. It's so unfair you're the first born. It should be passed on to a woman as it has for centuries."

"Yeah, well, tough titties."

They both sipped their drinks.

"What if she passes in the night?" he asked.

Irritated, Stella asked, "Do you want to go ask her right now?"

"Yes."

He downed his drink before standing. Stella followed him up the stairs. They entered their mother's room to see Eve holding a cup to Summerbee's lips. Their mother sipped some liquid before stopping. Eve wiped her lips before putting the cup back to her mother's lips until Summerbee could drink no more. Eve set down the cup and wiped her mother's mouth before looking back at her siblings.

Stella asked, "How is she?"

Eve answered, "As well as can be expected."

Summerbee's eyes opened once more.

She rasped out, "I'm so happy my children are here. I love you. I love you all so much."

Orion and Stella pulled chairs close to her bed.

Stella said, "Mom. Now that Orion is here, we need to know where it is. Where is your grimoire?"

She took a couple of painful breaths before rasping out, "In the greenhouse, beneath the angel's trumpet."

Orion stood but her bony hand shot out to grasp his.

Her eyes focused upon his as she said, "It's not to leave the house until I die. I put a curse on it. It will mean your ruin if it leaves before I pass on."