Carefully, I close the cabinet doors and join him on the cushions in front of the altar, trying to not get distracted by the tight fit of his cropped singlet top, or the way the candlelight highlights the muscles of his biceps.
“Not in the least.” I smile. Thankfully, he laughs, bumping his knee into mine. “But I’m pretty sure no one’s going to get hurt, so it’s fine.”
“Pretty sure?” Nikolo’s knee stays pressed against mine.
Tipping my head from side to side, I hum. “Eh, there’s a risk with everything. But no pain no glory, that’s the saying right?”
Nikolo blinks rapidly at me, then stands up, brushing his hands on his ass then holding them up. “Yeah, I’m out.”
Quickly, I grab hold of his leg, yanking on his pants to pull him back. “Sit down, you big baby. You won’t get hurt. I won’t let anything happen to you. I got you, remember?”
Tsking, and barely smothering my laughter, I wave him back down to the cushion. Thank the Gods, he parks his perfect behind down again, though he gives me a playfully dirty look as he does.
“Fine. How do we do this?” He grumbles, shuffling forward until our knees are touching again.
“No idea, really.” He throws another look my way and I smile. “The information on this really is scarce. Vampires and magic is pretty taboo. Beings prefer to not put it out there how they’re doing it. But I figure we can play around with a few things that we do with the novice witches and see what works?” I hold out my hands, palms up. “Wanna get started?”
“Willan,” he lays his hands over mine, a smirk playing on his lips. “You had me at taboo.”
“Oh for the love of—” I groan, making him cackle with glee. “Shut up and close your eyes, you dork.”
He listens—but only after winking at me. Once the candle flames flicker to life, he’s all business.
It’s not easy, though. We try a few things, meditations, visualisations and me raising energy to push through one of our joined hands. Nothing works, though, the magic fizzling out before it can complete my proclaimed circuit.
There is, at least, a not insignificant highlight of the evening—the look on Nikolo’s face the first time I manage to push my magic into his fingers. It only lasts a brief second before it peters away, but the awe on his face will be embedded in my mind for eternity.
It’s enough to make me keep trying until the small hours of the morning when I’m too tired to keep going.
“I better go.” Nikolo whispers, rubbing my thigh after I blink a little too long.
Half-asleep at the door, I dither about kissing him goodbye. Nikolo makes the choice for me. Coasting his hand up my arm and over my shoulder, he grabs the back of my neck, hauling me against him for a searing kiss.
“Thank you.” He whispers against my mouth, slipping out the door before I can form a coherent thought.
Work keeps Nikolo from being able to come back for the next couple of nights, but then he’s back again, casually following me past Egbert's curious glances up the stairs to my ritual room. On our second night of trying, it’s easier to push the magic into Nikolo—much to his delight—but it doesn’t last long before fizzling out again.
“I don’t think I can take any more, Teach.” Nikolo says, removing his hand from my hold and giving it a shake. “That one kinda sizzled.”
“Fuck. Sorry.” I cringe. “I was getting frustrated. Not with you!” I quickly amend, when I realise what I’ve said. “With me. I feel like I’m close to cracking this, I just can’t… homework!” The answer comes mostly out of reflex. “I’m giving you homework.”
Nikolo groans loudly, flopping onto his back. “Nooooooo.”
“Oh please, I’m not going to make you write lines or anything.” Rolling my eyes, I lean back on my hands and let the plan form as I talk. “With our novice witches we get them to start building rituals into their life, even when they have about as much magic in them as a radish. It’s about building their connection to the Gods. That’s what I think you need to start doing.”
“And how do I do that?” Nikolo perks up, rising up onto his elbows.
“Anyway you want. Anything that makes you feel connected, it doesn’t have to be a big fancy thing. Meditation, dancing, gardening. Light a candle and think about the universe and your place in it and The Gods and magic and shit.” Nikolo raises a questioning eyebrow. “No, seriously, it doesn’t have to be some great big complicated thing, unless you want that. It’s about consciously building a personal connection to the Gods.”
“What if…” Nikolo bites his lip. “I kind of do this thing already. I stretch. Daily. Well, most days. It’s nothing special, but one of the vamps that was there, after I was turned—Ezra—he taught me a few things to, like, help my mind and stuff.”
“That… that’s awesome that you had someone there, who could do that for you.” Nikolo’s tentative smile breaks my heart just a little bit. “And if you feel that’s the best way for you to form a connection, to build on what you already do, that’s perfect. When you’re doing your stretchy thing, focus on your connection to the universe, the Gods. The magic that keeps you alive. Just… open the door to it.”
Nikolo, unsurprisingly, looks skeptical. This is one of those things that sounds kind of dumb until you begin to actually feel it. Usually that’s when the newbies lose it entirely, spooking themselves at the first taste of power.
“Just give it a go.” I push on his leg, mostly because I want to touch him.
“I dunno.” Nikolo’s eyes darken, and he knocks his leg back into me. “Sounds like a lot of effort. I might need some kind of motivation. A reward system. To keep me on track.”
