Description: Chapter One: SUN The masculine principle, husband, or men in general Could I really see myself married to a . . . vampire? The diamond ring on my finger sparkled in the early morning light. My bicycle nearly ended up in the ditch more than once as my eyes kept straying to the golden band. Married? Me? It wasn''t that I didn''t love Sebastian. It had been easy to say yes, and I''d meant it. But, Sebastian was a vampire, and, well, neither of our lives was terribly conducive to marriage. I had a tendency to pick up and run in the middle of the night, although usually that was because I was being chased by Vatican assassins or the FBI or Voodoo Queens or because the Goddess I harbored in my belly had gone all destructo-wacko on somebody. Things had been calm for a few months now. In fact, I''d started negotiations with the owner of the occult bookstore I manage, Mercury Crossing, to buy him out with whatever loans and spare change I could patch together. I guess that must have gotten Sebastian thinking about settling. Settling! Did I mention he''s a vampire? My mind continued to try to wrap itself around the idea of the white dress when some kind of wild dog jumped out of the ditch. Okay, actually, it was just sitting there on the side of the road, munching on the road-killed remains of Bambi''s mom, but seeing it made me nearly fall off the seat of my bike. At first I thought it had to be a wolf, except the animal was too mangy and too leggy. As it hunched over the deer carcass, its chin dripped with blood. Our eyes met and I had that freakish feeling of a keen intelligence behind the glittering alien, inhuman gaze. So I did what any Witch who harbored the dark Goddess Lilith within her would do; I shrieked like a girl. "Argh! Go away, you big scary thing! Run! Scat!" I pedaled like a maniac, waved my arms, and tried to think bigger, threatening animal thoughts, instead of I-could-totally-be-eaten ones. The wolf, or whatever it was, cocked its head at me as though it thought I was the biggest dork in central Wisconsin. Then it padded into the cornfield. At least my close encounter with the wild kingdom got me thinking about something other than Sebastian for at two or three minutes. But once my heart rate had settled to normal, it shot back up again. Are there wolves in Wisconsin? Maybe, but was I really ready for marriage? # The sun beat down on the concrete mercilessly, and it wasn''t even eight a.m. yet. Sweat slicked my arms and my legs. Hopping off my bike, I leaned it against the cast-iron fencing around a scrub oak, not bothering to lock it. I''m sure there are plenty of bike thieves in Madison, Wisconsin, but State Street, where my bookstore Mercury Crossing is located, has a kind of hippy sensibility. I''d actually had my bike stolen once . . . and returned. I only knew it had been taken because the lock was broken and very carefully replaced. Having my bike "borrowed" was one of the reasons I loved Madison. That and the fact that no one even gave me more than a cursory glance in my bright bloodred mini and black, sparkling halter top. I wore spiderweb tights and black Converse high-tops. My hair was a mess of short, dyed-black spikes. I passed a guy in a suit, maybe even a politician, on his way up to the capitol building, and he gave me "the nod" of stranger-small-town greeting. I loved this town. Could I see myself living here as a married woman? I chewed on my lip. I''d think about that later. Right now I had a shop to run. # "Hey," William said with a bright smile. "Raise your right hand!" I slowly raised my hand, confused. I''d been shelving the discounted remaindered Wiccan books in the used section when William bounded up. William had been my friend since I started work at Mercury Crossing. He''d recovered nicely from having been possessed by his former girlfriend, the Voodoo Queen. You''d think William might have considered giving up on his constant search for "true" religion, given that several of the ones he''d found jumped up and bit him in the butt. But, like our friendship, William was remarkably resilient. In fact, our friendship hardly faltered despite the fact that he had tried to kill me; and William went on to try an on-line UFO cult the very next day. Speaking of which, I couldn''t tell what religion William was into today; he looked fairly normal. His mouse-brown hair hung in lanky curls to his shoulders and his round John Lennon glasses perched on the end of his nose. He wore a basic brown shirt, slacks . . . I noticed the red string on his wrist. Aha! Kabala! "Oh," William said after studying my upraised palm for a moment. "You''ve got your right-hand ring on the wrong finger." "My what?" "Right-hand ring?" William sounded less sure. "I''ve seen the ads in the New York Times Magazine . You know, treat yourself to a ring instead of waiting for a man. Oh." I watched the realization slowly dawn in William''s eyes. "But, you''ve got a . . . well, a significant other of male variety, er, species, or former human, or ex-human. Uhm." I thought I''d better put him out of his misery. "Yes, Sebastian asked me to marry him." "And you said yes? Are you insane?" It was a question I''d been asking myself. But, before I could reply, he went on. "It''s going to be all Highlander , Blossom. Think about it, in a dozen years it''s going to start looking like Ashton Kutchner and Demi Moore around your place. After that? Hello, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Well, except gender reversed. You know what I mean. Anyway, yikes! When you''re eighty, people are going to think he''s your grandson. How awkward is that going to be?" I should never have gotten William a subscription to In Touch for his birthday, yet I had to concede that he brought up a rather salient point. If Sebastian never aged and I did, how would we explain our apparent age difference to other people? Then, there was all the physical stuff. I''d have the advantage of always having a hot, young body next to me in bed, but Sebastian, well I shook my head; I didn''t want to consider fifty-six years from now when we hadn''t even set a date for the wedding yet. "We''ll cross that bridge and all that," I said to William, who was still clucking his tongue at me. "Yeah, sure," he said, unconvinced. "Anyway, didn''t that dude in Highlander love his wife forever, even when she was a hundred years old?" William frowned as though trying to remember. He sounded disappointed to have to admit, "Yeah, I guess he did." He tapped a finger against his cheek a few time, then pointed it at me. "What about the ghouls? Are they going to be bridesmaids?" "Come on, that''s hardly fair," I said sharply. "Now you''re just looking for reason not to be happy for me, William." Truth of the matter was that I sincerely didn''t want to think about the ghouls right now. The whole needing-other-people-for-sustenance thing was an issue Sebastian and I had yet to tackle. "Sorry," William said curtly. "Congratulations." I opened my mouth to say something, anything, to break the increasingly awkward silence, when he said, "Oh, and that lady from Bear Claw Press is here." His abrupt switch of subject startled a laugh out of me. Pretty soon William smiled too. I flashed him a fond look as I made my way to the counter where the publisher''s rep waited. What did I say? Resilient. William and I were cool again. I spent the rest of the morning listening to pitches about the newest books on aromatherapy, holistic living, and acupuncture for your pets. # The afternoon was so slow that I let William go home early. Then, wouldn''t you know it? About a half hour to close everyone and their dog decided today was the day to buy candles, tarot decks, and smudge sticks. I was ringing up items and answering phone calls, while trying to direct people where to find the section on Rolfing. In the middle of all this chaos, a woman came up to the counter and introduced herself as Marge. Marge had a broad, smiling face, long graying curls, and a loud Hawaiian shirt on. "I saw your poster about the open audition for the coven." I''d warded the poster so that only people with magical talent could read it. I squinted at Marge, giving her my aura test. She had an earthy green aura, held tightly against her body, but very strong. I''d guess she was a green Witch or a kitchen Witch with that kind of energy. There was something else that caught my magical eye momentarily. A bright glow emanated from a dog-shaped charm that hung around her neck on a silver chain. I was about to ask Marge about the necklace when business interrupted. A long line of customers formed behind Marge. "Are you buying anything?" I asked her. She smiled and shook her head. I expected that she''d move to the side, but she didn''t. Thus, I had to reach around Marge to take an amber necklace a customer offered. Marge, meanwhile, seemed completely oblivious to the fact that she was blocking the flow of paying customers. "I''m looking forward to the meeting tonight," Marge said. "Uhm, oh yeah, me too," I said, suddenly remembering I had been hoping to slip out early myself to go grab munchies and lemonade for the meeting tonight. Sebastian and I had decided it was time to start our own coven. It was a big step for me, committing again. My last coven had been murdered by the Order of Eustace, a rogue paramilitary organization bent on destroying practitioners of true magic, who take very literally the line in Exodus about not suffering a Witch to live. I''d only survived because I was late to the meeting, and because I had the presence of m

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