I have had to repost because I mucked up posting Chapter 3! This bit went on longer than I thought so the good bit starts next chapter! Daria's blessing comes from Fiona Horne's book 'Magical Sex'. PLEASE! R&R thanks Allie
Gabriella made her way to where she knew her father would be tonight. Sunday evenings he met with his fellow members of the Brotherhood of the Cross in crypt of the Cathedral downtown. Gabi was not supposed to go there as she was female, but she knew that they would not object to her presence tonight. Not with the imfomation she was bringing in the object in her pocket.
When she entered, all the men turned at once to look at her. Her father stood from the table and made his way towards her.
"Gabriella! What is the meaning of this! You know you are not meant to be here!"
She bowed her head submissively, "Father, Brother's." She bowed slightly towards the gathered men, "I appologise for coming here unbidden, but I have infomation I thought you would want to know straight away." One of the other men tutted.
"And what could a girl like you possibly know that would be of interest to us?"
Reaching into her pocket she removed the stone cross that was in there and placed it on the table. Several of the men showed signs of shock.
"What are YOU doing with a Cruciform?" One of them demanded to know. She rubbed her finger's over the stone at the centre which again briefly shone sapphire blue.
"Oh my God!" Her father exclaimed watching as the stone returned to clear. Gabi grinned up at him and then around the table.
"I know who the Sapphire is."
)O( )O( )O(
Troy was confused after him meeting with Gabi and the message in his head. Going indoors his mother had called him to the table to eat the sandwich that she had made for him on their return to home. He ate slowly and she could tell he was distacted.
"Troy, is any thing wrong? She asked. He paused, not wanting to alarm her with the content of the message.
"Do you ever get messages, from other gifteds, other people.?"
"What kind of messages?" She leant over the table and looked into his blue eyes.
"Oh! Emm! That's not important! Do you?" Lucy thought she knew what he meant and laughed. How different she would have felt if she knew the truth.
"Oh! I see! You've been getting contact from girls!" He forced a smile, well he had, just not the kind that she thought. "oh yeah! I've had 'messages' mainly from your father, but recently from some old friends too."That quite surprised Troy and his eyes went wide. "Oh we met up with some of our old friends while you were off having fun being opened." He blushed at his mother talking about that. "By the way, are we going to next weeks function? Cos I'm rather looking forward to that!" She grinned as she walked away, confident that she knew what contact her son had had and that all was well.
"So what exactly happens at a function?" Troy called after her. "Is it a kind of party?"Lucy turned and giggled before leaving him alone in the kitchen.
"Oh yeah! Lots of fun to be had at a function! Lots of fun indeed!"
)O( )O( )O(
A week later Troy was again getting ready to make his way to the temple. His mother had told him he needed to were nothing special to this event, he could take his robe if he wanted to. He wore skinny jeans, converse and a black t-shirt, dressed like many other boys of his age. He was rather surprised by the outfit his mother wore though! He had never seen his mother dress like that before! A long shimmering crimson dress cut deep at the front and even deeper at the back showing off most of her spine. His father wrapped an arm around his wife and kissed her tenderly.
"What do you think, son? Think I got the most beautiful woman gonna be there?" Troy gave a little gulp.
"Oh yeah! Mom, you look awesome!" Lucy smiled.
"And I'll be arriving with the two most handsome guys there!" She leant over and kissed her son's cheek as her husband opened the frontdoor and led his family out to the car.
)O( )O( )O(
When they arrived at the house this time there were lots more people there than on Troy's last visits. They went in through the front doors but this time they were directed up the double staircase that went up both ways above the temple. Another set of elaborate double doors opened onto a vast ballroom. There were elaborate chairs and chaises set around the edges of the room. Long silk drapes hung over the entrances to several cushioned alcoves and doors led of to other rooms at regular intervals around the room. People milled around chatting and greeting each other, several rushed over to say hallo to Troy's parents. It had been a long time since they had attended a function and some of their old friends had not seen them for a long while, some many years. Troy stood by his parents and looked round at all the unfamiliar faces, He recognised the Priestess,Daria, of course, and Kris who he'd met at his opening. He'd been surprised to learn after that Kris was actually his godfather and had once been close friends with his parents. When they had withdrawn from their brethren they had quickly lost contact with a lot of their friends as they had continued to follow gifted life. As he glanced around the room his eyes settled on someone he had not expected to see here, Ryan Evans who went to school with Troy. As he looked closer he realised that Ryan's twin, Sharpay, and both their parents were in attendance also. Ryan must have been able to feel the weight of Troy's stare as he turned round at that exact moment and caught the other boy's gaze. He lifted his hand in greeting then turned back and spoke to his mother, she turned to look at Troy too. Then she blew him a kiss! Troy turned back to his parents a little in shock. What the hell was going on here? Still no one had explained anything to him, when he asked his parents what happened at a function, they just laughed and said, "Wait and see!"
)O( )O( )O(
At nine o'clock Daria came to the front of the ballroom.
"Good evening brothers and sisters!" she called. Around the room many people called back to her, "As you know you now have an hour for refreshments and catching up with friends before the function begins properly. We still have some newbies here who don't know what to expect, what fun!" She laughed and others chortled along with her. Troy felt his hands beginning to get sweaty, he was nervous. He still did not know what was to be expected of him. Daria held up her hand to quieten the room down and continued.
"After an hour I will make the blessing and we can begin. Newbies I suggest you get yourself an armband from that table over there," She pointed back to a desk by the now closed doors."Wander round, watch what is going on, I'm sure you'll soon get into the swing of things!" Laughter filled the room again.
"No one may accost you while you wear the band, but you can watch and remove it at any time. But if you haven't removed it by midnight...We don't care! Then you are anyones!" People roared with laughter and for the first time Troy suddenly realised that something sexual was about to go down.
"Enjoy yourselves, my brethren! It is nearly time to begin!" She stepped back into the throng as whoops and cheers filled the air and music drifted up from hidden speakers.
)O( )O( )O(
Jack took hold of his son's arm and led him over to the table by the doors. There didn't seem to be many takers for the arm bands and the woman handing them out looked a little bored. She soon brightened up when she saw Troy and his father coming her way though. Rushing from her station she squealed in delight and threw her arms around the elder man's neck.
"Jack Bolton! So it's true! You're finally back with us!"
"Hello, Michie! Nice welcome!" Jack laughed as he hugged her released her hold on him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek instead.
"I hope you don't think you need an armband, I'm sure you know what to do, no matter how long you've been away from us!"
Jack reached behind him and drew Troy to his side. He guestured to his son.
"Newby." He said. Michie's eyes opened wide as she stepped forward and took hold of the boy's hands.
"Troy? Is that really you?" He nodded, he thought he definitely remembered this lady."I can't believe it! Last time I saw you you were a curly haired little blonde cutie."
"Yeah, well. He grew up!" his father exclaimed.
"And grew up well!" She reached back to the table and picked up a white bandana and began to tie it around Troy's left bicep.
"Do you know what goes on at a function, Troy?" She asked finishing tying the band.
"Erm? Not really. Everyone just tells me it will be fun." He smiled at her hoping she would explain it.
"I'm sure you'll soon figure it out, I won't spoil the surprise!"
Troy realised no one was gonna tell him so he just resigned himself to the mystery.
"Lovely to see you again, Jack. Perhaps we'll get properly reaquainted again later." She winked at him," Tell Lucy I said Hi."
)O( )O( )O(
Troy and his father made their way back to find his mother, she was busy chatting to Daria. Troy had been looking round for Lynnit but had seen no sign of her. He still wasn't really sure what to call the Priestess yet, so he called her ma'am.
"Ma'am, did the british Priestess go home?" He asked, he was just curious, it wasn't like he'd spent the last two weeks thinking about bedding her, much! Daria grinned at him.
"She'll be here!" She laughed, taking his hand in her's. Troy's face flushed red.
"She had to go to the airport to pick up her acolyte. They should be here soon. And don't call me ma'am, my name is Daria. You always called me that before there is no reason to change that now. Even if you are gonna be back as one of my ?" She gripped his shoulder and looked into his eyes. He nodded back. "Good! Now let's go get some food before the fun begins!"
)O( )O( )O(
She lead Troy and his parents through the throngs of people towards the tables that were heaving with all kinds of good things to eat. As they passed through lots of people greeted his parents and he heard lots of people as he passed saying things like, "Is that him?" and "Can you believe they found him?" Troy glanced back at some of them, puzzled. Were they talking about him? Surely not.
His attention was caught by Daria calling his name, he turned to face her and she stood with a piece of asparagus wrapped in parma ham in her grip.
"Open up!" she giggled and fed the tasty morsel into his mouth. "Nice?" She asked. He nodded as he finished chewing, barely aware that his parents had slid off up the table leaving their son and heir with the Priestess.
"Asparagus is an aphrodisiac, you know." She told him. Troy blushed again. Now he was sure something sexual was about to go down! She offered him another spear and gave him the wickedest wink. He accepted the treat. Goddess help him!
)O( )O( )O(
Troy stayed pretty close to his parents for most of the hour. He ate some more food, drank some soda and generally just watched what was going on in the room. Aside from the Evans' there wasn't really many other people he knew.
At about five to ten, two men arrived in the room carrying huge pitchers of wine which they put down on two little tables at the front near another table full of glasses. Troy guessed that this was probably more of the wine he had had at his opening. As the time approached the hour the music was shut off and the Priestess came to stand between the two tables. Everyone immediately turned to face her and moved closer to the front. She lifted up her hands to call for silence which spread through the room.
"Brothers and sisters, please join hands for the blessing." Her voice carried clearly through the silence. Troy found himself suddenly holding hands with a just arrived Lynnit and Ryan Evans, who grinned at him, then licked his lips seductively. Raising her own hands to the ceiling Daria began the blessing.
"Blessed Be the Goddess of life eternal
Blessed Be the God of the powers of life
Gathered tonight we celebrate our existence
And in each other's arms we taste our sustenance"
"Let the pleasure begin!"
Daria rushed forward into the throng, when she reached Jack Bolton she took his right hand in hers, then spun so their grip draped over her shoulder. She began to lead him off across the room. They both picked up glasses of wine on their way off to one of the doorways around the room. Troy watched in shock and looked round for his mother, but she already held a glass of wine and was heading off in the opposite direction with his godfather, didn't realise that Ryan was still near him until the other boy touched his arm. He swung round to face him.
"Just thought I'd tell you, when you decide to discard the bandana, look for me. I'll play with you!" Then the lean blonde dancer disappeared into the crowd .