I do not own Queen of the Damned or The Truth About Teens and Sex. I do have a copy of the last one generously given to me by my grandmother for Christmas.
Chapter 8
Megumi set the bonfire tin in the middle of an open field behind the apartment building. Everyone stood around it, some people set boxes of other items on the ground in front of them. Risty stood in the middle of the circle, next to the tin. Inside the tin was wood, but they weren't going to burn that, yet.
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here tonight, to destroy the gifts of this man." Risty held up a picture that was impossible to see in the darkness. "Sister Shante, because you are the one who has been hurt by this man, would you do the honors?"
"Yes, Mother, I would be honored." Shante stepped forward and the others moved in to fill the gap.
"Sister Sensei, the matches."
Sensei moved forward and handed Shante a pack of matches, then moved back into the circle. Risty held the picture in the air as Shante struck a match and lit a corner of the picture. Risty threw it into the tin and everyone (except the boys) applauded.
When the fire was high enough to see by, Risty began speaking again. "Now, we shall commence burning these material possessions, given to Sister Shante by this man. As the possessions burn, so will his hold on your heart, and when we are finished, you shall forever be free of this man and you shall be free to return to your happy, normal self. Sister Megumi, would you begin?"
Megumi stepped forward. "Gladly, Mother." she picked an object out of one of the boxes on the ground. "This is an item given to you by this man, that I shall not hold up, for the company we have."
"No," Shante whispered. "I don't care. I want everyone to see what happens here, so that there are no non-believing waves to interfere."
Megumi held up a pair of red, lace underwear. "As they burn, you shall be freed." Megumi intoned, tossing them into the fire.
"Thank you, Sister."
"Sister Sensei? Would care to be next?"
"Yes, Mother." Sensei picked up a small bag. "I'm sure everyone knows what's in here, and I'm not entirely sure we should burn them, I don't want Sister Shante to become mother Shante."
The group stifled their laughter. The boys did a worse job of it.
"What's in the bag?" Kuwabara asked Yusuke.
"If you don't know by now, you don't deserve to know." Yusuke muttered.
"Please, Sister."
"Alright, alright. But only for you Shante. As they burn, you shall be freed."
Shante smiled at her friend as she rejoined the circle.
"Sister Ryu, please continue."
"Of course, Mother." Ryu stepped forward, her wings folded gently against her back. She pulled a photo frame with Brandon's picture in it and threw it into the fire. "As it burns, you shall be freed. He wasn't that good looking anyway."
The girls hid their laughter as she stepped back into place.
"Sister Robin, you next."
"Mother." A shorter girl with light-brown hair stepped into the middle of the circle and pulled a finger-knit scarf out of the box and put it in the fire. "As it burns, you shall be freed. He was never a very good knitter." she commented before taking her place.
"Sister Kitten, step forth."
"I would be honored, Mother." Kitten snatched a stack of C.D.s out of the box as casually threw them into the fire. "As they burn, you shall be freed. And when we're done, you shall receive new copies."
The group laughed again, and Risty had to fight to keep her voice steady as she ordered: "Kurama, the Honorary Sister of our group, or shall I say, the first Honorary Brother of our group, step forward."
Follow the example of those before him, Kurama muttered, "Yes, Mother." and randomly picked something from the box and wound up holding another pair of lace underwear, this one a black thong. His face, as well as Shante's, turned a bright red as he quickly threw them into the fire and muttered: "As they burn, you shall be freed." Just as quickly.
"Brother Yusuke?"
Yusuke stepped forwardly hurriedly, picked something up without looking at it, and threw it into the fire.
"Yeah, whatever."
Risty shot him a death glare and he muttered something before returning to his space in the circle.
Risty held her breath, dreading the next two parts. "Brother Kuwabara, please."
Kuwabara walked up and picked out an innocent looking book. Smiling he held it up and the title was caught in the light, The Truth About Teens and Sex.
"I thought you threw that out a while ago." Risty whispered.
"No, I just hid it and forgot about it." Shante whispered back.
Kuwabara threw it hastily into the fire, mumbled "As it burns, you shall be freed", and returned to his space between Yusuke and Hiei.
"Brother Hiei? If you would."
Hiei had to admit, there was something he liked about this ritual. It was for a good cause, and if he didn't he knew Risty would do something bad to him, so he stepped forward, pulled a small pile of DVDs from the box, and burned them.
"I'll get you another copy of Queen of the Damned." he promised. "No one should have to go without it, even if they were dumped."
Shante had heard about Hiei from Kurama, that was all she was going to get from him, and the fact that he had gone along with everything was enough to earn him her respect.
"Thank you Hiei." she whispered.
Hiei turned and looked at her, crimson eyes unreadable, before returning to his spot in the circle.
"Sister Rogue, if you would finish for us?"
Rogue stepped forward happily, she had always wanted to be the last in the circle. "Yes Mother."
She picked up the box and threw it, and the rest of its contents, into the flames. "As they burn, you shall be freed."
"We may now continue. Sister Kina, bring forth your item."
Kina stepped forward with the two bottles of Arrogant Bastard Ale. Risty took one of the bottles and handed it to Shante. Both girls began shaking their bottles.
"This man is, and forever will be, an arrogant bastard. So we know fuel the flames of destruction with this ale."
The girls popped the tops off and allowed the fizz to overflow onto the fire.
"Dump them."
The bottles were emptied as the flames grew ever higher, lighting the night sky.
"Now we must initiate our new Brothers by putting them in women's underwear and making them do the Macarena while we tape it to post on our web page." Risty stated.
The boys moved to run when everyone started laughing.
"Risty!" Sensei scolded. "I mean, Mother! Please just finish the ritual and stop messing around!"
"Alright. These are the flames of Hell." Risty intoned solemnly. "They burn this man and his selfish heart for the rest of eternity. And now they shall provide us with a means to roast marshmallows to be mixed with chocolate on a grahm cracker."
Everyone dropped their seriousness and began getting marshmallows and metal sticks from Ryu's bag. Ryu began pulling out chocolate bars and grahm crackers. And placing them on top of the box Robin had brought. Kina came running back from the house with bottles of soda and cups. Even Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei joined the group roasting marshmallows. As the sounds of talking and laughter filled the air, Shante pulled Risty aside.
"A full moon," Risty commented. "He picked a good day to dump you."
"Was she really here Ris?" Shante asked, watching the sky.
"Didn't you feel them? They always come to us during these things. I know I feel them, and person in the center normally does too."
"Why only when you're in the center?"
"Because they stand there with you. They were both there, Nefertiri on your right, Rysta on your left. And when you're in the center, you're more aware of what's going on. You really didn't feel them?"
Shante looked at her friend. "I might have." She looked back at the sky. "I felt someone touch my shoulder but, I thought is was just my imagination. Like when you sit in church and they're saying how God is always with you, and you feel like someone's holding you."
"But you always think it's just your imagination because of what's being said." Risty finished.
"And I felt power, but I thought it was just the ritual, I always feel power during the ritual." Shante looked back at the others. "But it's normally faded by now."
"A party, around a bonfire, fueled by alcohol, after we silently intoned her. Rysta's going to be here most of the night count on that." Risty smiled. "Come one, you're missing your own party, and don't think I didn't see how you were looking at Hiei." she teased.
"Oh shush. I was just surprised he would say something that nice. The way Kurama talks about him, you'd think he would rather gouge his own eyes out with a spoon then help us with something like this."
"The way Kurama talks about who?" Kurama asked, walking up to the girls.
"Hiei." Shante answered.
Kurama's eyes widened.
"What about Hiei?" Hiei asked, approaching the group.
Seeing Hiei with his mouth covered in chocolate and marshmallow made Risty and Shante laugh so hard they cried, and it took all Kurama had to keep himself from laughing along with them.
"Nothing." he managed to say.