by Noah Layton
‘You might need to,’ she smiled, folding her arms and examining me with another smile.
‘What do you mean?’
‘It doesn’t matter. Come on, dinner’s almost ready.’
I followed her downstairs and through the huge house, along the same path that I had seen Lois move through. A huge living space with luxurious couches and armchairs surrounded a large flat-screen on the wall. Odd objects were situated on shelves and along bookcases – a skull made of resin, more stacks of old volumes, an array of empty jars and vials…
The delicious smell of seasoned meat led the pair of us to the kitchen, where Lois was finishing up making dinner. A large wooden table in the centre of the room surrounded by seven seats was already set for four people.
‘It’s almost ready,’ Lois announced, not looking up from the stove. ‘Scarlett, could you call Brianna?’
‘Yes, boss,’ Scarlett said sarcastically, saluting lazily and winking at me before prancing through the kitchen and into another room.
‘How are you feeling?’ Lois asked, looking up before doing a double-take at my new coat. ‘Interesting choice of attire.’
‘Thanks… Scarlett let me wear it. Y’know, considering the bandages.’
‘I haven’t seen that thing since we first found it.’
‘You don’t like it?’
‘It’s not that… It’s just, it’s the coat that the warlock who used to run this coven wore.’
‘Warlock?’ I asked. ‘You said that about the ritual that you carried out on me… The Warlock Ritual?’
‘Yeah… As you’ve probably guessed, we’ve got a lot to discuss. But that’s always easier when there’s food.’
‘Right…’
‘She’s coming up,’ Scarlett said, reappearing with bare footsteps against the wooden floor. ‘Oh, Tom, there’s something that you need to know…’
‘Oh, yeah,’ Lois said, looking as if she had reminded herself of something. ‘Brianna isn’t… Well, she’s not completely human.’
I took the smallest of steps back, looking between the girls.
‘What do you mean, not human?’ I asked slowly, mentally mapping out the route to the front door in case I needed to make a break for it. ‘Is she like that thing in the attic? Or some kind of monster?’
‘She’s definitely not a monster,’ Scarlett laughed. ‘But you’re gonna end up staring at her.’
‘I don’t care what she looks like,’ I said quickly. ‘I’m not like that, I just…’
‘Oh, no,’ Lois said, setting out the bowls of food in the centre of the table. ‘Believe me, you’re gonna wanna stare at her.’
Before I had a chance to ask what she meant, Brianna came sauntering casually into the room. Their words spoke immediately for themselves; she was wearing nothing but a set of tight, black lingerie that accentuated her busty chest and round ass, framing her slender, toned stomach as she walked in with her shoulders back and her head held high, and matching her long, deep-black hair.
But that wasn’t the most eye-catching thing about her – not by a long-shot.
Brianna’s skin was a blood-red shade, matched only in impressiveness by her eyes, which swam with a blue and purple light in the irises.
Not even a semblance of shock had hit me – all I wanted to do was fuck her.
My vision suddenly blurred with a purple and blue cloud, the same shade that swam in her eyes, and I staggered against the table.
‘Deep breaths,’ I heard Brianna’s voice say through the swimming pools of color that obscured my vision. I saw the shape of her arm rise up, and the cloudy colors were quickly sucked away from my line of sight and into her hand, every single atom moving towards her before they vanished completely into her palm.
I was still grabbing the edge of the table, balancing myself before slumping into the closest chair. When I looked back up all of the girls were smiling at me, in between casually going about finishing off dinner preparations.
‘What the hell was that?’ I asked, looking over at Brianna sceptically, who still looked hot beyond belief but not in the same way that had made me lose my inhibitions.
‘The curse that comes with any succubus,’ she replied. ‘Everybody wants to fuck me. It’s kind of like a… Passive ability, I guess. But one that I can call back when I want.’
She rounded the table and held out a hand, which I steadily took with my own and shook. Her skin was warm and electric to the touch, just without the unpleasant shock.
‘A succubus?’ I replied.
‘In the flesh,’ she said casually, returning to her seat. ‘Well, half a succubus. My mother enjoyed the company of a man on Earth a little too much, and here I am.’
‘I thought you said that you were witches?’
‘We are,’ Lois commented. ‘Brianna is too. Our coven offered to take her in, and now she’s a part of our chapter.’
‘Your chapter? So there’s more than one coven?’
‘Oh, there are many scattered across the country. One or two per state, mostly.’
‘We can talk while we eat,’ Scarlett said. ‘Let’s dig in.’
I had more questions than I knew what to do with, but my sudden awareness of my hunger quickly superseded my need for answers.
Surveying the spread on the table, though, my mind was sharply alerted of two things.
Firstly, just how much food there was. Even if there were four of us and even if I hadn’t eaten in all day, this was still a hell of a banquet. Meats, spices, grated cheese, all by the bowlful. Was this just how witches did it? For all I knew they could just summon this stuff with the flick of a wand.
The other thing was much more sinister; how did I know that none of this was poisoned or filled with some hallucinogenic drug designed to send me insane?
If they wanted me dead by now they would have probably done it already, and done it easily… But still…
I had jumped the gun upstairs with Scarlett when she had led me into the darkened closet, but this still had me on edge; I waited for the girls to start eating, confirming that none of it was tainted, before digging in.
My hunger led to a total lack of shame about how much I took; while the girls all ate normal portions, I took a mountain of a plate, trying to balance my ravenous hunger with my desire to appear to have some manners in front of the three hottest girls I had ever met in my entire life.
When I had finally satiated my strangely explosive hunger after a minute of eating, I returned to the girls.
‘So what did you do to me in that room?’ I finally plucked up the nerve to ask. ‘I was tied to the floor, you were floating… You called it the Warlock Ritual?’
Brianna took up a glass of wine and swirled it in the glass delicately.
‘The only way for us to save you was using that ritual,’ she said. ‘It was a choice between dying and carrying it out, and we had to work fast before you succumbed to the poison from the beast’s claws.’
‘So what is it?’ I asked. ‘Some kind of… Healing spell? As weird as it feels to say that…’
‘It transforms the person who it is cast upon into a warlock,’ she replied. ‘As the name of the spell would suggest.’
I was taking a from a glass of water when she spoke, and couldn’t help but cough hard against it when I heard that word again.
‘A warlock…? You mean like a wizard?’
‘Not exactly,’ Lois said. ‘That coat you’re wearing belonged to the warlock that used to run this coven, like I said. That was years ago, back when our predecessors occupied it. Every coven used to have a warlock that ran it. They’re… Kind of like a master. They manage the coven and lead the witches that occupy it. Over the past century, though, the notion of warlocks isn’t paid attention to that much. Some covens have them, some don’t…’
‘So I’m just… me, then?’ I asked. ‘It doesn’t make any difference?’
The girls all shared a quick glance, before Brianna spoke up.
‘It makes
all the difference. Now that you have been unofficially inducted into our order, you will begin to possess powers that mortal humans only hear about in fairy tales and fantasy books. It’s the reason we were so apprehensive about carrying out the ritual in the first place.’
I sat back in my chair, taking a deep breath.
‘What kind of powers are you talking about?’
‘The magical energy that you now possess doesn’t take a specific form at first,’ Scarlett said. ‘But y0u will know when it does… We just have no idea how it will initially manifest. Or when. We know that the process worked, that’s why we cooked so much food.’
‘What?’
‘I’ve never carried out the ritual before,’ Brianna said, ‘but from the texts that I’ve read, those who have carried it out remark on the subjects appetite being greatly increased as their body and mind adjusts to their new powers.
So that’s the reason for this banquet.
‘Look,’ I said slowly. ‘I’m not doubting anything that you’ve told me so far, but… This is all just a little too crazy for me. I mean I’ve grown up with these stories, but for them to actually be true, for there to be an actual coven of witches in a neighbourhood that I’ve walked through for years…? How am I supposed to take this?’
‘Not in any particular way,’ Lois said. ‘It is what it is.’
‘I’ve got a better idea, Tom,’ Scarlett said, turning to me. ‘Why don’t you join us?’
‘Join you?’
‘We talked about it while you were out,’ Brianna said. ‘Sooner or later your powers will appear, and they may as well be put to good use. There were two possibilities from the point at which you were injured; become a warlock or die. There was no other way.’
‘You displayed considerable strength of mind and bravery in the attic,’ Lois complimented. ‘Not only resisting the saplings released by the vines but holding off the creature until we arrived, even as a mortal. It was impressive to say the least.’
‘Maybe fighting off the creature, but strength of mind?’ I nodded to Brianna. ‘You had me with your powers from the moment you walked in.’
‘I’m half-succubus and you are a human male,’ she purred. ‘There are few men alive who are not able to resist my call. Men who desire women, anyway, and you clearly fit into that category.’
I tried to think of a witty comeback but there was no way that that was happening considering I was being eyed by three hot witches.
‘So…’ I said, taking up one of my fajitas and taking a gluttonous bite. ‘As a coven, what do you actually… Do?’
‘Every coven situated across the United States is responsible for a jurisdiction,’ Lois said.
‘You mean like the cops?’
‘Pretty much. It’s our job to stop creatures that break through from other dimensions, to exorcise demons, to slay monsters… And to make sure that the people of your world don’t find out about such things.’
‘So every time somebody’s heard a rumour about a monster or thinks that they’ve seen a ghost… All of those have been true.’
‘Sometimes,’ Lois said. ‘Sometimes they’re just crazies. But like we said, there are things out there that aren’t in any of our history books.’
‘And you guys stop them?’
‘We try to,’ Scarlett aid. ‘Sometimes they get ahead of us and things get messy.’
‘You read my mind,’ I smiled. ‘This town is renowned for supernatural rumours.’
‘And this coven is under the microscope,’ Brianna said. ‘The head of the order has been on our backs for a year about the frequent occurrences here, but it’s not our fault. We’re understaffed and undersupplied…’
‘And…’ Lois said. ‘If they find out that we inducted a mortal into our ranks, shit will really hit the fan.’
I sat back in my seat, pausing my eating for a moment as the balance of priorities tipped towards that matter at hand.
‘I understand what you’re saying,’ I continued, ‘but… I’ve got a life. I’m in my final year of college. My finals are in a couple of months and… Look, I think I need to get some air.’
‘You’re leaving?’ Scarlett asked, her face taking on that same look she had given me upstairs.
‘I’m just gonna take a walk if you girls don’t mind. I’m not gonna make a run for it, don’t worry.’
‘We’d find you even if you did,’ Brianna winked. She said it in the sexiest way imaginable, but considering she was part-succubus I didn’t know if she meant it like that or if she meant that she would literally hunt me down… When it came to her and the fact that she had wings, probably both.
‘Thanks for dinner,’ I said, the three of them seeing me to the front door. Light no longer seeped through the gaps in the blinds, which meant it was likely to be quiet outside.
The girls crowded round me, looking around awkwardly, before all three of them hugged me.
I was totally taken off-guard, particularly considering how borderline intimidating I had found them when they had first revealed themselves to be witches; even if they were all totally different in their demeanours, a moment of instant vulnerability led to them wrapping their arms around me – I stood a little taller than them all, becoming a head surrounded by hot girls.
Not that I was complaining.
‘What’s wrong?’ I asked.
‘We aren’t often in the company of men,’ Scarlett said.
‘Particularly one as welcoming as you,’ Lois added.
‘I must agree,’ Brianna said matter-of-factly. ‘Even though I get pretty tired of men going after me because of this damned power, it’s been so long…’
They were literally starved of a man. I didn’t know whether to feel good or bad about it, but I was here, and even if they were witches, I felt sorry for them. I had complete misconceptions about them, much like everybody when thinking of something that you objectively think doesn’t exist.
‘Why haven’t you been around any guys?’ I asked as they drew away, looking between them all. ‘I mean, not to be too forward, but… Have you seen yourselves?’
‘There are old rules,’ Brianna said. ‘Not that anybody follows them, that is…You should have been around when we were in college. The witches would have loved you.’
‘I really need to get some air,’ I said, going for the door. ‘Thanks again…’
I stepped out into the warm evening, heading down the garden path and past the white picket fence to the sidewalk. Totally idyllic – and yet turning over my shoulder to look back to the house, I saw an even more idyllic image; Lois and Scarlett, standing there in their revealing silk robes, while Brianna hung back a little so as not to be seen by anybody else that might pass by.
They all waved to me, bittersweet smiles on their faces before closing the door. I set off walking in the direction of my apartment, not even particularly intent on getting there. There was too much on my mind.
Maybe you’re wondering why I didn’t react in a more freaked out way to the thought of being in a house filled with witches, but like I said, this town was renowned for folk lore and tales of the supernatural.
The Orange Tree Monster, once a human man who had been hanged in an abandoned orchard and left their in the elements until his body had distorted into a horrifying shade of its former self, who lurked amongst the woods and preyed on unsuspecting travellers, choking them with his long, spindly hands.
The Ash Fiends, a group of wolf-like creatures that wandered back alleys in the midst of night, devouring stray animals and their masters, if there were enough to gain the upper hand.
The ghost of Marina Hill, who sucked out the souls of farmers when they explored the corn fields at night, hoping to become whole again.
They were all built to terrify young kids, and looking back I had always thought that they existed to try and teach some lesson about staying safe in unsavoury places… But that wasn’t it. Maybe they were meant to keep you safe… but safe from exactly the thing that they
were warning about in the first place. The threat was right in front of you.
The walk back to my apartment was a total haze of thoughts about the coven and the girls, and by the time I arrived back and headed through the front door, I had hardly even realised that the journey had passed at all.
‘There you are!’ Joe said, pausing his game on the console and hurrying over to me from the couch. ‘What the hell happened to you?’
‘What?’ I asked in a daze, only half-present
‘This morning? The baseball – you went to get it back and then you never came to college… What happened?’
‘I, uhh… I ended up meeting up with some old buddies that were in town. Just got side-tracked.
Joe frowned at me sceptically, before scoffing and wagging a finger at me as he returned to the couch.
‘Ri-i-ight,’ he smiled. ‘I know what happened to you. You got wasted, didn’t you? And then went for Mexican food. I can smell it on your breath.’
‘Uhh…’ I muttered, shaking my head and bringing myself back into the present. ‘Yeah, yeah, that’s exactly what happened. I confess.’
‘Well, I don’t blame you,’ he said, returning his attention to his game. ‘Don’t worry, I trust you. You can handle yourself.’
I checked my pockets – but these weren’t my pockets. Of course I didn’t have my phone.
Shit. I must’ve left it at the coven.
Not to mention the baseball – the one thing that I had gone there for in the first place was still missing.
‘I’m pretty tired,’ I said, only half-lying as I crossed to my bedroom. ‘I’ll see you in the morning, right?’
‘It’s Saturday tomorrow, man. Where else would I be but owning you in Team Deathmatch?’
I laughed and bid him goodnight, hurrying into my room and shutting the door quickly behind it before slumping against the wood.
What was I supposed to do? Was I actually gonna go back there?
When I had said to the girls that I was only stepping out for some air, I didn’t know myself what I had meant. True, they were some of the greatest girls I had ever met in my life, even if they were witches, but then there was everything else that came along with it.
Did I really want the ghost stories that had terrified me as a kid to be true? Did I really wanna be a part of that world?