Poor Little Witch Girl

by Robin Roseau

  I glanced over at Raelyn again. Her expression showed no emotion, no emotion at all. I found that unexpected; she had always been so animated and open.

  "I imagine you have questions," Cybele said. "Were there any you cared to ask?"

  "I wouldn't know where to begin."

  "Well, let us review what we all know. The three of us are witches. Two of us are quite accomplished." She looked me up and down. "And the third of us wears quite a fitting costume."

  "Raelyn's sense of humor," I muttered.

  "Yes. Although we are all witches, we are very different witches. Raelyn, as you have undoubtedly experienced, is an emotion witch, most specifically the positive emotions of joy, wonder, and lust." She smiled. "Raelyn's lust spell is especially notable. I understand you enjoyed its effects immensely."

  I colored but glared at Raelyn. She didn't have the grace to look contrite.

  "Oh, don't be embarrassed," Cybele said. "You're not the first witch to enjoy Raelyn's magic. You won't be the last. I, of course, am a very different witch. I gain my powers quite differently than Raelyn does, and I exercise them quite differently as well. Of course, you already know this."

  I nodded, not saying a word.

  "Then we come to you. We don't know what type of witch you will become. Your aura offers hints, of course, and I imagine your abilities will prove to be far closer to Raelyn's than my own. Of course, if you had looked at my aura when I was just beginning to learn my magic, it might not have looked all that different from yours."

  "I don't understand."

  "People are born witches, but we become the type of witch we become. When a witch is raised in a loving, nurturing environment, she tends to turn down one path. But sometimes she chooses another path. And sometimes she is pushed down another path, whether she would have chosen that path or not."

  "How?"

  "Grief, despair, anger, fear. These are powerful emotions and even more powerful incentives. Power is addictive, Lyra, and power from some quarters is far more easily achieved than from others. Do you see?"

  I nodded. "I think so. I-" I looked over at Raelyn. She still gave nothing away. "I have never intentionally hurt anyone in my life."

  "That is not entirely true. Have you never been angry at someone?"

  "Well, yes."

  "And did you speak words designed to hurt?"

  "That's different."

  "Only in degree, Lyra. That look you gave Raelyn a few minutes ago was in hopes she would feel guilty. Guilt is not a positive emotion. You wanted her to hurt for having talked to me about you."

  "I-" I hung my head. "I'm sorry."

  Cybele lifted my chin. "You should not apologize. She spoke about you behind your back. You had reason to believe your intimate time with her was private between the two of you. She betrayed that privacy. It is quite a human reaction to feel hurt by that. It is a human reaction to wish a little revenge."

  "I don't want revenge. I wouldn't mind an apology. And I don't intend to invite her inside when she brings me home."

  I looked at Raelyn pointedly, but no apology was forthcoming. When Cybele spoke, I turned my attention back to her.

  "Tell me about your shop."

  "The White Candle. It's a bookstore."

  "This I know. Tell me about it."

  "What do you want to know?"

  "Everything. How long have you had it? Why a bookstore? What would you be doing if you didn't have the store. What would your partners be doing?"

  I nodded and answered her questions.

  Then she asked, "And you make a profit?"

  "We manage to pay our bills."

  "And salaries?"

  "Most months."

  "What did you personally earn last year?"

  I stared. "I'm not sure that's any of your business."

  Her eyes narrowed. "Perhaps not, but you're going to answer my question anyway." In response, I buttoned my lips together tightly.

  "Lyra, I am unaccustomed to asking a question more than once. Well, that's not true. I am unaccustomed to doing so in this room. I do have a room in the basement that I use when someone refuses to answer my questions."

  "You would torture me because I don't want to tell you how much money I make? I don't know why you would care. I earn almost nothing. A pittance. You're clearly rich. I am poor. Not dirt poor, but poor. But I have the things that are important to me. I make enough to have a place to live, food on the table, and a small allowance for clothing and various inexpensive activities. I could tell you what I make, or twice what I make, or four times what I make, and it would still be nothing to you."

  She didn't say anything right away. But I wilted under her intense gaze and found myself looking down into my lap.

  "How much?" she finally said.

  "Seventeen thousand."

  "Well. That places you above the poverty line." I didn't say anything. "And what do you envision the store is worth?"

  "Why do you want to know?"

  "Answer my questions, Lyra." Her voice was harsh.

  "I don't know what the store is worth."

  "Guess."

  I sighed. "We don't own the building. We have a lease. We own the books and the shelves they sit on. We started small. I don't know the exact number, but I believe our inventory is about a hundred thousand. The shelves and furniture are another ten or twenty."

  "Name recognition has value as well," Cybele said. "But that is harder to judge. If I suggested your shop is worth no more than a quarter million dollars, would you be offended?"

  "No, but Felicity would have a more accurate idea."

  "Speaking of your partners, tell me about them."

  I clamped my lips together again. Cybele sighed. "Perhaps you would prefer if we had this discussion in the basement." She gave me a little time to think about that. "I have no intention of hurting you or your friends, Lyra, but I also do not engage in empty threats. Do I make myself clear?"

  "Yes."

  "If you refuse to answer another of my questions, the next reminder will be delivered in the basement. Are we clear?"

  "Yes."

  "Good." She shook her head. "I am trying to have a friendly conversation, Lyra. I don't want to threaten you. But you will tell me anything I want to know. Am. I. Clear?"

  "Crystal."

  "Good. Tell me about your friends."

  "That is a very broad topic."

  "Then let us start simply. Have you ever been lovers with either of them?"

  We talked for perhaps fifteen minutes. It became clear Raelyn had told her quite a bit about me, and I shot her a number of dirty looks. If I got out of this alive, my last words to Raelyn were going to be to fuck off.

  "Very good," Cybele said eventually. She smiled then leaned forward to caress my cheek. I shied away from her, but she simply moved closer, and when I didn't have anywhere to go, she set her hand against my skin. "I told you I wasn't going to hurt you. Is it so hard to believe me?"

  "I don't know what you want."

  "Haven't you guessed?"

  "No."

  "You, Lyra. I want you."

  I looked over at Raelyn. She had acted quite possessive of me all night, but she continued to show absolutely no emotion, none at all. This woman was flirting with me, propositioning me, and she wasn't going to say anything.

  "I have a girlfriend," I said. "Or at least I did."

  "You misunderstand," Cybele said. "Well, not entirely." She turned me back to face her. "I have an offer for you. You are, of course, going to accept."

  "I don't think so."

  "You haven't even heard it yet. And I'm not asking if you are going to accept. I am telling you that you are going to accept."

  I didn't respond, but my heart was pounding in my chest, and I knew I was in trouble. I was in serious trouble.

  "Lyra Lane, you will be joining my household. You will offer your obedience and allegiance to me. You will offer yourself to me. You will offer yourself in every possible way."
<
br />   I stared at her, tight lipped.

  "In exchange, I will protect you. I will give you a fine home and see to your financial needs. And I will train you, directly at times, but most often via tutors."

  "No thank you."

  "In addition, I will also protect your human pets. I will give you the choice of keeping them, and they will also join this household. They will have their own duties as I assign, but they will be yours. You will, of course, need to seduce the woman to completely claim her. If you do not wish to keep them, then I will allow you to set them free, and I vow they will be safe from me and anyone I control."

  "I'm sorry, Cybele, but I decline your offer."

  "I will make a fair offer for your shop. I believe we have agreed it is worth no more than a quarter million. If you do not choose to keep your pets, I will offer to buy the shop from them, if they do not wish to continue to operate it, or simply facilitate your ownership share to them."

  My heart still pounding, I was near a complete panic. I didn't want a thing to do with this woman, and now she was trying to force me to live with her. And I thought I had a pretty good idea some of the things she intended for me.

  I looked over at Raelyn. "Take me home. Please take me home. You promised I was safe. Please take me home."

  Cybele made a tsk, tsk sound. "Raelyn, you told me she was quite intelligent, and you told me about that delightful demonstration you gave all of them at your dinner party. She should have figured this out by now."

  I snapped my eyes back to Cybele. She was watching me. Then I turned back to Raelyn.

  Everything fell into place. I'd had all the clues, but it wasn't until Cybele's words that I put them together.

  "You were recruiting me?" I screamed. "Everything you said was a lie? It was all about recruiting me for this woman? How could you? Was a single word out of your mouth true?"

  I pulled my hands from Cybele and jumped to my feet. She didn't even try to stop me. I stepped over to Raelyn, looming over her. "I thought you cared about me! I was just a job to you. You. Heartless. Bitch!"

  I panted at Raelyn, who didn't even flinch as I screamed at her.

  "Get that out of your system," Cybele said from behind me. "Do you want to hit her? Go ahead. She won't even defend herself. If you agree to all my terms and completely give yourself to me, we can take her downstairs, and I can teach you some delightful ways to hurt her."

  I spun around to face the death witch. "She works for you, and you'd let me torture her?"

  "Only for a while, and I wouldn't let you hurt her too terribly."

  "And is that my future here, too, and that of my friends? Would we spend time in your basement, bound to whatever equipment you have down there while you press hot pokers against us?"

  "Oh please," she said. "That is so crude. But whether you would experience those sorts of delights would be entirely up to you. If you seek to please me, then no, I would never hurt you. I would not even hurt you for displeasing me, when it is unintentional. But if you disobey me, then yes, you would find yourself in my basement. If you betray me, you will never leave, and I can keep you alive for a very, very long time."

  "I don't believe you," I said. "You're willing to let me torture her for your amusement." I pointed at Raelyn. "I'm sure you'd do the same to me."

  "Ah. Perhaps you should ask why I would let you torture her."

  I looked back and forth between both women, finally settling my gaze back on Cybele. "Fine. Why?"

  "Ask her if she'd resist."

  "I don't think she has any more choice than you're offering me."

  "Ask her."

  I turned back to Raelyn. "If I grabbed your arm right now and began dragging you downstairs, would you stop me?"

  "No."

  "Are you insane?" I screamed. "I didn't think you were a masochist."

  "She's not," Cybele said. "But how else can she atone for what she's done to you?"

  I snapped my attention back around again. "She doesn't look like she feels remotely guilty. She's been laughing at me this entire time. I am such a stupid, naïve girl. She's been laughing."

  I spun back again. "You backstabbing bitch!"

  Raelyn didn't say a word. I turned my back on both of them and tromped my way to the window. I stared into the dark, wondering how I was going to get out of this.

  "If you intend any more screaming, I recommend you get it out of your system."

  "Why can't you leave me alone?"

  "If I don't claim you, someone else will. Why should I let someone else have the power you represent?" Those words were said in a very matter-of-fact manner, but then her tone softened. "Lyra, you are assuming the worst. You can have a very, very good life. You can be with your friends. As long as you serve me the way I require, I will not be jealous what you do with them. For myself, I won't even touch them, as long as they are loyal. If there are other things you want, we can discuss them."

  I spun to face her. "I want to be left to choose my own path in life. I want you to leave me alone."

  "That option isn't on the table."

  "Put it on the table."

  "Now is the time to negotiate. You are joining my household. You will serve me."

  "Do I misunderstand when I assume that means coming to your bed?"

  "No, you do not misunderstand. But you will enjoy it. Oh, not like you did with Raelyn, but you will enjoy it. And you will also share your magic with me. You're not using it, anyway, so you shouldn't mind that."

  "And what will you do with it?"

  "Use it to protect you, of course."

  I turned my gaze on Raelyn. "I thought you were the expert at discovering someone's price. But yet she hasn't offered me anything I want."

  "Your price, my dear," said Cybele, "is the safety of your friends. I am offering to keep them safe."

  "They don't require your protection."

  "Of course they do. If nothing else, they need to be protected from me."

  "So if I don't agree to your demands, you're going to kill them?"

  "Of course not. If you don't agree to my demands, I will invite them downstairs." Her voice turned cold. "I imagine you'll agree to anything I want when you see your dear Felicity strapped down to one of my tables. I wouldn't even need to touch her. Of course, you won't be in any position to negotiate anymore, and your place in this household will be quite different if you drive me to those ends."

  I barely controlled myself. I barely avoided screaming at her. Instead, I managed to clamp my lips together.

  "Lyra, I do not want to hurt you. I want you a willing, loyal member of my household. We will both enjoy it a great deal more. Your price is the safety of your friends, and I believe we have discussed that. What is going to happen is inevitable. You will be joining my household. What Raelyn didn't have time to discover is what would make this choice palatable for you. So what do you want? Money? Power? Fine clothing?"

  I moved closer, my eyes on Cybele. "Did she tell you those would influence me?"

  "She told me they wouldn't. I do believe you're curious about your abilities, but I don't think you're so curious as to accept this agreement in exchange for the training I can give you. Tell me what you want."

  I turned away, prowling the room. Now and then I glared at Raelyn, but she could rot in hell. Bitch.

  I'd been wandering around for a few minutes, trying to determine what I was going to do, when there was a knock at the door. A moment later, it opened, and I turned to see who it was.

  A man entered. I didn't recognize him. "I'm sorry to intrude, Cybele. There is an issue. We can't find them."

  "Use the tracking spells I gave you."

  "They aren't working."

  I looked back and forth between Cybele and the man. Cybele looked angry. I hadn't been at all respectful, but she had responded calmly. But at this man, she was clearly angry. But finally, tight-lipped, she said, "Keep looking for them."

  "Yes, Cybele." The man fled, closing the doors behind himself.<
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  Cybele turned to me, and from across the room, we stared at each other.

  "I require your answer."

  I glanced at the door and looked back at her. I did that again. "Who can't you find, Cybele?"

  "That is an unrelated issue." She stood up and began stalking closer to me. "This is a good offer for you. It will take you years to master your power, but witches are very long-lived, if they don't make the wrong enemies. I am a very good friend and a terrible enemy, Lyra. Lower yourself to your knees and pledge your willing allegiance to me. We can have our little ceremony right here. Raelyn will seal our agreement, and then she will even hit you with a lust spell to make the first time easier for you."

  I stood up straight, squaring off to her. "Who can't you find, Cybele?"

  "Kneel. Now."

  "You have all that power. Why are you asking instead of forcing me?"

  She stepped closer still, although she didn't touch me. "You said you find me beautiful and alluring. I would treat you very well. Now kneel."

  "Why don't you force me?"

  "I'd rather have you willingly."

  "We both know I'm not here willingly. You prefer I act differently?" She didn't answer. "Why don't you have Raelyn hit me with that lust spell now? As I recall, I would agree to almost anything while under its influence, and I'd probably beg you to do anything you wanted to me, too. It would get us off to an interesting start, don't you think?"

  "Do you really want to do this the hard way?" she asked.

  "I don't want to do this at all. I just want to go home."

  "This is now your home."

  "It's a beautiful home, but it's not really my style."

  "Lyra, it's time to kneel. If you want something beyond what I've already offered, now is the time to ask for it."

  I crossed my arms. "I think there's a reason you aren't forcing me." She didn't say anything. "I think you don't just want me to accept this willingly, you need me to accept it willingly."

  "For the spells to be binding, that is true," she replied. She crossed her own arms. "But the spells don't care if you are coerced. Do you really want me to have your friends picked up and brought downstairs? Are we going to take this that far?"

  "Why are you threatening them instead of me? I'm sure I'd cave fairly quickly if you brought me down there. Why do you bring my friends into it? I'm right here." I looked around. "They aren't, and you seem to have lost track of them."