Familiar

by Roseau, Robin

But it underscored my lowly position in our relationship, and I resented it deeply.

  In spite of all that, I was reasonably happy.

  I wondered how long that would last.

  The Shoe Falls

  The answer was: about five years.

  When the change came, I didn't fully recognize it for what it was.

  Arianna found a house in a good neighborhood that was in amazingly poor condition. The previous owner had become aged, neglecting everything about keeping a house up. Then she died, leaving the house to an out-of-state daughter who wanted nothing to do with it.

  Arianna bought it for a song.

  She had me handle the closing. I had no idea why she wanted it. I pestered her about it, and she finally snapped and ordered me to ask no more questions beyond those required to close the sale.

  Closing was on a Thursday in April. We completed the closing and went straight home. Once we got there, we both got dressed for an evening out. She asked me to wear one of my little black dresses and heels. I hated heels, but I put them on. Arianna did my makeup.

  She drove, and she parked the car in a rather dubious location.

  "Arianna, the restaurant is four blocks away, and they have a parking lot. This is not a safe place to leave the car."

  "It's a good thing we took your car then," she replied. She had bought a new car the previous year, giving me her old one. We climbed out of the car, then I felt her draw heavily on me, and the car began to shimmer with the magic she put on it.

  "What did you do?"

  "I wouldn't want anything to happen to your car," she said.

  "You hexed the car? Why not just park it somewhere safer."

  "Because this amuses me," she replied.

  Then she took my arm, and we walked to the restaurant.

  Dinner was pleasant. Arianna was charming, telling me stories from her much younger years.

  Partway through one of her stories, she perked up for a minute but put on a distant expression. Then she smiled.

  "What?"

  "You'll see," she said. "No questions." Then she finished her story and rushed the waitress for our bill, then made me pay. "I forgot my purse in the car."

  It was dark when we stepped outside. I was nervous about our walk to the car, but Arianna pointed out, "There is hardly anyone in Wisconsin who is a threat to us."

  "What about those werewolves?"

  "Werewolves aren't going to bother us," she said.

  When we approached the car, Arianna became more excited, almost aroused. I became increasingly nervous. A half a block away, she stopped me with a hand on my arm.

  "Moira, do not interfere or distract me tonight."

  "I don't understand."

  "You don't need to."

  Another quarter block away, and I knew our car hadn't been safe. Someone was standing next to the car, left hand outstretched to the car, the right hand wielding a rock he was about to use to smash the driver's side window.

  "Arianna!"

  "Hush now," she said. "It's fine."

  She led us straight to the car, walking almost casually, and I thought she seemed pleased with herself. We walked towards the back of the car, and when we were five feet behind it, she told me, "Wait right here and do not distract me."

  I stopped right where I was and could do nothing further.

  Arianna stepped up to the car and leaned against it, looking at the boy. Or man. He was at the age where it was hard to tell the difference.

  "Having a bad night?" she asked.

  He was trembling. "Why can't I move?" he asked. "Who are you? Help me!" His voice held terror.

  "You picked the wrong purse to try to steal," Arianna said. "You tried to steal from a witch. That was very foolish of you."

  "Witches aren't real!" he said. "Why can't I move?"

  "I bet the rock is getting heavy," she said.

  "Yes, it's fucking heavy!" he said. "And I'm going to bash you over the head with it if you don't help me!"

  "Tsk, tsk," she said. "That's not a nice thing to say. And to say it to a witch, well, that was very foolish." She studied him. He whimpered and continued to beg her to help him.

  "What is your name, boy?" she asked.

  "I'm no boy!"

  Her voice switched from soft to steel. "Answer the question, boy!" she ordered. "Do not make me angry."

  "Fuck you, bitch," he said.

  "So I should call you fuck?" she asked. "Maybe little fuck. Or perhaps just fucked over. Yes, you look good and fucked over, boy."

  "Fuck you!" he screamed.

  She stepped closer, and I felt her draw more magic from me. She wrapped it around the boy. "I have an agreement with my wife," she said. "I won't hex the innocent against their will. I think she would agree someone who tries to steal from me is not innocent."

  In my head, she said, "Do you agree he is not innocent?"

  "Yes. You set him up!"

  "Yes, I did, but it was his choice to try to steal. I didn't use any magic to force him to. I caught him fair and square."

  "Caught him?"

  "Yes. Don't you think he'll make a nice addition to our household?"

  "What? No! You promised me!"

  "I promised no sex with anyone but you," she said. "I promised not to hex the innocent. And I promised to treat you as well as I could. I never said I wouldn't build a household. You should be happy, Moira. You will always be my favorite."

  It all came crashing down. The last five years of thinking of us as a somewhat unusual married couple had been a lie. I was just a member of her household. It was exactly what I had thought it was in the beginning.

  "Be quiet now. I must bind him."

  "Do you want me to release you from the car's grip?" she asked the boy.

  "Yes!"

  "I will need to cast another spell to do so," she said. "And you will have to accept the spell willingly. If you do that, you will be released from the car and will be able to set down the rock."

  "Let me go!" he said.

  "Will you let me cast my spell? Or should we just call the police?"

  "No police, bitch!"

  She drew magic, and I watched it surround the boy. Then she told him, "Tell me you accept the spell, or I will pick one that will kill you, slowly, and while you are writhing on the ground in pain, we will drive away."

  "I accept the spell!" he said. "I accept. Whatever!"

  I watched the spell settle into him and heard Arianna's pleased sigh.

  "You will obey me. Here are the rules." And then she told him his new rules. They were very similar to the rules I lived under, although she very carefully told him he wasn't allowed to hurt himself. And unlike me, she also didn't allow him to express his displeasure with her in any way but would instead remain completely polite. And then she ordered him to accept my orders as long as they didn't interfere with any orders she had given him, and that he was also to treat me politely.

  "See?" she said. "I care about you."

  I didn't have an answer for her. I couldn't believe she was doing this.

  Then she forbade him from consuming any alcohol, any mood modifying substances, or any drugs at all unless it came directly from her hand, a medical professional’s, or mine.

  His name was Corbin. He was nineteen. He had run away from home when he was sixteen and was living in a friend's basement. The friend's girlfriend would be happy to see him leave. He had no job and, surprisingly, was not currently beholden to a parole officer.

  * * * *

  She drove him to the house she had bought. We all went inside. Once we were there, she gave him more orders. She told him where the nearest store was, six blocks away. They were open all night. She pulled out cash from her purse and a key to the house. He was to go the store and purchase cleaning tools and supplies. He was to then clean the house. She gave detailed instructions. He was also allowed to pick up food for his meals, and she dictated what that would be.

  She would make him eat healthy foods.


  He was allowed seven hours of sleep each night, from eleven PM until six AM. He was to be working on the house by seven AM and was allowed periodic breaks.

  Then she left a phone with him. "It is programmed with my phone and Moira's phone. You will keep it charged and with you at all times. You will answer it if it rings. You will call no one other than Moira or me, and you will give the number to no one else. If anyone calls you other than Moira or me, you will hang up."

  She gave him more orders, and more, and more.

  And then we left.

  "You may speak," she said, once we were in the car. "But remain polite or you will be severely punished."

  I controlled my words and tone. "Why?"

  "He was a worthless piece of offal," she said. "No job, no prospects, and I believe an alcoholic. Now he can contribute to society."

  "You didn't have the right to do that, Arianna."

  "I had every right!" she said. "He tried to steal from me."

  I turned to look out the window, riding along quietly for a while before I asked her, "Does the ring on your left hand mean anything to you, Arianna? Or were you just humoring me so I would remain more pleasant?"

  "Why would you ask that?"

  "Because you said I was your favorite. I presume that means favorite slave. Is that all I am?"

  "No, of course not," she said. "You're... complicated."

  "Complicated?"

  "I was hunting, Moira."

  "Cigarette break?"

  "Yes."

  "Am I your wife or just one of your playthings?"

  "You are my wife, Moira."

  "And you are mine?"

  "Yes."

  "I don't like what you did tonight, Arianna. It's not right."

  "We will agree to disagree," she replied. "I do not care to discuss the right or wrong of it again."

  * * * *

  She put me in charge of Corbin. I was to see him daily and give her status reports. She visited the house weekly.

  It took a long time to simply clean the house. Arianna's orders had been extremely precise, and Corbin worked very hard and very thoroughly, but it took him two weeks to remove all the crap and clean out every last mote of dust. The dumpster I hired was filled twice before we were done.

  Once the house was spotless, we hired our favorite house inspector to produce his most thorough report. We paid him well, and he gave a detailed list of everything required to make the house perfect. It was a long list.

  Corbin didn't know how to do any of it, but you can buy books on every subject known to man, and he was able to read. He didn't read well, and it was slow for him, but Arianna didn't care. As long as he could learn.

  And so, slowly, and then more quickly as Corbin learned what he was supposed to do, he fixed everything on the list an average homeowner could fix. We hired professionals for the things Corbin shouldn't do.

  I could tell he deeply resented what had happened. He looked at me with hatred.

  "I am her slave as much as you are," I told him.

  "She called you her wife," Corbin said.

  "She cast a love spell on me and the same obedience spell she cast on you," I told him. "You, she might let go someday. Me, she's going to keep forever."

  "She had no right to do this to me!" he said.

  "She had more right to you than she did to me. I didn't try to steal from her. I had a job and a life. I understand why you feel the way you do, but do not take it out on me."

  "Can I at least have a bottle of whiskey?" he asked.

  "No," I said. "There is no way she's going to let you drink. And I do not want to be punished for asking her. You are free to ask her yourself the next time she stops by, but it would be a mistake."

  "What's she going to do to me that is worse than she already has?"

  "She has me looking for more houses like this one, Corbin. How would you like to clean the next one with your tongue? She made me clean the kitchen like that once, when I let it go a few days. I learned my lesson."

  In the end, it took Corbin seven months to fix the house. He worked long hours, but he didn't have the technique a professional handyman had, so everything he did took far longer than it otherwise might.

  I kept track of every dime we spent, including Corbin's meals and the clothes we bought for him. When it was time to sell the house, because it had been so bad when we started, Arianna made a hundred percent profit, selling it for twice what it cost to buy and fix up. The new buyers got a great house, and Arianna even blessed it like she did all the houses she sold.

  She had the next house lined up by the time we sold the first, and we closed both the same day, one after another. Corbin sat in my office, and we drove him to his next project house immediately after closing.

  With the third house, Arianna bought an old but serviceable pickup truck for Corbin to use. He knew what he was doing now, and I no longer needed to visit him daily. Instead I took daily phone updates and checked in every three or four days.

  * * * *

  One winter day during our sixth year, we went to a local bar. We had dinner. Then Arianna wanted to dance.

  We left our purses on the table, and I saw her hex them, but I didn't know what the spell was. When I asked, she told me, "Do not ask. Let's dance."

  When we danced, she kept my back to our table. We had gotten good dancing together, and it felt nice to be held in her arms. And then suddenly, mid-step, she froze, and then she made a satisfied sound. We finished the dance, but I could tell she was distracted. She led me back to our table.

  A young woman was standing at our table, and she had her hand in my purse. She wasn't moving.

  "Arianna-"

  "Not another word out of you," she said immediately.

  "Arianna," I thought at her.

  "I don't want to punish you, Moira," she thought back at me.

  I kept the rest of my thoughts to myself.

  We got to the table, and the woman didn't even look at us. She stood there, looking into the purse, absolutely frozen. Arianna pulled magic from me, and I watched the spell settle over the woman, waiting to trigger.

  "You tried to steal from a witch," Arianna whispered into the girl's ear. I could hear only because the words echoed in my head. I hadn't released Arianna's arm, so we were still touching. "You will accept the spell I cast, and I will let you live. Or I will curse you, and you will die. It is your choice."

  She was bluffing about the girl dying, but I was sure Arianna could do something horrible, even if it wasn't killing the girl.

  Arianna continued to talk to the woman quietly. And then she must have made a decision, as the spell closed around her and was absorbed. She had accepted the binding.

  "Take your hand out of the purse," she said. "And sit down." The woman sat, and Arianna began interviewing her.

  Her name was Lydia. She was twenty-two, lived alone, and had a low-end office job. She had no current boyfriend but liked to date around. She admitted she liked to steal. She stole from her employer and she shoplifted most of her clothes.

  Arianna thought to me, "She is not an innocent, Moira. Yes or no."

  "No," I replied. "She is not an innocent."

  "Then I may claim her," Arianna replied.

  "No one is completely innocent."

  "Perhaps not, but I only claim those who act against me."

  "Technically, it was my purse."

  "And you are mine, and thus my purse."

  I sighed. "Please tell me you aren't going to sleep with her."

  "Of course not. I believe in fidelity."

  We took her to her apartment and let her collect her clothing. We left everything else there. We took her home.

  "You're not adding her to the work detail?"

  "Of course I am," Arianna said. "I know you hate cleaning the house. She is our new housekeeper. She's for you."

  "I didn't want her, Arianna."

  "Are you ungrateful for my gift?" she asked me darkly.

  I studied her. "I
can't tell if you're teasing me or are serious."

  She looked over and smiled. "You have more important things to do for me than cleaning the house."

  At first, Lydia was a very poor housekeeper. A few punishments of cleaning the bathroom with her tongue solved that problem. Arianna made her dress in the style of clothes the maids from Downton Abbey wore. She was given an upstairs room in the back of the house. She was offered a certain level of comfort, but she never got over her sullen anger at Arianna. I didn't blame her one bit. On the other hand, I didn't care to have her around.

  We'd had her for six months when I approached Arianna. "May I speak with you about something?"

  "Of course," she replied, smiling.

  "I would like you to release Lydia."

  Her expression clouded. "Why? Is she doing a poor job?"

  "No. But I do not like having her here."

  "Would you rather clean the house yourself?"

  In reality, I wouldn't.

  "I would rather hire a cleaning service to come in."

  "Why? Do you feel I am mistreating her so poorly?"

  "No, but she makes me uncomfortable to have her around."

  "Make her clean when we're not home," Arianna said. "You are in charge of the household staff, and they must obey you as if you were me."

  "Even when she is in her room, I know she is in the house," I said. "And the house is not as happy with her here. I feel more inhibited and less comfortable. I would rather it were just you and me."

  "Just to clarify," Arianna said. "You do not feel I am mistreating her, and you feel she has been doing her duties satisfactorily, but you do not care to have her living in the house with us. You do not feel you and she will become friends."

  "Yes. And no, she hates me almost as much as she hates you."

  "All right, Moira," she said. "I understand what you are saying. I will do something about it, but it may take me some time. Is the situation so dire you needed an immediate resolution?"

  "No, Arianna. Thank you."

  She smiled. "Dinner was lovely. Thank you."

  "You're welcome."

  Three weeks later, Arianna told me over dinner, "I have considered the Lydia issue. I have a solution, but it is too late in the year to implement my plan."

  "I don't understand."

  "And I am not going to explain. I will give you a choice. You may find someone to replace her, or I will implement my solution next summer."