Winter Spire: Sorceress of Lust

by Anya Merchant

Felix started slightly in his chair. He looked over to his right and saw the housewife Deb, heading toward him, dressed in an elaborate and borderline scandalous winter costume. Two tiny, coin shaped pasties covered her nipples, and the matching bottom was little more than a thong. Intricate designs were drawn all over her in glittering, silver body paint, and she wore a crown in the shape of a snowflake on her head.

  “Deb,” said Felix. “Hello…”

  She looked good, almost good enough to push Stella out of his mind. Her breasts jiggled shamelessly with each step she took, and she flashed him a flirtatious smile that suggested that she enjoyed his attention.

  “Felix, meet my husband, Ted!”

  A seasoned man in his late forties or early fifties stepped out of Deb’s shadow. He was balding and slightly overweight, but his eyes were sharp, and Felix got the sense that he was once quite handsome.

  “Nice to meet you Felix,” he said, reaching out his hand. “My wife told me all about you!”

  “Oh?” Felix shook the man’s hand, hesitating slightly. “She did, did she?”

  “Yeah,” said Ted. “She said that she pointed out some great spots for you to snag photos.”

  “Ah,” said Felix. “Yeah, she definitely did.”

  Deb was still smiling, clearly unworried. Felix couldn’t think of what to say next, and the moment began to drag on uncomfortably.

  “So are you settling in okay?” asked Ted.

  “I’m actually-“

  “You should come to one of our parties!” Ted snapped his fingers and looked over at Deb, who smiled and nodded. “You would be such a hit, Felix. And you’d get to meet the whole town.”

  “That would be great, but I’m actually-“

  “And also, I was thinking, you’re a photographer, right?” Ted nodded for him, establishing the rhetorical nature of the question. “Well you should come by and take some photos of Deb sometime. Right sweetie?”

  Deb smiled wickedly.

  “I’m sure Felix would love to,” she said.

  “Deb’s a real knockout,” said Ted. “You could work wonders with her. She’ll do just about anything for the camera.”

  “Oh stop!” Deb swatted her husband on the shoulder and licked her lips, looking at Felix.

  “I’m leaving tonight,” Felix said. “Sorry. I never planned on staying for very long.”

  Ted looked crestfallen, and surprisingly, so did Deb. They turned and looked at each other and then back at him.

  “Oh,” said Ted. “Sorry. I didn’t… I didn’t realize.”

  “Yeah…”

  “Well…” Ted forced a smile back onto his face. “Enjoy the festival, at least. If you’re staying for that long.”

  Felix nodded, feeling a strange stab of guilt.

  “Yeah,” he said. “I will.”

  CHAPTER 26

  Felix spent the next hour passing the time in relative boredom. He let Dani and Shane continue to talk on their own, and aside from the mayor, who was busy with preparations, and the sheriff, who he had no interest in talking with, the rest of the townspeople were strangers to him.

  Daniel, the truck driver, came over after a while and the two of them compared traveling resumes. After that, Felix headed back up to Stella’s apartment. She wasn’t home, and it gave him an opportunity to repack his bag without having to worry about what seeing her would do to him.

  When he found his way back to the lobby, the Winter Festival had started to get underway. He found his way back to his chair in the back of the seating area. Dani and Stella were both in attendance, but further on up. They weren’t sitting next to each other, which didn’t surprise Felix.

  The room hummed with conversation. Felix looked around, estimating that just about everyone that officially lived in North Spire was in attendance. The wind whipped at the windows outside, as though trying to emphasis the lingering presence of winter’s chill, only just held back.

  The crowd quieted as Mayor Senhaji made his way onto the stage. He fumbled with a microphone at the center for a moment, tapping on it awkwardly before leaning forward.

  “Uh, is this thing on?”

  The room burst into goodhearted laughter, and Felix smiled.

  “Alright,” said the mayor. “Hello, everybody. It’s that time of the year again. I’d like to welcome all of you to our 26th annual Winter Festival!”

  The crowd cheered and the Mayor smiled.

  “North Spire has come a long way this year, and still, we have a long way to go. It’s been an honor to serve this community as your mayor.”

  Mayor Senhaji looked out into the crowd, his expression wavering slightly.

  “I’ve been warned about my long speeches before, so I’ll be brief. What we have here, folks, is something special. Something that you don’t get in a lot of places in the world.”

  A few people muttered words of agreeance. The mayor took a second to let the effect of his words sink in.

  “We look out for each other. We pull together in times of need. And even when things don’t make sense, or we end up off track from where we should be, we’re still a single unit. A community, no, a family, under one roof.”

  “Get on with it, Bart!” shouted someone from one of the upper rows. The crowd broke out into laughter, and the mayor grinned from ear to ear.

  “My point is…” The mayor held his hand up to his chin thoughtfully. “It isn’t always about where you live, but how you live.”

  He nodded to the crowd and smiled sheepishly as a group of dancers, Deb included, began to make their way to the stage.

  “Now, without further ado, introducing the North Spire Sirens!”

  The mayor disappeared off to the side, and the lobby’s overhead lights dimmed, leaving only the blue stage illumination and a single, makeshift spotlight. A song began to play that sounded a bit like a pop rendition of a classic Christmas tune, and the dancers began to move.

  Surprisingly, the movements were relatively straightforward and chaste. Most of the women were dressed similar to Deb, but they swayed together as though they were performing a modern or ballet dance piece rather than anything designed to titillate.

  It was nothing compared to what Felix had seen Stella doing inside the globe. But it was nice to watch, and the crowd cheered as the women moved. Felix remembered his camera, and pulled it out to snap a few photos. He wondered if any of the women would be interested in them, and thought of the rest of the festival, and how nice it would be if he could document it for the community.

  “Hey, bud.” Daniel tapped him on the shoulder, pulling Felix’s attention away from his viewfinder. “The storm’s coming in. We got to get moving, like, now.”

  Felix furrowed his brow and gestured to the stage.

  “We can’t stay until the end?”

  Daniel was already pulling on his winter boots and gloves, and merely shook his head in response.

  “Do I at least have time to say goodbye to people?” asked Felix.

  “Do you want to?” asked Daniel. “Given what you’ve told me, it might be easier on everyone if you just… fade out.”

  Felix frowned, recognizing the truth in the suggestion. He quietly stood up from his chair, though with the music and the dancers, nobody would have noticed either way.

  “You’ll want to dress warm,” said Daniel. “My truck gets pretty cold even with the heat on full blast.”

  Felix nodded and began pulling on his winter outer wear. He paused when he reached Dani’s ridiculous pink gloves, and felt a stab of an emotion he didn’t recognize. He left the gloves on his chair, and then turned to follow Daniel out of the tower.

  CHAPTER 27

  The wind outside was already picking up, casting snow and bits of ice against the tower’s walls and windows. Felix held his arm over his face as he followed Daniel, his bag hanging easily from one shoulder, and his camera tucked safely into his jacket.

  “This is going to be interesting,” yelled the trucker. “Hopefully, we can stay ah
ead of it.”

  Felix strained to hear him over the howl of the oncoming storm. Daniel’s massive semi-truck was parked a few hundred feet away, and he breathed a sigh of relief as they made it to it.

  He took a second to gaze back at North Spire. It looked the same as it had the first time he’d seen it, but fundamentally different. It was a place to him now, full of people with opinions and presence. They were all enjoying their Winter Festival, and they’d all probably go to sleep afterward, and wake up the next morning, and work hard at what they did.

  “Get in already!” shouted Daniel. Felix took a step back, pulling himself away from the tower, and then climbed into truck.

  It took seven tries for the engine to roar to life. Daniel was muttering something about the auto-warmer under his breath the entire time, and when he finally got it, he slapped his hands triumphantly on the wheel.

  “Alright,” he said. “Buckle up. The first few hundred feet will probably be the wonkiest.”

  The truck wavered slightly as he drove it from where he’d pulled off on the side back onto the road. Felix stared back at North Spire. He was wondering if he was doing the right thing, and it was a question that hurt to think about. Of course he was, he thought. He was doing what he always did.

  Daniel picked up a bit of speed, driving faster than the other truck driver that’d given Felix a ride out. He tapped his fingers on the stereo, and loud, raucous country music began blaring out of the speaker.

  “Hope you’re a fan,” said Daniel. “Cause this is all we’re listening to for the next few hours.”

  “I’ll manage,” said Felix.

  He sighed and leaned back in his seat. Minutes went by. The tower faded out of view behind them, replaced with the formless, shapeless white of the south moving ice storm.

  “I was surprised,” said Daniel. “People seemed really nice in that town, you know?”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “And there were lots of…” Daniel flashed a coy smile. “Well, you know. Plenty of eye candy, especially in that dance number. Kinda wish I could have stayed longer.”

  Felix absent mindedly pulled out his camera. He turned on the digital screen, taking a look at some of the photos he’d taken. The last one he’d snapped, of the dancers, was outrageously good. He smiled as he looked at Deb, who appeared to be in the process of losing one of her nipple covering pasties.

  He flipped back though a few more, looking through images of people setting up for the festival. He found himself wishing that he’d managed to snag one of Stella in the globe, though he doubted she would have allowed it.

  Felix turned to the next photo and froze. It was one of the ones he’d taken of Dani while she’d been setting up her prize table. She was staring at him, her hands on her hips, with glowing blueish silver eyes, the same eyes that he’d seen on the Ice Dancer.

  “No…” he whispered. “That’s… impossible.”

  “What’s that?” asked Daniel.

  Felix slowly shook his head from side to side.

  “Turn the truck around,” he said. “I have to go back.”

  “What? Are you out of your fucking mind?”

  Felix slammed his hands down on the dashboard, staring at Daniel.

  “Turn the fucking truck around!” he shouted. “People are going to die if you don’t.”

  The truck slowed to a stop. Daniel put the engine into park and turned to look at him, shaking his head.

  “I’m not turning around,” he said. “Hell, without a pull off, I fucking couldn’t. Look at the snow on either side of the road!”

  Felix took a deep breath and rubbed his temples with his fingers. He grabbed his bag, opened the door, and jumped down into the snow.

  “You’re out of your mind,” said Daniel. “We’re miles away. You’ll die if you try to do this.”

  Felix slammed the door closed behind him and took a few steps back. Daniel seemed to hesitate for a few seconds before slowly beginning to accelerate and continue on.

  He shouldered his bag and started moving. The snow on the side of the road was up over his knees, but the road itself was too icy for him to move safely on with the poor traction of his boots. So he waded through the snow, keeping his eyes locked onto the road.

  He was on a collision course with the ice storm. Tiny chunks of sleet and hail pelted his face and body. Felix kept his hands buried deep in his jacket pockets, and cursed himself for being such a good guy and leaving Dani’s gloves behind. Dani, the Ice Dancer’s thrall, who could be in the process of killing everyone in the North Spire at that very moment.

  Felix let out a determined growl and pushed himself to move faster. His bag was heavy across his shoulders. His feet fought with the snow, catching on the hard top crust, and sinking into the powdery snow underneath like sand.

  He fell more than a couple of times, cutting open his cheek on a sharp bit of ice on one them. He didn’t slow down, not even for a second, not even when sweat began to soak into his t-shirt. It would freeze if he didn’t get to the tower and warm up, and then he would freeze.

  A half hour went by, and then another. Felix hadn’t realized how hard it was to move through the snow, or how far the truck had made it before he’d come to his decision. He began to worry that he’d passed right by the North Spire, the storm limiting his visibility to the point of not being able to see it at close range. IF that was the case, he was dead.

  “No,” he muttered, through chattering teeth. “I’m not going to die.”

  It wasn’t out of a deep love of life, or a dogged determination to overcome adversity that he kept going. If he died, Dani, as the Ice Dancer’s thrall, would have open opportunity to kill everyone in the North Spire. All of the people he’d met, the nice people, and Stella.

  Felix lifted his head up and saw it. Jutting out of the snow, like a mirage on the horizon, was the North Spire. He broke into the fastest run his legs could manage, feeling his bag slam painfully against his back as it bounced around.

  He drew closer, and saw two figures standing outside in the snow. One of them was almost indistinct from the surrounding white. The other had strawberry blonde hair, and wore only a simple robe of black and gold to hold back the chill.

  “Stella!” shouted Felix. He saw her turn at the same time as the Ice Dancer. The Ice Dancer took a step toward him. Stella aimed her staff and unleashed a gout of fire, cutting through the space in between the monster and him. She looked at Felix and shook her head desperately.

  “You idiot!” she yelled. “Go, get inside!”

  The Ice Dancer took another step toward Felix, a step that became the graceful first movement of a slow, gyrating dance. She was covered in her ice armor, but it was form fitting, and gratuitously thin. Felix watched her, feeling himself growing excited despite the ice and the cold.

  “Back!” shouted Stella. She jumped forward, releasing another gout of fire that took the Ice Dancer square in the chest and knocked her back a hundred feet. Stella collapsed down onto one leg, and Felix hurried to her side.

  “Stella!” said Felix. “We have to get back inside!”

  “I can’t leave it,” she said, voice strained. “I have to make sure it’s dead this time.”

  “Dani!” he said, gripping her hand. “Dani is the Ice Thrall!”

  Stella stared at him blankly, as though his words had been in a foreign language. She blinked, slowly opening her mouth in shock, and then bringing her hand across as though to stifle a scream. Felix nodded to her, and the two of them began sprinting toward the tower’s entrance.

  CHAPTER 28

  Felix dropped his bag off in the lobby, knowing that he wouldn’t need it in the coming minutes. The festival was still underway, all of the blissfully unaware of what had just taken place outside. Visibility out the windows was nonexistent. There could have been an army at their doorstep, and the drinking and merriment would have carried on.

  “Stella! And Felix!” Mayor Senhaji walked over to them, looking surpris
ed. “Are you both okay? Did something-“

  “Bart,” snapped Stella. “I need to find my daughter. It’s an emergency.”

  Mayor Senhaji furrowed his brow.

  “She should still be over at her table,” he said. “Some of the kids have already won enough points at the games to-“

  Stella sprinted through the crowd, dragging Felix by the arm behind her. People moved out of the way, flashing them strange looks as they did.

  Dani’s table was abandoned, at least by her. A few kids stood around impatiently, holding the paper tickets in their hands that she’d designed for him earlier in the day. Stella ran a hand through her hair, knocking aside snow and bits of hail.

  “Let’s split up,” said Felix. “You go check your apartment. I’ll keep looking down here.”

  Stella nodded and turned to leave. She turned back, catching his eye for a second.

  “Thank you,” she whispered. Felix shrugged.

  “Hurry,” he said. “I don’t think we have much time.”

  Stella took off. Felix turned, slowly surveying the festival’s crowd in hopes of spotting Dani. A lot of people were still sneaking looks at him. He was in his winter gear and stood out like a sore thumb, but he didn’t care.

  Felix spotted Shane sitting on a stool in front of the makeshift bar, a full beer sitting on the counter in front of him. He made his way over and shook him by the shoulder a little more forcefully than he probably needed to.

  “Hey, what-“

  “Where’s Dani?” asked Felix.

  “What?”

  “Dani,” he repeated. “I’m looking for Dani, Shane. It’s an emergency.”

  Shane winced and ran a hand across the back of his head.

  “Look Felix,” he said. “You need to just leave her be. Dani… she’s special. She’s really upset over the fact that you led her on and are now just taking-“

  “Goddammit!” Felix lunged forward, seizing Shane by the collar of his shirt. A number of people nearby glanced over, frowning. Felix took a deep breath and pulled back.