by Smith, Skye
"I will go, Magus," one of the crows said and rushed away.
"Hold the girls nose," the Magus commanded.
Maya felt fingers pinch her nose and she did not have the energy to fight it, or to flee the approaching Magus. Did each of these women have a dark touch? The Magus was pulling the stopper out of a vial and holding it up towards her mouth. It tasted vile, bitter, but she had no choice but to swallow it because her nose was pinched. It was overkill. She was already blacking out. They didn't need to drug her.
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MAYA'S AURA - The Charred Coven by Skye Smith
Chapter 18 - The Charred Coven
Bits and pieces. That was all Maya could remember. Bits and pieces. The crow women with the dark touch had forced her to walk so that they needn't carry her, and each time they wanted her to walk, they would bring her to by putting something like smelling salts under her nose. She hated the stuff. I made her jolt her head back and left her with the feeling like she had sucked water up her nose.
Bits and pieces. The stumble to the van across a field, but the other way, away from the faire. A white van. How curious. Not a black van. And no windows, but it did have a foam mattress and a pillow and a blanket.
Bits and pieces. A streetlight. How long had she slept in this van? Too bright. An old wooden gate creaking closed after the van was inside a courtyard. Steps up to a door with a strange door knocker shaped like a black cat. An umbrella stand and all the umbrellas were black. Black tile floor rushing up to meet her.
Bits and pieces. Stairs. Stone stairs. Damp smell. Light. A bed. A pillow. The face of a child. Two children. Two little girls. They were poking her and saying something. What are they saying. Who are you. Can we go home now. What are they saying.
What time was it. Her head hurt. There was no light. There was someone in the bed with her. Someones. Small. The two children. They were warm. She was cold. They had all the blankets. A tug of war for blankets. Warmer.
What time was it. Her head hurt. Her eyes were stinging. A child’s voice. "I want my mommy. I want my mommy."
Two voices. "Shhh. The door is opening. Pretend to be asleep."
A light. Too bright. Two children. Two little girls in bed with her. Dirt on faces streaked from tears. Strong hands pulling her off the bed. Two crows. Little girl voices, "No don't take her away. She was nice and warm. Like my mommy." Crying.
Bits and pieces. Stairs. Stumbles. Pain in shins. Wrenched arm. Dark touch. More stairs. Door. Hall. Long hall. Door. Tripped. Held down and tied. Sleep. Bits and pieces.
Maya's eyes were open, yet everything seemed to be black. She blinked to make sure they were open. Everything was still black. The ceiling was black, the walls were black, the floor was black, the grand fireplace was black, the furniture was black, the curtains were black the doors were black, the women's gowns were black, the candlesticks were black.
Only the candle flames weren't black and she blessed their warm color. She tried to change positions but she couldn't. She was held down on her back on the floor by something wound around her wrists. Her vision shifted to look down her own body. At least she was still clothed. At least her ankles weren't bound.
The candles were flickering at each point of a star with her in the middle. A pentangle within a circle and all etched deeply into the wooden floor. She was held in the center of it by the black silk scarves on her wrists. There were six, no seven women around her with their faces obscured in the shadows of their deep hoods. One of them reached forward and let her sip from a goblet. After sipping thirstily, she was thankful that it was just water. It could have been anything.
"When was your last period, Maya?" asked the commanding voice of the Magus.
"That's kind of personal isn't it? Like maybe you should increase the dosage of your hormone replacement pills," replied Maya nastily. A hand reached forward to her left breast and twisted the nipple, hard. It hurt so much. " Ow! Merde! Ok, a week or so ago."
"On the new moon. Good, then she is fertile now. At her age the fertilization would be almost certain."
"You guys are sick. Let me up. Let me out of here." She flinched as the hand reached over towards her breast and she was quiet.
"She has a power with crystals," said a voice that Maya recognized as the crystal ball widow from the Sabbat.
"A real power. Power you can feel. From her hands. Even without touching." That was Angelica's voice.
"I think this is our opportunity. We have stumbled across a healthy womb, just when the prince is close by. I think we should make it happen. The horned one would approve." said the Magus.
"Too risky," said another voice. "He is just here for a short visit to his brother. The window of opportunity is too narrow. She is not even British, never mind of noble blood." There was much cross conversation and mumbling over the points made.
They weren't paying attention to her. The threatening hand had been withdrawn. "Angelica," Maya called out. "Is this a movie set? Am I to be offered to the booga booga booga Devil so he can spawn a child inside me here on earth? That plot has been done to death. Tell them to let me go." Her voice wavered under the bravado of her words.
"Be quiet girl," ordered the Magus. "Do not speak the horned one's name lest he visit you. Yes, you will bear a child for us, but not the child of the horned one. A child far more worldly, and important. The eventual heir to the English throne."
"You are loony, you are." said Maya, wondering if there was more water. She was so thirsty. So they were Christian witches, or rather anti-Christian witches, because they believed in the Devil just like all the priests did. "Didn't you hear? There is to be a Royal Wedding this fall. Even Americans know that. They are already booking hotel rooms in London. There will be an heir, but from the bride, not from me. ... ouch! Jeez!" Her nipple had been wrenched again.
"Ah, but our heir will be at least four months older than any of the bride's. With DNA samples and a lot of photos of him fertilizing you, our claim to the throne will be undeniable."
"Wait, what's that you say?" asked Maya, but cutting off her words before her nipple took another painful twist.
"The crown prince is in Cambridge visiting his younger brother. We have women close to him. It will not be difficult to seduce him into humping a tasty morsel such as you. Quickly done before anyone is the wiser, and all on camera."
"It's too short of notice," came the other voice with the other argument. "Our plans, our scheme must be foolproof else we will be caught out. We can't afford the police sniffing around here. I don't want to spend the rest of my life in prison, or in an asylum."
Maya could have kissed her, whoever was speaking. She had no desire to be pregnant, not even by a prince, and certainly not to bear a child to be raised by these psycho black wing bats. She was about to risk speaking again, to add some more logic to the woman's argument, but the same woman spoke again.
"We already have two children spawned by him. Instead, I think we should turn her. Turn her to our will and she will be very useful. Just look at her. The face of a school girl and the body of a vixen. Think of the male doors she could open for us. She is an American tourist. She won't be missed for weeks and not located for months. By then she will have been turned. She will be one of us, and willing."
Maya thought they were joking, until she heard the murmurs of agreement from a few of the dark hoods. The same woman was emboldened by the agreement against the word of the Magus. "How many of his children must we rear in secret for years while we wait for him to be king. The two girls are trouble enough, especially since their mothers..."
"Shush!" the Magus stamped her foot to bring quiet. "Fools. The claim of our girls can be over ruled by a legal son. We are running out of time because of the wedding. We have one last chance to try for a boy. The time is now. Third time lucky. This time a son for sure."
"No." A crow stood and stepped forward into the candlelight. It was Angelica. "Let Maya go. The other mothers volunteered to
bear the prince's children for you. They were willing parties to the seduction. Maya has a strength, a power inside of her. I have watched her use it, but I don't understand it. Forcing her will not work. Let her go."
The Magus walked towards Angelica "Silence, you. You are still a novitiate. You have no say here. You are only present because you know her." She walked passed Angelica and stood above Maya looking down. Something glinted between the blonde girl's breasts. She reached forward and pushed her hand between those lovely heaving mounds and pulled out a crystal.
"Agh!" she cried and stepped back holding her hand as if it had been burned. She shook herself and put her hands together in prayer. "The crystal is charged with white power." She stared hard at Angelica. "Why didn't you tell us she had a crystal? And look. What is that ring?"
"Like you've had her for hours, and none of you thought to search her?" replied Angelica in a hoarse whisper and stepped slowly back into the shadows.
The Magus pushed back her hood so everyone could see her face. Maya expected to see a crone with a long nose and warts, but no, she was actually quite pretty and well-kept, and not more than forty. Her crow wear was of fine silk and satins, and well-tailored. All black of course, so if not a crone, still a crow. The Magus circled Maya staring at her. Maya turned her head as best she could to keep facing her.
"Where did you get that crystal, Yank? It is from here, this shire. It should not be around your neck. It should be buried here in the Fens with the woman who crafted it."
Maya answered in a whisper, "I have Frisian ancestors from around here."
"Ah, so that is it. Frisian women fled from here to the West Country and then to the New World. By rights the crystal belongs to this coven."
"Never!" yelled Maya, yanking at the silk that bound her wrists.
"Strip her, but don't touch the crystal," the Magus ordered, and her two hench crows hurried forward to comply. Maya could do nothing, not even scream, she was so breathless, so faint at their charred touch. Against her bare skin the touch of their manicured hands was sending darkness shooting through her. Just her luck. Not bad enough to meet her first female psycho, oh no, she has to meet three at once.
They undid her wrists so they could remove her dress and at that moment Angelica rushed to her side and pushed the two handmaiden crows away from her and tried to wrench Maya to her feet. "Come on Maya, we've got to make a run for it."
Try as she could, and try she did, Maya could not manage to stand. She was still too weak, too disoriented. She did kneel, however, and with a dizzying effort managed not to fall backwards. Maya pressed her hands together in prayer to raise her aura. The aura had been hiding from the darkness. When it came out of hiding it came out slowly, cautiously, but then began to strengthen.
The Magus had rushed forward to thwart Angelica's planned escape, and was just grabbing at Maya when she saw the girl put her hands together in prayer and she stopped still, and then stepped backwards. "So that’s the way it is, then. You know how to raise the white power. Well two can play that game."
Maya could not believe what she was seeing. The Magus had copied her praying pose as if to raise her own aura. Was it possible that the darkness she felt from psychos was also an aura, a dark aura? It must be so, for now she clearly smelled burning toast. The charred smell was enveloping her, making her want to hold her breath. She breathed in deeply through her nose. The smell was only in her senses, not in the air.
All Maya's doubt about dark auras disappeared when the Magus suddenly changed positions and pulled her black satin vest open, dropped it to the ground, and then pulled her black silk blouse off as well. Naked to the waist, the Magus clasped her hands again, and then shifted them to reach her right hand across her wonderful, but probably fake, breasts and grab her left upper arm. Slowly and purposefully the half naked crow extended her left palm, and aimed it towards her.
Maya stared, entranced. The Magus was now in the same pushing pizza pose that Maya herself used to focus, aim, and cast her aura. The Magus was about to send dark power rushing towards her. Even now Britta's crystal was going cold against her breast. Out of reaction to the cold touch of the crystal, she leaned forward from her kneeling position so that the crystal would hang forward and not touch her skin, and then she dropped her praying hands and opened both hands underneath the crystal like an opening lotus.
Her aura focused and began to flood into the crystal. Would it keep her from the dark aura that at any moment would be cast onto her by this psycho crow. Hopefully the brilliant light that soon would be released from the crystal would shield her somewhat. Precious moments passed while the Magus gathered her black aura for casting, and meanwhile Maya's made the crystal glow, then sparkle white, then bright, then brilliant, then dazzling, and then it went blindingly white.
As the white aura spread accompanied by the delicate fragrance of wild flowers, Maya could hear moans of sexual ecstasy, and moans of pain, and gasps for breath from the crow women standing around her.
"Grab her!" screamed the panicked voice of the Magus. "Separate her hands. Pin her to the ground by her arms. Don't touch the crystal. Hold her still so I can cup her throat in my hands." There were a flurry of other orders, only some of which Maya understood because she, herself, had entered a trance.
Maya shook her head violently to force herself out of the trance and back to the present. She heard the sounds of a scuffle behind her. Angelica was telling her to stand up and run while she held the handmaidens away. Instead Maya raised her own left palm into pushing pizza pose, ready to cast her own aura at the Magus. They were now but a yard apart and the witch was pointing her own left palm at Maya.
Usually after charging a crystal, Maya would clasp her elbows to draw her aura back before it could do any collateral damage. This time she didn't. She had never felt her own aura this strong. It was absolutely and totally beyond her control. At first she was aware of darkness retreating from her body, being pushed towards her left forearm, and then along her arm to her left palm. Whiteness was winning. Her aura was winning.
Finally the whiteness reached her palm and as the last of the darkness left her body , she felt her own physical strength growing, felt her blood throbbing, felt the strength return to her legs and arms. Now it was the Magus's turn to feel someone else's aura.
Maya's aura was pulsing around her young naked body and resonating up through her thighs and her sex and her chest and through her breasts into her right arm and then along her left arm to its palm. Focused now, it was pulsing and resonating itself into an eerie force. What would Mr. Spock call it. A force field. A tractor beam. Set phasors on stun. Whatever, the very thought of the corny old Star Trek series put corny words into her mouth and she yelled, "Beam me up, Mr. Scott."
And then something went horribly wrong. Nothing of her aura leaped out from her left palm at the Magus. She heard a cry of pain from over her left shoulder and had a quick look. A helper crow had escaped Angelica and had tried to grab her left arm to ruin her aim, but she was now lying and writhing on the black hardwood floor. The ring. Britta's bog iron ring. Saint Margaret's ring. Rather than leaping out from her left palm, the aura had leaped out from the bog iron ring on her left index finger.
The Magus snickered and snorted. "Amateur, now it is your turn to writhe on the floor."
Maya whimpered. She could not escape from the charred odor. Darkness was numbing her left palm and then her wrist. The Magus was casting her darkness at her and both of their left palms were almost touching. There was no time to think, barely time to react.
In self defense from the darkness, her left hand closed into a fist, a defensive fist, which meant that Saint Margaret’s ring was now pointed directly at the psycho Magus.
The Magus screeched out as the two auras met, but she was too smart to give the girl enough time to take proper aim. She ran to her fireplace, to the face of the horned one that was carved into the stone above the mantle and she grabbed one of his horns. With a twist and a pull of
the horn handle she freed the sacrificial dagger and the steel of the blade flashed in the candlelight.
Maya was trying to get to her feet, while keeping the ring pointed towards the Magus in hopes of forcing her to keep her distance. Angelica, behind her, was tangled in a writhing pile of black capes and skirts and arms and still yelling to her to run. Something glinted in the hand of the Magus. Something long and shiny.
The Magus closed in on the naked girl. The girl was on her feet now with her ring hand forward ready to cast her aura. She circled around her following the circle of the pentangle. She held the dagger up high in her right hand so the girl could see it. "Give up, girl, else I'll carve you." Without waiting for an answer she attacked without warning by simultaneously leaping at the girl and stabbing downward with the blade.
Maya was mesmerized by the sight of the Magus, naked from the waist up, raising a knife above her head. What was she saying? Maya was taken completely by surprise by the attack. Her mind was thinking that the boobs must be fake. Her left hand was closest to the Magus and she barely had time enough to raise it a little in an attempt to block the woman's dagger arm. And then the ring on her hand glowed. The closing of the distance and the arm movements of the attack and the block had moved the ancient ring within inches of the psycho's throat.
Maya was blinded by the intense white light of her aura as it went nuclear, but could still feel the sting of a blade scratching down the skin of her left arm, and could still hear the sound of a body thumping to the floor. In that split second everything that had been the Magus went completely still. Every spark and pulse inside her stilled, and the body lay lifeless on the black floor.
Maya was swaying, dizzy, falling down in slow motion. She saw Angelica running forward to help her. "No, stay back, danger!" she called out in a hoarse breath, and grabbed at her own elbows to smother her aura before it killed again. With her hands on her elbows, she couldn't break her own fall and she whip-lashed her head into the hard floor and lost consciousness.