Witch's Choice

No one paid any attention to the distractingly beautiful and more than unsettling woman on the park bench. They didn’t notice the way her nearly pitch black dress seemed to shift and slide across her pale body or the way her equally dark hair drifted about her as if she were underwater. They didn’t see the bits of ash she seemed to be shedding or the way they flitted around her in the air as if they were alive. She wasn’t trying to hide herself, at least not at the moment. But it was an idyllic October day, autumnal leaves falling, spooky decorations in every window, and the smell of pumpkin spice and cider in the air. All the inanities the mortals of Salem insisted on in the fall.

The woman pulled a handful of nuts from what, had there been anyone watching, they would have sworn was thin air and scattered them across the sidewalk in front of her to the dozen or so waiting crows and to one rather large and annoyed raven. The crows snapped up the offering eagerly while the raven stared flatly up at the woman.

“Not hungry, Horace?” The woman asked, raising one perfect eyebrow. “I could whip you up something more to your liking perhaps. A human infant? The blood of a virgin? Corpse maggots?” The raven bristled and hopped up on the edge of the bench beside her and cocked his head. It was difficult for him to stare through her with his eyes on opposite sides of his head, but he tried his best. His full black eyes met her bright green straight on as church bells in the distance rang the afternoon hour.

“I hope you are about finished amusing yourself, Eris." The raven said peeved, his voice far less avian and more British than some may have expected. "You have only a few hours until your season is scheduled to begin and you haven’t done even the slightest work towards picking your cast or master.”

“Amusing myself? Tormenting you is more necessary than amusing. No... This would be me amusing myself.” The witch glanced around Salem Common, looking for a potential toy. Finding one, Eris casually gestured to a young woman walking the path through the trees. Black hair too dark to be natural made her light freckled skin stand out and dark-framed glasses redoubled the effect for her blue eyes. Unfortunately the jeans and hoodie did not accentuate her curvaceous figure, but unlike Eris, these mortals still felt the sting of the fall chill. The woman’s quick pace suddenly slowed and then froze completely. A moment later she let out a low moan. Eris’ smile broadened as the woman fell to her knees, the phone the girl had been typing away on skittering loudly across the ground. Shaking, her moans turned into loud and passionate cries of pleasure, her body doubling over and fists clenched between her thighs. Unlike the witch and her companion this was noticed immediately by the few others in the park, all of whom were now staring over at the partially collapsed woman.

“Are… are you okay?” A man asked, though he didn’t move towards the still trembling girl. The girl's pale face was bright pink when she was finally able to look up.

“I… I’m fine. I h-have to go.” She grabbed her phone and swore at the shattered screen before standing quickly. She almost fell again as her knees threatened to buckle beneath her. Pulling her black hoodie up over her head and pulling it tight she practically ran towards the park exit praying no one she knew had seen her. None of the bystanders followed.

“I see. Torturing the mortals is more your style.” Horace said, watching the human dash away.

“Oh please. Did you see all her tattoos?” Eris asked. Horace somehow conveyed his annoyance with a solitary click of his beak. “I suppose not, most were covered by those boyish clothes and you lack some of my more entertaining abilities. A shame really, she has a pretty great body. Still, she must be used to getting looked at. I did her a favor, easily the best orgasm of her life.”

“Regardless,” Horace started, unamused. “As much fun as you have torturing them, the Producers will have more torturing you. I can’t promise to look somber when The Producers stuff your little black soul in an even littler box and put it somewhere cold and dark for eternity for ruining your season of Harem Hotel. Do you know how much effort hosts usually put into selecting their contestants? Or why I’ve been trying to get you to work on this for weeks? It was your own fuck up that got you in this predicament to begin with and you’re only making it worse.”

Eris ignored the questions, her mood instantly darkening at the mention of the Producers and the show she very much wanted nothing to do with. The temperature of the air around her dropped precipitously from comfortable fall chill to Arctic and further. Horace almost flew away from the witch then, but himself to stillness, afraid he’d stepped too far and not wanting to draw any more attention to himself.

“They could try.” Her words were ice and her eyes even colder as they cut into the space beyond the trembling bird. Eris blinked and then her smile returned, her mood shifting as quickly as the wind. “Fine. Let’s get this started then. I… choose… her.” Eris said, deciding on the spot.

“I… Her? Her who?” Horace asked, his heart still beating rapidly in his feathered chest. He followed Eris’ gaze down the path the hoodie girl had taken, the woman herself now out of sight. “That’s… that’s not how this works, Eris. You can’t just choose someone randomly off the street. You need to start with the master and buil…” His words cut off abruptly as her long thin fingers grabbed him about the head. Both woman and bird burst outwards into a plume of black smoke and ash. The cloud flew out of the park unseen by the humans there enjoying the changing leaves and festive air. The two reformed once again on the sidewalk a moment later just behind the witches first choice.

“It works how I say it works, bird, and I choose this one. I can sense that she has the seed of magic I require in my contestants this season, a budding witchling, and with my help she will lead us to another.” Eris said sharply before reaching out and touching the shoulder of the much shorter woman, imparting a spark of Eris’ own power into her, marking her as the first new witch in her chain.

***

Dylan Scott jumped. A static shock had the hair on the back of her neck standing up and she whirled around to see… nothing. Though they stood right in front of her, she looked right through Eris and Horace. The bird flapped up to the witch’s shoulder, at Dylan’s eye level, but still the girl could not perceive him.

Heart thundering, the shock and shame of what had just happened in the park still fresh, she looked around anxiously before turning again and heading towards her brothers. She tried desperately to not think about how wet her panties were. How the fuck did that just happen?! Am I that hard up? It must be stress or… something. Dylan wanted to Google “spontaneous orgasm,” but the shattered screen of her phone prevented it and she wasn’t sure she wanted to be barraged with porn links this early in the day anyway. She hoped that it wouldn’t happen again. It can't. Oh. My. God. Please! She didn’t feel any different, didn’t feel like she was about to erupt into orgasm. Again. But she hadn’t felt it the first time either.

She shoved her hand into her hoodie pockets and keeping her head down she began walking the tourist-filled Salem streets. Normally the Halloween crowds wouldn’t have bothered her, growing up here she was used to it getting busy every fall, but right now the extra eyes sent a wave of anxiety through her. Just get to Jeremy's. Don't think about it.

Eris followed, paying no attention at all to the humans. They flowed around her as if she were a rock in a stream, eyes unseeing. Eris only had eyes for the first link of her chain. She admired again the artistry that ran up and down Dylan’s arms, across her back, and even lower.

Horace squawked. “This is really your first pick? She dresses like a teenage boy. We should be looking for women who will draw in viewers, not bore them! Sex appeal is what draws in the dumb apes. Not whatever this is.”

Again, Eris ignored the bird. Dylan slowly relaxed as she got further from the park and any potential witnesses. She pulled down her hood, letting her dark hair tumble to her shoulders. She breathed and let the familiar streets ease the tension from the… incident. She’d be to her brother's apartment soon and there she could forget the whole thing. She passed a bar filled with people here for the second most important season… football season.

“Hey, what’s the score?” She asked some of the guys drinking at one of the outdoor tables, gesturing to the television showing the early game. She held up the busted phone, “Can’t track it myself right now.”

“Hey girly! I bet you take shit wearing that around here huh?” One of the guys laughed and gestured to the Buffalo Bills logo on her hoodie. “Your boyfriend buy that for you?”

“Yeah, but I dumped his ass when he kept confusing the Tampa 2 with the Palms scheme my guys run. I can’t respect a man who still thinks we’re running plays from 2002.”

The guy was a little taken aback by that, but he couldn’t back down now. Not in front of his friends.

“I’ll tell you where my palms would like to go.” He pantomimed a grope.

“I’ll pass. I can guess where your hands have been, but you have no idea where my ass has been.”

That made him blush, and the guy’s friends howled with laughter and unloaded on him.

Bored with the conversation, Eris gestured again and a small spasm of pleasure pulsed between Dylan’s legs. “Nnngh.. I.. Fuck.” She spat under her breath, face growing hot and a trickle of fluid running down one thigh. Dylan ended her conversation abruptly, panic flooding her, and moved quickly down the street. She expected another cataclysmic orgasm to hit at any moment but fortunately none came. Still, she didn’t calm down or slow down again until her brother’s building was in sight and her finger was on the buzzer.

“Pizza delivery,” Dylan said when she heard her brother answer the intercom, pushing away her anxiety and attempting to keep it out of her voice as best she could.

“Really? It must be really small. I can’t see it.” _Jeremy. Thank fuck. _The sound of his voice immediately began to calm her.

“That’s what she said.” Dylan replied instantly, unable to stop herself. She grinned, imagining the eye roll she knew her brother was likely giving the intercom.

“You’re hilarious. And late. Why didn't you answer your phone?"

"I uh I dropped it. Busted." Dylan said, blocking out the flashback of the incident in her head. "Just let me in dammit."

"Ouch. That sucks. Whine later, get your ass up here."

The door buzzed and Dylan pushed quickly inside leaving the witch and the raven outside.

“We are doomed.” Horace moaned.

“Hardly. Humans are all the same in the end. She will work fine.” The witch said, brushing aside his concern and glancing up to the third floor balcony she knew immediately was the brothers. The next instant both her and the raven were standing on it and looking through the glass door. A moment later they watched a tall, decently muscled man in his mid twenties open the door for Dylan. His hair was a natural brown, but otherwise the family resemblance was clear in their faces. His skin was unmarked however, Dylan’s love of ink was hers alone.

“There! He’ll do for a master. Mark him and we can find others linked to him.” Horace said, his beak clicking excitedly.

“The brother? I think not.” Eris watched as the pair hugged, but the spark steadfastly refused to jump to him. He was useless.

“So your plan is to just follow around this random human until time runs out?”

Instead of answering Eris glided forward through the door as if it weren’t there. Horace, however, hit the glass and fell to the deck behind her. He squawked indignantly, wings flailing as he righted himself but she had already put the bird out of her mind and didn’t bother looking back.

“Grab a beer. It’s only the second quarter.” Jeremy said as he released his little sister from the hug. It had been months since Dylan had visited from Boston but they fell back into their casual relationship instantly, her… issue almost completely slipping her mind.. Dylan grabbed a bottle and used the counter to smack the cap off.

“Don’t fuck up my countertops!” He complained from the couch.

“Don’t fuck up my style!” She responded, joining her brother on the well-used couch, surveying the coffee table covered in junk food, and finally letting herself relax.

Eris watched quietly, flitting around behind the girl and patiently looking through her mind, her memories, like a magazine while she waited for her spark to do its work.

“Where is Ana? She was supposed to beat me here I thought?” Dylan was asking as she took a big, unladylike bite of a chicken wing. Eris perked up at the name, the spark of power she’d placed in the girl growing brighter.

“Something came up at the gym, work stuff.”

“She’s going to miss the whole game? Fuck that.” Dylan reached for her phone, then remembered it was wrecked. Fortunately, her brother’s chose that moment to light up.

“Speak of the devil.” Jeremy said laughing and handed Dylan his phone. “Be gentle with this one.” He said, eyeing hers. "And with my girl."

Dylan flipped him off and then answered, putting the phone on speaker.

"Hey baby," the voice on the other side said.

"Hello, my love," Dylan answered back sweetly. "Since when is work more important than a division game?"

"Ah, darling!" Ana answered, the smile evident in her tone. "I'm so sorry! I had to do a make-up session with a client, but I just finished. I'll get my run in quick and I'll make the second half okay? Can you forgive me?"

"Skip the run. You get enough exercise just putting up with my brother."

"Skip it?" Ana asked, scandalized. "What if I get fat? Will you still want me, baby?"

"Always. Your ass is fine, that’s why I need it on this couch! Skipping one day won't hurt it." Dylan paused. “The wings might. If I save you any.”

"Guys! Stop. Seriously. Commercials are over. I can't listen to you two flirt all night." Jeremy interjected. Dylan grinned.

"I'm sorry, the heart wants what the heart wants." Ana teased back. "Oh! Dylan. Did you tell him yet?"

Dylan glanced at her brother, his attention thankfully back on the TV and quickly lifted the phone to her ear.

"Not yet. I'll tell him after. Don't want to distract from the game."

Across the room Horace tapped loudly on the glass though no one but Eris heard a thing. She gestured and the bird vanished before reappearing on her shoulder.

"See? She found the next link. Another with a seed. Magic calls to magic." Eris said pointedly.

"A woman you haven't even seen picked by a random girl you saw in a park. This will go well."

The spark of her power Eris had tied to Dylan jumped, arcing to the woman on the other side of the phone and binding the two women together. Eris followed her magic, taking the raven with her.