400 Years Earlier. Lincoln, England.

Isabel should have felt like the happiest woman on Earth, but she was a bag of nerves. Today was her big day. She was to be married to Arthur Petersen. A dashingly handsome man. A good man, she felt sure. And a respected pillar of their community. He seemed besotted with her. Isabel was openly acknowledged to be the most comely woman in the whole of Lincoln, with her long flowing black hair, shapely and inviting body, and refined and classically beautiful facial features. She could have been wed to any man in the city, but only ever had eyes for Arthur.

"Oh my Goodness!" her younger sister Polly gushed as she walked into the room where Isabel was presently standing in her wedding dress "What a sight you are to behold! But why so miserable? Are you having second thoughts about Arthur? You'll not find a better man, I'm sure"

"It's not that" Isabel frowned "Rosalind will be here. She is going to do something unnatural to me. She'll curse me into a toad to spoil mine and Arthur's day!"

"And see herself burned at the stake by nightfall?" Polly raised her eyebrows at such a far fetched notion "It was wise of Arthur to invite her. It helps set aside any bad blood between you. And if she were going to do anything to you, it would have been done in a rage when she had first discovered your love for each other"

The last thing Isabel had ever wanted to do was upset the local witch. In truth, none of this had been her fault. When Arthur had begun to woo her, he had neglected to mention that he was already betrothed to another. And by the time she found out, she was too in love with him to go back. She knew how much Rosalind resented her. The witch could never bring herself to believe that Arthur had chased his new love and preferred the idea that Isabel had lured him away from his bride like some kind of whore. The truth didn't seem to matter. All that did was there was an angry witch she felt sure would find some way to ruin her happiness.

In the event, the wedding itself went off without a hitch. Crowds of well wishers lined the streets to bid the happy couple well in their new life together. It was not until well into the evening's celebrations, with Arthur stood with his arms wrapped proudly around the waist of his new wife, that Rosalind approached.

"So Arthur, you finally found your true love" she smiled in a deceptively warm looking manner "I want to let you both know I wish you well, and any past strife between us is water under the bridge. To show my good intentions, I have a wedding gift for you, in the form of a blessing on the bride"

"I thank you for your kind words and intentions, Rosalind" Isabel bowed slightly "But we would prefer to make our own fortunes without the aid of enchantments"

"Nonsense!" Arthur countered, somewhat boisterously after an ale or two "Let us put this silly feuding behind us and make a fresh start on this special day. We accept your gift with good grace, Rosalind!"

The flame haired witch stepped forward and placed her palm on the forehead of a nervous Isabel, closing her eyes and muttering a few words in a language neither of the newly wed understood. She then stepped away and smiled to herself with satisfaction.

"So, what did that do? Bring good fortune upon my beloved?" Arthur asked.

"It is a blessing far more powerful than that" the witch explained "From this day forward, you can make anything you wish true of your beautiful bride. Just say her name and what you would desire to happen to her"

Isabela was already looking nervous. She instinctively knew this was no gift.

"Just think of the possibilities! You could cure her ills, take away her fear of water, learn her to speak perfect French or Italian" Rosalind paused for a moment, a wicked smile playing on her lips "Of course, you could also use it to turn her into your personal whore. To **** her to satisfy your every perverted carnal desire. But I know you are a good man in love, so there is no risk of that"

Now Isabel was starting to panic. In spite of her love for her husband, she knew what a temptation this power would be for any man.

"Oh, and one more thing" the witch continued "This gift will be inherited through the generations of women in your family line, to be passed to them on the event of their eighteenth birthday and shared with the first man outside of their family to discover their blessing. I have also seen to it that your family line will produce an abundance of daughters, and that each will be as alluring to men as you are"

Isabel didn't know what to say, but felt sick to her stomach. Not only had she been cursed, but generations of her family after her, for centuries to come, would also suffer because of this.

"I shall bid the happy couple good day and take my leave" Rosalind smiled with satisfaction, knowing her work here was done.

"Let's never use this gift, my love" Isabel turned to her husband and urged him hopefully "I don't mind my fear of water. I will suffer whatever befall me, and I have no use of foreign languages. Let us just be happy together without any need for the unnatural"

But she could already see her husband was looking at her differently, with a darkness in his eyes, as if struggling within himself not to succumb to his most base desires and do unspeakable things to the woman he thought he loved.