I will hear your screams tonight

The lights dimmed in the lounge, while Dani pushed the couches and chairs out of the way to make room in the center of the slight dip in the floor. Once there was enough space cleared, the girls all sat in a circle as Dakota lit candles and placed them all across the room.

The flames flickered, casting shadows across the walls and leading to an ominous effect that sent chills down the spines of a few of the women. But no one was really scared- they knew it was just mood lighting, to set the scene.

Even if the scene wasn’t one they were entirely thrilled about.

“I don’t like this,” Mary complained for the umpteenth time. “Practicing witchcraft… it isn’t moral!” She shook her head adamantly. “We should not be doing such heathen acts!”

Morgana winced, and immediately the redhead felt bad.

“I’m sorry, I-I didn’t mean to imply that you were-! Oh, bother…” Mary sighed and hung her head. Her cheeks flushed with shame. Wasn’t there any way she could express her discomfort without hurting anyone’s feelings?

“Come on, Mary, it’s just for fun!” Holly said. She rocked back and forth, her face glowing with excitement. “We get to experiment with real magic! Isn’t that just so cool!?”

Mary had a sour look on her face. No, it wasn’t “cool”! In fact, it was very, very not cool, if you asked her! And she wasn’t the only one who had reservations, either.

“I… I don’t want to do it!” Ella was the only one not taking her spot in the circle. She stood on the sidelines with her hands balled up into fists, shaking her head adamantly.

“Come on, Ella!” Rose tried to coax her. “It’s not going to be like last time!”

“That’s right!” Sylvia nodded in agreement. “Morgana upgraded her transformation- so she knows what the spells do now!”

“I already know what the spells do!” Ella bemoaned. “That’s why I don’t want any part of this!”

Last time, she’d run the gamut of the goth witch’s spells, and her body had been subjected to all manner of issues. From the mild lifting of skirts to the expansion of her butt, requiring Nick to bite down on her enhanced ass, to the most problematic one of all, her boosted arousal…

None of those sounded like something she’d like a repeat performance of!

“Look, if you or Mary or whoever don’t want to join in, you don’t have to,” Gina said, her tone unusually empathetic and gentle. “This is a party. We’re trying to have fun, and if you don’t find this fun, you can sit it out, alright?”

Dakota smirked. She could point out that if Ella didn’t participate, she might not get the benefit of a boon; but no, it was better to just let things play out, rather than be accused of trying to pressure the unstable girl into doing something she didn’t want to do.

That was her job as the host; but right now, she was taking the night off, and trying to **** her way here would just backfire in the future.

Besides… it looks like Ella might be coming around on her own, Dakota considered, looking at the troubled expression on the other woman’s face.

Ella was relieved when she heard Gina say that she didn’t have to join in, but when the punk girl said she could sit it out, a flash of uncertainty crossed her face.

“Sit it out… by myself?” She mumbled. “No one else is going to sit out with me…?” She looked expectantly over at Mary, who shifted awkwardly, uncrossing and recrossing her legs.

“I think that we’re all on the same page,” Carly said, glancing apologetically at the flustered girl. “Right, sis?”

“…Yeah,” Marley nodded slowly. “I know I’d like to try out some of this magic.” Not that she knew what spells to expect.

“As long as there’s nothing that makes me suddenly want to bone guys, I can manage it,” Dani said, preening her feathered arms. She’d gotten enough accusations of being a no-fun prude, she didn’t want to cause more drama.

Kim looked apologetically over to Ella, and winced. Poor girl… she doesn’t want to do this, but she doesn’t want to make a big scene by sitting it out, either… I wish I could help her somehow.

The schoolgirl was half-tempted to bite the bullet and sit out with Ella in solidarity, but she couldn’t. Now that she had sat down, her 100% Completion transformation was urging her to see this through to the end. And even if it wasn’t for that… part of her really wanted to see what Morgana’s magic could do.

Ella could feel the stares of practically every other girl in the room. For the most part, everyone was looking at her with sympathy and understanding, not one person arguing with her decision to sit this out. And in a way, that made her feel even worse. If someone had tried to protest, then it would have strengthened her resolve that this was the right thing to do. But now, it was like the other girls were coddling her.

They think I’m not strong enough to handle it… and maybe they’re right. Ella bit her lip and clasped her wrist, running her fingers across her rubber-band. But she didn’t snap it.

But Cinder... is.

It was a gamble and Ella knew it. When Cinder made an appearance at Gina’s last party, she’d almost immediately stormed out, and that was that. But… maybe it would be different this time. For whatever reason, Cinder had been very well-behaved tonight, and she hadn’t tried to **** her way out even once.

Ella honestly wasn’t sure what to do. She wanted to go along with the others, she did. But what if it went badly? What if she had a panic attack, and Cinder **** her way out regardless? Then the situation would get even worse!

No… that could work. If I bring Cinder out now, and she says no, then I didn’t ruin the evening! They wouldn’t be pitying me or saying I could sit out, Cinder would cause the problems!

Maybe it was the lack of sleep, or too much pizza, or her distrust of Morgana’s magic, but Ella did something then that she almost never did.

She willingly relinquished control to Cinder.

It took a second for Cinder to readjust to the situation.

“The fuck is going on here?” She spat, looking at the ring of girls in front of her. “Why did… huh?!”

Some of the women were in pajamas, and some were in lingerie. Cinder scanned the room, tense with concern as the hair on the back of her neck stood up. “Where’s Nick?” She snarled.

“Daddy isn’t here right now,” Sylvia helpfully volunteered. “This slumber party is no boys allowed!”

Cinder blinked behind her bangs, surprised. “Slumber… party?” The words came slowly from her lips as she tried to process. “The fuck?”

“We’re all getting together and having fun,” Rose said cheerfully, trying to smooth things over. “Come on, join in the circle! Morgana’s going to practice some of her spells!”

Morgana’s eyes widened and she quickly made a motion with her hand below her chin to get the blonde girl to stop talking.

“Cinder, it’s just a fun little game,” Dawn said, standing up. She could tell that the latina was going to be bothered by the situation, and wanted to put a stop to that before things could escalate.

“You want me to go through all that again!?” Cinder glared at the trembling goth witch. “Your fucking magic and shit?! No fucking way!”

“I-I…” Morgana’s mouth flopped open and closed as she tried to explain that this wasn’t even her idea in the first place.

“Come on, it’s just for fun!” Gina said, stepping up to defend her slumber party. “Everything’s going to be reversed anyway.”

“It seems like Ella voluntarily changed into you, Cinder,” Vivian pointed out, leaning forward intently. “Does she often do that?”

Cinder glanced at the heiress, alarmed.

“…Maybe she thinks you’re strong enough to handle it,” Dakota mused, tapping her fingers on the floor. “Just a thought, anyway.”

Cinder sulked. She wasn’t capable of fully grasping the feelings of her alter, but from what she could sense, Dakota was pretty much on the money.

So she wants to seem like she’s taking part, but doesn’t want to deal with this shit? Ella… that’s not what I’m here for! Cinder took a deep breath, and let her frustrations escape with a sigh. In spite of her protests to the contrary, in a way, that was what she was here for, to serve as a shield for things Ella wasn’t comfortable with.

“The spells are all temporary, remember?” Rose pointed out. “It’s not like you’re going to be stuck with anything long-term!”

“And Nick isn’t here,” Dani added. “So anything that happens, you won’t have to get him involved, right?”

“Rrgh… fine, whatever!” Cinder scowled, sitting down and crossing her arms over her chest. “But not that one! Don’t even think about using that spell on me! The… the… el culo!”

Morgana stared blankly at Cinder. She didn’t speak spanish but she was afraid of mentioning that in case the latina got even more surly.

“The butt one,” Dawn translated for her.

“…Oh! Yes, that… maybe not that one,” Morgana stammered out an agreement. A few girls were disappointed to hear that (mainly Holly) but they couldn’t really hold it against Cinder for not wanting another woman to bite down on her butt.

“So can we get on with it already?” Gina asked impatiently.

Morgana jumped and nodded, hastily slapping down her book and flipping it open.

“O-okay, I’ll… I’ll read the list of spells out,” she stammered, “and tell you what they do…”

None of the spells had names, not even with Morgana’s upgrade. Just “First Spell”, “Second Spell”, etc. But the book’s pages had changed considerably; now, below each picture, was a brief description of the spell, what it did, and how to counteract the effects.

The First Spell: Upon casting this spell, the Sexcaster will find themselves haunted by an ethereal breeze that follows their every move, even when indoors. This wind will cause an updraft that blows up the skirt or dress, or even the shirt, of anyone within a ten foot radius of the Sexcaster, including the Sexcaster herself! But the wind is temporary, only blowing for ten minutes at a time. Self-isolation for that period of time will cause the wind to die down.

The Second Spell: Upon casting this spell, the Sexcaster will be enchanted with an alluring fragrance of peaches. One whiff from any woman, and their rear end will take on the qualities of a nice, juicy peach, ripening and softening into a bouncing bubble butt. The aroma can be dispelled by wetting the Sexcaster enough to drown out the smell, but anyone affected by the aroma can only be returned to normal if someone takes a bite out of their delicious peach.

The Third Spell: Upon casting this spell, a mystical fireball will appear from the spellbook, and seek out the nearest person, entering their body and enflaming their passions. The longer the afflicted individual goes without an orgasm, the greater their arousal and body heat will rise, to the point where sex becomes all they can think about. A single orgasm is all that is needed to clear these effects, whether by one’s own hand, or the actions of another.

Morgana finished reading the spells to herself, and then she explained each of them to the other women as well. Dawn nodded along with her, considering the potential outcomes.

“It’s about what we discovered on our own,” she said.

“Right, no surprises,” Rose agreed.

Mary sighed in relief. “Well… that’s not as bad as I feared,” she murmured. Her memories of Ella and Cinder in the Master’s Suite a few days back had colored her judgment, and led to feelings of uncertainty and doubt. But it sounded like she was just being overly-cautious. Even if she didn’t like witchcraft, it didn’t sound like there was much danger to be had.

“So now that we all know what kind of magic Morgana can do, how exactly are we supposed to use this?” Marley questioned. “None of those spells sound like they’ll be all that fun as a party game.”

“Most of us are wearing pants,” Dani agreed.

“Right, and even if some people would be fine with the peach one, Cinder wants to take it off the table,” Kim pointed out. She squirmed when a few of the girls looked at her. “…Not me, just to be clear. I like my butt just the way it is.”

Cinder scowled. “So it’s my fault?” She sulked some more. The hard work she’d spent controlling her temper was quickly going to waste. “Why? Because I don’t want some other woman sinking her teeth into my butt!? Is that such a bad thing?!”

“Wait, that’s your only problem with it?” Holly’s eyes widened in surprise. “That it wouldn’t be Nick who fixed things for you?”

Dawn blinked. Now that Holly mentioned it, Cinder’s objection to that transformation in particular didn’t occur until Dani had clarified that Nick wouldn’t be making an appearance tonight.

The furious latina’s face burned, and she leveled a scalding glare at the diminutive pervert. “You shut your mouth!” She growled, moving to stand up.

“Whoa, hold on there!” Rose’s eyes widened. “Let’s just calm down, there’s other stuff we can do, right, Morgana?”

Morgana gulped. “I, um… well…”

She took another look at her book, trying to will a fourth spell into existence. But no, she was stuck with the ones they had available.

“I have an idea!” Sylvia’s hand shot up. “It’s a fun idea for a game!”

Dakota raised her eyebrow, but held her tongue.

“What kind of game?” Dani asked, immediately suspicious of anything Sylvia had to propose, even if it was done with the best of intentions. She wasn’t the only one either, Mary looked worriedly over at the red-haired girl and bit her lip, fidgeting with concern.

“It’s like, um… what’s that game, the one where everybody sits in a circle and someone walks around hitting them on the head?”

“…Duck Duck Goose?” Gina stated after a moment of silent stares.

“Yeah! …That one!” Sylvia nodded. “So it’s like this! We get Morgana to sit in the middle of the circle, right? And then she uses the third spell! The fireball one! Since we’re all sitting equally far away from her, the fireball will be really confused, and probably, like, go all over the place before settling on someone! That’s what happened last time, right?”

Morgana gulped. “Uh-huh, um… something like that,” she nodded.

“It was pretty close before,” Gina said, remembering Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin yanking her out of the path of the fireball just in time. “So it’s just going to spin around the circle before deciding on somebody? Morgana?”

“Um…” Morgana glanced down on the page. That kind of sounded like what happened before, with the fireball flying all over the place. She remembered futilely trying to chase it down before it ended up hitting Ella, after it missed some of the other girls.

Maybe Sylvia’s idea had some merit.

“So it’s like a game of gambling,” Vivian mused, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “We see who the fireball ends up hitting, and then what? Do they boff one out, or…”

“Don’t be so vulgar!” Mary’s face turned red. She didn’t know exactly what “boff one out” meant, but she could guess given the context.

“That could work,” Dani agreed. “But… in public? In front of everyone? I mean…”

“Well, if that’s the only choice…” Kim awkwardly shrugged. It wasn’t like she wanted to masturbate in front of all the other women here, but if those were the rules and she got the fireball, well…

“It wouldn’t be the first time you all did something in public,” Dakota pointed out.

Sylvia nodded. “It’s all in good fun! We’re all girls here, after all!”

“Yep! Yep! Yep! Just us girls!” Holly nodded enthusiastically.

Gina shrugged. Not like they had a choice, right?

Cinder just seethed. She didn’t like this game, either! And she certainly had no intention of… of p-pleasuring herself in front of the other women!

“You guys know there’s a bathroom, right?” Marley said in exasperation. She pointed across the room at the very obviously marked public restroom. “And we could just go into our own rooms. You know, since Morgana did earlier, to get the book?”

“Oh, thank goodness,” Mary sighed in relief.

“So much for the ratings, then.” Dakota let out an exasperated sigh.

“Well, I wasn’t going to say anything,” Sylvia admitted with a rueful smile. “But if that’s what you guys want…”

“…Come on, read the room!” Holly grumbled. She never got to have any fun.

“Holly, what are you talking about?” Rose raised her eyebrow. “You shouldn’t even be playing this game. You can’t get off unless you see someone else having sex with Nick, and they give you permission, remember?”

Holly rolled her eyes. “Uh, yeah, I know? You think I’d really forget something like that?” How dumb did Rose think she was?

“…So then you wouldn’t be able to turn off the effects of the fireball?!” Morgana’s jaw dropped and she shook her head. “M-maybe we shouldn’t, then…”

“What?! Come on!” Holly groaned. “Don’t make me sit out! I want to play too!”

“Are you sure?” Dawn’s face brimmed with concern. “That doesn’t sound like a good idea. If you end up getting picked, your arousal would just continue to go up, and you wouldn’t have any way of resolving it, and you’d…”

Her voice trailed off as she looked at the exasperated expression on Holly’s face.

“…Ah. I see.”

“And here I thought you were supposed to be smart,” Holly scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Come on.”

Gina doubled over with laughter and Vivian smirked. Mary looked aghast, and shook her head.

“Holly, maybe-”

“I wanna do this!” Holly proclaimed. “Anybody else too chicken to play the game?” She looked around the room, sending out a daring challenge with her eyes.

Serenity sat back with an unreadable expression on her face. She had been included in events, for what purpose she did not know. Heck- there was a question of if she could even receive a boon from this. But she was willing to go along with things, if the others were.

Really, Cinder was the only true holdout at this point. The availability of the bathroom had relaxed a lot of the concerns the other women had. And when everyone’s eyes turned to her, they saw, much to their surprise, that the latina wasn’t as opposed to it herself anymore.

“…Fine,” she muttered, shaking her head. “Whatever.”