Issue #10

You stood up and turned around, your body screaming at you in pain as your muscles desperately tried to loosen up. "What do you want from me?" you asked.

From behind your assailant, the blonde woman from your memory was leading Red at gunpoint. She laughed and answered your question in place of the dark haired one, "Well ya see, Persephone suffers from the same trouble that you both do. She needs a little supernatural boost," she explained. "So when I got a line that you two were out here searching for some mysterious energy source. Well. We just had to come join the fun."

You looked to Red, hoping and praying that she had a plan, but she was looking back to you with the same **** expression. A shiver coursed through your body as another wave of chills ran from toe to tongue.

"We haven't found the source of it yet. We couldn't help you even if we wanted to," Red said. You realized that she must not have had the same effect from the river water like you did. She had washed off the upper half of her body but apparently that was much safer than drinking the water. If only she had told you that right?

The woman narrowed her eyes at Red and opened her mouth to speak, but you cut her off.

"Wait! I know what the source is. I know how you can get your power," you said, throwing in Gullibility, even though it was partially the truth. Red snapped her attention to you, clearly confused as to how you could know when she did not. "Just put the guns down and I'll tell you," you added, hoping to deescalate the situation.

Persephone and the blonde looked at each other and laughed. Maybe it didn't work because they were considered hostile, which made sense considering the guns pointed at you, "Oh that's adorable. There's no negotiation here. You have no leverage. If Willow wants to find out what you know, she doesn't have to ask for your permission. She just needs a little touch."

A blank look fell over your face. What the fuck was that supposed to mean?

Willow, who you had now put together was the blonde woman, spoke again, "You see, sweetie, all that I have to do is touch a little bit of skin and I get to see one memory or see exactly what you're thinking right now," She ran a finger across Red's face, a jolt of electricity snapping between her nail and Red's cheek. "Like I can see that our poor darling here did not call for a surveillance team. There's no man in the sky coming to save you all. Daddy didn't approve of the mission at all, so she snuck out to do it against his wishes."

Red's eyes went wide at the invasion of her thoughts. Anger. Guilt. Embarrassment. Confusion. A flurry of emotions surged across her face, one after the other. She looked up to Willow and asked, "W-when did we kiss?"

Persephone and Willow laughed rudely once more, like bullies on a playground. "Well I don't just get to take a look inside your head and not leaving anything behind. That would be rude. So I gave you a pleasant memory to remember me by," Willow told her, with a flirtatious wink.

"No. No. I remember it. It happened. I can picture your lips. And mine. That was me!" Red argued adamantly. Lightbulbs flicked on in your head. The gas station. The proposal.

She had tried to probe your mind for information about the river, before you had known anything about it. And she had left you with that memory. "You were married once," you said aloud, causing a wide, vicious smile to appear on Willow's face.

"Engaged. And then I broke it off. Well. I broke him off. Into the bottom of the Hudson. But ya know. Either way. Seems like you're getting the idea," Willow replied with a shrug. "But now. Time to find out the truth from you."

Time was running out. You could feel your heart beat slowing with every minute that passed. You would be lucky if the poison could get you before these two killed you. You had to do something. Anything. You could not use Gullibility on them if they were considered hostile. But maybe. Just maybe. You could use it on yourself. Willow was walking towards you to touch your skin and discover the truth.

You used Gullibility and thought as hard as you could about wanting to affect yourself, "There is only one way for her to get her powers. This river is the energy source. In order to receive them, she must cross the river. She must be unencumbered by any mortal possessions, carrying the seed of a man who has consumed agave. The life **** of the sperm will interact with the power from the river and imbue her body with its effects."

A few moments passed before a simultaneous laugh burst from them. "You've got to be kidding me. Literally. How gullible do you think we are?" Persephone asked, cackling at your statement.

That pissed you off. You were telling them the complete and total truth. You had no idea how exactly you knew this, but it was the only possible way to inherit the powers of the river. You knew it with every fiber of your being. "Read my mind, Willow. Listen to exactly what I'm thinking right now. I promise you that it isn't a lie," you told her. You were not even sure why you cared if she believed you or not. You were telling her the truth and she was laughing at it. Rejecting it.

"This isn't the time to get yourself off. What the fuck are you doing?" Red asked, angry and upset with you. That hurt even more. You were doing this to hopefully protect her. The river was about to kill you, but maybe if you helped Persephone get her powers, then they would spare Red. All they had to do was listen to you and hear that you were being honest.

Willow's hand grabbed yours, its warmth against your ice cold palm preempting the static shock of her ability. Horror spread across her face, "He-He's telling the truth. He doesn't know how he knows it, but he knows that is exactly how the river works. And it's killing him, because he drank the river water instead of doing the procedure the correct way." She stared at you. She wanted you to be wrong. But she was seeing the truth now. "Go find some Agave, Persephone. There's bushes of it all around."

"Sis, you can't be serious!" the black haired bombshell protested.

"We have a promise to keep. You can't do that without powers. And this is the way to get them. Now go get the plant," Willow commanded. She was clearly the leader of the two. Persephone may not have liked it, but she knew that it was the only way. That if Willow said you were telling the truth, then you were telling the truth. She turned on her heels and walked into the brush to find it.

Willow turned to Red and pointed the gun back at her, "Now you. Get him hard so he's ready to go when she gets back with the agave. I don't want this to take any longer than it has to."

Red stammered incoherently for a few moments before protesting, "I-I can't. I don't even know what to do."

"It's okay. You don't have to. We can-" you began before Willow interrupted you with the gun leveled at your head.

"Shut the fuck up and get your dick out," she shouted.

Another chill ran through your body. You were not sure if that was the goosebumps from her yelling at you, the curse taking you, or a little bit of a fear boner. Maybe it was all three, because as you unzipped your pants and began sliding them down, you could feel your member had already started growing. The fabric of the boxers quickly followed your pants and slid down to your ankles, freeing your dick to the wide open. You were acutely aware that there were now two sets of eyes looking at you and the **** exhibitionism got your blood flowing even faster.

"Now. Like I said, help him out," Willow commanded Red once more, waving the gun between the two of you.

Red looked at your face, down to your member, and then back up to your face again. She stepped forward timidly so that she was right in front of you. She was hoping for any sort of guidance as she seemed more nervous about her lack of experience than anything else.

"Kiss me. It's a good place to start," you whispered quietly with a helpful smile. You had become much more attached to her than you had even realized until this moment, and the last thing you wanted was for her to resent you. Not that it was the ideal place for a first kiss, but it was better than telling her to suck your dick right off the bat.

She nodded gratefully at you, then took a deep breath in and out. The corners of her lips curved upwards and she placed her hands on your chest through your shirt as she began pushing her head up towards yours.

You matched her movements and wrapped your hands around her back. Your lips moved to meet hers. Your eyes shut and you closed the distance, the nervousness and excitement in your body balling up into a mess of energy within you.

And then you connected. Your fingers grabbed on to her bare skin, just beneath the string of her bikini top. Her hands ran up to your shoulders as her chest pressed against yours. Your lips locked, tangling with the passion and ferocity of youth. Her skin was as cold as yours. It was slick from the frigid waters of the river. Yet the kiss had succeeded where the sunlight had failed. Despite the poison coursing through your veins, you felt warm inside.

Until she was ripped away. "Go stand over there slut. I'll take care of this myself," Persephone growled as she pushed her to the side. She put a hand on your chest and shoved you backwards and you fell with your back against the sandy dune.

She towered over you and thrust a fibrous and sharp green leaf in front of you, "Eat this."