Sarah Of Salem Redemption Of Talos

This is a stand-alone story, an entry into the

Literotica Halloween Story Contest 2024

. I appreciate your vote.

Although a stand-alone entry, this story is set in the world of Sarah of Salem, which was my entry in last year's Halloween contest. There are six stories in that series, in order: Sarah of Salem, Sarah's Story, The Tribunal, The Dark Valentine, The Dark Son, and Circe's Enchantment. Most are in Loving Wives, but Dark Valentine is in SciFi/Fantasy and Dark Son in Erotic Horror.

I'm at a loss as to where to place this story. The readership is in Loving Wives, but even I will admit this story doesn't fit there. I don't think it's erotic or horror, so either Fantasy or Romance, and the SciFi/Fantasy category is too heavily leaning to SciFi. So Romance, where it will sit and where few people will read it.

It's a good thing I write these for my enjoyment. Please comment, even if you hate the story. I love the feedback.

Chymera

*

Talos had always loved his grandmother Sarah Lawson-Goode, his aunts, sisters, and his mother and father, but he always felt closest to his grandfather, Will Lawson. Well, at least he was closer after his Aunt Anastasia de-magicked him, anyway. Before that? Well, he hardly recognized himself before that. As an infant he'd exhibited strong magical powers, well above witches much older than he, but he had been pledged by his natural father to the Horned One, and his being was twisted by that seed of evil.

It wasn't until his Aunt Annie destroyed his biological father, and thereby saved Talos from being sacrificed to the Horned God, that he became the person he was meant to be. That was because Anatasia had then erased the magic from his being, freeing him from evil. Since then, he'd been truly happy with himself.

Of course, being a mundane (a person without magic) in a family filled with powerful witches and wizards was not easy. Most of the other children he knew were the sons or daughters of witches and filled with magic, and were usually involved in magical training, rites, and events. He tried socializing with mundane children, from non-Hexing Families, but having to hide his family's magic made it all too difficult. And trying to explain their sentient house? Well, forget it.

But his family and the other magical children he knew were grossed out by the necessities of mundane life, especially the whole toilet paper thing. He was lucky to have a grandfather, who was a mundane, to walk him down that mundane path.

So, Grandpa became his main solace and friend. Grandpa taught him how to do things, took him fishing and hiking, and showed him how to be a man. He loved his father, Blaise, and knew his father loved him as if he were his natural son, but it was difficult for Blaise to understand the problems he faced, when his whole life Blaise had been able to magic away those inconveniences of youth, from bullying to pimples, with simple spells or potions.

But Grandpa knew and understood. He taught him to box and to stand up for himself. He taught him mundane hygiene; where his siblings and relatives just enchanted themselves clean and kempt in the morning, like his grandpa he had to shower, brush his teeth, and comb his hair. Yes, sometimes his parents or his Grandma Sarah would be impatient and used magic to hurry him along, but his grandfather insisted that he do it himself whenever possible. Magic wouldn't always be a part of his life, Grandpa said. Anastasia added her support to that argument.

Besides, magic that was applied to him always left him with a creepy, unclean feeling. Usually, it was a mild discomfort, but occasionally, it was overwhelming.

The best example was French. He was studying French indepentently, because the Junior class had a trip to Paris and so the class teacher conjured a spell to implant that language in their minds. When she cast the spell, Talos felt his soul being crushed, overwhelmed by the feeling of evil he remembered from his childhood. Visions of the animals the Horn One had demanded in sacrifice, the feeling of being taken over by the Evil One had Talos screaming in panic.

Screaming "Stop it! Stop it!" his teacher was at a loss. Nothing like this should have happened. Within minutes, minutes that reduced Talos to a crumpled, sobbing heap, Anastasia was there and removed the spell from his mind. Talos passed out and wasn't aware of his aunt turning on the teacher in fury.

"What part of 'NO MAGIC' did you not understand?" Annie demanded of the cowering teacher.

Faced with the anger of one that was rumored to be the most powerful witch of the last century, the teacher resembled Talos' crumpled heap. He swallowed hard, and said, "I was just trying to help the class. This has never happened before..."

Anastasia waved her hand and the teacher's mouth clamped shut. "If you've damaged his psyche..." She left the threat unspoken. She gathered up her nephew and began walking him out of the classroom. As she left, she again waved her hand and the teacher's mouth suddenly snapped back open, while he repeatedly said, "I'm so sorry."

Back at the Goode House, Annie plied her patient with hot chocolate and a calming spell, low keyed enough not to set off Talos' panic.

"Auntie, what happened? I felt like I was being swallowed by an evil beast. I was so frightened and lost." A sob escaped him, and Annie gently pressed the spell to settle him down. "Am I evil?" he beseeched.

"I took your magic not because you are bad, Talos. Your soul was damaged before you were born, given by your father and Griselda to the Horned God when Griselda put her hex brand on your mother." She hugged the boy. "They took your lovely soul and twisted it. It's no fault of yours, but the Horned One still has his claws in your soul. I took your magic to deprive him of it, and of you. Without magic, he cannot reach your psyche. Hopefully, someday you'll be able to purge him from your soul, but it's a difficult, almost impossible task.

"In the meantime, we have to be sure that your not exposed to too much magic. A little isn't too bad, where it just affects your body or clothing, that's okay. But something major, that changes you, your brain, your mind, your psyche, or if you want, your soul, gives him a foothold on you. I should have turned that teacher into a toad, the blithering idiot." Annie fumed.

Talos managed to laugh. "Please don't, Annie. He's a good teacher and popular. I'd hate to see him turned to a frog and end up in someone's potion."

[----------------------------------------------------]

Remembering the panic I had felt that day, it still makes me shiver. But it made me be quite happy to be a mundane.

In the end though, I didn't have many friends. Some of the Hexing Family children who were weak in power didn't mind being around an even less gifted child. Some wanted to hang just to try to get on the good side of the family that was now the Tribunal. Some children I could see resented the time spent with me, and I believed that their parents had ordered them to play with me.

Even with that iffy cadre of friends, I was often left alone when they were off doing magic. If I went with them, all I could do was stand around. So, mostly, I was alone.

Of course, then there were the children I wanted to leave me alone. The ones I had studied magic with before I lost my powers. They didn't understand that I wasn't the same person. The Horned God had infected me, apparently from conception, when my mother and been hexed and branded, to be inseminated by my evil father. I had been created to be a sacrifice to the Horned God.

So, Magical Talos was evil. Or at best, an arrogant asshole. I was so very gifted and powerful that I dominated my classes and lorded over my peers and classmates. Now, they could take their revenge on the defenseless unmagical me. It was often petty; tripping me, souring my food (once, turning it to feces right when a spoonful was at my lips), putting embarrassing rips in my pants, and other humiliating, but basically harmless, pranks. Hurtful, but I would live.

Then there were the assholes as big as I had been. I would find myself flying down flights of stairs I had been descending. I was nudged into the street, once having a leg broken by a speeding car.

I was in agony until Anastasia took away my pain and fixed my leg with a mumbled spell.

I dealt with it the best I could. I used my boxing skills to flatten a few noses, but the pain and damage was usually brief, as my broken leg had been. But at least they felt enough pain to usually back off for a while.

It was after the French fries I had stuffed into my mouth became razor blades, that my grandmother Sarah blew her top.

She let it be known that if anything happened to me again, she and my grandfather would be adding not just the children involved, but their entire families to the Vegetation Coven. The Vegetation Coven was a group of mindless witches kept in what used to be their coven leader's home. My mundane Grandfather, with his family's help, had somehow wiped their brains, leaving drooling husks behind.

No one knew how my grandfather had done it, even my grandfather who wasn't sure he could do it again, but everyone took the threat seriously. After that, none of the kids wanted to be around me, lest they get blamed for any future incidents. Parents now ordered their children to stay away from me and requested that the school, where possible, kept their offspring out of my classes.

Only one person, a girl, remained my friend. I asked her why her parents hadn't forbidden her to be around me, like many other parents had ordered their children away from me.

Cassie laughed while summonsing a snack of PBJ's and sodas for us. "Because, silly, I'm adopted. I was an orphan, and I have no family." She grinned mischievously and lowered her voice ominously, "So you better watch out! There's nothing to stop me from feeding you..."

She collapsed in giggles while the food materialized on the table. "PB&J's!"

I laughed. She did crack me up.

So, Cassandra was my best friend all through high school, and probably would be for life. We were never romantic -- I was afraid of damaging my only friendship and I also knew that, my grandparents aside, mundanes and witches shouldn't marry. It didn't usually work out well. I believed that Cassie would be diminished, tied to a cursed soul like me. I had to be happy with her friendship.

Cassie did go to school dances and had boyfriends. I stayed home and felt jealous but was glad for her when she was happily in love, and sad with her when her heart was broken. Secretly, I was happier when she was not, because boyfriends deprived me of her company.

I didn't date, partly because I was removed from mundane girls and avoided by other young witches because of Sarah's threat. But mainly, I didn't date because the most beautiful girl in my world was my friend. And I knew she could only be my friend.

It was in college that it came to a head. Cass and I were at a restaurant, waiting for a table. Although we were only 19 at the time, we went and sat at the busy bar and ordered a couple of sodas while we waited. The handsome but harried bartender quickly served us and moved on.

About five minutes later, Cassie nudged me. "Did you see that?" she asked.

"What?" As usual, I was clueless.

"That bartender. He conjured up the last few drinks he was making, trying to catch up on his orders."

"What?" I say that a lot around Cassie. Mundane. Slow on the uptake.

"He's a witch! Watch this." I heard Cassie mumbling, and as the bartender went to serve the drinks, they turned into water. He saw that and pulled them back in time. He made some excuses as he frantically looked around.

Cassie mumbled again and pointed at the drinks. The poor guy looked down and saw that they were once again the drinks that had been ordered. He smiled and served them.

It took him another ten minutes to catch up and get himself enough room to take a break. He came over to us, immediately. He smiled and offered his hand to my friend. "Hi. You caught me. I thought I was being discreet. Obviously, not discreet enough.

"I'm Murray." He smiled almost demurely. "Actually, it's Merlin, but I'm sure you can imagine how that goes over in public."

"I'm Cassandra, and this is my friend, Talos." Cassie and Murray smiled at each other. I swear I saw a spark fly between them. Murray had yet to even look at me.

"I don't think we know you. Are you from the area?" I asked.

With some difficulty, Murray broke his gaze and finally looked at me. "No," he almost spat at me, then looked back at Cass and continued smoothly, I would say almost seductively, "No, I'm up from Baltimore. I've only been here a week."

"Well, you need to come to a Hexing meeting. Talos' grandmother is the Tribunal chair." She smiled slyly, "I'll give you my number and you can call me. I'll give you the information you need."

As my phone buzzed with the alert that our table was ready, Murray tucked the napkin with Cassie's number on it in his pocket and said, "I'll be sure to call." He licked his lips. "Count on it."

Of course, it was less than a week before they had their first date. When we got together for a movie night, Cassie was all aglow. And she couldn't stop talking about the guy. I can normally take it, but this just rubbed me the wrong way.

"And he used to manage a shelter for battered women down in Baltimore, before he moved up here. He helped so many women." She actually sighed. Sighed for god's sakes, like Gidget over Moondoggie. "He's so good and kind."

I huffed, "Yeah, he went from saving women from drunks to serving the drunks enough booze to go home and beat on their women."

Cassie gave me a nasty look which told me she didn't want to hear any criticism of her new love. I gave in. "Can we just watch the movie?"

It became worse as time went on, and they began sleeping together. She'd had lovers before, and yes, I was always jealous and hurt, but I understood that she had to have her own life and had to have the things I couldn't give her. But it still hurt, and I missed her.

But this was different. Murray was all consuming for Cassie, and she hardly ever had time for me. We were down to a quick lunch or coffee a couple times a week. Her nights were monopolized by the fantastic Mr. Merlin. I hated him, even though I never saw him but that one time.

A month after they'd become lovers, Cassie called about having a movie night. I fell all over myself agreeing. I really missed her.

When she reached forward to retrieve the popcorn bowl, her sleeve moved up her arm and I saw a burn mark above her elbow. It was round, smaller than a dime, but looked painful. I asked her about it. "How'd you burn yourself, there?"

She twisted the flesh on her upper arm around, trying to get a look at the spot. "I don't know," she drawled. "It doesn't hurt, even when I'm touching it. I can't imagine how that occurred. I probably just spelled the pain away without really even noticing it." She thought maybe she'd accidentally come into contact with the espresso machine when she was behind the bar with Murray. Then she sighed.

Fucking sigh, every time she thought about Loverboy. Fuck.

We went back to the movie. She absently felt her burn while I smoldered enough to burn her with my dislike for Merlin.

It was two nights later that I was awoken from a deep sleep by her screams. Harsh, panicked screams. Horrible screams which reached my soul. Something the placid, confident Cassandra would never voice. It had to be a nightmare. It had to be. I was having trouble breathing and my eyes were running with tears. I was frightened for her.

I swallowed, trying to control my panic. "It was a dream, just a dream." I told myself again and again, while I was getting dressed.

I was still saying it as I left my apartment. "It was just a dream." But where was I going? I was in my car before I knew it, racing down the streets of Salem.

I knew where Murray lived, but had never been there, but I knew exactly where I was going in my head. Not sure how I knew. Cass might have mentioned the address, but I could picture the building, the lobby, and the interior of his rooms. I doubled parked in front of his building.

His lobby door wasn't locked, and his elevator was waiting. It took me to his floor. I hadn't pressed the button. Down the hall, the door to what I knew to be his apartment was slowly opening.

It was then I wondered if I was still dreaming. It all seemed surreal. It must be a dream. I hadn't had a conscious thought since waking up. I was just compelled forward.

That mantra was still repeating in my head. "It's just a dream. It's just a dream."

Then I was in his living room and a bedroom door flew open with a bang. On the bed Cassie lay terrified, bound by spells I could see shimmering around her, while Merlin was mumbling enchantments, drawing his hands over her skin while runes appeared in burning marks on her back and butt.

I knew suddenly that that small burn had just been a test. This was the real end game. He was putting a binding hex on Cassandra.

With a growl, Merlin realized I was there and flung a spell at me. It bounced off my protection, wardings that I now knew were there, but had not time to consider. Again, without thought I flung up my hands and Merlin flew off the bed and crashed into the wall and dropped to a heap.

My arms were pulled across my chest and then were flung out, dramatically. The binding fell from Cassie and disappeared.

I suddenly felt Anastasia's presence. She moved past me and ran her hands down Cassie's back and over her butt. The brands and their scars faded away.

Whatever dream state was holding me diminished and disappeared with Aunt Annie's appearance. I realized that she must have been doing the magic. I laughed nervously, embarrassed that I had even thought for a minute that I, a mundane, had been performing magic.

With fury in her eyes, Anastasia yelled out a curse and her arm shot out in a gesture of dismissal, and Murray disappeared.

Meanwhile, I had picked up a blanket and covered Cass as she was slowly coming to her senses. As she blinked her eyes, she saw my aunt, and gushed, "Anastasia! Thank you. He was so evil." She broke down in tears, heartbroken like I'd never seen her before. Her body was racked with sobs. Anastasia sat and took her into her arms. As she finally calmed down, she began telling her story.

"He took me to bed, stripping off my clothes. It was different than before. He was so serious and, I don't know, hard. And he kept whispering to me. I couldn't make out the words, but I thought it was endearments. When I realized that he was casting a spell, I found myself bound. Then he started burning his hex marks on me, and I guess I passed out." She looked up again with panic in her face. "He was trying to enslave me, to bind me to the Horned One. Oh, my God," she cried, "You saved me." She hugged Annie.

About then, other members of my family began showing up, including Sarah, my dad Blaise, and all my other aunts. I was moved out of the room as the women moved to comfort the still sobbing girl.

My grandpa gathered me up. "Come on, they don't need us here. I'll buy you an ice cream." Feeling like a twelve-year-old again, I followed grandpa out of the building.

While I prefer Melt's Homemade, grandpa is an Uncle Dusty's diehard fan, and he was driving. Still, you can't complain much about either choice.

As he drove, Grandpa asked me how I had come to be there, in Murray's house, in the middle of the night. I told him about my nightmare, of finding myself leaving the house, and the doors opening at Murray's to let me in. I told him how surreal it all seemed, until I realized it must be Aunt Annie's doings.