Amorous Goods: The Necklace and the Spell Book
Acknowledgments: A huge thank you to Rustyoznail for organizing this year's challenge. I spent may wonderful evenings reading the stories from the past few years, so a thank you to everyone who participated. The three witch sisters in my story are loosely based on the characters from Aftynrose's ASMR video "Three Witches Won't Let You Sleep". If you enjoyed the story, please take the opportunity to view Aftynrose's content.
Prologue: A lifelong collector of goods and objects from far and wide has passed and left the entire collection and the business built around them to the only remaining relative, a niece on a career path of her own. Vikki has taken on the task of administering the estate and liquidating the business and collection. However, she has come to find out that many of the goods have been cursed or enchanted with amorous powers that affect those who encounter them. These are the stories of some of those encounters with objects found at Amorous Goods.
November 1st, 8 AM, Interrogation Room, Black Tower, Boston
The first thing you learn when studying magic is that nothing is as it appears. Lilith looked around and separated the seeming from the real that surrounded her. It seemed as if she was floating in nothingness and swirling mist, seated on a wooden bench that floated in a void broken only by stars, illuminated from above by a weak, silvery light that seemed to emanate from a moon hanging above the gloaming fog. In reality the young witch was seated on a wooden bench in a room painted dark gray lit by a simple pendant light hanging above her head. It would take more than a weak glamour spell to fool a half-elf who passed as fully human every day of the week. Lilith hugged her arms across her bare chest and counted her lucky stars that the room was kept comfortably warm. She had seen through the glamour hours before and the novelty of pretending to float the cosmos had worn off long ago.
Lilith, youngest of the Rose sisters, maiden of her coven, wielder of magic had been stripped of her robes, ornaments, and talismans when she had been brought to the Black Tower. The guard who had asked her to disrobe had been polite but firm: only those skyclad could testify before the council. For hours now she had sat on the bench in the boring room organizing her thoughts in her head, going over the series of horrors that led her to this dull room. She hoped that soon someone would bring her something to eat. Now that the adrenaline rush had worn off, Lilith was hungry and exhausted. The bench was too short to lie down on and the floor was too uncomfortable an option to consider.
Stroking her medium-length, orange hair back over her shoulder, Lilith decided it was time to let the guards know she had seen through the illusion. She wanted to know what was happening and when someone would come to interview her. Standing with purpose Lilith walked straight through the fog and rapped on the "invisible" door.
"Do you know when my familiar will be brought back?," she shouted.
If the guards outside the room heard her they made no reply. Lilith shrugged and walked back to her bench.
Instead of sitting, the young witch stretched first one leg and then the other, preparing her tired body to run through a few yoga poses to ease her sore muscles. Lilith had elfin ears hidden by her orange hair, a cute, heart-shaped face, and an innocent smile she used to turn events her way on more than one occasion. Her chest was ample, her waist slim, and an ass that was neither too big or too small. Lilith was not especially tall, but her legs were toned and lean from decades of yoga. Lilith's youthful appearance was no glamour, her DNA and the youthful freckles that adorned her cheeks kept her young long past her true youth. Arms raised, Lilith breathed in deep and lowered her arms as she allowed the air to slowly escape her lungs.
"Have a seat on the bench, please," came a woman's voice from behind Lilith. The door had opened and another witch was standing, nude, holding a large, rust-colored cat in her arms. As soon as the witch closed the door, the cat jumped away from her and ran over to rub against one of Lilith's legs and jump onto the bench where he promptly curled up into a ball and seemed to fall asleep.
Lilith studied the new witch as she slid Templeton out of the way so she could sit down. Short with a pixie haircut, purple hair (both on her head and below her waist), ample breasts, tattoos, and multiple piercings, her attitude was professional despite the punk touches to her appearance. The new witch waived a hand and summoned a similar bench to Lilith's and sat across from her. The folder, which seemed empty, was placed on the seat beside her.
The skyclad rule applied to everyone who might appear before the Council, even the witches and warlocks who worked for the Black Tower. The purple-haired witch who sat across from Lilith was most certainly an Auditor. Auditors were not feared so much as they were distrusted. Truth in a world with magic was a slippery concept and the Auditor's job was to present the official "truth" before the Council. Nudity, even attractive nudity, did nothing to make Lilith feel more at ease.
"I apologize for the delay, Lilith. Your familiar was not being forthcoming with all of the details and it took longer to get his testimony than I anticipated." The Auditor's voice was pleasant enough, even friendly, but Lilith knew to keep her guard up.
"He can be a handful," Lilith stopped rubbing Templeton's ear as she spoke. "I assume it is my turn, Sister...?"
"You may call me Sister Vivienne," the witch replied. "I have interviewed the other parties. I wanted to leave your testimony for last. It would seem you can tie everyone else's stories together." Vivienne waived her hands and a table appeared between them, a stack of large, black tarot cards rested in the middle. "Shuffle the cards, please."
Lilith did as she was asked and lightly shuffled the large cards together more times than she could count, then placed them back in the middle of the table. Curious, Lilith asked what the cards had to do with her testimony.
"For important testimonials the Black Tower uses a reverse reading to judge the accuracy of the story. I will lay out a seven card spread, reversed, and flip a card over each time it seems pertinent."
"And you can accurately read a false story from the cards, Sister?"
"As accurate as tarot cards will allow," Vivienne replied with a wink. "We have found that using a reverse reading also assists our archivists with recording the events. Once your testimony is complete, and deemed truthful, it will be transcribed and stored in the archive beneath the tower. Cards that conflict with the tale indicate where the Witch's Council will need to probe a little deeper."
Lilith, anxious for the first time since she had arrived at the Black Tower, watched as Sister Vivienne dealt seven cards in an inverted "V" formation on the table. If the cards were meant to be a form of lie detector, she would need to only tell what she knew and avoid speculation on what happened outside her experience.
