Boy Sorceress

Maria Hernandez walked into her grandfather's old cabin. She sighed and took her coat off. She started looking for someplace to put it, but soon frowned. The rickety, old furniture her grandfather had built along with the cabin was not where it should be.

I turned on the light. She flinched. My revolver was trained on her. "I hope you don't mind, but I dusted." I shrugged. "Can't stand dirt, you know."

"Miss Williams-"

"I thought we already established that I'm not Ashley Williams, I just look like her."

"Yes." She hesitated. "Well then, what do I call you?"

"Sheila Herman," I said, remembering the name I had given to Dakota.

Hernandez sighed bitterly. "Look, I'm in no mood for any more of your games. You're going to put that gun down and come with me."

"Nope."

"Miss Williams, you're in a lot of trouble! Aside from-"

"I'm sorry, did your superiors not interrogate the real Ashley yesterday?"

Hernandez seethed. I got the distinct impression she was just about ready to pop. "I don't know how you managed to fool-"

"Sweetheart, the only one doing any fooling here is you. And you're only fooling yourself. Now, show me that they took both your weapons when they suspended you!"

"How the hell do you know about that?!"

"Gee, I must be psychic. Get over yourself, Hernandez, it was on the news. But, I'm here to offer you a way back in!"

She snorted dismissively. "Back in? You have no idea what you've cost me. My career is over! I'm an embarrassment to the Bureau. I'm out! The suspension and inquest are just formalities. I'll be dismissed, just as soon as the media attention dies down."

"Sorry to hear that." I really was. I had hoped she'd be my asset on the inside.

She just stood there glaring at me, her breaths growing deeper with each passing moment. "And it's all your fucking fault!"

"Actually, it was the bad guys that played you."

"If you hadn't snuck into my apartment-"

"I'm sorry, what was that?!" I raised my gun at her face. "Cause I don't seem to be hearing you correctly. Were you trying to say that mishandling an investigation and allowing the guilty to go free and continue their killing spree, while an innocent victim rots in jail for something they didn't do, is perfectly acceptable in your book?!"

She bit back her reply and slowly drew a few calming breaths. "No."

"Glad to hear it!" I pulled back the hammer. "Now, show me that they disarmed you."

She tossed her coat aside and opened her jacket. I could see she wasn't wearing a shoulder holster anymore. She slowly lifted one pant leg and then the other to show me she wasn't wearing an ankle holster, either.

When my eyes darted down, I heard a faint click and saw, out of the corner of my eye, a flash of something flying at me. By reflex, I imagined a force field in front of me, stopping all projectiles. When I raised my gaze, I could see a switchblade hovering a foot from my face.

Hernandez rushed at me. I modified my force field to lift her up and she screamed as her next step seemed to launch her into the air. I kept her hovering in the middle of the cabin, too far to reach anything with her flailing limbs.

"What the fuck's happening!?"

She was twisting, spinning and tumbling around my intangible tendril of force attached to her center of gravity. I used a little more force to stabilize her in a face-down horizontal position. I worked the safety on my gun and put it into my jacket pocket. I plucked her knife out of mid-air and brandished it.

"This wasn't nice of you, Maria."

"Fuck that! Fuck this! Fuck you! What the fuck's goin' on!?"

I lifted the knife. I moved her body closer to me until her lips were pressing gently into the blade. She kept her mouth shut, but her nostrils were flaring like mad as she came close to hyperventilating.

I gazed into her wild eyes as I considered things. This was definitely not how I had planned this visit to go down, but what the hell, I could roll with it.

"What's going on is that I'm a magician. The bad guys are supernatural monsters and you're going to help me stop them."

Her eyes didn't blink as she stared down her nose at the knife. She started inching her hands closer to her face. I rolled my eyes and floated her backwards. I folded her switchblade and put it in my pocket. I gently rotated her into an upright posture and lowered her to the floor.

She immediately spread out her arms for balance and bent her legs at the knees. Her eyes darted everywhere.

"Relax, Maria. If I wanted to harm you, I could have done that a long time ago. I'm here to talk. That's all."

She stood there, tensed up, for a few moments. "You're a

bruja

."

I squinted. "That's Spanish for 'witch', right?"

She slowly nodded. Her wide eyes were now fixed on me.

"Well, I'm not an evil witch, if that's what you're afraid of."

Maria swallowed. She hesitated, but then said, "If you're not evil, then why'd you kill all those people?"

"I only ever killed four evil, murderous shits that were trying to kill me at the time. No one else." I remembered Sturbridge. "Okay, five evil, murderous shits. But, that's it!"

"Oh, yeah? There are fifteen corpses in your house, putting the lie to your words."

"I...I didn't kill those people. I tried to save them, but I wasn't good enough."

She chuckled bitterly. "Tried to save them? From yourself?"

I scowled at her. "Didn't we already establish that you're a shit investigator? You shouldn't be trying to draw any conclusions about-"

She charged at me again. I lifted her body in the air with my power and she again wound up hovering in the middle of the cabin. This time, she was swinging her limbs, desperately trying to land a hit on me as she spun and twisted every which way possible.

I growled in exasperation. I willed her body to float over to the bed. There was an old, worn rope hanging on the wall next to the front door. I retrieved it and pulled out Maria's knife.

She was still flailing in the air, but she paused when she noticed me cutting the rope into four pieces. "What are you doing?!"

"You'll see," I softly said. I willed the ropes to tie themselves around the four bedposts. Maria began thrashing even more wildly, desperate to find some traction in mid-air and get away from what she could see was brewing.

I stretched out her limbs in a spread-eagle position with gentle tendrils of force and immediately willed the ropes to tie themselves around her wrists and ankles. I lowered her down onto the duvet and tightened the ropes. As soon as my power let go of her body, she resumed her thrashing.

While she was thrashing against her bonds, I went to the fireplace. I had already set up a bunch of logs inside it and doused them with lighter fluid. I lit a long match and the beginnings of a cozy fire were soon brewing. It was goddamn cold in this valley. I turned back to Hernandez.

Her struggles didn't last long. She was as helpless as she had been in mid-air, only now the trashing actually chafed her wrists and ankles raw. She lay on the bed, her chest heaving with wild, panicked breaths as her wide eyes pleaded with me. She began muttering.

I came closer and leaned in to identify her words. "Ah," I said, straightening up. "I'll just let you pray in peace. Once you've gotten yourself under control, we'll continue."

I walked over to a chair and took a drink of water while she prayed fervently in Spanish. I munched on some store-bought cookies while I waited for her to calm down enough to talk to. As I was waiting, I took the chance to really look at her. She didn't have giant breasts, or a big, jiggling ass, or striking features, but there was something about her. She had that certain girl-next-door type of attractiveness.

Her body was slender. I imagined she had taut muscles rippling under her smooth, swarthy skin. I began to wonder what she'd look like if she smiled. I had only seen her face when she was scared or angry. A smile always makes a woman more attractive. Plus, her fingernails were trimmed all the way down. Gotta love a girl that doesn't sport a set of talons.

Pretty soon, I realized she was as composed as she could ever be, considering the circumstances. She was just reciting every prayer she could think of to buy more time.

I stood up. "Okay, prayer time's over!"

"No! No, I'm not finished, please!"

"Yeah, you are. Come on! It's time for us to talk."

"I have nothing to say to you. You are the devil's whore and you'll burn in Hell! You cannot touch my soul!"

I suppressed a chuckle. "Ok. I have no interest in your soul. I just need your advice on some things."

"You'll never beguile me to the side of Satan! Never! Do you hear me? Never!"

"Yeah, ok, we've already established that. Now, let's talk about-"

"I'll tell you nothing! When the Bureau doesn't hear from me tomorrow, they'll come looking for me! And then, they'll take you down! Hard! Your little magic tricks won't work on them!"

I rolled my eyes as she started threatening me in earnest. I walked over to the window and opened it to retrieve a rag. I closed it quickly. It was really cold outside. I walked back to the bed and brandished the cloth to make her stop talking. "This is the rag I used to dust this place. You want me to stuff it into your mouth, or are you going to shut up and listen?"

She glared at me in silence.

"Ok. What I need from you is a way to get the FBI to back off and let me go free. Uh, when I say me, I mean Kevin Hewitt. How does Mister Hewitt get the FBI to leave him alone, once and for all?"

"He surrenders."

"See, now, this is exactly the kind of thing... Look, I want to know how Mister Hewitt can walk into the federal building and then walk out a little while later, a free man with no entanglements with the FBI. I mean, If he was to just walk in, he'd get detained as a witness, or some such, right? Then your colleagues would question him, over and over again, until he wound up implicating himself in something." I cocked my head at her. "Maybe your colleagues would even manage to stitch him up for a crime and save some of the Bureau's reputation? That would be beyond unacceptable.

"I want you to tell me if there's a lawyer that the Bureau is scared of. I want you to tell me exactly what things the lawyer would need to say to your colleagues to get them to lay off Mister Hewitt. I need to know."

She shook her head. "No. Never. You're a monster and you'll burn in Hell for your sins. You cannot touch me."

"Sure I can." I reached out and pinched her nose. "Honk. See? I touched you."

"Get away from me, you

bruja

!"

"You're not being very nice."

"Burn in Hell! You'll never get anything from me!"

"I just want you to tell me if the FBI still has designs to send Mister Hewitt to jail for crimes he didn't commit."

"Take you wicked power and go fuck yourself with it! I'll never help a servant of evil!"

"Dude. I just want to know how Hewitt can get the FBI off his back and not wind up detained for days on end, or get framed for anything. Ok?"

She spat at me. Her loogie hung off the side of my chin. I wiped it off with my sleeve. "Since you asked for it, I shall be less nice." I pulled her switchblade out of my pocket and extended the blade. "You seem to have a poor grasp of the situation. You're in my power and-"

"Never! You can't taint my soul, you godless freak!"

I put the knife against the side of her throat. "I came here to talk. Granted, I greeted you with a gun drawn on you, but that was only a precaution. And then you went and threw a knife at my face. Let's try this again. I ask you a reasonable question and you provide me with an honest answer." I moved the knife to the rope tying down her left arm. "Then I cut you loose and leave. A good deal, wouldn't you say? You

do

owe Mister Hewitt some aid. It's the least you can do after ruining his life and reputation. Now, do your colleagues still have intentions to-"

"You're a monster and a criminal and an unnatural freak."

"You're the one that ignored all the evidence which clearly showed Kevin was innocent and kept trying to frame him for all those deaths. You're the one that put his face on every screen in the country. You're the one that nearly got him killed. When you wrongly accused him of killing those private military contractors, their colleagues started to hunt for him in force. When you put all that together, you reeeeaaaally ought to take the next exit off that high road you're on."

"You'll never get a fucking word out of me,

bruja

! Not one word that could help you!"

"But, see? I'm asking for Mister Hewitt. I want you to tell me if he'll be free to go after he comes in to speak with the FBI. He's going to come in with a lawyer present, naturally, and I need to know which would be the best pick for the job. I'm not asking you to give up nuclear launch codes, here. Ok?"

She spat in my face again.

I wiped the gob of spit off my nose with my other sleeve. "Fine. I was pissed off at you, anyway." I used the blade of her knife to push her jacket wide open.

She squirmed as much as she could in her bonds. Her mouth worked, but no sound came out. I put the knife next to the top button of her shirt. I could see her breathing quicken. "Tell me."

She panted as she raised her head to watch the knife against her collar. When she spent half a minute just doing that, I wedged the blade under the button and cut it off with a gentle tug. She gasped and flinched. I put the blade to the next button. "Tell me."

Her eyes flicked between the blade and my eyes. She made no reply. I took off the next button. She squeaked in alarm. "Tell me."

She shook her head no. I took off the next button. "Tell me." She shook her head no again. I took off the button and used the blade to spread her shirt open wider. I couldn't see her bra for the white T-shirt that she was wearing. Maybe that was the reason she wasn't panicking yet. I put the blade to the next button. "Be reasonable. Tell me what I want to know."

"My, my colleagues will come here, looking for me. I am supposed to be at a hearing tomorrow and, uh, when I, when they call and I don't answer, they will send someone here. You are going to be in big trouble."

I gave her a look. "You just told me that you're out of the Bureau. It's just a formality. You wouldn't have come here, out in the middle of nowhere, if you had any kind of meeting tomorrow. Or this week." I leaned over her. "As for calling...we both know this valley has neither cell phone service, nor radio reception. You only come out here when you want to be all alone. Just like your granddad did. No one's coming to interrupt us."

I cut off all the buttons on her shirt as she held her breath, fearful of getting cut. I pulled her shirt and jacket wide open, letting them fall to her sides. Only her T-shirt kept her from being topless.

I pulled her T-shirt out of the waistband of her pants and put the knife under it. I pulled it taut with the flat of the blade. "Tell me."

"Never."

I slit her T-shirt from waist to neck in one long move. She squealed and shuddered as she tried to thrash around and keep still at the same time. Her efforts only succeeded in sliding the remains of her T-shirt off herself.

Her belly was smooth and taut. I could see the outlines of her ribs and abs as she heaved big, panicky breaths. A black bra contained her breasts. I noted a crucifix around her neck. Without a T-shirt to keep it in place, it slid up into the hollow of her throat.

"That's right,

bruja

, God protects me. You cannot touch my soul, no more than you can touch the crucifix." I rolled my eyes. "Your kind-"

I reached down and picked up the crucifix. She gave a squealing gasp that nearly made me chuckle. I kept my cool and set aside the knife to remove her necklace. Her face when she realized what I was doing...I can't believe I didn't crack up at her gobsmacked expression.

Finally, I undid the necklace and put it around my own neck. I swept my ponytail out of the chain and wiggled my eyebrows at her. "How's it sit? Pretty cunning, don'tcha think?"

"But, but, you...you can't...

brujas

can't..."

"See, sweetie, it's like I was saying. I'm not a

bruja

. Ok? I'm more of a...trainee guardian angel. The monsters I mentioned were out to get Mister Hewitt and I was assigned to stop them and keep him safe and free and stuff. That's why I look like the love of his life."

"No. No, this is a trick. You...your sweater is spelled to protect your skin. You can't wear a crucifix next to your skin, just as you can't kiss it. I'll not be-"

She let out another squeaking gasp when I picked up the crucifix and kissed it. Then I shrugged out of my jacket and hung it over the back of a chair. I took off my sweater and shirt to let the crucifix hang between my breasts. "Happy now? Or do I have to stick it up my hoo-haa to prove I'm not a monster?" The fire was roaring in the fireplace by now, but the cabin was still cold enough to make my nipples stand erect. If my Ashley Williams shape had any hair on her body, they'd stand on end, right about now.

She stared at me in shock. "Dios mio! You're an angel?"

"Trainee angel. Now, about Mister Hewitt?"

Her brow bunched up. "But, if you're an angel, you should be able to see into the hearts of men and know these things."

"I'm not an angel, I'm auditioning to become one. I can't see into the hearts and minds of people. That's why I'm asking you to tell me what I need to know."

"I...I swore an oath. I can't."

"Are you fucking kidding me? You broke every rule in the book,

and several laws

, to frame Hewitt for the murders of his parents and all those other people and

now

you're sticking by some oath?!"

"I...I can't. I'm sorry."

I cut her bra and spread it open with the point of the knife. My jaw dropped when I saw that her nipples were erect. I realized it was because of the cold, but I still admired the way her breasts jostled with each frantic tug she made against her ropes.

I hated her. She had declared me guilty of my parents' murders and turned me into a monster in the eyes of the nation. Tuttle fooling her was no excuse. She had to bury a mountain of forensic evidence to keep the FBI's efforts focused on putting me down. Alpha Security had gone on the warpath, hunting for me, looking to kill me in a gruesome way and leave my corpse in a shallow grave. I wished nothing but harm to come to this bitch.

However, now that her smooth, swarthy skin was laid bare before me, I was starting to entertain some other ideas. I could feel my pulse quicken. There was a slightly damp feeling in my panties. I still wanted to hurt this woman, but I now realized I also wanted to fuck her. I had never thought I'd ever find myself entertaining sexual thoughts about a woman that was tied up and at my mercy, but that was exactly what was happening here.

I found myself wanting to turn into my original shape and punish her for her wrongdoings with my mighty dick.

"You can't do this! You're an angel! You have to let me go!"

"Hm, what? Oh, yes I can. You seem to be mistaken about our situation. See, Hewitt is an innocent soul that was preyed upon by evil, supernatural monsters. I'm his guardian angel, of sorts, and you helped cover up the tracks of the monsters and framed an innocent for their deeds. That puts you square into Team Evil."

I smiled at her and tapped the tip of her nose with the tip of her knife. "I can cut you and poke you and prod you all I like. I could even rape you and get away with it. I mean, it's not like you'll ever get to complain about it to my bosses." I winked at her. "You know? When you die, you'll be going straight to..."

I pointed my thumb down and whistled a falling noise.

Her mouth fell wide open and her face blanched. She shook her head feebly. "No. No. I'm a good Christian. I..."