Familiar Bonds 02 The Five Stones

CW: magic; mind control; unsafe BDSM; dubious consent; brainwashing; forced orgasms; transformation; group sex; unsafe anal; orgasm control; death mention; edging; degradation

A week of peace had passed since... everything.

Catherine had ordered a period of rest for Bri and Jamie. While Bri had 'graduated' to being a full-fledged Witch, Catherine was still the more experienced Witch. Her advice went a long way, and the two of them had spent a few days sleeping, eating Jamie's food, and not talking about what had happened.

Not talking about the demons, about what they had done. Not talking about Kris, or... Or Eddie. Bri had never known nightmares before this week - seeing the look on Eddie's face as he had fallen to the ground, lifeless and empty.

In the hours after everything was over, Catherine had taken Eddie's body, promising that there was always 'something' to be done, but Bri hadn't heard back since. Nor had there been a funeral, or anything of the sort. The school, and Mirbeck at large, simply assumed he was missing.

As Bri lay in bed, the morning sun rising in her window as she lay, exhausted and yet unable to fall back asleep after waking from another nightmare, she thought about Kris. The girl had been through so much that could have made anyone go insane, but after the barn, after the fight had settled, she had just... wandered outside. Catherine spoke to her, but Bri didn't hear what was said. She hadn't seen Catherine for a few days now, and each time chickened out of saying anything. Partially because the idea of raising the events of that day in conversation meant they would become more real.

Partially because there was

another

thing that had haunted her. Behind the exhaustion, and on top of the trauma. No matter where her head was, she couldn't shake this unalienable feeling of

arousal

.

Her body had been on fire for days. Since Jamie had absorbed the powers of the succubus and incubus, all of that sexual magic energy bleeding out into the world, she'd been insatiable. She stayed in bed, rocking her hips on her hands, fingers deep inside herself, swallowing moans as she'd cum for the fifth time in a day. Maybe, if she had something to distract herself, she would feel better - but she'd

never

been this active. This needy. It was strange to her, and she didn't know what to do about it. Seven days, this had been bothering her.

Today, though, was different. Today was the day things were going to get back up and running. Back to normal, maybe.

Today, she had been summoned by Catherine for training. Not training to

become

a Witch, but training

as

a Witch. Apparently there was a significant difference.

Bri felt the buzz of arousal in her chest, the pull towards pleasure - but ignored it. The sun was up. She could hear Jamie in the flat, up and about as usual. So, she dragged herself up, and dressed - but only in comfortable clothes. Hell, because she'd been almost bed-bound for a solid week now, she only realised once she was fully dressed in a casual pale shirt and walking trousers, with her boots already on and tied, that she'd forgotten underwear altogether.

She decided she couldn't be arsed to start over, and left the room, finding Jamie standing over a tray of fresh-baked pastries. The room smelled

incredible

.

'Morning, Bri,' he said, with a bright smile on his handsome face. 'You look well-rested.'

'Hey,' she said, walking over. 'You look - I mean, great, actually.' Jamie had a certain glow about him, and in the week that had passed Bri had only seen him in glimpses - bathroom breaks and meals. But, while Bri had taken the time to rest and recover, digesting what had happened, Jamie had seemed

physically

fantastic. He was sad, and guilt-ridden, but fit. Strong. Energised. Happy, despite himself.

'What time do we leave?' he asked. Catherine's summoning had, of course, included Jamie. After all - he was her familiar, now. Charged by sex-demons and borne from a terrible orgy, bound to Bri's soul forever. If it wasn't for the fact that they were best friends, and had been since childhood, she would have been devastated. Really, it could have been no-one else.

'Soon-as,' Bri said, grabbing a pastry. 'Did you read the letter?'

'I didn't, no.'

Bri lifted it, pulling it out of her pocket. 'An hour after sun-up, we're going to meet her at the training ground. She wants to introduce us to someone, and to set me off on my next task.'

'I thought you were done?' Jamie asked. 'You know - a

proper

Witch, all that?'

Bri nodded. 'Yup, I am. I have completed my training, battled demons, made a familiar-' Jamie raised his hand, and Bri smiled. '-and yet there's always something else to do. But that's good.'

'Last I heard, she was hoping there was something to do about Eddie?' Jamie asked.

Bri nodded, taking a bite. 'Yes. If there is... then, she would amaze me. Even after everything I've seen from her,

that

would be... truly incredible.'

Jamie bit into a croissant, letting it crumble into his chin, and the soft facial hair he'd allowed to grow there all week.

'Trust me,' he said. 'There's always something new to be amazed by.'

~o~O~o~

The air was crisp and cool, and the long shadows of the morning had a slightly unearthly feeling to it. As Jamie was used to, there were those early-morning folk getting to work, starting their days caffeinated and cool-headed.

Bri and Jamie walked together through Mirbeck's heart, crossing the parks and the residential areas, passing students and locals alike, until they found that old tower, between a university building and the wool-jumper shop. The door was shut, but Bri approached with confidence in her step, Jamie following behind.

Inside was alight, all of the sconces burning with bright yellow-white fire, the windows open and airy, the usual training space clean and open like a stage between performances in the centre of the space. Around it, Catherine's living spaces were clear and tidy, the kitchenette sporting a steaming kettle on the hob, and the sofa area and its coffee table looking positively rustic and inviting.

'What the fuck,' Bri whispered as they walked in, pulling the door shut behind them. As it clicked shut, and Bri heard the lock click into place, something odd happened. On the far wall, which was curved and made of large stone bricks due to it being an exterior wall, a shape began to glow. A shape that had been, until now, completely invisible.

It was a doorway.

Bri approached, but had barely crossed the room before it swung open - a disguised door, built into the bricks using magic.

'Woah,' Jamie muttered behind her, and Bri frowned.

She

could do that - why was he so impressed?

And why did she care?

'Come on,' she said, walking towards it. 'That's an invitation.'

They walked to the lip of the doorway, which immediately descended down a spiralling stairway, out of sight.

'How inviting,' Jamie said. 'After you.'

'Such a gentleman.'

Bri made her way down, an odd tension in her chest as she did so. The stairwell span twice around a column, before opening up into a room she'd never seen before. It was dark, darker than the tower above, and seemed to be some kind of refitted dungeon or prison - though all of the older walls had been knocked out to create one open space, lit by low-light sconces much like the tower upstairs, only for the light to be softened by the moss and grime that had accumulated in most of the corners of this place.

What was in the centre of that space, however, is what shocked Bri.

Eddie's body, dried and still, having been dead for a week, was laying in the middle of the room, flat on a table. Around his body were runes, drawn into the stone floor, glowing softly - inert, and not yet activated.

Around the table Eddie was laid upon, stood two figures. Opposite them, so they could see her face, was Catherine, who gave a nod of acknowledgement. The other figure turned to face them - a man neither of them knew.

'Hey,' Bri said, her voice tight and guarded. 'What the fuck is going on?'

'I didn't want to tell you,' Catherine said quickly, and Bri recognised a note of tiredness in her voice. 'In case it didn't work - but my colleague Tristan here-' Tristan gave an awkward wave. '-is a skilled Witch. At my request, he's come to see if there is anything to be done about this young man.'

'Anything to be 'done'?' Jamie asked.

'Your friend had his life force drained by a demon,' Tristan said, his voice surprisingly low. He turned his body, now, and Jamie and Bri got a better look at him. He was tall, taller than Catherine, and lean. His cloak was very 'classic mage', brown and heavy, and hiding the body beneath. However, he had the sleeves rolled up and bunched at the elbows, and it hung off his frame in a way that indicated that there wasn't an ounce of fat on him. His face was handsome, with a shadow of facial hair on his chin, and his dark brown eyes seemed almost black in this dim light. His hair, short but unruly, matched his smile as he held his hands out, showing himself to be a friend.

'What does that mean?' Jamie asked.

'It means that the average Demon is not very sophisticated,' Tristan said. 'And energy that is taken, leaves a gap. That gap can be filled.'

'But-' Bri said, cutting in. 'That energy - it was fed into

Jamie

. When he became, you know, my Familiar.'

'Tristan knows all about human familiars,' Catherine said. 'That's part of why I called him, actually. I think his knowledge and guidance could be critical. For you both.'

'There's no risk to you,' Tristan said to Jamie. 'Not at all - Catherine was able to stabilise Eddie here, stop him from...

crossing over

. That means that we can bring him back.'

'Back?!' Bri said, shocked.

Catherine nodded. 'But we are not quite enough, Bri, we need you. As the Witch of Mirbeck, we require your assistance.'

'Right,' she said, stepping forwards. 'Right - yes, okay. What do you need me to do?' She stepped up to the table, unable to look directly at Eddie's form. She kept her gaze on Catherine, whose eyes told her that she was finding this

just

as difficult.

'We need to fill the vessel,' Tristan said. 'Like filling an empty cup with water, only a million times more complicated. We, as Witches, are the water. Or, our magic is.'

'So, we're opening the tap?' Bri asked.

Catherine gave her a nod. 'In

any

other circumstance, we'd take a lot more time doing this, teaching you how to draw from your familiar - but we've already taken a week to prepare for this. Any longer, and... it's difficult to say.'

Bri nodded. 'I understand. Walk me through it.'

Tristan gave Catherine a look. 'You're right - she's brave..'

'Don't speak too soon,' Bri said. 'Lets see if we can get this fucker back on his feet first, yeah?'

~o~O~o~

Jamie ended up watching the majority of the ritual from the sidelines - up until the last few moments.

Bri had been given words to speak, ideas to focus on, which all complimented what Tristan - was that his name? - and Catherine were doing. The magic was complex in a way that he hadn't really seen before - what the demons had shown had been forceful and targeted; in Bri and Catherine he had mostly only seen combat magic, fast-paced and angry. This was... patient. Delicate and intentional.

Light waved through the room, illuminating them all in ways that the little sconces dotted around never could, with swirling letters and glittering lines of magical information, swimming through Eddie's body, and in the air around him. Catherine had been pulling energy from Haider, who she'd summoned about ten minutes prior; the bird sat on a small pillar in the room, and Jamie could see a steady flow of greenish-white going from it, directly into Catherine's back.

At a certain point, Bri faltered, and Tristan turned to Jamie, his face serious.

'I understand you have only been a familiar for a short while,' he said. 'I can explain to you the nature of your role in more detail later - but the short version is that you are, amongst other things, a well of power for Bri to draw on - she needs to draw on it

now

.'

'How do I do that? How do I give it to her?' Jamie asked.

'Focus on her,

really

focus, and find the well inside yourself. You should feel it - the new piece of you, aching to get out. You've felt it, haven't you?'

Jamie nodded - he had. He'd spent a lot of this week trying to swallow it, ignore it. He'd been afraid that it was something of the demons, still swimming inside him. To know it was something he could use to help Bri was... comforting.

'Look inside yourself, and

give

it to her. I can help you open the channel, but you need to learn to do this yourself.'

Jamie nodded, as Tristan placed his hand on Jamie's chest. He 'threw' at Bri, his hands whipping towards her back as Jamie thought about that piece of him inside himself - in his chest, or stomach, or abdomen - or...

elsewhere

. He'd been trying not to think about it.

But, as the connection was made, there was no way he could deny it. The energy began to flow, from him to Bri, unseen but tangible, like heat.

And heat he felt - the power flowing from him not coming from his chest, or abdomen. No, Jamie could feel the coursing, glowing power coursing from his pelvis, thick and hot, surging from his cock towards his oldest friend.

He was ashamed, beet-red in the face as he was unable to deny how

good

it felt to let it flow, passing into Bri easily. Like it was what he was made for.

Bri visibly improved, her stature straightening, her words growing louder and confident again, until Tristan placed his hand on Jamie's chest.

'That's enough,' he said.

The flow faded, and Tristan returned to the ritual, with Jamie fit to watch from the side, wondering how the

fuck

he was going to get his erection to go down.

But the time passed - as did the erection - until Jamie could see the room ramping up. Words were faster, light flowing into Eddie more directly, with more intention. They were building up to something.

And then, it was over.

The last glittering spec fell into Eddie's chest, and the three Witches sat back, exhausted. Jamie noted, with some interest, that he wasn't tired at all, even after syphoning off some of his 'energy' to give to Bri. As he had for the past week, Jamie felt, frankly, incredible. He almost felt guilty for it.

Then, sputtering a dry cough as he rolled to his side, life shuddered back into the body of Eddie. His face was pink, and his muscles looked thinner, movement stilted and struggling, but he was

alive

.

The Witches - and Jamie - burst into delirious laughter, cheers; Bri hugged Eddie, and then Tristan, and then Catherine, just high on the achievement. They had brought someone back to life. Sure, it had taken three Witches and a familiar's back-up energy to do it, over the course of a full morning, but they'd

done

it.

'Fuck,' Bri said, running over to Jamie. She leapt at him, and he caught her in a hug as Catherine and Tristan saw to Eddie, helping him sit up. 'I can't believe I did that.'

'You're incredible,' Jamie said. 'Truly,

truly

incredible.'

Tristan clapped his hands on the backs of Bri and Jamie, a wide smile on his handsome face. 'We should head upstairs - Catherine's going to orient him, and too many people might be overwhelming.'

They nodded, and followed the Witch upstairs - but not before Jamie sneaked a final look down at the moving,

living

body of Eddie. A thought crossed his mind that troubled him, however.

What the fuck were they going to tell Kris?

~o~O~o~

'For obvious reasons,' Catherine said as she joined them in the living area, taking a cup of hot tea from Jamie who had set himself up by the kitchenette, 'there is some risk in leaving Eddie as he currently is. So - I wanted to present some options to the group.' Haider fluttered in behind her, going up into the tower, getting lost in the rafters.

Bri leaned in, brow furrowed. The joy of their achievement was still in the air, but reality was hot on its heels.

'Option one,' Catherine continued, taking a sip and pushing some of her sweat-laden dirty-blonde hair out of her face. 'We leave him as-is. We did this with Kris - she wanted to be left alone, and to go back to her life, and we let her. However, while we determined that Kris was stable enough to rejoin the world as-is, I think it's fair to say that a recently revived person like Eddie might have more trouble. Or, indeed,

cause

more trouble.'

'Option two,' Tristan said. 'You bring him into the fold. Keep him close by, so you can monitor him. Pros, you have better oversight - cons, it's a lot of work, and there's no guarantee that he would react well to the world of magic.'

'Option three,' Catherine said. 'And, for the record, this is my preference. We wipe his memory of the whole ordeal. The kidnapping, the trauma, the death... we implant a thought that he fell afoul to some magical plant that the new Witch of Mirbeck - Bri - saved him from. We leave him to it, unaware that...'

'That he died,' Jamie said, his voice a little low. 'Gods... can we do that?'

'No one else can,' Tristan said. 'This is the job of a Witch - to take in the circumstances around impossible situations and... make a call.'

'What do you think, Bri?' Catherine asked.

But Bri was shaking her head. 'I... I don't know. I don't know if I can be the one to make that decision.'

'Think of it this way,' Catherine said. 'Would you want to know?'

'That I died?' Bri asked, considering it. 'I mean, yes, but I'm not 'normal', am I?' She turned to Jamie. 'Jamie - you were normal a lot longer than me. Would

you

want to know if you'd died and been brought back?'

Jamie thought about it, worried that his answer might mean more than he was intending it to. However, he couldn't bring himself to lie to Bri.

'If I had the option to forget everything, and go back to normal? I think I would take it.'

Bri thought about it, her face serious. 'Is Eddie awake?'

Catherine nodded.

'Then I think we should ask

him

,' Bri said, hopping to her feet. She finished her tea, setting it down, and led the way to the doorway in the wall. Jamie stayed upstairs with Tristan, as Catherine followed the Witch of Mirbeck downstairs.

A few minutes later, Bri emerged, alone.

'What's the verdict?' Tristan asked.

'Catherine is wiping his memory,' she said. 'He wanted to forget. I don't blame him.' She gave Jamie a look that was something akin to an apology, then trained herself on Tristan with more purpose. 'So - who the fuck are you, and what the fuck are you doing here?'

Tristan took a sip of his tea, regarding Bri and Jamie with lingering looks. His robes were still on him, but he seemed oddly casual as he wore them, despite how formal they seemed. 'I'm a lot like you,' he said. 'Catherine knows that. She reached out to me, explaining that the new Witch of Mirbeck, having recently graduated through her tasks to become a 'Witch' proper, had come up against two demons wielding sex magic. You defeated them, of course - but in the course of the fight, someone fell - an innocent -

and

this new Witch accidentally turned her best friend into her familiar. A human familiar is a niche thing, of course, but, seeing as

I

also have a human familiar, and me and Catherine go way back, it seemed smart for me to make the journey.'

'What for?' Bri asked. 'Jamie is what he is, now. There's no going back on that.'