"I um... I have a question, a personal one."
Alice had a good night's sleep for the first time in ten days and woke up absolutely lucid, with all prior symptoms of catatonia gone. She'd also been absolutely ravenous, and Christine was only too happy to feed her a hearty meal - after she called Alice's parents and told them to come down in an hour. They didn't talk much, Alice still being slightly overwhelmed, and Christine not pressing the girl into conversation.
Now they were climbing the hill, heading to dropoff point at the end of the road. The sun was already high, starting to roast their backs, and while Christine could've sped up things to head out earlier, kicking the guest out without breakfast would be unbecoming.
"Okay, girl, shoot," the witch smiled.
"Is that... um... Do you actually look like that?" Alice stuttered. "Naked, I mean."
The girl was trudging forward, looking under her feet, slightly pink from both exertion and embarrassment.
"Yes, Alice," Christine chuckled. "I made some minor adjustments to suit our tactics better, but I promise you - in your dream I only made myself look younger, not prettier."
And hid my cock too.
Alice turned several shades of red darker, still avoiding eye contact.
"Oh please, I'm not offended by your curiosity!" The witch laughed.
I'm only willing to encourage it. Just don't go gay on my account.
"A fair bit of warning though - I don't want you to go into details about your nightmare and how it was defeated. You shouldn't mention it to anyone - not your parents, and especially not your shrink, if they take you to one."
Alice briefly looked her way, nodding in agreement.
Christine parted the bushes at the end of the trail, letting the girl go forward. Molly and Richard, already waiting for them, rushed to their daughter, locking her in a double hug.
"Go easy on her," Christine smiled. "Girl still needs to breathe!"
Molly detached from Alice and stomped in Christine's direction, repeating the hug maneuver and squeezing the witch tight, sniffing over her shoulder.
"Thank you, Christine..." There were some tears in her voice, and the witch hugged the woman back, softly caressing her hair, and giving a nod to Richard, who was smiling confusedly her way over Alice's shoulder.
"Hey, big girl, don't even mention it," she whispered. "It's all okay now."
Molly pulled back, blinking away tears, her hands on Christine's shoulders.
"May I... um... I'm inviting you to a family dinner at our place tonight," she sniffed one last time. "It's the least we can do for you."
"Only if you promise me it will also be the
most
you will do for me," Christine smiled warmly. "I'll be there, Molly."
The woman beamed.
"Oh! Good! Is around 7pm okay for you? It's..."
"Maple and Fayette, red brick?" The witch grinned. "Alice showed me already. Now go, you need to reconnect with your girl."
The family said their awkward and hasty goodbyes, loaded into the SUV and were off, Alice waving to her and Christine waving back. Shade flowed into the clearing the moment the car was out of sight.
"
Grocery run. You're out of everything.
"
"You mean I need to go down and change?" Christine groaned, looking at her homely jumpsuit and keds.
"
I foresaw that,
" Shade fished her bag out from somewhere inside themselves and proceeded to turn into the Mustang. Christine undressed where she stood, pulled the dress and heels out of the bag, redressed, then fixed her hair with a snap of her fingers.
"What would I do without you?" She said with a sigh, getting behind the wheel and throwing the bag into the passenger seat.
"
Brooms still exist,
" the engine roared, making small birds fall off the branches.
-//-
Aldi's parking lot was the same kind of empty as last time, but her favorite parking spot was taken - by a sheriff's car, no less, with the sheriff nowhere to be seen. She steered the Mustang into the next spot and got out.
"Doctor Leyland?" The voice asked from behind her back.
She turned to face the voice and was met with the bluest eyes she'd ever seen. The owner of the voice - and eyes - was young, no more than 25, tall, a bit taller than Christine, obviously muscular and... She'd even call his chiseled face handsome if one nagging detail she couldn't really put her finger on weren't forcing her to define it as... beautiful? His short blonde hair was swept to the side, his somewhat plump lips were stretched in a friendly smile.
"Sheriff Lance Brody, nice to meetcha," the beautiful visage introduced himself with a bit of a southern drawl and extended his hand in a greeting.
"Nice to meet you, Sheriff Lance Brody," she shook his hand, giving him a restrained smile. "You're Sander's replacement, I take it?"
"Yeah. Thought I'd introduce myself at the first occasion. Hearing people talk made me think you're the most important person around these parts."
"Second most important," she nodded. "After Reverend Barlow."
Sheriff guffawed.
"That guy... sh... yeah," he leaned on his car. "Listen, Doc, whaddya say if we get to know each other a bit better? Say, over dinner?"
Christine gave out a hearty laugh and shook her head.
"Has it ever worked for you, Sheriff?"
"Hey, you can't blame a guy for tryin'," he shrugged, showing her a set of perfect teeth in a grin. "You miss all the shots you don't take."
She stepped closer.
"You're a pretty thing, Lance. However, I must decline. You see, I'm not interested in men," she leaned closer to whisper in his ear. "Only their asses."
She bit her lip seductively and gave him one last glance, then turned and went inside, hiding her wicked grin from the astounded sheriff, who slowly turned pink.
Mischief managed.
"Hey girl," Connie greeted her with a hug. "New Sheriff's hitting on you already?"
"Oh yeah, he just did," the witch grinned. "Told him how
exactly
I like my men."
Connie giggled and looked over Christine's shoulder.
"Looks like he's contemplating all his life choices right now!" She leaned closer and her voice became a conspiratorial whisper. "Are you going to?.."
"No, unless he specifically asks for it," Christine smirked and ventured forth.
Doubt it'll happen. Southern jocks are rather protective of their masculinity.
Her usual sweep through Aldi's was uneventful, except for some small talk with Connie and old man Tanner, whom she bumped into, doing a little dance for her while singing her a thousand thank-yous. The Sheriff's car was gone, and she returned home in the same uneventful manner, wishing for the rest of the day until her social outing to be the same.
-//-
"Oh gods, what's all the ruckus about?"
Small flock of birds descended down into the clearing from uphill, screaming bloody murder. It took Christine, who was lounging on the terrace with a glass of sangria, a minute to understand the message in their noise - some nosey and unlucky person stuck in one of the multiple traps the forest has prepared for intruders.
Well, there goes my peaceful afternoon.
She pulled her jumpsuit back, grabbed the rescue bag from the lab and headed into the forest to where the birds were leading her.
This part of the woods - closest to the town and the road - was much more protected than the other paths leading to the house, with nastier traps, some of them outright deadly for unprepared hikers.
Maybe I should finally invest in warning signs and fences? Or that will just draw more attention?
Christine heard the huffing and the puffing from afar - someone was desperately trying to escape their predicament and, by the sounds of it, was failing miserably. She turned the corner and stepped into a small clearing under an ancient oak, stopping to admire the scene - a tiny redhead, struggling to break free from the thick green vines that were splaying her body on the rough surface of the tree stump, coiling around her arms, thighs and waist. The girl was obviously graced with good genes, giving her body perfect proportions, but didn't rest on it - her biceps, toned legs and taut stomach screamed gym freak, and the absolutely perfect skin and absence of any hair below her neck hinted at meticulous self-care routine. Yes, the girl was naked, save for a pair of sneakers and a tank top playing a bib right now, bundled above a pair of her perfect breasts.
"Well, it's not something you see
live
everyday," Christine chuckled, folding her arms and watching the girl. "Outside of hentai, I mean."
The girl, who was too busy trying to break free, finally noticed her. Her face and neck flushed, turning the color of a ripe tomato, her eyes widened and her arms jerked in a desperate attempt to cover herself.
"Um... You're Doctor Leyland, I guess? Can you please... help me?" She stammered, still minding her manners, somewhat.
"Why would I?" Christine found a boulder big enough to sit - a perfect front row seat. "Olivia, you're big enough to know about what curiosity does to cats, but that didn't stop you from trespassing on private property for the sake of your podcast."
She looked around. Girl's clothes were neatly folded and laying on the ground beside the pocket tripod holding her phone.
"And just in case podcast material wouldn't pan out, you decided not to lose the chance to debase yourself for your fans. Am I right so far, Miss
CuteFoxy69
?"
Olivia Wheeler, the host and the only author of the Local Legends podcast was moonlighting as an OnlyFans model. The tomato turned cherry red.
"I thought I filtered Missouri out," the girl whispered.
"I use European VPNs. In fact, half of Caldwell does," Christine smirked and picked up the phone. "But I'm not here to shame you. Want to finish filming this scene?"
Two curious vines holding Olivia's thighs were slowly heading to their destination between the girl's spread legs with laser focus, and the witch saw curiosity fight with embarrassment plain and obvious in Olivia's face.
"N-no, please, get me out," she gasped.
"Suit yourself," Christine shrugged, turned the recording off and put the phone down. She stood up, pulled a spray bottle from her bag and began dousing the vines in the solution. Slimy green tentacles recoiled and released Olivia from their grip, letting her stumble down to the ground.
"What's this?" She asked, getting up and brushing off dry leaves and pieces of bark off her skin. She sniffed. "Smells like vinegar."
"Because it
is
vinegar. They don't like it for some reason," Christine put the bottle back and gave the girl a once-over.
Cute. That upturned nose. And those eyes, wow!
Olivia's were emerald green, just like Christine's own.
"They seem alive," the girl looked back at the vines.
"No more alive than Venus flytrap, just more advanced," Christine took a step back and folded her arms on the chest again. "You can find your way back, I hope."
"Yeah, I guess," Olivia shrugged and turned to pick her clothes up, flashing her perfect backside to Christine.
And absolutely shameless.
"Thanks for the rescue."
