Witch Master

by Noah Layton

  Rorian’s claws… They had hurt like a bitch, and they still did now, even if he was long gone. A mark of war.

  I repositioned myself, shifting carefully from the mattress and drinking back the water greedily, droplets rushing from the edges of my mouth as I gasped and set it down again.

  Gaging my injuries, I stood from the bed and staggered over to the poster at the end, wrapping my hands around it for balance until the dizziness had subsided. A silk robe of my own was folded over the end of the bed, a similar shade of dark blue to my coat. I took it up and tried it on, not surprised to feel it sinking onto my form perfectly.

  Now, at this point, I was still convinced that I was involved in some kind of dream sequence.

  This is heaven, I thought. I’m gonna walk out those doors and a bright light is gonna envelope me and then I’m going to go off into… The world beyond, or whatever anybody calls it.

  But two things happened then made me realise that I was well and truly awake.

  The first was the get-well-soon card sat on the bedside table, which I limped back over to examine. Cheesy and typical, and I opened it to find it signed by all of my witches, complete with red lipstick smooches beneath their names.

  The second, and probably the most telling, was the yelling from downstairs.

  ‘Brianna… Brianna?!’

  ‘WHAT?!’

  ‘How do you want your eggs cooked?!’

  ‘Over easy!’

  Yeah, I was definitely back in the real world.

  I opened the double doors and headed onto the landing to see the early morning sunshine gladly invading the windows around the front door. I descended the stairs, and halfway down Rel came wandering around the bannister.

  ‘Master!’ He yelled, halting in his tracks. ‘You’re all right!’

  ‘I don’t know if I’d say all right,’ I groaned, taking each step one at a time. ‘But I’m doing okay for a guy who was clawed in the chest by an evil warlock from hell.’

  He accompanied me into the kitchen, and the moment I appeared in the doorway it was a barrage of hugging and kissing and being called master over and over again.

  I was going to need to get used to being called that.

  ‘I appreciate you saving my life, girls,’ I said, smiling and wincing at the same time, ‘but it hurts to breathe, so try not to squeeze me too hard.’

  They guided me to one of the many chairs at the breakfast table, and we ate up one hell of a breakfast cooked up by Brianna; eggs, bacon, bread rolls coated with syrup and lemon cakes drizzled with honey. I wanted to eat more than I could, but I knew that I would regret it later considering that my body was still recovering, and especially considering-

  ‘Three days,’ Lois said. ‘That’s how long you’ve been out for.’

  ‘You’re serious?’

  ‘More than serious,’ Scarlett said. ‘We’ve been checking on you constantly. You were in and out at one point and we were terrified. It was some kind of hysteria.’

  ‘But it’s to be expected,’ Brianna said. ‘Rorian may not have been from hell, but he had resided there long enough that being scratched by him meant… Well, let’s just say those scars are gonna look really badass once they’re healed.’

  ‘I’m not gonna turn into a demon or something, am I?’ I asked.

  ‘What’s wrong with being a demon?’ Brianna replied in her best mock-offended voice.

  ‘Nothing, I just… Really like being human, is all.’

  ‘That’s a pity.’

  ‘What?!’

  ‘Ignore her,’ Lois laughed. ‘She’s fucking with you. Nothing’s gonna happen. But that is gonna leave a big mark.’

  ‘I’m not worried about scars,’ I said, ‘They happen.’

  ‘I think they’re hot,’ Scarlett said, winking at me. ‘By the way, what’s that one on your hand from?’

  ‘This one?’ I said, holding my right palm up and exposing an ancient, healed mark that measured an inch across. ‘I don’t mean to brag, but this is from a pretty brutal fight that I had with a window when I was nineteen.’

  ‘Woo-o-ow,’ Lois laughed, ‘what did it do to piss you off?’

  ‘Wouldn’t close,’ I said, shrugging in a mock-casual way and frowning. ‘I had to, uhh… Show it who was boss. And by show it who was boss I mean accidentally miss the window pane and plunge my hand straight through the glass, slicing it open. Pretty big fight. Don’t like to brag about it, though.’

  ‘Should’ve told that to Rorian,’ Brianna grinned, ‘he would’ve gone running for the hills.’

  ‘He would have gone running for the hills if I’d told him the rest of the story. You ever been to the emergency room on a Saturday night after the college has cleared out? Because that was the same night. Don’t know how he would have fared against thirty drunk frat guys, but I’m just saying…’

  ‘I don’t think any of us would wanna face off against that,’ Scarlett said.

  ‘How are you? I never got the chance to ask.’

  ‘I’m okay. I don’t remember much after he knocked me out. Think he just wanted to make sure that you all came looking for me. He knew that you’d find us eventually, which is why he dragged it out so long.’

  ‘Right,’ I smiled. ‘It was way too much of a coincidence to arrive at the right time… But that guy. Who was he?’

  ‘Which guy?’

  ‘The Purple Man. Rorian was using him as a pawn in an effort to get a portal to the Third Circle opened. He couldn’t do it himself from the inside, so he used somebody who was already in our world.’

  ‘But how did he get in contact with him? How did they even get a chance to talk in the first place?’

  ‘Weirdly enough I’ve figured that one out too,’ Brianna said. ‘I tracked a few articles and reports back along the trail, cross-referencing them with the timeline of the worg slayings that we were already keeping track of, and came up with a completely synchronised order of events.’

  ‘You need to get out more,’ Scarlett said, sipping from her coffee.

  ‘I can’t,’ Brianna said sarcastically, ‘humans throw garbage at me and think I’m the Devil.’

  ‘Oh, yeah.’

  All I could do was try and quell my laughter as my ribcage ached, letting my succubus-witch carry on.

  ‘Wendell Holmes. He was a con tried and convicted of killing three people in a home invasion last year. Sentenced to life. Had the shit beaten out of him in prison and proceeded to have a heart attack. Dead for several minutes, and when he came back into consciousness he was put on rest before being shipped to a different prison. That transport bus crashed into a river and he was nowhere to be found.

  ‘From that point on the killings all occur in the order that we’d been following. The conclusion I came to is that he ended up in the Third Circle for a brief amount of time while he was caught in limbo, and Rorian knew he wouldn’t be around for long. He incentivised him; opened up a communication channel and told him how to carry out blood magic spells, and in return Holmes could go on doing what he wanted to do – killing people in the most brutal ways imaginable whilst serving an evil master of his own.’

  ‘If you can’t reach the Devil,’ Lois said, ‘a master of one of the other circles is the next best thing. I mean, if you were a psychotic murderer would you really turn down an offer to use evil magical forces to hurt even more people?’

  ‘I can see why he was smiling at the end,’ I said. ‘He probably wanted to be down there. Good riddance to him.’

  ‘Well, case closed,’ I said, taking a sip of my own cup of coffee. ‘What happens now? There another case on the cards?’

  ‘Doesn’t look that way right now,’ Lois said.

  ‘So we can just chill out here. Think we’ve deserved it to say the least.’

  ‘We actually need to stay here,’ Lois said. ‘After the storm over at the baseball field the local paper’s have been awash with tales of the freak storm and of, quote-unquote, strangely dressed people running t
hrough the nearby area.’

  ‘Probably because you decided to wear your outfits to rescue me. Were they really necessary?’

  ‘It was a real fight, so we do things by the book. Witches may have changed their ways over the years, but it doesn’t mean we can’t be traditional now and again. Just like having a warlock in the house.’

  The girls all smiled at me, and I back at them.

  ‘Well, at least we’ve got a genuine excuse for lying around in the coven for the next few days and doing nothing… Hey, there’s something else that I’ve been wondering too.’

  ‘Shoot.’

  ‘What’s with all of the extra chairs around this table? There are seven but only four of us. You expecting guests some time soon?’

  They all shared a subtle, knowing smile, before Scarlett turned to me.

  ‘We have guests sometimes,’ she said. ‘But as you know a lot of what’s in this house was left behind by the previous coven decades ago, which is the main reason that there are seven chairs at the table; back then there would be a warlock, and his six witches…’

  I raised an eyebrow, looking about at the empty chairs.

  ‘Six?’ I repeated, my mouth hanging agape.

  The girls shared another laugh before picking up their plates and heading into the living room for some early morning TV. I picked up my own, but all I could do for a minute was stay seated and look around at the chairs surrounding the kitchen table once again.

  Six witches? It was enough trouble taming three, never mind double that…

  But considering the fun that I had had with them so far, was it really that bad?

  Scarlett suddenly ducked her head around the door.

  ‘You coming with, lover-boy?’

  I ditched the plate, taking my cup of coffee and pushing up to my feet, wincing once again at the pain in my chest before heading into the living room to my witches, and the days of rest ahead.

  Professor Winslow would be pissed, but that I could deal with.

  For a few days we did precisely nothing beyond eating, watching trash-TV and eventually chilling in the midday sun in our secluded garden once my energy began to come back to me. Day by day I was feeling better, and by the next weekend, when I awoke in bed surrounded by the girls and went to get up for a glass of water, I no longer felt the tightness that had gripped my chest for so many days before.

  The girls stirred around me, waking up and looking as beautiful as they did on any other day, having slept in their underwear and silken robes for yet another night.

  Together they unravelled the bandages from me, pulling yards upon yards of fabric away.

  Sure, they could’ve used magic to send it reeling from me, but where was the fun in that?

  When the coverings finally came away I sat back on the bed amongst the throne of pillows that we had slept on, while the girls returned to my sides. The wound had already healed decently, one of the many perks of being a warlock, but the three diagonal scars that stretched across the left side of my chest would be there forever. I wasn’t invincible by any means, but my injuries seemed to resolve themselves faster than they ever had before.

  Still, there was a little tenderness.

  ‘Ow…’ I laughed lightly, as Lois drew her hand away from my chest where she had been tracing the tips of her fingers along the defined but healed cuts.

  ‘Sorry…’ She smiled awkwardly. ‘I must admit, though, they’ve healed pretty nicely… Almost as fast as the ones from our first fight, right before…’

  She trailed off, but Brianna quickly cut in- ‘Right before what, Lois?’

  ‘Yeah, do tell,’ Scarlett laughed.

  ‘Fuck you guys,’ Lois laughed, ‘you know what I’m talking about, like you haven’t done it yourself…’

  I thought about acting aloof, but I knew exactly what they were talking about and there was no way I could hide it either way.

  ‘Do you girls know… Have you all…?’

  ‘Of course we know,’ Brianna said. ‘Wasn’t that obvious from the morning after you and Lois did it?’

  ‘Well, yeah, but I thought that was just because you heard us.’

  ‘We did, but it wasn’t like Lois didn’t tell us all about it.’

  ‘You… You talk to each other about…?’

  ‘Of course we do,’ Scarlett said. ‘We’re all part of this coven. We tell each other everything.’

  ‘Everything?’

  ‘Everything.’

  ‘Jeez… But what about the other night, when I was with you? And Brianna was watching us.’

  ‘And I can’t believe you didn’t tell me. It was hot enough, but knowing that you were watching us’ – she peeked over my chest to look at my succubus.

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

  ‘We know this isn’t how people do relationships in in the normal world,’ Lois said. ‘But that’s how we do things. You’re our warlock and our master, and we love you. We want you to know that.’

  ‘I… I love you girls too. And believe me, I can totally get on board with that.’

  ‘Obviously you can,’ Brianna said, ‘You’re a guy. But you’re our guy.’

  ‘No secrets,’ Scarlett said. ‘That’s the only rule. We don’t keep things from each other from here on out.’

  ‘That’s something you need to focus on, not me,’ I smiled.

  ‘True,’ Brianna agreed, looking at the girls. ‘So how about we make it up to you?’

  Before I even had a chance to ask what they had in mind, Scarlett pressed her lips to mine and kissed me lightly with her luscious, pouting lips before I returned the favour passionately. While she snuggled up to my side and we continued to kiss, Lois and Brianna shrugged from their robes and pulled the covers back either side of me, sliding down to my waist.

  Scarlett and I pulled away from each other lightly, she still running her hands up the side of my neck, her nails sliding over me as we watched Lois and my succubus-witch pull back what little clothing I had from my waist and bring their tongues to me.

  I was already throbbing impossibly with the call of the morning, but now it would be impossible task not to stand to attention. My witches grinned up at me devilishly, taking me in their hands before raising their lips to my shaft and pressing their hot, wet tongues to me.

  The muscles in my back tensed as they began to lick and lap at me. I rested my head back against the bed as Scarlett kissed me. A week ago this would have ended me in seconds – maybe becoming a warlock afforded me better self-control, but I was still getting the hang of this life, and in the meantime this was fine by me.

  Either that or I had the will of the gods.

  I held onto that control as best as I could when Scarlett pulled away from me, descending along my body to join the others as my three witches crowded around my dick, licking and sucking at me passionately.

  I didn’t know if they were deliberately trying to finish me this fast, but they were doing a damn good job of it. For a time I could resist not drinking in the image of them all pleasuring my hardness, but as I looked down at three of them, Lois sucking at the head of my cock while Brianna and Scarlett licked at me hungrily from either side, it took all of my strength not to let myself go between Lois’s desirous lips as she sank down on me, taking more of me into her mouth.

  I sat up, the girls drawing away as Scarlett looked at me enticingly, taking my length in her hand and rubbing me up and down lightly, and Lois and Brianna kissed each other passionately.

  I had had all three of them separately, and I had plenty of ideas for two girls, but three? This would take all of my skills as a man.

  Fortunately the girls had plans of their own. They moved from the end of the bed, standing before me as if they were presenting themselves, before pulling off their underwear and running their hands over each other. Scarlett had said that they had found ways to pleasure each other without the help of a man, and now I definitely believed them.

  In no time Scarlett was strad
dling my waist, while Lois slinked across the bed on all fours and positioned herself over my face. Together they sank down onto me, Scarlett taking me into her waiting wetness while Lois placed her hands on my chest, guiding her sensitivity to my mouth.

  I was enthralled with both of them as they pleasured me, indulging in their bodies as Scarlett took all of me again and again while tonguing Lois passionately. In the midst of it I vaguely heard a shriek of pleasure from Scarlett, begging for it faster – but it wasn’t me she was speaking to. It was Brianna, nibbling at her nipples and rubbing the spot between her legs faster and faster.

  ‘It’s starting…’

  Brianna’s voice preceded it all; I opened my eyes as Lois continued to ride my tongue, and saw that the lanterns had dimmed, their flickering lights playing host to the same dancing devils as I had seen in the basement when I had first been pleasured by my succubus-witch.

  Lois moved from my face as Scarlett pulled away from me with a moan, my cock feeling as if it was begging for more.

  ‘What is this…?’ I panted, sitting up.

  ‘Our final ritual,’ Brianna said. ‘You’ve had us all now, but taking us together binds us together. This act will complete your induction into the coven.’

  Handing myself over to another world… Men have done the stupidest of things when turned on.

  But this didn’t feel stupid at all.

  As the shadows continued to move in the dim light of the room, the whisperings moving in, my three witches laid back before me, presenting themselves side by side as they touched themselves in anticipation.

  I turned to Lois first, pushing into her slowly, determined to hold myself back. My hands formed into fists against the silk sheets as she took me, running her hands up to my neck and pulling me down to kiss her in the lightest of ways as I pounded her harder.

  The de-facto leader of the witches, handing her power over to me.

  I moved to Brianna, locking eyes with her as I filled her up. My body felt like fire as I groaned out, our hands clasped together as I took her harder and harder.

  Finally I moved to Scarlett, who by now was aching for me to take her. I resisted her for a moment, teasing her but at the same time knowing that my self-control was quickly vanishing, until I entered her begging wetness and pounded her with slow, deep motions.