Part 1 – Animal Instincts

The ribbon of water was the color of a dead campfire. Rowenna Hunter couldn’t tell if the creek was shallow or deep, so choked it was with decaying debris. The wide stream barely even looked like it was moving. A sad state of affairs, she thought, to be stuck in place, bordered on one side by a forest in Fall’s fancy apparel and on the other by the dark browns and blacks of a muddy swamp filled with unknown and dangerous forces. Trapped between the ordinary and the fantastic but belonging to neither, just like she was.

Recklessness had brought her here a month ago, in search of the demonic succubus that had seduced her husband Kyle. Courage had allowed her to return two weeks later to retrieve the baseball bat and flashlight she’d dropped during her initial humiliating encounter with the she-devil. Now, curiosity drove her to walk the narrow animal track that led along Ash Creek away from her home out in the countryside and towards the mysterious oak tree the succubus once returned to each morning. Her shoes rustled the ferns that reached halfway to her knees. She was glad she’d dressed against the cooling September temperatures in a long-sleeved shirt and jeans. Her medium-length wavy red hair, tied back behind her head with an elastic band, swung and bounced against her shoulders.

Rowenna had grown stronger through her battles with that demon, as well as with its mistress, a vampire who had used it to terrorize the tiny town she lived near. She’d fought both of them one on one in two of the most heated and erotically thrilling duels she’d ever experienced. The succubus’ defeat was secured through forcing it to climax, and the vampire’s was through overwhelming its nearly bottomless thirst for pleasure. Rowenna had thrown her entire body into the struggle to sexually dominate both evil females, and had emerged victorious. Taking those risks and conquering her fears had made her more alive and in tune with her sexual power than she’d ever felt.

But now that time had passed. She’d returned to her normal life as a housewife, fixing up the home she and her husband had moved into, running errands, and cooking meals. It was dull in comparison, and the prospects for it getting any more interesting were as cloudy as the stream next to her. The townsfolk acted decent toward her, but kept her at arm’s length. They never invited her to attend any of their events. Suggestions she’d made about wanting to join the bridge club and the knitting circle had been met with nothing but polite smiles. On top of that, her old group of friends back in the city had continued their lives without her. The exploits Rowenna heard during her phone chats with them seemed so foreign and insignificant to her now.

She’d occasionally have afternoon tea with Autumn Willow, the local palm reader who lived on the other side of town. The old woman was the only person here who knew the secret that Rowenna was descended from a line of witches. But Rowenna found that her visits often degenerated into her dumping a litany of complaints that the poor lady wasn’t really able to help her with, and that felt unfair. The only regular daytime companionship she enjoyed was Duke, the German Shepherd that Kyle had bought to help guard Rowenna and the house. Problem was, Duke was definitely Kyle’s dog. It treated her with respect, but would sometimes act weirdly when she came near it, as if it detected something about her it was instinctively wary of.

Duke was safely back at the house now. Rowenna did not want the dog following her out here. She figured that she had about an hour before Kyle got home. Just enough time to poke around the oak tree and see if the sensitivity to the supernatural that she’d improved over the past month would help her discover exactly what the succubus’ use for it had been. After that, she and Kyle had a dinner party at Autumn’s antique shop that she was looking forward to. Autumn’s sister, a true-born witch, would be there and Rowenna had a lot of questions she was aching to know the answers to.

The ancient red oak stood like a gnarled sentinel next to its moss-covered clearing, and probably had for over two centuries. Hair-like gray lichen dangled from many of its branches. Rowenna approached it quietly, aware that it must harbor some sort of power. The last thing she wanted to do was disturb any magical creature that might have moved in now that the succubus had been dragged back to the evil pit it had come from. She closed her eyes and focused. The tree in front of her gave off only the faintest of signs that it was special. Whatever arcane magic was at work in it was beyond her abilities to ascertain.

Her ears pricked suddenly. A high-pitched sound, somewhere between a whimper and a sigh wafted through the air. Rowenna snapped her eyes open and searched for the source. Something was stirring beneath a yew bush at the far edge of the clearing. Rowenna crouched, ready to run.

She quickly understood why she hadn’t noticed the creature before. It was a mottled tan, well camouflaged among the leaves that littered the forest floor. Rowenna initially guessed its size at about three feet long until she saw its legs extend as the human-shaped figure stretched its limbs. Its back had been to her, catching the rays of an afternoon sunbeam that pierced the canopy above. Now, it rolled onto its stomach and lifted its head.

Rowenna breathed in sharply. It looked like a young woman with a petite heart-shaped face, but she was clothed from head to toe in a thin fur costume that ranged from light brown to white. She had two triangular ears sticking out of the tousled auburn hair that spiked up atop her head but smoothed out as it merged into… Rowenna’s jaw dropped. The creature wasn’t wearing fur, it HAD fur, short and fine over much of its body. And paw-like hands and feet. And a long tail.

The young woman froze upon seeing Rowenna. The hair on the ridge of its spine stood up and its tail bristled slightly. Rowenna didn’t dare move. She closed her mouth and tried to slow her rapid pulse. The feline creature looked thin, and its movements weak. It sniffed in her direction several times. With great caution, it crept slowly from under the bush. Here and there, tufts of fur stuck out, as if it had recently been in a fight and lost.

Rowenna’s heart ached to see it in such a condition. “Are you okay?” she asked. It startled at Rowenna’s voice, cocked its head and studied her. It sat back on its haunches for a moment, then stood upright on its back legs.

The female was a few inches shorter than Rowenna, about 5’5″. She had breasts, smaller C-cups in relation to Rowenna’s plump DDs, and a fluff of white fur that ran between them down to her navel where it widened to cover both her hips and inner thighs.

“Do you understand what I’m saying?” Rowenna said.

In response, the creature’s stomach grumbled.

“Oh, you’re hungry, huh?”

A low noise rumbled in the feline woman’s throat. Then she lunged, swift as a mountain lion, closing the fifteen foot distance to Rowenna in a single jump. Rowenna rose quickly to flee, but the woman tackled her to the soft moss before she took a single step. Four paws pinned her wrists and ankles to the ground. Rowenna felt an off-putting breath tickle her skin as the beast sniffed around her neck, ears, and then mouth. She inhaled, readying a terrified scream. The young woman’s face was right in hers, eyes staring deep into her own.

It kissed her, fully and lovingly. The girl’s tender lips tasted sweet to Rowenna, who lay temporarily paralyzed in shock at the abrupt but passionate assault. Warmth permeated her body in a rush both from the furry creature’s weight upon her and from the bloom of arousal its fuzzy touch was creating. She twisted her head in an effort to catch a breath and demand an explanation, but the lithe female only pursued her lips, locking their mouths together again and sucking lustily. With a start, Rowenna realized that the heady and enjoyable make-out session her attacker had engaged her in was also drawing energy out of her body. ‘This thing is drinking magic like it’s thirsty for it,’ she thought.

Rowenna bucked, tossing the woman up off of her a few inches, and halting the torrid kiss. The other woman frowned in annoyance, then rammed her pelvis into Rowenna’s, causing the redhead to chirp in alarm and raise a flush on her freckled cheeks. Determination furrowed the creature’s hairy brows. Its gossamer whiskers twitched. It planted its breasts firmly onto Rowenna’s tits, executing a full body-to-body pin. Rowenna squirmed, but only succeeded in grinding her boobs and thighs into her attacker’s fur. The sensation wasn’t altogether unpleasant, but her inability to dislodge the beast was beginning to worry her.

When the feline creature resumed her ravishing, hungrily nipping at Rowenna’s neck and cleavage before attacking her mouth, the redhead was fully prepared to give as good as she got. Rowenna kissed back fervently. Her body undulated, forcing closely-pressed flesh and fur into a tighter and tighter union. Heat from the two women’s struggle grew rapidly and threatened to overwhelm them. The creature’s tongue probed and licked, draining more and more energy from Rowenna.

In response, the redhead worked her hips against her opponent’s, rubbing her crotch roughly in ever-building desire. ‘Fuck, I’ve missed this,’ she thought. It was wanton sexual lust. It was a competition of wills and womanhood. It was raw and dirty and awakened her innermost need to feel fully alive. ‘Just you wait, you horny fuzz ball, until I cum.’

Faster and faster, the erotically charged battle spun out of control. One woman pinning her prey and lavishing rapturous delight on her and the other desperate to reach climax before she ran out of strength to fight back. Muffled moans rumbled in Rowenna’s throat, which joined with the other woman’s rising whine of impending ecstasy. On and on the two humped with wanton ferocity. The friction between their breasts, stomachs, and thighs reached a crazed intensity, the desire for orgasmic release written plainly in every motion of their feverishly hot bodies. Rowenna’s legs encircled one of her opponent’s, hugging it tight while her crotch kept grinding harder and harder.

With a great shudder, Rowenna came loud and hard. She unglued her mouth from her foe’s and groaned, “Unh, fuck yes!” The other female studied her, curious as it sensed energy welling up inside of Rowenna. The redhead had been waiting for that replenishment, one she always experienced during orgasms.

“Now, you little minx,” Rowenna growled, “Time to even the score.” A burst of strength shot through her arms. She tossed the woman to one side and wrestled her way on top of her. Her legs wrapped around their opposing pair like vines, spreading them apart. “You want what I got? Here you go!” Rowenna thrust her hips roughly once, then twice more. If this bitch needed an excess of sexual energy in order to climax like the last two magical beings she’d vanquished did, Rowenna knew how to give her just that.

The woman freed an arm from Rowenna’s grip, grabbed the redhead’s ponytail and drew the pair into an achingly amorous kiss. It lay there accepting the bottom role of their missionary position for nearly a minute while Rowenna pounded its pussy with the crotch of her jeans. Rowenna could feel her getting closer and closer to orgasm. She was willing energy into the beast through their lips and grinding it into its cunt by matching the rhythm of its soft, bucking body.

But right before she gave in to the passion flowing through her system, the feline spun them over. She kept ravishing Rowenna’s lips, adding a covetous fondling of the redhead’s boobs with its front paws. ‘What’s her deal?,’ Rowenna wondered. She answered the creature’s groping by caressing its chest right back. She directed her power through her palms, sending sizzling arcs of pleasure across its aroused nipples.

The other woman gasped in delight, and tried to retreat. Rowenna pursued her, pouncing on her and attacking the wet folds of its vagina with her fingers. It grabbed Rowenna’s lower back with partially extended claws. Rowenna fought through the sharp pain and worked the woman’s clit with her thumb.

It mashed its eyes closed and came, making a guttural noise somewhere between a yowl and a purr. Rowenna abruptly halted her attack. As the woman gyrated in the throes of climax, it unexpectedly released energy back into Rowenna. ‘As if she can’t help but do that,’ she thought. ‘I see. No wonder she was trying not to cum.’

The woman’s eyes snapped open. It furiously attacked Rowenna, driving her flat onto the ground. It attempted to mount her, but Rowenna twisted, using the creature’s momentum to make it dive completely over her. She clambered atop it but only for a brief second. It wrapped its thighs around Rowenna’s left leg, embraced her in a tight hug and rolled the pair of them over. Fighting for control, the warring women tumbled chaotically over roots and crackling leaves from one side of the clearing to the other. Rowenna grew hot again both from the seductive feel of warm, soft fur against her skin and from the gloriously erotic sensation of the creature’s head thrust deep in her cleavage where its fine sandpaper tongue licked relentlessly in small teasing strokes.

As they rolled to a halt against a small sapling, Rowenna released her hold to brush a tickling fern away from her nose and eyes. The other woman sat up to trap her in a schoolgirl pin. Rowenna rocked her hips to the left to dislodge her. Instead, she found herself spun face down. The beast clambered atop her back. Rowenna rose up on her hands and knees, feeling its firm breasts press into her spine and its rapid breath on her shoulder. She was panting hard now. Her foe didn’t appear the least bit tired. It clasped tightly to her, and dove one hand into Rowenna’s jeans.

The redhead squirmed and bucked, but couldn’t stop short, questing fingers from reaching her moist pussy. They dipped inside once, then zeroed in on her stiffened clitoris. Sharp canines closed on her neck, enough to scare Rowenna into freezing but not strong enough to break skin. Locked in this violent but intimate position, the pair of females gyrated in tandem. The smooth pads of one of the creature’s paw worked Rowenna’s sex mercilessly while the other groped the aroused nipples on her dangling breasts through her full figured bra.

With a loud whimper, Rowenna surrendered to the inevitable. Orgasm hit her in a rush. She opened herself to it, and felt it fill her completely with both pleasure and magical energy. Luxuriating in its thrall, Rowenna barely noticed the other woman rotate her and gently place her on the ground. Its mouth descended, and Rowenna answered her kiss willingly.

For a long, sweet minute, the lovingly entwined females sucked each other’s lips and caressed one another’s bodies. Rowenna sent waves of sexual power radiating into the woman who’d reawakened her desire for this kind of erotic combat. The other woman took it all in, devouring it as if starved.

When she was full, the creature sat back on its haunches in a crouch and stared at Rowenna with wide, tiger-shaped eyes. The redhead wore a happy smile. She marveled at the changes in the other woman. Her belly was no longer emaciated. Her fur was shiny and sleek now, and her cheeks had a healthy pallor.

“You want to keep going?” Rowenna asked, “I don’t know about you, but that was fun.”

The creature shook her head. She stood up woozily like an overfed dinner guest, bowed at her slightly as if in thanks and made to leave.

“Wait,” Rowenna insisted. “Wait!” she repeated loudly, finally causing it to pause. “My name’s Rowenna. What’s yours?”

The beast regarded Rowenna with a mixture of surprise and tenderness. She wavered, conflicted, for a few moments. In a hushed voice, she said, “Anya,” then turned and bounded out of sight.

Walking home, Rowenna’s mind was filled with the strange being she’d tangled with out in the woods. She’d met two supernatural creatures that fed off of sexual energy in her first week after moving into her new home, and had no idea how many others existed in the great expanse of wilderness behind it. She thanked the stars that this new one wasn’t deadly. In fact, matching its eagerness and lustful hunger had been downright enjoyable. Rowenna hoped she’d get a chance to tangle with her again sometime in the future. She wouldn’t mind something so challenging and physically thrilling to break the monotony of her weekdays. Her body was still on fire with arousal. She sped up her pace, knowing just how she wanted to satisfy it.

Upon her return, Duke greeted her with exuberant barks at the back door. It quieted suddenly, sniffed her a few times, then slunk away with its tail between its legs.

“Whats the matter, Duke?” Kyle said, watching the dog retreat hastily past him as he entered the kitchen. He turned toward Rowenna as he tossed his suit jacket over a chair and loosened his tie. “Hi, uh… wow. Out doing yard work all afternoon? You sure got dirty.”

Rowenna smiled. Desire lit in her eyes at the sight of her husband’s muscular frame stretching the fabric of his white dress shirt. “Yeah, but not as dirty as I want to get.”

“You mean…” Kyle’s voice trailed off as he watched Rowenna’s fingers race through the top three buttons on her shirt and strip it from her shoulders. Her large nipples poked firmly beneath the fabric of her bra which strained to contain her enormous breasts. “I swear you get more irresistible every damn day, you gorgeous woman.”

Rowenna grabbed Kyle’s hands and ran his palms up over her full, heavy tits. “Mmm,” she purred, “I want you to fill me with more than just sweet words.”

He circled his arms about her and drew them into a tight embrace. “Anything, my enchanting vixen.” He kissed her passionately, felt her tongue probe his mouth, and licked at it in response. Rowenna leaped up and wrapped her legs around Kyle’s waist. He held her there, fingers clawing possessively into her supple ass cheeks. She moaned as his manhood stiffened inside his slacks and rubbed against her crotch. Kyle drove them into the refrigerator, then the wall before carrying her to the couch in the living room and tumbling the two of them onto its soft cushions.

In a flurry of motion, they ripped each other’s clothes off and slammed their naked bodies together. Hands clutched and fondled bare skin. They rolled off onto the floor, spinning with wild abandon. Kyle pinned Rowenna chest to chest, growled with desperate yearning, and guided his erect penis into her waiting wet folds. “Ungh, yes, you animal!” she cried, yanking his hair to bring his lips back into striking range.

He fucked her hard for over a minute, but Rowenna needed something rougher. She pushed at his shoulders and squirmed away from his rock-hard cock. His confusion lasted only a moment until she turned and presented her gloriously round rear end. “You want an animal, huh?” he panted. He gripped her ass with both hands and penetrated her thoroughly. Her lusty groan resounded off the walls. He impaled her again and again, slapping her ass cheeks whenever she greedily rammed back into him to swallow his dick up to its hilt with her wonderfully tight cunt.

Two minutes later, she was screaming, “Oh, yes! Yes, Kyle, fuck me hard!” and he was tugging her ruby-colored hair and pounding her pussy in a feverish rhythm. With full-throated shouts, they climaxed at the same time. Rowenna shivered, filled to bursting with power and loving the sensation of her husband ejaculating his load deep within her. It took several seconds for them to slow down. They collapsed into a steamy pile on the rug and hugged each other affectionately.

“You,” Kyle said upon regaining his breath, “are going to wear me out so bad I won’t be able to stand up at the party this evening.”

“Oh, yeah, we do have somewhere to go tonight, don’t we?” She teased his cock, perking it back up. “Nothing wrong with being fashionably late…”

“If we don’t start getting ready now, we’re going to be unfashionably absent,” Kyle said, poorly-hidden eagerness to continue tinting his voice. Rowenna pouted comically. Kyle’s eyes bored into hers, his lust fully reignited. “Alright, you. Let’s get you into the shower.”

“Gonna have to carry me, my love. You made my knees all weak.” He scooped her up and ran up the stairs to sounds of her rapturous giggling.

They made it as far as the master bedroom before Kyle could no longer withstand her incessant pecked kisses and tugging nibbles at his earlobe. He tossed her to the mattress and mounted her with renewed vigor, stuffing his erect penis deep into Rowenna’s wet pussy again and again, never letting up until she had reached another orgasm. Kyle and Rowenna wrapped one another in a crushing embrace, both overjoyed at being united with such a perfect partner.

Outside in the darkening forest, a lonely yowl rang out to the skies.

The siren call of a female in heat.

Part 2 – Pack Hierarchy

The moon and stars gleamed abundantly in the cloudless night sky. Torches and candles lit the yard behind Autumn Willow’s thatched-roof abode far outside the town limits. Kyle’s smile shone bright as he and Rowenna greeted everyone that Auntie Willow (as most knew her) introduced them to. Rowenna herself glittered in a sparkling dark green, three-quarter sleeve dress with a slit up the left leg. It was a new purchase, one required by the physical changes brought on by her frequent use of homemade potions during her travails a month ago. Her body had grown more voluptuous, and her toned muscles more pronounced. She was inwardly pleased with her transformation, especially because of its effects on Kyle’s libido, but also self-conscious of the envy and lewd stares it caused.

“Rowenna, you’ll never believe who’s here!” Kyle gushed. “‘Big Buck’ Bronson. Best running back in State history.” He jogged over to a square-jawed man in his late forties, exchanged pleasantries, and guided him back to Rowenna.

“I was wondering what happened to a talented man like yourself after that injury cut your football career short,” she heard the jovial man say in a gruff voice.

Kyle looked like a giddy teenager. “Rowenna, this is Buck Bronson. Buck, I’d like to introduce you to my wife.”

“Married, eh?” Rowenna watched Buck’s eyes take an elevator ride up and down her curves. He turned to Kyle and said, “Congratulations.” Rowenna bit back a retort. The two men began chatting like old drinking buddies about past football stars. It was much to her relief when Autumn took her arm just when the two got deep in discussion about the prospects for the upcoming conference rivalry game.

“There’s someone I know you’ve been anxious to meet,” she said. Standing by herself with a nearly empty wine glass in her hand was a thin, elegantly poised woman in her late sixties wearing a black gown and woolen shawl. “Rowenna, this is my older sister, Summer.” Rowenna blinked in surprise. Although Summer’s face definitely had a family resemblance, her well-permed hair and the jewelry she wore at her neck and on her fingers couldn’t have been a greater contrast to Autumn’s homey and rustic style and appearance. With a gentle wave, Autumn departed to rejoin her guests.

“Honored to meet you,” Rowenna said, unsure of correct etiquette for greeting a proper witch, because the woman had not extended her hand. She bowed her head slightly in order to make some sort of polite gesture.

“You have questions for me?” Summer said. Her tone was velvety and even.

“Um, yes, did Auntie… er, your sister tell you?” Rowenna wanted to kick herself for stammering like a schoolgirl.

“She told me enough about you to make me intrigued.” Her faint smile was hiding something. Amusement? Derision? Rowenna couldn’t read her guarded expression. “But this is not the location to discuss such subjects. Please follow me. And don’t worry about your husband. He is being well entertained.”

Summer led her through the back gate and along a noisy brook where moonlit water tumbled over and around smooth, melon-sized rocks. “I sense that you, like most who are beginning to explore your budding talent, would like to learn what it’s all about. Am I right?”

“Yes. I mean, I’m able to do some things, but I’m not sure if I’m really doing them correctly or not.”

“Well,” Summer said invitingly, “why don’t we start with those?”

They walked together along a well-trodden path beside the stream. Rowenna was timid at first and focused on the spells she sang while cooking, but soon Summer’s prompts and non-judgmental demeanor had her opening up. After a time, the path had veered away and up a wooded hill and Rowenna was describing details of her encounters with the three supernatural beings that she’d fought intimate duels with a month ago. She paused her tale when they reached the summit where they found a group of three women surrounding a stump.

Two were normal height, but one was shorter, about five feet tall. That woman looked immeasurably old, with a withered face and white-streaked gray hair gathered in a large bun behind her head. The lady to her right held a strange walking stick which looked to Rowenna like an unnaturally petrified vine about two inches in diameter. She initially thought that its upper end was on fire, but noticed that the flame there that illuminated the trio was hovering just above its top.

“Edwina,” Summer said as she nodded deferentially to the elderly woman.

“Good, good,” came the croaked reply. Edwina made no secret of the fact that she was examining Rowenna. Nor did her two companions. All were obviously witches, experienced and powerful.

From out of the shadows, more dark-clothed women emerged. Rowenna grew nervous. She almost stammered a polite “Good evening” but got distracted by four new arrivals to her left. Like a team, they all dressed in identical black robes with cowled hoods. The one in the forefront had her head bared, showing off a dazzlingly golden cascade of hair, curled at the ends. Out of everyone assembled, she was the only one who looked Rowenna’s age. She was an undeniable beauty. Her porcelain skin was flawless, her cheek bones high and her posture perfect. But the way she carried herself, like everyone else was beneath her, instantly rubbed the redhead the wrong way.

Rowenna almost missed the fact that there was a creature perched on the young woman’s right shoulder because the majority of its yellow feathers matched its mistress’ hair. It was nearly spherical in shape, with an odd combination of an owl’s close-set eyes and rotating head and a wren’s body with a white breast. Three tall plumes stuck out absurdly from its crown, wiggling every time its gaze changed direction.

‘What a round bird,’ Rowenna thought to herself.

‘Look who’s talking,’ it replied directly into Rowenna’s head. Sudden fear gripped her. Not since she’d been young had she been around witches. She’d forgotten the need to empty her mind and guard her memories. Rowenna took a deep breath and quieted her inner dialog. ‘Smart girl,’ the bird sarcastically praised, then fell silent.

So did everything else. Crickets stopped chirping. The sounds of nocturnal creatures out in the forest died away. In the sky, the moon and stars winked out as if a giant tent had been erected in the blink of an eye. Rowenna looked around her to find that a ring of women now surrounded her on all sides. Summer stood among them. Beyond that was only darkness. Her ears picked up snatches of whispers.

‘…sweet roses, look at that figure’
‘…chip off the old block, isn’t she?’

Edwina cut them off by clearing her throat and asked, “Shall we begin?”

An utterance that sounded like a single person but somehow contained multiple voices answered, “We shall.”

“Rowenna Hunter, daughter of clan McKeogh,” Edwina began, “the Coven of the Silver Willow greets you.” Her speech warped until it merged with the peculiar unison voice that had answered her call to order. “Word of your activities in the last cycle of the moon has reached us. We wish to discuss with you our concerns about your behavior.”

Rowenna spun around several times to locate whoever was addressing her. No matter which way she turned, it always seemed to be behind her. Her patience frayed. “Concerns? I got rid of two evil creatures that were sucking this town dry like parasites, and cleaned out a house that was haunted by a hate-filled ghost. That wasn’t a good thing?”

“There are consequences whenever we use our abilities to meddle in worldly affairs. Certainly you were taught that?”

“Yes,” Rowenna said, growing exasperated, “My overbearing nag of a mother tried to hammer that into me on numerous occasions.” Mutters rumbled through the gathering at that.

The coven continued, “Setting aside the… unorthodox… method that you admit you used to deal with those creatures, word of which thankfully has not spread and tarnished the upstanding image we witches maintain, you’ve succeeded in creating a gap in the web of governance in this area. This territory, rich in Stygian energy due to the swamp you live next to, now no longer has a strong authority maintaining order. What do you suppose will happen next?”

“Next? Wait. That vampire was keeping things under control around here by poisoning people’s minds. Life is certain to be a lot better now that everyone has their freedom back.”

Loud murmuring erupted.
“She doesn’t know?”
“How could anyone let a gifted daughter get so clueless?”
“This must be fixed immediately.”

“Silence,” Edwina admonished. “We must speak as one on this matter. Rowenna, we were not referring to the effects of your actions on the humans living here.”

“What, then?” Rowenna asked.

More whispering broke out.
“Ugh, hopelessly naive”
“What an amateur”
“Total disregard for order”
“Shh”

Edwina spoke over them all. “The Firemane, primarily, but others will no doubt notice once that pack of beasts starts moving in. What plan do you have for handling them, first of all?”

Rowenna, caught off guard, admitted defeat. “I… have to confess I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

“Bah!” the golden-haired witch exploded, “She’s worse than Maddy the Fool! Bind her magic already before she causes total chaos!”

“That won’t be necessary, Portia,” Summer interjected. Rowenna tensed. The mention of binding put her on full alert. A cacophony of arguing broke out. Rowenna couldn’t tell who the factions were, or if there were any. She focused on the woman who called for her to be bound as the most likely source of danger, but scanned the rest of the assembled witches with her peripheral vision for signs of attack. Gradually, the noise died down somewhat.

Rowenna took the initiative to save her freedom. “You say you’re a coven but I only count twelve of you. You’re missing someone… unless you intend to induct me as the thirteenth.”

A cold, distinct voice rang out from the shadows. “Perish THAT thought.”

A stream of ice ran down Rowenna’s spine. She knew the woman who had spoken and was now striding out of the shadows to take the final spot in the circle around her all too well. She kicked herself for not guessing she’d make an appearance once witches started showing up.

From the darkness, the woman continued, her tongue dripping with toxic sarcasm, “The hope was that you’d be more open and honest if you didn’t have my presence to distract you, and that seems to have been the case. You certainly have given everyone here an accurate representation of the full breadth of your knowledge.”

Stepping into the flickering torch light was a tall woman in her early fifties, dressed in a navy blue blouse that strained to contain her large bosom, a black knee-length skirt and an ornate black cloak held at her neck with a silver clasp. Her short, raven hair was impeccably coiffed, her jawline was sharp, and her lips and nails shone the color of freshly-spilled blood. Rowenna stood stock still and stared at her, gritting her teeth.

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” Brigid Cavanagh said to Rowenna.

“Nice to see you, too,” Rowenna replied flatly, “Mother.” The yellow bird on Portia’s shoulder emitted a pair of trilled chirps, fluffed out its feathers, then settled back down.

Edwina continued. “The Firemane, for your education, are a particularly disruptive bunch of beasts. The two — how did you put it — parasites you put an end to at least had the decency of working slowly and leaving most other things intact as they did so. The uncivilized pack that will soon notice that nobody’s around to keep them out of the swamp has absolutely no compunctions in wreaking havoc and leaving ruin behind when they leave.”

“Are they demons?”

Brigid shook her head. “No. Nothing so simple and predictable as that. They’re… Felynn.” She spat the word like a curse, using the same distaste that people use for the words ‘foul’ and ‘fuck’. “A mischievous pack of magic-hungry werecats.”

Summer added, “They’ll shred up and feed on every magical seal and protective ward our ancestors have set up to contain the evil in the swamp that borders your house.”

Now that speaking as one had broken down, multiple people felt the need to chime in.
“All manner of foul crap will start to seep out”
“It’ll take months to clean up the mess”

Rowenna asked, “What do you want me to do?”

“Nothing!”
“Let us handle this”
“You stay out”
“… not even a full witch”

“Wait,” Rowenna pleaded, turning this way and that to whomever would pay attention to her. “I defeated a ghost, a succubus and a vampire. I deserve the chance to help. This is my home.” Nobody seemed to be listening. “Don’t just shove me aside.”

Brigid regarded her dispassionately. “We can, and we will. I agree with the coven’s assessment that you are an inexperienced novice, as likely to make a costly mistake as you are to accomplish anything positive. You need to take this as an opportunity to learn your place, and to show us obedience and respect.”

Rowenna, rapidly losing her temper, growled, “As if you deserve it.”

Brigid took that outburst personally. “Hold your tongue, young lady, or it will be silenced for you. We had no choice but to come here once you stomped around making a mess. You had your chance to impress us with a clear plan or at least some semblance of wisdom, but you blew it by having neither. And here I’d hoped you’d stopped being such an embarrassment and actually shown some talent.”

That snapped the final cord of Rowenna’s restraint. In full rage, she shouted at her mother, “SHUT the FUCK UP!”

Brigid didn’t.

She thundered back, “Don’t you DARE use the Commanding Voice against me!”

The magic woven into her words made Rowenna suddenly weak and powerless. She struggled to stand upright and hide how submissive her mother’s order had made her. Her eyes burned with angry fire even as they filled with humiliating tears.

Someone needled Rowenna’s mother. “Ooo, lookie that. You picked the wrong name for her, Brigid. She’s a fighter, she is. Should have named her Kelly.”

“Ach! The great warrior spirit of the McKeogh clan come to life again?”
“That’s not remotely funny.”
“The last thing this situation needs is a bloodthirsty witch.”

“Enough chatter,” Portia said, staring dismissively at Rowenna. “Are we done here?”

Brigid nodded. “Yes. I’ll do what I promised yesterday. She is my daughter and my responsibility. I’ll stay close to her and make sure she doesn’t cause any more trouble.”

The coven began to disperse. Rowenna could only drop her head, stab her nails into her palms and dam up a flood of foul language.

Brigid walked over to her daughter and asked, “You do have a guest room in your house, do you not?”

Miles away, a solitary felynn crouched at a fenced boundary where forest opened up into rolling, rock-strewn hills. She sniffed the air and scowled. Anya had guessed that someone would move into her old hunting grounds. She just didn’t think it would happen this fast. The scent markings on the post were unmistakable. In defiance, she smeared her own scent over it before slinking quietly on all fours through the moonlight back to her usual den.

A small grove of trees clustered around a group of white-streaked gray boulders piled at its center. That jumble of stones, deposited ages ago by a retreating glacier, gave off a weak magic aura. Hardly enough to be of interest to anything seeking such power, but enough to sustain a small felynn like Anya if she drew off only a little each evening. When she arrived this night, however, its bounty had already been claimed. The territorial marks she smelled there made her furious.

She growled and added her fresh scent to the nearby rocks to cover up that of the interloper’s. Halfway through, Anya froze, sensing something in the wind. It had magic, and was drawing close. She swiftly climbed a tree on extended claws and went still on a branch about fifteen feet up.

Moments later, another felynn padded its way to the top of the pile of boulders. It stood about the same height as Anya, but its fur was a ruddy orange with white stripes. It wasted no time scanning the surroundings before fixing its eyes on the werecat perched upon a limb.

Anya hissed, “Go away, Nyatalia. You’re standing on my den.”

“You should be dead,” came the reply.

“I’m not. Go back home.”

“This is my home now. Athenya gave it to me.”

Anya’s back fur rose in threat. “Your prize for going belly-up every time she passes? You don’t deserve it.”

Nyatalia arched her back and bristled her tail. “You deserved it less. ‘Weak blood leaves and the pack grows mighty.’ You were the weakest, so you became our tribute to The Devourer. It certainly wasn’t my turn.”

Anya paced a few steps forward and leaped onto a rock just below Nyatalia. “I am strong now. Stronger than you. Perhaps I’ll take your old territory now.”

Nyatalia hissed. “Selenya has what used to be mine. Go fight her if you want that patch.”

“No,” Anya snarled. She remembered the beating she’d received at the paws of Selenya, second in the Firemane hierarchy. The energy she’d captured from the strange human woman had made her more powerful than she’d ever been, but not enough to challenge for that position. Nyatalia, in contrast, was somewhere in the lower half of the pack. And Anya also remembered the cowardly swipes she’d endured from her while being chased into the swamp. Wrestling her down and taking some of her power would be adequate revenge for now. “I’m taking my den back. It’s your choice whether I fuck you into submission first or not.”

Nyatalia emitted a low growl in response, and held her ground. The two werecats settled into a staring contest, bodies still but muscles tensed and ready to spring into action. Anya studied every inch of her rival, and Nyatalia did the same. Fur was patterned with shadow from the leaves stenciling the moonlight. Sleek torsos rose and fell with excited breathing. Nipples jutted firmly from smooth, round breasts in anticipation of the wild, intimate contest to come.

Nyatalia grimaced, reading Anya’s strength and realizing that not only was her first night here not going to be quiet, but also that its interruption was going to be a rougher one than she could have predicted. She raised an arm slowly, preparing a vicious swipe with her claws. It was a warning, but Anya inched into a crouch to leap anyway. The pair paused in a frozen tableau: two female statues poised in imminent violence.

It began in a blur of movement. Anya charged, jumping straight at Nyatalia on the higher rock she was guarding. Nyatalia swung, catching air as her target’s head dodged the sharp needles extending from her paw. Anya was on her a fraction of a second later. Nyatalia spun to prevent Anya from mounting her back. The two fell into a rough embrace, arms and legs encircling each other and faces buried in one another’s shoulders. They tumbled wildly off the pile of boulders. Their impact with the ground did nothing to separate them. Over and over they rolled downhill, drawing their bodies tighter together in a fierce contest of both muscle and seduction. Their paws grasped at wrists and grabbed at fur-covered ass cheeks. Their noses nuzzled against necks and their mouths sought out pouting, panting lips.

Though they were matching strength against strength, Anya and Nyatalia focused their greatest intent on lavishing erotic sensations upon each other’s erogenous zones. Tender necks, exposed breasts, and inner thighs shivered and quivered under continuous, steamy assault. Flashes of electricity arced between their fur-covered bodies, excess energy sparking both from fervent rubbing and from the magic swirling in their quickly moving and rapidly heating blood.

The cloying scent of arousal perfumed the air as their battle of stroking paws and teasing licks intensified, punctuated by grunts of exertion and groans of growing desire. The felynn writhed, coiling themselves around each other incessantly. Kissing and sucking at each other’s lips, they flopped around in the dust and leaves for several minutes, but the pace of their grappling eventually slowed. Anya pinned Nyatalia’s shoulders down, drove her stiffened nipples into her prone foe’s breasts, and thrust her right thigh deep into the orange werecat’s crotch. Nyatalia arched her back, yowling in dizzied horniness, then swiveled her hips and threw Anya to one side.

Anya fought back, but was unable to remount her opponent. The pair reached a stalemate laying side by side in the dirt. Anya’s left arm was trapped beneath Nyatalia’s waist. Its paw stroked the other felynn’s spine and lower back while her free right arm probed between Nyatalia’s thighs. Her knees parted the feline woman’s legs, exposing the wet pussy that glistened where they met. Her right paw fondled the slick folds, eliciting higher and higher moans from her rival’s throat. Nyatalia faced Anya in a mirror pose, scratching at her upper back with one paw and rubbing Anya’s cunt with the other in a tantalizing rhythm.

Their lips met in an ardent kiss which muffled the whimpers and cries of their ever increasing excitement. Anya kept control of herself, but just barely. The sexual energy that filled her body was more than she’d ever had. She struggled to use it to fuel her fight against Nyatalia, desperate not to give up any of its wonderful power. She gradually pushed Nyatalia onto her back. Still fucking her foe vigorously, she began grinding her tits against their opposing pair and sucking hard with her mouth.

Nyatalia yowled in climax, squirming beneath Anya’s erotic assault. Anya reveled in the influx of magic that Nyatalia gave up to her. It filled her to bursting, but too much, too soon. One last flick of Nyatalia’s paw on her aching clit was all it took. Her body collapsed onto the other felynn’s and shuddered in an all-encompassing orgasm, returning nearly everything she’d just taken. Nyatalia immediately went to dislodge Anya. In her dazed afterglow, she resisted. The frenzied scuffle that ensued only drove them apart a few feet. Fur re-energized and shining, the duo eyed each other warily.

“There’s no way you’ve become better than me,” Nyatalia snarled.

“Believe it. And I’m in the mood to dominate that weak pussy of yours.”

“Never. You’ll always be just a runt.”

“Shut up, you bitch, or I’ll give you a kiss that’ll make you weak as a newborn kitten.”

“I’ll show you a kiss, you mangy outcast!”

In a flash, the two were at each other once more. Anya charged, rearing up at the last second in expectation of Nyatalia doing the same. Instead of embracing chest to chest in a tight clinch and ravishing her foe body to body, Nyatalia spun upside down and aimed her head at Anya’s stomach. Anya leaped upward, but Nyatalia’s arms caught her and dragged her hips back down to Nyatalia’s waiting mouth. The felynn’s tongue penetrated Anya’s pussy and lapped at her sex mercilessly. Anya yelped, struggled to force Nyatalia’s legs open, succeeded, and gave her some of her own medicine.

Wild, sexual grunts punctured the quiet night air. The two werecats slithered and danced in an erotic war of ravenous desire. They sucked and licked one another’s pungent, aroused cunts with feverish intensity. Back and forth their battle raged, their bodies rolling one atop the other again and again. Each brought the other teetering on the edge of ecstasy and certain defeat only to fall victim to a renewed attack that made them mad with passion. Their thighs tightened about their heads. Suffocating in heat, sweat and sex, Anya and Nyatalia fought on, rocking side to side in crazed abandon. The lightning bolts of pleasure shooting through them with each teasing flick of tongue against clit were too overwhelming. Still, neither gave in, and they fucked each other to the very limits of their sanity.

With a loud gasp, they broke apart. Rolling into separate, curled balls and panting hard, they cupped their overstimulated privates. Anya could scarcely comprehend what she’d just experienced. Never before had she lasted so long in a sexfight. Never before had she kept control of her magic against another felynn. If this was what power was, she never wanted to lose it.

Nyatalia shook her head. “How did you not only avoid The Devourer but came out of the swamp stronger?” The woman moved gingerly into a crouch some distance from Anya. “Unless… unless She Who Sucks Blood is gone.” Realization lit up her eyes.

Anya drew herself into a threatening posture. Her body was tired, but her will to fight still keen. To her surprise, Nyatalia began backing off. “Admitting that you are beneath me, weakling?”

Nyatalia hissed. “Never. Enjoy this empty den tonight. I’ve got news for Selenya that will snare me a greater reward!” At that, she bounded away into the darkness.

Anya was tempted to chase after her, but her muscles reminded her that her body hadn’t yet digested the magic it had absorbed earlier in the day. They would grow strong, she knew, but only if given time. Soon, she really would be a match for Nyatalia.

Selenya was another matter. To even survive being attacked by such a fearsome felynn, Anya would need more power. Much more. Her gaze drifted to the forest that led toward the swamp. A smile crept on her lips as she bedded down for the night. Though it was human, she knew a source where she could get plenty.

Part 3 – Hunting Grounds

The next morning, Rowenna could barely contain her displeasure. Kyle was in way too joyful of a mood for this cloudy Saturday.

“Honestly, honey. I know that you and your mother have a bit of a thing between you, but from all I’ve seen of her, I don’t get what it is. She’s just a capable, driven woman who knows what she wants.” Kyle’s dog padded up to him, wagging its tail happily. “Even Duke’s taken a liking to her.”

“Yes, well, she’s a guest in our house and she’s being polite,” Rowenna said flatly. In her mind, she continued, ‘And she’s certainly not going to show you what she really is. Furthermore, you never had to live under her withering glare after continually failing to live up to her expectations.’

“Are you two going to play nice while I’m gone?” Kyle asked, hooking a leash onto Duke’s collar.

“Of course. Wait, I thought you just walked the dog.”

“I’m taking him to the vet, remember? Rabies vaccine.”

“Oh, yeah. In all the excitement, it slipped my mind.”

Kyle kissed Rowenna sweetly. “I’ll only be gone an hour or so. Be good.”

Rowenna’s promise that she would try got stuck in her throat. She listened to Kyle’s truck rumble down the gravel driveway and turn toward town. The silence afterward was quickly broken by the sound of Brigid walking around upstairs. Rowenna strode through the house to the back door in search of something to take her mind off of her current predicament. She stole a glance to where she’d stashed her special recipe book and the few magical ingredients she had left. There was no hiding the fact that she’d used the kitchen for potion brewing in addition to cooking meals. She could hear the admonitions already.

She picked up her outdoor work gloves off their shelf in the mud room and went out into the back yard. After dumping food scraps into the compost pile, Rowenna picked up a shovel and began turning over a bare patch of earth she planned on making into a garden next Spring. The CHUNK of the blade as she stabbed it into the ground and the THUD of the dark dirt as she hurled the soil back down again was quite satisfying.

Rowenna dug a foot-wide border and then worked on the ground inside of it for over ten minutes before she sensed a familiar, powerful presence behind her. She wiped her brow, planted the shovel next to her foot and faced her mother. Brigid wore an elegant cream blouse above a flowing violet ankle-length skirt and held a smooth wooden pole in one hand. If she harbored any opinions about her daughter’s farm girl fashion choice of jeans and long-sleeved cotton shirt, her face didn’t show it.

“Hard at work,” Brigid said matter-of-factly.

“Yes. As you see I can’t just wiggle my nose and get this done.” Rowenna leaned the shovel’s handle toward Brigid. “You’re welcome to help if you’d like.”

Brigid apologetically drew attention to her attire. “Though a rustic workout would certainly be a change of pace, I have other business to attend to. Summer informed me that there’s a portal, demonic in origin, not far from this house. Are you aware of it?”

Rowenna nodded. “Not much I can do about it.”

“Sadly true. According to her, it leads through tree roots under the creek bed and into the swamp itself. From there it connects to a rat warren of other portals, the most well-used of which ends in the basement of the town library.” Brigid paused, looking for a reaction from Rowenna. “You were damn lucky that vampire was wary of your power and tried to negotiate. If she’d known the limit of your abilities she would have attacked you directly, and we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

Rowenna wondered how much of Brigid’s concern was real. “I ended up defeating her anyway.”

Brigid scrunched up her nose. “The whole coven heard the intimate details when you told Summer. Honestly, I’m not sure how I’m going to live that down. My only daughter, cavorting carnally with demons.” She peered down at Rowenna, as if trying to discern something she’d missed previously about her estranged offspring. “But you didn’t lie, despite the fact that the story you told sounds like an exaggerated legend. Given that, I’m not quite sure what to think. On one hand, you demonstrated channeling at a level typically only achieved by witches twice your age. On the other, your predilection for getting physical is at odds with every standard of behavior our sisterhood maintains.” She blew out her breath in exasperation. “The fact remains that at age thirteen you rejected your inheritance and are therefore untrained in even the most basic magical skills. That portal needs a permanent seal, stronger than the quick, makeshift one Summer used to hide it, and the wards that guard the swamp need renewal. As you are incapable of those tasks, it falls to me to see that they get done.”

She dropped the pole she carried. It descended slowly and hovered a few inches off the dirt. From one end, straw sprouted in a cone shape. Her broom fully prepared, Brigid stepped up onto it with both feet and balanced herself. “We will talk about your future when I return. Try not to get into trouble while I’m gone, will you?”

Brigid flew away into the woods as if standing upright on a moving broom took no effort. “Fucking show off,” Rowenna muttered. She hacked at the soil for a few more minutes, but her frustration was soon spent. All alone, she leaned on her shovel, closed her eyes, and tried to calm her turbulent thoughts. Overhead, gray clouds rolled across the dour sky.

She sensed the presence before she heard it. Someone was approaching, a female hungry for sex. Rowenna’s breathing deepened. She kept her body still despite the curiosity that made her want to pick her head up and scan her surroundings. Her nipples grew hard. Her heart beat faster in anticipation. The other woman made very little noise as it stalked through the woods at the far end of her yard, but Rowenna’s ears followed its footsteps now that she knew to listen for them.

Without even looking, she knew exactly who it was. She could hear the young woman’s thoughts, riding along an invisible connection left behind during their recent encounter.

‘Wenya,’ they went. ‘I found Wenya.’

Rowenna finally turned her head, zeroing in on the source of the sound. Close to the ground, she spied a familiar heart-shaped face. “Anya? What are you doing here?”

The felynn crept out from the underbrush on all fours. Anya’s tail stuck straight up and its tip danced jauntily from side to side as she padded nearer to Rowenna. Her body was fuller and her curves more pronounced than they had been yesterday. “Does Wenya want to have fun?” she asked.

Without any conscious command, Rowenna’s body lit up with arousal and prepared itself for a heated, carnal romp. She swallowed hard, trying to tamp down the fire that raced through her veins. “Anya, this is a dangerous place for you. If my mother were to see you, goodness only knows what she’d do to you.”

Anya cowered a little. “Is your mother the Huntress?” At Rowenna’s confused expression, she added, “The one who will snare me and take me to The Devourer, the Human Who Sucks Blood?”

Rowenna’s jaw dropped as understanding dawned on her. She shook her head. “No, she isn’t. Those people you’re talking about are gone now. But my mother is a witch, and she doesn’t have a very high opinion of-“

Anya hissed. “Witches weave traps that hurt us! They are terrible, mean creatures that do not care who their spells harm.”

“What if I told you that I was one?” Rowenna countered.

The felynn puzzled over this a moment. She said, “You treated me like a friend. You played with me. You gave me what I needed when I was hungry. You do not act like the witches in the history passed down in The Tales of the Nine Lives.”

Rowenna shook her head kindly. “Well, honestly I’m not a full witch, and I would probably be rejected if I tried to become one,” she said wistfully.

Anya’s eyes fell to the grass. “Anya knows about being rejected. I was the weak one, so I was cast out of the pack to make it stronger. Sent to be drained by The Devourer.”

“That’s terrible,” Rowenna said, her voice rising in sympathetic anger. “The weak should be protected,” she stated with conviction.

Anya’s face lit up in a sly grin. “I’m not weakest anymore, thanks to you, Wenya.” Rowenna contemplated correcting the werecat’s pronunciation of her name, but decided not to, finding it endearingly cute. “But I need to be stronger. I need you to give me more.”

“Wait,” Rowenna cautioned, backing up at the hungry look Anya wore. “You can’t just-“

“You said it was fun. You asked if we could do it again.”

Rowenna saw how far away the back door was, and the fact that Anya was already in a crouch, ready to pounce. She’d never make it. Her mind flashed back to being brought down from behind right at this very spot a month ago by the succubus. She was determined not to have that happen a second time. Rowenna stood her ground. She reached for the shovel to use as a shield.

Her hand halted mid-grasp. Out of the corner of her eye, Rowenna noticed an orange felynn about Anya’s size with white stripes along its back stalking through the woods. It stopped, pointed at her, and called over its shoulder, “Selenya, I see her. She is with the Huntress!”

Anya spun, fluffed out her tail and growled, “Nyatalia.” She mumbled, “I WAS being tracked…”

Further in the forest, a taller felynn covered in lustrous red-orange fur poked her head around a tree, then strode out of hiding with a complete lack of concern. “Stupid minx, the Huntress has black hair. This one’s is shorter and red.” Her eyes examined Rowenna appreciatively as she reached the edge of the back yard. “She is human, but would make a marvelous addition to our pack.” Anya backed away, hissing. Selenya dismissed her threat with a snort. She bellowed, “Nyatalia, if you want your reward, subdue our wayward runt. We can’t make The Devourer wait for her meal.” Anya arched her spine, inching towards the safety of the trees at the side of the yard. “Do it now!” Nyatalia sprung into action, chasing a fleeing Anya into the woods.

Rowenna restrained her urge to race after them and help Anya. Her skin was prickled with goosebumps at the sight of the larger and more dangerous felynn that walked confidently on her back paws straight in her direction. Selenya was quite a sight to behold, with a beautiful face and a voluptuous body. She appeared to be an inch taller than Rowenna’s 5′ 9″ but the thick, fiery orange mane on her head made that difficult to determine. Her long legs and arms were sleek but toned with muscle, and her heavy fur-covered breasts were a near match for the redhead’s impressive pair. The creature’s gait was slow and devoid of impending violence. In fact, the way she was approaching was downright seductive. Rowenna remained tense all the same.

“So curious,” Selenya purred. “A human that neither runs from felynn nor attacks us.” She continued taking languid steps towards Rowenna. “Most people I’ve encountered like that are bleeding hearted fools, but something tells me you aren’t one of them.”

Rowenna maintained her calm. “Who are you and what are you doing in my yard?”

“Just a traveler looking for her lost kitten.” She sniffed audibly in Rowenna’s direction. “No wonder I found her here. You are so full of… life. Very attractive indeed.” Rowenna swallowed, trying not to shake. Her pulse had quickened in response to her body sensing the wealth of erotic energy coursing through the alluring woman in front of her. “My name is Selenya.” Her bright golden eyes captivated Rowenna’s. “I know what you want. I can feel it. You’ve been living with a peculiar thirst for years, haven’t you? Once is never enough, is it?” She padded closer, nodding at Rowenna’s deepening breathing. “Yes. We are two of a kind, aren’t we? Let me show you how to unleash what you’ve bottled up for so long. Miss…?”

Rowenna inhaled and held it as Selenya paused inches away from her. The felynn’s fur was so shiny, soft, and clean. So inviting to be touched, stroked and petted. It sizzled with magic and Rowenna ached to run her fingers through it and have that sensation mingle with the power she had pumping through her. Even better if she could unite the two of them intimately, bring her to climax and have that energy flow into her as the sounds of orgasm exploded in the air…

She exhaled hard, blowing the dizziness of arousal from her mind. “My name’s Rowenna, and you must not be from around here or you’d be keeping your distance.” Rowenna squared her shoulders and glared coolly into Selenya’s eyes. “I’m well aware of my power and know how to use it.”

Selenya’s face broke out in confusion. “Really? Surely you can’t be… one of them. No, if you were a witch, you’d have taken care of Anya as soon as you’d seen her.” Rowenna remained unmoved. “What exactly were you doing with her?”

“Same thing I’m doing with you now. Telling her to get off my property.”

Selenya cocked her head to one side. Her ears twitched and a small, sly grin curved her lips. “And if she ignored you? What would you do then? Try a clumsy swing with that bladed pole you have there?” Her tongue teased its way between her teeth. “No. You’d use what you have hidden inside of you, wouldn’t you?”

Rowenna brought her hands up to chest level defensively. She could scarcely keep them from quivering. “Yes. Yes, I certainly would.”

Selenya took one last step towards Rowenna. Her scent drifted into Rowenna’s nostrils, pungent and wild. Her face filled Rowenna’s vision, cheeks flush and mouth parted. Their chests were so close that the slightest of movements would have sent them into collision. “Oh?” the felynn purred, “How, exactly?”

“You asking for a demonstration?” Rowenna tensed, unsure if she wanted to shove Selenya away or grab that enticing fire-colored fur and draw the two of them together.

Selenya nodded and placed her front paws on Rowenna’s palms. Otherworldly energy sizzled between her leathery pads and Rowenna’s skin. “You’ve got me curious.”

Rowenna sent power into her arms, wary of her opponent’s stronger muscles. “I know how your kind work. Magic is your lifeblood. You don’t like giving it up.” She readied herself. “But I know how to force you to.”

Selenya’s mouth broke out into a nasty smile. “Oh, you sweet little human girl, you don’t know how happy you’d make me if you tried.”

Like a thunderbolt, Rowenna drew energy up from her legs and poured it through her arms with enough strength to shove Selenya back several feet. To her shock, Selenya merely rocked back on her heels instead. “Ooh, feisty…” the felynn chuckled, “Delicious.” Her front paws pushed against Rowenna’s palms, but only gently. A strange sensation tickled the backs of Rowenna’s hands and then spread along her wrists and down her forearms. It felt like a warm massage, sensual and tender. A sugary smell and taste filled Rowenna’s senses, one that reminded her of gooey cherry pie filling. She shook her head to clear it. Calling on her anger to keep her focused, she stared at her foe with cool intent. Her eyes met Selenya’s. The feline woman’s face was calm and uncommonly beautiful. Rowenna’s vision clouded at the edges. All she could see was a wonderfully sexy female giving her a look of purest desire. All she could feel were questing fingers of invisible energy teasing every nerve, soothing her biceps, drizzling loving care upon her shoulders…

‘Fuck,’ thought Rowenna in sudden astonishment, ‘this bitch is feeling me up, using nothing but magic.’ A moan rumbled in her throat. Part of her wanted so badly to let Selenya continue, to allow her body to reach a satisfying orgasm after the frustration she’d suffered today. Her brain reminded her that this felynn might not be as nice as Anya, and might not stop once she’d made Rowenna tap into the source of her power. ‘Concentrate on her,’ she told herself.

Rowenna squeezed her thighs shut. Using the same technique she’d used to drive the ghost out of her body when it had possessed her, Rowenna filled herself from her toes to her fingernails with magic, halting her foe’s supernatural offensive. From there, she pushed it into Selenya’s arms, aiming bewitching caresses into her body. Her attack was halted midway to Selenya’s elbows.

“Not so defenseless, are you?” the werecat snarled. She beat back Rowenna’s assault until their warring energies reached a stalemate in their palms. “And here I’d thought this trip would be a boring waste of time.”

Selenya pressed herself into Rowenna. The two women’s arms swung out wide. Skin and clothing met fur up and down their bodies, from their foreheads to their breasts to their stomachs to their legs. All at once, the war of seduction opened up on several new fronts. Rowenna felt exciting tingles bloom all over her body. She wasn’t naked, but Selenya’s erotic assault hit her like she wasn’t wearing a thing. Their mouths drew temptingly close. Full, rose-hued lips hung open, drawing in and blowing out hot, heavy breaths. Through it all, Rowenna held her ground.

“If you think,” Rowenna panted in a voice hoarse with arousal, “you can just wander into my yard and ravish me, you’ve got another thing coming, you sleaze.” Her body was grinding against Selenya’s like it had a mind of its own.

“Silly girl. Think you can stop me?” Selenya began undulating, answering every soft thrust and rub back at Rowenna.

“The last bitch who trespassed here got fucked all to Hell.” Rowenna’s thighs slammed into Selenya’s. “You don’t want to be next.”

Selenya’s breasts struck twin blows on Rowenna’s full-figured chest. The felynn was seething, barely able to hold her desire in check. “Must have been a weakling to fall victim to a common slut like you.”

Rowenna stared down Selenya’s haughty look of superiority. She could feel her magic battling with the other woman’s, energies swirling to a feverish peak. Nothing short of the end of the world would keep her from hurling herself fully into all-out sexual combat now. Her mind was made up, and every fiber of her being ready to go.

“She learned not to underestimate me. You will, too,” she promised and tilted her head.

Her lips met Selenya’s fiercely. Passion exploded through both women’s nervous systems. Arms wrapped tightly around each other’s weaving bodies. Hands clawed possessively at their opponent’s backs. Rowenna’s fingers tingled upon sailing through tufts of magic-filled fur. Selenya was answering every bit of erotic pleasure Rowenna was driving at her with equal measure. Rowenna’s mind reeled. Throwing herself so fully into raunchy combat against a dangerous woman who matched her physically, sexually, and magically was scary, but thrilled and excited her in a way nothing else could compare to. The illicitness and naughtiness flavored the contest with the most exquisite of spices, a taste she’d grown quite hungry for.

The pair teetered chaotically across the grass and into the freshly-dug garden. Everything whirled as their amorous dance carried them this way and that before finally sending them both off balance and hurtling to the ground. Tumbling in the dirt, the sexy females twisted and writhed vigorously, taking turns pouncing on one another and groping and fondling every inch of their sexy curves. Moans of lust erupted from their throats, punctuated by grunts of exertion. Selenya sought to dominate Rowenna with intense kisses and ardent caresses, and Rowenna answered back with equal ardor. Neither gave much thought to defense. Their bodies rolled back and forth, colliding and grinding again and again. Their pitched battle roamed about the yard as it escalated to greater and lewder heights. Tousled hair and fur stuck out at odd angles. Mouths locked, legs entwined, and arms embraced in a crushing ferocity.

Selenya spun Rowenna beneath her. “Rrgh, yes!” she yelled gleefully. “You are so full of sex! Give it to me!”

Rowenna wrestled out from under her. She thrust her left thigh deep into Selenya’s crotch. The felynn groaned in feral passion and trapped Rowenna’s leg. Rowenna rocked them side to side in an effort to dislodge the hold. She spat, “I’m gonna make you give yours up first.”

Back and forth their erotic struggle raged. Rowenna and Selenya attacked each other physically and using lecherous sorcery. The neck of Rowenna’s shirt became torn, exposing more flesh for Selenya’s tongue to lick at. The felynn purred uncontrollably in reaction to Rowenna fondling her heavy tits and working her pubic area harder and harder against her hot groin. Selenya answered with a paw to Rowenna’s lower back, where she sent a dose of sensation pouring into her foe’s spine.

Rowenna roared and thrashed with wild abandon. Sexual climax built rapidly within her. She grabbed Selenya’s mane, pulled the other woman’s head out of her cleavage and brought their mouths into union once more. Kissing and sucking, rubbing and grinding, she fought to overwhelm the female werecat with pleasure. She could sense it giving in to her torrid assault, magic power leaking slowly in a tingling stream from her lips. The edges of her vision were a blur of dirt and cloudy sky as she and the other woman tumbled, half like lovers lost in each other and half like animals grappling together in a tightly-wound ball.

All at once, Selenya rolled Rowenna beneath her, and pulled out of their delirious kiss. She reared up, keeping the redhead’s pelvis pinned with her hips, and roughly groped the prone woman’s boobs through her cotton shirt. Rowenna gasped and sought in vain to dislodge the felynn’s paws from her chest. Arcs of electric ecstasy jolted through her nerves not only from where her tits were being ravished but also from her crotch where Selenya’s warm pussy was sending out bursts of stimulation.

Selenya gloated, “Yes, you big-breasted hussy. You’re too soft to handle me.” She reveled in the sight of her foe writhing in imminent orgasm under her grasp.

Rosy-cheeked and panting quickly, Rowenna glared fiercely and pinched both of Selenya’s stiffened nipples between her fingers. The woman howled and leaned forward involuntarily. Rowenna saw her chance and tossed Selenya off by bridging her hips. The other female somersaulted past Rowenna’s head but not far enough for her liking. Rowenna went to scramble a few feet further away to catch her breath and to calm her raging arousal, but Selenya grabbed her left ankle before she got far.

With a mighty tug, Selenya yanked the shoe off Rowenna’s foot. She landed on her rear facing Rowenna, who spun into a similar sitting position, legs apart with one pointed at the other woman’s groin. The felynn latched onto the leg that still had a shoe at the end of it and hauled Rowenna closer across the tilled dirt of the garden. A gleam shone in her bright yellow eyes as she forced the paw on her left leg deep into Rowenna’s thighs.

“Nnh. Fuck!” Rowenna cried. Her womanhood was under intimate attack like her jeans weren’t even there. She squirmed, but escape from Selenya’s wiry strength proved impossible.

“Cum for me, girl, that’s it!”

“Nn… bitch! Fuck your nasty cunt.” Rowenna straightened her left leg. Sock-covered toes stabbed quickly, parting the wet folds of Selenya’s vagina. They wiggled there, the pleasure they gave amped up with a stream of magical energy.

“Rragh!” Selenya twisted in the throes of intense arousal, but so did Rowenna. Clasped tightly together, the two women stared daggers of hate at each other while plunging further and deeper into a heated duel of mutual masturbation. Mouths agape, breaths alternating with tortured grunts, legs slithering between them, the fierce females lost themselves in lewd combat.

After two minutes of hard pumping, Rowenna’s thigh muscles were about to cramp up. She kept at it, thrusting again and again at the sight of Selenya shutting her eyes in a desperate attempt to maintain composure. “That’s it… cum for me…” Selenya’s head rocked side to side. “Cum you slutty pile of fur.”

The feline woman let out a series of whimpering noises, then tilted her head back and roared in a thundering climax. Hot waves of magic cascaded into Rowenna. ‘Fuck yes!’ she thought ecstatically, but her exhilaration was short-lived. The power flowing into her wasn’t the delicious trickle it had been from Anya. This was a full-on deluge. It was stunning. It was beyond intense.

It was too much.

Rowenna belted out her own song of orgasmic delight as ecstatic shivers racked her body. She connected with the source of her magic. Power filled her like water rushing from a broken dam, but she was already full. She came once, then twice more in rapid succession. Every nerve in her body felt fit to explode. She struggled for control of her senses as another climax threatened to burst through her.

The flood abated suddenly. Rowenna only had a few seconds to enjoy the respite before she noticed its cause. Selenya was lying atop her, legs grape-vined together, slick cunt grinding into hers, heavy breasts weighing hers down, and succulent lips kissing hers in ravenous hunger. This bitch sure knew how to satisfy a woman, but Rowenna’s brain was doing its best to warn the rest of her not to enjoy it. The fog of sensual afterglow cleared from her mind, allowing her to experience just how much sexual energy the woman was drawing out of her. She resisted but Selenya held her pinned fast, devouring her magic, and growing stronger with each second.

Rowenna seethed with rage. “Get OFF of me!” she screamed, willing her body to reject every cloying advance the seductive feline was teasing her with.

Sparks flew, arcing with loud snaps at every location where Selenya was touching Rowenna. The felynn shrieked in pain, and leaped backwards several feet. The smell of singed fur wafted through the air.

“That wasn’t nice,” Selenya pouted. “Bitch.”

Rowenna’s fought to slow her breathing. Her heart pounded a deafening rhythm in her chest. “Told you not to mess with me.”

“So you’re a sore loser, huh?”

“Excuse me?”

“I had you beaten, you hairless ape.”

“Bullshit. I had you gushing like a common whore.”

“Won’t happen again.”

“Why? You’re leaving?”

“Fuck no, you clueless hussy.” Selenya rose to her knees. “You haven’t done shit to me, and now you’ve whet my appetite.” Rowenna imitated the other woman’s pose. “I’m gonna lick every bit of sex from that luscious body of yours.”

Dirt streaked their fur, clothes and skin. Ignoring their disheveled conditions, the two women faced off with renewed intent. Rowenna’s torn shirt hung loose, baring one shoulder. Her red-orange rival looked properly roughed up, but her movements hid any trace of fatigue.

“Bring that furry ass of yours over here and try, you mangy cunt.”

Rowenna and Selenya lunged at one another. Hands met paws in a test of strength. The duo made it to their feet, but quickly fell back onto their knees, locked in a contest of seduction and willpower. They teased at bringing their lips together, but retreated at the last moment each time to test each other’s patience and frustration. Their chests clashed in a series of inadvertent bumps. Soon, the two actively brought their tits into the fray. They forced them into collision, rubbed them up and down and ground them hard in a searing hot skirmish. Not since locking up with the succubus had Rowenna encountered such a large yet firm pair to match her own against. She soldiered through the pain, landing blow after blow on Selenya’s wobbling chest.

“Like that, bitch?” Rowenna asked after a concerted trio of breast smacks elicited a groan from Selenya’s mouth. “My boobs are going to destroy those weak fat bags of yours.”

“So says the coward wearing armor over hers.” Selenya dodged a sideways swipe from Rowenna, then extended her legs to bulldoze straight into the other woman.

“My bra gives me as much protection as the fuzz on your titties, you whiner.” Rowenna grunted with exertion, fighting to keep her balance under Selenya’s muscular assault. She hadn’t planned on needing a strength potion to get through the day, but now wished she’d had one.

Selenya grinned evilly. “Breaking you and stripping you bare is going to be such a thrill.” She watched Rowenna grimace while trying to remain upright. “Treat me like a queen, and I’ll make you a well-kept pet.”

Rowenna mustered the energy circulating within her and poured it in a warm cascade at Selenya. If she couldn’t beat her physically, she’d do it sexually. “I’ll treat you like the horny slut you are!”

Their lips met with hungry ardor. Tongues lashed and lanced in the women’s juicy, conjoined mouths. Moans of passion and desire escaped their tightly-pressed kiss, but little else did. Arms trapped the enraptured females in an cage of bawdy seduction. Rowenna’s fingers danced through ruffled fur. Nails stroked and caressed from their heads all the way down their backs to their tensed ass cheeks. Selenya’s hips bucked, thrusting jolts of pleasure into Rowenna’s pussy. The redhead gave as good as she got, her aroused body firing on all cylinders, her debauched attack on Selenya’s squirming, sexy body knowing no limits.

With a feral growl, Selenya grabbed Rowenna’s hair and yanked her head backwards, exposing her neck to her ravenous lips and tongue. Rowenna groaned, fit to lose herself in the whirlpool of depravity she and the felynn were spinning out of control in. She freed an arm and jammed its hand between the feline woman’s legs. Seconds later, her fingers found and penetrated the hot, wet cunt she’d aimed for, and began reaming it mercilessly.

“Nnrrowr!” Selenya yowled as her foe’s long digits slid in and out of her without respite.

“Fuck you, bitch,” Rowenna panted, hearing Selenya rapidly approach another climax. “Give it up. I’ve got you right wh- unngghhh!”

Selenya’s paw slammed into Rowenna’s crotch, groped it firmly, and then began slapping it rapidly. The rhythmic impact on her clitoris drove Rowenna insane. She fought for concentration and ramped up her own intimate offensive.

Pumping hard and fast on each other’s sensitive womanhoods, the battling females teetered on the edge of orgasm, relying on willpower alone to maintain control of their superheated arousal in the face of such overwhelming sexual stimulation. On and on the two masturbated. They leaned their hot, squirming bodies against one another, grinding flesh and fur as their erotic crescendo reached its peak. Selenya was astonished at Rowenna’s resilience. Never had she run up against someone so equal to her in sexfighting prowess. The urge to dominate filled her completely. She could feel the pace of the human’s finger fucking slowing. Soon, soon she would drink from that gloriously delicious well of…

“Augh! F- FUCK!!!”

Rowenna fell backwards violently, pushed by Selenya’s sudden lunge forward. The felynn’s mouth was buried in her right shoulder, muffling the roared cries of climax bursting from the beast’s shuddering form. Magic, released from the werecat’s body, covered Rowenna like a crashing waterfall. It splashed over her, filling her with a mix of satisfaction and bliss. She wrapped her legs around Selenya’s and squeezed. Rowenna came in an all-encompassing orgasm that she was too exhausted to hold back any longer.

The euphoria of their tender afterglow lasted but a few moments. Selenya kissed Rowenna, sucking sexual energy eagerly.

“No!” Rowenna demanded. Her words were quickly silenced by Selenya’s probing tongue. She tried to push the woman off, but found herself too feeble, and growing weaker second by second. She’d refilled her supply of power, but was too dazed to use it to prevent Selenya from draining it out of her. She fought desperately, but realized with rising terror that soon she’d be limp and helpless, while her attacker would be replenished and strong.

A crack like a thunderclap resounded through the backyard. Rowenna stiffened. Selenya paused and swiveled her head. The barking of a dog came from behind the screen door to the house.

“Get off of her!” Kyle bellowed, ejecting spent brass from his hunting rifle and cycling another round into the chamber. Selenya backed off, hissing. The werecat wobbled, muscles made feeble by the taxing fight she’d just endured. Kyle brought the gun back up, looked down the sights, then swung the barrel a few degrees.

Rowenna followed his aim. From the woods, a familiar tan-coated felynn had begun a charge. ‘Selenya is weakened,’ Rowenna heard Anya think as she sped across the grass, ‘but Wenya needs help!’

Kyle kept his rifle trained on the new intruder. From his vantage point, he couldn’t tell whether the second creature was going for Rowenna or not.

“Kyle!” Rowenna shouted, trying to let him know friend from foe. The “No!” she meant to come afterwards was too slow. Kyle only heard his wife cry his name in fear. That made his decision easy.

He pulled the trigger. The rifle fired, jerking into his shoulder. Rowenna watched in horror as the bullet struck Anya, shattering her left collarbone. The felynn slumped to the earth like a puppet with its strings cut, where the light in her bright eyes went dull and dark.

Part 4 – Domesticated Life

The scream of anguish that tore through Rowenna threatened to shred her vocal cords.

Selenya turned and fled. Kyle reloaded quickly, trained his gun on the fleeing beast and fired, but his shot merely caromed off the tree the felynn had just disappeared behind, landing a second late and two feet too high. He scanned the area for other threats and ran to his distraught wife.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, leaning over.

Rowenna brushed him away and staggered to her feet. She glared at him in naked rage, tears of pain coursing down the harsh angles of her angry face.

“Kyle, take that thing back into the house and STAY THERE!” she ordered, her voice a bonfire of fury.

He did.

Kyle’s shoulders drooped meekly as he shuffled away, his eyes glazed with a blank stare.

Something in the back of Rowenna’s brain started scolding her, but she promptly forgot what it said upon reaching to the fallen woman in the center of her backyard.

“Oh, Anya, you poor lonely…” she sobbed. A painful sadness cut off her ability to speak. She shut her eyes and a deep feeling of loss filled her soul. Heavy spasms of sorrow racked her torso for over a minute, petering out only once her tired body ran out of gas.

In the silence afterward, Rowenna conjured up a vision in her mind’s eye. Selenya, Nyatalia, and every felynn that had ever harmed Anya was arrayed before her, cowering under her spell. They begged for mercy, but Rowenna only heard their excuses as admissions of guilt. She wasn’t in the mood for meting out even-handed justice, only raw retribution. In her daydream, she extended her hands and wished upon them an agonizing and bloody death.

The gruesome imagined execution of her judgment was interrupted by a groan in front of Rowenna. She opened her eyes to see Anya writhe slowly in agony. Elation, followed rapidly by helplessness about what to do rocked her in a one-two punch. Anya’s whimpered pleas tore at Rowenna’s heart.

Adrenaline filled Rowenna’s bloodstream, jolting her into action. She removed her shirt and stuffed it onto the wound. Anya yowled weakly, making a sound barely above a whisper. ‘I won’t let you die,’ Rowenna thought.

She looked in the direction of her house. It didn’t contain the right first aid supplies to fix Anya, and any potion that might mend her would take hours to make. The hospital was out of the question. She racked her brain for ideas on where to go, and the name of anyone who both understood magic and had a kind enough heart to help…

Rowenna quickly put her shoe back on, lifted Anya up, draped the felynn’s arm opposite the injury around her neck, and dragged her to the front yard. Her legs faltered twice, but she made it to her car. She lay Anya in the back seat and did her best to buckle her in. Getting behind the wheel, she floored it as soon as the engine started, spitting gravel before tearing down the unpaved road that led away from her house.

She’d gotten nearly halfway to Auntie Willow’s home before she remembered that her cell phone was still sitting in her purse in her living room and thus she couldn’t call ahead. She cursed in futility at her haste, her impetuousness, and at the universe in general. The day had started shitty and only gotten shittier. Her brain was ready to give the next person or thing to tick her off the full measure of her wrath, but her body was too beaten down to carry anything out.

Arriving at her destination, Rowenna leaped from the car and shouted at the top of her lungs. To her relief, Auntie Willow appeared at the front door quickly and raced out as fast as her aging legs would allow. Unfortunately, close behind her came Summer wearing a disapproving frown.

“My stars! Whatever is the matter, Rowenna?” Autumn said. Upon reaching the car and looking in the door Rowenna held open, she gasped. “Oh. Oh dear…”

“Auntie, you’ve gotta help!” Rowenna pleaded breathlessly.

“A felynn,” Summer said with some distaste. “And that wound wasn’t made by a silver bullet, was it?”

“No,” Rowenna answered, puzzled. “Nobody sells those.” Anya groaned. “Will she live?”

“I believe so,” said Autumn, nervously glancing at her sister. “They regenerate just like their werewolf brothers do.”

Summer’s eyes lit up. She said to Autumn, “This is the perfect use for that silver letter opener you showed me, the enchanted one you bought at that library auction.”

“To heal her with?” Rowenna asked.

“No, to put it out of its misery. Silver kills the magical virus that infects them.”

“The hell you will! You try to harm Anya, and you’ll have to do it over my dead body!”

Summer was taken aback, but only momentarily. “Rowenna, it’s a werecat. A wild animal that spreads disease. Their kind have never been domesticated.”

“But it tried to help me against one of own kind. It was cast out by its own pack.”

Autumn looked worried. “There’s more around?”

Summer remained unmoved. “That’s what they do. They cull the weakest to keep their bloodline strong. Even if you manage to befriend one, if it passes its virulent blood onto a stray cat, and that cat bites a human, the problem will start multiplying out in the wild again.”

Rowenna took that in. “Maybe what needs to happen is getting rid of the most feral, and fostering the friendly ones to help them become tame.”

Summer rolled her eyes. “You’re so young and idealistic. Your heart’s in the right place, but…”

“Auntie Willow, please! Will you help or not? I promise you she’s not a danger.”

Autumn fidgeted, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. Anya’s yowls of distress were getting to her. “Well, all we need to do is remove the bullet so her bones can knit themselves back together properly,” she mumbled. Her gaze went from Anya to Rowenna to Summer, then back to Rowenna. “I took a vow never to cause undue harm, and I’m not about to break it by allowing a creature to suffer in pain in my own front yard. Rowenna, I believed in you once and you didn’t let me down. I suppose I can do it again.”

At that, the two began delicately removing Anya from the back seat. Summer blew out an exasperated breath and shook her head in dismay. Rowenna reacted to that with an annoyed glare. The witch shrugged her shoulders. “I guess I’m getting too old and jaded for this sort of sentimentality.”

Her younger sister gently chided her, “It’s never too late to open your heart to those in need.”

It took a few seconds, but the sight of Rowenna and Autumn caring for the injured female did just that.

When the operation was done and Anya all bandaged up, Summer pointed her finger at the make-shift surgery supplies scattered around, then turned and walked back into the house. They all levitated into the air and followed her inside like ducklings after their mother.

Autumn patted Rowenna on the shoulder. “I can’t keep her here. You know that. There are too many farm cats around.” Rowenna nodded. “And I doubt your husband will want something around that spooks your new dog…”

Rowenna’s face contorted into one of emotional agony. “Oh no. Oh no no no.” She began crying inconsolably.

“There, there,” Auntie Willow said, drawing her into a gentle hug. “It will be able to fend for itself.”

“No, it’s not that,” sobbed Rowenna. “It’s Kyle. I did something terrible to him.” Autumn looked at her with kind eyes. Rowenna regained her composure and continued, “I made a promise to myself when we were dating, when I knew he was The One… that I would never use magic to win an argument or make him do what I wanted.”

“Oh, dear,” Autumn said sympathetically, sensing where this was heading.

“He shot Anya. It wasn’t his fault. He didn’t know any better. But I got angry at him, and told him… ordered him to… Oh, I’m such a stupid, reckless idiot.” Rowenna buried her head in Autumn’s shoulder.

“Does he know what you are?”

“I think he has suspicions… I mean, I haven’t been as discrete as I used to be. Based on how he treats me, though… probably not. But he can’t be that clueless, can he?”

“Never underestimate men,” Autumn advised, “in either direction.” That elicited a chuckle from the teary-eyed redhead. “Now, I think that you and he have a discussion ahead of you.”

“You’re right. Thank you so much for everything, Auntie.”

Wearing a borrowed rain jacket, Rowenna drove home. She shut off the engine in the driveway and listened to the silence for a couple of minutes. The yard was empty, and no sound, not even Duke’s usual barking, came from the house. A light mist drifted from the sky, a portent of the heavier precipitation that was forecast to blanket the area by nightfall.

Rowenna stepped inside. Her mother sat in the living room, leafing through a magazine. Duke sat at her feet, taking a nap. Brigid looked up at her daughter with a guarded expression. Rowenna fumbled for words, unsure of how much her mother knew. She braced for the crippling punishment she suspected was about to be inflicted upon her, and opened her mouth to offer a potentially useless defense.

Before she could speak, Brigid pointed upstairs. “You need to talk to him first.”

It took all of the will that Rowenna possessed to keep herself calm. “I do,” she admitted.

She found Kyle sitting on the bed in the master bedroom staring absently at the floor. She said his name softly and removed the borrowed raincoat. When he finally looked up, the lost puppy dog expression on his face rent her heart in two. Normally, the sight of her half-clothed chest sent him into a drooling lust.

“What did you do to me?” he asked. It was the most logical question to expect, but also the one Rowenna least wanted to talk about. “It felt like I had my mind made up FOR me, like I didn’t have a choice.”

“I… I’m sorry. Really, I am.”

“So you DID do that.” Kyle stood up. His eyes betrayed his hurt, and his words were harsh and angry. “There’s been a lot of weird shit going on since we moved here — me falling into a near coma for a week, having dreams of being kidnapped, you picking me up in the basement of the library, and now those human-looking mountain lions attacking you in the backyard! You acted like I did something wrong trying to protect you. What the fuck was that for?”

“Kyle, please, calm down.” She went to her dresser, pulled out a flannel button-front shirt and threw it on.

“Not until I get some answers!”

“I said I was sorry! Please, honey, understand…” She tried and failed twice to fit a button into its hole. “I have this effect on people sometimes, like they can’t resist doing what I tell them. Believe me, I never EVER meant to do it to you.”

Kyle studied Rowenna as if noticing things about her he’d never seen before. “Wait. That joke Auntie Willow made when we visited her in the hospital, about you and the occult… she wasn’t kidding, was she?”

“Kyle…”

“And that weird connected feeling I get when we have sex… is that real, or have you just been bewitching me?”

“Kyle, no. Stop. It’s not what you think.”

“I don’t know WHAT to think anymore.”

The distrust on Kyle’s face stabbed Rowenna like a spear to the heart. It was eerily similar to the one a previous boyfriend had given her after witnessing some supernatural events because she’d lost her cool with him. She’d told that man the truth, and he’d broken up with her soon afterward. There was no way she’d lose the man she had fallen so powerfully and deeply in love with.

Rowenna wanted to embrace him, but Kyle kept his arms resolutely folded across his chest.

“Sweetheart, when we got married, we promised to be truthful to each other. Believe me, I will answer every question you have…” Rowenna’s voice trailed off. She wasn’t yet sure she could take the next step.

“But…?” Kyle prompted.

“But I am not ready to do that right now. I’ve had a really stressful day, and I’m all wound up.” She placed her hands gently on his muscular biceps, but he remained unmoved.

“You want me to help you unwind, hm?” he asked, eyes piercing into Rowenna’s. Desire flooded her veins. Making love to him would be like relaxing in a gloriously warm sanctuary. She could remind him of how strong a bound they had, and receive from him the energy she needed to balance out her magic.

Kyle shook his head slowly. “I need some time as well, Rowenna.” At her crestfallen expression, he added, “Whatever you tell me, if it’s the truth, I’ll do my best to understand.”

Rowenna fought back her frustration, which teetered dangerously toward unleashing her temper. She wanted, no… needed sex. Not being able to mount her husband and have him fill her with his hard cock was fraying her nerves. She took a deep breath and said with all the self-control she could muster, “Mark my words, when the time comes, I will show you not only everything you want to know, but also just how strong my love for you is.”

With tears beading in the corners of her eyes, she turned and stomped out of the bedroom. The fact that Kyle stayed where he was instead of racing after her made her even more upset.

She stormed into the kitchen and threw open the refrigerator to find a drink to calm herself down. She’d just grasped to neck of a wine bottle when her mother walked up behind her.

“Getting started on lunch?” Brigid asked.

“Yes, for your information, I am.” She released the bottle and turned around. “Can I make you something?” Her offer was only half serious.

“No, I’m not hungry yet. I came to inform you of two things. First, the evil festering out in the swamp has been secured. All the wards are good as brand new. However, the second bit of news is that there’s a felynn skulking around in the forest.”

Rowenna’s demeanor became stern. “You don’t say?” She reached back into the fridge, this time behind the milk carton and brought something out.

“Yes. It’s been wandering about for some time. I’d like you to stay inside while I chase it off and track it to its pack.” Brigid furrowed her brow in curiosity upon seeing what Rowenna had pulled out. “What on Earth do you have there?”

Rowenna unscrewed the cap from a water bottle filled with a strength and vigor potion that had the appearance of a spinach smoothie. “I’ve got a better idea.” She chugged half the mixture and exhaled, enjoying a burst of adrenaline that kicked her out of her funk. “How about you lead me to her,

“And I’ll show you just how talented your daughter is.”

Nyatalia was hungry. Being forced by Selenya to hunt down that bitch Anya had kept her from her usual sustenance of licking magic off of naturally enchanted stones and toadstools, and pouncing on faerie mice. The fleeing felynn had eluded her, and she knew that she couldn’t face Selenya without a good story about where the runt had gone to. The scent trail had gone cold after looping back to the yard where they’d first found Anya, but Nyatalia sensed immense danger from within the house and dared not approach to peer in the windows. She retreated to await nightfall, and consoled herself with a curious snack.

It was a tangled blob of magic covering one side of a large tree like a giant fungus. It was so tightly wound that she couldn’t draw any sustenance from it by licking it. Instead, she picked at an edge of the blob with her claws. After a few tugs, one of the hundreds of threads of magic in it snapped. Nyatalia quickly chomped on the frayed end and sucked pure, fresh power out. Each thread only yielded a little energy, but it tasted wonderful. She rapidly lost herself in playing with her new delicious treat.

An hour after she started, Rowenna found Nyatalia still engaged in that pursuit upon entering the clearing where she’d first met Anya. Disappointment filled Rowenna upon seeing the white stripes in the felynn’s fur, but her frustration at not encountering Selenya was short-lived. Here in front of her was the creature that had chased Anya away. A deserving target of her wrath, and a good opponent to prove to her mother that she wasn’t worthless.

“Bad kitty! Get away from there! That’s not a toy,” she scolded Nyatalia.

The werecat glared back in annoyance. She sniffed twice, and her displeasure subsided. “Oh. You’re that human. Mmm, so full of energy. I’m surprised Selenya left you alone.”

Rowenna stopped and cocked one hand on her hip. “Oh, that nasty cat tried something, but I ran her off. I’m here to do the same to you.”

Nyatalia got to her feet. Magic swam through her body, giving her strength and confidence. “You lie. You’re the one that Anya fed on after we chased her into these woods, aren’t you? If you were no match for that weakling, you’re no threat to me.” A grin spread across her face. “But now that you’re here, I wouldn’t mind putting aside my appetizer and digging into a full meal.”

“You don’t say?” purred Rowenna. She unbuttoned her shirt and dropped it on the ground at her side. “I happen to be famished as well.”

While Nyatalia watched in confused astonishment, Rowenna removed her shoes, peeled her jeans and underwear down her legs, and kicked them away. With deliberate intent, she unhooked her bra and teased it off her shoulders. Standing proud and totally naked, she stared down her nose at the felynn whose breath was becoming heavier with arousal.

“I’m going to give you a fucking you’ll be too weak to crawl away from,” Rowenna promised.

The sight of a defenseless human swirling with sensual energy was too much for Nyatalia to resist. She padded forward, eager to ravish every inch of the redhead whose heavy breasts, curvaceous thighs, and bare pussy were begging to be pounced upon and sucked ferociously. “Silly ape. Felynn are the queens of sexuality. I’m going to lick every last drop out of you.”

Rowenna and Nyatalia approached each other, slowly and seductively. They closed to arm’s length apart and turned a half circle around one another, keeping their eyes locked the whole time. Nyatalia’s tongue teased the air, tasting the pungent arousal drifting between them both. She’d never encountered a human so full of delicious sex. The presence of one so close to her drove her ravenously horny.

Nyatalia raised her paws to snare Rowenna’s swaying hips. The two females’ arms met in midair. Palms clasped to forearms. Rowenna’s nails sailed through soft fur, triggering sparks of pleasure. Magical energy arced from bare skin to the rough pads of the felynn’s short fingers.

The two women spun one final step. Their bodies drew nearer, victims of mutual attraction. Hands slid up biceps. Aroused nipples settled onto opposing pairs of breasts. Face to face, they paused, each drinking in the sight of undeniable desire in the other’s eyes.

“Nnrgh,” Nyatalia pouted, nearly unable to hold herself still, “I hope you’re ready to be fucked completely out of their mind.”

Rowenna’s husky answer betrayed just how turned on she was. “Go ahead and try, bitch.”

Their mouths met, tentatively at first. Rowenna sucked Nyatalia’s lower lip in between hers then quickly let it go. Nyatalia’s long tongue flicked fast, stealing saliva from Rowenna’s panting, parted mouth. That was enough kindling to set their erotic bonfire alight. Twin moans rumbled in their throats. The nude females embraced fully, leg against leg, stomach against stomach, chest against chest, and kissed passionately. Tongues probed and fenced, clashing fiercely as the tug of war over the pair’s sexual energy grew ever more heated.

Nyatalia attacked wildly, frustrated at her inability to drink from the large well of magical pleasure right in front of her. She used her fur to tickle Rowenna’s naked flesh. Her paws fondled Rowenna’s tight, round ass. Her breasts rubbed up and down against the buxom redhead’s, bending her prey’s large, aroused nipples as they slapped and slid. Her thigh ground hard between Rowenna’s legs. The heat and scent of the woman’s moistened labia drove her mad with lust.

“Yes. Mmm, yes!” groaned Rowenna. This bitch knew how to get her revved up. But Rowenna sensed a lack of discipline, an opening where she could execute her plan. The world spun out of control, and she felt the two of them crash to the forest floor. Nyatalia didn’t have the advantage in strength, but Rowenna didn’t let her know that. She fought back just enough before the felynn pinned her to trick her into getting cocky. Rowenna gasped and squirmed like a helpless girl as Nyatalia renewed her amorous assault on her tits, her neck, and her lips. The werecat grew crazed, desperate to feast on Rowenna carnally and intimately.

“Now!” growled Nyatalia. Her wet pussy slammed into Rowenna’s. The impact sent shivers through the entwined women. “You are mine.” Rowenna closed her eyes. Tribbing feverishly, Nyatalia lavished erotic desire all over Rowenna’s body, but concentrated on breaching the walls of the woman’s defenses with powerful thrusts of pure magic timed to the hammering of their warring pelvises.

On and on they writhed in sexual combat. Cunt against slippery cunt the two women battled to the limits of self restraint. Nyatalia’s body was ready to surrender to ecstasy, but she forced herself to keep going. Every indication was that the luscious woman beneath her was about to give up an absolute bounty of energy.

Suddenly, Rowenna opened her eyes. Her breathing raged on, but her face grew calm. With a nasty grin, she snorted, “That the best you got, slut?”

Nyatalia inhaled and prepared to howl in anger. An abrupt sensation cut her off. From everywhere she was touching Rowenna, fingers of soft pleasure snaked their way into her bucking body. Her muscles went limp. She collapsed atop her foe’s nude form, climax building a steady crescendo throughout her being. Rowenna’s legs grape-vined their opposing pair and spread them wide.

With a mighty thrust, Rowenna smacked Nyatalia’s tender pussy with her own. Magic plowed deep within the felynn, breaking her last thread of resolve. Nyatalia came hard. Her fur shone brightly. Her body convulsed. Magic poured out like heavy rain. Rowenna received it, fully prepared for the orgasm it triggered.

Instead of trying futilely to hold in all the power that flowed inside her or wastefully giving it right back to the felynn, Rowenna concentrated and directed it into the overwhelming seduction she was hitting Nyatalia with. Dozens of tendrils of ethereal light stroked and penetrated Rowenna’s writhing foe. The striped werecat yowled, victim of an erotic conquest too strong to withstand. Her nipples were on fire. Her tail swished violently out of control. Her vagina trembled as thick pulses of magic pounded it deeply again and again to her innermost core. Once, then twice more the feral female reached climax. She rapidly weakened, magical lifeblood draining out of her with each bout of ecstasy. The excess flowed out in a pool of energy streaming away from the two bucking women. Leaves on nearby plants grew suddenly greener, and branches on the surrounding saplings lengthened slightly.

Close to depletion, Nyatalia crawled off of Rowenna and retreated. Whimpering and barely able to speak, she looked over in terror at the voluptuous naked woman who’d just defeated her so soundly.

Rowenna stood, confident and proud. She towered over the shivering felynn. “Who’s queen now?” Receiving no answer, she ordered, “Go. Show yourself to the rest of the Firemane. Tell them that though the Huntress and the Devourer are no more, the swamp is off limits. Anyone who trespasses will suffer what happened to you.” Power ran through her veins, making her naked skin glow and the nipples on her massive, heaving breasts erect. “Go!” she thundered.

Nyatalia slunk away as fast her exhausted limbs could carry her. Rowenna luxuriated for a few moments in the feelings coursing inside and around her, then began gathering her clothing.

Brigid emerged from the woods with a deep blush on her cheeks. She didn’t speak the whole time her daughter got herself dressed. Rowenna finally broke the awkward silence.

“Well, Mom?”

Brigid paused, weighing her words. “I cannot deny that you have quite a singular talent.” To Rowenna’s budding joy, she saw an appreciative smile creep upon her lips. “Most extraordinary.”

They turned and made for home. On the way, Rowenna’s eyes scanned the trees for movement.

‘Selenya,’ she thought, sending a warning mentally to wherever the bitch was,

‘I’m ready for you.’

Part 5 – Family Pride

The next morning, Brigid descended the stairs fully dressed in her usual ensemble — an elegant collared blouse and knee-length skirt — to find Rowenna sleeping on the couch in the simple white cotton top and loose blue shorts she’d had on the previous evening. A break in the clouds sent golden shafts of light streaming through the front windows, igniting her daughter’s hair in a blaze of bright ruby color. As Brigid stood waiting for Rowenna to stop pretending to sleep and acknowledge her presence, it struck her how often they’d acted out this little play. Brigid always silently wanting Rowenna to give in and treat her with respect, and Rowenna stubbornly testing her mother’s patience.

Brigid changed the script. She knelt down and brushed a lock of wavy hair out of her daughter’s face. “Rowenna,” she said softly. “Kyle took the dog for a walk. Let’s have breakfast.”

Rowenna Hunter rubbed the sleep from her eyes and replied, “That sounds good.”

In the kitchen, Brigid started the coffee maker. Rowenna arrived shortly thereafter and shooed her away from the stove. “You’re the guest here,” she insisted. She cracked a few eggs and got some sausage and toast cooking. Brigid sat herself in a chair and watched her puttering away over the cook top for a minute, listening all the while to the indistinct tune Rowenna was humming.

“You know Spellsong,” she observed. “You must. Otherwise you wouldn’t be able to make potions.”

Rowenna nodded.

“Show me.” At Rowenna’s inquisitive look, she continued, “Doesn’t matter which one. You have to have memorized at least one or two.”

Rowenna returned her attention to the stove, flipped the sausage and cleared her throat. The only one that came to mind was the one she’d sung the most, for the strength mixture. Tentatively at first, she let the beginning syllables dance from her lips. As she progressed, her voice became more confident and her melody more solid.

A noise behind her interrupted her midway through the second stanza. She turned to find her mother with one fist between her teeth desperately trying not to chuckle. Annoyed, she spun and demanded, “What?”

Brigid steadied herself. “Where ever did you learn to spellsing like THAT?”

“What’s wrong with the way I do it?”

“You sound like a backwoods witch, all bare feet on a dirt floor in a rickety shack!” At this, Brigid began losing her composure. That set Rowenna giggling.

“Well, it works!”

“Did Autumn teach you that crusty dialect?”

“No! It… it just came naturally. I mean, I remember a little about how grandma used to sing in the kitchen. I just read the recipes and spellsing what feels right.”

“Recipes?”

“Yeah. Here.” Rowenna got out the book she’d bought from Auntie Willow’s shop and handed it to her mother.

Brigid flipped through it dismissively. “You are aware that witchcraft is an oral tradition. Anything written down should be taken as someone’s rough notes and not as adequate instruction… Let’s see here. Ah, a bunch of Baba Yaga’s old medicines. Nothing too dangerous.” She reached the two-page spread for the Sexual Potency elixir and rolled her eyes. “Good grief! This old joke.” She examined the fresh stains on the paper. “Oh, Rowenna, please tell me these spots aren’t yours. You didn’t seriously try to make this one, did you?”

Rowenna grew slightly indignant. “I did.” She met her mother’s stare. “It’s tricky as hell, but I managed it. Four times.” Brigid’s eyes widened in shocked disbelief. Rowenna reached behind the spice rack for proof. She brought out a small vial of crimson fluid and placed it on the table, then hurriedly finished plating breakfast.

When she once again faced her mother, she froze at the expression Brigid wore. It was so unusual that it took Rowenna several seconds to recognize what it was.

Brigid Cavanagh was frightened, to the core of her being.

“Mom?” Rowenna whispered, worry creeping into her voice.

Brigid breathed heavily, fighting to remain calm. She spoke in urgent, hushed tones. “Rowenna. My baby. You are my only child. You may not believe this, but the thought of losing you is my worst nightmare. If you do nothing else in life, promise me this one thing. Rowenna, my most precious only daughter… never EVER show anyone that you can make that.”

Rowenna put the plates down. Tears were welling in her eyes at the sight of her mother in such a vulnerable state. “M- Mom? What… You’re scaring me.”

Brigid continued, ignoring the interruption. “Don’t even give anybody the idea that you’re capable of it, or the life you currently enjoy will be over, forever. There are people and organizations, both human and gifted, that are more relentless than you can possibly imagine. They will hound you for the rest of your days. They will either enslave you or kill you so that nobody else can have you.”

“Is the recipe that rare?”

“It’s not the recipe that’s rare, someone able to make it successfully is! No one, witch or otherwise, has made it properly in five generations. Everyone who’s tried ends up with the equivalent of potpourri soaked in water.” Brigid examined Rowenna’s figure. “You’ve drunk it, I take it.”

Rowenna nodded. “I had to, in order to beat the succubus.”

“Well,” Brigid chuckled. “That explains that. I thought I simply hadn’t seen you in a few years, and you… filled out.”

Rowenna pulled her shoulders forward, as if that could hide her DD bosom. She smiled feebly. “Mom, I’m…” The thick tears falling from her eyes wouldn’t stop. “I’m sorry. So very, very sorry. I never meant to reject being a witch, but after dad died… I just wanted you to be my mom, not an exacting schoolteacher.” She swallowed to steady herself. “But now I know how dangerous things are. You… were just trying to prepare me for what I might have to deal with, right?”

Brigid nodded sadly. “But perhaps I was too strict with you. You were so much more of a free spirit than I was prepared for.” An awkward silence fell on them both. They began eating their breakfast.

Midway through, Rowenna asked, “Did grandma train you the way you started teaching me? I can’t picture her being so rigorous.”

“No. It was your great grandmother Margaret who insisted on being my mentor.” Brigid sighed, thinking back. “Great blazes that woman had an almighty temper, and she brooked absolutely no sass whatsoever.” Rowenna raised her eyebrows at that. To explain, Brigid admitted, “The day before my thirteenth birthday, I foolishly stood up to her, thinking that she wouldn’t dare ruin my big occasion. Oh, that was a big mistake. She thrashed my behind with a switch so bad I couldn’t sit down for a week. Had to learn broom riding standing up, my rear end hurt so much!”

“You mean…! You’re not just riding that way to show off?”

Brigid quickly donned an air of aloof propriety. “Well, let’s just say that in the status games that we witches play, if one is able to pull something like that off effortlessly it also gives others the idea that one is capable of even more difficult things.”

Rowenna mulled that for a second. “Are you still disappointed that I’m not even able to do simple magic?”

“Rowenna, you have shown me that you are your own person forging your own unique path. You’ve mastered things nobody in the world could have possibly taught you. In a way, you are part of that wild, organic tradition that modern witchcraft tries so hard to distance itself from.”

“So I shouldn’t expect to be initiated into a coven any time soon, huh?”

“Well, you’re quite a bit young for that anyway.”

Rowenna’s brows furrowed. “But that girl Portia…”

Brigid’s countenance grew steely in reaction to that name. “Portia Delacroix is a very special case. She was brought into the coven mainly so we’d have some way to keep an eye on her.” Rowenna’s look of curiosity demanded more. “She’s a once-in-a-generation prodigy. She mastered Spellsong at age six. She tamed her first familiar at age eight and by the time she reached puberty her menagerie of animal servants counted over a dozen, some extremely rare. Her mastery of magic so quickly exceeded that of her instructors that Edwina, easily the wisest and most knowledgeable among us, who’d stopped tutoring a decade earlier, came out of retirement to take her on as a student. She is very opinionated, and while most of us don’t disagree with much of what she says or does, none of us are particularly eager to argue with her, knowing the immense talent and wealth she controls. And at this point,” she clucked ruefully, “her little clique controls nearly a third of the votes in the coven.”

A wistful look fell across Rowenna’s face. “Okay, now I’m not so jealous of her.”

“Don’t be. You are who you are, and you know what? I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Tears formed at the corners of Rowenna’s eyes. She leaned over, and mother and daughter embraced in the first tender hug they’d shared in over twelve years. “Thank you,” Rowenna whispered.

The loud explosion that rattled the windows shook them apart.

“That came from way out in the swamp!” said Rowenna, startled.

“That was a ward. One of the larger ones.”

“They blow up like land mines?”

Brigid shook her head. “The ones out there simply snare anything supernatural that steps into them. Someone must have intentionally torn one apart. Someone who doesn’t care if anyone knows they’re trespassing, and only cares about getting at the magic contained in what they find…”

“A Felynn,” spat Rowenna.

Her mother nodded. “No ordinary felynn has the strength to crack open a ward large enough to be heard that far away, though. We’ve got a new neighbor moving in. A big one, and perhaps not alone.” She grimaced and got up. So did Rowenna, who took a sip of the elixir.

Brigid paused, an order on the tip of her tongue. She reconsidered. “I’ll let you come along, but only if you listen to what I say.”

Rowenna nodded. “Don’t worry, Mom. You can trust me.” With all her heart, she said, “I’m ready now to follow your lead.”

Brigid’s mouth broke into a wicked smile. “Great.” She summoned her cloak, which floated into the room and clasped itself around her neck. “Let’s go teach those bitches a lesson.”

They could smell the scene of the crime before they arrived. The protective ward’s detonation had vaporized all of the skunk weed in a thirty foot radius, clearing a rough circle around where the magical snare had been. The sun beat down warmly upon the damp ground, raising clouds of mist here and there. Rowenna’s gaze followed the barely visible animal path where the ward had been off toward the edge of the forest not too far away.

“Showed up and decided to kick the door in, didn’t they?” she said.

Brigid examined the frayed ends of the few magical strands that remained and frowned. “Yes. Quite intentional. This needs replacing as soon as possible. If anything gets free in the swamp, I don’t want it reaching the outside world through this wide open gap.”

“Anything I can do?”

“Check for tracks, please. Both directions.”

“To see how many there were?”

“Exactly.”

“Last night’s rain should make them easy to spot.”

Rowenna traced the path towards the forest first. The narrow trail jumped from one exposed root to another, swerving wildly and only occasionally following along a strip of packed earth or parting a clump of weeds. Despite her best efforts, she failed to find any clear indication of footprints or claw marks.

“Couldn’t have been a large group,” she said upon returning. “There’s too little disturbed for more than a few to have passed this way. Maybe only one did this.”

“Fairly tough customer, if so,” Brigid replied, spinning a spiral web of glowing white lines with her index finger over a set of thicker ones strung between nearby water-logged trees. “Be careful going the other direction, and yell the instant you sense anything.”

“Will do!” Rowenna promised, and head off further into the swamp.

She picked her way carefully for several minutes, cautiously looking around her at every step, until she reached a long stretch of solid ground that bordered a murky stream. Here and there, wide stumps sat like tombstones next to the fallen, decaying trunks they’d once supported. A few trees still stood, most without any branches and none with any leaves.

Rowenna studied the ground. She wished that felynn paws left some sort of magical prints that she could detect. She crouched down and put her hand in a smooth, rounded dent she noticed, wondering if it was a track or not.

“My, my,” a voice from above her purred, “What an alluring creature you are.”

Rowenna startled, leaped upright, and searched the branches quickly. Squatting high and nearly out of sight was a huge red felynn, grinning almost cartoonishly wide. Rowenna inhaled to call for her mother, but the werecat dropped like a stone and landed right in front of her on its large back paws with a powerful thud. What Rowenna was faced with took her breath away.

The felynn stood at least six and a half feet tall, not counting the bushy mane of shining ruby fur flowing from her head and down her back. She was broad-shouldered and muscle covered every visible part of her amazonian physique. Even though she projected the image of someone who could easily tackle her prey and have her way with them, her movements weren’t threatening. In fact, Rowenna found her face downright attractive and noticed a seductive gaze in her eyes.

“You’re… not Selenya,” Rowenna stammered, still in awe of the woman standing before her, large tits right at eye level.

A soft smile greeted her words. “No. I am Athenya, Queen of the Firemane. My daughter introduced herself to you, I take it.” Athenya made no secret of the fact that she was thirstily drinking in every curve of Rowenna’s body through her slitted pupils. Fear dispelled Rowenna’s stunned amazement. This felynn’s intent was obvious, and her threat plain. Rowenna strengthened her nerves by reminding herself of what she was, and what she could do. Athenya’s lips glistened as she spoke. “Tell me, what brings such an attractive human like you into a dismal place like this?”

Rowenna stuck her chin out and stared Athenya right in the eyes.

“I’m here to smash your kitten.”

A hush fell on their surroundings, as if the swamp itself was holding its breath. An annoyed “excuse me?” expression broke out over Athenya’s face as if she couldn’t believe the words her ears had just heard. Abruptly, the tall felynn began laughing thunderously. “Ha ha ha! Are you now?” She gave Rowenna a piercing glare. “You who dare to stare down a hungry predator, unconcerned that you are nothing but a succulent, ripe fruit in comparison?”

Rowenna remained unmoved. “I dusted the last person who thought of me that way.”

Athenya paced slowly around her. “Cocky little hussy, with a body built for sex. Mmm, you remind me of someone we call the Huntress.”

“I’ll take that as flattery.” The sensuality oozing from the felynn tickled Rowenna, painting a blush on her cheeks.

“Yes, but you’re not like her, are you? She was such a needy thing. All take and no give. Had to lay her out with an uppercut to get her leave me alone.”

“You like it rough, do you?”

Athenya’s tongue peeked between her teeth and licked the air between them. “Not necessarily. And what are your tastes, my sweet little thing?”

Rowenna’s heart pounded faster. Her body was becoming aroused in defiance of her attempts to remain in control. “Let’s just say I prefer someone who can keep me satisfied, but often I’m simply too much for another woman to handle.”

A chuckled growl rumbled in Athenya’s throat. She started to reply, but the pointed ears atop her head perked up suddenly. From the right, leaping from one tree trunk to another came Selenya in a series of quick bounds. She stopped on a fallen log and took in the two of them while catching her breath. Athenya’s whiskers twitched in irritation.

“That’s her,” Selenya said. “The sorceress I told you about. And another is on her way.”

Sailing quickly through the air on her broomstick, Brigid arrived, harshly calling Rowenna’s name. She spied Athenya and brought her flight to a halt.

“Why, if it isn’t the old cougar herself,” Brigid snorted dismissively as she dismounted. At Athenya’s growl in response, she continued, “Look at you. Aren’t you a bit long in the tooth to be alpha these days? Must be why the only strays you can con into your pack are weak, flea-bitten runts.”

Athenya snarled at Brigid. “You witches act so superior, but you’re nothing but common whores. So desperate for magic you spread your legs like floozies for it. Tell me, slut, where’s the rest of your thirteen-member brothel?”

“Taking care of more important things than you curs.” Seeing how close Athenya stood to Rowenna, she warned, “Back off from her, or you’ll regret it.”

“Buzz off, you over-the-hill prostitute,” Athenya spat. “I saw this redheaded peach first. You’ll have to wait until I suck her juices before you get a turn.”

Brigid set her broom against a tree and strode towards Athenya without a hint of fear. “I’ve got a better idea.” As she walked, her blouse and skirt drifted off her body and vanished. With each step, Brigid grew taller, more developed, and more muscular. “How about you pick on someone your own size?” By the time she’d reached Athenya, to Rowenna’s astonishment, Brigid had transformed into the physical equal of the alpha female, and just as nude.

Athenya stood still, seething.

“What’s the matter, fraidy-cat?” Brigid said, “You turn into a shrinking violet when faced with someone you can’t easily bully?”

Selenya hissed in anger. Rowenna blocked her from getting any closer. The felynn glared at her and said, “Out of the way or I’ll give your pussy a good pounding.”

“Don’t promise what you can’t deliver, sweetheart,” she replied coyly, causing Selenya to fume. Rowenna had been inwardly frightened of Athenya, unsure of whether her magic could overcome such a large difference in size. But she’d been itching for another chance to take on Selenya, and didn’t care how recklessly she goaded her.

Sensing Selenya’s change of stance, Athenya moved to maintain her claim on Rowenna, but Brigid intervened.

For a few moments, the tableau froze. Four women, motionless. A quartet of well-endowed females tensed and eager to unleash the full force of their bodies, their wills, and their sexuality. Mother squared off versus mother, and daughter versus daughter.

“Don’t worry, Mom,” Rowenna said. “I’ve got this mangy cunt.”

“Good. I’m going to do to this one what she did to that ward,” Brigid answered. Rowenna grinned, and for a second took her eyes off Selenya to check out Athenya’s reaction.

Selenya seized the moment and charged, but Rowenna sensed that coming. She dodged, sending enough energy into her legs to leap a dozen feet sideways. She retreated further to put some distance between the two of them and their parents, who were still engaged in a naked, snarling staredown.

Selenya was much faster than Rowenna anticipated, however. The werecat bounded off of one tree, then a stump and tackled her in midair. Spinning chaotically, the tangled pair flew several feet off the embankment. They plunged into the shallow stream with a loud splash and broke apart. While Selenya coughed and gagged on the muddy water, Rowenna stood up and began stripping her soaked shirt and shorts off her body. The felynn paused, hungrily taking in the redhead’s bare flesh as the other woman finished removing her bra and panties and tossed them onto a nearby stump.

“There,” Rowenna huffed at her opponent. “No armor this time.”

Selenya rose onto her rear legs. Water ran down her matted hair and dripped from her heaving breasts. Her tongue draped itself out of her open mouth and atop her lower lip in hungry anticipation of tasting the buxom, naked female incautiously displaying her sex-filled body before her. “Normally, I’d take my time and savor a luscious bitch like you, but right now I’m in the mood to just ride you hard and fast.”

Rowenna took a step forward. “You’ve got to prove you’re worthy of going pussy to pussy with me first.”

Selenya grinned lasciviously and closed the distance to her prey. “I already did that yesterday.”

Rowenna shook her head. She seductively let her forearms fall slowly onto Selenya’s shoulders. Her fingers dove into the red mane that cascaded behind the felynn’s neck. “Rough foreplay is one thing,” she said. Her eyes bored into Selenya’s, full of desire. “Hot fucking, woman to woman, with everything you’ve got, is something you haven’t shown me yet.” The two nude females leaned into each other. Hard nipples collided. Noses nearly touched. Warm flesh caressed as their tits and legs came into contact. Neither could deny their mutual craving any longer.

Selenya’s breath was torrid, her words growled barely above a whisper. “My cunt is burning to wrestle with yours.” She grabbed Rowenna about the waist and drew them tight.

“Take it if you can, you hussy,” Rowenna hissed.

Their lips converged, mouths open and tongues eager to intertwine. Rowenna kissed Selenya, ferociously strong and amorous. The two women licked and sucked each others mouths long and hard. Saliva wet their lips. Sorcery tingled where their tongues danced. After several minutes they reached a stalemate, neither able to pull energy from the other. Where their bodies touched, magic set their nerves alight with delirious pleasure. Heat from their shared arousal ran through their veins and rose like steam from their embracing bodies, spurred on by enchanting strokes and bewitching petting.

Moans rumbled in Rowenna’s throat. She was so lost in their passionate skirmishing that she could scarcely concentrate on manipulating her sexual power to direct waves of sensual feelings at Selenya’s body. The other woman had slithered one leg between hers and was now fondling her boobs with rough, leathery paws. She grabbed Selenya’s pendulous pair and began groping in return. Her palms rubbed against twin nipples. Magic struck like lightning on those two stiffened nubs, buckling Selenya’s knees with sharp arousal.

The felynn counter-attacked, lifting Rowenna up, striding forward a few steps, and planting her back-first upon the muddy bank next to the stream. Selenya’s mouth covered Rowenna’s left areola and her tongue mercilessly teased the blood-filled nipple at its center. Rowenna gasped and swung her legs around her foe’s hips. Selenya dipped down, rubbing her tits along Rowenna’s stomach. She continued until her right nipple found its way between Rowenna’s thighs and slashed against the wet folds it found there. Magic lanced through Rowenna’s crotch, eliciting an irrepressible passionate moan.

Selenya stood back up, and the two women glared eye to eye. Rowenna placed her hands on Selenya>s biceps and unleashed a barrage of seduction, enveloping the werecat in a dozen invisible tendrils that probed and caressed her arms, her legs, her sides, her cheeks, and most strongly of all her tits and pussy. Pleasure lit the felynn’s face for a few moments before she strengthened her defenses and regained her composure. Rowenna redoubled her attacks, squeezing Selenya’s waist between her knees and pouring tender bliss onto her shoulders, but the felynn shrugged her efforts aside. With a snarl, she leaped out of the water, wrapped Rowenna in a hug, and drove her flat onto her back.

Rowenna immediately twisted sideways to throw her off. Selenya refused to let go, and the warring females plunged into a slithering knot of naked carnality. Lashing their arms and legs around each other, they tumbled this way and that. Mud smeared across Rowenna’s skin and caked in Selenya’s mane. Tighter and tighter they mashed their bodies together, crushing breast against breast, cheek against cheek, and muscle against muscle. The fierce tangle of sexually aroused female flesh and fur whirled through filthy puddles and piles of wet, decaying debris, heedless of direction. Selenya’s feet struck a stump. She pushed off to force Rowenna beneath her, but Rowenna spun her hips, preventing the attempted mount and sending them rolling down an unseen slope.

The pair embraced more tenaciously, legs locked hard and mouths kissing passionately. They tumbled faster and out of control into a wide, shallow puddle. The water’s chill did nothing to cool the wild abandon of their fight, just as the splash did little to clean their dirty bodies. Rowenna ended up on top. She quickly freed her hands from Selenya’s mane to pin the felynn’s wrists. Selenya fought back and kept her arms from being pushed into the swampy water. Grunting and groaning, the two settled into an all-out contest of woman against woman. Their bodies wrestled, grinding slowly in a battle of strength and endurance. At the same time, their sexual talents engaged in an erotic war of attrition, with each nuzzled kiss, each pelvic thrust, each slippery smack of tit against tit chipping away at their dwindling self-control.

Within a minute, Rowenna’s biceps began complaining loudly. She slackened her assault slightly to ease their pain. Selenya bucked suddenly, having waited for just such an opening. She freed one leg from Rowenna’s partial straddle, and almost rolled her off to one side. Rowenna battered her back down with blow after blow from her heavy boobs. Selenya grunted and took the first of them, but the continued impacts were more than she’d ever endured against any other opponent, and she sought to stop them at any cost. She twisted her right paw out of Rowenna’s grasp. Throwing her arm about Rowenna’s undulating body, she drew the two of them into a close hug. Rowenna’s fingers tugged at that arm, but in doing so she slackened her grip on Selenya’s other wrist.

With a feral growl, Selenya completed her maneuver, clenching Rowenna in a powerful bear hug. She squeezed and roared with delight at her foe’s cry of agony. Using her strong legs, she rotated her and Rowenna’s bodies, sloshing water and bringing her to a dominant position. Her eyes glowed with glee as her lips attacked Rowenna’s. Rowenna kissed her back, powerfully and fearlessly. Selenya was easily one of the best she’d ever met at turning her on, using every inch of her sexy body to do so, but the young woman was determined to prove she was even better.

Writhing with desire, the naked, filthy women made out in a steamy embrace. Rowenna kicked her feet futilely to escape, sending up gouts of muddy water that splattered the two of them. Selenya’s hips began to undulate. Her thighs parted Rowenna’s legs. Groans danced from the warriors’ mouths as the heat of their struggle intensified. Unable to suppress their lust any longer, Rowenna and Selenya opened themselves to each other.

Pussy met pussy, rubbing with eager yearning. Sexual energy lubricated their silky folds and spiced their tribbing with other-worldly titillation. Selenya loomed over Rowenna, panting laboriously into her trapped rival’s mouth in between bouts of hungry lip sucking and heady tongue duels. Her tits glided up and down Rowenna’s, battering them in rhythm with the hammer blows of her pelvis. Rowenna was moaning deeper and more satisfyingly now. Her freckled cheeks were rosy and her hands clung demandingly to Selenya’s back. Still, the werecat saw defiance in Rowenna’s eyes, and hateful look on her face. Watching that determination crumble was going to taste so very sweet.

All of a sudden, Selenya felt her clitoris twinge. She howled in delight and involuntarily paused her grinding. The sensation didn’t stop. Instead, it built in intensity. Rowenna grabbed Selenya’s ass with both hands and united their crotches in lewd combat once more. A strange, powerful pumping buffeted Selenya’s vagina again and again. It pummeled her clit and thrust itself further and further inside her aching cunt.

“Fuck,” she snapped at Rowenna. “Fuck your little spells. My pussy will beat yours into submission. I WILL conquer you!” She resumed attacking Rowenna’s sex and let her have it with everything she possessed. Her legs snaked against her foe’s. Feet met and toes locked. Her breasts swirled in a circular motion atop Rowenna’s pillow-like orbs. Nipples bent and scraped along tender flesh. Pouting lips teased and sucked in between rapid breaths and tortured moans.

On and on Rowenna and Selenya fucked each other, gyrating faster and faster. For two, three, then four solid minutes Selenya worked her clit around Rowenna’s pussy, eventually finding its opposite number and lavishing sharp strokes against it. She had her prey right where she wanted her. It was only a matter of time before this gorgeous and bountiful human would succumb, and delicious victory would be hers. Selenya’s eyes gleamed with confidence.

Rowenna heard that emotion loud and clear. It was just what she’d been waiting for. “That all you got?” she panted, “Take this, you hot bitch!” She wrapped her ams and legs around Selenya, trapping her firmly but caressing her tenderly.

Before Selenya could react, pleasure poured through her blood stream. Her body tingled all over, every nerve lit on fire all at once. Her vagina became overwhelmed with sensation. Two seconds later, orgasm struck her writhing body.

Rowenna thrust with her hips, smacking her cunt into Selenya’s and mashing her supersensitive clit. The felynn was bucking crazily against her, screaming a wail of ecstasy into her right ear. Sexual energy drained out into Rowenna, who refilled herself and discarded the excess, which boiled away the water in the puddle the fucking women lay in.

“Yes,” Rowenna growled in triumph, fighting to calm her rapid breathing. She slackened her embrace, and Selenya pulled her burning chest off of Rowenna with a look of shock in her eyes. Rowenna swiveled her hips, eager to keep their joined pussies grinding against one another. “Where are you going, bitch?”

“What did you just do?”

“What’s the matter? Can’t handle a real woman?” Rowenna shoved Selenya backwards into her rump.

Selenya snarled. “You whore. You’ve earned yourself a humiliation that will become felynn legend.”

Rowenna sat up, unconcerned with her appearance, the mud in her hair or the slimy water running down her back. She was grinning despite herself. She might be taking on a ravenous beast who could overpower and ravish any ordinary woman, but the challenge of pitting her body against such a fearsomely voluptuous female and matching her sexually thrilled her to no end. She was committed to the contest, no matter the outcome. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Brigid and Athenya off in the distance, locked in an amorous sixty-nine, sucking fiercely at each other’s cunts.

She rose to her knees as Selenya got her feet underneath her. With lusty intent, the nude warriors slammed their bodies together once more with a loud, wet smack. Tits collided with tits, and stomachs slapped against each other. Their legs skidded in the muck, sending them off balance, and the duo descended into the gooey mire that was their private arena where they rolled and wrestled, kissed and groped.

Selenya used every trick she knew. She fondled Rowenna’s breasts, tweaked her nipples mercilessly, and stroked her crotch with her long, flexible tail. Her tongue licked in and around her foe’s mouth, and her lips teased her neck, and nibbled at her ear. She was starving for the sexual power coursing through the redheaded woman that was right there in her arms, so close and yet out of reach.

Rowenna withstood the onslaught of seduction, steeling herself against the pleasure being showered over every inch of her skin, every nook and cranny of her body. And she gave as good as she got, countering each raunchy attack and answering with one of her own. She threw herself completely into the depths of debauchery that only two women experienced in sexfighting can unleash on one another.

Time ceased to have meaning. The only things that registered were hands and fingers grabbing and probing… breasts and hips rubbing and grinding… legs and arms slithering and entwining… lips and cunts kissing and caressing. Wet impacts rang in the air from naked bodies repeatedly rolling and tumbling into the mud and smacking together again and again, victims of an unceasing magnetic lust. Rowenna felt her muscles tiring, but ignored them. With total abandon, she drew Selenya tighter and fucked, fucked, fucked.

After countless minutes entwined in a fervent crush, Selenya sat up, scissor straddled Rowenna and worked their aching pussies in a mind-blowing tango. The werecat went to thrust a spear of magical energy into Rowenna, but the redhead blocked it and counterthrust, driving a thick shaft of power deep within her gyrating rival’s walls. Selenya came, yowling loudly and shaking her head side to side. Rowenna held onto her thighs to prevent her from escaping and kept up the pressure, the friction, and the sorcerous penetration. The power Selenya gave up only fueled Rowenna’s assault and the felynn soon succumbed to a second, stronger orgasm. Magic cascaded out of the squirming werecat, who roared in ever increasing intensity, victim of a climax too powerful to resist. Selenya attempted to wrench herself free, but Rowenna clutched her tenaciously. Only once Selenya was babbling incoherently and begging to be released did Rowenna allow herself to experience ecstasy. She freely worked Selenya’s body over with the excess energy racing through her system, lavishing a dominating bliss on her enraptured foe.

When she was satisfied, Rowenna pushed the dazed and depleted woman off of her and staggered to the stream bank. She never let Selenya out of her sight, wary of how much strength she might still have. But the defeated female merely lay there exhausted with a look of disbelief on her face.

“How?” was the only syllable Selenya managed to croak in her tired amazement.

“You never figured out how I always knew what you were going to do?” Rowenna said, chuckling softly. “You’re a magical being, and I sense and manipulate magic.” Then, down the telepathic connection she had with Selenya, Rowenna sent ‘I can read your thoughts’.

Selenya scrambled backward suddenly in horror. She grabbed her mane with both hands, and wailed, “Get out of my head!” Rowenna grinned wickedly and narrowed her eyes. Selenya panicked, and ran out of the swamp as fast as her wobbly legs could propel her.

Rowenna’s attention was soon diverted by noises from the other pair of battling women. Brigid and Athenya were lying down, propped up on their elbows, and scissoring each other in midair. Even from so far away, the thunderous collision of their hips and the power driven into the ferocious war their cunts were engaged in made Rowenna keep her distance. She shuddered with each impact, silently thanking her mother for saving her from Athenya’s fearsome skill.

With a gleeful shout, Brigid came. Athenya’s face broke out in worry. “No, not again!” the ruby maned felynn pleaded weakly. As Rowenna watched, Brigid pounded Athenya into submission, wringing an all-encompassing orgasm out of the felynn which left her roaring and floundering uncontrollably on the ground. When they finally disentangled, Athenya curled up into a ball while Brigid stood up tall and blew out a visible breath of satisfaction.

From her fetal position, Athenya grumbled, “Figures a whore like you would be an expert at that.”

“Honey,” Brigid replied, “that was my first time. I did it just to see what it was like. You lost because you’re just a pussy.” She left her vanquished foe crumbled in humiliation and walked towards her daughter.

“Amazing job, Mom,” Rowenna said. Brigid nonchalantly returned to her normal size and summoned her clothing onto her body. “I knew you could beat her.”

Brigid wore a slightly embarrassed smile on her lips. “While that is not the method I would normally use to bring a felynn to heel, I have to admit, Rowenna, that your way of doing things is… how to put it… fucking exhilarating!” she laughed. Brigid suddenly noticed her daughter’s condition. “Oh my goodness, you are absolutely filthy.”

Rowenna smiled sheepishly. She futilely shook her hands, but that did little to remove the muck on them.

“Here,” Brigid said. She made a descending motion with her open left hand. As if she’d been wiped by an invisible towel, the grime vanished from Rowenna, head to toe. Brigid snapped her fingers, and Rowenna’s clothes jumped into the air. She squeezed her empty hands shut and the water fell out of the damp garments like rain.

“I’d love for you to teach me how to do that,” Rowenna said humbly and began getting dressed.

“First things first,” Brigid replied.

Rowenna had just finished pulling her shirt over her head when a swift motion behind her mother paralyzed her with fear. Athenya had climbed ten feet up a nearby tree and was now sailing in an arc towards Brigid’s defenseless back, jaws wide open and claws fully extended.

“Oh, please,” Brigid sighed, not even bothering to turn around. Her brow furrowed in concentration. She threw out her left hand, palm open, at her attacker. “CHILL.”

Against all the laws of physics, Athenya froze, suspended in midair. Rowenna’s mouth dropped in awe. Frost bloomed on the fur facing her mother and icicles formed on the red mane flowing out behind the werecat. All of a sudden, the epithets Rowenna had heard other women whisper about her mother made perfect sense. ‘Ice queen’ and ‘Frigid Brigid’, they’d said, unaware that a little girl was listening from the next room.

Several seconds later, Brigid released the magical hold. Athenya crashed to the ground, shivering with cold. Under Brigid’s watchful gaze, the beaten leader of the Firemane slunk out of the swamp, tail between her legs.

“Come along, I think we’re done here.”

Rowenna was still trying to comprehend what her mother had just done. “Your control over sexual energy is incredible!” she gushed.

“My dearest daughter, what else did you think proper witchcraft WAS?”

Twenty minutes later at a pile of rocks in the center of a grove of trees, two orange felynn, one with white stripes and the other more reddish in hue, watched a third larger one wearily stagger in. Selenya stood up to tend to her approaching mother, but Athenya brushed her aside.

“Some help you were!” Athenya bellowed at her daughter.

“They are too strong,” Selenya mewled. “They drained Nyatalia until she was a bag of bones just for wandering into the swamp, but let her go as a warning. If we don’t obey them, they’ll-“

Athenya cut her off by grabbing her by the throat with one hand and choking her viciously. “I am still in charge! I make the rules for the Firemane!” She flung Selenya away like a rag doll. “That pair of sluts made a mistake today, one they will soon regret! I vow that they will never see another nightfall.” She shuffled over to Nyatalia. “You.”

Nyatalia groveled on all fours, face in the dirt. “Yes, my queen.”

“Good to see someone still knows the proper hierarchy here. I have a task for you. You must do it quickly.”

“I will,” Nyatalia promised.

“Round up every felynn you can find. Tell them to gather here. Spread the word even to the strays at the edges of our territory. The Firemane are hosting a great feast!” Athenya stood, grinning nastily. “Together we will defeat those whores and share in the endless, sweet nectar that flows from a witch’s cunt. And after that… the bounty of the swamp shall be everyone’s to gorge upon! So says Athenya, Queen of the Firemane and ruler of Ash Creek!”

At the same moment, another trio came together in a small glade next to an ancient red oak tree. Rowenna sensed Anya’s presence before she and Brigid arrived, and she went immediately over to the bush the felynn was crouched under.

“Hey there! How did you manage to find your way here from Auntie’s house?”

From behind Rowenna, Brigid added icily, “Ask her what she knows about this!”

Rowenna turned to see what her mother was referring to. At the base of the tree lay a tangle of magical threads, fading out of existence as the power in them dissipated.

On the trunk itself, the seal was gone.

Rowenna spun back to Anya, ready to demand an explanation. She swallowed the beginning of her tirade, noticing that the small werecat was whimpering, occasionally uttering intelligible words.

“…great evil… come back… hunt me…”

“Anya, what happened? What are you talking about?” Rowenna demanded.

Anya finally lifted her head, abject terror written plainly on her face. “It was her. The one from legend. She never tires, she never rests. Her hunger is insatiable. ‘Don’t let her see you, for she can snare you with a single glance’…” Rowenna’s eyes widened, realization dawning. “Wenya, from that tree… I saw The Huntress return.”

The hair on the back of Rowenna’s neck stood on end. She looked at her mother, whose furrowed brow betrayed her lack of understanding. “Which way?” Rowenna asked Anya. The anguish in her voice set Brigid on full motherly alert. “Which way did she go?”

Anya pointed feebly down the path that led toward the Cape Cod style house that Rowenna called home.

“Mom!” Rowenna practically shouted, her tone rising in panic. “I have to go!!!” She took off, running frantically through the forest. “Kyle!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Anya got up to follow her. “Wenya,” she called out.

Brigid stood in her way, clucking and shaking her head. “You are staying here and giving back the energy you stole so I can reseal this portal.”

Anya’s eyes shifted side to side. “I didn’t steal anything.”

A disapproving frown appeared on Brigid’s face. “Don’t lie. I can instantly tell when you aren’t speaking the truth. You’ve been picking at this since you got here last night, haven’t you? The seal got busted apart from the inside, but someone out here certainly weakened it first.”

“You didn’t see me do anything. You can’t prove-” Anya’s words trailed off sharply. Something inside of her told her she should be very afraid.

Brigid loomed over Anya, blocking out the sun, and unveiled the full extent of her power. It emanated from her like a strong wind, bathing the werecat in its palpable force. Although Anya’s mind was amazed at witnessing a true witch’s capability for the first time, the virus in her blood was very familiar with the experience. It knew that it meant mortal danger. It knew that it portended imminent, utter extermination. It communicated this fear, releasing chemicals into Anya’s body.

The felynn collapsed to the ground, instantly submissive and repentant, expecting death at any moment. Brigid crooked her finger and motioned her over to the tree.

“Yes, mya’am,” Anya meowed meekly.

Although she was now hundreds of yards away, Rowenna’s desperate cry still reached them through the dense woods.

“KYLE!”

Part 6 – Consequences

She is desire honed to perfection. The living embodiment of the hunger to be aroused and the satisfaction of that arousal.

Returned once more to the physical world, she revels in the titillation arriving through her senses, the warmth pumping through her bloodstream, and the many cravings her body has for the pleasures of the flesh. She cares for neither past nor future. Her existence revolves solely around The Need, which is present and all-consuming. The mortals that she hunts try to hide or deny that inner urge. They call it sin and try to control it.

But she knows better. She will show them that they are fools to try to resist it. She will share with them its sovereign power.

She will teach them to worship it above all else, just like she does.

Kyle Hunter shut off the hot water pouring from the shower head and took a moment to breathe in the steam rising around him. A good run followed by a strenuous weight lifting routine always refreshed him. The slight aches and pains he felt were simply his muscles thanking him for keeping them in shape. Best of all, his mind was clear and ready to tackle the day. First up, he wanted to set things straight with Rowenna. He was more in command of his emotions now, and thus better able to handle the unpredictable swings of his wife’s temper. He knew the two of them could work things out. They always did, and the sex that followed was never less than mind-blowing. The memory of Rowenna’s naked body fucking in rhythm with his made his penis half-erect. Damn, did he want her so badly. He dried himself off, wrapped up his well-built body in a towel, and stepped into the master bedroom.

What he saw there caused his manhood to swell to rigid attention.

She was Rowenna’s height, with lustrous black hair that fell in long tresses down her back and framed her beautiful face. Her eyes were sapphire blue and easy to get lost in. Her lips were red and full. The black silk robe that clung to the contours of her body parted at the front to reveal flawless skin which begged to be touched. The artist who’d sculpted her curves had been a peerless genius, and this was undeniably his masterwork. Breasts as large as Rowenna’s, tipped with fabulously perky nipples. Legs of ideal length and proportion.

A feminine figure open and inviting for hands, fingers, mouth and cock to explore. A welcoming partner who would never judge, or ever say ‘No’. A woman whose every expression spoke of delight and whose every movement guaranteed satisfaction.

Kyle stood dumb-struck. Here was the answer to his immediate, urgent longing, walking seductively towards him. The sheer fabric she wore drifted off her shoulders and down onto her arms. He could almost see her entire nakedness. Just a few steps forward, and he could remove that last bit of clothing from her. The way she looked at him, her breath panting through parted lips in anticipation, let him know her yearning. She wanted him to disrobe her. She wanted him to take her in his arms, to pull her down onto the soft, waiting bed, to enter her and show her just how virile a man he was.

Something prevented him from responding to her siren call.

“Who are you?” he found himself asking.

A kind smile lit up by pearly teeth graced her mouth. “A dream, come back for you to enjoy once again. Nothing more,” she cooed. The nails on her right hand tickled his chest lightly. “I am your heart’s desire. I am everything you need.”

Kyle’s body was a caged bull, primed to explode out of the gate as soon as the latch was pulled. His brain strained to hold him back. Her lips were close enough to devour. Her scent was perfumed with sexual readiness. Nothing stood between them but a wet towel and his hesitation. But no matter how he tried to deny it, this all felt wrong somehow, like a twisted fantasy that started out pleasant but was destined to descend precipitously into an inescapable nightmare.

“Look, uh, I don’t know who you are…”

“You were sleeping last time.” Her fingertips caressed his biceps. “But I remember.”

“…or what you’re doing here…”

“I need you.” Her tits warmed his chest.

“…but you’d… better…”

“I want you inside me.”

Kyle rested his fingers on the sides of her head. His palms cupped her chin.

A glint from the metal band on his left hand caught his eye. He pulled away, backing into the wall. “I can’t.”

Her tongue moistened her lips as she stared covetously as his stiff penis. “That’s not how I see it.”

Kyle became adamant. “You need to leave. Now.”

She shook her head softly. “Don’t worry. I’ll leave, later. After you take me like I know you want to.”

He raised his hand, showing off his wedding ring. “I am happily married, and intend to keep it that way.”

A teasing disappointment darkened her features. “Aw, silly boy. Faithfulness is overrated,” she chided. “Why burden yourself with a shackle like that? Cast that weight off, and join me in the endless freedom of pleasure without consequences.” When he remained unmoved, she continued, purring seductively, “I can read your heart. It is clinging to a childish notion, an ideal nobody can attain. That feeling is fickle, and easily bruised. No matter how hard you try, it will eventually fade.” She closed the gap between them. “That’s why it’s better to pursue something that will give you greater enjoyment, something that you can return to again and again with equally satisfying reward.”

“If you mean sex, my wife and I do that, too. Rowenna-“

“Shh. No need for names. No one is here to interrupt us, and all your confusing memories will disappear once I show you-“

“No. I’m not confused, and there is nothing you can do to make me forget my wife. You are damn lucky she isn’t around.”

She tsked. “You are the lucky one, my handsome hunk. It would be so unfortunate to have to snuff out your former flame in front of you. Why, it would delay the start of our first hour-long fuck.”

“Listen, I am not a man who fools around. Besides, my wife’s got a real strong possessive streak. You really do not want to mess with anything that belongs to her…”

“I am not afraid of any woman. Tell me, is her body better than mine? Do you think she can possibly be better at sex than I am?”

Through the window behind the gorgeous, nude female, Kyle caught sight of a familiar figure running across the lawn. “I think you’re about to find out.”

Rowenna Hunter blew through her back yard like an F5 tornado. The patio door was nearly wrenched from its hinges when she pulled it open. As she stomped through the kitchen, she flung her right hand toward the refrigerator. It swung open and the half-empty bottle of strength potion launched itself into her grasp. She kicked the door closed and drained the bottle’s contents by the time she reached the stairs. Duke, who was resting in the living room, sensed her coming and hid himself behind the sofa.

She leaped up to the second floor in three bounds and reached the doorway to the master bedroom two seconds later. Her face was a mask of determination. Her attitude harbored no room for nonsense. Her breathing was heavy, but more from anger than exertion. Most prominently, her wavy red hair blazed like a fiery mane behind her head. Her stare bored holes in the dark haired intruder standing before her.

“You…” Rowenna hurled the word like an accusation. “I told you where to go and you were supposed to stay there.”

“But I don’t belong in the World of Agonies,” the succubus explained apologetically. “My place is here in the World of Desires. You cast me aside, voiding the contract, and now a prince has charmingly taken pity upon me.”

“Wait,” Kyle interjected, looking at his wife. “You know her?”

Rowenna nodded. “Yeah, we’re well acquainted with each other,” she said with grit in her voice.

“Intimately familiar,” purred the succubus.

Rowenna continued, “She’s the reason your illness right after we moved here lasted so long. She’s a demon, an infernal seductress. I had to subdue her before you could get better.”

“A demon? Like, for real? Did you cast a spell on her or something?”

Rowenna’s mouth opened, but no answer came out.

“She challenged me,” the succubus said, stalking closer to Rowenna. “And we both fought very dirty, didn’t we?”

“Yes,” Rowenna admitted, her voice growing husky with arousal. “Why you returned for another beating is beyond me.”

“Wait a minute!” Kyle said sternly, interposing himself between the two women. To the succubus, he said, “I won’t let you lay a finger on her!”

The demon laughed hysterically. “Oh, I’ll finger her all right. Ha ha ha ha!”

“The hell you will!” Kyle yelled, and reached out to shove her backwards. The succubus caught his wrist in her palm nonchalantly. With her other hand, she shoved his chest, hurling all two hundred plus pounds of him backwards through the air and into the wall with little effort. He slumped to the floor, unable to believe what had just happened.

Rowenna gently put her hand up to ask him to stay put. “She’s nearly invulnerable, Kyle. There’s nothing a man can do that will harm her.” Kyle looked up at his wife. To his surprise, she lifted her shirt over her head and undid her bra. “But there is something that a woman can do, and I know exactly what it is.” She unbuckled her belt, slid her shorts and panties down her legs and kicked them aside. “This pest only understands one thing: sex.” She tossed her hair and glared at the devilishly attractive temptress in front of her. “She needs to be reminded that I’m better at it than she is.”

Kyle’s jaw went slack. Here in front of him in his own bedroom, his wife and an identically built and equally sexy woman were locking horns. Buck naked, they huffed at each other in a vehement staredown, nipples rigid with excitement. Their expressions were both deadly serious and erotically hungry at the same time. The sight of them and the thought of what was going to happen filled him utterly with lust. Exactly how his wife and this demon were about to fight each other, Kyle wasn’t sure, but his heart was racing in his chest, and he knew he was on the verge of experiencing something rare and special.

Rowenna and succubus stood tall, hands at their sides, eyes probing for any weakness. After examining every inch of one another’s bodies, the answer was clear. From their smooth skin, to their pouting lips, to their massive busts, to their shapely hips, to their large round asses, to the toned muscles on their arms and legs, neither were deficient in comparison to the other.

A grim realization settled into Rowenna’s mind. Though the coming battle would be fought using those gorgeous assets, it would be won by the woman with the greater mental willpower and resolve. She’d just fought a lusty werecat who’d pushed her to her physical limits. While the strength potion she’d drunk was helping to rejuvenate her, the prospect of an all-out sexfight so soon after her previous one, and against a succubus at that, made her worried she wouldn’t last the distance.

“Such big talk for a mortal,” the demon teased gently. She sauntered closer to Rowenna with an exaggerated sway in her hips. An evil grin lit up her features. “But if you insist that my pussy taste yours before it swallows his cock, so be it.”

Rowenna stepped forward. Her hands slid along the succubus’ arms up to her biceps. The tips of the two women’s breasts kissed. They leaned their foreheads in towards each other until they touched. “I’m the only one for him, you incorrigible slut! Get that through your thick skull.”

At that, Rowenna pushed with her head. The demon resisted and pushed back. Rowenna set her feet, tensed her calves, and applied more pressure. The succubus’ demeanor remained calm, but she also shifted her stance. Slowly, inexorably, the two women’s bodies mashed together. Tits mushroomed out to their sides. Thighs met and became glued. Stomachs, shoulders, arms, and palms, one by one they were brought to bear in the hot crush of their contest. Soon, the two had plastered themselves together, flesh against flesh, so tightly that it became difficult to tell when one woman’s body ended and the other began. Rowenna grunted from the constant effort. Neither she nor the succubus budged an inch for several minutes. Through it all, Kyle felt the urge to intervene and prevent Rowenna from getting hurt, but the sight of her and the demon grinding against each other in the nude kept him transfixed and immobile.

Just when the intensity of the test of strength looked to reach its peak, with both women quivering nearly motionless for a few seconds, Rowenna and her foe slammed their mouths together in a torrid kiss. Sucking and tugging with their lips, the pair made out voraciously, keeping up their contest of muscle and pressure all the while. Rowenna wrapped her arms around the succubus’ torso, who responded in kind and plunged her tongue into the redhead’s mouth. A two minute frenzy of oral combat broke out, with both alternating between bouts of kissing and licking at each other’s full, red lips and periods of fervent tongue fucking. As this went on and on, Rowenna slithered one leg between the other woman’s in an effort to throw her off balance. The succubus did the same, grape-vining their legs together. Calf muscles squeezed. Arms crushed massive boobs between their chests. The warring females teetered precipitously, then toppled, their naked bodies still locked as one.

The vicious vixens fell slowly at first, then sped up as they crashed to the floor, kissing and hugging fiercely the whole way. Their impact elicited a quick groan from Rowenna, but she maintained her powerful clinch and ramped it up even tighter. She rocked the two of them until she gained the top position. The succubus bucked, jammed its heels into the rug, and rolled her off. Rowenna fought back, adding momentum to prevent herself from being trapped beneath the other naked woman’s sweaty, hot body. She tumbled them over and over like a log, legs lashed together and lips still attacking necks and mouths. They smashed into the door frame, then back the other way into the dresser and the bed post. The heat of the struggle was sweltering, but Rowenna was just getting started.

Grappling like amorous lesbians having an argument during wild sex, the battling females pounced and tackled one another ceaselessly. Hands groped pendulous tits. Fingers dove into hair, yanking their heads within range for yet another passionate kiss. Nails dug into ass cheeks, building to a crescendo of pain and pleasure. It all was happening almost too fast for Kyle to follow, who had to pull his legs out of the way as the ball of furious foreplay careened in his direction before hurtling crazily toward the closet door.

Rowenna’s shoulder hit the wall hard. She moaned both from the injury and from the sudden attack on her nipples the succubus launched into with tongue and pinching fingers. The woman was a driving hurricane of erotic assault, every naked inch of her an endless fountain of incredible stimulation. Rowenna fought back with everything she had, gyrating her body to rub bare, sweaty skin against skin, fondling heavy, supple breasts, and sliding her leg up and down between thighs made slick from arousal.

“Fuck you, you bitch,” she panted.

“Keep trying, my love,” came the sly reply. “Keep trying.”

For over a minute, the succubus ravished Rowenna without pause, slapping her glistening tits with her own pair and hungrily sucking at her rival’s lips. Rowenna eventually rolled them both a half turn. Lying on their sides, they continued their heady kissing campaign and began rubbing each other’s shaved pussies with rapid finger strokes and quick smacks on their moistened labia. Rowenna was moaning with impending orgasm but took heart from the fact that the succubus was finally beginning to breath hard.

“Mmm, you’re so ready for me,” the demon purred, exploring the wet folds of Rowenna’s vagina.

“I can feel your cunt quivering. It knows what mine can do to it. It’s scared.”

“That’s merely anticipation, you luscious doll.”

“Then let’s not keep it waiting.”

The succubus arranged herself on the floor on her back, propped up on her elbows with her legs parted wide. “Yes. You’re dying to fuck me, aren’t you?”

Rowenna prepared herself for the tribadism battle to come, wiping sweaty locks of hair off her forehead and getting to her knees. “My sex is going to knock you back to where you came from, you piece of trash!”

“Show me! Give me everything you’ve got!”

Rowenna mounted the succubus. Her inner thighs slid down the demon’s legs, red hot and eager for action. She almost came from the sweet friction. When it arrived, the kiss between their nether lips was firm and ravenous. The succubus’ face lit up with delight. She locked eyes with Rowenna, and the two set about consummating their duel.

Slowly at first, then with increasing speed, Rowenna worked her pussy against the succubus’ scorching womanhood. Each collision, each wriggle of their hips, each juicy grind sent bursts of magical energy speeding through them both. Her clitoris was stiff and already nearly overstimulated. Still, Rowenna kept pounding, riding the demon’s cunt like a machine, her tits bouncing in tandem with the energetic rhythm. Her rival fucked back like a pro, keen on pushing Rowenna past her limits.

The redhead hugged one of the other woman’s legs to her chest. She was so close to climax, but her body refused to cooperate. She desperately needed more magic to keep going. Her muscles begged her to pause, or better yet, stop. She whimpered in frustration, soldiering on against the relentless thrusting of the succubus. From her left, she heard Kyle groan. He was gripping his thick penis, about to cum as well. Rowenna shut her eyes. She listened to his grunts of ecstasy, basking in their familiarity.

That did it. With the next impact on her rival’s pussy, Rowenna achieved orgasm. The connection she had with the source of her power opened. With great, thunderous shouts, she came, and hurled raw sexual pleasure straight into the woman she’d been wrestling with so hard and so long.

“Mmm, fuck, yes!” the demon hummed. “More. More!”

“Take it. Take it you fucking, man-stealing cunt!”

For several more minutes, the back and forth of the two females’ sexual war continued. They traded positions, licking and fingering and tribbing each other with seemingly tireless desire and total abandon. Sweat beaded on Rowenna’s skin and matted her hair. Moans of pleasure and pants of exertion filled the bedroom. On and on, Rowenna fucked the other woman’s sexy body with shameless lewdness. The succubus’ lust was insatiable. It swallowed the energy from two additional orgasms from Rowenna and still it remained unsatisfied.

By the time the fuckfight reached the half hour mark, Rowenna’s entire being had had enough. The pace of her pussy grinding slowed. Yet another climax was imminent, but she feared her sanity would not survive it. Her head bobbled on her shoulders. Her breath was ragged from exhaustion. Still the succubus rammed her cunt with unflagging force. Still its clit fenced with hers, lashing it mercilessly with sensations too strong to be endured. Rowenna slumped, part of her determined to experience ecstasy, the other clinging valiantly to consciousness.

She was too weak to resist the inevitable. With rapturous glee, the succubus wrung another orgasm out of the redhead, thirstily drinking the last, futile magical assault that Rowenna managed.

“Uh, fuck…”

“Not enough, my pretty little girl. So disappointing.”

Though completely drained, Rowenna’s anger burned undimmed. It latched onto the only thing it had left: the sip of sexual potency elixir she’d taken some time ago. It converted it into pure magic and thrust it deep into the succubus’ cunt.

“Wh- Oh! Oh!!” the demon shouted.

“Yes, you bitch. I’ll die before I let you win!”

“Nnnn, fuck! Yes!!!”

The black-haired beauty’s body shuddered and bucked wildly. Rowenna held on for dear life, squeezing her pussy tight against her foe’s, and grinding her clit into the tender, sensitive folds of the other woman’s vagina. With a full-throated yell, the two females climaxed together, backs arched and faces etched with glorious pleasure.

Rowenna was through. She crawled away and clung to the the bed post. Kyle helped her stand and lean against the mattress. On the floor in front of her, the succubus sat on its heels, kneeling with its head lowered. Rowenna wheezed as she caught her breath and slowed her racing pulse.

“Now, for the last time…” Rowenna began.

“Last time?” the voluptuous demon interrupted. “Darling, we haven’t even started.”

The succubus raised its head. To Rowenna’s horror, a blood-red, inverted five-pointed star inscribed in a circle gleamed on the woman’s forehead. The pentagram, seal of the Horned Prince of Darkness.

“No…” moaned Rowenna, shaking her head.

“Yes,” hissed the demon. “I am irreversibly claimed now.” She stood up, as if the vigorous sexfight had taken nothing out of her and held out her hand. “Join me, where the debauchery never ends, or die like the previous residents of this house!”

Rowenna had nothing but anger left. She spun and kissed Kyle passionately, then grabbed his half-erect cock and stroked it. “Kyle, please. I need you now!” she whispered urgently. He was temporarily surprised by his wife’s sudden demand, but the familiar feel of her naked body against his got him good and hard quickly. He guided his penis into her dripping vagina and she devoured it fully. “Now,” she panted in accelerating excitement, “Fuck me, Kyle. Fuck me like… Oh, yes!”

“Like it’s your final time?” the succubus asked. “Aw, how sweet.”

Kyle had ejaculated once, but the sight of Rowenna and the raven-haired woman going at it had built his lust back up to a fever pitch. He filled his wife again and again, kissing her with every bit of desire in his veins.

When he came, Rowenna threw her head back and screamed exultantly. The portal to her power source opened wide, but, as only happened when she had sex with Kyle, both sides of the gate swung apart. The magic coursing through her felt pure and balanced. She thanked her husband with a tender kiss, drawing his wonderful sexual energy into her core. Feeling suddenly tired, Kyle flopped onto the bed.

The succubus wore a wry smile. “Come here, baby. I’m better than him,” she promised.

“No one’s better than him,” Rowenna spat. She concentrated every last ounce of magic in her body and directed it into her right arm, into the hand at the end of it, and into its fingers, which were coiled in an incandescent fist.

The uppercut that struck the succubus would have shattered the jaw and teeth of an ordinary woman. Instead, it lifted the nude female two inches off the rug and snapped her head backward. When she landed, her eyes were rolled back in her head. Rowenna prepared another punch, this one aimed at the demon’s stomach, but found it wasn’t necessary. She stepped aside as her vanquished rival fell forward and plowed face-first into the floor.

Rowenna still shook with rage. “You…” she addressed her fallen foe. “Don’t you ever fucking TOUCH my husband! Don’t you ever fucking LOOK at my husband! Don’t you ever even fucking THINK about him!!!” she roared.

She collapsed against the side of the bed and turned toward Kyle. He gave her a languid smile, which she returned.

He said, “You’re going to have to give me a minute to recover, I-“

“You resisted her,” she said, amazement tinging her voice. Glancing over at the nightstand, she added, “And without needing Auntie Willow’s talisman. The only way that’s possible is…” An emotion stronger than she could control bubbled up within her, making tears well up in her eyes.

“You truly love me,” Rowenna Hunter said, shaking from the power in her words.

“I always have, and I always will,” Kyle Hunter replied.

They relaxed, and Rowenna’s gaze drifted to the window. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she looked down at her nakedness. An idea lit up her face, followed by a nod confirming her decision. She rushed to the closet and rummaged around in a hat box that contained some personal items. When she returned to the bed, she placed a palm-sized bundle of black cloth tied with a glittering cord on the coverlet. She undid the bow on the tiny package, and it unwrapped itself into two pieces of clothing, growing to many times its original size as it did so.

The first item that Rowenna picked up and put on was a plain black dress, which adjusted itself to her figure. When she was thirteen, it had gone all the way to her ankles, but now the hem stopped at her knees. The other article of clothing was a conical hat with a wide brim. Dressed now in the uniform of a novice witch, Rowenna showed herself to her husband.

“Kyle,” she said, no longer embarrassed, “this is who I am.”

He beamed at her in happiness. “I wouldn’t have you any other way.”

A groan at her feet broke the reverie. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to take out the garbage.” She grabbed the succubus by her hair and dragged her thumping down the stairs, through the kitchen and out the back door.

In the back yard, Brigid was trying to calm the other witches gathered there. “Yes, there is a perfectly good reason why I summoned you all here on such short notice.” Catching sight of her daughter, she raised her voice. “It’s going to take the entire coven to dispose of THAT!” Her finger pointed at Rowenna, who’d just hauled the naked demon across the patio and into the grass.

Muttering broke out.
“A succubus.”
“Never thought I’d be unlucky enough to…”
“Disgusting.”
“An abomination.”

Rowenna pulled her limp cargo to the center of the thirteen witches and deposited her in a heap. The succubus looked up at her. Rowenna showed her a clenched fist in warning.

“If you so much as dare show your face around here again, I’ll rip you into so many pieces it’ll take Hell an eternity to put you back together.”

“Ooo, lookie that,” someone said. “The demon’s afraid of her.”
“Well, I’ll be…” said another.

“We’ll take it from here,” Summer said.

“Thank you,” Rowenna said to the coven. To the succubus, she ordered, “Now go and tell your master that this is MY home and I am sick of his shit!”

The thirteen began chanting until their voices united as one. The hell-spawned seductress opened her mouth, but her scream was cut off as she was sucked down into a narrow pit that closed up quickly once she’d vanished down it.

Rowenna looked around for her mother, but her attention fell on Summer, who took a step forward and addressed the gathering.

“I nominate Rowenna Hunter of clan McKeogh to be Guardian of Ash Creek,” the elegant lady announced. Rowenna’s heart leaped into her throat.

“I second the nomination,” Brigid Cavanagh said.

Edwina announced, “The nomination has been seconded. Any objections before we cast our votes?”

Rowenna didn’t hear what transpired next. Her mind was spinning from the realization of what the vote meant. She was being recognized as a full witch!

“The tally is nine in favor and four against. The Coven of the Silver Willow hereby confirms Rowenna Hunter of clan McKeogh as Guardian of the Ash Creek swamp. Congratulations, young lady.”

Rowenna’s heart felt fit to burst.

The polite clapping that followed was soon drowned out by the noise of animals crashing through the forest. At the edge of Rowenna’s back yard, over three dozen felynn emerged, eyes burning and lips salivating.

“You said there’d only be two!” one of them complained to Athenya, who stood in the middle of the pack.

“I said there’d be plenty for everyone,” the tall werecat shouted. “Don’t be skittish!”

Murmuring erupted around the circle of witches.
“An infestation of them!”
“How indecent.”
“Why don’t they ever cover themselves?”

A trio of felynn stalked toward Portia, bantering loudly.
“Look at this pretty one.”
“Bet she’s gotta well-used little kitty.”
“First to grab her is first to tongue her!”

Portia’s face twisted into a mask of fury. The whites of her eyes went glowing red. “You vile, abhorrent beasts!” she spat. “Insult my chastity, will you?” The three began their charge. The bird on Portia’s shoulder flew to safety on the roof as its mistress’ golden hair rose off her back and flared out. Sparks crackled between the ends of her tresses. The closest felynn was about to leap when Portia Delacroix held her hands out to both sides

and STARED.

It felt as if a gigantic, invisible weight had descended upon everyone in the yard. The witches of the coven wobbled slightly. Rowenna, much less able to withstand the unveiling of such great power, hunched over involuntarily and was nearly driven to her knees.

The felynn fared much worse. As a group, they crumpled to the ground in utter terror. Each instantly knew that Portia only had to raise a single finger and a storm of lightning would turn the entire invading pack into charred corpses. Rowenna shivered, sensing enough magic swirling around the golden haired witch to crack a mountain in half.

The sorceress with the strange petrified walking stick stepped forward and drove her staff into the earth. From its tip, hundreds of roots snaked out into the dirt. An oval ring of vines sprung up around each werecat with incredible speed. They wove together into domes that covered each cowering female. Sharp, two-inch long barbs stuck out all over each strand of vine, creating a painful barrier. The ability to precisely control magic in that manner left Rowena in awe. It humbled her to stand in the presence of such true virtuosos.

With the beasts now caged, Portia relaxed slightly. She turned to Rowenna, eyes still glowing, and said, “Well, Guardian?”

Rowenna turned toward the felynn, arrayed before her like in her daydream. She grew furious. How dare they set foot in her yard? How dare they ruin her big moment?

“Did come here to start a war?” she raged. “Did you not think about who you were picking a fight with? Coming here, acting like barbarians and threatening mayhem gives us just cause to wipe you out, all of you…” She took a deep breath, ready to issue an order.

“But we won’t. A massacre like that would only send the message that witches are merciless and a threat to the survival of other magical creatures.” At this, Edwina nodded, acknowledging the wisdom of Rowenna’s thinking. “So treat this display of our power as your one and only warning. Hopefully you’ve all learned your lesson well here today.”

Rowenna stood tall and gave her edict. “You will be released to go back to your old hunting grounds. After that, return to the swamp only if you want to suffer the consequences. Tell every creature you meet from now on that I protect Ash Creek. Let them know that if they decide to mess with anything in this coven’s safekeeping,

“They will learn just what me and my sisters are capable of.”

The End

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