Lily walked back into their apartment through the doors, clinging onto their bag that held the small prize they’d won at the Halloween local. Being someone who never actually ‘wore’ Halloween costumes, let alone had money to buy them, they were quite surprised and thrilled that Rye had scraped together enough money to get them a simple Pikachu headband. It wasn’t a costume, per se, but it was more than they had in years, and they pretty much wore it the entire day. Magnolia wasn’t there to make fun of them for it in the morning, so it was a win-win (not that they’d particularly mind getting laughed at for it.)

  They slumped back in the couch, flopping over as they opened their bag and pulled out the three pound bag of Halloween candy. They were really hoping for the one that only had peanut butter cups in it, but the one with assorted varieties was good too. Of course, they were going to dig for all the Reese’s cups first and leave the Almond Joys for last. Magnolia had told them to save the ‘good ones’ for her, but she didn’t specify which ones were ‘the good ones’ so… lying was an option?

  Lily put the Switch back near the TV, turned it on, and began playing something else. The first thing they could think to play was Yoshi’s Crafted World, and then they remembered how Magnolia teased to death them last time with the tax fraud joke.

  Unfortunately for them, it seemed that would happen again soon. As soon as Lily got engrossed enough in the game, the door swung open and their Mistress stepped in. Lily put the controllers down and turned to her.

  The first thing they noticed was the stereotypical witch’s hat on top of Magnolia’s head. It definitely didn’t look like she bought it from a cheap Halloween store, but it was still odd to see her wearing it.

  Lily didn’t even notice they hesitated upon seeing it. They snapped themself out of it and said, “u-um, hi, Mistress. Um… the hat…”

  “Yes? What about it?” Magnolia’s eyes narrowed, though the amused look hadn’t faded from her face. The way her lips were curled deviously made Lily know that she probably had some kind of scheme in her head. “It is Halloween, isn’t it? Isn’t it customary for people to dress up, especially people from… your class? Kind of like you with that outlandish headband.”

  Lily blushed furiously, pouting as they took off the headband defensively. “I-I mean, yes, I just… didn’t think you liked that kind of thing. I mean, I’ve never seen you do anything for it. And…”

  Lily hung on their last complaint, before they head a loud *snap!*, giving them a moment of pause. Wait… what were they talking about?

  “I’m sorry, plaything, were you complaining?”

  “I… was I?” Lily blinked increduously. “I… I don’t remember what I was talking about, Mistress.”

  “Of course you can’t,” Magnolia chuckled. “You were just in the middle of complimenting my hat and how I looked today.”

  “Oh… yeah! That sounds right.” Lily’s confused face was soon replaced with a dopey curious smile. “You look really good, Mistress. That hat really goes with your outfit well.”

  “Why thank you, Lily,” Magnolia chuckled. “Thought I might put on a show, be a witch for you tonight. Put some spells on you.”

  “Be a… witch? For me? Um, spells?” Lily blinked. “What do you mean?”

  “Lily,” Magnolia completely disregarded their needless questioning and brought them back to attention. “Bring my bags into the bedroom for me, would you? They’re quite heavy, and I could use your strength for myself. They’re about 15 or so pounds each, I’d say.”

  “Oh, of course, Mistress!” Lily enthusiastically replied, grabbing the duffel bags by the handles and lifting them up nearly effortlessly. They began hauling them into the bedroom. Suddenly, Magnolia startled them by grabbing the sides of their arms from behind, grabbing their chin and pulling their ear close to her. They managed to keep the bags in hand for a brief second, before—

  “*I own your strength*, don’t I, Lily?”

  Lily tried to maintain their grip on the bags, but before they knew it, the bags plopped to the ground. Lily held onto the handles, embarrassed by their sudden drop, and began trying to lift them back up. Except… they seemed much, much heavier than before. Or, no — they just weren’t able to grab them off the ground again as effortlessly as they could a few seconds ago. They kept trying to lift them, but could barely even get one of the bags an inch of the ground with two hands.

  Magnolia watched them struggling to lift the bags, before she bursted out laughing. “Oh, my sweet Lily. I adore the fact you just forgot that every part of you is mine. Including those lovely muscles.” She ran her hands across their defined muscles, which only felt more humilating.

  “Mmf…” Lily whimpered. “That’s cheating, Mistress…”

  “How is it cheating, Lily? How is it cheating to play with my toy?” She moved away from them, still laughing to herself while Lily struggled to move the bags even a little. “Let me get those. At least, let me get one of them.” Their Mistress moved next to them, grabbing one of the bags with her hands. Lily sighed, resigned to take at least one of the bags in. With a ton of difficulty — and with eventually just sliding the bag into the bedroom on the ground.

  The entire ordeal of moving the bag two feet left them exhausted. Lily collapsed onto the bed, with standing being too difficult of a task. Magnolia towered over them, more than a little amused at this point.

  “Lily, why don’t you get me a glass of water? Hydration is important, especially before I have some fun with you.”

  Lily inhaled, trying to muster up the energy to stand back up. “Y-yes, Mistr—“

  Just as they were about to sit up from the bed and slide back over to the kitchen, Magnolia grabbed their shoulders and forced them back down onto the bed. She held them in place even as they struggled to get out so they could grab the water. She stared deep into their eyes, instilling some sense of excited dread into Lily.

  “Play dead.”

  Lily suddenly collapsed back onto the bed, this time not from fatigue but from their body shutting down. They stared up at Magnolia with wide eyes, realizing they were completely unable to move their body even an inch. Their arms weren’t even able to support their body. They were frozen still — playing dead — as Magnolia crawled over them on the bed like they were prey. Her smile looked hungry for them. Lily shivered in fear as they tried to stammer out a question.

  “I… Mistress, I, um… w-why can’t I move?”

  “Because I told you not to, idiot. I told you to play dead.” She stroked their pale cheek lightly with her hand, surprising them with a sudden slap to the face. Lily’s head rolled back, and they weren’t even able to straighten it. Magnolia grabbed their hair and pulled their face back to meet hers.

  “My dear, pathetic Lily. Look at you. Unable to move or use your strength just because I said a few words. I love how malleable you are.” Her hands glided down their body, grabbing and teasing every inch she wanted to. Lily wouldn’t have fought back anyways, but the fact they physically could not was terrifying.

  “Hmm, with you like this, I could do a lot with you. I’ve always wanted to try some ‘darker’ things… darker than everything I’ve done to you already, too. Tell me, Lily, what do you think the scariest thing I’ve done to you is?”

  “I… um…” Lily gulped, trying to think of something quickly. “M-maybe that time when you punished me… back with Crimson…”

  “Oh, that time I scratched you and hit you around a little? Please, plaything. That’s the scariest thing? Not the times I’ve threatened to throw you out? Or the business parties I’ve taken you to as a public fleshlight?”

  Lily whimpered. Remembering all those times — as admittedly ‘fun’ as they were — was quite scary.

  “I’ve been in the BDSM world for quite a while, as you can imagine. Trust me, none of that scratches the surface as the ‘scariest’ thing I could do to you. Tell me — have you heard of knife play?”

  The blood drained from Lily’s face. Knife play? That wasn’t what it sounded like, was it?

  “I actually brought along with me a fine selection of knives. I haven’t decided which one I’ll use to tease you — or break your skin in the slightest. Hmm, what if I made you choose?”

  “I… did you… did you really bring knives?” Lily asked out in a breathy, scared voice.

  “I don’t know. Did I? Why don’t you go over and check?” Magnolia paused, waiting for them to try to get back up, before she moved in to kiss them lightly on the lips. A contrast between the amount of fear Magnolia was putting Lily in and the sweet way she treated them. 

  “Though, you may want to sort through the candles and matches too.”

  Lily gasped instinctively. They really weren’t a fan of fire, in addition to knives. It was probably one of their biggest ‘mundane’ phobias. “C-candles? What… what are you…”

  “Oh, I haven’t tried wax play with you by now? It’s one of my favorite ‘edgier’ kinks. You light a candle and pour the wax all over the submissive. It paints a beautiful picture, really. And — if you hold it down to the skin lower, it’s even hotter.” Magnolia’s hands lifted up the gamer T-shirt off of Lily’s body, toying with their chest and ribs. “I’d love to see how many colors of wax I can color this beautiful body.”

  “Wouldn’t…” Lily finally managed to stammer out a question. “Wouldn’t the fire get on me, too…?” 

  “It could. If I’d want it to.”

  Lily had no words. Magnolia continued.

  “I also secretly put a few more suggestions in your head. Particularly, one that makes you think I’m a werewolf hunting you, an innocent bunny. Doesn’t that sound fun, too?”

  Magnolia’s grin only grew the more terrified Lily’s face grew. They knew she wasn’t lying about any of it. They struggled as much as they could, trying to bust out of the hypnotic fugue Magnolia had left them in. Their muscles barely moved. They were immobilized, and Magnolia could do what she wanted with them. Knives or fires included.

  Their Mistress grabbed their body, and after a small struggle, pulled her thrall up to the edge of the bed to lay them against the pillows.

  “So. Let’s see our options, shall we?” Magnolia moved off of them, keeping their T-shirt off and keeping Lily in a state of sheer terror. She opened one of the bags. Lily could indeed hear the subtle jangle of knives in the bag, though Magnolia moved them out of the way in a way that at least she wouldn’t get hurt.

  Lily was sort of shocked that Kassandra or Chain hadn’t popped out to intervene at that point.

  Magnolia stood back up and walked over to Lily. Thankfully, she wasn’t carrying any knives or matches. Instead, she carried out a small box of Halloween candy — definitely from the higher end, though Lily could see the various flavors. They were more like pralines. But…

  She walked back to the bed, lying down next to them and opening the box.

  “Last year, when I brought out a box of these, you ate all of them in one sitting. And you just popped the pralines into your mouth in one bite. It was terrifying, so now, I’m going to eat this entire box in front of you.”

  Lily stared at her, bewildered as she opened the box and began eating the chocolates. But… what the hell was going on?

  “I’m… I’m sorry, Mistress, but… what about—“

  “The knives and fire? Oh, we’ll get to those soon enough. I just wanted to scare you a little.” She laughed as she delicately ate one of the pralines. “I promise it won’t be as bad as I made you think it is. I think you’ll enjoy it.”

  She kissed Lily’s lips again, letting them taste the faint chocolate on her tongue. Lily nervously laughed, staring at their Mistress.

  “Um… this is okay, actually. I just won a bag of candy from the local, so—“

  “Oh, you did?” Magnolia asked, amused. “Remind me before I give you your strength and ability to move back. I’m taking all the peanut butter ones.”

  “What?” Lily exclaimed, their face falling. “I wanted those!”

  “And I want to carve my name into you with the knives I brought and pour red wax in the shape of lilies onto your chest, but I want to take care of my property and make sure they’re not traumatized by me. We all have problems, Lily.”

  Lily muttered some kind of complaint under their breath. Luckily, Magnolia either didn’t notice or found it amusing.

  “Don’t worry, Lily. I brought some more candy for you to eat off of me when you serve me tonight. You’ll get your fair share.”

  Lily sighed, trying to sound grateful for that. “Thank you, Mistress…”