---Entry 11/Trial 8/Witch Hunt---

Dear Gretel,

There's a small spice shop just outside of east LA. Women will often frequent between there and a bar a few blocks down the same road. The women and establishments may all seem inconspicuous to the untrained eye, but I can't say those who see these women often could be called street smart in any sense if they can't tell that the women are agents/scouts and the places are outposts. They're not as blatant as Jehovah's Witnesses to me, but they're not much better. Fortunately they don't act like them or any other outreaching organized religion. I think it's very smart of them to have someone keeping their ear to the ground with non-coven affairs, and someone to contact young girls who find themselves confused and scared after connecting to magic, but again their fear of being caught seems so ridiculous to me. 

One of these women, I observe during my window shopping over the course of a few days, was named Esther. The shops I entered across the street were very accommodating to me for my stakeout. Silver and blonde hair, slightly-aged face, an athletic body, and a fairly strong essence, showing her natural age with grace; overall, a high-grade MILF to my eye. She kept a good jogging regimen along the street with the two shops, which I think was both for exercise and as a ruse. Esther blends in better than most, but I still wasn't fooled. jeremy helped track her movements all the way out of the city; a nice little meadowy setting where she meditated everyday.

After four days, I followed her with jeremy out to the spot. We parked a short distance away from her. I kept myself quiet as jeremy blew me in the back seat. It was my hope that we would be mistaken for just a couple looking for some roadside frisky, and it worked. Really, I was accessing my subspace to increase a dampening spell on myself. Witches, especially witches on the fringe between covens and society, all develop their extra sensory abilities so they can pick out magic signatures from a distance. The older beauty didn't seem to notice me from across the street, but I didn't want to take chances for how close I was going to get.

15 minutes after we arrived, I'd finally emerged from the car, dressed in some jogging sweats, the backseat workout convincingly giving me a light sheen of sweat. I stood next to a tall tree she could easily use for shade earlier in the day. I could tell from her posture how comfortable she was there, how this was her spot. Lighting a cigarette got the old lady's attention, probably due to the funny contradiction of a smoker/runner in LA; she had to know I was there, but she only opened her eyes at the sound of the lighter opening. She turned her head to see a horribly-disguised woman (in retrospect) admiring the nearby view. I gave her a gentle smile with obvious hints of satisfaction and interest. 

"You want something..." Esther made a declaration rather than asking me a question; much more intuitive than I thought.

"Just taking in the scenery," I told her, taking a drag on my cigarette, not letting my ruse lapse.

"No, you want something else. Something, with me."

Between the lull I knew was coming, and her figuring me out sooner than I would've liked, I quietly sprung into action, taking a long drag on my cigarette, and depositing it in her direction. There was a lot more to deposit thanks to G-magic, and she was quickly covered in a thick, hazy cloud, thicker than a few dozen lapsing nicotine addicts greedily getting a fix. She panicked only a little as she stood up, one hand covering her face and the other extended to cast a protective spell. She was having trouble with both, so I helped her out.

"Skybound sun, but clouds resting on land,
Let clarity fill the air, allow the wind to disband."

With one handwave, a strong gust of wind like the one I used at the beach washed all the smoke away, and took a bit of wind out of Esther's sails for thinking straight. Unlike the college kids from the beach, she was still standing, still trying to put up resistance despite the obvious blow she'd taken. Stumbling with wobbly legs, still coughing up smoke from her healthy lungs, she tried gaining balance. With thoughts in enough disarray, I could scan her mind much easier, and saw she was about to attempt some sort of transport spell to whisk herself away. She couldn't manage the words or the strength as invisible phantoms covered her mouth and firmly restrained her to the grass. She coughed from small amounts of cigarette smoke still trapped, muffling in shock, obviously having never been exposed to a spell as strong as mine.

Esther looked up to see me kneeling down at her, caressing her face gently like a matron her age would do to someone my age. 

"Brittle, failed affections,
the heart twice bitten.
gaze upon your final love,
your soul ultimately smitten."

She saw my lips form the love spell that mapped out an emotional history of loving and losing, and finally finding the woman she was meant for. My nostrils flared at the facial play that ended with clear amour. I could feel the lull coming (it was easier to identify this time), so I used what was left of my powers into G-Concilium, lazering her brain directly from my fingertips touching her forehead, imbuing the constant stream of my thoughts into hers. I could feel her shock of my mental intrusion shaking weakened foundations, yet there was some fight my magic couldn't immediately snuff out. A trained brain like hers saved what little sense of self was left, hiding it while most motor functions thankfully came quickly under my command. Despite the serene headspace I was in, I could feel the pressure in trying to keep her under control, straining harder than any trial before this one; I maybe should've tried letting go to the feeling and let domineering instinct take over, but there was a degree of nervous excitement that kept me pushing against her faltering pushback.

The phantoms disappeared as my beauty and beguiling smile held her in place, breathing out the remaining smoke and inhaling the faint musk from the stain in my sweats. Thoughts about the danger I posed to her slowly shifted; it read like a jumbled misunderstanding, and with each breath, the need to trust me took root, letting natural lust and other pliable reactions follow, fighting the screaming warning from within. I paved over that warning with smooth stroking, like the strokes I gave her softened face and that blonde-silver mane. 

I quickly asked about her plans for the rest of the day and through the week, to see if there was anywhere she was supposed to be, or anyone who'd miss her at home. Other than goldfish, no one would know she would be missing. Before the lull started affecting performance, I wordlessly commanded her to sleep, making sure she remained receptive to any verbal instructions, even from jeremy if necessary.

jeremy carried me to the car while Esther followed in-tow, and we drove to the sleeping witch's car, who followed us home. On the short drive to her car, Esther reclined in the passenger seat as I continued to sleepily stroke her hair, affectionately-binding her more to me with that gesture. All the way home, I suggested the warmth in her cheeks was from me still stroking her. Though normal trance suggestion, I asked her to follow us into the apartment. Despite the embers of resistance I still felt, she fortunately complied; a lot less strange-looking than being carried in. Once inside, jermey held her as I used fractionation on her for a while, taking her as deep as any normal hypnotist could under the circumstances. 

Unfortunately this trial wasn't nearly as clean as others; corralling a witch for testing was challenging enough, let alone the effort it might take to test, but progress will soon be made. As I whispered to her to sleep and dream of Cherish before the lull forced me to nap, I knew we'd be both dreaming of the hot interactions to come.