---Entry 15/Trial 11/Magical Melee---

Dear Gretel,

Pop quiz, what does a Concilium witch plus one 90% enslaved elder witch plus a 40% enslaved elder witch plus a 0% enslaved elder witch plus one 0% enslaved "troubleshooter," or literal witch doctor equal?

A goddamn mess is what it all adds up to.

Of all the things to go wrong today, the one thing I know I didn't need was an impromptu trial for taking down unknown odds. It was a very opportune time to really field test G-Concilium, but completely out of necessity. Just like with Connie, pulling it off would be high-risk; having the element of surprise on my side was good, but I didn't know against what. Fleeing with my two new slaves could've been an option, but for all I knew, Connie could've relayed information about who I was from my purse while I was out; how infuriating it would've been to be caught at home, thinking I was safe.

Retreating as an option closed off, I had to sink or swim immediately after beating a hard challenge of treading unfriendly waters, and make sure everyone else sank. My body wasn't 100% ready with slowly warding off the remaining Prohibere, and the new tactile version of G-Concilium taking a bit out of me. With what was coming next through the shop's door, I really had to think outside the box, pretending I was still trapped in one.

When Esmeraude did arrive, not long after I assumed enough control of Connie, she definitely came prepared. Sitting in the same interrogation chair in the back of the spice shop, pretending to look out of it, vision through slit eyes caught sight of the third old hottie. With natural dark red hair and a pretty face with cute freckles strewn about it, I nearly swooned at my next hopeful conquest; a silvery-blonde, brunette, and redhead collection of dolls gave me sexy shivers I had to subdue while paying attention to her aggressive assets more than her attractive ones. A few tomes cradled in her arms, some necklaces ready to utilize for different uses like warding spells and scrying. The biggest tool she brought was a greyed warlock troubleshooter (my shorthand for an assisting mage used to boost incantations or powers, a fresh set of eyes for solving complex magics, etc.) named Lawrence. Everything about him screamed experienced, formidable to other witches unlike most warlocks, and likely to make the execution of my plan even more challenging.

The way Esmeraude, Lawrence, and a compromised Connie spoke, interest was high concerning me, and what I'd done to My Esther. Connie explained the situation in an almost controlled monotone, with just the right amount of emotion to not seem strange, but to also set a rhythmic cadence to get things started. Just like I instructed her to, the tone was measured, drawing their subconsciouses in to being ready to absorb information from whoever spoke like that, from Connie, myself, or anyone; she even answered questions that way. Lawrence's questions held a tone of slight disbelief, but was clearly interested in looking how to rectify the situation. Esmeraude's was pure concern though, obviously worried, but strangely, in a way that almost signaled capitulation, or understanding the capitulation. Through peripheral vision of a slit open eye, Esmeraude in particular held her gaze in my direction much longer; I expected her to look longer upon and show immediate concern for Esther, but the redhead's sights almost completely rested on me. I didn't dare adjust myself to see what expressions crossed her face, but her body language said enough, so much so that the others noticed. A hand on Esmeraude's shoulder from Lawrence woke her from her reverie, trying to bring her to an immediate course of action to take. Without speaking, Esmeraude simply turned to tend to her friend, surprising Lawrence who sighed and made his way to my "unconscious" form.

I saw Esmeraude leaning over Esther, pressing her hands to her face to banishing magic over her. Internal grinning satiated me while the barely attractive older man blocked my view with his focused face. He looked down to my wrists to see opulent-red bracelets around my wrists, artifacts meant for interrogation and extracting truth from an unguarded mind; one was enough even for the average witch, but two was considered overkill, or necessary if a witch somehow acceded her standing. Thankfully the knockoffs looked close enough to the real thing, and the troubleshooter fearlessly began.

"What is your name?" Lawrence began with preliminary questions.

"Ch...erish," I mumbled quietly in Connie's even tone.

"What is your length of blessing?" Translation: the other way to ask how long have you been a witch, since most are born into witchcraft. I started after birth, but I give my natural age anyway.

"twenty...nine," I utter, convinced I was born to do this.

"Is your purpose here malevolent or benevolent?"

"...benevolent," I gave a small pause in my answer. It was such a strange question to me, even for a subdued mind. I could've said "malevolent" and adhere to his expectations, but I found it more fun to give his mind something to think about in why I would say I'm bringing positivity to their doorstep, considering everything he'd been told about me. But of course they look at it from the wrong mindset; as Esther and Connie knew, as Esmeraude and perhaps Lawrence would know, the kind of magic I bring is nothing but positivity. Sometimes force is required to pierce the social barrier keeping primal, magical hedonism in-check, before it can be let out and freely blossom. 

Though I couldn't see it, I could clearly imagine what was happening behind Lawrence's back. Esmeraude pointedly whispering chants to ward my spell out of Esther who'd only be turned on by it. The hands holding a lolling face grasping the spell-caster's hands, whispering back her own words, turning magical commands into soft questions, confusing Esmeraude.

"I command thy spelled mind freed." Esmeraude started strong.

"Freed from commands, from thy spell?" Light arousal was evident in Esther's almost monotone cadence.

"Banish corrupting thoughts from her."

"Banish...thoughts? Corrupting...her?"

"Mind unshackled, at one with her true self."

"Mind...at one Her truth? Un....shackled self?"

A standard three-stanza chant meant to remove all the brainwashing I've done, very ill-equipped to the task, but easy to twist the words with contradictions and interpretations if you know what's coming.

"I command free-no I c-ccommand thy spelled mind spel-freed."

"Command, free to command. A freely-spelled mind."

"B-b-anish corrupting minds, no, thoughts from her."

"Corruption in freedom, her thoughts banished."

"....m-mind unshackled, freed-at one with her thoughts, no, her true self."

"Thoughts thinking freedom enspelled. Shackle your mind to the truth."

Esmeraude's words grew less sure as My Esther's grew with enough surety for the both of them, literally feeding her controlled emotions tactilely into the redhead, bringing both minds into My line of thinking. Nothing sounded alarming as they both whispered words to one another

Connie stood nearby, and between both Esmeraude and Lawrence, looking to see which would fall first in my trap, ready to assist and finish either off from behind. In the race to have Connie at my side first, I also let Lawrence touch me, his hands on the pulse points of my wrists and throat to medically test my truthfulness. It was a sound practice that most using magic to extract truth don't use, but I banked on him being thorough, and it worked.

"Check my pulse if you don't believe me," was what my answer of bringing "benevolence" really meant. It was going to be one answer or another that led him to it, but I'm glad of all answers I could've aroused suspicion in, I'm glad I chose that one. Obediently on his way, I started to focus my mind on what was happening throughout the room, letting my arousal organically build and tactically-activating G-Concilium. 

"'Benevolent' how?" Lawrence asked, reeling from my answer, assuming the sensations he was feeling stemmed from that and not the lightly-radiating energy flowing onto his fingertips. I couldn't try the ball of energy like I did with Connie, but improvisation carried me through, and I was more than happy to feed him continuous lower levels, masking the sensation by keeping him reeling from absurd answers.

"Benevolent because no one runs from pleasure," I let my voice get slightly husky with an unbidden answer and a pulse that told him I was still being truthful. "I do not bring pain here, only pleasure, the kind that has you forgetting all about pain, the pains of the day, of yesterday, of the past, of the future. All I bring is pleasure, and the absence of all else. All I bring is what you're drawn to, and your legs won't let you run away from." Soon my tone was focused, and my cadence matched the whispers across the backroom, trapping the least effected in a soft, tantalizing crossfire. Lawrence's 'reeling' expression barely changed, eyes wide but the surrounding muscles eased and smoothed, and even his jaw started to involuntarily part, possibly interested in my words, but certainly accepting of their meaning. Dripping wet between my legs and power increasing between my words, I continued.

"It is pleasurable enough to allow legs to remain where they are, so they shall. Pleasurable to allow muscles to stay comfortably still, so they shall. Pleasurable to allow the bringer of pleasure to bring you a pleasurable truth, so she shall..."

I let my ruse lapse by giving him a wide smile, letting my eyes be lively and compelling before I heard a muffled noise from nearby. Shifting slightly, I caught a glimpse of Esther reaching up from the couch to kiss Esmeraude. I figured all was going exactly to plan, until the redhead pulled herself away so fast, she backed into Connie, and more dominos fell after that as Connie knocked Lawrence and me out of our seats.

My head hit something reasonably hard as I shook it, managing pain and trying to assess the room; Esmeraude and Lawrence were shaking themselves awake while Connie looked out of it in an bruised way more than a fun one. Realizing everything was being undone, I angrily fought through the pain to throw a restrictive spell to Lawrence still on the ground and move to retake Connie as quickly as possible. Lawrence struggled on the ground while I struggled to touch my finger to Connie's forehead to re-establish the trance; Esmeraude's outstretched hand kept my muscles locked in place, my head barely able to look up to see the redhead trying to keep composure. Instead of following the spell up with something else to further neutralize me, she just looked at me with that same concerned look, swearing there was a hint of fear there. It became more than a hint as she looked at my hand, or the tattoo on the back of my hand; the sight of it made her gasp, and somehow falter with keeping me rooted in place. 

Freed, I quickly touched Connie's forehead to trigger her, and used my own restrictive spell on Esmeraude before she could raise her hand again.

"Hair of dark-red fire, 
mind as bright as a doused wick.
Fire now flows between locked legs,
Feeling nothing but a sensual l-"

My incantation was timely interrupted as something wrapped itself around my legs and pulled me to the ground. Seeing nothing looking down, I could feel some energy lassoing me, trying to enwrap me. I called out Esther's name, and watched the sound of my voice trigger my silvery-blonde doll to life, looking for her owner and looking to help however she could, even if it meant combatting old friends.

But I guess "combatting" isn't totally accurate; the look on her face when she saw me illustrated having a plan of attack, but her predatory approach was deadlier than I expected. Whole days spent in a sensual fog really opened up the awoken Esther as she quietly sauntered up to Esmeraude's back wrapping her arms around her friend so that one hand could grasp a breast and one could tease the front of her pants while trying to get into them. While dealing with Lawrence's attempted invisible mummification, the sinful sight of a squeezed breast and wily fingers sneaking into what I imagined was a red-headed snatch boosted my power and libido while draining Esmeraude's power and attention.

Before my hands became restrained as the energy made it's way up my torso, I telekinetically summoned a nearby vase to slam onto the side of his head, shattering it and his concentration. His spell dissipated around me, and I sent phantoms to grasp at his throat, and choke-slam him to the floor. He hit the ground with a satisfying thud right before more hands held his wrists, ankles, and limbs, keeping him firmly grounded. The satisfaction continued to rise almost immediately with what I heard going on across the room.

"Hair of dark-red fire," Esther coaxed into a vulnerable ear, shooting more pleasure into my own wet snatch as I remember I did go over and settle on a chant to sexually subdue Esmeraude, and Esther was more than happy to solidify the strength of her mistress's plan.

"Bright as a blown-out wick,
Fire now flows between locked legs,
feel nothing but a sensual lick."

Esther completed spell made Esmeraude contract at the hips, feeling a ghostly tongue that must've come from a cunnilingus-crazy sex-fiend in a previous life, the way she mewled. A high spirit kept her upright, pleading with her friend to wake up from my spell.

"Esty, please, you-ooooohh...'ve got t-to fight thismmmmm. No, wake up, please!"

"No," Esther whispered sharply at her cheek, turning her head to a smoldering kiss. "Let's go to sleep, a deep sleep, where only bodies of pleasure exist, where you will Love Cherish, and Obey."

Not only lust, but pride came over me as my hedonistic student was about to make short work of the trio's strongest. The pride was strong enough to allow assumption to make me believe Esther would finish her off. 

She didn't.

In a burst of energy that launched Esther back a few feet and onto her back, Esmeraude freed herself. The moment I turned my head, she shadowed her way past me. The feel of the burst distracted me enough to weaken the phantom grasp. I reapplied it vigorously, keeping him down while Esmeraude literally disappeared with Connie in-tow before I could raise a hand to stop them.

With Lawrence still pinned to the floor, I rose to check the room with rapid turns of my head, waiting for a retaliation to come out of nowhere. Even the best shadow teleports I've seen don't take a practitioner more than 30 or so feet away from the original point, so I check into the main part of the store and outside, finding nothing. I figured Esmeraude had fled with Connie, meaning I should do the same and either find out where she'd flee to to finish her off, or disappear and indefinitely lay low while trying to salvage the shit situation. A sound in the back room aroused my attention; it sounded like a few voices saying individual words. Whatever the reason, it got me to rush to the back.

Imagine my surprise when I returned and found myself unpleasantly-frozen in the doorway. Other than breathing, there wasn't enough kinetic energy in or around me to bat an eyelash, allowing me to see Esmeraude back in the room, behind a blank-looking Connie with and outstretched hand. The way her hand was outstretched, fingers spread apart and craning down, I was shocked to learn that one of the words I thought I heard repeated was "Marionetta," a puppeteer spell I thought was pure myth. I wish I did believe it before that day as cool as the myth sounded, the ability to control someone down to the muscle based on a strong, probably ethereal connection to whomever you wanted to use it on like a life-partner, family member, or someone with whom a soulful connection is made. Even more unpleasant was the ingenious way Esmeraude used it, using Concilium on Connie, who used "Marionetta" on Esther, who used "Marionetta" on me. I'd never seen a spell connect like that, let alone gain power from caster to caster, until even a supposed powerhouse like me was totally helpless. As it pains me to write this even now, Esmeraude's using the connection I created with Esther to do me in, within one of a few layers of magical ventriloquism, was the smartest witchy tactic I'd ever seen or heard of, and how much I underestimated the last of the trio keeps me wet.

While being kept stationary, the G-magic phantoms were gone and Lawrence rose, holding his throat from the unyielding grip, looking like he wanted to slap me, but still fearful of interrupting the spell, or just me in-general. Even he was surprised at what Esmeraude was doing.

"That's dangerous," he commented noting some quality of the spell I was ignorant to.

"So is she," her tone voiced with pure accusation, followed by Connie, then Esther, then even me repeating it the same way. The part of my thoughts not racing to free me thought to the side about where she knew me from or where I knew her from, as I must've done something to her to earn that kind of vitriol.

Running over to get one of the magic tomes brought in, Lawrence quickly turned the page to whatever passage they needed for me.

"She won't be for long," he spoke over muttering the spell he was about to perform on me. Just before he could, several bottles were thrown into the room all of a sudden, a few towards the back that landed near Esmeraude, and one closer to me and Lawrence. The bottles breaking, the identifiable whiff of Prohibere and other scents filled the whole room, making everyone choke on the polluted air. I was freed from invisible puppet strings only to have my lungs full of paralysis and drowsiness. I was knocked out, but felt movement happen before blackness over took me.

Apparently it was twenty minutes later, when I woke almost coughing my lungs out to find jermey kneeling next to me in the main part of the shop, holding my torso upright from the floor. He'd been the Prohibere bomber, literally dragging me away from the room moments after he made his surprise attack, before the four bodies in the back could do anything. Regarding jeremy, I gave him a good slap, .

"What took you so long?" I complained about acting on orders I never gave, threatening him with a smile and a hearty squeeze of his cock to a level of light pain.

"I'm sorry," was all jeremy could offer, head bowed. If not for my hand, he would've fallen to my feet, readying himself for more severe punishment. It came in the form of a long, deep kiss and stroking him to the point of edging for taking the initiative in saving me. 

"Don't keep me waiting like that again," I smirked, turning to assess if the air had cleared.

"Of course Mistress. I Love Cherish, and Obey," he beamed with pride from the spontaneous affection I granted.

He moved to follow me, but a single finger snap made him double-over as he came hard in his pants, screaming the chant and especially my name. 

"I said, don't keep me waiting..." I threatened again, giggling this time as his wrecked body moved to obey against the sudden fatigue and immediately appeared right next to me. 

From the doorway, I used G-magic to keep the mixture from affecting either of us, letting the magic work throughout the room before telekinetically opening the windows and expelling the paralytic agents outside to dissolve.

Soon jeremy was between my legs again, a satiated dick producing a grateful tongue as I gave each of the troublemakers a strong dose of G-Concilium, securing them for permanent conditioning. I especially gave Esmeraude the last bit of energy I could muster for pre-conditioning; I had no idea my redheaded doll would be the most viably challenging and interestingly-valuable of them all, and it still feels like I'm scratching the surface with what she might have to offer. 

As I'm writing this, I'm sitting in the shop half a day later, still sore and recovering, still licking my wounds. Being rescued by a slave was demoralizing enough, but with how close it could've gone the other way certainly didn't help. I'm not even sure what this trial was supposed to be; probably just seeing if I could replicate how I got Connie; even if I could call it a success with Lawrence, I failed in handily putting two thirds of a controlled trio down. The closed sign on the shop might be up for a good long while while I get my shit together, and start securing control of the few sleeping bodies tied up near Esther's bed that I'm lounging in, with Esther cuddling up, and jeremy sleeping at the side of it like a puppy.

The second floor of the shop is Esther's apartment, and she's been more than happy to show me the inside and outs of everything around, including traps and tools even her witchy sisters knew about; Esther and jeremy have worked to make it a home away from home with all the creature comforts I could ask for. I'd love to have them all back at the apartment to mindfuck like with Esther, but it's too small a space; even with controlled neighbors, I wouldn't risk the kind of ruckus two witches and a troubleshooter could make if things went wrong again. Not to mention, pride kind of keeps me rooted as I feel unwilling to let any of them leave as their old selves; their homefield advantage will soon be my extended-homefield advantage.

With her firmly under several spells of mine, she would be ready to complete my initial collection, and hopefully answer a few pressing questions.