“Who are you?” Lila asked, staring into a pool of oozing evil.

“You’re messing with my pet, so I’m the one who does the questions around here,” the witch inhabiting Cindy’s body and mind replied.

“In the name of the Congregatio Magica, I demand you tell me your name.”

“The Congregatio, you say? So, you’re one of those who play by the rules, huh? I don’t answer to those fools so why should I answer you?”

“Leave this poor woman alone! You have no right to control her like this.”

“On the contrary, my little fool. A deal was struck that gave me all the rights. She’s mine to do as I please, and that includes taking her meat sack for a spin whenever I feel like it. As for you, well, not only are you trespassing, you seem to have a death wish. Shall I grant it to you right now for daring to come after something that belongs to me?”

“The binding ritual you used is unnatural and has no place in this world. If you don’t undo it immediately, I’ll have no choice but to report you to the highest authorities so that you’re captured and brought to justice.”

“Justice? Ah!” Not-Cindy cackled. “The Council has never been interested in that. The hypocrites that preside over it are all about power and the rules they’ve created don’t respect our kind. Instead, they stifle us and keep our potential in chains. You’d do well to free yourself from their influence as I did, young witch. Now, are you going to tell me what I want to know or not?”

“I will tell you nothing.”

“Very well then. Let’s just poke this vessel’s memories to see what we’ve got. Hmm... Lila, huh? And you know her man, Quentin? Interesting! Is that why you risked confronting her today?”

“He’s not her man!” Lila retorted, thinking of Penelope and how she would feel listening to this. 

“It is now.”

“Is this your doing as well? What could you possibly gain from ruining another person’s happiness?”

“Oh, you think happiness has anything to do with this? Honey, when you’ve got a puppet to play with, it’s just fun to do whatever you want. Manipulating her into seducing someone else is nothing but a game. I couldn’t care less about the consequences and neither should you.”

“How can you say that? What kind of person is so cruel?”

“One who has lived a lot and gets bored easily. For instance, I’m getting tired of this conversation already.”

“Then leave us. Let Cindy be.”

“Hmm, no... I’m not giving away my possession to a meddling woman who should have known better than to mess with forces beyond her control. I don’t think you’ve realized the mistake you’ve just made, Lila.”

“I’m not afraid of you.”

“You should be...” the possessed puppet opened up her mouth far and wide to reveal a demonic smile with the depth of a never-ending abyss. “Being so reckless has its consequences. Here’s a little taste.”

The walls of the mausoleum started shaking as if the place had become the epicenter of a localized earthquake. A swirl of magic irradiated from the enchanted woman’s fingers, purple sparks cracking the air. The sparks combined into an orb of pure hate and hit the unprepared Lila in the chest. She rolled backward against a stone casket, her entire world electrified by the ferocious assault.

“How can she channel her power like this?” Lila thought as she tried to pull herself together. Her back was hurting in more places than she thought humanly possible and there was a stream of fresh crimson blood running down her neck. “Fuck!” she exclaimed.

“Aww, did that hurt? How about this?” her opponent looked down at her as she siphoned more energy from parts unknown. Cindy closed her right fist and made a squeezing sound as if she was holding Lila’s heart and grinding it to dust.

Lila felt the pressure building inside her chest and gasped. She had never experienced such a raw power before and it was absolutely terrifying. Unable to stand up, she pressed her hands together and muttered an old incantation her mother had taught her when she was young. As the words flowed through her lips like crystalline water from an untouched spring, she projected a shield around her body strong enough to temporarily disrupt the flow of evil energy trying to hurt her.

“Ah, it seems you’ve got some skill,” the evil witch said. “But as powerful as you think you are, you’re no match for me even from a distance.”

The rumble at Lila’s feet intensified, small fissures popping up on the ground. Out of them, rose a black mist that slipped through her defenses and burned her lungs. With eyes drenched in tears and struggling to breathe, she pushed her head against the stone funerary box and phased through it and out of the building, landing with her sore back on the wet grass. Still coughing, she stood up and stumbled her way back to her car while the nefarious woman’s voice rang inside her mind.

“Leaving so soon, Lila? Now that we were starting to have some real fun?”

“You’re not welcome here. Get out!” Lila growled, opening the driver’s seat door. 

“Oh, honey... You should have answered my questions. When I’m done with you, you’re going to wish you were never born.”

“I said, GET OUT!” Lila screamed, expelling the evil presence from the inside out. She grabbed the wheel, threw the car into reverse, and drove away from the graveyard, fully aware that she was no match for her adversary. Already outside the graveyard’s grounds, she did a 180 and pushed forward, away from the madness that had almost claimed her life. She drove for about twenty minutes straight, ignoring all traffic signs and almost causing an accident or two until she stopped in the middle of nowhere, her head buried between her shoulders, every muscle in her body resenting the sharp pain they had been exposed to. Her lips still carried the taste of the toxic miasma that had enveloped the mausoleum, a mix of coal and death.

This was bad. Whoever the woman pulling the strings on Cindy’s body was, she was using more than blood magic to project her torturous will. The hate and contempt in her voice suggested a soul with centuries of experience, most of them undoubtedly dedicated to honing her twisted arts. And now, she knew her name and had seen her face through her puppet’s eyes while Lila had gained no other insight besides this. Could things have possibly gone worse?

Lila took a deep breath and mustered a soft healing breeze, a magic balm that ran from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. It was like having a lover gently tickle you. She leaned her sore head against the seat and closed her eyes to allow the curative spell to work faster.

Almost instantly, she was assaulted by images of Cindy waking up in the mausoleum to the realization of what she had been forced to do. More than often, those who were possessed were spared the burden of memory to facilitate further intrusions down the line, but Lila suspected her owner wouldn’t be so gracious. Their all-too-brief interaction had already revealed her nemesis’ penchant for physical pain, so psychological torture wasn’t out of the question either. How long had this been going on, and how many times had the poor woman been taken against her will like that? The Council had to be informed as soon as possible.

Lila grabbed her smartphone and punched in the secret number to the Congregatio Magica’s headquarters. Only a select few witches and warlocks possessed this information and she had her mother’s service to thank for it. Even if she turned out to be right and bureaucracy won over a swift and decisive action, there was nothing worse than being silent, especially after being attacked without mercy.

A sweet melody rang in her ears before being replaced by a robotic voice, not unlike those of old telephone exchange systems. It welcomed her into the Council’s midst with a simple command.

“Please state the nature of your inquiry and hold.”

Lila wet her lips and said, “My name is Lila Walters, registered as LYI296/7, and I’d like to report a violation of the London Accords. There’s a witch living in my hometown that has resurrected the old binding rituals. She has already enslaved a woman to do her bidding but it’s possible that there are more victims already. After being confronted with her illegal actions, she attacked me and tried to call me. I hereby request a direct intervention by the Council against this perpetrator as well as additional magical protection for me, my friends, and my family.”

There was a moment of silence as if the magically powered AI she was talking to was processing and analyzing every piece of information it had just received. Lila could almost hear the cogs in its mechanical brain registering and dissecting every red flag in her speech.

“Those are very serious accusations,” it eventually said. “Are you sure this is the statement you wish to be recorded and are you willing to subject yourself to a physical and mental examination to determine their veracity?”

“Of course, otherwise I wouldn’t have made this call. I had to use healing magic on myself to recover after the attack but you can still find plenty of traces of my adversary’s spells on my body. You are welcome to scan my memory as well. We can have the verification happen right now to get the inquiry going. Please advise.”

“One moment, please.”

Lila sighed. She missed the days when artificial constructs weren’t everywhere and reaching out to the Council meant talking to a friendly voice on the other end of the line no matter how much she had to wait to hear it. The advancements in technology had led to the creation of increasingly complex soulless mechanisms that were effectively destroying the very fabric of magic from within, and she hated it. Nostalgia isn’t always the best adviser and looking at things with rose-tinted glasses can make your brain hurt but, in this case, the good old days were definitely better.

As she waited for the AI to reach a decision, she thought of her mother and all the work she had done when she was young. The power of oversight was extremely exhausting and yet so rewarding when everything fell into place. The Congregatio Magica had lost one of its best assets when she stepped down and none of her replacements had come any closer to reaching the same heights.

She was still lost in cogitations when the disembodied voice spoke again,

“Miss Walters, the Council has agreed to hear your complaint to determine the need for a formal investigation into this matter or not. Because of the severity of the allegations, we are ready to expedite this process. Please remain where you are while a portal is being prepared to bring you to this facility. In the meantime, is there anything else I can help you with?”

“Like I said, following this unfortunate incident, I now fear for the lives of those dear to me. Can preemptive surveillance measures be deployed while the hearing takes place? My mother has been a part of the Council for many years. If not for me, then do it for her, please.”

“I understand your concerns but no such measures may be authorized before the preliminary hearing. We will do our best to address the situation provided the evidence you present is clear. Do you know the name or the registration number of the offending witch?”

“No, I do not and it’s possible she’s not registered at all. During our altercation, she showed nothing but disrespect toward the institution. I would like for that fact to be also taken into account,” Lila declared.

The robotic voice went silent again as it added the new info to its records. This was a big deal. Unregistered witches and warlocks had always been the bane of the Council for they often threatened the secrecy of their existence. If that didn’t get their blood boiling and ready to act, then nothing else would.

Lila’s healing spell faded away the moment the AI addressed her one last time,

“Your portal is ready, Miss Walters. If there’s nothing else for now, then I shall deploy it and we will continue this in the proper venue. Are you ready to be transported here?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be. See you on the other side.”

A bright yellow orb descended from the heavens and hovered over her vehicle. It was completely invisible to the human eye but any witch with a minimum of training could see it without even thinking about it. She stretched her right index finger to touch it and was sucked inside its depths before being shot halfway across the city. Little did she know that her tribulations were only getting started.

((to be continued))