Bewitched & Bothered
Description
Leonora 'Lena' Winterhaven is a witch on a dry spell. Somehow, she is the only one left in her coven (and possibly all of New York!) to still have her virtue intact at the age of twenty-nine. This would be fine and dandy, if not for a particular curse that afflicts one Winterhaven witch every half-century. Lena just happens to be that unlucky witch. If she remains a virgin by the age of thirty, Lena is in danger of losing all of her powers forever. And for Lena, forever is much too long a time to live without an enchanted shoe collection, perfectly-conjured cups of cappuccino every morning, nor the ability to deep clean her studio apartment with a snap of a finger. But what's a witch to do when these are her options? Vampires? Terribly morbid. Warlocks? Too self-absorbed. Werewolves? Absolutely frowned upon. ...even though Alpha Magnus MacCallan ignites her inner desires stronger than hellfire. 'What We Do in the Shadows' meets 'Sex & the City' in this enchanted tale of sexual awakening! Get ready for a journey filled with chills, thrills and cauldrons full of laughter ☆
Chapter 1
May 11, 2023
He breathed out against my cheek, the warmth sending delicious ripples down the length of my trembling body.
A whimper escaped my parted lips as I opened my eyes.
Mist.
I could barely see anything, but it didn't matter, because whatever he was doing made me want to shut my eyes anyway, to relish in the all-consuming pleasure he offered.
Him.
He was strong.
Big . . . in every sense of the word, and as he rocked in and out of me with an insatiable urgency, I inched closer and closer to a kaleidoscopic release.
And here when my world was soon to shatter, he leaned into my ear and hoarsely whispered words so filled with raw, pulsating need.
"Come to me."
✫ September 30th, 10pm ✫
"That's it?"
I nodded grimly at my Coven sister, Lucy. "Yeah," I answered after a drawn-out breath. "Then I wake up."
Lucy's violet eyes glazed over with wanton desire. "I need a smoke."
It echoed my own sentiments. "You and me both."
"And you've been having these dreams for a while now?"
"More often nowadays than before."
"How odd."
My sister Lucy (more accurately distant cousin) began scratching her chin and I could practically hear the gears in her head turning. Pausing for Lucy to stew in her thoughts, I took a sip of my capuccino. The bitterness woke me up a little, but not enough. When my eyes travelled to the baroque-style mirror on the adjacent wall, the sight of my reflection nearly knocked me off the kitchen stool.
Yikes.
I couldn't be bothered to put on concealer today, so the dark circles made the purple in my irises pop, and not in a good way.
Lucy clicked her tongue. "Sounds to me like a prescience dream."
"Well, either that or I'm just really horny."
I always was.
At that, Lucy laughed in a light, ladylike manner that I never quite mastered.
As if on cue, the kitchen doors magically swished open to reveal a shapely figure dressed in a floor-length silk robe in the deepest hue of midnight purple, slinky inner dress and sky high stilettos. The official Winterhaven garb.
I couldn't help but stare at Elder Lyrina, the Head of our Coven. For someone over three centuries old, the Elder was, to put it bluntly, outrageously hot. Her smokey, dark makeup contrasted the strands of silver in her otherwise auburn hair, which she wore swooped up in a low chignon to emphasise her slender neck.
"Lucinda, Leonora, I knew I'd find you two near food," she teased, violet eyes gleaming.
"Elder," Lucy and I greeted in acknowledgement.
"Lucinda, I need you to help Lexor with the bouquet arrangement for the meeting later." The Elder threw her hands up in exasperation. "The poor warlock has no idea what he's doing."
"Right away, Elder," my sister diligently replied and with a snap of her fingers, teleported herself away, leaving only a glittery puff of smoke in her stead.
A brief silence hung in the air as Elder Lyrina stood in front of me, scrutinising. Before the awkwardness stretched any longer, I cleared my throat and nodded to the mug of coffee in my hands.
"Coffee?"
Elder Lyrina's wine red lips parted into a polite smile. "No, thank you. I'm already anxious enough with the Dark Society meeting tonight." After a beat, she inquired, "How are you doing on your own, Leonora?"
I tried not to look too smug. "You know you don't have to worry about me, Elder."
The Elder dismissively waved. "How can I not lose sleep over a witch who left the safety of this Coven?
Here we go.
Five years ago, I traded the Winterhaven Compound for a nice townhouse in the Village and never looked back. As an enchanter, there was technically no need for me to have a job, seeing that I could conjure up dollar bills on a whim.
In all honesty, I would've stayed an obedient Winterhaven witch, if not for my five-year old self stumbling across my late mother's collection of fashion magazines. Whilst my brothers and sisters were busy memorising spell books, I buried my nose in vintage Vogue and Elle.
By the time they aced their first elemental spell, I learned the magic of dressing to impress.
I wanted to be more than just a witch. So, I made my dreams of being a freelance fashion stylist a reality and survived just like any regular mortal would, paying bills with hard-earned cash.
Although, there had been times where I came up short and money would magically appear from thin air.
What was a witch to do when she had a shoe addiction and steep rent to pay?
"I'll never understand how you can stand living among mortals, when you can live with your own kind right here." Elder Lyrina scrunched up her nose at the notion.
"I like mortals—they're funny!"
"If by funny you mean helpless, then yes."
I snickered, because we had this same conversation five years ago when I first asked for the permission to leave. The Elder was apprehensive at first, but after searching my soul (literally, she used a spell), she relented after seeing how earnest I was. However, there were obligations to the Coven that I still had to keep.
One of them being the main reason I was currently back at the compound.
The Dark Society of New York was having a General Meeting and everyone from the Four Factions (Enchanters, Vampires, Werewolves and Creatures) was required to attend.
The meeting was a big deal, because two names would be drawn at random from each Faction to form an organising committee for the coming Dark Masquerade Ball.
The Ball only happened once every decade and as tradition, it was held on Halloween.
Which coincidentally happened to be my birthday, too.
For every immortal living in New York, the event was very important.
The Ball, to be clear, not my birthday.
"Enough about mortals," Elder Lyrina moved to occupy Lucy's seat across the kitchen island. "One more month until the Ball, and I already foresee a migraine of magnanimous proportions."
"Tell me about it." I set the mug down definitively, "The last Ball ended up with me lying catatonic, next to my toilet. I can't imagine what Lucy has in store for me now that I'm turning thirty."
Elder Lyrina (thankfully) missed the unladylike comment and broke into a surprised gasp. "I beg your pardon, Leonora, I keep forgetting you were born on All Hallows' Eve!"
"It's okay, Elder. You have the Ball to worry about."
She pursed her lips. "I'll be keeping the werewolves and witches from each others' throats the whole night."
"Ah, the brutes," I muttered, even though I've never directly conversed with one.
"Even so, they are liberated brutes and part of the Four Factions, so we'll have to treat them as such."
I shot her a cheeky grin. "So you think they're brutes too?"
Elder Lyrina let out a weary sigh. "Never mind what I think. Anyway, now that you're turning thirty, at least I have one thing less to worry about."
"And what's that?"
"You'll finally be free of the Winterhaven Curse." The Elder's eyes were wide, as if she was surprised I was even asking.
I frowned.
"What Winterhaven Curse?"
A pin-drop silence ensued, and Elder Lyrina's ruby lips flattened into a line.
"Leonora," she started, her voice unnaturally even, "you've never heard of the Curse?"
A feeling of dread climbed up the back of my throat, like prickly vines of Ivy.
"What curse?"
✫ September 30th, 11:30pm ✫
"I am so fucked, and not in the sense that I should be!" I snapped, massaging my temples in an effort to soothe my nerves. Feeling increasingly hot under my cloak, I unfastened the brass clasps and let it slide off my shoulders, but I was still burning up.
"How come you never mentioned it?" I turned to Lucy, who was at the wheel of her aged Mini Cooper and cruising at an agonisingly slow speed.
Lucinda Winterhaven was the most precarious witch I knew and normally, I found it charming. I adored my sister, but when it came to driving, all her charm flew out the window and I wanted to strangle her most of the time.
This was one of those times.
I inwardly cursed, wishing I brought my portable broomstick instead. At this rate, it would take us a century to reach the Dark Society Meeting.
"I always assumed that you knew! In my defence, I thought you lost your virginity ages ago to Teddy," said Lucy. "You never did it with Teddy? Not even a drunken romp?"
An unpleasant shiver went down my spine at the mention of my slimy ex. Theodore Braun (real surname: Brazog) came from a long line of Ghouls who fed on mortal greed. He was as ruthless as he was sexy, so it was no wonder he worked as a Wall Street Broker.
"Well, I would've, if he hadn't cheated on me with that Tree Nymph."
"Ylvaine?" Lucy asked.
"With a Y," I confirmed, almost in a groan.
My relationship effectively ended two years ago, when I found small twigs in his hair one night. It didn't take him long before he admitted that the stains on his slacks were actually tree sap.
I'd been with Teddy since I was eighteen and after him, I found it hard to date again. When it came to sex...let's just say there was a favourite spell of mine that materialised hyper-realistic fantasies guaranteed to keep any virgin witch satisfied.
Who needed actual, awkward interrelations when I could have it exactly how I wanted it, with fantasy men who coincidentally resembled the Riverdale cast?
"I thought I had more time." My voice squeaked in my ears. "I didn't want to throw myself at any or everything that came around."
That wasn't true. I knew the real reason why I stayed a virgin all these years, but I wasn't about to dive into it with Lucy.
"What choice do you have now?" Lucy reasoned. "If you don't do the deed by your birthday, there's a possibility you'll lose all your powers and you'll be—"
"Ordinary," The word tasted sour on my tongue.
Surprisingly, Lucy didn't look as worried because her sunny disposition was still, well, sunny.
"Don't worry about it, Lena. The Curse happens to one witch every half-century, right? Maybe you won't get it!"
I looked at her pointedly. "Elder Lyrina said that one of the Afflicted witches thought so too. And then she spent her life in Long Island with ten cats, collecting cornflakes that look like celebrities."
Lucy ignored me. "You're young, gorgeous and funny! It shouldn't be too hard finding someone who'll gladly deflower you in a month or so."
Even though she said it with utmost confidence, I was extremely sceptical.
"When did you lose yours?" I tried to shift the focus and Lucy's cheeks reddened instantly.
"Earlier this year."
"To who?" My posture straightened with great interest.
"A young warlock named Oscar Radagast. We drank too many toad's brew during the annual Enchanters tennis meet, and had sex in a broom closet."
I gasped and swatted her arm playfully. "You naughty witch! How was it?"
Lucy bit her lip before speaking, "Scratchy. I still remember the bristles on my bare ass."
"Sounds . . . lovely?"
"Lena, it was forgettable. And he smelt kinda funky."
"See!" I exclaimed, vindicated. "This is what I'm talking about. I just want my first time to be magical. Is that too much to ask?"
Lucy hummed in agreement. "Who knows, maybe you can start listing down candidates tonight at the meeting?"
I pondered at the idea. "Oh?"
"The Four Factions are going to be there. And if you're industrious enough, you could sneak off to break the Curse during the meeting."
"That's brilliant, Lucy," Lena uttered sarcastically.
"I always am."
"The only thing is, if we're going to make the meeting itself..."
"Uh-huh?" Lucy verbalised when I didn't finish my sentence.
"You better speed the goddamn up."
Bewitched & Bothered
43 Chapters
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