The Cursed Tattoo Pt. 10

The audience erupted and the ref blew the whistle. Someone had fouled Hannah so Ryan stood up to get a better view. Candice got up, too. The opponent got a straight red and Hannah was fine. People sat back down. The free kick was too far from goal to be really dangerous.

"Are you going to just stay there?" Ryan said, after a while.

"I've got my eyes on you. I'm not going to let you forget that. Sooner or later, I will figure you out," Candice said.

The conversation was over but Candice stayed for the rest of the game. Hannah scored again. After the final whistle, Hannah saw them. She celebrated with her teammates, caught her breath, and toweled off. Then she made her way over.

Hannah looked suspicious, and maybe a bit peeved. "You're the cop, right?" she said. Candice just nodded.

"You're not..." Hannah said, to Ryan. She raised and eyebrow and let the unsaid question hang in the air.

Ryan chortled. "I most certainly am not. She's here to save the girls from me, once she figures me out," Ryan said.

Hannah and Ryan both laughed.

"Okay. What the fuck, seriously? Did you think he was, what? Hitting on me?" Candice said.

"No. I just wanted to make sure he wasn't," Hannah said.

Candice got up. She was angry at herself. "If you ever need to talk to me in private, about anything, don't hesitate to call me," she said, and gave Hannah her card.

Hannah said down next to Ryan, but not too close, and they watched the cop walk off.

"She's going to be trouble, isn't she?" Hannah said.

"So, you're what, on my side now?" Ryan said.

"No. I'm on my mom's side. And if she's trouble for you, then she's trouble for us."

Hannah put her hand on Ryan's shoulder and he could not help but think that she was already a lot less afraid of him than she should be.

---

That night, Ryan lay awake in bed. With the girls all over him, he never had trouble sleeping, but sometimes he chose to take some time to think. He didn't really even need sleep, but he enjoyed the calmness of joining the sleeping girls.

Now, he was thinking about Candice Emerson. The cop was hot and it would be so easy for him to take her. Even with all of his girls, he still felt something toward Candice. The way she was challenging him made him want to tame her and show her her place. That was, of course, a horrible reason to make a go at her, but that didn't stop him from thinking about it.

He would, of course, do no such thing. Even thinking about it made him feel bad, like he was cheating on his girls -- even though he didn't deserve them, either. Desire was a strange thing.

Luckily, it was not such a big deal to him. He could let Candice go. She was an idle fantasy for him, like the fantasies any man would have. Many men were sometimes tempted by some other woman who temporarily caught their eye and then happily stayed with their significant other. The only difference here was that Ryan had a bunch of significant others. That should only make it easier for him forget about Candice, as soon as he could get her to forget about him. There had to be a way to make her lose interest, many ways, he just hadn't figured out a the best one, yet.

Meanwhile, he let his mind wander all over that tight body of hers -- her strong legs, and that outrageously slim waist. How soft would that big ass be? How would it jiggle if I slapped it? What was she hiding under her top? What would I find if I pushed my hands under there?

One of the girls was crawling on top of Ryan. She was tiny, so it had to be Erica. Ryan had popped a semi and sometimes the girls seemed to have sixth sense about things like that. Ryan smiled in the darkness and let her make her way up to kiss him. He hadn't heard her come into the room but that was because he had been almost asleep already.

But something was off, maybe the scent. Has Erica changed her perfume? He sneaked a peek at the clock on the night stand. It was much later than he had thought -- already early, in fact. He must have already nodded off at some point.

Ryan glanced down but he saw no one there. It was dark, but all he could see was himself -- no one on top of him. Lizzy and Melinda were to his sides. But Ryan definitely felt a weight on top him, and then a hand on his tattoo.

With a sudden twist, the tattoo started to burn. Ryan roared in pain. His arms were trapped under the sleeping girls but he squeezed his legs around the invisible assailant. There was definitely someone there. He could also feel the energy of the curse being drawn away from him. The door crashed open and the lights turned on.

Ryan heard Ellie shout a familiar word, but in a strange language. There was a strange jolt inside Ryan's body as the curse somehow reset itself. All of the energy was sucked back in, and in an instant, the energy started to flow normally again, completely overwhelming the woman in Ryan's lap.

She was visible now. It was the witch, the one who had given him the spell to begin with. Her hand was still on the tattoo and Ryan was still squeezing her tiny body with his legs. She had tried to take her spell back but Ryan could feel it was now affecting her, like it would any other woman.

Ellie was at the door. Something strange was going on, beyond the attack. Hearing the magical word Ellie had used made Ryan want to remember something -- something extremely important. Ryan's mind wanted to scream something into his consciousness. Something about a conversation he had had with Ellie, but he had no recollection of when it might have happened.

Ryan's scalp burned. It was as if someone was branding him with a hot iron. For some strange reason, he was sure there was another spell tattooed on his scalp, and somehow it had been activated. The magic word Ellie had used was the trigger for that unknown, second spell.

Annie, Remy, and Erica rushed into the room. Lizzy and Melinda had woken up and they had jumped off the bed. The girls gathered into one corner. They were not panicking, but they were worried.

Ryan tried to spike the witch with the energy but she didn't go out. She moaned, but stayed conscious. Ellie grabbed some rope from the treasure chest and climbed on the bed. Ryan Released the witch and Ellie tied her arms around her back. Then she tied her ankles to her wrists.

It looked like she had lots of experience in tying people up. Of course, it also helped that Ellie was wearing her flimsy dress. The thing never hid much, but with Ellie bending over and wrestling the other woman, it hid nothing.

Once Ellie was finished wrapping up the witch, Ryan was sure there was a bit of bondage going on there, and not just tying up a prisoner. The intricate and aesthetically suggestive rope arrangement seemed solid, though. The witch wasn't going anywhere.

Everyone waited in silence for a while. Ryan's girls eyed the newcomer with indignant, hostile curiosity.

The witch was a beautiful, petite Indian woman, or maybe Middle-Eastern. She was wearing the same kind of flimsy, "Arabian Nights" harem outfit as the first time they had met. Her big brown eyes were slanted and beautiful, and wide with adrenaline, and they were locked on Ryan. The look on the delicate woman's face did not falter but it was clear that inside, she was holding down a storm of emotions.

"Who's she?" someone said.

"She is the witch who originally gave me the curse," Ryan said. The girls now looked at her with newfound anger. But some of them soon realized they actually wanted to thank her for bringing Ryan -- and the curse, or blessing -- into their lives. "Maybe she could even help us lift it," Ryan added, making the situation even more complicated.

Ellie had considered gagging the witch but the prisoner had not made a sound. "Are you injured?" Ellie asked Ryan.

"No. I think she tried to take the curse back, but whatever you did, you made her fail. I think the curse got her, instead," Ryan said. He was about to mention the pain in his scalp but then something in Ryan's memories clicked into place. He was sure Ellie had put the second spell on him but he didn't know why he knew that. It felt like a secret.

"I'm guessing she doesn't she speak English?" Ryan simply said, hiding his own inner turmoil.

Everybody's attention turned back to the witch. Ellie started speaking to her in a strange language. The witch did not answer at first, but then the conversation heated up. By the time they were done, the witch had calmed down. It seemed like Ellie had managed to convince her about... something.

"She knows you are her Master now. She's thoroughly familiar with the curse so she understands her situation. She will not harm you," Ellie said.

Erica said some gibberish and everyone turned to look. The witch said something to her but Erica seemed confused. The witch repeated herself and Erica answered her. They both smiled.

"I think Ellie told the truth," Erica said.

Ellie was suspiciously tolerant of such a blatant subversion of her authority. Everyone made note of that. Erica started to unbind the exotic witch.

Once the witch was free, she lunged at Ryan. Everyone made a move to come at her so she cowered back. Then, she approached Ryan again, this time more slowly. He was sitting on the side of the bed. She bowed herself next to him and laid her head on his naked thigh. Then she wrapped her arms around it and held on tight. She kept muttering something to herself.

Ellie told Ryan she was praying for a just and magnanimous Master.

Ryan sighed. The whole incident had shaken him more than he would like to admit. The most horrible thing about it had not been the pain, but the horror. The realization that he was about to lose the curse had hit him hard. He had not let himself admit how much he loved the curse, and the life it had wrought for him.

It was clear the witch was about to join the harem but he could not look at her like that, not yet. She had just tried to take from him what he held now realized to be most dear. Then there was the business with Ellie and this second spell. That would have to be dealt with, too.

"Leave, everyone. I need to think," he said. No one moved. "Please?" he added. Some of the girls started to head out. Ellie looked at Ryan questioningly but he didn't react to her. She took the witch and headed out.

Annie was the last one. "I'll be fine. Please?" Ryan said, and she left, too.

In the darkness, he communed with his curse -- his blessing -- and set many things straight, in his mind. Little locks started opening. Little, artificial locks, and Ryan had no doubt about who had put them there. He learned about himself, but also about the nature of this ever evolving energy he was gaining more and more conscious control over.

The sun was already up when walked out, with a renewed understanding. The home was still quiet. The girls were all asleep. Only Ellie was in the living room, standing at her usual spot. Ryan stared at her like she had always stared at him. Neither moved or said anything but they knew they had a lot to talk about.