The Winter Doll

"So, let them leave a message."

"No, it might be important," she said climbing out of bed. She worried that the call was from Dr. Erickson calling to demand that she go to him. While she knew she would instantly obey his summons she did not want Chris to find out how much she needed to please him. She was sure that Chris would not understand that she loved Dr. Erickson and the way that he made her feel.

The air was cold on her naked body as she walked across the room to where her clothes were piled. Sorting through the clothes pile she pulled out her shorts and retrieved her phone from the pocket, pushed the talk button and held the phone to her ear.

"Hello," she said.

"Hey Joey, its Jessica. I need to talk to you."

"I'm kind of busy right now, can it wait till tonight?"

"I need to talk to you as soon as possible, you are in terrible danger. Please come back to the room. I'm sure that Chris can wait a little while."

"Jess, whatever it is I'm sure it can wait. I'll see you later," she said hanging up. She placed the phone back into the pocket of her shots and dropped back on the pile of clothes.

"What did she want," said Chris, still lying in bed.

"Some nonsense about me being in danger, you know how weird she gets," she said, walking back to the bed. She climbed back into bed and got under the covers next to Chris. As soon as she was under the covers her phone rang again. She decided to ignore it this time and stayed in bed.

"Aren't you going to get that?" he teased.

"No, it's probably Jessica again."

Chris pulled his arm out from under the covers and looked at his watch. "Damn," he said and started to climb out of bed.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"It's one thirty. I have practice in half an hour. You can stay here if you want. I should be back after four," he said, while he was changing into his practice clothes.

"Thanks, but I might as well go see what Jessica wants." She climbed out of bed and got dressed. She left the room after kissing Chris and promising to meet him for dinner. She went back to her own room where Jessica was sitting on her bed with her tarot cards spread out on the bed in front of her.

"So what's this terrible danger I'm in?" Joey asked sarcastically.

Jessica looked up from her cards. "Good, you're here. I was reading my cards just now and I think you are in trouble. Dr. Erickson is going to do something horrible to you."

"Like what? Whip my ass? Sell me as a whore? Make me watch while he fucks another woman? Too late he's already done it," replied Joey, standing by her bed with her hands at her hips.

"I know, but this is much worse."

"What do you mean you know?"

"I've seen what he has done to you. You don't think I haven't been watching you. I know about all the things he has made you do. But, this thing he has got in store for you is much worse than all of that.

"What's he going to do then?"

"I don't know what it is for sure, but I know it's bad. You need to stay away from him. He is an evil man."

"He won't do anything bad to me. He loves me."

"What?"

"He loves me, and I love him. He would never do anything to harm me."

"And that's why you were just fucking Chris?"

"I love Chris."

"And you love Dr. Erickson, apparently." Jessica said "Swyn canfod," under her breath and flicked her finger at Joey. Out of nowhere a purple glow appeared around Joey. She blinked her eyes but could see very little through the intense purple glow that surrounded her.

"I can't see," she screamed.

"Sorry. I thought so, he's got you under a charm," said Jessica. "Chwalu," she said, flicking her finger again and the purple glow around Joey disappeared.

"What just happened?" asked Joey.

"I cast a spell that detects charms. He cast a spell on you to make you love and obey him," said Jessica. "I'll try and remove it but it is going to take me a while. In the meantime, you need to stay away from him, no telling what he wants you to do."

As soon as Jessica had finished speaking Joey's phone rang. "Hello," she answered the phone.

"I need you to come to my apartment tonight," said Dr. Erickson's voice.

"Yes, sir."

"Be here at eight," he said and hung up.

"Yes, sir," Joey said to the empty phone line. She folded up her phone and put her phone back into her shorts.

"That was him wasn't it?" asked Jessica.

"Yes, he wants me down at his apartment at eight," said Joey, looking at the clock. It was just after two thirty.

"You can't go," said Jessica.

"But I have to."

"No, you can't go. I've read the cards; he has bad intentions toward you. I don't know for sure but if I had to guess I would say that he means to use you as some sort of sacrifice. Look, he is more than just a history professor. It takes a pretty powerful warlock to cast a spell as strong as that charm he has you under. You need to stay away from him."

"Look, if I want to go I'll go there's nothing you can do about it."

"We'll see about that."

--O--

Gregori did not understand why the goddess was so impatient this year. Every year, as winter was fading he had provided a life for her, and in exchange she had kept him alive for almost one hundred and fifty years. Now, for some reason she wanted her sacrifice early. It was not even December and already she was demanding a sacrifice.

That morning he had one of the recurring dreams that the goddess used to communicate her wishes. The dreams always started out with him walking across a field of snow with snow falling around him. It had been years since he walked through snow in his waking life, the main reason he had moved to California was that so he did not have to deal with snowy days like in his youth in Siberia. He could feel the cold wind on his skin as it seemed to cut right through his clothes. He always wondered that he should feel cold in a dream but each time she brought him to her, the wind cut through whatever he was wearing like a knife. As he trudged across the field he looked into the distance hoping to see the goddess, but all he could see through the falling snow was a tree line uphill about a half a mile away. Knowing that she would appear to him when she was ready, he walked onward toward the tree line, his feet sinking ankle deep in the snow.

He was nearly to the tree line when she appeared, as she always did, taking the form of a tall woman with long straight jet black hair, dressed in white furs. In contrast to her black hair, her skin was pale, without blemish, almost the color of the snow that surrounded her. She sat on a large throne of ice with what looked like wolves carved into it.

"Gregori, Gregori, come here my child," she called to him, beckoning him with her fingers.

He trudged across the final distance, and dropped to his knee and bowed his head when he reached her side. "My lady, what can your humble servant do for you?" he asked. He shivered, feeling the cold that seemed to radiate from her. He had always wondered if this place, where she brought him, was the home of the gods or some intermediate place used to interact with the mortal world. This time, as always, he was afraid to ask.

"I need my tribute. Winter will be short this year and I will need my tribute early. I have seen the one you have chosen for me and long to have her with me," she spoke with a voice that seemed to echo the howling of the cold wind.

"Yes, milady, I will have her for you soon."

"Good Gregori, I long to have her as a part of me. You have always been such a faithful servant. Perhaps I will reward you."

"I exist only to do your bidding, my lady."

"Go, go now and bring her to me."

He awoke from his sleep with a start. He did not know the reason why she wanted her annual sacrifice early, but it was not his part to question, only to serve. He would call Joey over that evening and begin the ritual that would call her to the Goddess.

Chapter 10

Joey sat on her bed, her back against the head board, with her hands tied behind her back and secured to the headboard. Her mouth in a pout, she silently watched Jessica as she used her laptop to search the internet for a spell to break the charm that Dr. Erickson had placed on her. Frustrated with her captivity, she leaned forward, again trying to pull her hands free of the rope that held them to the headboard, and again she could not pull her hands away.

Jessica had been adamant about not letting her go to Dr. Erickson's that evening and initially Joey decided that she would play along, figuring that eventually, when Jessica was not looking, she could sneak out of the dorm and go to his apartment, and the plan had worked until she and Chris came back from dinner.

"Chris, would you tie Joey to her bed," Jessica asked, when they got back to the room, handing a short piece of rope to Chris.

"What?" asked Chris.

"Jessica, don't drag him into your craziness," said Joey.

"Here watch," said Jessica, "Swyn Canfod," flicking her finger at Joey and again a purple aura surrounded her. Joey covered her eyes and collapsed on the floor. "That aura around her is a charm spell. She is under a charm spell and will do whatever Dr. Erickson commands her to do, and his intentions aren't all good."

"Dr. Erickson, that's her Russian history professor?" asked Chris.

"Yes, he is actually a powerful warlock and he is going do something horrible to her, I'm not sure what, but I'm worried about her."

Joey remained curled up on the floor enveloped in the purple aura. She started crying, unable to shake the aura.

"Joey," said Chris, bending over her, making sure she was all right.

"Chwalu," said Jessica flicking her finger and the aura disappeared.

"You have to let me go to Dr. Erickson, I love him," said Joey, crying.

"You what?" said Chris.

"You see," said Jessica, "he has her under a powerful charm spell. I am going to try and break it, but I need to do some research first. Tie her to her bed so that she can't get away. I'm afraid that whatever Dr. Erickson is planning I think it is going to happen tonight, and we need to keep her away from him."

Chris, without another word, grabbed Joey and used the piece of rope that Jessica had handed him, tying Joey's hands together behind her back and then after lifting her on to the bed tied her hands to the headboard.

"Let me go, you bastard," Joey cried trying to fight him.

Once he had finished securing Joey to the headboard Chris looked at Jessica, expecting more instructions.

"Let me go guys. The joke's over, let me go," complained Joey.

"Thank you, Chris. Do you know of anything that Dr. Erickson has given her? Sometimes charm spells are bound in an object. If that is the case we need to find the object that Dr. Erickson gave her that has the charm spell in it so that we can destroy it. Do you know of anything that he gave her, particularly an item of clothing?

"It could be the collar that she has been wearing?"

"Yes, it could be that," said Jessica.

"Dr. Erickson loves me. Why would he do anything to hurt me?"

Jessica walked across the room to where Joey was tied up, stuck finger under Joey's collar and examined it. "Yes, I can feel the magic in the collar. Give me another hour to look some stuff up and we'll leave for the Great Meadow around eight, the moon should be just coming up. Fortunately it's a waning moon tonight. Waning moon is always best for breaking spells."

"We're going to the Great Meadow?"

"Yes, it's the best place to cast a counter spell to break the charm." The "Great Meadow" was a large clearing in the grove of redwoods at the back of campus. The back part of the hill that Parnassus College was built on, called Fairyland by all the students, was a large grove of redwoods with trails throughout some of which led to the state park behind the college. Some students claimed that they had seen fairies in the woods, but based on the amount of alcohol and drug use that went on in those woods nobody took them seriously. Chris waited around while Jessica worked on her laptop, and looked on as Joey complained and begged to be untied, so much so that Chris was about ready to gag her, but decided that he better not, as he did not want to make her any angrier.

After Jessica completed her research she took a few minutes to pack the things she would need for the spell into her bag. "All right, I'm ready, go ahead and untie her," said Jessica

"Do you think that's wise? I mean, she might try to escape," said Chris.

"I'll come, I'll come, no need to go through all the drama. I'll come along, if for nothing else just to prove that all this charm spell stuff is nonsense," said Joey, pulling on her bindings.

"Okay, untie her," said Jessica.

Chris reluctantly untied Joey's hands and put the rope into Jessica's pack.

"That's better. So we are all going to go out into the woods so you can cast your phony spell. All right I'll play along," said Joey rubbing her wrists where they had been secured.

The three of them left the dorm and headed for the woods at the back of campus. It was just starting to get dark and the moon, about half full, was just above the horizon. They followed the paved road to its end and then entered the forest, taking the middle of the three paths into the woods, which led to the great meadow. They marched in line, with Jessica leading carrying a flashlight, Joey in the middle, and Chris bringing up the rear. It was a five minute walk from the end of the road to the great meadow and by the time that they got there it was completely dark. As they passed the last of the trees and entered the meadow, Joey made a break for it and ran off, heading for the trees halfway across the meadow.

"You go get her, Chris. Here is the rope. We should have left her tied up," said Jessica. "I'll start getting things ready here, you go get her."

Without a word Chris took the rope and headed after Joey.

Joey ran deeper into the woods following the first path she found leading away from the meadow. The woods were dark, but the faint moonlight shining through the branches of the trees was enough for her to see the path that she was running on. She ran as fast as she could for a few minutes, but soon she was gasping for breath and had to stop. After she stopped she huddled over, with her hands on her knees, and tried to catch her breath. Once her breathing had returned to normal she stopped for a few minutes and listened for the sounds of any pursuit. The woods were quiet and the only sound she heard was the chirping of crickets and the call of a distant owl. Satisfied that she had eluded Chris and Jessica she took out her cell phone and called Dr. Erickson.

"Hello," he answered.

"Sir, it's me Joey. I need your help, sir. My roommate and my friend Chris have taken me out into the woods behind campus. Can you come get me, sir?"

"The woods behind campus? Why did they take you there? You should be at my apartment by now."

"Yes, sir, I know. I'm sorry, Sir, but they think that you have put a spell on me and my roommate, who is a Wicca, is going to try to break it, or whatever."

"Where in the woods are you? I'm coming to get you."

"I'm not really sure where I am. I know they took me to the Great Meadow, but I got away from them and ran into the woods."

"Don't worry, I'll find you. I'm on my way," he said, hanging up the phone.

Joey put the phone away in her pocket. She had been so busy talking on the phone that she did not hear Chris, sneaking up on her. As soon as the phone was in her pocket Chris grabbed her from behind.

"Let, me go," she screamed.

Using his strength Chris pulled her arms behind her body and tied her wrists together and then throwing her over his shoulder he carried her back to the meadow. As he carried her, Joey kicked her feet trying to get away from him, but he was too strong and she could not break free of his grasp. When he got back to the meadow, in the moonlight he could see that Jessica had put large four candles out in the dirt area at the center of the meadow. Although most of the large clearing was covered with grass, years of students traipsing through had killed the vegetation in an area at the center of the meadow. He carried Joey to where Jessica was standing, at the center of the four candles.

"Go ahead and put her down. I guess we are going to have to hogtie her so she won't get away. Here is another piece of rope and a gag. Be sure that she is secure, once we start she can't leave the circle or the spell won't work."

Silently Chris went to work hogtieing Joey. While he worked she let loose a stream of abuse, commenting on his parentage, his hygiene, his fitness as a lover, and the size of his cock. Finally he got the gag over her mouth and the abuse was reduced to a mumble.

"Okay are we ready?" he asked Jessica.

Without saying a word Jessica took a container of table salt out of her bag. After opening the top, she spread it out on the ground making a circle on the dirt about fifteen feet in diameter, extending to where she had placed the candles. Then she then used the salt to fill a stolen dining hall coffee cup she took out of her backpack and stuck a stick of incense into it. Using a disposable cigarette lighter she lit a long white candle. She then used the candle to light the incense. "Okay, let's take a moment and think of good thoughts, how much we love our friend Joey and wish the best for her." Chris did his best to think good thoughts about Joey as he stood silently by Jessica, while Joey continued to struggle on the ground. He remembered all the fun times that he had had with Joey, when she had taken his virginity, the blow job that she gave him after she had left him tied up, and the amazing sex they had after breakfast together just that morning. He really did love her he decided. When the moment had passed Jessica took the long white candle hand walked over to the large candle on the eastern side of the circle. Lighting it she said,

"I call on the guardians of the east

Watch over us tonight from above

Let each who comes to our circle

Come only with the purity of love."

She repeated the same incantation to light the other three candles, next doing the south, the west and finally the north. After she had completed the circle she returned to the center where Chris stood and Joey lay struggling. She placed the white candle into a metal candlestick holder, with a ring at the base. Out of her pack she took a small double edged knife. Chris recognized it as the knife that Joey had used to cut him free after she left him tied to the headboard. Holding the knife over the white candle she began to chant,

Kerridwen, mother of wisdom, hear my call

Break the spell that binds our friend

Release her from enchantment's thrall

That she may be free to love again

After she had finished the chant she walked over to where Joey was. Slipping the end of the knife under the leather collar she cut it off, being careful not to cut Joey with the second edge. Once she cut through the leather band, she pulled it off of Joey's neck. With the end of the knife she punctured the leather strap and held it over the flame of the white candle. She repeated the chant again and the flame from the candle seemed to jump up and ignite the leather. Once the leather had caught on fire, she dropped it into the dirt at the base of the candle. It fell to the dirt and continued to burn.

As Chris was watching what Jessica was doing, he saw a light coming from the path that they had used to get to the great meadow. As the light grew larger he heard a voice calling "Stop, Stop." Jessica either did not hear or was ignoring the voice, she continued to chant as the leather collar burned. Chris watched as the light approached the circle. In the faint moonlight he could see that it was Dr. Erickson, holding a large metal flashlight.