The Witch's Cousins

"Before I was sent to the orphanage, I got a visit from one of Dad's friends. He told me he thought that the reason Dad died was that he had found out the mining company was releasing toxic sludge into the water, and that he was getting ready to make a huge stink about it. Go to the press, that sort of thing. That he and Mom were run off the road by company thugs

"If it was true, I never heard anything more about it. I was sent to an orphanage, since I didn't have any other living relatives, and a few weeks later Grant showed up.

"He was working as a minister in the area. His wife wanted a kid, and Grant couldn't give her one. I don't know who he bribed or what he did, but I was packed off with him and Rachel less than a day after we first met.

"Since then, I've been dragged around half the country. Grant's nuts, you see?" he said to the Chamberlains. "He's not like most evangelicals. Even the crazies can't stand him. So he gets kicked out of every job he lands after a few months."

"So you moved up here a few weeks ago, decided to make a break for it, met Hilda, and here you are," said Sybil. She had a thoughtful frown on her face. "What about your schooling? It doesn't seem like you would have had much of a chance to build up a transcript."

Steve sighed. "I don't think I ever spent much over a semester in any school after my parents were killed. My transcript is a mess. I was hoping to get a GED and then take enough classes at a community college to transfer into a real school."

"Eleanor might be able to help you with that," Agatha said. Eleanor nodded.

"I'll make some calls during my lunch break tomorrow. You'll probably have to take a few tests to show you have the basic knowledge you need."

"I have the knowledge," Steve said, with a faint edge of frustration. "What I don't have are the grades, because every time I got settled into a school, Grant would get arrested for trespassing against an abortion clinic, or protesting a gay pride parade, or would just alienate his congregation so much they would chew through their own arms to get rid of him."

"Okay, then," said Hilda. She looked around at the rest of the table. "If no one else is going to tackle the six-hundred-pound gorilla, I will. Religion? I told you yesterday that my family and I are pagans. We worship the Goddess. Do you have any problem with that?"

Steve shrugged. "Not really. My parents weren't religious. I think we attended Church of Christ services when I was a kid. After the last seven years I can't wait to stay away from it. Worship whoever you feel like. Not my business."

Eleanor was next. "Girlfriend? Significant other?" John thought he saw several pairs of eyes sharpen as he answered the question.

"I haven't been here long enough to meet anyone," he said. "Heck, I know you people better than I know anyone else in Iowa."

A short silence fell. Claire looked around the table. "Anyone else?" she asked. "Okay then. We'll go from youngest to oldest, just like usual. John?"

John shrugged, "Aside from being a Cub fan, I've got no beef. Sure. Let him stay."

"Susanna?"

Susanna laid a hand lightly on Steve's arm, raising goosebumps. "He smells nice. Yes."

"Agatha?"

Agatha nodded slowly. "Don't see why it is my business whether he stays or goes, but he seems a decent guy. Yes."

"Hilda?"

"I recommended him to you, didn't I? Hell yes."

"Eleanor?"

"What Hilda said. I wouldn't have brought him here if I thought he was a creep. Yes."

"Sybil?"

Sybil drummed her fingers slowly against the table, then looked up and gave a grin, startling in her usually calm face. "Sis, this is going to be the best thing we've done since the kids were born. Shit yes, let him in. And may the Goddess have mercy on Calvin flipping Grant."

"And I vote yes, as well," Claire concluded. She flipped over a page of her notebook and gave Steve a firm look. "So here's the deal.

"You said you have a job lined up, right?"

Steve nodded, hands shaking. It was going to happen! "Yes, I applied for a job with IDOT at the computer at the library last month when we moved in. I'm going to be working as a flagger on the construction on I-35, starting Tuesday."

"And your transportation out there?"

"IDOT has a bus for the road crews. I'll walk to the bus stop, and back here in the evening."

Claire pursed her lips. "That might work. Or we might be able to drop you off. We'll talk about it.

"Monthly rent for the basement will be two hundred dollars a month. If you want, you can buy and cook your own food. Or you can eat meals with us. We're nearly done with May, so we won't even bother pro-rating the rent. First payment is due on June thirtieth."

Steve rocked back in his chair. Two hundred a month? The unfurnished apartments he had looked at were over twice that. And meals paid for, if he wanted? What was the catch? The offer had to have a hidden trap.

"Can I see the basement?" he asked.

"Considering you might be living there, you darn well better," replied Claire. Rising from the table, she led him through the family room and to the staircases. One led up, the other down.

"The only bathroom with a shower or tub is upstairs," she said. "So I'm afraid you'll be doing some climbing. There's a half-bath in the basement, though. The rest of the second floor is off-limits. Those are our bedrooms."

They walked downstairs, Susanna, John, and Eleanor tagging along. Claire turned on the lights.

Steve's eyes widened. Compared to his tiny room in the run-down house he had shared with Calvin and Rachel, this was a paradise. A short hallway led into a large room which opened out to his left. Against the near wall was a large sofa. Opposite, against the far wall, was a TV. A couple of small bookshelves stood nearby, stuffed with old paperbacks and comics that the children evidently could not bear to throw away. The floor was covered with a beige carpet, worn but clean. A box of old toys sat in one corner.

"The sofa opens out into a bed," said Claire. "I've left sheets, blankets, and pillows on the floor for you. If you want to bring down your own mattress and box-spring, we'll help you set it up. You can use our towels for the bath, but you'll do your own laundry. There is a washer and dryer upstairs. The TV is hooked into our satellite dish. Watch what you want.

"You can decorate as you please, but you'll pay for any damage you do to the walls and carpet. There's a mini-fridge over there you can use to keep your own food if you like.

"Well, what do you think?"

Steve turned to the four of them. He smiled. "I'll take it. John, will you help me bring my things in?"

John and Steve clomped up the stairs. Susanna and Claire turned to Eleanor. Claire was shaking as the primal force of Steve's power finally withdrew.

"Goddess, I know you warned us, Ellie, and Hilda, too, but...he's..."

"Overwhelming? I think so, too. It's...different than Johnny. More raw. Maybe Johnny would have hit me like that if I had seen him when he first crossed..." She reached into her shirt and quickly unclasped her bra. Ignoring her mother's look, she shoved the garment behind the couch.

"He would," said Susanna. She was trembling with need and one hand was stuffed lewdly down her shorts, fingers thrusting urgently, "He affected me like that the first night. I could tell that something was wrong, but when he came into the kitchen, I just lost it."

"He's going to come back down, soon," whispered Eleanor. She jerked towards the stairway and gasped. "Mom, Susie. You've got to help me. I need something to take the edge off. To blunt the pull. Otherwise..."

Claire looked at her older daughter in alarm. Eleanor was red-faced and panting, upper lip beaded with sweat, the tips of her nipples, hard as pebbles, poking through the thin cloth of her shirt.

Susanna stepped forward quickly. "Watch the stairs, Momma," she said, and with three quick movements had pushed Eleanor onto the arm of the couch, opened her shorts, and pulled them and her panties to the floor. Kneeling on the carpet, she pushed Ellie's thighs apart and clamped her mouth down onto her sister's dewy love-vessel.

"Mmmmphhh!!!" groaned Ellie. Her hips bucked in a staccato rhythm against Susie's hot mouth. Oh Goddess. Her tongue was everywhere, now thrusting deep into her channel, now flicking her clit, now lapping her lips with long, deft strokes.

Eleanor reached down and grabbed Susanna's hair, holding her in place while she thrust her aching mound against her sister's tongue. She pushed her shirt up over her tits so her free hand could roll and squeeze her burning nipples.

Her orgasm came crashing down upon her like a lightning strike. Her thighs clamped around Susanna's head like a vice while her hips and head thrashed wildly. She closed her mouth around her screams of ecstasy, so all that emerged from her was a long, drawn out groan like a muffled sneeze.

Recovering some slight degree of reason, Eleanor heard her mother chatting cheerfully with John and Steve at the foot of the stairs. Only a daughter's ears could make out the slight edge of panic in Claire's voice. Grabbing Susanna by the wrist, she ran into the bathroom, nearly tripping on her shorts and panties, which were tangled around her ankles. She made sure to slam the door hard enough for everyone to hear.

She turned the faucet on to cover the sound of their voices. "Fuck, I needed that. Thanks, Susie." She pulled a bunch of tissue out of the box and used it to wipe down her crotch. Throwing it in the toilet, she rearranged her clothes, then hugged her sister tightly and kissed her gently on the lips. "If John can't keep you satisfied, come visit me someday."

Leaving Susie wide-eyed behind her, she opened the door back up, smiling cheerfully at John, Steve, and her mother. They had deposited the boxes on the floor, and Steve was rummaging through his knapsack. Opening an inner pocket, he gently took out three small, framed pictures. One showed a newlywed couple, smiling in gown and tuxedo. The woman was small and fair, with rosy cheeks and blue eyes. The man was much taller, with wavy light brown hair and dark brown eyes.

The second picture showed the same woman, a little bit older, holding a baby in her arms, looking down on him with an expression of infinite tenderness and love.

The last picture was taken at a park in fall. To the right, a small waterfall tumbled over moss-covered rocks, falling in a pool at the feet of the family. Behind them, trees clad in autumn beauty marched skyward in ever-higher ranks. The couple was sitting on a rock, their arms around the waist of a young boy, around ten years old, who was standing between them. They were all grinning for the camera as if nothing in the world could ever take away their happiness.

"Look at you," said Susanna cheerfully, holding the second picture. "You look like a little red burrito. So cute."

"Your parents?" asked Eleanor softly, nodding at the other photos. Steve nodded, wiping his cheeks with his shirt tail. Behind her, she could hear the air hiss between Susanna's teeth as she took in Steve's well-muscled stomach.

"They never stopped loving you," said Claire, her voice deep with prophecy. "Even at the end, their last thoughts were of you.

"For now, though, you are safe with us. We'll protect you as long as you need it.

"Come on upstairs when you are ready. And Steve?"

Steven Johnson, who had been orphaned and abandoned for seven years, looked up, his eyes bright.

"Welcome to the family."

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Our story will continue soon, in "The Witch's Graduation," as the Chamberlain family and their new friend struggle to adjust to the changes which have occurred in all of their lives.