Witch of Rutland

"Thank you for everything, Gilda," Tonya sighed as she and I stepped back to watch Glen.

"Just doing my job," I smiled and hugged her shoulders.

"You always go above and beyond, just like our school days. You risked your life to find me the instant you suspected something foul. No other witch would have been brave enough to do that."

"I can't take all the credit. Glen saved me three times already. Rutland would be doomed if it weren't for him. He is officially my new apprentice... and my new plaything," I whispered with a wink.

"Speaking of playthings, I need to check in with Collin. He's the innkeeper's son. I was dating him before Clarence abducted me. I hope he waited for me. I'll catch up with you later, Gilda!" she called and hurried through the crowd.

She stopped by Glen and gave him a kiss on the cheek before making her exit. The spirit blew her a parting kiss that landed on her shoulder like a glowing butterfly. The children oohed and aahed at the simple spell.

"Now, children, before you go, I need to give you trickster coins," Glen announced, pulling their bright eyes back to him.

He removed his top hat with a spin and presented it to the children. It was full of gold coins. Each side was stamped with a different jack-o-lantern face.

"If a grumpy soul darkens your Halloween, leave one of these coins on their doorstep, and the spirit will deal with them accordingly," he grinned.

"Oh, what will happen to them?" asked a little girl that was dressed like a sheep.

"It depends. A greedy soul will discover all their doorknobs sticky with honey. A sour soul will taste nothing but sour flavors for a week. The list goes on. Use them justly, or the curses will bounce to you! Also, unused coins will turn into chocolate by morning."

The children giggled and collected as many coins as they could carry before scattering through the square. Then I accompanied the spirit all over the village and through the surrounding fields. Healthy magic flowed out of him like mist, drenching the houses, the ground, the people, and the animals. Rutland would reap the benefits of that night for years to come. As midnight approached and the veil began to thicken, the spirit walked with me back to my cottage.

"Thank you for helping us, Spirit. You saved Halloween and Rutland. I hope we didn't demand too much of you."

"You're plenty welcome, Gilda. Thank you for indulging me in the catacombs. That was a rare treat," he grinned.

"It was for me too. It felt like pure love," I sighed, remembering the exquisite feeling.

"A lot of that was coming from Glen. I simply enhanced it."

I looked at him in surprise as we stopped on the front lawn of my cottage. Glen's skin was still glowing with the power of the spirit. My heart felt strange as I stared at him. I had known Glen for three days, and in that short time, he proved himself a hero, a gifted warlock, and a passionate lover. I was planning to keep him around for a long time.

"I must be going now, Gilda. The veil insists. I won't soon forget you or Glen," he whispered as he leaned in and kissed me.

I felt a burst of warm magic and sweetness from his lips before the spirit slipped away, leaving me kissing Glen. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him hard as the emotions of that night caught up with me. He pulled me against him and held the back of my neck as he worked his tongue against mine. We were both breathless a minute later. Glen pulled away first and took a deep breath. His eyes looked a little glazed after harboring a powerful spirit for six hours.

"I feel drunk and buzzed," he breathed.

"The Spirit of Halloween has that effect on people," I grinned.

"Shall we wash up, go to bed, screw, and take a week-long nap?"

"Yes, please. I'll heat the water for the bath."

As we stepped into the cottage, something new caught my attention. Standing in the middle of my kitchen table, wearing a pointy red hat and a creepy smile, was the little ceramic garden gnome from the monastery. I clapped my hand over my mouth and stared at it in horror. Glen gasped when he saw what I was looking at.

"How in the fuck did he get out of the catacombs?" he demanded.

Suddenly, we were startled by the giggles of children outside the kitchen window. Glen ran over in time to see them running away from the cottage.

"What the hell?" he grumbled as he picked up something shiny from the window sill and carried it over to me. It was a trickster coin.

"Oh shit!" I gasped. "I accidentally committed a sin against the Spirit of Halloween! I didn't leave any candy by the door for the children while I was away. They rightly left me a trickster coin."

"What are you talking about? You were held hostage underground! And you still helped save Halloween and the village from vampires. You don't deserve a curse for that," Glen protested.

"It doesn't matter. I'm a witch! I'm supposed to uphold the festive spirit of Halloween at all costs. It's like Santa Clause forgetting to put up a Christmas tree! The least I could have done was leave some candy on my doorstep so I didn't disappoint a bunch of children. Now I have to watch over a demonically possessed garden gnome for the rest of my life," I grumbled.

"Well, look on the bright side. How much trouble could a little statue be?" Glen shrugged.

"You had to ask," I sighed and pointed at the empty kitchen table.

"Where the fuck did he go?" Glen gulped.

That's when we heard something rolling across the floor. We looked down to see the red chalk from the hatbox bump into Glen's shoe. I gulped and looked towards the fireplace. I gasped to see the little gnome standing in the middle of the pentagram Glen had drawn earlier.

"Oh fuck," I gasped right as Glen's hand went around my throat.

He shoved me against the door and glared at me for a moment.

"Hello again, Gilda. What an interesting turn of events," he purred as he got right in my face. "It's not wise to leave a spirit summoning spell drawn on your floor that's attuned to your boyfriend. A demon might come along and abuse it. By the way, I'm horny again. You should take me to an orgy."

The end.

Epilogue:

Many orgies later, Gilda managed to force Clarence's soul out of Glen and back into the gnome statue. She tried, again and again, to destroy the statue and send the horny demon back to hell, but he always found his way back to her. She learned to live with and sometimes enjoy his sexual mischief until her dying day. The possessed gnome fell into obscurity after that. Witnesses claim the statue reappears after a hundred years to claim a new keeper and cause sexual mischief on Halloween, but as soon as the Witch Wardens catch wind of him, he vanishes again, leaving a sticky mess in his wake.