Revenge - Chapter 25 – Part 1 of 2

Revenge

By Karen Singer

Chapter 25 – Part 1 of 2

Susan was up very late that night trying to figure out what to do.  She’d had the germ of an idea to turn Monica and her friends into real witches – to Steve anyway.  It wasn’t something intentional, but she realized that doing so would also add yet another layer of protection so that Steve would never know about her.  All he would be focused on would be Monica and her friends. 

Making Steve believe they were witches would be easy.  The part she was having trouble with was what kind of spell they should put on Steve.  She had several ideas for things she wanted to try on Steve in the future, but they were all things she was planning on doing without Monica.  She supposed she could send Monica one or two ideas to choose from, but since it had been a while since Steve had really felt any kind of humiliation, she thought the coming weekend would be a good opportunity to start things off.  But to do that, Monica and her friends would have to be ready fairly quickly, and even more importantly, Karen had to be programmed.  There wasn’t time for Monica to make a decision about what to do or not. 

Since she was hopeful that Monica would go along with what she had decided she wanted to do, when Karen emailed that night, she had Karen phone her again and Susan gave her some very strict instructions.  What she asked Karen to do would be very difficult for her.  The control she would have to exercise over Steve would be very difficult for her to manage.  But Susan had confidence that Karen could pull it off.  Karen had already proven herself more than adequate on a number of occasions.  She finally told Karen to call her again just before Steve went to lunch the next day.  It was the best she could arrange.  With Karen set, she wrote a lengthy email to Monica.

Dear Monica,

If you’re interested, I have this idea I wanted to try on Steve.  Since I haven’t had a chance to really punish him in some time now, I was hoping that you and your friends would be available to cast a spell on him before he goes home Friday night.  Then of course, it would be up to you to find ways to see what happens. 

If you are agreeable, I will need to know before your lunchtime since I will have much to handle on this end.  If you have something else in mind, I will need to know that as soon as possible.  I may or may not be in a position to make whatever you have in mind happen…at least not that quickly. 

Here is my idea for our first trial spell….

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Monica got Susan’s email as soon as she got to work on Friday.  By the time she had read halfway through it, Diane was reading over her shoulder. 

“Oh my God!” Diane exclaimed.  “Is this for real?”

“It looks like it,” Monica replied, equally surprised.

“We’ve got to call the others right away.”

“Yeah, and maybe we better all meet for lunch.”

“Good idea!”

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Steve was feeling more confident by the minute.  Nobody had demanded to see what kind of underwear he was wearing for several days now.  In fact, several times the women had all seemed to go out of their way to avoid him.  Feeling happy and more in control of himself than he had in some time, he wondered if he could get away with removing his stupid bra at lunchtime and go without.  The pantyhose could go too for that matter.  They were hot and still felt strange against his legs.  He quickly made up his mind to do just that.

Shortly before lunch, he was thinking about the gun he was about to buy.  Hopefully his permit for it would be in the next day.  He had plans to take it straight to the gun range and try it out. 

He wondered if it might be advisable after that to let Monica know he had the gun, and that he wasn’t afraid to use it!  The damn witch!  He couldn’t think of any woman who deserved to be shot more than Monica.  Who would ever believe that witches actually existed?  He didn’t…until now.  But once he had his gun, if she even thought of crossing him the wrong way – pow!  Right in the heart!  Scratch one mean old witch.

As Steve daydreamed about having his gun, he never realized when he zoned out a little further as Karen put him gently to sleep and took over.  As Susan had asked, she took Steve’s cell phone and called Susan.  A minute later, a very unmasculine giggle escaped from Steve’s cubicle as Karen learned that the game was on.  Karen couldn’t wait for Steve to discover what was about to happen to him. 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

“Oh Stevie….” Monica’s singsong voice came over his phone line shortly after lunch.

Steve nearly threw up.  He had just finally removed the bra and pantyhose he had been wearing.  “What do you want?” he asked cautiously.

“Oh Stevie, I want lots of things.  I want my ring that you stole replaced for one thing.”

“Fine!  I’ll buy you a new one this weekend.”

“Oh Stevie.  I appreciate that.  And you will buy me a new one, but I’m not sure you’ll want to do it this weekend.  Or maybe you will.  I haven’t decided yet.  In fact, that might just be fun.”

Steve was immediately worried that she had some new humiliation in store for him.  “What are you planning on doing to me this time?”

“Oh Stevie, that would be too easy.  I think it would be much more fun if you figure that out on your own.”

“I don’t like these games you’re playing with me!”  He came close to warning her that he was buying a gun.  Shooting her with it was becoming more of a possibility – soon!

“Tough!” Monica replied.  “Because we’re just getting started.  Just make sure you get your pantied ass down here after work today, or there’ll be hell to pay!  Got that?  Don’t you dare disappoint me!”

“Tonight?  But it’s Friday?”

“Good for you.  You noticed.  No wonder you make so much money.  Now I just hope you’re smart enough to show up after work.  Or else…trust me, you’ll really wish you were.  I’m still just dying to give that signed confession of yours to the police!”

Steve said nothing.  He was fuming inside.

“Stevie…do you hear me?  Do you understand?”

“Yeah,” he mumbled angrily.

“Good.  Oh, and Stevie, I know Diane and I have been pretty busy all day.  Have any of the other girls bothered to check your underwear this morning?  I haven’t heard from them.  Hmm?”

The line went dead.  Steve started angrily at his computer, then raced for the elevator and his car where he had left the bra and pantyhose he had just taken off.  It was a good thing the witch couldn’t hear the angry cursing that was running through his head…or the thoughts about shooting her sometime this weekend – just as soon as he got his gun!

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

Steve didn’t exactly hurry down to the shipping department after work.  In fact, he did everything possible to delay it.  But he knew that going was inevitable.  He got in the elevator and headed downstairs.  As he stepped off the elevator, he saw Carla and Ruth just going through the doors to the shipping department.  As he opened the doors himself and walked through, he was just in time to hear Carla and Diane telling the head guy in shipping that they were all taking Monica out to the club that night.  And that it was time for her to start trying to live a little. 

Carla turned and saw Steve coming in.  “And here’s Steve,” she said.  “We’re all going to make sure Monica gets everything she needs.”

The head of shipping grinned.  “Good!  She’s been pretty troubled these last few days.”  He looked to Steve and seemed to nod approvingly.

Carla linked her arm through Steve’s and dragged him back toward Diane and Monica’s shoebox of an office.  “We’re here,” Carla announced the moment she saw Monica behind her desk.

“The guys haven’t left yet though,” Diane said quietly.  “We need to give them a few minutes.  Steve, why don’t you get comfortable in my chair over there.  None of us are going anywhere for a while.”  And then she giggled.  Steve took her giggling as a very bad sign.

Five minutes later, Monica and Diane’s boss poked his head into the office to let them know he was leaving.  He was just in time to hear Carla describing her new dress she was planning on wearing that night.  Not wanting to get into that kind of discussion with the women, he quickly said, “We’re leaving, make sure you lock up when you’re done.”  He grinned at Monica.  “And for heaven’s sake, try to have a good time tonight.  Okay?”

Monica grinned.  “Trust me.  I plan to.”

Diane watched him leaving, and a few moments later, she watched as all the men left the shipping department.  She followed them to the door and locked it.  “We’re alone,” she told the others as soon as she got back to their office.”

“Okay ladies,” Monica said, “you all know what to do.  Diane, make Steve here comfortable.  She handed Carla a box that she picked up off her desk.  “Ruth, you take these,” she said as she handed Ruth a stack of papers.  She turned to Steve.  “Don’t you dare give Diane any trouble!”

“Oh don’t worry, he won’t,” Diane said with a small giggle. 

Monica nodded and walked out.

“What’s happening?” Steve asked nervously.

“You’re getting undressed down to your pretty undies,” Diane told him.  “Right now!”

A few minutes later, Steve was again sitting in Diane’s chair, only this time he was only wearing his panties, pantyhose, and his bra.  His bigger concern though was all the packing tape Diane was wrapping tightly around his wrists that were now pulled together behind the chair. 

“Now you just stay there and stay out of trouble,” Diane told him as she threw the tape on her desk and walked out. 

Steve had no idea what the women were planning, but he knew it couldn’t be good.  All his questions about it so far had gone unanswered.  As he waited in the chair, his thoughts turned towards the gun he was going to get tomorrow.  The gun – he would shoot Monica with…and maybe the other witches too!

A few minutes later, Carla and Diane came back to get him.  “Okay Stevie,” Carla said to him.  “Get up and come with us.”

Steve didn’t want to go anywhere – except home.  But when Diane walked up to him and pulled up on his arms, he forced himself to push out of the chair, struggling a bit to get his bound arms over the back of it.  Then with Carla holding one arm and Diane the other, they led him into the big room where Steve now saw a large space prepared.  A large space where a big star with a circle around it was now drawn in chalk on the floor.  Candles were set at each of the five points of the star. 

Diane and Carla led Steve to the middle of the star.  “Down on your knees!” Diane ordered.

Steve had little choice since both Diane and Carla were pushing him down.  But once on his knees, Diane moved quickly and started binding his ankles together with more tape, then she bound his wrists to his ankles.  “That should keep you out of trouble,” she said to him.

“What’s going on?” Steve demanded again.

But instead of getting an answer, he watched as Monica walked right up to him, reached out, and pulled a hair from his head.  “Ouch!” he cried as Monica turned and left the middle of the circle.  Steve soon found himself alone in the middle of the star on the floor. 

“Ladies,” Monica said, “I think we’re ready.  Diane, will you get the lights please?”  She looked directly at Steve.  “I recommend you stay inside the pentagram…for your own safety.”

His own safety?  Steve would have felt much more safe outside the damn pentagram.  Like maybe several states away from the thing.

The lights dimmed, and suddenly Carla struck a match and lit one of the candles next to him.  Steve saw Monica smile evilly at him before she lit the candle at the top of the star.  All five candles were soon lit and each of the women spread out around him with Monica staying at the point at the top of the star.  Steve’s fear had him drenched with sweat.  He noticed now that each of the women were holding a piece of paper in their hands. 

Somewhere very deep inside of Steve, Karen was laughing.  The women were really making it look good!  She just hoped she was up to the task and wouldn’t let them down.  There were a lot of things she was going to hate doing, but since she knew Steve would be very embarrassed by every bit of it, she couldn’t wait to get started.

Monica looked around at the other women.  “Are we ready?”  She saw them all nod.  “Then let us begin.”  She looked down at the paper in her hand and started reading out loud.  All four women read it aloud together.

Demons of the earth and sky, hear us now our sacred cry

Grant our plea thy powers lend, harken now this spell to send

Upon this man this curse descend, until three suns shall rise again

As man’s best friend this soul shall be, a mix of man and dog decree

Parts of one and some the other, jumbled up and tossed asunder

Cursed to live by newfound rule, show the world just who’s the fool

Demons hear us, lend thy power.  Grant our wish, this sacred hour.

The women stopped and Steve looked around fearfully.  Was something supposed to happen?  He saw Monica reach down and pick up a coffee cup and something else.  She held them aloft – he realized she had the hair she had pulled from his head. 

“The token,” Monica proclaimed to everyone.  She then dropped the hair into the cup in her hands and pretended to drink it all down.  “Ahhh…” she sighed when she was finished.  She set the cup and the hair down on the floor and picked up the paper with the spell on it again. 

Once again all the women read through the spell, but this time, as soon as they got to the end, they started reading from the start one more time. 

Steve didn’t feel any different as he listened to the women reading the spell through for a third time.  He didn’t feel any different, and he hoped he wouldn’t.  Actually, he was hoping that whatever magic they were trying to do wouldn’t work.  He pulled yet again on the tape binding his hands and ankles.  Crazy women.  Not women – witches!  Real…live…witches!  And it was obvious that Monica was their ringleader.  The main witch!  Well, she wouldn’t be the main witch much longer.  Once he got his gun, she’d be a very dead witch instead.

The women finished the third time through the spell, then they each bent down and blew out the candles.  Diane quickly snuffed out the last candle then raced to get the lights.  She giggled as she ran.

Steve’s eyes nervously watched all the women. 

“I guess that’s it?” Ruth asked Monica.

“As far as I know, we’re done,” Monica replied.  She faced Steve.  “How do you feel?  Any different?”

Steve didn’t feel any different at all.  Just scared…and very angry.  “N…arf!”  Steve’s mind suddenly went crazy.  He had just tried to say “no,” but instead it had come out as a bark.  “Arf!” he said again, trying to get the word out.  “Arf.  Arf!  Arf!”  No matter how hard he tried to say something intelligent, his words came out as some kind of high pitched dog bark.  And the more he tried talking, the more like real barks those words sounded.  “Arf!” he tried one more time, amazement written all over his face. 

The women were all laughing.  “Um…I’d say it worked,” Carla said.

He sounds like one of those yappy little dogs,” Diane noted.

“Don’t all men?” Ruth asked.

Steve was hyperventilating.  What had happened?  How could it possibly happen?  The only sounds he could make were to bark like a dog…and a little dog at that.  He tried to ask how long it was going to last, but the moment he opened his mouth and tried to say something, he barked instead.  He couldn’t even ask questions!

“Diane,” Monica said, “why don’t you cut our little puppy loose and help him get dressed.  I’ll start cleaning the floor.”  She turned to Carla.  “And I guess we’ll see you at the club later?”

“Is Mike still picking you up tonight?” Carla asked.

“Yeah.  I finally relented and agreed to go out with him.  But every time I think about it, I’m still seeing what happened to my apartment after our last date.”

Carla looked down at Steve on the floor.  “Hopefully, we won’t have to worry about that again.  See you at the club later?” she asked Steve?  Steve looked up at her like she was crazy.

“You better be there,” Monica told him.  “We’re all expecting our little puppy man to show up tonight.  We want to have fun!”  With a laugh, she walked off to find some cleaning supplies to clean the chalk off of the floor.

“Come on puppy Stevie,” Diane said as she used a blade to cut the tape that was binding him.  A moment later, he was free.  He started to get to his feet, but Diane pushed him back down.  “No, you can crawl back to the office instead.”

As Steve finally drove off toward home a short while later, his main thoughts were about how he could manage to get a gun tomorrow – if he couldn’t talk.  And for that matter, how long was this…curse…supposed to last?  He vaguely remembered something in that spell the witches had chanted about three suns rising.  Did that mean until Monday morning?  That was as close as he could figure.  He tried to shout a string of angry curses, but all that came out were more barks.  He tried to scream in frustration, and barked again.  It was impossible!  He would be forced to remain silent until next Monday…or whenever the miserable curse finally wore off.  At least he hoped it would wear off.