The Witches Curse

Curses

Gina stood watching as Trudy 'played' with the new bunch of recruits. She hated that Ava allowed her to take care of them today. They were young. Too young. She wanted, needed to stop what was happening, but she couldn't, it was like her body and mind were disconnected, and she could just do what she was told, not what she wanted. Sometimes it felt like she could walk away, and some times she even made it to the border,  but then the urge to turn back, to get back to Ava was so strong, it nearly tore her in half, and she'd just make her way back, to find a smiling Ava waiting for her. She watched as Trudy pulled an especially scared kid out of the pack of women, and lift her hand. 

"Stop!" She shouted, and with one long stride had her hand on Trudy's wrist. "Enough." 

"Let go of me! I am in charge here today." 

"I'm under orders to stop you if I think it's needed, we need more of them to turn, and with you already killing three, we need these. And torture was never part of the deal." 

"I can do what I like, now let go, be a good soldier and stand back." Trudy waited. When Gina didn't move, she growled and slapped her. Gina didn't even flinch. 

"You can either stop now, or I will have them lock you up," Gina said calmly. 

"This will get back to Ava." Trudy snarled but stepped back. "Fine, take them to the cells, I will let Ava know they're ready. I want this one to go to my house please." 

"No. Take them all, everyone,  to the cells. You know the rules, Trudy. Deal with them." 

"I will not tolerate this!" Trudy spun on her heel and nearly ran Ava over. "Good, you're here. This woman, won't let me do what you said I could do." She pointed a shaking finger at Gina. 

"What I said was get us new members, what you did was kill three. Gina is doing her job. You are messing with our plan." 

"I am? Our plan? No, see you keep saying, us, our, we, but all I see is you, you, and you. None of them respect me, none of them listen to me, and they treat me like one of them, just absolutely no respect." 

"Stop acting like a child," Ava said. "If you did that, none of this would happen. They would not have to make sure you don't sabotage us. Is that what you're doing? Taking me down from the inside?" Ava knew that would get Trudy's attention. "Are you doing to me what you did to Sam?" 

"No! Of course not! I'm your sister, I'm with you. I'm sorry. I'm just bored and I feel like you don't need me here." 

"I do need you." Ava put an arm around Trudy. "You don't know how much." She pointed at the group of men standing and watching them. "Want to play with them?" 

"Yes!" Trudy's eyes lit up and Ava smiled. "Can I?" 

"Of course, make sure you show them a good time." She grabbed Trudy's arm. "And Trudy?" 

"Yes, yes I know, no killing." She almost ran to the men, who welcomed her into their arms and then all left. 

"Is she going to..." Gina made hand gestures. "With them?" 

"Yes, it's one of the few things that she enjoys. And I need to keep them happy, they're from Dacota, my inside people. It seems our little take over of Old Town has caused quite the stir. Michelle ran to Sam, just where I wanted her. But I didn't count on how much Ivan cared about his daughter. Now Hunter and the Gathering are involved. We'll be more careful, but the plan goes ahead." 

"Great. If you want your army to actually grow, you need to keep that one away from the next few busses. I mean she killed three, one because she didn't like his haircut, the other because he had blue eyes, and the last because he had the nerve to stand on both legs. She's crazy." 

"Don't say that. Don't make me punish you," Ava said in a teasing voice. "I need her, for that, and for something later. But you are right, I will leave the sorting to you, we only have two more busses inbound and we need to make sure we get as many as we can from them." She looked around. "We've done a lot in two days. The builders are working fast." 

"Yes, well you did order them not to sleep. I would recommend you let them rest tonight, you don't want s**t work done." 

"Yes, of course. But you should watch yourself, don't think you can manipulate me." 

"Of course not, I just want your plan to go smoothly." 

"Mm." Ava eyed her suspiciously. Maybe Tory was right. "Take me to the new ones, I want to get this spell on them, so they can take their places in town. The more hands, the faster this will go." She followed Gina and wondered if she should double up on the spell on Gina. She decided against it. She needed her just at the edge of snapping her leash. 

Ava watched as the twenty or so before her, moved back until they couldn't anymore. They were packed like sardines in a tin, nowhere to go. With a great big smile, she said the old words of the spell, lifted her arms, and let out her power. "I curse you all! Let my will, be your will. You are all mine!" Her gleeful expression and the joy in her voice sickened Gina. She didn't know what was wrong, she just knew something was, and she missed something or someone terribly. She watched the women's eyes go wide, then they all fell to the floor. When they woke, they'd be mindless minions, just like the rest. Just like her. 

Old Town was being restored on the outside. But on the inside, evil was brewing, and Gina hoped that help would come soon.