Drake, Bewitched

Is You For Real Or What?- Drake

I didn't want to do it. She was so beautiful and intelligent, and man, she was interesting. But of course, she was; she was a witch. She was quite literally built different.

I wanted to kiss her, and I would have, but in that moment, my higher-level brain kicked in. You can't trust her, no matter how much she's made you think you can. Maybe that's how I'd meet my end, by the kiss of a beautiful woman; it would have been fitting. An eighteen-year-old witch from the Northeast Kingdom—pretty niche, even for me.

My guys tied her to the nearest pole with ease. I instructed them to be gentle, but she didn't put up a fight. I avoided her gaze as I created a ring of salt around her and then around myself.

"Aubrey!" she said, "Please, let me explain."

I nodded for my guys to leave peacefully. I didn't want her stressed, and I didn't want her afraid, although if she was who we thought she was, then there would be no reason for her to be. I was sure these feeble rings of salt wouldn't do much to hold her down.

"Tell me who hired you," I said, "and I'll let you go."

Could I really do that? No part of me wanted to hurt her. Whoever was after me this time had done well; I'll give them that.

"It's not like that," she said. "Please, you don't have to do this. I can explain."

"Explain, then."

I wasn't sure I could believe anything coming from those beautiful, pursed lips. I couldn't even be sure she was real. Magic could mess with you like that. I knew I was dealing with some dark stuff.

She hesitated. "How do you know who I am?"

"I'm no stranger to the underworld; I know things that go on. As someone in my position, you have to."

"It's different than you think, I promise. Please, untie me," she pleaded, struggling against the rope. It was laced with garlic, though who knew if that could actually stop her magic. It was hard to know what was true or false with this kind of stuff.

"As soon as we figured out what that guy was, my men followed you. It had to be done, especially since I planned on seeing you today. They found you practicing, and it all made sense—the crazy hallucinations, the intel on my assassination coming from the highest sources. You guys have come to mess with me, but why? Who are you really?"

"I am who I say I am!" she insisted. "I promise. It's not like that. I've been trying to protect you; can't you see? Why else would I tell you about him, and why would I try to protect you now?"

Fake or not, the thought of her protecting me, and not vice versa, felt strange. Not necessarily unpleasant, but strange. How could this small, beautiful woman protect me? Or hurt me, even? I can't say I've ever been in that situation since, well, my mom, and even then, I did a lot to protect her too.

"How can I trust you? You didn't tell me who you are! How do I know this isn't part of your plan? My guys are still investigating, but they say this is some deep underworld stuff."

Again, being on top meant being mother-fucking paranoid. You had to consider every possible move.

"It's true," she said. "You can't know, but I promise, I... This was my first time using magic properly outside our coven. It's against the rules to tell humans about us; otherwise, I would have, I swear."

She was far too smart for this to have been her first time away from home. She did say it was her first time working, come to think of it, but she mentioned having family here. Unless that was a lie too.

"So you don't have family here?"

"No," she said sadly, looking down.

"And you haven't been sent to kill me?"

She didn't respond, and I sat down in my ring of salt, physically an island away, but damn, why did she have to look so guilty? I didn't want to be in this position with her. I twisted the Rolex on my wrist. What the hell was I going to do? My avoidance of drama with women was not going well at all.

"Jezelda," I said, attempting a softer tone, "please, just don't lie to me."

Still, she remained quiet. I had all the information I needed.

"Alright," I said, "I need to think about what I'm going to do with you. You'll stay here for now."

"Wait!" she called as I left my circle and began to walk to the door. "I want to tell you more. I just feel like whatever I'm going to say, you won't trust me."

She got that right.

I left her in the room and could hear her sobs. Man, I was so fucking conflicted. I still had no idea what to do. Maybe she was telling the truth, and she was just scared. But she didn't deny she'd been sent to kill me, and that was that.

As I closed the door behind me and walked down my hallway, I noticed a shadow slip along the walls. I clutched my salt. 

She was messing with me. 

Salt wasn't going to hold her down much longer. I needed a better solution; I had to call some friends.